Thrursday? ?

So... It has been a long few days. to be honest i had to ask someone for the date, and i am ready to fall asleep in about 30 min making it a bedtime of 8pm. So I could bore you all with a full day by day update but i think i will pass and just let you know the basics. It has been a week since my last blog at RIT. Basically I have followed two roads the whole way. US rt 20. And 6 west. Both of which have almost no shoulder and have no idea the concept of repaving. Since RIT we have peddled our way through Lockport, NY, Niagara Falls, NY, Westfield, NY, All of Pennsylvania, Ashtabula, OH, Avon Lake, OH, (with a build day) and Bowling Green, OH, and tonight we are staying in Camden, MI. I have had quite the adventures since then.

Luckily for the fourth of July we had an 18 mile day which took all of about an hour to complete then the rest of the day we had off. Almost everyone went into Niagara Falls. I was able to take my first international steps into Canada! (including my first stamp on my passport). We spent the day walking around the falls and checking out Canada then went back for the fireworks. Sadly it was the worst fireworks display i have ever seen on the forth of July, but thats alright it was a fun trip anyway. The trip was pretty normal going through Westfield, and Ashtabula was great since we had families donate their showers and we had a delicious bbq on a nice lakefront property. The cake that they made for us was outstanding. half vanilla, half chocolate, with a frosting job that would put ace of cakes to the test.

I have also discovered through my travels and missing out on good opportunities that when you have a change to swim, you should. I have passed too many swimming locations because i always say "oh the next one" well... the next one doesnt always show up. But the few times i have jumped in i haven't regretted even though lake Erie needs some hard core clean up.

So the trip to Avon Lake was probably the most theatrical. Our route takes us straight through downtown cleaveland then follows the lake to Avon lake. So the day started as usual but very quickly turned into some hard riding. by hard i don't mean hilly or windy but stressful and dangerous. For example we stayed on US route 20 basically the whole way and had to avoid pot holes, construction and semis. Craig, a very easy going Dartmouth grad who i have not heard anything negative come from his mouth chalked into the road in bold letters "I HATE RT 20". I agreed with him. But anyway the road was terrible and to make matters worst we were entering East Cleveland. Lets just say its not the best place to be young, on a bike and in spandex. So we tried to get though that as quickly as possible. But the ride continued to get better throughout the day. The roads got better as we approached Downtown and so did the neighborhood. As soon as we left the city the roads got perfect for bikers including our own bike lane, and the rest of the ride was glorious. We thought it couldn't get better...then we got to the church... These people were so incredibly friendly and nice and willing to help. We stayed in their homes after a huge dinner with a complete spread. I stayed with a family with lake front property with a water trampoline and inflatable log-running-thingy which everyone played on all afternoon. It was the funniest thing i have ever seen. 30 eighteen to twenty five year olds trying to run 15 feet on a inflatable cylinder. It was continuous laughter for about 45 min. And the house was gorgeous. All in all AVON LAKE ROCKS! Just amazing people and place and i really cant thank them enough. What was even better was that we had a build day there as well so we could all enjoy it for even longer. (I feel that i am not giving Avon lake enough credit. They were amazing and no amount of words can describe it (well at least the way i write)).

So now we are in Camden, MI. The rides recently have been very difficult, and even more exhausting. The distance isnt what made these rides hard, it has been the wind. A constant headwind has always been present in Ohio making riding very very difficult. If i have to choose between wind or hills. I might pick hills because at least you get a downhill. The wind just never stops.

So i will end the agony there. thanks for reading this far and thank you so much for all of your support! I love the comments and the riddles!

I need more to think about so send them my way!


Joke: ?
(send those too)

Bed