Reflection

When I was on the plane home from California to Charlotte, I wrote a reflection in my computer so that it would be fresh and right after my experience. Here it is:

As I sit here on the plane, I’m in awe of my country. I’m in awe of my experiences, my friends, what I saw and what I learned about myself. I’m able to just look out the window, down on the earth, knowing that there are so many things to be seen and there is so much down there to be explored. I used to just look out the plane window and think nothing of what I saw but now I know there is so much to see in this world. And so many things to do! We are going 600 miles an hour (way faster than 15-20 that I usually went), speeding past so many awesome places and I realize how open my eyes are. I’ve learned that I can do anything and be whomever I want. I never in my life thought that I would ride my bike across the country but I just did!! I rode from Jacksonville Florida to Monterey California on my bicycle and didn’t even go the most direct route. I rode over four thousand two hundred miles…that’s such an insane number and idea to grasp. I started with 31 other strangers that quickly became some of my best friends and favorite “roommates”. Not only did I do all of that, but I also went to Jacksonville, St Augustine, the Gulf, New Orleans, crossed the Mississippi River, Baton Rouge, Dallas, Amarillo, Cadillac Ranch, Santa Fe, Ghost Ranch, Durango, Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Las Vegas, Yosemite, Monterey, Big Sur, San Francisco, Death Valley, Mount Whitney, and Monument Valley!! There were so many things in between all of those huge places too! It just blows my mind at what I did when I look at the big picture because day-by-day, you’re just riding your bike to the next host but when you look at the summer as a whole, it’s unreal. I biked so far! I learned so much about the need for service in this country. Our group helping out for 7 hours on a Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida allowed a family to move in that next weekend and also saved the organization thousands of dollars in fees they don’t have to pay anymore because they will be able to make their checkpoints now. It wasn’t a hard task for us but it made a world of a difference for them. In Las Vegas, at the Veterans Village, the woman who helped a lot there and volunteered a lot of her time cried tears of joy from all the work we were able to do for them. They worked solely off volunteers so having such a large amount of people come in and finish several projects in only a few hours was huge for them. It’s amazing to me how many problems there are in this country, specifically surrounding housing, and it can’t be fixed fast enough. There are so many organizations that work off volunteers and it’s so easy and rewarding to go out there for the day and just give your time. Everyone that we built houses for cried when they talked to our group because they were so extremely grateful for the support and for help changing their lives for the better. This is one of the best causes to work for because the reward is immediate and the money that is donated is spent directly toward the supplies for building or for the organization to function and continue to house families. Community service should be a priority for everyone. I also learned more than I could have imagined about myself and what I’m capable of. The trip was more of a mental challenge, for me, than it was a physical one. There were so many days that I would wake up and tell myself that I knew I wasn’t going to finish or that I couldn’t do it. I thought I was going to get in the van because of pure exhaustion and just being so over it. I didn’t want to look at my bike! But, every day, I still did it. I got on my bike and made my way host to host. Some days were better than others but I managed to get there everyday. I managed to get on my bike and push through the pain and the struggle and enjoy the day. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the other 31 people I was with. Biking across the country is not an easy task! I am way stronger than I could have ever imagined and I know that I am capable of a lot more than I gave myself credit for. I hope that I always remember that because it was one of the most valuable lessons I learned. I also learned that people are amazing and there is so much to learn about people. I no longer want to settle for the surface information about people. I want to get to know them. People are complex, dynamic books that are waiting to be read, you just have to put forth the effort to learn. Everyone also has such a complex set of skills that I do not and there is so much that I can learn from others by talking to them. All I have to do is try. There is no reason to ever be lonely because there are a lot of people in this world! The most valuable lesson I learned is that adventure is out there and it’s waiting. All I have to do is step outside my front door. There shouldn’t be a day that goes by where I’m bored all day and have nothing to do. I can read a book and learn something new, I can go somewhere I’ve never been, do something I’ve never done and I can meet a new person. Life should be fun and exciting and that’s how I plan on it going for myself. I hope to look back on my life and feel like I made everything out of it. The world is a huge place that’s meant to be seen and I want to see it.

