We finally made it to our last state of Virginia!! After 85 miles and almost 7,000 feet of elevation gain (truly crazy difficult), we did it. Highlights of the ride include:
Visiting Concord University, seeing their Green-like library and Tressider-like student union and missing Stanford.
Concord University Library!
Pouring rain. Like actually pouring. I don’t know if it’s poured worse before on our trip.
Us post shower! No Warmshowers even needed!
Meeting a former West Virginia state senator, Tony Whitlow, who also opened a war museum. He lives next to an incredible outlook over the Appalachian Mountains and offered us to come in and sit on his porch!
PIZZA!
What’s better post bike ride than $7.99 gas station pepperoni pizza? Answer: nothing.
It’s feeling so real now that we’re in our final state. Like we’re almost at the end! I can’t believe it.
The next day, we had an amazing time exploring Virginia Tech. We ended up were moving in, there were students and parents buzzing about. There was a little thrift shop on campus with dorm essentials, like fans, storage boxes, and shower caddies (Stanford needs to get one of these). We were mistaken for first-years a few times… I guess we looked really lost.
Perhaps one of the most interesting and iconic moments of the trip was playing beach volleyball with Tech students - as we were walking by the courts, they kindly shouted at us to join! Other students we met on campus invited us us to a Tech Chi Alpha welcome gathering at night to meet a bunch of other people - a super cool experience that really spoke to the warmth of the Tech community! The welcome event reminded us so much of orientation at Stanford - teeming with nervous frosh in little, fickle friendship circles and excited upperclassmen sparking conversation. A tumultuous yet joyful phase of college. Thank you Tech for being so sweet to us!
Free mugs at Tech!
We also had an amazing time with our Warmshowers hosts, Charles and Ann! They were truly so kind to us - an incredible welcome into Virginia! I hope our paths will cross again someday!
As the trip comes to an end, I am taking the time to reflect on the time I’ve spent with my teammates through sharing this Buzzfeed quiz with you all (we copied MIT). Now, you can go through a day in the life of Stanford Spokes and figure out which member you are most similar to! If you get me, congratulations!
So excited to see the rest of Kawther’s home state - she’s hyped it up a lot. Yay!
Will