Day fourteen Shabbat

A day of rest. I have a new appreciation of Shabbat. Sleep late. Have my coffee sitting down. Eat breakfast at 10:00. Go for a walk. Maybe take a nap in the afternoon.
I have found a wonderful little spot on the college campus with 4 comfortable outdoor chairs in the shade where I am sitting and writing this. The only distraction are some very noisy birds. It's a very pretty spot with many trees, grass and a small garden area.
I've only seen a few of the group this morning at breakfast. I think the rest of them partied last night and are sleeping in.
Thought this might be a good time to introduce the group in a little more depth. Maybe even through in a picture if I can remember how. Kim showed me, but that was a few days ago.
Staff - Garth, Adrienne, Danielle and Eli
Garth is in charge. I am terrible at guessing ages but I'll say he's in his early thirties. He's a rabbinic student, lives in Brooklyn Heights and is orthodox. There certainly are a lot of rules to follow. He has a tough job making sure everything gets done, but I think he handles it well.
Adrienne is also early thirties ( I think). She's very sweet, conservative Jewish, helps at the rest stops, does some shopping, doesn't usually get involved with the group except at meetings, although I have spent a little time with her.
Danielle is in charge of the truck, getting it packed up every morning. She's maybe in her mid to late twenties is very likable yet strong and gets things done. She's between jobs and took this on for the summer. She's a strong rider, but yesterday when she got a chance to ride she stayed behind to chat with the slower riders. The staff only get a chance to ride once/ week and on Shabbat.
Eli is 19 - the youngest of both staff and riders. He more connects with the riders than the staff so I probably know him the best. He is a sophomore at Northeaston in Boston. He is a whiz bike mechanic and bike racer. Yesterday as Kim and I was slowly progressing up the hill to the top of the Continental Divide he asked if we wanted a push up. Since I had no idea what that meant I asked him how he could do that and he proceeded to push me up the hill by riding next to me with his right hand on my back literally pushing me up the hill while I biked.  I was sorry later as I very slowly biked up the steeper part of the mountain, that I hadn't taken him up on it.

There are only eight of us doing the whole country - from youngest to oldest- Ilan, Dena, Hannah, Arye,  Kim, Terry, me, and Freddie.

And there are section riders.
Mike and Dov road with us from Seattle to here in Helena and will be leaving tomorrow morning. Mike back to Dallas and Dov back to New haven, CT
Mike is Arye's father. To me he is a strange mix of Orthodox Jew and aggressive businessman. He owns his own business and does a lot of business calls during the ride. He and I are congenial but not buddies he spends most of his free time with his son or on the phone.
Dov on the other hand is everyone's favorite. He's 74, orthodox, married to Nechama, who is along on the ride but is not riding. Dov is very kind, with a quick wit. I think we will all miss his presence.
Nechama is along because Dov wouldn't go on the ride without her.
Nechama helps at the rest stops and lunch by putting out food and making tuna salad for lunch. She's also on my crew which consists of me, her and Arye. The first week when we did dinner together, no matter what anyone was making she always had something to say about it which definitely got on my nerves but I've grown use to her and maybe because she's Israeli, or maybe because this last week has been breakfast duty and there really isn't much to say about breakfast she seems fine.

I'll probably have more to say about the 7 doing the whole ride but I'll give a quick run down since we don't have dinner until 7:00 and it's only 3:00 and I have no intention to walk to town in the heat.
(I wrote some this morning and some this afternoon)
Ilan is an adorable 20 year old who gets along with everyone. He usually rides with Dena and he loves to stop at bakeries, ice cream places and go out to dinner.
Dena is 21 and has coupled up with Eli. She is a strong rider, very sweet, kind of reminds me of Jaime Katzman.
Hannah I think is also 21, but I'm not sure. She goes to Oberlin and is observant. She does't hang out with Dena, Ilan and Eli although I think she would like to. She's a bit more reserved and so I think she has a harder time fitting in.
Arye just graduated from the U of Maryland and knew Dena from school, but the two of them barely talk. Actually Arye barely talks to anyone. He's very competitive and always rides by himself, unless we wants to ride with his father, which he sometimes did at the beginning of the day. Arye and Danielle have also coupled up.  Even though I am on the same work crew as Arye we barely talk. 95% of the time he is wearing ear phones. Also if I wasn't writing this as a blog I'd say he was a bit arrogant, but since I am writing this as a blog I won't say that.
I think some of us are hoping that once his father leaves he'll be more in the community.