Elisabeth's Memories

WOW! I had a great first bike trip. I was the youngest one (besides Patrick), and in the beginning I doubted that I could ride my bike that far, but everyone was so encouraging, even if you didn't realize it, and it helped me a lot. Thanks.  I had such a great time getting to know everyone better. Here are my memories:

Monday
Day 1~The best campground!
I had a fun ride to Stillman Valley with Shawn. She and her mom have a passion for country music, and now I do too. We could already hear Zander on the walkie-talkies. When we got to Stillman Valley I went to the Gas Station and the guys cut in front of us for the the bathroom! I think PJ had already given a card to everyone. :)  I had a couple of Meredith's Cookies and Shawn's brownies to wake me up. I was so thankful that the Nolan's found someone to blowtorch off their bike lock so they could get started with us. Once we finally got going it was kind of tough it was a fairly long ride and it was HOT! We were so blessed the twins and Mrs. Hilger found such nice places for us to eat and  rest. After the first break I went with PJ and Zander. I had a good time talking to PJ and listening to his stories, and Zander had a blast with the walkie-talkies. I made the mistake of playing ultimate frisbee after lunch, I felt sick once i got back on my bike. It was about 25 more mi. to the campsite. When we got there, we found it was really nice. A couple of us went swimming and then I listened to Mike play his guitar. Dinner was great especially when the Krema's arrived! We practiced our service for the church and then made smores...mmmmm. I had a great time playing the blanket game. Andrew missed all of it, he was in quarentine. I got my back cracked by Ali, it was loud. Then I tried to fall asleep. The stars were bright. It wasn't very buggy I finally fell asleep listening to the guys side comments coming from their tent.

Tuesday
Day 2~HILLS!
When I went to get breakfast I found half-burned pancakes and Shawn covered in pancake batter! Mr. Krema saved the day, and the pancakes I got tasted wonderful. We packed up and got going for an unbelivable day. It started to get really hot as it got closer to lunch.We had about 3-4 giant hills that people had to walk I tried to ride most of the way and then walk when it got really hard. There was one where I said no I'm just walking this one. It was tough in the hot sun. I rode trailing Jon and Jason most of the way and acquired the nickname E-Dog. Kristin did a great job never walking one hill! PJ had us drink lots of water so we wouldn't get dehydrated. I listened to Shawn talk to her bike saying "Go bike, go you can do it." Ali's bike had the most accesories I've ever seen! Her radio was helpful when the riding got tough. There were definetly times during the day when I wanted to give up and I thought I wouldn't make it but God helped me, it seemed like the hills got easier. It took a while to get to lunch but the Twins found a PERFECT spot. It was a tavern. The lady who owned it gave us all free drinks and we cooled off in the air conditioning. I ate my lunch and then rested under a huge shady tree. Mr. S convinced about half of us to play kickball but I new better. I just saved my energy. We had a nice long break and once we started riding I was ready to be at the church.  The big black dog chased PJ and Mr.S but I wasn't with them, we finally passed the sign for Dodgeville. I was about to fall off my bike from exhaustion. The church welcomed us with open arms. We washed up and then ate dinner, I liked the hamburgers and hot dogs. We had an intersesting dinner coversation about Meredith's system, she went into GREAT detail! :) The service went alright, my team won family feud. The trio Mike F., Brian, and David did an awesome job playing their songs. We met our families and mine had 2 girls and one was my age. I stayed with Shawn, Ashley, and Liz. The family had 2 cute little cousins over and we watched Lilo & Stitch. Then Shawn showed me how to diffuse my hair, is was awesome! I talked to Ashely and then fell asleep pretty fast.

