DETAILS ABOUT OUR FINISH!!!

Dear friends and family.
Sorry for the tardiness of this post. But we have had no internet for ages.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we will be finishing.

HOLY CRAP.

We finish around noon (12pm) at seattle city centre at the foot of the space needle.

meet us there for a party. we will be ending in the south east corner, in the shaded bit.

also, we will not be riding our bikes through the fountain because if we do, we will not get salmon for dinner, but instead, old mouldy power bars (or so our hosts tell us)

so,
JOIN US.

call me (danni) if you have questions. if you don't have my number, it's on the habitat site somewhere. I'm reticent to post it on a blog.

The Big Horns

Holy cow – today was the best day ever. We woke up at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains and started off the day with a great breakfast provided by our hosts in Buffalo. We got our first glimpse of the snow capped mountains about 20 miles in to yesterday’s ride, and they stood off in the distance for the remainder of the ride. Unfortunately the 10,000 foot peaks didn’t vanish over night as we had hoped, so a 35 mile climb was our first order of business this morning.

About 3 miles up the mountain, we began to hear and smell what sounded like 1,000 whining 2 year olds with soggy diapers, but soon saw up in the distance a huge herd of cattle slowly making their way upwards. The cows were not to happy to see us, but despite Tony’s taunting them because we were so much faster, they did little more than ‘moo’ and leave cow pies all over the road. The cows were accompanied by about 15 cowboys and girls who thought that we were just about as crazy as we found this situation to be. Despite many offers, none of them wanted to swap their horses for our shiny, poop covered bikes, so we kept pushing on.

About 30 miles later (averaging 10 mph, that’s only 3.5 hours of climbing!), we reached the top of the Big Horns – our first official mountain chain!!! We summited at 9,666 feet on the Powder River Pass and all of our riders finished the climb. After a few of us scrambled up to the top of the rock face above (topping out somewhere around 10,000 feet) we decided to make our way down the mountain before any type of altitude sickness could set in.

After climbing 5,000 feet in the morning, we descended the same amount after lunch in about an hour’s time. We found a new favorite road sign – Trucks Use Low Gear Next 18 Miles. Wow. Not only were we able to coast for the last 30 miles, but the pine trees and gray granite rocks that we had watched during the climb, opened up into a stunning red sandstone canyon. One of our most beautiful rides by far. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

-Emily Garlough

Hey Gang!

Well we arrived in New Castle, Wyoming today after a great ride this morning through the Black Hills in South Dakota. It was pretty amazing to see difference that a mere 80 miles can make in the landscape between this beautiful mountainous region and, well, the Badlands. After two days of temps topping out at over 100 degrees and hairdryer-like headwinds through the arid Badlands, we finally started to see some pine trees again and as we gained altitude in the ‘hills’. Highlights for the day included a stop at Mt. Rushmore (which just so happens to stand for ‘mountain’…in the Black ‘Hills’?? I’d argue that 20 miles of hills topped off by a 3 mile, 8% grade climb up to the top would qualify that as our first set of mountains!), a helicopter flight over Crazy Horse, a great snack stop with Emily Gade’s family =), and a valiant attempt by Gade to get us into the Jewel Caves (queue the puppy dog eyes, “We only get one stop on our 80 mile days, Mister”). All of that was topped off by a new state border, Wyoming! What a day, on to Gillette tomorrow.

-Emily Garlough

Hi from Gillette, WY

Today’s ride was said to be one of the more unattractive stretches of the trip, but with no headwind, no hills, and more manageable temps, I don’t think any of us gave a hoot. We passed the time through this dry, sagebrush region by doing Van Challenges during the morning.

#1 – Take a Western themed picture with King Henry our mascot (a purple cow from a vending machine). Results included ‘Wanted’ posters of King Henry for Public Urination (don’t know how they came up with that one) and my group had a shot of King Henry robbing a bank and holding Emily Roller hostage both gagged and hog tied. Four separate cars of friendly Wyominginians? Wyomingans? stopped to see that Emily, lying on the side of the road with her hands tied, was ok, but we told them to move along and that there was nothing to see.
#2 – Climb a tree, extra points if you bring your bike with you. Check!
#3 – Use your jersey in a creative way on your arrival into lunch (a diaper, a hat, be creative…)

The ride was relatively short and uneventful so we all arrived in town with plenty of time to relax for a bit and watch a movie before going swimming at the awesome public pool. After another wonderful dinner that evening we had a quick Town Meeting. Brandon announced that as of Friday of this week, he will be leaving the trip due to the ongoing battle between his rear end and his bike seat. On that note we fired up the first ever Habitat Butt Challenge! Close-up pictures were taken of each rider’s bum (which we’ve become very accustomed to looking at and thus the inspiration for the game), then put in a random order in a power point presentation, projected on the wall at 8 x 10 feet, and viola! We had a tough time deciding whether the person who could identify the most butts should be awarded or reprimanded for being shady, but after much debate, it was decided that a 10 minute massage and getting out of sweep would be a square deal. Patti ended up squashing the competition (no pun intended) with a final score of 24/26 butts correctly identified. Congratulations?

