Where Arizona Ends and California Begins

Hello again from near the end of the road. I'm now in Wenden, Arizona, which is a couple days of riding and thirty degrees of heat away from Prescott. We headed out from mile-high Prescott, climbed up about another thousand feet and then proceeded to drop about four thousand feet over the next fifty miles or so. Now, I was still feeling somewhat weak, and I'm normally all for downhills. However, when you're in the desert, descending also means adding five to ten degrees for every one thousand feet, so needless to say it was quite hot by the time we got to our destination of Wickenberg, it was a little on the warm side. The water in my camelbak tasted sort of like it was coming out of a microwave, ready for a tea bag to be added for a nice morning cup of Earl Grey. Fortunately, I don't really mind the heat, but it was nice to have a short ride and get in early. The Assembly of God Church in the town was quite nice, and we spent the afternoon there resting and watching Forrest Gump. That night, we had an awesome lasagna dinner with sweet tea (!!!) and then headed to bed in anticipation of an early wakeup today to avoid the heat.

Today was pretty much a flat ride through the desert without too much to see. At one point we passed through a town that was so small that you could see the other welcome sign from the welcome sign where you were standing. We were all glad when we finished the ride and arrived at the elementary school here in Wenden, which is quite nice and has a computer lab that they were kind enough to let us use, so I get to write a post from a computer for a change! Tomorrow we will cross our last state line and head into California, which is crazy to think about. To me, it doesn't seem like I'm that far from home, but when I look at a map, I realize that I've come a long way. If only there were a way to prolong the trip, I would be all for it, but I am starting to miss sweet tea, a bed, and all of my friends and family, so it will be nice to be home. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Desert, Inverse Mountains, and Very Large Rocks

Arizona has been quite an interesting state so far. We first started
to hit the Arizona-style landscape when we left Durango and headed to
Cortez, CO. My friends and I unfortunately passed up the chance to go
to Mesa Verde, a collection of ancient cliff dwellings, because we
didn't know what it was, but that just gives me yet another reason to
bike in Colorado again sometime in the future. At least we did get
Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzards, the much anticipated Blizzard of the
Month at DQ, before the day was up.

From Cortez, we headed down to Four Corners for a photo op on the way
to Red Mesa, Arizona, which was basically just a high school and a
health care center in the middle of nowhere. The next few towns we
would stay in were on the land of the Navajo Nation, which I found out
is actually about half the size of Texas. The area is wrought with
poverty because the Navajo Nation does not allow people to own land
but rather gives out grazing rights to families, which greatly limits
the upward mobility of the Navajo people. It was definitely a rough
place to be.

The next town we rode to was Kayenta, where Father Jerry was kind
enough to open up his church to us and talk with us about our
adventures and other groups that had stayed at the church. That
afternoon, we went on a tour of Monument Valley, the famous collection
of rock formations used in old westerns, car commercials, Mission
Impossible 3, Back to the Future 3, and Forrest Gump. It was a pretty
amazing site to see.

The next day we headed toTuba City, a small town on the Navajo
Reservation. We stayed at the Assembly of God Church there and got a
chance to talk with a lot of locals while we were doing a bike clinic
and then eating dinner. The next morning, the church provided us with
a great breakfast before we hit the road again.

Our ride on this day was only supposed to be 57 miles to the Grand
Canyon, but unfortunately the National Parks Service hates us and
wouldn't let us stay there, so we had to ride an extra thirty miles to
another campsite just outside the park. However, it worked out well
because it meant that we got to spend the entire afternoon riding
through the Grand Canyon and stopping at every overlook we passed. The
Canyon was beautiful beyond anything that I could have imagined. At 9
miles across and about a mile deep, it was almost impossible to stare
into the canyon without losing all concept of just how big it was. The
park itself was also pretty impressive, with a free shuttle system
running through all thirty miles of the park and to the closest town,
a visitor center, and a village with everything that you could
possibly imagine, from a post office to a supermarket. I guess when it
costs 25 dollars per car to get into the park, you can provide a lot
of services. As soon as we got to the campsite where we were staying,
it began to pour the rain, so we quickly set up tents and tarps,
cooked dinner, and headed to bed.

From the Grand Canyon, we headed down the road to Williams, AZ, an old
Route 66 town with lots of classic shops and diners. Dave at the local
Baptist Church provided us with a place to stay and some hot dogs to
snack on. We spent most of the day trying to clean up the mess that we
had made while camping and then started getting ready for the big
competition the next day.

I woke up feeling quite sick but decided to just try to bike through
it, since I desperately wanted to avoid riding in the van and also
wanted to participate in the game that was going on during the ride.
Basically, Dan Oates, one of the leaders, and some friends set up this
game for us to do during the day called Barrel, which was essentially a
combination of a scavenger hunt and a bike race. Some of the
challenges included getting arrested, having a police escort, paying
for a snack in all pennies, taking a photo with a mayor, and obtaining
the shirt off of a local's back. Needless to say, it was a fun
morning. Unfortunately, I started feeling more and more sick and by
the time we got to lunch, I couldn't ride anymore because of an
extremely high fever and had to ride in the van the rest of the way to
Prescott.

