It has been a long time, but not because I did not want to update the blog but because we have been without internet for a long time. Mostly because the places we have been have not had a Starbucks.... yea, I thought they were everywhere too. Currently we are in Beckley West Virginia and I guess ill let you know how we got here, and ill start with the worst day that I have had on the bike.

The ride from Columbia to Union Missouri was hot and humid, but the worst part about it were the arduous rolling hills. With 97 miles in between the two cities my pace line was the only one to make it all the way. We made it up and down the hills in good time but the heat began to get to us by the end of the day. With sweat running down our faces and wet jerseys on our backs, the final destination appeared in front of all of us....wow, I just realized that that last sentence sounded like it came out of an epic war book. But the point is that we made it.

The next day we had a short 55 mile ride into St. Louis.  For the last 25 miles of the ride we had a full police escort into the city which was pretty incredible.  It took us about an hour to ride into the city passing through every stop light with the cops leading us.  We arrived in the park right in front of the Arch, it was a great arrival, because after we took all of the pictures for the press we got to go play in the fountain, which felt great after riding in the heat of the day.  That night we had dinner at an older alums house,  then we departed for a place called Sky Zone which is a recreational center that is made all with trampolines. The wall and the floor all had trampolines on them, it was a ton of fun to bounce around and play dodgeball with all of the guys!  We all woke up for an awesome breakfast at the hotel and headed off to a friendship visit.  The whole afternoon I fished with some people from the Arc of St Louis which was a great time! Sarah, the girl I was fishing with caught two fish! Then I talked to a guy that knew everything there is ever to know about television game shows, when the hosts died and who took over the shows at what times. We had a lot of fun and spent over 4 hours with them!

Over the course of the next couple of days, we had some great friendship visits. One of them was with an organization called Happiness Bag, and we had a great dance with everyone there. there was a large group of people there so everyone had someone to dance with! One of the guys there kept getting Kenny and I to do the worm with him and by the end of the night I was all wormed out... This was a great visit, because everyone there was so thankful to have us there. We danced our socks off.

Next we were at the University of Indiana, staying in the beautiful Pi Kapp house there... We had a visit that had a ton of different activities ranging from bingo to basketball outside! The next day we got to Indianapolis and got to work with an organization called Out of the Box and we played kick ball with the group for a good hour and a half! Running around the bases with some of the people there we a great experience because it was great to see the everyone there get out of their shells and have an awesome time! We had a day off in Indianapolis, and on the day off we got to work with a group called Noble. This group was by far the most organized as the summer, they had us all in groups, and each group was doing a different activity with different people at the organization. I got to sing “Baby Got Back” with a guy named Phil that I made up a great handshake with and also played Wii with another guy named Robert. Robert also told me that he wanted to win me a car on the Price is Right, hahaha.

The ride into Lexington Kentucky was one of my favorite rides of the trip so far, and a lot of it was because the last 30 miles of the ride, was through the horse plantations of the area. Every house had multi-million dollar stables for their horses with some of the most amazing houses that I have ever seen. I would not be surprised at all if multiple Kentucky Derby horses were housed in these stables. That night we had another dancing visit and I busted some Michael Jackson moves with one of the clients at the visit! I moonwalked all over everyone there. We had a day off in Lexington as well, and we worked with an organization that specialized in art programs for people with disabilities, but they also worked with the local community to make lexington a more accessible city.

The next day we headed to Huntington West Virginia which is where my Dad grew up, so it was pretty cool to ride into another place that I had been before. My mom, or as the team has adopted as here name, Momilton, sponsored a hotel for us, along with my Uncle John! Everyone wanted to say thanks! It was a great hotel that had internet for all of us to use and really great beds. The whole team is excited to get to Roanoke so that they can thank you properly mom. We had a visit at a park that night, but unfortunately it was raining pretty badly so for most of it, we had to stay under the gazebo at the park. Although I did meet Robert who is a self proclaimed Karaoke master who gives out roses to the ladies in the audience as he sings, haha it was awesome. We woke up early the next day and ate at a local biscuit shop, which was pretty amazing for breakfast, but it sat like a rock in my stomach for about 30 miles of the ride... since then we have continued through West Virginia, which by far has the worst roads of any state we have visited so far. Everyone is excited to get to Virginia specifically because of the roads.

One thing that has been great ever since Colorado, is that the riding has become pretty supplemental to the friendship visits, its kind of like the riding is just a thing we sit on for a little bit so that we can get to the next organization! Having so many different visits with so many organizations has been an amazing blessing and getting to DC will be bitter sweet because I will miss everyone around me so much.

Currently I am in a Starbucks in Beckley West Virginia and dont have much time left on the internet, so I dont have any time to edit this post before I post it, so I am sorry if there are some typos. I will go back and edit it next time that we have internet at lodging, but until then, I am sorry if it doesnt flow very well.

I will be posting pictures again soon as soon as I get my iPhoto organized so be prepared for that!

Until next time, enjoy the ride!