From Me To You

We did it!

So, after my last entry, Bike & Build was struck by the Plague. We had caught a stomach bug, which, for a time, we thought might be food poisoning. Or Giardia. Anyway, thus began my hatred for Nevada.

Here we are, eating our last meal. So innocently. With no idea of the sickness to come.
 
Look at all that food...

Fortunately we did survive the loneliest highway. And after we finally, finally left Nevada, we crossed into California (!) in Tahoe. Which was beautiful.


We had our last build day in Yuba City, where I helped to make a ramp for the homeowner's sister, who had cerebral palsy. Here I am, pouring concrete.


We also got to pass through wine country on our way into SanFran. It was beautiful. We picnic-ed on a bridge.


On our last night together, Team Tardy had devised a sooper sekrit surprize for everyone: we made capes with nicknames on them for each person to wear while crossing the bridge.

We arrived on the Sausalito side of the bridge and waited for everyone so that we could cross over it together. Team Tardy was the last to arrive, and we rolled in blowing horns and singing "Looks like we made it" to the rest of Bike & Build (and not too few curious tourists).

Here we are, giving out the capes.






After we crossed, we had lunch at Crissy field. We separated, reacquainting ourselves with family members before uniting one last time over dinner. After our banquet ended, it had come time to separate once and for all. Emotions were running high. Bike & Build as we had known it had finally ended.

But enough of that old sappy stuff. Here are the final stats.

Number of Riders: 27
Amount Raised: ~$120,000
Amount Donated: ~$60,000
Number of Riding Days: 50
Number of Build Days: 10
Days Off: 4
Number of States Crossed: 11
Number of Flat Tires: 15 (that's just me)

If there's anything else your heart could desire to know about Bike & Build the organization or about my personal experience on the trip, don't hesitate to ask. This site'll be up for quite some time. And many of you probably have my email address. Otherwise, leave a comment.

That's all for me.

Thank You and Goodnight.

We left Cedar City for Pioche, NV the other day. It was the kind of ride that makes me wonder how I've ever survived Bike & Build up until this point. Even early in the ride people were simply giving up.



I'm half kidding, Josh is just taking a nap. But later in the day, the heat really started getting to us. We were definitely infected with the road madness. I was lying on top of gravel like a sickly child while Meghan changed two flats. Then I bought a t-shirt at a grocery store in Panaca, "conveniently located in the middle of nowhere." This was where we found out we gained an hour (!!!!!!) and that we were finally (finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and permanently (permanently!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in Pacific Time / Mountain Standard. It's all the same, really.

And then, in a final attempt to lift our spirits, Matthew and I frolicked along the edge of some sprinklers spraying in a crop field.




Once we got into town we passed by some old abandoned mining equipment.


And then we stopped at the Silver Cafe where I had my first ever root beer float. It was delicious. We also split a sandwich and sweet potato fries, which, hello, if you know me, I LOVE THEM.

Today we journeyed from Pioche to Ely (pronounced eelie). Literally nothing existed in the more than one hundred miles between these two cities, term used loosely.

In order to boost the morale of the team, Team Tardy had purchased silly string at the aforementioned grocery store. At the very beginning of our ride we unleashed our secret weapon.

First against Alf and Joe.


And then against Team Trailer/Speed/Fun(?)



And a picture of us celebrating (note the the silly string left in the road)


We got in pretty early and stopped at a McDonald's, where literally our entire gang was eating. We sat outside, and here's a lovely picture of Meghan Daniels lounging in the spongy grass median in front of the golden arches.


I ate a sandwich with fries and a mcflurry - that cost me more than 1400 calories. Thank God I'm biking across the country, eh?

So that's all for tonight, because I am up way past my bedtime. I'll be getting up again before sunrise, that's less than six hours from now. But I like to cater to my narrow following. Enjoy the pictures :)

(also, make sure to check out my last post, now with shiny new pictures and videos)

*EDITED 8/05/07 - now with pictures*

Our day off in Santa Fe began bright and early, despite the fact that we’d stayed up semi-late the night before, at 7am. I wish I could explain why. It’s not like I’m waking up, fresh as a daisy, ready to start my day – I just wake up and cannot fall back to sleep.

All was not lost as Erin's parents kindly brought us delicious breakfast foods from Trader Joe’s, which we promptly devoured. We got an early start after that, biking over to the library in the downtown area. I got an iced chai from a sketchy stand in the street. The drink itself was very good but the ten year old boy who hailed from Naples, FL, but had made friends with the ‘barista,’ was slightly odd. He rode off, alone, on his ten-speed doing who-knows-what with who-knows-whom. He seemed like a nice kid. I told him my grandmother was also from Naples :)

After that encounter, Matthew, Meghan, Caitlin and I got lunch at the French Creperie. The crepes were magnificent. Also, Cuba Gooding Jr. was sitting at the table behind us.

!!.

Afterwards Matthew and Meghan wandered off to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, but since I still can’t get behind the idea of museums, I went back to the church. From there I walked to Trader Joe’s and got some fruit and veggies and had a tasty smorgasbord of foods for dinner (while I watched the only video the church had next to the VCR: Hercules, the Disney movie).

That night we had trouble sleeping because the next day was so short, so we stayed up until eleven or twelve. Unfortunately, I managed to fall asleep before the Police Raid and did not awake for it. A police raid? You must be thinking. Well, yes. Apparently we left the doors to the church open when we went to bed, and the police came in at around two in the morning, with flashlights and guns (the whole nine). So much drama.

The three grueling days prior to Santa Fe had readied us for some shorter days, so we left the capitol city and headed for Abiquiu Lake. It was only 55 miles, downhill, so when we say this little café at around mile 47, we stopped for (what else) coffee and shade. The woman who owned the place, Cameron, was incredibly kind and we hung around for more than an hour enjoying the delicious treats.

There was terrific scenery, which I took some videos of andd some pictures.









going up a giant hill...

 attempting to capture a sing-a-long

the lake

We finished the day with a refreshing swim in the lake, during which we took a wonderful photo of everyone's tan lines.

me meghan and andrea


marco, disinviting alan to his birthday party?

Then we set up camp. Literally.

For dinner we went to this place called the Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O’Keefe had a summer home and what now houses people for… various activities. Including art classes, I think. The grounds there were beautiful and serene. Matthew and Meghan and I had a photo shoot that was far more amusing for us than for anyone else. But here we are anyway!

(and this is probably one-quarter the number of pictures we actually took)

frolicking, not an unusual occurence

From there we headed for Cuba, still in New Mexico. The ride was gorgeous, again. By this point the landscape had become more desert-like but surrounded with rolling hills and mountains in the distance.

This is Jeff, cresting a hill with some intense looking mountains in the background.

Some open fields.


Arriving in Cuba, with an elevation sign :)

The ride was short as well, so we ate Subway for lunch once we arrived. That night we also had a Town Hall Meeting; this is when we all gather to discuss any problems and/or concerns. It lasts foreverrrrr. And here we are all circled up.

And here is a picture of Chore Group D, on their last night of dinner.

From Cuba we went to Farmington, which was a century (100 mile ride) but actually passed very quickly. In the morning it was freezing, which was probably a symptom of the higher altitude. On the way out of Cuba we crossed the Continental Divide.

For those of you who don't know what that means, join the club. Emily, our go-to science person, explains that the Divide is the geographical demarcation of water flow from west to east. In other words, water to the left of it flows to the west and water to the right of it flows to the east. I don't mean sink water, I mean rivers and such.

Here is a chalking that Andrea and Jeff did, to better explain

We had two lunches because it was a long day. Here's Jeff and Spenser bonding on the tarp.

For second lunch we stopped at the Angel’s Peak Badlands, which were bigger and more beautiful and just more in person.

