The Bro Trip

     First of all, I am very sorry for not updating you guys more regularly. I am going to try much harder to write more blogs and let you guys see more of what God is doing in my life, as well as just what I have been up to.  This last week I was road tripping to CGA with my brother Levi!

     In the days before the ‘bro’ trip I built a bed that becomes a bench in the back of the van so we could sleep in the van on our week long trip.  We left on a Saturday night and made it to Madison Wisconsin when I remembered my friend from the Race Sarah lives there, so we called her at midnight and stopped to hang out.  College towns are very exciting at midnight on a weekend.  The next morning we had breakfast with Sarah and then headed out to Michigan but only a few miles outside of Madison we got in a little accident and had to stop for quite a while, there were 3 or 4 other accidents that happened at the same time in almost the same place so the cops had to deal with a lot.  After figuring this out we made it to Niles Michigan to hang out with another friend from the race, Lincoln.  We hung out with Lincoln’s family and got to explore his small hometown and climb some buildings and then played some music with his brother and friends.  The jamming was interesting, because it was in this guy’s basement and everything was turned up to 11 so I literally had to wear earmuffs to not go deaf.  The next day we went to Detroit area to visit 2 more race friends, Nick and Abigail.  We got to see some of their hometowns and then hung out at an arcade for a long time.  Levi and Abigail also tried ghost pepper.  Then we went to Bowling Green Kentucky to meet another race friend Sydknee.  On the way I got my first speeding ticket, now whenever I see cops I get super nervous and start driving like a grandma.  I seriously don’t think I went more than 3 miles over the speed limit after that.  After hanging out with Sydknee and eating southern food we went to Roswell Georgia to stay with another racer friend Abigial Johanson.  The Johansons are seriously some of my favorite people in the world.  They are one of the most welcoming families I have ever met. After staying with them we went to CGA!!!!! 

     At CGA I got a surprise from my friend Jason.  A few months ago when Jason was visiting me along with a few other race friends he told me he would not be going to CGA.  Jason was planning on attending but said there were things back home that he felt he needed to work on.  A few days later he decided he would actually do CGA but that he would not tell me.  Then Jason proceeded to contact almost everyone he knew I would talk to and told them that I can’t know he was coming.  Jason also blocked me on facebook and even went as far as to call the people working at CGA asking them to keep him a secret from me.  He was not on any of the weekly schedules, his name was not included on any posts I could see, Even other racers would tell me that he still was not doing CGA.  While visiting Sarah she almost let it slip BUT MY OWN BROTHER wrote a note on his phone and passed it to her and the secret continued.  Honestly I am not mad at Jason at all though, I am far too impressed at how thoroughly he kept himself a secret from me to be mad. Now we are roommates.

     Spending time with Levi was awesome!  I don’t think we have spent that much time together in years.  And seeing all of those close friends with Levi was very needed.  Before this trip I was really missing community. There are so many awesome people in Minnesota, but I was too busy to really spend time with them and really build strong community.  The thing I wanted to do most when I was returning from my race was spend lots of time with my siblings and build a stronger community with the people around me and in my church.  But then I started working full time 4 days after arriving in Minnesota.  I was unable to build that deep community I so much desired, as coming from the incredibly tight group of people I travelled with to seeing people only for a little on the weekends was a huge shift.  It was a very hard time and I just felt very burnt out and tired all the time.  This trip was something God set up I think.  I got to spend a ton of time with Levi as well as see these dear people I have missed so much.