Panama City to DeFuniak Springs, FL 66.5 miles
Today I rode with Melanie to the East Baptist Church in DeFuniak Springs, FL. We started out great, singing every Beatles song along the route. Mel amazingly knows just about everyone. As the day went on we began encoutering hills again. And not the nice kind where you can see the top either. They were sneaky curvy hills where you never knew exactly how much further you had to go. I have kind of a love-hate-really hate relationship with hills. I love going down them, I hate going up them and I really hate knowing that everytime I go down one, it means I have another one to go back up eventually. We pushed, getting closer and closer to DeFuniak. We pulled up to a gas station in a tiny town but it was closed after 12pm. At the next gas station I had an interesting conversation with some of the patrons, then we waited for a train to pass before crossing the tracks to get to the church. We had our second hose shower, which is surprisingly refresting. I air dried on a rocking chair on the pastors front porch which is attached to the church. We had our first in-house affordable housing presentation. Josh A and Christine S did a great game about the basics of the affordable housing crisis. The church was hosting their annual dessert contest, so we had lots of fried chicken and many wonderful desserts. We got to vote for our favorite. We were entertained by a performer from the West Baptist Church for a while. Everyone went to sleep pretty quickly after that as we were all very tired from the climbs.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Eternity
Apalachicola to Panama City 59.4 miles
Today was a wonderful day for me. I felt like I could bike 100 miles, then keep going until I hit the sun. I had a slow day yesterday, so my muscles were rested and ready to go. I started off the day in a small group, riding with Josh A, Prachi, Jillian, Kristina and Christine C. We traversed the wooded streets as we moved away from the beach and then closer towards it again. I am surprised at how many pine trees Florida has. I never imagined it having such thick forests of pine everywhere. We rolled on towards lunch without any incidents. Today's lunch spot may have been the most perfect yet. It was about a mile off the road, but right on the beach. We coasted in around the same time as everyone else. I think that one of my favorite things is when everyone arrives at lunch together and we can all hang out for 5 or 10 minutes before heading our separate ways. We enjoyed the first of many fried chicken and saracha sandwitches. We have a very large abundance of fried chicken that we have recieved for dinner and then had leftovers. We also have multitudes of oranges, which I love, but they are just to much work to eat! I filled my camelbak and waited for the rest of my group. Josh A and Lyndsey were ready to go so I decided to see how long I could keep up with them. We rode at a very fast pace (for me) of 16-17 mph for the last 30 miles. There were even long flat stretches where I was hitting 20 mph! I feel so proud and amazed when I remember how hard I worked to hit 16 mph on a downhill on Kristen's bike last spring. Now I can maintain it on flat streches! Wow...I feel like I've come a lot farther than I ever imagined and we are only in the first week of cycling. The roads were a little busy today because it is the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, but nothing too crazy. While we were going down one of the busier stretches in Panama City, a few cars came a little close for comfort, but no one hit us :)
Josh and I arrived at the Living Word Fellowship about 10 minutes after the first group arrived. We waited for the church to be unlocked then unpacked the trailor. The women were so nice and even had fresh fruits and veggies waiting for us as snacks. Next on the docket was a trip to the Holiday Inn for showers. They were even nice enough to let 34 stinky smelly cyclists jump in their pool and jacuzzi while we waited for the showers. They tricked out the health club showers for us, providing 34 towels, washclothes, shampoos, mini soaps, lotions and even perfume samples. I can't believe how happy having a mini bottle of lotion made me! Not to mention a fluffy white towel! Yay! After showers, Alyssa, Kristina and I walked back and tried to get some donation magic. We talked to the manager and waitress of a waffle house, who had no budget left for donations this quarter, but they gave us all the money in the tip jar. Smitty's barbeque donated 4 burgers for us and Galen. Yum! They were great and I would highly recommend visiting them if you happen to be in Panama Beach. We went back to the church where we put on a bike clinic for about 10 kids. I have lots of cute videos to share once I have a computer to load them on. The church treated us to a delicious lasagna dinner and we settled in for bed. I do have to send a big thank you to Galen, who took all of my cycling clothes to the laundrymat after I forgot to put them in the laundry pile. Thank you so much!
Today was a wonderful day for me. I felt like I could bike 100 miles, then keep going until I hit the sun. I had a slow day yesterday, so my muscles were rested and ready to go. I started off the day in a small group, riding with Josh A, Prachi, Jillian, Kristina and Christine C. We traversed the wooded streets as we moved away from the beach and then closer towards it again. I am surprised at how many pine trees Florida has. I never imagined it having such thick forests of pine everywhere. We rolled on towards lunch without any incidents. Today's lunch spot may have been the most perfect yet. It was about a mile off the road, but right on the beach. We coasted in around the same time as everyone else. I think that one of my favorite things is when everyone arrives at lunch together and we can all hang out for 5 or 10 minutes before heading our separate ways. We enjoyed the first of many fried chicken and saracha sandwitches. We have a very large abundance of fried chicken that we have recieved for dinner and then had leftovers. We also have multitudes of oranges, which I love, but they are just to much work to eat! I filled my camelbak and waited for the rest of my group. Josh A and Lyndsey were ready to go so I decided to see how long I could keep up with them. We rode at a very fast pace (for me) of 16-17 mph for the last 30 miles. There were even long flat stretches where I was hitting 20 mph! I feel so proud and amazed when I remember how hard I worked to hit 16 mph on a downhill on Kristen's bike last spring. Now I can maintain it on flat streches! Wow...I feel like I've come a lot farther than I ever imagined and we are only in the first week of cycling. The roads were a little busy today because it is the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, but nothing too crazy. While we were going down one of the busier stretches in Panama City, a few cars came a little close for comfort, but no one hit us :)