Wednesday
Day 3 ~ The LONGEST ride ever!
This morning the family we stayed with had a big breakfast with eggs, strawberries and sausage for us.They had a lot to offer. I had a big glass of milk too. We  arrived at the church at about 7:45. Everyone got trail passes except me and Zander because we were the youngest. We took about a million pictures in front of the church and then we were on our way. All the sudden tons of sirens went off and we saw tons of  firetrucks but never saw a fire. The first part of the ride was long 50 mi. to the nursing home in New Glaris. I was pretty sore, tired, and wasn't feeling great for that first part. Most of the day was trails, the first trail was hard. I rode with Mr. S, Shawn, Mike, Jason, Jon, and David we tried to name certain kinds of cheese Jon named a bread. :) We finally got to the nursing home and had lunch. I was hungry! Meredith's asthma was really bothering her so she rode in the van but after lunch she was back on her bike. The nursing home was great, we made a big impact, and I talked to a lady who was 92 but she looked 62! I got to wheel a 101 yr. old lady back to her room. At first she couldn't understand what I was asking her but we eventually found her room. Since the nursing home went well we decided to stop for ice cream Mr.S's treat! At first I didn't want anything but then  I got a smoothie and it made my stomach feel better. Meredith, Kristin, PJ, and the Nolans went ahead while we were still eating. About 5-10min. later it started pouring rain with thunder and lightning. We were stuck. I felt bad for those who were riding in the rain, we tried to reach them on the talkies but they were already too far.The ice cream shop man yodeled for us, it was awesome! It was the first time I had ever heard that besides the man in the nursing home. :) Mr.S said it was time to go and the a big crash of thunder came. We stayed until the rain stopped and then left on what we thought was the path, it was all uphill. We got to the end of the path near a road and a ranger told us the trail we wanted was 1.5 mi. back the other way. Once we finally got on the trail it had stopped raining. It was wet gravel so it was hard to pump the pedals. I caught up with David and Mike and we made it a goal to try and catch PJ, the Nolans, Kristin, and Meredith.We finally all caught up. When I saw PJ he had on Mrs. Nolan's shirt and said he wanted an earring for his bellybutton! :) It started to pour rain when we were almost to the church. That's when Jason and Mr.S crashed. When we finally got there the church was so open. We took off our shoes. In the bathroom I was washing mud off, every one had a dirt stripe down their back. My clean shirt fell into the trash can and Ali thought it was funny! Andrew had a bloody and muddy shirt and made a good picture.We made  a huge impact on the church and I had a great time doing the service barefoot! Dinner was great. My host family was a nice older couple. I stayed with Kristin, Mrs. Hilger, and Mrs. Chandler. I took a hot shower and and was out like a light, I was exhausted.

Thursday
Day 4~Water Park
Kristin and I woke up just in time for breakfast where I spilled a glass of OJ all over the table. What made it worse was they had carptet under the table. I was humiliated but they weren't too upset so I felt a little bit better. When we got to the church I found that my shoes were soaking wet!  It wasn't enjoyable. The ride to the water park was short, 40 mi. we rode on some flat trails and streets to the campgroud, it was still hot. We told Kristin and Liz there was a port-a-potty somewhere in the opposite direction it really was. At one point Andrew went to the port-a-potty and Brian hid his bike, it was pretty funny, we all started riding away. Shawn fed Patrick some chocolate covered raisins and Mrs. Nolan wasn't too happy when she changed his diaper. :) The state park wasn't as nice as the first campground, a little more outdoors but it was fine. We set up tents and had lunch before piling into 2 vans to the park. It was fun, but it got a little cold. I went down this cool slide with Ashley and then went on another right behind Meredith and Kristin just so we could hear her scream! Boy was it loud. The life guard at the top of the slide was even laughing. I think PJ went deaf. We tried to play king of the raft in the wave pool, but it didn't really work. Then we all played beach volleyball. I wasn't very good, I'd always hit the ball with one arm, grunt, and then fall over. Everybody thought it was funny. While the girls washed up for dinner the guys sat around and waited. It was fun riding to the buffet, the van was so crowded, I had to sit on Shawn's lap, and I got back some funny pictures of it! The buffet was delicious. I sat with Mike R., Liz, and Brian. I liked talking and getting to know everyone better. Patrick hated the bee, and I heard Ali and Jon were sucking jello up their nose. Me, Mike F., Mike R., Liz, Brian, Shawn and the Nolans got the early ride back to the campsite. The six of us went walking around a little bit and took some cool pictures. Everyone else came back an hour later. They had to stop and get fire wood. I took a 20 min. walk to the bathroom. When I got back we all sat around the camp fire while Mike played a song with a verse for just about everybody! :)  It was the girls first and last night together all in the same tent. I was so tired, and it was funny fitting 8 people in. Sometime in the middle of the night Shawn woke up and said, "good morning everybody!" It was really loud, Ali told Shawn to be quiet.

