Day 8

Eight days down, 73 to go.

It was another ride day today. We finally got into some serious hills I thought we had yesterday, but South Carolina, you proved me wrong. Whoever said SC is flat never rode around here on a bike.

Even though we needed to arrive at tonight’s host site, The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, at no earlier than 2:30 and had a relatively low mileage day, we still woke up at 6. Ouch. Today we mixed things up a bit and switched chore groups. Instead if being dinner crew the Schweaty Saddles are now the cooler crew. Basically what we do is pack up all our food into three coolers and fill the water and Gatorade jugs. Sounds easy, right? Nope. So you ask how many people does it take to fill a cooler? Way more than are on cooler crew.

We were definitely not in any way a costumed to doing anything but taking care of ourselves in the morning. We took a long breakfast since we didn’t have to be ready to roll out until 8:45. So when it came time to fill the coolers we were still in a zen state of mind. I had no intention of moving quickly and efficiently, but somehow we had to figure out this food puzzle at the ungodly hour of 8am. Even though we have a Wash U graduate, a Michigan State graduate, a UVA undergrad, a Cornell undergrad, another highly intelligent Michigan-er, and myself an Arkansas graduate, we took forevvvvver to get everything ready and out to the trailer. Also, once we thought we got it all outside and loaded I. The trailer we noticed that we left 3 or so bins inside. Oops.

Amidst all this nonsense I needed to get a quick picture with my pal, Chris Campbell, my favorite USC grad! It worked out so perfectly that his apartment was right next door to our host site. Even though he was stinky and sweaty from his run it was totally worth it!

Eventually, we got on the road and headed towards our first stop. We had a swim in Lake Murray planned out and we were all so excited to cool off on a beautiful beach while eating our first lunch (on days that are either over 90 degrees or 90 miles we have two lunches). We had a few confusing turns but finally came upon a buttery smooth road which went straight downhill. I was in love with a road and don’t care who knew it. My relationship with that street changed quickly when my 35mph speed hanged to about 6 mph when we had to climb a hill completely proportionate to the one we just descended. I heard Maria was the most entertaining person that morning for her colorful word choices while climbing up that monster. Once we finished My Own Personal Hell Ave. we came upon the Lake Murray Public Park, who is where we were supposed to go swim. However, it was closed. We couldn’t have gotten any more depressed so quickly even if you had told us that houdini, the kitten we found in Pinopolis, had been put to sleep at the shelter it was to be taken to.

We say there with our heads in our hands and pondered life as we devoured our first lunch, which was only 14 miles into the ride. Then, it appeared as if the skies opened up and God reached down and personally opened the beach access to us. He even told us it was free for bikes to go into the park. What an awesome God.

Laurie and I went first and practically made a dead sprint to get changed into our suits. We got down to the water line and basked in all of this beach’s glory. The first few steps into the water were dreamlike, but it kept getting colder and colder the further we went out. Barrett was a brave man to dive head first into the chilly sea, but once our big strong man showed us it was ok…everyone followed.

We played in the crystal clear water for about 2 hours, got some sweet pics, and then headed out. First thing we did was go down a fairly steep hill, which was awesome. Next, we rode over the dam. I made the. On scoops decision to not stop to take a picture. It was one if those magical moments where there was gorgeous land and water all around me and I felt like I had not a single care in the world. It was a perfect me moment. I just wanted to take it all in without an interruption in my stream of thoughts.

We finally completed the Dan portion of our ride and approached a fairly busy highway with lots of hills. Not exactly anyone’s favorite combination, but the great thing about this group is we all take it in stride. we know that to accomplish this incredible goal we will climb mountains and we will ride on busy streets. It’s all a part if the experience we signed up for and worked so hard to be a part of. It’s a “never give up never surrender” attitude for sure.

Soon things turned ugly. We couldn’t figure out what was going in with the directions at all and quickly the group spread out and separated. It ended up being Laurie, Lauren, Barrett, Elle, and myself all riding together for the majority of the last half of the ride. We valiantly fought off semis, potholes, and the feeling of having no idea as to where I was going. I just had to trust Barrett that he had it all figured out and I’m so glad that he did. We rode down highway 76 (I think) for what felt like an eternity and then found one of the roads we were supposed to turn on after having missed multiple other turns. As we checked GPS, thank you almighty iPhone, you have been the single most handy gadget I have ever owned, we all had a moment as Elle announced to us how much she loves us. In that moment we all realized how awesome very single person in our group is. We just click.

We then hurried down that back road and “fought off” two of the fluffiest cutest puppies I’ve ever seen…minus all my dogs (past and present…not including you buddy, you don’t count…Reese (my tripod puppy) doesn’t like you so I don’t either). I just cooed and told them how cute thy were so obviously that’s why they don’t attack us…definitely not Barrett yelling t them in a very commanding voice. It almost made me want to go sit on the side if the road with my tail between my legs.

