Illini 4000

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Philadelphia 05/26 - Lancaster 05/27

The past two days have been rough. A lot of "what did I get myself into" and "I think I'm going to I4DIE." As some know, I messed up my knee this spring... with all the hills and climbs, it's decided to flair up again :( I road 46 or so miles into Philly and 40 on our Lancaster day and then teamed up with Sean in the van to finish the days supplying the team with some H2O. Jeff crashed his bike yesterday morning so he's been taking my bike once my knee gives out in the afternoons. It pretty much sucks but what I have learned is that I have a great support team behind me. We've really been helping each other out and pushing each other (mentally) up the climbs and through the greater distances. While we're all struggling, we all make it everyday and have experiences along the way that make the pain worth it.Highlights of the day: Sean and I were in the van catching up to the first group to set up lunch. Sean pulls a 3 point turn. Sean gets van suck in a ditch. The team rides up and tries to push the van out of the ditch. The team is unable to push the van out of the ditch. A wonderful Pennsylvanian man pulls the van out of the ditch with his pick up truck. Sean drives away in the van. Lauren is not in the van. Lauren has no bike. Steve hails down a local very nice Amish man to drive Lauren to Sean. Sean realizes he ditched Lauren once Lauren arrives. Lauren guilts Sean, a lot. Sean makes Lauren a delicious PB&J. The owners of the farm we stopped at lunch for went into their fields and picked some strawberries. The owners then make strawberry ice cream... right then and there. Lauren eats some yummy ice cream. The church we are staying at is awesome. I showered for about 30 minutes. That is all.P.S. I'm working on videos and photos.