Wherever I Go

Chapter 3

        About an hour into the trip, I was already bored out of my mind. Like the majority of the van, I had my earbuds in and my music turned up loud so as to drown out Quinn and Erin’s conversation in the front seat. We weren’t a very talkative bunch of kids, but then again, there was only so much to talk about when you already knew each other fairly well.

            From the corner of my eye, I saw Shayla remove her ear buds. “Alright, I am absolutely bored out of my mind. Anyone else?”

I turned off my music, raised my hand, and laughed. “I could definitely use some entertainment right now.”

“How about a game of Would You Rather?” suggested Jon from the backseat.

“I have an app for that on my phone!” exclaimed Shayla. So we played a rather lame game of Would You Rather, which consisted of questions like, “Would you rather be best friends with Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen?” Eventually we got bored and returned to listening to music and staring out the window at the never changing scenery of Iowa.

When noon rolled around, the popular question of “when are we stopping for lunch?” was asked by multiple people, including myself. Erin announced that we were stopping at a mall with a huge food court in about fifteen minutes, and the van erupted with cheers.

As it turned out, huge was a bit of an understatement. The mall was the biggest I had ever seen, and the food court consisted of about a dozen fast food restaurants ranging from Subway to Chick-fil-a. The place was beyond packed with sports teams, families, and other random large groups. We all went our separate ways to get our food, then met back up and pulled a few tables together. After saying a quick prayer, we dug into our food like ravenous animals. Conversation was minimal as we devoured our meals, and when we were all done, Erin said we could walk around if we wanted, but we all agreed we wanted to get on the road. The sooner we got to our destination, the better.  

A few hours later, Quinn announced that we were a little less than an hour away from Kenosha, a town about half an hour away from Racine. Check in at camp wasn’t until noon Sunday, so we were spending the night in Kenosha.

I spent the next hour alternating between reading and staring out the window at the foggy air. If Quinn hadn’t pointed it out, I never would have noticed when we passed a lake because the fog was so dense you couldn’t see past the shore line. It was a humid day, but the air conditioning in the van sent goose bumps down my arms and legs. When I asked Erin if she could turn the air off in the back, I was attacked with protests from the rest of the van, saying they were hot and needed the air. Instead, I tucked my knees up to my chest and wrapped my tiny travel blanket around my legs and the lower part of my arms in an attempt to get warm.

Eventually, the van rolled to a stop in the parking lot of a Country Inn.

“Alright gang, we’re here,” said Quinn as he turned off the engine. “Erin and I are gonna get us all checked in, and then we’ll be back to give you your room keys and unload your overnight bags. Sit tight.” And so we waited there with the doors open, letting the humid air outside mingle with the cool air inside the van. I reached up to run my fingers through my hair, only to find that it had grown to twice its normal size due to the moisture in the air, so I tied it back loosely.

“So, is anybody as hungry as I am?” asked Jaime from behind me. Her long, crimson hair was also gathering a fair amount of frizz, but not enough to cause a scene like mine. Jaime had a way of being naturally beautiful, but she was completely unaware of her beauty and often went so far as to deny it. The light freckles on her cheeks and perfect complexion were what made me most envious of her.

“I could eat,” replied Jake, the youngest on the trip, having just finished up his freshman year of high school. He was by far the quiet one of the group, but we were hoping this week would give him a chance to open up more. “I think I saw a Buffalo Wild Wings across the street.” This got a seal of approval from the rest of the van, which was not surprising because we hadn’t eaten in several long hours.