State 2! Carson City, Nevada

Sorry everyone for not writing the last few days. We have been staying in gyms with no internet access. But We are here in Carson City, Nevada and we have a no biking day today. So I am here at a coffee shop. Since my last time writing I have done a lot of biking. From Napa we went to Sacramento where we had an arrival on the capitol (unfortunately we did not get to meet the Governator). Our friendship visit was at the Southside Art Center where the participants have their own band named Southside Ensemble. They performed various songs for us and they were awesome!!!

Then from Sacramento we traveled to Jackson. We had a great sponsored lunch/friendship with ARC another organization that helps people with disabilities that has been a long time supporter of Journey of Hope. I met a very nice young lady and her name was Kelly. I love just sitting and getting to know people that I meet. It just proves that people with disabilities are no different than anyone else. We also had a sponsored dinner by another long time supporter, Jackson Lion's Club.

From Jackson we had one of our hardest days of the summer. We biked up the Sierra mountains. We biked about 7,000 feet hitting an elevation of about 8,400 feet at one point and rode about 85 miles! The mountains were extremely difficult, but I had a great paceline and we really helped each other the whole ride. At one point when I looked over and saw snow on the peaks where we were riding, I thought to myself "I must be crazy!" Although it was the toughest things I have ever done mentally and physically, it is a challenge that I will never forget and one of the most amazing things I have done. The views that we seen were amazing. Some of the most beautiful landscape and scenary that I have ever seen. God did an amazing job, that is all I have to say. Since our day was so tough and it took us pretty much all day to bike, we didn't have a friendship visit today and the Jackson Lion's Club drove up to where we were staying to cook us dinner!

For our arrival in Carson City we had our sponsored lunch with the boys and girls club. During these visits we really try to spread awareness and help younger kids understand people with disabilities. It is great doing this because the younger we can instill awareness in their minds the better it is for them. I hung out with one little boy named Donavan for most of the time. He is a great kid. He seemed pretty mature for a 9 year old and he was asking so many questions about the trip and what we were doing. It is such a great feeling when we get to share our story with people and they hear about what we are doing. I actually just got to share what I was doing a few minutes ago with the lady working here at the coffee shop.

The rest of our biking day off we have a friendship visit after lunch then I definitely need to do some laundry!