Today we have a build day here in Prescott, which seems to be a really
nice town, with a huge downtown area of small shops and restaurants
and a large park. Unfortunately I was too sick to go to the build site
today and had to stay behind, but hopefully I will be feeling better
by tomorrow and will be ready to ride to Wickenberg. It's hard to
believe that we only have seven more days of riding before we arrive
in San Diego. The trip has flown by so quickly, and we are all sad to
see it end, but it will give a great sense of accomplishment to arrive
at the Pacific.

Why don't we just stay here?

Well, after cycling through a good portion of Colorado, there is little doubt in my mind that this is the most beautiful state in which I have ever traveled. When we left Gunnison for another long day in the breathtaking Rockies, we were afraid that the rain that poured outside would remain with us all day and ruin our ride around Blue Mesa Lake. Fortunately, it cleared up after only a few miles, and we were left with only rainbows and mist rising from the river as we headed on our way. Soon, we arrived at Blue Mesa Lake, or as Emily calls it, "The Lake of Unspeakable Beauty," a name that could not be more appropiate. Imagine a gorgeous lake, filled with cool, crisp, mountain water, and then surround that lake with gorgeous peaks and place river gorges on either side. That is Blue Mesa Lake. It's amazing. After leaving the lake area, we started our climbing for the day, which was not too strenous but not too bad. To keep ourselves occupied on the ascents, Claire, Dan, and I started to fabricate the life of Michael Crichton. Our conversations went something like this:
"Michael Crichton was the president of what club his junior year at Westchester school of the arts?"
"Umm... Chess?"
"Wrong! Flamenco Dancing!"
And on it went until we had created his entire life, from his hometown to his marriage status to his hobbies, favorite foods, vehicle, and miniature golf addiction. It made the hills go by a lot faster. The rest of the ride was fairly pleasant, with a descent into a town and then a gradual climb over the next 30 miles to Ouray, probably one of the most amazing towns I have ever seen. The town is situated in a valley at an elevation of a little under 8,000 feet, and on three sides of the town sheer rockfaces capped with snow stretch up to close to 12,000 feet in height. It was absolutely beautiful.

Out of Ouray, we climbed about 3,500 feet right away on the "Million Dollar Highway," so named because it cost $1 million per mile to build - in the 1930s. The road stretched upwards in front of us for the first 13 miles, rising without a guard rail with a 1,000 foot drop on the side to the top of the Red Mountain Pass, an elevation of 11,018 feet. From the summit, we descended quickly and coldly to the skiing town of Silverton, where we ate lunch, got shuttled past some construction, and then ascended the second peak, which had an amazing view of a lake and the mountains rising beyond. We then went down again and then back up to our final peak of the day, where we rested for only a moment before beginning the 4,000 + foot descent that would occur over the next 30 miles as we approached Durango. Unfortunately, descending also means leaving the Rockies, which was not an altogether pleasant thought. We still have a little more of the mountains left, but Arizona is approaching rapidly.

Durango has been totally amazing. There are cyclists everywhere, and the gas stations sell clif bars instead of chips and sodas. Last night, Emily's aunt and uncle had us over for dinner, and they treated us to massive trays of fresh fruit, amazing cheeses, and amazing chicken and pasta. It was such a treat to be in their home. Today, we built floors and prepared walls with the La Plata County Habitat for Humanity Chapter. After that, we headed into downtown Durango, where we had an amazing run-in with the local bookstore owner. Scott's parents had contacted the bookstore in search of a new journal, and they had talked with Peter, who we then met when we went to the bookstore. Not only was Peter extremely kind and interested in our trip, not only did he give Scott a huge discount on the journal, but he also bought us ice cream! It was awesome. Tomorrow we ride for Cortez and then over some state lines to Arizona.

I'm on the up and up...

Well, we had a great two days in Colorado Springs, both building and
resting. The build site on Thursday was on a hill that had an amazing
view of Pike's Peak, and the weather was extremely pleasant, so we all
had a great day. I unfortunately discovered at lunch that my sunscreen
had exploded all over my cell phone and wallet, but I decided that
this was in fact quite fortunate, since it gave a nice luster to my
wallet and no doubt improved the battery life of my phone thanks to
all those metals. We spent the off day pretty much doing nothing, but
we did get a chance to watch the fireworks from atop a hill that
overlooked the city with Pike's Peak towering above, so that was a
definitely memorable experience.