Josh and I arrived at the Living Word Fellowship about 10 minutes after the first group arrived. We waited for the church to be unlocked then unpacked the trailor. The women were so nice and even had fresh fruits and veggies waiting for us as snacks. Next on the docket was a trip to the Holiday Inn for showers. They were even nice enough to let 34 stinky smelly cyclists jump in their pool and jacuzzi while we waited for the showers. They tricked out the health club showers for us, providing 34 towels, washclothes, shampoos, mini soaps, lotions and even perfume samples. I can't believe how happy having a mini bottle of lotion made me! Not to mention a fluffy white towel! Yay! After showers, Alyssa, Kristina and I walked back and tried to get some donation magic. We talked to the manager and waitress of a waffle house, who had no budget left for donations this quarter, but they gave us all the money in the tip jar. Smitty's barbeque donated 4 burgers for us and Galen. Yum! They were great and I would highly recommend visiting them if you happen to be in Panama Beach. We went back to the church where we put on a bike clinic for about 10 kids. I have lots of cute videos to share once I have a computer to load them on. The church treated us to a delicious lasagna dinner and we settled in for bed. I do have to send a big thank you to Galen, who took all of my cycling clothes to the laundrymat after I forgot to put them in the laundry pile. Thank you so much!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Longest Day
Tallahassee to Apalachicola 83 miles
Today was a full 12 hours on the road. I decided to ride with Tiffany, Mark, and Coleman who were sweeping. We started out around 7am from Tally. The morning was very relaxing because chore groups switched and my group is now dinner crew. Dinner crew doesn't have much to do in the mornings, which let's me "sleep in" until our wake up call at 5:30. I enjoy sleeping for the extra 10 minutes! We started off with lots of downhills as removed out of town. We were even able to use a bike path for the first 12 miles of the route. We pushed on, getting closer and closer to the coast. We had to rush out of first lunh because one of our team members fell and needed the first aid kit. He was fine, but luckily we have an EMT on our team to patch up all of the scrapes and cuts. By mile 40 we were tired and stopped at a butcher shop. We tried to get dinner donations, but instead got fresh made sandwiches for the four of us. They were wonderful and we had a nice talk with the owners and a few patrons. The owner even filled our bottles for us. Shortly after the shop we hit our first bridge. When I think of bridges in Michigan I think of flat ones. You know, kind of like the ones that crisscross the Grand River. Flat. No one told Florida that you can make flat bridges. Nope. Just left them out of that conversation! Because bridges are pretty much our mountains. You may say that's exaggeration, but this is coming from a group that calls the 3 mile sandy stretch from day 2 "the desert." That's a bit exaggerated. This, not so much. We crossed the first of 3 bridges, a behemoth of a bridge. We struggled to the top, only to see an even bigger part of he bridge rising from nowhere. It loomed over us, imposing and scary. We struggled up in our lowest gear and finally made it to the top. I hit my trip top sped of 34 mph on the way down. We rode on, through windy beaches and less windy forests. It is amazing to see the devastation caused by hurricanes. There are lots with nothing but a foundation left, others that were obviously damaged in storms. We pushed on to second lunch where I met a very nice state trooper who told me that there were real bathrooms in only 4 miles. He is originally from southern CA so we talked a little about areas where our trip would be going through. We made it to mile 77 and then took a rest in what turned out to be the perfect stopping spot. A pod of dolphins was hunting fish less than 20 yards from shore. We watched them jump around and surface for a long time. Corey joined us for the last 6 miles back to the church. We crossed our last bridge, which was flat, but super, super long. Arriving at the host at 7pm, we rushed to take our hose showers. We were too late for the donated pizza, but I had a very good shrimp dinner donated by a local seafood restaurant. I threw my laundry in the pile, told 3 people to wake me when it was back and went to sleep. Alyssa woke me around 9:30, but the laundry was still dirty. Apparently, laundrymats in the middle of nowhere close at 9pm :( I threw everything back in my bin and collapsed back onto my thermarest for the best night of sleep I have had yet on this trip!
Today was a full 12 hours on the road. I decided to ride with Tiffany, Mark, and Coleman who were sweeping. We started out around 7am from Tally. The morning was very relaxing because chore groups switched and my group is now dinner crew. Dinner crew doesn't have much to do in the mornings, which let's me "sleep in" until our wake up call at 5:30. I enjoy sleeping for the extra 10 minutes! We started off with lots of downhills as removed out of town. We were even able to use a bike path for the first 12 miles of the route. We pushed on, getting closer and closer to the coast. We had to rush out of first lunh because one of our team members fell and needed the first aid kit. He was fine, but luckily we have an EMT on our team to patch up all of the scrapes and cuts. By mile 40 we were tired and stopped at a butcher shop. We tried to get dinner donations, but instead got fresh made sandwiches for the four of us. They were wonderful and we had a nice talk with the owners and a few patrons. The owner even filled our bottles for us. Shortly after the shop we hit our first bridge. When I think of bridges in Michigan I think of flat ones. You know, kind of like the ones that crisscross the Grand River. Flat. No one told Florida that you can make flat bridges. Nope. Just left them out of that conversation! Because bridges are pretty much our mountains. You may say that's exaggeration, but this is coming from a group that calls the 3 mile sandy stretch from day 2 "the desert." That's a bit exaggerated. This, not so much. We crossed the first of 3 bridges, a behemoth of a bridge. We struggled to the top, only to see an even bigger part of he bridge rising from nowhere. It loomed over us, imposing and scary. We struggled up in our lowest gear and finally made it to the top. I hit my trip top sped of 34 mph on the way down. We rode on, through windy beaches and less windy forests. It is amazing to see the devastation caused by hurricanes. There are lots with nothing but a foundation left, others that were obviously damaged in storms. We pushed on to second lunch where I met a very nice state trooper who told me that there were real bathrooms in only 4 miles. He is originally from southern CA so we talked a little about areas where our trip would be going through. We made it to mile 77 and then took a rest in what turned out to be the perfect stopping spot. A pod of dolphins was hunting fish less than 20 yards from shore. We watched them jump around and surface for a long time. Corey joined us for the last 6 miles back to the church. We crossed our last bridge, which was flat, but super, super long. Arriving at the host at 7pm, we rushed to take our hose showers. We were too late for the donated pizza, but I had a very good shrimp dinner donated by a local seafood restaurant. I threw my laundry in the pile, told 3 people to wake me when it was back and went to sleep. Alyssa woke me around 9:30, but the laundry was still dirty. Apparently, laundrymats in the middle of nowhere close at 9pm :( I threw everything back in my bin and collapsed back onto my thermarest for the best night of sleep I have had yet on this trip!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Build it, Paint it, Tear it down
