Oklahoma!

Wichita Falls, TX to Altus, OK 86 miles

I always love waking up knowing that today I enter a new state.  I know that it is not that big of an accomplishment, but still, a new state!  However, each new state brings us a little closer to the pacific and the end.  I can't wait to get there, but I don't want this to end either!  In just a few short weeks my fellow cyclists have become my family.  We've cried together and celebrated together.  We have inside jokes and love to chat as we pass field after field after field.  They share my passions and interests, but teach me something new everyday.  I can't imagine what August is going to be like without them.

We had an exciting morning at the YMCA.  A local news crew came and filmed our morning route meeting and then followed us so they could film us biking out of town.  We even got to smile and wave for the camera. I headed out with Mel for a lovely day of biking. A few people stopped us on the way out to ask if we were part of the "Hotter than Hell" ride.  Apparently Wichita Falls hosts a 100 mile ride every August and it's one of the biggest races in the area.  I'm not sure that I would come all the way back here in August, when its even hotter than it is now! There was some confusion after we got out of town.  There was a road, but it wasn't clearly marked.  We stopped, got told to keep going, went, got called back and then told to continue again.  Long story short, half went one way and half went another.  Mel got a flat about 2 miles after the start of the highway so I stopped with her to change her tube.  Corey, Brettly and Richard joined us soon after.  They were the stand-in sweeps for the people that had taken this detour because the real sweeps (Alyssa and Grant)  had gone the other way.  We pressed on to 1st lunch at a gas station under construction.  It was the second building we had seen since getting on the highway!  There was a rest stop about halfway to 1st lunch, but Mel and I didn't stop.  The gas station had only one bathroom and no ice!  Not good for how hot it had gotten since we pulled up.  The temperature was quickly becoming even more unbearable.  I waited for Mel to recover from the heat and then we pulled out of lunch in the last group with the sweeps.  We went about 5 miles and found Tiffany, Summer and Brettly under a very tiny tree.  It was kind of like the weeping cherry in our front lawn, only half as tall and with half as many leaves.  There was a hose, so Grant and I sprayed people down and filled up water bottles.  Mel was having a tough day, but she decided to continue on and make it to 2nd lunch.  We made it about 2 more miles where we found an overpass to take shelter in.  As we hid out in the shade we sang songs, recited poetry, and told funny stories, anything to motivate ourselves.  We went until we saw a house, where Mel decided to save her energy for the next day and ride the last 50 miles in the van.  When Will came to pick her up he was amazing and wonderful and brought us ice cream and icy Powerades from a gas station near second lunch. I had a sour melon flavored one, it was very interesting.  If I hadn't been sooooo thirsty I'm not sure I would have liked it, but at that point I probably would have drank scummy pond water if it was cold.  With a renewed burst of energy we were on our way.  Everyone had been texting each other all day with encouraging news of a tailwind once we made the right turn off the highway.  However, winds tend to shift in the afternoon!  After hitting the turn, instead of a beautiful tailwind, we were greeted with another headwind.  How is that even possible?  The turn signified our half way point, but shortly after Alyssa got a flat tire.  We pulled next to a cattle gate, in the only shade for miles.

After that was fixed we headed out for 2nd lunch.  The first group had found us a nice little pullout on the side of the road.  It didn't have water or bathrooms, but it had shade!  At this point we had been on the road for a very, very long time and needed to be to the host by 6:30 for dinner.  I ate some honey wheat pretzels (all I could manage in the heat) and jumped back on my bike.  Below is a picture of Alyssa and her poking stick.  She picked it up underneath the tree after first lunch and rode with it in her helmet for the rest of the day.  She threatened to "motivate" people with it if they got tired :)

As we crossed the dried up bed of the Red River we were suddenly in Oklahoma.  I think that their state sign is one of the best we've had yet :)  And the song is true, the wind does really come whipping down the plains!  

The last 20 or so miles were increasingly difficult as I fought the wind and my exhaustion.  At least by this point the heat had begun to abate a little bit.  It was still well over 100 degrees, but the sun wasn't shining directly overhead and an occasional tree lent momentary shade.  The best thing about the West is the lack of humidity.  As we made our way through Texas it became drier and drier.  If you are under a tree in the West it actually makes a difference!  The landscape was flat in the extreme, with the exception of two tiny rock formations fading into the horizon, hinting at what is to come.  

Despite the flatness, Oklahoma didn't want to make it too easy, so it threw in some invisible rolling hills!  The landscape never seemed to change and I could see for miles, but I was alternately ascending and descending small hills.  Finally we made it to Altus, known for its traditional mainstreet. As we were coming in, several others were just coming back from a water park.  I was kind of sad that I wasn't able to go, but I was exhausted and happy to have finally arrived at the host.  BWalsh and Chris had found some donations for us at a local pizza place, so we enjoyed some well deserved dinner.  It was the Red Jaguars turn for laundry, so we gathered all the smelly, nasty clothes in the tarp, squashed it in the van and headed out to wash the clothes.  I walked with Mel, Josh A and Kelsey to a gas station for an icee, then fell asleep in a chair at the laundry mat.  I woke up just in time to move everything to the dryers and went back to sleep only to wake up to help load everything back in the van.  My clothes didn't dry, so I laid them out on the floor of the gym to dry overnight, then went to sleep.  I was really excited because tomorrow night I would see my Mom, Kristen and Kristen's mom!

YMCA!!!

Decatur to Wichita Falls 80.3 miles

Today we finally got back on our bikes after a 3 day absence.  I missed my bike when I didn't ride it.  We got up early ( compared to the last few days) at 5:30 and gathered our stuff. I packed up my cot (rather awkwardly) and put my bin out by the trailer.  Thanks again to the church for providing me with a nice break from my thermarest.  I was in a very forgetful mood this morning and didn't talk my socks out of my bin, so I had to rummage through my perfectly stuffed bin to find them at the very bottom.  I also forgot to grab a thank you card and a shirt for our wonderful host!   Luckily, the stuff was near the side door of the trailer, so I was able to grab one with our causing problems for trailer crew.  It was also an interesting morning to be on overnight crew, since our main job is host clean up and this host refused to show us where the cleaning supplies were.  They didn't want us to clean anything, so I was pretty much our of a job.  We wiped down counters and tables and picked up trash, but were pretty limited by the lack of vacuums, mops and sponges.  It was a strange feeling, leaving the host with out a big clean up.  We hit the road around 7:20 after another rousing speech by Coleman.  I took off with Alyssa, Eddie and Kelsey and stayed with them for most of the day.  We began with a 3 mile reroute, since the road we were supposed to be on didn't exist.  We saw some pretty farms and stuff.  Texas is becoming more like how I originally pictured, with wide open spaces, giant cattle ranches, oil wells, and a rockier texture to the land.  Along the way, my bike computer decided to go metric, then die a very dramatic death.  It died, revived itself for a mile or two and faded slowly out again, only to return for a few final breaths.  Oh bike computer!  What would I do with out your entertaining antics!  It does make me a little sad though because I ALWAYS check my computer every 1/10th of a mile or so.  Its my motivation.  I know exactly when we are half-way, 2/3rds of the way, 10 miles out, ect. We stopped with everyone at a gas station for a few minutes, then continued on to 1st lunch.  Our little group, which we have named Pinky and the Brain, made it there first, which was kind of nice.

1st lunch was in a Walmart parking lot,  so those who needed to get more supplies like toothbrushes and electrical tape were able to resupply.  We feasted on leftovers from Sally including some delicious quiches and a bag of king sized candy bars.  Once again, best host ever!   We set off again along a minor highway, but it wasn't too busy.  The wind was really crazy, as we have come to expect from Texas.  2nd lunch was at an abandoned gas station in a small town.  We were lucky enough to be able to use the restrooms at a neighboring church.  It was air conditioned inside :)  It's always a challenge to leave A/C behind, but the longer that I stay inside, the worse it is to go out into the heat.  Texas feels like a giant oven.  Not a sauna, 'cause that's not hot enough!  An oven!  We made a small detour to the local post office so Eddie and Alyssa could send off some things that wouldn't fit in their bags, then hit the road again.

Facing some really strong headwinds, we decided to pace line the last 20 miles into Wichita Falls.  Pace lining is basically following closely behind the person in front of you so that they block the wind.  We switched up leaders every two miles and it worked really great except Eddie and I didn't have odometers, so Alyssa and Kelsey were responsible for watching our mileage.  They did a great job :)  Closing in on WF, things started to get a little depressing.  Everything was shuttered up, closed down or boarded shut.  Restaurants, motels, and small businesses were all abandoned and falling apart.  I got a little distracted by all the sadness and didn't realize that Alyssa had fallen a block behind us.  Eddie yelled up for me to slow down, and slow down I did!  I looked back to see who was talking, crashing into a curb.  Ouch!  I walked away with just a few scrapes and another crazy crash story.  Finally, we made it to our host, the Wichita Falls YMCA.  We stayed at the downtown branch, one of the oldest YMCA's in the country.  I think we surprised their customers a little bit when we started our bin and bag fireline through the middle of the workout room! It was the closest door to the van and we are inherently lazy people after an 80 mile ride.  We ferried the stuff up the elevator to the fitness room.  After exploring the Y (its really old and has lots of secret stairways and hidden rooms!), taking a swim and relaxing, we started working on the most important thing.  Dinner!  The Y was providing enough food for 34 normal people, not 34 crazy B&B'ers.  Rider's went around to the local businesses asking for donations (made more difficult than normal because of the lack of operational businesses in the area).  I went with Sonia to drop off a 501c3 form at local restaurant that donated a tub of beans and chili.  As we ate our wonderful dinner we had our weekly route meeting.  Many people went off to watch a movie, but I ended up talking on the phone to family and friends.  I snuggled up in my sleeping bag in a corner of the hallway under some beautiful stained glass windows and went to sleep.

