Middle of the Country!

Well, I think we're officially 1/2 way there! Across the country that is, not 1/2 way done with our route. I'm sure you've all noticed but we're not exactly taking the most direct route to get to California so we've still got many weeks of riding and building ahead of us. So here are the new updates from the past few days:

Thursday's LESSON OF THE DAY: Armadillos are the WORST kind of roadkill.

The ride from Little Rock to Russelville was pretty uneventful, it was nice to get out of the city and back onto some country roads...although with country roads come my lesson of the day. Armadillos are nasty. They are huge, smelly, ugly as can be, and are disgusting when you come upon them smooshed on the side of the road. And this happens a lot more that I would have ever expected. One rider took our marking chalk and wrote "LUNCH?" with an arrow pointing to one on the route, which made me laugh but also made me wonder how he was able to be near it long enough to write the note.


Friday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I hate missing riding days.

Because of an unfortunate circumstance, I was forced to ride in the van on this day, and it was booorrrrinnnggg. I did get to get some cue sheet work done but other than that the only thing that happened was I missed out on an awesome lake stop and lots of fun with the other riders. Boo. But I'm all better now and the day off my bike seems to have helped.


Saturday's LESSON OF THE DAY: I love snocones.

Today's ride brought us over the border to Henryetta, Oklahoma. It seems crazy that we are already in Oklahoma! Its seems like yesterday that we were all so excited to be crossing our first border from South Carolina to Georgia. Now the states seem to be dropping like flies :) After the long day Kelsey and I found a little stand on the side of the road with snocones and we just had to try them since it has probably been a good 10 years. They are just as delicious as I remember and I'm definitely happy that I went for the medium! We had a great community grill-out in a park in Henryetta and the people from the church were very welcoming and really nice people to talk to. But it was early to bed because yet another century ride was the next morning...


Sunday's LESSON OF THE DAY: 100 miles on a bike is long, and when its 105 degrees it feels like an eternity.

The morning started off great...first lunch was at mile 40 and the morning seemed to absolutely fly by. But then came the heat, it reached about 105 and even though we left at 6:30 in the morning it still took us until after 6 to get to the church. It was really hot, but still a good ride and we came into the church knowing that 100 miles is just another day at the office for our group! As a side note, don't pay any attention to the mileage listed on the website for our group. Since this is a new route, the mileage is way off and is often times (most of the time) far below what we actually ride during the day. We're expecting to go around 4,500 miles by the end of this adventure as opposed to the 4,144 listed on the website. Some riders are joking that they are expecting to go about 5,000 when you include all the wrong turns, but lets hope it isn't that much :)

When we got to the church they had a fabulous meal of grilled chicken, potatoes and fried ochre. We were all very tired, needless to say and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep around 9:15. Wow. But it felt amazing to let my head hit my tiny, uncomfortable camping pillow! Big build the next day.

Monday's LESSON OF THE DAY: B&Bers can frame a house in no time.

Today we had a great build with the Oklahoma City Habitat for Humanity. I was really excited about this build because it was a whole Habitat community of homes with a huge park in the middle, and the whole thing is LEED certified, meaning it is environmentally friendly. I am a LEED accredited professional in my real life, so it was great to see it and to be able to put a little bit of my knowledge to use! When we got to the house it was just the foundation, and when we left all the walls were up and the insulation was about 1/2 way up too. It was a very gratifying day to see how much we could all get done in just one day and I think it made everyone really excited for our Blitz Build in Colorado Springs where we are doing a whole home in 8 days. I was skeptical before but now I think its definitely doable! It was a really hot day, but really fun and everyone was in great spirits.

After the build a few of us went to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial which was really beautiful. It was very tastefully done and then we sat around afterwards while Jessica hooked us up with a lesson on Timothy McVey via an iPhone. This then turned into a history lesson about the UnaBomber and ended with Jessica's mother informing us over the phone that Timothy McVey's last meal before lethal injection was Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. It was a very random conversation, but those are the best kinds on Bike & Build!


Tuesday's LESSON OF THE DAY: We're getting FAST!

Today's ride was awesome...we woke up at 4:30, left at 6:30 and made the 65 mile trek to Watonga by 11:30! It felt great to be out of the sun so quickly, and thanks to a couple straight shots and the lack of headwind were were moving at a pretty fast clip for a while. For about 15 minutes I was actually the lead of the pack which never happens, and will likely never happen again so I enjoyed my literal 15 minutes of fame :) But then the fast riders who were going slow to be nice to me had enough and resumed their ridiculous pace that I can never keep up with...

After we got into town, we showered up and went to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant down the street. As great as we're being fed on this trip, I'm really starting to miss ethnic foods so it was nice to have something a little bit different for a change. It was ac tally pretty good, and it was air conditioned so again, any time out of the heat the better! Its about 106 degrees as I type this. So tonight we're making ourselves a pasta dinner and a couple of riders are giving a presentation on affordable housing. And then if I had to guess I'd say early to bed again (what's new?) because we've got 85 miles tomorrow and the weather shows no signs of cooling.

Other quick notes:
Thanks so much to Alyssa for the delicious treats at last mail drop! The riders here get really excited when a package from her arrives because they know its going to be good :) And happy birthday tomorrow!! Also, my Aunt Sharon sent a really yummy powder energy drink with a post it note that said "No more fainting" and so far it seems to be working! So thanks for that too. And the most important...I get to see the beautiful Nora Claire in just 10 days! I can't even think about it too much because I get too excited. Of course it is just icing on the cake that of course I'll get to see my sister and her husband too...speaking of, special thanks to Jeff (my brother in law) who has been busy trying to hook the B&Bers up in Colorado. So far he's arranged for us to have a 20% discount at a bike store in Colorado Springs during our Blitz Build, two cases of granola bars for us to take with us, and is working on trying to arrange some fun stuff in Aspen. He's also going to ride with us when we leave from Colorado Springs so I'm really excited about that. Although after a couple hours at my pace he might want to ditch me for the faster riders in my group :)

Sorry there are no pics, the Internet I'm working on right is really spotty and it isn't really working to upload pics. I'll try again soon!