From Sea to Shining Sea

WE DID IT! On Sunday, we left Portland for Vernonia, OR, where we would spend our last night before traveling to the beach. It was an interesting ride out of Portland--very busy traffic coming out of downtown, so we opted to take a different route through the country, that reminded me of my training at UNC. We made it to lunch before entering a bike trail that would take us all the way to Vernonia. Thankfully, everyone's appetites were back to normal (aka ravenous) which meant the stomach flu had finally left us alone!

Vernonia Days!

The bike trail winded through lush forests; we all felt like we were riding through the rain forest. We met many friendly bikers along the way who knew how close we were to the beach and encouraged us along! When we left the bike trail and entered Vernonia, we stumbled right into their annual town festival, Vernonia Days. We watched log races and sampled the local specialties, including barbecued beef and delicious milkshakes. We also found out that much of the Twilight movie had been filmed in Vernonia, so we were actually staying in Forks, Washington for the night!

Niel running through the tunnel

After making dinner, we had our last Family Meeting, where we awarded Superlatives, had "Confessions," and just generally enjoyed each other's company for our last night! Waking up the next morning felt like Christmas. Bebhinn and Bryant were Sweep for the day, and they'd created a pump-up where we all ran through a tunnel and they gave a spiel about each rider--so clever! We took off for one last time, and of course started climbing the Coastal Mountain range almost immediately. The morning was a beautiful ride, and we stopped for lunch about 20 miles from Cannon Beach. We regrouped there (our last PB&J--yay!) and then set out once more. The anticipation and excitement hit the group I was riding with after our last climb, about 10 miles out, and once we hit Highway 101 (the Coastal Highway), we were screaming and pedaling faster than we'd ever ridden before.


The group stopped about 2 miles out at the cannon (the namesake of the beach); we took pictures, jumped up and down, and waited for our police escort into the town. As we entered Cannon Beach behind the police car, crowds of people on the street stopped to cheer for us (even if they didn't know what was going on); we were chanting loudly and squealing. As soon as I saw the water, I started crying--WE MADE IT! Everyone dropped their bikes and ran for the water, before we realized all our parents and friends were about a half mile down the beach. So we sprinted to meet them (quite tiring) and then it was a giant group hug/cryfest in the water. The water was frigid but I was completely numb to it; it was all such an incredible experience--definitely a memory I'll never forget. 

Riding through Cannon Beach

We did our second wheel dip ceremony (our front wheels into the ocean this time) and then popped champagne bottles on the beach and squirted anyone and everyone. Later, we had a cookout with all the friends and family who had come to meet us--our last time all together! One more wrap-up post to come!

Scrambling to get in the water!

Wheel Dip ceremony, with Haystack Rock in the background!

With more to come,
Beth 

Portlandia, at last!

We have arrived in Portland, OR--our second last stop before we reach the Pacific! I remember dreaming about getting here at the beginning of the summer, never actually believing I'd make it--so hard to believe we're here!


From Boise, we headed to Ontario, OR--stopping for a slip 'n slide and water balloon fight at our lunch stop, and a jump into the river when we reached the Oregon border! Our last day in Boise had introduced the stomach flu that would soon wipe out almost the whole group...the third victim got hit in Ontario. From Ontario, we had a very tough ride into Unity, OR--it was an extremely hot day and the route provided very little shade; many people were dehydrated and the climbs were difficult, but we finally made it to the very small town and rewarded ourselves with hamburgers and milkshakes!

The next day we had a beautiful ride into John Day, OR; there were several long climbs, but they were heavily wooded and actually very pleasant. Our next ride was very short into Dayville, where the "plague" began to take its toll. We stayed in a very small church, so quarters were tight, and the flu began to wipe people out very quickly. Those of us who were still healthy had a great day swimming in the river and discussing the competitive grant applications given to our route; we had to determine how much money to allot each group that had applied for our fund raising money. It was an extremely rewarding experience once we finally all agreed on the amounts...amazing that we get such a direct say in where our money goes! Housing groups from the Virginia Beach area of Virginia, the University of Kentucky, Lawrence, KS, and Charleston, WV received most of our funds.

The next day's ride into Fossil, OR had only 17 of us finish, due to the stomach bug. People were dropping like flies! It was very hot, but a beautiful ride through fossil beds. We arrived at the church, where we had a pleasant surprise--we would be staying at families' homes for the night...meaning we got real showers and BEDS for once! I prayed the flu wouldn't hit me the next day, but unfortunately I felt awful the next morning, so I decided to ride in the van with the other sickies. Although I hated to not be riding, I loved being able to see everyone pressing on from inside the van and cheering them on! We arrived in Maupin and basically collapsed to sleep and watch movies all day...a pretty sad sight. Unfortunately, only 13 people finished riding that day--the plague really wiped us out.

