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!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
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 :)
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 :)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
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!)
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.
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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
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.
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!
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!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
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.
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Why I Build
New Orleans build day #1
We had a late wake up of 7:30 am this morning, which caused some confusion since it had never actually been announced the day before. Some poor people got up at 6:30 (our normal build wake up) and got ready, only to realize they could have had another hour of sleep. We had an orientation by another B&B alumni who also works for the St. Bernard Project. She told us about the story of the man from whom they lease their offices. He had stayed to wait out the storm. When he went out to assess the damage, he saw a little water trickling his way. Just to be safe, he decided to take his dog and leave for a few hours. In the time it took to grab his dog and a change of clothes, the water was over his knees. He retreated to he second floor of his apartment building and stuck a t-shirt out the window. Someone came by with a boat and brought him to a bank roof for a real rescue. He and the others on the roof set a deadline in their minds... It shouldn't take longer than three days to be rescued. As Molly said, "how long does it take to reach America from America?" Three days stretched into four, four into five and five into six. They waited on the roof, in August Heat, for six days with minimal food and water, before they were finally rescued by the Canadian Mounties. I thought I knew all of the facts and the figures about affordable housing and I thought I knew why I was here. But when Molly was talking it really hit me. She talked about his experiences and why he let's them keep their offices in his building. After waiting on a roof for six days, he thought nobody cared. And to have groups coming down six years later to help him and his community shows that people do. I didn't see that impact in what I was doing until she said that.
We split into two groups and went off to our build sites.I spent the rest of my day working to correct he mistakes of earlier volunteers. The original French doors on the second story had been salvaged, but the group that had been asked to paint them had really done a number. Not only did they miss massive spaces and leave lumpy bits in the paint, they painted the glass. They didn't tape and the didn't seem to care. Josh A, Kristina and Christine C worked with me all day to scrape, tape and repaint the door. It was a little frustrating, but I am glad we were able to save the doors. We left a little early, as we were having dinner with our build supervisors (and B&B alumni) and they needed to go home and cook. We went over to Nate and Colin's house, where we had fried chicken and spaghetti. They have a very interesting style of house, which seems to be popular in New Orleans, a shotgun house. There are no hallways, only rooms that you must walk through to get to other rooms. We had a lot of fun meeting their co-workers from the St. Bernard Project. SBP works out of St Bernard Parish adjacent to NOLA. St Bernard Parish is the only county in the history of the US to be declared 100% uninhabitable after a national disaster. Every single house was condemned. They are working to rebuild homes and are currently building their first ground up house. They are a great group and I'm fad I've gotten a chance to work with them.
We had a late wake up of 7:30 am this morning, which caused some confusion since it had never actually been announced the day before. Some poor people got up at 6:30 (our normal build wake up) and got ready, only to realize they could have had another hour of sleep. We had an orientation by another B&B alumni who also works for the St. Bernard Project. She told us about the story of the man from whom they lease their offices. He had stayed to wait out the storm. When he went out to assess the damage, he saw a little water trickling his way. Just to be safe, he decided to take his dog and leave for a few hours. In the time it took to grab his dog and a change of clothes, the water was over his knees. He retreated to he second floor of his apartment building and stuck a t-shirt out the window. Someone came by with a boat and brought him to a bank roof for a real rescue. He and the others on the roof set a deadline in their minds... It shouldn't take longer than three days to be rescued. As Molly said, "how long does it take to reach America from America?" Three days stretched into four, four into five and five into six. They waited on the roof, in August Heat, for six days with minimal food and water, before they were finally rescued by the Canadian Mounties. I thought I knew all of the facts and the figures about affordable housing and I thought I knew why I was here. But when Molly was talking it really hit me. She talked about his experiences and why he let's them keep their offices in his building. After waiting on a roof for six days, he thought nobody cared. And to have groups coming down six years later to help him and his community shows that people do. I didn't see that impact in what I was doing until she said that.
We split into two groups and went off to our build sites.I spent the rest of my day working to correct he mistakes of earlier volunteers. The original French doors on the second story had been salvaged, but the group that had been asked to paint them had really done a number. Not only did they miss massive spaces and leave lumpy bits in the paint, they painted the glass. They didn't tape and the didn't seem to care. Josh A, Kristina and Christine C worked with me all day to scrape, tape and repaint the door. It was a little frustrating, but I am glad we were able to save the doors. We left a little early, as we were having dinner with our build supervisors (and B&B alumni) and they needed to go home and cook. We went over to Nate and Colin's house, where we had fried chicken and spaghetti. They have a very interesting style of house, which seems to be popular in New Orleans, a shotgun house. There are no hallways, only rooms that you must walk through to get to other rooms. We had a lot of fun meeting their co-workers from the St. Bernard Project. SBP works out of St Bernard Parish adjacent to NOLA. St Bernard Parish is the only county in the history of the US to be declared 100% uninhabitable after a national disaster. Every single house was condemned. They are working to rebuild homes and are currently building their first ground up house. They are a great group and I'm fad I've gotten a chance to work with them.