On Saturday, we left Colorado Springs and headed towards the mountains
with Buena Vista as our destination. Before leaving the city, we
stopped at Garden of the Gods, an absolutely beautiful series of rock
formations that rise up from the ground at the base of the mountains.
Needless to say, it was awesome. From there, we started up the
Rockies. Surprisingly, the ascents weren't anywhere near as
challenging as those of the Appalachians. Apparently, the road
engineers in Colorado had this thing called "planning," where they
decided that it would be a good idea to build a road with a gradual
slope that went through "passes," instead of just laying pavement up
the side of a mountain. In any case, we made our way up the roqd,
pausing every now and then for photos or for a quick trip to the
McDonalds playplace for some fun. We reached our highest elevation for
the day around mile 60 and then descended a bit into this huge field,
which was so strange to see at 9000 feet, but also breathtaking. We
then encountered some rough headwind which is so much worse than any
mountain, before heading down into Buena Vista. Michelle had the
brilliant idea to stop for hot chocolate at the bottom of the
mountain, and it was probably one of my favorite stops for food yet. I
never though that I would want hot chocolate to warm me up on the
fifth of July, but nothing could have been more perfect. The host site
was the Church of Christ in Buena Vista, who were so excited to have
us and gave us an amazing lasagna dinner.

The next morning, the church got us invites to the local Optimist Club
pancake breakfast, and we stared out our morning enjoying delicious
pancakes and syrup before heqding out to hit our highest elevation of
the trip. The first twenty miles were pretty enjoyable and passed
wothout much effort, except for one small hill where Dan, Claire, and
I realized that singing while climbing at 8000 feet may or may not
cause you to black out, but you have to finish the line. The climb to
the top of Monarch Pass started around mile 25 and was quite deceiving
for the next 10 or so miles because it looked as if you were going
downhill when in fact you were going up at a rather steep grade, so
you just felt like you were trying hard without much reward.
Forunately, this deception could be easily conquered by turning around
and seeing the road below you. The top seemed like it would never
come, but we finally made it and rejoiced in reaching an elevation of
11,312 feet. Sadly, we rejoiced for a bit too long, and a storm rolled
in, which made for a freezing cold downhill run. We stopped at the
bottom and essentially took over a gas station for the next half-hour,
purchasing every hot chocolate and apple cider packet we could find,
standing by the exhaust of the ice machine for warmth, and throwing
our jackets in the dryer in back. The storm soon cleared up and was
replaced with a quite pleasant tailwind that carried us all the way to
Gunnison, with only a stop to repair two flat tires. Riding my bicycle
truly becomes more pleasant every day. Even when I'm miserable, I love
it.

Miles and miles and the sun going down...

It's been a few long but also incredibly enjoyable days since Garden
City. I was one of two "sweeps" on the next riding day, which means
that I, along with my friend Emily, were in charge of making sure that
everyone made it safely to Lamar, CO. While it meant being on the bike
for a bit longer than normal, the day was a lot of fun. I learned some
new mind games to play on the bike, heard some life stories, and
talked about whatever might pop in my head. We also passed several
exciting milestones on our ride. First, we ate lunch on the mountain
time zone line, which meant that we actually left lunch before we got
there. Next, we passed the Colorado-Kansas state line, which was an
awesome moment for me because I had always envisioned Colorado as
"that far-away state," but now I was there, in the west, thanks only
to my bicycle and a little help from friends. The final milestone was
the return of trees to the landscape, which were a welcome site after
three states of basically nothing bigger than a shrub. I think that
the females on the trip were a bit more excited than me to see
roadside shelter, but I still rejoiced at their presence. It was
strange to see as we rode to our destination how high we were (some
states put population on their city signs. Colorado puts elevation.).
We had been riding on "flat" ground for about 700 miles, yet we were
now at 4000 feet, nearly as high as many of the mountains in the
Appalachians. Once we arrived at the local Methodist church, we spent
the evening eating and having meetings and then headed to bed excited
about not riding 100 miles the next day.

As promised, the ride from Lamar to Rocky Ford was short, which gave
us time to rest for the next day's big ride. The ride was spent mostly
taking turns pulling a line of riders into the headwind, with a stop
at Sonic in the heat of the early afternoon for a powerade slush
pick-me-up. The Presbyterian church in Lamar cooked us an awesome
dinner and then stuck around for a presentation and bike clinic,
accompanied by more food. Everyone went to sleep as early as possible
(after a frantic search for a light switch that ended at the circuit
breaker) because of the early wake-up in the morning.

And today was the day that we had been talking about at every
presentation since the beginning of the trip. "What's your longest
day," someone would always ask. "124 miles into Colorado Springs,"
came the reply from the presentation group. So, it began this morning
when we hopped on our bikes at 6 AM and headed out. The morning was
spent riding interspersed with flat tires, the first few of eight that
would happen in our riding group that day. After first lunch (or
second breakfast), we told life stories and talked and had gone all
the way to mile 60 before we knew it. We then started riding along a
basin in the shadow of the moutains until we climbed up a ridge around
mile 80 and were treated to a great view of the mountains before the
second lunch stop. The last thirty or so miles went pretty quickly as
we sang every song that we could think of and headed down into
Colorado Springs. We hit some rough weather and big hills in the city,
so the last 15 miles took about two hours, but we did get to ride past
5 o'clock traffic sitting at a standstill, and it was just such a
great feeling to make it. I can't really describe why the day was so
much fun, since all we did was ride just like any other day. I think
it really comes down to the fact that everyone on the trip is becoming
great friends, and it's just a ton of fun to be around such amazing
people all day. Plus, it gives an incredible feeling to ride so far in
one day. Next up is a build day and day off here in Colorado Springs
before four long days in the Rockies on our way to Durango.

