Decatur, TX

We We rode in to Decatur with an 88 miler and were definitely sad to leave Dallas. We wanted to get on the road early so we had to be up by 4 with our bags packed and out to the trailer by 4:30 in order to avoid the heat. The ride was tough with lots of rolling hills and temperatures reaching into the high 90s. We had two lunch stops and countless water fill ups along the way. I rode with friends Sarah and Jenna and we arrived to the host with Icees in hand at around 3:30. It was a long day and I feel pretty under the weather both physically and mentally. Headwinds, rolling hills, bad road conditions and now the addition of Texas heat has definitely gotten to me a bit.

We are staying in the cafeteria of the middle school in Decatur- which reminds me a lot of High School Musical. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep because we have 92 miles to go tomorrow with rumors of it hitting over 100 degrees.

Dallas, TX

Let me start off on this note- the last three days in Dallas have changed my life. The ride in was a blast, we stayed back with the sweeps and did things like the Ice Cream Pint Challenge (eat a pint with no utensils while riding) and got a free watermelon along the way which I rode with for about four miles on a terribly rough road. We got lost multiple times and our group had about 7 flats but we still managed to turn it into a great day. 

Our hosts, Sally and Peter, were the most generous people we have met thus far and probably in my young adult life. We were greeted with coolers on coolers of beer, protein shakes and other goodies. There were baskets of candy and mountains of fruit along with hot meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Both Sally and Peter work for Habitat for Humanity Garland and Peter led us at the worksite as we framed a house- a very powerful and influential task that utilized our strong team dynamic.

These folks were so welcoming of us into their home that they encouraged us to drive their cars into town and to the build site (it felt amazing to drive again, and an 1987 F250 Diesel at that!) and even gave us the enormous amounts of left over food to take for the rest of the trip. I really can't put into words how much they've impacted us, and the best part is that their whole family will be meeting us in California when we hit the Pacific!!

On a more serious note, Andrew, a fellow rider from Florida decided that his journey with Bike and Build had come to an end. His desire to pursue a comedy opportunity has set our SUS family to 29 and although we will all miss him tremendously, we wish him the best in this endeavor.

Dinner- night #1

Sally arranged a sunset sail for all 30 of us after our first build day

The home was just foundation when we arrived, and all of the walls had been framed after just two days

Elm Grove, LA, Carthiage, and Athens Texas

This past week we have had mind blowing experiences at each of our host sites. We rode into Elm Grove, Louisiana to stay at an alum's lake house. The home was just off the Red River and the flooding in Texas has flooded their 300 acre property into a mini island. We were greeted with smoothies and fresh fruit after our easy 53 mile ride and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the lake and kayaking. The next morning we were forced to walk our bins and coolers across the flooded area because the water had gotten so deep. We parked the van and trailer on the other side of the water in anticipation of this blockage.

We then rode into Texas and spent the night in Carthiage- at another alum's parents house. Our first night in Texas we were spoiled with brisket, mac and cheese, and peach cobbler. The ride itself was rocky because shoulders in Texas are terrible- but more on that later.

We then rode to Athens, Texas, and along the way we stopped at Alice's house (one of our leaders) for even more bbq. I must admit that I was having a rocky day due partially to a cactus that I leaned on first thing in the morning. We also had taken a wrong turn that led us three miles in the wrong direction. Once we arrived at the church we were given amazing pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and then were sent off to different church member's homes for the night. We stayed the night in a barn loft- with huge beds and horses right downstairs.

Natchitoches

Today's ride was only around 53 miles into a town that we can't pronounce to save our lives. What we do know is that it was the first settlement after the Louisiana Purchase. Because it was such a short ride, we were in no rush to leave Alexandria. My chore group this week is trailer crew so we had to be up even earlier than our normal 4:45 wake up in order to properly pack the trailer.

