Day 76: Willits, CA to Healdsburg, CA

Today’s ride was dedicated to Ilse, Cari’s godmother from Germany. Ilse passed away from an undiagnosed cancer several years ago.We were honored to get to dedicate our ride today in remembrance of her.

Today’s ride was 67 miles (thanks to Nathan who shortened the route yet again!) in some pretty brutal heat down California Highway 101. We had several more flat tires, drank a ton of ice water, and showed down on a bunch of snacks. Because we only have a couple of days left, we are trying to clear out our food inventory (and apparently also our tire tube inventory).

Tonight we are staying at the Healdsburg Community Church, where we have showers and an awesome kitchen to cook s’mores in tonight :) dinner was provided to us by Marc’s parents – so HUGE thank you to them! We all went out to a Mexican restaurant and ate chips and salsa to our heart’s content. I’m thankful for this time with my team during these last couple of days.

I was thankful to get to hang out with Brad extra today as well! Brad is such an awesome person that I’m glad I have gotten to know throughout the summer. He is a graduated senior just like I am and is about to move to Indianapolis to start working at Rolls-Royce as an aerospace engineer (I know he has a fancy title but I don’t know enough about engineering to pass it along here). He is also extremely humble and I think downplays how awesome it is to have such an awesome job lined up right out of college. Throughout college he was a Resident Advisor and, while I did not live in his resident hall, I know he was a fantastic one. Brad is an excellent listener and has the best conversations due to his curiosity and the questions he asks simply in the spirit of wanting to learn and know more. I’m going to miss his fist bumps that he gives for support every day, and his positive outlook on life.