Alia’s grandfather Fadhil took the ride dedication today. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2015 and is still battling today. He originally moved to a town near our stayover tonight in Rockville Indiana which made the ride today extra special.
Upon hearing tales of the food, pool, and showers at the famed Rockville stayover during the morning meeting we were extra motivated to finish today’s ride as soon as we could. Compared to the rough patch of the past two days, riding today felt like a pleasant stroll (minus the less than ideal state of Indiana’s roads). We could not have asked for better conditions with a breezy high 70’s climate and plenty of opportunity to call dibs on the cows* that we saw on the mostly empty county roads.
We encountered even more incredibly generous people today when a Dollar General manager donated cases of water and PBJ supplies, who then inspired a kind delivery truck driver to give us lunchmeat. Any substitute to the daily lunch PBJ can mean the difference between a memorable lunch or just another forgotten meal due to the routine-ness of I4k life.
It seems that these stayovers are in competition to one up each other on offering us the most over-the-top amenities. This team of 18-23 year olds turned into a bunch of middle schoolers today when we were provided with the opportunity to spend a few hours in a church community member’s backyard pool (chicken fights and all). Our hosts continued to spoil us with a filling three course meal complete with salad, pulled pork sandwiches, and the most incredible angel food cake I have ever tasted. Who said we would be roughing it on this trip?
What I realized about todays near perfect day, was that it felt so good because we had the past two days to compare it to. It is almost guaranteed that this experience will offer each person a spectrum of emotions and hardships. Today’s experience would not have been as fulfilling if every day was pools and angel food cake. The joy of being able to ride to a new place every day and being able to be a part of I4k is very closely tied to the adversity of the experience. And because of this I will now be more inclined to welcome the everyday challenges. Bring it on, Western United States.
*My Cow™ is a classic I4k game in which riders call dibs on cows. You may double your amount of cows if you see a church. You can kill the cows of other players if you see a cemetery. You can save your cows from a cemetery if you say “save cows” before other players. Enjoy.*
See ya tomorrow Alma Mater
MB