zip, zam, zoom...

This is my journey...in Video form

2008-09-14T20:01:00.000-04:00

VANCOUVER...Tire Dip!

2008-08-25T22:52:00.004-04:00

4,000 miles. Thank you all I had a great time! I'm now waiting in the Vancouver airport for my plane to leave. There is sweat, saltwater, cake, dirt and champagne in my hair which I am pretty sure many people can smell...(but I did change out of my bike clothes!)

I have a lot of fond memories thank you all! <3>

Thank You sponsors for all your kind donations. Thanks Rick Roberts for bringing me to the airport in Vancouver (and bringing me a box for my bike!)

Lynden, WA - Richmond, B.C.

2008-08-25T04:45:00.003-04:00

Soooo. We peaced out of America today. Holy poop, I've (we've) made it to the other side of the country. Tomorrow there is 12 more miles to ride before its all over and the 4,000 mile journey across the states has come to an end.

Again....THANK YOU TO ALL MY SPONSORS AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO READ MY BLOG AND SUPPORTED ME ALONG THE WAY!

Story of today.

Who didn't get lost today? I have no idea.

Kristen, Derek and I ended up confused and in Vancouver early...as in we rode a minimum of 12 extra miles. Shoot. Our cue sheet wanted us to go on a 3 lane highway and when we started to go that way, we panicked, got off of it immediately because we thought it was wrong and headed back in another direction.

It rained ALLL day which was a serious bummer since many of us had cleaned our bikes the day prior. The morning part of the ride was all hills and the second half was all fast traffic. To top it all off, my back brakes ceased working so there was (and still is) no way for me to use the rear ones currently and since it is still raining I have yet to look at them to see what can be done.

At this point with 12 more miles to go perhaps the best thing to do is to ignore the fact that they don't work all together and just have them fixed when I get home (Claremont Cycle Depot, you may have some work ahead of you...) :)

Rockport, WA- Lynden, WA

2008-08-25T04:35:00.003-04:00

RODEO in Lynden. awesome. I saw a pink horse that was barrel racing. neat.

Lynden was pretty neat, we were supposed to all go to a build site but there wasn't enough work for us all so about 18 people stayed back and cleaned the van and trailer instead. Fun...

I got interviewed for the local paper in Lynden which was pretty neat, so that would be cool if sometime I saw the article, but who knows. Along the way to Lynden we stopped many times to pick blackberries and to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Okanagun, WA- Rockport, WA

2008-08-23T17:54:00.002-04:00

Need more uphill? Yes I think that you do! Do you want it to rain too? and to Snow? and then to have a croswhind that could push you off your bike? Well, I know the place for you! Its Washington Pass! Another 20ish miles uphill, but it was our last mountain pass!!!

And we are out of the cascades, which were much harder to travel through than the Rockies for sure. We hit some high peaks, but its all rolling hills from here!
woot!!

Omak, WA- Okanagun Natn'l Forest, WA

2008-08-23T17:48:00.003-04:00

Need a dose on 18miles uphill? Why yes, I think that is just what the doctor ordered, thanks Okanagun! Rain, Rain would be helpful too. Since it was raining all day and we had to camp that night, gross. I claimed a spot in the van (..no I haven't slept in a tent at all this summer even when we were camping.) Oddly, enough there was no hurry to get in the van and one whole seat was left-over all night long, apparently people on this trip like to be cold and damp for thier morning bike rides?

Mazama! the last town for 74 miles... meaning...don't die on the mountain somewhere.

Republic, WA- Omak, WA

2008-08-23T17:40:00.003-04:00

OOOOOHHH OOOmak. So we get over some more mountain passes today (since we are in the Cascades) and I didn't think that Omak sounded like a very big town, but apparently I was very wrong, It had a starbucks (in the middle of the Cascades...who knew?) Omak was where we collected a person, Brendan Newman (one of the big-wigs in Bike and Build) who will be joining us for the rest of the trip.

When I was loooking for a good sleeping place in the church, I came across this room that was just filled with inflated balloons. The lights didn't turn on in the room which kind-of made it even more fun because it was pitch black and Kathy, Quang, Chris and I were stumbling aound the dark throwing balloons everywhere. needless to say I didn't sleep in that room

Chewelah, WA- Republic, WA

2008-08-23T17:32:00.003-04:00

Anyone want to take a stab at how your legs feel after a 25 mile uphill at a 6-8%grade in 104 degree heat?

umm..ouch.

Republic, is a pretty neat place, it looks a lot like the wild wild west, complete with the tumble weeds and the place we are sleeping at has a climbing wall..cool. Funny story of the day:

The townies (13-16year old boys) are out harrassing us while we are cleaning our bikes in the parking lot and they challenge Anson Moxness to a bicycle race. Eventually they jabber at us enough that Anson takes them on. He gets his bike shoes on and meets one of the 14year old boys on his bmx bike at the top of a hill. when they take off Anson and Kathy (who joined the race in the last minute) pull ahead of this kid riding no-handed, it was soo funny. when they won all of the townies left (I think that we had our first real townie-rumble)

Sandpoint, ID- Chewelah, WA

2008-08-23T17:24:00.004-04:00

For starters..we are now in Washington (what?!) We had a great time in Chewelah, when we arrived we got to go swimming and then I met some of the most fun chrch members that we have seen throughout the trip, and they have been hosting bike and build for the last 6 years! holy cow!

On a very exciting note, I found my road flair today and it is now superglued to my very ugly new helmet that I have. The road flair is...a beautiful barbie head, and she loves to creep out almost everyone who is riding behind me.

oh..and I bought new bicycle cleats, because my old ones are junk.

Libby, MT- Sandpoint, ID

2008-08-23T17:18:00.003-04:00

OUT OF MONTANA!!!!! OFF OF ROUTE 2!!!

And who knew that Idaho had anything besides potatos in it? Because apparently it does. In fact it has an amazing rope swing (more on that when I am not on a library computer) and it hosts a Sandpoint music festival which we happened to be just in time for, because I got to see a Ziggy Marley concert while I was hanging out there and could have seen Wynonna (but opted out..)

We had an amazing build day (I have some great pictures..soon) where we got to do a lot of siding work and meet the home owners of the house that we were working on, which is a real treat!

Eureka, MT- Libby, MT

2008-08-23T17:09:00.002-04:00

Dear Town of Libby,

You are awesome. When Kristen and I got to Libby we were greated by the (perhaps self-proclaimed) 'Town Clown' who made us ballon animal bracelets so that we could wear them while we are on our bikes (which we did) and it was great It seems that everyone in this town was so diverse which made us feel the need to sit next to a carved beaver and bear sculpture and watch the community members go about thier buisness. We met some fun people who were very paranoid that the Canadians were going to come into thier town and steal thier children (one lady in particular told us not to walk off the main street, she was one of the extra-unique people in the town). Once we were done exploring the town we went to the high school that we were sleeping in and discovered a bat which kept flying all around the gym, making the bike and builders scream and hide (apparently we aren't that brave). I feel like our Libby experience was almost all that it could be, the only thing left to do is explore the abandoned Libby Hotel.

