Day 7: Carson City, NV to Fallon, NV

"Back in the saddle, again!" Every morning, our project manager, Jeff, places a song on a huge loudspeaker to wake us up for the day. The song choice ties into that day's ride. On our big climb, Jeff played "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and once we got into the heat of Nevada, he chose "Walking on Sunshine". A few friends have asked me how a typical day goes on Journey of Hope. The project manager wakes up 30 minutes and the crew 15 minutes before the cyclists, which is usually around 6am (The earliest I have gotten up since before college). We then have 45 minutes to pack up our bags, have a classic peanut butter bagel and fruit breakfast, and circle up to talk about upcoming day. Our team is divided into 6 different squads of 5 people who are each assigned specific tasks. For instance, one day, a squad is assigned to prepare ice and water for the ride. Other squad duties are bike shop runs, errand runs, lodging cleanup, and scouting. The night before a ride, one squad will drive the first 20 miles of a route to look for any obstacles the cyclists may face. They also use spray paint to mark the turns for cyclists to navigate from lodging to the main road out of the city. Once squad duties are assigned in circle up, leftover items found in lodging are put into the middle of the circle. If one of those items is yours, you have to bust out your best dance moves in front of the team to get it back. Fortnite moves, whips, and twerking are all crowd favorites. Two more cyclists are assigned to do the daily journal, which is a summary of the day posted onto the JOH website, and thank you letters to the sponsors who hosted meals for that day. In addition, one cyclist presents a chosen disability of the day to share with the rest of the team. Ride dedications are also opened up to the circle. Jeff, who is a native Georgian, assigns the "peach of the day", and that cyclist has the honor of getting a picture with everyone's favorite manager. Finally, the peach of the day leads the Vigilance Chant, along the lines of "Vigilance on me, Vigilance on three! One, two, three, VIGILANCE!" Pacelines then head out for the ride. Today, we took Highway 50 from Carson City to Fallon with a lot of the same scenery of mountains and long stretches of desert plains. It was only 60 miles and our group got into Fallon HS pretty early. We got ice cream at McDonald's, splurged at Walmart, and visited a local antique store. The highlight of the day was the friendship visit at the Pallentine center in Fallon, where we had a sponsored dinner and had a huge dance party. Dance parties are always the best because everyone has so much energy and has so much fun. It brought back memories of the time I spent at Camp PALS in Chicago. Made some awesome friends and personal connections in this small city.

Highway 50: Loneliest Road in America

Crew Chief Lunch each day