Build day tomorrow here in Gillette!

-Emily Garlough

Good afternoon!

Well we’re all in great spirits today after resting our butts and our legs in exchange for manual labor at a build site in Gillette. All 26 of us got to work on the same house which was a real treat because we were able to get a lot done together. Mary, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity in Gillette, told us that with such a shortage of labor in their town, it can be tough to get volunteers to help build homes. She said that they’ve got the resources to support construction of a house, but not the manpower to put it up. We were all eager to lend a hand, and I think some of us got more than we bargained for when we were sent up to the roof to finish securing the joyces on the overhang. Yikes! Pastor Dan, our building site leader, made the mistake of asking me if I’d like to use a nail gun. Those things can blow a hole in someone from 50 feet away…sign me up!! Jon got to play with the Sawzall for the day (lucky dog), while others painted the deck, and began stapling down sheets of plywood on the roof. Job well done, team!

-Emily Garlough

Cleveland Rocks!!!

Today was a pretty great day! We rode to Cleveland a mere 67, flat miles! The weather was beautiful and the roads were relatively flat, but anything seems flat compared to New York state. Very few of the bikers have many nice words for the state of New York, except for the two natives.

We started out from the church today before 7, a record time for us. We rode past Lake Erie all day. It looks like and ocean, though not as clean or as nice. After 35 miles, we had lunch at a state park. There was a sandy beach where riders played frisbee, skipped rocks into the water and did some sun bathing. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

A few brave souls did jump in the water that was banned for children and the elderly because of pollution and most importantly, e-coli bacteria. Really safe. Jeff decided to jump in the water and then let us bury him in the sand. I think he rode the worst 30 miles of his life with sand in his pants.

We rolled into the city before 2:30 and enjoyed some warm showers and space to sleep. We all made plans for dinner at 4:30 (we are hungry bikers) and almost ate the restaurants out of pizza. A few riders went to the Indians game while others decided to walk to a food CoOp for some organic food...yum!

We are staying at CASE Western Reserve University tonight and were told by one of the people living in the dorm that we have another flat day with only two hills and we drop in elevation by 300 feet. It's also a short day, 60 some miles. I think that we are all excited for tomorrow.

Only three days till we get a break and another mail drop! If you didn't get your package mailed out in time for Friday, don't worry, you can send it to our next mail drop. Just check out our website for the information.

Well, it is way past my bedtime at 10:30. Have a great night and we'll keep you posted!!!

Goodnight All!
Anna

June 4 - Houghton to Buffalo

Saturday's ride from Houghton to Buffalo was our first during which it rained continuously from start to finish. There were few hills, but a wrong turn that almost all riders made at Seneca and Transit just outside of Buffalo made it along day. We don't know whether it was because of the rain or because of budget cuts that have rendered Buffalo a city without street sweepers, but flat tires devastated riders during the last ten miles of the trip. One large group of 15riders had 20 flats during that last stretch. Thankfully, Matt Young was around to change each of those in under five minutes and the group still arrived atWestminster Church before the 5 p.m. shower deadline at the Jewish Community Center across the street.The quote of the day comes from Matt Lawlor. Matt arrived as part of the group of 15 riders. He was covered in dirt, his face in particular, which he explained had been kicked up by the tire of Jeff's bike, behind which he had ridden all afternoon. Matt was eating an apple while riding out in the van withMatt Bender to pick up Emily Roller and Danni, whose tubes and tires had just exploded across the street from West Seneca West Middle School. He said, "My lips are making my apple dirty." His dirt-covered lips literally left stains on the white flesh of his apple as he took each bite.

--matt bender

Birthdays?

Hey parents and friends of riders... If your rider has a birthday coming up, let me know at danielle.lovell@gmail.com. Then we will be extra sure to plan some kind of surprise. Even if it is a cool card.

More updates are forthcoming.

And HAPPY 21st LORRAINE! (two days ago... but still special)

First Day!

Today was the first day of riding at it was great fun! First we packed things into our bags, met on the Yale green with all of the riders from North Central and South routes, and heard speeches from the the dean of Yale and all of those who have helped to make this trip possible. We were also treated to a great breakfast provided by Mortgage Lenders International. Then after more photos, hugs from family members and goodbyes, we rode out of New Haven.
Some of the more memorable moments of the 34 mile ride to Danbury, CT was at lunch when Anne asked out loud, "So when I do I get good?" This after our first half of a day of riding...
Well we are all learning quickly from scrapes and bruises after attempting to dismount from our bikes. Clipping the shoes in and out of the bike has been a challenge, but one that I think we will quickly overcome.
Other exciting news is that there was a rubby ducky race down a small stream in Newtown CT. Yes hundreds if not thousands of individually numbered rubber duckies were dumped by a bulldozer into a small stream and a lottery was held to guess the number of the first duck to reach the next bridge. Procedes benefited the local animal shelter.
It's time for a long night's sleep for the ride ahead. Stay tuned for more adventures from the Northies...

Jonathan