Rain Delays Are a Part of Life

Amidst rolling grasslands with pronghorn antelope running about, today we were at the Central Plains Experimental Range in Nunn, Colorado. We arrived on site at 6:30AM to set up all of the equipment, it was apparent from the get go that the day was going to be interesting. Mud made the tires on the truck that I was in slip around and the light mist that was present upon arrival turned into a steady light rain. While the view remained to be wonderful, sampling today would be a toss up. After waiting for a few hours to see if the rain would let up, the decision to cancel was made. Rain would simply interfere to much with the bacteria collecting trays that were set up within the sampling capsules, thus corrupting the data. The PIs are constantly checking the weather and planning our schedule around possible rain. Sometimes this means that we have to work extra hard to prepare our samplers for earlier than expected, and sometimes it means we get a day off.

Sometimes canceling a sample collection day is needed to ensure reliable data. In science, being able to accept cancellations and rework a plan is important. On this project, being able to rework a plan is crucial due to time constraints. So upon arriving back at the Airbnb, the professors brainstormed a new schedule and figured out how to still sample the Central Plains Experimental Range before moving on back to Michigan. The teams will be sampling later in the week when the weather is free from rain. This means we will move on to Denver first and then sample CPER later in the week.

Since the majority of the day was then freed up, the techs had some free time to head to Fort Collins and explore. We stopped off at the old town square after seeing rope lights dangling from building to building, making for an awesome display. The atmosphere was relaxed, with random breweries everywhere. So in the end, even though we weren't able to sample today, a new plan was formed to resample the Central Plains Experimental Range and a fun evening was had.