Day 1: A Rough Beginning

What a day. After waking up at 6:30 am and leaving my friend Kaitlyn’s sister’s apartment, our entire group met in the rain at CRC circle at 7am. We were given four rental SUVs rather than the three fifteen passenger vans that we had expected, and squeezing in everyone’s over packed luggage was quite the struggle. By 8am, we were on the road. Although I was in a car with four people who I’ve never talked to before, it wasn’t at all awkward. We jammed to Beyoncé and drove for hours in the rain, until the rain turned into fog and the fog finally cleared. The weather was still overcast, but we had finally made it to West Virginia.

At around 12, we decided to start looking for somewhere to eat. We took off at an exit, and it split into one of two lanes; the left lane going to a “travel plaza,” and the right going to “Tamarack: The Best in West Virginia.” We didn’t know what they had, but we were hoping for food, and we didn’t want to pass up the best of anything! We opened the doors, not knowing what to expect. The building was one big circle, with all sorts of trinkets for sale. We looked at the directory, which pointed us in the direction of the food court. While looking at the comfort-food menu and discussing whether we wanted to stay, a woman stopped us and told us, “The food here is amazing. I’m from here and I come here once a week. It’s a little pricey, but you get what you pay for and the portions are great!” We took her word for it, and she was right. I ordered the Marinated Grilled Chicken Sandwich, and it was enough to keep me full for the rest of the trip.

When we finally arrived at the hotel, we had a lot of trouble with the two single rooms that we had added on that day going through the computer. The team was hungry, and we hadn’t budgeted out our grocery list yet. We ran to Family Dollar to pick up some small things before we ordered 8 Hot and Ready Little Caesar’s Pizza with Crazy Bread. We had a long awaited feast in the tiny lobby and began to discuss plans for tomorrow. We decided that we would finish our grocery shopping tonight and meet at Sonic a little after 8pm for half priced shakes. We also decided to make the long drive tomorrow to the beach. Sitting in a car doesn’t exactly sound like the best way to spend my early Sunday morning, but there’s no way I’m passing up a day at the beach! I’ve never been to the east coast, so I’m excited to see what it has to offer and check it off of my bucket list!

We’re currently digesting in our one-star hotel room. After about 30 minutes of staring at the menu, I finally decided on the Mini Peanut Butter Fudge shake, and my stomach is not agreeing with me about how good it was! I uploaded my photos and looked at some school work, and soon we’re going to meet back up to play some card games and do some team bonding. I’m really excited about the fun people that are on this trip with me, they’re all crazy and outgoing!

Planning for food for the week ahead and all of the bumps in the road that I’m sure are to come is a little stressful, but I’m confident that all of this hard work will pay off and that this will be a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life. And don’t think for a second that I’m leaving without a tiger selfie!

#CTR