Sunday July 8-
Today we all arrived and started the adventure by named our cups. Then we decorated the Chariot with paint markers, balloons, cans and more for our parade around the villages tomorrow. We also had swim check (We all got Blue Bands:) ). We went to the nightingale and got a health screening, Anya had the highest temperature. Then got assigned our groups and jobs for the week. We played nine square in the air and end up with the quote, “It’s only frikin Tuesday.” (But it was only Sunday LOL.) Then we went to dinner and decorated cardboard for opening campfire. We painted mountains and went as a mountain range with funny quotes (ColoRADo) and drawings on our mountains as well. We had our first devo with each other and talked about how we can spread love and the Tecumseh message on our trip. At devos we had the opportunity to choose a bead in the Tripper Creed to focus on for the upcoming weeks. Those being grit, positivity, encouragement, courage, and generosity. After that we lit Chinese lanterns and let them go on the top of the lake hill to really kick start our adventure and then showered in other cabins before the girls went to bed in two sisters and the boys slept in whitetail lodge.
Monday July 9-
This morning we woke up and packed that Chariot with everything we would need for our adventure. We got sent away at lake flag pole and then began our journey to the YMCA camp in Nebraska. Our first meal in the Chariot was pancakes, sausage and hash browns. We’ve been spending our first 100 miles making friendship bracelets, telling our life stories and coloring pictures of sunsets, pants and more. After we stopped for gas, we ate a lunch with a variety of sandwiches while on the road. Along the way we passed the “Wolds Largest Truck Stop” in Iowa, a crop duster in action in Illinois and a variety of different licence plates ranging from Canadian provinces to lots of different states. We then “interviewed” / got to know more about each other and then gave 1 minute presentations about our friends to each other. Then with our same partner we named all the Tecumseh cabins and attempted at drawing a map. We stopped at another gas station with 3 hours until the camp. After, we hit the road again and watched the movie Hoosiers. We stopped at one more gas station before hitting the road until Omaha, Nebraska. Once we got to Omaha we stopped in a Goodwill and Nebraska spirit store. We pulled into Camp Kitaki took a jumping picture in front of the signs and sent up our tents. We met some pretty cool people the first day we were there. The director and his wife, Jason and Nat, and some really cool counselors too, Flynn and Frizzy. Then we made cheese quesadillas and really good Spanish rice for dinner and cookie dough for dessert. Then we hung out, showering, had devos and went to sleep in our tents.
Tuesday July 10-
We woke up at camp Kitaki and began living the adventure. A few of us got up and did their morning swim time called polar bears, we made friends with some of the younger campers, one of them being a super sweet boy named Levi and Hattie. Then we went to flag pole and chapel with the camp. We ate breakfast on the porch and then got a tour of the camp. We saw everything from the well, the water system, campfire, playgrounds, archery, crafts and the horses. When we saw their craft area we learned that at Kitaki they call gymp boondoogle. Next, we all went to the pool and played knockout and went of the slides. Then we had grilled cheese in the basement of the dinning hall. Down in the basement we pretended like it was Tecumseh lunch, we did flies, order of the oar and more. We took our rest hour in the air conditioning; we all were sprawled out on couch cushions on the ground. Next, we attended Camp Kitaki lake time. We paddle boarded, went on little circle boats, kayaked, went of the rope swing and more. We had a good time trying to stand but also making each other fall. After that we hiked back to camp and threw atlatls. Juice Jam was next which is basically where you get juice but also listen to music and hang out before dinner. A few of us then went back to our tents. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. Right after we were asked to do their after meal song. We sang hamburger cheeseburger to bring a little bit of Tecumseh to Kitaki. Then we got trading post, hung out and played cards, gaga and hide and seek in our minds. At trading post the majority of us got ice cream floats. We then went to the chapel in the woods and talked about the different camps with the Senior Kitaki Kids. The most unique thing about talking to them is we were asked to tell the group the pronouns we identify ourselves as. Then we did devos in the dinning hall before heading back to the tents in the dark to shower and sleep. One of the boys tents broke and that was an adventure but it all ended up alright.-
Wednesday July 11-
Today was our last morning at Kitaki. We woke up early packed up camp, stuffed the bus and headed to breakfast and chapel. We got sent off by the camp and then we hit the road for Colorado. We continued driving stopping at multiple gas stations and stopping to see the University of Nebraska. During our drive the girls laid on top of each other, napped, ate LOTS of snacks, had pillow fights, had thumb wrestling matches and even more fun. Once in Colorado we reached 1,000 miles of travelling. Our first stop in Colorado was at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Its an outdoor concert venue. We went down to the stage and sang Welcome to the Family. As we continued our drive we stopped at LL Bean at a mall in Colorado and replaced our tent, and walked around: Some groups got ice cream, shorts, etc. Then we hit the road again for the campground. When we arrived at the Lone Duck Campground in Cascade, Colorado we set up tents and made pizza bagels for dinner. The tomato sauce got everywhere but it was still really good. Then Liz Koch showed up for devos and we took showers and went to bed.