Day off :)
New Orleans day off
Today was our first day off! I celebrated this fact by waking up at our normal time (stupid internal clock!) then rolling over and going right back to sleep. So satisfying! I slept in until the ripe old hour of 9am, then went downstairs to coordinate plans for the day. A hearty breakfast of lucky charms, lots of discussion and waiting for people to grab last minute things and we were on our way. We took the #88 bus from St Claude street to Canal. The bus ride was very fun and seemed so fast compared to our ride into the city the day before. Debarking on Canal, our big group split up and we went our separate ways. My group headed down the street where we found something we all had been missing: McDonalds. It may seem strange, but we spend our days riding past McDonalds's but rarely ever stop there to eat. I got some fries and a glass of water which were quickly eaten. Then we set off to do our touristy best to see everything. With this trip I decided to deviate from my usual pattern. Normally, before I go anywhere remotely interesting, I will Wikipedia, googlemaps, and research as much as I can before I go so that I can have the best touring plan for the day. I made a very impressive itinerary for our trip to DC last year, but for this trip I decided not to do that. I figured that I would follow recommendations, go with a group and see what they saw. I can come back to New Orleans again if I don't feel satisfied, but I can never do it again with these people! We started out the day walking down Canal until we found a map... Then we turned around and walked back the other way when we realized that we had already missed the French quarter. We strolled around, looking at shops, artists and the sites. We even found a giant oyster festival in the square. I admit it, I didn't try the oysters! Looked at all of the varieties, but nothing really appealed to me. So I had a snowball! They are a southern specialty that may even beat out sweet tea. Like a snow cone but with finer shaved ice, more flavors, and a bigger cup, that are everything you need when wandering around a strange city for hours at a time. I had a "wedding cake" flavored snowball which was vanilla-ee and wonderful! Later we found a gelato place and enjoyed paninis in their store. It made me laugh to see my first true B&B takeover. Between Alyssa, Kelsey, Sadie, Summer, Prachi, Lama, Dre and I, every table was taken by a B&B-er. Granted it was a rather small shop, but it was still fun to watch. We wandered and shopped more. We ran into other B&B-ers which shuffled our group a little. Eventually, we ended up on the trolly heading back to canal. We had some bad luck waiting for the trolly, but managed to get on it with only one incident! We rode to Canal where we decided to go back to Camp Hope where we could shower and prep for the rest of the night. We had a relatively uneventful trip back, where Steph made friends with everyone else on the back of the bus. We showered and met up with other groups. Eventually 12 girls set out for NOLA and a good dinner. We caught the bus and headed for the French quarter again. The Gumbo shop was our destination and it was wonderful! I had some chicken gumbo...mmmm! So good! Not too spicy, very flavorful, and perfect amount of soup. I highly recommend them. Because of the 50 minute wait forthe next bus,we decided to take a cab back. Christine and I had a great conversation with our cabbie. I don't remember his name, but he worked in the Pakistani police when he was younger and farmed. The last 3 years he has driven for NOLA. It was very interesting to listen to him tell his story. After we got back we crashed and went to bed!
Today was our first day off! I celebrated this fact by waking up at our normal time (stupid internal clock!) then rolling over and going right back to sleep. So satisfying! I slept in until the ripe old hour of 9am, then went downstairs to coordinate plans for the day. A hearty breakfast of lucky charms, lots of discussion and waiting for people to grab last minute things and we were on our way. We took the #88 bus from St Claude street to Canal. The bus ride was very fun and seemed so fast compared to our ride into the city the day before. Debarking on Canal, our big group split up and we went our separate ways. My group headed down the street where we found something we all had been missing: McDonalds. It may seem strange, but we spend our days riding past McDonalds's but rarely ever stop there to eat. I got some fries and a glass of water which were quickly eaten. Then we set off to do our touristy best to see everything. With this trip I decided to deviate from my usual pattern. Normally, before I go anywhere remotely interesting, I will Wikipedia, googlemaps, and research as much as I can before I go so that I can have the best touring plan for the day. I made a very impressive itinerary for our trip to DC last year, but for this trip I decided not to do that. I figured that I would follow recommendations, go with a group and see what they saw. I can come back to New Orleans again if I don't feel satisfied, but I can never do it again with these people! We started out the day walking down Canal until we found a map... Then we turned around and walked back the other way when we realized that we had already missed the French quarter. We strolled around, looking at shops, artists and the sites. We even found a giant oyster festival in the square. I admit it, I didn't try the oysters! Looked at all of the varieties, but nothing really appealed to me. So I had a snowball! They are a southern specialty that may even beat out sweet tea. Like a snow cone but with finer shaved ice, more flavors, and a bigger cup, that are everything you need when wandering around a strange city for hours at a time. I had a "wedding cake" flavored snowball which was vanilla-ee and wonderful! Later we found a gelato place and enjoyed paninis in their store. It made me laugh to see my first true B&B takeover. Between Alyssa, Kelsey, Sadie, Summer, Prachi, Lama, Dre and I, every table was taken by a B&B-er. Granted it was a rather small shop, but it was still fun to watch. We wandered and shopped more. We ran into other B&B-ers which shuffled our group a little. Eventually, we ended up on the trolly heading back to canal. We had some bad luck waiting for the trolly, but managed to get on it with only one incident! We rode to Canal where we decided to go back to Camp Hope where we could shower and prep for the rest of the night. We had a relatively uneventful trip back, where Steph made friends with everyone else on the back of the bus. We showered and met up with other groups. Eventually 12 girls set out for NOLA and a good dinner. We caught the bus and headed for the French quarter again. The Gumbo shop was our destination and it was wonderful! I had some chicken gumbo...mmmm! So good! Not too spicy, very flavorful, and perfect amount of soup. I highly recommend them. Because of the 50 minute wait forthe next bus,we decided to take a cab back. Christine and I had a great conversation with our cabbie. I don't remember his name, but he worked in the Pakistani police when he was younger and farmed. The last 3 years he has driven for NOLA. It was very interesting to listen to him tell his story. After we got back we crashed and went to bed!
