Howdy y’all…Tubb is back on the blog! As Eva alluded to in the previous post, the spokesters spent days 14 and 15 in Ely, NV. Even though we haven’t been on the bikes, we’ve still been super busy.
I was very excited to be in Ely!
On Monday, we did our best to focus on resting. Unfortunately, despite setting 9:30 alarms, our cycling-adjusted circadian rhythms (with some help from the sun) woke us up at 6:45. Ugh. Thankfully, we had two free breakfasts at Denny’s courtesy of our hotel. After grubbing a little, we split off. Ethan and Hunter found some last-minute teaching supplies, Kawther and Eva discovered a cute cafe, I took my bike to the shop, and Will had a “pretty princess morning” (fell back asleep). Eventually, we convened for a delicious lunch at one of two Chinese places in Ely. We later discovered a rivalry exists between fans of the two establishments. While we ate, we chatted with the waitress about the pros and cons of living in remote Eastern Nevada. Stomachs full, we then headed a few blocks down the street to White Pine County Library, where we’d be teaching the next day. We met the super helpful, super kind librarians, did some final planning for the jam-packed morning of teaching, and looked over our budget and macro-route-plan for the next couple weeks. Finally, we finished the day cooking pasta, spam, and corn in a nearby park under tall trees and a beautiful sunset.
The pretty Ely sunset through the trees
Tuesday morning was an early one…we started setting up workshops at the library at 8 o’clock sharp. For an hour, we frantically shuffled boxes, reorganized supplies, and laid out teaching materials for the first few workshops of the morning. Before we knew it, kids began rolling in. We quickly realized that we were teaching not only Ely-ans, but also kids from all over Eastern Nevada, including some whose parents had driven them almost an hour to join us on a weekday. A special shout-out to the four awesomely engaged girls from Lund, NV who let me test their slime recipe and jokingly pledged their support to my hypothetical 2040 presidential run (Will, you’re going down)!
The aforementioned crew from Lund — my most loyal future presidential supporters
All of the teaching went amazingly. Kawther’s sustainability workshop prompted engaging discussion about the effects of climate change and fierce (but friendly) competition for who could hull and sand the most grains of rice.
Mid-rice-hulling competition…these kids are dialed in!
Ethan’s physics escape room got kids excited about Newton’s Laws…many “floated” around the room to hit home the uncontrollable spaceship conundrum they were supposedly in.
Fixing fuel tank problems in Ethan’s escape room
Hunter’s elephant toothpaste demo taught kids about chemical reactions and created tons of fun foam to play with. I was amazed by how considerate and careful they were not to be too messy or stain any of the library’s gear.
Super foamy elephant toothpaste!
Eva’s strawberry DNA extraction explored biology with fascinated kids. And with the help of the DNA song, everybody learned how to say deoxyribonucleic acid five times fast.
Extracting DNA from strawberries is a precise endeavor
Meanwhile, Will taught a group about the process of slime-making and the exciting psychology of slime and mindfulness. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Will and Eva’s groups quickly became rivals about how much they’d learned.
Slime is surprisingly psychological!
Finally, I finished the day with a colorful, safe, and explosive rocket science workshop. I’ve taught chalk rockets several times before…but the kids of Ely might have been the best rocket scientists I’ve ever seen. 100% of their rockets successfully launched. Unfortunately, the day’s success didn’t carry over to me: my combustion rocket finale caught fire and melted with no exciting launch. At least we were able to model good safety practices and demonstrate that a lot of science is learning from failures.
Roland’s rocket is primed and ready to launch! It flew quite high.
Despite the unsatisfying end to the day, we’d all call it a massive success. Huge thanks to the library, its staff, and the kids and parents of Ely for letting us be part of your summer. We had so much fun!
Post-workshop flick!
We finished cleaning and packing up from our busy morning around one, giving us plenty of time to explore Ely and get stuff done. The four freshmen tried a corndog truck recommended by Ethan…my “epic dog” was quite tasty. Then, we explored some of the smaller stores along Ely’s main street. A delicious snow cone, outdoor game of connect four (Eva smoked me), visit to an old fashioned soda counter, and postcard finding expedition contributed to an impeccable summer vibe. As we were about to get back to work, we discovered that the whole town was celebrating the long life of a beloved resident with a free barbeque in the park open to “one and all” (which seems like Ely’s unofficial slogan). We weren’t sure whether to go, but ended up checking it out, trying some great food, listening to great live music, and meeting many awesome Ely residents (and a couple of musicians). I even met a fellow displaced Baltimore Ravens fan. The hour we spent there was a great reminder that no matter where we live, we all have something to learn from the amazing way small towns come together, celebrate their community members, and have a great time, even following something sad. Afterwards, we did some logistics-ing at the local cafe, watched some TV, and called it a night.
Somehow, I (white) failed to block Eva’s diagonal here.
Town BBQ…we met so many awesome Ely-ans!
Next up, a 64 mile bike to Great Basin National Park awaits us!
Off to Utah!