SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

so a lot has happened since the 8th... it's only been 5 days but damn, what a rough 5 days.

all i have written in my journal for the past few days have been HILLY, WINDY!!!! over and over.. PA was brutal, there was this one hill that had to have been at least 12% grade for almost a mile... if you bike in boston, think summit ave, but for a mile, while hauling a 75lb bike and starting the hill after riding 70 miles.. yeah, it sucked to say the least.

the morning of the 9th we had breakfast made for us by gust and mae, they made homemade sausage, farm fresh eggs, toast, and homemade jam.. so delicious. the night of the 9th we found this amazing house to stay at. the owner was an excavator and built his own pond in his front yard... we ate dinner out there.

10th: we broke into OHIO on the 10th... man were we happy.. apparently in ohio you don't need to wear shirts anywhere.... people were walking into markets shirtless and dirtier than the 3 of us and getting service.. no shirts, no problem if you're in OHIO. ohio was MUCH flatter than PA.. oh man, was riding easier, the wind though, was not as kind. we pushed hard since we wanted to be as far away from PA as possible. i was cruising for a good 15ish miles at a 18-22mph pace.. as i passed this house a pitbull/boxxer took off after me and scared the CRAP out of me... i've NEVER pedaled so hard in my life.. i had to been at least going over 26mph with a fully loaded bike.. the dog gave up after about 100 yards but i pulled my L hammy slightly. nothing a little stretching couldn't fix. ended up finishing the night in atwater OH and stayed in the back of a church..

11th: 90 miles today.. OH is windy, not too many rolling hills but the wind is just brutal today... we were caught in a thunderstorm earlier in the day, it blew through fast, but it absolutely POURED on us.. i was soaked.. took refuge at eddy's bike shop and the guys there were super cool and super nice (HOLLA EDDY'S BIKE SHOP IN MEDINA!!!) they tuned up cole and chad's bike. they let us dry off and charge our stuff. we stuffed ourselves for lunch and started the ride after the storm passed. we knocked on 5-6 doors and NO ONE was home in norwalk.. we think everyone was at the drag strip we passed 5-6 miles back. ended up just laxing behind a church and waiting until sunset to pitch a tent. the coolest thing about camping out in the middle of nowhere is the firefly's. they really just light up the fields and look amazing.

12th: rough morning, we woke up at 5am and it was freezing. we dragged our feet for a bit but rolled out for 10 miles before we stopped for breakfast. by 9:48am we had a hair over 40 under our legs which helped a lot. by lunchtime we had 60 and then the winds started, by 3:50pm we had 85 miles and it took until 7:30 to bust out all of the 116. longest day so far. we found this awesome house to stay at again. they let us use their spicket to wash up.. funniest part of the day, cole showering at the spicket when their family shows up.. this kid just looks at cole showering at his grandparents yard. they were nice though. it was sharing a tent with chad rotation... he farted a lot this night.. pretty wrong.... we were only 13 miles from INDIANA but just getting too late to move on.

13th: great day today... did about 94ish miles.. today was a blurr. parts of it went by fast, others felt so slow.. maybe it was because i had mcdonalds for breakfast (gross), or the SPAM i had the night before (also gross). i'm starting to feel tired now... we are at Pat's place, he's cooking up some guacamole and burgers for us.. stoked.. haven't had red meat in 2 weeks, i need my fixing..

overall: what an experience so far, i'm missing certain things from home (like my awesome sheets, sleeping naked on a foam pad is just not the same) but i've been able to see a lot of this country. i've seen some of the richest neighborhoods of this country and i've also seen some of the poorest, funny how they are always right next to each other.

tomorrow is a rest day, we're going to spend it making sure the bikes are in tip top shape for the next 1/3 of the country as well as tour notre dame university. i hear it's beautiful so i'm stoked to see it.

miss ya'll at home. be well.