We took that day to recover and then, miraculously, almost everyone was back on the bike for Friday, the 103 mile ride into Portland that we'd been preparing for for weeks. The morning was tough with a headwind and some climbs (over and around Mt. Hood in the Cascades!), but we had a fun descent after that and the second half of the ride was much easier. We rode into Portland on a smooth, flat bike trail that was GREAT after our other experiences with bike trails. It was a long, exhausting day, but it was so rewarding to see the river and the Portland skyline!

We had a great build day today with Rebuilding Together; we painted an entire house and kitchen for Roland, a very sweet older man with diabetes, who had trouble getting around to make repairs to his house. Then we explored our neighborhood of Portland (the southeast side)--can't believe we'll be back here in 3 days, after we've finished our ride!

On Monday we reach the Pacific! Thank you again, one last time, for all of your support this summer!

Vamos a la playa!

Love,
Beth

Two Weeks Left?!

It's hard to believe we only have one state left. I had an awesome time white water rafting on Snake River in Jackson with friends, but then the next day we had to brave Teton Pass. The climb was 6 miles long, fairly short compared to some of the climbs we're used to, but it was one of the steepest we've encountered. When I got to the summit, everyone who had already made it was there cheering me on--we made a tunnel for all the riders coming up, and had a dance party atop the peak (it felt like a mini Cannon Beach!)

We had an awesome descent, then entered IDAHO...Famous Potatoes. Entering Idaho, I was surprised at how drastically the scenery changed, once again...it was much greener than I was expecting, and absolutely beautiful. We rode into Idaho Falls that day, to a wonderful church hosting us that worked closely with IF's Habitat chapter, with whom we built with the next day. The build was very well organized, and then later that night, the pastor of the church invited us to his beautiful ranch home out in the country for a cookout--it was a beautiful backyard, and we had delicious food and played lots of volleyball...exactly my kind of summer night!

Thrift Store donations...

The next day we had a more boring, flat ride to Arco, ID--the first US city lit by atomic power (the world's first nuclear power plant was on our way!) I rode the first 40 miles with the other UNCers on the trip (we started off doing a "Tar Heel Ten Mile" together, but ended up riding a lot longer! It was great talking to Michael, Lacy, and Keefer--don't usually get to ride with them!) The church in Arco gave us all the leftover clothes from their thrift store donations to use for our "Thrift Store Prom" the next day. It was HILARIOUS trying on all the clothes!

From Arco, we headed to Challis, ID--an absolutely beautiful ride, especially the section through Grand View Canyon. We had a tough climb (against the wind, of course) up to the retreat center where we were staying, but the location was awesome. Nestled in the mountains, we had our own kitchen, deck, showers, and BEDS--a first for the trip! It was wonderful; can't wait to be sleeping in my own again! We had our Prom that night, which was a blast; everyone got so into their costumes and we danced a lot and got to look at the awesome sky out in the mountains.

 

Cowboys/girls on prom!




Retreat center in Challis



 

Ride along the Salmon River



Looking out over Lucky Peak Lake on the way to Boise

We got to sleep in the next day, but everyone was still pretty tired from being up late the night before. The ride into Stanley was perhaps even more beautiful than the day before; we followed the Salmon River and it was very woodsy, passed several hot springs, it was just wonderful. It was a steady incline all day, but so gradual we hardly noticed it. We got into Stanley, where we were camping, but it was a great location to be outside. Ryan's family vacations in Stanley every year, and provided us dinner at the ranch they were staying at--delicious! That night was extremely cold, and when we woke up the next morning, the temperature was right around freezing. We slept for a while and then tried to pack up to get going, but it took a while, because everyone was still so cold! We had a 91 mile day that day, and I was quite worried about not making it, just because the morning started off pretty roughly and I'd been feeling pretty tired the past few days. Abby and I felt surprisingly strong, though, and rode towards the front of the pack all day, which was a great change! We had a climb that was 10 miles long and pretty touch, but we're all starting to get a lot more used to climbing (and dare I say...enjoying it?) It was a long, exhausting day, but very fulfilling to complete it. We arrived in Idaho City and explored the historic section, which was pretty neat.





Niel as Santa--Bike and Build Christmas

The next day was our Christmas in July! We woke up late and cooked a great breakfast, and danced to Christmas songs. Our ride into Boise was only about 38 miles, and once again, beautiful! We arrived in the capital around 12:30 and ate lunch, then had our Family Meeting, where Niel dressed as Santa and distributed our Secret Santa presents! It was a lot of fun. Today we're just relaxing and maybe having a picnic in the park--our last day off, then a 7-day stretch into Portland, where we have a Build Day. Then only two more ride days before we reach the Pacific--so hard to believe!