Build Day in Tallahassee
We started the day off in the best way possible: a 7:30 am wake up call! I still woke up at 5:45 because my body is thoroughly trained, but I could just roll over and snuggle back into my sleeping bag cocoon. Until a hidden alarm went off at 6:30. No one ever found out where the noise was coming from. Christine C, who was sleeping next to me, jumped up and started to get ready. I asked her if she was really getting up an hour early and she said yes. Five minutes later she returned and informed me that we had another hour to sleep. Just in case I was curious :) We loaded up into the shuttle vans. I was in the second round of shuttle because I spent most of the morning cleaning squished moldy fruit out of bins and finding new homes for the good fruit. Tip of the day: don't pack 4 brand new giant jars of jelly in the fruit bins. The bananas won't survive! I ended up shuttling over in the car of a Bike & Build alumni, Jen Hunt. I was the only non University of Florida person in the car and we just so happened to be in the home of Florida State University, Tallahassee. I learned a lot about the rivalry and stadiums. Arriving at the build, the first group was already hard at work. We were working with a smaller affordable housing group to revamp and existing house for a homeowner. Originally, the plan was to have us paint the inside and outside of a house. However, when Bethel CDC (Community Development something) showed up to move the furniture out the day before they found that the job would need more than paint to make a livable house. They found dangerous amounts of mold in all of the walls, rotted floorboards and supporting beams, and a furnace that was pumping smoke into the attic instead of outside of the house. As the day progressed we also discovered that the house was infested with fleas. To think about someone living in those conditions for years really drives home the reason that our trip is necessary. In less than 6 hours we had completely repainted her house including shutters, trim, eaves and screen porch. The guys demo'ed the inside, tearing out all of the mold infested wood. I had a lot of fun at this site since I love painting. I was mocked by some of my teammates, who shall remain nameless, for having too dainty of a painting technique. I blame that on the care I take with my painting. I may not be as fast as "the gloppers" but I don't have any paint on me at the end of the day. We had some delicious pizza courtesy of our hosts for lunch. This site was very different from Jacksonville. In Jax everything was very specific and was written down. Here we were much more self directed. We could change jobs whenever we wanted or move to a different part of the house. Both styles have their benefits. I am curious to see what our other build sites will be like.
Because of the flea situation, we were quarantined to the bike room until we had showered. Giving fleas to each of our hosts from infested bins is not part of the summer plans! I was one of the last girls to shower but I gave my bike a thorough cleaning while I was waiting. After showers we had dinner provided by an alumni's parents. They seemed very nice, but didn't stick around for very long. Our first route meeting began with highs and lows of the week. My high was the service spirit of our trip members and my low was Summer having to go home to deal with a family issue. We talked about what we could do to improve the trip and how we could make this the best route ever. We decided to wake up at 5:30 from now on, since the extra time gives us more shade and cooler temps. We finished late, after our normal 10:00 bedtime. But it wasn't quite sleepy time yet. Just as I was drifting off, they asked everyone who was still awake to pile in the van. It was stuck in some gravel and they needed weight on the rear axel. So we scrambled outside and stuffed 7 of us in the back seat, 4 in the mid-back seat and 4 standing on the bumper. Eventually Corey managed to get us up into the secure area. I went back to sleep and dreamed about donation magic and bouncy castles :)
We started the day off in the best way possible: a 7:30 am wake up call! I still woke up at 5:45 because my body is thoroughly trained, but I could just roll over and snuggle back into my sleeping bag cocoon. Until a hidden alarm went off at 6:30. No one ever found out where the noise was coming from. Christine C, who was sleeping next to me, jumped up and started to get ready. I asked her if she was really getting up an hour early and she said yes. Five minutes later she returned and informed me that we had another hour to sleep. Just in case I was curious :) We loaded up into the shuttle vans. I was in the second round of shuttle because I spent most of the morning cleaning squished moldy fruit out of bins and finding new homes for the good fruit. Tip of the day: don't pack 4 brand new giant jars of jelly in the fruit bins. The bananas won't survive! I ended up shuttling over in the car of a Bike & Build alumni, Jen Hunt. I was the only non University of Florida person in the car and we just so happened to be in the home of Florida State University, Tallahassee. I learned a lot about the rivalry and stadiums. Arriving at the build, the first group was already hard at work. We were working with a smaller affordable housing group to revamp and existing house for a homeowner. Originally, the plan was to have us paint the inside and outside of a house. However, when Bethel CDC (Community Development something) showed up to move the furniture out the day before they found that the job would need more than paint to make a livable house. They found dangerous amounts of mold in all of the walls, rotted floorboards and supporting beams, and a furnace that was pumping smoke into the attic instead of outside of the house. As the day progressed we also discovered that the house was infested with fleas. To think about someone living in those conditions for years really drives home the reason that our trip is necessary. In less than 6 hours we had completely repainted her house including shutters, trim, eaves and screen porch. The guys demo'ed the inside, tearing out all of the mold infested wood. I had a lot of fun at this site since I love painting. I was mocked by some of my teammates, who shall remain nameless, for having too dainty of a painting technique. I blame that on the care I take with my painting. I may not be as fast as "the gloppers" but I don't have any paint on me at the end of the day. We had some delicious pizza courtesy of our hosts for lunch. This site was very different from Jacksonville. In Jax everything was very specific and was written down. Here we were much more self directed. We could change jobs whenever we wanted or move to a different part of the house. Both styles have their benefits. I am curious to see what our other build sites will be like.
