We were up and about by around 7:30 this morning. Once we were all packed, we planned to head to the grocery store to get some cereal and milk so we didn't have to have oatmeal. As we were coming around the front of the church, I stopped to take a picture of the front of the church, like I normally do. At that same moment, a car pulled in and the guy inside asked if we wanted a cup of hot coffee. Being the kids that we are, we asked if he had any hot cocoa instead. He said "Sure! we've got hot cocoa!" So, back towards the church we went. They guy that pulled in was the Pastor and his name was Jerry. He had us bring our bikes right into the church just so we didn't have to worry about them. After he put the water on for the hot cocoa, he began looking for it. It was then that he realized that they didn't have any left. We told him that it wasn't any big deal because we had a few packets in our bear canister. Pastor Jerry said that instead of that, he was going to do something better- just take us out for breakfast! We were so surprised, but very excited too! So the three of us hopped in his car and we headed off to one of his favorite places to go for breakfast. On the way, he showed us one of the roads he likes to ride his mountain bike down a few days a week. When we got closer to the "dive"restaurant he was taking us to, he realized that he didn't have cash and so we changed our plans to go to someplace that would accept credit card. It's funny because the place we were originally going to is probably one of the few places left in the city that take cash only. Either way, it worked out just fine. He took us to a place called La Madeleine which served French cuisine. We both got amazing cups of hot cocoa with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. I had fancy cinnamon french toast with syrup, strawberries, blueberries and mandarin oranges and whipped cream on top. AMAZING! Joey had an all American breakfast with eggs, sausage and a croissant. We had a great time talking with Pastor Jerry and hearing about some of the trips he's taken while we ate. When we headed back to the church, we met the assistant pastor, who was equally as excited about our trip. What a great way to start the day. When we headed out, we rode on the sidewalk for a while to avoid the traffic, but when the sidewalk ended for no reason, we had to cross over the two lanes of traffic and the median to get to the road on the other side. From there we took the road instead, which turned out to be a very good thing because the sidewalk on the other side of the street ended a short while later too. We rode through the old downtown section of McKinney which helped show that the town did used to be small at one time. It definitely wasn't anymore!! It was pretty quick from there to get out into the country- finally! No more of those crazy roads. The road going out of McKinney was nice- there was a nice big shoulder and wide open spaces. At one point we stopped at a gas station for a quick break. It was actually a pretty neat little store- there was even free coffee for a certain time period. The wind pushed us all the way to Leonard. Two days in a row with a tail wind- what an amazing thing. The road that lead to Leonard had lots of rolling hills that kept it interesting. Joe got a call from the bike shop we dropped the wheel off at and they said that if we can get the bike shop we bought the bike at to email them proof of purchase, then they will be able to turn the wheel in for the warranty. When we made it into Leonard, we headed to the library for a little bit. It was still pretty early when we got to town, so we still had an hour or so before Michael would get out of school. After we killed some time at the library, we headed over to Michael's house since we knew he would be out of school soon. When we got there, we found that he had put the flags that were on his bike during his trip out on the front porch so that we knew it was the right house- just like he put the flags out by the road so we knew where to find us if Joey and him got to camp early. There waiting on the front porch for us was the package that Grammy sent us. We were so excited, so we opened it right away. Inside we found the maps for Oklahoma and a couple other states along with that. There was also everything we would have gotten in our Christmas stockings if we were home-right down to our Christmas orange!! We had fun having a little Christmas away from home. Shortly after we had our little Christmas on the front porch, Michael's Dad Scott got home. He was home for about 2 minutes when Michael flew in on Papa Mike's trike just to check if we were here yet. Michael was here for about 2 seconds before hew was off to his after school sports. We got to meet Michael's little brother, Anthony, a little before Michael came back home. The boys helped Scott for a little bit before throwing some baseball and football. I had fun playing with their big dogn Maggie and their little tiny dog, Angel, and the kitty named Fuzzy (originally Mr. Fuzzy until she had a litter of kittens and they realized it wasn't a he!). Later that evening we went out to the buffet at the restaurant down the street with James, Scott's partner in his vending machine business, and two of his kids. The food was great- chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, beans, salad, pizza, and pretty much any comfort food you could ask for. It was wonderful! We stuffed ourselves to the brim and then headed back to the house. For the rest of the night, we just relaxed and watched a couple movies. The next couple of days are going to be fun hanging out with Michael and his family! We had a nice short day of riding today as we only rode 34.35 miles today.
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