Post-fluffer-nutter experience we headed up many more hills and finally or back on to highway 76. We rode through a few small towns including Chapin, which was kind if cool…I liked it anyway. We sped along at blazing speeds. Well, at least on the downhills. The uphills…not so much. Keep in mid this whole time we are on a mad search for the trailer and our second lunch.

We never found it. Apparently Andrew, our leader that drove the van today, got lost too. So, I decided with about ten miles to the host site it was one to take a break. Elle and Barrett went on as Allison, Laurie, Lauren, and I stopped in the lawn of a church on the side of the road. I set my bike down, threw m helmet off and immediately assumed the starfish position. It felt so good to not be sitting on a tiny little seat. That break was exactly what I needed. Allison decided to take off a few minutes before the rest if us so it was just me and Laurie and Lauren left. We decided cruising was a brilliant decision. We kept it between 15-17 mph and it felt fabulous. We made it to the church at about 3:55 and left 5 minutes later to grab first dinner at Arby’s since we never get second lunch. Thankfully it was only about a mile to the restaurant.

The four of us (barrett led us there) devoured our food in a matter of seconds. So we figured we wouldn’t hang around Arby’s and we ride back to the host site. When we arrived we wales straight to the showers but of course there was a ridiculous line to get anywhere near the water. I played basketball in the church’s gym and played with my mobile digital darkroom-esque set up.

Finally I was able to wash the day off of me though. Quickly thereafter dinner was ready. It was delicious baked spaghetti…so good! Also the dessert spread was nothing to sneer at!

We mingled and ate. When people started filing out we got a great game of knockout going. Literally everyone joined. It was so much fun with such a large group of highly competitive people. Of course prison rules were allowed as they always are on bike and build.

Once our third game was over it was time for our first official town hall. Everyone gave their high and low points for the week, we went through announcements, discussed things we could do better and complimented the things going well, an last but certainly not least we read our warm dizzied out loud. My personal favorite was the one to Kate and Jackson. It read, “Kate and Jackson, I watched you” It had no punctuation or explanation. Everyone burst out into laughter. Then we found the note that the author had intended to write. It was very nice and talked about how determined late and jackson were to get to know the hosts. However, the real kicker was when we found another note that read,”Kate and Jackson, I watched you too.” that one did have punctuation. I’ve got an idea as to who did it. Mad props to this person! Hilarious.

Afterwards we played another game of knock out. It’s always a good time. Unfortunately I constantly get stuck in front of very good shooters. I lost a lot.

Now, I’m laying in my hammock that has been set up in a basketball gym as I write about my day. I’m definitely sleepy so…goodnight!

Day 7

One week, 7 days, 152 miles, 14 build hours down, 10 weeks, 4048 miles, 96 build hours to go.

It was our third ride day and my first day as designated sweep, which means I rode in the back of the pack to help anyone if hey had problems. Dan and I were given the responsibility to share and I believe we handled it quite well if you ask me!

We started the day at 6 after a full nights sleep, there were no fire alarms last night, thankfully. We made our own breakfast of leftovers packed, cleaned, and got on our bikes. Dan and I hung back and waited for everyone to roll out. It felt like our route was straight into a 40 mph headwind and with no pace lines allowed for the first two weeks…it hurt. Then the hills came.

Our routes have been flat so far, but today everything changed. We started out with very very slight inclines. The grade was so small that the only way to tell was by looking at my speedometer, which was well below my normal average.

Then as soon as we hit about 15 miles in the hills just wouldn’t stop. I got the song “electrifying” from grease stuck on my head but changed the lyrics to “I got HILLs that are multiplying & I’m losing control…” it was so motivating.

As the official sweep one of our duties was to make sure everyone was A ok. Today was a little rough in some spots for a couple of my teammates. Those hills were brutal! However, there is one in particular that I truly admire. This person was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 12 years old. They’ve been battling it for half their life, bit still want to tackle such a huge challenge. The determination in this person’s eyes is incredible. It’s definitely an inspiration for me. I know there will be days that are challenging for me, but whenever I start to get tired I just have to realize that things could in fact be much harder for me.

I am such a blessed person. My life has been filled with luck. This trip has already been very eye owning I the fact that my parents are extremely generous people. They want the absolute best for me and will make incredible sacrifices to make sure I get to where I want to be. In fact this whole summer would be in no way possible without them or their support. Actually I was discussing their involvement with a fellow rider the other day and they were blown away by how much my parents care. So thanks mom and dad…here’s your official shout out. I hope you feel cool now.

