Our two days in Roanoke had both busy and relaxing moments. The ride was even shorter than the 40 miles on the grid, closer to 35 miles. I rode in the first group so I and two others were the first to ride up to Hotel Roanoke. This place looked like it belonged in Europe with its castle-like features. Really a very classy place. After we did some media stuff, I got up to my room and showered and shaved. Andrew brought me back some Subway for lunch. I ate that in my room as the four of us in there watched movies and napped for a while before dinner and a friendship visit at the rollerskating rink. The Down Syndrome Association met us there, though most of the kids were too young to skate and would rather be playing in the play area. The ball pit was the main attraction I think. There was one boy in there who kept wrestling me and actually punching me hard in the stomach. I told him to stop lots of times but he just wouldn't. So I left and continued to skate. I did have one fall, not as bad as falling on a bike though. The downtown area of Roanoke offered a great, big sports bar with shuffleboard!
We had a 9:00am breakfast in the hotel's restaurant which was payed for by a former teammate's parents. It was small buffet style but good food! I had just enough time to shower between then and our visit to a camp for kids with disabilities. The Build America construction team was there working so we got to hang out with Shawn from WSU again. While there we had a lot of downtime to hang out with some of the campers. Before we left we ate sacked lunches prepared by the camp in an air-conditioned cafeteria which was much needed. It is so hot here and I feel wet all the time!!! After we got back from the camp we had our team meeting where Andrew was given the Team Member of the Week Award for bouncing back from his injury and, even though he can't ride anymore, has done so many things to contribute to the team. After, a bunch of us went to Wal-mart and the mall to do gag-gift shopping which is a tradition on the summer event teams. Dinner was at the Salem Avalanche minor league baseball game. Both were provided by the alumni of Pi Kapps at Roanoke College, an old chapter, fourteenth oldest to be exact. It was hot and humid and not really exciting but the home team won which was a first in the three games we had been to. At the beginning of the game we were taken out of the field and recognized which was really cool and one of our teammates threw out the first pitch! After I got off the phone on this night, I was walking back into my hotel room just as Barry Bonds' home-run ball was going over the fence. What do I think of it? Eh, whatever.
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