11:20 am
MOOD: Wow, i've been writing this for a long time.
MUSIC: 14 Kids in an Old Church Van (Audio Adrenaline - Some Kind of Zombie)

"I spent about 24 hours at a Flying J truck stop
I haven't had a shower and i'm 'bout to drop"
- Flicker (Audio Adrenaline - Some Kind of Zombie)

I'm actually still sitting here 2 hours later recalling more La Vida stuff, same day as the last article. I just wanna get out all this stuff. I'll do revisions later, after I post it.

Later, tomorrow actually (friday) We're all going down to Cape Hatteras! Mr. Miller was telling me about some stuff there last night. Like of course there's the kitty hawk stuff, and the wright bros beach, and it's really fun to fly kites there, (i'll have to look into that). So i think a bit later i got to pack a bag or something. And look for my Spirited Away DVD! I can't believe i misplaced the dang thing! That's my only Miyazaki, i can't very well be misplacing it left and right. Oh well. More about La Vida!

Monday, 26th

6807

I got up, and voila, the only 2 people who weren't LODs yet (Linds and I) got to lead the packing up of our camp, and the striking out into the virtual unknown, along a path this time, thank God! So after a disgusting breakfast of Cream of Wheat, tempered by lots of chocolate and strawberry jelly, ( :P ) We struck out.

The destination was new to all of us, including our sherpas, so we relied heavily on the maps and compass to aid our travel. We ended up crossing some streams earlier on, which was very good practice for the huge honkin river we had to cross later that day and the next :P

The road was easy, and that was a good thing, since after the bushwhack on saturday we weren't in any mood to do anything strenuous. Morale was high, we were on the trail, then Sherpa Matt all of a sudden didn't know where on the map we were, and i was trying to explain why were were at position x, but he needed to hike around a ton and be sure, so i let him. There was no crossing where there should have been, i think is more why he left, but he was pretty disoriented. It came down to him stringing the bear rope across the river, and having us hang onto it while leaping from rock to rock. It was a cool setup, and from the river crossing we were only about a half mile, maybe less, from our campsite.

Linds and I determined that the pond we came to by trail was in fact, our campsite, and so we stopped at Rhododendron Pond, and rested and sat, and had lunch somewhat in the rain, then set up the tents. We heard a Loon, in fact, off across the nice pond somewhere. The country out there is really beautiful.

Y'know what, Sherpa Matt went out to hang the bear bag, and he came back all a-smiles cause well, he'd "found the perfect spot" or something, so we all came and saw (probly not Jang :P) and man, he got that thing like 50 feet off the groud!! I was duly impressed.

We prepared for what was to come the next day, Solo. This is when you go off by yourself in the woods, taking only what you need to survive and not get wet, and your bible, and live there in a time of reflection and prayer for 2 days, fasting for sixty hours. So we each had our bags to pack. That night, Lindsey shared her life story. Apparantly there was a leaky tent the night before, and Carolyn got her bag totally soaked :( So there was a big meshing of bags, and they got 4 of them into one large one, or something like that. It sounded like fun :P

Tuesday, 27th

6808

This is first day of Solo. This morning we all hiked around the pond in a big radius, and we got dropped off at various spots, secluded from each other for the most part, hehe, except for maybe between Linds and Jang, and Jang and I.

I just reflected and studied the scriptures the whole time, mostly, and looked at nature and studied leaves and whatever bugs were at hand. We were allowed to go as far as the lake but not really allowed to wander REALLY far. Some of us did though, the stories to be told are pretty funny, about people getting lost and disoriented in their hunger, and stumbling onto other people's tarps.

Oh yeah. Each soloist has his personal tarp, which is about the size of a king-size bed, that you string between 4 trees, and sleep under. Actually i didn't wander far from that tarp at ALL, cause it rained the whole time today and the second day. Just i prefer to keep dry while i'm fasting.

Wednesday, 28th

6809

Twice on Tuesday and three times today, a Sherpa would come and bring us our Nalgenes filled with water and take our empty ones. It is critical to stay hydrated. Today was much like yesterday, but eh, less rainy. I noticed the bugs a lot more in my sleeping bag, cause of the lack of tent. They were buzzing around my ear, my gosh they wouldn't stop!! So i ignored them.

In our little La Vida book, we were given space to write our Final Paper. So i wrote that and handed it in, and i passed, (it's not graded i dont think, since the thing is totally subjective, i.e. it's a pass-fail affair). So that night as last night, i went to bed when it was too dark to read or really see well. Which of course is like 730 pm, hehe. I can't imagine going to bed then, ever again.

This night i heard the Buck snorting outside my tarp! I can't believe i didn't try to crawl out and see it! I knew it was pitch dark and i thought maybe i'd scare it or something Oh my gosh i can't believe it! How great. I slept well. I didn't think about food too much, never really got hungry.

