Aliens

Just had the best day off EVER in Roswell. First we went to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which mainly consisted of a bunch of newspaper clippings from 1947. My favorite exhibit by far was the "Aliens and Ancient Cultures" exhibit: they had a drawing of some ancient Mayan mural which supposedly depicted an astronaut. They helpfully labeled things like "heiroglyph meaning 'braking system'" and "Symbol for oxygen system." Pretty entertaining stuff. JoJo bought a book on the Roswell cover-up, which she seems to be greatly enjoying.

After the museum, we went to see the new X-Files movie ON OPENING DAY. I saw the X-Files movie on opening day in ROSWELL NEW MEXICO. Too funny to pass up.

New Mexico!

After several days in Texas (which was really flat and boring), we've now crossed into New Mexico. The terrain changed almost immediately after the state line. It's now sandy, with more hills and crazy looking plants. We're in Portales, which had a welcome sign that said "Portales: home of 12,000 friendly people [and three or four old grouches]." I rode most of the morning by myself, which was relaxing. When we got to lunch, Lenny had gotten a Subway to donate subs for all of us. I spent the rest of the ride with Jose and Jane, which was a ton of fun. We're staying in an Eastern New Mexico University and everyone gets their own room!

Tomorrow we're going to be in Roswell! Alien Museum here I come.

Amarillo, Tejas

So, Oklahoma was awesome. The day we biked out of Joplin we cut a corner of Kansas. Once we crossed into Oklahoma, we were greeted with a GIANT field of sunflowers. My breathing problems vanished once we got out of Missouri, and the roads instantly got nicer. We biked to Tulsa, where the pastor of the church we stayed at was a linguistics B.A. We geeked out a little. We did a build in Tulsa, where I did a lot of power sawing and power drilling. We made the front page of the "Tulsa World." We crossed the border into Texas yesterday (into Wheeler, which was tiny). Tonight, we're going to the "Big Texan," where Jorge is going to attempt the "72 oz. Steak Challenge."

Oh, yeah, and it's hot as HELL.

Joplin, MO

I'm in Joplin, MO at the moment. I had a great time in Illinois (so flat!). We got a day off in St. Louis, where I got to go see Kung Fu Panda and sit in the air conditioning for two hours. The minute we crossed into Missouri, however, I started feeling off. Two days ago, I had an asthma attack. There is clearly some pollen or tree or something in this state that my body doesn't like. We're crossing over into Oklahoma tomorrow, so hopefully things will get dryer and less plant-y. (We're also clipping a corner of Kansas tomorrow.)

We're staying in this HUGE Methodist mega-church. I have to say that Methodists have been REALLY good to us. Aside from the asthma, riding has definitely been getting easier and faster. I had a few fast days before we got to Missouri.

Bloomington

I was going to post some photos, but this computer in the Bloomington Public Library won't let me. :-( We had a build day today, during which we got to demolish part of a Habitat office they're renovating. Definitely the most fun I've had at a build site yet!

The riding has gotten a little rough. I think I'm overtrained/exhausted. We had an 85 mile day yesterday and I crashed about mile 75. The remaining miles were painful. Hopefully tomorrow will be better since I've had today to recover.

Computer is about to kick me off, more later.

Day Off

So, to date we've biked through the Berkshires, up Mount Pocono, through the Appalacians, and through the Allegheneys. We're all tired. For the last few day's, my left shifter has been broken and I've been stuck in second gear, unable to shift down to first. Not fun over mountains.

I'll be putting up pictures soon. Right now I have to take 30 people to breakfast at Pamela's.

First Century!

100 miles from Berwick, PA to State College.  I'm at home in Pittsburgh right now, eating dinner with my family.  We have the day off tomorrow, which is good because everyone is exhausted.  

Many, many miles of riding

So, since I last posted, we had a 45 mile day, a 55 mile day, a 50 mile day, and an 85 mile day...through the mountains. My elbows have been hurting a little, but I've ace-bandaged them and it seems to be fine. We're biking through the Berkshires right now, and they're absolutely beautiful. As soon as I get a camera cable, I'll upload pictures. So pretty. We're currently in Poughkeepsie, NY, and about to head off for our second build day. The site is about 30 minutes away from where we're staying (somewhere near Vassar) and I have no idea what stage the houses are at. I just hope I won't be digging.

