TWB June 19th 2023: 2023-07-02

Day 20: Kansas

Hey there! It is the best group... the GRUMPYS!!! Lindsay, Grace, Reese, Sarah, Chaning, Emery, Kiya, Kelsey, Mary, Justin, Gabe, Fletcher and Connor!!

Today, we got to sleep until 6:45am!! A lot of us woke up around 6am though to the air conditioning turning on which sounded like the bagpipes we were woken up to yesterday… We have a little PTSD...thank you, Grant!

The bus and trailers were packed and we headed on our way to the wonderful Walter's World, where the cooks shopped for our amazing breakfast of muffins and apples while others went shopping for snacks, shampoo, and deodorant (we are very thankful for that and you would be too if you were here!!)

The ride today consisted of naps, chatting, bracelet making, and games. Miss America had to take a detour at one point which caused them to run behind, so the bus and Carolina Girl settled in at the Kansas Welcome Center for a little bit. We unloaded, stretched our legs, and relaxed..thank goodness. Some people journaled, some took naps, some watched the Wizard of Oz inside, and some played spike ball or cards. On the road again, we listened to some great music Boyce found on the radio and lunch was served! PB and jelly or PB and nutella with pretzels.

While driving, we saw oil rigs, windmills and miles and miles of fields. Not much to see here in Kansas and some were clicking their heels to try and get out of here and home faster!

Finally seeing some civilization, there was a huge sigh of relief. We made it to Manhattan, our destination of the day!

We took a picture at Kansas State and then went on to another Walter's World (2 Wally Worlds in one day, wow we are lucky!!!). Once arriving at our campsite, Tuttle Creek, we were met with a lot of bugs. Welcome back to camping in the humidity!

Tonight was our final night calling home because we will be seeing you in just 3 days! We have missed you all and can't wait to see you!!!!

We had a YUMMY dinner of hibachi chicken with rice and veggies before hitting the hay and was a great meal after such a long day!!

Tomorrow, we will be in St. Louis! Sweet dreams everyone!

See you guys soon, Love you, mean it.

-The Grumpys

Today's Sleepers:

Kate

Tristan

Sarah

Alli

Laura

Piper

Parker

Noah

Nick

Grace

Andrew

The Wizard of Oz has some new members

Journaling

"I'll get you my pretty..."

Spike ball while we wait

Lydia taking a nap!

Card games!!

Nick and his research

Mary Claire and her research

Maddie with her research

Sleepys

Dopeys

Grumpys

Bashfuls

Happys

Sneezys

Day 19: Air Force Academy and Olympic/ Paralympic Museum -- Colorado

Good Morning America, it's the Happys once again!

It’s our last day of blogging and we know you’ll miss us.

We were woken up at 5:30am by bagpipes blaring in our ears #thanksgrant but once packed up, we got our dance on to the music still playing! Making up for the lack of sleep and abrupt morning, we slept a ton on the bus. At breakfast time, we had bagels with original or strawberry cream cheese, bananas, and apples! After driving through some plain scenery, we we

re met with the tremendous view of the Rocky Mountains. #blessed

With a quick snack break of pizza and Cinnabon at Flying J’s, we were back on the road again! #letsroll

Next, we got to get out at the prestigious Air Force Academy. The minimum gpa to be accepted is 3.87! It's also EXTREMELY expensive to attend, but most receive hefty scholarships.

We started at the gift shop and bought some Air Force attire before heading down the Chapel Trail. Unfortunately, we

got to the end where the Chapel is supposed to be seen and all we see is a big, white box. According to the sign, the Chapel is being refurbished and will be under construction until 2026! It is also listed as a $220 million project...wow. After staring at the big, white box, we moved on to the parade grounds and took some pictures before trying to hunt down a cadet! We found a group of 3 cadets walking together and rushed to them asking if we could kiss them for good luck...they were not good sports and quickly walked away! #sadday

We then rushed over to the Olympic & Paralympic Museum to make our 4 o'clock tour. On the way there, we were met with traffic causing us to be a little late. To make matters worse, when we were about to get off the bus and vans to go in, it began hailing and pouring rain!! We all became Olympic sprinters trying to get in the building! The museum had lots of historic pieces and interactive experiences which made us feel like true Olympians.

While the rain continued to pour, we made our way to the beautiful Colorado College campus. Everyone was a bus packer tonight and we had a mini-contest to see who could carry in the most duffel bags at a time. Of course, the Happys very own Dallas won! If we can’t dance or sing, at least we have muscles! Tonight, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were having Domino's pizza for dinner! With our pizza, we had a choice of coke or sprite to drink.

After dinner, we all got with our groups to continue practicing our dances for the dance competition tonight! The actual competition started with a bang and everyone was super pumped. Many people swapped clothes...(you'll see what we mean) and put on a show! The Dopeys were the ultimate winner of the dance competition, many saying it was because of the short shorts! Hahaha.

The night was ended with a surprise dance performance from our counselors who absolutely killed it! After, we bonded on the dance floor with a dance party encore before hitting the showers... #communalshowers

Tomorrow will be a long day as we have lots of ground to cover coming through Kansas! It’s really starting to hit us that this trip is almost over and it's making us really sad.

Farewell to all!

The Happys :)