Day off in NOLA

Out day off was nice. I slept until noon :) and then I did some work on my bike and cleaned it, and then well, it was time for dinner so we all went out to a lovely Cajun restaurant. I had some red beans and rice which were a bit spicy but delicous non the less. I wish I had seen more of the city, by sleep was necessary and my bike was really important to do, so I guess it's ok.
Today as another build day with EDOLA. The site was only 5 miles away an so I rode my bike which was a goo test. I didn't tighten the handle bar quite rough ad I noticed them shifting while I rode... But I fixed that problem over lunch. I spent the day ripping out corner rounding and floor boards which are to be preserved and used again as the house is redone! A tricky task to not dent or crack I may say...
A kind couple that some people met at a local diner made gumbo for all 32 of us tonight for dinner! It was super, just like the one mom and dad make. (except that I much prefer kilbasa to sausage) We will be up a 4:30am and riding to Baton Rouge where we have yet another build day.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mail on the road!

A few people have asked... so here is the info on how to send me mail if you wish :)

If your families and friends are anything like mine, they have been curious about how they are going to get in touch with you for the next 10 weeks. What I've written below is an explanation of the mail drop process. Please forward this information to your family and friends as you see fit.

To send mail to a Bike & Build cyclist on the Southern US Route, address your letter/package as follows:

Bike & Build
Attn: CYCLIST NAME
General Delivery
City, State Zip

Use the following list of dates and locations (City, State Zip) to get your letter/package to the location of your choosing:

Thursday, July 2: Lafayette, LA 70509

Thursday, July 9: Garland, TX 75040-9998
Thursday, July 17: Clayton, NM 88415-9998

Thursday, July 23: Cuba, NM 87013-9998

Thursday, July 30: North Rim, AZ 86052

Thursday, August 6: Ely, NV 89301-3140

Thursday, August 13: Yuba City, CA 95991-9998

Lastly, in addition to addressing the package correctly and getting it to the post office in time to be picked up, it is also IMPORTANT that the following is written somewhere on the package: "Hold for pickup on DATE." ("DATE" refers to the dates listed above.) This is important because we will have the post office forward any mail received after we have left town; without this note, your package may be held instead of forwarded.

Happy mailing!

Community Fair

Today we were volunteering again, but a group of us had the opportunity to help out with a community play day in one of New Orleans center city parks.
The park was used a a lot to put FEMA trialers after Katrina. These were recently cleared out but it was noticed that kids have not returned here to paly a try did ore-storm. Therefore multiple community groups are working together to out on these play days once per month to acclimate kids to the park all over again.
I had a blast haning out with kids and enjoying the afternoon. A few older kids taught me how to play Jax, it took me a bit to get the hang of it but I ended up doing pretty well! I also had the pleasure of letting some younger children play "blow bubbles in kerri's face" which they enjoyed becuase
I flinched or I made an angry face each time It got in my eyes. I plaues tennis with an aforable little boy, held a baby, hula hooped ad jimped rope with some teenage girls and many more... Overall
It was a super fun afternoon.
After dinner i started putting my old biketogethet do that I'll have something to ride come Tuesday! And almost the whole group of us went out together. We took the steetcar to the french quarter and walked down bourbon st. But then a few of us headed off to Pat O'brien's and Cafe Du Monde for some dessert! Tomorrow is our day off... And I'm REALLY looking forward to sleeping in :)

On a side note... I've decided to keep going and grown out my hair to donate one more time (this will be 4!). Ive been debating for a few months becuase i really look older with it short. My cousin Sarah recently donated hers which makes me thrilled becuase it's such an easy but important thing to do! I always hate how it looks right after it's cut... But, it grows back, and it's totally worth it. Good job Sarah :)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Rebuilding in New Orleans

Thanks to Bethany Lee for sponsoring today! She is participating in summer build week in Baltimore this week.

Today we built with the same organization but in the ninth ward. We are building a fence! The other groups are painting and then clearing out a lot to be built on.
We had a lovely dinner with the church of the Brethren disaster ministries which was exciting! The place we are stating this week is pretty sweet... Basically a mansion that was left to the church and now the rector lives in. But he is out of town an so his wife invited us to stay with her! There are a few beds so we have been switching it up which is amazing, and there is a heated pool do we all went for a dip after today's super long day.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Louisiana!!

We rode into New Orleans last night... the third century in four days. Some people were pretty far behind and had to get picked up before actually making it into town :( Today was our first build day with the Episcopal dioceses disaster services group. It was really fun, we met a few others here volunteering. I spent the morning sanding and staining windows. In the afternoon we ripped down sheet rock where they are going to tile.We are here for 6 days, building for 5 and we have a day off on Sunday to explore the city!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mississippi

We crossed into Mississippi today! But, there was no "Welcome to Mississippi" sign to take a photo with... And even more sadly I got bad news at the bike shop. My frame is ruined- not rideable or fixable :( so we are till trying to figure that out. Tomorrow I'll be driving the van again and then we will be in New Orleans for 6 days building houses so it will give me some time to get it all settled before we ride again.
Also, the fire ants are everywhere here... We have all been bit multiple times. Today when I went to call my dad I sat outside, an afterwards found ants in my pants, haha.
Until then....

