Bob and Trish - Serious Fun

9/29/11

We have been traveling for a month now and are starting to get into a groove. We decided that Bob will put up a monthly general blog update while I share some of the more memorable stories and put up some pictures.

Bob does most of the driving while I navigate. We have been mostly couch surfing, but have also stayed with friends, jugglers, and done a little camping. We have met some really interesting people and have had some great experiences. We have also been checking out many YMCAs. With our yearly membership to the Marquette, MI YMCA, we are able to participate in the AWAY program with other YMCAs and work out for free! It has been really nice for rainy days, or when we have been injured. One of our goals starting out was to climb all the highest peaks in the U.S. As of today, we have checked off 14 of 50. (WI, MI, CO, AZ, SD, IA, IN, OH, NJ, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT) We have taught at least 3 people we’ve stayed with to juggle and have learned even more from them.

The first major stop on our trip was New York City. We were there for 10 days and were able to do a lot! We started the weekend with a unicycle festival. There were a couple hundred unicylers together on Govornor’s Island for a day of uni-tricks, uni-hockey, uni-basketball, a ride over the Brooklyn Bridge and general unicycle fun. We watched a uni-basketball game between the Puerto Rican Nationals (national uni-basketball team) and the King Charles Troupe (based out of NYC). The game was intense! Puerto Rican won by a landslide… they had a lot more team skill vs. the showmanship that the U.S. team had. Think about a real good college team seriously playing the Harlem Globe-Trotters. We watched some kids do some crazy tricks with their unicycles (jumps, wheel walks, hulahooping at the same time, riding on see-saws and small pipes) Nearby the festival was a Trapeze School class going on. I decided to sign up and came back to the island the following Monday for a 2 hour beginners experience, while Bob checked out a local YMCA. I was sore the next day in places I didn’t know I could be sore, but it was so much fun! The next thing I’d like to try is the areal silks.