Gay Charlotte - Natalie - Day 1

Day one began at 9 a.m. at the Lied Center and, of course, I forgot something. But, my group, being comprised of the awesome people that they are, agreed to swing by my house and pick up my lonely, forgotten toiletry bag.

That was the beginning of the day. We broke out our brand new KU Alternative Break T-shirts for our first stop along the way, deep inside Tiger territory – the Steak n’ Shake in Columbia, MO. There we met an inquisitive older lady who asked us what we were headed to do. We responded and she eagerly told us about her nephew who she said had just come out to his family. She told us that she supported him and made sure he knew he was loved. We definitely were not expecting to come across, as Drew put it, “an ally” so quickly into our trip. I think this experience helped to break some of the expectations we had about what we are going to be heading into.

Next we headed through St. Louis, Illinois, and then into Kentucky.  We entertained ourselves with staring contests, crossword puzzles, an abundance of tweeting and a debate about the benefits of llama farming. Yes, you read that correctly. Leah introduced us to “underground hip-hop” and we played Spot the Weirdest Billboard (Hot Tasty Butts, anyone?).

One of my favorite things so far has been witnessing the three men on our trip enjoying traditionally recognized “girl stuff.” Drew definitely sang Rihanna (I heard it!), Mitch loved the Princess Bride and Blake revealed his not-so-secret penchant for Wicked.

Later on, amidst our three-hour wait behind an eight-car pile-up, I decided that I had to use the bathroom. In an effort to entertain ourselves during the wait and to distract me from my need to utilize the facilities, we decided to develop a complex horror scenario in which Blake was the sociopathic murderer fueled by his anger at the various members of our group. I, of course, was the first one to die.

Finally, we made it out of the traffic and had a 10 p.m. dinner at McDonalds. A nice man took this photo of us perfecting the sorority squat:

Tribal masks greeted us as soon as we stepped into our stop for the night – an archaeologist’s apartment in Nashville, KY. We had one queen bed and us women being the breaking-gender-stereotypes-kind we decided to give it to the guys. A good finish to day one.

Somehow none of us can seem to remember where any of the others are from whether it’s Topeka, Olathe, or the OP, but that doesn’t really matter. We know where we’re going - at least until the GPS fails us.

See you tomorrow!

-Natalie Parker