The team had a great day in Lincoln and was ready to
continue our trip into the Midwest. Today we slept until 6:30, which was a good
and bad thing. Being able to sleep for an extra hour was very nice but I think
it slowed down the team a little bit getting out the door. We had crew chief
breakfast and our morning circle up and headed east for Omaha. I rode the 55
miles miles today with Travis Turner from Georgia Tech and Alberto Minnocci
from Iona College. Other than some pretty crappy roads the ride was pretty
simple we got there without flaw.
We got to Omaha and staged up in a parking
lot for our arrival to the Paralyzed Veterans of America building. While there
we got showered up, had lunch and then had a wonderful friendship visit. A girl
named Nia who we met in Grand Island set up the visit. Like most of the people
at the visit, she faces Spina Bifida, which has put her in a wheelchair her
whole life. Nia is a great person and it was awesome getting to know her and
the rest of the clients there.
We left the PVA center and went to our lodging location,
which was a church in Omaha. We had an hour to get set up in lodging before
loading back up into the vans to leave for dinner and our second friendship
visit. We went to the Mockingbird Community Center and met with the Arc of
Omaha who was hosting a group of individuals’ aged 21 and up. The friendship
visit was a lot of fun, which had a live band, included lots of dancing, games
and good times. As the trip has gone on it has been so touching to see my
teammates grow and get more comfortable at friendship visits. At first some
guys were a bit skeptical to get out and let themselves go but now that isn’t a
problem. Everyone immediately drops their wall, and has a blast without
hesitation. After a few hours and a very full stomach the team left the center
and went back to lodging in high spirits. Once we got back to lodging David and
I watched part of the movie Borat that Luis sent me from back home and then
went to bed.
Tomorrow we have a shorter ride to Griswold, Iowa. 5 States
down, 7to go!
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