Whitefish, MT- Eureka, MT

2008-08-23T16:59:00.002-04:00

After our day off in Whitefish ended, we traveled to Eureka. Its hard to beleive that we are almost out of Montana, and that the trip is nearing an end. For breakfast in Whitefish we had sourdough pancakes which were basically the hi-light of my day and then we traveled the short 52 miles to Eureka, which was greatly appreciated after the mountian pass we traveled the day prior.

Glacier Nat'l Park, MT- Whitefish, MT

2008-08-12T14:16:00.004-04:00

Best day on a bike ever. I rode my bicycle up the rockies this morning and then down in the afternoon, and it was great. The wind was really strong so I wasn't positive that I wouldn't end up blown off a cliff, but it died down in the afternoon (just in time for the ride down!) I went to breakfast in the morning with Michelle, Kristen, and Zack at some cute lodge and we sat there for a little over 3 hours because he has time to kill since bicycles aren't allowed on the road between 11 and 4 over Logan Pass. Finally it was go time and Kristen and I who were hopped up on coffee and adrenaline climbed the Mountain fairly quickly (20 miles uphill in 2 hours time..6,000 feet) when we got the the top (continental divide) it was 43 degrees so we ran inside to try to keep warm until we were allowed to go down the pass.

The ride down was stellar! Sadly there was road construction so we took it really slow at points (one lane has that effect) but once we could let loose, we did. Oh the views, that place was wonderful! We got into a town around 4:30 and had a chocolate milk to power up and then finished the leftover 50 miles after that, which made it a bit of a long day, but totally worth it.

Cutbank, MT- Glacier Nat'l Park, MT

2008-08-12T13:59:00.005-04:00

Today I'm a sweep, and there is a 18-25mph headwind. HOLY CRAP (if you don't mind me saying) I was pedaling downhill at 7mph. Easily today was the hardest day of riding so far. It took sooo long to get to the KOA campsite we were staying at for the night, but when we finally did. There was a hot tub waiting for us, because apparently the pre-rockies campsites are the ultimate tourist traps. I will say that we could see the Rockies ahead of us all day which was really a great motivator to keep me from abandoning my bike and hitchhiking the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow we climb!!! 6,000 feet!

Chester, MT - Cutbank, MT

2008-08-12T13:41:00.003-04:00

Tonight we reviewed grant applications so that we could begin to decide who we want to allot out money that we fundraised to. Its a really neat process, deciding which Habitat for Humanity or Land Trusts, ect. that we would like to give our money to. We have 8 grants to read and then its decision time! How much fun! I really love reading about different housing organizations and getting to hear what their plans are for building and fixing up houses in America, it kinda feels like I have the inside scoop on America next year. I'm happy to say that it looks like its heading in a good direction.

Chinook, MT- Chester, MT

2008-08-12T13:31:00.002-04:00

Well my bicycle helmet got crushed sometime between last night and the morning..it looked like someone stepped on it.sad :( it was so pretty. Luckily one of the only bike shops on route was on our ride today, so I bought what they had for a helmet...a really ugly white one. Blah.

Malta, MT- Chinook, MT

2008-08-12T13:23:00.004-04:00

Our lunch stop today was at an abandoned church sooo Kim, Dan, Reed and I went on a ghost hunt. Our source of light was my flashbox on my camera and Dans laser pointer. When we walked in all that we could see was bat poop on the floor and heard only swallows making a big commotion. Many of the pews were broken and it was kinda freaky. Eventually we found a basement to go into and we looked hard for souvenirs like a human skull..but had no luck. One of the most hardcore lunch stops.

Glasgow, MT- Malta, MT

2008-08-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

So today we rode our bikes through a Guinness world record! HIGHEST Density of mosquitos in the United States!! woo-hoo! I didn't take any pictures at all today for fear that getting off the bike would surely mean being eaten alive. Did you know that a mosquito can fly about 15mph?

Once we got to Malta I went to the laundry mat and did some laundry with the laundry crew and while we were waiting for it to be washed we went to tour the dinosaur museum in Malta. The woman who works there told us all about Michelangelo (dinosaur found with skin and all of the organs..ect.) and how she and her co-workers were going to be on the discovery channel on September 18 showing it off, so basically I met someone famous. Neat.

Once the laundry was dry we laid it out on the lawn of the church for it to be claimed by its owners, sadly the lawn sprinklers turned on...so everyone got to claim their damp clothing.

Wolf Point, MT- Glsgow MT

2008-08-12T13:08:00.004-04:00

So there was a tailwind today..what?! AWESOME! Because we were cruising with the wind we had plenty of time to stop and enjoy the sites. It happened that our lunch stop was at a cute little breakfast place on Route 2 (still.ugh.) Sean ordered a "small" pancake which turned out to be the largest pancake i've ever seen. Beyond pancake eating Kristen, Katrina, Quang and I tracked down a geocache and found some amazing treasures!

Culbertson, MT- Wolf Point, MT

2008-08-05T19:13:00.003-04:00

It was a really short ride to Wolf Point (60 miles) so we all got there pretty early. I took full advantage of that by taking a nap from the time I arrived until dinner started, which was fabulous. After dinner the ice cream crew went in search of something wonderful and tasty. Sadly there was no ice cream in the entire town...including the grocery store.

TR NP, ND - Culberston, MT

2008-08-05T19:00:00.003-04:00

Well we made it to Montana, where we will be for the next 11 days. sheesh. It was nice to be in Culberston with awesome people and an entire street to air and dry out our tents. The church that we stayed in wins the award for most comfortable church pew to sleep in and for best pancakes in the morning.

New Town, ND- Teddy Roosevelt NP, ND

2008-08-05T00:32:00.003-04:00

OMF(frekin')G. landscape change and Bison, bison bison (right MLP/Taco?) So we pull into the park on our bicycles and not only is it gorgeous but picture this (i'll draw a diagram and post the picture later) 15 bicycles riding down the road and out road block is bison. About 30 of them between us and a car on the other side. We call the park ranger on our cell phone and she tells us to "wait it out" about 45 minutes later we decide to carry our bikes on our shoulders though the cacti and sagebrush around them.

we get to the campsite and find out that about 1/2 of our tents actually have poles (this is our first camping experience so it wasn't us who lost them). So there isn't enough room for all of us to sleep in a tent. Some people make a lean-to with a tarp and decide to sleep under it. I on the other hand feel like i've had enough camping in my life and was more than willing to sleep in the van. Quang, Isaiah and I all take a seat and go to bed. I plug in my headphones and pass out. Around 3 am light wakes me up. I unplug one earphone and clear a circle on the window where it had fogged up to look out at what people are now calling hurricane teddy. Isaiah is a trip leader and he decided to go our in the rain to check that everyone is doing all right. when he opens the door all that we can hear is Kathy Hill laughing between every crash of thunder, while everyone else is screaming and running to the bathroom. I plug my earphone back in and sleep the rest of the night.

