New Mexico sucks

6/28
Clayton NM to Mosquero NM
89 miles
Rode in the van

Given that I had spent and estimate five hours crying the night before, I decided not to bike today. I just kind of kept my head down, packed my stuff up and got in. At route meeting Shayan, who was in charge of town facts for the day, told us that ‘mosquero’ means swarm of mosquitos, so everyone knew right away that this was going to be a good day. We were also warned about an extreme climb at mile 78 that would be harder than anything we had encountered so far.

The landscape was desolate and we had first lunch at the only tree in New Mexico. I fail to understand why its the this state is the ‘land of enchantment’ given that the only thing I’ve seen are huge spaces of tan land dotted with shrubs. The ground is flat and barren with some blooming cactuses and cattle. All day there were large hills in the distance and, given that we had been forewarned about the huge climb, I spent most of the day trying to figure out which one we would be going up.

Hanging out during first lunch cheered me up and then I started to have a really good day. Maddi was driving the van, as she was a bit sick and not well enough to ride, and we ended up having some really great conversations. She’s had some unorthodox schooling, and I got to hear about it, which was fascinating. We also talked about her brother in SF and her acupuncturist dad. She’s a pretty interesting person.

We stopped for second lunch at the only other tree in New Mexico, which is not as nice as the first, and everyone geared themselves up for the climb.  It switchbacked up the side of the hill and, although the views were beautiful, it was a struggle for everyone. On the way up we could see our second lunch spot, about 10 miles in the distance. Hannah got off her bike and just walked, passing a few people on the way up because the bikes moved so slowly uphill. Liz got off her bike until Rhys began circling her, telling her to get back on and encouraging her to finish. When we passed Angela in the van she was working so hard and using her arms so much that she did not acknowledge us in the least and we wondered for a moment if she was alright (usually people wave, pump their fists, or smile at the van when it passes).

Once we got to the top I was excited for higher elevation and a nicer landscape, but the reward never came. The landscape was a much lighter tan, but even more desolate than down below. This appears to be because of the harsh winds on the top. The riders had to content with terrible headwinds as soon as they summitted that were worse than the hill had been. By the time everyone arrived at our host site they were beat. Most people just got in and laid on the floor of the gym to recover.

Mosquero is a town of less than 100 people, and we stayed at their school. I have never been in a place so small. The school covers middle and high school and, although they have an excellent gym, it takes kids from all seven grades to make a basketball team. Their graduating classes seem to range from 2-8 kids. Amazingly, Kirsten went to school with a girl who is from this town who lives at home, so they hung out. This woman wants to take over her family ranch and stay in the area, which I find fascinating. I just cannot imagine what it would be like to be from such a small, rural place.

First Sweep and emotional crash

6/27
Dalhart TX to Clayton NM
47 miles
Sweep with JB

Today was my first day in which I was officially Sweep. I missed my last day because I was injured. I was excited to get to sweep for the first time, and I thought JB would be a pretty good partner to do it with. The day was only 47 miles, which I assumed meant that the terrain would be difficult. This was not true, so I ended up being able to have a chill, not too taxing, and conversation-filled day with JB.

We took our time heading out, so I ended up cleaning the mold out of my water bottle, a job that really needed to happen. We hung out with Molly as she fixed another flat tire (she’s gotten an absurd amount) and then headed out just the two of us.

Not too long after we headed out we pulled over at a field where a group was hanging out. This was so strange for me because, usually if I see someone stopped just to hang out, I try to just keep going so that I can get ahead as possible. Corina was flying her kite (she has a goal to fly it in each state) and we just kind of hung out. She then freaked out while standing on a rock because she found a black widow. Rhys headed on over immediately to check it out. JB and I went to look at it after everyone else had gone and I was floored. It was the largest, most beautiful black widow I have ever seen. It was on the reverse side of its web from us, so we could see its hourglass beautifully. I was so happy to have seen it.

It was so nice to just get to cruise along and not worry about pushing myself, so I actually got the chance to talk to JB a lot, which was great. We had a nice wide shoulder and so we could hear each other really well too. We spent quite awhile talking about the social dynamics of the group and where we fit in. JB studied meteorology in college, so she also told me a bit about clouds and told me about the ones we could see along our ride. I really enjoyed it.