THUNDER!

Dallas to Decatur 90.1 miles/0 miles

Cr-Crash! Boom!

I woke up around 5 am to the magnificent sight of lighting flashing all around us.  The school where we were staying had a giant wall of windows facing north, providing us with the imposing view of the storm rolling in.  We got a text message from our leaders telling us to go back to sleep until the storm had ended.  By the time we had awoken at 7am the storm had stopped thundering, but the sky was still pretty grey.  We headed over to Sally's for a final breakfast, only to hear the TV report that the storm had done massive damage to the town we were headed for.  Every 5 minutes they would show a picture of a motel with the entire roof ripped off by the winds.  They leaders conferenced and decided that in light of the possibly dangerous road conditions we would be riding in the van to Decautur today.  There was general disappointment that we would now never bike 100% of America, but everyone recognized that the leaders were doing their best to make sure that we got to California safely.  Sally stepped up again, offering to let us borrow 2 of her vehicles and trailers so that we would be able to make it in only two trips instead of three.  We went back to the school to load up, where we discovered that we had forgotten to unpack the coolers...ewww!  3 day old milk, 3 day old cheese, 3 day old meat, and rotting fruit do not make for a pleasant morning! After getting the coolers sorted and cleaned we packed up Contessa (the trailer) as normal, then worked to situtuate 34 bike safely in Sally's trailers.  With the exception of a few people who were coming on the second trip, we loaded up and headed out.  I don't remember much of the journey, because, like everyone else in my van, I used it to catch up on  some much needed sleep.  We did have some fun playing a game with our iPods.  We would randomly distribute them, each person who got one picked one song, then handed it back to the front.  It was a lot of fun and we listened to a very strange mix on the way there.  We stopped for lunch at a taco place, mmhhh delicious!  Finally arriving in Decatur, we were glad to see that things weren't as bad as they seemed on the news.  There were some downed limbs, but it was not the disaster scene that we were led to believe.  The church was super nice and allowed us to take over part of the gym, although they still had nursery school classes going on (they weren't expecting us to make the 90 mile journey so quick! But that's what happens when you have motor power instead of just muscle power!)  We unloaded the trailers as fast as possible, then sent the vehicles back to Dallas to drop off Sally's cars and pick up our stragglers.  In the meantime, most of us went to the movies :)  A local theater had donated 10 tickets, so we split them amoung us and each paid half-price to go see X-men.  It was better than I thought it would be.  After the movie we went back to the host for a wonderful dinner.  I decided to bike a mile or so to Walmart to stock up on supplies, then headed back to the church.  I sat outside and talked to friends and family from home while watching another storm roll in.

Once I was back in the church I snuggled up on my cot(!)  and watched a movie on the church's projection screen before falling asleep.

Trail Ridge Road

Forgive me for going out of order.  I had a plan, each blog was one day, in order.  Things got a little messed up when I got busy in Texas, but I've mostly stuck with the plan.  The rest of the days are still coming,  don't worry (I may be 50 when I finish, but I made a promise to myself and I intend to keep it).  However, something so great, so amazing, so magnificent happened yesterday that I absolutely must talk about it now! This may even tie the rides into and out of Santa Fe (see upcoming blogs :) ).  Yesterday (and today) were days that I only dreamed about.  22 miles up curvy mountains, only inches from the edges of cliffs leading to 22 miles of the same curvy mountains, but 10 times faster.  How can it get any better? (besides adding 33 of my closest friends)  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (to quote Sound of Music, an appropriate musical to talk about when one is "Climb(ing) Every Mountain" ).

July 3, 2010- Central US route climbs Trail Ridge Road (TRR) on their way to Granby, CO.  I get a picture soon there after (ok, so I thought this was Trail Ridge, until I took the two seconds to look at the caption "Top of Grand Teton Pass" ...but in my head this is what I pictured TRR looking like for the last 13 months so just go with it)

Beautiful!  Anyways about a month or so later Kristen and I are back at our apartment having one of a thousand conversations about B&B.   The obvious question comes up:  What was your favorite day?  After giving the usual "every day was great!"  response, I get the real answer: Tie between July 3 and July 31.  Granby, CO and Cannon Beach, OR.  Now Cannon Beach is pretty obvious, but why Colorado? And why no-where's-ville, CO (I live here now...I can say that).  Granby has two things going for it...TRR and Prom.  Now, I don't remember the exact words, but I imagine our conversation when something like this:

Me: "What's Trail Ridge Road?"  K: "KELLY! AHHHHH!  Its...Its amazing!  Ahh!  SO pretty and ahhh!  It was the best ride ever!"

Like I said, probably went something like that.

Anyways, TRR is the highest continuously paved road in America topping out at around 12,100 ft above sea level, just under 2.5 miles above sea level.  Ehh...whatever... I'm of the "most results for least effort" school of thought, so mountains...not really my style (this will change in 10 months! If only I knew what the future held haha).  And extreme mountain climbing...on bikes...not so much... I ohh'ed and ahh'ed over all the photos, chatted some more and thought that would be the end.  Not so much!  Spending lots of time around Kristen in her last semester at CMU, I got used to all the questions that people would normally ask her "How far did you go every day?  Where did you sleep?  You really rode a BIKE across the country?"  and "What was your favorite day?"  I knew the answers by heart:  average 75 m/day, churches schools community centers, yes a BIKE, and Granby/Cannon Beach.  Hearing how awesome a place is on an almost daily basis gives it a bit of a mythical quality.  It became the symbol of all that was good in Colorado...and there was a lot of good in Colorado.  Then October rolled around and I finally stopped thinking of all the reasons why not to ride.  I let myself see the WHY.  I could do it... I think...maybe?  I applied, I got accepted and Bam! I was a B&B'er.  Wow!  I thought I had heard everything about B&B, but when I became part of the legend that is B&B, Kristen dialed up the info (in her defense it was mostly because I relentlessly questioned everything).  Which meant I heard more about Granby and more about TRR (the legend grows).

May, June, July, August 2011-I bike across the country.  Along the way we encounter mountains (which I still call hills, just because they didn't seem that big when we went up them)  We make it up to 8800-ish ft, but not the magical 12,000 of TRR.  To make a long story short, mountains aren't so bad.  I may struggle up them at around 2 miles an hour, but I get to coast down.  At a much greater speed than 2mph :)  Totally worth it (with the exception of Delano, CA-see upcoming blog).  Lots of fun, good times.

Still August 2011-I need a job.  Snow Mountain Ranch needs lifeguards. Score!  And you get one guess where SMR is...and its not Cannon Beach :)  While not in the proper "city" of Granby, we're pretty near close, only 4 miles away and all our mail goes through the Granby PO.  So I consider that Granby.

Which brings us to Thursday, 2 days ago.  I had said I would bike TRR...now I just needed to do it.  Which is harder than I had planned.  Mentally preparing yourself for biking the "highest paved road in america"  takes a surprising amount of craziness.  Especially after hearing two co-workers (one a CO native) say, "You want to bike WHERE?"  Hearing them describe the snowfall, how icy it was on the passes, how steep the cliff drops were really didn't help the resolve!  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've heard me describe the last incident involving snow, ice and a bicycle.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out one of my first posts... Its kind of funny.  Anyway's I had told some people at work about my "dream" to bike TRR before it  closes in Oct from too much snow.  Sarah thought I was crazy, but she had just driven though the park and paid the $20 entrance fee, good for a week of park entry.  She offered it to me. There's one reason to go.  #2 was the weather.  At the summit, it can be cold. And by "can be" I mean "is". And by "cold" I mean "so cold that there is a permanent snow pack next to the visitor's center (It provides their water as it melts)."  Thunderstorms can appear almost instantly. So when I heard it was supposed to be 76* F at the bottom and  sunny all day, I knew this was my day.  And I had the whole day off.  I could figure it out, right?  Since it's just me (no Vanessa, no wonderful leaders to drive Vanessa)  I had to do some logistical planning.  I bought some good ol' PB & J, found some water bottles (I don't have my camelbak anymore) and figured out a route.  Acting on Kristen's recommendation of "The first half was prettier"  I decided to drive to Estes Park, bike the 22 miles to the Alpine Visitor's Center, just past the summit, then return down the same side to my car. I parked the car at the ranger's station, put on lots of layers and I was on my way.

At the beginning of the day I had a lot of doubts.  A mountain, sure, I could climb that. But the highest paved road in America?  Mmmm... I mean, just look at the comparison Me: walked 7 miles up hill with 400 elevation gain (see future blog post) TRR:  22 mile climb, 4000 elevation gain.  And that was when I was biking every single day.  I biked a lot in Michigan (I'm not sure it counts...Michigan is flat) but I haven't had a ton of chances to bike in CO (where there are actual mountains).  Can you see how my brain was working against me?  I was fighting to make sure I had enough daylight (I got a late start at 10am and didn't want to still be biking at twilight at 6pm)  and to make sure I had enough water (I'm used to a 100 oz Camelbak and a trailer with 5 giant containers of said liquid).  I figured I would bike till 12:30pm or until I only had one of the three waterbottles left.  Whichever came first.  The visitor's center was where I told everyone I was headed, but really, I wasn't going to make it.  It was going to come down to time or water.  Or so I thought...

