Meets and Greets

We've been here at the U of Washington for over 24 hours now, and I think we are all getting anxious to start riding. The last day has been full of bike safety training, group photos, many truck unloadings and reloadings, orientations, worship, and our first Celebration ceremony, which will be happening every Sunday throughout the tour. Today we celebrated with a few Seattle CRC churches in a ballroom on campus.
Lots of meeting and greeting is going on among us riders. Its crazy how many ages and backgrounds and abilities are represented in the group. Just the large number of people to get to know is quite intimidating, but its nice to know we all have the same goals for the trip (awareness, involvement, and fundraising in the name of poverty). Hearing some stories of fundraising troubles of my fellow riders, reminds me once again of how blessed I have been by the donations I received in my name. Thank you once again!
Tomorrow we dip our tires and begin our trek East.
These pictures portray a common scene this weekend--a sea of jerseys huddled around bikes (or more often one). Random spandex and helmet-wearing is also no surprise.

I realize this post is extremely disorganized, and by the pace of our schedule thus far, I hope you can get used to it! I'll try to keep you as updated as possible, and I think I will err on the side of disorganization rather than polished paragraphs.

I can't wait to report after actual miles have been pedaled!