Ohiiiio

So maybe it's time for some updatesss....ok so after Youngstown (wow all of these days are totally blended together it's crazy) we biked to Akron, which was awesome because it was a supershort morning ride, like forty miles or something, and Paige and Noam and I had a very fun ride singing and goofing around. We promptly headed to Fred's Diner, which is on Home Avenue in Akron, Ohio. It looks like a little hole in the wall/ roadside burnt out shack that is abandoned and might have used to be a car garage. However, once you find the door, it is bustling inside and smells terrific and has the best sort-of-sunny-but-still-dim diner feel with cozy booths and a counter up front and saloon-style doors into the kitchen, etc. Being from jersey, I am allowed to officially sanction it as a great diner. Oh and the service is quick and the milkshakes are great. I had a great breakfast combo, and Paige's 'porker burger' got rave reviews as well. Also the staff is super friendly and very reliably says how long milkshakes will take. Oh and even after almost everyone showed up in successive odorous waves of hungriness, Fred, the owner who was working in the kitchen, came out to pay for our meals, and they were not small ones. I highly advise a trip to Fred's.

We then biked to a thrift store, picked up some sweet threads (have I not said how much we love thrift stores? Since we are all broke and love goofy clothing, we REALLY love thrift stores), then went back and chilled out, ate a great 'sloppy joes and sloppy nos' (since some were tofu joes) dinner, and then celebrated Anthony Lazurus's graduation! Anthony is from England and he goes to Edinburgh University in Scotland, which he just graduated from with a degree in Architecture. Unfortunately, he obviously had to be in Akron with Bike and Build for his graduation, so we gave him his own graduation. Check the route tracker on the BnB website for pictures; it was very hilarious. Congrats Ant!

Oh yea and then we all slept because we had a 5am wakeup for the next day. After a great breakfast with eggs (hint, these are the best for breakfast, just a ton of scrambled eggs, oh and salt), I joined up with the other Anthony and Kaitlin for a pretty great ride, even learned how to paceline ( ride really close together in a line and draft off of eachother to go faster)! Then the fire department of Wooster Ohio was really nice and let us eat lunch outside their firehouse, use their bathrooms, brought us ice, and even drove a firetruck out of the firehouse for us to take pictures with! Also one of their members biked across the country with Race Across America ten or so years ago, which was cool to hear about. After lunch I had some rocking pacelining with Spencer and both Anthonys. They are superfast and definitely slowed down a bit so I could ride with them, but Spencer says we still hit thirty on one flat section, so I think that's awesome! Thanks a lot guys; youre really fun to ride with! Even if you do scare horses and try to do yoga on your bike and also stop to try to get cows to come let you pet them...

86 miles in all from Akron to Gambier, the cute really small town where Kenyon is. I felt pretty darned dead when we got in...but then Sam, Ben, and I donationmagicked six pounds of beef and some spices for dinner crew to make chili with. Big thanks to 'The Village Market' for donating that, and for giving the donation magicians some myoplex, which is a really tasty sports recovery drink. However, dinner crew also needed a pot to cook chili in. I convinced someone who lived in a nearby house to lend us a pot until after dinner, on the provision that we would return it clean and dry after cooking. Also I met the Kenyon dean of admissions at a local bar when I went to go pick up ice, she seems cool. Omg we got real beds in a Kenyon dorm!! With sheets! Yay! Slept well.

Woke up this morning, biked with Thiese for the forty or so miles to Columbus, short ride, good convos, not much else to say. Lovig the flattish terrain though! Stopped at a bike shop just outside of Columbus, in Westerville, called BikeSource...big thanks for donating a bunch of degreaser, seriously, we really needed that!! Ok I'll keep updating, still loving the riding, people, diasatrous trips for the post office (Mary? BriBri?), thanks a ton to those who sent me a package/letter, since it's really nice to see that there's still an outside world...ooo and a big thanks to Providence Habitat and Sam Kent's mom for sending group care packages!!!

Location:Columbus