TRR starts off in the East with a wonderful little meadow area around Beaver Creek.  As I settled into my rhythm, my confidence rose (not 100%, but at least 75%).  Hey, this wasn't too bad...hmm...who knew?  I had seen a chart that said TRR averages a 6% grade.  If it stayed this way, maybe I could get to one of the pretty overlooks?  Well, lets not push it, we'll just go one step at a time.  Pedaling, pedaling, pedaling.  Normally, I don't like riding by myself (See Athens, TX) but this wasn't too bad.  I didn't quite have the breath to sing out loud (we are at 8000 ft after all) but with just myself that was ok.  I sang "Livin' on a Prayer" "America the Beautiful" and "Wagon Wheel" (both regular and SUS '11 versions).  After running through every Mumford and Sons song I moved on to Avett Bros.  I had plenty of time for reflection and thinking.  It was great!  After a ways, the meadow gave way to forest.  First brilliant aspens in every fiery red, yellow or orange hue, then conifers towering over the roadway, dark green and foresty ( I know, not a word, but hey, this is my blog :) ). I stopped at most overlooks, knowing that there was no way that I was going to stop my momentum on the way down :)  Many Parks Point was a big highlight.  The first of the major overlooks (it has a parking lot, not just a pullout), it is also the point where the road closes in the winter.  I took some pictures and headed up.  Things really weren't so bad.  Sure, I'm in my lowest gear, but I'm pedaling without a problem.  No standing up, no straining my knees.  I'm not even as tired as I should be from only 4 hours of sleep (I know, bad me!)  and little biking practice over the last month.  hmmm...I guess I'm doing ok.  Maybe I can make it till 1pm.  Then I'll turn around so I make it back before dark.  Ok.  Thats the new plan.  Onward and upward.  At Rainbow point I met a lovely man who took my picture.  He really wanted to make sure that I got the road in the photo so that people would know I biked up it.  I think that wearing spandex, a helmet and holding onto a bike while looking like a smelly mess probably would have given everyone the hint, I appreciated the thought :)

Through the forest, past the sign for 2 miles above sea level.  Finally I broke through the tree line and onto the top.  I cannot recommend the view enough.  Beautiful.  I'm not going to try and describe it, I'll let the pictures do that.  While passing the first snow cliffs, I stopped to put my arm warmers on.  A man who was also stopped at the pull-out got out of his car and saluted me as I slowly rode past.  It was kind of a strange feeling.  At Forest Canyon Overlook I had a lovely chat with a woman and her husband.  It kind of reminded me of the B&B shpeil that we always gave, but not nearly as cool.  "Where are you coming from?" "The bottom." "Where are you going?" "The top..." I even tried to suppliment it with, "...but this is lovely just like my ride from Jacksonville, FL to Monterey, CA this summer to raise money for affordable housing organizations like Habitat for Humanity."  Her response was to call her husband over "She's biking up this road..."  like that was the most interesting thing I just said.  Not 4000 miles, but 22. Oh well, I tried.  As I was leaving the parking lot another lady stopped me to ask about my leg warmers.  She wanted to know if they were warm.  Which they were. Pulling out of the parking lot, I immediately had to stop.  An elk was crossing the road.  Which would have been super cool if I was in a car.  I would have been taking lots of picture and just looking at it.  Which is what everyone in the car AHEAD of me was doing...as the elk slowly ambled toward the unprotected cyclist behind them.  At this point I was evaluating my options: A: stay put, be attacked by giant antlers or B: point my bike down the hill and lose all the work from the last hour.  Luckily some lichen distracted the elk, making it less cute, so the people in front of me left and I could leave the scene as quickly as my legs could carry me (about 3-4 mph if you were wondering).

More biking, pedaling, moving, heading up hill... not going too bad...maybe we'll make it to 2pm.  I still have 1.75 water bottles left, not bad.  All the sudden I see a giant rock outcropping.  It's Rock Cut!

On my drive to Estes I had mentally marked off landmarks so that I would know where I was, even without a mileage counter. Rock Cut was only 4 miles from the Visitor's Center!  What?  When did I get here? Well, I can't come this far and not make it. Seriously!  I absolutely have to make it now. After Rock Cut the road turned downhill, then back up, then down again.  There! There it is!  The visitor's center!  Ahhh! I made it!  Really, really made it!

 

The day couldn't have been more perfect (except for the 33 missing people) and I hadn't even gone downhill yet.  The weather was a balmy 57*F at the top, unseasonably warm.  All of the snow acquired over the last weeks had melted from the roadways, leaving no icy spots to fall on.  Cars had been courteous and people friendly.  Even my brain was having a great time.  In every ride, I reach a point of combined boredom and frustration where I just want to give up.  I get in a mental funk, usually lasting just a few minutes, but still. Yesterday there was nothing.  Everything was perfect.  I truly wanted to be on my bike the whole time. I was one with the bike.  Slowly, slowly we had conquered the highest paved road in America together.

I watched some Elk play at the bottom of the valley, then went in the shop for a candy bar.  No Snickers, but a Hersey bar was an acceptable substitute.  After a look in the exhibit hall it was time to go down the hill.  The best part :)  It had taken me 5 hours to get up, but it only took 45 minutes to get down, with a climb back up the two hills to get to Rock Cut.  I sped down the hills, relishing every curve, every smooth bit of pavement that flew under my wheels.  I had missed mountains, but this was something else entirely.  The road kept going onwards and onwards and onwards, never ending.  It was like Zion, but higher, faster, and just as pretty.  I zoomed past the curves (a benefit of not having a speedometer: you don't have to be scared when you take a 15mph curve much faster, because you don't know how fast you are truly going).  I made it to the bottom safe and sound.  After loading up my bike and changing into civilian clothes I headed over to Estes Park to explore the town.

Was it worth it? Yes!  I know that I just wrote a novel to try and describe this experience, but it is still not enough words to describe what happened and how I felt.  I overcame every doubt about myself and pushed on, even in the tougher spots.  Physically, this wasn't as challenging as I thought it was going to be, but it was mentally draining.  At one point in the road, you turn into a valley.  It's a gorgeous valley, but the notable thing about it is that you can see the road ahead.  It follows the mountain, making several switchbacks before curving to follow the next mountain.  Eventually it ends up there...well, where is there?  Its across a giant valley and about 2500 higher than I was then.  Which is huge.  I was able to see the next 8-ish miles of my journey from this spot.  For me, being able to see that far ahead is a disadvantage (as is already having driven the route).  I like to hope for a flat section...if I can see everything, there is not hope :)  But I did it.  Really, really did it.  I'm not sure how, but it was amazing.  If you happen to be in Estes or Granby during the summer months, go to Trail Ridge Road.  Totally worth it... Pictures will be coming soon!

Things I left out due to time contraints/this already being a novel (ask me later)
Bear at the entry visitor's center
Cliff drop offs on the side of the road
English Mountain biker
Estes Park
Watching both the sunrise and sunset over the mountains
Lots of mule deer on the drive home
Riding to the continental divide on Sat

Baseball!

Today started much like yestereday with a walk over to Sally's.  Awaiting us was a breakfast of quiche! Yum! It was such a treat after the cereal that I've become accustomed to on the road.  Once again we carpooled to the build site in Sally's vehicles and the van.  Some people were leaving just before lunch to put on a bike clinic for a local camp, so they took their bikes in the back of one of the trucks.  After putting up all of the garage walls yesterday, today we focused on weatherproofing them and putting a roof on.  However, first we had to fill in all the area's that needed more nails.  I've gotten pretty handy with a hammer and nail.  That's one skill that I can bring back to real life with me!  After we finished that, Richard and I worked on putting up weatherproofing on all the sides of the garage.  While we were working on the garage the guys decided that they wanted to learn to balance things on their chins, like our build supervisor in NOLA did.  Watching them try and wrangle broomsticks, chairs and even 6 ft ladders on their chins was hilarious.  Suffice to say, they didn't have a lot of success, but it was fun to watch them try.  We paused for a lunch of delicious subs, chips and water, then jumped right back in to work.  After lunch we worked to get the trusses up on the roof.  Once they were up, we were able to put the OSB boards on top.  It looks like a pretty legit garage now :) It needs some siding and some roofing, but it could keep a car pretty dry.  After we finished working we took a picture with everyone from Garland HFH and went home for a quick dinner.