Not long into our ride we noticed some hills in the distance and wondered if we were going to have to go over those. We just got closer and, when we showed up to our host at the end of the day, realized that they were much closer, but still in the distance. A number of people headed out to climb them after they pulled into the host. It blew my mind a bit that we could go 30ish miles in a fairly flat landscape and still have the same geological feature in the distance. The Bay Area is so hilly that the landscape is completely different if you travel 30 miles in any direction. I also was astounded to realize just how far away they were from when we first sighted them.

After lunch we pulled over at a cafe where a bunch of people were hanging out. People took a lot of breaks during the day because it was so short in terms of mileage that they just relaxed and stopped when they found interesting things. While at the cafe Charlie asked the waitress if she would be willing to go on a date right then and there. It was absolutely hilarious. The two of them sat down at a table and he just asked her funny questions and did his Charlie thing. It cracked me up so much, was so strange, but I also think the woman really enjoyed it. I have no idea to what purpose Charlie was doing this (to amuse himself I think?), but it was so fascinating that I kind of want to try doing this someday. We talked to her a bit after everyone else left and found out that she lives across the state line (time zones!) and has a few horses. We thought about visiting her that evening because she seemed really cool, but that didn’t end up happening.

For some reason, I was really drained when we arrived at the host. Most everyone was gone (climbing the hills), our host was not providing dinner and we had no dinner plan, and the place we were sleeping was underground and dark brown. It was a mildly unpleasant set of circumstances that became worse and worse as my mood plummeted. I quickly went from tired to crying, to feeling absolutely miserable. I went into a room upstairs to cry away from everyone and ended up sobbing uncontrollably for a few hours. After awhile the physical pain from being so unhappy became so terrible that I couldn’t do anything but cry from it and lay on the ground. I felt like I was howling from pain and have no idea if anyone could hear me or not. Charlie came up and spent some time with me, for which I was incredibly grateful. Rhys came up and said hi, but I think he feels uncomfortable around someone crying, so he left soon after. Food is essential for keeping my mood even, so I went downstairs, made a pb and j, and forced myself to eat it. I think it did help, as I managed to calm myself down enough to go down to the presentations.

We, unfortunately, had a few more affordable housing presentations left to do. I decided to go down to them because I wanted to support the people giving them. I wasn’t expecting a lot, but given that I knew this last round of presentations was pretty slapped together, I figured they at least might be funny. Dillon’s began as very funny, but quickly turned into a huge waste of everyone’s time as it became clear he had done very little research and was just telling us his political opinions (without even evidence to back them up.) I ended up falling asleep during them, which was probably the best, as I really needed sleep after so much crying.
Impressions of Texas:
I was honestly surprised by how much visible Texas pride there was. I know people really love being Texan, but I didn’t think there would be so many visual symbols of it and that it would be so clear when crossing over the border.Ever since flying over Texas when I was 13 I’ve wanted to go there. I don’t know why, and I’m not sure that this trip fulfilled whatever I wanted from it.
The parts of Texas we were in did not look like fields of brown grass with cows. I’m not sure if this is just because we didn’t really go through Western Texas, or if my image of the Texan landscape is just off. I was surprised by the hills, the beauty going into Memphis, and the fact that it didn’t smell like cows anywhere.
There are a lot of big cars.
The people we met honestly didn’t leave that strong of a collective impression on me.

I couldn’t have done it without my teammates

6/26
Amarillo TX to Dalhart TX
80 miles

I woke up in a really hard mood. Packing was difficult and I was dragging at everything. I got ready to ride and then ended up just crying in a corner. Liz came and sat with me, which was wonderful. I laid down during route meeting and just passively listened (the unhappier I am, the more time I spend laying on the floor.) Our challenge for the day was to imitate another person- Gaurang and I were assigned to each other. He had literally no idea how to impersonate me.

Dan K was passing me and asked if we could ride together. I didn’t answer, but was really grateful when he interpreted my silence as a yes. It felt good to have company, even though everything was so hard I couldn’t really chat or provide good company. We went over a lot of hills on a road without a shoulder. I was really glad he was there, because he communicated with the cars behind us to tell them to wait to pass us until we crested the hills and they could pass safely. This was not something I had the energy to do and i would have just kind of given up and let cars pass me whenever they wanted, even if they were not doing it safely. (It blows my mind how annoyed drivers are that they have to slow down for us and that they would rather keep the same speed and go into the other lane blindly than wait a bit until they can pass safely.)

