Talk about another scorcher today. It was already humid out when we woke up this morning and it only got worse as the day went along. The day started out with a breakfast provided by Mike Zolezzi, an alumni of Delta Delta. We had six ride-a-longs today as well; five guys from Truman State and one from the University of Memphis. The ride was relatively short today (50 miles) but with the heat as bad as it is, the day seemed to drag on for a while. Along the way, Chuck Howard took a wrong turn and got lost for a little while, but he was able to get back on track very quickly and make it to the first stage up. We staged up at a BP gas station right outside of Wildwood and had a police escort to take us to Saturn of West County. The cyclists arrived to Saturn at about 10:30 am to cheers from family and friends, and the people from Saturn. The general manager provided a quick lunch for us before we headed on our way to the second stage up. At the second stage up, we had a second escort to get the guys to the Riverfront. Nick and myself arrived early to make sure everything was ready for the guys. Even more family and friends showed up for this arrival. As soon as we arrived, the mayor of St. Louis read us the proclamation, declaring it “Push America Day” in the city. After some pictures and a brief visit with family and friends, we were off to the Missouri Athletic Club, our lodging for the next two nights. We ran into some minor problems at the hotel. They accidentally booked us in rooms that were already occupied by guests. After this all got straightened out, we found out that most all of us had a room to ourselves in the hotel. A quick shower and a change of clothes later and we were off to dinner at Nick Cloud’s house. You could tell Nick was excited to see family and friends that he hasn’t seen since he left for Charlotte to work on the route. Seth gave an advocacy presentation to the people at Nick’s house, and then it was time for dinner. The Cloud’s provided a steak dinner for all of us and it filled us all up for the night. After leaving Nick’s house, we went back to lodging where we changed and went our ways for the night. Most people, including myself, had family in for the weekend and visited with them. Everyone else stayed in to catch up on sleep or walked around the riverfront. Well, that’s all I have for now. It’s getting late, and we have a busy day tomorrow. Goodnight.

Matt Ratliff (Truman State University)

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