INDEPENDENCE PASS!! .. Aspen, and Silt, Colorado

WE HAVE CROSSED THE ROCKIES!

A few days a go (7/14) we crossed Independence Pass, rumored to be the highest pass in the nation. We got pumped up at 6:30 in the morning before departing since we needed to be off the peak before the storms hit. It was absolutely amazing! We spent about 20 miles going up, which was a bit difficult but nothing we weren't used to. The first 15 was not too bad, but the end was switch backs and slightly painful. We were going about 4 or 5 miles per hour. BUT we did it!





About the pictures: Picture 1: At the top, you can see snow in the background. It was a bit chilly. We could have had a snowball fight if we wanted to! The other two are about 2 miles from the top of the pass. You can see the road that we road on in the background. It was a bit steep!

After reaching the top, we had a dance party and enjoyed a quick snack before our 20 miles of downhill to reach Aspen.

Aspen is an interesting place. It is VERY biker friendly, which is great, but it also is ridiculously expensive. On our day off, a group of us went to the gas station for a snack because the cheapest places were roughly 8 or 9 dollars for just a sandwich. Most restaurants were $20 a meal! We also visited McD's for lunch to save a bit of money then splurged on dinner at the Hickory House, a recommended restaurant.

For entertainment, we saw Harry Potter 6, which was a very fun movie, and we relaxed in our ski lodge that was so kind to provide us a place to sleep. We rode the buss everywhere because in Aspen the bus is FREE! That was a nice treat.

We left Aspen and enjoyed a day of DOWNHILL! It was great. We were even on a bike path for 40 miles! I averaged about 17.5 for the morning and 16.5 for the day. It was very exciting to relax and enjoy the beauty of Colorado!

We are currently in Silt, which is a town of about 1700 people. They are letting us stay at their community center and the Habitat affiliate is providing us what I am sure will be a delicious dinner. I am very excited!

I will try to write again soon!

Link to facebook album for more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2306653&id=11815505&l=087cfc20f7

(same album as before but with new pictures!)

Leaving Colorado Springs.. Losing a tooth.. Buena Vista

Hi everyone!

So, we finished the house in Colorado Springs! YAY! I will post pictures eventually. We are at a lunch stop right now that was near a library so I thought I would catch up on my blogging.

In Colorado Springs:

I climbed Pike's Peak on foot(20 miles, 13 hrs, 6,000 ft). It was difficult but very rewarding. I made it to the tree lines before the weather was a little too threatening. But there was snow! Crazy!

I hit my face with a hammer on the workday.. and unfortunately lost part of a tooth. Through an amazing dentist who actually drove me to the worksite after putting in my crown, and opened on a day he wasn't open in order to get me a tooth before I left, I am back to normal now. In fact, my smile may look better than before!

We met two amazing home owners: one had a son who was born and weighed 1 pound. In fact, he required so much special equipment she had to send her older son to live with family. She was so excited to have her Habitat house and to be able to have both of her sons live with her again.

The other was a dad who worked all day and just wanted to get ahead. He had a goal to move into the house by new years eve, so some days he would come to the Habitat site at 5 pm after work and stay until midnight working on little details! He moved in on Christmas eve and decorated his sons room with Spiderman stuff because his son loved spiderman. Then, he moved his son there so he woke up on Christmas morning in his own room with all of his favorite things. Apparently, it was an amazing Christmas!

Yesterday:

We left Colorado Springs for Hartsell, CO. A small town. The ride was difficult to say the least. I was sweep (aka required to be the last person to arrive). We climbed up 6,000 ft and we dropped 4,000 for a net gain of 2,000. We had every type of bad weather possible thrown at us. It hailed on us 3 times.. which is insanely painful and scary, but there was no shelter in site so we had to ride on. We had side winds and head winds... and maybe a tail wind. It was definitely a beautiful day to see all of the 14,000 ft mountains in the chain as we went. Last night we slept in an igloo.. All 32 of us fit but it was a tight squeeze to say the least.


Today:

Well we are currently at lunch. So far, we have climbed about 10 miles up and had a nice downhill stretch for the last 15 miles. This afternoon should be difficult. Tomorrow we will be going over Independence pass to get to Aspen. This pass is going to be incredibly difficult since it is about 20 miles of uphill. Luckily, we only have 30 miles total to account for the difficulty.

I hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all! Pictures soon.. I promise!

COLORADO SPRINGS!!!

Well, we have been here for two days now, and we have already built the floor, and framed the house. We went bowling last night. It was 5 dollars for 3 games and shoes! What a deal! It was a lot of fun. There was even a karaoke competition going on.. FUN!

On the build site, things have been good. Tonight we are going to watch fireworks in a park. We wanted to go to the Airforce Academy, but apparently it is too far away :-(

Happy 4th of July! I will update you all later on more info, but I think David may actually want to use his computer :-D Thank you David for your generosity!

The day I had to write the actual journal.. (its a long one!)

