jt400

Sunday, June 10th

By Walter

Finding the Williamsburg Marriott was a snap, and we pulled into the parking lot filled with excitement and curiosity.We had come to register for the VF Quadcentennial events, and knew we were in the right place due to all the big white vans from Texas!

The name “Marriott” hasn’t become synonymous with upscale and class for nothing – the place was beautiful.Registration was at the ballroom entrance, a grand lobby flanked by 2-4 dining/ballrooms, which you could see into if you dared to give a peek.Families were milling about happily talking with each other.I recognized one prolific news reporter from ENN.

After registering, we drove 10 minutes down the road to the Powhatten Plantation, where our time share was.We simple folks could not believe the beauty, cleanliness, and resort-feel this place had.All I could say was “classy joint”.Sleeping accommodations for 6 people, indoor/outdoor pool, fireplace, 2 br, 2 TVs, kitchenette, HOT TUB – classy joint indeed.God really blessed us!

We relaxed, hottubbed, chilled, relaxed again, and then slept long and hard.

Little did we know it would be our last good night’s sleep for a long time.:-)

Monday, June 11th

By Angie

The balmy Southern day dawned bright and clear. We tumbled out of our comfy beds and headed for the shower; or hot-tub! That day was our only day for real "tourism", so we dressed in our costumes for our visit to Williamsburg. A few weeks before we had coloaborated with a group of other treasure hunters to receive the group discount- $5 per person compared to $30. Again God blessed us with amazing savings.

As we were preparing for the expedition, we looked across our timeshare parking lot and spotted a large family decked in Colonial costumes; and piling into one of those distinctive 15 passenger vans! Naturally we introduced ourselves to the “Jones” family (name changed for privacy). The younger boys were so cute when they saw Walter's costume, "look Daddy! He has a sword!" and insisted on getting a picture next to him and his English rapier.

We arrived at Williamsburg through a roundabout route (yes this was only our navigator’s 2nd day :-)) and parked next to some vehicles with humorous soap inscriptions such as: ‘Got lamas?’ ‘Know Boudinot?’ and ‘Jamestown or BUST!’ We joined the crowd of obvious homeschoolers and got right down to business while we were waiting to get in. Fellowship with a capital “F”! We met the Southerlands, Trinacurlz/Fiveofeach, Nisbets, Dana and more and yakked our heads off.

Finally we got to roam the streets of Williamsburg and pretend like we worked there :-). Seriously, we were approached by quite a few tourists who thought we were employees because of our costumes! The ladies of our family were very glad of their bonnets and Angie especially used her parasol to ward off the sun.

Enjoying about half the houses and buildings, (we didn’t have time for all of it) we wound up the day at the capitol building. We sat down on the designated benches and admired the outside of the stately building. All at once we noticed some sort of seal on the wall. The motto underneath said “Sempre Edum.” Inquisitive homeschoolers as we were, we asked what the Latin phrase meant. The tour guide said it was Queen Anne’s motto and it meant “Always constant or always the same.”

Little did we know that tid-bit of trivia would come in handy later on.

We tore ourselves away from the afternoon speeches, where we fit right in with the employees shouting “Hear hear!” and headed for the Merriot hotel again. This time we had to register for the treasure hunt, and that’s when the butterflies awaked in our stomachs and lasted the entire week. :-)

It was a 3 hour wait but was the nicest 3 hours in line of our lives. Us unsocialized homeschool kids chatted the entire time. We were happy to match screen names such as Shadow, Lady Abigail, and Fluffy Cow with faces.

At last we reached the registration table, signed papers, and got our pictures taken. We were just about to receive our name tags when the deafening sound of the fire alarm pierced through the building. The Vision Forum official in charge stood on a chair shouting “OK folks, it looks like there’s a fire in the building. Please exit the building and we have to come back to this later.”

We all groaned inwardly, but gathered our things and rushed out the hotel. We were with Fiveofeach and Trinacurlz,and we pretended that the “Sangerites” were wreaking havoc at the hotel just to stop us from persevering! It was truly only a few minutes when the security guard informed us that someone had been smoking in his room and it was safe to return. Everyone rushed to reclaim their places in the line, and we finished our registration in about 5 minutes. Smooth ran the tests for our text messaging cell phone, praise God!

“You will get a text message at 5:00 AM telling you where to go.” The VF official’s words rang in our ears as we prepared for bed, early of course. Knowing how lazy us night owls are, we set the alarm for 4:30 AM.

Tuesday, June 12th

By Walter, Angie, and Kasie

The end of the road, we think.

3:30am. I (Walter) was awake already, rolling over and over in my bed, trying to grab another hour of sleep, to no avail. Our family rose at 4:30am, a little groggy, with a couple sore backs, but ready to roll. 1st text message came at 5:10am: “Go to the Williamsburg Marriott. Auditorium doors open at 6:45, close at 7:10.”

Nuts. We were all psyched for some cryptic or historical location – we should have slept in more!

