Bike and Build: My Epic Journey Across America

Day off in Flagstaff, Arizona

2008-08-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 7 day stretch of straight biking days--no days off or build days in between!Today we have a day off in Flagstaff, AZ. We seem to have come to Flagstaff at the best time possible! Since it was the first Friday of the month yesterday, all of the shops stayed open late and there was an "Art Walk". The Art Walk consisted of a bunch of different stores and galleries which I walked through and checked out all of the local artwork. There were also free snacks at most places. This morning, I went to the local Downtown Diner and had some delicious french toast. Then, I went shopping at some nearby thrift stores and to a local Crepery--mmm. Today was the first day of the Navajo Festival, so I checked out some of the artwork and jewlery they had set up in the park. This afternoon, I am going to go with one of my leaders, Sophie, to her father's masterpiece. He is an artist who bought a huge crater near Flagstaff and is turning it into a work of art that people can walk through, sort of like Stonehenge. I'm really excited for this, especially because it is not yet finished, and most people are not allowed into it yet.
Tomorrow we will bike to the Grand Canyon, where we will have another day off and get to see my lovely family!
Also, I found out that I am going to be staying in the Imperial Palace hotel/casino in Las Vegas in a couple of days!! This is probably one of the most exciting times of the trip!

Pie Town, NM--a little slice of heaven

2008-07-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the hardest 80 mile day I've ridden so far. Not only was it hilly--we were riding through the majestic Rocky Mountains--but it was also extremely windy! It was so windy that I was even pedalling furiously down hills just to keep my speedometer above 8 mph! Nevertheless, there were some very cool aspects to the ride. I saw the Very Large Array, which is a grouping of 27 radio telescopes located on the top of a plateau. I also crossed the Continental Divide, which is the point where the rivers in the US change their direction of flow. It is also at an elevation of over 7,000 feet!!! No wonder there was so much climbing that day!!
Pie Town was great. The population is around 60 people--about a third of which came out to meet us at the Community Center when they served us dinner. They were very nice people--mostly retired people who had moved to Pie Town for the amazing mountain views. Dinner was great, and we got to sample some of the famous pies cooked by the residents of Pie Town themselves! I had a piece of Crumb Pumkin cake, which was incredible!! We stayed at the Toaster House, which was called that because it had a bunch of toasters hanging over the front walkway! I was fascinated by this house because the lady who owns it doesn't live there anymore, but just leaves the doors unlocked so that travellers just like us can come stay in it. I loved thinking about all of the interesting people on amazing journeys who had probably stayed in that house before me. When we woke up at 4:45 the next morning, we all went outside to look at the gorgeous stars. There is zero light pollution in Pie Town, so I could see as many stars as I can when I look at the sky fr0m the Blue Ridge Parkway at home. It's incredible to see all of the stars that you normally miss when you are looking at the night sky from a large city.
Today I rode 70 miles from Pie Town, New Mexico to Springerville, Arizona. It was a hilly ride, but the wind wasn't bad. When we got into town, we stopped at a small local ice cream shop and got delicious milkshakes. When we crossed into Arizona today, we entered the Pacific time zone.We are staying at a high school tonight, and waking up at 3:45 Pacific time tomorrow!! Tomorrow, we are going to Hoak, AZ, where we will stay on a Native American reservation that does not observe Daylight Savings, so we will be gaining an hour there until we leave.

My TV interview in Texas/New Mexico is Beautiful!

