A Day in the Life of...

a Biker:  Wake up at 6am. Pack up. Breakfast once everyone has their things packed and by the trailer. Clean up the host site, leaving it cleaner than we found it. Group meeting to go over route and lunch stop.  Take off and be at the host by 4pm.  This means we have all day to do what you want and see what you want.  Just be sure to stop at lunch, check in at minimium, chow down is recommended.  Like today, we stopped for an hour at an Iris Festival then again at a dollar store to restock sunscreen supplies.  By the time we left the festival, which was in our host town, the fast group had almost arrived to the lunch stop 25 miles ahead.  Everyone is spaced out in their own groups.  I am in a turtle group or with the sweeps.  I'm renaming the sweeps to Sierra & Sweeps. I don't mind. Then once we're at the host, we shower, lay out our bedding, eat, see the town, sleep, swim, stretch, etc. It's quite the life... :)

a Builder:  Same morning process.  Arrive at build site around 8am. Do work. Done around 4pm.

I would like to point out I'm work my butt off in honor of each dollar given for each mile.  A big thank you and shout out to those who have sponsored the trip so far: 
23- George Vinyard kicked off the trip with a donation in honor of his wife Jenny.
24- Happy Birthday to Brenda Main Booth!
26- Randi Cowell, Stephanie Myers, Tim & Pat Sullivan
27, 28, 29 - Northland's 100th Commencement!! Congratulations to all my friends who graduated today!! Thank you to Benjamin Hughey & Intefada Wardia (Today's graduates) for donating!

In Columbia, SC now. Mild hills, sticky bodies, and flat tires sum the day up. Check out http://bikeandbuild.org/cms/ to keep tabs on all the trips, click the SC2SC route to follow ours and read a daily update. I'll check in (with shorter blogs now that you have the general idea of what we're doing). Questions? Feel free to comment and I'll answer next time I'm on! Thanks for checking in! I appreciate the support!

Ritz, Road, Roof, Roll out, Rural, Rain.

Whew, what a time.  I arrived in Charleston late Saturday night at stayed at a beach house with 4 other bikers.  It was a snazzy rental place that was cheaper than a hotel when split among us all.  We didn't have orientation until Monday afternoon so we did what any good young adult does when they are 200 yards from the beach, and laid on the beach for hours on end.  Monday & Tuesday were a whirlwind of name games, bike lessons, affordable housing lessons, etc.  I will soon have 32 new friends on Facebook, which makes our real life friendships legitament. Haha! Wednesday was our first build day! It's amazing what 33 people can get done.  We looked like army ants scurrying every where, destoying everything in our path. We took off a roof and put a new one back on! I got to use a sweep scraper/pryer thing to get shingles off, then sweated in the sun to lay tar paper and new shingles.  We almost got the entire roof done, except the showers we were using at the local college closed at 5pm, so we had to scidaddle too early.  Then, the moment we've all been waiting for.... Thursday!! After passing all our bikes over a handrail down to the beach, we had our dip ceremony:  all 33 riders & leaders line up and dip their back tires in the Atlantic Ocean.  Then, once we hit Santa Cruz in 11 weeks, we dip our front tires in (then toss aside the bikes and swim in our gear). The first day was a short 34 miles to little Pinopolis.  We had to account for all the time it'd take in the AM to pack, eat, load gear, for 33 people.  That's a lot of people!! Very overwhelming at times.  When we walk into a place, if it wasn't happenin' before, it will be once we're there. Today's ride was 67 miles to Sumter, SC, partially in the rain.  But that felt good in this southern heat.  It's not overwhelming yet, but it will be as the summer days tick away. We've had delicious meals provided each night so far by the churches we stay at. It's been a great start to a summer I can't believe is finally underway!! 33 personalities and bikes. Get excited for stories when I have more time to blog! Updates about once a week, or when I can find libraries so I don't have to use other people's iPad things. Til next time :)

Tires & Chains; Rain & Dirt.

Less than 20 days left. Yes, that's less than 3 weeks. Like blink twice and I'll be in Charleston. Soooo, probably a good time to make sure I have all my gear and know how to use it.

