Manhattan, KS

Thank god for days off. We've essentially had 2 this week, and I needed them both. We had our first century ride last week, 105 miles into Kansas City, MO, on Wednesday. Hitting 100 was such a rush. I took a picture of my odometer for proof. It was a long day, but I don't think it was as hard as some of our other rides. We actually had a tailwind for some stretches, which was a new experience. I probably shouldn't get too used to that, though. Thursday was a build day, but there wasn't much for us to do because of the rain, so we cleaned up the Habitat warehouse for a few hours in the morning and had the afternoon off. I really liked the artsy area of Kansas City that we got to explore. Friday was a 50 mile day into Lawrence. I got my second flat tire of the trip just as we were about to pull out from lunch. How appropriate for Friday the 13th. I think there were 12 flat tires that day. Yesterday was another long day, and it was one of my hardest days yet. The first 35 miles to first luch were awesome. I pace lined with Emily, Lee, and Dylan and felt great. The next 30 miles into second lunch I cranked hard with James, Andrew, and Lee. I wore myself out and got a little dehydrated, so the last 25 miles were a struggle, but Emily stay with me and reminded me to drink water about every 2 minutes. We got into Manhattan by 2, so we had plenty of time to go shopping for our thrift store prom last night. We had a dance party in the basement of the church before going out looking pretty ridiculous. It was awesome. Today is our first day off, but we spent the morning cleaning up tornado damage. I've never seen anything like it. I'm so glad we were able to help out at least a little. Now we have free time until dinner at our host church. We've all come to realize that United Methodists are the most hospitable people in the world.