Pittsburgh Day 2

After a great night of sleep in the hotel I was up early and ready for day 2 in Pittsburgh. Wake up was 7:00 but I was up by 6, got showered and was down stairs in the lobby drinking coffee by that time. We had a pretty busy day planned in Pittsburgh and I was excited to get the day moving. First thing we did was have breakfast with the Pi Kappa Phi chapter at the University of Pittsburgh. They met us at the hotel so we didn’t have to worry about going anywhere, which was nice. The brothers made us breakfast casserole, brought cereal, donuts and breakfast pastries. It was nice talking to the guys from the Pitt chapter and how they do things differently than we do in Knoxville. We took our group picture and had about 2 hours of free time before going to our lunch friendship visit. I went back up to the room and laid down and relaxed for a little bit.

Around 11:00 we met in the lobby and walked to our first friendship visit of the day, which was with the United Cerebral Palsy Center of Pittsburgh. We walked in the door and I saw a lot of Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers apparel. They had about 50 clients there who were going to join us for lunch and I sat down at a table surrounded by about 4 clients. I immediately started talking to the two people around me, Prince and Michael. Michael (who is a girl) talked to me some at first but wouldn’t open up to me all that much. Prince on the other hand was very talkative. He was all decked out in jewelry, a tie, and a tattoo on his forearm that said Prince. He was cruising in his wheelchair in style and he knew it! Lunch was provided by the center and they made everyone “Pittsburgh style food” which I was very familiar with. They had ham barbeque, perogis, sauerkraut and cookies. The meal was very good and while looking around the room it was amazing to see some of my teammates helping out their new friends with their lunch. Across the table from me, Blake was sitting with a client named Ali and ended up feeding her lunch. Although this isn’t something we are asked to do while at visits he took it upon himself to get her a plate and help out in any way he could and I know it was pretty rewarding for him. After everyone had eaten we went outside to take our group picture with the Center and we then said our goodbyes. I know everyone had a blast hanging out with the clients of UCPC.

Blake Neuman helping out Ali 

Prince and I during lunch

After lunch we walked back to the hotel for some more free time. During the ride into Pittsburgh one of the spokes on my bike broke once again so I had to take a trip to a local bike shop to get it looked at. Along with two other cyclists we went over to Performance Bike Shop and walked to the back of the store to the repair desk. After being there for a while we got all of our problems taken care of and they shop didn’t charge me a thing after I told them what I was riding for. Every other bike shop I have been to this summer has charged me for service and gear so it was nice that this one was empathetic of what we were doing this summer.

We finally got back to the hotel from the bike shop and had a short amount of time to get ready to leave for dinner. We were going out to a camp outside of Pittsburgh to meet with the campers and talk to them about perseverance and fighting through difficulties in life. When we got to the camp the Build America team was there and we all enjoyed a good dinner together. Because the cafeteria was full half of the guys from both teams sat outside so I got an opportunity to talk to the BAM guys and learn more about their trip. After dinner we went into a room and a few of our guys volunteered to talk about some of their experiences. It was really neat to hear my teammates reflect on our trip and talk about how they have fought through struggles, and then see the campers relate to them.

We left the camp and I was very excited to get back to the hotel because I had some visitors waiting for me. My Aunt Ksenia and Pap were sitting outside the hotel waiting for me and it was awesome to see them. I think my Aunt was very happy to see me alive and all in one piece, and I value every second I got to spend with my Pap. About 15 minutes later my cousin Matthew and his friends pulled into the parking lot and I spent the rest of the night going downtown with them and eating at Primanti Brothers. It was very nice getting to see some family on the trip for the first time since Breckinridge, and I am excited to see everyone in Washington D.C. It is hard to believe this summer is coming to an end, as today was our last day off the bike before arriving on the 10^th! I wouldn’t trade any of the memories I have made for the world.