Well, then – we (the royal we) are back in the saddle. Freshly full of ribs, corn, watermelon, and a fantastic crab/avocado soup my mom whipped up, I’m ready for another week of blogging the Apogee nation.

First — to Montana — our group very much enjoyed a day out of the saddle today. After dealing with 45-mile an hour headwinds yesterday that literally prevented them from riding, they were very grateful to get a ride into Browning last night. They spent this morning doing a service project at the Boys and Girls Club on the Blackfeet Nation Reservation. The shot below shows them gussying up the fence outside the Club.

Bouncing way over to the backwoods of Maine and our soon-to-be Quebecers, Andy and Corley called in with an “all’s-well” — they are eagerly looking forward to a cool day off of the bikes and on the river tomorrow. They are likely to have one of the warmest days we’ve ever had on the Kennebec — which should make those rapids all the more welcome. A day behind, Pete and Emily muscled through some serious hills today to get into Greenville this afternoon. No worse for wear, Emily sent me the below shot of the group playing a game I don’t confess to understand — it involves a lot of coordinated slapping and yelling, this much I know.

Two Cape trips wrapped up today in fine form. After a great night out in Boston last night, it was a last A&P before bed and then farewells this morning. There were even reports of tearful goodbyes. I’m not going to lie, I love tearful goodbyes. In fact, they’re my favorite — if only because they are tangible evidence that our students loved their trips and their trip-mates.

Down in the Caribbean, both of our groups reported having an amazing time with our outfitter Abe yesterday. Abe and his guides picked our groups up at two in the afternoon and dropped them back off after nine — in between they kayaked through mangroves, snorkeled on a gorgeous coral reef, picnicked on the beach, watched the sunset, and then swam in a world-class bioluminescent bay — described by one of our leaders as “mind-blowing.” This morning, though, it was back to the main island. Mike and Annie are heading up to El Yunque and the Bunkhouse, and Lidia and Alex are headed west to Cabo Rojo and the beaches of Boqueron. Lidia sent in this candid of the group in the van headed to the west coast — I was very pleased to see the universal seat-belt use.

And finally — to our Coast to Coasters — our rocketship Coast to Coasters. They were done with their 80 miles by 1:15 this afternoon, and firmly ensconced in Cochrane, Alabama. Cait sent in the below shot of the gang after getting in this afternoon. Assuming all goes well, they’ll be crossing off another state tomorrow!