We ate fast, then jumped in Sally's cars to go to a Rangers/Astros major league baseball game!  I was lucky enough to be in a car with Sally, Grant and Alyssa.  It was nice to have a chance to get to know Sally better on the drive over to the game.  We got a chance to use all of the glow sticks that people had sent me in mail drops which was a lot of fun.  When we got to the stadium we all got free bobble-heads for bobble-head night! Score!  I had a great time watching my first MLB game.  The amount of flags at the stadium was very impressive.  They must have had at least 30 Texas flags there (and one American).  Texas pride runs very strong.  I don't think I saw a single Louisiana flag when we rode through (and we went throught the capital city) but I've seen thousands here in Texas.  I've seen Texas swim trunks, Texas bike jersey's (which Coleman wore to the game) and Texas bumperstickers.  Instead of a singing "Take me out to the Ball game" we sang "Deep in the heart of Texas" for the seventh inning stretch.  Alyssa and I got ice cones from a vendor and they had a flavor machine so you could choose what flavors and how much of them you had.  We had a lot of fun with that.  From the balcony that the vendors were on you could see the Cowboy's stadium and Six Flags over Texas.  Also a small rainstorm that was headed our way.  It didn't rain too bad, just a drizzle.  As the game wound down, some of the group wanted to leave early so that they could go to sleep.  They only left about 2 batters from the end, so it didn't really help.  There was also a lot of confusion with people switching vehicles and making sure that no one got left behind.  It was really nice to be in the truck with only 3 other people, because we were able to leave right after the game without waiting to find people (Dallas won 8-3).  Even with a stop for gas we made it back before some of the cars that had left the game "early."  I went back to the school and drifted right off to sleep to prepare for a long week of biking ahead.

Garage from scratch

Dallas build day #1 

Wake up at 6:30, scramble to get ready, them walk to Sally's for breakfast. We had a wonderful mountain of food awaiting us. Sally and friends had made us heaps of pancakes, mounds of eggs,and  pans of sausage. We also had the options of fresh fruit, 8 boxes of cereal, grapefruit bowls, yogurt and many other things. Once again, I have to express my extreme appreciation for everything that they have done for us in our stay at Dallas. We shuttled over to the build site in Vanessa and some of the Muhl's vehicles. Even with all of the leaders driving we had too many cars and not enough drivers, so some of the riders got to drive for the first time in a month. They were excited to be behind the wheel again. Making it to the build site, we did the usual unload and sign waivers bit, then we heard a little bit about the house. Befitting of today being fathers day, this house is for a single father with 3 daughters. He, his kids, and his parents, who live with him, are receiving this house which will be build 90% by young adult labor. Garland habitat for Humanity has partnered with a local high school building trades class for most of the labor, but we came in for some weekend work.  They had build the frame off site, then moved the house to it's current location on Thursday before we came. Next to the house was a cement slab, destined to become the garage. That was my task for the day. Others painted rooms or caulked door frames outside, but I spent my day with the guys framing the garage. We started throwing some walls together right away and had the side walls up quickly. I've gotten pretty good with a hammer and nail on this trip! I have definitely improved from my first attempts at Habitat hammering! We had a few difficulties with the last walls because we were running low on studs but we managed to make it work. We took lunch around noon from a local deli. It was delicious, as always! We also got some cool swag from Garland HfH: gloves! I have my own pair of Habitat for Humanity gloves for keeps! We went back to work for about an hour then broke for the day. It was really strange being done by 1:30, but the heat is so intense (105*) that it's not a good idea to be working outside at 3 pm and it is fathers day, so our supervisors needed to get home. Even withthe early end time we managed to get a lot accomplished. We completely framed the garage and put up the osb boards (plywood). Hopefully tomorrow the trusses will be hung and they will be able to put a roof on by the end of he week. 

We returned to Sally's for a quick dip in the pool before heading off for a special treat. Galen called around and got us a great discount on rock climbing from Dallas Rocks! Christine C, Kristina, Mark,Will, Galen, Eddie, Mel and I were able to use their facilities to climb and boulder for a little while. I had a great time on the walls and learned some new things from Galen and Patrick, the manager. He was pretty awesome and hooked us up with some sweet swag, stickers, cliff bars and healing cream! 

We made it back to Sally's in time for the pool party/BBQ with the Habitat board and future homeowner. Once again there was an over abundance of food, including hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, and sausages. We were also given (super soft) T-shirts and hats from Garland habitat. Now I just need some Habitat shorts and I will have a complete outfit! I think that my favorite thing about this trip is the generosity of the people we meet. We would have been content to sit in he middle school entertaining ourselves all afternoon, but instead Sally and Peter took care of us for three straight days which they were under no obligation to do. For every driver that cuts me off or honks at me on the road, for every bit of litter and trash along the road way, for every dead animal that I pass, there are people like the Muhl's or the man who filled up Mel's water bottle outside of DeFuniak Springs, or the couple in the butcher store who gave us lunch halfway to Apalachicola. It's one of the things I heard about from Kristen before the trip, but somehow didn't believe was true until I experienced it for myself. The kindness of strangers is a powerful tool. 

We finished the night with a late night chat outside under the awning, then walked back towards the school. Josh A showed me where the secret shower (Coaches locker room) was and I took a nice long shower. It was so nice to be able to take as long as I wanted (most people had showered while I was at the rock wall). I snuck over to my sleeping bag and was out like a light. 

Best host ever!

Athens to Dallas 77.7 miles

The day began with a wonderful wake up in Toni's house. She made us a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon and fruit. Yum! I really enjoyed the food and even topped it off with a little bit of he cake that her daughter had left for us, just so Toni could truthfully say that we had eaten it and that we had loved it. It was very delicious. The message that she had written to us on the tinfoil covering really made me smile. We got all ready then loaded into the car and drove back to the church for route meeting. 

After a tough previous day, we were all looking forward to two days of building in Dallas. After 90 miles (101 in my case) the day before, 77 seemed like nothing! As we started there was a slight windy breeze. As the day went on it kept getting stronger and stronger. First lunch happened just after we got off of a rather busy and hilly highway. It was in a nice shaded spot across from some beautiful pastures. I really enjoyed looking at all of the horses while I had my snack. Setting off from lunch we encountered a bit of a grasshopper plague. The massive drought in the area had led to massive grasshopper population. In this area of the country, they haven't had rain since last winter, leading to many problems for the farmers, including the grasshoppers. They would jump up at you as you rode past. Some even tried to cling to the bikes for a little while. We made it past the worst of them and onto Frontage road. Pretty much every service road that runs parallel to the highway is named "Frontage road" which makes it really easy to find! These roads have less traffic than the highways so we can usually ride side-by-side which is wonderful, but they are never paved as well as the highways. As you bump and shudder on the chipseal road it is still possible to see the smooth concrete of the highway only feet from where you are now. Making our journey harder was the gusting winds that blew us sideways. Few trees exist to buffer the area next to the highway, and those that are there don't do much. I felt like someone had tied a rope to my right side and was playing tug-of-war with me. I never fell over so I guess I won, but only by the slimmest of margins.

40 miles in I was feeling completely drained. We were still chugging along with the wind on our sides when suddenly I saw it...the road turned...into the wind. The flatness of Texas let's you see everything that is coming at you, including the bad bits. Our little posse made the turn, almost immediately suffering the consequences of the wind. Jillian, Prachi, Lama, Christine C and I were forced to take a break only a few hundred yards into the road so that we could continue to fight onward. We struggled and struggled pushing slowly forward. Coming up on a big hill I was really struggling, so Christine and I stopped to rest while the others pushed on. I was so mad with the weather I took a video of he wind bowling over all the grasses so I could prove that it was really happening and I wasn't just being a wimp! We got to the hill and started our slow accent. This road had no shoulder and lots of unsafe blind spots, so we decided to take the road. We went double file so cars could pass without at least slowing down. One car was very much not happy with this. They started tailgating right behind us, honking their horn and making rude gestures. When it was safe for them to pass, they honked again and came within inches of Christine. Angry face! I have previously stated my dislike for honkers, and that dislike goes double for that car. Luckily the stop for 2nd lunch was just at the top, so we had some food and took a little break. Biking into Dallas was a lot less eventful than I thought. The roads were still pretty rural 10 miles out. Even the wind didn't seem quite as bad (although still not pleasant) going into the city. Arriving in Sunnyvale (the part of Dallas we were destined for) we walked up Sally's gravel driveway to one of he best post-ride greetings I have heard, "do you want a chocolate milkshake or vanilla?" Sally and her husband Peter are legendary Bike & Build hosts. Stepping into her kitchen I was greeted by her adorable dogs and a huge array of food. She had sweets, fruits, pasta salad, milkshakes, deli meats and sandwich materials laid out and ready for us. After I grabbed a few bites I was ushered into the backyard where everyone was swimming and hanging out around the pool. I sat down to relax and swim for a little bit. This set-up alone would have been enough to make my evening one of the best of the trip, but I didn't know what else lay in store. After we had cooled off and most people had arrived we traveled two blocks to the  school where Sally had arranged for us to stay. We unloaded the trailer then ran back to Sally's without even showering. We were going to the rodeo! Sally helped to shuttle us all there in her cars. We had dinner included in our tickets so we all got to go to the Eight Second Club for all-you-can-eat BBQ and brisket. We finished eating a few minutes before it started, so we rushed over to our front row seats to watch. They had so many things to watch. There was barrel racing, bronco riding, cattle roping and more. The night ended with the main event, Bull Riding. Sally and Peter transported us back to the school for a night of rest before our big build day in the morning.

Sorry!

I know that it has been a long time BUT I have a computer now!!! And you know what a computer means: full sized keyboard! No more trying to type novels on a the tiny touchscreen of my iPod. Which means that starting this week I shall make a grand return to blogging :)  I promise that eventually everyday will be blogged so keep checking back for update.

