somehow i made it to california... oh yeah, on my bike!

So I’ve long ago submitted to the fact that my blog would be more of a beginning, middle, and end rather than a continuously updated story and I apologize. But here is what I will write about the last several weeks of my trip… the desert. And just a quick disclaimer, it’s pretty long so wait till you have a good chunk of time to sit down and enjoy it.

the rides…
I believe I left off talking about the not so wonderful roads and extremely lengthy routes of Missouri. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that that was the most rigorous stretch of the trip. And though I expected the Southwest to be much MUCH flatter than it was, the climbs were not nearly as steep and painful as the northeast. Oklahoma ended up having some of the hottest days on the trip, with a few afternoons around 105 (and when added with horrible headwinds and hills these days proved to be some of the worst). We lucked out when travelling through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona because for the most part the temperature was on our side. Most days were around the upper 80s or lower 90s, cooler weather fronts which I’m guessing are pretty rare during the summer months. What I didn’t know is that there are mountain ranges everywhere! We were constantly surrounded by peaks, which besides the climbs (gradual, for the most part) were amazing because we got to coast down switchbacks and get a full panoramic view of the land for miles around. There was one ride (in New Mexico) that had a full 14 miles of downhill, descending right into the town we were staying (that’s something we dream about, and though the leaders told us it was coming we didn’t believe them).

But not all rides in the Southwest were that nice. The ride into Flagstaff was one of the hardest strictly because of the headwinds. Regardless if the terrain were downhill, if I stopped pedaling for longer than 5 seconds at one time, I swear I would have started drifting back up the hill. It’s pretty demoralizing to be working so hard and literally going nowhere.

We then encountered some more difficult rides when we entered the desert of Western Arizona and inland California. Although the 120 mile day is the most ridiculous sounding, it was in my opinion not the hardest. There was a ride just a few days before with mileage in the upper 90s and heat around 115 that nearly killed me. Even having woken up by 4 am and leaving before 6, there was no way to avoid the hottest part of the day. The thing that really got to me was that my bike computer (which tells you how many miles you’ve gone, and how many you have left on a particular road) broke earlier in the trip and the town we were staying in that night (Salome) was so small that it was never on any of the signs on the interstate. Consequently, I thought I was getting close, had already run out of water, but there was no sign of the town and I was convinced that it didn’t exist. That day was one of only a few that I literally didn’t think I would make it into the host site.

The 120 mile day and the 90 mile day which followed were also pretty difficult, but were manageable thanks to the lack of 115 degree weather (I say this as if it were cool during those rides, but they were still in the high 90s or low 100s). The hard thing about the 120 day is that there was actually nothing, not one gas station or business, from Parker, AZ that morning until we reached Twenty-nine Palms, CA that afternoon. And since everyone rides at different paces (meaning some people are further behind than others) and the van was forced to go all the way into our host town in order to fill up on water. That left quite a few riders including myself without water and without a last lunch stop. Not cool, but there wasn’t really any way to avoid it.

the host sites…
While enjoying amazing potluck dinners and donated food in the northeast and midwest, the leaders warned our group that we probably would not be eating quite as well when we got out to the southwest (not because people wouldn’t be as accommodating but because we would be staying in smaller towns and such making it more difficult to host so many of us). This definitely proved not to be the case. We still encountered town upon town which went out off their way to graciously provide us with dinner, breakfast, and of course a comfortable overnight stay.

In New Mexico, we stayed in a small town near the border called Portales, where a church not only provided our meals but also contacted the town mayor who then declared it Bike and Build day and gave us a police escort for the next morning! Best town ever. In Twenty-nine Palms (the night after our 120 ride), we split up and were put up in the congregants homes where we got showers with fresh towels and beds (two very rare commodities which were unheard of during this trip). In Sanders, AZ, we stayed at a fire station and not only did we have a nice grass courtyard on which to lay when we got in that afternoon (and which we slept under the stars that night) but they also provided us with the coolest shower ever, two fire trucks spraying with hoses on either side of us. And although this site actually turned out to give us one of our biggest scares of the trip, one of our rider’s bike got stolen (don’t worry it was recovered the next day by the fire chief), I loved it.

the days off…
Before this trip, a whole day on a habitat build site would be really strenuous work and definitely wouldn’t fit under the category “day off.” But over this summer that’s what we called them. They were a much welcomed change of pace and provided some rest for our biking muscles and use of the muscles which we had almost forgotten about. In Amarillo, we built on a fairly new habitat project where the first home (of a planned twenty) was being put up. Our group managed to complete all the roof tresses and helped nailing walls in place. Being a big fan of heights, I jumped at the chance to balance on the frame of the second story lifting and nailing tresses in. I also managed to jump (or rather fall) off, but no worries I’m fine and was right back up to finish the job.

The last build site on our trip was in Palmdale, CA where our group split up to work on the renovation of multiple homes, including fixing the roof of one house, yardwork of another, and leveling/prepping of land for laying a driveway (the job which I was working on). This work day was organized by Youth Build, a program setup in Palmdale for kids who have dropped out of school but have been encouraged to learn more about construction. The program gives them a chance to receive a trade degree. All in all, these last two build days definitely provided us with a decent amount of work (which was hard for some sites when 32 people arrive) and were very surprised and happy with our progress. A crew of 32 hammers really can do quite a bit of damage (in a good way of course).

