4-13-08 Going Home….

Needless to say, throughout this trip, we have had lots of ups and downs. Journals not getting done, website information not done, people slacking off and one of my pet peeves - not staying in contact with upcoming cities.  And as frustrating as it is, I don’t want to let this trip go to hell in a hand basket, but at the rate we are going it seems that way. When I signed on I had high hopes in my mind. So far my hopes have been slowly diminishing. I hope that this trip will be able to pull through in our darkest hour. I woke up today, feeling quite chipper. I was ready to face the day, but something was nagging at my stomach. Instead of going with my instinct, I ignored this weird feeling.  Once everyone had all of our stuff packed and ready to go in the Penske, we headed out for our first event. It was so far, the shortest distance we have ever ridden, to make it to an event. And, we made it early!  We were greeted first by mayor’s assistant. She was very nice and we talked for a while about how long she had lived in town, and how she liked Wickenburg. Then the vice mayor came. He told us some great stories about his life and his morals were intelligent. When the mayor finally came, he told us a little about himself and afterward we talked our trip. They all seemed interested in our trip, but there was one thing that caught my interest. In each city that we have gone to, they were welcome to new ideas and welcome to change. Wickenburg wasn’t’ like that. They love the city they live in and since they live off the land they don’t need to change their lifestyle. This just amazed me and it was truly the best input I have heard so far on this trip. After our meeting we headed back to our hotel. Remember, how I explained the whole stomach thing. Well it came back as soon as we got to the hotel. As it turned out, word has it that Thomsen is contemplating calling the trip off. He’s said  that at different times during the trip but we all knew he was just trying to motivate us to do our jobs, but now I think he actually means it. It was a gut wrenching realization that this trip has been going awry because us kids can’t get our jobs done. Because of us, this trip could possible sink. Right now everyone is stressed out to the point of silence. I can only hope it will get better as the day passes by. Okay so luckily the day did get better! I am in much better spirits now. Well before we left for Bullhead City our group split up. We did this because we had to make it to the event on time, and if we were to ride our bikes it would take to long. So I ended up in the group that didn’t ride so, Tim, Arielle, and I all headed out for Bullhead City.  I fell asleep even though I wasn’t supposed to. When I woke up we were almost to Bullhead. Now to be honest, when I heard of Bullhead, I thought it would be this rinky dink town that was in the middle of nowhere. But when we pulled up, boy was I wrong. The city was gorgeous! Not only, was the city surrounded by cleverly designed hotels, but it was also right along side the Colorado River. I have never seen a river that beautiful before. I was swept away by how clear the water was. The water’s color was really unique too! It was a mix of blue and light green at the edges. Anyway, before I become too side tracked…… When we drove into the parking lot, the mayor and one of the council members greeted us. They quickly rushed us inside because of the heat. Inside we chatted for a while and then the band played a song for us! After they were done playing, Arielle, Tim, and I gave a speech about our trip. When we were done, we all ate and chatted for a while. The food was great and as ate, we talked with the mayor about his plans for the city. He also had big plans for using solar power. I’m not surprised since, it gets up to 130 degrees in the summer! After we were all done eating, we got to dip our feet in the river! It felt great since it was 98 freaking degrees out! Anyway after that, we said our goodbyes to the mayor and headed for Henderson. However, as it turned out, nobody called the contact in Henderson so now we're trying like crazy to get a hold of her, and, today is Sunday. To say the least we didn’t get a hold of her and even though we went to City Hall, no one was there.  That feeling came back to my stomach and I felt terrible.  Once again we dropped the ball and I can only imagine what's going through Thomsen's mind.  I really don’t want this trip to end and neither does anyone else, but we also have to quit screwing around and get stuff done.  Yikes. So, now we are in a hotel waiting for the other riders to get here. The hotel we're at is average, but at least we have a place to stay! The rest of the riders and Thomsen got to the hotel around 7, they'd been riding all day, and we saw all the chaperones meeting at the back of the Penske.  We all thought they were making plans for our departure, especially when Tyrone said that he heard that they were going to finish the trip with just Sydney.  Everyone was real quiet and I felt really, really bad. Then Thomsen came into the room and told us that we were going on, but there were going to be some changes.  I was never so relieved in all my life.  We have a chance to straighten this mess out.  After he left the chaperones came in and laid down the rules for the cars, and then we went out and gladly cleaned the cars and Penske.  I've never seen kids so happy to be cleaning cars. Well that’s all for now folks.