Finally, as long as nothing unexpected happens during the day today or overnight before the morning, this will officially be our last rest or shuttle day until we make it to California. It is also the day that was actually supposed to be our rest day according to the calendar and that meant we had some plans already arranged. While we didn’t have time to make going to see Odyssey worthwhile in Boise, Idaho, we knew back then that we wanted to make it happen and had tickets ready to go for an IMAX viewing here in Bend, Oregon. That was our big plan! For the morning and afternoon though, we were totally free to get up to our own adventures once again; however, all of the activities from yesterday had some of us feeling pretty tired and ready to make sure that we had the time to relax before biking again.
In the morning, Maaike went out to run up Pilot Butte, a hill made from old volcanic activity that makes for a scenic viewpoint near the city today. She took some lovely pictures at the top and Ren would follow in her footsteps later in the day. Ren opted for the bike instead of by foot (definitely the preference across the I4K team) and saw sunset up on top of Pilot Butte. This was probably the best sight of the whole day.
Others on the team slept in, did their final bit of laundry at the nearby laundromat, or found a good place to eat. For lunch, Parker, Anthony, Aadit, Vedang, and Nishk found an all you can eat buffet of Indian food that they really enjoyed. Maaike, Sam, Ren, and Cole made their way to a pierogi stand and ice cream truck which was also very good. Ren and Cole did a bit of exploring of town after lunch and found an outdoor gear consignment store where they had bike parts, water bottles, and tires (lots and lots of tires!) for the whole team to replenish their supplies at reasonable prices. This was definitely a highlight of the day for Cole who must have enough sets of tires to last him years at this point.
Members of the church once again donated a dinner for the team; this time a taco bar. Everyone came back from their daytime activities to eat some food and get ready for the movie. The team had been looking forward to seeing Odyssey for a few weeks at this point and almost everyone joined in on the action. This could be the movie of the summer for all we know and we didn’t want to miss out. Maaike and Nishk went for the big bags of popcorn and the rest of us had snacks or just a healthy appetite for cinematography. The theater was full and we all settled in for the almost 3-hour feature.
That movie was awesome! We walked outside and back to the van reciting lines and feeling like we had just been on an odyssey of our own. Christopher Nolan (the director of the film) had knocked it out of the park once again. While maybe not exactly as the story was written by Homer, the movie was the perfect way to adapt that to the screen. Oh, and seeing it in IMAX made it just that much better!
As we settle into our sleeping setups once again, we are ready to go cycling in the morning and so excited that the day is finally upon us to make progress on our bicycles once more.