Eventually sweep caught up with us, so I doggedly biked on while listening to Colleen and Morgan and occasionally Dan K chat. The hills got harder and harder and I got to the point where I was crying and it was all i could do to stay upright and put one foot in front of the other. At the crest of a hill when I saw an intimidatingly huge one looming in the distance I finally pulled off the road and just started sobbing.Everyone else pulled off with me and took care of me. They made sure I had a snack, drank water, and talked to me until I calmed down a bit.

Colleen said something to me that was so amazing and really helped. She told me that I am certainly not the strongest or best at biking, but she thinks that everyone knows that I am one of the people who is working the hardest on this trip. Athletically, I am way behind some of the incredibly physically strong people on this trip, but that just means that the biking for them is fairly easy, but it’s a real challenge for me. People see that not only am I trying and pushing myself, but I am succeeding despite the fact that this is so much more difficult for me than for a lot of people. It meant so much to hear this from her because it is a thought I’ve had a lot, but knowing that other people are recognizing this and looking up to me for it means a huge amount.

I got back on the bike and thankfully, after a bit, it flattened out. Had the hills continued, I might have called for the van at some point, but the biking got more manageable.

At lunch Angela did a hilarious rap as Josiah (with Corina beatboxing as Rhys). It cheered me up. I took my time at lunch, ate some leftover fried chicken, and was one of the last people to leave.

I set off with Dan K again (sweep waited behind) and I only really had the energy to focus on biking. We biked for a few hours in almost complete silence, which is unfortunate, but was the best I could do. After awhile we really started to pick up speed. Dan started complimenting me on how fast I was going, but I pointed out that we just had a really nice tailwind. I really enjoyed getting to zoom on at 22mph. I felt good and powerful, even though I knew how much my speed was being aided by the wind direction. It was awesome to have the miles start flying by. I usually bike about 10mph including breaks, and so in my head the last 40 miles was going to take about 4 hours. To be biking at 20+mph meant that all I had to tell myself was “two more hours.” I felt so close to completing the day.

Up ahead Dan and I could see a large bridge rising in the distance. The closer we got the higher the bridge rose and we started worrying about having to climb it. It looked so huge and vertical, and I was not sure I had enough energy to get up something so huge. Also, we were in a state with very little water, in a completely landlocked and dry area. What possible use for a bridge could there be in this place? Every bit of energy I did not need for biking I directed to staring at the bridge, trying to figure it out. I watched the cars on the road in the distance and after about 10 minutes of staring realized that, although they dipped down right before the bridge, they didn’t seem to reappear on it. I concluded that it was just an illusion. Awhile late Dan came to the same conclusion, interrupting our silence to say, “Is that actually a bridge? Maybe it’s not.” Awhile later we saw chalk on the ground from another rider that had also been fooled by the strange illusion.

Once we came up on the “bridge,” very much relieved that that was not what it was, we saw that it was only like a 6 story light pink building next to the road. We pulled over to join everyone at an ice cream store and half of the conversation was about the phantom bridge. The ice cream store was run by Mennonites (which Dan mistook for Orthodox Jews at first) and served incredibly delicious and cheap ice cream ($1.25 for a gigantic scoop on a cone). It was an awesome break and we only had about 7 miles more to go to our host.

I felt really proud to have finished the day, given that it had been such a struggle. We had a spaghetti dinner, sent a crew out to do laundry, and people received lots of fun goodies in packages. We also had a family meeting, in which a number of useless committees were formed and I laughed a lot (although a few individuals did take up too much time making jokes that only a few people thought were funny.)

Sleeping like an Amarillo Armadillo

6/25
Day off
Amarillo, TX

This week had been a really extreme one for me. I had gotten back on my bike, experienced being sore from biking for the first time, climbed higher hills than I had ever really thought I could, and pushed myself incredibly hard. I was really proud of this, even though I had only ridden a little over half of what everyone else had this week.

We had a day off in order to recuperate and I decided to use it to rest. Between feeling like I was getting sick and trying to stave off depression, I decided to have an easy day, instead of adventuring out with everyone else. I briefly thought about wandering around and left with a group of kids, but by the time we reached the edge of the parking lot, I realized the resting was a better choice than any adventure I could go on. I wasn’t feeling too happy and, now that I was back on my bike, I knew it couldn’t be from lack of exercise. Possibly it was from pushing myself so hard, so I had a day that was the most opposite from biking I could come up with. All I did was sleep, blog, clean out my bag, and hang out and chat with Rhys for a bit.