...

morning comes and I look around the van Dan is sleeping under a pile or musical instruments in the back seat in the "multi-use sweatshirt" (towel, sleeping bag, shirt, skirt, dress, fashion..all in one) with a fake native american pony on the front of it and under a towel and Dae is reclined in the front seat. Kathy opens the door "Laura Maki" she states in a sarcastic, we were cursing you last night tone. "smart girl" she finishes and walks away. I pack up all my dry stuff and open my java monster energy drink that I bought the day before because I knew we weren't getting coffee in the morning (and in my opinion no day should start without it.) and watch all the wet people with their wet things wonder around laughing about the crazy night before.

favorite quote "I never thought that I'd have to wake up in wet underwear under a urinal......again"

because the storm didn't let up 25 people slept on the floor of the national park bathroom. and the funny thing is that they all claim to have "slept alright" apparently riding a bike makes you tired or something.

Minot, ND- New Town, ND

2008-08-05T00:22:00.002-04:00

My vote is in and North Dakota won the bad drivers in America award for having no shoulders and semi's who don't make any attempt to move for cyclists or any attempt to slow down form their speed limit of 75mph. "We are in oil country and the money is fast and important" said a man in a gas station where I stopped to take a break from fighting the vehicles and he could clearly tell that I looked a bit frazzled.

Besides the dense, fast and scary traffic...our van also broke down in Minot. Thus leaving us with nothing to do or change into once we arrived in New Town. So I napped on the concrete sidewalk in my wet cycling clothing for 4 hours before van finally arrived and we could all change and eat dinner which we cooked ourselves in the high school kitchen. And I must say that dinner crew (Ian, Kathy (honorary member) Craig, Sharon and I) did a excellent job making noodles and sweet potato.

Minot, ND- Minot, ND (day off)

2008-08-05T00:11:00.002-04:00

Early in the day I went to an interesting art store/cafe to read and drink some coffee and I met a group of 3 (2 guys, 1 girl and 3 dogs) who were/are riding freight trains across America I talked with them for a good hour of so and they told me of all their adventures on trains which was totally interesting to me because of my great fear of trains...they started in Washington and will end up in PA in about 2 weeks (good luck guys!) which is really neat.

I called up Allison Horvath who is now currently living around here and we met for lunch which was a lot of fun. We chatted and caught up a bit since we hadn't seen each other in a while and then she left me back to my overnight stay before dinner. I spent the rest of my day off reading on the comfy couch in the bookstore until they closed and I had to go to bed.

Rugby, ND- Minot, ND

2008-08-05T00:03:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure that I have to much to say about Minot, ND. About the only thing going for it was a Scandinavian heritage park that looked like a mini golf course without the mini-golf. Craig and I adventured to the giant horse but then decided that Starbucks was a much better idea. After some chai I headed to visit the downtown area where I met up with Kim and then went to the bookstore and read until we fell asleep on the couches and eventually woke when we were hungry for dinner.

Devils Lake, ND- Rugby, ND

2008-08-04T23:58:00.001-04:00

Enthusiasm for the ride today (through a really really strong headwind) was Prom. For extensive reading about prom... read Kathy Hills blog. We made dinner, set up decorations for 'Harvest Moon' and then began the dancing. Prom was held at Rugby High School and was about as classy as my actual high school prom. Dancing started at 10 and was done by 11 so that we could all go to bed. We made sure to play about 30seconds of each prom song and danced our pants off all the while "leaving room for jesus"

Crookston, MN-Devils Lake, ND

2008-08-04T21:19:00.002-04:00

120 miles and it was fabulous. I rode with Kristen (road name is now storm). At some point during the day we had a torrential downpour and waited out the worst of it in the van where we had a short dance party until the weather calmed. One in Devils Lake a school bus came and picked us up and drove us to Isaiah's house where although we were tired we still managed to go horseback riding and play on the tractors and eventually settle down in the hot tub until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. (pictures don't want to upload at all..sooo maybe later sorry!)

Bemidji, MN- Crookston, MN

2008-07-27T22:11:00.003-04:00

90 miles today. So we got up early for multiple reasons. Beating the headwind, we were still on route 2, heat, and to get to our destination on time (4pm) we left the church at 6:30am. I ended up in a quick double-paceline (19mph average) with Kathy, Kristen, Bobby,Katrina, Anson, Isaiah and the birthday boy Sean. We cruised while playing a word game called contact all of the morning we made it to out lunch stop at 8:45 am, ate fast and then cruised the the second lunch stop by noon and to the church by 1pm. Thus riding a 90 mile day by 1pm. holy cow. (but there wasn't a strong headwind)

I am pretty nervous about tomorrow since it is a 120 mile day and there is a chance of headwind...but we are leaving the church by 5:30 am so we might beat it....eep!

Grand Rapids, MN- Bemidji, MN

2008-07-27T21:54:00.003-04:00

Ohhhh route 2...Kristen, Quang, Zack and I decided that Geocaching is really a good way to make it through the really, really long days on the same road into a headwind. Today our Geo treasure waited for us at mile 60 and it was pretty hard to find (hidden inside of the statepark sign) but it was lucky that we decided to look for the cache because not only did we each get cool prizes (plastic rings in exchange for neat walnuts and a business card) but we also found a bike trail that got us off the route for about 3 miles which was great!

Once we got the Bemidji we learned that they apparently take claim for Paul Bunyan and his Ox too, so they constructed these lovely statues. The town was excited that we were there so the newspaper came and took a picture of all of us in front of good ol' Paul.

GeoCaching: Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. (www.geocaching.com)

Duluth, MN- Grand Rapids, MN

2008-07-27T21:42:00.002-04:00

Today I decided not to pack my camera because we had a long day and our first of many on Route 2. I was a sweep today with my good friend Quang, we had a long (we got to our site by 6:30 on a 70 mile day after leaving at 8..) but still very, very good day. The night before I put my new aerobars on my bike so that was fun to test out all day which was nice (because we had a CRAZY headwind!) On the way Quang, Kim, Arianna, Kristen and I found a Geocache at a gas station at about mile 50 which we looked for without a GPS (by just looking up the general area on google maps) so that was pretty neat-o. Once we were about 10 miles from our destination some of our team came and gave the sweeps and friends smoothies.

Duluth, MN- Duluth, MN (build day)

2008-07-27T21:34:00.004-04:00

Today we had a build day with Common Grounds housing organization in Duluth. It is a land trust organization which means that once the house is part of the land trust it is always going to be an affordable house (which differs from Habitat because Habitat homeowners can sell thier house to anyone which means that it doesn't always stay a part of the affordable housing community) Joy, Kristen, Lindsey, Dae and I all went to a painting site for the day and painted some walls in an office. Joy stepped in the paint tray which was pretty funny. Today we got mail again (yay!) and we found ourselves laughing a bit at Joy again while she tried to open a box with a plastic knife. Thank you for the package Grammy it was really great! Dad and Mom sent me a case of Honest Tea which was pretty great too thanks! Megan Healy I love the letter!

Hinkley, MN - Duluth, MN

2008-07-27T20:01:00.002-04:00

Happy Trails to us. Today we rode on a bicycle path the entire 80 miles to Duluth. Fabulous. In the morning we stopped for breakfast at a diner and then continued on the beautiful trail for the rest of the day. Once in Duluth we went to Fin fest and compared the the last Fin fest I went to in Marquette, MI this one was quite sub-par. We are all pretty excited about the festival and we walk about 18 blocks and then on a 1/4 mile raised indoor sidewalk (that was at least 85 degrees) and walk into the "festival" which has about 10 people there in a huge room and a polka band.

