Day 54: Atlanta, GA

Today was a busy day but I had a blast! The day started off with a team church service at a very special church called the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter. The church itself only has about 100 members, but around 70% of its members are diagnosed with some sort of disability. A lot of these people have no community outside of the church, making the church itself an incredibly tight community. It's a very special place. After the service and a lunch with the congregation, we headed to the Basement Theatre, a local improv comedy club, for a friendship visit with a local autism group. I have never been to an improv show before, but those guys were hilarious. We all laughed our butts off and had a great time, whilst making great friends. Later, we had a dinner and friendship visit at a bowling alley with the North Metro Miracle League, a local baseball league for kids with disabilities. I had a ton of fun; we bowled a couple of games, ate some pizza, and laughed around for a couple of hours. No one wanted to leave when it was time to head back. Overall it was a great day, but I'm ready to get back on the bike and head to Athens tomorrow!

Day 53: Atlanta, GA

The day began with a very solid 55 mile ride into the heart of Atlanta. Our hotel is right in the center of downtown. We saw a lot of the city on our way in, and I can honestly say Atlanta is a very nice city for the most part. We grabbed some lunch at a burger shack in Olympic Park, and then headed to the zoo for a small friendship visit. The Atlanta Zoo is very impressive. I had never seen pandas before until today, and I'm in love. They just lay around all day and eat bamboo and sleep, which is very appealing to the life of a JOH cyclist. After the zoo, we headed to an alumnus' house for a delicious sponsored feast of steaks. There were many alumni and even members of our national council. After dinner, we were connected to an alumnus who has a child with CP and started a foundation to help raise money to cure CP because of the lack of government funding for such a cause. Check out letscurecp.org

Day 52: Carollton, GA

Long and beautiful century ride through the foot hills of the Appalachians on our way to Georgia today. It was a tough ride, but I enjoyed it. Breakfast was sponsored by the UAB chapter, and put us all in a great mood to begin with today. We also received a lot of attention today as we traveled through the small towns of Alabama. Apparently, one of the news stations filming our arrival at Samford in Birmingham did a huge story on us, and lots of folks waved, cheered, and wanted to talk to us as we rode today. Now that we are so far from California, its as like our cause is gaining much more credibility. When we arrived at lodging, Carollton High School, we showered very quickly in time to make dinner and a friendship visit with the ARC of Carollton. It was very casual, allowing us acquaint ourselves with some great participants and sponsors. A few of us grabbed some McDonald's before hitting the hay, but we lost an hour crossing into the eastern time zone, causing us to rush to bed. Atlanta tomorrow!

Day 51: Birmingham, AL

Long but fun day today! The much needed day off started with a friendship visit at the Lakeshore Foundation Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, one of 11 of it's kind in the country. The facility had everything from a rock wall to an Olympic shooting range. We got to meet some pretty awesome people including 2 Female gold medalists in wheelchair basketball and sit-down volleyball from the 2008 Paralympic games in Beijing. One woman, Katie Holloway, is the only person ever to compete in a Division-1 sport as an amputee. She played basketball for Cal State, and could easily kick my butt. Anyway, the facility was hosting a disability sports camp for kids, so we had the opportunity to play all sorts of wheelchair sports and cheer them on. Immediately following that friendship visit, we had another visit/lunch at United Cerebral Palsy of Birmingham. I had a great time there, and brushed up on my Auburn cheers with a few participants. Later, we had a little free time before we headed to Moody, AL to participate in the Moody Miracle Baseball League. It was awesome! Seeing the smiles on some of those kids' faces was priceless. It was an absolute blast, and a very touching experience. Here's a few photos of the Olympic center!

Day 50, Birmingham, AL

The 60 mile ride to Birmingham proved to be the hilliest ride we've seen since Texas. Who knew there were mountains out here? Birmingham is a beautiful city though: lots of hills and lots of big, old trees. After some hard work, we were treated with subway for lunch, which was awesome. Afterward, we rode our friendship visit. It was a ton of fun; we played kickball and dodgeball, and made plenty of new friends. After the visit, we had another arrival at Samford University, where the local Pi Kapp chapter, the media, and the University's VP greeted us and let us raise the Samford Victory flag, a local tradition. By the time arrived at the Samford Athletic facility, the day was nearly gone. It was a busy one! Dinner was sponsored by a team member's parents for that member's birthday, and was an Italian feast. We just arrived back at lodging, and I'm about to pass out from exhaustion, but I had a great day. First day off in a while tomorrow!

Day 49: Tuscaloosa, AL

65 miles into Tuscaloosa went smoothly this morning. However, I did have a bee fly into my jersey (it was unzipped) and have his way with my torso around mile 15. It was rather frustrating but I finished. We arrived at the University of Alabama at around 10:30, and headed to our dorm to clean up before our friendship visit. Lunch was sponsored by Omicron Chapter alumni, and right after we had an awesome friendship visit with United Cerebral Palsy of Western Alabama. I met some great new friends, talked college football, and had my butt handed to me in checkers. All in all, it was a great time. Later, we took a tour of the Omicron Chapter House, which is right in front of the football stadium. Primetime property!

After a couple hours of rest and exploring the beautiful campus, we had dinner at the house of Tim Hebson, a member of the executive council of the national fraternity. The catfish was delicious and afterward we got to swim and hang out in his backyard for a while. When we got back, we ventured the campus a little more and realized our exhaustion was beating us. We're headed to Birmingham tomorrow! Also, here is a sad pic of some of the April 27th tornado damage. But after speaking with the locals, I can assure you that Tuscaloosa is not letting the damage slow their lives down.

Day 48: Livingston, AL

Roll Tide! We crossed into Alabama today on a nice overcast 40 mile ride. Alabama is pretty far from California. Last I checked, we've ridden nearly 3,000 miles. Anyways, the people here are beyond friendly. While stopping at a gas station to grab some okra on today's ride, I met three different people that offered some great advice and conversation, and were more than happy to have us in their beautiful state. We arrived at the University of West Alabama, our lodging, around noon and were greeted by Gamma Alpha chapter alumni and a lunch in the school cafeteria. After, we had about 5 hours of free time so a few of us ventured around town and learned just how archaic this area of the south is. The schools here are still segregated, and from observation it's because of the older white people. Not a single white kid is in a public school in this county. The white folk from around town hold poker nights and use the pot from the games to fund white kids to go to the private schools. It's pretty sad.
No matter the skin color, however, I haven't met anyone down here that isn't friendly.

Dinner was sponsored by Gamma Alpha alumni, and was a delicious plate of barbecue. I'm exhausted and full now, but here's a pic of the frogs on the state line.