Any way we stopped for lunch in a very remote area of south carolina with fields and forests surrounding us. By this one I couldn’t put it off any longer so I had to take my first official bike and build roadside potty break. I just hope nobody saw me!

After lunch we took it easy as we finished the ride going over numerous rolling hills. It just felt like they never stopped. In fact the steepest of all hills was the one that took us to the church we are staying at tonight, the USC Campus ministry.

When we finally arrived at 2 pm we brought our bags inside and quickly got our stuff to go shower. However I needed to go shopping. Not only did I need a semi-girl moment, but I also needed less stinky running shoes that take up less space and some shorts that aren’t white so I don’t look like I pooped my pants on the next build day.

It took forever to walk the 1.3 miles to the sporting goods store with Elayna, but we eventually made it. Once we had everything we needed we headed directly for the showers. Also, I might add we were both still in our riding kits so we got lots of hilarious looks while we walked. Actually someone took pictures of us as they passed by us.

Eventually we were clean And back to the campus ministry, but then another group was about to leave for the campus bookstore. I just needed postcards. Apparently they aren’t easy to find these days. However we were on a mission and eventually found some.

We headed back and took a bit of a break before dinner. They prepared us an Indian chicken and rice dish. Just so you know, Dad, I actually enjoyed it. In fact I liked it a lot. After dinner the Schweaty saddles and I cleaned up then headed outside. We finally decided to paint the trailer. So far it’s t a house painted on the back doors. However, just before then I got to give spencer a buzz cut. I love cutting dudes hair. It’s always a good time. Also Maria did a mighty fine job on Jackson’s hair too!.

Tonight ended up being another awesome surprise night. Chris Campbell, my friend from the SEC SAAC meeting lives in the apartment building directly next to the campus ministry building. I love seeing familiar faces. It’s always fun I educate people on what we are doing as well.

After he left the over 21 people went to
The Whig, an underground bar. It was awesome! We all had so much fu hanging out with Sarah and britt, two of our leaders. I’ve officially found my new all time favorite bar.

Just another day in the life!

Day 6

Six days, 14 build hours, 105 miles down 75 days, 98 build hours, 4095 miles to go.

Today was out second build day and it was certainly a fun and educational one. However, the day didn’t start at 8 Luke originally planned. It started at 4am when someone accidentally tripped the motion detector on the fire alarm. I woke up to a loud beeping noise and automatically thought it was just time to wake up and get ready for the day. So, I grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste, and clothes and headed to the bathroom. When I tried to walk in Elle looked at me strangely and said, “you do realize its 4 am, right?” so I hurried back to the couch I found.

Once I was back in bed the alarm turned off. Then. It turned on, off, on, off, on, etc for what felt like hours. Apparently it was no easy task turning it off when the motion detector kept setting it off. Oops.

Once the day actually began we ate a delicious southern breakfast of egg and sausage casserole, grits, and fruit. I was a very happy and satisfied woman. The people at these churches apparently are trying I make sure we dont lost any weight during this trip!

After breakfast we split up into two groups, those who wanted to bike to the build site and those who wanted to ride in the van. After how I felt riding yesterday I felt going in the van was by far the wiser choice, so I proudly crammed into the van and buckled up.

We arrived at the build site around 830 and immediately got to work. Some people painted, some prepared studs in the kitchen for when thy would install the cabinets later on, and some installed windows. I, however, decided to take on the challenge I roofing.

At first everyone wanted to lift a bag of shingles to the roof, but once they got their package up the ladder they decided they were needed elsewhere. Fifty awkward pounds are not easy to carry up a ladder. I thought it would be excellent I go for as many as possible though. I lost count around my 6th bag. Once we got the 51 fifty pound bags up to the roof it was time to get dirty.

We nailed the starter shingles in a matter of minutes. The architecture shingles, however, took quite a bit more time. We felt it was wiser to go a bit slower and do it right rather than rush through it, but considering the competitive nature of everyone here we ended up just going as fast as possible. Even though we were almost perfect in how we lined it up, we screwed up once on the staggering of shingles. When we finally discovered our mix up we talked to Bob the Builder and fixes it within minutes. Thankfully we didn’t let the issue go on for too long.

After our little hiccup we blazed through and got a ton done on he roof. Maria and I tag teamed to improve our efficiency and by the end I the day the roof was over halfway done. Bob told us we were the best roofers he has every worked with, which is apparently a HUGE complement coming from him. So we were totally pumped about that.

As soon as the build day was over the smart kids (aka the people who rode in the van) strayed cleaning around 3:30 and left to shower by 3:45. We then ran to our rooms and for our shower stuff and headed off to the Sumter YMCA so we didn’t have to wait for hours just to shower.