We all started laughing at this situation and took our seats. Then the polka announcer says "And now we'll have our traditional Finnish tango" (what?) Everyone clears the floor so Jessie (bike and builder) and Christopher (B&B'er) take full advantage of this and decide to improvise the tango with all the moves (like ones you've seen on dancing with the stars) including a lift and a point when Jessie spun away from him and he literally crawled to her the length of the dance floor. We were laughing extremely hard by the time they'd done thier finishing dip for the third time and the polka band decided to do another round. The song ended up lasting at least 7 minutes and was the longest song played of the night.

Oh Duluth Fin Fest...

St. Paul, MN - Hinkley, MN

2008-07-26T00:20:00.002-04:00

Well we were supposed to stay in Sandstone...but apparently they didn't want Bike and Build this year, so we went to Hinkley instead. Do you know where Hinkley is? nope. And that is because there is nothing there, at all! I was pretty glad that there was nothing to do though, because I got to go to bed at 7:30pm and slept well (mostly except when the train sounded like it was coming though the wall 4 times). We slept on the floor of a basketball court and our therm-a-rests kept sliding all around so quite often you heard people re-adjusting themselves to balance on the air mattress and not have it slide out from under us, it was pretty comical. Needless to say we were happy to leave in the morning.

Pepin, WI- St. Paul, MN

2008-07-26T00:14:00.003-04:00

Since the days are becoming a little bit monotonous we decided to mix it up a bit and have a photo scavenger hunt some of the events included pretending to be a statue, finding a yellow ball, a dead frog, Unicorn, a population sign of under 500..It was a lot of fun! We are still waiting to see who won the scavenger hunt, but I think our group did really well. When we got to St. Paul I got to see Christopher Aldrich! Way cool!

La Cross, WI - PEPIN!, WI

2008-07-26T00:07:00.003-04:00

Pepin! Its like a town of my relatives...Perhaps? Well I'm not sure of that but I do know that we found my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather who was a giant Viking. Another neat fact: Laura Ingals Wilder (Little house on the Prairie) was from Pepin. And the town was TINY, so clearly it was appropriate to make a sign that showed everything in the entire town.

Gays Mills, WI- La Cross, WI

2008-07-25T23:58:00.003-04:00

A steep climb out of Gays Mills, but it was worth it when we went downhill and along the M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I (I feel like I need to spell it and not just say the word) and headed into Iowa and then went to Minnesota and then back to Wisconsin. What a neat-o day!

Madison, WI- Gays Mills, WI

2008-07-25T23:48:00.003-04:00

107 miles is what our route map told us...but was the day 107 miles? oh. no, no, no. When we went down a road for 10 miles and then realized we were going the wrong direction we added 20 miles to our total trip (this happened to the entire group except about 5 lucky ones) then a second wrong turn with the group added another 2 or so miles...

At our second lunch stop Christopher said "only another 20 miles left!" I was so excited until....I saw the ugliest sign in America which read 'Gays Mills 20 miles' after we had already ridden 8 miles after Christopher told us it was "only another 20"

Exhausted we pulled into Gays Mills at 7:30pm with 127.9 miles on my odometer. OUCH!

Good thing there was homemade applesauce for dinner. (views were pretty too!)

Madison, WI - Day Off!!!

2008-07-25T23:43:00.002-04:00

If I was supposed to choose a fun place to play for a few weekends, it would be Madison, WI. The weather was nice, the roads were nice and we had an all around good time. Madison was a much needed day off after a few long days of riding.

Madison, WI - Madison, WI

2008-07-25T23:37:00.002-04:00

The Ride to Madison was really, really beautiful. We didn't see much traffic...buut that was probably because it had flooded and we had to do a river crossing. We decided it was a lot like playing the Oregon Trail...all our oxen died but luckily we didn't lose any people to dysentery.

Were your parents beavers?.........

2008-07-20T23:23:00.002-04:00

...cuz, Daaaaymmm.

My patience level with the slow internet here in Pepin, WI has wiped me clean of my ability to post photos or a decent blog, this is attempt 9 sooo....I'll have to actually post updates of the last few days along with pictures during out next time with internet.

I would like to thank everyone who is checking up on me, for checking up on me, its great! (if you want my cell # ask me or my parents and we'll be sure to give it to you) and so appreciated. For all those who know I was really sick, I am almost over it and and enthusiastic to be spinning at full pace in the near future. Although I was under the weather I still rode out longest day yet (which included a wrong turn. detour) which totaled 127.9 miles! epic. yes. (a good story. more on that later..)

I would also like to add that I love WI!! It is a great state, beautiful like VT or NH except bigger and with perfect roads. Some of the towns have been realllly small which is pretty wild. (more on all of this when I have pictures and time)

But it is getting late fast and I need to pack my belongings for tomorrow and clean up my bicycle a bit. Tomorrow I am in St. Paul, MN (sounds like a place with internet!)

and my brothers birthday was July 18! Happy Birthday Andrew!

Grayslake, WI - Madison, WI

2008-07-17T10:17:00.003-04:00

In Grayslake we met up with a family who has a son doing Bike and Build on a Southern Route (crazy hot weather on that ride!) who wanted to have us over for dinner. We ate grilled asparagus and lived like queens and kings for the afternoon! We gave a presentation about bike and build from the roof of their garage "here ye, here ye, one and all"...we proclaimed as if we were the king from the popular newspaper comic 'The Wizard of ID' It was a really nice evening that let us really relax and enjoy hanging out with a nice family.

Chicago, IL- Grayslake, IL

2008-07-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

Do you ever have dreams that feel realistic, but are clearly to bizarre to be real? Today was a real day..but it felt really bizarre we were woken up late at 7:30 because we had a really short bike ride today (40 miles.) and then were served cotton candy for breakfast by Craig and his Father. After that we all went to coffee at Beans and Bagels again and locked at least 15 bikes in a tiny rack and rode to our destination by 1pm. Along the way we Kate, Bobby and I met a cyclist from GA with calve muscles at least the size of my head who had just finished a 27mile run the previous day in GA and now was in IL to ride bicycle races everyday in the area for the next 2 weeks, he rode along side of me and talked. Perhaps the only things that seemed fake to me were the cotton candy and the calve muscles....

1,300 miles and our first day off.

2008-07-14T23:11:00.003-04:00

Our day off was in Chicago, how fun right? About half the group woke up and went skydiving. I didn't have $200 to spend on a 15 minute endeavor today sooo... instead I decided to sleep in until 7:30am (I think I am in fact not capable of sleeping any later than this anymore) then got up and went out to Beans and Bagels with Kate, Sean and Sharon for breakfast (great food!) we read The Onion (newspaper) and then went to the church we were staying at to give a presentation and bicycle clinic to some of the church members. Kate, Isaiah, Sean, Sharon and I went to the Vietnam War memorial where some Isaiah, Kate and Sharon took naps and Sean and I talked on our phones and watched hornets from the nest above Isaiah walk all over him while he slept. Once we had energy again we went for deep dish pizza (at Giordanos) and then for Ghiardelli ice cream (splitting 2 between the 5 of us). We eventually wandered to the 95th floor of the Hancock building and experienced our own version of skydiving (dropping 95 stories in an elevator in like 30 seconds..holy high speed!) Cruised for the rest of the day and then went back to our home for the night.

