Yesterday, we had our first rest day! We got to begin our day by sleeping in well past our usual 5:45am wake-up call and heading to a Hope Lodge in downtown Cleveland. It was so amazing to get to see another Hope Lodge, that was different than the one in Rochester, but equally beautiful and meaningful. After visiting the Hope Lodge, we went out for a team lunch and cupcakes for Kirby’s 22nd birthday!!!! Then we split off into groups and explored Cleveland: some went to the lakeshore, some hit up the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, some just went exploring, and others took the time to go to the bike shop to fix some issues for the next leg of our journey! Overall, we had an amazing and restful day all hanging out with each other.

Today we rolled out of Cleveland and dedicated our ride to a man named John. We met John’s daughter in Cleveland on Monday night and she confided in us that John was going to be put on hospice this week due to his battle with cancer. We thought of him, his daughter, and all of his loved ones as we rode today, and will be continuously thinking of them throughout this summer and beyond.

We began the day under the impression that we were going to ride through some pretty severe thunderstorms! Some of you at home may be following the weather and know that Ohio has been hit pretty hard with storms over the past few days. But there is no need to worry, we drove through a lot of mud today, but no storms. If it were to storm, we have a safety protocol in place to make sure that every rider arrives to the stayover safely (though, they might not be dry)!

We got to change up our lunch thanks to T-Roy and the River Styk Market family! They provided us with deli meat sandwiches, homemade cookies, chips, pudding, applesauce, homemade pasta salad, drinks, and all sorts of fixings for a delicious lunch. They were so welcoming and friendly and supportive, and donated directly to our cause on top of already donating lunch. Today was a tough day for a lot of riders, but that lunch helped us make it the 81.2 miles into Wooster and our awesome stayover!

Tonight we are staying at the Westminster Presbyterian Church who have graciously provided us with a nice, air-conditioned place to sleep in. We are also going to bed with full stomachs thanks to C.W. Burgerstein’s, who invited us into their beautiful restaurant and served us salad, chicken alfredo, spaghetti with meatballs, and their famous delicious cheeseburger. It is so amazing when places donate food to us, because then we get a little break from our usual diet, and can save up even more money to donate directly to beneficiaries. We are ALSO going to bed without any mud on us, because the Wooster YMCA allowed us to use their showers free of charge. We are loving Ohio and the kindness of everyone we have met here!

Today’s Rider Shoutout is Erin! Erin is, first of all, an amazing and strong person who is so great to have on our team. Second of all, the is a GREAT teammate to bike with. Everyone who gets to bike with Erin knows that she is great with calling out obstacles in the road and watching for cars behind us. It is so important to trust each other on these busy and unfamiliar roads, and we trust Erin so much. Also, Erin is super smart and is going to get her PhD at MIT after finishing this ride…. She is pretty much a big deal.