The Pheonix Metropolitan Area is known as the Valley of the Sun. The first time I remember hearing this was during the opening ceremony when Christine Odom spoke the phrase as she introduced herself as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity for the Pheonix area.

My first impression of Arizona after leaving the airport was where’s the grass? and everything looks so dry. From the airplane window the land in Arizona was about 90% brown and 10% green. In Oklahoma we saw just the opposite. To be honest, the greenery of Oklahoma is more peaceful and pleasant to see.
I learned the foundational meaning of The Valley of the Sun during our mid-May “Spring” stay. Hydration was of utmost significance. Different people would directly bring us something to drink throughout our workday. One time a lady came by with a tray of drinks announcing over and over, “If you ain’t peein’ you’re dehydrated.” I asked her if that was the phrase of the day, she smiled and continued pushing all those around to grab a cup.
People from all over the US came to this dry hot desert climate to build. Everyone definitely experienced the Arizona reality. There were workers on our site that came from Michigan, Washington, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri and Oklahoma (me).
The heat caused difficulty starting the first day. The temperature was a little hotter than normal. It got to 104 degrees. There was not a steady breeze blowing. And since we hadn’t built it yet we had no roof over our heads and were constantly exposed to the raw elements of nature. There was no humidity so we didn’t sweat much. The lack of sweating made the situation more dangerous so we had to constantly rehydrate with water and Gatorade even though we didn’t feel thirsty.
It was also stressed to keep putting on sunscreen. I did it three times but still got a sunburn on my calves from standing on a ladder. We would joke about putting it on. It was like you were exfoliating! An application of the lotion after constantly having dirt blow in your face and sweat leave a dried residue of salt had a scratchy feel to it.
Mid afternoon everyone was told to come to the tent where meals were eaten. There we ate sugar-free popsicles and rested for about 45 minutes. That day 50 people out of the 300 went back to the resort.
The rest of the week was a little better. It just got to 100 degrees and we had shelter to give us a break from the sun.