Today we woke up to Dallas screaming “Wakey Wakey” at us one last time. Those who pulled all-nighters were a little more tired than others but we still managed to hit a new PR in our bus loading time… well sorta
Many of us rushed towards the energy drinks and donuts at Walmart one last time. The cooks gathered breakfast and lunch in record time for our last meals together (sobbing). We then slowly said goodbye to Wally World, a few tears were shed as we looked back on all of our amazing memories.
As we crossed the state line many tears were shed as this meant that we are almost home and are about to leave our new family. While on the vehicles for our last hours, we passed around everything we own to get signed. Including cowboy hats, shirts, flags, beach balls, journals, KFC buckets and even a gallon water jug! Our conversations consist of “we better hang out at least once a month” and “this is the last time….”. We pulled out our last friendship bracelets and sang along to bittersweet songs, such as "Dixieland Delight" and "Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey", of which reminded us of our first competition and every morning Dallas waking us up with joy and love. We truly enjoyed our last bus ride together, tears were shed and we hugged a little tighter than we normally have.
We wrapped up our jobs at Sheetz by cleaning the vehicles, taking out trash and blogging.
After that we stopped at Coddle Creek Church for one last sweet moment together. We laughed, we cried, and we sang as we soaked up our last moments with each other. Tears of joy and sadness filled the hillside as we loaded up the vehicles one last time.
As we pulled into Mallard Creek, we were greeted with familiar and emotionally joyful faces. As soon as the vehicles were in park, we jumped out and ran into the arms of our family and friends. Then we sang along for the final time to the chorus of “This Land” and the TWB staple; “Today”. With knowing this was our final goodbye, we had tears in our eyes, and sang the chorus one last time with our loved ones listening intently, (we think we finally got the timing down!) We unloaded the bus, loaded our cars, and got to introduce our new best friends to our loved ones. Though this is the end of our trip, it is just the beginning of our friendships, and we will reminisce about the good times we had on the 50th year of TWB. Thank you all for this opportunity, WE LOVE YOU ALL
Signing off for the last time, HAPPY 50 YEARS TWB!!! We're so grateful to be a part of history!
The Trip 1 Grumps of 2025 signing off :)