Plains, Rains, and Winds on our Wheels

I apologize for any typos that may occur in the following post as a
result of me typing this on my phone. We've had a lot of long days
lately that, along with having to cook dinner a few nights, have cut
down on time to blog. Fortunately, we had a short ride today, which
means a little time to update.

We spent our day off in Bartlesville pretty much eating all of the
amazing food that the Church of Christ there provided for us and checking
out the downtown area. We visited the Price Tower, Frank Lloyd
Wright's only skyscraper, and the Phillips 66 "Museum," a word which
here means "shrine to Frank Phillips, founder of Phillps 66 and our
hero." The highlight of the museum was certainly the Frank Phillips
song, which went something like:

Frank was a man,
Phillips was the name,
His spirit and his courage
Helped to bring him fame.
He had a little lady
To carry on his name
This is the story of Frank and Jane.

It was pretty awesome to say the least. We were all sad to leave
Bartlesville and the great food and kindness that we received, but we
needed to get across the country before the summer ended. So, the next
morning we headed on to Ponca City, our destination for the next
evening. This ride was where we started to hit the whole lot of
nothing that we have been riding through for the last few days. I find
it beautiful most of the time, but it can get a little boring after a
while. Claire, Dan, and I decided to write a song to help break up the
monotony, and I think it describes the ride well, so here are the
lyrics:

(In a hoedown style)
Well, I lost my mind in Arkansas
And then around the bend,
I went through Oklahoma
And I lost it once again.

Well, when I first heard 'bout the Ozarks,
Thought they would be a delight.
Now, my skin's a'bakin, my legs are achin',
And I can barely sleep at night.

My tired heart's seen tire parts
All along the road,
Badgers, possums, armadillos,
'Couple flattened toads.

We were pumpin' arms at passing trucks,
We hadn't gotten far
When crazy Dan put out his arm
And got a honkin' car!

And there's nothin' here in Oklahoma
To keep me from my pain
'Cause all these tunbleweeds and grassy knolls
They can get really lame.

The wind it blew into our face
And never gave us rest,
But we moved along and soldiered on
And always headed west.

Well, up the hills of Oklahoma
I could've sworn we were gonna die
When Benny Ryan, not even tryin',
He came a'flyin' by!

Well, lookie there, up ahead,
Lance is keepin' a good pace.
You woulda thought he liked the wind,
'Cept for chalkin "Windy... Sadface"

Well, good ol' Claire, she couldn't care
For the hills and wind,
But she pulled us through and before we knew,
We had finished once again.

Ok, so that song makes things sound kind of hard, but I assure you
that it's mostly exaggeration for effect, and we have a lot of
fun on the bikes. For context, Ben Ryan is one of the leaders on the
trip and a really strong rider. Also, we use chalk to mark turns, and
sometimes people write messages. It was a fun day, and thinking up
song lyrics helped pass the time. We stayed at the Lutheran Church in
Ponca City and once again got awesome food and a great place to lay our heads for free.

From Ponca City, we hopped on down the road to Cherokee, OK. For the
first twenty miles of the ride, all of the guys rode together in a
massive Peloton of sorts, so those went by pretty fast and were fun,
but after that the wind started to get to us, and the rest of the ride
was a good bit harder. Fortunately, around mile 65 a local directed us
to his private well where water was flowing freely from the ground,
and we got an awesome pick-me-up and rest from the near-100 degree
heat. We stayed in the Methodist church in Cherokee, where the pastor
was a former campus minister and knew to give us tons of food from the
moment we arrived.

Cherokee was our last stop in Oklahoma, and soon after starting the
next day we crossed over into Kansas, the first 40 miles of the ride
were amazing, with our first tailwind basically since Eastern North
Carolina. Some of my friends got up to 19 miles per hour from a dead
standstill without pedaling once. Then we turned. After that, we spent
a good deal of the day battling a strong crosswind, but we eventually
made it to Coldwater, KS, where we were camping on the local lake.
Camping was horribly hot at first, but the lake helped cool us down
and then the evening was quite pleasant. That night, we had an
incredible view of the stars that was simply awe-inspirng.
The next morning, we headed to Dodge City, KS, the semi-famous
gunslinging town, in a similar fashion, with tailwind to mile 40 and
bad headwind afterwards. We stayed at the Methodist Church in the
city, where we cooked ourselves a tasty fajita dinner and then headed
to bed.

Today was a pleasant, short ride from Dodge City over to Garden City.
We were warned that it would be a little hilly by locals, but that
term has a different meaning in Kansas, and the ride was pretty much
flat. At the top of one hill, there was a scenic overlook, but all
that we saw was a cow farm and wheat fields, so I think that someone
placed the sign there as a joke of some sort. We arrived early to
Garden Valley Church and have been just relaxing and eating ice cream
this afternoon.There are talks of a talent show tonight?

In the future, you should probably read this blog before a meal
because it will make you hungry. Happy summer activities, everyone!