Thursday July 12-
This morning we woke up and packed the Chariot at Lone Duck. Then we ate pancakes and bacon and amazing smoothies for breakfast before hitting the road again. Our next stop was at Pikes Peak. We drove up the crazy winding road to the top. Once we got there we took lots of pictures and ate donuts and French fries while taking in the beautiful views. At the top people were climbing some rocks and doing dangerous “adventuring”. While up there we also saw an air force plane. After that we drove to the Garden of the Gods. While there, we took a nature hike tour with our tour guide Dennis and walked around. Then we had chariot lunch and stopped at two different Goodwill's. We hit the road again, stopped at a grocery store/played five outside and then arrived at Wilderness Expeditions. We then set up tent, packed our day packs for tomorrow, had dinner and went to bed.
Friday July 13-
Today was monumental. Our day began with breakfast and driving over to the repelling sight. We then met our guides, Madeline, Hensley and Brock. Once there we hung out for a while before beginning. Then we began repelling. It was a mix of wild emotions, trust, encouragement and a whole lot of courage. Jace and Emma were named the crew leaders and were so encouraging and help cheer everyone on. Claire peed on our path and everyone worked up the courage to repel! Brooke split her pants while she was walking down to encourage people. After we all went we ate lunch before cleaning up and walking back to the chariot. On the way back Jace slipped pulled down a tree… good times. We then returned back to the chariot for the drive back to the campground. After that we had a rest hour before we went to Walmart. Next, we went to the town of Salida where we went in lots of different stores, had pizza at Moonlight Pizza for dinner and got ice cream. While at dinner we all wrote postcards to our parents. Also in Salida we went over to the river and took pictures on the rocks. Then we came back to the campground and Peter and Jace kissed Grandma on the cheek for a picture and wrapped up for the night. Throughout the day we ended up with 47 license plates, more pictures with dinosaurs and we ended up with lots of stickers.
Saturday July 14-
We started the day by waking up in our tents and packing up. We then took our bags over to the pavilion where we ate breakfast burritos. Our next step was orientation, packing up out packs with everything we would need and practicing setting up the tents. We then ate lunch and used real toilets for the last time before we headed to the trail head. We began the hike, stopping for drink breaks and nature pees. Our first major stop was at the lake and old houses where we skipped rocks and hung out. We kept hiking and then stopped again at a river and used chlorine for the 1st time to clean water. Then we hiked all the way to low camp where we set up camp, ate chicken and noodles for dinner had devos and went to bed. We also saw the beautiful mountain stars for the 1st time too.
Sunday July 15-
We got up at low camp and hiked hard all day. It was pretty difficult. It was very uphill and rocky and was lots of switch backs. We stopped for a break about halfway and it started to rain lightly. Some of the boys were trying to catch pine cones in their mouths. We then kept hiking and started playing trail games as we went. We played multiple games, one being the Grocery store game. After a lot of hard work we reached a meadow where we stopped and had tuna salad for lunch. Then we kept going and the guides tricked us into thinking we still had a lot of hiking to do when we really were already at high camp. After a long day of hiking, we were all super relieved when the guides revealed the news. Our timing getting to high camp turned out to be perfect because shortly after arriving, it started raining, which meant we got to spend the rest of the day hanging out, talking, and just getting to spend time with each other. Some of us put up Kendall’s hammock and others sat under the crew fly until dinner, which was mashed potatoes with chicken. We had separate boys and girls devos; the boys under the crew fly and all of the girls piled into one tent. After devos, we walked back to the meadow where we ate lunch to watch the absolutely gorgeous sunset and went to bed.
