Charleston to Huntington

Today was great. A short 50ish mile ride of no mountains and few turns. The only downside was that there was a lot of traffic, and the traffic became somewhat scary and careless toward the end of the day. 

We had lots of time in the afternoon to hang out, nap, and check out a local hotdog place that had excellent fried mushrooms. I started out the day riding with Dan and Emily Borchers, which was exciting because I've been wanting to ride with Borchers since day one but she's been recovering from a knee injury, so it was cool to see her back on the road today.  At lunch, we stopped by a goodwill and got Blake some silly t-shirts and I snagged an awesome scooby doo fleece for the colder nights (I get so much colder than everyone else here).  After hearing from everyone that Blake is so fun to ride with, I spent my afternoon finally riding one on one with Blake, and it was all it had been built up to be. 

One of the cooler parts of this week is that walls are coming down and I'm finally finding the time to get to know people on the trip, and the people that I'm working with as co-leaders. We spent a lot of time understanding each other professionally, but over the past few days we've gotten to know each other on a bit more personal level. Most surprising: in March, Dan and I predicted that we would not get along at all but now some of my favorite conversations of the week have been with him (not to pick favorites or anything). 

Currently, I'm writing from the laundromat. I drove laundry crew here and we have had a blast working on getting tomorrow's dinner donated, getting to know some locals, and getting to know each other. Most notable local: the owner of this laundromat. She chatted with us for a bit and we learned that she met her husband on world of Warcraft, got married in Vegas, and moved to WV to be with him. She runs all sorts of specials to build her laundromat, and her husband owns the bar next door. It was cool to hear her story and see how proud she is of her contribution to her small community's economy. This laundromat really acted more as a community center and it was fun to get to know everyone. 

That's all for now. Who knows what kind of shenanigans we'll get into tonight. The host location feels like a giant fort.