3 states, 5 days

St John's church in Charleston runs a program called Manna Meal where they feed the homeless breakfast and lunch 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We got to eat with these folks at these meals which was awesome meeting new, interesting people and bringing us out of our Bike & Build bubble.

From Charleston we went to Huntington West Virginia, where we stayed in a really nice church and watched Kindergarten Cop on the flat screen TV. I successfully DM'd 2 dozen donuts and Dixie bars for everyone!

PORTSMOUTH OHIO

Liz and I crossing into Ohio!

PORTSMOUTH TO GEORGETOWN, OH

Zack did the most ridiculous dance to hype us up before our ride this morning, the only way I can describe it is a velociraptor on crack. The forecast for the day said scattered thunderstorms, but what awaited us was so much better. A TORNADO!!

It started pouring just before lunch and then came the lightening and thunder, so we saught shelter underneath the car port of some mans trailer. After staying there for a bit trying to wait out the lightening, the car port (or possibly the telephone pole next to it) was struck by lightening!

After about 45 minutes of waiting, we pushed on to lunch which was held under a dry strange shelter littered with items such as:
A turd
Various stuffed animals and children's play toys
A box of cigars
Documents from 2006
3 Full beers (score!)
And evidence that both human and animal species have used the space for shelter and bathroom activities.

I was in the first group to arrive at the host for the first time! We stayed at a church that has been hosting CUS since the very beginning, and they were so nice and thrilled to have us. We had town hall which involved copious amounts of dancing and compliments, as well as tornado stories (read Conor's blog for his Barn encounter).

The ride into Portsmouth was long and hot, with some extremely steep climbs (one was 15% grade!). Got my first TWO flat tires this day, along with many of my teammates as the roads were extremely rough. Fix your roads, Ohio.

One of my teammates Celise was in a bad accident, where she was on a descent and hit a pothole and went over her handlebars, shattering her collarbone and sending her off to Columbus Ohio for emergency surgery. Unfortunately, she won't be able to ride with us for the rest of the summer- but we have hope that she can meet us in Portland. We miss her so much already!

We were all super bummed about Celise, so we went to the sketchy dollar store and bought ice cream to eat our feelings. Our unanimous feelings towards Portsmouth Ohio: it blows.

Soul Train Dance Party

CINCINNATI!!!!!

We were all so pumped to get to Cincinnati and have a build day and go to the baseball game, that we all got in before noon. It was only a 47 mile ride, but Kyle, Emily and I arrived at the bike shop in Cincinnati at 10:45- pretty speedy considering we left the church at 8.

Rese's bike shop gave us a 25% discount, which was awesome because I was able to buy a new saddle and stem. We were actually staying across the river in Fort Thomas Kentucky at a church that was set up for us by an alum, so we had a cookout there before heading out for the evening.

Joseph, being the donation magician that he is, hooked us up with free tickets to the Cincinnati Reds game! They were playing the Milwaukee Brewers, so our team was pretty split fan-wise since so many are from Wisconsin. After the game we hit the town and danced our butts off at a place called PLAY (we were the only people on the dance floor. It ruled).

Riding into Cincinnati

Reds game!

The whole team (almost) at the game!

Our build day in Cincinnati was frickin awesome. We split into two groups, and my site was a home for a family that is supposed to be finished in October. My task for the morning was putting in windows, which meant I got to climb all over the scaffolding like a monkey.

After lunch Kyle, Liz and I worked on framing a wall, which involved cutting lots of wood with the electric saw and hammering lots of nails. It was cool that we got to work next to the homeowner (a woman and her husband), and they cooked us food for lunch which was awesome. Others worked on siding and walls, but the coolest part of the day was when I got to study floor plans.

Playing on the scaffolding at the build site

The church in fort Thomas- so cute!

INDIANA!

Today's ride was our longest yet- it was supposed to be 92 but of course we took some wrong turns and it ended up totaling 97 miles. It rained on and off all day, but nothing too serious. Lydia found a sword on the side of the road by a stroke of fate, and it protected us from bad weather and evil potholes.

We're staying in Colombus Indiana with an incredible couple who has taken us under their roof for the night. Unfortunately there was no sign at the state line to take a selfie with.

Today was great because we got 2 lunch stops.

Bad assery at lunch stop number 1

Tally:
Miles: 882
States: 5 (we're counting Kentucky since we technically stayed there).
Successful DMs: 3
First place arrivals at the host: 1 (wooooo!)
Tornadoes encountered: 1
Spaghetti sandwiches eaten: 2 (Conor ate one too)
Extra miles added: at least 50
Po sports events attended: 1