Hard day

Carthage to Athens 89.8 miles/101.46 miles

"There are no bad days on Bike & Build, some are just harder than others." ~B&B saying

If you had asked me at noon how the day was going, I would have told you it was my worst day ever. Eight hours later it had become one of my favorites. We started out the day at the MacPherson's with a wonderful breakfast and a great surprise. Today was scavenger hunt day!!! I have been looking forward to this almost as long as I have been looking forward to B&B. We were given a lost of 34 different prompts and we needed to take a picture for each of them. Some of the ideas were "best Chuck Norris look-alike" "best upside down" "gas station mayhem" "picture with stranger-bonus if hugging stranger-double bonus if kissing stranger" "best animal photo-bonus if armadillo-double bonus if alive armadillo" "best donation magic" ect. All creative and all lots of fun. We were split into teams. My team included Kelsey, Kenan, Grant, Lynsey, and Josh A. We started off well with a Chuck Norris picture, stopped at a gas station where we had a stick-up with water guns and Grant got a kiss from the cashier, then on to a farm to get tractor pictures. As we approached the back door to ask permission a very angry man came out an asked us what we were doing on his property. It being Texas, we were a little concerned, but Lynsey told him we were doing a photo scavenger hunt and asked of we could take a picture on his tractor. Expecting a "no" we all half turned around, but the man's demeanor changed immediately. "Of course!" He asked us more about what we were doing and where we were from, then told us to go ahead and take the photos. We posed on the tractors, tried to cajole the donkeys into coming close enough to pet (kinda worked), then spent some time with the horses. As we were walking away, the man came out again and said "wheres that girl from Michigan I was talking to?" everyone pointed at me and the man said "you need to have some Texas" then handed me the most ginormous garlic plant I have ever seen. It was bigger than a softball and still had the stalk attached. I thanked him and then rode the remaining ten mile to lunch holding garlic in my hands. We stopped at a dollar store to get more photos and ended up getting our picture taken for the paper and I got interviewed about Bike&Build :) another high was getting tojump around on a trampoline while we took our upside down shots. At lunch we made the decision to pause the hunt until 2nd lunch because we still had 60 miles and it was already 12pm.

That's when things got hard. My team was separated since we didn't need to be together for photos anymore, but all of the people who ride my speed were either way ahead or way behind me. I ended up alone for most of the thirty miles to 2nd lunch with rising temperatures and some of the worst winds that we have seen yet. I kept pushing, hoping I would find someone or that things would get easier, but neither happened. I got in a mind funk, where I kept fuming over little things, which just made me more and more unhappy. At mile 55 I stopped to take a picture of the bank sign that said "103 degrees." I followed that up with a couple miles of a sobbing pity party on the road. I didn't want to stop moving, but I was just angry and frustrated. After feeling like my cycling skills were continually improving in Florida and Louisiana, Texas was making me feel like a failure. I stopped at a gas station for some water. The woman inside was really nice, even though I was a little crazy :) She got me ice and convinced me to stay and cool down before venturing out again. We chatted for a little bit, until I was calmer and less shaky. As I set out another group of cyclists were passing, so I hopped into their group. It worked out great because we were headed right down the biggest street in town (think 28 St in Grand Rapids area). Being in a big group makes it a lot safer in those situations because the cars have to see us and respect us. Halfway through town a red SUV dropped in behind and started flashing his four ways. It turns out that the president of the Texas cycling club happened to see us on the road and wanted to make sure we were safe so he became our unofficial chase car. He followed us for five miles all the way to second lunch. After such a horrible afternoon it meant a lot to me that he took the time out of his day to protect us. 

Second lunch was quick because we had been told that we needs to be to the host by 6:30 at the latest or we would have to be picked up by the van. It was 3:30 and I wanted to be as far away as possible if the van started picking people up. I had not suffered through 30 miles of mental madness to be picked up by the van in the end. I think most of my worries and anguish were about the possibility of being picked up by the van. 

I set out again with Coleman, Lynsey,Corey and Kristina. After a few miles Kristina decided that she needed to be picked up, so Corey waited with her and the rest of us kept trekking. We pushed our way through six miles of winding, windy uphills but when it came time to turn, there were no roads to turn onto. We had missed a turn! Ahhh! Because of a huge lake, the only way to get to Athens was to backtrack six miles. I was just so tired and so scared of being vanned for taking too long. We booked it back to the turn where sweeps and Corey were waiting for us. Corey had seen us miss the turn but couldn't get our attention. We decided to push on an try to make it even though it was 6:00. Up and down, down and up we went over hills that lasted two miles. Corey was riding with me up one particularly nasty slope, when out of nowhere a giant black lab lunged at us. The rational side of my mind had left me back at mile 30 so I did the first thing that came to my mind. Instead of yelling "stay!" or "sit!" or squirting warm Gatorade in it's face, I screamed. Full out shrieked at it! I think I stunned the dog because it halted in it's tracks, but that is probably not the right way to handle dog attacks. We pushed on through the never-ending hills. Christine C and Dre did a wonderful job as sweeps, encouraging me up the hills. I think that it became one of my favorite days because i really tested my limits and went beyond them. At 8pm we finally made it to the church where the rest of the team was waiting to give us a spirit tunnel and lots of food. We were also  met with a great surprise, homestays! Each of us was going to spend the night with a church member and one or two other B&B'ers. Bwalsh and I spent the night with Toni. She let us use her shower and did our laundry for us. Her daughter even made us a cake and wrote a note to us since she was away. I slept in her daughters room and Bwalsh slept in her sons room. Sleeping on real beds was a special treat. It was a great way to end an interesting day. 

Texas!

Grand Cane, LA to Carthage, TX 89.7 miles

A longish day. We started with so much excitement. We were goof to Texas after a long time in LA. Not that Louisiana isn't a great state, bit we were all looking forward to the next state line. Coleman was especially happy to go back to his home state. Before we could reach the line at mile 19 we had a few hills and valleys to cross slowly but surely. Right before we reached the border we saw a church with a particularly appropriate sign out front. "Dream no small dream" was all that it said.  Most of us took pictures in front of it then headed to the border. Waiting to welcome us into the motherland was Coleman wearing his Texas shorts and wielding a giant flag tied to a log he had found on the side of the road. Everyone gathered at the border for photos and memories. We decided to do something epic like a 4 story pyramid with the flag on top...so we did it :) I was on the third story of the pyramid and it was very interesting. We had to take three attempts to get it right, but eventually Coleman and his flag managed to scramble to the top of the formation and we had our pyramid! 

The rest of the day was fairly normal (as much as biking across the country can be normal!) until we got to Carthage. We stopped to look at a tea house, but got distracted by a village museum on the third floor. They had all sorts of old stuff that had been donated to them including a 75 year old braid of hair, several army uniforms and a giant neon "GAS" sign. We found a perfect double for Coleman in on of he pictures on the wall then moved on to explore the town. We went to the fudge shop and a few other places before taking over the Mexican restaurant. We had 28 of the 33 of us at this restaurant(a few had skipped the town and gone directly to the hosts) . It was super good and delicious. We finally left and headed out to the McPherson's. Their daughter did SUS a few years ago and they have hosted the group ever since. The last 6 miles were hard. We had just eaten a lot, were facing headwinds, and having our first experiences with chipseal. A cheap way to pave Texas road is chipseal, where they basically just put a thin layer of tar down, then cover it with gravel. The tar keeps the gravel in place, but it's cheaper than a straight tar road. However, it is far from ideal for bikes...mmmm.... Makes for quite the bumpy road. Arriving at the host, I played with their dogs, swam in the neighbors pool and showered before falling asleep on a pull out sofa. 

Sweeps!

Nachitoches to Grand Cane

Today was my first sweep day. Jillian and I rode at the back of the pack to make sure that everyone made it to the host safely. We carry a spare tire, some extra tubes and a "medical kit" also known as a very squished box of band aids. We have to make sure that everyone stays in front of us and makes it to the host with minimal problems. Everyone on the team sweeps at least three times. I am also sweeping into Kaibib,AZ with Tiffany, Zion National Park, UT with Dre, and Delano, CA with Alex.

The day started with breakfast at the university cafeteria. We had pancakes and fresh fruit! They also had a cheer/dance camp happening on campus, which made our breakfast all the more interesting. 33 B&Bers, 100 Cheerleaders, 50 dancers and 10 campus police make for an interesting looking crew at the breakfast table. But Southern US is an exceptional group and we even managed to magic a police escort off campus. We gathered the group, then rode off after he police car...even if he did make a wrong turn that caused a half mile detour. Nothing like starting the day off on an exciting foot. We made it a few miles down the road before the first flat tire. Jillian and I stopped and waited for them to change it, then waited a little longer to give ourselves more time. We traveled on down the road until we saw a group stopped at an alligator bus. We went a mile down the road only to learn that alligator alley is not open at 8am on a tuesday. What a shock...it so strange when I run into businesses that aren't open because I have been up and functioning for the last 3 hours. We decided not to wait for it to open at 10 and went on our way. We rode a bit further before coming upon Brettly and Richard napping in the grass. We joined in on the napping for 30 minutes before setting off again. The next city was a few miles before lunch so we stopped to fill water bottles at a feed store. I got to play with the store cats which was nice. We finally got to lunch where we helped clean up then continued on. We stopped for a few more things before arriving in the tiny town of Grand Cane. This was the smallest city hat we have been to yet with only a few hundred people in the area. We stayed at the First Baptist Church where we had a great potluck with the church members. Dinner crew also put on an amazing presentation for the church members during their Wednesday night service. After church was the weekly family meeting, then off to bed. 