That evening the church organized a great potluck for us (including lots of fried chicken). I ended up sitting at a table with a few older couples and had a great time chatting with them. At one point I remarked that the cobbler was one of the best I had ever had (I had at least two, maybe three helpings). To my surprise, the woman who had cooked it was at the table with me and it was great to get to show my appreciation for it so genuinely.

When it rains, it pours

6/24
106 miles
Vanned
Memphis TX to Amarillo TX

Even though I had such an amazing day yesterday and am really enjoying getting back into biking (and am making so much progress since getting back in the saddle), I decided to sit this day out. I have been pushing myself really hard and my throat was starting to feel a bit unhappy. This meant that I probably had a cold coming on and I knew that pushing for a hundred mile day would definitely help the cold come on full force. In the morning I made the really unpleasant decision to ride in the van to help myself fight off sickness instead of pushing myself biking and probably put myself out of commission for a few days and feel horrible.

Maddi was driving the van and so we scouted out lunch places together. The town where we were planning on having first lunch had a cute little gas station that we pulled into. I asked the employees there if all 32 of us could use their bathroom and fill up on ice and water. They gave us the okay, were really nice, and offered us free coffee. I took a nap in the van until the first bikers arrived.

Once people were there, we unhitched the trailer, packed up some ice chests and water coolers in the van, and headed off to find our second lunch spot. As we were driving we noticed a storm off to the right. The road we were on was a long straight Texan road and we could see much farther than I’m used to. The storm began to roll over the road and we headed into it in our van.

The closer we got, the harder the rain poured down.The road was full of giant trucks racing along the road. The combination of the pelting rain, our speed, and the spray from the trucks meant that our ability to see just got worse and worse. Maddi and I texted the bikers to let them know about the rain up ahead and to caution them to stay safe. When we got to the point where we could only see about 50 feet in front of us, which is not enough time for a truck to stop for anything, we texted everyone suggesting that they pull off and wait out the storm.

We pulled into a truck gas station next to a Subway and looked for a place to stash the lunch coolers. I tried to chalk, but knew it would be washed away shortly. I talked to an employee at the convenience store and she said that the storm was moving in the direction we had come from, so if the bikers just waited, they should have clearer weather in a bit. We texted out the lunch location and headed back to pick up the trailer and Ashley, whose knee was hurting too much for her to go past first lunch.

After getting them, we turned right around to return to second lunch. Along the way we picked up Elle (van trio!) and checked in with the bikers we passed. The storm indeed had lightened up and people were back on the road. We showed up at second lunch to a number of sopping cyclists. People were drying their clothes in the electric hand dryer in the bathroom and eating soup from Subway and the convenience store. Micah had biked right through the storm and was very cold. We piled a number of people into the van and turned the heater up full blast. (Thank goodness I decided to van today. I definitely would have gotten a full-blown cold had I ridden through this.)

It ended up being one of the longest lunches because no one really wanted to get back onto the road and out into the rain and wind. People trickled in, depending on how much time they had spent taking shelter from the storm. I spent a few hours hanging out with people and had a great time.

The last third of the ride apparently had awesome tailwinds, so people soared into Amarillo at 24-30 mph. Pretty much everyone finished the day, although a few people hitched a ride because it had been a long, long day. We stayed at a large church’s youth center. Unfortunately, minutes after I arrived, we somehow set off the burglar alarm and spent half an hour listening to a terrible beeping and annoyed our contact by calling him multiple times to ask him for help shutting it off.

We had dinner at an alum’s parent’s house. They were amazing hosts, I got to play with their dogs, and they were the most Texan people I have ever met. They served us Tex-Mex, the dad wore boots and a hat, they had giant cars and trucks, and had Texan pride all over their house. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to talk to them because I got back to back phone calls from my friends Eric and Jesse, so I spent a few hours talking to those two. I was so happy to hear from friends and they called when I was unexpectedly free, so that worked out really well

We have tomorrow off (we’ve been biking for 7 days straight), so I thought a lot of people were going to stay up late and go out drinking, but we had had such an exhausting day that most everyone went to sleep. I found a nice area of carpet and curled up and slept soundly.

 

Endorphins

6/23
Altus OK to Memphis TX
72 miles

This morning I got up for my 5th day of biking in a row. I was sore and sunburned, but I tried to stuff as much food in my stomach as possible for our 75 mile day.

