The case of the lost keys

The story goes that a blonde biker girl went into the van to use her computer and then left the van and two hours later the keys were no where to be found. Now imagine this being the night before our day off so everyone over 21 wants to use the van to get to the bars. So all the 21 year olds are tearing the van apart looking for the keys, glaring at me ( I mean the blonde biker girl) all the while. In the end, we don’t find them. The decision, at 10:30pm is to ride our bikes to the bars. So we dressed ourselves in headlamps, dresses, helmets, and shoes and headed out. Win had previously found a gay bar for us to attend (by previously I mean he immediately Google mapped it when we got there). So we leave from the Evangelical church and arrive at Zoolegers, a gay bar WITH a drag show! Our $5 cover charge is waved because we explain our cause. This bar was not your average hot spot, but it was amazing! Everyone was so welcoming, and wanted to hear all about our cause. They even invited us get up on stage, dance around, and tell the whole bar about the need for affordable housing. It was great, we did our affordable housing presentation at Zooleggers! The ride home was a bit more challenging than the ride there but we made it back safe and sound and the next day we got to sleep in!

I awoke in the church around 9am and immediately began worrying about the keys once more. I did not want to spend my whole day off looking for them. Thankfully our leaders said to enjoy our day and later on we would scour the church and the van. I spent my day off at the bike shop where I got two new tires and a new chain. Apparently after you go 1100 miles your bike starts to hate you. Then we went out to lunch at this great diner called Triple X that was just featured on the Food Network. Afterwards we finally saw Oceans 13, we have been talking about going to the movies this whole trip. When we returned back to church the keys loomed over me again but this time leader Patrick helped out. Once more we entered the van, it was about 90 degrees and I was almost ready to give up when he dug his hand in the hole where the seat belt buckle goes. He started pulling out toys, change, garbage and finally THE KEYS! After that was over with I could finally relax and that’s when I hit the sack.

Pedaling towards a day off

I rode out from West Lafayette with Katie, we were the sweeps for the day. Today was a particularly exciting destination because we had the next day off, so it was extra victorious for us to arrive today. I couldn't wait to get there and not have to think about our normal schedule of shower, eat, chores, sleep...this night we could mix it up! Bike and build gone crazy. But first, the ride.

We didn’t make it far before we hit our first stopped bikers, Katya and Elle. Elle had a nasty flat tire which took about 40 minutes to fix. And that was probably the height of excitement for the day, as the rest was just cornfields. Derrick however, does deserve a "way to go" on this day because this was his third day in a row of biking 80 miles. He was definitely in pain but he made it all the way and kept up his sense of humor. Derrick you rock!

Once we arrived in West Lafayette we rode to where we would stay for two nights, an Evangelical church. It was an interesting environment, quite different than any of the other church settings we stayed in thus far. For example, posters like this hung along the walls:



Anyways, once i was clean I thought, i would love to use the Internet. So i search all over for a wireless signal and finally i find one! Right near the van. I get the keys from Tommy and take a seat in the van. This is where things go wrong, I will post later about the saga of the lost keys.

Hartford City Indiana

A summary of the day:
The first 25 miles go super fast
Emily gets a flat
Stretch break
Emily gets a flat
Emily gets a flat
I eat a hot fudge sundae
Win eats a chili cheese dog
Courtney eats fries and chicken
It’s 10:45am
We press on without Emily
Enter Indiana
Lunch stop at the trailer and town library
Pat catches up on romance novels
We ride 22 mph the rest of the way
Win tells a 15 minute joke about a duck, a virgin, and two hunters
We meet Sam on the side of the road, he has a flat
Win chalks messages for the now disgruntled Emily
Enter Hartford city where 4 lovely church ladies present us with dinner
Eat
Eat
Eat
Brush my teeth
One more handful of popcorn
9:30pm
Sleep

The burning question: How many corn cobs grow on one stalk?

