The better the company, the shorter the drive. Pensacola, Wilmington, and Home.

As many of you know, The Call to Serve Beta Class is home in PA. It has been an amazing adventure and opportunity for me. I had more fun in the three weeks away than I have in a long time. The 2011 team made memories that will forever be in my heart. Here is what went on during the past five days:

First, we made our way from NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) to Pensacola, FL. We arrived on Friday and spent the day at the beach. White sand, clear water. What more could we have asked for?

Does it get more beautiful? Navarre Beach, FL.
By the way, this is the Gulf's longest pier!

 Ben, Andrew, and Stephen lounging on the beach.

Sommer and Pat sharing cooler space.

Bailee and I on beach day #1.

Day #2 in Pensacola, FL. We started our morning out with an organization called Clean and Green. This was an interesting project and completely unexpected. We went to Ms. Yula's house to flip her yard and paint the porch. Ms. Yula's neighbor gave us many of the supplies and helped out throughout the three hours we were there.  This project was supposed to be carried out until noon, but we found ourselves done around 10 a.m.  This provided us with yet another day at the beach. We spent the remainder of the day playing beach volleyball, swimming in the ocean, playing Frisbee, and playing boccie. 

Getting ready to work with Clean and Green

Painting the front porch of Ms. Yula's.

Passed out on the way to the beach.
I think just about everyone fell asleep... Bailee, Andrew, Pat, Stephen, Ben

Beach day #2
Beta Class Boys.

Beta Class Girls.

Beach Volleyball Time on Navarre Beach.

Getting ready for another beach volleyball game.

Beach Volleyball time!

Day #3 in the Pensacola area. This was an amazing day. We worked at a mobile home park in the county over from the RV park. First, we took surveys around the park and asked the residents questions pertaining to hurricanes, tornadoes, and their satisfaction with the park. Through these interactions I met so many gracious people. They would give you the shirt off of their back.  While interviewing, I met the deserving kids that would receive my giving backpack. They were awesome kids with big hearts. It was fun to interact with them and teach them how to play frisbee. While at the park, we also helped landscape around the office area and had a picnic with all of the people involved in the project. This was truly a wonderful experience. After work, we headed to the beach for some down time before our long drive ahead.

 Landscaping around the office area

Learning about the community and disaster preparation.
Hurricane Ivan destroyed parts of this community in 2004.
Hurricanes and Tornado preparation is needed here.

I'm ready to give my giving backpack away!

Sillyband power!

Two deserving kids received one awesome bag.

Getting ready to play Frisbee!

Walking over to the picnic.
This lady has been at the community for 25 years.
Such a wise and interesting person.

The whole crew. What a lovely group of people.

Such amazing and inspiring people.

Goofing off on the ride back to the RV park.

 Bailee and Pat in Betty White.

Sommer crashed after the long day.

She thought no one got a picture of her sleeping. 

After Pensacola, we hit the road for 12 hours to end up in Wilmington, NC. Along the way we found a very interesting place called South of the Border. We thought that this place would be drastically different than what it turned out to be. When a place has 100 billboards in 15 miles, it may or may not be a good idea to stop. Of course, we stopped. 

We found crazy town.

Wilmington was an adventure. We ended up staying at Bailee's family beach house because of mishaps with the RV park. To say the least, no bathrooms or showers. Everything turned out perfectly though. Our service day in Wilmington was with an environmental group, restoring oyster beds and doing hands on research in a body of water. We all got muddy from the water and oyster bags. It was a very interesting project and we all learned a lot about oysters, sea creatures, and sea restoration. (For pictures, visit: www.thecalltoserve.org. I am not sure if they are up yet, but Ben Petchel will have them up soon.) After the service day, we stopped to get food for dinner and spent our last night together on the beach. While Andrew and Adam purchased food for dinner, we played in the parking lot.

 

Ben attracting all of the birds in the parking lot.

It was crazy to think that we had all met three weeks ago and the trip was ending.  Today, I feel so out of place. No penthouse. No RV. I can walk down the hall to go to the bathroom, not to a bath house. No outside dinners. No long drives with conversation. No Beta class. I may not have everyone here or the continuation of an adventure, but I have a ton of wonderful memories and eight new friends. Thank you to the Beta Class, The Call to Serve, and everyone who supported our journey.

Visit www.thecalltoserve.org for videos, more pictures, and more media from our adventure.