2008-07-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

As usual, it's been quite a long time since my last post...Since then, I went through Texas for a couple of days. On our 100 mile ride into Amarillo, TX, I had a minor run-in with a traffic cone. It was about 80 miles into the ride, and I was biking through some road construction where there were tall skinny orange cones with exceptionally wide black bases. I was riding too close to the girl in front of me, so when she swerved to barely miss a cone, I ran into it! I got some road rash on my arm and knee, but other than that I was fine.
We had a Build Day in Amarillo the next day, which was great and I got interviewed by a local news station, which aired my interview on TV that night! Here is the link to the written story. If you click the "watch" button, you will be able to see me being interviewed!
http://myhighplains.com/content/fulltext/?cid=14221
That night, we all went to this resteraunt called the Big Texan, where there is a 72 oz steak eating competition. One guy from our trip, Jorge, entered the contest, and we all cheered him on. He managed to eat all but 9.8 oz of the steak, which was pretty impressive!
After making it through Texas, we came into New Mexico, where we had a day off in Roswell. Roswell is basically a town obsessed with aliens and UFOs! My uncle, Gene, met me there because he only lives 3 hours away in Santa Fe. We went to the UFO museum, on the Space Walk, and to the Roswell zoo. It was all very interesting...and slightly unnerving!
Today I rode 100 miles from Roswell to Carizozo, NM. It was amazing! We biked through a mountain pass that was covered in cacti and other desert plants. It was sprinkling for most of the day which was a nice break from the dry heat we have been experiencing so far as we ride through the desert. At the end of the ride, we had a 13 mile descent into Carizozo. That part of the ride was incredible because as we rode down into the valley, I could see the mountains getting smaller and smaller on either side of us until it was flat again. New Mexico might just be one of the prettiest places in the US!

Kansas and Beyond

2008-07-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Only time for a short entry....Over the past couple of days, I went through Kansas and into Oklahoma. OK has been my favorite state by far because of a few reasons. First of all, the people here are extremely friendly! It is common for someone to lean out of their car window and ask us about our trip while we ride by...also, we went swimming in a lake the first day we were here!! Yesterday, we visited a awesome diner/ gas station called Pops, which was really cool. Tomorrow, we go into Texas!! Yehaw.

Day off in St. Louis/Build day in Springfield, MO

2008-07-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Now that I'm almost all the way across the great state of Missouri (The Show-Me State) I have a lot to write about my experiences there. A highlight of my time in Missouri was our day off in St. Louis. St. Louis had a lot of things to do, and I only had one day there, so I packed in the excursions! In the morning, I went to breakfast at Union Station, which is a mall that used to be a train station. Then I went to the City Museum, which was incredible! It wasn't your typical museum at all! It was an extremely hands-on, interactive museum. There were places to climb and caves to crawl though and slides and stuff that you would think only little kids get to do anymore. That was a great time! Then we went to the famous arch or "The Gateway to the West," (which is appropriate for our trip!). I rode up 630 feet above ground to the top of the inside of the arch, and from there I could see the Mississippi river on one side (which was acctually overflowing from some recent floods they had there). On the other side I had a gorgeous view of the downtown St. Louis area.
We stayed one night at a Boy Scout campground which turned out to be next to a creepy graveyard and old, haunted-looking church...we ended up sleeping in an unfinished house there and it thunderstormed all night! Talk about CREEPY!
We did 2 century days in a row into Springfield, MO which was tough, but fun. In Springfield, we had a build day, where we helped out with a Blitz Build, which is a build where Habitat builds a whole house in 1 week, mainly for publicity. I got help put up trestles (which are part of the roof of the house). That night, we went to the famous Bass Pro Shop, which was a huge camping store with real turtles and fish in it also.
Now it's on to Kansas....

Build Day in Bloomington, Indiana

2008-07-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

The past couple days have been very exciting! I found out that I did not need a new crank after all (which is good because they are very expensive!) Two days ago I rode a century (100 miles) from Yellow Springs to Rushville Indiana. In Rushville, we stayed with the most amazing hosts at a church! All of the people there were so warm and even serenaded us at dinner with the Indiana State song! In the morning, they gave us an incredible breakfast of pancakes, fruit, bacon, egg-bake (keish), and lots of other delicious food. Yesterday, I rode 84 miles into Bloomington which was fun but made somewhat difficult because of the humidity. Around mile 81, I stopped for ice cream at Bruester's, which tasted incredible at that point in the day! Last night, I watched the movie "Breaking Away", which is about a guy from Bloomington, Indiana who is obsessed with biking. It was very fitting since we were in Bloomington while we watched it! Later that night, Meg, who used to go to school at Indiana University (IU), took us on a tour of the campus. Alot of the movie was shot there, so it was neat to see some of the places in person that we had just seen on the movie. "The Little 500" is the race that was in the movie, and also a very big deal at IU.
Today was a build day, so this morning I woke up and went to the build site. We started hammering walls together, but then it started downpouring, so we went over to the Habitat Restore to help move furniture around there. Around noon, we were done volunteering, so me and 3 other people went over to see if we could get some food donations for dinner. We asked at Blooming Foods which is a local Co-Op. They were very generous and gave us $40 to spend on groceries there! I have just been so impressed by the generousity of everyone we meet on this trip. Then, I went and explored Bloomington a little bit and walked along the famous Kirkland Ave. Tomorrow we head to Illinois, which is our 8th state so far!

