Bloomington, Indiana

Leaving Rushville was not easy. In the morning they prepared the best breakfast I've ever eaten. The difference in taste is obvious because of the sole use of fresh ingredients. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits with sausage gravy, an egg caserole with red peppers onions and shredded potatoes, an egg caserole with sausage cheese and bread, tons of fresh fruit, and of course the highlight BACON. I've never had bacon this good anywhere I've gone. The secret was that they just butchered a hog when we came through. It sounds cruel, but this bacon was the freshest of fresh. The main exports of the town are hogs and corn so I was happy to share in both with the locals. My belly was bulging as it has been this whole trip for the ride in the morning. For 86 miles we stayed on the same road and saw some pretty interesting points of civilization. All along the roads, people were having yard sales. These aren't the type of yard sales in the northeast, these are legitimate. People have their yards filled with stuff and cars are directed to drive right onto the lawn to park. In between homes with yard sales were giant flea markets far better than the redwood pile of rust back home. Thee flea markets had real crafts, handmade benches swings and other wood products. People could buy tractors and farmig equipment here as well as local food. The flea markets were huge and there were atleast three along our route. When we got into Bloomington, home of Indiana University, David Lee Roth, Mick Foley, John Mellencamp, Rex Grossman, and Bobby Helms, there was a very cool cycling race happening. The group watched all night as different categories sped around a block for 35 minutes of laps and even one of our own entered the race. After settling in to the church, we realized how much food we had. Most of the group was out for a round of social drinking so led by the idea of Brandt, six of us collected extra food we had and donated it to a local homeless shelter. The problem is that we acquire so much in our travels. One day a host site gives us tons of food and leftovers and we arrive at another host who has dinner prepared for us. That means we never get the chance to dig into leftovers from the previous night and then the new host gives us more food and leftovers to take on our way. So without consulting the rest of the group who may have been mad, we took two giant coolers and filled them with 3 full trays of lasagna, orange juice, bread, cookies and so much more food we would never get to. On the way back from dropping off food and appreciating havin empty coolers for the four block walk back, we talked about how the trip is about more than just affordable housing, we're out to change the world. I got ready to go out and went to a pizza place with a group of five because there was a live band there that was supposed to be good. That was false intel as new age sounds of dark gothic pierced hair gel inspired "artists" rattled my brain. We didn't stay there long and went to another bar to meet up with some of our other riders. By 10pm I was just so tired from riding 190 miles in the last two days that I walked back to the church to go to sleep. It was a great idea to get a full nights rest and I would have loved it if that actually happened. However, as the witching hour rolled around and the clock struck 315, rowdy drunk bikers came back to stir up the sleepers. About 20 of them had just gotten back from the bar and they came parading into the room where people were sleeping to cause a mass disturbance. They talked yelled scarfed down food and worst of all turned the lights on. I was not a happy camper to say the least. But not wanting to cause any problems I just kept my head on my pillow and waited for the lights to turn off and the noise to stop. Twenty minutes later that still hadn't happened, so I said "the lights are going off in two minutes so prepare yourselves for that." It was getting ridiculous to the point of stupidity so I turned the lights off and people slowly shut up. I and the others who were sleeping were shocked by the how inconsiderate this was and when I woke up at 8am I contemplated turning the lights on and screaming to wake everyone up. I thought that would be only fair, but not a good way to get along with roomates for the next 40 something days. When someone finally got around to turning the lights on at 10am, one girl woke up and complained "why are the lights on?". I wanted to scream a combination of the same reason they were on last night and because the sun is up, but I just bit my tongue. It seems some people on this trip are more committed to drinking in every town then exploring what they have to offer. My theory is that a person can drink in any bar in the US and not much will change. But when is the next time we'll be in any of these cities? I prefer operating in the daylight hours when I can discover all that a city is. This morning I found out that one kid had gotten so drunk he urinated all over the carpet at the church in the room where people were sleeping. This is the same kid who vomitted in the sleeping room at the church in Pittsburgh because he was so drunk. This is Bike and Build people, not Bike and Booze... Get it together!

Whoever decided to chose Bloomington as one of our days off made a poor choice. Even worse was to choose a Sunday to be here because the few museums and other forms if entertianment that exist are all closed. This city is a little too spread out and run down to be able to enjoy anything using onlynyour feet for transportation. However, first thing in the morning, I took a four mile round trip hike to a little park that was supposed to be beautiful and full of waterfalls. The rave reviews were all wrong and the park was a total bust. I got back around noon to a room of people still sleeping. 16 of us got shuttled in our van to Monroe Lake about 10 miles away. It was supposed to be a sweet swimming spot in a national park. Everyone got mad right away when we had to pay to get in, then there was no beach area, and out of the whole huge lake, we were only allowed to swim in a 30' x 150' area with the rest of the Indiana population that was there. The water was surprisingly warm and no one even flet refreshed by it. So we got out and wanted to go but our driver and a few others had found their way onto a strangers party boat and left us stranded for a ride for a couple hours. No one was pleased to be stranded and wasting one of our last two remaining days off. When we finally got back home, we ate burritos donated for dinner by Chipotle. After that everyone took naps because they were still tired from last night which left me with not much to do. Eventually, myself and two others took our bikes to explore IU. It was a beautiful campus similar to Ohio State and Penn State but slightly more marvelous. We found the football stadium, got on the field and played around on the turf for a while. Later when we got back the group watched Breaking Away, the Academy Award winning coming of age story about four boys who fall in love with cycling. The movie is based in Bloomington and we saw many scenes of roads we had riden on and sights we have seen. That was very cool and again, everyone dozed off. The church also had a nightime meeting of overeaters anonymous which I desperately wanted to join because the quantity of food I've been consuming on this trip is unhealthy. Perhaps I'll find some self control tomorrow.