Because of the flea situation, we were quarantined to the bike room until we had showered. Giving fleas to each of our hosts from infested bins is not part of the summer plans! I was one of the last girls to shower but I gave my bike a thorough cleaning while I was waiting. After showers we had dinner provided by an alumni's parents. They seemed very nice, but didn't stick around for very long. Our first route meeting began with highs and lows of the week. My high was the service spirit of our trip members and my low was Summer having to go home to deal with a family issue. We talked about what we could do to improve the trip and how we could make this the best route ever. We decided to wake up at 5:30 from now on, since the extra time gives us more shade and cooler temps. We finished late, after our normal 10:00 bedtime. But it wasn't quite sleepy time yet. Just as I was drifting off, they asked everyone who was still awake to pile in the van. It was stuck in some gravel and they needed weight on the rear axel. So we scrambled outside and stuffed 7 of us in the back seat, 4 in the mid-back seat and 4 standing on the bumper. Eventually Corey managed to get us up into the secure area. I went back to sleep and dreamed about donation magic and bouncy castles :)
Tally
Perry to Tallahassee, FL 52 miles
Our easiest day yet... Kind of. We got up early because we were staying at a school and needed to be off the premises by 7 am. I was given Jake the Duck by Jillian for being so helpful when she was having problems with her brakes before. A 5:30 wake up call challenged us all. The short milage and build day that awaited us in Tally had us all excited. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the terrain and elevation of Florida, so I didn't know that Tally is one of the highest points in the entire state. Boo... Not a fan. I mean, the hills didn't kill me, but there were a few times where I was huffing and puffing in my "granny gear" rolling along at 6 miles/hr. I'm pretty sure I would have been faster on foot. And been a lot less out if breath at the top! Alyssa had a lot of problems with her gear shifting, so it was an especially hard day for her too. She did a great job working through a difficult situation. We were struggling up some hills when we received one of the greatests texts ever; "free burritos at Chipotle." a restaurant about a mile before our host donated a free burrito to every rider. We got to pick our toppings and everything. I decided that it would he better if I took my burrito to the church, then ate. I was very happy with that decision after I saw how many hills were between Chipotle and the church! The church is located at one of the highest parts of the city and is huge. We stayed in their youth ministries section. We were able to have separate rooms for bikes and sleeping. We even had showers located right in the church! Yay fir simplicity! We exploded our stuff in the normal manner then settled in for a few hours of relaxation. Some people took advantage of the bike shops and got repairs and fits done. I stopped by the Giant shop and was able to get some chain lube. While we were there we met a future B&B'er from P2C11 and a mother of a CUS11 leader...small world, huh? Trinity United Methodist Church gave us a wonderful potluck with delicious gumbo. A B&Balumni, Jen Hunt, stopped by. She was actually part of the trip that my roommate, Kristen was on last year. We ended the night by exploring Tally and hanging out as a group. It was a wonderful ride and a great night!
Our easiest day yet... Kind of. We got up early because we were staying at a school and needed to be off the premises by 7 am. I was given Jake the Duck by Jillian for being so helpful when she was having problems with her brakes before. A 5:30 wake up call challenged us all. The short milage and build day that awaited us in Tally had us all excited. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the terrain and elevation of Florida, so I didn't know that Tally is one of the highest points in the entire state. Boo... Not a fan. I mean, the hills didn't kill me, but there were a few times where I was huffing and puffing in my "granny gear" rolling along at 6 miles/hr. I'm pretty sure I would have been faster on foot. And been a lot less out if breath at the top! Alyssa had a lot of problems with her gear shifting, so it was an especially hard day for her too. She did a great job working through a difficult situation. We were struggling up some hills when we received one of the greatests texts ever; "free burritos at Chipotle." a restaurant about a mile before our host donated a free burrito to every rider. We got to pick our toppings and everything. I decided that it would he better if I took my burrito to the church, then ate. I was very happy with that decision after I saw how many hills were between Chipotle and the church! The church is located at one of the highest parts of the city and is huge. We stayed in their youth ministries section. We were able to have separate rooms for bikes and sleeping. We even had showers located right in the church! Yay fir simplicity! We exploded our stuff in the normal manner then settled in for a few hours of relaxation. Some people took advantage of the bike shops and got repairs and fits done. I stopped by the Giant shop and was able to get some chain lube. While we were there we met a future B&B'er from P2C11 and a mother of a CUS11 leader...small world, huh? Trinity United Methodist Church gave us a wonderful potluck with delicious gumbo. A B&Balumni, Jen Hunt, stopped by. She was actually part of the trip that my roommate, Kristen was on last year. We ended the night by exploring Tally and hanging out as a group. It was a wonderful ride and a great night!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Loggers: Boo
Lake City to Perry, FL 72 miles
Another 70 mile day, each a little more of a struggle than the one before. Summer left early in the morning, before I was awake. We started off the day wig a breakfast left for us by the first Presbyterian Church. We had fresh baked muffins and lots of new flavors of cereal. It seems a little sad that off brand captain crunch made so many people happy, including me. The day started off with many people in the van, including two of our leaders, from heat related problems from the day before. Corey, after dropping Summer off at a very early time in the morning, ended up riding his bike instead of driving the van. I biked with Jillian, Alyssa, Kristina, and Kelsey. Sonia joined us at first lunch, but went back to help out the sweeps later in the day. The ride was very good . Jillian figured out that her problems with clipping into her pedals were from her cleats being on backwards. Life was much easier after that! We also were fortunate enough to receive a donation from Wanda at a fruit stand on the side of the road. She let every B&B'er stop and gorge themselves on fresh watermelon and peaches. Mmmm. So good! We finished the day on a road that seemed to be only driven by logging trucks. It was completely flat, with no shade or curves. So boring! We stopped a lot to rehydrate and made it in by 4:30. Our home for the night was Taylor middle school. We all slept in the gym and enjoyed the numerous showers that they had, even I they were very cold! Today was also very exciting because it was our first mail drop. I would like to thank my parents, Kristen and my Grandma S for their mail. It was so nice to hear from all of you. We finished the day by watching people compete a Bike & Build obstical course including thermarest rolling and a crabwalk. It was pretty amusing and there are videos to prove it. The day ended with lots of wonderful sleep!