Everyone at the picnic tables

The ride after lunch was mostly downhill and so flew by. When we got in we immediately scoped out a Dairy Queen to get ice cream, and then went to the Bike Shop (handily located next door) to fix the chronic gear problems I’ve been having.

At Farmington the community simply loves Bike & Build.

They provided us with a pot luck dinner and then we gave them a presentation and showed a wonderful and hilarious slide-show of pictures. They provided us all with paper place cards that had our pictures on them – more on that later.

The next day we built at a housing development, which was a lot of fun. We were outside all day hammering together wood and putting up a fence and digging dirt etc.

Resting on one of the fences we built

Andrea working with a nine year old kid who was a better hammer-er than all of us, combined

Here I am, keeping myself hydrated.

...and generally acting like a lunatic. Heat exhaustion?

I'm probably the hardest working one.

The guy who was in charge, Ryan, was playing hammering relays with us...

...and carting us around on this huge flat trailer thing attached to his pick-up.

And, of course it wouldn't be Bike & Build without at least one incident, after one of the site managers asked Claude to drive the mini-back hoe around the side of the house, he crashed into a fence. This is why he is known as ClaudeSmash.

And then he, Marco, and Erin spent the rest of the afternoon fixing it.

At the end of the day we had to reload wood onto the truck to lock it up for safekeeping, which we did assembly-line fashion.

Somehow Whitney got caught up in this.


Then we did trust falls?

Some of the community members also offered to take us to see Aztec ruins, so after we finished building we headed over to the museum/site. Before we arrived we were generously treated to huge mugs of root beer at A&W, which doesn’t exist up North (but should).

Here we are, exploring the ruins.

That day was also the day we started playing Assassin, using the place cards provided for us by the church. The game is basically this: you take a group of people and assign each person to a person; you have to ‘kill’ whomever you have by touching their shoulder when you’re alone and telling them they’re dead; you then take their victim; whoever is left, wins.

I lost in the first round, but then I scrambled around for information to mess with people’s heads. The game only lasted two days.

The very next day was a whopping thirty miles to Shiprock. Additionally, our van was at the mechanic until the afternoon and the host site wasn’t going to be ready until the late afternoon SO we got to sleep in. We didn’t leave until around noon, and we spent all morning sitting around and reading and doing nothing. Awesome.

The ride was hard even though it was short.

Here is a picture of the rock, from a distance.

And all of us standing on the top of the hill.

Along the way we saw pictoglyphs on rock walls depicting the Spanish conquistadors.

Then, once we arrived, the Pastor brought us to see the Shiprock for which the city was named. It stands about 1700 feet tall and is the former magma core of a volcano.

Extending to one side for what is at least a mile is a tall and thin wall of rock. It's crazy looking.

The Pastor also explained to us the Navajo lore behind the story, that the rock is the burned remains of a huge monster bird that was conquered by the offspring of Mother Earth and Father Sky. We didn’t get to go to sleep until really late, but seeing the rock, which is a sacred place on the Navajo Reservation, was definitely worth it.

From Shiprock we headed for Kayenta, Arizona.

I was sweep with Whitney that day, and we had a slooow start. Early on Andrea spoke with a woman who asked what we were doing, and she happened to run a radio show that’s broadcast throughout the reservation. She offered to announce our route for the next few days to alert people to us so that they would be more careful. We’re still not sure if people heeded her advice, or used her information to come gunning for us. It’s always hard to tell on a bike. Although, Alf and Laura did get a banana thrown at them that day, so…

When we finally arrived at our destination, a whole bunch of people went to see Monument Valley. It’s basically a valley full of naturally formed rock monuments that look like mittens, or upside-down elephants. I was too tired, but someone said it was like paying to drive past what we ride past every day for free. I didn’t feel too guilty.

We had another century the very next day on our way to Page, where we left the reservation and so gained an hour of time, or something crazy. We got ice cream (for free!) from The Big Dipper, and then spent a lot of money on a lot of food at Safeway. The ride to Page was absolutely beautiful

and we got to spend about half a day there, which was really nice.

After Page we had our hardest day on Bike & Build, ever. 81 miles, climbing all day, except for a four mile descent that was probably one of the more terrifying moments of my life, including a thirteen-mile mountain climb at the very end of the ride. Fortunately, Meghan and Matthew and I psyched ourselves out so much that we didn’t really do all of that. We stopped about ten miles in for forty-five minutes when Matthew got a flat and then again about ten miles later when Anna got a flat. After we made our way up about a thousand feet to the point where we descended, we stopped to catch our breath and cry and panic and so on and so forth.

Caitlin, cresting the hill.

Matthew and I before falling off the earth

Andrea, of course, fashioned a camera holder on her handle-bars and took a video of the whole thing. I cursed, loudly, the whole way down. Meghan had to stop in the middle to cry.

It’s very scary to go almost 40 mph on a narrow windy road with cars to one side of you and a guardrail on the other, protecting you from a sheer drop off a cliff.

And the aftermath.

Then we stopped around mile thirty at a Navajo Jewelry thing on the side of the road, for about an hour. We finally made it to lunch, but stayed there for close to two hours. At lunch, which was hosted in the parking lot of Marble Canyon (a beautiful but much smaller canyon along the Colorado River), we made ourselves anxious, we saw some rafters and hatched a scheme to raft up the river (which would have been impossible) and finally worked up the chutzpah to leave.

Rafters!

Looking over the bridge

Four miles later we stopped for restrooms and water at a lodge. Matthew called his house for encouragement, collect, from a pay-phone. Meghan and I fell asleep on chairs on the porch outside.

We were there for over an hour. When we left we saw that Josh, our moral leader, left us encouragement in the form of a message.

But...five miles later we stopped at another lodge/gas station thing, and stayed for close to another hour. We ate ice cream. Matthew pretended to fuel his bike.

From there on we had nowhere else to stop. We were so late in the day that Sweep had caught up to us and we hit a headwind on a road that was nothing but distance and rolling hills. The van came for us.

Josh told us we could either ride more and then get picked up OR get shuttled to the mountain climb and try to finish it before dark. I got shuttled forward with Meghan and Matthew and Lauren.

We arrived just as a storm broke: I’m talking lightning, thunder, winds, rain, the whole thing. There was a single house at the bottom of the mountain, so we went in for shelter. Tim, the owner of said house, hosted us for an hour or so and made us Limeade and let us watch Le Tour. It was fun.

That is, until Josh came back and forced us to leave.

The environment totally changed. The air was cold instead of hot, the ground was green instead of reddish-brown, there were trees. The climb wasn't as bad as we'd imagined, and I finished with Delilah just at the sun was setting.

Meanwhile, Bike & Build had to spring for rooms at the lodge because the campground was closed (due to storms) and so I also got to sleep in a bed! Plus we had a wonderful meal at the Jacob Lake Inn Restaurant, which included a raspberry milkshake. A great way to end the day in my book.

We left Jacob Lake to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Ooooh, exciting. Unfortunately, the 45 mile  ride to the North Rim was repeated on our way to Kanab. The only reason I wasn't upset about doubling back, besides seeing the Grand Canyon, is the lunch we had at the Jacob Lake Inn Restaurant.

Anyway, the ride was cool - I mean literally, the temperature - because we were at an elevation of around 8 or 9 thousand all day.

We also met two motorcyclists who had biked from Maine all across the northern portion of the country and down through Utah. They seemed pretty interesting. Obviously nowhere near as interesting as us, but whatever.

Once we arrived

and took a look at the view 

and set up camp and ate three million dollars worth of snacks from the general store, it was a pretty great day. We sat around and read and grilled dinner.

Then we slept in tents during a thunder storm. The tents didn’t get too wet, thanks to their rain covers, and for the first time the night was cool so we got to snuggle up in long underwear and sleeping bags.