After an evening in Pueblo, we met a cyclist who was also traveling across the country, but he was doing it the hardcore way. In other words, he was pedaling by himself, carrying everything he needed, and camping every night. The pasture allowed him to stay with us, and he was very appreciative of having a shower after many days without one. He seemed really interested in Bike and Build, so maybe we found a future Bike and Builder!

In the morning, the First Presbyterian church cooked us a delicious breakfast including banana walnut pancakes and fresh fruit. It was amazing. It was an especially exciting morning because we were finally on our way to Colorado Springs to build a house and to take a break from our bicycles! Kristin, our MVC for the day, got us pumped up with a dance song and some inspirational words.

Our ride for the day was 52 miles, which we found out had a portion of gravel road. This lead to two options: bike on the interstate for day 3 or take the gravel road. The group split pretty evenly. We started the ride around 7:30 am. It was a warm morning, and we started off on the city streets of Pueblo. Then, some of our group took a 20 mile route on the highway to meet up at lunch, while others took a 20 mile route on a back road. The highway route was very fast due to a wind pushing us. We averaged a pretty good speed and enjoyed the graded hills. The back road or gravel road had several fun tales. Here are a few highlights:

- There were an abnormal amount of bugs on this road. In fact, there were designated bug watchers, mainly Jon Kole. Jon was so nice to point out to the bikers in front of him when they had bugs landing on them so that they could keep them from biting them. However, everyone did not have this luxury and the amount of bug bites on the gravel road group was rather impressive.
- Several riders decided that they would rather fight the bugs without clothes and participated in a “naked mile.”

We met up again and we all biked through the town of Fountain, where we stopped for lunch. After lunch , we all biked up some pretty steep hills, where we realized we weren’t in Charleston, SC anymore since we could feel our new altitude. Right before a large hill, Jessica’s family sat alongside of the route and cheered for the riders as they went by, which was a nice treat.

We arrived at Colorado Springs between 12:30 and 3 pm. We were met by the Habitat affiliate, who let us in to the Sunrise United Methodist Church. The church is amazing. It is really large with lots of couches, which always makes our group smile! The Habitat affiliate even gave us some nice clean t-shirts, which made everyone a little happier. We were also met by a local news representative who interviewed us as we entered Colorado Springs. Matt and Chris decided they had not had enough exercise for the day and went for a jog after arriving at the church

AND! It was Thursday which means many exciting things including new yummy treats from the mail drop. Thank you to the parents and friends who sent the yummy cookies, baked goods, rice krispee treats, brownie bites, candy, toys, and other fun things. We also had a town hall meeting, which gets mixed reviews every week. This week was an especially long one since it managed to last 2 hours, mainly because we have so many options for fun activities this week and only one van. It looks like it is going to be an amazing week, and we are all so excited to have a nice long stay and time to explore!

Walsenburg, Pueblo...

6/30
we left Trinidad for Walsenburg, CO: a town about the same size as Trinidad. We had two options: take a 38 mile ride directly to Walsenburg on the highway OR take a 84 mile route on the "scenic highway of legends". My butt and I chose the 38 mile route. We arrived in Walsenburg at 9 am, and we basically had a second day off, which was amazing. We spent some time in a cafe eating breakfast, went to the library, read, had some delicious meals, window shopped, and enjoyed ice cream! It was a great day!

7/1 We headed to Pueblo Co.

Pueblo Colorado is a large city, our first large city in Colorado. This was a 54 mile route, and it was all on the highway. One of the funny parts of the day was when Andy and I saw three cows out so we rode to the farmhouse to alert the farmer, which I know is what my family would want done in that situation. It was a pretty easy day. We averaged about 16 mph, which was nice and got there around 12. We spent the day reading, postcard writing, and exploring the river walk. It turns out there were 4 military men who got the medal of honor from Pueblo. Eisenhower had a quote stating "there must be something in the water in Pueblo." I also got to talk to my brother and parents again which was definitely a treat! Congrats on the promotion brother!

Texas.. New Mexico.....COLORADO!!

Hi Everyone from Trinidad, CO!

Before I talk about our ride yesterday, which was amazing. I am going to give you some refreshers about what has happened since the last time I had internet access :--D After a beautiful ride yesterday, we arrived in Colorado.

6/24:
We left Watonga, OK for Arnette, OK (4:30 wakeup): a town with a population of 492 people. It was an 87 mile ride. It was actually a really cute little town. We stayed at a Methodist Church that provided us dinner and breakfast, and we had a bike safety clinic for the community in the park the night we were there. We even watched Shawshank Redemption on a big screen in the church! PS: Oklahoma is not flat, and we saw, if we were lucky, about 1 gas station a day.

6/25:
After Arnette, OK we crossed into Spearman, Texas (4:30 wakeup). Aside from the border, we saw lots of cattle, crops, and an occasional person throughout the day. The ride was 94 miles, and it was hot. VERY hot. We were hitting the high 90's

6/26:
We left Spearman, TX for Dalhart, TX (4:30 wakeup): a 88 mile journey. We went through 2 towns in thie 88 miles: Sunray (a nice quaint town where we ate lunch) and Cactus (they had a really nice gas station!). We arrived to a nice homecooked meal of pasta, veggies, and salad. Delicious!