We got back and split up. I talked to a few people for a bit then was on my way to go do an ab workout when I saw Walt playing Rock Band. I did it to almost be blasphemous to leave someone to play rock band alone so I joined in on the face melting session. Apparently it lasted loner than I thought so Nate called me trying to figure out where I was.

When I finished rocking out I ran upstairs and got a few exercises in. I refuse to lose all the muscle I gained through my Crossfit training. Elle had some nasty ab exercises though. I couldn’t handle most of them. That’s definitely something I need to work on during the trip. It will help with my back issues so much!

The most exciting part of my day was when I had a surprise visitor though. Jason’s sister came to visit me! I didn’t realize they were so close by! It’s always nice to see a familiar face. We sat outside and had a great conversation until it was time for dinner.

The church provided a fried chicken and mac n cheese dinner for us. So delicious! My table got to talk with the church’s pastor. He was such an interesting man. He’s traveled and lived ll over. He Ben told us how he had farming land in baton rouge, LA, as a part of his soup kitchen down there. I just thought that was so incredibly cool.

After dinner the Schweaty Saddles presented again to our hosts, and if course we did a fabulous job. Although I am slightly disappointed that we didn’t get any bizarre or hilarious questions. Once the video, talk, and questions were over it was time to clean up. Dinner crew came in and finished up within minutes. So, we had a bit of free time.

I headed to the playground to “throw up” with Alyssa, Brynne, and Jackson. I guess they have the last installed marry go round on America. It was awesome. Also, of you ever want to go super fast on one of those make sure to contact Jackson Lester. He’ll hook you up.

Once the fun and games were over we went inside for or affordable housing curriculum presentation. The first team. Up was Jackson and Allison. They takes about mortgages and predatory lenders. Then Alyssa and Jenna were up. They broke into a rap to the tune of fresh prince of bel-air. It was a total hit. It was great!

We had some more free time after the presentations so a few of the older people In the group headed to the Main St. Tavern.

Even though it was raining and the bar didn’t have a wide selection of drinks it was a lot of fun! I just can’t say it enough times, but I love every single one of my team members. They are all so awesome!

Just another day in the life of a bike and builder!

Day 5

Five days, 105 miles, 7 build hours down 76 days, 4095 miles, 105 build hours to go.

Today was certainly a challenge. We rode from Pinopolis, SC, to Sumter, SC, which ended up being about 66 miles. After riding only about 42 yesterday I thought today I’d feel great, but what I didn’t think about is that I’m not used to riding two days in a row yet. Normally, I have at least a day in between rides to recover. I no longer have that luxury.

I started out sore and my butt wasn’t happy one bit, but once we got moving I felt completely fresh. Even my back felt great.

We were riding a pretty solid 19 mph average, but things changed fairly quickly. We turned into a neighborhood and at the first stop sign Brynne flipped over her handles bars and hit Jackson in his back wheel. Thankfully, no one got hurt…so it was hilarious. Once Brynne’s hoods were fixed and ready to go Jackson noticed he had his third flat of the summer. He’s currently batting 1.000 hopefully that’ll change quickly. His tubes look like they are polka dotted from all the path work he’s done so far.

We got back on our bikes and thought we were headed on our way. Of course we were wrong. Our road quickly turned into a dangerously gravel road. Paul popped a tire after riding for less than 5 feet. I was impressed by his dedication to get us off that road. Everyone but Spencer, Laurie, and Barrett stopped. The rest of us turned around and found another road that actually had asphalt on it. We attempted to call the others back, but definitely failed.

Eventually, we met back up with Laurie and Spencer, but Barrett had gone on ahead of them. However, about 30 miles in everything changed. I desperately needed to stop. I had shooting pains in my back and was in need of a lot of chamois cream. We found an awesome little field to sit in next to a gas station. It was a beautiful day to sit under the clouds and just relax.

I almost got left behind, but Matt had to come back for his Camelbak. So we thought it would be a fantastic idea to see how fast we could go. What I didn’t realize was it was uphill, into a headwind, and my legs had gone cold . I got up to 27.5 and then quickly died. Somehow we managed to bridge pretty quickly.

We kept moving along at about 20mph and finally made it to lunch around 11:30. I got some cold (and delicious) fried chicken, pound cake, and tortilla chips. I’ve never eaten so healthy in my life. Jackson whipped out the ball and glove so we played a little catch then got back on the road.

Barrett had been waiting for us at the lunch stop so he joined Laurie, Brynne, Dena, Spencer and I as we took off for Sumter. We chugged along at about 18-25 mph the whole way. Although the average was more of 19. After a few rest stops and photo ops we made it to the Methodist Church of the Holy Comforter around 2pm.