(I'm so sorry the pictures are out of order; the formatting is so hard and I had limited time on the computer!!)

Lacy, Kareem, Ryan, and Daisy on Prom Night

How the West was Fun

I can't believe it's been this long since I've blogged! I'm really getting bad. We've had long days of riding or no Internet, so it's been tough!

The entire state of Colorado was beyond incredible. We rode our first century into Denver, a total of 105 miles--great accomplishment for me. We had a build day in Denver and got to explore the city, and then we traveled to Boulder, and on the way stopped for a VIP tour of the Coors beer factory in Golden, CO. One of our leaders used to work there, and her employees provided an awesome breakfast for us, as well as a tour behind the scenes (although we weren't allowed to sample anything, because we still had another 20 miles to ride...bummer!)

We then had a day off in Boulder, where I decided to just explore the town and relax (rather than the extra hiking and biking some other members of the group opted for...crazies) and prepare myself for the next few days climbing the Rockies. The day out of Boulder was probable one of the hardest I've ridden, mainly because there were several long, steep climbs, and I wasn't yet adjusted to the altitude, so it was really hard to catch my breath. I had to stop periodically, and at times I thought I wouldn't finish, but Abby pulled me through to the end! The ride was certainly a struggle, but the views made it thoroughly worth the effort. We had an amazing descent into Estes Park, a really neat touristy mountain town that I would love to visit again in the future!

The next day we prepared our muscles for another hard day, this time up Trail Ridge in the famous Rocky Mountain National Park. That ride was by far one of the most amazing things I've accomplished physically, but also one of the coolest things I've ever done. The ~25 miles of slow climbing certainly earned us the views from the 12,400 foot summit, that were beautiful beyond words. We got quite chilly towards the top!

Thankfully, we had a few easier days after those two of climbing. We traveled to Kremmling, CO, and then to Steamboat Springs, which was one of my favorite rides of the whole trip. It was slow rollers through beautiful canyons and landmarks (including Chimney Rock!) and then a slow ascent to the top Rabbit Ear's Pass. That left a very fun descent into Steamboat, where many of us reached our max speeds on the bike (if you'd told me I would be moving at 48 mph on a bike six months ago, I never would have believed you!) In Steamboat, a group of us ventured to Strawberry Park, the natural hot springs just outside of town. It was absolutely incredible to relax in the hot water under the stars (and even more incredible for our tired muscles!) The next day, we helped the local rotary club build a bike trail in the mountains as a service project, since our Habitat build for the day had fallen through. We had a wonderful barbeque and enjoyed ourselves immensely! That night, about ten of us decided to go to the Harry Potter premiere. A few girls and I dressed as the Horcruxes (see the pictures); the whole experience was totally worth the three hours of sleep we had for the next day's 75-mile ride...

Harry Potter premiere!

Hot Springs

From Steamboat, we had a pretty rough riding stretch. We rode into Maybell, CO and then to Utah! At the Utah border, we intersected another Bike and Build route, SC2SC (South Carolina to Santa Cruz!) We got to meet up with them that night, and it was a blast hearing about their experiences and being able to relate to them about things only Bike and Builders could understand...

We met up with them the next morning, did a pump-up cheer together, and created a chalk mural in memory of Paige and Christina, two riders who died while on Bike and Build trips in the past two summers. It was amazing sharing that experience with that group. We had a hard ride that day, through "Dinosaur Country" from Vernal, UT to the campground at Flaming Gorge, UT. The Red Canyon in Flaming Gorge was another of my favorite sites of the trip, and we even got to jump off the bluffs and swim in the dam! Our campsite was gorgeous as well.

Chalk mural with SC2SC

Over Flaming Gorge

The next day, we had another tough ride into Rock Springs, WY. There were some climbs we weren't expecting, but when we arrived at the church we were staying at, they really took care of us. The parishioners took us to their homes for snacks and showers--such a nice little taste of home! The next day, we traveled another 100 miles to Pinedale, WY, a very monotonous ride, but not necessarily physically challenging. Abby and I stopped to look for wild horses (unfortunately, we were unsuccessful) and then to try one of the world's biggest ice cream cones...we finished it, with another 60 miles left to ride...

Then yesterday we left Pinedale for Jackson, WY. It was another one of the most beautiful rides on the trip...we entered the base of the Grand Teton mountains, and rode through beautiful mountain passes with streams crossing through and beautifully colored wildflowers lining the road. It wasn't a whole lot of climbing, so it was definitely a favorite ride for many group members...