I've seen tires and I've seen rain...

Well, another day has passed, and now I'm 75 miles down the road in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where we have a day off tomorrow. I never
thought that I would want a day off after only four days of riding,
but I am more than ready. The day started off kind of slow, since we were
trapped at our host site in Grove by a radar full of yellow, red, and
little blinking lightning bolts. Once the weather cleared up a bit, we
headed out into the crosswind for our ride west.

Nothing much happened in the first few miles until my friend Samuel's
rear derailleur hanger broke, rendering his bike useless for the day.
Fortunately, trip leader Ben, who was driving the van today, was kind
enough to lend Samuel his bike, and we headed on our way. We crossed a
severely swollen lake full of large waves from the wind and realized
just how much rain this area had received lately. A local told us
that they had already been hit with over 150 inches this year. I don't
know how much they normally get, but that is a ton of water.

The rest of the day was spent just pedaling our way into the Church of
Christ here in Bartlesville, where we were welcomed with snacks,
lemonade, and a list of local attractions, nearly all of them
involving Frank Phillips and the Phillips 66 oil company, which
apparently has a rich history in the town. There is the Price Tower,
built by Phillips and now a hotel, the Frank Phillips museum, the
Frank Phillips wildlife reserve, the official Phillips 66 musuem, and
so on and so forth. It reminds of Philmont, except devoted to Frank
instead of Waite Phillips. Tomorrow we'll hopefully get a chance to
see the sites after catching up on some rest.

Oklahama, where the wind blows sweeping down the plains...

Wow, sorry everyone that it has been forever since I updated my blog,
but I will try to do it on a more regular basis for the rest of the
trip, since I figured out a way to blog from my phone.

Ok, so we've done a ton of stuff since the last time I wrote on here,
but I'll try to hit the highlights. For dinner after Sewanee we headed
to this totally awesome place called a shutawka (probably spelled that
wrong), which was basically a summer camp for families and had been
there since the late 1800s. The houses there were beautiful, and
everyone treated us so well. We all left Sewanee the next morning and
rode all together with John, the leader of outdoor adventures at
Sewanee, and it was totally awesome to descend together in a group
like we were in a huge bike race. From there, we headed on to Pulaski,
where Mayor Dan treated us to dinner at his home and arranged for us
to stay at the local college. It was so great to have a home opened up
to us and to enjoy a delcious barbecue dinner.

From Pulaski we headed on our way to Adamsville, then to Bolivar, then
on to Memphis, our first day off. A few friends and I were treated to
dinner by our friend Claire's grandparents, which was delicious and a
lot of fun. Our waiter Minnie was quite nice and insisted on bringing
us juice to assist in replenishing our bodies for the ride. After
dinner, Claire's grandad drove us to downtown Memphis, where we
wandered the streets and saw the sights for a while before heading to
bed. We mostly just spent our day off relaxing and enjoying
sleeping in until 8 AM.

We left Tennessee the following morning when we crossed the
Mississippi and immediately began the exciting trek across Arkansas.
We met a strong headwind for the first time in a while and basically
pedaled without moving for thirty miles. When the flats finally ended,
I was more happy to see rolling hills than I had ever been in my life.
The roads in Arkansas were also in horrible shape, with bumps or large
holes in the asphalt about every twenty feet, just to keep things
interesting. Fortunately, the rough Arkansas roads were more than
redeemed by the incredible host sites throughout the entire state. In
Brinkley, we had a delicious chicken and rice dinner and had the whole
of the church opened to us. In Little Rock, where we stopped for two
days of building with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, we were
treated to amazing meals by Chef Scott at First Presbyterian Church
and awesome provisions and planning by the volunteer coordinator
Julie, who even got us free tickets to a minor league baseball game.

Leaving Little Rock, we had our dirst century, meaning our first day
where we rode more than 100 miles. It was a great ride, and everybody
felt awesome upon arriving at the Prebyterian Church in Clarksville,
where tons of local residents showed up for the best potluck and
social since Belhaven in eastern North Carolina. Ben then treated us
to a fireworks show, and we headed to bed, confident that the 92 miles
the next day would be hard but nothing compared to the 105 we had
just finished. Well, the next morning we quickly discovered that
Arkansas has mountains, and this ride was not going to be a picnic. It
ended up being probably our hardest day since the Smokies. We all
eventually made it to Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas
and the birthplace of Wal-Mart. We ate another potluck supper and
headed to bed. It's interesting that I've started to judge a host
sight by what they feed us, but I suppose that's
life on Bike and Build. Today we left dear old Arkansas and headed for
Grove, Oklahoma, which seems to be a pretty cool place with an awesome
lake. Along the way, we stopped at the amazing three corners, where,
of course, the three states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma meet.
Now we are just hanging out and enjoying an early arrival.

Oh, if you want to sre an incredibly entertaining news ckip about our
trip, you should search for "Today's THV Little Rock" and then "Bike
and Build."

