TWB June 17th 2023

Day 20: Kansas

Hello family and friends. Time to turn that smile upside down the Grumpy's are here (JUST KIDDING) (Anna Miller, Meredith Crisp, Josie Fent, Charlie Caddell, Carson Champion, Andrew Bain, Christian McQueen, Ava Diedrich, Norea' Willis, Reese Houser, Micah Chacon, Cole Prichard, and Caroline Rhodes)! The Grumpy's were less grumpy this morning after having a later wake-up time of 7 am. After packing up and making the treacherous journey down the two flights of steps, we were on the road. Today was an extra special day because we had not one, but TWO Walmart stops today. During this first stop many of us checked our AP scores on the Walmart computers.

After our Walmart stop breakfast was served by the Sneezy's, a nutritional sugary cereal breakfast and a side of oranges. Don't worry about the extra milk (multiple gallons) though, they ended up being finished off by the guys on the bus. (hope they are not lactose intolerant!) Once our bellies were full, most of us on the bus and vans fell asleep. As we made our way into Kansas we stopped at the first rest stop. Once we stretched our legs and emptied our bladders we made our way back to the bus. To put some fun into the wheat fields of Kansas we had a lunch made of turkey/ham/chicken and cheese Hawaiian Rolls, with carrots, ranch, veggie straws, and cookies. Lunch was enjoyed with watching the movie Cars on the bus.

After some more driving through Kansas we stopped at yet another rest stop to use the bathroom.

A couple miles down the road we made a journey through some ankle-high grass to see on of Kansas' most infamous oil rigs. We obviously had to do a quick little TWB photoshoot at the rig. At this stop the birthday boy Ian came onto the bus to find his model pictures printed out and taped around the bus.

Once again we loaded the bus to our second and final Walmart stop of the day, at this stop many of us purchased Subway and then we were rewarded with popsicles from Dallas, for our long day of driving.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at our campsite (insert campsite name). After the rain continues to follow our path back home we began to set up tents for tonight, the first night of tents, BUT NOT the first night of rain.

Tonight we ate breakfast for dinner, which included french toast sticks, sausage, and blueberries. The night is ended by one of our last few singalongs. Today we not only had one but TWO birthdays! Ava Diedrich and counselor Ian! HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU TWO!

Some highlights of the day:

- Discovering Colleen Hoover as the hit of the day... even the guys were obsessed. It was mostly the boys that were reading!)

- One of our fellow Grumpy's became a snake wrangler by grabbing a black snake from the bathroom.

Day 19: Colorado- Olympic and Paralympic Museum

This is your last "Hello" from the Happy's! We started our day at 5:30 this morning, waking up indoors at the Custer YMCA. Our gourmet breakfast this morning, served by the Sleepy's, was bagels with cream cheese, there were even two kinds of options; strawberry or plain! The bus naps were short lived today as everyone was woken up at a rest stop by Dallas playing "Shake Your Silly's Out", which some of us found to be quite comical, while others were a little confused still thinking it was a dream!

We made our second stop of the day at Flying J's gas station where many of us bought Cinnabon and Pizza. Nobody tells you how AMAZING Cinnabon is until you haven't had it in a long time! Even though we were stuffed from our purchased snacks, we still ate turkey/ham and cheese sandwiches. Who could say no to sandwiches, am I right? The left and right sides of the bus competed in a "friendly" game of Family Feud. The right side came out victorious. A short music intermission is just what we needed for our next activity. KARAOKE!!! Songs such as "Wagon Wheel", "Hey There, Delilah", and....of course...."Baby" were hits.

Finally, we made it to our destination, the United States Air Force Academy. Everyone shopped around for a while before looking at the artifacts and displays within the visitor center. We took a short walk to see a beautiful vista point before quickly loading the bus to make it to our next place of the day.

I-SPY Will!

We are all airplanes!

Once arrived at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, everyone unloaded and headed inside. We were greeted by some of the museum employees with "Youth" lanyards that helped us enjoy different interactive displays. Some of us listened to videos on the history of different Olympic and Paralympic Sports, got to learn about some of our role models, and even got to make our own paintings on one of the displays. After everyone had gone through the exhibits, we all piled in the theater to watch a heartwarming and inspiring program, made by some Olympic and Paralympic competitors. The experience had many of us teary eyed or left with chill bumps. We then went outside to listen to Regan O'Neill tell us a little more about the Olympic and Paralympic Museum. Right after, we hopped on the bus to head to our "home" for the night.

As we made it to the Colorado College campus to stay, we gathered around to hear the presentations for today. These presentations were given by: Lilly Cabe (Colorado College), Carson Champion (The Air Force Academy), Charlie Price (Colorado), Meredith Crisp (Custer, SD), and Barrett Huffstetler (Mt. Rushmore), we had to catch up on research from yesterday! The counselors then took us all by surprise when she told us we were getting PIZZA for dinner!!!! Honestly the cooks have been shaking in their cowboy hats all day long because they thought they forgot dinner! As the sky started to get a little cloudy (which we're used to by now), we quickly unpacked the vans and bus, gathered our belongings, and settled in the gym for the night. Little did we know, the innocent rain storm turned into a HAIL storm. We have quite literally seen all the weather on this trip!

We headed downstairs to partake in the delicious Domino's pizza, served by the amazing Sleepy's. Some of us even went to the extreme of complimenting Dallas for extra...tehe. After dinner, we got some more practice for our dance competition. Most of us had A LOT of work to do. Finally, competition time came around. We all performed our signature dances to Bruno Mars' "24K magic". The counselors even surprised us with their own performance, starring Gangsta Ian. Though all dances were great (some better than others *cough, cough* the Happy's), the winner of the night was the Bashful's, starring Loggan (aka Loggangsta).