We arrived around 6:30am. The atmosphere in the lobby was drastically different from the day before. Instead of milling freely about, families were in huddles, talking in quite tones. Its as if we suddenly realized the nature of the competition, and the “graveness” of the hunt (although I believe most folks were being quiet for fear of being disqualified). That graveness was carried to a whole new level when the JT400 team opened the doors to the auditorium. It was dark, and barely lit by ambient white lighting. A man walked back and forth in front of the stage, announcing over and over again:

“Finalists sit here up front, the rest of their families sit behind them. Again we request silence in the room.”

“Finalists sit here up front, the rest of their families sit behind them. Again we request silence in the room.”

“Finalists sit here up front, the rest of their families sit behind them. Again we request silence in the room.”

You get the idea. :-)

On my designated seat was a file labeled “confidential”. Inside was an encouraging message from Jack, and a page with coded clues – 5 of them to be exact. I immediately whipped out my pen and notebook and got to work. As folks continued to file in the room, I decoded the first few Cesar ciphers. It was a little time consuming, as each message had a different key.

Then a man dressed in a black suit (and wearing a high tech gizmo in his ear) laid down the proverbial law. He was short, sweet, and serious.

“Good morning. You will soon be joined by the moderator. There will be no questions. Stay silent. Stay seated. When the moderator dismisses you, exit quietly. Thank you.”

This was a line that he would say every morning all week – and it almost became funny.

The official JT400 moderator came on stage. He was quite at home in the serious, spy/undercover atmosphere. He said stuff like,

“Jack believes one of you is the 5th trustee. I am not convinced.”

Oh, and the best one,

“Jack is your friend. I am not.” :-)

He had us stand when he called our names in the stillness. It was a really nice effect, actually. You could just imagine the “anticipation” soundtrack playing in the background, full of rising, bassy tones.

All 200+ folks walked outside quietly enough – but then the race began!

Room. Breathing room. Suddenly, I didn’t want to be near any fellow treasure hunter at all. Our family needed space to collaborate, and we knew it. So we hopped in the mini-van and drove to the first solitary place we could find. The picnic tables within a mile radius were filling up with similarly minded families, but at last we found a deserted gazebo, which became our brainstorming/decoding spot for the rest of the week.

After fifteen minutes of intense decoding and tapping our skulls with impatience all 5 clues were written out in our notebooks.

We were dead sure that the first clue was an anagram, because it didn’t make much sense to us. Chapman meant nothing to us for some reason! (duh duh) . Angie figured out that the third clue involved Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and George III, but it didn’t compute that they were all at the same place at the same time. With number 4 we had absolutely no idea, and we were positive the “sunken” thing had something to do with a ship.

We finally remembered who Chapman was, the puppet president at University of Roanoke, and realized it was referring to the chapel at William and Mary. Starting to wrap up our note books (and if we were lucky, pens: we lost more than half of ours!) to head for the college, Nate cried out “Always the same! That’s on the seal at the capitol!”

“Yeah!”

“Duh!”

“Way to go Nate!”

We literally ran into the van and decided to go to William and Mary College first.

After asking for directions we discovered that the chapel was located in the “Wren building”. Mom dropped us off at the side of the street and we headed straight in. We were not the first ones. We ran into at least half of the 76 treasure hunters there! (There was also a guy from VF video-recording everything).

Staring at messages on walls and asking questions for almost an hour we decided that the best possible answer was Johannes Randolph. There was a plaque dedicated to him above where the receptionist said that they display the cross, “when requested”.

That done, we drove off to Williamsburg and went directly to the capitol building. The first redactor we met was loaded with a barrage of questions.

“Does the name Murray mean anything to you?”

“James Murray was the original name of lord Dunmore.”

(jotting down notes like crazy)

“Why was that motto put up there?”

“Did Dunmore put it there?”

“Was Patrick Henry ever a colonel?”

“Did some guy kneel when he was 28?”

We spent all morning asking questions, and studying the books at the little info center near the Colonial Williamsburg Capitol. This was going to be very difficult! And it was getting hot….

At around 11:30, we received 3 text messages in rapid succession. They told us that Peabody WASN’T DEAD, and that he was somewhere on DOG (Duke of Gloucester) street, ready to meet with us! Let me tell you, that lifted our spirits and gave life to our bodies, which were already beginning to be weary.

The text message told us to give Peabody the answer to the “blood” clue (“New history for a better tomorrow”), and in turn EP would give us a message. So, we began to comb the street, looking for any old gent we could find. Suddenly, it seemed that treasure hunters were coming out of the woodwork all over the place! And everyone was scouting to and fro, looking for the same man we were! It was hilarious.

Treasure hunters weren’t the only ones coming out the woodwork. We were beginning to be aware of several VF monitors (among whom were the Phillip boys), and even disguised VF spies. Dad, with his military experience, was especially good at picking them out!