Friday
Day 5 ~To the Cottage
I woke up and took another 20 min.walk to the bathroom. Then we packed up and got ready to go to the cottage! It was nice not having to rush since we didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time. I started out sore but then got a good pace. We had some hills but nothing bad it was just a bunch of rolling cornfields.
It was still hot! Mike F.'s pedal fell off but he got to ride Andrew's bike because he didn't feel well. At lunch we stopped at a nice church and played a big game of soccer. Mr.S and Meredith were really good. It was sooooo fun. I wanted to keep playing. After lunch Andrew felt better so Mike had to ride in the van. They took his bike to a bike shop and Wally only charged $20 to fix it. As we got closer to the cottage I got really excited. When we got there I had a look around. While we all sat waiting for the van Shawn must have been really happy because she was crying! :)  (Actually she and Mike R. had really bad allergies.) Mr.S asked Mike R. how he was feeling and he said, "Like crap!" He had the best one liners. We unpacked the tents and then I went to the beach. At first a lot of us went out but then alot of people went in because it was cold. I played king of the raft and it ended up being me, Michelle, and Meredith vs. David, Zander, and Jason. It was tons of fun! I was just a body easy to throw off but I tried to fight, guys are just too strong. Meredith would fall to the ground and then attack. It was the best technique because she stayed on the longest. Michelle accidentally used her nails to give the guys nice red scratch marks. Then Ali came and tried to help it was pretty funny! Then we washed our hair in the lake with Ali's floating shampoo. By the time we got back dinner was ready. I had 2 hot dogs. I was starving. Meredith had a turkey dog that fell on the ground! :) Then we played the circle of truth game and broke a couple of lawn chairs. All the students went and slept on the beach. Once we all finally laid down we were showered with rocks that Jon and Jason were throwing (for no reason). They were landing on our sleeping bags! Ali had to go to the bathroom so she and Meredith went to the port-a-potty. It was about 200 yds. away. Jon got up and sprinted over there and he and Meredith tipped it sideways it almost fell all the way over! Meredith let out her super loud scream. It was hilarious. Jon was back in his sleeping bag before Ali even came out. We all talked a little and then tried to sleep. It was hard because the sand was lumpy, I was laying on a slant, other people were playing on a swing set, some crazy guys shot off loud fire works right over our heads, and plus it was the last night but, I eventually did fall asleep.

Saturday
Day 6 ~ tHe LaSt DaY
Shawn was going to wake me up to help with breakfast but she said I looked tired. When I did wake up I had a giant headache from sleeping on the slant. PJ said I should be smarter because of all the blood that had rushed to my head. We had pancakes again and Mr. Krema did a spectacular job. The line for the bathroom was long since there was only one! The devotions were good we had two. We packed up and took some pictures, then we were on our way. The first ride until break was a long haul 20 mi. While we waited for the van I went and got a cookie dough blizzard at Dairy Queen and went to the bathroom at a gas station. We had 20 mi. to got till lunch on a nice paved path. I rode with David, Jon, and Andrew. We got ahead trying to find PJ and Zander, took the wrong path and ended up going 3 mi. out of our way. We had to ride really fast to catch up with everyone else, it was really hard and I learned not to ride too far ahead again. Mike's bike pedal was broken again, and it kept making a loud clicking sound. Mr.S let Mike ride his bike part of the way. We made it to lunch in St.Charles and had a fun picnic with all of our families. We talked about the trip. My mom said she had gotten us mentioned on the news! Then we rode on the Prairie path home. Meredith, Michelle, and David had a water fight. Jamie was doing really good for riding that far. We were getting closer and stopped at the Krema's grandpa's house and said Hi. Once we finally got to the Sladkey's we were greeted by our parents it was a good feeling. The Sladkey's weren't there. They had been riding slower. Then it started to pour rain, we all hudled in the garage. About 10 min. later they all rode up soaking wet, and we clapped. The last thing Andrew said was he had a date with the toilet. We took some pictures and that was the end of it.  I took home a bunch of extra candy bars. It was kind of sad that it was over, it didn't feel like i had ridden 350 mi. but it was a great accompishment. I have fun thinking of all the memories we have.

A few things I remember that were ongoing or I forgot when they happened:

The boys going to the bathroom on the side of the road and a truck honking at them

One time when I was riding by myself with Jon and Jason they started singing their best rendition of the Backstreet Boys "I Want It That Way," and a couple of old songs, it sounded a little different from the way it supposed to sound. :)

Mike and his tokens, It was a fun game Meredith, David, and Ali lost theirs all the time

Eating candy bars was supposed to be for energy but I think it just filled my sweet tooth! :)

Ali and Michelle honking their horn and ringing their bell every time we passed someone

Seeing the tape of us on the news and hearing Tracy Butler on my answering machine

Mike R.'s one-liners

The nicknames:
E-dog: Me
PoPo: Brian
Mrs. PoPo: Liz
Stinkbomb: Michelle
Off-roader: Jason, I became accustomed wathcing him ride on the curb 
Red Lobster/Rubber Ducky: Zander
the Twins (Twin 1 & Twin 2): Mrs. Cocallas and Mrs. Chandler
Mike F. hated his: Tinkee Winkee

PJ asking for more business cards

Mike's Air baby

Riding probably an extra 15 mi. out of my way the whole trip because of riding to far ahead or getting lost

Last but certainly NOT least, I want to thank God, I don't think I would've made it the whole way without Him. I want to thank everyone who prayed for me. This was such a great trip and accomplishment. It really helped me grow closer to God and in my faith. I found I prayed a lot for his help on some of the tough days. I had so much fun and want to thank everybody for some great memories, it wouldn't have been the same without you! Also, a big thanks to Mr.Sladkey who was a great inspiration and has been a great leader all along. I can't wait for FCA to start again! :)

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