We got to sleep in until just before 8 because our breakfast was provided by CAKY where Igot to meet a very cute llittle puppy and our friendship dinner was for lunch. We got to hang out at CAKY for a bit after breakfast before I went to get some things at the bike shop and drop off a few bikes for repair. We met the rest of the team at our friendship visit with Latitude which is an art studio for people with disabilities. Some of the artists there have had pieces shown internationally, in Russia, Paris and France and sold pieces for thousands of dollars, these are some incredible pieces. It was very cool to see them work and gwt to know them, they love painting and drawing. One guy we didn't get to meet but had art all over has a kind of visual impairment but makes tapestry out of recycled platic bags and things in different patterns, it looks really cool and the piece he had in the making was even bigger. I really loved this visit because of the attitude and excitement from the staff and clients but also we got a couple awesome surprises. First, they had made a collaborative piece of 32 tiles that all the artists help make to give to us so we got to hang on to some of these talented artists work. Second, they combined our visit with an award presentation for a community organization making positive changes for people with disabilities, they presented it to Beep Ball of Kentucky which is a very new non-profit that is starting a Beep Ball league and is about to break ground on the first ever Beep Ball field in the world. It was cool to be there for that and meet the man, David Wickstrom who quit his job making a lot of money in the for profit sector to follow his dream of starting this league. As part of the presentation they gave him a piece of artwork, a banner, that was another collaboration from the Latitude artists, it looked amazing, I loved it. After talking to him for a bit at the friendship visit we wanted to see how beep ball is played so he offered to show us. After we left Latitude we met him at his house and went to a field behind his house, we didn't hav the right field or bases so we improvised. Basically the person with a visual impairment is at bat and a sighted person pitches a ball slightly bigger than a softball that beeps, the pitcher is on the same team and says when to swing. When the ball is hit they run to a nase that makes noise and it is random between two bases where 1st and 3rd would be on a normal field. The outfield has a sighted person that calls the name of the player closest to the ball who has to find the ball and raise it over their head before the batter tags one of the bases. We used hay bales and people to make noise for the bases but still had a fun time. We are hoping that he is able to sponsor the team next year on the new field they are making, that would be so fun.
After that we had free time so we lounged around at lodging and hung out then most of us went to the mall to walk around and grab food and jamba juice. Ending the day with some more band of brothers with the team.
Tomorrow is a shorter day, 65 miles to Morehead where Randy goes to school so he is excited to get there and I am pumped for the ride, I'm going to ride with Scott and Bott.
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