Day 11: Elkhart, IN to Michigan City, IN

Wednesday, June 9th

I believe I’m almost halfway into my stint as first leg leader, and it’s been going smoothly so far. The churches and YMCAs we stay at seem to know exactly what they’re doing, and ease any worries I might have. Being organized and preparing as best I could for this trip has absolutely paid off. They spoil us rotten, and try to fatten us up every night. The team has been wonderful, helping out in any way possible, even if it involves doing a job not assigned to them. I’ve been lucky!

Our hosts last night in Elkhart, Indiana treated us like kings and queens, providing us with a professional bike fitter (my knees no longer hurt!), a masseuse, and an amazing community dinner. We had the privilege of meeting some of the congregation, and learning new things about Elkhart. I had no idea that it had the highest unemployment rate in the country, which has sadly contributed to a decline in the church population. Apparently Obama visits the town relatively often to try to help solve their issue. Nevertheless, there was a great turnout and they spoiled us silly.
I was looking forward to our 50 mile day into Michigan City, IN serving as a respite from our 98 and 90 mile days. The day started off well, much sunnier than the 30 miles of rain at the end of the previous day. We were joined by some bike mechanics as we began our ride, and our scavenger hunt for the day. The hunt involved things like taking the best picture with a state sign, sporting the best war paint, eating a live fish (one kid chose to eat 2 baby frogs), and convincing a bar tender to supply us with non-alcoholic shots. We met a lot of nice people along the way, who wished us a good journey, but one crazy person who stood out, as well. As we stopped into a gas station, this man approached us and made a bet that he had ridden more miles in a day than we, claiming he rode 200 miles. He was overweight, and old, but maybe he was telling the truth. He also tried to convince me that cancer is absolutely curable, and that I should become Catholic, or else something involving sinning and blood would happen to me. Definitely a source of entertainment.
The water stop was really fun today, mainly because the whole team met up there. I had peanut butter and chocolate frosting smeared on my face several times, to complete the scavenger hunt task of smearing food condiment on a leg leader’s face. It went perfectly with my bright blue, pink, green, orange, and yellow eye shadow, and bright red lipstick and ‘4K’ written on my face, which I was wearing as war paint. The only boy on our group was a true man, and wore the makeup as well, which we applied in a local Family Dollar store. The cashiers loved it, and jumped in pictures with us.

As we continued, I began to feel sick around mile 30, which has never happened before. It might have had something to do with possibly having a fever the night before, not getting enough sleep, and biking so many miles. However, I didn’t stop, and the fastest kid on our team of 4, Adam, stayed behind with me the whole way as I rode along at a snail’s pace. It’s camaraderie like that which keeps us going throughout the day.

When I arrived at lunch, I think I did this thing called ‘bonking,’ which involves being so tired you physically can’t go any longer until you fall asleep, eat something, and drink a lot of Gatorade. I did all of the above, and felt like new again. Even while I was feeling a bit ill, I watched the chemistry between my team build, which brightened my day. It seems as if we’ve done a 180 degree turn, stopped being a serious bunch of typical Hopkins kids, and started having a ton of fun. The 4k was finally becoming exactly what I had pictured, and I was so glad to see it.
During the last ten miles, the headwinds picked up, and Adam ‘pulled’ for our team the whole way (this involves letting all the headwinds hit you as everyone else drafts about six inches off your rear tire to create a wind tunnel and conserve energy for everyone but the person in the front).

We arrived at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Michigan City, IN, which kindly provided us with a meal and showers. The woman who cooked us dinner, Jean, is an inspirational, ebullient 83 year old woman who is getting up early to make us breakfast tomorrow. It’s actually not that early for us – I’ve never looked forward to getting in at 7 (really 8, EST), in the morning. We generally get up around 5:30.
After dinner, a children’s choir sang for us, which was very touching. They joined us for dessert, and we introduced ourselves. I always enjoy hearing the introductions of the congregations, and how happy they are to have us with them. They always tell us that they hope to see us again next year, which is incredibly sweet. What they don’t know, is just how happy we are to have a place to sleep at night, and a smiling, surrogate family welcoming us after a long, tiring day.
We went to the sand dunes, which were absolutely gorgeous. After trekking up to the summit, we were greeted by a beautiful sunset over the lake. We rolled, ran, and slowly walked down the dunes to reach the water, and many of us went in (some unwillingly, thanks to fellow teammates). A great time was had by all, and it definitely made for a picturesque and memorable finish to the day.

Tomorrow we’ll be going into Chicago, IL, where I’ll meet two of my college friends, Nivia and Adam. It’s weird to think that I have to dub them ‘college’ friends now, instead of just general ‘friends,’ because the 4k has delayed the reality that I won’t be returning to Johns Hopkins in the Fall. However, I’m currently surrounded by wonderful, inspirational people who make this trip so worthwhile, and who are as insane as I am to bike across this country for a good cause. ‘
And, there is nothing I would rather be doing right now.

-Natalie Draisin