When I first saw Peabody, he was sitting on a bench, surrounded by the large MacDonald family. (For those who don’t know, the MacDonalds are homeschool convention speakers, and until recently were the editors of Homeschooling Today magazine. I believe Mr. Macdonald was even on the Quad program as a speaker.) I assumed that Peabody was a grandfather or uncle or something in the Macdonald family. When I came back down the street, however, the MacDonalds were gone, and Eccleston remained! I stood behind him for a minute, and then with relief realized I was not alone. Two other team leaders stood nonchalantly around me, each waiting to see who would voice the odious password first.

At last a brave lady walked up to EP, and walked away with a smile on her face. Significantly encouraged, I did the same, and muttered the password. Peabody grunted, pulled out a birthday card from his suit jacket, and opened it. It said, “Remember the Sunken Gardens”. When he put it away, I said “God Bless”, and left. EP simply grunted in reply, and half nodded.

To make a long story short, Peabody’s clue was instrumental in helping us get the last clue, #5. After that, though, it was a long, hard, arduous, and wearing afternoon. We walked up and down DOG street, asking questions, visiting the bookstore, and walking up and down again. Mom took a long nap in the car. Nate (my younger brother) was on the verge of falling asleep. Poor Angie and Kasie were trying to stay awake and useful, but they were fading fast. I must confess that I myself (Walter) was losing energy at a scary rate.

At 4:00pm, we were all sitting in the bookstore, half-heartedly looking through books. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to persevere, it was simply that “the spirit was willing, but the flesh was week”. But we must overcome the flesh! Knowing that the deadline was 5pm, we prayed as a family, and then I went out on one last “question asking” mission.

½ hour later I returned, revitalized with more info, and some brief encouragement from The Shadow. We roused ourselves, and found someplace quiet – a room above the beautiful wren chapel. Giving the enterprise into the hands of Providence, we text messaged the best answers we could come up with that equaled 46 characters. (According to the instructions, all the answers together equaled 46 characters).

4:58pm. It was over. Strangely, although we were fairly positive that we wouldn’t make it, we had peace. It was that good feeling that comes when you know you’ve given your all for a cause. It was in God’s hands now, and we determined that whatever He decided, we would be happy. “If we win, we praise Him; if we loose, we praise Him.”

On the way back to the car, we passed by many dejected looking treasure hunters…..

It was so nice getting back to our timeshare. We relaxed in the pool, and then sat in the hot tub for an eternity!

We went to bed at a moderate time to be on the safe side, which turned out to be very wise.

Wednesday, June 13th

By Angie and Walter

5:00 A.M. This time we awakened at a more reasonable hour (:-0), positive that the text message would point to the Marriott hotel again. We were right. “Go to the Williamsburg Marriott at 6:45 A.M. Doors close at 7:10.” We joined the 76 (x 10! J) sleuths in a line outside the auditorium. A few fellows in black suits and looking very official took their time about opening the doors. Glancing around, I (Kasie) noticed that I was not alone in my weariness; sporting dark circles under my eyes, and yawning uncontrollably. Everyone was tired. Awfully. We all agreed that the first day of treasure hunting was the most exhausting. I hope I make my point clear.

My family and I spotted the Jones family again, and we wormed our way towards them. “So, how’d you do yesterday?” Walter began, trying to loosen up with some light conversation. “I’m not saying anything,” our companion blankly stated. I nodded in agreement, for according to “The Rules”, discussing the hunt or clues was absolutely prohibited. Happily however, we found enough non hunt-related topics to talk about! As we finally picked out our seats near the front, I felt the butterflies going again. Hearing the monotonous instructions, identical to the day before, only worsened the anticipation. Would we make? Could we make it? Our resigned faces revealed our true thoughts. “We did our best, but I don’t think we made it.”

After the preamble by the chap with the high-tech earphone, the Moderator himself came upon the stage. He told us something like this, stating every word slowly and taking his time with it.

“We are very disappointed with your efforts.”

(Sinking feelings inside!)

“We were unhappy to discover that many of you could not work on your own. But most disappointing of all, was that many of you just gave up. Jack would remind you that the treasure is not for the faint of heart, but for the persevering.”

Then he gazed at us solemnly. “And now it is time to separate the sleuths who will advance, and those who will not. Will the following people please stand when I call your names.”

Half of the finalists were called, and some who were absent as well. Walter was not among them. I (Angie) heaved a big cheerful sigh, knowing at once that we were eliminated.

“Congratulations for all of you, who have persevered thus far.”

We nodded at each other knowingly.

“But you will not be advancing any further. You are dismissed.”

Our brains were whirling like crazy. If Vision Forum hadn’t mentioned the “silence in the room” earlier, I would have screamed in disbelief and delight. WE WERE IN!!!

The only other thing the Moderator said was that Jack was in trouble, because there was a mole. If we found the mole, we were supposed to text message the guy’s name to Jack.

????

Yep. That’s what we thought.

Headquarters- the same deserted gazebo across the street. We poured over the new dossier that had been handed out to Walter.

Go to Yorktown. Send the answers separately and in any order.

Then a bunch of Caesar cipher encryptions. We decided to remain at headquarters and decipher the clues before driving to the battle field.

