TWB June 17th 2019 Experience: Day 1- Sendoff & LaGrange

Day 1: LaGrange College

Hey family and friends! It's the Bashful group here for the next few days managing the blog. Your Bashful group (the best group) consists of Olivia Mathew, Savannah Smith, Joshua Gluck, Bekka Myers, Ashley Kostrzynski, Emma Hughlett, Lauren Hines, Kathryn Anthony, Emily Mccoll, Briana Pratt, Kendall Setzer, Logan Kirkpatrick, Sarah Cloninger, and Alex Rote.

At 9 o’clock on this beautiful Monday, June 17^th, everyone ROLLED up to Mallard Creek with about 80 strangers they were yet to meet. With over-packed bags and butterflies in their stomachs, a cluster of sweaty family and friends gathered to listen to Grant’s final introductions before the sendoff. Finally, after the participants’ anticipation was too much to handle, everyone piled into Miss America, Carolina Girl, and the bus with crying moms following while taking videos.

A few bashful teens share their thoughts:

~ “Why is my mom crying?” - Kathryn

~ “When will they stop waving?” - Sarah

~ “They’re taking pictures, but I’m pretty sure the windows are tinted…” - Lauren

~ “I was ready to go. Love you Mom and Dad.” - Emma

~ “Are we there yet?” - Sarah

~ “ ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ – Gandhi” – Joshua.

Then we were off....but 50 minutes later, we were in South Carolina at our first rest stop. After a few rounds of speed dating, everyone started softening up. Then we hit our biggest speed bump, and at the high speed of one foot an hour, our caravan slowly made our way down the Georgia interstate.

Flight attendants (A.K.A. counselors) served lunch, ham and (sometimes still wrapped) cheese sandwiches, chips, and cookies. Some teens complained about the authenticity of the meat and cheese, while others indulged in their chemical slices and overly salted, but yummy chips. With kinda-filled bellies, everyone in the bus dozed off.

Playing Uno and dozing off to the sounds of Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift at full volume, the Miss America crew gazed at the marvelous sites of a Zebra-striped truck and older men smoking pipes. Meanwhile, Carolina Girl jammed to music while watching some stranger eat his own fingernails. (Yes, you read that right...you never know what you're going to see on the wide-open road!) The bus consisted of heavy napping and chatting with new friends. We thought adventures have already begun, but then we were at WAL-MART!

The Happy Group headed to grocery shop for dinner while the rest of teens bought watches, snacks, and replacements for pillows left at home. Everyone piled back into vans and the bus to arrive at LaGrange campus.

Once we were off the bus we got to do presentations. YAY!! The first presentation was by Hannah Stroot about the great state of Georgia. The second presentation was by Belle Hollifield about LaGrange. She is very energetic and random, and entertained our crowd with her antics. She gave out prizes during a questionnaire such as a pig key chain, a half used coloring book, and some tums. After the cooks prepared a meal of cheeseburgers, watermelon, chips, and cookies. The food was delicious; however, we started to hear thunder and see lightning. Tonight we plan to do relay races and sing campfire songs!!!

Welll…scratch the relay races. It ended up raining right at dinner time and we had to take shelter under the picnic building. When it stopped raining, we moved in the gym to bed down for the night. Some of us were very happy we did not have to sleep outside with the loud LaGrange train! Before bed, we did some sing alongs and discussed where we will be going tomorrow: New Orleans!!

See you later, family!

The site managers pumping gas at our first stop

The staff taking a break for some fake lemonade at Wal-Mart:Chris, Grant, Vickie, Payton, Jackson, and Heather (who is never in pictures because she's always taking them)