Home sweet home – By Melissa Merrill

Meet Melissa Merrill – VIDEO

Today was a pretty exciting day in the life of the Fuller Center Bicycle Adventurer! We biked through Cleveland, our biggest city yet, and invited local riders to join us for the day–riding from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Aurora with us, doubling the size of our team! Also, for a few of the adventurers, today was a ride through our home town. Ryan, Nate, Leah, Abby, Brett, and I all grew up in Northeast Ohio, and we each got to cycle familiar turf today, as well as spend some time with our families and friends. I was especially privileged to have woken up in my own bed this morning—thanks again to my family for hosting us and feeding us last night and this morning (and a special shout out to Mrs. Smith, my neighbor and an avid follower of our blog!). It was not only wonderful to rest in the undying hospitality of my family and friends (and the local pool), but it was especially great to have an opportunity to share some of what I love about The Fuller Center with the people that I love. (The laundry chore group is also particularly grateful for my mom who washed 12 smelly riders’ clothes from the past four days!)

We received another warm family welcome when we arrived at an amazing lunch along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail, served by Ryan’s mom and Brett’s mom! The spread far surpassed any of our rest stops with the trailer along the side of the road. However, not long after our much appreciated lunch, we encountered our first rainstorm. Luckily we were able to safely seek shelter at a train station to watch the storm pass, and we got on the road to Aurora again soon. We arrived at the Aurora Mennonite Church just in time for a quick shower and another amazing meal of Lasagna and pie prepared by church member and professional caterer Susan. Thank you to Clete Yoder for arranging for us to stay at his church, and another thank you to him for organizing our first build day of the trip tomorrow! We’re all looking forward to helping this new Fuller Center covenant partner in Aurora get started on their first project… and I think the day off from biking will be appreciated as well. 🙂

Learn more about this year’s Bike Adventure here.

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Meet Melissa!