We made it to Ohio today!
We had an awesome breakfast at the University of Michigan Pi Kapp house this morning that definitely fueled us up for our long day.
I rode as a sweep today with Saurabh, both of us are from the Toledo area. The roads leading into Ohio were absolutely terrible. We had to stop for two falls on railroad tracks in front of us as well as multiple people getting flat tires from all of the pot holes. It was definitely strange to start recognizing street names and passing next to Cabela's on our ride. Eventually we arrived to the state line and shortly thereafter the University of Toledo for stage up. Saurabh and I led the double pace line for the arrival, but the officer leading us did not motion for us to turn right to go through the stage up. We continued to follow her while the rest of the team got the hint and went to the circle we were to be riding around. I eventually figured it out and joined the back of the line. Saurabh kept going a little further but eventually made his way over to the crowd as well. After lining up as a team we were addressed by our Pi Kapp regional governor, the Provost of the University of Toledo, and a representative from Congresswoman Captor's office. After talking to the Crescent News, Bryan Times, and a couple tv stations I was able to greet all o those that had showed up to cheer me on.
My mom is not one to do things halfway and this arrival was no exception. Greeting me with posters and cheers were my parents, sister, both grandmas and my grandpa, my aunt Nan and cousin Carly, my aunt Teri, uncle Steve, cousins Riley and Xavier, my friends Alex, Anna, Mallory, Rosalie, and Tori, and also a family friend and founding father of Miami's Pi Kapp chapter, Joel Kammeyer. It was awesome that everyone came out to cheer on my team and got to hear all about the trip thus far. I ate lunch with all of my supporters and then said my thank you's and goodbyes.
The team headed to our lodging at the Horton International House and showered up before our friendship visit. My parents stayed for our friendship visit at Apple Tree Nursery on UTs campus where the last performance of the Kids on the Block puppets was performed.
Following our visit we all loaded up to go to Outback Steakhouse for a great steak and chicken dinner with loaded bake potatoes. It was fun to eat with my parents and project manager, Nick, where we talked about all thin JOH and life in general. Everyone admires the work Nick does for our team and the leadership and guidance he provides for all of us so it was awesome for my parents to get to know him. After dinner I said my goodbyes to my parents and we loaded the vans and headed back to lodging.
From lodging we divided into 3 groups to go receive massages. What a blessing these were. After over 3,000 miles on the bike receiving a nice massage was exactly what we needed. Many of the students and graduates of Stautzenburger college provided the massages free of charge to the team. This was the most relaxing 45 minutes of the trip. The masseuse kept commenting how many knots were in our muscles and how tense we all were. We all came out of the massage feeling a ton better and ready to tackle the last 11 days of the trip!
After the massages we headed to Saurabh's house for ice cream and desserts. Many of his friends and family were there to greet us. It was a fun time to just hang out and meet new people and pig out on desserts.
We finally headed back to lodging after 16 hours of jam packed programming. Sleep came quite easy for everyone!
Thank you for everyone for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and well wishes as we entered the great state of Ohio!
Love & Honor,
Beau
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