We hit the showers and rested while we waited for a traditional Memorial Day meal of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, as well as preparing our clothes to go to the laundry for the first time this trip. While waiting many of us tried to take naps. First I attempted to sleep on the carpeted seats down by our bikes, but it didn’t work. Then, I tried going upstairs. That didn’t work either. Finally I attempted to lay in my hammock to take a nap, but it started raining 5 minutes after I got it set up. It was a flash downpour. So I quickly got up and took my hammock down. As soon as I ran inside it had quit raining. Apparently I’m just meant to stay awake and not waste a single minute.

Instead of sleeping I went inside and joined in on the games in the entertainment room. Sarah, Jenna, and I melted some serious faces during Rock Band. Our audience grew and grew and soon it was out the doorway. Our fun was over around 7 when dinner was announced. There was a loud rumble and a stampede followed as we all ran to eat.

Once again some extremely generous people cooked us a wonderful meal. This time it included one of my all time favorite foods…Mac n cheese…so good! They then announced how tomorrow’s build day would go and they then left us to our own devices, which always leads to interesting events.

Things started out very innocently. There was a massage tray that evolved into a massage train circle, which we then reversed…excellent idea, Stewart (swimmers give the best massages and luckily that made it so he was behind me). Then people’s thumbs wore out and they got bored. So, naturally, we played taps with the small inflated balls. One ball turned into two ten three and so on and so forth until we had at least ten going at once.

the attention span of SC2SC is surprisingly short so within a few minutes of that people got up to go “walk to town”, which translated to hang out at the CVS across the street.

Meanwhile, A serious game of four square broke out between Alyssa, Britt, Andrew, Stewart, Dan, and me. We couldn’t settle for just riding 66 miles today. We have to do some sort of extra exercise! So we got in an extra arm workout by throwing balls at one another in a very violent manner, which is always a good time.

Once we got tired we joined the others and walked the 500 feet to CVS and walked around. We then returned back to the church, played a few games and now we are headed to bed. We have to get ready for the build tomorrow! Everyone keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers that the predicted rain storms will pass quickly!

Just another day I the life of a bike and builder! Check out our route tracker by visiting bikeandbuild.org

Day 4

Four days, 42 miles, 7 build hours down 77 days, 4158 miles, 105 build hours to go.

It’s was our first official ride day today. We started out in Charleston and ended up in Pinopolis, SC. There was a 60% chance of rain with a nasty head wind, but luckily we didn’t have any rain.

We started the morning with a traditional southern breakfast provided by Trinity UMC. There were cheese grits, sausage casserole, fruit, etc. the food was definitely excellent, but my favorite part of the morning was meeting my Trinity UMC prayer mom, Mrs. Berry. Come to find out the congregation decided to pick names of of a hat and pray for the individual rider they selected. This morning as I chose which orange looked most delicious she introduced herself and gave me a journal to write in during my journey. I then asked her if she wanted the link to my blog. She merely looked at me, laughed, and said, “Honey, I don’t even have a computer.” She was so cute!

Trinity then held a send off prayer service for us. There were plenty of tears and laughs! I honestly couldn’t say thanks enough to Daniel and his congregation. They certainly went well above the call of duty.

Around 8:15 we finally rolled out and headed to the “beach” in Charleston for our ceremonial wheel dip. We all got our bikes over the sea wall and on to the beach with plenty of team work. Then as we lined up we put our back wheels in the Atlantic Ocean and our trip was finally…officially… underway!

Today’s ride was a little shorter than the normal ride, only about 42 miles (well more like 35 if you didn’t miss a turn like we did). It went by quickly and easily. The low country is a great place to get started. Hilly terrain would be brutal right now.

We started out pretty much all In one big pack, but eventually separated into smaller groups of about 3-5. Today my riding buddy for the whole way was Barrett. However, most of the time we spent finding all sorts of different people to pedal along with. Even though we stopped often and just kind of took it all in we probably averaged somewhere around 18 mph. We could have gone much faster, but where is the fun in that?

I chose this route because I want to see everything I possibly can. 4200 miles is not a short distance. Not at all. As Barrett and I got to talking about all of it we started discussing how we have no qualms about taking it easy. We aren’t thinking about going fast. We are just thinking about going. Coincidentally though that makes it easier for my mind to wander and think about every ache and pain that decides to surge through my body at any given time. The thing is, though, I don’t care how bad I’m hurting, I don’t want to stop. This opportunity comes only once in a lifetime…unless you’re Britt Simmerman. In that case…it only comes twice. I want to experience America in the most intimate way possible. I want to stop and literally smell the roses, I want to swim in every body of water we go past, and I want to sing at the top of my lungs while riding my bicycle…across America.

