SuperNatural Christians Retreat — May 2005
Nickie's Diary

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Courtney, Anna and me are on our way in the trusty Rockhurst van.

We met at Rockhurst at 6 a.m. this morning—I don't think I've ever seen campus this early! We all crammed our back packs into the back of the good old Rockhurst van and then squeezed inside. There were eight of us and eight seats, so I soon found that I would have no leg room for the whole 14 hour drive. Our trip would take us through Iowa and Wisconsin.

According to our tour guide, Nancy, (front, center) this landfill in Dubuque, Iowa, grows by 340 tons of trash a day.

We were soon off! We discovered early on that it was Bill Kreige's birthday—he's our retreat leader—so randomly throughout the day we wished him happy birthday. He is the only guy on the trip; luckily he brought plenty of chocolate to keep us quiet! The number one rule for a 14-hour road trip with girls: bring chocolate.

Bill drove all morning and took a detour in Dubuqe, Iowa to show us a landfill. Part of this retreat is learning about respecting the environment. We learned that landfills are actually very organized dumping sites for all kinds of waste. A woman named Nancy, who was the first woman ever to work at the landfill, gave us a tour. My favorite part was the “Haunted Forest,” which were trees near the landfill that caught wayward trash.

The fences around the landfill help keep the trash from blowing across the county.

We still had a long day ahead of us after the landfill. I got to see Wisconsin for the first time ever. We are now at Bill's friend's house in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He and his family are very generous to let us stay! We'll camp out in their house tonight and then leave bright and early tomorrow for another 3 hour drive. After that, we'll finally be at the campsite!

"Green Bay" Gord shows off some old pictures of him and Bill from back in the day.