The next morning - "Rest Day"

I was up at 7am in the morning and ready to take the trailer to be fixed. Greb, Brian and I headed out from the campus while most of everyone else headed to the program oppurtunity to the cancer clinic.

Neil, being the amazing host he was, told us about the trailer place at dinner the night before. He even met us early that morning at Edmond Pickup when we brought the trailer in. Aftera quick lookover of the trailer, one of the workers went into the back and came out with a brand new hub. He put it up to the studs to compare the bolt pattern and it was perfect! Just what we needed. We dropped off the trailer and headed out.

Neil was leading us to Al's Bicycles! One of the bicycle shops in Edmond. Neil was telling us about how OCU is working on or has a program where students can check out bicycles to borrow. Just like the idea of a library book. Students could check out a bike and use them until the due date. I thought this was an amazing concept to get more and more students into the cycling commuting and to stress saving money when not having to worry about an automobile on campus. Al's would even do lifetime check ups and tune ups! I thought it was a great idea!

Al's shop didn't open for another hour or two, so we decided to find breakfast...

Right across the street was....Jimmy's Egg Breakfast & Lunch! We saw it as a nice local eatery, so we thought it would have AMAZING breakfast food!

I sat dowwn and we all ordered. I had Jimmy's Garbage Breakfast, I believe. And it was AMAZINGGGG!!!! it was so delicious! I had scrambled eggs with meat and veggies atop hash browns. With a side of pancakes. I KILLED IT!!! It was so amazingly good. Greg can vouch for me, he got the same thing.

When we checked out, I saw that the cashier person was writing on the GuestCheck book in vietnamese. I recognized that his handwriting was just like ALL of my cousin's writing, so I focused on the pad to see that it WAS vietnamese! So I had a quick conversation with him about what we're doing and who we are. I found out a little about him too and how he just moved here to the US. It was nice to practice a little bit of Vietnamese :)

After breakfast, we went to Al's bike shop. We had a nice talk with the man who worked there. Sadly, i can't remember his name. But he does know the owner of Buck's Bikes in Austin, TX. He was a cool cat. We talked a lot about cycling and about the trip.

Then we headed off to The Bicycle Store. Talk about an amazing bike shop!! They had a two story building and tons of parts all over the place. The walls were decorated with vintage cycling gear and equipment. The ceilings were covered in expensive frames and wheels hanging off of hooks. And best of all...

They had doggies running around the shop!!! I think there were thhree or four of them lying and walking around the bike shop. They were so friendly and cute!!! I browsed around the shop and looked at all of thei gear while Greg and Brian were trying to source parts to fix other bikes. Luckily it aAll turned out well and we bought a few things. Only to return to later to pick up other items.

After we got out of the store, Greg told us that the trailer was being fixed! it took less than 4 hours for them to replace the hub and repack bearings, but man it was done!! We swang by and hooked up the trailer to drag back onto campus.

We were meeting up with Neil again for lunch! We had a past 2007 rockies rider, Eric come and join us! He was driving down to Austin from New York and saw our schedule for the summer. So he decided to take a detour to Oklahoma City/Edmond to come chat, hang out, and get to know us.

He joined us for Jimmy Johns and exchanged experience stories and tips for the summer. He told us a few stories about Kansas and the many different things they did his year. We picked up a few ideas here and there :)

Then after lunch, Emma and Jan joined me in the Student Lounge to watch some planet earth!!! It was amazing. The first time I've watched TV on the whole trip! And it was such an amazing show! I watched and learned about the Salmon moving along the cool water currents and how sharks/dolphins/birds feed on them. COOL STUFF.

Soon after, we did a run to the bike shops again to buy last minute bike items and necessities.

When we got back to campus, it was time for dinner! Neil took us to an amazing Italian restaurant to fill our carb/meat needs! I had the most amazing chicken ravioli for dinner.

Half of the team decided to go on a Wal-Mart run and the rest of us headed back to OCU to pack up and get ready for our ride the next day. I ended up packing up my bag and coming down to the parking lot to work on bikes with Greg and Brian. Emma also joined us andd we sat in the parking lot eating Gobstoppers while we watched Greg and Brian fix bikes.

Then came bed-time, so we were off for the night! I had a tummy full of Gobstoppers and fell asleep instantly.

A great first day off :)