10 minutes at the most went by and we were finished. We were getting good at this! Must have been the adrenaline that was keeping us sharp, awake, excited, crazy, and rushing in and out of the car in seconds.

We headed straight for Yorktown. Of course, all 36 finalists and their families were wandering around and parking there as well. The visitor’s center was closed, so we read a few plaques until Kasie spotted a sign that said, “Victory Monument, this way.”

Light bulb over the head! One of the clues said something about victory.

We followed the path, passing a couple families of treasure hunters, heading in the same direction. Settling for fast-paced walking, we did not want to look obvious. It was hard to stop ourselves from going into an all-out run!

As we reached the monument, 2 or 3 black cars drove up, and the “official monitors” that we had seen the previous day stepped out. Also a few cameramen. We knew we were in the right place!

Bingo. We got an answer.

It was definitely Providence that persuaded us to split up instead of all going back to the visitor’s center. (it was now after 9:00, the time that the center opened) Mom went back to the center, and we pressed ahead to the historical town of Yorktown. Walter kept insisting that we would find the church a few blocks away.

With only one of the short clues to guide us, we jogged ahead, passing old houses with plaques on the way. Soon we reached the old church, and began scanning the numerous tombstones for our man, and his 6 generations of relatives. We headed straight for the oldest looking ones.

Once again, bingo. “Walter, look!” Angie whispered tersely. “This guy was one of the signers of the declaration of independence!” Many of his family members were buried nearby. Thanks a sweet elderly lady inside the church, we were pretty confident about our answer.

In the front of the church we had a brief huddle to decide where to go next. Suddenly we heard footsteps draw nearer. Two men in black suits with dark sunglasses were approaching us. The words BAD GUYS seemed to be printed all over them, lol! “Uh…dad….we had better get moving.”

I (Angie) had started walking away, but it was too late.

“Hi. I’m with the Foundation for Historical Improvements. Do you happen to be involved with the Jamestown 400 hunt?”

“Uh…..yeah.”

“We just wanted to warn you folks, this hunt is all a scam. There is no treasure. These people are just trying to bombard you with lies. Jack is not what he seems. We bring forth the truth about history.”

Stifling our giggles, we smiled, thinking “Wow this is so awesome!”

“If you have any questions please call us.” They handed us 2 white business cards with their organization name and a phone number. I (Angie) didn’t ask the speaker’s name, but I guessed it later. Mr. Aaron Burr, supposedly at our service. :-)

“OK, thanks.” We hurried away, and as soon as we went round the corner, burst out laughing. It was really awesome to finally meet the “Sangerites” as we called them.

The rest of the day was marked with more successes through bookstores and plaques. Yorktown battlefield is too big to walk; instead, we drove around visiting all the redoubts and monuments. It was an intense, exciting morning – but also a pleasant one. The clues were a lot easier than the previous day! We finished all our sleuthing and text messaging around 11:30, and spent some time sightseeing the battle field. That afternoon, we figured (by our impressive deductive reasoning) that the next day would be centered around Jamestown, and it would be worth our time to scout out the area.

We visited historic Jamestown purely as tourists, asking about the Magna Charta tree, which we knew was in the vicinity. The employees didn’t even know what we where talking about! “Yeah, a few people have been asking about that….never heard of it….”

After taking pictures of historic Jamestowne, plaques, the tree, and browsing the mini museum, we returned to our beloved time-share. There we did nothing but rest and enjoy a good night’s sleep. That is, a good night’s sleep until 5:00 the next morning! :-)

Thursday, June 14th

By Walter

5:00am. My first "complete" sleep of the treasure hunt! No more getting up in the middle of the night in an excitement saturated state! Perhaps this was a sign that the adrenaline was starting to wear off...

Nate and Kasie, who were starting to come down with fevers the day before, were still running at only 50%. But that wasn't about to stop them, or us for that matter. Perservere! We prayed for health and strength as a family, then headed to the Marriott.

On the way there, we discussed our chances of making it past the cut. We wanted to remain humble, but we were fairly confident that we answered all the questions correctly, and quickly too. Ultimately, only time would tell.

We stood around in the hotel lobby, waiting for the doors to open. As usual, everyone was yawning, and trying to do some general small talk. Suddenly a man with a hat pulled down over his eyes ran through the lobby from another part of the hotel, jumping over chairs, and rushing out one of the big triple doors. 2 men dressed in black suits (the aforementioned "sangerites") were hot on the chase, knocking over chairs, and pushing folks out of the way.

"Bradford!"

"Bradford!"

"BRADford!!!"

But they were too late. Jack jumped into a getaway car, and roared off. Last we saw the sangerites, they were running after him!

All the treasure hunters gave a thunderous applause for the performance, and moods became sufficiently congenial. At that moment, the doors to the auditorium opened, and we filed in.

Inside, it was the same routine. Barely lit. "Again we request silence in the room." A couple of VF photographers. 2 or 3 formidable men standing around like secret service agents. A cough. "Silence in the room!"

