Charlotte, NC

8.5.2010

Today’s ride was 80 miles from Spartanburg, SC to Charlotte, NC. I honestly don’t even remember what happened on the ride, the biking is definitely not the most memorable part of this trip anymore. What was cool about today was the fact that we got to ride to the Pi Kappa Phi nationals office. There they had a museum with relics from the founding of our fraternity. We saw Andrew Alexander Kroeg’s brotherhood pin, the Nu Phi fraternity original meeting minutes, and even sat down at the table our constitution was written on. There was even a room that had beer steins from each fraternity chapter on a shelf. Inside the steins were little messages that brothers from each corresponding fraternity had written over the years. I read some words from past Pi Alphas and Psi chapter brothers, and left a little message myself.

After our stop at the nationals office, we had dinner and a friendship visit at a nearby church. They had a Christian rock band, a bunch of dancing, and I met some truly incredible people. There was one woman who at the age of 18 was hit by a semi truck fully loaded with slabs of concrete. When her parents arrived at the hospital they were told that she had no chance of surviving. They were told that if she did survive she would be a vegetable for the rest of her life. I was talking to her and she was perfectly mobile, all there mentally, and she was telling me about the black diamond skiing trails that she had done this past winter. Certainly doesn’t sound like a vegetable to me.

There was another woman who was currently 86, and had been caring for her disabled daughter since she was born 66 years before. Her husband had died in a farm accident several years ago, and she has been going it alone ever since. That woman’s strength is something I can’t even begin to understand. She told me that each morning she and her daughter pray for strength to get through the day. It’s pretty amazing what religion can do for people.

That night we went out into the city to see what fun could be had. I was walking around with Ryan Dodge and Mike Hurvey just people watching and talking about life for 2 and a half hours. It was one of those laid back nights that was a total blast.