Hello again

Hi! So I haven't posted since Natchitoches...oops! I'm working to get everything up to date, but a combination of long days and little Internet have conspired against me. I have posts for some of the days written, but I'm waiting to put them up in order. I will do my best to post a few soon, but Internet is getting scarcer and scarcer as we travel. The next few posts may be a little shorter than normal as I try and catch up, so please have patience and keep checking back for new posts in the next few days! Thanks!

P.S. Thanks for all of the awesome mail that I have gotten in the last few days. I love the little notes and treats that everyone has been sending!

Pronounced "Nack-o-dish"

Alexandria to Natchitoches 56.0 miles

We loaded up the trailer this morning, then went into the church for a wonderful breakfast that the church prepared for us. Mel and Grant were featured in an article from the Cenla newspaper, which was passed from person to person during breakfast. My favorite part was the mustache that Mel was sporting in the picture, since it had been mustache Monday! We hit the road after a short route meeting. Today was the first time hat I have biked by myself for any length of time. I had gone back to finish packing the trailer and when I was done everyone else had left so I set off on my own. It wasn't as bad as I had thought to bike by myself, but I still prefer being with other people. I figure that I have 1.5 more months to ride with these people and at least thirty years to ride by myself. I should enjoy every minute with them that I can, since I have olsuch a short time left with them already. Around mile 3 I caught up to Sonia and I spent the rest of the day with her. She stuck with me and my flat tire around mile 10. I forgot to tell y'all about my first flat tire on the longest day of my life AKA day 2 Palatka to Lake City. After surviving the heat, the desert and all of the 75 miles of craziness, I got a flat 3 miles outside of the church. So today's flat about 10 miles in wasn't that big of a deal. There were about 10 feet with massive bits of glass everywhere. I called it out to Sonia who was behind me, then said "whew! I'm glad I made it through without a flat..." to which she responded by telling me I had a flat. So we stopped to change it and got to hang out with he sweeps, Keenan and Sonja, for a little bit. It turns out that I wasn't having the worst day as far as flats go. Galen had 5 flats during the first 30 miles leading up to first lunch. We made it to lunch, then headed out. A nice headwind was developing, and by nice I mean very nasty. We also began to encounter our first hills since we left northern Florida which always adds fun. We rode past three or four antebellum mansions and plantations. They were very interesting to look at. One of my favorite bits of the ride was riding along the Grand Cane river for a majority of the time after lunch. It was very pretty. The people of Natchitoches are very quick to let you know that the movie Steel Magnolias was filmed there and the river looks just the same as in the movie. They are also very excited about being the oldest settlement in the Louisiana purchase. After arriving at the First United Methodist Church we set off to explore. We found a little Mexican restaurant and had some very good food. We also found a smoothies place and enjoyed some smoothies. I was able to call Kristen since she is now back in the USA! We got back in time to walk to dinner. Or at least start walking to dinner :) Alyssa, Mel and I got a ride from one of the men who helped to organize our dinner with the Baptist Campus Ministries. We got there a few minutes early so we were able to look at the maps on the wall and really examine our route. They had a Louisiana map and a US map which had most of our towns on it! It was amazing to realize just how far Natchitoches, LA is from Jacksonville, FL.  We had a great jumbuhlaya for dinner and chatted with some students before taking the bus back. I crashed into my bed and enjoyed some rest.   

Sandwich of awesomeness

Opelousas to Alexandria 76.3 miles

I realize that I start almost everyone of my posts with "today was..." or something similar. But I just can't think of any better way to describe today other than today was a sandwich of awesomeness. It began awesome, the middle bits were amazing and I ended on an awesome note. Any day that starts with Mustache Monday and a police escort is pretty good. We have decided to do theme days of the week to spice up out rides, so today was the first one: mustache monday. We drew mustaches on each other with permanent marker (yes I know that sounds risky, but we figured that it would sweat off pretty fast in all of the heat). I had a very nice handlebar, but others were sporting some ridiculous creations. Jillian had a Fu Manchu, Keenan looked a bit like Chewbacca, and Kristina had a half-grown mustache with a bit of a goatee. All amazing! Almost everyone participated, which made it even more fun. As we were prepping for the route meeting, the leaders let us know that we also had a police escort out of town! We all got to ride in a big group of 30 out of town and he blocked all of he intersections so we didn't have to stop. He even used his sirens and flashing lights. I really enjoyed the start of our morning today. We broke into smaller groups when we reached to highway. I would compare most of the roads that we ride on to Chicago Drive in the West Michigan area. They all have their parts that go right through towns and are busy and crazy like grandville/jenison but most of the time they are like the bit between Hudsonville and Holland with lots of farmland and few cars. Anyways, I rode with team estrogen until 1st lunch. We have gotten in the habit of naming the groups that we ride with. The A Team is always the first group in, then you have the A- team and the B+ team which are flexible with membership. Team Estrogen is a group of all girls that always seem to end up together. They aren't really set people in each group, but each day they change a little bit depending on who is sweeps, who's riding fast or slow, ect. 1st lunch was in a field of what I believe to be sugar cane. Too many people had joined Team E during lunch so I ended up splitting up from them after lunch. I joined up with Eddie, Kelsey and Alyssa to make up Team Pinky (Eddie) and the Brain (us girls). Lynsey joined us a little later on. I had a lot of fun riding with them. We had a little time to chat during times between cars which is always nice. At one point I fell behind and had to go 21 to catch up and as soon as I made it back, everyone stopped for a break. Haha so funny...after I got my breath back I really enjoyed the spot. It was like the southern scenes you see in the movies, with all of the trees overhanging the road which wound gently into the distance. Just beautiful! Pushing on to 2nd lunch we ate lots of bananas (we have a banana surplus right now) then took off for home. Halfway there we found Galen who had a flat and needed a tire from the van. Usually when you get a flat you only need to replace the tube, not the tire. However, a rock had completely ripped his tire to shreds, so he needed a new one. We made it into town and to the St. James Episcopal day school. If you search YouTube for videos of Southern US bike and build and see some with trikes in them by a girl named "ninabikesandbuilds" you will see the gym we stayed in tonight. I headed out to go get snowballs with a few guys. I had a watermelon and it was amazing! Dinner was red beans and rice, provided by the church. We quickly threw the laundry in the wash, listened to an affordable housing presentation by Summer and David about homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, then piled into Richard's parents vehicles. All 33 people went to Richard's mom's house for a pool party. They even had a cookie cake to share! It was the first time I have ever swam in a saltwater pool. It was actually quite refreshing. Richard also had 3 dogs for us to pester all night :) We came back where Corey raced a trike around the room and sleeping people. Keep your eyes peeled for a video in August :)

Bridge over troubled waters

Baton Rouge to Opelousas 64.3 miles

We woke up at 5:30. The only thing that I shall not miss about this host is the stage lights. I have been sleeping on the stage, but every morning the lights are super bright! I'm not a fan. We packed everything up, then had another great breakfast provided by the church. I was running behind, so I was one of the last to leave the church. It ended up not mattering because there was a stopped train blocking our path about 3 miles in. We all ended up stopped together waiting. I enjoy all of the times when the whole team ends up in the same place around the same time. No matter what the situation is, 33 B&B'ers can make it fun. I blew some bubbles with my birthday bubble wand and dug my sunglasses out of my camelbak. When it was time to go again I ended up with Alyssa, Kelsey, and Eddie. We crossed the Mississippi river! About 5 miles into the route we went over a giant bridge and now we are officially west of the Mississippi! Ahhh! I got here on a bike! It is absolutely crazy if I really think about eveything that I've done this summer. Today my total odometer surpassed 1000 miles for the trip. I rode 100 of those miles in one day, most in 90*F+ heat, walked a mile in sand, and crossed countless bridges. All in 3 weeks and 3 days!  I can't even imagine what will transpire in the next 8 weeks!

Most of the team stopped for pictures with a giant rooster on the other side of the bridge. I had a funny time trying to climb on top of it :) We kept going until lunch (only one today) where I had a very tart plum and a strawberry ice cream in addition to my pb&j and salty snacks. Soon after we encountered the longest bridge yet. From the point where I started counting, it was 3.15 miles long. And I didn't even start counting for at least .5 miles. I entertained my self by singing "Bridge Over troubled waters" in my head. It finally ended, but hen we saw an even bigger bridge in the distance. Prepping for the bridge, Alyssa moved from the shoulder onto the road. She caught the edge of her tires on the lip between the two and took a spill. Luckily, there was no traffic nearby and she suffered only bruises and a small scratch. Kelsey and I were a little ahead so we stopped and walked back. As we walked a truck stopped and flagged me down. A guy got out and ran over with a fluorescent orange contraction vest. He told me that the last person in the group had to wear it because it was a dangerous bridge, then drove off. I put it on, even though this bridge actually wasn't too bad. It had a 3 ft shoulder and two lanes, which allows cars to pass us with out being too near. The end of the bridge is where things got scary. As we defended we all saw an ambulance and a solitary rider standing near. Another rider had fallen much the same as Alyssa, but whereas Alyssa had been going 16 when she fell, this person was coming off a bridge at 25 mph. The van had already come to take her to the hospital, but it was scary to see that sight. She is doing fine tonight, a little sore and scratched up, but generally fine. I tried to find my vest guy, but he was no where to he found, so I guess I have a sweet vest now! A little smelly, but really, I'm generally stinky myself, so no worries. We pushed on to Walmart, about 3 miles from the host, then set off for the First Baptist Church. Upon arrival we at snacks and slept on the floor. Showers were at the Louisiana family fitness center. We had about 2 hours to be very quite while services were held this evening. Most of the group took a nice long nap! We were fed delicious jambuhlaya and white beans. They even had pecan pralines and bananas foster for dessert! Mmmm! Keenan and I did our affordable housing presentation about Habitat and Rebuilding Together case studies. It went pretty well. I had a little ice cream from Galen and now I'm off to bed! And at a reasonable hour (for once!)