We went to bed at 8:30.

Then, of course, we woke up at 6:30 the next morning. Being generally lazy and disinclined to do extra physical labor, we decided against hiking at all. We walked a mile to the main lodge where we ate breakfast, sat around on leather couches reading and napping, and then ate lunch.

Here I am, ruining another picture

the view from indoors

We did, of course, take one picture in front of the canyon.

When we left the Grand Canyon, after a most relaxing day, we headed for Kanab.  The 80 mile ride went quickly. I'm getting used to cooler temperatures at these higher elevations. We had an extended lunch at the Inn, where we ate sandwhiches and milkshakes and cookies. Then I felt like puking for the next ten miles or so, but it was still worth it. On our way into Kanab, where we again camped out, we passed through Fredonia. At a gas station advertising Lotto, Guns, Ammo, and Beer, we bought tee-shirts bearing the same information. Then, when we crossed into Utah, we put on our shirts for the border picture. Love state borders!

Kanab was small but at least had some amenities, like a gas station and a laundromat and a grocery store. The place where we camped had a main check-in area with a game room. After I did laundry with laundry crew, I returned to find out that my tent had flooded thereby leaving my sleeping bag and thermarest uncomfortably moist. Matthew had been having a bad day, and decided that we should stay at a motel across the street, where the rooms could sleep four in a bed for $45 /night. Of course we all spent two hours going back and forth over whether or not this was a good idea, until finally, exhausted and cranky, Meghan, Matthew, Molly, Claude, Marco, and I (for 8 bucks a piece) got the room and slept very well. Notably, we were all dry. We also had a chance to watch tv, which has been a far too rare occurance during this trip.

The next day was relatively short with a small climb at the end, so even though Matthew got two flat tires and we had an extended lunch in Glendale, UT, we still got in before 4.  We were supposed to camp at Long Valley Junction, but the site also had inexpensive cabins. So the whole 27 of us pitched in a few extra dollars and most everyone got to sleep in a bed. Go bratty college students who are used to privilege!

We got up at an ungodly hour, before the sun had risen, and it was FREEZING outside. It felt like I was home in the dead of winter when my Dad decides to shut off the heat because thinks you don't need the heat on when you're sleeping even though it's below zero. Love you Dad.

Soooo, we packed up and headed out. Twenty-four miles of climbing followed by twenty miles of downhill. The climbing was... horrendous. I don't want to relive it but I will say that it brought us to our highest elevation: 9910 feet. Woot.

With some great views of surrounding national parks.

The downhill was even more terrifying than the one I spoke of before. For ten miles we coasted down the side of a mountain on winding roads at an 8% grade (I don't know what that means but it's steep). I hit 40 mph without batting an eyelash. The wind was whipping by, the cars were zipping past, and we were rumbling nearly out of control at speeds not meant for such amateurs.  But we all survived.

In so doing, we also passed absolutely gorgeous scenery. To our one side, the mountain, was covered by deep green trees and sometimes turned into sheer cliffs of gray and sand colored rock. To our other side was a deep valley, with a clear brook bubbling happily over water-smoothed rocks of all sizes. When we descended to a low enough elevation the air turned warm again and the rocks became more red in color.

The whole ride was incredible. The only thing I can compare it to is that chased-after feeling of sledding downhill at top-speed in the winter when you still do those kinds of things.

So, here I am, in Cedar City, Utah. We ate lunch at a little sandwhich shop and now we are off to complete more errands while we are still in a civilized place. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put up more pictures, but I make no promises.

Less than two weeks to San Francisco!

i don't have time to properly update but as soon as i'm able (aka, i have internet and free time and a camera usb wire) i will be describing the last several days anddd adding pictures.

in the meantime, check in with the pics on the bike and build website (the link should be somewhere on the right side of the page), because they've been updated recently.

hope everyone is doing well and i'll try to write when i can.

Today is another day off, and though it seems to be quickly following our day in Amarillo, the last three riding days were back-breakingly hard.

We stayed at a YMCA in Amarillo, and some very nice people there drove me and a few others to a book store/coffee shop combo place where we were able to feel like human beings. I bought a really silly book, the kind I generally make fun of people for reading (ahem, Lauren), and then I read the entire thing in one day.

We also did a presentation for Counselors-in-Training, who were all aged 10 to 15. The presentation was cool; the kids were probably not thrilled to be watching a power point, inside, in the middle of the day, but they asked good questions, and it went really well. Afterwards I had time to run some errands before getting ice cream. All in all it was nice to have the day, but I don't know if it made me more or less willing to get on my bike again.

From Amarrillo we went to Dalhart, which was our last stop in Texas. Dalhart is the gateway to the Rockies, and they are not kidding around. The day itself was 86 miles, but it went really quickly. The landscape is pretty but at some point you just want to book it and get in for the day, so we did. From Dalhart we left Texas (yay!) and finally crossed the border into New Mexico.

We were headed for the town of Mosquero, where we stayed at a pre-k through 12th grade school that had only 48 students. So, small town. There was literally nothing between the two towns. Nothing. Ranch land, cattle, gravel roads: yes. Human beings? Not so much. We did manage to stop at this one house, the only one for miles, and the woman there remembered Bike & Build from last year. We also got water from some workers laying pipe from a CO2 factory, and they also remembered Bike & Build from last year.

Anyway, it was a really difficult day. There were these terrible head winds that made us go about ten miles an hour (which is painfully slow), and then we hit a dirt road for a few miles, and then we found out that the directions were wrong. Our group got split in half and some people had to go an extra twenty-five miles. We had to ride on another gravel road, for twelve miles, which I think I've already explained is terrifying on a bicycle. And then, finally, at mile 95 we had our first real mountain climb. A two mile incline that took us up an elevation of 1000 feet or so. It was, maybe, the hardest thing I have ever physically done in my life. Afterwards, we were a mile high, which is cool.

Of course the next morning began with a very long downhill as we erased all the hard work we'd accomplished. We left Mosquero for Las Vegas (New Mexico still), and it was a 99 mile day. I was sweep with Jeff, which meant we had to stay in the back all day and make sure everyone got in safely. We didn't get in until 9pm. Longest Day. Also, if possible, even more desolate than the day before. We had to stop a bunch of times, and we hadn't even reached the halfway point after five hours on the road. There were more than a few moments of hysteria, on my part, but I managed to finish the day. It's hard to explain the feeling you have when you are literally in the middle of nowhere, the sun is beating down on your head, your body is physically taxed and emotionally exhausted, you've been up for six or seven hours, you still have forty miles to go, a mountain climb, your back is aching, your hands are swollen, your front gear won't shift... on and on. It was just that kind of day.

Yesterday was much easier, and though we had a lot of hills, the weather was nice and the mileage was much shorter. Plus, we have today off.

Now that I'm New Mexico, I'm on Rocky Mountain Time, which is two hours earlier than the East Coast. Also, I'm in Santa Fe today, which is a beautiful city. The downtown doesn't have high rise buildings: they're all made to resemble adobe and it's got this antique feeling that's different from any other city I've ever been in. I also like Santa Fe because when we were riding in yesterday I saw a sign on the highway that had a number people could call if they saw someone who was driving drunk AND a sign that said the city fines people who use cell phones that are not hands-free. Good policy.

Meanwhile, back in Amarillo, I though I lost my camera. Thankfully I found it today (in my bag), but I don't have any pictures from the last few days.

Anyway, I've still got a day off to enjoy, and since we now have the entire season 2 of Full House on DVD, guess what we might be doing all day? 

