2025 Youth Trip to North Carolina – Day 1
Day 1: Our First Full Day
By Charlie Sayre
Our first full day began around 5:30 a.m. with our early risers, surprised to see it still pitch-black outside (the sun rises at 6:45 a.m. in Louisville), heading out for their morning runs and walks. While our early risers were out getting their exercise before the 6-hour bus ride (turned more into 7 hours), our late sleepers were catching all the sleep they could get, likely from staying up absurdly late.
Breakfast was a wonderful delight with the Holiday Inn’s famous cinnamon rolls (100% famous compared to other hotels), pancakes, eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, unhealthy cereal being Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, and Cheerios along with 3 types of juice, and rounding it off with your regular toaster and fridge items. It was EGG-Xactly right for starting our first full day on our adventure. (EGG-Xactly was stolen from the marketing geniuses at Holiday Inn and IHG Hotels.)
Next, we boarded the bus at exactly 9:14 a.m. and departed shortly after that with half the bus sleeping and the other half catch
ing up on their books. We would then drive through Lexington where we saw exactly a dozen horses, but to make up for that we saw a lot of classic 50ft American restaurant and truck stop signs in its place. This made up for the lack of horses, I guess.
After this we stopped at Exit 112, in a town called Powell, the mascot of the school is some sort of horse with a name I don’t remember. We would then venture off into our respective food choice, Starbucks, which proved a difficult feat with 3 folks falling on their butts trying to get to it. There was also a regional southern restaurant called Krystal’s that was also there, but to our disappointment it was closed as Google Maps had lied to us. In addition, some of our pack went off to McDonald’s, an American favorite, with the rest crossing the very dangerous 4-lane road to go to the Wendy’s with the very enthusiastic worker, (a welcomed encounter rarely found in fast food service). The last part of the group would go to the local southern chain called The Cookout, which was a welcomed surprise for the mile-long menu, 40 flavors of milkshake, large portions, and very cheap prices ($7 for a burger, 2 sides, and a drink). We would then depart 10 minutes late from our stop on Exit 112 as we would venture into the Beech Mountains to Camp Lutherock.
On our way there we would see a lot of scenery such as more 50ft signs for hotels, gas, food but also the pleasant surprise of great mountain views, mist, and those endless valleys, and we listened to Sarah tell stories on our way there. We arrived at Camp Lutherock behind schedule but there with the camp staff waiting for us as we did the assembly line of suitcases before loading onto a bus, which brought us all a good scare with the large bumps and no guardrails to protect us from falling off the cliff. After that 1-mile drive, which was more like a rollercoaster, we finally arrived at Founder’s Cabin.
After 2 days of traveling, we made it to our final destination and after settling in and burning off some energy we enjoyed a great pasta dinner with 3 types of sauce! And most important: a great brownie to top it off (in my opinion). During this we met many of the staff we will get to know later in the week as stories were exchanged, laughter was everywhere, and smiles all around.
After a quick energy burn after dinner, we settled into a discussion with Sarah before heading out to worship for the day in which our Camp Director, Nathan, would explain what the area around us was like and what had happened during the hurricane. The program director compared their experience to The Great Flood in the Bible. During this we also got a very large booklet of all the songs this camp sings, more than a hundred of them. After this we would settle in for a hour of free time in which some groups decided to go on a guided hike, some choosing to work on their guitar skills outside, some playing the infamous card game called Mao (named after the former Chairman, Mao Zedong of the Communist Party of China — I’ll let you guess what this game is like), while some chose to play the very interesting Disney Trivia 2 game. (If anyone knows what the movie The Straight Line means let me know, it was apparently created by Disney.) Whatever it was, bonding at camp was much more fun and easier than it is at a hotel with less restrictions, more space, and options.
We finished out the night with some devotion before getting another 30 minutes of relaxing time in which some of us cleaned up, sang some songs out at the dining area, or just cozying up with a book before going to bed after a long, long day.
Overall, our 1st full day at camp together was a huge success and the first few times we could bond together as a group, not just on a bus, or in a hotel where you worried of disturbing your fellow hotel guests.
Have a great Tuesday,
Charlie Sayre
