Between a narrow escape from an oversleeping incident and the well-known fact that I am simply not a morning person, my day started off in a complete haze. I do remember engulfing an absurd amount of yogurt and a kick butt send off from Jason & Jennifer, our huge supporters from St. Lukes in Tupelo. (Seriously, I love those guys.)
After things simmered down a bit, we headed to showers on campus, stopping by an art museum and the Ole Miss student store! We found some excellent "Ole Miss Grandparent" and "Ole Miss Cheerleading" stickers for the van, which obviously look both very clutch and very sketch on the old "Honey Wagon". Heading home, we even stopped by the football stadium. Though it took a bit of...creativity to get in, the stadium was awesome! I couldn't get JD to run a sprint with the team, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.
Despite the hectic start to the day, the ride from Tupelo to Oxford is easily my favorite thus far. I rode the morning with the Deedge (JD) and Ethan, a grouping which the ever-cunning Marcus dubbed as a "Leader Ship". So fitting. It was a quiet ride with gentle rollers and limited traffic, making it difficult to miss the beautiful Mississippi view (it looks quite like NC, really). We held a steady pace and made it into lunch by 10:30. Lunch became an especially nice treat when Cassie DM'd ("donation magic-ed", or got donated) a water spicket and set up a homemade slip-and-slide. Though there was no hill in sight, our team made the best of things and had an absolute blast.
Post-lunch riding posed a few additional problems in addition to the usual "lunch legs". Ethan hung back to hang out at the back of the pack while JD and I headed on into the heat of the day. The temperature rose to a whopping 97 degrees by 1pm, so we decided to pull over and have a cool drink at a gas station a few miles out from the host (the only hint of civilization we had seen for a while). We were chillin' like villians until we received a call that one of our "sweep" riders had been bitten by a Brown Recluse and the van was rushing to pick her up. We swung over to the host to hold down the fort and get everything set up for the evening during this, and luckily everything turned out swimmingly - Nyx is a-okay, folks, and back on the bike!
After things simmered down a bit, we headed to showers on campus, stopping by an art museum and the Ole Miss student store! We found some excellent "Ole Miss Grandparent" and "Ole Miss Cheerleading" stickers for the van, which obviously look both very clutch and very sketch on the old "Honey Wagon". Heading home, we even stopped by the football stadium. Though it took a bit of...creativity to get in, the stadium was awesome! I couldn't get JD to run a sprint with the team, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.
After heading back for an amazing dinner provided by the lovely folks at St. Andrews' UMC, several folks headed back into the "square", Oxford's main drag. We did a bit of exploring in the famous bookstore, Square Books, and the leader team headed to a little pub for some bonding time. As it turns out, the bartender was involved with the local cycling team and offered to give us 10 boxes of Cliff bars! How's that for Southern Hospitality? What a kind fellow.
Though I'm driving the van tomorrow, it is bound to be yet another long and action-packed day. Therefore, I must once again bid you adieu.
Tally Ho,
Lacy
Oh, heyyy. Ethan slammed into me multiple times while trying to get this photo. Booger.
Go Rebs!
We were so excited to find campus!
Tristan even got to come!
JD. Smooth.
Bird's eye view.
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