This day seemed to last forever on the road, but it was so relaxing. We left the JCC around 8 and were forewarned to be extra careful when driving through rush hour traffic in Columbus. Two days earlier Nate was hit by a car, he is OK, but his bike was damaged. Once we reached downtown Columbus I realized that it's actually a city. For some reason I never thought of Columbus as having tall buildings or any type of city life, but it did and it was great. Win and I stopped at the intersection of Gay and High Street at a coffee house that many bike couriers hang out at, so naturally we fit right in.


Once we got on the road we moved at a steady pace, only stopping at really bizarre signs to take pictures. One of the many things I've noticed throughout this vast country is how people use freedom of speech in such a fantastic way. This church sign is really one of my favorites.



Another favorite of mine, that I really had to do a double take for was back in Ohio, in the middle of nowhere, so I'm not really sure how this message is going to be widely spread but anyways it said "Get the U.S. out of the U.N." Alrighty then.

Along the road, it became painfully obvious that this was the beginning of what we had all been dreading, flat land with corn on the right and corn on the left. You can see miles ahead, so you KNOW there’s nothing coming up to excite you!

We arrived at lunch to find Patrick, who was the days van driver. He told us he had just visited the ice cream shop across the street and tried to make conversation with the woman inside. He said things like, “this is a really cute town, do you like to live here? How long have you owned this shop…etc” And she quickly replied by saying in an accent I only wish I could recreate through this post, “Son have you looked around? This town is White trash.” Pat smiled politely and walked away. So much for small talk in small towns.

After lunch things kind of went downhill. There was a severe downpour so Win and I stopped at a drive through convenient store (they have these all over Ohio)! Then we continued driving only about 10 miles until I got my fourth flat tire of the trip. As soon as I knelt down to change it, the rain began again. Great.

So the flat was changed and we pushed on but in about 3 miles we both had to use the bathroom. With all this corn everywhere, it’s the perfect mobile bathroom, it really goes with us everywhere. Off our bikes we go, trekking into the cornfield to pee, not thinking so much about the rain and the mud that has been created in the cornfield. We sure did notice it once we walked out though and then we spent about 10 minutes digging it out of our shoes.

After this whole production was finally over we arrived to such a welcoming church. They put a sign out for us, provided little snacks and a great dinner. That night brought a lot of positive energy for our group because we had a mail drop and even I got a postcard (thanks dad). Herman, from Habitat Providence also sent us each an individual package full of goodies so that was really sweet. Later, at our town hall meeting, we each read anonymous “Way to goes” about one another, congratulating each other on accomplishments for the week!

Once morale was boosted I slept on a couch. Life is sweet.

Columbus Dispatch Article

CROSS-COUNTRY CONSTRUCTION

Cyclists' goal: pedal, hammer

Bike & Build riders aid Habitat for Humanity

Thursday, June 28, 2007 3:43 AM
By Brittany Kress



Logan Rhyne's green shirt was spotted with sweat from working in the heat, but he was smiling -- especially because he got to sleep in his own bed the night before.

The 20-year-old New Albany native has spent the past three weeks bicycling from Providence, R.I. He's riding across the country this summer, stopping along the way to help build affordable housing.

Yesterday, his group of 30 cyclists with Bike & Build put together trusses and interior walls for two Habitat for Humanity houses on Guilford Avenue in Franklinton.

The 18- to 24-year-olds usually sleep on church basement floors or YMCA basketball courts, but Rhyne crawled into his own bed Tuesday night after his group attended a Columbus Clippers game.

Building or bicycling upward of 50 miles every day makes for the ideal summer, Bike & Build participants said.

All stressed their love of travel, learning and helping.

Resume-building is "something I don't seem as concerned about as some of my peers," said Rhyne, an incoming junior studying science, technology and international affairs at Georgetown University in Washington.

He thought about working in Washington or maintaining trails in the Allegheny Mountains, but the concept behind Bike & Build appealed to him the most, he said.

This summer is an escape from the monotony of work for Caroline Schepker, 19, of Hartford, Conn., an incoming junior at Brown University studying neuroscience.

