Friday, June 11th - I was testing this day and that means that I was off site and in Bordentown, NJ. I finished testing around 2 pm and was about 1.5 hours away from a friend's house where I would be parking my car for the next week. Unfortunately, the testing materials needed to be brought back to my office, and so I drove (what is normally 40 minutes without traffic) 90 minutes back to the office to put down a briefcase, walk out and head back the exact way I came.
I reached my destination in NJ around 630 and finally was picked up by another GO! team member (Jason) around 11. I got back to the Bronx close to midnight to find out that the head of the GO! office wanted to see us off so we had to be up about 40 minutes earlier so he could meet us, give us a pep talk of sorts and then be on our way. This would mean we needed to be up by 3. Did I mention it was after midnight?
Needless to say very few of us actually slept, keeping ourselves occupied in various ways. Around 2 am we received a message from said GO! president saying he wasnt going to make it. Regardless we were going through as planned so as to make sure we had enough time at the airport. We got to Laguardia around 4 am for our 630 flight. Checking in went smoothly, we grabbed buffet/airport scrambled eggs (so soggy) and prepped for travel.
The flight from NY to CHI was not bad. A lot of people slept for parts of it, if not all, and with the loss of an hour it felt even quicker. We reached O'Hare airport around 7:50 CT with our flight to Memphis scheduled for 9:25 am. Everyone hit the bathrooms, grabbed Cinnabon and waited to board. O'Hare was packed and we quickly found ourselves in a long line on the runway (about 14th in line). After about 30 or 40 minutes of waiting (its now after 10) we are told we are 2nd in line, everyone needs to return to their seats. Then it happened. Rain!
They quickly froze all flights and we sat there. On the runway. In a 55 person plane. For the next 90 minutes. Nearing the 3 hours mark where airlines are required to let everyone off the plane, cancel the flight, and strand you - we were given clearance and took off. We took off right around when we were due in in Memphis, not actually landing until about 1:30 pm (CT).
Our ride back was captained by Ms. Patti. Our ship - a very large blue van that almost fit everyone (had one person on the floor). We stopped at Sonic, to everyone's delight, and finally reached GlenMary camp around 4:30. The boys would be in Swamp while the girls where in Spring. How fitting.
Swamp is exactly what a boys bunk in the woods would be. About 15-18 metal bunk beds, cement floors, brick walls. It was hot, there were bugs, it was ugly. We all loved it. We settled in (as much as you can), claimed our bunks, and found Candy Land in a box of supplies and games left behind by the previous week's counselors. Thus started the points system. For any competitions, whether it be board games or our kids versing each other in a sport, the 5 guys had a scoreboard.
We got dinner, had some orientation, and headed to Walmart. Most of us needed some things. On the list was packs of sleeveless shirts (beaters) for the guys, pillows for everyone, communal shampoo and soap for the guys, waterbottles for everyone, and some other things. We got out of there around 9 that night and headed back to the camp. Other than going to the waterway (soon enough) and a few people returning to Walmart later that week, we were at camp from this point on.
Everyone hung out, there was an abs work out session (Tim, our leader, told us the focus of the trip was abs back in NY. Apparently he was serious and some of the counselors had an intensive ab work out a few times that week), and later we hit the hay. We were told we had a busy day a head of us. There was much to do before the kids would arrive between 1 and 2pm the next day.
I went to bed sweating. This would happen most nights. I found out later why you don't hope for rain in the south. Here, in the north - when it is that hot and humid - rain means relief. In Mississippi - not so.
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