To read part one of day thirteen, click here.

“Get dressed quickly. We need to hurry, or we’re going to have to skip breakfast.”

That was exactly what we needed to hear. Skip breakfast? We were all going to do everything in our power to avoid such a terrible fate.

Five minutes later we were hiking up the trail towards the bear boxes. Twenty minutes after that, we were done eating and had started hiking to where we were starting the PCE.

I had gotten a little information about the PCE while we were eating. PCE stands for Personal Challenge Event, and apparently it was a seven mile hike around Base Camp. You were expected to push yourself to the limit. If that meant running the whole thing, that meant running the whole thing.

As we hiked, Jen was explaining more to us. “It’s about learning how much more you can do. When you started this trip, most of you had trouble hiking. Now? You all climbed that hill to Table Rock yesterday. Do you think you could have done that on the first day?”

“We encourage you to set a goal for yourself for this PCE. It doesn’t have to be a time goal – your goal could be for you to run all the downhill parts. But we encourage you to have a goal.”

We stopped at a building to refill our water bottles – they wanted us to have a full water bottle when we got done with the PCE.

Once the water bottles were full we followed the gravel road towards the starting line. After a couple of minutes we could see it. And I could also see Colter. I hadn’t seen anyone from home in two weeks – I wanted to run up to him and give him a big hug. But I also didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his crewmates.

He was just standing there, laughing with them and talking. It was definitely a big difference from when they were all sitting in the airport, not even talking to each other.

Jen and Katie walked past them and I followed, wondering when I’d be able to say hi to him. I looked back and he caught my eye and smiled, and I knew that eventually we’d find time to talk.

Click here to read the next part of Day Thirteen.

*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 two of day thirteen, click here.

My crew, Colter’s crew and two crews of middle school and high school teachers were all in the gravel parking lot, but no one was comfortable with the crews mixing. Each crew was sticking together.

Katie came over to us and told us that we were Crew Eight, and that it was time for us to get in a large circle with the other crews.

“Okay everyone, here’s how this is going to work. Crews Six and Seven, you are going to be running a 3k. You’re going to run down this hill, turning left at the fork. You’re going to run until you see the van, and the people with signs. When you reach them, you’re going to turn around and run back. But you’re going to pass the road you were on before, going past it to the dead end before coming back.”

“Crews Eight and Nine. That would be you boys messing around. Yes, you.” Everyone laughed as the two boys stood up tall.

“You will be going with the other crews to the van. But you’re going to take a left instead of turning around. You’ll follow the road until you see another person, and they will point you onto a trail. You will follow the signs posted on the trail, until you hit another gravel road. Follow the gravel road, and you’ll make it back to the first person you passed. Then you will come back up the road, and the start line will have become the finish line.”

“There will be several spots where you can get water along the trip, but not a lot. Another thing – there will be a person walking the trail, making sure that everyone makes it back. He will be the sweep, so make sure he doesn’t pass you. If you have to go to the bathroom, leave something on the trail. Something that he will actually notice. Your shirt, your bandana, something.”

“Go ahead and take your places at the starting line!”

I took a position not far from the back. I didn’t need to be in the very front, but I didn’t want to be in the very back either. I glanced at my watch – my goal was to do the seven miles in two and a half hours. It was eight o’clock, so I wanted to be done by ten thirty.

There was a shot, and we were off.

Click here to read the next part of Day Thirteen.

*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 three of day thirteen, click here.

I ran for the first mile or two. I figured that I’d run as far as I could in the beginning, and then I’d run more later if I need to make up time. But I didn’t know how much water I was going to get, and I didn’t want to have to run uphill.

The first mile (and probably the second) was downhill on a gravel road. I ran the majority of it, taking breaks every five minutes or so to get my breath back before running again. It was working well for me.

But then the road decided to go uphill, and I couldn’t do it anymore. So I walked at a brisk pace, but I didn’t run.

I saw something gray lying on the road ahead of me. Sarah Margaret, Jordan and Rebecca were walking in front of me, so I called up to them “Am I the only one who thinks that’s Bobby’s shirt?”