Another 70 mile day, each a little more of a struggle than the one before. Summer left early in the morning, before I was awake. We started off the day wig a breakfast left for us by the first Presbyterian Church. We had fresh baked muffins and lots of new flavors of cereal. It seems a little sad that off brand captain crunch made so many people happy, including me. The day started off with many people in the van, including two of our leaders, from heat related problems from the day before. Corey, after dropping Summer off at a very early time in the morning, ended up riding his bike instead of driving the van. I biked with Jillian, Alyssa, Kristina, and Kelsey. Sonia joined us at first lunch, but went back to help out the sweeps later in the day. The ride was very good . Jillian figured out that her problems with clipping into her pedals were from her cleats being on backwards. Life was much easier after that! We also were fortunate enough to receive a donation from Wanda at a fruit stand on the side of the road. She let every B&B'er stop and gorge themselves on fresh watermelon and peaches. Mmmm. So good! We finished the day on a road that seemed to be only driven by logging trucks. It was completely flat, with no shade or curves. So boring! We stopped a lot to rehydrate and made it in by 4:30. Our home for the night was Taylor middle school. We all slept in the gym and enjoyed the numerous showers that they had, even I they were very cold! Today was also very exciting because it was our first mail drop. I would like to thank my parents, Kristen and my Grandma S for their mail. It was so nice to hear from all of you. We finished the day by watching people compete a Bike & Build obstical course including thermarest rolling and a crabwalk. It was pretty amusing and there are videos to prove it. The day ended with lots of wonderful sleep!
Post about Posts
Just a heads up about the format of this blog. I will work my hardest to write something about everyday of my journey. This may mean that I get far behind, but I hope you will forgive this in return for a more detailed accounting of my summer voyage. I am having a wonderful time on B&B, and am currently sitting in the East Baptist Church in DeFuniak Springs, FL. We are waiting for dinner and celebrating haven Internet again :) I will try and put at least three days up tonight, but no promises!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Push
Day 2: Palatka to Lake City FL. 78.8 miles of crazy.
How to begin? We got up at 6 but we weren't ready for our route meeting until 8:15. We are still working to perfect the morning routine. Today was destined to be a long haul, but we were optimistic. Natalie, one of the B&B program directors was supposed to leave us, but instead decided to stick around another day. She was gracious enough to drive the van obce again. I ended up riding with new partners, which made the day very different from the day before. I never realized how different traveling in groups of two is from groups of five and six. It was a fun ride, but very hard. We spent most of the day biking in high heat. Jillian was having a really hard day until we realized that she had spent the first 42 miles riding with her brakes rubbing on her rims, essentially making her work 3 tomes as hard as the rest of us. Just after we fixed her bike, the world ended... Really, it just ended. The road turned to dirt. And by dirt, I mean it became entrenched with 6 inches of hot, loose sand. Boo. And I don't know if you know sand, but things don't grow in it. Especially tall, shady things like trees. Kristina, Jillian, Richard, Alyssa and I dragged ourselves and our bikes across the expanse, hoping for the fleeting stretches where the sand became packed, only to hav it disintegrate beneath our feet once again. We met one man who warned us that this was a three mile stretch, but we pressed on. Every time I thought I saw a piece of shade in the distance, it would magically disappear before we reached it. After a mile of struggle a miracle appeared! Natalie had come to rescue us in the van! We crammed five bikes and six people into VANessa, and set off for second lunch. During our walk in what has since been referee to by the team as "the desert" I was having a serious internal debate over whether I would be an "every inch"-er or whether I would be willing to get into the van. I was leaning towards "every inch" until I saw the van appear on the horizon. I made up my mind the instant I saw the van...there are some parts of America that are just not worth biking through. I don't think that I am every going to regret saying "I biked across all of America except for 2 miles of hateful sand." I think that if I had pushed on without shade,I may not have made it the last 35 miles to the host.
We ate 2nd lunch and Alyssa and I had a lovely conversation with a woman who lived near by. She was kind enough to let us use her bathrooms and let us fill up our water bottles at her sink. We struggled on to the host, finally arriving at the First Presbyterian Church in Lake City. They were amazing!!! They were so flexible with us; even though we said we would likely be there at 4 for a 6pm dinner, they postponed until 8 so that riders could make it in after sub a draining and long day. they individually shuttled us to showers in their own cars, despite how sweaty and gross we were. When the aquatic center that we were using for showers closed at 7, they took the latecomers and sweeps into their own homes to let them get clean. They fed us wonderful taco salad and even left us food for breakfast the next day.
It was a very long day. Sweeps finally made it in after12 long hours on the road. 8am to 8 pm. My favorite part of the day was when we lined the steep hill that led into the church and cheered them home. The day ended with our first laundry washing and a long deep sleep.
How to begin? We got up at 6 but we weren't ready for our route meeting until 8:15. We are still working to perfect the morning routine. Today was destined to be a long haul, but we were optimistic. Natalie, one of the B&B program directors was supposed to leave us, but instead decided to stick around another day. She was gracious enough to drive the van obce again. I ended up riding with new partners, which made the day very different from the day before. I never realized how different traveling in groups of two is from groups of five and six. It was a fun ride, but very hard. We spent most of the day biking in high heat. Jillian was having a really hard day until we realized that she had spent the first 42 miles riding with her brakes rubbing on her rims, essentially making her work 3 tomes as hard as the rest of us. Just after we fixed her bike, the world ended... Really, it just ended. The road turned to dirt. And by dirt, I mean it became entrenched with 6 inches of hot, loose sand. Boo. And I don't know if you know sand, but things don't grow in it. Especially tall, shady things like trees. Kristina, Jillian, Richard, Alyssa and I dragged ourselves and our bikes across the expanse, hoping for the fleeting stretches where the sand became packed, only to hav it disintegrate beneath our feet once again. We met one man who warned us that this was a three mile stretch, but we pressed on. Every time I thought I saw a piece of shade in the distance, it would magically disappear before we reached it. After a mile of struggle a miracle appeared! Natalie had come to rescue us in the van! We crammed five bikes and six people into VANessa, and set off for second lunch. During our walk in what has since been referee to by the team as "the desert" I was having a serious internal debate over whether I would be an "every inch"-er or whether I would be willing to get into the van. I was leaning towards "every inch" until I saw the van appear on the horizon. I made up my mind the instant I saw the van...there are some parts of America that are just not worth biking through. I don't think that I am every going to regret saying "I biked across all of America except for 2 miles of hateful sand." I think that if I had pushed on without shade,I may not have made it the last 35 miles to the host.
