We woke up bright and early at 6:30 in the morning in a Super 8 motel on the outskirts of Peoria, Illinois. It was a pleasant change to sleep in a bed rather than on the floor, like we did for orientation and camp 1. The comfort of the bed made it even more difficult to wake up for our sponsored breakfast which was at the West Peoria Fire Department at 7:30. Guydeen cooked up a lovely breakfast that consisted of eggs, fruit, bacon, sausage and donuts along with milk or juice. The breakfast was a much needed break from our normal routine of bagels, and a huge shoutout to Ryan and Alec from the Bradley University Pi Kappa Phi chapter for their hospitality. After breakfast, we were on the road heading out of Peoria towards our second camp, Camp Wawbeek in Wisconsin.
The road was pretty uneventful. It was a short 4 hour drive to get to the camp and the team made a couple of stops along the way. One of the stops, in Wisconsin Dells, we went to one of the largest and nicest McDonalds I have ever seen. After the quick Mickey D’s run, the team stocked up on supplies that we needed for the next week at camp in the local Walgreens. Arriving at camp we were greeted by the staff and given a brief tour of the campus. When 5 o’clock rolled around it was time for dinner. The team filled into a huge cafeteria room and ate pizza with the campers. At Camp Wawbeek, the campers range from ages 10-25 and have high-functioning autism, otherwise known as Aspergers. After dinner we sat around the campfire and sang camp songs as well as made some s’mores! It was great meeting all the campers and counsellors, I’m pumped for the week ahead
Carson Leisy
Build America 2017