We hit some slow traffic on the way to the park, but we drove directly there. It started raining on the way (40% chance today) and it was raining when we arrived around 10:30.
We picked a central meeting spot in Timbuktu and set check-in times of 12:00 (lunch ticket), 3:00 (drink money), 5:00 (dinner ticket) and 8:00 (leave). Jr Highers had to have an adult in their group and Sr Highers had to have at least three in their group. All but one of the groups ended up having at least one adult.
Some of the groups took off to jump on roller coasters while others went in a store to buy rain ponchos. As groups moved through the park, we kept running into each other and teams would join for a while and re-split.
The consensus was that the roller coaster with the vertical drops was the best. Votes were split on whether the next best was the wooden coaster or one of the two loop-filled metal rail coasters. All agreed that all were great.
Rain popped up at various times throughout the day - sometimes with thunder and lightning. When that happened, the rides would shut down and we'd have to wait for things to clear by eating or watching a show or ... The positive sides of this weather were that it was relatively cool and that the lines were short.
Right at our 5:00 meeting time, lightning flashed and everything was shut down. Some groups headed to eat while others took the downtime to walk to rides on the other end of the park.
The group I was with took the latter approach. We got stalled as we walked by a juggler performing in an open theater by the walkway. As he finished his act, thunder struck again. Realizing that the rides would stay down for a while after that last strike, we decided to eat dinner in the adjacent pavilion. As soon as we walked into the pavilion the skies opened and it started pouring very heavily.
This heavy rain continued for a couple of hours while our group and a couple of others were stranded in the pavilion. The other groups were stranded at other places throughout the park and we connected via adult cell phones.
To pass the time, I encouraged the seniors to put on a performance of their goofy bus songs for everyone in the pavilion. They were happy to do so and gave a 6-song set.
When the rain finally stopped, it was right at 8:00 - our final meeting time. All of the groups headed to meet at the exit - some dry, some wet. We went to the waiting buses that were parked under a full rainbow.
When we arrived at the college, we went in our dorms and showered for the bus ride home. While everyone finished pcking and cleaning the rooms, Chris, Molly, Ryan and Andrew took "Right Shoe" (Bus 1) to Walmart to buy breakfast for tomorrow morning and ice for our drink chests.
When they returned, Lonnie led us in prayer and we loaded the buses and took off at 11:00.
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