25 July 2009

Duluth, MN! We're about half-way across the country now. I don't want the summer to end, so I'm just going to take it day-by-day and not think about tomorrow until it's today. We had a build day today and accomplished A LOT!!! All 30 of us were there, on site, and working on the same house. I helped to put up staging, dig some dirt, nail up some hurricane clips, and put up some plywood sheets on the roof trusses. Another group put up all of the trusses today, obviously before putting on the plywood, so it now looks like a house! It was incredible to see such a transformation today. So far, this has probably been my favorite build day (too bad we only have one more).



Yesterday, the ride from "Sandstone," MN (we really stayed in Askov, MN) to Duluth was nice and relatively short at about 60 miles. The day before was 110 miles. So, back to the ride from Askov to Duluth...it wasn't as easy as one would think, even though it was flat. You see, the night before (which was after our 110 mile ride) we camped out in the yard of Jim, the director of Habitat for Humanity in the Askov/Sandstone area (I believe). Some people decided to sleep on his porch, others slept in tents. Those on the porch were eaten alive by mosquitoes until it started to rain, and by rain I mean buckets of water were pouring out of the sky along with lightening and thunder. That, I am told, chased the bugs away. Most of those who slept in the tents were drenched by the aforementioned rain. I was in one of those tents...that were completely soaked. Therefore, nobody got any sleep. So, around 9am, when I was riding with Laura, I could have easily stopped and taken a nap. And, we were on a really nice bike path for 47 miles!!! It was so nice. The bumps and holes were even spray painted so that we could see them from afar.

The 110 mile day from St. Paul to Askov ("Sandstone" on the website) was also really nice. It was pretty easy riding, no really big hills and not a strong headwind. I rode with several different people throughout the day, too. It is interesting how 90+ mile days feel like three days. Part of that is probably because of the two lunches we have. If I have already mentioned that, sorry...I'm beginning to forget where I have written what.

It's getting late...time for sleep.

Don't want the summer to end.