At the last EG each crew reported on their week and how it had affected them. When it was over we wrote letters to ourselves (which will be mailed later in the year) and then were each given a bracelet with different colored beads, each of which stands for some value of ASP (ie christian love, the environment, faith, continuation of service, etc). it's actually kind of cool--I still have mine on in the hopes that I will remember the experience fully, and all the things learned from it as well.

Saturday morning we left early (though not as early has the minnesota group, who left at 4am). We had quite a long drive to Fayetteville, WV. We drove over and visited the visitor's center of the world's longest arch bridge. Then we rafted under it! woohoo! The rafting trip was about three hours. Aside from one kid nearly drowning while swimming a mild class-2 rapid, it was a fabulous trip. So much fun! I never came out of the raft once. In fact, only two people came out, and that was in our second-to-last rapid! We nearly had a perfect score at the end. LOL. We were able to swim in the river too, which was great. It was so warm! Lovely.

At the end of the trip, we were bused back to where the vans were. Our campsite was just up the hill...and it was thoroughly rustic. Platform tents (we didn't have to pitch our own tents, thankfully) with foam "mattresses" on the floors. Lots of trees, plenty of bugs, darkness, and a campfire pit in our area. (There are like 75 tents or something in this place, gathered around campfire areas). In addition it had a cafeteria/restaurant where we had our spaghetti dinner. And, of course, as every good campsite should, it was equipped with a hot tub, a pool, pool tables, video games....etc. hehehehe!

The drive home the next morning was run by Josh. he set serious time limits on our breaks, drove 75 to 85 all the time, and we made amazing time home. We arrived an hour and a half earlier than our earliest projected time. It was beautiful. it was still a long drive (about 10.5 hours), which I drove only half of. But still. Indiana is the MOST boring state to drive through, I think. ugh. We were so happy to be home. The very first thing I did (after the bathroom) was go to the Starbucks across the street. yay!

All in all, it was a great trip.