I miss everyone! Can't wait to see you guys in August.

today began in such a way that I thought I might actually have to fall off my bike, dead. a 90 mile day with a steady incline. and for some reason my head and my body were off, so the whole morning was terrible. we stopped approximately fifteen times before we were halfway to lunch. by the time we got to lunch it was after noon, which meant we’d be stuck with halfway left during the hottest part of the day.

then, the clouds parted, the birds chirped, and the rainbow touched down upon us.

after lunch we pulled it together and things just were better. we were going about ten miles per hour faster, so we weren’t out for as long. then we stopped at this huge tourist trap Texan restaurant place that had the hook of a FREE 72 oz steak, if you could finish it in an hour, otherwise it would cost you $72. 

And after that, toward the end of the ride we stopped at a water park!

What really happened was we saw this huge white slide contraption thing, that looked like a steeper half-pipe normally viewed in skateboarding and/or snowboarding. It was a water slide that they called the taco, one of two in the whole world. !!.

So we go, and though the sign tells us it costs $16 to get in, we finagle a discount and it costs us three bucks apiece. We spent an hour there. It was so much fun. Also, I can’t remember the last time I went to a water park.

 

Plus, I spread the most affordable housing awareness at this place. Every time we were waiting in line (in our now sopping-wet bike & build jersey and spandex shorts), kids would ask us what we were doing. I’ve never had so much attention for the cause before, it was exciting. Most of them didn’t really care about affordable housing as much as they were surprised by the fact that we were riding bicycles, but whatever. They were young.

Moral of the story? though the day had an inauspicious beginning, it turned out very well.

And tomorrow we have a day off =)

It seems as though I haven’t written in this blog in weeks, but it’s only been about five days. That should be unsettling.

 

After I wrote last time, while we were in Natchitoches, we had quite the eventful evening. It began when Matthew found all these movies intended to teach kids Christian lessons (embedded, of course, in a stylish and entertaining package [theoretically]). He insisted that we watch Pamela’s Prayer before we left. The movie chronicled the experience of Young Pamela, who wasn’t allowed to go on dates. Her father wanted her to wait until marriage to kiss a boy, though her friend makes the valid point that one should date in order to figure out who they’ll marry. Her father is adamant. Eventually Pamela realizes her father is right, and I wish I could explain how that happens but we didn’t make it through the movie. It was so high quality I don’t know how we managed not to finish it. Oh, wait.

 

Meanwhile, the church was hosting a Christian Rock concert for some local kids. When the concert ended they left the speakers on and put up a projector screen. Then they turned on Guitar Hero. If you don’t think that makes me do the happy dance… you are wrong.  I obviously played a few times before I went to bed. It was a lot of excitement for one night.

 

After we left Natchitoches we headed for Pelican. The Team Leaders told us that the ride would be about 60 miles, and then the night before we left they told us that, oh no, we made a mistake, it’s actually 90 miles.

 

We were not happy bike and builders.

 

So, we all go to bed angry and wake up cranky.  Moreover, a bearing in the van is loose or wrong or something and the van is at the mechanic being fixed, until late in the morning. It’s raining. I start riding without my helmet. All these things point toward disaster. We’re tired, we’ve had a whole bunch of long days in a row and we simply cannot take one more. Around mile 25 we come upon a turn in the directions. It’s a gravel road.

 

Aside: Simple math proves that gravel roads plus bicycle tires equal a disaster.

 

With much reluctance we begin to walk our bikes down the path.  At about mile 30 a white pick-up drives by us. We pay no attention.

 

At about mile 32 we stumble upon six or seven other riders, also walking their bicycles. All of them were in a surprisingly upbeat mood. Then we learn that Laura and Jeff were in the white truck because Jeff fell on the gravel (he’s fine, just got scraped up – also, note the above calculus) and the van was still at the shop being fixed. But wait? Why is everyone in such a great mood? The Leaders lied to us; it was only a 35 mile day.

 

I’d like to say we were all very happy and dance-y about this but really we just spent the rest of the walk plotting how we could kick Laura off of Bike & Build, and what the appropriate method would be (Town Hall Meeting?).

 

Still, no words could describe the relief of arriving before 11 am at our host site. We were all so happy and adrenaline-filled that we began to play some basketball in the gym. A whole bunch of us started playing “Lightning.” Here is the point where I question my education as a human being. I’ve played basketball my entire life and I have never heard of this game. Okay, that is false, because Lightning is really a bastardization of Knock-Out which everyone has played. But it’s so much more fun. In Knock-Out there are two balls and a line of people and everyone shoots and if the person behind you scores before you do, you’re out. Lightning follows the same guidelines with the additional rule that if the person who gets you out is also knocked out, you rejoin the game.

 

Just let that simmer for a moment.

 

It’s actually quite hilarious when there are three people playing and everyone who is out is just ripping on the person that got them out but who is still playing. It really engenders unity and teamwork.  The only way to win is to personally knock out everyone else, which is extremely difficult. The winner ended up being John Han.

 

Have I not mentioned John Han yet? Well, you will notice by his name that he’s one of those people that everyone calls by their full name though he is the only John on the trip. Also, he wins Bike & Build. First of all, in Louisiana, he pulled a woman from the burning wreckage of her car after he watched her crash into a tree. For that alone he wins. Additionally, he has won every intra - Bike & Build competition that we’ve had. This includes Lightning and the Annual Ping Ping Invitational Tournament that occurred at Camp Christian in Alabama.

 

Anyway… after we left Pelican, we headed for Texas. Yay.

(we got a chance to take a picture with the sign for Louisiana, as we left the state)

and then!

Up until this point we kept comparing our worst moments to the Future Moments We Would Encounter in Texas. We heard that Texas was going to be awful: bad roads, long days, huge state. It really hasn’t been the hellish experience we were expecting.

Our first night we stayed in Carthage with the parents of a B&B alum. They have an awesome house and they provided food for us. They also had a big screen TV, so we got to do some movie-watching. When I arrived, “Father of the Bride” was on. Can you say best movie ever? Because I can. Then we watched Rushmore and I forgot how much I love that movie. I recommend it to everyone.

 

That day was nice mostly because it made me feel like a normal human being again. Just writing about it makes me feel normal. We were in a house with air-conditioning and a TV and just… it’s hard to explain unless you’ve spent countless days on the hard floors of musty churches.

 

From that glorious oasis we headed for Athens, yet another ancient city name that Texas has adopted for itself. Note to Texas: everything may be bigger, but that’s not necessarily better.  On the way I stopped at a gas station with some peeps and bought zodiac sign stickers, to add to my bike. Not so much for the zodiac symbol as for the fact that they were stickers.  I got separated from the Team when Matthew stopped to take a picture of a sign that said something about us all being virgins together. I’m not really sure what that means.

 

When I got to lunch everyone had left and it was just beginning to rain. I was late because I had gotten a flat earlier. So I ate in the van with Laura until Matthew and Meghan got there. We stayed in the van listening to Jewel for over two hours. It was raining!

 

Afterwards we figured we had no chance of getting back in time for the dinner that our hosts were providing (it was a 90 mile day), so we made a lot of stops.

First we saw a park that had my name!

We passed a bunch of fire hydrants that had been opened and were exploding water at rapid speeds into the street.

Then we stopped at a Starbucks because we never see them. We usually don’t see any civilized life at all, much less coffee shops.  We also got pizza for dinner and contemplated letting some interested locals drive us the rest of the way in the back of their truck, but we decided against it. 

When we arrived in Athens we did an entire Hellenic photo shoot by the sign for the town. This means that Meghan and Matthew pretended to be columns. They also play-acted Socrates and Plato. Unconvincingly. /joke

 

Then we passed an ice cream store like half a mile from the place, so we got milkshakes in the drive-thru. Yeah, we’re rebels.