Night time in Chicago after 118.7 miles

2008-07-14T23:02:00.003-04:00

A certain amount of exploring the city at night was called for and we decided to see some of Chicago's attractions at night. We started by checking out the bean, which is a really neat sculpture and a lot of fun to play with and around. Phase 2 we roamed the city streets and eventually settled at Rock Bottom where we sat for quite a while and then caught the last "L" train back to our church.

Edwardsburg MI- Chicago Il

2008-07-14T22:52:00.004-04:00

At night in Edwardsburg we taught a bicycle clinic about general bike safety and then went for a ride with all the youngsters. We went to bed while it will still light out and then awoke when it was dark...at 5:30 am because today we rode 118.7 miles to Chicago! Sadly the morning rained...buuut then the sun came out around the stateline to Illinois. Most of us hit the century mark on the bike trail in Chicago near the stone wall where we stopped for a break and to look at the skyline of the glorious city. Do you want to know the most wild part of all this? Its that once we got to our destination and had a group dinner we all went out and explored the city a bit.

Camden, MI-Edwardsburg, MI

2008-07-14T17:04:00.004-04:00

Their sign said welcome to the middle of nowhere...and it couldn't have been more accurate. The village of Camden had 1,000 people in it and I'm pretty sure that we rode by the entire village when we headed to Edwardsburg. Leaving Camden the Pastor (man next to the dressed up poodle...named Tiffany...) showed us an alternative route which cut 2 miles off our ride and we followed him that morning which was a really nice start to the day. Once in Edwardsburg we all ate dinner and then went to bed early for our ride into Chicago.

So I have some extra pictures.

2008-07-10T22:37:00.001-04:00

Bowling Green, OH- Camden, MI

2008-07-10T22:28:00.003-04:00

Praise him! (Jason Jansen quote) We are out of Ohio! Story of the day...5 of us stopped at a Dairy Queen to pee after lunch in Bryan, Ohio and somebody who happened to be in the DQ called the newspaper because all 5 of us were wearing the same jersey. The lady from the NP got there in under 5 minutes because she caught us on the way out of the door she explained that she was called and then hurried over "as fast as she could". She told us the town was really small and that she wanted to put us in the Day in the Life section of the paper. Sooo I guess you can look for me posed in front of the Bryan, OH Dairy Queen with some bicycles in the upcoming Bryan Times.

Avon Lake, OH-Bowling Green, OH

2008-07-10T22:26:00.001-04:00

98 miles into a head wind baby. End of story. Bed time is now. No pictures because I didn't carry my camera today..

Avon Lake

2008-07-10T22:06:00.006-04:00

So Kate and I easily have the best host family! Thank you Maureen, Phil, Erin, and Ian (Max, and the cat who we didn't see) for hosting us. We got to stay with them for two nights and it was amazing to have a bed to sleep in and a family to stay with. The first night that we were there Kate and I were so tired that we just went to bed, buuut finally we got to hang out with the fam.

Earlier that day we worked on a build site in Cleveland and my Dad sent some Honest teas with his co-workers for all of my fellow B&B'ers. It was a really nice surprise, Thanks Dad! While we were at the build site (where we accomplished sooo much!! I'd like to add) we met someone who knew the owner of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he got our entire group free tickets! Awesome. While inside I did think Cleveland rocked...and then once I went outside, where it was pouring rain and no longer had that feeling.

Ashtabula OH to Avon Lake

2008-07-10T21:39:00.003-04:00

Is anyone familiar with the Drew Carey show? "Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks...OHIO..." I cannot honestly say that I thought Cleveland rocked....the road was terrible riding to Avon Lake! But Avon Lake was awesome! The people of the town were amazing. On our way in we met a woman who told us that basically our lives were not good until we had tried Orange Blossom ice cream. So of course we stopped, she was right my life is better having tried it. We went to dinner and then met our host families who took us swimming at a fancy house on the lake with a water trampoline and a sunset. After the fancy house Kate and I went to our host families house and crashed hard.

Westfeild, NY -Ashtabula, OH

2008-07-10T19:55:00.003-04:00

Today we left NY! We took some pictures leaving when we left. We met some pirates of Lake Erie they let us investigate the ship. Somewhere along the way Kevin got a flat. We had internet access for a little while at the McDonalds across from the church. Ronald is really creepy.

Niagra falls-Westfield

2008-07-05T21:51:00.002-04:00

87miles and still able to stand, I'd call today a good day. I was a sweep today with Dae which means that we were the last people to leave and the last people to get to the church for the night so that we can make sure that we all make it to our destination in one piece. It was a beautiful day to be a sweep. We left at 9 am and rode at a slow pace to lunch where we ate Subway and then met with some riders with popped tires who we rode with for the rest of the day. We stopped at Frank Lloyd Wrights estate which was pretty neat to see. At about mile 65 we stopped at Christopher's fathers friends house on Lake Erie and drank lemonade and dipped our feet in the water it was wonderful.

Lockport - Niagra Falls

2008-07-05T21:29:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th of JULY!!! We had the shortest day that we will ever have on this trip...only 20 miles, and then we had the rest of the day to explore the falls. We went to dinner at the church we were staying at and then back to Niagra to see the fireworks. What didn't occur to us was that the fireworks were put on by the Canadian casinos and our Independence Day wasn't their Independence Day. The fireworks were the 8 minutes long and the same that the regularly do on Friday nights. They were still nice though and now I've seen the great falls that everyone talks about. wicked sweet!

Rochester - Lockporrt

2008-07-05T21:21:00.002-04:00

Today it was POURING rain! We had a 65 mile day and thankfully during our lunch break a wonderful person we met along the way let us into her house (on the sun porch) gave us towels to dry off a bit and we all watched the Price it Right until the rain cleared up after lunch and we made it to Lockport which was an actual city...where we did laundry again and now smell very clean. Unfortunately I didn't take ANY pictures because of the rain but if you look at your shower head while it is running at full force you can see what our day looked like.

Palermo-Rochester, NY (July 1)

2008-07-02T16:43:00.002-04:00

Pictures will come eventually..buut RIT won't let me plug in my photos to their computer...whatever.

Lets play a game...pick which item doesn't belong. Pace line, Double Pace Line, Pit bulls, Bicycles.

I hope that we can all pick out the correct answer. Dan took some really funny pictures which I will post later. 8 of us are riding nicely in a double pace line (wicked cool, right?) we transition to a single file line and Dan takes out his camera to take a photo of the group. Then a pitbull comes running out of the bushes as he clicks the camera, Sean in the back of the line is suddenly in the front and the group breaks up. Dan who was in no danger rides up next to me cracking up because of the pictures and what just happened because we were (who were in the front) were in no danger. As he is laughing Jessie yells "big.....Dog!" and another pitbull heads directly for Dans bike. We all took off as quickly as we could, which make the 90 mile day go by a lot faster...

Boonville-Palermo where am I???