Thursday, 29th

6810

But oh boy, i sure got weak! Thursday morning i stood up too fast, and continued to stand up too fast that whole morning. I was totally in no shape. But the Sherpas love us, they gave us some Sherpa Stew; Lentil and Split Pea base with peppers, onions, potatoes, and carrots. The assistance team brought that in late one night :D Well.. That morning, we didn't bother re-crossing the river with the bear rope, we decided to walk across both the remaining 2 rivers. That was chill.

We got to the van and piled in, and Jang flipped out in joy like he always does :P :D.. And we went north, to La Vida base camp, north of Saranac or somewhereabouts. Oh man, it had like real buildings and a mess hall and a chapel and bunks and an office and REAL PORCELAIN! Gosh they know how to treat the campers well. So we pitched tents and tarp up across a huge field, and lunched, and we prepared a skit, which consisted of little snippets of our journey: fighting over Gorp, climbing the wall, Jang not waking up in the morning, drinking hot pudding, hiking and having to put up with the Bio majors making a big deal out of every living creature they see :P , and finally singing our song, Jesus King of Angels.

That night we had a HUGE feast, i ate like a serving of fruit salad and 2 of real salad, and who knows how many chips, and 2 hot dogs, dressed up real awesome with mounds of relish how i like it, and 2 cheeseburgers, similarly decked out, and cookies and baked beans and i forget what else, but it ruled, although we shouldn't have stuffed ourselves after fasting for nearly 3 days!! :P A lot of us got so sick, as well as me, but i didn't care a bit.

That night we put on our skit in the chapel, and the 3 other freshmen groups and the 4 upperclassmen groups put on theirs, and interspersed throughout we sang praises, and some people gave testimonies and stuff. Afterward i found Kevin, and Claire and we chatted a bit.

Then we all met in a bunk house later that night to hear Carolyn's life story. Afterward we cut up the LOD knot thing into little nylon bracelets that he burned onto our arms. I'm not gonna try taking this off, yo, ever! This rules. Then we went to bed.

Friday, 30th

6811

All our equipment was all used up so we turned in all that, and my whistle was missing so i had to just scratch 5 dollars from the $20 deposit. Those are the breaks, i guess. Then after a hearty breakfast (kidding) of a banana and an orange and some cereal, we ran ten miles!!

They drove us out to a point ten miles out, and then once all the groups got in, the race began! I went kinda fast so i slowed down, and gradually i continued slowing down until i hit the five mile mark, then i just went to a jog then what the heck i started walking. The first 3 were at a pretty good clip though. I got to talk a bit with this dude Andrew who went to my roommate's high school, and also Seth from frisbee that one day. Then when they went on, Kevin and I grouped up, and met on and off with various people, such as Chris and Helen, and um, who knows who else.

Eventually we made it, after a while, just chatting, which was cool. A nail fell out of the sky in front of me. No one was behind me, so i think thats kinda cool. There was watermelon waiting for us, as well as a midsized lunch, and a course evaluation (i'd forgotten i was still at school!).

At this point they passed out the gifts, the t-shirts and plaques and bumper stickers and birchbark scripture passages. We were exchanging addresses and wrapping up, and collecting our deposits, and it was a sort of sad time for me.. La Vida was over, no more hiking, no more fun in the woods with my new friends. But there was more. There was the van ride home, the second part of which was just very very cool.

Something they suggested we do, was A.C.E.S, which are the appreciations, challenges, and exhortations we have for one another. We shared those with one another, and you could feel the love :) We got to campus far too soon; we really didn't get to Christine or Wolfe except as a rush-through.

Then we got out of the van, i introduced the kids to Dad and Vicki who pulled in about then, and we took stuff out of La Vida Storage and went to the Days Inn on exit 22 by Denny's (where we ate for lunch after my shower, and where Sarah also happened to be chowing down!). I drank a lot of orange juice. Justus and Lauren were also there, as a side note, as well.

Saturday, 31th

6812

After a nice moulage of classic rock before bed, and waking up and having continental breakfast at the Days Inn, Vicki and Dad and I drove around Cape Ann seeing what all was up here; We stopped at some national park somewhere with a quarry, and a WWII-era Naval sea sighting station, and all that was pretty cool. There were lots of plants there, i remember thinking how ridiculous it was that all those types of plants were all together in one park. After the Adirondaks, where there's like 5 types of plants max at a time. Then in Rockport we ate at this one artist type restaurant, and i had Bisque, and Vicki didn't like the clams because of the squishy part. bah, that's not a good reason. j/k, i don't like it either, i hate it.

So then by 5 we started on our car ride home, where i largely was consumed by reading one of the 5 books i got in Rockport: Around the World in Eighty Days. The others are Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Up From Slavery, Bartleby + Benito Cereno (one volume), and Treasure Island, which I curiously haven't ever read before. So i will whip through those this summer. It took until sunrise on Sunday to actually MAKE IT home. Ah, good old Butler County! Home, Sweet Home.

12:49 pm
MOOD: Gosh, thank goodness i'm done writing.
MUSIC: Zork OST