 

From there we left for Dallas. No offense to Dallas but, truthfully, nothing to write home about. I’ve definitely seen better cities. It was a really hot day and I fell because my wheel got stuck in a crack in the pavement. I’ve got great coordination. (I also fell over today after I got off my bike, because my seat is too high for me to swing my leg over it.) I’ve got a terribly dark bruise on the inside of the wrong leg. Meaning, I fell on my left side and my right leg is bruised. Very strange.

 

We had a build day in Dallas, which was a lot of fun. Rather than going to a work site we went to the Habitat headquarters and worked in the garage there. By the end of the day my group had nailed together all the walls to make one house. This includes the studs and everything. It was satisfying at the end of the day to have that tangible achievement in front of us. We took pictures.

 

Chuck was the guy in charge, and he was genuinely interested in what we’re doing. I hadn’t realized it until speaking with him, but it’s so gratifying to meet people who are not only interested in what we’re doing but who really care about the cause. A lot of the folks we encounter on the road are surprised that we’re cycling across the country and then tell us to be careful, but they don’t really see the whole picture (or at least they don’t seem to).  One of the people working with us was a guy who had a Habitat home and it’s also wonderful to meet the people that we’re benefiting. Especially because all the homeowners we’ve met have been these great, hard-working people. But more on that later.

 

From Dallas we went to Decatur, and that was an extremely hot day. I mean hot. Let that sink in. We stopped at this museum about house movers. The word museum is being used very loosely in that sentence.

The warehouse was run by a woman whose father and grandfather had been in the business of moving houses, and she had a whole bunch of antique tools and pictures and models. The most interesting thing about it was the idea that a lot of times houses are destroyed when they could be moved. Gee, I wonder how that ties in with affordable housing?

 

The very most highly important thing about Decatur was this: we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. I won’t discuss it, but I just wanted to throw that in there. I’m such a loyal fan. Plus there was a Wal-Mart right next to the theatre and Caitlin and I really needed some essentials. Go efficiency!

 

We went to Wichita Falls from Decatur, and that was actually… two days ago. That was an awesome ride day. First off, we found these metal cut-outs of longhorns and cowboys along the side of the road that we had a photo shoot with.

Then, we passed this big billboard that said something like ‘It’s never too late to be a cowgirl,’ so of course we stopped at the store it was advertising for. We also got delicious iced chais. I’m not sure how well we grasp the concept of Bike & Build, it seems I write a lot about things that don’t mesh with cycling cross country. Oh well.

 

The people at the coffee shop and the clothing store (Cadillac Cowgirl, not as cheesy as it sounds) remembered riders from the previous year, which was pretty cool.

Also there I bought a camouflage tee-shirt because a girl on our trip, Delilah, has these bicycle stencils that she uses to decorate shirts and one of them is of an invisible cyclist. An invisible cyclist on camouflage? Most inventive moments.

 We also passed a bike shop in town with some murals on the side of the building.

That night we went to bed while the sun was still up and woke up the next morning before it had risen.

We got to leave Texas for a day yesterday, when we went to Altus, Oklahoma (right in the corner of the state).  The day started out well because Matthew bought speakers for his ipod and we were coasting along singing to Carole King. That lasted about six miles, until the sky turned black and we were attacked by wind and hail.  We all had to stop because of thunder storms. About twelve of us were camped out on some random woman’s porch at 7 am. She eventually invited Delilah and Carly into her house and offered them robes while she dried their jerseys for them. So lucky. Meanwhile, Team Tardy braved the rain. Matthew was convinced he had hypothermia (it was 69 degrees outside) and made me sing ‘Maybe’ for him.

We stopped at Whataburger, one of the many fast food joints down in the South/West, where we used the restroom, got coffee, and did jumping jacks to warm up.  Absolutely no one asked us why we were biking in the rain or what we were doing or where we were from (our most frequently asked questions) – but one guy did explain to us that the live animal in the bed of a truck in the parking lot was called a weed-eater. It was a goat.

 Rain Gear!

We also took pictures atop these huge barrels of hay. There is no other way to describe them. We really only did it because there are pictures of them in this video ‘Bodies in Motion’ which is about Bike & Build.

 

 

The actual experience was disgusting. They were covered in bugs and in this big swampy field that was filled with cow droppings. Not fun.

 

Of interest: we were driving through a town center that had a store that advertised wallpaper, paint, vinyl, carpet, and guns. So, still in Texas.

 

Meanwhile, before we arrived in Altus, my sister Meghan had been trying to call me all day. She’s driving from California to Tennessee. When I finally call her from Altus, she tells me she’s twenty miles from Wichita Falls where I’d been earlier. YOU COULD HAVE DETOURED. BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER.

 

The community in Altus was really welcoming. They cooked us dinner and took our picture for the paper, and brought us to meet the family of a new Habitat house. The homeowner was a very kind person. We found out later that he had adopted his niece’s child and was raising him with his wife.  Sometimes knowing the whole story about a person really makes a difference.

 They also got breakfast donated to us.

Today, finally, we left Oklahoma and came back to Texas. The landscape is changing a lot and it’s becoming clear that we’re nearing the desert. Today we passed by a lot of farms, and over one set there were these little yellow planes spraying pesticides on the crops. It was cute.

Also the landscape was beautiful. It’s all long roads, green plants, blue sky, and big white clouds. And big giant yellow Texas grasshopper locust things. I’m excited for New Mexico.

 

One of the more terrifying aspects of this whole journey is something I had never even considered before I came: dogs.

 

If you are one of those people who owns a dog, I hope it has brought you much joy. I can only hope that you are also the kind of person who puts a LEASH on your dog. Or has heard of a fence. What can I say, I guess getting chased down by one or three dogs barking literally at your heels will alter your perception a mite.  Think on it. Don’t let your dog wander free.

 

Okay. This is ridiculously long. Take it in pieces. I just want to add that I’ve never done something so huge in my life. Every day it’s more apparent just how much of an achievement it will be to make it to San Francisco. We were trying to figure out which is harder, running a marathon or biking across the country. Even though a marathon is more physically challenging, it’s not nearly as mentally challenging. We wake up every morning and get on our bikes and stay on them for hours. We don’t have a break. Our bodies are exhausted. We love it. It’s crazy, but we really do. Every day I arrive and I’ve gone 70 miles or 90 miles or however many miles. I’ve completed this enormous task. I’ve done it. What’s more is that I’ve done it for a reason other than competition or glory or grades or perception. It feels fresh and whole.

 

I’ve never felt accomplishment quite like this.

crossing the border (no state sign)


building in new orleans










going out in new orleans
























Claude and Josh checking the map before we leave

on the road again


good signs!


I love my sister


this huge tree we saw in Louisiana, in someone's front yard. so we explored it.






random things on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere


also random: a burning tree stump on the side of the road


an ENORMOUS spider, literally, I've never seen one so large. note the hand for size reference.


puppies on the side of the road






... more strange signs

I just won a dollar off of Matthew because he bet me about the lyrics in the song 'You're So Vain.'

His wager? "You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself go by."

My fact? "You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte."

Yay internet, for proving me right. Also, let this be a lesson for you about me and song lyrics.  For future reference, 'gavotte' is a French word, for some kind of folk dance.




(and you can hate on Matthew because he hates puppies)

Why, yes, it is. Today finds me in the library of the town of Natchitoches (pronounced Nah-kuh-TOE-she). Which is located in Louisiana.  A state that I have nothing against except that we had three days in a row all of 80+ miles and I was on the road for 12 hours each day. Shouldn't I be somewhere in Texas by now?

When last we spoke I was leaving the wonderful city of New Orleans. That day, my day off, we went out to eat at this great diner called Slim Goodies. Now, this might only be of import to my immediate family who knows my weird obsession with the quality of chocolate milk at restaurants BUT this diner had the most delicious chocolate milk that I have ever tasted. Period. Bar none. I win.

