Clayton NM

Today was basically a day off! We only had 47 miles and I was able to ride with Molly, Micah and Dillon for the first time in a while. We really took the ride out today and only stopped at lunch for a very short time. When we got to the host, we took a short nap and then went about our own time. I went to the post office with Colleen and then we went to Dairy Queen for a blizzard! I think I've had ice cream/a slushie everyday this summer...and I'm happy about it! Other than that, there wasn't much going on today. We did mid trip evaluations and relaxed in the host as we prepare for a very hilly and long day tomorrow!

Dalhart TX

Sweep day!! Colleen and I (Collorgan is what we call ourselves) were sweep today! When the team found out, they were all shocked that we managed to be together because we are almost always together. We got really lucky! As sweep, we are responsible for being the last riders into the host. This is to ensure that everyone has made it and it reassures the leaders that everyone is in. The day started off slow but picked up a lot after a little while. We had a really great time riding with some new people and getting a chance to relax in the back all day. The best stop was at a little country store where I got a huge waffle cone for only $1.39.... Most reasonably priced ice cream I've ever had!! There were two young girls working there that were in their teenage years. I got talking to them a little bit and was trying to convince them to sign up for bike and build when they're old enough. That would be really insane if they did it! And really awesome. The ice cream was about mile 65 of 80 and the last 15 miles were all tail wind. We went 11 miles in about 25 minutes because we were holding 27 mph easy! It was so exhilarating and so much fun! Other than that, the day was pretty casual and wonderful! 

Memphis and Amarillo TX

Back in Texas! Both of these days were long rides but luckily, we were riding to a rest day so we were all really excited. Riding to Memphis was really beautiful. I rode with my scavenger hunt team again so that we could continue to check off items we had to do. At one point during the ride, we stopped for a quick break and a group of three riders rolled up with huge bags on their front and back wheels, clearly also doing a cross country bike trip. It was fun talking to them for a little while because they were just a group of older guys with normal jobs that do a trip every couple years when they get enough money for it saved up. All together, they saved $16,000 for their trip and they funded themselves. They also stay in holiday inns and hotels along the way but they don't have a support vehicle. I tried to pick up their bike and I guessed they were 50 lbs but they said it was actually 70! I can't imagine trying to get a 70lb bike up a hill and through the winds we were experiencing. When we got to lunch, my group and the leader group for the scavenger hunt got really competitive and tried to get as many things checked off as quickly as possible. We still haven't tallied up who the winner is but I think we won. We got a loooot of things checked off! The rest of the rode after lunch was very quiet. We were on a road in the middle of no where and there were almost no cars. There were also very steep and intense hills! I really enjoyed that part of it. Our host was actually the city of Memphis which was pretty cool, so we got to stay in the town hall. I also had some of the best brisket I've ever had when here. That night, we met a man named Paul who was going to ride with us from there into Amarillo. He's part of the church we will stay at and is also very into biking so it was really cool getting to spend some time with him. 

The ride into Amarillo was the hardest, mentally, and also the most fun I've had. I rode with Dan K, Gaurang, Greg, and Colleen. We are all about the same speed so there wasn't anyone holding anyone else back and we were able to move well as a group. The morning started off beautiful.. Slightly overcast but we biked through the sun rise and were able to watch the sky change colors. I've never seen anything like a Texas sky, especially out on a country road in the middle of no where. The sky looks like it was animated and digitally created. It's was so gorgeous. I had really great conversation with Colleen and Dan all the way into first lunch. I liked being able to talk with Dan and this was my first ride with him. During lunch, a huge storm was on its way and was supposed to cross right over us. We were able to wait it out for a little while at a gas station and managed to miss the largest part of the storm. Really all it gave us was a looot of seriously heavy head winds and cross winds. It also rained a little bit so that stretch of the ride was really hard for me and I did not enjoy it. When we finally made it out of the storm, Colleen cranked it to second lunch, holding 21 for like 8 miles. It was really awesome and we were smoking the guys :P. Also, at second lunch, I had subway for the first time and it was amazing! I had a footlong with 35 miles left to go but I didn't even care. The last third was a lot of fun. Everyone was biking as hard as they could but the wind was so incredibly strong that we had to take frequent breaks and were also going like 11 miles an hour. At one point, we hit straight head winds and I was passing Colleen and we just started laughing hysterically from the disbelief in how hard the ride actually was! Right after that, we took a break and had a huge dance party on tr side of the road to the song Summer by Calvin Harris. That was definitely my favorite part of the ride. The last 7 miles into Amarillo was all tail wind and we were so relieved and were FLYING!! I've never felt so good! We finally got in at 6:30 (latest arrival yet!)

