DAY 5 (GASTONIA, NC) July 28, 2022

Although day 5 of the tour was mostly a bus ride of 9 hours, we managed to keep ourselves busy with various activities. Some preferred to catch up on movies and tv series while others decided on more mentally vigorous endeavors such as card games, riddles and chess. Many of us enjoyed playing Egyptian ratscrew and Hearts. The competition was fierce but I (Sasha) can thoroughly say I whooped people’s behinds in Egyptian ratscrew. Speaking of competition, the chess games between Issac, Noreen, Jordan and George initiated some intense meltdowns particularly for Noreen. Some memorable quotes from Noreen being, “please don’t murder my knights, they’re all I have left” or “my pawn will do no harm don’t touch it.” Immediately after, “well my pawn may have to do some harm.” Issac and Noreen had a 5 hour standoff. Around 1 pm, we stopped at a rest area with a subway and Little Caesars and sat together outside trying to enjoy the humid weather. The bus air conditioner is top quality. A popular activity we enjoyed was napping. The bus ride was a great opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep in funky positions. Some of us have strange sleeping habits. After a 5 hours afternoon stretch of driving, we arrived in Gastonia, North Carolina. Clapping and cheering was involved as our tired and travel worn bodies stepped out of the bus. Thankfully, we didn’t have to unload all of the bells and chimes. Some of us would’ve been extremely upset. We checked into our rooms, had a brief meeting in the lobby and went to a choice of 3 restaurants: Texas Roadhouse, Waffle House and The Cracker Barrel.

Today's reporters are Noreen & Sasha