Have you ever heard the expression “Go the extra mile?” Well, today my group biked 8 extra miles. We started off the day eating breakfast with a preschool class at the YMCA in Greensberg. The class provided us with breakfast and enough laughs for our long journey ahead. The children were timid at first, refusing to enter the room. After a few moments, the children integrated themselves into our groups. One child, Josh, challenged a rider to an eating contest. Surprisingly the five year old out-ate a 4Ker. Another kid, Nathan, was asked the question “what do you learn about at school” and replied “arts and crafts.” The college students surrounding him wished for a time when life was that simple! After our moment of silence, we rode off for Butler getting as many high five's from the kids as we possibly could. They wanted to accompany us, but we figured it was in their best interest not to take them along.
There was not a cloud in the sky all day, but the wind was cold which made the riders anxious to warm up. At the first water stop in a shopping strip parking lot, a woman passed by who wanted to donate after her trip to the ATM. After getting some cash, she requested a group hug which we promptly gave her and she told us she was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Words could not describe the look of joy in her face after seeing us; the entire group was touched.
The directions for the day consisted of one thing: follow Route 8. Apparently this should have been enough information to get us to the next host . . . but our group experienced differently. The first wrong turn came when Route 8 took a right turn that was allegedly signaled by a sign. We did not see this sign. Fifteen minutes later we were close to Pittsburgh and on a very populated street. After noticing a lack of Route-8 signs, we decided to ask for directions. The first man told us to go straight for three miles, the second woman told us to turn around and travel eight miles, and the third man told us to turn around and travel three miles. After calling the van drivers, we turned around and found the right turn.
The directions for the day consisted of one thing: follow Route 8. Apparently this should have been enough information to get us to the next host . . . but our group experienced differently. The first wrong turn came when Route 8 took a right turn that was allegedly signaled by a sign. We did not see this sign. Fifteen minutes later we were close to Pittsburgh and on a very populated street. After noticing a lack of Route-8 signs, we decided to ask for directions. The first man told us to go straight for three miles, the second woman told us to turn around and travel eight miles, and the third man told us to turn around and travel three miles. After calling the van drivers, we turned around and found the right turn.
Excited about being back on course, we started conversing and soon after found ourselves off of Route 8 again. Dumbfounded about how we could have landed ourselves off the road once more, we turned around and again found the right turn that we had missed. Lunch tasted especially delicious after biking eight miles out of the way. Amy's brother, Andy, generously provided the team with foot-long sandwiches. The rest of the day was challenging: hill after hill with no relief. When we finally arrived at our next host we were exhausted and felt extremely accomplished. This journey is all about the unexpected . . . and today we got our share of surprises.
Signing off,
Ben Margolis, Meg Hindle, & Sarah Biggart
"the lost ones"
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