The Wait is Over! (Tunnel Adventure)

Well, I guess I had better write about our tunnel adventure like Brenna promised I would. (Or else she might beat me up...hahaha! Riiiiiiight.)

It was a dark and stormy night. Not really. But in honor of one of my favorite "great" writers, I figured I would begin this tale in that manner.

To be honest, it was a California night like any other: a little chilly, no matter the daytime temperature. Dillon and Austin met us at Hope shortly after we ambushed them in Horton with our Nerf guns. We were dressed warmly in clothes that could withstand the unknown dirty dangers that lay in wait. Dillon was the only one who had previously explored the dark depths of the drainage tunnel to which we were headed, and because of the recent inundation of rain, even he didn't know quite what to expect.

We began our adventure by exiting the lower end of campus, sliding under a walking bridge that crossed the stream that runs through campus. A couple steps later, we spotted a large pipe, also spanning the waterway. Dillon informed us that we had to shimmy across it. He led the way, followed by myself, Austin, Brenna, and Kendall. The pipe wiggled under our weight as we slid along, which wasn't exactly a comforting sensation. We managed to traverse the pipe successfully, albeit slowly, without major mishap (i.e. falling about ten feet into the stream below).

After Dillon's menial mental capacities allowed him to recall the specific location of the drainage tunnel, we cautiously crept down the steep embankment to its mouth. Since Kendall had lost the "nose goes" game earlier, she was the lucky adventurer selected to lead the expedition into the darkness.

We shook hands and exchanged grim looks, fully aware of the perilous course we had set for ourselves. I fixed my comrades with a firm gaze and murmured, "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave." The beams from five flashlights cut through the inky darkness as, one by one, we entered the cavern. Five began the voyage. We didn't know how many would complete it. But with courage in our hearts and shakiness in our knees, we set out to conquer the mile-long tunnel.

Ok, maybe I embellished that last bit, but if I had been calm enough to think clearly at the time we entered the tunnel, it might have wound up looking something like that. As it was, I could hardly stop the adrenaline shivers that raced through my body.

Long story short, the tunnel was awesome. There was some "interesting" graffiti on the walls, our feet got wet from accidentally stepping in the trickle of water running through the tunnel, and a multitude of less-than desirable companions joined us (i.e. cockroaches and spiders), but the journey was well worth it. We explored a side tunnel, which led to a rectangular room with a drain at the top, but quickly returned to the main tunnel when we saw a suspicious spider. Dillon hid and tried to scare us, but failed because we were expecting it. I had no trouble standing up straight in the tunnel, and it wasn't too short for Brenna and Kendall either. The guys weren't so lucky.

When the tunnel finally reached its end, we found ourselves in a small triangular space, covered in a pool of water a few inches deep and surrounded by 5.5 foot cement walls. Dillon and I had little trouble scaling these walls and standing on the top. The other three found this a little more difficult. Dillon pulled Austin up (with a little help from Kendall and Brenna down below?). That just left Kendall and Brenna. I hopped back down, and with the guys lifting from above and me pushing from below, the girls scrambled their way to the top of the wall. Lastly, the guys lifted me up by my arms. A few chain-link fences later, and we were in the La Mirada park, ready to walk back to campus.

After a couple valiant attempts by the guys to catch some water fowl in the park (they came pretty dang close) and running across a street (during which I had the grace and nimbleness to trip over the curb and fall flat on my face), we returned to campus. We were tired and dirty, but in high spirits. No adventure could have been more epic.

We finished our night off with an appearance at Study Break in the Caf, where we fed our weary bodies. Then we parted ways with the guys and went back to Hope, to savor hot showers and comfy, warm beds.

So there you have it. Easily the most monumental escapade of our semester. Hope you enjoyed living vicariously through us. We're all home now, and perhaps we'll have stories to relate in the near future. Check back and see.

Merry Christmas!

-Jojo