Day 50: Noble Friendship Picnic

We all got to sleep in this morning because of our day off in Indianapolis. We had a bagels and orange juice from Pinero Bread Inc that was sponsored by Tammy Shanklin who has a step-son that did the Journey of Hope. We then left for a friendship visit at the Noble of Indiana
There they had many signs made for us and were very excited to have us there. These kinds of visits are always more fun when the center is organized and sets up a lot for us to do. While we were there we had guys playing whiffle ball, bingo, karaoke, doing art, and gardening with the people with disabilities. I was in the Bingo group and my table had Allen, Stephen, Wndy and Randall who all didn’t talk much because of their disabilities. It is sometimes a challenge to have individuals like this but I finally got Stephen to crack some smiles by joking around with him as I helped them all play bingo.

While there we had a surprise visit from our cycling coach Dean Peterson who had ridden with us for the first few days in Seattle. He lives in Indianapolis coaches for a local college that has the best cycling team in the nation. Unfortunately he had some appointments that day so his visit was short lived, either way it was great seeing him.

Dinner was sponsored at Marry Kelley’s house, a mom to a cyclist that rode in 2006. She cooked a great Mexican dinner which is always a popular craving between the guys. We also had a mail drop this evening in which I received a package from my girlfriend Katie which was full of snacks and some new cloths! That will be a nice change from the same stuff I have been wearing all summer as well as the same snacks at crew stops.

Tomorrow we wake up at 6 so we can make our way into Ohio.