Blake's Journey: Day 51: Holy Toledo

Course: Ann Arbor, MI to Toledo, OH
Distance: 50 miles
Terrain: Flat
Conditions: Sunny? Poor roads.

Today was the first day that we didn't start out with cold weather gear on. Prior to getting rain, I always thought that rain would be awesome. Now, I hate the rain. Rain + bike = angry Blake. Also, last day in Michigan means last day of terrible roads.

I rode with Derek and Kevin Dubbins, the man of steel. We averaged a pretty solid pace despite the 10-mile story Kevin told us about his crazy ex-stalker of a girl friend. Notice how "girl" and "friend" are separated - he'd prefer it that way. We got racked about 5 miles out from our stage-up location. It stunk to not be able to finish, but it was a big day and we had to be there on time. We gathered up and double pace lined down to our arrival in front of the University of Toledo. There were a lot of people there, including two TV stations and a lot of family and other supporters. We received a proclamation and a warm welcome from all kinds of people.

After the arrival and an amazing Chick-fil-A lunch, we headed over to the dorms for lodging. We cleaned up and then split into two groups. Since I'm a part of the puppet show group, we stuck together and went to a friendship visit to perform for young kids without disabilities. They're always really fun to perform for because they'll always try to ask questions at the end of the show to prove that the puppets aren't real in some way. In one of the plays, I play a blind man.

One boy kept asking me situations like "What if your cat is loose in your backyard and you have to catch it, how do you do that?" Acting as the puppet, I answered, "Well I don't have a cat, but if I did I would have my mom chase it for me!" He wasn't pleased. "Well what if your mom is blind too?" "Then I would have my dad do it!"
"Well what if your dad is blind too and so are his parents?"
"Well, then I sure hope the cat comes back."

More kids would challenge us, but that only allowed for us to make funny answers. It was a great time as our last KOB performance of the year. That will always be one of my fondest memories of the trip.

After the puppet show we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. The KOB puppeteers sat together as a "last supper" kind of thing. At Outback, they bring you bread skewered on a knife as an appetizer/filler. The four of us were joking around with the waitress a lot, so we asked what the record was for loaves of bread eaten. She said that she had heard it was about 12, so we gladly accepted the challenge. Our rule was that no matter where we were in our meal, if she brought out a loaf, we had to stop and eat it. Eventually we had eaten so many that she started skewering two loaves per knife. At one point the waitress made us finish all of the food on our plates before she brought out more bread. Haven't heard that one since I was 5. We broke the record by eating 13 loaves (collectively - each loaf split into equal fourths). Our waitress literally asked us for our autographs, so she gave us a blank meal ticket and we all signed it. Total, I ate approximately 3.25 loaves of bread, a plate of salad, one giant baked potato, an 8 oz steak, and an 8 oz piece of chicken. Yet again, I was still hungry afterwards. Adjusting to college cafeteria dieting is going to be rough.

Dinner was so much fun, but the night only got better. Stomachs full, we headed over to get massages. Heaven. Amazing. Whatever else you want to call it - massages are awesome. When I'm a billionaire I'm getting one every day. Every kink in my legs was kneaded out and I felt like a new man when I walked out of that place. Afterwards the team went to fellow cyclist Saurabh Metah's house for ice cream and basketball. It was a lot of fun!