We ate 2nd lunch and Alyssa and I had a lovely conversation with a woman who lived near by. She was kind enough to let us use her bathrooms and let us fill up our water bottles at her sink. We struggled on to the host, finally arriving at the First Presbyterian Church in Lake City. They were amazing!!! They were so flexible with us; even though we said we would likely be there at 4 for a 6pm dinner, they postponed until 8 so that riders could make it in after sub a draining and long day. they individually shuttled us to showers in their own cars, despite how sweaty and gross we were. When the aquatic center that we were using for showers closed at 7, they took the latecomers and sweeps into their own homes to let them get clean. They fed us wonderful taco salad and even left us food for breakfast the next day.
It was a very long day. Sweeps finally made it in after12 long hours on the road. 8am to 8 pm. My favorite part of the day was when we lined the steep hill that led into the church and cheered them home. The day ended with our first laundry washing and a long deep sleep.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The beginning
Today we set off from Jacksonville Florida on our grand journey. We woke up early and scrambled around to pack the explosion that occurs from three days of orientation and building. Our first route meeting went by quickly. We learned that we would be going 20 miles longer than the website said because of a change in hosts. Instead of heading north to Callahan we were headed south to Palatka. We began the tradition of passing Jake the duck. He's kind of like a "rider of the day" award that fits in your camelback. Today he went to Prachi because she raised he most money. Next, we set off for the wheel dip at the end of Atlantic Ave. We met our first reroute when we ran into a street fair on the way. It wasn't a real problem since we ended up just riding most of the way any way. We took lots of pictures, frolicked in the ocean and dipped our back wheels in the Atlantic. Our leaders gave a rousing speech, we did a group cheer and we were off. I rode with Summer all day and we had no problems at first, cruising into and out of first lunch by 11 am. Bike & Build does a 90-90 rule, where if it is a 90+ mile day or a 90+ degree day you get two lunches, just to make sure we are taking enough breaks and staying hydrated.
The time between first and second lunch is when things started to get hard. The temperature was rising, shade was disappearing and we were getting tired. We thought we were lost in St. Augustine, but, just like on our snowy day, we were on the road we needed to be on. We did get yelled at by a lady on a cruiser bike, smoking as she rode with out a helmet in heavy traffic. As we thought we were lost, we had pulled out of traffic on our bikes and we were standing on the corner, clearly off our bikes, asking passerbys for directions. She rode up and started yelling at us for riding on the sidewalk... Oh well! Summer and I made it to second lunch and finally arrived at the St. John's River State College gym around 5:55pm. We showered then ate some delicious donated pizza and chili cooked by dinner crew. Lights out was at 10, but most of us were asleep by 9 pm. Overall, it was a really tough day, but I was satisfied wig myself at the end. I added 30 miles to my longest ever ride and survived to bike again!
The time between first and second lunch is when things started to get hard. The temperature was rising, shade was disappearing and we were getting tired. We thought we were lost in St. Augustine, but, just like on our snowy day, we were on the road we needed to be on. We did get yelled at by a lady on a cruiser bike, smoking as she rode with out a helmet in heavy traffic. As we thought we were lost, we had pulled out of traffic on our bikes and we were standing on the corner, clearly off our bikes, asking passerbys for directions. She rode up and started yelling at us for riding on the sidewalk... Oh well! Summer and I made it to second lunch and finally arrived at the St. John's River State College gym around 5:55pm. We showered then ate some delicious donated pizza and chili cooked by dinner crew. Lights out was at 10, but most of us were asleep by 9 pm. Overall, it was a really tough day, but I was satisfied wig myself at the end. I added 30 miles to my longest ever ride and survived to bike again!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Post Beaches
After getting back to the church and taking a (much needed, it's a lot hotter than Michigan) shower, I went outside and painted our trailer. Pictures of our artwork are coming soon, I promise! We traveled to the church across from the habitT office and had. Delicious spGhetti dinner. Thank you Bishop Golden and congregation! Post dinner I organized my bin, called home, and prepped all of my stuff for our bike day tomorrow. We have our first biking day and many people are freaking out because our first day milage went from 45ish to 76ish... Which is pretty much twice as far as I've ever traveled on Bike before :) I have confidence though, I will do my best to make it and keep everyone going, even though I'm pretty sure that I'll only be 5 feet in front of the sweeps :) Tonight we also wrote letters to our future selves. Part of my letter thanked myself for keeping my blog so updated, so we'll have to see if that reLly happened! However, I will probably not be quite as quick to update at most locations. This host has generously allowed us to use the wifi for the duration of our stay, but that won't be the case with most hosts. I promise to journal everyday without Internet, so just come talk to me when I get back and I will fill you in on the in-betweens. Lights out was at 10 for a 6 am wakeup and 9 am wheeldip. Which means that this should have been off thirty minutes ago :) Goodnight!
Into the great beyond
I absolutely wish I could put pictures on this blog. But that shall have to wait until I can get to a real computer, not just my iPod :)
Also, before you get too far into this, I have to confess that I have a problem. I accidentLly published this post too early, but I can't go back and edit the end, only the beginning. Which is why this shall now be split into two separate posts :(
First off, I need to send a ginormous thank you to Sarah, Josh, and St. Clair from Beaches Habitat for Humanity. Today was our first build day and it has set a high bar for those to follow. Beaches has purchased one acre of land and has managed to fit five duplexs on it. As the Beaches are is, well, near the beach, property costs are at a premium and they work hard to use space wisely. The houses are all in various stages of completion, which provides plenty of work for 34 willing young adults. Some groups painted ANC caulked a house that was nearing completion, some took down and repaired scaffolding from a duplex that had just been sided, some moved heavy manly loads of fencing :) my group of 12 did general framing tasks on the least completed duplex. I started the day with Josh A and Jillian pounding nails into the insect repelling greenboards. It was here that I learned the magic of the framing hammer. You can stick the nail in hands free!!! I felt so construction-ee walking Round with my giant framing hammer slamming down nails. Next, Josh, Jillian, and I cut and started putting in backer boards in the upstairs rooms. We broke for lunch, provided by Beaches. They bought us giant trays of food from Subway. It was a good day for all of the vegitarians on the trip. Beaches asked for three sections of sub to be veggie, but the orders got messed up so we got 3 TRAYS of veggie subs :) we also had some of the best peanut butter cookies thT I have had for. Long time! Yum! Then we were surprized with our first bike and build swag: tahirts from beaches! They are blue or grey or gree and say building hope on the front. After lunch we changes jobs around and I ended up framing the second story with Josh A, Noelle, and Steph. We worked with St. Clair, a habitat volunter, to put up 3 walls over the course of two hours. I had a blast working with Beahes habitat!