6/27:

Dalhart, TX to Des Moines, NM (4:30 wakeup)

Unfortunately, I had to ride in the van due to being sick again, but it was still an enjoyable day. This was a 95 mile ride, and the wind was really bad. There have been several days where the wind causes us to not be able to go faster than 8 miles an hour. This was one of them. It was also slightly chilly. Des Moines, NM is a VERY small town, but New Mexico actually had a lot of character to it. We all agreed we preferred it to Texas and Oklahoma because the scenery was just really neat. It was all flat but we would see an occasional mountain off in the distance. OH AND PS! We saw a tumbleweed!

6/28
Des Moines, NM to Trinidad, CO!( 5 am wakeup... we slept in!!!!)
This was by far the best ride we have had yet. In the morning, we went through a mountain pass that was gorgeous and for the first time in a few days we had the wind on our sides. We coasted at above 20 mph without really putting in effort, causing us to be at lunch (over 40 miles in) in about 2 and a half hours (including border pictures when we entered Colorado). Colorado is really beautiful and the ride was just incredibly enjoyable. The ride was a total of 74 miles, and it was fairly easy except for the last 10 to 15 miles where the wind was no longer on our side. We pedaled as hard as we could only to look down and see speeds of 6-8 mph. If we reached 10 mph this was an accomplishment. In fact, going downhill, everyone had to pedal as hard as they could to go about 15 mph. This is usually a normal speed for flat land. We estimated that we were fighting winds of 20 mph, but since we had had such an amazing day there were no complaints. We arrived around 1:30, and we went off to find the showers at the nearby community center. We ate in the city at a delicious pizza place, and we had a very classy desert: a McFlurry.

6/29:

Today is a day off in Trinidad. Some of our group went horse back riding (I decided I would rather give my bum a break), and others have enjoyed some time at a coffee shop. We are hoping to take a free trolly tour at 11. Other than that, we will be relaxing on our day off before a 3 day stretch of biking to get to Colorado Springs: the location of our Blitz Build!! We will be off the bike for 9 days, which everyone is incredibly excited about.

I hope all is well! I cannot upload pictures here, but I will as soon as I can!

Oklahoma!

WELL...

Here are some updates: Little Rock was great. We had a day off and the United Methodist Church there was really amazing to us. They helped us unload our trailer, did our laundry (which is NOT an easy task!), had a snack for us when we arrived, provided meals for us for 2 days, AND helped shuttle us to downtown! They really were amazing people. In Little Rock, we went to the Clinton Museum/Library, which was really nice and had so much information including his schedules for every day he was in office. Also, there was a space exhibit where I learned I do NOT know how to fly a shuttle.. or land one.

After Little Rock, we headed to Russelville, AR: A journey of about 55 miles. After Russelville, we went to Fort Smith, which was an 80 mile route. Some managed to make it a 105 mile route. You see, the morning of this journey we had an option: to take the planned route (82 miles on a state road) or to go on the adventurous route through a national forest which may or may not be paved. I chose the safe route for the sake of my muscles. Others who chose the forest route found out it was 10 miles of dirt and gravel and ended up with a little bit longer of a day. I was quite happy with my 80 mile route. In fact, we even got to see an Abbey, which was quite neat!

After Fort Smith, we crossed the border into Henryetta, a 105 mile day. This was a very long, hot day. The temperature was about 97 degrees and we were definitely feeling the heat. After Henryetta, we headed to Oklahoma City: a 96 mile route. The weather got even hotter. In fact, it reached over 100 degrees. I was not liking the heat, so I took it very slow with a few friends, but we eventually arrived and enjoyed a delicious meal or vegetarian chili!

In Oklahoma City, we had a build day. It was quite impressive. They are the largest green builder in Oklahoma and quite possibly leading the Habitat statistics for the country for LEAD houses. Last month, one of their houses had an electricity bill of $35 (this is during 90 degree weather). Impressive! It was rediculously hot. I think I drank 2 gallons of water.. (we really do usually drive over a gallon of water a day) It reached 105 degrees. A highlight of the day was when the neighbor's sprinklers came on and we got to run through them! We do this often on our bikes as well. Some have even gone through carwashes.

Today we left Oklahoma City to arrive in Wantonga, only a 65 mile ride :-D. We left very early since it is over 100 degrees again today, but it is nice to be here early. I got to mail some post cards (give me your address so I can send you one!), and write in my very unupdated blog! We really don't have internet often so it is hard to keep this updated.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Arnett, OK, for our last day in Oklahoma... It has been an interesting state. The people here are really nice. In fact, today a random man pulled over to give us bottles of water. What a generous person!

We don't have an Oklahoma saying.. probably because it doesn't rhyme with much, but I will let you know the next one we have!

Miss you All!

Pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2306653&id=11815505&l=087cfc20f7