Week 1

"I'm headed to San Diego" is what I tell anyone that expresses interest in why 30 bikers in blue jerseys are passing by. I have gotten pretty good in explaining in under a minute that we are crossing the country to raise funds and awareness for affordable housing. We will be on the road for 64 days of which we will be working for 10 days on different affordable housing projects as well as having a total of three whole days off. Now that I am over 500 miles into the trip I am actually beginning to believe that I actually raised over $5,000 and am headed west biking and building. Back in January when I stepped into the Lincoln County News for an interview I was unsure how I could possibly raise $4,000 but with the help of over 100 individuals and businesses I suprassed my origanal goal. Thank you to all my suppoerters in the Lincoln County area.

Growing up in Damariscotta and going to college in the North East I am excited to experieance a whole new side of te country, and so far it has not let me down. We began by dipping our wheels in the Attlantic in Nags Head on the Outer banks of North Carolina and then peddled off with our back to the ocean. The first three days we crossed a total of four "hills" which were actually just bridges over the intercoastal waterway. Slowly as we crossed the State the landscape turned into rolling hills, and then yesterday we ran into the Appelacian Mountains. My little legs are asking my whoes idea this was to bike across the United States when it would be so much easier and quicker to drive. I told them to quiet down, and the reval in the amazing views from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The ridges are indead blue. The advantage of biking instead of driving, is that you can stop and take a picture when ever you want instead of just at the lookout points.

Each night we have been staying at churches and YMCAs. They have been providing us with dinner and breakfast, and southern hospitality is not a lie. We actually had to donate some of the food given to us to a local food pantry, because even 30 hungry bikers would not have been able to eat it all. I continue to be amazed at the generosity of everyone we meet from bring smelly bikers to their house so we can shower, to getting up to feed us sausage biscuts at 6:30 in the morning. This trip has reconfirmed that people really are good. In the evening not only do the host provide us with dinner, but they often eat with us. I have meet some very interesting people along the way. In fact yesterday I was told the recipe to make homemade banana pudding. I had never had real southern banana pudding before, and it is amazing.

This trip is called Bike and Build, so we are not only biking, but also building our way across the country. We were scheduled to build for two days in Chapple Hill, North Carolina, but shortly after arriving at a Habitat for Humanity build it started to pour. Becaues we were framing the house we had quit work for the day. We were given a tour of the Chapple Hill's Habitat Housing developments. They build over 10 house a year there, and so are a much bigger organization then any I have previously worked with. They opperate much more like a General contracter. On the second day of building we were able to accomplish alot. We got up all the interious and exteriour walls of they house, as well as the top plates. The house was ready to have the rafteres and roof put on, but unfortuately we ran out of time.

Tomorrow we will have our next build day here in Asheville. I am excited to give my biking muscles a day off before we bike to Gattlinburg which will have over 17,000 ft of elevation change. It will be one of the hardest day of our trip, but I am excited for it. After a day of rest hopefully the Mountains will seem small.