Day 46 – Chillin’ at the Laundromat.

It’s unbelievable that today was our very last rest day, what a sad realization. We had a good day today despite that strange prospect settling in over the community that our journey is coming to an end. I woke up early this morning on the wet grass next to Ben and Sean, and wandered inside to find Ane stirring. She was feeling better than she had last night, and we gathered up our things to walk into town with Bob Dumke for some coffee at The Spot. The coffee was not so good, but we met a very interesting guy not too older than ourselves who was also from Minnesota, and what’s more, had walked all of the way from Minnesota to Gettysburg. Unbelievable. He said that pretty much he woke up one morning and God told him to leave his cell phone, money, and watch at home and to start walking and He will provide. Thus far he had had three meals a day, over $600 in donations, and a place to sleep every night. The generosity of people across this country never ceases to amaze me.

From coffee we made our way over to the Lincoln Cafe for some real breakfast, laundry in tow in hopes that someone could direct us to a laundromat. By this time the boys were up and they met us there for some good greasy breakfast. We hit up the library for some internet access on the way back through town to the laundromat, and threw our clothes in just as a good thunderstorm began to hit. Our clothes had been in just long enough to get good and sudsy before the power was knocked out from the storm. Thus began our four and a half stay in the Gettysburg laundromat waiting for the power to go back on, passing time by playing cards, writing in journals, finding nearby places open to use restrooms and get food, napping, and taking pictures our now massive leg muscles. Honestly, you know you’re with good friends when you can pass 4 ½ hours in a laundromat and not even mind.

By the time we got back to the middle school, it was already approaching late afternoon and dinnertime. After bumming around for a while, vaguely doing some bike maintenance and taking showers, we started off with everyone towards the town center to meet Brack and Jeananne who were in town to meet us for dinner. They were looking good and it was so nice to see them. The hotel restaurant was super fancy and a little above our broke college student budget, so we hugged goodbye and wandered over to the pub for dinner again. We had a good time laying outside on the dirty ground waiting for our table and watching the sky for the impending rain. I had a delicious salad and sweet potato soup at dinner, which was just perfect. Back at the middle school, we’re just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company tonight knowing that the real challenging rides are over and from here on out we’ve just got to appreciate the time that we have.