Thankfully, since we only go lost once today and it only put us back a few miles we made it to the Pinopolis UMC by about noon, which was way before they were expecting us.

Even though we arrived hours earlier than they had expected, they immediately opened their doors to us and welcomed us into their church. They set out food and showed us where to sleep and then gave us directions to a beautiful lake so we could go swimming.

We all quickly put our bathing suits on and headed for the dock. A few of us were a bit unsure about getting in at first, but once we were In the water it was hard to get me out of it. The temperature was perfect and it finally felt fun to swim again. I can’t even remember a time where the actual swimming part of swimming was fun to me. It felt incredible to swim a few strokes of freestyle and to still be able to move forward.

After a while we all. Are it back to the church with a few hours to kill still before dinner. So, some of us got a game of Knock-Out going with a defaulted basketball and a baby sized soccer ball. Also, we definitely employed prison rules. All bets were off. Needless to say…it was interesting.

Finally, we finished up and headed indoors, showered up, and went back outside. I believe it is blasphemous to waste days like today sitting inside. So, instead of sitting in my hammock I joined in on a game of shoeless soccer. Of course it wouldn’t be a contact sport if I didn’t end up in te ground at some point. So I decided I would do it three times. The first time I slipped and almost did a back roll, the second I was being dumb and overly competitive and tried to slide tackle Brynne (all I managed to do was give myself a strawberry), and lastly I did the splits as I reached for the ball and then proceeded to fall to the ground.

Even though I was all dirty again after showering I didn’t care one bit. I laid in my hammock finally, air dried a bit, and went back inside where we got to talk to James, the pastor at the Pinopolis UMC. He is a very kind, smart, and funny man. Hearing his story of how God called him to the pulpit was both interesting and Inspiring.

He was so kind he even had his men’s group cook us an absolutely delicious southern meal…fried chicken. Dinner was incredible, but it was dessert that truly made my heart happy. They had a whole assortment of desserts for us, but it was the banana pudding I saw from across the room that I honed in on. I love banana pudding with my whole heart. If I had kids one day I’ll seriously consider naming one of them banana pudding…it’s that good.

After dinner was over it was time for Team Schweaty Saddles to take care of the dinner chores. We gave the host presentation and helped clean afterwards. Luckily I didn’t say anything inappropriate…I think any way.

Once all that was said and done it became time to ready myself for tomorrow. I cleaned my bike and now the chain is spotless. I did that just for you Richard. Hopefully it won’t turn completely black from grease tomorrow.

Apparently though while I was degreasing, polishing, and lubing JP some of the others headed back to the lake Moultrie dock for a night cap and found a kitten to take with us. If only it weren’t a rule to not take animals…sad face. However, we did finally find a lunch marker. It’s a paper mâché Dalmatian that the church gave to us when we asked about it. Georgie previously served as their Relay for Life mascot, but they felt Georgie needed to come with us. So be on the lookout for Georgie in a town near you. We’ll be eating wherever he/she is!

Tomorrow is yet another log day, but I can’t wait for it to begin! 60-70 miles to Sumter in the AM!

Lake Moultrie today

Day 3

Three days down 78 to go.

We are still in Charleston, but head out tomorrow morning around 8. Trinity United Methodist Church has been the absolute epitome of southern hospitality. I couldn’t be anymore thankful for everything they’ve done for us. It’s definitely going to be sad leaving them tomorrow.

Today, however, was our first build day. It’s the reason why we are here. There has certainly been plenty of focus in the riding aspect, but the true reason we 30 young adults are here is to serve. We got started with a bang in Thursday by serving in Trinity’s Community Dinner alongside some of their congregation members, but today’s build really made this adventure feel real. I’m still in denial that this is actually my life right now.

We “slept in” again until 7 today, did a dry run of getting all of our stuff packed, and ate breakfast before heading out for the day. Also, as a side note, check out the Natalie Portman digital short on SNL. We watched as the second half of Team SC2SC waited for the van to come back to take us to the build site. Hilarity ensues.

The build today was a little unique as it was a historic restoration. Miss Sandra’s parents bought their Freedman’s Cottage in Charleston’ Historic District many years ago. She grew up in this house, but through hurricane damage and wear and tear it became necessary to restore it.

The only true demo allowed to the home was the addition to the back of the home because it wasn’t built until the 1950s and Charleston only designates buildings as historic if it’s 75 years or older. Today, however, we didn’t get to do any demo…sad face. I started my day with installing a vapor barrier in the crawl space underneath the house. Thankfully, Jeremy, the Charleston Habitat’s executive director, said the foundation that we crawled underneath was pretty strong and jokingly (I think anyway) told us that he was about 80% sure it would hold up. The Dungeon Masters did work though and got the vapor barrier laid, stapled, and taped fairly quickly.