SO MUCH ICE CREAM

Playing with horses on the way to Jackson

Antler arches in Jackson!

And today we have a day off in Jackson! I'll be going white water rafting later this evening with some of the group, and we've had a blast seeing all that the town has to offer. It's so hard to believe that in three short weeks we'll be RUNNING our bikes into the Pacific and completing our trip. I've really grown to love all the members of my group, and it will be so hard to say good-bye! Thank you to all of you for your continued interest and support in my trip! I love you all!

More to Come

I PROMISE I will write soon. I am having a wonderful time in Colorado (but maybe anything would be great after "Killer Kansas"...) but it is late and we have our first day of climbing the Rockies tomorrow! Thanks for everyone's continued support!

Oh, We're Halfway There (almost)

Can't believe it's been almost another week since I last updated (and sorry I start every post like this; time seems to simultaneously fly as the days are so long...maybe it's the 5 AM wake-ups.) We traveled from Washington, MO to Jefferson City, the capital, on the Katy Trail again. The Katy Trail was not quite as enjoyable this time, mainly because we were on it for 70 miles instead of 30, and the rough gravel terrain began to wear on our legs and shoulders...rough ride. Also, the wind was absolutely horrible any time we would break out of the woods, so it made for a challenging time. We made it into Jeff City which was AWESOME to see--really neat, smaller city with a beautiful capitol building and historic downtown.

More Katy Trail!

Us at the Jefferson City capitol building

From there, we traveled to Sedalia, MO (NOT on the Katy Trail)--let's just say I was ready for smooth pavement again. We still had the headwind throwing us back, but it wasn't too bad. We stopped in a small town for lunch where the people were just fascinated with our summer adventures--always reinforcing for us to see people so interested in what we're doing! We got to bed early that night, preparing for our longest day yet to Kansas City, MO. The ride was intended to be our first "century" (over 100 miles), but our cue sheet (directions) in the morning only listed 90 miles, so we were all pretty excited about that.

The morning's ride was absolutely beautiful--rolling hills through rural areas of MO (who knew Missouri had hills? I'm finding that no state is actually flat, as promised.)  We stopped for lunch around mile 30 and got back on the road for the next stretch. We encountered some construction and had to reroute around it on a gravel road (the "Katy Trail 2.0," as it was deemed by one of our riders--bumpy gravel road AND steep hills.) This added about 4-5 miles, so our mileage was getting dangerously close to that century we had prepared for anyway. We stopped for a second lunch around mile 70 and then pushed off once again to ANOTHER road closed for construction. We did see a house out in the middle of nowhere that had some exotic animals for passersby to look at, including spider monkeys, lemurs, and alligators on an island in a pond in their front yard...who would've thought in rural MO?

Lemur on "Monkey Island" in MO!

We finally made it into Raytown, MO, just outside of Kansas City, and my mileage reached 97--my record as of now! A couple of riders rode around the block a few more times to get theirs to 100--I'm waiting for our next century to get that high. We stayed at the church of one of our riders, Johnny Foster, and his family and church community was so incredibly supportive, interested, and wonderful. We arrived and they showed us a bulletin board where they had all of our pictures and a map tracking our progress. They've been hosting for years; that's how Johnny actually got started with Bike and Build. It was a blast meeting his friends and family! On Saturday, we had a Build Day in Kansas City, KS (a little confusing, but it's actually a different city from Kansas City, MO.) It was a long day, but always nice to get off the bike. Saturday night the whole group was able to go out to a dancing bar together, which was a lot of fun.

Dancing in Kansas City!

Sunday we had a day off-yay! I attended the service at the Blue Ridge Presbyterian Church in the morning, which was wonderful. They blessed each rider individually, which was extremely sweet. We had a potluck with the church community afterwards and got to give the members a presentation about what we're doing, which is always reinforcing for us as riders. After the potluck, I got to meet up with my cousin Charlie [that's Charlie Fehl :)], his girlfriend, and some of his friends from Michigan. We went downtown to the Kansas City art museum, which was pretty incredible, and then walked around the Plaza and Westport neighborhoods in town. I absolutely loved the city!



Charlie and I on the Art Museum lawn with a giant shuttlecock




Kansas City-the city of fountains



 

Leaving Kansas City, we traveled to Lawrence, KS, home of the University of Kansas. Since it was a shorter ride, we planned a Costume Day on the bike and everyone got very into it! You can see some of the costumes below...

