Day 1: “Be a warrior, not a worrier”

The day has finally come, the day that we’ve both been waiting for…THE DAY WE LEAVE FOR OUR ROAD TRIP! Joey couldn’t sleep a minute last night, so he decided that it was a good idea to start packing the car at 3:30AM. By the time our alarm clock went off at 6AM…which was the time we originally agreed on…the car was packed and breakfast was made!

We made it over the George Washington Bridge by 7AM, earlier than we expected, but we did hit a little bit of traffic. We made good time getting to the north end of the Delaware Water Gap, so we took the scenic route via Old Mine Rd. We drove through a ghost town in New Jersey called Walpack Center, which led us on a crazy adventure past the deserted post office, haunted cemetery, and finally to Buttermilk Falls.

We took a turn on a single lane dirt road, at which point I began to sing, “don’t go chasing waterfalls” in my head. The hole and crevasses on this road were beyond awful. At one point, we had to turn back around because there was a two-foot gap! After Joey managed to maneuver us out of that single lane road…in reverse…we got back on the main road to head towards our final destination for the day—Worthington State Park campground.

We made it to our campsite just before noon, set up camp, and had some lunch while enjoying our beautiful riverside view! While Joey was taking some pictures of our surroundings, he noticed a message in a bottle hiding in a tree knot! The bottle had a small note rolled up and some gems around it. The note was held together with a gold ring, and when we opened up the piece of paper, it read “Be a warrior, not a worrier.”

We stopped to think about this message and realized this quote definitely holds some deeper meaning for the both of us. These past few weeks we both have been worried about being able to secure a job/internship before we left for this trip. We kept each other strong throughout the entire process, powered through our interviews, and now we’re both starting this trip employed for the fall! Now, we can just sit back, relax, and enjoy this trip without a worry in the world!