Janesville was our first stop in Wiscaaaaansin and is home to 2 of our riders, Sarah and Kate. Also home to former NC2SD co-leader, Ben Ryan. I was driving the van that day with sickly Kelly in the back. She had been battling a cold for several days but by lunch time she was pretty lifeless with crazy pains all over. I stopped at a bar called Como Inn for the riders lunch spot–it had a shaded area with picnic tables and a volley ball court. The perfect combination for crazy people like us. Once people started rolling in they formed 2 teams and played a couple of games. For some reason we the leaders have whistles on our keys (which we don't use on the riders) so it seemed appropriate that I get up on the refs chair and call the game. It was pretty amazing.
Once we got into town, Nigella met us at the church and took Kelly to Urgent Care and we later found out that she had a kidney infection. Real nice. She set up camp at their house for the rest of our stay in Janesville and pretty much slept for 72 hours.
Friday night: Sam Ryan picked me up and we headed over to Sarah's house to meet the group for a bonfire and some beers. Sarah's dad is from New Zealand and taught the boys this chant/dance. Its now part of Sam Ross and Travis's 100 step handshake. Tonight I got to sleep in the guest room at Nigella's BEAUTIFUL house. It was so great to have a bed.
Sat: Today was a build day and when we got to the Habitat site we quickly noticed that the site supervisor looked like he could be brothers to our own, Paul Northrup. Seriously, they were the same person. Sarah showed up late so we told her that he actually was Paul's brother and she later approached him asking him all kinds of hysterical questions. Both got very confused and we laughed a lot! Today was crazy hot and there was little to no shade around the house. The group split up– some were on the roof and some were doing siding. There weren't quite enough jobs for 31 so Denis and Kyle went to get Elvis, our van, fixed and I made sure everyone was staying hydrated. The build was a success...everyone shared the job duties and we all got a taste of everything.
Later that evening we were shuttled over to Kate's dads house for dinner and were blown away. The driveway was chalked "pasta free zone" and our hearts sang with joy. (We've been eating tons of pasta and lasagna and are sick of it!) Kate's step mom works in design too so she printed huge banners with a collage of photos from our trip and also had yellow NUS 2010 t-shirts printed with our names and itineraries on the back with matching "thank you" cards. It was incredible. Let's talk about the food...beer brats, the most amazing and juicy burgers I've ever had, local famous subs, chicken, salads, dips, fruit, desserts, and local beer! It was the perfect ending to a great weekend and a warm welcome to Wisconsin.
Thank you to Nigella & Jim for taking care of Kelly and opening your home to us and for providing lunch for us the ride into Madison. You guys are truly wonderful people and I feel blessed to know you.
No comments:
Post a Comment