Caution: High Water, No Service.

Today we woke up bright and early (7:30 am) to pack up and head out to the vans. It was another wet and cold morning so it was definitely hectic. Kathy came to see us off and we took a couple pre-trip pictures and then after a bagel and apple juice breakfast, we were on the road around 9 am!

I was driving the 7-seater van (and I was pretty nervous about driving something so high up and big) but it went smoothly. We stopped over at a Subway for a lunch break in Stuart's Draft, VA, just past Harrisonburg. Lunch was good because everyone was reallyyy hungry. We also used the gas card for the first time, SUCCESS! :)

Then we were back on the road, and the rain continued pretty much all the way through. Clare generously offered to take over driving so I got to check out the sweet 12-seater van (1997 version). So sweet. Especially the part where the door doesn't close all the way so there's a slight draft and some road ambient noise. The drive got more interesting during this second part because we got deeper into the mountains. We passed over a beautiful gorge and drove literally inside the mountain range for about three hours.

We passed the time by asking and answering questions. Taylor has been all over southern Africa and South America, Jheeyae wants to go scuba-diving, Erica loves the Real Housewives of OC, Cara M. came to Maryland because it's awesomer than UConn, Vanessa is currently reading The Glass Castle, and Jem wants to visit Greece one day!

On the ride we also saw extensive flooding (a garage was almost fully under water!) and some really dilapidated homes which were part of our discussion at dinner. The road through Wyoming and into McDowell county was very curvy, but it kept us on our toes.

When we finally reached Welch, the rain let up and the sun came out and we were greeted with this beauuutiful rainbow stretching across the sky with church bells in the background. I think it lifted everyone's spirits. We met Pastor Amanda and she kindly showed us around the church.

We all went grocery shopping together in one van :) and then split up the grocery list. Everyone did a really awesome job getting their items and then we all guessed the final tab, Price is Right style. The winner would get a candy bar of their choice. And the winner was... Mark! He was just under by a couple of dollars with a guess of $237.12 (candy bar choice coming soon...).

After that, we all headed up, Christina, Cara and Sarah made a delicious taco night dinner and we talked about our expectations of the town and whether or not they were met. We all concurred that Welch exceeded our expectations and it's a really adorable town. To honor the fact that it is so great, we're only going to buy Welch's brand juice. (Credits to Clare.) Despite it's aura of small-town awesomeness, it's just a tad too quiet and dark for me and I am kind of (or really) scared. Thus, I have initiated a buddy system and will never walk alone here. Oh, I miss the safe streets of College Park, where it is 100% okay to walk alone ;)

Everyone is getting along well and we're about to go to bed! Tomorrow, some people are going to go check out church service and the town. Then we'll head over to Mullens, work at Itmann Food Pantry, and... go bowling?? It's the happenin' place to be in town.

Lien, the pansy TL