Bike and Blog - Keep on Cranking

I can't believe the trip is already more than half over. I wasn't able to blog for way too long, so here's a bit of recap since the fourth of July.

  

I got to celebrate America’s birthday in West Lafayette, IN. It was a lot more crowded than I imagined it would be. It took forever for the festivities to begin. Every so often we’d hear a few loud bangs and we’d get excited, but it was just the locals shooting off their own handheld explosives. I got 30 mosquito bites on my scalp, which was half as bad as the ones I had in between my fingers and on my eyelid. Sucks. But I’ll lose a little blood for America any day.

 

The past few hosts have been phenomenal. I’m still elated to see how wonderful Americans can be. I wish life was like Bike & Build, and the citizens of the world just went around helping one another. Everything would be so much easier.

I had cranberry French toast from one host, breakfast pizza at another, and macaroni and cheese that had been laced with chicken, Velveeta, onions, and something else that made my tongue do the tango. Until the past few days, ice cream had given me the most variety on this trip, but the hosts have been stepping it up. I’m worried because I know most hosts won’t be this awesome, but I’ll roll with that punch when it’s thrown.

My buddy JoBeth came out for our ride into Hartford City, IN (which was my first century!) woot. I thought she was going to hold me back, but she pleasantly surprised me. We went faster than I normally do, keeping up a steady 18-20 mph pace for most of the trip. Then she took me out to ice cream at Ivanhoe’s, which definitely takes the cake…err…cream for best ice cream on the trip. Their menu was a jumbled bunch of happy hullabaloo. I got tiger tails, which was frosted flakes, crushed whopper candy, peanut butter and hot fudge smothered generously over vanilla soft serve…………..it was………it was…….G....R…E….A…T.  My favorite day of the trip so far.

West Lafayette also featured us in their newspaper, the Journal and Courier. Even though they misquoted me, they did take my picture so that was cool.

We spent our first day off at a Lake house that was phenomenal. I tried water skiing, played a few games, and read a ton. The host was super nice and gave me some awesome advice about life that I can't wait to apply. 

We sped through Illinois in no time, and the terrain was flat. It made a bunch of memories from my time in AmeriCorps/Chicago flood back, but it was good stuff.

We made it to Iowa and had another day off, this time in Marshalltown, and my best buddy Erin came to visit. We went to the lamest fair ever! Then we hightailed it to Matchstick Marvels, got some smoothies, got lost, explored a sculpture garden, and ate at Perkins before wrapping things up with World War Z. Overall an awesome day that I wish could happen all the time.

Today was a build day that trumped all other build days. We finally got to put up some framing! I helped put the flooring up and we all lifted up the walls. Awesome moment. Got to meet the habitat family for the first time as well, so it was cool working side by side with the guy that will be living in the home. The lunch they had was spectubular and I can't wait until dinner. We even got to go to an aquatic center that had a super tall slide. I got a sweet video of the team performing some synchronized swimming, but video won't work on here. Sorry. Future Facebook.

Forgot to mention Christmas in Juliowa, but there was too much involved to elaborate...the pictures will have to speak for me.

Welp that's all I have for so thanks for listening with your eyes. Just shoot me an email if you want to see more pics of if you want some of the video.