I headed out in a pack with a few people, but quickly fell behind. I rode by Myself for a bit and then pulled over to put on sunscreen. Corina came up and offered to ride with me. She’s one of the strongest riders in our group, but she’s also really willing to help out less experienced riders, which everyone really appreciates. Ive been meaning to ride with her at some point, so I was a bit excited, but also nervous that I would be too slow for her.

That morning there was a lot of headwind, so it was really hard to move. I was pedaling as hard as I could, but I was only going 9 miles an hour. With corina in front of me I managed to get up to about 12, because she blocked a lot of the wind. I knew the conditions were really hard.for everyone, but I was feeling pretty down about putting in so much effort to go so slow.ly. althoug I really appreciated Corina was helping me out, I felt bad that I was holding her back.

The wind died down a bit and we began chatting. Turns out her freshman year roommate is a girl ive grown up with and still see regularly. We talked a bit about my family and how similar or different we are to our mutual friend’s family. We also talked about dancing (another dancer! Yay) and our colleges. I haven’t had a lot of chats with her, so it was really nice. She’s also an expert on a lot of farming-relates topics because she works with farmers for a living. Her comments as we rode through the countryside were really fascinating about the land, agriculture, and livestock. I was mostly too tired to respond to them and ask questions, but I would love to delve into this store of knowledge at some point.

We could see for miles around and the landscape was gorgeous. Everything was made up of soft yellows, lights greens and blues, and browns. The color pallet made me want to paint and, because of the flatness of the land, the natural lines to the vanishing point was beautiful. The sky was a bright cheery blue and was spotted with hundreds of picturesque small fluffy clouds. I had never thought that I would find flat land so beautiful, but it is a landscape I would love fiercely if I were native to it.

We rolled into lunch and I was exhausted. I had not had to work so hard to go 30 miles all week, so I was ready to take a significant break. My body was sore all over from having such an intense week after three weeks of sitting around. I layed on the ground and chugged Gatorade for awhile before getting food. I ended up being one of the last ones out and I was really doubtful about my ability to finish.

As I was pulling out Ashley volunteered to ride with me (the one who has been having a lot of knee problems.) She was not moving too fast either, and she was super supportive. The road after lunch was beautifully paved, the wind had died down, and the landscape was beautiful. We entered back into Texas and chatted as we rode along at a smooth pace. The landscape stayed beautiful and lacked the in-your-face Texas pride we encountered the last time we crossed into the state.

We hit our first hill and both charged up it at 16mph, which was pretty impressive for the two of us. We celebrated how well we were doing and both really cheered each other along as we continued encountering hills. Some of the views at the top of the hills were almost breathtaking. We could see incredibly far over a green rolling landscape that was capped with clouds. I had never thought that parts of my ride through Texas were beautiful, but this land was so enjoyable to bike through. You really have the time to enjoy scenery while on a bike, and you get to feel the landscape instead of being isolated from it in a car.

The hills kept getting bigger to the point where we would zoom down one side and end up going 6mph for the top third of the hill. Some of them looked like sheer walls in the distance. I stayed pretty slow on the downhills because, having fallen off once going downhill, I really want to feel in control when at high speeds. This meant I couldn’t charge up the hills as well, but given Ashley’s knee problems which make it hard for her to push uphill, we were pretty evenly matched. Many of the hills on this ride were larger than anything ive done before, and I was really proud that I never had to take a break going uphill. I crested everything on my bike and took my breaks while rolling downhill (and guzzled lots of water) .

On some of the flatter ground I sang Disney songs to Ashley to keep our spirits up. Despite the two of us working incredibly hard, we were both in a good mood and kept tackling whatever the road threw at us.

After a few giant hills we could see the town in the distance, so we knew we were almost there. We did a few hills that we were each sure was the last, only to find that the town was further still.

When we finally crested the last hill and rode into the town streets (Memphis only has 2000 people) we were so happy and proud of ourselves. I had a huge exercise high, which is the first time that’s happened while biking. I was doing something physically grueling and really enjoying it. When we arrived we gave each other huge hugs and I was just ready to dance and celebrate. It was a new experience to feel so good from really pushing myself in biking, and I really hope this feeling keeps happening. It feels like my brain just clicked back into place so I can be happy again, and I would love for this to continue on this trip. I’m really hopeful and excited that this might be the start of a new era of my relationship with biking.

