NOLA (the ride in)

I feel like there is so much to write when it comes to New Orleans (but mostly because of how awesome the ride into New Orleans was)! On this ride day, we did a rando-ride until the lunch stop, which just means that everyone has to pick a person that they haven't ridden with yet and do some one on one bonding! Charlie and I rode together for the friend date and had a really great time getting to know about him and what he's been through before deciding to do bike and build. Charlie is going to medical school once the summer is over! He seems very excited and like he found an awesome passion.. He's also trying to convince me to go to medical school along with the assistance of Gaurang. The ride also had a lot of awesome tail winds until the host which made me a very very happy person!

At lunch, we stopped right after a bridge that goes over the swamp. It was a pretty cool stop because we were able to check out the swamp a little but also, there was a little business right there that does swamp tours! By the time lunch was over, Gaurang, JoBeth, Connor and I had decided that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go on the swamp tour so we stayed behind the group and became our own sweep (meaning we didn't have a support crew behind us I we get a flat tire or something). The tour was so amazing and I finally got to see an alligator! We were in big metal boats that took us around the swamp to see the tour guide feed the alligators, feed wild boar and check out some of the crazy houses right on the water. There was a lot of beautiful trees and inlets in the swamp that you wouldn't be able to see if you were just driving by so I'm definitely happy that I did the tour! By the time it was wrapping up, it started POURING and we got completely soaked before the 35 mile ride we still had to complete to get to the host in New Orleans. So, the whole way into the host, we were soaking wet and so happy to finally get here so we can take a much needed break and be able to explore the city and see what it's all about! 

We are staying at a place called Camp Hope which is an old elementary school that has been turned into a place for volunteers to stay when they are coming to help out the housing crisis in New Orleans. We do pay to stay here but we get mattresses and they cook for us for every meal so that's pretty awesome! At this point in time, we have been here for five days and I've been antsy to hit the road! But, I've been having a wonderful time! 

For dinner that night, we went to a Hare Krishna where they served us some awesome Indian food for free! Every Sunday night, the temple opens their doors to the public for a feast where anyone and everyone can go and be fed! When we got there, we sat in a worship service and listened in on how it went. There were a lot of languages that I didn't understand but they did speak San-script for part of it, which was cool because that's the language we used in my yoga class during the school year. It was definitely an interesting experience and I'm glad I was able to see another culture. 

New Orleans has been a lot of fun and is a city that I've been wanting to check off my "things to do list"! More on the city life and builds in a different entry!!