Day 5

 

Two weeks to go!!!!!!!!! 

Today I learned something very important.  I learned that there is something that exists called The E.T. Effect (a phrase I coined myself and discovered today).  So for any of you that have seen the movie E.T., remember the scene where E.T. drinks the beer and Elliot feels the effects while in class?  Basically the two of them become emotionally and physically connected in some strange way.  Anyway, at the beginning of today Kyle was in more of a low-key mood and I was feeling a bit tired after a night of not so good sleep.   Now either the way he felt had an impact on me or vice versa, but my theory is that we’ve spent so much time together in the past, what, 3 years that we’ve begun to share symptoms…granted that 99.99% of the time those symptoms are overly-excited and enthusiastic about the smallest thing in the world.  Nonetheless, I discovered the reality behind E.T. and apologize to Jenna for bringing up “the scariest movie ever made”.

 

We also further discovered the power of being a Bucknellian.  As far as Kyle and I are concerned, we could pick out anybody that went to Bucknell in our time and be able to tell a story about them, or recognize that we once had a conversation with them.  Well, last week we got a message from Emily Johnson, one of the rare Bucknellians that we hadn’t crossed paths with during our 4-year stay in Lewisburg.  Regardless, she saw that we were coming through Colorado (easily my favorite state thus far, by far) and contacted us to see if we were coming through Durango.  Just so happened that we are staying in Durango tonight, so we got in touch with her and had a few beers, some dinner, and shared some stories.  Props to Durango Brewing Company for staying open after hours and letting us sample their beers (Mayo we thought of you)!  We met her roommates and co-workers Miles and Hanna for a beer in downtown Durango…another scene that convinced us that we need to spend some time in Colorado very soon (Micah, we now feel your love for your home state).

 

I also realized today that I missed a few things in the passed day or two.  First, one of the days I saw multiple signs that informed people of the fire risk in the desert.  The funny thing was that each sign was a giant picture of Smoky the Bear giving us the update on how safe it was.  All I could think of while I was on my bike was Giaco and the power hour he introduced us to.  The same power hour we used at 9am during the week…props to the crew that was there with us, especially Lando who tried her hardest to keep up and had to resort to wearing a Bucknell Rugby jersey for extra motivation.  We also talked a bit about one of the routes we did where the only turn we had all day was a left turn.  Shout outs to the Duke Greeley and Cuz Lyons for reminding me of NASCAR (sorry it wasn’t you Jenna) on that left turn.

 

I spent a lot of time today thinking about people back at Bucknell.  I learned that no metter what I’m doing, whether it be biking across the country or sitting in an auditing room for PwC, I can’t stop thinking about all the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet while at Bucknell.  I owe so much to such a great place and am glad that I can be a part of giving back to it.  Plus this race is a great excuse to go back to school as an alumni and hang out with everybody for a few days!

 

All in all, today was another fantastic day.  The scenery was the most beautiful, in my opinion, that we’ve seen all trip.  Right now we’re hanging out in Jake and Jesse’s room typing away and gearing up for the Continental Divide tomorrow.  As Frank would say: “We’re in Big Boy Country now, we gotta get psyched up”!  Walking around downtown Durango tonight really made Kyle and I appreciate where we are, where, we’ve come from, and wonder where the heck we are heading.  For now we are heading East and we hope the rest will fall into place after that. Cheers.