"For me, this is sort of a vacation," said Schepker, who has held a job since she was allowed to work.

"The only hard part was knowing I would have to be tight with my budget at school this year," she said.

The hardest part has been cycling in silence, without another's voice or music to listen to, Schepker said. As a safety precaution, cyclists are not allowed to listen to music while riding.

"It's not lonely, but for all those hours, sometimes you're like, 'Whoa, I'm really getting to know myself.' "

Candace Blas, 18, has been taking everything in with the hope that she'll narrow her focus on a career path.

"All I know is, America is big; that's such an abstract thing," said Blas, an incoming sophomore at the University of Alaska whose hometown is Chugiak, Alaska. "I want to be exposed to everything our country has … so I can apply myself."

Groups of 30 Bike & Build riders are following six cross-country routes. The cyclists in Columbus yesterday left Providence on June 7. They will spend six days during the course of the ride stopping to build homes and will arrive in Seattle on Aug.13 for a final day of construction.

Each was required to raise $4,000 to participate in Bike & Build. The 4-year-old program has so far distributed $752,804 to affordable-housing groups.

Roger Powell, site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Columbus, said he was pleased with the group's work on the two-story, three-bedroom houses in Franklinton.

Volunteers have been working on them since early this month and expect to finish by October, said Deb Light, Habitat volunteer director.

bkress@dispatch.com
For additional health information, visit OhioHealth

Sweat Equity - Seriously

As I have noted in my earlier posts, build days are not my specialty, and this particular day was 93 degrees. We arrived at the site in our matching tees and were immediately dressed in hardhats and tool belts. We could tell right away that this group was very organized. Greg, Win, and I were sent to the second story of the first house, our job was to create walls. Even though it was unbearably hot, I did learn a lot in the first couple hours, before my confidence was torn apart by some of the workmen.
What I learned:
• How to cut with a power saw
• What a Jack/King means when making a door frame
• How to hammer from the side when there are other pieces of wood in the way

Why my builders confidence was torn apart:
• One man told me I had a 30 stroke going for 5 stroke nails
• Another man told me he might have to retire the project I was working on because I was taking too long

Soon after these comments the ice cream truck drove down the street and everything was happy again.



The good news is, our group of 30 builders made so much improvement in the 7 hours that we were there. When I looked around throughout the day from the second story of the roofless house I was on, I saw bike and builders building roofs and cleaning up garbage and the people next store slapping on siding. We left the area having provided a lot of free labor that could have otherwise taken much longer. So even though it was 93 degrees and I may not have the best skills with the hammer, it was great to put work into the beginnings of a great home.

The Quick 45 Mile Sprint to Logans Mom and a Pool

After spending a night in a bed at Kent I felt so refreshed. It was amazing what a little bit of padding under your back and some privacy could do. That morning we were spoiled even more with what was in store for us throughout the day. Breakfast was at the Kenyon dining hall, that means hot food! I enjoyed eggs, bacon, muffins, coffee...I frequently turned to people in line who i didn't know and excitedly stated how happy I was and asked them if they felt the same. I forget that not everyone gets as excited about food as us. Once breakfast was over we all had one thing on our minds, Logan's house, which includes his pool. Logan lives in New Albany, which is about 10 miles away from the JCC in Columbus where we stayed. So our first stop was naturally his house. That day i got on my bike and I thought of nothing else but the pool for 40 miles. We rode at about 19 miles per hour and got there around 11:15. It was amazing. Logan's mom had a huge spread awaiting us. Fried chicken, mac and cheese, cheese cake, sweet tea...we spent the whole day eating and pool side where we checked out one another's tan lines.





Afterwards we all went to a minor league baseball game, but I'm pretty sure no one really paid attention. A really generous and helpful family of a past rider bussed us over to the ball field and got us tickets and free food, so that we would have a good time at the game!






Our whole day was made possible by so many people who put so much time and effort into feeding us, housing us, and making sure we had a good time. Thank you so much to all of those people! We really needed that little bit of relaxation and pool time!