NOLA!
Biloxi to New Orleans 93.2 miles
Today was full of excitement and very bumpy roads. We started off our first planned 90 mile+ day knowing that it would be long and difficult. We had a delicious breakfast and left the church. Summer and I joined a bunch of other riders and set out for New Orleans and a week of building. First lunch was at a gas station in Bay St Louis. Afterwards, we set out with Galen, Josh E, Sonja, and Alyssa. We hit the border, took lots of pictures with the Louisiana state sign (still no Mississippi sign!) Apparently, Corey stashed some water guns and other swag at the border, but my group never saw them :( after the border we ran into a ginormous bridge that seemed to be almost vertical. We struggled and worked and made our way to the top. We stopped for some pictures, which didn't really do justice to the height and craziness of these bridges. We sped down just in tome to see Corey stopped in front of a firehouse. Fake out! It was really just a water stop and we still had six miles till second lunch. Which was the side of the road...Mosquitos...ouch! They don't bother you until you slow down but, boy, when you stop they go crazy! I have so many bug bites! We continued on to a gas station where we got ice cream bars and then entered the city. It was a crazy ride into the city. We rode through the lower ninth ward, where much of the flood damage from Katrina occurred. I was tool busy trying to avoid all of the bumps, wholes, and grates to study my surroundings, but the differences in each house made me really sad. There were shiny new houses next to fallen-in condemned shacks. Some houses still have the "x"'s painted on them by the Army corps of engineers six years ago. In many ways it is a ghost town, full of empty houses but there are so many people there. Rebuilding is happening, but at a snails pace. We got through that part of town with a small reroute (20 B&B'ers huddled on a strip of sidewalk under I-10) but we all made it safe. We arrived in Arabi, just across the canal from NOLA proper and the site of Camp Hope, our hosts for the next week. We have 14 showers...for girls! No lines all week! They are set up to handle large numbers of volunteers working in NOLA and St.Bernard Parish, mostly volunteers working in the housing field. We just so happen to be the only large group here this week. There is a single volunteer who came here on her own or three weeks and a church that has had at least one volunteer down here for the last three years. But we are the large group of the week. Two alumni, Colin and Nate stopped by with a trash bag full of crawfish. I promised I would try some of every thing this summer, so I tried the crawfish...although my first attempt ended with me throwing my crawfish back in the pile and screaming a little as I quickly backed away. I swear that it looked like it moved! Josh A helped me with the first, but I managed the second and third on my own. They were ok, but I'm happy that I gave it a try. We finished up the night with a tour of downtown NOLA at night courtesy of Colin and Nate. We watched an amazing jazz band for a couple of hours, then went to Cafe du Monde for beignets. It was a long hard day, but we are really excited for our day off tomorrow!
Today was full of excitement and very bumpy roads. We started off our first planned 90 mile+ day knowing that it would be long and difficult. We had a delicious breakfast and left the church. Summer and I joined a bunch of other riders and set out for New Orleans and a week of building. First lunch was at a gas station in Bay St Louis. Afterwards, we set out with Galen, Josh E, Sonja, and Alyssa. We hit the border, took lots of pictures with the Louisiana state sign (still no Mississippi sign!) Apparently, Corey stashed some water guns and other swag at the border, but my group never saw them :( after the border we ran into a ginormous bridge that seemed to be almost vertical. We struggled and worked and made our way to the top. We stopped for some pictures, which didn't really do justice to the height and craziness of these bridges. We sped down just in tome to see Corey stopped in front of a firehouse. Fake out! It was really just a water stop and we still had six miles till second lunch. Which was the side of the road...Mosquitos...ouch! They don't bother you until you slow down but, boy, when you stop they go crazy! I have so many bug bites! We continued on to a gas station where we got ice cream bars and then entered the city. It was a crazy ride into the city. We rode through the lower ninth ward, where much of the flood damage from Katrina occurred. I was tool busy trying to avoid all of the bumps, wholes, and grates to study my surroundings, but the differences in each house made me really sad. There were shiny new houses next to fallen-in condemned shacks. Some houses still have the "x"'s painted on them by the Army corps of engineers six years ago. In many ways it is a ghost town, full of empty houses but there are so many people there. Rebuilding is happening, but at a snails pace. We got through that part of town with a small reroute (20 B&B'ers huddled on a strip of sidewalk under I-10) but we all made it safe. We arrived in Arabi, just across the canal from NOLA proper and the site of Camp Hope, our hosts for the next week. We have 14 showers...for girls! No lines all week! They are set up to handle large numbers of volunteers working in NOLA and St.Bernard Parish, mostly volunteers working in the housing field. We just so happen to be the only large group here this week. There is a single volunteer who came here on her own or three weeks and a church that has had at least one volunteer down here for the last three years. But we are the large group of the week. Two alumni, Colin and Nate stopped by with a trash bag full of crawfish. I promised I would try some of every thing this summer, so I tried the crawfish...although my first attempt ended with me throwing my crawfish back in the pile and screaming a little as I quickly backed away. I swear that it looked like it moved! Josh A helped me with the first, but I managed the second and third on my own. They were ok, but I'm happy that I gave it a try. We finished up the night with a tour of downtown NOLA at night courtesy of Colin and Nate. We watched an amazing jazz band for a couple of hours, then went to Cafe du Monde for beignets. It was a long hard day, but we are really excited for our day off tomorrow!