Perfect Bike and Build day

6/21
Wichita Falls to Lawton ok
59 miles

We woke up at the YMCA (i was so excited to stay at an old school ymca place where its more than a gym and has hostel rooms. Unfortunately, this one was just a gym so we slept in the hallways and their bigger rooms upstairs) and found that our van and trailer tires had been slashed. Although some people had explored Witchita Falls and really enjoyed it, it was hard to feel friendly towards the town after being the target of random vandalism. Because all of the money we save over the summer by sleeping on the floor and eating peantu butter goes to affordable housing, the fact that we had to buy new tires takes a huge chunk out of the amount of money we get to donate.

Angela asked to ride with me, which felt really good. The day ended up being incredibly beautiful and easy. Everyone was in a good mood because it was our first short day in awhile. Not only that, but we also had strong tailwinds, which meant that we soared along without much effort. At one point she told me how impressed she was aat how fast i am now able to bike. I brushed it off by pointing out that we had great tailwinds and easy roads. She snapped at me (in a loving way) and said “just take the compliment, dammit!” I love her sense of humor. She and I talked the whole time and I learned about armyland and her fears of being an officer. She was ROTC in college and is departing for officer training soon after the trip.

We pulled over at a store to get some ice and ended up chatting with the owner, who was sitting outside. Apparently he is a longtime army man and spent years working his way up through the ranks. Angela will be at training at the local base and so was very excited to meet this guy. He offered to help her out in any way he can, and it made her feel really great to know that she will have a friend who knows what’s up and can give her advice, as her family has no military background. The  town that the store is in is so small that the mayor pulled up to buy something as we were sitting around chatting. He talked with us for a bit and offered to organize something for Bike and Build next year.

It was a perfect day of riding and exactly how i imagined my Bike and Build experience would go. I got to have great conversations with one of my teammates, we traveled along quiet country roads through which we got to enjoy the changing American landscape, and i got to meet people i never would have encountered otherwise. We got into our host around 1 pm, which is the earliest i have ever arrived by bike, and so i got to feel really proud of myself. It was also the first  day in a long while that everyone finished. Because of our injuries and illnesses we have had someone in the van for at least part of the day everyday since Alabama.

After arriving we went to a mall (this is the biggest place we’ve stayed in in awhile) and had frozen yogurt and food at a restaurant called White Buffalo. It was a huge group of us that wandered in at different times. One of the things i’ve been consistently impressed with is the willingness of restaurants in other states to split checks, even if you ask for it at the end of the meal. It makes it so eqsy to eat in a giant geoup.

That evening I talked to one of the church members who works as a dentist on the nearby Indian reservation. We chatted about the different reservations she’s worked on, and it made me excited that we are going to be spending increasingly more time on Native lands. Angela ran off and visited the housing she will be staying in for training and we had some really sucessful presentations.

Aunt Sally

June 16th-18th
Dallas area
75 miles (van)
2 build days

Shortly after the trip began we started hearing about our famed host in Dallas. Her legend preceeded her and, boy, did she live up to it.

As each person arrived to her country home outside of Dallas she offered them a milkshake. If they said yes she made them one on the spot. Her kitchen was loaded with treats, fruit, and food that her family was busy preparing for us. Her house has four bedrooms and she and her husband slept out in their Rv to give us more space. The backyard, in addition to having a pool and hot ttub, was overflowing with coolers of soda, water, and beer. The amount of effort she went to for our three night stay there was astounding.

I arrived at her house in the van with all of the sick people who immediately climbed into bed and fell asleep. I headed back out with Dan to go pick up second lunch and meet sweep. Once people pulled in they began chowing down and she pulled out an amazing dinner of ribs and brisket. We went in the pool and hot tub and began celebrating that we did not have a ride day the next morning.

I wandered around her property and discovered two goats and four miniature donkeys. Katie and I went in the garage (‘machine shed’ as our resident farmhouse called it) and tried to get my bike ready to go on a short ride. She’d taken a few days off to see family and so she wanted to ride a short distance before our long ride out of dallas. Unfortunately, Dan was borrowing my wheel and gaurang was borrowing dans bike, so I only had one wheel to ride on until gaurang pulled in.

