On to Maryland, our final state!

Wow, only 3 days to go from here. It is so amazing to think about how we were actually in San Francisco 60 days ago! Today's ride was probably our most hilly ride of the trip. We had roughly 60 miles of ups and downs. There wasn't a bit of flatness to the ride today. These climbing days make me feel old which is sad, I know. The view at right is atop our first big climb of the day, looking back down upon Uniontown, PA. I made it though and got to soak in the hot tub at the Best Western which was actually very nice lodging. (Mom and Grandma, don't read this next sentence :) )One upside to the hilly day is I was able to set my speed record of 54.3 mph! For the afternoon we visited the Brandenberg Center. This facility is government funded and serves 22 clients who all have servere mental retardation. These facilities are always the toughest visits for the team because it is so incredibly sad and it is hard to interact with these people. Nonetheless, it was great talking with the loving individuals who work there to see the passion they have for what they do. The bulletin board at left is one they made for us and was pretty neat to look at. It was full of pictures, blog entries, and a map of where we had been. For dinner we were sponsored by the local Rotary Club with an amazing catered ribs and chicken meal. They were very kind and interested in what we were doing. For the evening we had a team meeting to decide which visit across the country had had the most impact and would be awarded the Jason Tirado Grant from Push America. Due to all the impactful experiences we have had, we debated over this topic for quite some time. Finally we agreed to give the grant to Independence First in Milwaukee, the organization that sweet little Gabi is a part of. I am sure they will put the money to good use. Well, Cara and the family flew into DC this evening and will be there waiting for me until Saturday!