The whole group

Johnny as Mario! (pumping
his bike tires)

Ke$ha joins the group

 

Abby the flight attendant,
ready to bike

(Sorry about the formatting on these pictures; it's extremely finicky.) The costumes were so hilarious and I loved watching the looks we got from construction workers and passersby, especially the ones stemming from Jacob Snyder's costume. He wore a dress and a flower in his helmet, and proceeded to act in character all day: a Southern belle named Annabelle Smith from Peach Fuzz, AL. The ride was pretty tough, especially with the costumes weighing us down and some surprise Kansas hills, but that kept us laughing all day.

We arrived in Lawrence and I met up with Charlie again and got to see his school and the molecules he's created in his chem lab--whiz kid, for sure. I absolutely loved downtown Lawrence--wish I'd taken more pictures! We got ice cream at a local place, Maddy and Syla's, and it's been my favorite ice cream on the trip so far! Big deal.

This morning we headed for Manhattan, KS on an 86-mile ride. We got extremely lucky with the weather conditions--high of 85 and even a tailwind helping us along! It was a great day for a bike ride. We didn't stop a whole lot, except to visit the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS--basically just some artifacts from the movie that a local historian was able to collect, but it was pretty cool to see! [My camera battery died; that's why I don't have more pictures for you at the moment!] The ride flew by and we made it to Manhattan (the "Little Apple," home of Kansas State University--our leaders joke that our route is not only the Tour de Farms, but also the Tour de Colleges) around 2:30 PM, with stops. The church we're staying at here is absolutely incredible; they must have hosted Bike and Build before, because they knew exactly what we would want/need: tons of food (they had grilled burgers for us when we got here), plenty of couches/cots to sleep on, ping pong/pool/foosball tables, TVs, computers with Internet, so much to do. The downtown area of Manhattan also seems very cool: tons of restaurants, bars, and shops. Tomorrow is another day off, and we've been offered free massages, yoga, Chipotle, water park passes, zoo passes, and rides to a nearby swimming hole/waterfall. Sometimes these days off are a little overwhelming because there's too much to do!

After our day off, we have a long stretch of ride days in Kansas, which we consistently hear is the hardest state, from alums who have done this route before. It's long, hot, windy, and boring. We're coming up with some fun things to do, like a scavenger hunt, but I think we're all pretty excited to get out west!

I'm signing off for now, but I'll hopefully be back with more soon! Also, I found some drafts of posts I thought I had posted a long time ago, so I'll try to put those up--whoops! Thanks for reading this extremely long post!

Meet Me in St. Louis

Greetings! I bet you're all surprised that I'm already blogging again; usually it's about a week before I can find time/Internet. But I found a library in Washington, MO, so here I am!

Since my last post, we left Greenville, IL and headed to St. Louis, our next big city stop! We encountered some of the country's flooding problems as we were leaving; I'm sure you've heard about it on the news, but we really had no idea the severity of the problem.We encountered side roads completely immersed in water and unable to use; it was crazy.

 

It was a great ride, mostly in the corn fields, but nice nonetheless. We then crossed the old Cross Chain of Rocks bridge into Missouri; the Mississippi was startlingly HUGE and beautiful, and we could see St. Louis from the bridge. We had a great time taking pictures and FINALLY getting a good picture crossing into a state.

We then rode through East St. Louis (not exactly the nicest part of town, but still very interesting to see) and arrived at the University of Missouri at St. Louis (UMSL, or "umsel" as the natives call it), where we would be staying for the next two nights. That evening, I was able to meet up with some old family friends, the Welsh's, who moved to a suburb of St. Louis a few years back. So good to catch up with them! Anna is quite the accomplished artist now, as you can see from her canvas.
 

The next day, the group worked with Rebuilding Together, an affordable housing organization that rehabilitates houses in urban areas to make them safer and more comfortable for their inhabitants (unlike Habitat, who builds all new houses.) I helped paint the kitchen (fun!) and install a sink (really I was just putting braces in, but that sounds better.) Although we weren't on the bike, it was still a long day in the hot sun and we were excited to come back to UMSL to swim at their rec facility.

At night, I ventured to Forest Park with Abby and Kyle to walk around. It's apparently the biggest park in the country, now bigger than Central Park! We had a great time seeing all the sights. We then headed to Delmar Loop, a cool neighborhood of St. Louis where a lot of young people hang out. Also very cool to see!

This morning we returned to our 5 AM (groan) wake-up time to travel to Washington, MO. We rode on the famous Katy Trail right along the Missouri River; it was absolutely beautiful. It was just a great ride overall, and hopefully gave us a bit of a break before tomorrow's 94 miles. 

Corn field pix...typical Bike and Build

On the Katy Trail