The moderator explained that although Jack had to make a quick exit (here we all grin), he was able to hand off the clues for the next day. (We all breath a sigh of relief... :-))

"Your efforts are improving. However, some of you were contacted by the enemy."

Oh no.... We're not going to be DQ'd for talking to the Sangerites, are we!?

"Jack would remind you that the 5th trustee.." (I paraphrase) "will not be swayed by the lies and revisions of this culture." (now I really paraphrase) "Stay away from them!"

Duly noted.....

Mr. Moderator again called up by name about half of the finalists. I (Walter, team leader) was one of those called. I shrugged my shoulders - Oh well. We did our best, and the rest was in God's hands.

"Congratulations for having perservered thus far."

Here it comes...

"You will go on to the next round."

What do you know!!!!!!

Those who remained sitting were dismissed, leaving a scant 14 teams in the room. Then the moderator dropped the bomb. "Tomorrow, all but 3 of you will be eliminated." There was an audible gasp.

As we left the room, those who had been eliminated gave us a happy round of applause. We didn't have time to stick around, though. The moderator stressed that speed was crucial, so all the teams headed out in a half-jog!

Once more to the gazebo decoding headquarters (after thanking God for His goodness!). "[only team leader], Meet me under the Magna Charta tree at 11:30am. No sooner. No later. Do not draw attention to yourself." We all looked at our watches: 7:50am. We had some serious time to kill!

We spent most of the morning "hanging out" on Jamestown Island - looking at the museums, listening to VF guided tours that were going on, and trying to remain inconspicuous. Around 10:30, the VF monitors and field judges arrived. They tried to be incognito, but they weren't doing too good of a job! :-) The Sangerites (complete with suit jackets and shades) also made their appearance around this time, and this time we stayed well away. Sleuths who were eliminated that morning were hanging around as well. We couldn't discuss the hunt with them, but their interest was piqued. They knew that something was definitely brewing!

11:15. I took my position on a bench roughly 50 yards away from the Magna Charta tree. I faced the James River, and the tree was at my back. So far no one had approached the tree aside from a VF camera man, and a few tourists. But the 13 other sleuths were starting to come out of the woodwork.

Mr. Southerland (slueth) strolled on in, and leaned against a building not far from me, "studying" his brochure......

Another sleuth was working toward the tree from landward side, coming in real slow - a few steps here, a few steps there. He reads a plaque, then looks all around him in an unconcerned manner. A few steps here, a few steps there.....

There were several of them sort of strolling about, glancing at their watches, and looking intently around. Every minute they seemed closer and closer to the tree. Still no sign of Jack....

11:25. Time to move in closer, about 75 ft away. I walked right by a chattering group of VF monitors (most of whom were young adults), and they instantly silenced and stared at me. The tree was still at my back, and I stood a foot or two away from the lapping waters of the James (pretending to study the horizon). By now folks were starting to stand about underneath the spreading branches of the Magna Charta tree, but I wasn't going in until it was 11:30 on the DOT. After what seemed like an eternity, the cell phone said that it was time. After a deep breath, I 'went in'.

I quickly discovered that 14 people trying to look inconspicuous under the same tree just doesn't work. People were trying everything - looking into the branches, pretending to the enjoy the shade (despite the fact that it was so cold that I had to wear a sweater), and just plain staring at the ground. I seem to remember someone even whistling!

I sat on the lone bench next to an older lady, who had no idea what was going on :-). Though my eyes seemed intent on the brochure in front of me, they were really searching for any sign of Jack. What would he look like?

I didn't have to wait long for some action. Three men in black suits were walking toward us along the river. The Sangerites?! No. It was the JT400 Moderator, flanked by two of his aides. As it turns out, were we once again denied the priviledge of meeting Jack in person. Aww, man!

The meeting between the slueths and the Moderator was very brief. He simply handed out 14 confidential folders, then dismissed us. We all headed out in a fast walk, which became a jog, which became an all out run. The race was on!!

For the next 2 hour and 50 minutes, our family was sepparted into parties (so as to cover more ground), decoding clues, and running everywhere! It soon became apparent that these clues required a bit more work than the Yorktown ones, but they were still much easier than Tuesday's. The competition was fierce. The6Willi wasn't the only family running about like crazed people! Dad said that we were "among the Titans" as far as smart families went!

These clues were the same deal as the day before: Text all 8 answers separately,and as quickly as possible.

An hour and a half later, we had gotten 4 clues, but were stumped by the others. Thankfully, I was able to talk to a Ranger (who were few and far between). "Does the name 'fritting' mean anything to you?"

"Oh, you're on that treasure hunt.... Well, I'll say what I've been saying to everybody else. Go to the Glasshouse. You'll find the answer to that clue, and maybe another one there too."

To the glasshouse! We weren't the only ones there, but by now we're used to that. :-)

Bingo! Perhaps a 2nd bingo?

In the interest of time, I as team leader made a judgement call to go ahead with the "2nd bingo". This judgement call was probably wrong, but that is an observation of hindsight. Knowing what I knew at the time, I believe it was the best decision.