Rollin' Hills in the Volunteer State

It's interesting the things that happen on Bike & Build that you would never think possible. For example, on Monday morning thirty people managed to sleep in. That's right, thirty. Our wake up time was 5 am so that we could avoid most of the heat that comes later in the day. Well, by this point just about everyone was assuming that someone else would set an alarm. Surely we wouldn't all lie in our sleeping bags with little regard for the time? Right? Wrong. Fortunately, we did manage to wake up around 6 and still beat most of the heat. The ride was a nice one, with only one climb about halfway through to get over a ridge. The only reason this hill was so bad was the heat, which beat down on us as we trudged up the incline, making us literally rain sweat as we sprinted from overhanging branch to overhanging branch, hoping to avoid the warmth of the day. After that climb, we descended down into a valley and rode along some rolling hills (kind of a recurring theme of Tennessee) into Dunlap, where we stopped for some much-needed ice cream. We chit-chatted with the owner of the shop while we downed our scoops of rocky road, strawberry cheesecake, and praline pecan and then headed on our way to invade another National Guard Armory. Although the climb earlier was hot, it was definitely much warmer by the time we arrived, and we were grateful that this armory did not have a broken air conditioner. The staff of the armory were also very kind to us and gave us some MREs to snack on and also some cots for the evening. I was on laundry crew this week, so I spent the rest of the day washing clothes and then headed back for the first dinner that we prepared ourselves: spaghetti and rice, yum carbohydrates! After that, I quickly headed to bed, exhausted and ready for today's ride.

The town of Dunlap is seated in a valley, formed on one side by a ridge and on the other by the Cumberland Plateau, a large flat area that towers about 1,800 feet above the side of Dunlap. To reach the top of this nice hill, we took a lesser-traveled thoroughfare known as "Daus Mountain Road." Now, if that name didn't intimidate you slightly, perhaps the 1,200 or so feet that you'd climb in the first two miles would. Nonetheless, we were determined to reach the top and head on to our destination. The road snaked upwards at such a sharp angle that for the first mile it felt like your bike might tip over backwards. We pedaled and pedaled (or rather, moved our legs in a circle at a painfully slow cadence) until finally we reached the end of the steep section and then pushed on to the top. Interestingly enough, when you get to the top of a climb like that, all you can think is,"Hey that was fun. I feel great." All thoughts of the anguish and heavy breathing that you just put yourself through quickly disappear, and you are all smiles. After a quick lunch stop, we finished our ride into Sewanee, which is apparently The University of the South. I was not aware that there was only one, but it does seem to be a nice place. After setting up our tents on Lake Cheston, we ventured into town to explore the campus and enjoy a nice restful afternoon. The outdoor organization here on campus, led by a cool guy named John, gave us some advice about the town and got us in to shower at the local gym. Tonight, we have dinner provided by the mother of a girl who did the southern route in 2006, which should be absolutely fantastic. It's always good to talk to people in the local area and just learn about the experiences of others, so that'll be fun. Tomorrow we continue our trek onwards to Memphis (day off) by way of Pulaski.

It's so hot I'm gonna have a ... heatstroke

I wonder what it will be like to go back to life where people don't stare at you wherever you go. It's kind of strange that I've become so accustomed to riding bicycles with 29 other people wearing spandex and matching uniforms that I no longer think it's weird. Even when we aren't riding, we always manage to attract attention by doing something ridiculous or wearing matching t-shirts. For example, we rode our bikes down to Chick-Fil-A while we were in Maryville to get Michelle a chicken sandwich for the first time (apparently there aren't Chick-Fil-A's in Minnesota), and we managed to get plenty of glances while taking photos with the cow and his car. I guess it's just part of riding a bicycle across the country. On the other hand, even random people are so encouraging and supportive. When I was riding up the mountain to the NC-TN border, somebody leaned out of the passenger seat of their car and shouted at me not to give up, which made me feel awesome and spurred me on to the top. Once we got there, we chatted with an RV driver who gave us a donation and some Korean tourists who wanted to take photos with us. I suppose it is all part of the amazing adventure of riding across the country.

Today we headed from Maryville just down the road to Sweetwater, TN, only a 40 mile ride. I decided that I was going to ride with the fast group today in an attempt to beat the heat. I did ok for a while, but I was pretty exhausted by the time we got to go to the armory where we were staying. Unfortunately, the armory is quite warm, so most people just spent the afternoon lying around in an attempt to sweat as little as possible. I managed to sleep on and off for about two hours and awoke to find that it was still hot. I can't really complain, though, since it's incredibly awesome of the armory to let us stay here and use their facilities. Some of us also received guitar lessons this afternoon from Scott Wilkins, our local musician extraordinaire. It's been a pretty lazy day with a short ride, but tomorrow will be a long ride. Hopefully it will cool off a little tonight and we can get some rest.

Over the mountains

So, it's been quite a while since my last update, mostly due to lack of internet access, but I will try to summarize everything that has happened since Chapel Hill. We headed out of Chapel Hill for Winston Salem, where we stayed at the church of Bike and Builder Scott Wilkins and from there we headed on to Taylorsville. That was probably the hardest ride of the whole trip for me, mostly because I wasn't drinking gatorade and therefore felt like dying for the first 35 miles. Of course, we all know what comes after Taylorsville: the mountains.