Swimming in the Gulf
Mobile to Biloxi 65.7 miles
Today was a much better day than the ride into Mobile. I started off with Jillian and Summer. The road out of Alabama was much smoother than the road in and had a lot less roadkill! There was no real sign so Will, who was driving the van for the day, chalked a sign on the pavement. We all gathered together and celebrated our second state line. A ways further down the road we had lunch in a cute little roadside stop. We decided to continue on to a place with real bathrooms and set out quickly. Coleman joined us and we rode to second lunch which was a gas station. I was a little scared that I had missed it because it was a little further than I expected, bit we found it in the end. And it was worth the wait...Snowballs!!! One of my favorite southern things, they are shaved ice and flavoring. I went with the Hurricane flavor and it was amazing even though it turned my mouth red. We made it to the church by 2 pm where we ran straight to the ocean. First Presbyterian Church was right on the ocean! We crossed the street and enjoyed the warm salty Gulf waters. Ahhh! It was so nice to finally get to go for a good swim. After unpacking the trailer Summer and I set out to find the showers. We were told they were a block or so that-a-way. So we went a mile or so before realizing we were lost...after walking all the way back to the church we realized that it was really just a block away! Oh well, it's an adventure, right? We had a great chicken and BBQ dinner, then settled in to watch Alyssa and Richard's presentation on ReBuilding Together. We also got mail today! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful letters and packages, but a special thanks to Kristen and her creative package! At least 50% of my team is sporting fluffy animal fake tattoos, thanks to her! I had a great nights sleep!
Today was a much better day than the ride into Mobile. I started off with Jillian and Summer. The road out of Alabama was much smoother than the road in and had a lot less roadkill! There was no real sign so Will, who was driving the van for the day, chalked a sign on the pavement. We all gathered together and celebrated our second state line. A ways further down the road we had lunch in a cute little roadside stop. We decided to continue on to a place with real bathrooms and set out quickly. Coleman joined us and we rode to second lunch which was a gas station. I was a little scared that I had missed it because it was a little further than I expected, bit we found it in the end. And it was worth the wait...Snowballs!!! One of my favorite southern things, they are shaved ice and flavoring. I went with the Hurricane flavor and it was amazing even though it turned my mouth red. We made it to the church by 2 pm where we ran straight to the ocean. First Presbyterian Church was right on the ocean! We crossed the street and enjoyed the warm salty Gulf waters. Ahhh! It was so nice to finally get to go for a good swim. After unpacking the trailer Summer and I set out to find the showers. We were told they were a block or so that-a-way. So we went a mile or so before realizing we were lost...after walking all the way back to the church we realized that it was really just a block away! Oh well, it's an adventure, right? We had a great chicken and BBQ dinner, then settled in to watch Alyssa and Richard's presentation on ReBuilding Together. We also got mail today! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful letters and packages, but a special thanks to Kristen and her creative package! At least 50% of my team is sporting fluffy animal fake tattoos, thanks to her! I had a great nights sleep!
Monday, June 6, 2011
A sad day
I'm not really sure how to begin this post. I'm taking a break from posting my days to inform you of some very sad news for the Bike and Build family. This afternoon a leader on the SC2SC route was hit and killed by a car while biking through Alabama. We were told a few hours ago in a team meeting. Everyone is taking their time to process in their own way. Our leaders offered to let us skip the build tomorrow, but I think everyone wants to go. We are bike & build and we are in a city that desperately needs our help. I don't think that I would feel right not building tomorrow. My thoughts are with SC2SC as they face the challenges ahead.
House in 2 days
Mobile build day #2
The day began a little more normal than the one before. We got up, had breakfast and headed to the build. Today we worked on finishing touches. Melanie and I cleaned, painted, and calked the main bathroom from top to bottom. It was so pretty after we were done! We found other odd jobs until the house was declared done at 2:30! We went back to the church and relaxed, then dinner crew made burritos and lots of other yummy food. We ate it in the sanitary hallway because there was a meeting in the fellowship hall. We followed that with team meeting #2 and a movie about NOLA and the rebuilding process. After resetting our sleeping areas it was time for bed!
The day began a little more normal than the one before. We got up, had breakfast and headed to the build. Today we worked on finishing touches. Melanie and I cleaned, painted, and calked the main bathroom from top to bottom. It was so pretty after we were done! We found other odd jobs until the house was declared done at 2:30! We went back to the church and relaxed, then dinner crew made burritos and lots of other yummy food. We ate it in the sanitary hallway because there was a meeting in the fellowship hall. We followed that with team meeting #2 and a movie about NOLA and the rebuilding process. After resetting our sleeping areas it was time for bed!
