H.O.M.E.S

As I waved good-bye to my parents from the car headed to Alfred, New York for the BAAD(Bicycle Awesome Adventure Dance) Residency, my eyes were swelled with tears and I felt a lump in my throat as I tried to fight back and swallow the next set of tears. I was sad to leave home and watch my parents bid me farewell. I generally never have trouble leaving home, or saying good-bye to my family, however, this time leaving home was different. Right before leaving to start my BAAD adventures, my dad had a stroke. This was his second stroke and it was worse then his first one. When I hugged him good-bye as I departed, he cried and expressed to me how he was useless because his mind was gone. I wished I could have spent more time with him and the rest of my family before I left. Saying good-bye to him, and saying good-bye to the rest of my family for that matter, was so hard for me. As I left, my dad slurred, "Be good and work hard!" I hope I can do just that while on this tour.

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Even though it was difficult to leave home, I was reminded of home on my first full day at Alfred. To kick off the day, Layla and I went on a fifty minute bike ride to begin our bicycle training. This bike ride of ours did not go very well seeing as we both have very old bicycles that are not sufficient enough for a fifty minute bike ride, let alone an eight-week bike tour. Thus, later that day we went to see Layla's friend, Jamie (who is a bike aficionado), who assisted us in purchasing beautiful new bikes for our tour. Jamie lives in the Rochester area, and he was gracious enough to take us to many bicycle shops all around Rochester until we found the shop and the bike and the price that was right for us! We discovered, thanks to Jamie, that the most bangin' bicycle shop in Rochester is "The Bike Zone." The manager, Chris, gave us discounts and assisted us GREATLY on how to tour and train for an adventure such as ours. Chris was so helpful. We were so pumped about our bikes that we had to name them of course! Layla named her bike Priscilla, and my bike is named Paul. After purchasing and naming our bikes, Jamie, Layla and I dipped into Lake Ontario! On our way to the lake, I expressed to Jamie and Layla how very excited I was to see a great lake because as I child my mom used the acronym, H.O.M.E.S (Huron. Ontario. Michigan. Erie. Superior) to help us memorize the Great Lakes. They giggled as I expressed my excitement and explained my H.O.M.E.S acronym.
We had a lot of fun at the lake, and I was excited to connect my home life with the people I was currently with and the adventure we were currently on. It made me discover that even though I am away from home and sad to not be with my dad, I have created another home with the cool people I am meeting and spending my next six weeks with. This H.O.M.E.S experience has led me to believe that I could be in a shithole and still be content so long as I am in good company.