Des Moines, Iowa

After a fun day in Griswold, today we head back to civilization and arrive in Des Moines. I had planned to ride into Des Moines with Luke and Beau but because one of our guys didn't find a pace line, i left mine and decided to pair up with him and sweep for the day. I rode with Alberto which I was a little skeptical about. Alberto has struggled a lot throughout this trip and sometimes guys stay away from riding with him because of it. So once we had a great breakfast, quick circle up and morning prayer we left Griswold.

Alberto has been feeling sick for the past couple of days so the pace was very slow. Last night while we were circled up as a team one of my teammates, Kyle Marpe, told the team that every day he likes to reflect on something he learned that day and I thought that was a great idea. So today I learned to be more accepting of people. Growing up I have always been very accepting of those who are less fortunate of me not only financially but health wise, but my problem is those that are my peers. I tend to look down on my peers sometimes and I am working to change that, and I think riding with Alberto today helped me with that. At first I thought it was going to be an awful day because we wouldn't have a lot to talk about, or he would be going to slow but in the end I had a great day. We did keeper a slower pace that I would have liked to but I had a lot of great conversations with him and we finished the ride together. The ride was around 95 miles, and oh boy was it long. There were a lot of rolling hills that weren't necessarily hard, but when you are going less than 10 mph up every single one of them the day seems to drag on. We ended up being on the bike for over 6 1/2 hours and arriving in Des Moines was such a great feeling. I was so proud of Alberto for finishing the day and we both felt very accomplished. 

We stayed at St. Francis of Assissi and it was an absolutely beautiful church. Inside was a huge gym that everyone set up in for the night. Upon arriving, Melvin Rosario, a former multiple time Pi Alpha had lunch ready for us. Lunch included tacos, chips, and lots of ice cream. After a long hot day having a nice meal waiting for you is a big plus. The team got showered up and had some time to relax before dinner later on. I laid down for a little bit to get some rest before dinner until dinner at Dave and Emily Adickes house. They have been sponsoring the team for dinner at their house for a couple of years now and they had a great set up for us. I have been craving BBQ for a while now and when I walked in to see pulled pork I was very excited. The hosts invited over a few of their friends as well as Pi Kapps form Iowa State and Drake. Everyone had a great time mingling and they were all excited to hear our stories and wished us luck on the rest of our trip. 

One of my teammates, David, lives in Des Moines so he invited me over to his house to hang out. His parents brought his car over to our dinner location so we rode with him over to his place. Along with 4 of my other teammates and his girlfriend, we sat in the hot tub and talked about our summer. Although be around all 34 of the guys all day it was nice to get away and hang out with a smaller group. One of my favorite things about my team is that there aren't any cliques and that the whole team meshes very well. After the hot tub we went to McDonalds for a quick snack and got back to lodging. It was a long day and sleep was something I was really looking forward too.

Tomorrow we go to Marshalltown which is a shorter ride. I have heard we have some great friendship visits lined up and I am excited to get back into programming after having two days off.