2008-06-30T17:07:00.003-04:00

Another day of biking, today was much shorter..coming in at 65 miles...but the last 5 were a doozy. I was riding with Craig, Quang, and Lindsay. Craig and I pulled ahead during the last 5 and saw a billboard for 'Quick Lique' an slushie place which clearly said 2 miles ahead. After 2 miles we got to the United Methodist Church where some of our group had already arrived and we were staying for the night.. "Where is the Quick Lique?!!?!!" Craig said peeling into the parking lot on the bicycle and making the entire group crack up for his enthusiasm for slushies. We recruited another member to our Lique group and eventually found it, much further away than 2 miles.

When we got back to the church a great majority of the people were back and very asleep all over the place.

you may shimmy but do you Chamois?

2008-06-30T16:48:00.004-04:00

So chores this week for my group are loading the trailer in the morning and doing laundry. Laundry = bad smells. The laundry rundown for Bike and Build is as follows. 2 large tarps get put on the floor, one for regular clothes and one for bike clothes. Then laundry crew Michelle, Sharon, Craig, Ian and I roll up the tarps like a nasty clothing burrito and stuff it into the van to drive to the laundry mat. Next we put everything in the washers. Picture a minimum of 60 diiiiirty chamois (bike shorts that you don't wear undies under and then wear all day with some form of shammy cream on it to prevent saddle sores) that we have to touch and load into the washers. It is soooo gross! Once laundry is done we make a clean laundry burrito and then put it back on the floor and everyone piles into the room to dig through the matching clothing to find their own. I'm glad chores rotate every week...

By now we are in boonville, NY which is tiny...we rode 80 miles today to get here and the church prepared a nice dinner. We all cleaned our bikes which were gross after all the rain...and then it started raining again, sooo....

Say NO to camping in Downpours.

2008-06-30T16:18:00.005-04:00

Cruising directly to town Kristen, Kathy and I only faced 8 miles of torrential downpour..thus far it has rained everyday except one that we biked. But we were greeted by Katrinas family when we got there! In the morning the sun was shining so we took a long time sitting at lunch and enjoying the view of the bridge and river...sadly the weather changed quickly but that was even more unfortunate for some more than others. When we left Sliver Bay in the morning Zack got 1 flat tire...after lunch another...in the rain another..and another and then one more..which brought his flat tire count for the day up to 5..in the rain. He knew how to change tires to begin with and is now highly proficient in doing so. (in case you are wondering why so many..its because the tires are the original tires that came with the bike) He now has new tires and they haven't been flat yet..knock on wood.

Rochester, VT- Silver Bay, NY

2008-06-30T15:42:00.008-04:00

Some things don't occur to you until you are on the road...for instance, Rochester is in a valley and how do you get out of valleys? OH! You climb..and climb and climb... Eventually the climb out of the valley was over and the road toward NY was AMAZING! We all got to 37.9 miles and then waited for the entire group to catch up so that we could take the ferry as a group into New York. Woot! we are officially out of New England. We were told that we were staying at a YMCA and had heard through the grapevines that we might even have beds, but we never expected that when we arrived we would be given not only beds, but access to the entire YMCA. And this YMCA was wonderful! It resembled more of a resort or a summer vacation destination rather than a regular YMCA. Although we were already tired we all took advantage of the tennis, kayaking, swimming, shuffleboard, sailing, archery and stuff like that. And of course the free bagel policy...aka when bagels are free, eat them..and save some for later.

have you ever seen Bethel Mountain?

2008-06-26T15:56:00.004-04:00

And in late breaking news...is me. My picture was in the Valley News Today (June 26). Since I haven't posted any photos of me on here...you can find it there and perhaps when I have access to a scanner can add it.

Today we rode our bikes from Lebanon, NH to Rochester, VT which was about 50 miles...and up Bethel Mountain. Which is steep and loooong (and when I say steep, I mean steep). I challenged myself to ride up the entire 6 miles of it without stopping or getting off my bike and succeeded. Yay!

Sadly it was pouring almost the entire trip except for when we were in Queeche (where I took the pictures) which prevented us from flying down the other side of the mountain too fast because it would've been to slippery (but still managed 51mph)

Lebanon Build day- Part 2

2008-06-26T15:42:00.005-04:00

Today was our last day in NH! The rain stayed away and we all worked really hard to finish up all the projects that we were expected to do. Half of the group worked on roofing in Norwich and the rest finished putting insulation on the Lebanon house.

Later that night we all went back to the church, had an amazing dinner and then cleaned up our mess (I'll leave you to imagine the impact and smell of 30 riders) and then all worked on our bicycles together to prepare for the long ride the next day.

Dartmouth Sponsored Habitat Home (Day 6)

2008-06-24T15:57:00.010-04:00

Today we split up out group of 30 and 12 of us went to the Dartmouth sponsored Habitat build site. It was a really good idea to break up the group so that we all had something to do during the day. Some of us were in charge of painting tar onto the foundation while some smacked metal hook things off the foundation. I was involved in smacking the metal hooks which took most of the morning.

Eventually once all the metal hooks that could be smacked, were smacked I moved on to cutting pieces of styrofoam insulation with Dan, Jessie, and Sharon. This was probably a one person job, but since there were enough of us we all pitched in and finished the days work by the time lunch was over. It was hard work..

New London to Lebanon

2008-06-23T12:50:00.004-04:00

Yay NH! Its pretty funny that we spend the longest amount of time in NH because it is one of the smallest states we go through. But I just arrived in Lebanon today, we rode here through pouring rain which was incentive to ride faster. We all covered a lot of ground in a little bit of time, we will be in Leb for the next couple days because there is a Habitat For Humanity build site that we will be going to. I think this is very cool!

Concord to New London

2008-06-23T12:41:00.005-04:00

This is the NH statehouse and some of us riders in our awesome jerseys, we look so good! Concord is really a pretty happening place, later that night there was a concert on the green and one entire street was shut down for a cultural awareness fair which was a lot of fun to walk around.

Somewhere along the way (around the 20th mile) during lunch break Christopher lured a butterfly to him by singing beautiful melodies...for a very long time. (and there was defiantly no jelly on his nose..)

The Tire Dip

2008-06-23T12:36:00.003-04:00

The first bicycle ride from Portsmouth to Concord felt like a really long one...probably because it was. We woke up at 5:30am today to get out on our bikes and head to the ocean to dip our tires. The weather was really nice for a first ride and the day went really smoothly.

The First Build Day

2008-06-23T12:29:00.005-04:00

Today we went to our first Habitat For Humanity build site in NH.

We were in charge of a lot of landscaping (spreading huge piles of dirt) and building a shed.

Although we didn't finish the shed in the one day that we were there we did make quite a dent in the project.

We got to meet the families who live in a couple of the habitat houses in the area which was really great, they were very nice. Habitat in this area only works on Saturdays when the local contractor can donate his time. I learned that it takes about 1 year to build a habitat house in this area for that reason.

Our FIRST ride together as a group.

2008-06-19T20:49:00.003-04:00

Thanks again to all my sponsors and donors, you guys are amazing and Bike and Build is such an amazing cause and this summer is going to be soooo amazing.

I'll start with yesterday. Thank you Michelle Erhard for driving me to Portsmouth, NH. We are staying at Holy Trinity church in Newington. The church is awesome and fed us pizza and BBQ (22 pizza's actually! Which is almost 1 pizza

per rider. I think that is a little much...so we've been eating the leftovers since then.