After we ate, the diner handed out stickers with our check, which brings me to a new topic: flare. Now my bike not only has fancy handlebar tape and a bracelet on the drop bar, but it also has a number of stickers and spoke beads.  My next plan is to attach a water gun - an idea shamelessly stolen from Andrea who had a bubble gun attached to hers. 

Anyway, back on track, we went to the French Quarter that afternoon. I saw the Mississippi River for the first time, which I didn't even know at first. And of course we stopped at Cafe du Monde and had coffee and beignets (which were disappointing in that, as Erin said, they're just funnel cake!). Still, very tasty. Oh and of course we bought lots of post cards etc. Yay for souvenirs. The bike ride into the downtown also taught me a bright and shiny new lesson: I really love cycling.

During those long rides when you've been on the rode for hours and the sun is beating down on your head and your legs are too tired to pedal and when you try to entertain yourselves with song you get really out of breath and then you've only gone 30 miles and there are still 60 more to go and the rode you've been on is full of potholes and bumps and cars ready to plow you over... sometimes it's easy to forget. But leisurely bike rides? What fun! I am extremely excited to become a casual cyclist post bike and build.

After New Orleans we left for Baton Rouge, on an 85 mile ride. Unfortunately, Matthew had to sweep so Team Tardy was short a member. Fortunately, we were the second group of people to arrive after Marco. Which may not sound unbelievable, but take my word, it is. We were proud of ourselves. Then we got to do a presentation for little kids who had summer camp at the place we were staying.  I wish I could remember more from what happened during that ride but everything has blended together and I have no idea.

The day after that we went to Lafayette, an 88 mile ride that was also the worst day on bike and build. Not for me, so much, but just in general. The cue sheets, which are the directions we keep on our bikes, were a mess. Everyone got lost right at the beginning and some people ended up going almost 20 miles out of their way. Then, after we found the right road, we had to go over this enormous and scary bridge that gave at least 4 people flat tires, including yours truly. No surprise there. Then people got attacked by ants while changing their flats (not me) and there was some mild cursing and throwing of shoes.

By this point, it was already 11 am because we'd gotten a late start, and we were only halfway to lunch. Eeeep.  So my day after that wasn't too bad, it was just that the ride was really long and I was tired and ended up falling asleep at our lunch stop. However, other people had a ton of flats, and, the worst thing, Alfredo fell off his bike going downhill and got a bit cut up. He's fine, except for a sprained shoulder, and he has to ride in the van for a few days. So everyone was running late and getting flats and we had our first injury etc etc. Terrible luck. We didn't get in until 7p.

The day after that was another good day, even though it was really long. We went from Lafayette to Alexandria, and Team Tardy arrived first. People started saying we should change our name because we aren't tardy anymore, but we all learned about hubris in school, didn't we? Anyway, we had a great bunch of sing-a-longs during our 98 miles trek. At one point the fast group sped past us, eyes forward, wheels inches from each other, knuckles gripping their handlebars, while Team Tardy was singing a rousing rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  The other awesome part of the day was that we found abandoned puppies in the road. They were so cute, I have pictures of them (and other stuff) that I'll put up eventually. There were two of them and they must have been just a few weeks old, if that. One was brown, and his name was PB and the other was black, and his name was J (get it, pb and j).

In Alexandria our hosts were amazing. They made us dinner and breakfast and they had coffee and homemade ice cream and I can't even think about it. It was so good. Today we left on a ride that was only 53 miles long, and arrived here, in the town with the name that sounds the exact opposite of how it's spelled. The good news is that there is both a post office and a library within walking distance, the bad news is that the showers were communal. Oh, yeah, something I've never done before. What was all that talk about new experiences? Kidding. It wasn't so bad. Bike & Build has a way of breaking down your boundaries by forcing you into close quarters with 26 strangers for two months. But don't listen to Marco when he tells you to smell your dirty Chamois pad.

I am exhausted. I am too tired to even be typing this, I should be taking a huge gigantic enormous nap. I should definitely be doing something that involves me laying down with my eyes closed. This trip has been amazing so far. Yesterday the Team had a great conversation about how lucky we are and how interesting this whole experience is. Then we past by a burning tree stump that Matthew pretended to pee on, and then caused Matthew to explain to us the history of Passover. All in all a pretty good day.

Oh! and Thursdays are mail drop days and it is so fun to get mail, even if it's just tires, it's nice to have the box. Thanks Mom (and Dad)! Miss everyone, love you guys. Call me :)

Having the chance to stay in this city has been, just, unbelievable. The work we've been doing opened my eyes to how far-reaching the hurricane was. Yesterday we worked on a house in a really nice middle-class neighborhood. The family of four was on site and we got to know them while we were painting every room of their house. They even bought us lunch, which was not only delicious but extremely generous. It's weird for me, not being part of the disaster, to hear the locals talk about it so casually.

The stories that people have told haven't yet struck me as tragic, because by the fact that I am even talking to them they managed to pick up and survive and move on. Then, while we were painting yesterday, we had to clear out one of the main rooms of the house that had bit containers of different personal items. One of the boxes contained only photo albums, albums that were warped and browned and ruined by flood water. It's difficult to reconcile tragedy with survival, because being on the outside means you focus so much on the tragedy and how could anyone survive this and what would have happened to me. But seeing that people are living their lives is emotional in a good way.

Another part of working in these neighborhoods is seeing all the work being done everywhere, like the city is permanently under construction. It makes you want to stay and devote as much time as you can to as many people as you can because there is still so much to be done.

Outside of our building, New Orleans has been a treat as a city.  The other day we walked to this gelatto place someone recommended to us, and it was outstanding. I cannot emphasize this enough. I had a flavor called blackberries and creole cream cheese (we're talking gelatto here) and there were a few other interesting flavors that were also delicioush, like earl gray tea and blueberry and basil.

Last night was particularly fun. I finally got off of Magazine Street and did the whole nightlife thing. Bourbon Street is not my scene. It's really cool and sparkly and happenin' but it's also mildly disturbing and disgusting. So we went to this jazz club off of Bourbon on a slightly quieter street and listened to a really cool band. At one point in the evening, this elderly gentleman in a linen suit walked into the club, put his trumpet case on the stage, and just started jamming along with the band. We later found out that his name is Jack Frye (spelling?) and 'he's a legend.'

At the same place, Marco and Meghan won thirty dollars off of a video gambling machine that only cost a quarter.

I love this place.

We stayed out really late, for once, because today is our day off. I'm excited to do some tourist-y stuff, like walk around the Quarter during the day and maybe hit up a museum. I'm not surprised how quickly this week went by, but I'm really sad to be leaving to soon.

No worries, this won't be the last of me in Nawlins.

Hey y'all

Louisiana is a-mazing. I love it here. I always thought that I could never ever ever live in the South, it's too hot to do anything down here, except that is entirely false because I could definitely live in New Orleans. We rode in the day before yesterday on an 85 mile ride. The ride itself wasn't too bad, and I got to lunch as one of the first groups, but after lunch Team Tardy had a few problems.

Firstly, I was daydreaming, spacing out, not paying attention, whatever I admit it, it's my fault. I was riding along behind Matthew when I hit a huge bump in the road. I'm saying, the road was cracked and shifted about three inches upwards, which I didn't see until too late. Matthew claims there was a large sign that said "Bump." Needless to say, I got a flat tire. Then, a few minutes after that, Matthew crashed into me, or he was about to ride up on my right side without saying anything until it was too late and I was in front of him and all I heard was "Oh my God Oh my God" and then he crashed into my back wheel and fell.