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Alabama!

Yesterday was another century, but we crossed into Alabama! It's exciting to finally be out of Florida. I was driving the van, and unfortunately it was a very busy day....we had a flat tire, and there was another bike on bike accident- but everyone Is fine and will be riding as soon as they get new helmets! I still don't know the status I my bike from one girl landing on it the other day, so I'm bringing it to the shop this morning and REALLY hope to be riding by lunch time!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The end of our short ride days...

Today was our last shirt ride for a while...we enjoyed the 56 miles across Florida's pan handle. We took a lovely afternoon break at a swimming hole, complete with cold natural
springs and a diving board! And then we had some ice cream :) unfortunatley I got a little sun burn today- after putting sun screen on 3 times!
Tomorrow us supposed to be a beautiul ride right along the coast, but is also our first century ride! Many riders, including myself are nervous. I think it will be ok as long as we have adequate time I make it through... Ad so we are waking up at 4:30 am in order to be on the road by 6! Goodnight.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The end of our short ride days...

Today was our last shirt ride for a while...we enjoyed the 56 miles across Florida's pan handle. We took a lovely afternoon break at a swimming hole, complete with cold natural
springs and a diving board! And then we had some ice cream :)
Tomorrow us supposed to be a beautiul ride right along the coast, but is also our first century ride! Many riders, including myself are nervous. I think it will be ok as long as we have adequate time I make it through... Ad so we are waking up at 4:30 am in order to be on the road by 6!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Central time zone!

Thanks to Paula and Martin Socha for sponsoring today!! Happy birthday Dziadziu, miss you.

We crossed over into the central time zone this morning! My camelback leaked all over me for the first 10 miles which stunk. But, the ride today was a beautiful 53 miles, and we took a detour to have lunch in Georgia :) There was one enormous hill where I hit 36mph which is crazy. On a not so good note... I almost fell asleep on my bike this afternoon. This may seem impossible, but I guess it's not... I'm trying to get to bed early tonight and hope it won't happen again!
We arrived on a small town called Marianna where we were given a delicious meal and our group gave our first affordable housing presentation. For the summer. Tomorrow we have our first day off, I'm hoping to find Internet so I can upload some photos to this blog(and a bunch to facebook), and we are all planning to check out the caverns!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Day 3 and 4

We're not camping today, yay! We had a 76 mile day, the morning was beautiful and we cruised along at about 18mph. The afternoon got a bit hot, and there was some rain- however we were all very excited for the rain and to be a bit cooler. We stopped for some ice cream and had a nice little chat in the shade. We are staying at the Presbyterian church and they made us an amazing dinner! Yay for sleeping in air conditioning.

Tuesday was my first day to drive the van. It was super busy with errands, lunch stop, sick riders and lost riders. My butt definitely enjoyed the day off tho! And everyone made it safe and sound to the host. We are staying at a high school in Havana FL and have to sleep on the gym floor....

A few notes about bike and build.... I'm getting very used to cold showers, having bathrooms is becoming a luxury, having someone else cook dinner Is amazing, chamios butter is necessary, peanuts are everywhere and sleeping on the floor still sucks- hoping that will get better.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Wheel dip

We started our journey early yesterday morning by dipping our back wheels in the Atlantic ocean, in Atlantic beach FL. There were pictures and a nice little send off, and then we got a police escort for the first 5 miles!
The day started out great, but after lunch there were some
Thunderstorms and we pulled over to wait out the lightning. (Later we found out there had been tornado warnings all day in Jacksonville.) the storm was a bit of a downer but got worse when we realized that not everyone would make it to camp by dark, and the director wouldn't make his flight home. The night consisted of a lot of chaos and slightly unhappy people. But everyone was safe. We camped and luckily no rain! All together I rode 63 miles. There was no cell signal, so stru for the delay in posting... This may happen often :(.

So far today is good. Nice weather and I'm just pulled over at a rest stop, waiting for some people to keep on riding!
We finished the 76 mile day with only mild pain. My seat us no too comfy yet,.. I'm hoping that will improve! And I had a bit of heat rash, but nothing too bad. Were camping again tonight, and are all looking forward to less bugs, and a meal cooked for us tomorrow!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

last day of orientation!