We also had a couple of real days off in the southwest, including Roswell and the Grand Canyon. Roswell was interesting to say the least. All I can say is that the city would not exist had it not been for the Roswell Incident… everything and I mean EVERYTHING is alien themed (even the streetlamps have eyes on them). I can imagine that it would get old pretty quickly, so not really my first choice of places to revisit but it was fun. The Grand Canyon on the other hand, I could visit every year for the rest of my life and I would never grow bored. It was beautiful. A couple other guys and I got up early on our day off to go see the sunrise and spend the day hiking. Although we decided against doing the really long hike down to the river and back (which the park strongly advises not to do in one day), three of the other guys from our group completed it with no problem. I did a 6 mile hike down South Kaibab Trail to a lookout called Skeleton Point. That evening a few of us took a trip to another lookout point on the rim which was supposedly a great spot to view the sunset (which it was), but unfortunately the bus system didn’t work quite as efficiently as we expected and we got stranded miles away from our campsite and were forced to hike back in the dark. So our day off turned into quite a far distance of hiking and exploration. Overall, definitely worth it.

the cities (or more like villages)…
Well I’ve already talked about Portales (one of our favorite New Mexican settlements), so I guess I’ll move on to Pietown. Tiniest little town on the top of the mountain, so cute/quaint/quirky. I knew it was going to be a stay to remember when I was informed that morning that our host house did not have an address… it was simply titled, the Toaster House (and yes we were further informed that this house was named such because the front yard would be covered in toasters). Although it proved hard to find sleeping space for all 32 of us, I loved the feel of the town and had fun guessing the theme of other neighboring houses.

Arizona had more in store than I had expected. I ended up really loving Flagstaff and Prescott (despite the name, which all of us riders associate with Prescott Hill in the Berkshires at the beginning of the trip). Both seemed very out of place in comparison to the usual desolate desert surrounding them and, in a way, their wide, brick mainstreets resembled small northeast towns. We happened to be staying in Flagstaff on the first Friday of the month, which means we came just in time for their monthly art festival. Not only were the main streets very cute and bustling during the day (I got Thai takeout and ate it in the main square), but at night there was even more going on (live music, a fashion show, a movie playing in the square, and just lots of people everywhere). It was a much welcomed respite after the windy ride in. Prescott also had a very quaint downtown with a center quad of green grass (I wondered how much water they go through to keep it that way) surrounded by main streets full of shops and restaurants. So just when I had ruled out the desert as a habitable place, these towns popped up and surprised me.

the best afternoon…
Okay so besides the afternoon when we finally arrived at the Pacific (which I will explain shortly), I must say my favorite afternoon was when we first entered New Mexico. After stopping to take pictures by the state sign (a usual ritual), we came across a sign advertising “Joe’s Boot Shop” with who knows how many hundred boots and hats, so of course the guys wanted to stop (and good thing we did). Upon entering, we were greeted by Joe himself (now I must explain something: Even being only a group of 6 at the time, we are still sporting matching spandex. So when we walk around somewhere, we stick out like a sore thumb). That said, we stayed in this shop for awhile talking to Joe and a couple of the other ladies about our trip, were offered free shirts, and a short while later Joe offered to treat us to lunch. Now this was not just your normal lunch outing. Joe brought us out back where his Texas style limo (there really is no other way to describe a limo with large horns on the front and an external microphone that plays buffalo sounds) awaited to take us to the only real authentic New Mexican restaurant, as he described it. He also brought a friend of his who owns a cattle ranch of almost half a million acres, a real American cowboy. And I am ashamed to say, strictly out of habit (I swear I didn’t even think about it) Caroline and I ordered chicken at lunch… oops! Joe joked that on any other occasion a lady ordering chicken would have to pay for her own lunch. But it was a very memorable afternoon at that.

the most unfortunate morning…
Sadly enough, not everyone was fortunate enough to go the whole summer unharmed. On the ride out of Flagstaff with barely 2 weeks left in the trip, one of our riders, Sarah, had a bad fall. A piece of plastic bumper got caught in her wheel and wedged between the wheel itself and the brake causing her front wheel to stop in its place. She flipped over her handlebars and landed hard on her elbows. Luckily we were still in the city (it could have been much more difficult to get treatment had we been out in the middle of nowhere) and she was admitted to the hospital where she ended up needing surgery to put pins in her left elbow. Despite the pain from her surgery, Sarah decided to finish out the trip with the group (in the van of course) and got to ride the last mile into Santa Barbara with everyone (in a three-wheel bike), which was really great.

the end…
I must say, it was rather surreal seeing the ocean after such a long absence and such an eagerly anticipated arrival. Upon reaching East Beach in Santa Barbara, we all dropped our bikes and ran/jumped into the Pacific. There was lots of splashing, hugging, singing, and of course champagne spraying. And shortly after, we all brought our bikes down to the shore for our Pacific ocean dipping ceremony. At last our bikes (and we, ourselves) had made it every inch from ocean to ocean, coast to coast, Atlantic to Pacific. Even as I write this (5 days later), it still doesn’t seem real.


So there it is, a quick overview/highlight of my stories and my travels. Now it’s back to the real world (something most of us spent the last couple weeks dreading). I’m not going to lie, I will definitely go through Bike and Build withdrawal and being on the bike with nothing to do has given me countless new ideas for future adventures. So as for doing it again, I’m not sure I would primarily because I can’t imagine anything matching up to this first and most amazing of experiences. But if asked by someone else, should I do it? I wouldn’t miss a beat before answering yes. If not for the cause and contribution to affordable housing organizations than for the beauty of the country. And if not for the beauty of the country than for the shear challenge of riding up seemingly never ending climbs in sweltering heat through ridiculous headwinds. For so many reasons, I would say without a doubt that this summer was the most incredible time of my life.