MONTEREY! The Final Day.

Monterey.. The day we were all counting down to and waiting for but also wishing it would never come. Even now, 4 months after arriving at the beach, it's hard for me to think about because of how much I miss it and how I would give anything to go back to such an amazing day.

It's crazy to think that I can officially pinpoint and name the all-time best day of my life.

The day started off cold. It was freezing when we woke up. We were all buzzing with excitement and high energy but we knew how the end was coming. We got ready as we always did and met outside for route meeting. The final route meeting...Josiah, Emma, Rhys, and DK had made a surprise for us and wrote a rap that summed up the whole trip. It was really fun and so creative and perfect for the last route meeting. We are very much a fun crew that loves to mess around so I think it was perfect for summing up the summer. After meeting and delaying the biking as long as we could (longest route meeting ever), Natalie talked to us about what we had done this summer and put everything into perspective for us. She said so many amazing things and really gave us a sense of what we had accomplished. By the end of her talk, she had half of us in tears. After a prolonged and delayed start, we finally started biking, Colleen and I finishing out the last ride together. We didn't make it very far before we found a grocery store where we stayed and gathered as many team members as we could so that we could continue to stall the ride. We hung out there for about 2 hours, just eating, drinking coffee and talking and then actually started biking. The leaders were sweep that day so Colleen and I rode with them for a little while before some of the boys came and kicked us out of the leader group. After that, the ride dragged on. We couldn't wait to finally get to the beach. We were able to start smelling the ocean, which only tortured us further. When we were riding next to route one, we would see little glimpses of the water and get really excited and start to cry a little bit. Finally we made it to the van, where Natalie had parked it two miles from our final destination. We anxiously awaited sweep to get there and then all headed out as a massive group of 32, together to the water. We rode the last two miles on a bike trail, which had its downfalls due to tourists but when we finally got there and saw the water, we forgot all about that and freaked out.

The second I saw that ocean, I lost it. I immediately started crying, harder than I've ever cried. So hard that I had to get off my bike because I could no longer see the ground in front of me. I picked up my bike as high as I could and ran down the stairs to the water as fast as I could. What made it even worse was when I looked up behind me and saw my mom and dad smiling and waving at me and I lost it even more. At this point, I was sobbing from being so happy. I ran to the water and got in line with the rest of my team, tires ready to be dipped. Claire yelled "1, 2, 3!!!" and on 3 we all dipped the front wheel of our bikes into the ocean. The feeling I had at that moment was unreal. Words cannot be used to describe the amount of joy, bliss, and euphoria I felt. I had made it. I rode my bike across the entire damn country. 4,220 miles of pedaling, 18 days of houses being built and one tired tired body. I was finally there and everything hit me at once. I accomplished what seemed impossible. Colleen and I grabbed each other, hugging and crying uncontrollably. We all got our bikes to move them and do our last celebration but I threw mine down into the sand, ran to my parents and got the best hug of my life. Finally after 81 days of being away from my parents, they were back. Even though I was 4000 miles away from Charlotte and my house, I was finally home. Being in my mom and dad's arms was the absolute best feeling of my life. After I got to see them for a quick minute, the team all got together in a huddle in front of the ocean and we put "turn down for what" on the speaker. As soon as the bass dropped and the music went crazy, we all ran into the water, jumping and splashing, screaming and laughing, and just celebrating how happy we were and what a great feeling it was to be done. We didn't even realize how freezing the water was or how much the rocks were cutting our feet. We were just happy to be done, together, and safe.

