Day 11 – Bucknell is Very Popular Among Six Year Olds in St. Louis

Bucknell has a very strong brand image among six year olds in St. Louis. After our ride today I drove to St. Louis to see my cousin Chris and his family. His oldest son Finn has an orange Bucknell hat he has worn just about everyday for the last three years. He just started kindergarten and the biggest negotiation to send Finn off to school was convincing him to remove his Bucknell hat for a few hours everyday. The orange and has accumulated dirt and stains and has faded a few shades and so that the few “clean” areas look peach. The button on the top of the hat is missing and the brim is torn to reveal the black plastic that gives the hat its shape. It looks like the hat might disintegrate right on top of Finn’s head.

But whenever he is asked what Bucknell is, Finn is stumped. He doesn’t know what Bucknell is, he just knows his Bucknell hat is lucky. His younger brother Rory has the same hat, but is a few years behind on breaking it in. Hopefully he’ll get the same mileage out of his Bucknell hat. So when Bucknell has a dramatic increase in applications from the St. Louis area in about 12 years, they’ll know whom to thank (or is it “who to thank”? I need Frank’s wife Sara to check my grammar right now).

Last night was a great night. We had dinner with several Bucknellians in Kansas and once again got to hang out with our fraternity brother Andy’s (VP OIPS to us) parents. We shared some stories he probably didn’t want us sharing, but everyone had some good laughs at Andy’s expense. Frank’s fraternity brother Ron put the dinner together (thank you) and we tried to pry some stories out of him about Frank’s college antics. But Ron wouldn’t give in. So either Frank was boring in college (highly doubtful) or Ron is a good friend to spare his friend. Maybe we’ll get some stories next time. I still want another version of how Frank got the nickname “Dr. Booty”.

It was a little strange being in two large cities the past two nights. We have spent so much time in rural areas without seeing so much as a two-story building or even a traffic light for miles and miles, it is overwhelming to bounce around hectic cities. The trip has reminded everyone how relaxing it can be to escape a city, even if only for a few hours on a bike. I’ll have to remember to find time to get away while we are in DC.

Speaking/thinking about DC, just wanted to say we love and miss everyone there. Goldy, since we can’t seem to have phones handy at the same time ever, I feel you at least deserve a mention in the blog. So tag, you’re it, give us a call that we probably won’t answer because I haven’t yet mastered the art of biking and talking on the phone, S’agapo, bro. By the way, Gracie texted us and said she wants to be a shark for Halloween.

Jenna, I was thinking of you today while Frank and I were drafting off each other. I once saw coverage of a NASCAR race and they showed a clip with colored clouds indicating where the “clean” air was when one car drafted off another. How does that graphic work? I was trying to imagine what colors the air around Frank would be while we were “running hot”. Also, thank you, because without your comment to Walt, I would not be a part of this trip. We all owe you big time.

Other quick hello; Iggy, I know your bike trip to raise money for MS is coming up, so good luck with the training and I hope your ride is as enjoyable as ours has been.

Other big news for today. We did it! We reached our goal and raised $1 million for scholarships! And in only 10 days! Thank you to everyone who donated. Let’s keep it up and get to $2 million.

Quick thank you to Swindy for the call on behalf of the Student Calling Program. I appreciated your invitation to Homecoming and I most certainly will be attending. We thought about you all the time in Kansas.