No one saw him fall, and at first he said he couldn't remember it (it happened so fast) but then he started telling people he did a kung-fu somersault over the handle bars. Keep dreaming buddy. Anyway, he broke three spokes. Now, for people like myself who have no idea what kind of disaster breaking a spoke is, all I can say is this: it's a disaster. The tension in all of the spokes on your wheel have to be even so that when the wheel rotates it does not wobble. When the spokes are all correctly tightened, your wheel is true. If not, then your wheel wobbles and will catch on the break as it turns rendering it impossible to operate your bike. Fortunately, Sean was behind us with another group of people, and he is the only person on the trip who knows how to true a wheel.

It took us an hour.

Then, once that was fixed, we set off again. The road was really bumpy and gravel-y, and I turned to Caitlin and I said, "Now I'm really paranoid that I'm going to get another flat." Ten seconds after that, I did.

So it ended up being a really long day, and even though I threatened to quit Bike & Build (not quit as leave, just quit as in, not ride my bike), it was still a good day.

The end of the ride took us through the city and then through the 9th Ward. We're staying in the Garden District, which is somewhat of a walk to the Quarter and Bourbon Street, but also really close to other cool shops and restaurants and bars on Frenchman and Magazine streets.  It's a really cool neighborhood.  All the houses that were either not effected by the storm, or have been redone, are absolutley beautiful. Some of the houses are these huge antebellum multi-level homes with big columns and rot-iron fences. They're gorgeous. In addition to those there are houses that are all brightly colored with funky architecture, and they remind me a lot of the townhouses in DC (except cooler looking).

Going through the 9th Ward was oddly emotionally. Meghan pointed out that it's weird to know something conceptualy and then see it and experience it emotionally. We didn't go through the whole neighborhood, only part of it, so we didn't see some of the more devastated areas, but the street that we went down, and the neighborhood we've been building in which is in Lakeview (near Lake Pontchartrain), all still have X's on them from the search and rescue teams. Twenty-two months later. Most of the homes are not rebuilt yet. Most of the homes, from what I've seen and heard, have been gutted in order that they can be rebuilt. That's mainly due to a law that the city passed, threatening to demolish homes if they weren't taken care of. So what's left are streets filled with houses that are uninhabitable, some with the FEMA trailers in the front yard, that have water marks around the house above the windows and doors, visible on the brick, that are completely gutted. It's terribly unsettling. What's even more unsettling are the people who live on these streets, with these homes that used to be homes and neighbors and are now just frames and shells.

The X's mean this: when a search and rescue team would come to look for survivors, they would draw a diagonal line across the house before they entered; upon their exit they would complete the X. To the left of the X they would write what group they were working for, on the top they would write the date, on the right they would write any other notes, and on the bottom they would write the number of bodies they found.

To move on from something so depressing, the city is still so vibrant. As much as it's hard to believe the wreckage and destruction that exists after two years, it's wonderful to see how many people have come back and made the city their home. We were stopped on the side of the road talking to a guy watering his plants when someone shouts at us from across the street "Weren't y'all in Mississippi today?" and we kind of laugh and say that yes we were, in fact, in Mississippi today; the guy crosses the street. His name was Rodney and he'd driven from some town outside of Biloxi and seen us on the road in the morning, and then he told us he lives in San Francisco and I'm pretty sure he wanted to give someone his number so we could contact him when we arrive. It was awesome.

The first night we got here, Breanna's family cooked us dinner and it was delicious. People joke about college food being bad? No. We live on bagels, bananas, and peanut butter. Home cooked food is a wondrous thing. Anyway, we went out the first night despite our exhaustion, but we didn't make it very far. We stopped at the closest bar to us and stayed until 10:30, because we were so tired. Still, it was nice to do something.

Our first build day (yesterday) had us split into four groups. My group went to a house that was in the middle of being rebuilt. We were scraping paint off of window panes and grouting/sealing tile floors. It was okay. We were really tired in the morning, and while we were waiting at this warehouse where the church group we're working with is headquartered we all fell asleep in the street. It was really cute. Whitney's mom is here for a few days so she cooked us dinner last night, and again, it was absolutely delightful. Then we went out again to a different place, a little Mexican place, and that was a lot of fun too. Today we had a build day in the same neighborhood, but I worked on a different house. Today we painted all day and it was awesome. I love painting! We were inside so we didn't have to worry about the sun beating down on us, and painting itself is easy and mindless.

Also, we got lost on the way to the build site and had a wonderful dance party thing going on in the van. Last night, before we went out, we were listening to my ipod and for some reason Marco and Meghan and Claude starting listening to Jewel, so during the van ride we broke out 'You Were Meant For Me' and had a big sing-a-long. Hilarious.

Anyway, New Orleans is really awesome. We're going out again tonight to get Indian food and then tomorrow night we're going to hit up the French Quarter and Bourbon street for some music. I will be purchasing souvenirs, I hope. But I'm on borrowed internet time so I've got to go.

Today we had our build day in Biloxi. First and foremost, the lovely Hands On people served us a terrific breakfast this morning. I cannot emphasize this enough. We had actual eggs and fruit salad, which is lightyears better than our usual fare of bagels and peanut butter.

The build day here worked a bit differently than it has in other places. Elsewhere we generally build, on a construction site. Today we got to pick our task: an art camp, a pottery camp, serving lunch, carpentry, working with the humane society, or teaching english to children. I worked with kids to teach them english and they were so cute. It was also the most tiring experience I have ever endured.

I was working with a little kid named Frankie all day. He's 7 and all he wanted to do was color and put together puzzles. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out clever ways in which to incorporate either the reading or writing of english words. Whenever I tried to get him to read or write he basically ignored me. I did, however, teach him how to whistle, so... that's a job well done I'd say. There was also a little boy named Carlos (Carlito) who was only 4 and who hugged everyone within the first minute of our arrival. He was really cute, but apparently also a trouble maker. Anyway, it was an interesting experience, and I liked it as an alternative to building because of the direct contact with people. And kids are terribly cute.

After that we made a Wal-Mart run and I got postcards and food and I got my pictures developed (onto a picture CD no less). Yay for accomplishing stuff.





Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans! I can't wait to get there, as much to see the city as to be in one location for more than two days.

Here I am in wonderful Biloxi, Mississippi.

For two nights we'll be staying with Hands On, the organization that we are working with while we're here. I have to admit, as much fun as Alabama was for two days, Mississippi has already been much better. This morning on our ride in we stopped at a Waffle House to use the restroom and a few different people started talking to us. They wanted to know the usual stuff: who we are, what we're doing, are we crazy, etc. One family donated twenty dollars to us and another donated ten. Spontaneous donations less than ten miles into the state! Plus, I was the person who received the money, so I was quite pleased with myself.

To backtrack, I'll start with June 21st. That was the night before our first century. For those of you who are not familiar with our fancy cycling terms, a century is a ride of 100 miles (or more). Crazy. We have five chore groups, and I am in the dinner chore group this week. Fortunately, the night before our century we carbo-loaded with donated food from the Olive Garden, and I didn't have to cook anything. Then, Meghan, Caitlin, and I, with the assistance of Andrea (who is one of our more bike-savvy riders) put new handlebar tape on our bikes.

My bike has been dubbed Shirley as she's had 7 flats already and her gears are very cranky, pun intended, and she's basically an 80 year old woman in the form of a brand-new bike.  I got some very colorful tape to brighten her up and add some more flare for Team Tardy.  She's happier now, I like to think.

We woke up extra early on the 22nd for our century because we had to ride 80 miles by 2:30 in order to catch a ferry. At 4 am we all rolled out of bed, before the sun had risen. We pumped ourselves up at the route meeting before we left. We circled up and I may or may not have spontaneously started the group out in a rousing sing-a-long of 'Lean on Me,' complete with clapping. Then, we started out on the road as the sun was rising behind us. Team Tardy really picked it up, and we didn't stop hardly at all. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take as many pictures becuase of this. We did see a few hilarious signs, including a holdover from father's day in front of a church: "Happy Father's Day... 'Father'". 

