To read part eight of day thirteen, click here.

All of a sudden it hit me – they were clean! They’d all brushed their hair, they were wearing clean clothes, and they actually looked human, and not like the wild animals we’d become. 🙂

I sat down next to Bobby and helped myself to lunch. We were having tortillas with peanut butter and jelly, and I was starving!

While I was eating, I looked up at Bobby. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Because you look… different.”

I laughed. “Different? I washed my hair and put on regular clothes. I can’t look too different.”

“Well, you do. Really. Are you wearing makeup?”

“Nope. The other girls are though. Wait until they come out here – they’re covered in it. I don’t like makeup, and I don’t know how they can do it!”

The other girls came out not long after that and we finished lunch.

Then we went to a platform that had a whole bunch of mats. We were each handed a form to fill out, rating how our instructors did and how our experience was. It started raining not long after we got there, so we stayed there for a while. The mats were really comfortable, and most of us took naps.

“Okay, it’s time to go! Wake each other up!”

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*

To read part seven of day thirteen, click here.

It looked like losing a baby seal wasn’t the best thing. “Yeah, we did. We have no idea where it went.”

She went back to inventorying, and I went back to cleaning.

A couple of hours later, we were done. We filed into the building that we were working next to and everyone started grinning – our duffel bags were in there! They were locked in a storage unit, all of them piled on top of each other.

“That’s mine!”

“I see mine! It’s all the way in the back there.”

“I don’t see mine – it must be buried under all of yours. I hope it didn’t crush my  pretzels!”

“Okay kids, here’s how this works. You’re all going to get the things you need out of your duffel bags. Please do not touch your electronics, food or anything else. Just get your clothes and toiletries. Got it?” Maggie looked at each of us, making sure we understood.

“Got it.”

Maggie unlocked the door and we all surged forward to grab our bags. “Only a couple of you at a time – don’t push!”

I grabbed my duffel and moved out of the way. I grabbed my things, zipping my duffel back up and bringing it back to the cage they kept them in.

When everyone was ready, we headed for the building where the showers were.

“Listen everyone – the hot water here is limited, and there are several other crews that also have to shower. So please, be considerate.”

There were only four stalls, and six girls, so we “called” showers. I got fifth shower.

When I finally got into the shower, it was so amazing. I can’t even describe how amazing it felt. I was able to shave, wash my hair and face, and it was HOT water. Do you know how amazing that it?? It felt like heaven right then.

Despite being the fifth girl in, I was the third out. I got dressed in my clean clothes and put on clean socks, grinning as I put my feet into my sneakers.

I brushed my teeth and retainers, praising God for running water as I did so. I combed out my hair and then left the bathroom with my pile of dirty things, bringing them back to my duffel bag.

When I came back out of the building the duffel bags were in, I walked over to join the guys, Jen, and Katie. They were eating lunch, and I was starving!

The closer I got, the weirder everyone looked. I finally stopped and stared at the guys – why did they look so different?

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*

To read part six of day thirteen, click here.

We turned onto a road that went slightly uphill, past the buildings where the instructors live when they’re not on a course.

“Look! There’re chickens there! There’s some Barred Rocks, there’s a Rhode Island Red, and that one looks like it’s a Buff Orpington.”

My crewmates were looking at me like I had three heads. “What? I’m a farm girl! We’ve had all three of those breeds before.”

I hate chickens, but it was good to see something that reminded me of home. We’ve had chickens on and off since I was a little girl, and one day I was in the pen with them. We had a couple of roosters back then, and one of them was mean. Well, he flew up into my face and pecked me, and ever since then I’ve hated chickens. We got rid of that rooster not long after that. LOL

We turned off the road and dropped our packs in a clearing surrounded by buildings. The crew stood around awkwardly, waiting for the next thing.

“Okay, crew, this is Maggie. She’s going to help you guys. Listen to her, okay?”

Everyone looked at Maggie. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”

She assigned everyone a cleaning job. Some of us had to clean the black foam mats, some of us had to clean the food stuffs, and some of us had to clean the ducky suits.

There were more things to clean, but I don’t remember everything.

The radio was playing and we were all singing along as we got the work done. We had motivation – as soon as we were done, we were going to be able to shower!

It was probably around one or two when we finished. Maggie walked around inventorying everything we returned, trying to figure out what we were missing. We were going to have to pay for anything that had been lost.

“If it helps you, Maggie, we lost a small baby seal and several strands of para-cord. I know that.”

She winced. “You guys lost a baby seal?”

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*

To read part five of day thirteen, click here.

“Colter, a big wimp? No, he was great. He should have been Leader of the Day every day. He was the only one who could get us all to do what we needed to do.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Yeah. He talked about you some – he was always wondering how you were doing.”

I grinned as we continued to stomp down the trail. Alex and I walked the rest of the PCE together, talking the whole way. I asked him all sorts of questions about how Colter’s course had been, and about Colter. I knew that this was the best time to talk to one of his crewmates, because there wasn’t really going to be another opportunity.

As we neared the finish line, Alex asked me “Do you want to run to the finish line?”

I could tell that he wanted to, so I nodded my head and told him to go for it. He took off and I followed him, at a much slower speed.

We crossed the finish line, joining our crewmates as they cheered for us. I went to find my water bottle and got a drink, grabbing a slice of watermelon as I rejoined my crewmates.

I looked down at my watch as I munched on the watermelon. I had made my goal, with time to spare! Instead of two and a half hours, I’d done it in 2:07. 😀

“Okay, my crew, come here!”

Katie and Jen were standing by our water bottles, calling for us to come over.

“We’ve got a tight schedule, so let’s get cracking. We’ve got to get our stuff done so we can shower! We’re going to go back to the platform and get our stuff so we can De-Issue.”

We arrived at the platform and started sorting. All of our personal stuff stayed there, along with our sleeping bags and eating materials. We loaded the rest of the stuff back into the backpacks and set off, heading back the same way we’d just come.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*