I rode with four other girls- Margaret, Jenna, Chelsea, and Melissa. We took it slow and had some really interesting conversations throughout the morning. It was one of those days where we turned left out of our morning host, got on one rode for 53 miles, and then turned into our evening host. Along the way we stopped a house with a "free puppies" sign. We must've stayed for close to an hour debating on whether or not the 30 of us could care for one of these black labs. We spent the afternoon checking out a local fort and a quality ice cream spot. Our host for tonight is another Wesley Foundation like the one we stayed at near FSU, but this time near Northwestern State University.

Opelousas and Alexandria

Headed to Opelousas (don't try too hard to say it, none of us could either) we had a day full of flat tires and bad shoulders. We got a police escort over the Mississippi River- mostly for safety reasons but also because what we're doing is awesome. My group, Noah, Tucker, and Rowan, had a total of 5 flats in the last 35 miles after lunch. This made it hard to get into a rhythm but we try to make fixing flats a group effort/dance party.

We stayed in a high school football locker room and got to enjoy the field space to play soccer and frisbee afterwards. On our way to the host we DM'ed a Raising Canes, an amazing chicken spot- better than Chic-Fil-A. A friend Josh and I also checked out a local baseball game, which we couldn't pass up. 

Our ride to Alexandria was drop dead gorgeous, I was in a slower ride group today averaging about 13 mph but didn't even mind because we were surrounded by corn fields and empty roads. We had 73 miles to travel today and rolled into the host treated with sugary snacks and foosball- every rider's dream.

Two easy 53 mile days ahead, looking forward to finding a pool and getting some laps in- not sure if I remember how to swim!

Baton Rouge!

We had our first official huge day en route to Baton Rouge. For 116 miles I paired up with friends Sarah, Jenna, and Lisa, the crew also widely known as the Dream Team. The route was primarily along leeves and roads that paralleled the Mississippi River. We cranked out this ride so impressively we were on cloud 9 by 115. Coincidentally we were also under a bridge at mile 115 fixing our only flat of the day (not even my bike!) while avoiding lightening too close for comfort. With only .25 miles to ride we embraced the torrential downpour and finished by around 6:00pm- 11 hours on the road but averaged 17 mph while riding.

The next day was a build day where we partnered with Rebuilding Together Baton Rouge. The organization focuses on fixing already owned homes for elderly people below the poverty line. All 30 of us repainted the exterior of a home in about 4 hours which was incredible. It's always to inspiring to see how much can be accomplished with the assistance of others.

The rest of the day was spent hammocking, reading, and watching the sunset across the Mississippi River with good friends and good food. By this point we have all come to the realization that this summer is more than just biking and raising awareness for Affordable Housing- we've learned that we're living a lifestyle in which a Tuesday can be just as good as a Friday or Saturday and that makes us embrace each day even more.

New Orleans

Sorry that I have lagged behind a bit on the blog, this last week has been a lot to take in. Riding into New Orleans we had an 80 mile trip in which I was sweeping with Kalli, one of our trip leaders. We had a great first half, but rain hit around lunchtime and the afternoon went downhill. The two of us got caught in a pretty bad lightening storm around mile 55 and I had my second fall of the trip because of the wet roads. We then had to detour and go over a long grated bridge which I proceeded to practically hydroplane on due to the weather conditions. As we walked the rest of the bridge with no shoulder, sidewalk, or bike lane, there was a car accident behind us and were then cut off twice riding down the decline both of which were pretty close calls. 

Very shaken up, we arrived at Camp Hope, a volunteer base with real, actual BEDS!! While it was by far the scariest two hours of my life, I couldn't have imagined doing it with anyone but Kalli. She is such a motivational person and sweeping together definitely brought us closer as riders and friends.

We built with the St Bernard Project for three days and had our first day off in NOLA. With SBP we split up to work on two houses, both focusing on muddling, taping, and floating drywall. We also spent a lot of time in the French Quarter, on Bourbon Street, and in local parks listening to jazz and slack lining. It was the perfect amount of time off of our bikes and in an area with so much history and culture to enjoy.