Sweep Day

2008-06-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today I rode sweep with Jess from MIT. Sweep's job is to ride behind everyone else and make sure that everyone gets in safely. The day started out wonderfully--me and Jess stopped at Burger King for cinniminis which we ate outside of Kroger. Then we got a call from 2 riders who were lost, so we waited for them to get back to where we were and then rode away with them. After that, my pedal, which had fallen off in a previous ride, started to feel like it was going to fall off again. So, I stopped to take a look at it and realized that it was screwed on crooked. Me and Jess and Devin got the pedal off with a lot of effort, and were about to attempt to screw it on straight when a cyclist stopped to ask if we were ok. We explained what was going on and she said she would call her husband, who was a mechanic, to take a look. He came and unfortunately gave me the bad news that I was going to need a new crank because the threads on mine are completely worn down. He innovated a way to get the pedal to stay on there and we continued down the road. However, after that stop, we were so far away from the group that the van had to come pick us up to bring us to lunch. As we were leaving lunch, my chain fell off and I was getting really frustrated at that point with the ride. Then Jess and I ran into Emily and Devin who had just taken a spill on some gravel. We thought everything was ok with them, but it turns out that Emily's derailer was completely ruined, so we had to call the van once again. The van came and picked us up and took us to dinner at our host site, which is a church in Newcomerstown, Ohio. So, even though I was on the bike for about 8 hours today, I only rode about 30 miles and now I am going to the bike store tomorrow to buy a new crank. :(

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio all in one day

2008-06-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to the Carnegie Science Museum and saw a movie at the Omnimax theatre about "The Wild Ocean" in Africa! Then I went to The Point, which is where 2 rivers meet to form the Ohio river...I dipped my left foot in one river, my right in the other, and both into the Ohio river...just to be symbolic..Today we crossed from Pennsylvania into a tiny sliver of West Virginia and then into Ohio. The day was only 44 miles and hilly. I got chased breifly by a dog but other than that the day was pretty uneventful... We are staying at a church in Stubenville, Ohio, which is the birthplace of Dean Martin....sweet

Day Off in Pittsburgh, PA

2008-06-26T07:23:00.001-07:00

It's been quite a while since my last post, mainly because finding Internet access is so hard, but also because I'm generally way too worn out to write! The last 6 days have been straight biking...right through the Appalachian Mountains! Some highlights include a 96 mile day ride into State College, PA. That day was long but awesome because halfway through the ride me and a couple other riders found a swimming spot at a lake on top of one of the mountains! Swimming has never felt so refreshing!! After that, we had a ride into Pittsfield, Pa which took us on a 14% grade down hill which was fun but also kind of scary!! Today is the first day we have had off on the whole trip! Plans for today include Indian food, Carnegie Science museum and seeing the beautiful sights of Pittsburgh!