Our host was awesome but we also had another host that night. We walked over to an alumni's house who's been feeding bike and build dinner for the past four years. I got to play with their dogs and they made Mexican food along with ice cream for dessert. It was a perfect end to a crazy day. 

The next day, we had a day off and a lot of people took this time to sleep and run errands. Some people got hair cuts and went shopping. Personally, I went to a diner and got a huge breakfast and then went thrift store and boutique shopping with JoBeth while everyone else got tier hair cut. Afterwards, we went to the bike shop, bought tubes and then got ready for a picnic we were having until dinner time. The picnic was really relaxing and I fell asleep on a field in the shade. Dinner was a massive potluck put on by the church. The best part of the day was after dinner when Greg drove a bunch of us to Cadillac ranch so we could spray paint old Cadillacs that are half buried in the ground. We also had a dance party here and then Greg and I chased a herd of cows through a giant field. I think that was one of my all time highs on B&B on the hyper scale! It was a lot of fun and it was my first time going crazy to the song Turn Down for What, which is our official bike and build bonking song. I also died Megan's hair purple that night! It looks really good. In glad I had a chance to take a day off and relax! It was a fun couple days. 

Altus OK

Today's ride was AMAZING!! We started off the day with a surprise scavenger hunt that we had to complete by the end of tomorrow's ride. There are so many items on the list and they're really hard to get but as the meeting was over, everyone was scrambling to try to get a bunch of stuff checked off the list! My team members are Colleen, Connor, JoBeth, Angela, and Corina. We are definitely the best group made and are determined to win! The entire ride today was awesome. There were some cross winds but they were easy to ignore with the scenery. Around mile 20, we stopped at a bathroom and discovered a tiny, hole in the wall diner where we treated ourselves to a huge delicious breakfast. I got two eggs, hash browns, sausage, and toast. I haven't had eggs since I was home and they were wonderful! After that, we made our way to lunch where there was a small rock mountain in the distance so during the lunch break, me, Connor, Colleen and Liz jumped a barbed wire fence and walked ten minutes to check out the area. When we got there, we decided that we worked to make our way there so we might as well climb it! It was hard to climb because it was all rock so we had to take off our shoes because the clips were too slippery on them. This is the first time I've ever really gone rock climbing and although it was very small scale, it was awesome!! The wind was blowing so fast and the view from the top was so gorgeous. I had a moment at the top where I was just like.. Wow. Im biking across the country and having the adventure of a life time. It's amazing to me that I get to do crazy stuff like this on the regular.

The rest of the ride after that was all just rolling, long hills and I rode with Colleen, having lots of conversation and making the ride go nice and fast! When we got into the town, we found out that sonic had donated whatever we wanted to order to us. I love free food! I had a really excellent day. 

Wichita Falls TX and Lawton OK

The ride into Wichita Falls was very complex. There was a lot of different ways I felt about it but the good thing is that the end of it was great! It started off tough because of my stomach and the wind but the worst part was when we got on a big, fast road that completely freaked me out. That's why I wasn't such a fan. But the second half of the ride was amazing. The whole thing had a huge tail wind so we were going 20 without pedaling for some time and there were long rolling hills, which are the best hills there are. We stayed at a YMCA that night and were free to use any of their facilities. Some people went down and did some upper body weights but I just stayed upstairs and relaxed till dinner. For dinner, we were taken to Pat's Drive In which is a famous burger joint downtown. One of the people that works with the Hotter 'n Hell Hundred race treated us to the dinner which was really nice! The race he works with is the largest century race in all of America and is put on in August in Wichita Falls. There are usually anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 people that participate in the race every year! Another interesting fact is that there was a huge tornado in Wichita Falls in the 1970s (I think that's the right year) and it was destroyed and never fully restored. There were a ton of business and buildings that were abandoned and destroyed so when we were riding in, it felt a little bit like a ghost town. It was definitely an interesting and new place to stay in. I've never seen anything like it. 