I had been hearing since I signed up for the trip that the Appalachians were the hardest climbs of the entire route, so I figured it would be pretty hard. Going up to 321 was definitely the hardest climb for me, but arriving in Blowing Rock was a great feeling. We also got to talk to some locals in the town, which is always fun. After Blowing Rock, it was on to the Blue Ridge Parkway, our road for the next three days of riding. While it was definitely much harder to ride the Parkway on a bike, the views were so much more enjoyable. Getting to the top of a climb and looking out, knowing that you made it there under your own power, was an incredible experience. Plus, descending on mountain roads is a blast, and you don't have to pedal for miles. We rode across the Viaduct and then headed down into Linville Falls for the evening. There wasn't a whole lot going on at Altamont United Methodist Church at the time, and our only friends were the cows in the pasture in which the Fellowship Hall was located.

From Linville Falls, we headed out for Asheville, an 80-plus mile day, with 70 miles on the Parkway. I managed to ruin my tire while walking my bike through the parking lot of Altamont Church, which was incredibly amusing considering I wasn't even riding my bike when it happened. After that I set out for 50 miles of mostly climbing, which was fine until about mile 35, when my friend Claire and I just got burned out and decided that mountains weren't all that great. The next 15 miles consisted of frequent stops for Clif Bars, photos, and restroom breaks, but we finally made it. After that it was almost all downhill into Asheville, where we stayed at a YMCA. B&Bers Samuel and Maggie Kovach invited us over to their home for dinner, where we had the most incredible meal prepared by their mom, overflowing with salad, green beans, fresh fruits, vegetable lasagna, and other fresh foods that we had missed dearly. After dinner, a few people went contra dancing, but I just headed to bed.

The next morning, we had had a build day in Asheville, which was quite a relaxed place to work. We had a morning break for doughnuts and coffee, a pizza lunch break, and an afternoon water break. Samuel and I also got to drive an F-350, which was an exciting experience, even if it was only for about 50 yards. That night, we were invited to the Volvo Factory in Asheville (Volvo no longer owns their car division, but they do make construction equipment, tour buses, Mack trucks, and airline engines), where we were treated to a delicious barbecue dinner and plenty of banana pudding. After that, Cane Creek, a local bike company, presented us with sweet shock absorbing seatposts for our bikes. The unbelievable hospitality on this trip just never stops.

From Asheville, we headed out for our hardest day of the entire trip, with 17,500 feet of climbing over two mountains on our way to Gatlinburg. We passed through Maggie Valley and then hopped back on the parkway, where we descended into the Smokies. That first climb was hard simply because we hit horrible headwind the entire way up the mountain. We broke for lunch at the entrance to the Smokies National Park, where the forest ranger told us that she had seen us on the news (hooray!) and that we had to climb 3,000 feet in the next 15 miles (hooray?). So, we started out on climb number two, with the state line and then end of NC as the destination. I decided not to stop until I reached the top because I knew I wouldn't get back on the bike, and I made it to the top after riding at 5 miles per hour for 10 miles. It was such a great feeling to finish North Carolina, but the victorious sentiments quickly disappeared when a motorcyclist told us that one of our riders had crashed on the descent. Fortunately, he was okay, although his rear tire was ruined. After waiting for the van, we headed down into Gatlinburg. This town was quite possibly one of the ugliest places I have ever been. It was essentially Myrtle Beach in the mountains, which was not fun to see.

Throughout all of these rides, we all ate like hobbits. We would wake up and eat breakfast and then have a second breakfast at mile 25. About ten miles down the road, we would stop for a clif bar as a mid-morning snack. At mile 50, we would break for lunch and then ride the rest of the way to the destination, where we were greeted with more snacks and gatorade, followed a couple hours later by dinner. Food is good.

From Gatlinburg, it was a short ride over to Maryville, where I am currently staying. We were greeted by Cycology Bike Shop and the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, who provided us with dinner. After that we headed to Maryville College, our home for the three days we were here. It was definitely nice to sleep in a bed again. We had two days of Habitat building in the 95 degree heat, but we managed to have a good time building floors and placing stucco despite the blazing sun. We were provided with dinner one night by the Tomato Head, and awesome local restaurant with pizza and sandwiches, and the other night by Aubrey's, a sitdown restaurant where we got some awesome pasta and BBQ. I still am blown away by all of the kindness that we receive on a regular basis. Tomorrow we head to Sweetwater, TN.

Back on the Hill!

It's a Yackety Yack from 1910 (from the museum)!

Hey Everyone!
So, I'm back at Chapel Hill now sitting in Davis library writing up a journal with some of my friends, but I'll try to catch you up on everything that has happened since I last updated about Belhaven. We got up to leave Belhaven around 6, and Trinity United Methodist made us an absolutely amazing breakfast of pancakes, sausage, grits, yogurt, fresh fruit, breakfast cereals, and really anything you could want. After we stuffed our faces, pastor Sam reminded us of keeping a firm foundation for our "house" of life and presented Bike & Build with a check for $410.00 collected from the community! Once again, I can't tell you how awesome Belhaven is.

