Friday: Rotations, a Cookout, & a Nighttime Crisis

After breakfast we piled in the vans for the short ride up to the north end of the island, to the state park. The island was about a quarter mile wide at this point, and we trekked over to the bay side for group rotations. The four studies included counting mussels, studying butterfly migration, noting wildlife in a box study, and leaf collecting.

Though the day started out cool, the sun came out and made the afternoon hot…88 degrees. My job was to watch out for sharks, as I hung out with each group as they counted mussels in the shallow water. Later I was recruited to help the other men grill burgers and dogs. Only then was a shark spotted.

After lunch we sang happy birthday to several in the group. Michael Woodard’s was that day, and he was the guest of honor. Afterwards Mrs. Taylor hawked the cake, making sure there were no leftovers.

Their studies finished, the groups practiced their Who What Where skits. This made the evening fun time roll by quicker. One of the more memorable skits was Robert, playing Elvis, singing the national anthem at Turner Field.

By the end of the day, there were so many juicy tidbits to remember that I had begun taking notes. But my cabin note taking was interrupted…Micah thought it funny to bolt lock the door. Knowing slugging catcher Andrew had yet to return, I wanted the door unlocked…but the lock was broken. The switch would turn, but the bolt remained locked. We were trapped.

I tried to keep Micah focused on getting ready for bed. He kept wandering back and getting in the way. At one point he raised the blinds on the side window. The blinds promptly broke. The situation was getting worse. Marshal thought it would be a good idea to climb up and out the high window over the front door (later he climbed up over the water heater, to see what was there. His mom later said he’d been a climber since birth).

Worse yet, Michael “discovered” a large knife in his suitcase, “left over from a recent Boy Scout trip.” Right. But Michael and Marshal were able to take the lock apart, using the knife as a screwdriver. After 45 minutes, we were free.