Anyway.... :-)

A few minutes later and we were back on Jamestown Island, searching for the last 2 or 3 clues. I was literally running from place to place without stopping! At around 1:45, I found the rest of my family eating lunch at the minivan.

I couldn't believe it. What were those guys doing?! Lunch break?! Didn't they know we were in a tough competition? There are times to eat lunch, and times to forgoe it. This was the time to forgoe!

But then I chuckled in spite of myself. God reminded me of my very first "real" workday, working with my brother-in-law's landscaping/mowing business when I was 14 or 15. While my brother-in-law was running here and there, 110% focused on getting the job done as quickly as possible, I worked from water break to long water break. At noon precisely, I dropped everything, and broke out my sandwiches. "Umm, what are you doing?", my brother-in-law/boss John asked.

"I'm eating lunch!"

"Lunch?" John laughed. "We eat lunch after we're done - inbetween jobs, and on the road. Push through!

Now, years later, I become the "Lunch?! Now?!" type of guy sometimes!

My second reaction to seeing my family eat lunch was a lot better. My siblings were tired, hungry, and not as strong as I was. My job was to "encourage the troops", not be a taskmaster. So, I stayed a minute or two to discuss some clue angles, grabbed a handful of chips, and headed back out into the proverbial field!

At 2:30 we all met again, and txt'ed in our final answer. It was all in the hand's of Providence now, as it always had been!

Back at the Plantation, we napped, swam, and hottubbed. That evening Dad took Angie and I (the history lovers who happened to still have energy) to a speech/lecture/talk by Colonel Patrick Henry. The event was sponsored by VF, and it was AWESOME! Patrick Henry has always been one of my favorites...

That night, we once again set the alarm clock for 5:00am. This was getting old real quick...

Friday, June 16th.

By Angie

The Final Fourteen. 6:45am.

Fourteen finalists and their families one by one cautiously assembled in the Marriot hotel lobby. A family had sheepishly confessed that they had consistently arrived five minutes later each morning! One or two (including myself-Angie) lounged on the comfy couches, staring with envy at the forbidden baby grand piano; ), waiting patiently. Others remained in a general line and like Daddy, passed the time with laughter and jokes. As the time drew nearer for those ominous doors to open, we were irresistibly drawn to each other in that anxious, hopeful, suspenseful 15 minutes of time. We all felt a burden to say “our last words” :-)

One homeschooling dad spoke up. “I just want to say that this has been a great experience with y’all, and I am honored to do this hunt with you. I just want to say once and for all that whoever wins the treasure deserves it.”

Murmurs of agreement and affirmation.

Then Dad took the next cue. “Yes, and whether we win or loose, God gets the glory for everything!”

After a chorus of “Amens!” and similar speeches, everyone shared their Yahoo and/or Steeple Media screen names for those ignorant of them. jt400, sheerluckholmes, nisbitfamily, familyfish, mikesoutherlandjr, and of course TheWilli were among those noteworthy fourteen. It was the most peaceful precious time with competing treasure hunters I could ever have imagined.

As we filed into the auditorium once again, we were amazed to see smiles of the “secret service” gentlemen. No longer were the guards intimidating with crossed arms and blank faces. They were singing a different tune. (Either that, or we were to happy and contented to notice or care!)

“Finalists come up ON STAGE, and their families will sit back below them.”

Hurrah! Something had changed!

The minutes ticked by. That was something that hadn’t changed, unfortunately…..I gazed at the 14 chairs on stage and tried to guess who would be the final three. It was absolutely impossible to be reasonably sure. I gave up and fidgeted in silence.

The side door opened and the Under Moderator said his usual. At last The Moderator himself appeared.

“Good morning.”

I could not believe my eyes. Was this a smiling Moderator that I was gaping at?

“You have all done very well. Jack has told me that he is very proud of you all. Unfortunately, there can only be one 5th trustee, and again, only three will advance to the final round.”

And he was still smiling?! That sure gave my spirits a lift!

“Will the following people please rise.”

The Moderator proceeded to name all the names of the finalists. I watched with confusion as he gave a few more words of encouragement and praise to them. Then, “Will the following people please sit down.”

“______ Ivey”

“______Thomas”

“______Donovan”

“To the rest of you standing, I will ask that you will please leave the room. You are dismissed.”

Surprisingly an overwhelming sense of relief swept over our family. We sported contented smiles and (very quiet heh heh….) laughter on the way out. Congratulations and handshakes from the beaming guards sent us forth to the 10 other families who had been dismissed. Questions and exclamations ran wild!

“What did you guys put for the industry?”

“Williamsburg was so hard!”

“Did you get 46 letters?”

“I saw you guys everywhere! With your matching polo shirts and cell phones, boy you were intimidating!” (*chuckles* sorry Nisbit family, but that’s the pure truth :-)) “Wasn’t it too bad we couldn’t meet Jack?”

“What did the Sangerites say to you?”