They looked at it and laughingly agreed with me – that was definitely Bobby’s shirt. A couple of minutes later they yelled back to me “Car, Brett! There’s a car coming!”

I yelled “Thanks!” as I moved to the side of the road. The car passed – the first of several cars. I wondered if they knew we were doing our PCE, or if they just thought it was a bunch of people out for a run.

After a while, I started recognizing where we were. We had been on this road the day before! We had been going in the opposite direction, but it was definitely the same road.

There was the trail we had taken yesterday, there was the spot I had slipped and almost landed in the dirt. There was the little parking lot we had taken a break in. As I kept walking past these places we had been in yesterday, I grimaced as I remembered that horrible morning. But then I smiled as I remembered eating dinner on top of the mountain. That had been so amazing!

Click here to read the next part of Day Thirteen.

*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 four of day thirteen, click here.

I started to wonder when we’d turn off onto the trail we were supposed to go on. Would it be the trail we’d hiked on the day before?

There was a boy following me – one of Colter’s crewmates. If I slowed down, he slowed down. If I sped up, so did he. I wondered if he was just being shy.

Looking ahead, I could see a van. Standing by it was a lady in an Outward Bound t-shirt, and there was a sign pointing to the right. “PCE this way” it said. I got up to the van and told the lady my name. She checked me off the list and pointed to the baby seal that was hanging on the van. “Go ahead and get a drink” she said, so I opened it up and caught the water in my mouth.

The boy came up to the lady. He answered her inquiring look with “Alex?” and peered over her shoulder as she tried to find him. “Yep, that’s me” he announced when she pointed to something on the sheet.

I moved aside so he could get water and waited for him there. I wanted to talk to one of Colter’s crewmates, and this seemed like a good opportunity.

The lady pointed towards a trail to my right. I headed that way, grinning when the clearing behind the van came into view. It was the clearing we had eaten lunch in the day before! We weren’t going on the trail we had traveled the day before, but we were going on a trail that traveled next to it.

I slowed down as soon as I was out of the lady’s sight. I wanted to wait for Alex to catch up so I could talk to him. I could hear him stomping through the forest behind me, and eventually caught up to me.

“So, you said your name is Alex?”

“Yeah, it is. You’re Colter’s sister, aren’t you?”

“Yep, that’s me! So – how did Colter do on his course? Was he a big wimp the whole time?”

*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.*

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 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 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 nine of day thirteen, click here.

We hit the trail, everyone rubbing their eyes as we tried to reach our shoes from underneath the platform. I had to ask someone to get my boots – I was too short to reach them from up on the platform.

Everyone grumbled as we climbed up a hill -our legs were still really sore from the PCE that morning!

We arrived at the building we’d passed multiple times that day. The Office. We walked in and sat around in the main lobby, waiting to be called into the room. We got there just in time – it had been drizzling while we walked, but it started pouring not long after that.

Our crew was called into a room. “Have a seat.”

There was a bit of a rush to get to the better seats and someone brought popcorn into the room.

Yes, I said popcorn. None of us could believe it.

“This is the best meeting ever!”

“Oh sweet, popcorn!”

I kept my hands out of the bowl and waited for everyone to get their own before reaching for mine. I stuck a few kernels in my mouth and realized that I should probably take my retainers out. I tried to take them out without everyone noticing, but at least three of the crew made a face at me while I was doing that. 😀

We were in the middle of our meeting when I saw this HUGE lighting bolt right outside the window. Like, it was right there. Before I could even say thanks to God for the fact that we weren’t out in that, I heard the loudest thunder I’d ever heard in my entire life.

*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 ten of day thirteen, click here.

I think I was the only one who had seen the lightning bolt. Because when that Thunder sounded, everyone jumped. I was expecting it, but it scared even me!

But I think (crewmate who shall not be named) was the most scared. He/she jumped out of his seat and landed on the table.

“The table is shaking! Is it an earthquake? What’s happening?”