Framing masters

Baton Rouge build day

The day began at 6:30 with an early wake up. We had an amazing breakfast provided by St Johns Episcopal Church. I had grits for the first time and enjoyed the orange juice! We were shuttled to the build site around 7:30 where we dove right into the work. My van load started working on framing prep. We cut and nailed together lots of pieces. Soon we had door and window frames of every size and shape assembled. The other van load started the day laying sod at a house across the street. When they finished they joined us at the framing house. It was a lot of fun getting to wail away at the nails. Thanks to all of my time working on framing in Jacksonville, I've gotten pretty good at hammering. I can usually get the nails in straight and quick. It's nice to see the improvements not only in biking, but in other aspects of my life such as construction skills. We worked really fast and got a ton done by lunch. We were able to into an almost finished house and enjoy the air conditioning while we had our customary post-lunch nap. After lunch we went back to framing but we had a small problem. We had worked so quickly and efficiently that there was nothing left to do. All of the wood at the site had been cut, all os the landscaping on the other site had been done, we even cleaned up around the framing site. Van-essa came and picked up a load of people to go back to the church. Christine C, Galen and I decided to wait outside instead of in the very cold A/C. We settled in for an outdoor nap, but were quickly awakened when the sewage truck came to empty the porta potties. We headed across the street where we spied a hose. A nice splash party later we were all feeling much cooler and cleaner! It was so nice to rinse off. It is so hot that I was nearly dry before it was my time to get in the van. We returned to the church and decided that we needed to explore Baton Rouge more. Sonia, Bwalsh and I headed to the root beer float place and had...you guessed it....root beer floats! Yum! So good after a build day. Next, I headed to the bike shop that we rode past yesterday with Will and Eddie. They were awesome at the shop. I got my cable housing replaced because it was starting to break. While we were there it started to downpour, but I didn't want my bear to get wet. So I got a big bag from the shop, cut the arm whole larger and wore it over my camelbak. It looked pretty ridiculous. But it did the job! 

We headed to LSU's campus where we found the stadium and Mike the Tiger. They have a real, living, breathing tiger on campus! He was sleeping but we took lots of pictures with him. Dinner was going to start soon, so we headed back to the church with a quick stop at CVS. Sonja had donation magic'ed us some pizza and others got us doughnuts, rice and smoothies. Sounds strange, but it was a really nice combination. When we finished we got out our bouncy house and took "action shots" of us running and jumping over the side. Absolutely hilarious! Check out the Facebook photos if you are able. They are great. I don't know if Alyssa posted them, but my favorites are the "mistakes" where the person is halfway out of the shot. Sonia, Summer, Kristina and I had a nice chat/nap session in the bouncy house, then put it back in the trailer and went to sleep for real.

Best Birthday ever

New Orleans to Baton Rouge 112.2 miles!

Ahhhh! We had our first century today! And I made it...in one piece!!! Ahhhh!

The day had a rough start. Summer woke up and didn't feel good, so she wasn't able to ride with me for my birthday :( but we have plans to ride together at later times, so it all works out. Waking up at 5 was extremely difficult. We had planned a 4:30 wake up in light of our first 100 mile + ride, but the leaders decided that 5 would be better, since various circumstances prevented a majority of people from going to bed until midnight. I think it was a good decision since I didn't actually wake up until the route meeting. I have now rotated to trailer crew, so we have to prepare Contessa (our trailer) every morning. It's interesting to see how 34 people's stuff and enough food to feed 34 people can fit in a relatively small trailer. We managed to make it fit, then headed over to the route meeting that we have every morning. We decided that we would dedicate our ride to Christina and chalk for her along the route. On B&B trips, chalk is a vital source of info. We chalk every turn so people don't get lost, chalk every donation so we don't annoy managers, and chalk to encourage each other. Today we drew pictures an wrote messages for Christina.  The pictures of chalk are going to be sent in for her memorial services.  We also learned that Noelle, a member of our trip would have to return home for at least 3 weeks. She is hoping to rejoin us as soon as possible, but it was very hard to think of losing a member of our team. It may have only been 3 weeks and 2 days since I first met any of these people but now they have become family. A pretty sad morning. I did get a really sweet pin from Christine C for my birthday :) it said MVP and is blue. I wore it with my "happy birthday" lei from Kristen. We rode to the front of Camp Hope for a picture for Denise, our host. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" then I led the way out of town. It took us about 15 miles to get out of New Orleans. We were trying to be in smaller subgroups, but the traffic lights kept forcing us together into a giant posse. Nate and Collin, B&B alumni and our SBP build supervisors were able to get the day off to ride with us.  They met up with us right before we rode through the French Quarter.

After we got out of town we got on a levee bike path for 20 miles. It was smooth and fast! Most of us have progressed to the same level of biking-ness over the last 3 weeks, maintaining speeds of 17-20 mph. We were able to keep the groups really tight which was fun. I always like when I can look up and see 20 people rounding a corner a head of me. Only the extremely fast and the sweeps were out of sight. I love group cycling such as that! It makes me realize the amazing impact that 34 can have. But 34 people in a line, no matter how close to each other we ride would be extremely dangerous and stupid. So I have to enjoy moments like this where we can ride side-by-side with out a care in the world. It was also very nice because every time some one passed me or I passed them they would yell "happy birthday" Kenan and Mel had particularly good birthday songs :) at the end of the trail we had first lunch. Today was destined to be special because we were having three lunches. Most trips only have one lunch with two on long or very hot days...all but two of our days have been hot enough or long enough to warrant two lunches. And technically one of the two was hot enough, but it was only a 50 mile day and Chipotle donated 34 burritos at the end. Anyways, I digress. A beauty shop that I can't remember the name  let us use their restroom. Thank you beauty shop! We sat in the shade of the fire station and enjoyed our pb&j's. I got my second birthday present of the day. Galen found me two golf balls at a golf course that he had stopped at! I practiced my juggling for a little bit, then continued on my way. I rode with Kelsey, Alyssa, Eddie, and Noelle. I was glad that I was able to ride with Noelle, since this will be my last chance for a while. We stayed pretty close to the Mississippi, but we could never see it because of the levees. We did see so many factory, storage containery things that smelled funny. Second lunch was at a courthouse. We were able to use their drinking fountains and restrooms. Summer took photos of us as we pedaled up and Grant sprayed us down with a super soaker. By now we were at mile 68 and getting used to the idea that we were only just over half way when we would normally be almost there. We hopped back on the road and went past some beautiful Southern plantation houses. Around mile 88 I ran out of water so we pulled into a gas station. They only hot water coming out of the tap and their ice machine was down. However, the guy in the front went outside and opened up a bag from their ice chest and gave me a few scoops to cool my camelback. It was so nice of him. Louisiana people have been very nice so far. They always ask politely where we are from and are genuinely interested when they find out what we are up to. We stopped for directions at a bank and I walked out with $20 in donations! Even their honking is nicer than other places. I generally detest people honking at me. I try to see it in a positive light, but when you have spent the last 7 hours on the road and are sweating to death as you exhaust every muscle to inch your way up a hill, a jolt (honks are ALWAYS out of the blue!) from an air conditioned vehicle that will get to your destination 3 hours faster than you is not always appreciated. Please don't honk at cyclists, it's hard to read your intentions and motivations and can be taken the wrong way. But in my optimistic opinion LA has friendlier and more enthusiastic honkers than any other state. They be-be-be-beep instead of laying on the horn. In my opinion they are so surprised by us that they want to show their support by honking! We made it to mile 90 where we took an extend break and learned that the van was still back at second lunch. We set out, stopping only briefly at third lunch to fix Noelle's brakes. We powered on, celebrating as we reached 100 miles on our odometers. Yay! We really did it! We caught up with the first group and rode into Baton Rouge with them. We passed LSU and a small hike shop on our way to the church. I made it in eighths first group which was really exciting. We played some knock out in the church gym and laid on the cold floor while we waited for the trailer to arrive. I got another "side of the road present" from Galen, a very nice knife.  We unpacked, then went outside to cheer the sweeps home after a 12 hour day. Dinner was provided by St James Episcopal Church, a delicious beef brisket. We went back to the gym where we sat around and recovered from our ride. Summer gave me my birthday present, a bubblewand, which i proceeded to play with for a very long time! There were a few good massage trains, a hardcore tetherball game, then lots of sleeping for our build day the next day.