Monday July 16-
Today was solo day which meant that we got to sleep in and rest much more than any other day. For breakfast, we had pancakes and spam; the spam was not nearly as bad as any of us expected and was actually somewhat pleasant. We had solo time from the end of breakfast to the beginning of lunch, so we all spread out in the areas surrounding camp and had 3.5 hours to journal, read the Bible, pray, etc. At one point a bunch of people saw a moose, which was super cool, but also pretty scary to be that close to it. After we got called back from solo time, we had tortillas with cheese sticks and pepperoni, apple sauce, and M&Ms. The guides took us into a mine they found behind camp. It was wet and dark, but still lots of fun. After coming back from the mine, we played the oolong bottle game. Basically how it works is each pair of partners has two points of contact past a line to pace a water bottle as far past it as they can. Things got pretty crazy, but it was very entertaining to watch. We then played a game of families, it came down to Sarah and Mollie, but Mollie emerged victorious. During the game our moose friend came back and we all had to hide in the trees while the guides grabbed their ice picks. At one point Justin grabbed the go pro and started chasing it, but thankfully we were all okay in the end. For devos, we talked about what we did during solo time and then had jambalaya for dinner. It started storming an then we went to bed while it was still light so we could be rested for summit day in the morning. The storm was not letting up however, and while we were falling asleep the guides had to come dig trenches around our tents to keep them from flooding.
Tuesday July 17-
Summit day! Today we woke up REALLY early, somewhere around 4:45, packed our day packs, grabbed our breakfast of poptarts and granola bars to go, and started hiking up towards the summit. It was extremely steep and rocky at times, but our summit attempt was indeed successful and we got all the way to the top of 13,703 ft tall Mount Rinker. We hung out for a while before hiking back down to avoid some bad weather, but not before many of us peed at the top of the mountain. We took post summit naps and hung out once back to high camp, which were much needed after a tiring day. Devos were before dinner again and we talked about needing both summits and valleys in our lives: Hensley’s metaphor-nothing can live above the tree line. Even though life on summit can seem amazing you can’t live up there and eventually you have to go back down to the valleys. After deep devos we had chicken ramen for dinner. We brought a little camp to the mountains and introduced and played 4 men on a couch with our guides. Then we went to bed for the night.
Wednesday July 18-
We started our morning with packing up everything at high camp and for breakfast we had pop-tarts and trail mix. We spent most of the day hiking down hill all the way to the bottom. It was hard work-- we finished all 15 miles. We only stopped for brief breaks mostly for bathroom breaks. We drove the Chariot back to the campground and returned all our gear. Jace made us all Cony sauce for lunch. We were planning on leaving for the pool in 15 minutes and the girls knocked on the guys door multiple times and when they weren’t ready the girls left and got coffee. The guys got Sonic and walked to the pool where the girls met them in the Chariot. We then hung out in the hot tub, swam, had a relay race and jumped of the diving board. We then got to shower for the first time in 5 days, which felt amazing. Then we had our banquet dinner of mash potatoes, green beans, rolls, pork and sweet tea. We preformed our campfire song for our trail guides. Then we had our last devotions. During the devos we gave 3 genuine compliments to each other and got our wilderness expedition shirts. A few of us then bought other shirts and stickers. Next we watched the sunset and said goodbye the Grandma. On the way back from that we decided to walk over to Sonic and get fries and milkshakes. Then for the first time in over a week we slept in a real bed.
Thursday July 19-
Today we woke up early yet again, packed up the chariot, and said goodbye to Brock, Madel, and Hensley. Sarah ran into Walmart to get some things for breakfast so we watched the sunrise in the parking lot. We had pastries and cereal for breakfast on the chariot. Since we were fresh off the mountain, lots of us took naps while we drove out of Colorado and through Kansas. For lunch we had homemade “lunchables” on the chariot and then watched more movies and slept some more. Because we had more issues with tents, we drove further towards camp to an LL Bean store to exchange tents for a second time. Kendall and Anya bought fanny packs and then we arrived at our camp site in Kansas City MO. Justin took a trip to Walmart for garlic bread, but Kendall, Anya, and Brooke tagged along to pick up beads and candy for closing campfire. We had chicken Alfredo, garlic bread, Charlotte’s Jiffy pop, strawberries, and Klondike bars for dinner. We showered and then had devos in our tents. Kendall, Anya, and Brooke made bead necklaces for all of the girls before going to bed.
Friday July 20-
We woke up in Missouri nice and early to hit the road. We packed up our new tents and hit the road. We had gogurts, bagels and cereal for breakfast. We lost the milk lid and couldn’t find it anywhere. We all slept and watched movies for a while. The girls gave each other hair wraps. A lot of us getting two so we could tie our hair up with them. We stopped and saw Emma's family at lunch at Krekels in Decatur IL. We continued driving and stopped at Ants house. We hit the road one more time before arriving at TECUMSEH.
Packed up tents
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