One of the women on this trip is a fitness instructor, so she leads lots of gym classes, including Zumba. Whenever one of the songs she teaches Zumba to comes on the radio, she starts doing the dances. While we were hanging out around the pool she began dancing and me and a few other people started following her. We ended up doing two or three songs of dancing, and it was so wonderful. It was the first time ive danced pretty much since the trip began and it felt so good to finally have a body that can move again. Getting to dance was fun, tiring myself out from exercise was fun, and just feeling all of my limbs working again felt so great. I am so excited that I can get back on my bike again and start fully participating.

The next day was my first build day since Florida, so I was excited. We worked on a house that was being built at a school as part of a trade class. They didn’t finish the house up during the school year, so they recruited a number of teams of volunteers to get it done during the summer. Once the house is mostly finished, it will be moved on a truck to the lot in town where the future owners will move in.

We spent two days building at this site and turned it from four white walls to a place with doors, windows, roof beams, and insulation. We got a lot done in two days and, for the most part, we were busy the entire time. There was a lot of work that neeeded coorperation, so I ended up working in a few solid teams where everyone had a role and we were really efficiqnt once we got our jobs down. The two days felt really good and productive, and it was nice to get to work on the other half of our summer’s mission.

After our first build day Sally had a surprise for us. She had rented a boat to take us out on a nearby lake for the evening. To gt there we loaded up into all four of her cars (she let us drive them) and headed towards the lake. I ended up being in the Bug convertible with three other girls. We blasted music and soared down the highway in the warm evening air, singing and dancing to the radio. It felt like the most summery thing ive ever done, and I so enjoyed the freedom and closeness of the ride.

The boat was loaded up with all of us and our drinks. A group of people had purchased silly party outfits at a thrift store along the way, so that added to the cheer. We put on music and a bunch of us really enjoyed dancing and singing together. Of course, the first song was Lonely Island’s ‘On a Boat.’ Dancing brings out a side of me that most people on this trip hadn’t seen before, so I also got to enjoy watching everyone’s surprise and them getting to know me a little better. The whole evening was a blast and I was quite sad when our time was up and the boat pulled in.

We continued the party in sally’s backyard and I took full advantage of the hottub. I had a lot of cool.conversations and great bonding moments with people. It was so lovely to get to hang out without worrying about going to bed early to keep myself rested.for biking the next day.

I was very sad to leave her house as she had been such a great host. She loaded us up with food and candy and helped us get out the door. Our time there was so wonderful and marked a new stage for me in this trip: now I’m ready to bike and ive had some very meaningful friendships start to develop.

Apuke-alypse

Athens to Dallas

We ride together, bleed together,  and hurl together.

On this trip we’ve had a few people come down with stomach bugs. They haven’t had very much fun, but they’ve mostly recovered quickly.

This morning a few people hadn’t been feeling up to snuff, but everyone was ready to ride except for the injured crew in the van. Our intimate van ride did not last long.

At first lunch Liz pulled up in tears. She had a bunch of small things go wrong that morning and was really worn out from riding. She decided to ride in the van to second lunch. Although it was the right decision, she felt horrible about it -like she was giving up. It was frustrating and demoralizing to her that she just couldn’t keep up.

At second lunch a few people pulled up and immediately laid down, which is not too unusual, given that we are doing intense exercise. As people began pulling out of lunch it became clear that something was wrong, because three of them had not yet eaten and were still lying fairly motionless.

Liz had disappeared and went to look for her, only to discover that she was throwing up on the side of the building. That explained why she had been struggling so much. I hung out with her and tried to get her Gatorade, pepto  bismal, and crackers. These all helped for short amounts of time until she threw them up again.

When I went back to our lunch spot I found two other people throwing up and one person with a fever and violent chills. One girl was not feeling great and was going to tough it out, but she changed her mind shortly after taking off.

Me and the other injureds helped leader Greg clean everything up, take care of the sick kids, and start to load up bikes into the trailer. This was a feat, as we normally only carry two or three bikes. All told we had nine to fit, which took some excellent tetrising on Greg’s part. (I was feeling almost ready to get back on the bike, so I was able to help out a lot, which felt good.)

The ride back to the host was miserable. People continually threw up and we stopped at every gas station we passed. I didn’t think I was sick at all, but being locked in a van with a bunch of puling people was making me nauseous. I started reading and tried really hard to escape into my book so that I could ignore the van. I was so glad when we arrived.