Thanks to Lindsey Dean for sponsoring today! And, Happy Birthday to her dad :)

Today was our last full day in Jacksonville. We started the morning with a 7am Health and Hygiene speech, then went on to bike safety. We did a hand full of drills, and went for a shakedown ride. This was a full dress rehearsal so everyone could feel out all their equipment and make sure they have everything they need! Afterwards we biked over to the showers... and I had to stop and help fix a flat. And well, on the way home I got to stop and help someone else fix a flat. So... it was the longest shower trip EVER. The night was complete with some trailer painting, and my parents stopping by for a few minutes. We will be at Atlantic Beach in the morning so we can dip our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean and officially start biking across the country!!!!

Jacksonville build day

Today we built with Beaches Habitat just outside Jacksonville. We had to wake up at 5:30 in order to get all ready and out in time, but people were quicker than anticipated so we played some name games prior to being at site a 7:45am.
Groups split up to work on various pojects on about 5 different houses. I spent the morning doing demolition: tearing out carpet and lenolium floors, undoing cabinets and doors, etc. Then I spent the afternoon painting, which isfun becuase I could teach people stuff!
Habitat provided us with dinner so we all walked over, about 1.5 miles away. Just as we went to leave it started to rain.... Then proceeded to pour! We had a nice long walk in the rain haha.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Riders are here!

Yesterday was more leadership training, including some more shopping, practicing driving with the van and trailer, working on some more cue sheets, going for a swim in the ocean and talking about emergency action plans... good times. 

Today we had a crazy morning doing all the last minute stuff, and cleaning up the church to set everything up. The riders started getting here around 1pm and we all put bikes together (which I had to help with? I did better than I thought I would!) did some bag checks, check-in stuff and all that jazz. Then we went on to play some ice breakers and do some small group meeting about policies, chore groups, painting the trailer and other fun stuff. We also did group skits of all the policies, which is just a fun way to go over them :) We had a lovely dinner that the Beaches Habitat group put on for us, and then we came back to the church. A group of about 5 of us primed the trailer, and did some brainstorming for painting that will occur tomorrow and friday. And now, we're off to bed so we can get up at 5:30am for our first build day tomorrow, yay! 

Leader Orientation

Monday was our first full day, which started at 7am and was packed full. We started out by finalizing the schedule for rider orientation, and who will give each talk.We then went to the storage unit and picked up the bikes and other equipment that has arrived... And sorted it all.
We had a lovely lunch at a smoothie shop, and went I Wal mart to do our big shopping trip. Again we sorted and labeled everything. Then we had some time to figure out the driver, sweep and journal schedule for the whole summer/ which had many computer difficulties and ended up taking forever.
The other riders went out for a bike ride(mine isn't here yet, boo) while kristian and I found a cafe with Internet.... And Finally I got us a place I stay the first night! I've been stressing because for weeks now the only nights we didn't have anywhere were the first 2 nights of the trip. One down, one to go.
We finished the night with facebook photo stuff, and learning how to make cue sheets. And well, we had some fun with Will's camera and our bike lights.... photos to come!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

   I'm taking off for my Bike and Build adventure today :) First off, thanks to everyone who donated! I was able to raise $4338.80 for the affordable housing cause! 

   Today is the start of leader orientation, and then we have a few days of orientation with everyone, and a build day with Habitat for Humanity in Jacksonville Florida before actually starting to ride cross country on June 13th! I'll be blogging every few days (assuming we have internet access!), so please follow my blog at  www.kerribikeandbuild.blogspot.com  You can also track my progress across the USA through this link: http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/3148   At the bottom there is a map, a journal that someone from the ride will be writing each day, and lots of helpful information such as how to send me mail :) This journal will be updated every day, just not always by me. 

   I will be checking email only periodically, so if you need to contact me and get a quick response please do so by calling my cell (although I hear AT&T service stinks out west), or emailing my bike and build email which I'll be checking frequently: ksocha@bikeandbuild.org  I also plan to be on facbeook when possible!

   Lastly, if you donated more than $50 and wanted to sponsor a day, please get me that date asap so I can be sure to have the info written down! And, send me your address if you'd like a postcard. 

Take Care and I'll be back to Maryland August 24th!

Jacksonville!

I just got off the plane in Jacksonville! We are waiting for Will's flight to land, and then we're off to the church. Today is the start of leader orientation, which will include fun things like driving and parking the van and trailer... And making cue sheets! Haha.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Packing

Easier said than done.... My dad and I spent almost 2 hours last night fixing all the little things on my bike, and taking it apart to ship it. It was not as easy as we had hoped, but it's shipped and will be in Florida next week!

As for the rest of my belongings... they are still all over the living room. I had to go through and write my name on everything, which made me feel like a 5 year old. But, that task is done. Now I need to put everything for 3 months into one duffle.... We will see how that goes!

My flight to Florida is on Sunday morning :)