The excitement and joy took a very very long time to wear off and we stayed out on the beach taking pictures, telling stories and meeting each other's families. I got to talk to my parents face to face for the first time in almost three months. Everything in the world was good on this day. There was not one single thing that I would have wanted to change or would change, even in hindsight. They say hindsight is 20/20 and that you could think of lots to change when looking back. Not on August 3rd, 2014. That was a perfect day. 110% the best day of my life. Even now when I'm writing this 4 months later, there isn't a single detail that I need to search through my pictures to try to recall. Every second of that day is crystal clear. Like it happened yesterday. I would do anything to do Bike & Build again. Even when I realized how lucky I was for the experience during the summer, I didn't realize how much it would affect me and how much I would think about it afterwards. It really was the best summer ever.

 

Pleasanton and Hollister, CA

The day from Modesto started off exciting. Everyone was excited and so ready to get out of there and going! We only had to 56 miles (which is funny how long that seems to me now) and then we got to take Shayan to do his own personal wheel dip! Natalie was also going to be meeting up with us that night at the host. There aren't many days, especially so far into the West, that aren't really hard. Just like all the other ones, this was a pretty difficult ride and it was all because of the wind again. There was one particular spot where we rode through a wind farm, and that was extremely difficult to get through. Shayan got to ride this day after the lunch drop so that he would be able to ride his last day, which was really exciting. Once we got through the wind farm, the ride wasn't as bad and we even went through one part where we were completely surrounded by vineyards. And they were super nice vineyards where you could schedule a tasting and buy stuff from them.. not like the ones from the day before where they were in the middle of no where. There was one specific part of the ride towards the end where the girls I was with and I were stopped at a red light and a guy pulled up next to us and told us how happy he was to see strong women like us out in the world and making huge accomplishments and that we should be proud of ourselves. I still remember him saying that to us. It was so nice of him and so uplifting to hear. We made it into the host very early on this day so we were able to all jump in the pool and relax for a little while before mobilizing again and taking the van over to the bay area for Shayan. We had the van and then other people drove us over so that we all would be able to make it at the same time. When we got there, we waited a little while for everyone and then made a big production where Shayan rode his bike through the tunnel we made with our arms and then ran himself and his bike to the ocean to dip his tire. Everyone got really emotional and he gave his own little speech and then we sang Kumbaya Shayan in celebration. Right after we were done, we realized that we totally forgot that one of the cars never made it and got lost!! We had to pretend that we never did the first wheel dip and did the whole thing over again so that they wouldn't feel sad. It was actually pretty funny. We then just took lots of pictures and were sad because we knew how close it was to really being over and Shayan leaving. That night, we ate and swam in the pool, all hanging out together and enjoying each other's company. Looking back, it was such a complicated feeling of being fulfilled but so so sad knowing how close we were to being through.

The next day we had one last long ride to Hollister. This entire ride was really enjoyable for me... except for the last few miles when my knee decided to give out. I rode with the guys for most of the time and it was all through the foothills of California. We got up into the mountains and it seemed to just keep climbing and climbing but it was beautiful and we didn't see a single car. There were a ton of bikers on the road too, enjoying the ride with us. After going through that part, we got to go down a massive descent and into the next little part of California where the roads stopped winding and we were headed straight into the wind. I got to do a lot of talking with Dylan and Charlie and I really enjoyed getting to do that. We all kept getting flat tires though and it became extremely frustrating. I guess it comes with the territory. One of my favorite parts of this ride was getting to stop at a tiny convenience store where they had cold coconuts that you could cut open and drink from. That was a neat little experience. The host was a YMCA and we were grateful that there wasn't anyone there because this was the night where we had our final family meeting. We sat in a circle and talked about the main take away we had and our favorite part of the trip. We then had a minute where after one person spoke about what they loved, everyone else told that person what they loved about them. It was really cool to see how the trip could end on such a perfect note. It was like a 3 hour family meeting but I loved every second of it. We also got rope bracelets that we had burned together on our wrist so that it doesn't come off. Just a small something that would remind us of the adventure we had everyday. When the bracelet falls off, we email the group and tell them how it fell off and what we are doing with our lives at that point in time. That whole night was so bittersweet and we all dreaded but were so excited to wake up the next day and finish off the final day..

Modesto, CA and the Final Build Day!