At lunch we stopped at the beach, which was beautiful. We crossed our first state line into Alabama, and really, it looked just the same as Florida. Team Tardy made it to the ferry by 1:17 pm, which was extremely exciting! We saw the 1:15 ferry that had just pulled away from the dock. Then, we realized that everyone had left except the team leaders and the van. Just Team Tardy's luck. 

The rest of the century didn't turn out that well, because Matthew got dehydrated and had to get picked up by the van. But don't worry, he's fine. He drank about 96 ounces of gatorade in probably less than an hour. Go Bike and Build!

Yesterday we had our build day with the Mobile County Habitat. It was incredibly hot and we laid sod all day long. So by the late afternoon my arms and legs were mottled in shades of the red, orange, and brown clay.  We also had free pizza for lunch, yum.


I don't have much else to say because I am tired and desperately in need of a shower. If you check out the links on the page you can find other rider's blogs as well. And if you go to Matthew's he's got a lovely collection of pictures. Since I've failed on the picture front, go look at his. :)

So I've been here for over a week now and it seems like much longer, but I don't mean that in a negative way at all. There are 27 riders in total and we really do all get along. I'm on the younger end of the spectrum, but we range in age from 18-25 (which is exactly what the website says, good job southern route!). Age doesn't really matter on the trip because we all do everything together: eat, shower, sleep, ride. We're a tight-knit bunch.

Today was the sixth consecutive day of cycling and it is getting tough. My legs are sore, my rear is sore, my hands are sore. Everything is sore. Also, we wake up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning, which is a hard schedule to get used to. Anyway, we started off in Jacksonville on Friday morning, bright and early. After dipping our wheels into the Atlantic Ocean - and then taking about six million pictures - we left. This first week we've averaged between 50 and 60 miles a day, less than we will as the trip goes on. We stayed in Glen St. Mary, Live Oak, Monticello, Quincy, and Marianna, before arriving in De Funiak today.  Every place we've stayed as been really nice, all of the people are extremely hospitable and we can't thank them enough for taking us in and (sometimes) feeding us.

As I haven't had as much time to update this, all of the days have managed to blur together. On the first day I broke my digital camera and was thusly filled with shock and horror. Fortunately I will be borrowing my sisters, and I purchased a few disposables to hold me over until then. Plus, everyone has been extremely vigilant with photography. We have more than 800 pictures between us and we've only been on the road six days. This means that there will be some great photos to be shared. I'll try and post mine as I go, but I'll definitely put up all of them after the trip. Besides the obligatory group shots, we've also gotten pictures of some hilarious signs along the road (for instance, in front of a church it read: "Need a lifeguard? Ours walks on water"), as well as some beautiful landscapes and action shots of people riding. It's been a great time for photos.

Like I said, the days are really long and blurring together, but here's a typical slice of what happens. After we wake up and get dressed in our stylish padded-spandex shorts and our bike and build jerseys, we pack all of our bags into the trailer. The trailer is hitched to a fifteen-person van which is driven by one of the four Team Leaders, they rotate each day.  The van is in charge of buying groceries and setting up lunch, in addition to bringing all of our luggage with us as we go. Oh! and we got to paint the trailer with stuff about our trip and it looks really cool. So, after we pack up, we all check our bikes and set off. Generally we don't all go together in a pack as that can be dangerous on the road, and people tend to travel at different speeds. I pull up the rear with three others: we've dubbed ourselves Team TARDY or Totally Able, Rather Drive, You? Meghan, Matthew, Caitlin and I don't necessarily go slower, we just like to stop and smell the roses more.

Anyway, then it's just bike bike bike, picture, bike, rest stop, bike bike bike, lunch, bike some more, stretch, bike some more, get a flat tire, bike bike bike, arrive! In the afternoon we unload the trailer and then we have the day to ourselves.  Tonight we are camping out for the first time, we'll only be doing that a few times this trip, and the campsite has a pool which we got to swim in. That was terribly refreshing, I don't mind saying. Our route goes from Florida to Alabama and Mississippi before hitting Louisiana and then going off into Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico etc.  It's been pretty hot so far.

Despite the longness of the days and the early wake-ups, I am having a lot of fun. The biking itself is interesting, driving through small towns and meeting some crazy locals, but I really enjoy just hanging out and playing cards and stuff with the group. Everything has been running smoothly so far with the exception of my only low-points, occurring on Sunday and Monday.

Sunday was 63 miles, our longest ride at the time, and I got two flat tires. I was hot, tired, and cranky. And I only had one spare inner tube. Because my tires are abnormally smaller than everyone elses, I couldn't borrow one. Sean, our resident mechanic, suggested I just finish the last few miles on the wrong-sized tube, and it worked. Sigh of relief.

On Monday morning I woke up to discover yet another flat tire. My third. The morning did not have an optimistic start. About fifteen miles into the ride my gears stopped shifting. While I was on a hill. A very, large hill. We had to stop and Josh (my team leader) helped me fix them enough to get me to lunch. Or so we thought. A few miles later we pulled over again and I found another flat tire. This was the point where I realized my tires were both awful and mean. Not long after that I got separated from my group at a red light, but because I didn't have directions I decided to wait for Sweep. Sweep is two riders, rotated every day, who ride at the back of the entire group and make sure that everyone gets in safely.  I didn't know it at the time, but Sweep was fixing a flat tire somewhere behind me that took them almost two hours. i didn't have directions so I didn't want to keep going, but after twenty minutes I called the van to get directions and headed out. I stopped again to wait for sweep and again they didn't show, so after another half an hour or so I kept on. I got more directions. Thirty seconds later, I made a wrong turn. Thirty seconds after that, my rear brake started dragging against my tire. At this point I was lost, my rear brake wasn't working, my gears weren't working, and I had a flat tire that I had to keep pumping.

Eventually I went about ten miles out of my way before making it to lunch at 330p, at least three hours later than usual. I was even hotter, more tired, and more cranky than I had been the day before. The funny thing is, after the whole ordeal, I didn't feel upset or frustrated, I was just happy to eat my peanut-butter (we live off of it) and be back with the group.

Breanna is talking to some woman at the community center I am currently sitting in, using wireless internet, and when she explained what we are doing the woman said "God love you! On Bikes? Really!" People are so funny.

The last several days have been different from anything I've ever done. I am so glad I decided to go on this trip, I think it's going to turn out really well. We had our first build day last week, and we have our next ones on Saturday in Alabama and on Monday in Mississippi. We hit New Orleans in under a week.

If anyone has the chance to go across the country in a way that enables you to meet a lot of people you normally wouldn't, I say go. Go now.

I am writing this on a friend's laptop as a few of us are waiting around for our turn to take showers. And when I say 'take showers,' I mean, 'pile into a fifteen-person van and drive over to the YMCA.'

Yesterday I got up at 5am to catch my flight and didn't go to bed til 11, only to wake up at 715 this morning which is apparently an incredibly late start for us. Yesterday and today were both really long because we had so much stuff to do, like getting maintenance on all of our bikes and going through safety procedures and that kind of stuff. I'm tired, but everything is going well. Everyone is nice and there's a good group of people here.  we've clicked as a group I think. And now that all the butterflies are out of the way I'm wicked excited to leave on Friday.

Miss everyone!

Hey kids.

I'm leaving tomorrow bright and early, which means who knows when next we'll see one another. I.... am very nervous. I would be excited if not for all the nervous-ness currently eating my brain. But it's only two months of my life, so, we'll see how it goes.

I'll have my phone with me if you want to chat in real time. And my itinerary/route (for future reference) is
Now I'm off to die a slow and painful death finish packing.