Day 44: Home Sweet Home

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Today’s the day!! The rides I was most looking forward to on this trip were my rides home—to West Palm & to Philly —and Philly is phinally here!! ??We are awakened by some Philly inspired music dj-ed by Nora Jane and I’m filled with excitement and disbelief that this day is here! Have you ever woken up in the morning and just knew it would be a great day and one you would never forget? That’s how I felt today as I rolled up my sleeping bag and got ready for the day. I then asked NJ if I could help DJ the philly inspired music, which she kindly gave me the responsibility for. I cued up Rocky, P!nk, Boys 2 Men and the Fresh Prince to get us fired up for our ride into the City of Brotherly Love.

There was a bit of shuffling around this morning as we were trying to figure out the best place to leave our bikes while cleaning the host since there was a consctruction crew on the parking lot and we’re in the middle of downtown. We ate egg bagel sandwiches & OJ for breakfast downstairs in what felt like a faculty lounge, after getting lost through the maze of hallways to get there. NJ lead route meeting outside the front of the building and included shout outs to those of us that call Philly home—Chris, Jana, & I! Amanda was then recruiting her riders for the next few days, making sure she got to ride with everyone one last time before departing the team in NYC (?). Today’s ride group would be me, her, Ryan, and Raffi. I was pretty stoked to ride with this crew since we didn’t ride together often. I pointed out to Amanda that we haven’t ridden together intentionally since leaving West Palm—how this was even possible with such a small group I have no idea! ?

We were the first crew out with our hearts and minds set on finding the closest coffee possible. We stopped at the closest gas station where we were shortly joined by most of the team for Coffee Crew. After slamming some iced Starbucks espresso drinks, we hit the road and got on the Delaware Greenway Trail. The trail included some rude, steep climbs and curves, as well as some flat shaded areas. We found Mikey on the trail (who seems lost on days when Sarah is in the van) and made our group a solid 5.

Amanda asked us some good questions, including what are some things we’re glad we did/must do on our previous trips. We rode into PA without a welcoming state line sign (fitting) and ride under the Commadore Barry Bridge! I couldn’t help but think about all the times I’ve driven across that bridge to go to work (including the morning after I found out about my Dad and cried my way over it during sunrise) and all the times I would drive across it in the too soon near future. We then played the game where you speak lyrics to a song and the others have to guess what song you’re referring to. I decided to go with the line “But who cares, no big deal, I want more” of course referring to one of my favorite Disney movies “The Little Mermaid.” Amanda and I then busted out in a singalong to the song and it was purely blissful! The roads were a bit rough to/through Philly, but I knew to expect this, especially since riding through some of the industrial side of the city.

We were the first to arrive at lunch at a Wawa near the airport where I attempted to teach them the ways of ordering at wawa—I ended up going big by getting some of my Wawa classic favorites: an 10” Italian hoagie and chocolate mint cookies & cream milkshake. As I began to dig in, I was joined by SABRINA ORR IN THE FLESH!! She flew in for the day (perks of being a flight attendant for JetBlue!) and we sat in the shade and caught up as I introduced her to the team. It was so nice to soak in the moments together and talk about how life has come full circle since she was inspired to do her B&B SC2SC16 trip after I signed up for NC2SD14 and how much we wanted to do a trip together and now could share a B&B shaded lunch spot together in no other place than my home city! ❤️ So so special. After getting permission from Erik and Casey, it was decided that Sabs would ride to the home office with the lunch van while we finished our our hot ride. Luckily it wouldn’t be a long one and we just had to make it up to Manayunk through the heat.