After about 35 miles of riding, we stopped in Washington to eat lunch by the river and just relax. After that, we set off at a brisk pace for Greenville, home of ECU. I got pretty exhausted near the end, but managed to make it. We stayed at a spare house owned by the leader of Habitat in Greeneville with this guy named Chris who was a children's pastor in the area. Two families and Texas Steakhouse donated food for dinner, and once again our coolers were overflowing with deliciousness. The day was spent just kind of relaxing, reveling in phone signal, and heading to town to pick up a few essentials.

We left Greenville around 9 yesterday morning and set out on our 80-mile ride to Wake Forest. My friend Cole and I decided it would be a great idea to add 5 miles to the start of our trek by missing a turn, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. This ride was by far the hardest we had encountered up to this point in our trip. In addition to the strains of riding about 15 miles more than we had ever ridden before, we had been riding for 3 straight days prior to this ride, and we encountered hills for the first time, which make riding a great deal more difficult. We pulled into North Wake Church around 3:45, completely exhausted. Fortunately, we met with a ton of Southeastern students and church staff who gave us Gatorade, energy bars, and massages. I also found out that the pastor of the church, Rob Craig, went to high school with my mom and uncle and had been to my grandmom's house before. What a small world! We hung out with all of those people until after dinner, when we headed to the local go-kart track because we hadn't had enough wheels for one day. After some intense racing, we stopped by goodberry's for a few concretes before heading to bed for the night.

This morning, we headed out from North Wake, once again extremely grateful for all that had been provided for us, and rode towards Durham. After riding through town, we cut down towards Chapel Hill. The ride was difficult, even though it was only 38 miles, because everyone was pretty tired from days of riding for the first time. Fortunately, the ride wasn't too difficult, except when I rode behind Ben for the first ten miles, so I made it here without too many problems. I was so excited to be back at Chapel Hill that I was going to do whatever it took to get here. We walked down to shower in Fetzer Gym, stopping to take photos at the old well and get strange looks from everyone in Student Stores as we walked through in our spandex. This afternoon we have been resting up and trying to relax since we're here building for the next two days before our 80ish mile ride to Winston-Salem and then riding up to the mountains! I hope everyone is doing well and having a great summer!

Greetings from Belhaven, NC!

Note: this is actually a blog from yesterday, but I wanted to go ahead and post it since I wrote it.
Greetings from Belhaven, NC!
We woke up at 7 am to head out from Swanquarter and after a little time spent eating breakfast and cleaning up Soule United Methodist Church, we headed out into the rain for our 35-mile ride. We stopped by a local gas in Swanquarter station to check out a sign that had been painted for us, which was a big deal because only people who are “somebody” get on his sign. After about an hour or so of rain, the weather cleared up and the ride was great. After a few photos with the red and white sign that read “bikers for building,” we headed out to finish our ride. We did hit one hill today – well, actually it was a bridge – but other than that, the ride was nice and flat.
The first groups arrived at First Christian Church in Belhaven around 12 o’clock and immediately were greeted with incredible hospitality. Everyone in the town was so happy to see us, and they even took us to shower in their homes. Some of the riders were even treated to a nice, relaxing hot tub, while others drank tea from fine china in their riding clothes while waiting for their turn to shower. Of course, there were plenty of barbecue sandwiches, apples, Oreos, and chips readily available for our consumption. Several of the riders also checked out FlyBoys, a burger joint in town that served specialty sandwiches and milkshakes, including the steak burger and the pizza burger. Others chose to check out the town museum, which was less of a museum and more of a collection of things from an old lady’s attic, including 6,000 buttons, fleas dressed as bride and groom, and even a tumor in a jar. Needless to say, it was definitely worth the trip. We also had the chance to chat with locals in the town during the afternoon, including the owners of a Tropical Macaw named Albert Einstein, whose favorite word seemed to be “Aflac.”
For dinner, the town was kind enough to throw us an amazing outdoor feast, organized by the pastors of First Christian Church and Trinity United Methodist, Pastor Steve and Pastor Sam, and members of their congregation. The food was absolutely amazing and included such local delicacies as fried chicken, pineapple-cheese casserole, broccoli casserole, and other amazing southern delights. The dessert table was just as promising, filled with brownies, ice cream, cookies, cherry cupcakes, and essentially everything we could want. The town also collected donations for Bike & Build at the dinner. One lady at the dinner made us a beautiful quilt of green and white to furnish a home or use to collect donations for Bike & Build. After dinner, we had the chance to talk to all of the town’s residents, who were all amazing and an absolute joy to talk to. They even gave away some bicycles and other prizes for the kids of Belhaven. After dinner, they made a bonfire for us, where we chatted for a bit before we headed back to clean all of the muck off of our bikes and head to bed. We had no idea what we did to deserve such kindness, but we were sure that we didn’t want to leave. Maybe we can just ride in a circle tomorrow…