It took us until 5:30 to make it in yesterday. It started raining as Dani and I were a mile away from the host location. We're staying in a dorm of some boarding school, and we biked around the compound for about 20 minutes, in the rain, trying to find our trailer. I think people had chalked it, but it had all washed away. So, we were pretty wet and cranky when we came in. Kyle, unfortunately, was hypothermic, so he had to be warmed up. I think we'll look back wistfully on the cold and the rain when we're in Arizona.

As we rode in yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that Vassar has copied Princeton architecture. Posers.

There are more stories, but I'm tired and don't remember (i.e. have blocked out) some of the bigger hills from yesterday.

Digging

We spent today doing our first build.  When we got to the Lawrence Habitat site, they split us up into two groups, one of which stayed and put up walls on the house frames, the other of which went to another site and put up a fence.  I was in the latter group aaaaaaaaand I ended up digging again.  It wasn't so bad, just fence post holes.  Then I got to mix concrete, which was cool.  We put up the fence posts and moved a few huge rocks that were in the way.  I got to work with Rita and Antonio (a couple with two small daughters) who are receiving a Habitat house.  They don't know where in the area their house will be, but they've started putting in their sweat equity hours.  I met them the last time I did a build in Lawrence.  They're great and fortunately Antonio knows how to do construction stuff.  

We had dinner at the Webber house again tonight, and it was AMAZING.  They've fed us really well.  

I'm really very tired.  45 miles tomorrow to Fitchburg.  

Day 1!

After two days of orientation (which included a 15-mile shakedown ride), we got on the road today!  We biked to Revere Beach, dipped our back tires into the Atlantic, and set off.  23 miles later, we pulled in to our overnight location in Andover, MA.  The ride was good: we stayed together in groups for the first 15 miles or so (to get out of the urban area), and then biked on less-trafficked roads for the rest.  Once we hit the suburban part, we hit some hills!  They weren't very big, but my legs are short, so I went pretty slowly.  

Thus far, we have been awakened every morning at 6  to Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys.  I woke up in the middle of last night to discover that Devon, the girl sleeping next to me, had rotated 90 degrees and was sleeping perpendicular to her thermarest.  I was afraid I was going to kick her in the head.  But it all turned out OK. :-)  

Tomorrow we have our first build day in Lawrence, MA.  Lawrence has one of the highest rates of foreclosures in the country, and this Habitat chapter is the one receiving most of the fundraising from our trip.  I did a build there with Erin and Oliver a few weeks ago and we spent the whole time moving dirt; fingers crossed that in the interim the houses have moved beyond the dirt-moving stage. 

There are now some photos from our trip up at www.bikeandbuild.org.  I forgot my camera cable (because I'm an idiot), so I won't be able to upload any photos until I either a) find someone with a compatible cable or b) buy a new cable.  I'll try to steal other people's photos and post them here. 

I love my bike! 

!!!

We start today! As well keeping track of me here, you can go to www.bikeandbuild.org. From there you can select my route (Boston to Santa Barbara) and track our progress. There's also a link to photos there, so you can see everyone's.

:-)

Wrist Awareness

Almost Ready to Get Back on the Bike

My arm is about...92% back to normal. I figure I'll give it until tomorrow and then get back on the bike. I discovered yesterday that I can put pressure on the arm again without pain, so I figure that's good enough. (My cousin the med student is undoubtedly cringing right now.)

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my WristStrong bracelet. I thought it was appropriate to wear it across the country because the elbow is basically the wrist of the upper arm. Colbert Nation whooooooo!

Mail Drops

While I won't have regular access to mail, we do have scheduled mail drops ever few weeks. So if, you know, you feel like sending me a care package, here's the list of drops:

Boston to Santa Barbara
						6/18	55 Mansion Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
						6/26	700 Grant Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219
						7/3	206 E 4th St Bloomington, IN 47408
						7/10	500 W Chestnut Expy Springfield, MO 65801
						7/17	900 Garth Brooks Blvd. Yukon, OK 73099
						7/24	415 N Pennsylvania Avenue Roswell, NM 88201
						7/31	223 N. Williamson Avenue Winslow, AZ 86047
						8/7	201 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas, NV 89125
						8/14	836 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara, CA 93102-9998

Address mail to:

Bike & Build
Attn: CYCLIST NAME
General Delivery
STREET ADDRESS (if noted)
CITY, ST ZIP

Please mark the envelope or package with "Please hold for pick-up on DATE."