Also, before you get too far into this, I have to confess that I have a problem. I accidentLly published this post too early, but I can't go back and edit the end, only the beginning. Which is why this shall now be split into two separate posts :(
First off, I need to send a ginormous thank you to Sarah, Josh, and St. Clair from Beaches Habitat for Humanity. Today was our first build day and it has set a high bar for those to follow. Beaches has purchased one acre of land and has managed to fit five duplexs on it. As the Beaches are is, well, near the beach, property costs are at a premium and they work hard to use space wisely. The houses are all in various stages of completion, which provides plenty of work for 34 willing young adults. Some groups painted ANC caulked a house that was nearing completion, some took down and repaired scaffolding from a duplex that had just been sided, some moved heavy manly loads of fencing :) my group of 12 did general framing tasks on the least completed duplex. I started the day with Josh A and Jillian pounding nails into the insect repelling greenboards. It was here that I learned the magic of the framing hammer. You can stick the nail in hands free!!! I felt so construction-ee walking Round with my giant framing hammer slamming down nails. Next, Josh, Jillian, and I cut and started putting in backer boards in the upstairs rooms. We broke for lunch, provided by Beaches. They bought us giant trays of food from Subway. It was a good day for all of the vegitarians on the trip. Beaches asked for three sections of sub to be veggie, but the orders got messed up so we got 3 TRAYS of veggie subs :) we also had some of the best peanut butter cookies thT I have had for. Long time! Yum! Then we were surprized with our first bike and build swag: tahirts from beaches! They are blue or grey or gree and say building hope on the front. After lunch we changes jobs around and I ended up framing the second story with Josh A, Noelle, and Steph. We worked with St. Clair, a habitat volunter, to put up 3 walls over the course of two hours. I had a blast working with Beahes habitat!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Its all true!
This shall be a short posting, as I am currently resting on my thermarest and lights out technically happened thirty two minutes ago. I planned on doing this blogging during our hour of free time before bed, but ended up painting the trailer until exactly 30 seconds before the lights went out. Luckily I had put everything I needed in a pile on my sleeping bag, so I was able to stumble around after and take my contacts out! Slowly but surely our trailer design is taking shape. I'll post some pics on fb when I have a chance. And I caught a tiny frog in the grass after I washed all of the paint brushes. It was adorable and super cute.
So you probably care more about what has happened over the last 48 hours than my groggy friends...basically lots of name games, ice breakers, and learning. We have had presentations on the B&B budget, donation magic(after wonderful post shower smoothies courtesy of Smothie King), ride safety, disease/health, and an awesome presenTation from Ralph of Beaches Habitat for Humanity, who we are partnering with tomorrow. Sunrise Communittee Church, our gracious hosts, donated a wonderful chicken/rib/meat bits dinner. I'm not quite sure what the meat bits were, but they looked chicken-ish and were delicious. Thank you to SCC!! Today we also played games like ninja and badger/woodchuck/some-blind-animal games. It was fantastic! I am a fabulous blind sock dodger, just in case you were wondering. We learned bike maintenance and cleaning techniques. I changed my tire from the stock brand to my gatorskins (it's a brand name... No alligators were harmed to make them...I hope!) I had a minor freak out when I thought that the tires were too big, but Prachi and Coleman helped me and we got everything figured out. We also did our "shakedown" ride. We went about ten miles to the beach. It was pretty but there were way too many stop signs. It was kinda like...pedal pedal slowing stopping pedal pedal slowing stopping. For about 3 miles...I was in the front for the ride so I got to be in the first shower group. We definitely had fun trying to find the country club that was letting us borrow their locker room. We went all over the place on tidy roads, not designed for a 15 passenger van (our van is named VAN-essa). The club was noce, but only had one women's shower (as opposed to the 5 men's showers). We finished in record time and had a very nice chat in the locker room with some of the ladies from the club. I'm sure they were surprised to enter the locker room and find us strewn about the place:) And I practiced setting up B&B tents after scrubbing a water stain Cinderella style. And my chore coup is the red jaguars and our first assignment is breakfast set-up/laundry/van cleaning.
That's all for now(since its an hour after lights out and I have a 6 am wakeup tomorrow. please deal free to ask me any questions in the comments section and I will try to answer them! I welcome comments!
So you probably care more about what has happened over the last 48 hours than my groggy friends...basically lots of name games, ice breakers, and learning. We have had presentations on the B&B budget, donation magic(after wonderful post shower smoothies courtesy of Smothie King), ride safety, disease/health, and an awesome presenTation from Ralph of Beaches Habitat for Humanity, who we are partnering with tomorrow. Sunrise Communittee Church, our gracious hosts, donated a wonderful chicken/rib/meat bits dinner. I'm not quite sure what the meat bits were, but they looked chicken-ish and were delicious. Thank you to SCC!! Today we also played games like ninja and badger/woodchuck/some-blind-animal games. It was fantastic! I am a fabulous blind sock dodger, just in case you were wondering. We learned bike maintenance and cleaning techniques. I changed my tire from the stock brand to my gatorskins (it's a brand name... No alligators were harmed to make them...I hope!) I had a minor freak out when I thought that the tires were too big, but Prachi and Coleman helped me and we got everything figured out. We also did our "shakedown" ride. We went about ten miles to the beach. It was pretty but there were way too many stop signs. It was kinda like...pedal pedal slowing stopping pedal pedal slowing stopping. For about 3 miles...I was in the front for the ride so I got to be in the first shower group. We definitely had fun trying to find the country club that was letting us borrow their locker room. We went all over the place on tidy roads, not designed for a 15 passenger van (our van is named VAN-essa). The club was noce, but only had one women's shower (as opposed to the 5 men's showers). We finished in record time and had a very nice chat in the locker room with some of the ladies from the club. I'm sure they were surprised to enter the locker room and find us strewn about the place:) And I practiced setting up B&B tents after scrubbing a water stain Cinderella style. And my chore coup is the red jaguars and our first assignment is breakfast set-up/laundry/van cleaning.