The next morning, while getting ready to head out for Lawton, Oklahoma, we found out that all of the tires on the van and the trailer had been slashed in the middle of the night and it was not drivable. I was seriously upset to have heard this because such a simple and stupid crime that someone committed cost us over $600 to fix and that was the money that we had raised as individuals and were going to donate to the cause. Fortunatley, the mishap didn't put a dent in the progression of the day for the riders, though, the leaders did have to stay back and take care of the flats for the entire day. We started the day off with some of the people that work with the hotter n hell race and they led us to mile 16 where we had a police escort again! We went across a bridge that was on I-44 so we got to ride on an interstate!! It was exhilarating and so much fun! The river that the bridge was supposed to go over was completely dried out and empty because, apparently, Texas is going through a huge drought. The entire ride today was amazing. There was a tail wind and all of the roads had been recently paved so it was smooth, fast, and fun! The weather was beautiful and the landscape changed dramatically. we had been going through terrain that I was used to: lots of trees, some rolling hills and a mix of suberbia and the country. But, today was AWESOME! We were riding through the prairie and there was miles and miles of huge open fields on either side of me all day. We were passed by maybe 30 cars so it was just us and the road all day. We got to the host really early that day so we went down to the mall and got some frozen yogurt and then went to a restaurant for lunch! I got a quesadilla and fries. Which was perfect. The night was a typical night. We had a bike clinic and a presentation to give so nothing too crazy! 5:00 wake up tomorrow again so I'm already dreading that and about to sleep! I'm excited!

Boyd

Today we had to take a little but if a re-route. We were supposed to go to Decauter TX but the church we were staying at accidentally double booked and we couldn't go there anymore. Luckily, some of the riders were talking to a man who wins for AtmosEnergy in Boyd that allowed us to stay in their office for the night! Today was out third century of the trip and I was really feeling it. The first day on the bike after being sick isn't easy but I managed to finish the whole thing! Despite being in pain and exhausted, we had a fun ride. The first luck was at an awesome gas station that doubled as a grocery store and also had a froyo store in it so we had an extra treat. We also had all the food that Sally sent us off with so this might have been the best lunch stop in all of Bike and Build history! During the ride, I also got my first, classic B&B pic of being on a hay bail. We also stopped at the biggest sunflower patch I've ever seen. It had to be 100 acres (and I'm not exaggerating.. This was a debate during the ride of how large this plot of land was!).

The biggest bummer of the ride put a huge bad taste in my mouth for the end of the ride. We were on an open, clear of cars road and riding in a single line taking our own little space. But then a flat bed pick up came up behind us blairing his horn and cussing his head off at us. I've never felt so unsafe in my life as I did by how this man made us feel. He didn't back off and rode my back tire until he ran us off the road. Greg had to duck in order to avoid being hit in the head by the rear view mirror. Needless to say, a slight inconvenience on his part was more important to avoid than our lives. It amazes me..

With the ride behind me, I'm ready for bed and ready for a, hopefully, better ride tomorrow!

Build Day 10 and 11

Finally building again! I woke up the morning of this build feeling good and ready to go! Me and Claire definitely drove the best car to the site because we got the Ford F450, heavy duty, special Texas King Ranch edition, Dooley with the tool trailer attached to it. This thing was everything. We called it the HH (Head Honcho) and felt like total bosses in it! the very first song we listened to in it was Bawitdaba by Kid Rock and I don't think we could have found a better fit for it. Everyone else thought they had the best car because they were in convertibles but they had no idea...and I think that reality hit them when they saw us rollin up in that baby. I don't think I've ever hd so much fun in a car. The build site was really cool. We showed up to a high school, very confused because we didn't think people lived there but then we realized that we build the foundation to the home at the school and then the home is taken to the lot where it will permanently stay. This is so that the kids in the big school can become involved with it and work on the home as part of a class in school. When we got there, all that was done was the walls so we were planning on putting up the trestles for the roof, installing windows and putting up insulation on the house! I started with the roof project but realized that I was still too sick to be pushing around huge structures of wood in the hot sun so eventually I moved to window installation and, once again, got to play with the electric drill! We got all of the windows screwed in by the end of the day but they weren't fully screwed in so that was a job for the next day. We only worked until 2 that day because there was a lot that was planned for that night!

