Pictures!

A picture is worth a thousand words. and I don't have the time or energy to write a proper entry.

July 2

It's been ages since I've had a computer, so I'll do a brief overview of the past week or so.

There have been a lot of hills. An extraordinarily excessive number of climbs followed by what feels like a significantly smaller number of descents. I am unbelievably excited for the flat mid west, and am hoping that Ohio is all its cracked up to be, in terms of lack of large hills.

I'm exhausted and a little bit beaten up. I had my first real fall on Saturday (I think... days kind of blend together when you're spending more than 8 hours on a bike) when I hit a giant rock, popped my front tire and gracefully spilled into the road. Sunday was a century ride, which was loooooong and the past two days have both been around 80 miles. It's nice to have a day off, even though we're in Pittsburgh which isn't the most beautiful city in the world. Yesterday we had to bike to our host site in the city center which was pretty frightening.

More importantly, the group of people is great so despite being tired and sore and bruised I'm having fun. I'll admit that the idea of having to get back on my bike tomorrow is scary, but I'm pumped to have more adventures, etc etc. Hopefully the rain will let up a little (it's rained pretty much every day we've been on the road) and I'll start physically adjusting, but in the end it'll be fun even if things continue as they are.

Monday June 22

Hey,

Short post because I'm on a computer at someone's house (one of Ali's friends, who has graciously decided to host us ALL in her very beautiful house/feed us great food).

Last night we stayed at a cool church and watched the Muppet Movie/Hercules. There was a bit of a laundry debacle that involved a very crotchety old man, thankfully my only involvement was a bit of damp clothing. This morning was up very early, pack the van (I'm on "van crew" which means I help load up everyone's bags), and eat large amounts of eggs.

Today was a pretty challenging (read: extremely painful on the legs) bike ride that included what I have decided to call The Biggest Hill In the World. Which kept going and going and going and turning so you constantly thought that it would end. Which it didn't.

More fun things include the fact that I'm pretty sure that I've consumed over 6,000 calories today and it's totally ok. I'll sleep incredibly well tonight, didn't fall today and the rain wasn't bad. I'll wrap it up now- the pictures are all from our build site.

Day One

It rained today! A lot... one might even say that it poured. I got a chance to wear my fabulous bright yellow rain coat which kept me as dry as possible and also not hit by a car (thanks mom). We also went for a detour through a state park, which was pretty if not terribly exciting. I also fell over at a stop sign for the first time (clipless pedals, kind of embarrassing).

We got a little lost, but all arrived in one piece. I'm at an elementary school now in a children's library writing this. We have the rest of the afternoon to hang out and are working on our first build site tomorrow. I haven't taken any pictures yet but promise I will soon.

Boston

Hey everyone,

I'm just outside of Boston now and (almost) ready to leave. I've finally gotten all of my gear/labeled everything, so I'm technically prepared for the summer. I'm using my last few hours of freedom to make sure my iPod is filled with good music and I actually know how to use this blog. I'll have semi-limited computer access over the summer, but I'm going to make an effort to keep this updated/post photos along the way.