Oklahoma and West Texas

Finding wifi to post with has been pretty difficult so I'll try to catch up the best I can. On our ride out of Decatur, Texas two of my close friends Sarah and Neil were in a cycling accident that Josh and myself rode up to just after it had happened. We responded calmly and quickly and I utilized my years of first aid training.

We arrived 70 miles later at a YMCA that evening in Wichita Falls happy to see them safe and already asleep. While they came out of the accident with just stitches and some bad road rash, they realized that their helmets (now shattered) saved their lives. We also had a mail drop that day, and I was greeted by a care package from Mom and Dad and also some of my bosses from Campus Rec. It brought tears to my eyes to realize they're thinking of me during this journey just as I am thinking of them while on the road.

Our rides recently have been ridiculously beautiful- Oklahoma is totally underrated, with beautiful mountains (the riders from outside of Florida call them ant hills but regardless they're gorgeous). We've had some shorter days (58ish) mixed in with some 80 days and yesterday we had a 107 ride into Amarillo, Texas.

I swept for Sarah yesterday so I got to ride with Kalli as we went through west Texas. It was a slower day because we had to remain in the back but still had a blast. As a field hockey player in college, she and I share a lot of the same values when it comes to team activities and leading them. There was another accident yesterday with my two friends Lisa and Lauren, which was apparently not as bad but still required a hospital visit. We had a close encounter with a truck pulling a trailer that fish tailed out of the way and feel like we are given countless reminders of how lucky we are not to have had dealt with anything too serious yet.

Today we have a day off and the majority of the team went to hike a canyon in Amarillo. Josh and I decided to sleep in and catch up on errands and bike maintenance. It's nice to relax but definitely weird to spend more than an hour in a given city during the day. We're going to try and catch Jurassic World this afternoon and have a host dinner tonight with rumors of it turning into a mini pool party.

We met a cross country cycling couple on a tandem bike at lunch from Japan riding in Oklahoma! They're going from LA to NYC

I've been napping a lot and even started an Instagram account entitled @bikeandbuildnaps -go follow it!

Kalli and I attempting to look cool with no sleeves. She couldn't keep a straight face.

Once getting back into Texas, Josh and I climbed a sizable plateau (helmets still on for safety)