Hi everyone! Day 9 turned out to be such a blur that I couldn’t even post a journal as I ended up simply passing out as soon as my head hit the bed (AKA my sleeping pad). It was a very long, hot, and sticky day full of terrible Ohio roads. We crossed the Pennsylvania-Ohio border at about 30 miles of our ride but unfortunately there was no official sign for it :( Presenting the best we got below:

The rest of the day was somewhat unremarkable in terms of the views, and the moment we crossed the Ohio border it felt like home. Out flat, monotonous home Illinois :) Day 9 turned out to be very hot right up until the last few miles to our stayover… That was the moment when the riders hit a very bad thunderstorm and most had to find shelter and wait for the van extraction.

Our stayover for the day was at the Akron University recreation center so some of us even got to use the pool for about 20 minutes before it closed.

Since I spent half of the ride in the van, here are just some fun, cool, awesome pictures from the rest of the riders.

As an extra surprise for today, here are some additional photos full of pure childlike joy and happiness from day 8 that were taken after the journal was already posted.

-Valerie