Sweet Home Alabama
Mobile build day #1
Today was our first build day working with Mobile area Habitat for Humanity. The day started off on a wonderful note with a donated breakfast from Starbucks. They put out a delicious spread of breakfast scones, apple fritters and other breakfast goodies...AND the offered us any drink on the menu for free! That's huge when you are with a group of 34! I had a carmel frappachino and it was great. We were able to sit at the coffee shop for about 30 minutes, reading the newspaper and chatting. We even found an article about RAAM in the New York Times. Race Across America is a cycling race that goes from the west coast to the east coast every year. The winner must average 350 miles a day and no more than an hour of sleep per night to be in contention for the prize. A woman had followed the 2009 tour and written a book about it but I can't remember the name :( going to the build sites we split up into two different groups. One group went across town and my group of 15 works on the other house. Our house was a foreclosure that had been sitting for 2 years. Habitat had bought the house and intended to fix it up for a new family to live in. Our supervisors were Gary and Marci and they were wonderful! I started off the day scraping paint off of the ceiling so that it could eventually be repainted. It was kind of fun to watch all of the paint flying down around us! Next I tackled my big project of the day...the closet floor. The original carper had been removed and the plan was to change it back to a painted surface. So, I had to pull all of the staples and paint it! It was the perfect job and I really enjoyed it. That took me through to the afternoon. Dave from Habitat hooked us up with sandwiches and sides from Sonny's BBQ. Yum! So delicious! I finished the day trying to match the stain on a piece of wood to two already installed pieces. Not easy! I didn't have the right color to match it to so I made my own. That little bit of trim was 20 coats of aged walnut and 4 coats of mahogany. And in the end it kinda looked like the other pieces of trims long lost cousin or something. Not quite the same, but you wouldn't notice until you really looked. And who stares at the pieces of trim in the corner? Not me! Well actually, I would probably notice, but not a normal person! We cleaned up and headed back to the church. Dinner was supposed to be burritos made by my chore group, but we were asked not to start cooking until after our meeting at 6:30. We assembled at the appointed time and discovered that the local Habitat chapter and some donation magic had come together to give us a free dinner at an oyster bar in downtown Mobile. We piled into the vehicles and followed Dave's car. He took us on a quick drive-by of a block that Habitat has rebuilt and showed us all of the houses. Before Katrina the Mobile chapter built 4 or 5 houses a year, but since then, they have averaged 60 houses/yr. Wow! They are also partnering with other organizations to find housing for refugees. we went to the oyster bar and had a delicious buffet. No oysters, but they did have scallops, tilapia and shrimp. I kept my promise and tried a little of everything. If I liked seafood, I think I would have liked it, but I'm not a fan of it which made me kind of prejudiced. The visitors bureau gave us phone cleaners and pedometers. Next we visited the OK bicycle shop, a bar and restaurant. I think we stopped mostly because of the name! They had a lovely little patio for us to enjoy the rest of the evening on. In comparison to the days it was really cold, but still much warmer than it would ever have been in Michigan at this time of the year. I had a great evening with friends. I'm really excited to go back to the house tomorrow. They say we may be able to go from walking in for the first time this morning, to being able to hand over the keys tomorrow...wow!
Today was our first build day working with Mobile area Habitat for Humanity. The day started off on a wonderful note with a donated breakfast from Starbucks. They put out a delicious spread of breakfast scones, apple fritters and other breakfast goodies...AND the offered us any drink on the menu for free! That's huge when you are with a group of 34! I had a carmel frappachino and it was great. We were able to sit at the coffee shop for about 30 minutes, reading the newspaper and chatting. We even found an article about RAAM in the New York Times. Race Across America is a cycling race that goes from the west coast to the east coast every year. The winner must average 350 miles a day and no more than an hour of sleep per night to be in contention for the prize. A woman had followed the 2009 tour and written a book about it but I can't remember the name :( going to the build sites we split up into two different groups. One group went across town and my group of 15 works on the other house. Our house was a foreclosure that had been sitting for 2 years. Habitat had bought the house and intended to fix it up for a new family to live in. Our supervisors were Gary and Marci and they were wonderful! I started off the day scraping paint off of the ceiling so that it could eventually be repainted. It was kind of fun to watch all of the paint flying down around us! Next I tackled my big project of the day...the closet floor. The original carper had been removed and the plan was to change it back to a painted surface. So, I had to pull all of the staples and paint it! It was the perfect job and I really enjoyed it. That took me through to the afternoon. Dave from Habitat hooked us up with sandwiches and sides from Sonny's BBQ. Yum! So delicious! I finished the day trying to match the stain on a piece of wood to two already installed pieces. Not easy! I didn't have the right color to match it to so I made my own. That little bit of trim was 20 coats of aged walnut and 4 coats of mahogany. And in the end it kinda looked like the other pieces of trims long lost cousin or something. Not quite the same, but you wouldn't notice until you really looked. And who stares at the pieces of trim in the corner? Not me! Well actually, I would probably notice, but not a normal person! We cleaned up and headed back to the church. Dinner was supposed