DAY 50

The fact that today we arrived in Chicago and we are 50 days into our trip absolutely blows my mind. I arrived in San Francisco almost two months ago and we have less than three weeks left in the trip. I am at a point where I almost want to turn back around and head back to California because I don't want this amazing experience to end. I have done so many amazing things, pushed myself to limits I didn't think I could reach and I have made 34 friends that I will have for the rest of my life.

We woke up at 6:15 this morning and it was a very interesting morning. Chicago is only 20 miles from Chicago and from what Nick said it would almost be pointless to make the trip in on bikes. Depending on the conditions twenty miles would normally take us about an hour but because there are so many turns and traffic the ride in would have taken up 2 1/2 hours so we were told to rack our bikes. When we got out of bed this morning we were told to put workout clothes on instead of biking gear or team tux because we were going to do yoga as a team. The YMCA brought out a yoga instructor for us so all 35 guys on the team went to the front lawn of the YMCA building and did yoga together. I have only done yoga once in my life and it is a lot harder than I ever expected. Along with a lack of balance I have pretty bad flexibility so I struggled a little bit. Everyone got a good laugh out of how bad most of us were but afterwards I felt amazing. My whole body felt very loose and relaxed and I think yoga is just what the team needed to remain strong on the bikes.

JOH making yoga look easy since 1977

Although we weren't riding into the city we still had to put on our biking clothes because we were doing an arrival on our bikes to the friendship visit location. So after yoga the team went inside, showered up and then got ready for a day on the bike. 20 minutes later the team was back outside and was greeted by close to 50 day camp participants who were eager to see a puppet show. The guys put on a great show for the little kids and as usual I laughed at every joke that I have now heard close to twenty times. As soon as the puppet show was over we loaded up in the trucks and made our way to downtown Chicago. Everyone in my vehicle loves when we have to ride in the truck because we have so much fun together. Today I sat in the front so I had to DJ and we had a blast. Between the music, hilarious things we talk about, and the anxiousness to be in Chicago we were laughing and having a lot of fun. We arrived at our stage up location which was Target and got ready to ride over to our friendship visit.


We got in double pace line formation and after a mile long ride we arrived at the Victor C. Neuman Foundation which works to help people with developmental disabilities. As we were pulling into the parking lot there was a crowd of between 50 and 100 people who were all very excited to see us. We lined up and all the clients came up and introduced themselves to us. While there the plan was to eat lunch and interact with the clients for a few hours. Once we met everyone we set our bikes to the side and the fun began. After getting my food I went and sat down to a middle aged gentleman named Jerry. He was hesitant to talk to me at first but once he opened up he talked and talked and talked. I asked him how is day was going and what he said next really stuck with me. He told me, "I don't have bad days. I have good days, and I have great days and today is another great day." I thought about it for a moment and I couldn't come up with any reason not to look at life the same way. At once point in this trip someone said to me that the only disability in life is a bad attitude and this goes along the same lines. Jerry very clearly had a disability but he had an attitude where he was going to make the best of situations and also be happy and I plan on looking at life the same way. Right before we left the CEO of the Victor C. Neuman Foundation approached us and presented the team with a proclamation. It announced that today, July 24th 2013 is declared Push America day in the entire state of Illinois. This was so awesome because all of the other proclamations we have received are just for individual cities but this one was for the whole state.

Clients greeting us as we arrived to our friendship visit location

After our visit the team was getting a few hours to tour downtown Chicago which I was excited for. I have never been west of the Mississippi River before other than flying out to San Francisco a few years ago so all of these Midwest states are new to me. We split up into smaller groups and walked around. My group went to a four floor Nike Store, the Apple Store, went to the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower and then had the most amazing popcorn of my life from a store called Garrett's. Chicago is a very cool city and I look forward to being able to come back tomorrow and check out more of the sites.

At 5:30 the team met up at a restaurant to have dinner sponsored by John Shumacher, a former Pi Alpha and all around great guy. He had dinner with us and it was very neat to hear some of his experiences when he did the trip and talk about how everything has changed. We ate a delicious pasta dinner and I had some of the best root beer I have ever drank in my life. The meal was very filling and after a long day I was ready to head back to lodging to rest for the night.

We drove about 30 minutes to our lodging location which was outside of Chicago in Itaska, Illinois. Tonight we are staying at Eaglewood Resort and Spa which is an absolutely amazing place. It is by far one of the nicest places we have stayed all summer and I really hope the sponsor knows we appreciate all that they are doing for us. I look forward to getting a good nights rest in this big comfortable bed and then get back into Chicago tomorrow for another friendship visit and more touring. WIth this summer quickly coming to an end I am doing everything I can to savor every single moment of my trip.