Hiking Adventure: Thursday

Kristen woke up to find tick #1 (she ended up picking up 2 more during the trip), so we were on constant Lyme Disease watch all day. I administered first aid (Neosporin and a band aid) and then we were forced to go take WAY too many group pictures. There were at least six cameras and Barbara Jones took two pictures on each one (which seemed really obnoxious since it was already decided that we would all send each other our pictures from the trip).

Kristen also discovered that besides the ferry pissing her off, ticks and the scratch on her cell phone were also really high up on that list of piss offs.

Thursday was back to just lopping a new trail. We talked a lot about not following the trail back out, but just climbing up the huge hill. I kept trying to be lazy and figure out if I had to go all the way down, or if I could just hang back and wait for the group to come back. But the plan back fired when I learned that we had to go all the way down and then out another way. There were a lot of wildflowers along this trail, and cool rock formations.

We snapped a couple of good photos of Larry Wayne resting before we headed out, which morphed into a discussion of making a Larry Wayne calendar! On the 50 minute (seemingly endless, at times) climb out, we were very scared that Ron was going to have a heart attack. And when Larry Wayne twisted his ankle, I made sure to rush to his side to give him Advil. I also tried to push my ace bandage on him (because I made sure to take every single first aid supply they recommended), but he didn't think that was necessary.

Once we finally arrived at the top of the hill, a few of us collapsed at the side of the road while the rest walked to the vans. On our drive home, Larry Wayne took us by the Webb Mart, where one can buy milk and guns. Larry Wayne was really excited about karaoke, so we canceled the talent show and headed down to Bowling Green for dinner. Mindy tried to ditch us for dinner with the boys, but we foiled her plan by showing up at the same restaurant. Then at the restaurant, she ditched the boys for karaoke at the Spillway with us.

We arrived at the Spillway Bar to find a completely drunk guy dancing by himself on the dance floor, trying to join our table, but really just succeeding in wiggling his butt by Ron and Brian. Jen and I started the group off by singing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (where you can see, to the left, we were joined by the aforementioned drunk man). Kristen and I ended up singing "Living On A Prayer" (which ended up being a much higher key than we could manage) and "Summertime in Northern Michigan." And I got to sing "Folsom Prison Blues" with Larry Wayne. We had a great time, singing, dancing, and celebrating the end of the work week. We were dubbed "the party table" by a few of the regular singers, one of whom even dedicated a song to us. There were a few crazy locals who sang a lot (Billy and Pat) that we weren't sure if they were siblings, spouses, or just fellow singers who hung out together.

Larry Wayne spiced up the evening by getting us a round of Kentucky Bourbon shots. Then got brave and did a fabulous rendition of "Suspicious Minds." By the end of the evening, we realized that pretty much everyone was calling Larry, Larry Wayne, not just Kristen and I. Our two designated drivers had to take us the long way home, because the Green River Ferry only runs until 9:55 p.m. Kristen had the joy of riding in Larry Wayne's car, where he blared the stereo and she commandeered his cell phone so we could text one another. While I crawled into my sleeping bag as soon as we got back, Kristen held strong at the campfire until 3 a.m. with a few of our team (including Gloria, who wasn't with Brian, like her roommate thought).