That's all for now(since its an hour after lights out and I have a 6 am wakeup tomorrow. please deal free to ask me any questions in the comments section and I will try to answer them! I welcome comments!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Now!
In only a few short hours bike and build begins!!! The last few days have been great. We went on a wild adventure to find a beach...we did find "Jacksonville beach bop associates" "city of Jacksonville beach" Which is not a beach, but the city of Jacksonville beach's municipal services building. We finally found a beach but we couldn't find parking. My mom dropped us off and went around the block while we quick snapped a few pictures.
After beach adventure we went to Applebees.And found the only waitress that can't count to five: " you need seats for ... One, two , three, four... Four people" nope, we had five people, all in plain view :)
I'm signing off for now, ready to meet all my new friends and go on the adventure on a lifetime!
After beach adventure we went to Applebees.And found the only waitress that can't count to five: " you need seats for ... One, two , three, four... Four people" nope, we had five people, all in plain view :)
I'm signing off for now, ready to meet all my new friends and go on the adventure on a lifetime!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Two days to go
Today Summer, Kelsey, and I, along with my mom and brother set out for Jacksonville. Summer and Kelsey spent the night at my house last night so that we could leave bright and early. I even remembered to decorate the car (with washable window markers) although it was not quite as good as last years decorations. Nothing exciting happened until we hit the first rest top in Indiana. Hmmmm.... How should I describe this? As we pulled in to the reststop parking lot, as happens often in parking lots, the person next to us, we shall call him Camery man, after the car which he was driving,was opening his door. A normal occurrence, most would say. But not to Camery man! At this point, situations like this go one of two ways: the pulling in car stops and Camery man gets out, or Camery man slightly shuts his door and gets out as soon as we pull into the lot. Our driver stopped the car, but instead of getting out, Camery man slams his door. As we shift the contents of the van around so we can exit, we notice Camry man talking to himself...we decided to wait for him to go inside since he seemed a little upset. Next thing ya know he's staring at Summer, who is in the passenger seat, and I could hear him through the windows..."oh! Don't you just sit there smiling like this is all your spot!" except we were firmly in our spot, so technically it was our spot, not to mention we are generally happy people on our way to the adventure of a lifetime, which makes us more smiley than usual. We waited, then went in to use the restroom. And he was waiting for us when we got out! He didn't say anything, but followed us to the car. We all loaded into the car and looked over to see him sitting in his car with the door open. Politely, our new driver, Mom, waited for him to close his door...and waited...and waited. At this point we figured he was just being rude, so she slowly went. He opened his door further and started saying some choice words. Ect,ect concluding with him chasing us down the highway to flip us off :) this might have been annoying except Camery man had lots more fun. He became annoyed with a truck that passed another semi. Both semis were exceeding the speed limit, but that bit of rational information didn't stop our friend! Oh no! Camery man wanted to make sure that the poor truckers knew that he was unhappy, so he did the only logical thing: speed up, pass the semis, roll down your window and spray your water bottle in their direction. Or maybe he just thought that his rear window was dirty and was trying to clean it... Because the he only succeeded in squirting his own car with a thick mist and wasting the water that had just paid $2 for at the rest stop. Life is never dull on the road.
P.s. If you are in southern tennessee, check out Ruby falls and let me know what it's like. We have been passing signs for it for over 90 miles!
P.s. If you are in southern tennessee, check out Ruby falls and let me know what it's like. We have been passing signs for it for over 90 miles!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Graduation
Today is my last full day as a student at CMU. In 26 hours I will be sitting in a row of chairs on the basketball court waiting to hear my name. If you count preschool, I have been working towards this day for 18 years. 18 YEARS. Ahhh! I'm packing up all of my stuff, preparing to leave Mount Pleasant. The weirdest thing is realizing that I won't be coming back in the fall. Every year I leave in May, but I always come back 3 months later. This time, that isn't going to happen! I'm saying my goodbyes to places and people. This morning was my last Friday at the Habitat ReStore. Over the last 2 years I've grown to love that place and all of its eccentricities. Every time I enter the store it has completely reinvented itself. One week we are overflowing with couches and the next we only have 2 dinning room tables to fill the entire front of the store...I will really miss that place and all of the wonderful people that I volunteer with there. I also had to say goodbye to two of my advisors for Alpha Phi Omega. I think that was when it really sunk in that I am leaving in less than a week. I've been a part of APO for 3 long years. Every year people graduate and new people take their place. But Pam and Ford have always been there. They are wonderful, caring people and I am going to miss them very much.
On the plus side, I saw deer! Summer and Maeghan (my roommates) say that this makes me a city person, but so what if I am! There aren't a whole lot of creatures running around in the industrial park that sits behind my house. I was very excited to see them, and even more excited when the didn't run away as I got closer. I can't wait to see all of the crazy creatures of the southwest. My goal is to see an armadillo or an elk. That would be cool. Or a roadrunner or a coyote. Hahaha. A coyote chasing a roadrunner would be good, but only if the coyote had a pair of cardboard wings attached to his arms and was slingshoting himself into a canyon wall (I just discoved that Cartoon Network plays Looney Tunes in the afternoons). But really, I'm going to geek out if I see anything.
Less than two weeks to go!
On the plus side, I saw deer! Summer and Maeghan (my roommates) say that this makes me a city person, but so what if I am! There aren't a whole lot of creatures running around in the industrial park that sits behind my house. I was very excited to see them, and even more excited when the didn't run away as I got closer. I can't wait to see all of the crazy creatures of the southwest. My goal is to see an armadillo or an elk. That would be cool. Or a roadrunner or a coyote. Hahaha. A coyote chasing a roadrunner would be good, but only if the coyote had a pair of cardboard wings attached to his arms and was slingshoting himself into a canyon wall (I just discoved that Cartoon Network plays Looney Tunes in the afternoons). But really, I'm going to geek out if I see anything.
Less than two weeks to go!
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