Today I dedicated the ride to Matt Dsouza, a close mentee of my fathers who was his favorite caddy for a number of years. Matt graduated from U of I in 2013 and received his Master’s of Accounting in 2014. He was diagnosed with leukemia a while back and will be undergoing trial treatments at the University of Chicago.

Today was some of the most brutal heat we encountered. Even though we had another 4:45 wakeup, we could not avoid the blazing heat that reached over 100 degrees by 11 AM on the 86 mile day. During the last 20 miles stretch the ride leaders made the call that it was unsafe to ride uphill in the extreme heat and we shuttled groups the rest of the way. Since Lower Lakes underwent a fire in 2016 that burned the church, the place we are staying in in is a 40 by 60-foot facility with all of our bikes, backpacks, and van supplies. Not to mention all 27 of us are sharing a single bathroom. With no AC and all the bodies in one room it became very sweaty ordeal.

Although it had looked like we would never actually have it, at the last minute we decided that we would have prom! Everyone changed into their thrift store bought outfits and took prom pictures courtesy of Mason in front of a sheet. Nick Su, David, Mack, and Dan serenaded us with some choice karaoke songs, and we had a dance circle where Lil T showed off some moves. To close out the night we played Closing Time, and had a circle group up to cherish one of our last nights together.

The worst is officially behind us!

MB