Day 25: Laundry Duty

June 30, 2022 in Chanute, Kansas

I haven’t really had the wifi to post the past two days, but I will make up for it right now!

On Thursday, we biked 60 miles to our host in Chanute. I was in the first group that left, which I’ve never done before.

My teammates Eliza and Caroline and I made it to the host before 11 am–– which means it took us under 4 1/2 hours to bike 60 miles.

Even though 60 doesn’t sound like that much to me anymore, I realized I’d kind of lost sight of how far that really is. Even if it isn’t that far for Bike and Build, it is still a very long way to bike, and my body was feeling it.

Because we’d gotten there so fast, the host wasn’t quite ready for us. My team took a nap (there are lots of those) on a shady pavilion while they finished getting the space ready.

After we biked the last three miles and were let in to, a small group walked to a local coffee shop called Java Junction.

I had an iced coconut latte and a grilled cheese with salt and vinegar chips. It was definitely my favorite coffee of the trip so far.

Our little excursion group headed back to the host, and we were able to go to the local water park/pool for free, where we also showered.

One thing I’ve noticed about pools in the Midwest is that even the most elaborate slides and lazy rivers are considered pretty average for a town pool.

A couple of the parks we’ve been to have been excellent, and the average price has been around 4 dollars each. In Groton, the country club charges 15 dollars per person and it does NOT have slides or a lazy river. I object to that business model.

Once we had spent some time floating around and had showered up, I did my daily chore. I’m on laundry this week, and I volunteered to hang back at the laundromat to make sure it gets done.

The rest of the team saved dinner for me–– a loaded baked potato and strawberry poke cake–– and were all extra nice to me for doing the chore no one wants to do.

We ended the night with our weekly town hall meeting, where we discuss what’s going well and what needs improvement. I don’t have anything in particular to note from that, besides us all going around and making a noise to describe how we felt, instead of using a word like usual. Very funny.

Before bed, I decided to switch van days with a friend because I knew I wasn’t up to biking 100 miles in 100 degree heat after a big day. So, I’ll be in the truck tomorrow and she’ll take my place for a shorter ride in a couple of days.

I am really hoping to get into reading my new book, “Gilead,” over the next few days. TTFN (Tata for now)!