Peculiar Treasures by Robin Jones Gunn

Author:Robin Jones Gunn [Gunn, Robin Jones]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2009-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

17

As soon as the huge ferry docked at Avalon, the Rancho Corona teams shifted into high gear, gathering their belongings and congregating in the parking lot where two compact, chartered buses waited for them.

Craig gave directions, and the RAs boarded the buses, holding their trash bags on their laps. The buses rambled up the hill away from the bay. The views expanded as they continued on through the arid landscape. Catalina, despite being an island, couldn’t claim inland bodies of water as one of its plentiful natural resources.

“Okay, listen up,” Craig said to the group, as the bus slowed down. “If you have a cell phone, pull it out and hold it up.”

He waited while nearly every person on the bus went for his or her phone.

“Here’s the first rule. No calls in or out. No texting. No podcasts. Some of you will see that your service doesn’t work here. The rest of you will either have to turn off your phones or, on your honor, leave them off. If you need a little intervention on this, hand over your phone to Julia, and she’ll return it at the end of the training.”

Phones clicked off everywhere and were put away.

“Next, we need all of you to leave your trash bags in the bus but take your backpacks and anything else you carried on with you. When you exit, gather by dorms and we’ll give directions from there.”

They shuffled off the bus, and Katie gathered with the rest of the brown T-shirted RAs. The view from the top of the island was astounding. The Long Beach Harbor, which they had departed from, no longer was visible because of the smog and costal haze. All they could see was the unfurled Pacific Ocean shimmering in the early afternoon sunlight.

“It looks like a field of stars,” Nicole said.

“A field of stars?” one of the guys echoed.

“You know, like this is where all the falling stars land when they drop out of the heavens. It’s a corral for fallen stars. This is where you can come to view them in the daytime.”

Katie smiled. Nicole was definitely an artist. Katie liked being around artistic people, mostly because she always hoped their lyrical fascination with life would rub off on her.

“Okay.” Craig walked up to their group. “Gather closer, you guys. We’re hiking into camp, and this is where the trail begins.” He nodded toward the road that turned from paved to dirt and gravel. “Whatever you have chosen to bring with you in your backpacks, you will need to carry with you the rest of the way.”

“How far is it?” Jordan asked.

“Not far.” Craig grinned.

A few of the people in their group groaned at the mystery of being sent off on a hike but not knowing how far they were going. Katie didn’t groan. She was ready to stretch her legs. All summer she spent most of her days on her feet at the Dove’s Nest. Sitting a lot wasn’t something she was used to.

“We have some boxes over there with bags of trail mix, some cheese sticks, and bottles of water.

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