I am thinking about moving to Iowa

Iowa is amazing! Who would have thought? The ride to Cedar Rapids was our century ride and I am so proud that on this particular day I made it to the host site by 4pm! It actually wasn't a century ride because my odometer read 97 miles by the end. Now some bikers kept going once they got to Cedar Rapids so that they could complete the century. I myself saw that there was a Dairy Queen across from our host site and instead of riding the 3 extra miles I had a blizzard, a cheeseburger and a Coca Cola.


The Habitat chapter in Cedar Rapids had an amazing treat for us, we met with an amazing family who lives in a Habitat House. A whole bus load of bike and builders headed over to an avenue of Habitat houses, I believe it was called Americus drive, and sat down on the family's lawn to hear their story. At first I have to admit it did feel a little intrusive, as if we were some touristy group invading someones life just for our benefit, but Momodu (the father of the Kamara family) helped to quickly turn that feeling around.

The Kamara's are from Sierra Leone but fled the country in 1997 due to civil war. He told us the story (short version) of how his family was separated and moved into refugee camps, all the while hoping to establish a place, a home to live in together once again. After meeting several generous people and churches that helped them establish themselves in America, the Kamaras had to qualify for a Habitat home, that was a whole new obstacle. They bought and helped build their new home in 2001, getting in many, many hours of sweat equity.

As Momodu spoke you could see how passionate he was in his mission to get this home. Before, they were living in an overcrowded apartment, now his daughter and two sons have a place to come home to with their own space.

We tried not to bombard them too long with questions and conversations about affordable housing, but by the time we left the sun was setting. The church had one more surprise for us that night, mattresses! The 5am wake up isn't so bad when your sleeping on something thicker than one inch.