Today absolutely blew me away. A few of us decided since our event day fell on a Sunday that we would go to church. We made a day out of it and dropped of laundry first then headed over to Community Federated Church. The Pastor immediately made us feel welcome and announced our presence to the congregation. The community was so friendly toward us and very interested. During the service Jerry Balius, a member of the community, sang two songs about being proud of the country we live in. His second song, Proud to be an American, choked me up really bad. On top of feeling a renewed sense of patriotism since this ride and falling in love with our beautiful country, I have a lot of friends who serve our country. They are the some of the best people I know and the song's lyrics just overwhelmed me in that moment. On top of that, during the song a couple in front of us turned around and donated money to our trip. I sort of just lost it and tears streamed down my face. In a sort of hysterical hilarious way we somehow managed to choke out the chorus to the song. A kind lady who saw us crying even gave us some tissues.After church we went to the Thermopolis Cafe and saw a few people from church there as well. To our surprise the couple from church took care of our bill. Again, my eyes welled up. The community of Thermopolis is so generous and welcoming it makes me want to move to a small town. Days like these during our trip make me want to give back so much more, like biking across the country isn't quite enough. I will definitely be paying it forward for years to come after this trip. I can honestly say the hospitality and kindness I have experienced in the past two months have changed me for the better. I am proud to say I live in a country with such great people. Thank you Thermopolis for being so awesome!