Today was another scorcher but fortunately we didn’t have to ride. We slept in until 8:30 and then we had a breakfast provided by the St. Louis Bread Company, a sponsor setup by Chuck Howard.

After breakfast we had a little free time. A few of us went down to the arch to see if we could ride to the top. We hoped that the extreme heat would keep everyone else at home but there was still a crowd and we were pretty sure that we couldn’t get up and back in time so we just walked back to the hotel. We were pretty much soaked in sweat when we got back.

Kevin O’Grady from the 2003 Trans Am team sponsored lunch for us. He is a great guy who rode with us yesterday. It was good to get to meet him and hear stories about the last team.

We had a friendship visit at the St. Louis zoo with some folks from the local ARC. It was pretty hot so the penguin house was our favorite attraction. They don’t smell good but it was about 50 degrees inside which felt really good after being in the heat. Unfortunately the effect wears of almost instantly when you leave. We also tried the primate house but the lower primates are smart enough to stay inside when it is so hot.

Jay Stuckel, a local Pi Kapp, hosted us for dinner. He had his family were excellent hosts and provided for our every need. We felt like part of the family. They also hosted the Build America Team. It was good to see those guys. We met them about 3 weeks ago in Ft. Collins right after their orientation. They are about half way through their trip now and had a lot of stories about all of the cool stuff that they have built. It was a lot of fun catching up with them.

Rob Raesemann

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