I purchased an American flag a couple days ago with the intent of flying it somehow on the last day of the trip. Since today was a short day and was supposed to be mostly downhill, I decided to see how it would work. Most people started the day off by stopping at the coffee shop, I don't drink coffee, and I didn't want to sit around, so I waited to see if anyone else was going to bypass the coffee. I ended up riding with Sarah and Ella V and we eventually found Sam ahead of us. We took a relaxed pace knowing we had a big gap ahead of everyone who stopped for coffee. Going downhill at one point, my flag got ripped off my bike at the pole got run over; guess that method didn't work.
Lunch was at the top of a hill at another lake. Tessa went to the grocery store that morning meaning we had a whole new selection of foods to choose including lunch meat and an assortment of chips. We took our food and ate next to the lake, again another beautiful stop. We ended up spending almost 3 hours by the lake. the water was really cold so most people just napped on the rocks at the shore.
On the way out of lunch we passed the official 3,000 mile mark, how cool! We turned back onto the main road and found the most amazing view. There was a drop off that looked into the valley for what seemed like forever and it was just filled with pine trees. We grabbed all kinds of pictures before taking off to yet another amazing surprise. What could be better than a long downhill? I can't think of anything. My average speed must have been close to 40 going down it; it was so much fun. The rest of the ride had a mix of ups and downs, but for the most part it was fresh pavement, making it bearable.
Payson was more settled than we had expected, so navigating traffic and getting stopped at red lights and such was a little annoying. We were told to stop at the Habitat ReStore as they were feeding us while in Payson and we would be working with them the next day. Casey and I found the place, and stopped by. They weren't expecting us to be as early as we were,so they didn't have snacks or anything ready yet. This was funny to me, because we slept in an extra hour today, and spent a long time at the lake-without these distractions we could have easily been there before noon. Either way, they sent us off to the church we were staying and said they would bring snacks and dinner over shortly. I was still nursing a leaking tire, so by the time we rolled into the church I was all but flat. Dinner was great, and the local Habitat board was very engaged in talking to us and getting to know us each individually. Needless to say it was an incredible experience.
Seeing as we had a build day the next day, our whole group wandered down to the closest bar to see what kind of trouble we could get in to. We walked into the bar and heard a live band and a large gathering of seniors line dancing- I guess it was senior night. Anyways, we were expecting to feel way out of place as we usually do in these scenarios, but the locals embraced us with open arms, taught us some line dances, donated some money, offered their houses to stay if we're ever in the area again. It ended up being a really fun night.
No comments:
Post a Comment