Sunday, July 22nd -
Today, thirteen 13-17 year-olds left from Camp Tecumseh and all over the midwest for a week of thrilling adventures. Upon arrival to camp, we gathered food from the Lake and River Village kitchens and loaded The Chariot, and then we were off.
Right now we are stuck in stop-go traffic trying to catch our fellow travelers’ attention by knocking on the windows and flailing our arms. Most of them are glued to their phones or thinking we are slightly nuts. Once in a while, though, they’ll wave back-- so far, we have four wavers.
Earlier we visited Churchill downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby. We meandered the museum and shop, followed a brief tour, then viewed a documentary on the race. We received our numbers for roll call, color groups, and jobs for the week today. Currently, we are headed to Mammoth Cave Campgrounds now, and nature has decided that sending us rain on the first day would be particularly splendid.
Around us are small, scattered, and densely forested mountains. Everything is varying shades of green, besides the rocky, orange cliffs to our left, now. The Sun has reappeared currently; maybe we’ll get a rainbow fo some good luck in the coming days.
(Written later) Our night at Mammoth Cave Campgrounds was very educational and fun--however we almost got abducted by New Yorkers. We put up our own tents and the pink group cooked a dinner consisting of mashed potatoes, bacon, and burgers.
Monday, July 23rd -
We woke up on our own around 6:00 Chicago-time (I think). We changed into our riding clothes, gathered our things, ate cereal and bagels, then departed for South East Pack Trips in Jamestown, TN.
Right now, if you look out the windows, we are driving down a two lane road through an itty bitty rural Tennessee town; however, most of us are enjoying watching Shrek the Movie.
At the moment, we have left the town, and the mountains are growing taller by the minute. There are dilapidated barns dotting the fields beside the road, and orange streaked cliffs every once in a while.
(Written later) Once we arrived at Southeast Pack Trips, we were met with 14 fully tacked horses, along with 3 mules for us to ride once we’d eaten. The first ride was wonderful, but it was a trick to figure out each horse’s--and mule’s--quirks. The hills were blanketed in the greenest fields of horses of the most unique colorings. Every now and then they’d canter up to us and frolic in the fields as if to impress us. We rode the trails for four hours this afternoon. When we got back we found the place where we’ll be camping the next three nights and set up our tents and started making dinner.
Our first night was a blast. After doing our chores and showering, the girls played ‘Never Have I Ever’ in the old barn as Chloe occasionally shut off the lights because Harold messed with the wiring… We later had devotions there as well. We sat on plastic containers of pine shavings meant for the dusty stalls behind us and put all our devotions candles in the middle.
Tuesday-
We are currently rocking out to Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” and using our newly bought soda bottles as microphones on our way to the pinnacle of civilization: Walmart. And now we have lost Walmart, and now it's found.
Walmart was AMAZHANG. We scared a lot of people, confused even more, and hunted baby powder. Chloe bought blow-up bubbles and Savannah is giving us tattoos of miscellaneous foods.
Earlier we rode for six hours through the mountains and ate lunch in a cave, Wild Cat’s Den. Here, according to “old-timer’s,” as Larry says, hunters cornered a wild cat in the cave which gave the cave its name. They’ve also claimed to have excavated Native American artifacts from the sandy soil. Today we rode for five and half hours.
(Written later) Tuesday was also movie night. We watched Paul Blart as Mall Cop; it was pretty funny.
Wednesday -
This was probably the most eventful day yet. It was our second and last day of full riding, and all of a sudden one horse spooked, then another, and then two more--we’d trampled a yellow jackets nest, but we’d had no idea. Cheyenne had gotten a bloody nose (much like her rider), so we ignorantly paused amid the angry insects which were buzzing around our horses’ legs and our heads until Larry and the rest of the crew cantered up shouting “RUN! BEES! RUN!” So we blindly cantered away from the nest.
On Wednesday we also visited not just Walmart, but also DQ, Micky D’s, and Dollar General. I GOT A SHOVEL! Back at our camp site we went on a Trust Hike for devotions and talked about starting love tanks.
Thursday -
We woke up at 5:45 AM so those of us who wanted to help brush and tack up for our hour ride could head down to the barn and the others could help pack and clean up. Tacking was very intimidating, even for those of us who’d done it before. Larry would put on the bridle as we watched, then Reed would come and check it thinking that a kid had done it then loosen the cheek strap and twist the curb chain.
Right now we are heading to Kentucky Horse Park for a few fun activities and one more night of camping. We got to see past Kentucky Derby winners and Triple Crown winners, ride the trolley tour, visit the museum, Breeds Barn and Gift Shop.
We camped out at the Kentucky Horse Park Campgrounds and immediately visited the pool. We had been so hot this afternoon and it felt so good to be in the cold water. Then we upgraded our camp site so we could be closer to the bathrooms, water and dumpsters. We had pasta, pizza bagels and jiffy pop popcorn for dinner and then had a devotion about friendship.
