Day 36: Bikes, Coffee, & Books Oh My!

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Today we had a surprise day off as the Richmond Affordable Housing affiliate build day fell through, which was a nice surprise and a much needed day off! I didn’t set an alarm and awake a few minutes after 9am because I heard friends shuffling around to head to breakfast. Our hosts cooked up a wonderful spread—pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, OJ, & coffee! Beth attempted to make a breakfast burrito full of all the things and it was quite the site to see her try to master that! Raffi was also up to the challenge of eating the biggest pancake, which was bigger than his head! Silly friends ?

Desperately wanting to catch up on the blog and hang, we were all slow moving as many people also had journal entries and Safety Nav reports they owed. Despite Jana’s efforts, we all laid on the floor under the table in our room and chilled as I accidentally spilled a bit of coffee on the floor—oops Ryan cleaned it up with his shirt! ? Then NJ announced that she was willing to shuttle people downtown since she had to take Jess down there to get her bike fixed. That was the ticket to get us up & moving. Though we took a slight detour to the burbs, we ended up in Carytown at Carytown Bikes where we meandered for a bit and found some sweet bar tape. Though I couldn’t commit to a new one, Carly found an awesome one and we all took a picture outside by the bike mural wall.

We then all started walking down the street, popping into the local coffee shop for a latte (finally I feel awake!), the bookstore to get lost while perusing, the ourdoor adventure shop, and other local shops. We grabbed lunch at BBC where they had a delicious burger on special for $5–with caramelized onions, goat cheese, rosemary dijon, arugula, on a brioche bun ? We split some fries and shared some laughs, including NJ self proclaiming that she is the Black Hearted Defender of the South—I don’t believe the black/cold hearted thing for a second! We continued to pop into a few local spots on our walk back, one store where I bought a card for us to sign for Jana for her 22nd Birthday and a consignment shop where I found bike earrings and a compass ring—only to find out Jana had picked out the same one in gold!! That was enough for us to know we had to get them, even though we couldn’t find her a silver one. We made our purchases, scored a free pin for my camelbak, and walked on back to the bike shop to meet up with the rest of the team.

After a quick potty & Polaroid break (Aiden got to keep his self portrait!), we rode home—or I mean back to the host—where we were met with another wonderful dinner. After dinner, I decided I would (finally!) finish painting the trailer—it looks so good! I redid the Bike & Build logo and finger painted a map of our route and I LOVE it!! I couldn’t wait to show the team the next day! I called Mom and was able to chat with her a bit before heading inside to go to bed under the florenscent light yet again. Trying my best to cast some shade onto myself with the assistance of the table & rollie chair I was sleeping near, I closed my eyes for ultimate darkness and hoped that the light wouldn’t cause too much unrest...

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