Bike and Blog - Out of the Saddle and Back Into the Real World

I can't believe this adventure has finished. Wow. Those 70 days flew by. I still remember standing behind the front desk at PF and telling people I was about to bike across the country. Now I can say that I've biked across the country. I've always wanted to cycle from state to state (yes, despite harboring a strong dislike for the outdoors), and this was a nice way to get a taste of what I hope to do one day (go to each state on a bicycle).

This trip was stuffed with lots of laughs. It was peppered with a few bad days too, but still garnished with majestic sights. Overall my body responded well to the trip, though I think I broke my toe in Iowa and my saddle sores are growling something fierce. I look back and think wow, the first time I rode a road bike was in March, now I've pedaled across the country to benefit affordable housing.

It's easy to put the reason for Bike & Build on the back burner (Killer's song reference!), but I hope we never forget that we did this ride to help families find affordable places to live. I didn't see a ton, but I saw a few homeless people along the way and though, I'm doing this for you. We haven't seen a ton of the families that will receive the Habitat homes we built in, but we were blessed enough to meet one family in Iowa. I remember looking at the smile on their youngest daughter's face and thinking, "Bike and Build helped put that there."

We did the last ride and had our wheel dip and it was a great time. Didn't think I would jump into the water but I did. Felt good to make without having to ride in the van the entire trip. Was attached to my bike for every mile!

Spending time with my brother in Seattle was awesome. Haven't seen him in over 2 years, and it was good to finally catch up. Nice to finally meet my niece!! Baby Jaida is so cute.

I didn't get to capture every moment on film, but I did take well over 2500 pictures. I didn't get to jot down everything that happened, but I did write well over 100 pages in a journal. I didn't get to share in every laugh on this trip, but boy oh boy did I enjoy myself. On the eve of what was projected to be our longest day, I felt a little intimidated. As this feeling's claws squeezed around my spine, I kept reminding myself of how awesome everyone had been so far on the trip, and this little speech came to mind (I wanted to read it off as a pump up the day off, but I forgot I had a presentation to give so that happened instead). I thought it accurately sums up some of what B&B is all about:

      Today shall be the true test of our trip. A test of might and miles, of heart and determination, and of
      function and muscles. Our aggregate days and miles of riding must culminate a strength for the ages. We
      must take this strength and cultivate it until it transforms us into our ultimate. We are P2S13. Yes, we
      have faced challenges, but what did we do? Yes we have had injuries, but what did we do? Yes we had
      broken bikes, but what oh what did we do? We kept on pedaling. We pushed one foot down and pulled
      up the other. We didn't stop before and we won't stop now. Why? Because we are what greatness is,
      even on our bad days.

      I serve a God greater than all the things this world has to offer. I serve a God that created the mountains
      and the volcanoes and the earthquakes. If he is for me, can a mountain and some miles be against me? I
      can and will do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

So the trip is over and my butt is healing. I can't believe how much fun this summer was, and it's even harder to believe that it's all over now. I guess the only thing I can do is keep on pedaling forward and pray the next adventure is half as wonderful as Bike and Build. Welp, thanks for listening with your eyes. See you around.

Bike and Blog - Almost Time to Turn The Handlebars Toward Home

I can't believe this trip is almost over. It's a bit surreal, glancing around at the 26 other crazy people that make up my team and knowing that we will never be one huge group again. We did our last century ride a few days ago, and we have our last build day a couple towns over. Before we know it we'll have our last ride day. My butt hurts, but they have chamois cream to aid that. Where's the cream to smooth over the ache we'll all have in our chest? That dull, longing of continuation, the desire to extend the feeling of freedom? I guess I really shouldn't be talking too much about the end because we still have 11 days to go, and that's a long time depending on how it's viewed.

Rolling right along, it's been forever since I've blogged (again), so sorry for the wait. We've crossed two more state lines since I've last updated you, and let me just take the time to say Wyoming is one of the prettiest states I've ever seen. So glad we got to spend a week there.

We managed to ride around in Yellowstone National Park, and it was so worth going broke over (Sooo low on money now). From the roaming wildlife to the bubbling springs, Yellowstone was gorgeous. When I get a job (some fateful day in the near future) I'm definitely planning a trip and taking my mom with me. I managed to see a lot, but sadly I wasn't able to see the grand canyon of the park. First stop on my next visit.

So I probably didn't mention this before now, but I've had a few animals on my to-see list, and I finally checked the last one off this week. I saw a moose when we were rolling past the Teton mountain range (such a magnificent ride), an eagle that same day, and I finally saw  grizzly in Yellowstone a few days after those. I was only 15-25 yards away from it. I was praying and praying to see a grizzly, and God finally answered my prayer in the most specific way possible.

Let me just pause and say GOD IS AWESOME! Observing this mighty fine creation of his has given me chills a number of times before the trip started, but I've never experienced the breathless awe that's stricken me on more than one occasion this summer. It's truly awesome to serve a God as great as that.

We had our second to last build day today and it was only half a day. Not the most fun but it wasn't a bad day. My team was broken into three groups and my group went to the build site (one group went to a food pantry and another group stayed at one of the host church to help fold envelopes) and I helped shovel/compact some gravel for the concrete walkway. Also got to splice some boards together and other members of my group put up some drywall.

Missoula, MT is awesome btw. I'm totally gonna look for jobs here because it would be an awesome town to live in. Tomorrow is our last day in MT, and then it's back to ID for a few days before good ol WA. Completely unrelated, I finally partook in an ice cream challenge and passed...despite eating 3 scoops of ice cream and a burger within the same half hour. The challenge was over 7 pounds of ice cream...yum.

I can't believe this journey is almost at its end. Sad. Welp, that's all I have for now, so thanks for listening with your eyes.