Last day

New Orleans build day #5

Today was a wonderful, fun day! We woke up at 7:30 and prepared for the day ahead.  Everyone rode their bikes to their build sites today because we needed to ride downtown for a safety presentation in the evening.  We split into our build sites and were on our way!  Half of my group got to the site before the other half, so we decided to play a game with Nathan, our site supervisor.  We each put on a name tag, then introduced ourselves as if we had never met.  We had to tell the other person 3 facts about ourselves, then switch name tags and identities and repeat with a new person.  It was kind of like the game "telephone," but with a twist.  It was really fun seeing what the facts became after a few rounds of introductions.  I went from having had 14 cats and a dog (fact) to loving cats and hating dogs (fiction!).  When the rest of the group arrived we got back to the projects that we had been working on all week.  I had been doing siding, but we had run out of siding the day before.  I ended up cutting "soffit," a roofing type material for the porch.  I was too short to help install it, but Brettly, Sonja, and Josh E put it up on the front porch.  I went to the back porch and did prep work for the next round of soffit installation in the afternoon.  When lunch rolled around a few of us crossed the bridge to go to an amazing BBQ place, The Joint.  I had a great beef brisket, then headed back to the site with Kristina and Galen.  When we got back it was time to get to work. Unfortunately, we ran out of soffit, so we only put up two pieces.  We were also out of flooring materials as well, which caused a lack of jobs for the last hour-ish.  So we did what we do best and entertained ourselves!  We had handstand contests in the big bedroom.  Alyssa won every single one, but Josh and Josh did very good as well :)  We cleaned up and I took some "after" pictures to go with the "before" pictures that I took on Monday.  The differences are amazing!  16 Bike & Build'ers working for 4 days can make a big change.  When we arrived the rooms where nothing but drywalled walls with unfinished floors.  We left today with walls and ceilings painted, flooring 90% finished and all of the window sills installed and painted.  Plus, Brettly and I did awesome work and finished lots of siding during the previous few days.  We had a quick debriefing with Molly and Sarah from the St Bernard Project, then headed out for a safety lecture and discussion.  To get to the place, we had to bike through the French Quarter and downtown New Orleans, which was a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed seeing all of the touristy sites from my bicycle seat.  On the way we also stopped at the "Before I die..." wall.  On a street corner not far from the French Quarter, there is a condemned house with a wall painted black.  Stenciled in white is "Before I die..."  and a bunch of lines.  People take chalk and write their dreams on it.  Some of our Bike & Build dreams ranged from "looking back and smiling" to "riding with the A team" to "making the world a brighter place." We made it to our lecture/talk at 5:45, where Peter, from Wisconsin, who happens to be a League of American Cyclist's licensed instructor, talked to us about safety on the road.  We went over some situations that we have encountered on the road that have made us uncomfortable and how we can make our rides as safe a possible.  We headed back to Camp Hope for dinner, but first I stopped back at the wall with Prachi, whose group hadn't seen it before the lecture.  We took some photos, then found our way back.  I've only been in this city for 6 days, but I already feel like I know my way around the place, which is kind of strange to me.  We had hamburgers for dinner, which were delicious!  While I was eating my dinner, Noelle surprised me with an early rendition of the the Birthday song and 3 cakes!  My real birthday is tomorrow, but they decided that it would be better to do the cakes tonight so they wouldn't melt in the hot van tomorrow.  They were super cute and tasted amazing!  Thanks so much to Noelle for making them!  Some people headed out to a bowling alley for a little while and the rest of us stayed to clean bikes, do laundry, and gather our very spread out stuff into bags and bins. We have an early wake up in preparation for our first century (100 mile+) ride tomorrow, so every one is turning in early and heading to bed!  I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Levees

New Orleans build day #4
Some of us began the day with a rather unique opportunity.  We met up with Jamie Wine and Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis for a biking tour of NOLA bike infrastructure. We rolled around town and learned a lot about the different neighborhoods and parts of the city.  Jeremy is part of Bike Easy, a cycling advocacy group operating out of New Orleans. I wish I could have had much more time to talk with both about cycling and policy, but we needed to get back to the build site.  I  started out the day working with the last few bits of siding for the side of the house. We finished that pretty quickly, then moved on to unfinished bits of the roof. That lasted us until lunch. I planned on stopping by La tacoria de coyote, a taco truck on St. Claude, but I left my wallet up on the roof and didn't feel like getting it. Instead, I went with Sonja, Alyssa, Eddie, Coleman and a few others to check out the "make it right" community. This group of houses were sponsored by Brad Pitt and other donors. They all have crazy architecture which really interested me. We rode around a little bit in the area. The houses are right by where the Levees are that broke during the aftermath of the hurricane. we returned to the site, where we went back up onto the roof. We prepped the area, but there was no more siding left to put up, so we helped with the soffit on the front porch. We biked straight from the site to Global Green's headquarters in NOLA. They let us all take tours of a prototype house they created for the lower ninth ward. Only half of us could fit in at a time, so when we weren't touring we walked up the levee and looked out at the Mississippi river. The house was very interesting, but it seems cost prohibitive for such a poor area. We returned to Camp Hope where a delicious meal from P.F. Changs was waiting for us! We stuffed ourselves, then had our third family meeting. I love listening to everyone's highs and lows for the week. The majority of us had the same low; Monday night. People's highs were much more varied. I think mine was something about the 3 states in 3 days thing :) Anyways, it was late when we finished and we all went to bed.

Yay construction!

New Orleans build day #3

We biked to our build sites again this morning. We were given the option to go or not to go to the build site after the difficult news the night before. Most people chose to continue what they had started and jumped right back into work. After finishing the back of he house, I thought I would be done with siding... not so! We set up the scaffolding and did the side of the house. This went much smoother since we knew what we were doing and we didn't have to deal with any angles! Brettly and I sided for the most part of the  day with a break for a fast moving thunderstorm. We figures standing on a large metal structure wouldn't be prudent :) I went inside and primed all of the window sills, so that they can be properly installed and painted soon. By the time I finished that the storm had let up, so I quick finished the last strip and we took down the scaffolding. Ohhh! Random siting!  A whole bus load of people stopped by to tour our site today. They were there for a national volunteer conference and Danielle and Shauna just happened to be there! It seems so strange to run into people I know while I'm here in the south. After building, Lama, Kelsey and I set out for Walmart. It's a little sad how excited I can get about non-chocolate chip flavored cliff bars.  Just sad... We had dinner provided by a cafe/eatery in town and it was delicious. I went to bed early because I had had an late night the day before.

Siding shmiding

New Orleans build day #2

We started out the day on our bikes, a very strange concept for us on a build day. Everyone was a little apprehensive about biking to the work site, but it ended up being really close to Camp Hope where we are staying. We showed up to a shell of a house. It had been framed, drywalled and (partly) sided, but not much else. Nate warned us that this was going to be a great house to get some before/after shots from. I took a few before shots and hopefully I will take some after shots at the end of the week!  I ended up working on finishing up the siding. Brettly and I were charged with finishing the small triangle that made up the top of the roof. Sounds easy, right? Nope! It was exactly the opposite of easy! First we assembled the scaffolding, then reassembled it when we realized that we had put the top pieces in the middle. We fixed that up, then set to work on making a template so we could quickly and easily trace the angle onto all of the pieces we were working with. We definitely made it past lunch without making any tangible progress... We cut lots of siding, but every thing was too short, or the angle was off or something else! Ahhh! It was a little frustrating, mostly because of the heat. Working so meat to the hot roof and the extremely reflective siding really increased the ambient temperature of the work space. We managed to finish up just as it started to pour and as the work day came to a close. We tore down the scaffolding and put everything away in the house. In the time that we had been working on siding that little chunk, the rest of the team had painted a ton! The place looked so much better. I cant wait to see how it'll look on Friday. After we biked back in the rain( first time of the trip!) we piled in the van to visit a local bike shop. We first stopped at Plan B, a bike co-op. They have tools and knowledgable experts, but you do your own work. They have a ton of old bike that you can buy for super cheap and fix up for free with used parts. They also sell a bunch of higher end stuff at cost, so the bar tape that was $16 in Tally was $10 in NOLA. We talked with Cory, a volunteer at Plan B. He works for the Coast Guard in real life, but spends his free time volunteering with the group. He even shoes us around the backroom, where they store bikes, frames, and parts. Try and find pictures on Facebook or our photo bucket account because this place was awesome! But it didn't really have everything we needed, so we walked to another shop. People stocked up on supplies and we headed back home. On the way back we passed the "before I die" wall. I really wanted to stop, but I hope to go with Alyssa thursday. It's just the wall of an abandoned house which was painted with the chalkboard paint. The top says "Before I die..." and there are a bunch of lines for people to fill in. Sonja found it and told us about it online a few months before the trip, so it would be really exciting to see it for myself and write my plans on the wall. After we got back we had a great dinner of red beans and rice provided by Mark's parents. 

Later that night we had the announcement about Christina's passing. Bike & Build is truly like your road-family and to lose a member, even one I've never met, hit me hard. I am very sorry for her family and for her teammates.  I don't know what I would to if it were one of my teammates in trouble. In the three short weeks that we have known each other, we have become very close. As has been said before, B&B days feel more like a week than a day. It seems like I have known everyone on my trip for decades not days.  I would he devastated if anything were to happen to any of my teammates. I sat through the meeting, then called a a friend to chat. I watched a few episodes of Friends with Sonia, then went to bed!