to be burritos made by my chore group, but we were asked not to start cooking until after our meeting at 6:30. We assembled at the appointed time and discovered that the local Habitat chapter and some donation magic had come together to give us a free dinner at an oyster bar in downtown Mobile. We piled into the vehicles and followed Dave's car. He took us on a quick drive-by of a block that Habitat has rebuilt and showed us all of the houses. Before Katrina the Mobile chapter built 4 or 5 houses a year, but since then, they have averaged 60 houses/yr. Wow! They are also partnering with other organizations to find housing for refugees. we went to the oyster bar and had a delicious buffet. No oysters, but they did have scallops, tilapia and shrimp. I kept my promise and tried a little of everything. If I liked seafood, I think I would have liked it, but I'm not a fan of it which made me kind of prejudiced. The visitors bureau gave us phone cleaners and pedometers. Next we visited the OK bicycle shop, a bar and restaurant. I think we stopped mostly because of the name! They had a lovely little patio for us to enjoy the rest of the evening on. In comparison to the days it was really cold, but still much warmer than it would ever have been in Michigan at this time of the year. I had a great evening with friends. I'm really excited to go back to the house tomorrow. They say we may be able to go from walking in for the first time this morning, to being able to hand over the keys tomorrow...wow!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Bike, Hike, Hobo & Build
Pensacola to Mobile, AL 89.9 miles but really 96.6
miles
Waking up is a lot harder when you are leaving a big futon instead of a thermarest. A lot more difficult! I dragged myself out of bed and prepped for the day ahead. Rumors flew about the route: it was now 60 miles, it was really 101 miles, we were taking 2 ferrys, ect. We finally had our route meeting where the milage of 89.9 was announced. That kind of made me relieved because 89.9 seems so much easier than 90. There really isn't much of a difference, but in my head it is huge. I set out with Summer. We made it to the end of the street before we had problems. Summers cleat was lose on her shoe and so she couldn't get it off of her pedal. She had to take her shoe off so the guys could struggle with it. 15 minutes of every shoe removal technique you could possibly think of finally prevailed and we were on our way. We traversed a long bridge out of Pensacola, then headed to Alabama. I was very sad because I had accidentally packed my camera in my bin that morning and had to rely on others to take pics for me. We took pics on the bridge and at the sign. We made it to first lunch pretty quickly, had some food and were on our way. Kristina and Alyssa were nice enough to ride with us between lunches. I had a. Lot of fun biking with Summer again. We struggled up some hills as the air got hotter and the wind picked up. The last 5 miles before second lunch were a real struggle. We finally made it to lunch where Summer made the hard decision to finish the day in the van. She had worked hard and pushed a lot, but starting again on a 90 mile, 95*F day is not easy. Lunch was also where we first heard about the reroute. The original route included a tunnel, which was mot safe for cyclists. A local helped the first group plan a reroute, but it was going to add miles to our day. Kristina,Alyssa and I set out for the last 30 miles into Mobile. Biking into cities is tricky because you can see the city from far away, but you never know exactly where in the city you will be, so you anticipate arrival a lot faster than actually happens. It didn't help that the wind was gusting quite a bit, especially on bridges. It is a strange feeling being on a road that is at sea level. The road seems to float on the surrounding waters. We were heading for the city when we saw the detour. It took us about 3 miles away from the city, across a scary bridge, and 3 miles back to town. And it smelled like poop. The three miles out were pretty normal until we saw what was ahead. The most massive, sloping suspension bridge ever. If I didn't have to bike across it I would have thought it was pretty, but I did have to bike, so it was just scary. We slowly cranked our way to the top, where we stopped to take a picture, just to prove we did it. And then it happened! The gusting winds grabbed my pinwheel, yanked it out of my pack and flew it away from me. It took a very long time to fall. A very long time. We decided to go slow down the bridge, which really wasn't that hard because the headwind kept me at a steady 19 mph on a decline that would normally have me going at least 30 mph. The miles back to town were a death spiral around the city, or at least thats what it felt like. We rode straight for the city for2.5 miles surrounded by trains on both sides. I think that I could probably just hobo my way to Cali if the biking doesn't work out :) not really but it's nice to dream! Then we turned and headed away, then back towards the city and then away again. So frustrating! We got closer to town and met up with with Corey and Kenan. We traveled back to the host together. I was doing ok until the last 4 miles. I just it a wall with all of the hill climbing. I really just wanted to stop and cry, but I knew if I got off my bike or started crying it would just be that much longer and that much harder to be at the hosts and off my bike for the night. It all worked out ok. I was so happy when we made it to the church and saw "you made it" chalked on the ground. I settled all of my stuff in the corner and went to enjoy a cold glass of chocolate milk and fruit provided by our wonderful hosts. The Episcopal church of the Redeemer really rolled out the red carpet for us. Not only did they provide snacks, dinner and a place to sleep and shower, they had air mattresses, towels and linens. Two parishioners gave us their vehicles... Thats right, they gave us their cars for the next 3 days. They were absolutely fabulous to us. After seeing Alabama as a place with no shoulders, rough roads, and mucho road kill(dead armadillos) this church really made me see all of the good in Alabama. Thank you so much!
