Hotel Happy

We just can't tell you how thankful we are to be greeting you all from a hotel this evening. After "sleeping" through a severe storm last night - with a few wet sleeping bags, pillows and FMYers :-) - a night in a dry, clean bed is much appreciated.

Today's ride broke our first 100-mile mark as we enjoyed a less hilly journey (than Sunday) with frequent views of the water. Other than a slightly traumatic intersection between Joni Hoag, the road and Owen Beans - in that order - today's trip was uneventful and beautiful. (Joni and Owen both lived to tell the tale, but not before Owen unavoidably rode over Joni, who had just wiped out on some gravel. Other than a little skin, the greatest loss was Joni's mirror.)

I asked Owen, Aaron Disch, Peter Huston and Jimmy Stilt to share their thoughts about today ... "We went down a really big hill during which we broke the speed limit (of 35 miles)," "We had fun in go-carts," "We had sandwiches for lunch," "We almost left on time this morning," "There was a hot tub," and "We ate in a restaurant today" (a simply profound retelling of the day :-)). Now, if I had a few girls nearby, they might provide a little more detail, but you've got the basic facts.

The most excitement we had in the last 24 hours occurred between 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. last night during which time a severe storm went through the area. Tents were swaying, adults were pondering possible evacuation senarios (well, at least Della Field and I were :-)) and a few FMYers were escaping wet tents for dry ones (thank you to those who took pity on Will Florian and Ryan Cole). With the exception of wet tents and some damp sleeping gear, we weathered the night pretty well. The web album for Day 3 includes a couple of shots of us setting up our tents at a park in Green Bay so they could air-out while we ate lunch.

Speaking of lunch ... we spent a few hours at wonderful park, Bay Beach Amusement Park, located on the shores of Green Bay. Earlier in the day we made a snack stop at Bay Shore Park, where a large park entertained our "children." (See the Day 3 web album for further explanation. :-))

We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon at the hotel - swimming, napping, showering, reading, and watching movies (a few girls absconded my laptop for a couple of hours) - and then headed out to a local restaurant for wonderful meat-and-potatoes dinner. A few have hit the hot tub one last time, but many have headed to bed ... which is what I should probably do as well.

Blessings from Green Bay ... Robyn

P.S. This evening I added a few pics to Day 2 web album as well as today's pics (Day 3). Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/bikeup2008 to view these as well as previous days' photos.