Day 1: LaGrange College
Hey everyone it’s the Bashful Group! We are: Elizabeth
Holloway, Ashlyn Wallace, Maevis Pair, Macy Monteith, Katelyn McKinney,
Caroline Heins, Savanna Pickens, Abby Brannen, Samantha Plourde, Riley Houser,
Jameson Boyd, Connor Corcoran, Austin Jacobs, and Jackson Ward.
Today all of the campers met at 9:00 am at the Mallard Creek
Presbyterian Church Community Center. Though we all felt a little nervous,
everyone was excited as we began loading our bags into the bus and saying
goodbye to our families. Grant called us into a huddle where we were introduced
to all of our counselors and Grant’s family. We said our final goodbyes and got
onto the buses and vans with our soon-to-be friends. The vans were very tightly
packed which allowed those of us on them to get to meet each other and learn
deeply about one another pretty quickly. Then, on all of the vehicles, we had
our first “gourmet” travel lunch of the trip, which consisted of ham sandwiches
and chips. The cheese on the sandwiches was still in the plastic, and some of
the bus riders had the unfortunate surprise of biting into some plastic wrapping
(including the bus driver). Some people opened their sandwiches only to realize
that the ham was missing and they just had cheese!
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Your staff waiting for your arrival at Mallard Creek   |
Then, on the bus, we got to know each other by playing a
game of “speed dating,” where we rotated around the bus and we were given
questions to ask each other. We asked about each other’s favorite flavor of ice
cream and whether or not we had any pets. We temporarily stopped the game to
make our first stop at a Flying J to refuel the vans. Some of us got snacks,
but most of us just used the bathroom. After that, we passed through Atlanta
and saw the giant torch from the 1996 Olympic games as well as Georgia Tech (Go
Yellow Jackets!).
Our next stop on our trip was the great Wal-Mart of
LaGrange, Georgia, where our first cooks (the “Happy” group) stocked up on food
to cook us for dinner. Most of us had to buy watches after we all realized that
we would need to know what time it was. After Wal-mart, those of us on the bus
finished our game of “Speed Dating” while others made friendship bracelets and
played Uno. Those of us on the vans just chilled, played Uno, and listened to
good music with our new good friends.
We finally arrived at LaGrange College, which we found out
used to be an all-girls high school and some parts might be haunted.
Fortunately, we don’t have to sleep in the haunted building. For dinner, all of
the groups had to come up with chants which determined who would get to eat
first (our group ended up winning, go Bashfuls!!!).
Our chant: “B-A-S-H, Bashful’s what we want to be; B-U-R-G,
Burgers what we want to eat!” x3
After dinner, we all met on the football field for relay
races and games that began with Owen Joyce leading us in a game of “Owen Says.”
One of Owen’s instructions was for everyone that was wearing crocs to sit down
(there were only two of us). After “Owen Says,” we started relay races, which
included dizzy bat, bear crawls, and shoe snatchers. We also had to untangle
ourselves in a game of human knot. In our final game, we raced to find out who were
the fastest girl and boy on TWB (Lindsey Miller and Carter Williamson
won).
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| Carter Williamson and Lindsey Miller |
After relay races, we sat down while Grant lead us in a
sing-along; we sang songs like This Land Is Your Land, Wagon Wheel, Sweet Home
Alabama, Party In The USA, and finished off with the traditional song of TWB,
Today, by John Denver. We were all kind of off-tune but there’s plenty of room
for improvement because as Grant said, “It’s all about quantity, not quality.”
After songs, we moved all of our luggage into the gym and
got ready to take showers. At this moment we’re writing this pool-side while we
let everyone else enjoy the showers.
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The calm before the storm at our site for the night   |
Signing off,
Bashful Group <3