That evening ended up being a lot of fun for me. After we arrived three or four other people started feeling sick and the healthy kids became panicked about keeping away from the bug. We washed out all of our food bins (which we would have done regardless) and a group of us stayed outside and refused to walk in the building. Some of the guys were really freaking out about it, but we cracked so many jokes in our self -quarrantine that it was a blast. I really enjoyed the tone of impending doom that pervaded the evening, with the security of knowing that if I got sick I would have a really horrible 36 hours and then be fine.

In the evening we stayed at church members homes in groups of two or three. The family I was with was really great, and they have a beautiful lakeside home with a few boats. I shared my bed with another teammate who seemed healthy, and we both returned the next morning without having thrown up.

The next day I wanted to try riding, but the van was going to shuttle the sick people directly to the host, and so wouldn’t be able to pick me up quickly if I decided I couldn’t finish the day. I decided to ride in the van and ended up being one of 14 people who weren’t able to bike that day. Once we got to the host all of the sick people climbed into bed and occupied the bathrooms to their heart’s (and stomach’s) content.

Star-Spangled Elephant

Elm grove, LA (outside of shreeveport)
Van
53 miles

After battling Louisiana country roads all day (I now dislike the state of Louisiana purely because it has such terrible roads), our group pulled into our first homestay. The house is owned by the father of a bike and build alum and is a country house outside of shreeveport. He built the house to look like an old plantation home and it sits next to the lake on his 140 acre property. The area is quiet and serene and was a joy to arrive at. Everyone immediately pulled off their jerseys and jumped in the water, which was a great temperature.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the house was that there were stuffed hunting trophies everywhere. There were mallards, elephant tusks and feet, antelope, a wildabeast, and a cape buffalo. I first assumed they were fake and then concluded that they must be a few generations old.

This turned out to be very wrong. I spent most of the evening talking to the owner of the house, which was incredibly fulfilling. He was kind and entertaining and very easy to talk to. He was born and raised in the shreeveport area and so came from a very different background than I have. We spent most of the evening talking about topics that we have incredibly different viewpoints on. I appreciated getting to hear where his values come from, learn about topics I know very little about, and getting to step outside of my political bubble for a bit.

He is a grandfather, a devout Baptist, an avid hunter, a republican, and works in the oil business, so he’s about as different from me as you can get (and still be white). At home I would usually steer clear of someone like him, but part of my journey to explore the US is also getting to know its people. Within a few minutes of meeting him I knew he was going to be fascinating to talk to because of our differences, but also fun to spend time with because of his warmth and brightness.

We sat on the porch overlooking the lake and watched the sunset and, when the bugs came out, we were misted by mosquito spray that helped keep us from being bitten to death. It was one of the most southern moments ive had on this trip.

Our conversations began about hunting. The trophies are all animals he has killed and he told me about the joy of getting to know an animal well enough to track it, the thrill of hunting a dangerous animal, and the local animals that people hunt. He shot the elephant in 2004 and the permit was $10,000. I didn’t know you could bring ivory across international lines and ive never met someone who’s gone to Africa to hunt, only to view the large game. He said that the specific elephant he killed had been destroying crops and that once it was killed the locals ate and used every part of the animal. He also talked to me about the way the hunting industry protects these animals by giving them quantifiable value and a reason for countries to spent money protecting them. These perspectives were all pretty new to me and fascinating to hear.

After it was dark and we moved inside we spent a long time talking about oil exploration on land. His job (I don’t know the exact title) is to find new places to put oil wells and get them built. If he successfully hits oil then he, his investors, and the landowner earn money from sales until the well runs dry. He really enjoys the exploration and puzzle aspect of his job and has grown up around the oil business. He is excited about the advances in technology that allow us to extract oil from more difficult deposited and strongly believes in tapping America’s oil resources. We talked at length about tracking and the negative press it gets, and he brought up compelling arguments about its safety that I would love to do further research on.

I asked him if he would be willing to drill on his land, to understand how he evaluates the dangers and health risks when it comes to him and his family. He told me that there already is a well on his property and that he’s comfortable with it. When it dries up the area will be restored to its former habitat and so he also will not lose value on the property.

This answer really pleased me because he seems to be a man of convictions who applies these guidelines to others as well as to himself. It was so dissonent for me to be enjoying spending time with him so much as a person but also knowing that I disagree with so many of his actions and beliefs. It is an uncommon experience for me to interact with someone whose moral code is so opposite to mine and still look at them as a good person; I found the whole evening to be incredibly valuable. It’s been one of my most memorable interactions on the trip thus far and really left me with a lot to think about.