Sam here, after a triumphant return from Quebec with two very smiley groups. Between the high spirits all morning and the newly installed A/C in the office, Brunswick was a wonderful place to be today. Luckily, all 8 of our trips in the field are spending today in some pretty sweet places too…

CI: Working on The FARM Institute today consisted of setting up fences for half the kids and mucking stalls for the other half.  A great time was had by all! Enjoying their service, the group is super excited to be on Martha’s Vineyard, whose towns they get to explore and upon whose beaches they get to run amok tomorrow.

CSA: Down in Puerto Rico the CSA-ers became the most recent group to “hang ten,” as they spent the morning taking surfing lessons. The entire group not only had an extraordinarily good time, but lots of success – everyone stood up at least once.  They followed this up with a visit to “the best coffee/smoothie shop in the Carribean” according to their surf guide. Between their activities and living the high life at their villa, this group is having a rocking good time in Puerto Rico. (and they are 2 for 2 on backlit photos lately, an honor we are disappointed to award)

PC: We didn’t hear from either PC group today, as they are in a big dead cell-phone zone north of the Bay Area on their penultimate day of biking today. They are staying at different coastal campgrounds tonight before they cross the Golden Gate Bridge and arrive in San Francisco tomorrow(!).

MSA: Our Montanans spent yesterday doing some laundry and playing cards on a rare overcast rest day (both the “overcast” and “rest day” parts of that phrase are equally rare…) before they hit the river today. With the wet weather continuing through today, they are lucky that whitewater rafting is still fun in the rain.  And besides, you are already wet!  Tomorrow they will power through their last day of riding to Whitefish, where they will explore and celebrate their ride on their last full day together. Here’s a photo from a couple days ago, which was never posted.

TSA: The folks in Italy are currently on one of the most stunning rides of their whole trip, as they roll into the small (but exceedingly beautiful) cliff town of Pitigliano. Tomorrow is their second longest day of riding, but by this point they are fit as fiddles (or something like that…) and ready to make it to Orbetello.  And besides, it’s almost all downhill!

ACC1: Word from the fearless duo of Anna and David this afternoon was “Casual 82 miles before lunch, and still time to look fly.” Truer words are rarely spoken. The group is cruising through Texas, and looking forward to a rest day on Tuesday!

ACC2: Leaving the warm hospitality of the Wall family in El Dorado this morning (except Steve and Keith, who did the first part of the ride with the group) meant that Mike and Danika’s crew was headed for Texarkana. Meeting up with the same hump-backed friend that ACC1 made a few days ago and getting a little farm work in made for a another good day in Arkansas (word on the street is that they saw some zebras too, Arkansas is a zoo!).

P.S. Sorry about the lack of t-shirts today, but good work on Kevin’s challenge from yesterday!