Rick Gunn/Nevada Appeal John Miles of Miles Brothers Construction Inc. stands with truck driver Gary Gibbons Tuesday near a truckload of cement bound for the C Hill flag project.
C Hill volunteers are getting ready for a long, hot haul.
Volunteer organizers, heavy-equipment operators and a 12-man inmate crew moved 57,000 pounds of cement from Carson Middle School to C Hill Tuesday in temperatures of more than 100 degrees in an effort to rebuild a huge American flag in time for Nevada Day.
They filled three of the 55 foundation holes with cement - and have 50 more to go.
But that's just the beginning of a mountain of work awaiting them.
Workers say without helicopter support from the Nevada National Guard, they will have to carry the cement, one 40-pound bag at a time, from the spot where they are stockpiling it on the hill, about a quarter of a mile from the work site.
Guard pilots are reluctant to fly in the cement because of potential dust storms on a landscape left barren after the Waterfall fire.
Organizers need labor for the daunting task. Food and water will be provided - along with a strictly optional, free, cold shower from the water truck used to mix the cement.
"It's a good workout," Miles Construction Inc. worker Todd Jennings said before he headed home after five trips up the hill in his company's truck.
YOU CAN HELP
To volunteer to carry cement bags for the C Hill effort, call Mike Roach at 720-3598.
Contact Robyn Moormeister at 881-1215 or rmoormeister@nevadaappeal.com