The eliminated hunters had quite a ball. As soon as the Iveys, Thomases, and Donovans exited the auditorium, we greeted them with a round of applause. Smiling through their tears, they rushed out of the lobby with well-wishes still ringing in their ears.

45 minutes of yakking (to those awesome families) later, we headed back to our time-share. We intended to dress in our costumes before arriving at Fort Pocohontas for the festivities. I was so glad we did, because one would have stuck out like a sore thumb if he didn’t wear a costume. :-)

I was so inspired about history because of the costumed families, as well as the dramatic presentations and reenactments! “His-story”, true history, came alive.

The last two days of the Jamestown Quadricentennial was similar to a large church picnic - with informative solid talks, children’s activities, picnic blankets and food vendors. It also seemed like a national homeschool convention and a summer camp at the same time.

The fellowship was awesome! Each family present shared, and spread the love of Christ, and had a common vision and goal to raise Godly families. The 6Willi felt right at home! We were actually in the minority that week, with only 4 children there (the other 4 are married and have kids of their own!)

One of my (Angie’s) favorite memories of that day was watching the manly little boys play-act as militia men. With surprisingly authentic costumes, and soldierly baring, they marched and charged and obeyed orders so adorably!

The crowning event for Friday was the unveiling of the children’s memorial, behind the Tyler’s house. The speaker’s addresses, pomp and ceremony, impressed me with the solemnity and purpose of the occasion. The only slight problem was that the press of the crowd was so great, I had to look through someone else’s camera screen to see!

Throughout the day, I spotted all three of the finalist’s families wandering around and my interest was piqued. I recall when my Dad and I were talking with the Thomases at the children’s memorial. We had just congratulated them, and were returned with a: “But we haven’t even won!” I told them that I was dying to ask them what had happened but I would wait until the next day. Rumors spread round that the hunt was postponed till Saturday.

Only time would tell.

The speeches went well into the night, and us weary treasure hunters who had woken up at 4:30 that morning were glad to call it a day around 8:45. We finally reached Powhatan Plantation half and hour later and crashed.

No alarms were set. (YES!!!!)

Soon snores were all that broke the silence in the Willi home-away-from home.

Saturday, June 16th

by Kasie

Ah, freedom, and the joy of sleeping in! My family didn’t role out of bed until close to 9 o’clock in the morning. Since we were eliminated from the hunt, we took advantage of a long, peaceful, uninterrupted, (no text messages :0), good night’s rest. How deliciously sweet!

We were to spend our last day at Fort Pocahontas, as that was the main attraction for the quadricentennial celebration for the weekend. Unfortunately, due to oversleeping and shopping for snacks, we didn’t even leave our timeshare until close to noon! Much to my dismay, I (Kasie) realized that we missed the children’s parade – something we had been looking forward to participating in. Oh well. It felt nice to sleep in!

Saturday, being the last day of the entire week-long celebration, was definitely the most special, inspiring, and rousing of them all! We heard great speakers including Doug Phillips, Teddy Roosevelt, William Potter, and lots more! I spent a lot of my time traveling from booth to booth, browsing through antique books mostly, enjoying the scenery of the James River, and talking up a storm with new friends! I took to carrying my autograph book and pen everywhere with me; whenever I met up with a famous person, or a fellow treasure hunter, I immediately requested their autograph. It was great! My ‘Friends and Family’ section was filled with about 15 folk from the yahoo group and steeple media. (stardust, Lady Abigail, jt400 and denali just to name a few) Thanks to all those who signed my book – I really appreciate it!

Yesterday, a good many of the young men and lads rallied to have a good old sword fight behind the fort. Today was no different! My own brother Walter was among them, swinging his ‘sword’ (PCB pipe wrapped in duck-tape, to be exact) to and fro, mowing down enemies left and right. It made for good sport – both for the participants and the spectators!

My family and I were very curious throughout the entire day as to what would take place for the finale of the Jamestown Treasure Hunt; but my excitement was really roused when I noticed three, tall shovels leaning upright against an old tree. Hmm.. very suspicious. How I wanted to ask questions every time I walked past the Thomases, Iveys, or Donavons, but I knew that none would be answered. Nay, we had to be patient until late that afternoon when the ending ceremony underneath the 3500 person tent took place. It began with the "Under Moderator" appearing on the stage. (he’s becoming my favorite guy by now…:o)

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you will soon be joined by the moderator. (chuckles from treasure hunters) You are requested to remain seated, silent…”

– he was interrupted by a steady wave of laughter from the crowd. Sort of an inside joke between the treasure hunters. I noticed a few people didn’t quite understand what was so funny!

“Hey, I said to be silent!” the Under Moderator smiled before he made way for the Moderator himself; (a more pleasant sort of guy - that is, vastly different from the stern “Moderator” of the hunt.) He said a few words to the audience, but the real speech came in when he introduced Doug Phillips, a "good friend of Jack's" to the stand.

[note: I don’t remember exactly what Mr. Phillips said; I’m just paraphrasing so those who weren’t there can get a feel for what it was like.]

