The 2003 bike trip was such an awesome experience for me, even though I went

on the bike trip last year.

Day 1: The route that we took that day caught me, and I'm sure everyone

else, by surprise with all the hills. Nothing else really happened that day

except for Zander's broken chain, Jason's broken gear shifter and Andrew

being sick at the end of the day. The campsite was really nice with the

water slide and the cook out area.

Day 2: I thought that Tuesday was the hardest day throughout the whole

trip. Some of the hills seemed to never end. It was quit an experience

that day as all of us heard or saw God at work when that dog came racing out

onto the road heading right for PJ. When we had finally reached are lunch

spot I was so hungry. We ate in the backyard of a tavern and the lady

working there was real nice. We all got drinks in the tavern and enjoyed

some air conditioning for a bit while in there. Some of us played kickball

while the rest of us fell asleep in the shade. We had finally made it to

the church and I was so excited when we got to give our performance. After

our performance we all got to go home with families and spend the night at

their houses.

Day 3: Morning came and we all arrived at the church around 7:45 that day

ready for our big 70 mile ride. The day ended up being a lot easier than I

had anticipated it to be. We started out on a path and it felt so great to

cruise on flat ground without battling massive hills. We had a tight

schedule that day. We made to the nursing home on time and got to eat a

lunch before we had a little fun with the people there. We played some

music, family feud, and sat around and talked. It was great to see a bunch

of old people have a lot of fun. I think that the people there were very

appreciative for us coming. We headed down the street for some ice cream

and we had no clue what was about to happen next. Just as we were getting

ready to leave we got stopped by a downpour of rain, thunder, and lighting.

It was fun though because we got to sit around, talk, laugh, and listen to

the ice cream man yodel which was the first time I have ever heard someone

yodel before. After the rain we headed off to make it to our second and

final church of the trip. It ended up pouring again, and we got soaking wet

and all muddy Jason and Mr. Sladkey had an accident but luckily no one was

seriously injured. We finally made it to the church dripping wet and our

backs all covered in sand and dirt from the bike path. We gave our

performance again in front of a bigger group. It was amazing to see so many

people of all different ages from a whole different area worship the same

God we worship in a little different way. Families again took us in to

spend the night at their houses.

Day 4: The sun rose and we were at the church nice and early at 7:45 in the

morning for our short 40 mile ride to Rockford. We reached our campsite at

noon, set up our tents, ate lunch, and headed out to the water park. It was

a little bit chilly but we had a blast. The rides, wave pool, and the

volleyball games were so much fun. Meredith tried to dunk me but didn't

succeed. After the water park we headed off to a buffet place, and I

stuffed myself to the brim and watched Ali suck jello up her nose. We went

back to our campsite, sat around and talked for a little bit before we went

to bed.

Day 5: Everybody was excited for this day because we were going to the

cottage which is one place we all wanted to make sure we were going to.

After we had lunch we played a game of soccer and I had blast because I am

so bad at soccer. After lunch Mike F. brought his bike to Wally's place to

get it fixed. We reached the cottage around 5:00, set up the tents, and

went down to the beach. When we had reached the beach Jason, Zander,

Elizabeth, Michelle, Meredith, and myself played a boys vs. girls to see

what gender would be the last one standing on the raft. The boys won every

single match but we found out that the girls know how to use their nails.

We went back to the cottage to have dinner and play a game, then all of us

students went down to beach to sleep.

Day 6: It was the final day of the trip and we left the cottage at 8:00 in

the morning. We knew we had to be at some park by noon to meet the parents

for lunch so we cruised at a pretty decent speed. Mike F's. bike was making

some funny noises, and Mr. Sladkey told Mike that when he got home he should

take his bike out back and shoot it. That was great ! We rode on a bike

path the majority of the day which was nice because it was a nice smooth

ride. We reached the park at noon and our parents were glad to see us & we

were glad to see them. They brought some great food! I had a fun time

after lunch, sitting around listening to students tell all about the trip.

We finally departed from our parents and headed off on our short little ride

home to Naperville where our parents would be waiting for us again. We

arrived at Mr. Sladkey's house took some pictures and went our own ways

home.

I had a great time on the trip and I can't wait till next year. I will

definitely miss the seniors, Ali, Ashley, Jason, John, Elizabeth, Meredith,

and Shawn as they move on.