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Published: December 26th 2018
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This morning I woke up tired as my 5 hours of sleep came to an end all too soon. It helped knowing I was in the van today, but still a slow start nonetheless. We ate breakfast on the floor/stage in a circle and I paused for a moment to take it in—the uniqueness of this experience & to appreciate eating breakfast on the floor with these people.
As I was helping clean up the host, the “mess bag” from Michaela from last night was still laying around so I had to buck up and brave it and carry it to the closest trash can. The motherly/older sister part of me gaining a few points. Two alumni joined us for the ride today and after setting everyone up for success with lots of chalk and lost & found items, we sent them on their way.
Aiden and I then set off for our much antipated van day together. The sun was shining brightly & beautifully as the heat of the summer warmed up. A few minutes into our drive we stopped at a bagel shop (possibly Zeke’s Bagels) where we paid way too much money for bagel sandwiches and
we waited much too long. It must be the spot of the town! I remember seeing a family with a girl who was a lacrosse player & thinking “family goals.” We’ll see lol.
Aiden and I continued on our roadtrip in the sunshine with windows down and Kesha on the radio turned way up. The riders were on a trail so we were unable to track them for a good portion of their ride. We arrive at the host where we were met by one of the members of the church who showed us around and let us know where the showers were (an office across the street!). We turned on the window AC units in the sleeping corridors so that our fiends can come home to a cool place to rest after a long hot day. We chalked love & where showers were and got back in the road to find our friends.
We found them all at lunch at a Paradise Donuts in Bel Air. We were surprised to find that Michaela was doing surprisingly well & in good spirits considering she was sick last night & had to be dehydrated and it was a hot
day. Oh to be young! Kristi’s best friend & boyfriend were also there offering gatorades to our hot (in more than one way ?) cyclists. Though I was tempted to try a donut, I was not in need of one so I settled for sending a picture of all the beautiful creations to my fellow donut enthusiast friend Kelly ?
We hung out at the donut shop for a bit longer than I would have anticipated, snacking on goldfish and allowing Sweep (Nora Jane & Mikey) to nap away. We are shameless how and when and where we sleep and I love it! They were apparently having a day and after they got back in the road, we followed suit a few minutes later leap frogging them for the afternoon. We attempted to pump them up with roadside dance parties, chalk, and cranking music at the last light before arriving at the host. Since I wasn’t in a rush to shower, I settled into one of the back larger rooms with what probably ended up being half of our team. Many napped, Casey worked, & I did my leader evals.
Feeling the pangs of hunger since we didn’t
really eat lunch, I snuck upstairs to snagg some delishious buffalo chicken salad. Once back down to my room, there was a “surprise” for us in the hall—Lily & Eric (home office peeps and B&B alum & super dope!) had showed up after a camping bike ride! It was so lovely to see them again! After I finished & submitted the leader evals, I snuck upstairs again for more chicken salad and found Jess in our snack room so we chatted a bit and compared leader eval concerns. The church ladies & gentlemen were kind and were busy preparing what was bound to be a delish dinner spread.
It then came time to wake up our snoozing friends for dinner—lots of church folks, alumni, & Josh from SC2SC16 (who I hung out with for a bit in Santa Cruz after their xc ride) was also there to see the lovely Nora Jane. After too much to eat, we went outside for the bike clinic. I attempted to lead the children’s safety drill and obstacle course, hoping candy in my fanny pack & chalk would help. It worked for a while, but we soon learned that keeping it age appropriate
is key (aka 7 years olds can’t use signals the same way we can). And then out of nowehere we heard this huge noise and what I thought was someone throwing a water bottle in the middle of the obstacle course (added obstacle?) but nope—IT WAS A FISH!! A fly by fish dropping from the sky (a birds mouth) and it took us all by great surprise! Productivity at that point was pretty much a waste so the bike clinic ended after about an hour of attempted bike safety education.
We then all went our separate ways and I headed down to the water to see the park and the boats. I was joined by Carly & Noah, and we ran into Kristi & her friends, and Jess caught up with us as well. We enjoyed a walk along the boardwalk and talked about prom and all the lovely things. At the lighthouse we ran into the alumni (riders, HO folks, & Josh) and chatted a bit. They were headed to a bar but we were tired and just wanted to go home. I was torn but ultimately decided to head back to the host as I didn’t want
to intrude—though it wouldn’t have been like that! Back at the host I tried to log, tried to help friends make soon in their room/office to sleep, and attempted to find the keys to the office to shower. Unsuccessful and a bit annoyed, I settled for not showering tonight. I changed into my pjs and began to get sleepy myself. I eventually did learn where the keys were but was pretty over it at that point so I just brushed my teeth, washed my face, and settled into my sleeping bag, trying to blog and passing out soon after...
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