Today, we continued driving from Pigeon Forge to Asheville. No slow traffic, it was easy-going. We got two surprise stops in the Smokey Mountains, for sight-seeing. The first stop was to look at the mountains, but James unleaded his inner monkey and wanted to take a “trail” which was not an actual trail. We then started an argument on which way the Tennessee-North Carolina borderline was pointing. The second stop was when the fun began. We walked though a river with rapids. Fortunately, Mrs. Spangler and I left our gear on shore, because we weren’t stable on rocks and we slipped into the deeper end. This was after Mr.Pacey threatened to push me into the water.
We continued all the way to Asheville, still looking at mountains and driving through tunnels. We arrived at Asheville, celebrating and a few boys impatiently waiting for Sonic. We basically just spent the rest of the time with the other kids play dodgeball and basketball. It’s also very unusual to have worship at 10 o’clock at night. Hopefully, tomorrow I will get use to the schedule and not lose track of time.
Jake Z. Nichols
Today for breakfast I had pulpy oj. Mrs Spangler fell in a river, and I already want to go home. There are too many rules. BLAH!!! I hate a lot of rules. Oh yeah, and I had an old guy who’s losing his thoughts wash my feet today. I already was invited to join the worship group. The answer is still pending. You know doing journal every night makes me feel like I’m Jake Sully from Avatar, posting my days progress on the log… lost my train of thought… iss soooooooo cold. Our room’s called the meat locker. Jacob: over and out.
David
Today we left pigeon forge and went to the smoky mountains this had some terrific views. Then we continued on to North Carolina where we just got an overview on the whole ten days.
Seth
Today we arrived at the place. It was cool driving through the mountains. It was nice seeing everybody at the place, and I almost finished learning a piece on the piano. We had kitchen duty today.
James
We arrived today without any problems at the church. We stopped at a few places along the way to so we could look at a few things, the view was really nice. We haven’t done too much today but the food is good so far.
Jimmy Pacey
We drove through a national park for the last part of the trip. It was awesome to see the beauty of God’s creation. After a few pit stops, during which one of the chaperones fell in the river, but won’t mention which (Nikki),we arrived at our destination. We became acquainted with the others that will join us in this experience and look forward to serving and growing in faith with them.
Nikki
It looks like the girls are going to be carrying the bulk of the journals … Hopefully they will improve as we actually get into more activity. Several of the groups were stuck in traffic today, so most of them did not arrive until almost dinner time. Of course, the first day is a lot of how this whole thing works and setting expectations. Although we did play some fun name learning and teamwork games.
We did make a few fun stops on our down. Look for our photo album in the links. Fortunately, no one caught me bottoms up in the river. While I did fall, I did not exactly ‘fall in’. It was really more of an almost face plant. I have a pretty bruise on the side of one knee, but otherwise am unharmed. I did give David (who was on shore already watching us all come back in) and Mr. Pacey (who was following behind me) quite a fright I think. I can only imagine what I looked like as I went down on knee with my face quickly approaching the rocky bottom. Fortunately, I was able to catch myself and only my hair went in the water. I kept all of my electronics (phone & camera) safe and dry!