Build Day in Andover

2008-06-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had a DELICIOUS dinner at the Webbers' home and played whiffle ball in their yard, which was a lot of fun! Also, Tony, a director of Habitat gave a very motivational speech about why he enjoys working for Habitat. He said that the reason it is imperative that people are able to own their own homes is that people who own homes are more likely to have their children go to college and grow up to be homeowners as well.
Today was our first Build Day! We woke up (after sleeping in for about 40 minutes :) and had a delicious breakfast provided by the Webbers of Dunkin Doughnuts, bagels, and oj! Then it was off to the construction site! This particular site in Lawrence, MA had three houses that had been previously constructed, but destroyed in a horrible block fire earlier in the spring. So, today, our job was to rebuild these houses so that the families could move back into them. I nailed a lot of dry wall and helped put it up, which was awesome to see! A whole wall in a place where there was nothing a couple hours before! The workers there were pretty nice, but I miss the friendly site managers that I met at the Asheville Habitat site! We got interviewed by the local newspaper the Eagle Tribune of Lawrence, MA. Then, the site manager, Emerson, invited us to sign the drywall we had recently put up! That was neat...we wrote Bike and Build B2SB08, so the future volunteers that come through the site will know exactly who helped on that house!
`Tomorrow we are biking 45 miles to Fitchburg, MA, where we will give a bike clinic to local children! Im excited to teach them some bike safety skills and all that jazz.

Beginning in Andover

2008-06-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

My mom, uncle, and I drove to Revere Beach on Tuesday morning and stopped to eat at Friendly's along the way. Then, we drove to St Anthony's Catholic church to meet up with the rest of my group. After meeting all of my fellow Bike and Builders on Tuesday, we painted our trailer (I put a nice UNC logo on there to represent!). This was followed by many presentations on bike safety, bike maintainance, and personal hygiene skills. We ordered pizza and slept on our Thermarests. The next day, we had a "Shakedown Ride" which is like a warm-up ride. We rode a total of about 15 miles to the ocean and back...it was gorgeous! Also, I got my first flat tire on this ride! It's a good thing that we had learned how to fix flats the day before, because it's not an easy task. When we got back to the church, the church hosts served us a wonderful dinner of catered pasta, salad, and desserts! Delicious! Then, me and a couple of other people took the T subway into downtown Boston and went to a little pastry shop where I got a canoli. Then, we asked the store for a food donation, and they gave us huge bags of bread, cookies, and meat. It's amazing how generous people can be when you just ask them. The next day, we woke up even earlier (6am!) and ate breakfast and then rode our bikes to Revere beach for some photos. Then, we started our trek across the country! We rode about 25 miles to Andover, MA where we are staying at a fancy elementary school called Pike School.

Train Ride to Boston

2008-06-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Boston yesterday! My mom, uncle, and I woke up at 4:30 on Monday morning to drive out to Greensboro, NC to catch the Amtrack train. It was early, but I slept alot in the car. We had a bit of trouble finding the train station, (apparently they have moved it since the map we were using was made!!) But we made it onto the train and headed up to Washington DC. The train was nice...air conditioned and comfortable. However, since it was over 90 degress outside, the train tracks were expanding, so it wasn't safe to travel at the normal speed of 80 mph, so instead, we went about 40 mph! This was fine for us because we had been scheduled to have a 5 hour layover in DC, which, because of the slow train was reduced to only an hour. We boarded the train in DC at 10 pm and rode to Boston. We arrived in Boston at 7:50 am on Tuesday and then went and explored the city! We saw the New England Aquarium, Harvard Square, the Boston commmons, and some of the Harvard campus. Finally, we got to the hotel around 8 pm and got some much-needed sleep and showers! Today, I will meet up with my Bike and Build group in Revere, MA! Can't wait!!

Countdown:2 Weeks till I leave for Boston!!

2008-05-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
I just went shopping for my gear yesterday and now feel much more prepared for the trip. I've been training along the French Broad River, which is a very peaceful ride and cool(ish) because it is near the river!
Only 2 Weeks left!
Peace

Pre-Trip Excitement

2008-05-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
This is where I will record the events and photos from my epic journey across the country!
I've been training for several months now, I have most of my money fundraised for the trip, and I'm leaving in less than a month! Needless to say, I am really excited for the trip to begin!! Lately, I have been training on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is challenging because of the hills, but the view makes it worth the pain.
Countdown to when I leave from Boston: 28 days!
Peace
Sarah