Our group got back to it and I was fired up to be riding on trails I’ve ridden before on Bike & Beers events with Jaci and ran 5Ks on before. We stopped before descending onto the trail to take some frame-worthy photos with the Philly sky line and Ryan chalked a Pit Viper man (Noah? Himself?) with an arrow directing our fellow riders to the trail. Jana and Aiden joined us and we paused to take in the moment that we made it here! We went down the exciting ramp and I couldn’t help but think about the number of times I’ve crossed this river while sitting in traffic to get to work and would be back at it again in only a months time. I was hoping to meet up with mom and the siblings on the ride, but knowing her, I was not surprised they didn’t make it to meet me along the route, dispite sharing my location with Bri and Glenn. We of course stopped at the art museum to run up the steps and take some more photos. I’ve taken the Griffins boys here numerous times and ran up the steps with them and so many others over the years and now I can’t believe I RODE MY BIKE HERE WITH BIKE & BUILD!! Overwhelmed by feels, but with a team overwhelmed by heat and eager to get to the host, we rode on up Kelly Drive to Ridge Ave. Mikey went rogue (of course) and ride in the gravel trail for a short bit and I filmed and chatted about Philly and pointed out Jana UPenn painting by where she used to ride crew in college. Up the hill of Ridge Ave, which didn’t feel that terrible despite the stop and go of lights, the heat, and end of the ride, we felt strong and were excited to be back where leader retreat seemed to have just taken place and where Ryan did some work at the Starbucks we passed.

We got to the Bike & Build home office where Sabrina was awaiting us, but luckily not very lunch since we were the group and lunch van doesn’t leave lunch until after the last group leaves and the ride was short. We ditched our bikes in the tightly packed basement, I took a quick shower, and Sabrina and I set out on a mission for Thai food. After a long walk in the heat and failing miserably at finding the right kind of place we were looking for, we ended up at the pub down the street where we caught up and shared a late afternoon beer & food. We shared about our struggles with our relationships with our Dads and jobs and faith and all that is life before heading back to the home office. NJ finally made it back after sweep (Noah & Beth) took a good while jumping in the fountains and playing the whole way into Philly. I kinda envy their childlike approach, but they should also be a little more considerate of leader van. The three of us shared some stories and Dove chocolate and caught up a bit before Sabrina had to catch an Uber back to the airport. Luckily it was a nice “see you soon” since she’ll be joining us again when we ride near Boston in two short weeks!

I then caught up with Mom who explained Glenn thought I was coming to town the next day and she was waiting on him, who slept most of the day (big surprise there!) and though I encouraged her to come see me anyway, it was a lost cause, which was fine since we had host dinner with Ron tonight anyway. We loaded up the vans and drove out to his ski club by Conshohocken where were welcome by a lush green bunny ski hill, a hot long cabin with a bar, and plenty of “Philly Philly” bud light. We’re back in Eagles territory—home of the Super Bowl Champs! We snacked on plenty of cookies and beer as we played cards on the porch under tents until it was time to dig into the delicious spread. Burgers, chicken, corn on the cob, chips, and plenty of more cookies and beers were just a few of the items we enjoyed. I was fixing to meet up with Jaci & Celess after as they informed me while I was riding earlier that they were going to come up to Conshy to meet up with me for a drink. Ron then busted out some trivia for the team, which we all joined in on, except for the few on the top of the hill that sat up there and chatted (Amanda and Noah I believe). I was torn because I wanted to see my girls but being at host dinner was taking longer than I anticipated so they were growing impatient with me. Beth told me I couldn’t leave since it was host dinner and she, Raffi, and I won trivia together. We then all helped clean up but by that time Jaci & Celess has given up on me and went home. A little disappointed and frustrated, I helped clean up and a group of us made plans to hit the city after getting back to the host.

A large group of us ubered to Woody’s—including Amanda, Sarah, Jana, & Aiden. We bought drinks ($10 for one, Sarah paid $20 for a double ?) and danced the night away. Aiden kissed Travis and Jana and the rest of us were freaking out a little since it seemed to be more than a drinking and dancing sort of thing. The club closed at 2am, I grabbed pizza from across the street, and Sarah, Amanda, & I ubered back to the home office. We were a little concerned since Aiden is in a relationship (though granted open relationship during Bike & Build) and didn’t want Jana to get hurt or dynamics to get thrown off. We made it back up to Manyayunk where I unrolled my sleeping bag by Erik’s desk near Carly, with the he street lights shining through the big open window. Happy to be home in Philly, I snuggled in and was asleep almost immediately ?

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