On the ride back to Sally's, the HH, Claire, Connor, Colleen, Megan and I all rode together and made a few pit stops. First, we went to Sonic and got some happy hour slushies! And then, we went to Goodwill and got some awesome outfits for the boat ride we were going to do later that night. Little did the other, inferior cars know, but those who ride in the HH have the most fun. If they hadn't passed us while riding back to Sally's, they could have come too! But it was a lot of fun getting to play around in Goodwill and enjoying some time feeling well and healthy! I think that's why everything was so awesome at that time: we were having such a blast and I finally felt like I could keep up with the rest of the group! I didn't realize how much the plague took out of me until I started getting my strength back. In Goodwill, I managed to score some sweet floral pants and a jean vest to rock over my bathing suit that night.

By the time we got back to Sally's, it was time for family meeting and then we had fajitas for dinner! And she made queso con carne which I loooooove, so I was very very happy. After dinner, we all got ready to go and loaded up in her several cars and drove out to a lake where she set up a sail boat ride for us! This is the first time I've ever been sailing so I was so so excited for this! The boat was so nice! I think the Hilton Hotel was the ones that put on the ride and it was awesome that Sally was able to come with us and party on the water. This was definitely one of my favorite days of Bike and Build. I kept saying "can you even ask for a better day?" and everyone seriously thought about it... we couldn't! It was awesome! When we got back to the house, we all just hung out in the pool and hot tub until it was time for bed. Unfortunately for me, my stomach started messing with me again and I was having a hard time staying asleep. Despite the pain, I had an amazing day with everyone and I wouldn't and couldn't have asked for a better day. Everyday I become more and more grateful for this experience and can't believe I'm lucky enough to be able to do this.

The second build day wasn't as fun for me because I woke up still feeling under the weather so I had to stay back and get some more sleep. Around 12, I started waking up and trying to be productive but kind of failed.. But luckily, Claire was still in the house and wanted to go to Starbucks to get some wifi. So when the builders got back, Colleen, Claire and I took the mustang and drove with the top down, jamming out to the radio all the way there and back! It was nice to get away from the craziness of the group and have a little group to hangout with for a while. That night consisted of a lot of packing and getting ready for a long bike day the next day! I changed me rim tape, hoping for less flats, packed my bags and got some good sleep!

Dallas, TX

DALLAS!! The famous Bike and Build house is in our sites! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to enjoy the ride in because of the plague but I did get to ride straight there in the van that morning and sleep for a good 3 hours before all the bikers started to arrive! By the time everyone woke up, there were 11 people total who were sick and 14 people in the van. And the total count as of right now is 16 total people with the stomach virus and two people with a pretty nasty cold/flu symptom sickness. It was a tough day for Bike and Build! But, thanks to Dan, the sick ones were shuttled straight to Sally's house and taken care of very very much. We all got a bed to sleep in and plenty of time to relax and get a little bit stronger. When the bikers started to arrive to Sally's, she was greeting them with either a chocolate or a vanilla milkshake and all the food you could ever imagine. There was an entire counter covered with entirely candy, another counter covered with entirely fruit and another counter covered with all of the ingredients she needed to make dinner that night. She had a smoker going in the backyard and was making brisket, barbecue ribs and pulled pork with baked beans and potatoes for dinner. And then literally anything you can imagine was for dessert. She also has a huge backyard with a pool, hot tub, fire pit, a huge slip and slide blow up toy, five different furniture sets to hangout in, all in different settings, and in the very back of the yard, she has a little farm with goats and donkeys. This house is so awesome! She also has a Volkswagen Beetle, Mustang (both convertibles), and three huge trucks that she is allowing us to take whenever we need them. Sally is everything the team needs right now, especially with half of us being so sick. It's a great time to recover and a perfect time to have some fun! That night, everyone just hung out and played in the slip and slide and the pool. I kind of had to hang back and watch because of the sickness but I had a great time being able to relax and not have to worry about anything. By the end of the night, I was starting to feel so so much better than I did earlier that day and I was thinking that I was going to be 100% solid the next day!