Time to hit up those offers from friends!  First lesson (ok, more like 40th lesson, but who's counting?), how to change a tire.  Pretty fundamental skill to have while on the road, whether it's in a vehicle or bicycle.  Instructor of Choice: Chris Lanyon.  Super knowledgeable friend here at school who was able to break everything down into simple terms to get the message across.  I now know how to use those little yellow plasticy things that were on the required list of things to buy (aka - tire spoons/levers).  He also fixed the clicking from my chain.  I sounded like a ticking bomb while shifting sometimes.  I at least knew that wasn't good, even if I had no idea what it was stemmed from.  Now, I have a quiet bike again and a basic understanding of how to tweak the tension of the gears and how to keep the chain moving the right way.  Thank you Chris!! Hope those pedals work for you!

Today, I discovered what it must have felt like to have a wet diaper as a baby.  I took my bike out for a spin in the rain for the first time.  Also, got to see if my rain coat was suitable for bike riding.  I think it'll suit me fine, one less specialized thing to purchase... whew!  Nice 20 mile ride in light rain on a mostly paved path/road resulted in a nice brown streak up my entire backside.  My padded shorts, jacket, and Camelbak looked like a dirty skunk when it was time to dry out and clean up.  

Crunch time. Biking every day (except for this canoeing weekend).  My bike computer is finally up and running-- time to start racking up the odometer mileage.  Minimum of 500 miles before Charleston.  Perfect time to start exploring the hills of the Bayfield Peninsula!  I'll be out everyday if you'd like to join! Call me up or find me on here!

(Very sweaty) Sweat Equity Hours

We're in Miami, trick!! (Spring Break 4/22/11 - 5/1/11)
Each B&B rider must put in 10 hours of "sweaty equity" before the summer trip.  This term refers to the time a person puts into contributing to the organization via building or other support work.  Future Habitat for Humanity homeowners have to put in hundreds of sweaty equity hours before they can own a home.  B&B riders have to put in a minimum of 10 hours to get on site experience with building, as well as have the opportunity to learn about the affordable housing cause first hand.

Northland College Volunteer Program has participated in Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge for 8 years now.  This program offers an alternative spring break to young people, where groups can chose from over 100 affiliates located around to country to travel to and work with for a week.  Past  NC groups have worked in HI, MS, KY, LA, plus more.  As this year's co-coordinators, Luke & I spent a large amount of our winter term organizing this trip.  But all the fund raising ($5000 for this trip, simultaneous with B&B $4000), planning, and organizing was all worth it when we arrived in 85+ degree Miami!

A group of 11 students and 1 staff member traveled 30+ hours in one 12-passenger van from Ashland, Wisconsin to Miami, Florida --> snow to sunshine! We stayed at Central Bible Church in Westchester.  We hit South Beach a couple hours after arriving on Easter Sunday, relaxing after crammed spaces and short stints of sleep at road side stops and RV parks.  Our 2nd free day took us south 30 minutes to the Everglades.  In less than 48 hours, may people knocked several things off their bucket list: going to Florida, swimming in the ocean, seeing an alligator.  This was already adding up to be a stellar (and educational) trip!

So begins the work week on Tuesday.  Safety orientation with the 50+ high schoolers from Bishop Brady High School in New Hampshire.  Our group was small enough we were all able to be sent to the same work site, instead of being split up like the HS.  

Day 1, House 1:  Dry wall.  Day 2, House 2:  Base boarding and caulking.  Day 3 & 4, House 3:  Framing and ceiling bracing.  Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami built 91 houses last year! This amazing expansion of effort allowed us to work on three different houses in different areas of Liberty City (may ring a bell to video gamers:  Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City, anyone? --yep, that's where HFH is concentrating their work).  Everyone found the niche at each work site, under the very patient guidance of our construction worker, Rick.  What a great man... patient, patient, and did I mention patient?  Everyone got their fill of cutting, measuring, nailing, screwing, lifting, painting, caulking, etc.  We put in 250+ hours of building in our 4 days of work.  Add on another trip to the beach, some delicious Cuban food, and bright, sunny skies and you have yourself a successful service learning project week!!

12 people down, 12 people back, alive. That trip not only fulfilled my sweat equity building requirement for the summer, but it gave me another good leadership role to gain experience and knowledge from.  Plus, I got to have a great time with my friends, made new friends, and got a little refresher on what it's like to be with the same group day in and day out. Bring on the summer, with hammer and bike alongside!