“Ladies and Gentlemen, for eight months now, hundreds of people from all over the country have been working on the Jamestown 400, Our National Treasure Hunt. The winner gets 400 hundred gold coins! They have persevered, they have worked hard day and night, agonizing over challenging clues and reading primary source documents. They have seen the hand of Providence in American history. They have learned to read ancient ruins, hieroglyphics, and – get this – they even know how to speak Cherokee!

(laughter from the treasure hunters) :-)

Some of you out there still have nightmares of [leaning towards the microphone, Mr. Phillips makes short and fast morse code noises]‘beep beep, beeeep beeeeeeep, bep, beeeeeep....’

(The audience goes into an all out laughing roar at this point! One man even shouts, "more static!")

Congratulations to all of you who persevered, and came to Jamestown as a part of the final one hundred, to participate in the physical hunt. Will all the one hundred who are in this tent stand please.”

It was great. I felt so honored to be apart of this entire experience that I didn’t care a bit that we didn’t win the treasure! What a privilege just to make it to the final 14! Everything we accomplished was by the grace of God. My family stood up in front of our seats along with our fellow treasure hunters scattered amidst the crowd as the remaining cheered and applauded us. But Doug Phillips was continuing now…

“I’d like you to know that Jack Bradford is very proud of you. He would be here now himself, but for security reasons he thought it best to remain in hiding. (chuckles; I think it was starting to sink in that we would never meet Jack…) He has the enemy confused and running on wild goose chases. He is safe. But he told me to tell you this; well done. You’ve done a great job. However, there will be only one winner of the 400 gold coins. Will the three finalists please come up here on stage.

(Enter team leaders for the Thomases, Ivey family, and Donavons) Now, this morning, the three of you were given a pop quiz, and depending on how well you answered, you got to choose your location on the map to dig. Mrs. Donavon, which location did you choose?”

“The Cipher.”

“And Mrs. Ivey, which location did you choose to dig?”

“The Blade.”

“And Miss Thomas, as you were last in order of questions answered correctly, you were left with only one choice. What was it called?”

“The Grave.”

“Okay. So all of you went with your team members to separate locations to dig. Each of you uncovered a small chest, inside of which is a key. Right now, ladies and gentlemen, we will see whose key fits, and who will become the fifth trustee. Please bring up the treasure chest.”

Men dressed in black suits (the Sangerites? I don’t think so :o) escorted the treasure bearers, Joshua and Justice Phillips, down the isle and onto the stage. My heart leaped inside of me. This was the moment – how exciting!

“Mrs. Donavon, will you try your key please?”

We all held our breaths as Mrs. Donavon took the key out of her chest, and inserted it into the key hole. No. It didn’t fit. We cheered for her as she walked to the edge of the stage. On to the next contestant…

“Mrs. Ivey, will you try your key?”

Mrs. Ivey opened her chest, took out the key, and places it inside the lock. Did it fit? No! I got goose bumps on my arms at this point…I had a feeling who the winner would be... :-)

“Miss Thomas, will you try yours?”

Melanie Thomas opened her chest, and took out the final key. She carefully inserted it inside the keyhole of the treasure chest Joshua and Justice held for her. The treasure chest that held THE prize, the prize of 400 hundred gold coins. We waited. (feel the suspense) Nothing seemed to be happening. I thought for a minute that maybe nobody had the correct key, but how could that be possible? Finally, I heard Doug Phillips shout out;

“It FITS! Melanie Thomas, you are the 5th trustee!!”

Whew! Talk about excitement. I was jumping up and down cheering for the Thomas family. Way to go! Melanie was weeping for joy; her mother was crying; I was crying. (seriously, I was) What a joyous moment! Congratulations, Thomas family!

Within minutes, the winners were surrounded by hordes of people (including ourselves), walking up to shake their hands, get their autographs, and share information about the hunt! We hadn’t been able to hold communication with them all week, so now was the time to catch up. [Amidst all this, the treasure chest was soon hauled away in a white car, for those of you who wondered :-)]

My parents talked a little with Mrs. Thomas, and were surprised to find out that they also wanted to get to know our family, but obviously couldn’t during the hunt. She gave us their card with contact information so sometime in the future we can connect and get to know each other. I sure am looking forward to that day.

Afterwards there was an auction, some more fabulous speeches and talks, and a wonderful presentation of the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe! (don’t you just love plays!) But for the most part, the day was ended. The week-long Jamestown Quadricentennial Celebration was beginning to close. We stayed throughout the evening and well into the night to watch the beautiful display of fireworks, and stood up to attention to sing our National Anthem. We said goodbye to the many friends we had made over the week. It was so hard to leave them now! To be surrounded by like-minded Christian, homeschooling families was the neatest experience ever; no wonder I didn’t want it to end! God blessed our time so much; we’ll never forget the good memories we made on our visit to Jamestown and the historic triangle. Vision Forum’s first major treasure hunt, and the Jamestown celebration was a huge success, and a great hit in our family.

To God be the glory!

-The Willi