Teen Treks

This morning we woke up to Gabby playing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on her speaker to start us on our journey to our campsite for the night in West Virginia. We biked a lot on a muddy bumpy trail and took lots of stops to pump water from the wells to refill. The water tasted a bit sulfury but it did the job. When we got to the campsite we swam in the Potomac river. We took our soap along to clean off which was fun
because we are on day two of no showers and don’t smell great. We also swam across to West Virginia. Then we walked to get ice cream and picked up a a couple gallons of spring water. After dinner we had a campfire and made s’mores. Ted made 10 marshmallows on one stick at once. Today was pretty relaxed but a filled with a lot of fun. We are looking forward to our night tomorrow at the bike shop bunks in beds!!  Written by Kai 

Today we started out our day in Ohiopyle National Park. Seven of us got going on the trail while Justin, Dominic, and Kai stayed in town to fix their bikes at the bike shop. My group worked together to make a playlist and we blasted some tunes on the trail (Anshuman and Noah tortured us with Kidz Bop for their song picks haha). We also stopped for some snacks along the trail and Anshuman, Jason, Noah, and Ted even dunked their heads in the water to cool off! Once we made it to Rockwood we had some well deserved pizza and ice cream! Then we headed to our hostel right across the street and unpacked and Justin’s group had finally caught up to meet us there. At the hostel we played chess and card games and I got to finish my book! We really enjoyed some relaxing down time. Unfortunately our plans for dinner at a local bar/restaurant fell through so we snacked on PB&J, trail mix, and hot dogs. Luckily, the owner of the hostel and pizza place came to our rescue, opened up her shop after hours and delivered us pasta, oatmeal, juice, and baked goods. After our amazing late night meal from Judy we went to bed at 10:00 in beds (yay!!!!!) and got our best sleep of the trip! \

Written my Cooper

Today was the day we left the San Juan Islands and started our three day dash back to Seattle. We rode back through Orcas Island the way we came, arriving early at the ferry dock with plenty of time to grab bananas and lemon poppyseed bread to share on the ferry. The ferry to Anacortes was gorgeous, the smaller San Juan Islands rising out of the sparkling blue water. In Anacortes, we explored small shops and tried to get affogatos in the town and then stocked up on food for dinner and breakfast. We then enjoyed the ride to our campsite at Bay View State Park. We traveled along on some pretty flat roads and paved trails, including a wooden slatted pedestrian bridge where we got some friendly waves from passersby. Just before arriving at the campsite we dropped onto a windy gravel path, singing John Denver’s “Country Roads” with the sun dropping in the sky to touch the blue ridged mountains in the distance. Our dinner of lettuce wraps and pot stickers hit the spot after our day of riding, and showers were warm! Lastly, we all meandered down to the beach to take our group photo, do some stretching, and recap the day with highs, lows, grows and bros. Two more days and everyone is excited for their parents cooking and their own beds!

Checking in from Cleveland, Ohio! One more Great Lakes City accomplished after a 55-mile ride from Sandusky. We had a great biking day, leaving camp this morning with the wind at our back and no rain clouds in sight! We followed a 40-mile stretch on Route 6 with an incredibly wide bike lane that passed through quaint beach towns along Lake Erie. We stopped at a bakery for some homemade bread and a farm-to-market shop for some delicious deli salads and picnicked in a shady grassy area. After a game called “Scream Off,” we hopped back on our bikes but didn’t make it too far before we got hot and found a public beach to swim in and play frisbee. A few people left some items behind and our designated “Assistant to the Regional Manager” or boss of the day (Noah) found the items with the help of Jake, so we stayed back and I treated them to some ice cream before catching up with the crew at the next stop. Later on while biking, a bald eagle crossed over our pathway and stole our attention momentarily. As we entered the outskirts of Cleveland, the roads got bumpy and we were dodging potholes left and right. Noah got a small nail through his tire, so we stopped for a quick tube change and kept on. We finally reached downtown Cleveland and biked through big tall buildings and passed through a nice city square before arriving at the towering Holiday Inn Express. Quick showers and then we were off to dinner at a downtown Vietnamese restaurant. After dinner, we discovered a hotel floor with arcade games, pool tables, computers, and everything to keep teenagers entertained for a while! Good thing we don’t have an early morning tomorrow. Though we will be checking out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame among other explorations on our day off in Cleveland!

We pulled ourselves out of a comfy Comfort Inn Hotel bed at 7 a.m. this morning, feasted on some complimentary muffins, oatmeal and yogurt and went over the days route with our Points of the Day, Shaun and Jake. As we rolled outside and conducted our morning bike and safety check, we discovered some broken spokes and noted that we needed to stop at a bike shop. On our way, we also got a flat tire and a bike rack that continues to loose bolts. It was time for all of us to go in the bike shop and fix up our machines and gather spare tubes and parts for the road. While there, we actually met another bike tourist who happened to be doing the same route as us, from Chicago to NYC. Crazy! He was a chef and all the Trekkers wanted him to follow along and cook for us. But he went his own way, maybe we’ll see him down the road! We also met a great crew at the bike shop who fixed up our bikes for super low prices and gave us popsicles and lots of free stuff! Later on in our 60- mile route, we ran into some more rain, this time heavier and super windy, so we took cover under a building until it passed. Luckily for us, as we biked the last 12 miles to our KOA campsite in Sandusky, Ohio, a beautiful double rainbow bursted through the cloudy sky and the sun beamed through, reminding us that beautiful things often come from difficult pursuits. We rest easy tonight, after delicious homemade tacos, and we look forward for to our ride to Cleveland tomorrow!

P.S Today the group is wearing T-shirts we all got from the restaurant we celebrated Ruby’s birthday at last night, called “Ye Olde Durty Bird.”