Sally was so gracious and wonderful for opening up her home to us like she did and allowing us to do and take what we needed in order to be comfortable and happy. If we had been camping or even if we had been in a church without couches that day, I would have been miserable and not had a good time at all. Thanks to the circumstances and the timing of the virus, I was taken care of so well and ready to take on the next day!

Carthage and Athens TX

We are finally in Texas!! I'm definitely glad to be out of Louisiana. The roads were rough and the drivers were not very nice! Now in Texas, the roads are hilly, hot and windy but much much nicer quality and the drivers are way more gracious in the room they give you. The lunch stop for the way into Texas was right before the border so we all were buzzing with excitement of a new state! For lunch, I made an awesome banana, Nutella and peanut butter taco.. That actually was a great meal! We love having Nutella and were able to have some thanks to the care package Sally from Dallas sent us the other day. The Texas border was awesome because everyone always tries to make the best picture in a competition. This time was a little more difficult because of how tall the sign was but it is still awesome crossing a border! The roads were noticeably different immediately. Super smooth! One of the cool things that happened while riding was we came across a persons yard that had a bunch of donkeys in it. But even cooler than that, there was a zebra too! We don't actually think it was a real zebra, just some cool cross breed but we still got off our bikes to go over and pet it. There was a little confusion for me with the que sheet and right when I was in the middle of two groups, trying to catch the one ahead, they turned without me seeing and I kept going straight. So, before I knew it, I was about 2 miles off the route and feeling a little but lost but luckily for me, Rhys got lost too and we ran into each other at a perfect spot. Because this happened, we actually cut the route shorter than what everyone else did and beat everyone that I was trying to catch up to! The house we stayed at that night was awesome! Right when we got there, there was a ton of coolers of Gatorade and water waiting plus a ton of delicious food! They had a hot tub and a pool that was just a short walk away. Me and Rhys got there so early that we were able to just relax on the front porch and be the welcoming committee. The host was a family that had a daughter who did bike and build a long time ago and what happened was the host the daughter was supposed to stay at flaked out so the parents allowed the bike and build team to come stay at their place. They've been hosting bike and build ever since! The family was very nice and welcoming and they had a really cool house with all different Aztec and Native American decorations in the house. That night, I was very very sleepy and fell asleep during the World Cup viewing at 7:00. So, I got lots of sleep that night!

The next day, we got ready to head out for a 90 mile ride into Carthage TX. Here we were going to stay in separate homes and get split up into separate groups because there were several families that wanted to help. This ride was the hardest ride I've been on yet. I started off the day feeling ok but as the day went on, I felt increasingly weak and my stomach started hurting pretty badly. I was basically in the struggle group until first lunch because Micah was having serious stomach problems, and Colleen was having problems with her hip from the crash we had gotten in earlier that week. Come first lunch, we rode in with sweep because I had gotten 3 flats and were running very behind. Ashley let me borrow her back wheel so that I would stop getting flats and we could finish the ride a little bit faster. There wasn't very much bread in the lunch boxes so we were also hungry leaving first lunch. Finally back on the road and everything continued to go downhill, Micah and I started to feel worse and Colleen was starting to feel the hills (and may have possibly pulled a hamstring). We finally made it into second lunch and there were three people throwing up and I was definitely next. Micah had to van himself because his body was shutting down too - there was obviously something going around in the team. Unfortunately, after huge internal debate, I vaned myself and got driven into the host site where I had all the lovely symptoms of a stomach virus along with 6 other of my team mates. Everyone else went off to their individual host homes and I fell asleep around 6:00 without dinner and on a very empty stomach. I was up and down all night but got looooots of sleep hours which was well needed! It was a tough day for Bike and Build and the leaders really pulled through and helped us out. Greg shuttled the sick and injured people all day, which I can imagine was extremely stressful because of all the people who couldn't stop throwing up. And then that night, Dan K was in charge of looking after us and making sure that we all had medicine and were comfortable. It wasn't quite the power of my mommy but it sure was helpful and necessary! Dan even managed to get a prescription called in so that we would stop throwing up and it was a good muscle relaxer. I'm still a little sick but feeling much much better!