Afterwards, the Dungeon Masters were placed on painting duty. We primed numerous 1″x8″ boards that are robe used for siding later on. Conversation eventually turned to what we want to do while on the bike, which turned into road trip games, to which I quickly suggested Would You Rather…best game ever. We had a whole range of propositions. My favorite was probably every question Kate asked. Apparently, Would You Rather is all the do in Alaska? But seriously, would you rather have a fog horn go off every time your legs separated? You know…normal things like that.

Also, for the record, another day without recordable accidents on Bike & build!

We finally got back to the church, showered at the College of Charleston athletic facilities again, and went to dinner. The congregation members made us an amazing dinner. We walked in to tables decorated in red, white, and blue…in true B&B fashion. They ha a whole southern food spread…even for the vegetarians! There was chicken bog…yum, the best green beans I’ve ever had, corn, bread, and salad. The vegetarians walked in to see a table filled with tomato pies, spinach quiche, and gluten-free black beans and rice. They were so happy to have something other than salad. It was priceless when Elle saw the gluten-free brownies! They even made her some extras to take on the road.

As we ate we got to mix and mingle with the families that cooked for us and with Daniel, the pastor, and his family. Easily, the funniest moment of dinner was when Kate wanted to play with Daniel’s kids and went up to his daughter. The little girl turned around promptly to run to be dad in fear and hit her nose on his chair. As a disclaimer…it was only funny because she’s ok and because she ran in fear from someone who is anything but scary!

Post mass food consumption we had a presentation to discuss more about what we are doing so that the congregation would know who exactly we are. Once that was over we cleaned, which goes fast when you have 30 plus people working, and then headed back for a couple more internal presentations. Things got reeeal awkward when we discussed hygiene and preventing saddle sores, staph, etc. We made it through that with plenty of immaturity…don’t worry! However, my favorite part of the day was our first Town Hall-esque meeting. We discussed the trip this far, how to improve, and what we like.

We talked about having a servants heart and how much we loved kick starting his adventure by serving the community dinner, and how it all ultimately relates to our main focus and mission. During the restoration today the news came and interviewed Miss Sandra. He described her experience as all of us just being a part of her family. It felt as if we jut live in another part of the state and had come to visit.

That statement truly embodies how I feel about this experience thus far. Everyone just feels like they are an extension of my family I just haven’t met yet.

As we prepared for lights out, we packed what we could and laid out everything we need for tomorrow’s wheel dip. Then, we gathered around and read in a circle Dr. Seuss’ “Oh the places you’ll go”, which just happened to be on a table in the building we are staying in this week. How fitting?

It’s all just a part of the life of a Bike & Builder.

Day 2

Two days down 79 to go.

Today was yet another adventure, even though it was orientation. It feels like I’ve been awake for about a week straight already. Getting to know my teammates, getting acquainted with Bike & Build rules and regulations, and squeezing in plenty of time for fun is a lot to do in one day.

After sleeping in til 7 we ate a breakfast of free bagels, bananas and peanut butter. Some of the more adventurous types chose to create a concoction of pork BBQ and peanut butter. Personally, I consider that to be blasphemy! However…to each his own.

Once breakfast was done and cleaned up after we played yet more get to know you games and submitted trailer designs…cross your fingers Team Schweaty Saddles wins! It made me feel for the contestants on The Next Great Artist…or whatever that Bravo show is called. We had 7 minutes to come up with an idea and then do a thumbnail sketch with cray-ons…not crowns like so many others say. It was no easy task.

Soon though it was finally time to ride. We had our skill drills, were given cue sheets, and were sent on our merry ways. It was only 20 miles or so today, a out and back to the beach where we plan to do our wheel dip on Sunday. Naturally, we couldn’t resist the temptation of getting in the bitter cold salt water while still in our riding shorts. Luckily, I didn’t get any sand in my pants so I’m still sore-free! Ask me again in a few days though.

After the second group finally found the beach the first group departed from the Fort Moultrie beach, which is a part of the Fort Sumter National Monument. The crosswinds were a little rough on the way back and the ascend over the Ravenal Bridge, but I just imagined Bill yelling at me to keep going on our Mt. Pleasant Hill repeats. Who knew those would already come in handy?

Everyone in our group got lost at least once, two people fell…at least once, we got our first flat, and we all made it back safe and sound. After all that stink was walking around the College of Charleston athletic department generously offered their visitor locker rooms for us to shower in. Then we ate, had free time, and ate again.