A lot of the riders are Dartmouth students and many New England locals, I think its a pretty great group. Chucky-Cheese's is right next door to the church and they donated tokens to our group so that we could go play some games.

This morning... we woke up at 7:30am (this is a day where we got to sleep in, holy moly...looks like I'll be a morning person by the end of the trip)

We were taught basic bike maintenance and then we went for a 10 mile practice ride around the mall as a giant group of 30. I think we were a little intimidating for traffic. This is the only time that we will be riding as such a large group. But we looked really snazzy all riding as a mass in the same jerseys.

Later that day we went over some safety and rules. Then we started to paint our trailer in our own special way for the trip. It hasn't been finished, but I think it will be cool! For dinner we went to another church that cooked us spaghetti and then we talked to a lady who works for Habitat around this area and will be assisting us at out first build site tomorrow. She seems really nice and I am excited to work tomorrow.

My first 'recent' tip over.

2008-06-14T17:18:00.005-04:00

Finally the spider bite blister thing on the arch of my foot has gone away enough so I can wear shoes again...Yay! Its really quite humid out, so obviously the correct choice is to go for a bike ride. We rode from Claremont to Newport, then back home through Unity which makes a 28 mile loop. Its a really nice ride, but there is a lot of road construction and many, many, many up hills! The reward however is a long downhill.

The other day while I was at some consignment shop in Newport I found a 2003 Prouty Jersey that I am pretty excited about. My Dad thinks its kind of lying to wear it but I think its pretty, plus I wouldn't have been very old in 2003 so there isn't a chance I would've ridden in it. I decided to sport the jersey today. It didn't give me any superpowers like speed or agility (like my spider bite did, clearly now I'm like spiderwoman) . I know that I didn't gain agility because I tipped over while I was standing with my bike under me.

The cool part of that is...

The cuts on my leg which are borderline really bada** if you ask me.

The lonely tandem bicycle.

2008-06-13T08:34:00.004-04:00

So yesterday I found a tandem bicycle looking very lonely in a free pile on the side of the road. I decided to bring it home to meet my family. As I was sneaking the rusty but wonderful find into the garage, my father came out "what is that?!" clearly it was a fixer-upper but would be wonderful if it worked. My mom came to check it out and offered to plant flowers all over it and use it as a decoration in the garden.

.........THE NEXT DAY..... I get home and my dad comes cruising up the driveway "I pumped up the tires!" I knew he would love a fixer-upper! Everyone got a turn on it, riding back and forth to the farmers market, and gaining a lot of good laughs. Needless to say I think that it is now a new member of the family.

$4,000 and Riding Baby!

2008-06-10T18:44:00.004-04:00

Thank you so much to all of my sponsors!
Green Mountain College- Make-A-Difference thank you for all your help with school and with this trip! People like everyone in this group are very special and should be really proud of all the good they do!

Mr. Christie- Thanks for letting me do some work with you and your building guys!oh yeah...I'm good at making particularly stupid faces...eep!Benjamin Mansfield-Thanks so much!

Evelyn Cummings/Dean Hill Pet Center- Thank you for your donation and giving me a place to work when I am home!
Paul Pappas- Thank you for your donation!
Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue Maki- Thank you for your donation and it was great seeing you up at the farm, I hope you have a good summer congrats on being grandparents!
The Aldrich Family- Thank you for letting me borrow your trainer to have at school and for your donation!
Theresa Kline- Thank you so much for your donation!
Jason Webber- Thanks so much, My dad said I may ride through your home town? If you're a cyclist you should catch up with us and take a ride!
Desilets Contracting- Thanks you for your help!
Tina and Bob Webb- Thank you for your donation it was really nice of you guys!
Grammy and Papa- Thanks for your donation and for checking up on my blog and all the rider status' I'll keep them more updated throug the summer I promise!
Keith Druhl- Thank you so much for your donation! Hopefully I'll make something to share with CCTV when I get back!
Gail and George Warmke- Thanks for your donation, It was really nice to see you the other weekend! I loved laughing with you guys and thinking about false teeth sewn to the front of prom dresses!

Today I mailed some donations that will put me at my goal of $4,000 AMAZING!!! Its hard to believe that in 8 days I'll be in Portsmouth for training and then hitting the road in 10 days, WOWZA!

Thank you all!!

"Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." -Mark Twain

2008-04-04T10:48:00.003-04:00

So I called Zanes in CT and soon the bicycle will be on my porch. Kim Starr was really helpful with getting me all the Info that I needed, Thanks. www.ezanes.com She even equipped us with a how to attach the pedals and handle bars manual, with live action movies! Score! ha ha ha.

I have new shoes for my bike, they will be fun to play with, Here is a joke to explain:

Q. Do you know what is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike?

A. The pavement.

I would also like to thank the Oberkotter Family Foundation for the scholarship for my books next year. You guys are doing me a huge favor, Thank you SOooooooo much!! I appreciate it very very very much!

Bike and thanks

2008-03-29T15:20:00.002-04:00

This is the baby i'm crossing the country with..mmhmm. Thanks to Aunt Germaine and Brian Morron for your donation. Thank you to the Lemieux family for your donation, It was nice seeing you guys the other night! Thanks for Claremont Cycle Depot for sizing me up...

Hey Cool Thanks Patrick!

2008-03-25T10:18:00.003-04:00

By Patrick O'Grady News Editor Swinging a hammer and pedaling a bike may not seem to have much in common but for Laura Maki of Claremont they are the perfect combination. Maki, 19, a sophomore at Green Mountain College, is planning on hammering and pedaling her way across the United States this summer with the organization Bike and Build. “It combines my passions,” said Maki, home recently on her winter break. While at Stevens High School, Maki said she was enrolled in the building trades program at the Sugar River Technical Center and for years has enjoyed bicycling. But it wasn't until a friend told her about Bike and Build that she saw an opportunity to do both things she loved, while helping others. The 4,000 miles bicycle trip from Portsmouth, N.H., to Vancouver, British Columbia, includes regular stops at affordable housing projects. “We have 10 sites so far, the first one is in Lebanon, N.H.,” Maki said. “We'll be helping Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, basically any affordable housing project.” To be part of the project that departs Portsmouth on June 18, Maki is busy trying to raise $4,000, a dollar a mile, for the van-supported ride. The money will go toward the housing projects. To that end, Maki has set up a blog on www.bikeandbuild.org. Under rider blogs, Maki’s name appears on the Northern U.S. route. The trip will take the group of about 20 riders across New Hampshire and Vermont and into New York State.The cyclists will dip below the Great Lakes region through Ohio and once past the southern edge of Lake Michigan, head north through Illinois and Wisconsin before turning west through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The expected arrival date in Vancouver is Aug. 24. “Our shortest day is 20 miles and the longest is 140,” Maki said. “We will be staying in churches, YMCAs, places like that. I’m really excited about getting started.” Maki is also hoping for an early spring to begin riding more miles in preparation. “Riding indoors is getting boring,” she said. Having been on work crews with the Student Conservation Association, Maki said she is aware of the physical demands of the trip but is confident her training and experience will help her complete the journey. Maki has raised about $1,000 so far. Anyone interested in making a donation can do so by going online at BikeandBuild and clicking on Maki’s blog or through the mail with checks made out to BikeandBuild and sent to Maki at 5 Hartford St., Claremont, N.H. 03743.

