Last Day!

WE DID IT!
We woke up this morning in high spirits after surviving the massive attack brought on by the bugs last night and packed up our gear for the last time. Claire took some of us to the pier to wait for the awesome Jimmy and Yancey to come and pick us up and while we waited, we worked on writing nice things for each other so we'll never forget each other. (Like we would...) Once the rest of the crew got there, we hopped on board and started our last trek across the water, still working on our nice thoughts. Sooner than we would have wished, we met up with our amazing land support and launched off one more time. Anyone who crossed our path were welcomed by our custom "how y'all doin'?!" followed by lots of cheering. As we crossed the water, there was an air of excitement yet a little tension since we knew this would be the end of our journey as the official JRE. For only about the 2nd or 3rd time, we were early, so we rafted up underneath a bridge right across from Fort Monroe and had a history lesson regarding our destination by Gabe and then we had snack time, which was of course granola. As we paddled across to Fort Monroe, we were all so unbelievably excited and under Isaac's leadership, we burst into our song. We paddled our canoes to the beach and were greeted by our friends, family, and admirers. We cheered and hugged as we came to realize the enormity of the feat that we had finally accomplished and then we split up to go and hug our real families. Time began to fly by as we chit chatted with everyone and told them our stories while still hugging each other periodically. Finally, Gabe and Jessica presented us with certificates and we presented them, along with the land support, with a signed picture of the crew on the first day. We loaded canoes, life jackets and paddles onto the trailer and then hugged some more. We hugged one last time and didn't say goodbye, but see you later and went our separate ways, but rest assured, the official JRE is over, but we will always be J-R-E!