miles
Waking up is a lot harder when you are leaving a big futon instead of a thermarest. A lot more difficult! I dragged myself out of bed and prepped for the day ahead. Rumors flew about the route: it was now 60 miles, it was really 101 miles, we were taking 2 ferrys, ect. We finally had our route meeting where the milage of 89.9 was announced. That kind of made me relieved because 89.9 seems so much easier than 90. There really isn't much of a difference, but in my head it is huge. I set out with Summer. We made it to the end of the street before we had problems. Summers cleat was lose on her shoe and so she couldn't get it off of her pedal. She had to take her shoe off so the guys could struggle with it. 15 minutes of every shoe removal technique you could possibly think of finally prevailed and we were on our way. We traversed a long bridge out of Pensacola, then headed to Alabama. I was very sad because I had accidentally packed my camera in my bin that morning and had to rely on others to take pics for me. We took pics on the bridge and at the sign. We made it to first lunch pretty quickly, had some food and were on our way. Kristina and Alyssa were nice enough to ride with us between lunches. I had a. Lot of fun biking with Summer again. We struggled up some hills as the air got hotter and the wind picked up. The last 5 miles before second lunch were a real struggle. We finally made it to lunch where Summer made the hard decision to finish the day in the van. She had worked hard and pushed a lot, but starting again on a 90 mile, 95*F day is not easy. Lunch was also where we first heard about the reroute. The original route included a tunnel, which was mot safe for cyclists. A local helped the first group plan a reroute, but it was going to add miles to our day. Kristina,Alyssa and I set out for the last 30 miles into Mobile. Biking into cities is tricky because you can see the city from far away, but you never know exactly where in the city you will be, so you anticipate arrival a lot faster than actually happens. It didn't help that the wind was gusting quite a bit, especially on bridges. It is a strange feeling being on a road that is at sea level. The road seems to float on the surrounding waters. We were heading for the city when we saw the detour. It took us about 3 miles away from the city, across a scary bridge, and 3 miles back to town. And it smelled like poop. The three miles out were pretty normal until we saw what was ahead. The most massive, sloping suspension bridge ever. If I didn't have to bike across it I would have thought it was pretty, but I did have to bike, so it was just scary. We slowly cranked our way to the top, where we stopped to take a picture, just to prove we did it. And then it happened! The gusting winds grabbed my pinwheel, yanked it out of my pack and flew it away from me. It took a very long time to fall. A very long time. We decided to go slow down the bridge, which really wasn't that hard because the headwind kept me at a steady 19 mph on a decline that would normally have me going at least 30 mph. The miles back to town were a death spiral around the city, or at least thats what it felt like. We rode straight for the city for2.5 miles surrounded by trains on both sides. I think that I could probably just hobo my way to Cali if the biking doesn't work out :) not really but it's nice to dream! Then we turned and headed away, then back towards the city and then away again. So frustrating! We got closer to town and met up with with Corey and Kenan. We traveled back to the host together. I was doing ok until the last 4 miles. I just it a wall with all of the hill climbing. I really just wanted to stop and cry, but I knew if I got off my bike or started crying it would just be that much longer and that much harder to be at the hosts and off my bike for the night. It all worked out ok. I was so happy when we made it to the church and saw "you made it" chalked on the ground. I settled all of my stuff in the corner and went to enjoy a cold glass of chocolate milk and fruit provided by our wonderful hosts. The Episcopal church of the Redeemer really rolled out the red carpet for us. Not only did they provide snacks, dinner and a place to sleep and shower, they had air mattresses, towels and linens. Two parishioners gave us their vehicles... Thats right, they gave us their cars for the next 3 days. They were absolutely fabulous to us. After seeing Alabama as a place with no shoulders, rough roads, and mucho road kill(dead armadillos) this church really made me see all of the good in Alabama. Thank you so much!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Summer returns!
DeFuniak Springs to Pensacola/Gulf Breeze 77.8 miles
Another wonderful wonderful day! It began with a strange wake up, since we were spread out in different smaller rooms in the church. It's weird how quickly I've come to rely on peppy, loud music to kick me into gear at 5 am. Since we had changed to central standard time the day before, we decided a 5 am wakeup wouldn't be too bad. It would feel like a 6am sleep-in to most of us east coast-ers. A quick route meeting and we were on our way. I started out biking with Mark and Galen. Our directions led us down a road that used to be smooth until someone had a pebble surplus and paved over it with little pebbles...or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Because really, who in their right mind would pave a road with that horrible quality of pavement? Not to mention that the road was also super hilly and the hills were the same curvy type where you can't ever see the top. The scenery was fairly unchanging since we were right next to Elgin air force base. I did see a "BEWARE hellfire missile test site" sign that was kind of amusing. We mad it to first lunch in good time, but Mark got a slow flat at first lunch, so I stayed behind while he fixed it and the rest of the group went on. There was a little confusion at lunch about some mislabeling of highways and a reroute. The first group took the reroute and ended up going 7 miles over big hills in the wrong direction before realizing that the original directions were correct! Oops! Mark and I set out and soon passed all of the groups that had left us behind at lunch. They all had flats :( Coleman had a massive nail that completely went through both sides of his tire! We powered our way to second lunch. I was amazed when I looked down and saw my speedometer at 19 and 20 consistently. When did that happen? I have always thought of myself as a really slow cyclist, but to see the progress that can be made with 9 days of nonstop cycling is amazing! Mark and I even made it to second lunch before the van! We ended up riding 5 miles further with the "A" team and I managed to (pretty much) keep up. I couldn't quite talk, signal, or drink water, but I managed a 21 to 22 average for 5 miles...wow...not something I want to do often. We had a lovely lunch, then decided to take a detour suggested by Josh E, who is from the area. Instead of staying on the same 28th St-like street (for everyone in Grand Rapids) for 10 miles, we crossed a bridge, rode through Fort Walton beach, a scenic highway, Pensacola, then another bridge before arriving at the church. It was such a gorgeous ride, totally worth two extra bridges at the end of a long ride. Because we were on an island there was water on both sides of us. When we were on the scenic highway we were surrounded by white sand beaches and crystal blue waters on both sides. Just wonderful! I had another one of those "I could ride forever" experiences on that island. Arriving at the church just after the first group,we waited for Lyndsey to arrive so we could unpack the van. We firelined everything up to the second floor (ughh) and claimed our places. I was super excited to see all of the futons (and I may have even claimed one :) ) after a shower I got a text from Summer telling me her flight had landed. Lyndsey and I jumped in the van and picked her up from the airport. We had lots of fun navigating around Pensacola. We gave the Best Buy guys high fives and I got laughed at by the man in the auto parts store because my tan lines are apparently very funny :) which they kind of are, but the real world is just strange after so much time in our insular world. We bike, we build, we eat, we sleep. Theres a bit more to it than that, but that's he basic gist of our lives right now.
