We had a great day off in Casper, WY which started with some much needed sleep. Last night I got about 9 hours of sleep which was the most I have had all trip, it was great feeling so refreshed in the morning. We started the day with by heading to the Boys and Girls Club where there were about 250 kids, ages 4-10, all wanting to play with us and eager to see our puppet show. We started with the puppet show which includes 3 different skits and 6 different puppets, some with disabilities and some without. Throu
gh the puppets we educate the kids on disabilities like down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and what it’s like to be blind. I played the character of Brenda Dubrowski, a woman who picks her dog Muffy up from the Vet and comes to find that a girl named Ellan Jane Peterson has been helping with the doctor and taking care of the dog. Ellan has down syndrome and Brenda is very curious as to what it is and why she has it. At the end of each puppet show the kids get to ask questions about the disability. It’s a great time putting on the puppet shows because the kids and adults both love them. We had lunch there with the kids and then got a chance to play with them. I played pool with Michael who challenged me while eating lunch. He was the champ last year and was certain that he could beat me. Now I’m not claiming to be good at pool but I did have to beat this kid because my dance moves were on the line. We both agreed that the loser had to do a crazy dance and I wasn’t about to get embarrassed by all these little kids. It was a fun time there
and the kids I was playing with wanted me to promise to come back tomorrow but unfortunately I had to let them know we were heading to a different town.
gh the puppets we educate the kids on disabilities like down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and what it’s like to be blind. I played the character of Brenda Dubrowski, a woman who picks her dog Muffy up from the Vet and comes to find that a girl named Ellan Jane Peterson has been helping with the doctor and taking care of the dog. Ellan has down syndrome and Brenda is very curious as to what it is and why she has it. At the end of each puppet show the kids get to ask questions about the disability. It’s a great time putting on the puppet shows because the kids and adults both love them. We had lunch there with the kids and then got a chance to play with them. I played pool with Michael who challenged me while eating lunch. He was the champ last year and was certain that he could beat me. Now I’m not claiming to be good at pool but I did have to beat this kid because my dance moves were on the line. We both agreed that the loser had to do a crazy dance and I wasn’t about to get embarrassed by all these little kids. It was a fun time there
and the kids I was playing with wanted me to promise to come back tomorrow but unfortunately I had to let them know we were heading to a different town. Picture: Here is Michael, he was 6 and loved playing pool, what a stud.
Later on that evening we had a friendship visit with a local disability center at one of the parks nearby. This friendship visit was much more interactive, they brought a ton of frisbees, footballs, a huge soccer ball, and whiffle ball. It was a really great time spent with the people there and I got to know Chad really well. Chad has down syndrome and loves to play sports and was really active the whole visit. Him and I first pretended the playground toy was a huge ship and he seemed to have no problem being captian and pushing all the buttons. We later played soccer and I kept telling him his leg was going to be sore because he would kick that ball as hard as he could everytime. He would always respond with a smile on his face saying, “yeah I know but I love soccer.” What a great guy. There was another girl named Alex who loved to swing, I don’t now her disability but she clearly had some physical and mental diabilities. She wanted to play hide and seek which only lasted about 30 seconds because she would keep her eyes open when I would go to hide. She was difficult to talk to but as long as you held her hand she seemed to be ok just hanging out. It was really a fun getting to know Chad and Alex, they both were having a blast the entire day.
Picture: Here is Chad playing a little soccer with me and the guys
Later on that evening we had a team meeting which lasted a little longer than usual. We talked about things to improve on in our riding skills and pace lines. We also talked about the itinerary for the next 5 days or so. We will soon be in Colorado which is an exciting time for the team. I guess through the entire state we have a lot of programming as well as many of the guys from the local CU Boulder chapter come out and support. We have 5 guys on the team from CU Boulder and they said Colorado will be a blast because of all their chapter brothers supporting as well as great sponsors and friends and family. Tomorrow we supposedly have the longest ride of our trip, 125 miles. I am eager to meet the challenge as is a lot of the guys here. Hopefully everyone will be able to finish another long day on the bike!
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