Last night we stayed at the United Methodist Church in Georgetown, OH. It was our second mail drop, and I got a great package of shot blocks and crosswords from my parents and some awesome cookies and other consumable treats from Emgo. I also got a card from the office and a letter from my secret saint at Covenant. Mail drops are so exciting. The church provided so much good food, which everyone probably ate way too much of. The homemade jam and biscuits at breakfast were my favorite. We're now en route to Cincinnati, where we will have our third build day tomorrow. It should be fun to stay in a bigger city for 2 nights.
In the last 2 days we have been able to ride through some beautiful parks and forests. On Wednesday we saw Wayne National Forest on the way to Portsmouth, OH, and yesterday morning we went through Shawnee State Forest, which I think might be my favorite ride yet. I've been really impressed with Ohio so far, as I'm sure I will be with every state we see.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Huntington, WV
After Blacksburg, we headed to Hinton, WV, crossing the state line around lunchtime. I rode by myself for most of the morning, which I actually enjoyed pretty well. It was peaceful and nice to go my own pace. I met up with Lee, Will, Tony, and Eli before lunch and rode with them the rest of the day (except Eli, who had some unfortunate luck with his chain. 3 times.) We got to go swimming in the Greenbrier River when we got to Hinton. It was freezing, but kind of refreshing. Like an ice bath. We woke up an hour early at 5 am on Sunday to get an early start on a long day. We rode 30 miles up and over mountain #1 before stopping for our first lunch. Then we rode 30 more miles up Bolt Mountain, which was killer. Apparently there were some inclines of 13%. The downhill after was fantastic, though. I hit 44.8 mph, it was awesome. We had our second lunch around 1 before finishing the day with 30 more miles into Madison, WV. The people in Madison are incredible. They not only provided us with places to sleep, but bought us an awesome dinner and breakfast, and washed our laundry, which is no small chore. We also received a few donations from random people who heard about what we're doing.
Today we got to sleep in until 7, which felt like such a luxury. We didn't leave Madison until 10:30 or so, after going out for breakfast. I got to ride with Ellen all day. It was a nice relaxing 60-mile day, and we didn't hit any real hills until the last 20 miles. Tonight we're staying at the First Presbyterian Church in Huntington, WV, which is a pretty big town compared to where we've been. We'll probably explore some tonight.
Today we got to sleep in until 7, which felt like such a luxury. We didn't leave Madison until 10:30 or so, after going out for breakfast. I got to ride with Ellen all day. It was a nice relaxing 60-mile day, and we didn't hit any real hills until the last 20 miles. Tonight we're staying at the First Presbyterian Church in Huntington, WV, which is a pretty big town compared to where we've been. We'll probably explore some tonight.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Blacksburg, VA
Today was the shortest day of riding we've had so far, 37 miles. We left Roanoke this morning and headed up over the continental divide to Blacksburg. The hills were tough, but not as bad as everyone was mentally prepared for. The scenery was beautiful. I really love the Appalachians. We got into Blacksburg early, before the van and trailer, so few of us stopped for coffee in the downtown area across from VA Tech's campus. We have the whole afternoon to ourselves, which I think is going to be a pretty rare thing this summer. We're staying at the Blacksburg YMCA/Thrift Store tonight. They provided some pretty awesome snacks for us this afternoon. Everyone we've encountered so far has been so generous and excited about what we're doing.. I love it.
I might write about the last week's adventures at some point, but probably not so I'll recap... We left VA Beach for Suffolk (50 miles) last Saturday after 2 days of orientation, and spent Sunday cleaning up and repairing tornado damage. Monday we rode 70 miles to Emporia, with the first half on the highway (not a good idea, don't ever do that). On Tuesday we moved on to Victoria, which was about 60 miles, and we began to see some hills towards the end. Wednesday we really started getting into the foothills on the way to Lynchburg, where we put sheetrock up in a Habitat house. On Friday we rode to Roanoke. I was on sweep with Joe, which went smoothly after some confusion with the directions around Bedford. Everything is absolutely as awesome as I hoped.
I might write about the last week's adventures at some point, but probably not so I'll recap... We left VA Beach for Suffolk (50 miles) last Saturday after 2 days of orientation, and spent Sunday cleaning up and repairing tornado damage. Monday we rode 70 miles to Emporia, with the first half on the highway (not a good idea, don't ever do that). On Tuesday we moved on to Victoria, which was about 60 miles, and we began to see some hills towards the end. Wednesday we really started getting into the foothills on the way to Lynchburg, where we put sheetrock up in a Habitat house. On Friday we rode to Roanoke. I was on sweep with Joe, which went smoothly after some confusion with the directions around Bedford. Everything is absolutely as awesome as I hoped.
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