As our week of coaching and learning wrapped up with a surprise visit from the awesome Warren Barfield who was representing Food for the Hungry, W squad decided to finish off our time together with an afternoon on Lake Lanier.

Starting off the day the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  We took the boat out and each took a turn riding on/being thrown off the tube, but less than two hours later thunder clouds rolled in and we found ourselves taking the boat back to the marina in piercing rain.  Our last minutes together were cut short yet I feel like it couldn’t have been a more memorable way to wrap up the last year we spent as family.

The next day a few of us drove an hour NE to Taccoa Falls College where World Race training camp was being held for the upcoming September I,J, K & L squads.  I’d planned on spending all day Wednesday and most of Thursday helping at the camp, but like all things with the World Race, plans changed last minute and I wound up driving back to Dahlonega on Wednesday night instead.

Knowing that I most likely will never make it back to help out at a training camp in the future (due to geographical limitations of course) I tried to make the most of the day.

I spent most of my time with the K squad girls, observing them in the plane crash team building activity and just talking to them about the race.  There were lots of questions about life on the Race and what to bring/not bring.  My advice?  Leave the Vibrams at home because they will smell like a teenage boys closet by the end of the race (and that smell doesn’t go away), and invest in a good sleeping pad, not one of those crappy ultralight ones, mine popped after 2 weeks of use, then I had to sleep on the floor for the rest of the race. Not fun.

The evening wrapped up with an amazing market simulation.  The racers literally had to barter for their dinner.  I put my many years of market experiences to use, helping out my friends Jeff and Glen try to sell their chicken rice casserole dish. (said in an asian accent) “Come eat my food. Cheap, cheap. Delicious.” “You say no but I say yes, come, come.” “Oh you so beautiful, you need to eat my food, cheap, cheap, arroy mak mak.”  I had a blast.  I only wish I could have stayed longer!