Food is probably going to be much appreciated. :-)

Bad News and Good News

So, the bad news: I fell off my bike (well, technically, the bike and I fell together because I didn't disengage my shoes fast enough) and I messed up my elbow. I went to Health Services, and they were like, it looks like you've got fluid in the joint, but we'll take an x-ray anyway. So, we did the x-ray, and then apparently it looked like there may or may not have been a small fracture on the radial head. They sent me to see the ortho guy, who couldn't see the fracture on the x-ray and sent me on my way. Emotional rollercoaster.

As for the good news: it's been a few days, and I've almost got complete range of motion back. I think I just made it angry. I'm going to give it a few more days (and just go spin on a stationary bike) before riding again.

Hopefully this means I've got the injuries all out of my system.

18 Days to Go!

Today I somehow threw out my back, which is a pain and a sure sign that I need to do some more lifting. Time to throw training and fundraising into high gear...

Posting Regularly is Difficult

I'll try to do better during the summer, but I'll only have sporadic access to e-mail. I hope to be posting photos from the trip semi-regularly. I thought I'd post the route we'll be taking:

Week:
Date	City - State	Mi.
06/11	Boston - MA	0
06/12	Boston - MA	0
06/13	Andover - MA	23
06/14	BUILD DAY	0
06/15	Fitchburg - MA	40
06/16	Amherst - MA	51
06/17	Pittsfield - MA	48
06/18	Poughkeepsie - NY	77
06/19	BUILD DAY	0
06/20	Port Jervis - NY	57
06/21	Mount Pocono - PA	51
06/22	Berwick - PA	53
06/23	State College - PA	94
06/24	Johnstown - PA	80
06/25	Pittsburgh - PA	74
06/26	DAY OFF	0
06/27	Newcomerstown - OH	101
06/28	Columbus - OH	87
06/29	BUILD DAY	0
06/30	Yellow Springs - OH	52
07/1	Rushville - IN	92
07/2	Bloomington - IN	76
07/3	BUILD DAY	0
07/4	Lawrenceville - IL	82
07/5	Salem - IL	71
07/6	St Louis - MO	71
07/7	DAY OFF	0
07/8	Potosi - MO	68
07/9	Houston - MO	95
07/10	Springfield - MO	91
07/11	BUILD DAY	0
07/12	Joplin - MO	79
07/13	Vinita - OK	62
07/14	Tulsa - OK	66
07/15	BUILD DAY	0
07/16	Chandler - OK	72
07/17	Yukon - OK	61
07/18	Cordell - OK	84
07/19	Wheeler - TX	78
07/20	Amarillo - TX	98
07/21	BUILD DAY	0
07/22	Hereford - TX	52
07/23	Portales - NM	75
07/24	Roswell - NM	92
07/25	DAY OFF	0
07/26	Carrizozo - NM	90
07/27	Socorro - NM	76
07/28	Pie Town - NM	84
07/29	Springerville - AZ	71
07/30	Houck - AZ	82
07/31	Winslow - AZ	88
08/1	Flagstaff - AZ	74
08/2	BUILD DAY	0
08/3	Grand Canyon South Rim - AZ	79
08/4	DAY OFF	0
08/5	Ash Fork - AZ	76
08/6	Kingman - AZ	112
08/7	Las Vegas - NV	103
08/8	BUILD DAY	0
08/9	Baker - CA	93
08/10	Barstow - CA	67
08/11	Palmdale - CA	97
08/12	Santa Clarita - CA	35
08/13	Santa Paula - CA	33
08/14	Santa Barbara - CA	43
08/15	BUILD DAY	0

New Trip!

I just got off the waitlist on the Boston to Santa Barbara trip! Whooo! I get to visit the Grand Canyon now. :-)