We all laughed. “______, the table’s shaking ’cause you jumped on it.” He/she sat back down with a sheepish “oh”.  Josh, (the Course Director who was conducting our “CD Interview”) let us laugh for a couple of minutes before making us focus again.

I don’t remember what happened for the rest of the interview/meeting. I just remember _____ jumping onto the table. 😀

When we were done with our interview, we went back to our platform. It was only drizzling, but we still hurried, praying that it wouldn’t rain. We made it back in time, but barely – it started raining harder about two minutes later.

We sat around and just talked. I think it was the first time any of us really realized that we’d be going home the next day. It was a very emotional hour or two. But it wasn’t all emotional stuff – we did some fun stuff too!

Katie pulled a bottle of purple nail polish out of her pack. “Who wants to paint nails while we tell the rest of our life stories?” I didn’t say anything – if there was time before the Banquet I’d paint my nails, but I’d let everyone else who wanted to paint theirs first.

“I’ll tell my life story if Bruce gets his nails painted!” Tullia announced. The other guys all looked at Bruce and laughed. The girls looked at him and wondered – would he do it?

*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 eleven of day thirteen, click here.

Bruce looked around at everyone and then crawled over to Katie. “Here you go.” he said, holding his hands out.

Tullia grinned and started telling us about her life, the way all of us had already done. She was one of the last to tell their life story – all of us except one of the guys already had.

While she was in the middle of telling her story, Katie motioned Bruce away. He held up his hands and showed us all, the purple shining brightly, reflecting light.

Luke walked over to Katie. “Katie, you can paint mine too.”

The girls all busted out laughing. “Luke’s getting his nails painted too??”

Painting Luke’s fingernails… :D

Kayce was watching Katie paint Luke’s nails with a funny look on his face. “You should get your nails painted too, Kayce!” one of the girls said.

“Do you really think I should?” He asked, walking over to Katie. “Whew, that stinks!” he exclaimed, wrinkling his nose as he smelled the nail polish.

“Kayce, are you going to let her paint your nails?”

*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 twelve of day thirteen, click here.

Kayce sighed and sat down next to Luke, holding his hands out to Katie. The girls were all grinning and whispering to each other, unable to believe that the guys were actually letting Katie paint their nails.

“Bobby? Ben? Are you going to get your nails painted to?”

They looked horrified by the idea. “Why would I do that?” Bobby asked incredulously.

“‘Cause it’s fun?”

Bobby sighed. “Nope, not happening.”

When we were done painting nails, it was almost time for the Banquet. We took some pictures of the guys with their nails, and pictures of the whole crew.

Luke, Kayce and Bruce after we painted their nails

Showing off their pretty purple nails

Look at the difference between everyone in this picture:

The Crew on the top of Table Rock Mountain

And in this picture:

The Crew after the showers, before the Banquet

It’s amazing what a shower can do, huh? 😀

*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 thirteen of day thirteen, click here.

We sauntered up the trail, back to civilization. Everyone was happy – we had showered, shaved, and we were going to be getting real food. There was laughter and yelling back and forth as we walked, the prospect of food making everyone cheerful.

Jen and Katie walked us through a building and onto the deck behind it. They left us there, going back into the building. As we stood there we could hear boyish laughter coming from somewhere below us, so we looked around, trying to locate it.

On a deck that was beneath us and to the left, Colter’s crew was playing a game. They had to stay on their feet, lean down, and pick up a box with their teeth. My crew leaned against the railing and watched, laughing with them whenever anyone failed.

Several minutes later, we were called into the Banquet hall. The boys on the deck below us came thundering up the stairs, rushing to beat us (and not quite making it. :D)

We were all pointed through the building to the clearing in front of it. We gathered ’round in a circle, two crews and about ten instructors. When it was time for Appreciations, everyone started speaking.

“I appreciate Jen and Katie for doing an awesome job at being our instructors.”

“I appreciate Josh for helping all of us.”

“I appreciate Corey for helping us with our rock climbing.”