Why thank you.

2008-03-25T10:03:00.002-04:00

Thank you Janet and Ken Coulombe you guys are great! Thank you to Don and Wendy Woodman, it was nice seeing you at dinner!
I'm nearing on $2,000, almost halfway there. 89 (I think?) more days before I leave, woot. Thanks

Marro's is a great place

2008-03-20T16:09:00.002-04:00

Thank you Marro Home Center for your donation to Bike and Build. You guys are great, thanks for your note Patty.

I am now at $1605! Thank you About $2400 to go. Thanks all

Thank you guys.

2008-03-18T19:00:00.006-04:00

I would like to thank Patrick O'Grady for talking to me and printing an article about my trip in the Eagle Times, you are great!

Thank you to Marcy and Paul Obymako, Uncle Brad Schnyer and Aunt Kathy Schnyer, Chuck and Sue Ober, Don Taylor and Joan Coleman. You guys are making a huge difference in my summer and in the lives of the people I will be meeting along the way.

Thanks so much!

Thanks you!

2008-03-14T10:58:00.001-04:00

The first thing that I want to do is to thank my Grammy and Papa (Doug and Joanne Schnyer) for thier donation to my trip! Thank You so much!

The next wicked exciting thing is that I just got an e-mail about ordering my bike, woot! The next step that I will have to take is to go get sized up for it at Claremont Cycle Depot and then order it and perhaps go pick it up at Zanes in the lovely state of CT.

yay!

I love my sponsors

2008-03-05T18:22:00.003-05:00

Sorry,

I went back to school and then I couldn't access my blog but now I have a computer. Thank you to my most recent sponsors, Roy Funeral Home (Mr. Roy Thank you!) , The Gassett Family thank you guys soo much you are awesome! Thanks to Margie and Larry Thibodeau (I hope you are enjoying the warm GA weather, I'm really getting antsy for some warmth here). Thank you Betty Woodman and Stringer Funeral Home (Mr. stringer Thanks!) And My Mom thank you!

To this day I am at $950 woot! $3050 more to go!!

thank you guys...you all rock my socks.

donations?

2008-01-27T19:17:00.000-05:00

So yes...It has been a month since I have written, but my excuse will be that I haven't had access to a computer.

The Spring semester has just started here at GMC and I am looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to this bike and build trip, but I am really really nervous, because raising $4,000 seems a little crazy, but I'll have to keep faith. I'll get there.

Also If you are ever in Rutland, Vermont I reccomend checking out the pyramid center they have this really cool Himilayan Salt Cave that is a very peaceful place to visit and relax in. (its by appointment only, sooo look them up online, its worth it.)

Training

2008-01-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, Thank you to Mary Jane Eastman and Michael Ankuda! Thank You Marion Schettino for your donation to my trip!

At home in Claremont we have the stationary bike, located in my fathers office. I've been taking frequent rides through feilds of system analysis graphs and the valleys of understading controls and integration posters...sadly I still don't understand, perhaps the rest of the vacation on the stationary bike will help me understand. Somehow though, I think not.

I'm in the Rutland Herald!

2007-12-28T15:36:00.001-05:00

Sorry, I'm not very computer saavy, otherwise you would be able to read the little words, but they say
"Saturday marked a day to raise awareness across Rutland County. Dave Coppock (right) hands out "One Earth, One Chance" T-shirts to participants Laura Maki (left) and Megan Healy. At left, Coppock (front right) leads a group of bicyclists on the ride. The group started in Rutland and rode around the entire county."

I was pretty psyked to be involved in the ride, I got to meet some pretty cool cyclists in the Rutland area. Megan and I rode our mountain bikes for the ride, since neither of us have yet made the $1,000 mark, which is when Trek sponsors our road bikes. I can't wait to get there and then begin cycling, but for now I will be doing wintery things.

My First Donations

2007-12-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Today I'm really excited, because I recieved my first 3 donations!

Thank you to the Coppocks, the Haynes' and the Devengers, you guys are awesome! Your donations are very appreciated by me and will be very appreciated by the families I will meet along my way.

Right now I am home for Christmas Break, I am really enjoying my break. Since it is snowing I can't take my bike out for rides so I am snowboarding at Arrowhead. Arrowhead is such a cute little ski hill, they also have snow tubing there and thats pretty fun also.

Laura's Bike Route and Build Dates

2007-12-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

Date City - State Mi.
06/18 Portsmouth - NH 0
06/19 Portsmouth - NH 0
06/20 BUILD DAY 0
06/21 Concord - NH 65
06/22 New London - NH 38
06/23 Lebanon - NH 38
06/24 BUILD DAY 0

06/25 BUILD DAY 0
06/26 Rochester - VT 45
06/27 Silver Bay - NY 65
06/28 Indian Lake - NY 66
06/29 Boonville - NY 75
06/30 Palermo - NY 67
07/1 Rochester - NY 86

07/2 BUILD DAY 86
07/3 Lockport - NY 61
07/4 Niagara Falls - NY 20
07/5 Westfield - NY 90
07/6 Ashtabula - OH 90
07/7 Avon Lake - OH 67
07/8 BUILD DAY 67

07/9 Bowling Green - OH 97
07/10 Camden - MI 77
07/11 Edwardsburg - MI 75
07/12 Chicago - IL 90
07/13 BUILD DAY 0
07/14 Grayslake - IL 60
07/15 Janesville - WI 87

07/16 Madison - WI 43
07/17 DAY OFF 0
07/18 Gays Mills - WI 107
07/19 La Cross - WI 53
07/20 Pepin - WI 75
07/21 St. Paul - MN 70
07/22 Sandstone - MN 85

07/23 Duluth - MN 65
07/24 BUILD DAY 0
07/25 Grand Rapids - MN 77
07/26 Bemidji - MN 75
07/27 Crookston - MN 86
07/28 Devils Lake - ND 119
07/29 Rugby - ND 59

07/30 Minot - ND 66
07/31 DAY OFF 0
08/1 New Town - ND 75
08/2 TRNP - ND 64
08/3 Culbertson - MT 98
08/4 Wolf Point - MT 54
08/5 Glasgow - MT 49

08/6 Malta - MT 70
08/7 Chinook - MT 69
08/8 Chester - MT 85
08/9 Cut Bank - MT 67
08/10 Glacier Nat'l Park - MT 72
08/11 White Fish - MT 78
08/12 DAY OFF 0

08/13 Eureka - MT 52
08/14 Libby - MT 73
08/15 Sandpoint - ID 91
08/16 BUILD DAY 0
08/17 Chewelah - WA 72
08/18 Republic - WA 75
08/19 Omak - WA 64

08/20 Okanagun Nat'l Forest - WA 61
08/21 Rockport State Park - WA 82
08/22 Lynden - WA 74
08/23 BUILD DAY 0
08/24 Richmond - BC 55
08/25 Vancouver - BC 28

THE END! ~ 2 Months Later.