We arrived back at the church in time for a cookout dinner. This church was a little different, since it is the home church of both Noelle and Josh E. They had lots of family and friends at dinner and Noelle even bright her dog! We gave our presentation, balanced in a human siting chain and then were told to go outside. Two words: bounce castle! Since day one of our trip, our leaders have been talking about getting a bounce castle donated, kind of like a pipe dream that won't come true, but you aspire to it anyways. 12 days later we have a bouncy castle for keeps. It's chilling in the trailer right now. After tiring ourselves out from jumping and laughing at other people attempting to jump, we headed to bed.
Another wonderful wonderful day! It began with a strange wake up, since we were spread out in different smaller rooms in the church. It's weird how quickly I've come to rely on peppy, loud music to kick me into gear at 5 am. Since we had changed to central standard time the day before, we decided a 5 am wakeup wouldn't be too bad. It would feel like a 6am sleep-in to most of us east coast-ers. A quick route meeting and we were on our way. I started out biking with Mark and Galen. Our directions led us down a road that used to be smooth until someone had a pebble surplus and paved over it with little pebbles...or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Because really, who in their right mind would pave a road with that horrible quality of pavement? Not to mention that the road was also super hilly and the hills were the same curvy type where you can't ever see the top. The scenery was fairly unchanging since we were right next to Elgin air force base. I did see a "BEWARE hellfire missile test site" sign that was kind of amusing. We mad it to first lunch in good time, but Mark got a slow flat at first lunch, so I stayed behind while he fixed it and the rest of the group went on. There was a little confusion at lunch about some mislabeling of highways and a reroute. The first group took the reroute and ended up going 7 miles over big hills in the wrong direction before realizing that the original directions were correct! Oops! Mark and I set out and soon passed all of the groups that had left us behind at lunch. They all had flats :( Coleman had a massive nail that completely went through both sides of his tire! We powered our way to second lunch. I was amazed when I looked down and saw my speedometer at 19 and 20 consistently. When did that happen? I have always thought of myself as a really slow cyclist, but to see the progress that can be made with 9 days of nonstop cycling is amazing! Mark and I even made it to second lunch before the van! We ended up riding 5 miles further with the "A" team and I managed to (pretty much) keep up. I couldn't quite talk, signal, or drink water, but I managed a 21 to 22 average for 5 miles...wow...not something I want to do often. We had a lovely lunch, then decided to take a detour suggested by Josh E, who is from the area. Instead of staying on the same 28th St-like street (for everyone in Grand Rapids) for 10 miles, we crossed a bridge, rode through Fort Walton beach, a scenic highway, Pensacola, then another bridge before arriving at the church. It was such a gorgeous ride, totally worth two extra bridges at the end of a long ride. Because we were on an island there was water on both sides of us. When we were on the scenic highway we were surrounded by white sand beaches and crystal blue waters on both sides. Just wonderful! I had another one of those "I could ride forever" experiences on that island. Arriving at the church just after the first group,we waited for Lyndsey to arrive so we could unpack the van. We firelined everything up to the second floor (ughh) and claimed our places. I was super excited to see all of the futons (and I may have even claimed one :) ) after a shower I got a text from Summer telling me her flight had landed. Lyndsey and I jumped in the van and picked her up from the airport. We had lots of fun navigating around Pensacola. We gave the Best Buy guys high fives and I got laughed at by the man in the auto parts store because my tan lines are apparently very funny :) which they kind of are, but the real world is just strange after so much time in our insular world. We bike, we build, we eat, we sleep. Theres a bit more to it than that, but that's he basic gist of our lives right now.
We arrived back at the church in time for a cookout dinner. This church was a little different, since it is the home church of both Noelle and Josh E. They had lots of family and friends at dinner and Noelle even bright her dog! We gave our presentation, balanced in a human siting chain and then were told to go outside. Two words: bounce castle! Since day one of our trip, our leaders have been talking about getting a bounce castle donated, kind of like a pipe dream that won't come true, but you aspire to it anyways. 12 days later we have a bouncy castle for keeps. It's chilling in the trailer right now. After tiring ourselves out from jumping and laughing at other people attempting to jump, we headed to bed.
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