When one of Colter’s crewmates said Corey, my crew all focused, looking around the circle to see who’d said that. It looked like Colter’s crew was all looking at Katie – or, they were looking at the guy standing next to her.

“That’s Corey??”

“Corey’s here?”

“You guys got Corey??”

My crew was all laughing, the girls thrilled that they’d gotten to see Corey. He was Katie’s partner, and we’d heard a couple of stories about him. Rebecca (who was standing next to me) whispered in my ear “You should ask Colter what Corey’s like.” I grinned and nodded. I never did get around to that…

When we were done, Josh addressed us all.

“So, everyone, are you ready to eat??”

All of the kids let out a cheer – when we were walking through the building earlier, we’d gotten a couple of clues as to what we would be eating. After eating out in the woods for weeks, we were SUPER excited for dinner!

*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 fourteen of day thirteen, click here.

“Form a line and don’t fight or push, there’s plenty of food.”

Despite the warning, I found myself being jostled to the back of the line by a bunch of boys who were all almost a foot taller than me. I sighed and resigned myself to it – let the boys get out of the way and then I’d be able to get my food peacefully.

As the line spread out I caught glimpses of the food. There were baked beans, a salad, and Hamburgers.

Hamburgers. After two weeks in the wilderness, we were getting Hamburgers! I didn’t blame the guys for pushing me out of the way after that – I wanted to do the same once I saw the food!

The instructors were serving our food. All we had to do was hold out our plates and say yes or no to the different things. At the end of the line Katie was serving a tray of cookies, and without fail, every single kid asked for two. All Katie did was smile as she shook her head and dropped one on our plates.

We walked over to the tables and everyone tried to find a good spot to sit. I sat down at a table with a bunch of my crewmates. Tullia and Jordan were sitting with Colter’s crewmates Davis and Grant, and they were laughing and talking quite loudly.

I don’t remember if I’ve written about this yet. Tullia and Bobby had become good friends on the trip, and they’d started calling each other “Hubby” and “Wife”. They didn’t mean anything by it, and it made us all laugh.

Well, when Bobby saw Tullia sitting and laughing with Davis, he grinned and said “do any of you guys have a pen?” Of course we didn’t, but he went and found one anyway. He came back and sat down next to Rebecca. “Can you draw a heart on my arm and write “Tullia” in it?”

Rebecca nodded, taking the pen. Bobby rolled up his sleeve and pointed to where he wanted her to start drawing.

“Bobby, what are you going to do?”

Bobby grinned. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

*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 fifteen of day thirteen, click here.

Rebecca finished and Bobby rolled his sleeve down. He stood up and walked over to Davis, towering over him. He got a really mean look in his eyes and said “What the ____ are you doing with my wife??”

Davis turned really pale and looked at Tullia quickly before turning back to Bobby. The room got really quiet and everyone was looking over there.

“Well? What’re you doing?”

Tullia chose that moment to interfere. “Bobby, leave him alone. Go sit down.”

Bobby looked heartbroken. “But Tullia, don’t you see how much I love you?” He pulled up his sleeve and showed her the heart on his arm with her name in it, grinning at her impishly.

I don’t know what happened next because Bruce bumped me and I looked at him to see why. When I looked back, Bobby was sitting next to Tullia laughing along with all of them. Davis still looked pretty pale though. 😀

When we were done eating, we had to clean up. A bunch of kids got kitchen duty, (including Colter), and a bunch of my crewmates and I cleaned up where we’d eaten. I wiped down tables, moved benches around, helped sweep, and then helped in the kitchen when I was done with that. They have a sweet kitchen!!

In the Dining Hall they had a TV and a blackboard. On the blackboard was a list of Olympic medals the US had gotten. When we were done cleaning we all crowded around the board, eager for news of the Olympics.

We were banished from the dining hall then, told to wait for Jen and Katie outside. We all sat around in the clearing, just talking. It was a bittersweet time for me – with every moment that passed, we were getting closer to the time we’d have to leave each other.

*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.*