Seeming as how I have been procrastinating on writing my blog, it is now December 15th, I am well integrated back into my normal college student lifestyle and I am going to attempt to complete the last few days by recalling what happened.

I will never forget the first 30 miles of the ride to Modesto. We left Yosemite early, as we usually do, but this time was different. I remember waking up to the music and staring at the ceiling, thinking about how I would do anything for just another hour of sleep. I remember this being the most difficult day for me when trying to get up and get the day going. My whole body was in pain from all of the hiking we had done two days previous and walking was a huge accomplishment in itself, let alone the 110 miles I had to bike that day. Everyone was clearly feeling the same way once I had gotten up and looked around at everyone. It looked like we had all been kicked in the calves repeatedly. Eventually we all got on our way and were ready to roll out. At first, no one was super excited to be biking again, especially after getting a full day off in one of the best national parks ever (my opinion, of course) but when we realized that we get to bike out and down from Yosemite, we changed our minds fairly quickly! The first 30 miles of that ride were 100% all down hill! I did not have to pedal once all the way to mile 30. It was such a fast and winding downhill too that it was really fun (and a little dangerous). Most groups split up during this so that we could all ride our own pace and take the hill as safely as possible. It was also kind of cool to pass through one section of the descent where you could feel the heat coming out of the park from the forest fire that was occurring during our stay. It got really smokey and really hot on that part of the road, even though we weren't even that close to the actual fire. After the 30 miles were over, the day took a dramatic turn and we were greeted with a massive hill and hill for the rest of the day. For me, it was an especially tiring day and I think it was because of being worn out after everything in Yosemite. In order for me to remember everything that happened that day, I even had to go back into my GPS watch maps and see what the road had looked like. The day into Modesto was so long and kind of bizarre that it feels like it was a bunch of different days when I think back to it. There were three different scenery and landscape changes, making it even more difficult for me to remember exactly what happened. We went from the mountains of Yosemite to the smaller mountains where there were still trees, right outside of Yosemite to the foothills where it seemed like there was just a lot of dirt and emptiness in the surroundings. And then finally, we made it to civilization in Modesto. This was also the day that Molly had gotten into her wreck with Micah. Some how Micah came out completely unscathed but Molly taught the road a lesson. There was just a massive hill and a 90 degree turn at the bottom of it and when you aren't expecting it, it can really take you by surprise and throw you off the bike. After making it out of the part of the foothills where there was still trees, we had to try to get through the plain, barren and deserted part of California. This was when the vineyards started to pop up but there were only a few every once in a while. I remember thinking about how cool it looked and how I had never seen a landscape like it before but as the day wore on, I was getting sick of it and really just wanted to see a tree again. For lunch, we stopped on the side of the road next to a vineyard and stole a couple of the grapes off the vine to try. They were actually pretty good and a fun experience! Once we finally made it into the host, we were very pleasantly surprised to find that they were giving us a potluck and had more food than we could imagine eating! It was also the last night that we were going to be giving our host an affordable housing presentation. As soon as the song in the video came on, it hit us all pretty hard - it was the first last of the trip. I know that I cried through the song and several others of us did too. It kind of put the ride into perspective and reminded me that even when it's unbearable, I love what I was doing and I wouldn't quit for anything. That night, a couple of us walked to the grocery store and bough big tubs of ice cream for the night. It was perfect :) The next day was our last build.. the second last of the trip..

The last build of the trip seemed to be one of the more enjoyable ones. Everyone was having fun and goofing off with each other, enjoying the day. Claire and I were put on the window committee and were rocking out putting the windows up for one of the houses. We kept making window jokes throughout the day and were trying to negotiate with the supervisor to give us a raise because of how good of a team we were. I also made it my personal goal to see how many of the goat heads I could get to stick to the bottom of my shoe by walking through the weeds. Eventually the whole thing was covered and I can still pull out little thorns to this day. That night, we all just laid around enjoying each other's company and talking about how excited we were to get to Pleasanton where we would get to take Shayan to his wheel dip since he had to leave early.