Tonight was a great evening. Trinity United Methodist Church gave us some serious donation magic tonight. We got to go see the Yankees Single A team, the charleston Riverdogs, play the BoSox team, the Greenville Drives. Just to top off the excellent night of baseball and sweet potato fries we ended a night of the Yanks losing (yay) with fireworks!

Just another day in the life of Bike & Build!

Day 1

One day down eighty to go.

I thought today would be more f a gettin to know you and your bike day, but I was very wrong. We did in fact play get to know you games, but they only lasted for an hour or so. After we had our bicycle safety presentation (Peter from My Bike Law was awesome…that’s kind of a shout out to you Tricia Black) we were able to begin our summer of service. Trinity United Methodist Church (our Charleston host) has a community dinner apparently every Thursday. We had the pleasure of serving the locals in need with a traditional southern meal of tomatoes and okra on rice and watermelon and sweet tea…classic.

Then, once the kitchen was spotless, the Charleston Habitat for Humanity served us a delicious BBQ dinner…yet another southern classic…yum! Of course I stood by the BBQ sauces and told everyone to stay away from that Carolina sauce nonsense and proceeded to hand them all the Memphis style sauce. I mean we do have the best stuff in the entire world. I definitely by partial or anything.

Anyway, once dinner wrapped up and all the presentations were over we had a bit of free time. So, all the old people (comparatively) went to Mac’s Pub & Grill over by the City market. I have found that trivia nights are an excellent way to get to know people. There are those that are there to drink, those who want to show off all their random useless knowledge, and those that think they know all the answers but really have no idea. Luckily, the group seems fairly knowledgable, but embraced the fact that we really have no clue who was the first president to get shot and survive or when racquetball was invented. I love these people!

It just confirms the fact that this is where God wants me to be right now. The timing was impeccable, fundraising was not nearly a hard as I had expected, and I had literally the world’s best training partners.

Essentially, what I took away from today’s adventure was those with a servant’s heart never stop working. You could just feel the joy radiating off of everyone who was in that room. Especially those that were able to enjoy the meal. They were so grateful. However, what I found to be especially cool was talking to one gentleman I particular. He seemed to have almost nothing. His life is definitely not an easy one. Everyday is a new challenge. One day it may be where am I going to eat or the next could be where will I sleep? But the cool thing about him was how he still wants to help others. When he learned about what we were doing he told us about his involvement in the Fresno Habitat for humanity. It is great to know that people come from all walks of life to help people who just need a hand up. Even the people I’m riding with this summer come from very different backgrounds. It’s incredible learning about how each and every rider in the SC2SC route got here and why they are excited or scared out of their minds.

Anyway, lights were supposed to be out 20 minutes ago…so I believe it’s “nap” time. I can’t wait for day 2!

The Last Supper

It’s finally here! I’m about to bike and build my way across America and I simply cannot wait to get going!

It’s been a great week so far leading up to what’s going to be an amazing summer. Not only did I get a surprise going away with my whole family (Denise via Skype) but tons of friends were there to wish me well as I head off for my adventure of a lifetime. Mom keeps telling me I must be an idiot because I didn’t figure out what was going on, but I’m so happy I didn’t. It was an incredible feeling to see just how many people in Memphis alone are just as excited as I am! It was a perfect night!

By Monday I had everything packed and ready to go. I wanted to load up the car and leave right then, but naturally my family had other plans. We pulled out of the driveway around 10am on Tuesday and finally arrived in Atlanta around 6. Getting to see my other half…yes you Lauren Meier…was most excellent! As always we had an interesting and festive night of activities. It was yet another perfect send off party!

Now we are packing up the car to head towards downtown Charleston. Mom can’t seem to go anywhere without checking out everything civil war related. She’ll be lucky if she ever makes it home from here. It’s a gorgeous town and any of us would use any excuse to stick around here a little longer!

Lucky for us we had a bit of a tour guide with us last night. And by that I mean I was so happy to get to hang out with Tricia Black who has been to this place at least one more time than we have. We ate a delicious fresh seafood dinner at Fleet Landing. It almost seemed sinful to pass up the shrimp & grits. It was definitely an excellent last supper decision. Also, the chocolate pie (not “The Help” style…I hope) was perfection.

Basically, I just want to say thank you to everyone who is supporting me. Even though I haven’t even pedaled a single mile or pounded a single nail I’m already having the trip of a lifetime. There’s only about an hour and a half until I meet my summer family and the butterflies in my stomach won’t go away. I’m nervous and excited. However, I know this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life right now.

What do you need to bike across AMERICA?

I’m leaving Memphis in the morning and completely unlike me, I am ready ahead of time. So, I decided to make a short video on what I’ll be taking with me on my 3 month journey across America as I Bike & Build with 30 other amazing team mates. It’s just something to whet your appetite for the videos to come while I’m actually on the road.