We spend the morning
Chasing down our shadows.
In the eve, ride away.
The last two nights we spent in Franklin, PA. We arrived on Thursday night and stayed with Pastor Sam at the Presbytarian Church there. He and two buddies came to meet us mid-day to bike in. They were all incredible cyclists; turns out Pastor Gibb has been cycling for 30 some years. He had interesting stories all around and was a perfect fit for our group. Besides being an avid cyclist (and bike mechanic, thank goodness), his church has also invested in a fixer-upper house in town. Instead of biking on to Youngstown, OH on Friday, we decided to stay and trade our day off for a build day with Pastor Sam. It was a relief to all because we hadn't built since Providence, and we have all been excited for that aspect of the trip as well. The enthusiasm was quite visible - Logan and I and others spent a good portion of the day in the attic ripping down walls and ceilings. The soot from the chimney and the dust from the blown-in insulation left us all looking like a crew of coal miners (see the 9th photo in Volume D of the P2S gallery here: http://www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,68/), prompting one of the volunteer construction workers to ask me at the end of the day, "You grow up on a farm?" I was flattered.
Right now, Bronwyn and I are taking our time getting to our destination. We have about 2 miles to go and have been at this point for almost 2 hours now. We stopped at Walgreen's to get her photos on a CD, and now we're at a little library so I can try to get my photos uploaded. (See http://rlaskey.org/gallery)
Oh, don't want to forget Les and Elaine, two farmers we met today at our lunch stop about 30 miles into the ride. They were a cute and generous older couple with three daughters who had since moved away. Les and Elaine run a 350 acre farm growing corn, wheat, and soybeans. They let Sarah park the trailer in their yard and talked with us all during lunch. Elaine even brought us out fresh cantaloupe and juice. They were both quick as a whip and had both funny and serious stories. They had once gone to Poland for a year for Les' work. I asked what she thought of the people there, she said, "Same as here. Some nice, some not. You realize that when you get older. People are the same everywhere."
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance
I'm writing from the Thad's computer. He's the manager here at the YMCA in Warren, PA. I'm trying to upload photos but unfortunately it just seems to go at a snails pace, so bear with me. You can always view what I have in my gallery here.
Today's ride was about 70 beautiful miles. We seem to have left most of the big mountains behind at this point, but we're still left with some hefty rolling hills and most of all - strong head winds. On PA-6 this morning, Bronwyn and I were flagged down by a woman on the side of the road waving her arms and her camera. She was from the Bradford Era, a local newspaper. She took our picture with Sam who showed up a few minutes later and talked with us for about 20 minutes about the mission and the ride.
It wasn't until a few days ago when I rode with Amelia that I felt like I really understood the overused phrase, "Enjoy the ride." That day, though, I felt like every second was enjoyable, and I learned how to really enjoy it all -- the mountains, the scenery, the strong headwinds and all. I've been conscious of that feeling since, and trying to focus on really enjoying every day's ride. Today was no exception.
Alright, gotta head out. As always, there's so much more I could say. Looking forward to our next build day on Saturday.
Today's ride was about 70 beautiful miles. We seem to have left most of the big mountains behind at this point, but we're still left with some hefty rolling hills and most of all - strong head winds. On PA-6 this morning, Bronwyn and I were flagged down by a woman on the side of the road waving her arms and her camera. She was from the Bradford Era, a local newspaper. She took our picture with Sam who showed up a few minutes later and talked with us for about 20 minutes about the mission and the ride.
It wasn't until a few days ago when I rode with Amelia that I felt like I really understood the overused phrase, "Enjoy the ride." That day, though, I felt like every second was enjoyable, and I learned how to really enjoy it all -- the mountains, the scenery, the strong headwinds and all. I've been conscious of that feeling since, and trying to focus on really enjoying every day's ride. Today was no exception.
Alright, gotta head out. As always, there's so much more I could say. Looking forward to our next build day on Saturday.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Apologies for the delay
It's strange. The internet was such an intergral part of my life pre-B&B that I never imagined it to be so elusive. I am here for 14 more minutes on this library computer in Clark Summit, PA. I am trying to upload some photos, so as long as that works as I'm writing this, you can check them all in "Terra's Gallery" here.
I have been having a wonderful time and can't even begin to explain the trip in words, much less rushed words. Yesterday I woke up with a song stuck in my head, but the only lyrics I could remember were "sun, sun, sun"...it's a song called Burgundy Shoes by Patty Griffin, if you care to fill in the blanks. I awoke in a cabin in White Lake, NY to a beautiful sunny day and a large brown cow outside my window. It had migrated over through the woods from the farm next door. A bit of a rude awakening as I stumbled out to the bathroom and remembered Pastor Dave's warning about the family of bears nearby. I had a great day biking with Amelia as sweep riders - maybe even the best day I've had so far. We passed over very hilly but less mountainous terrain (two days ago we climbed a 4-mile long hill...followed by an AMAZING 2 or 3 mile decent). Nothing beats hitting nearly 50mph on a bike.
As we came into the Delaware river valley, we stopped to take pictures and were approached by a woman from the Narrowsburg (sp?) River Reporter. She took our names, a photo, and our story and will likely be publishing an article next Thursday or Friday, so be sure to check it out. Amelia and I crossed the river after a while and stopped to take a picture at the Pennsylvania state sign. Luckily, there were a row of cars for sale parked randomly beneath the sign (weird, right?) so we had a perfect prop for the self-timed camera. As soon as we passed into PA, the road size and form changed. It was suddenly made of some red material and there was absolutely no shoulder. The drivers were a little more cranky, too, but overall not too bad. We biked on and on, eventually hitting our lunch stop around 12:30. We left lunch for the remaining 40 miles around 2:15. By the time we had covered the rest of the route it was almost 7pm, but the scenery we passed through was so beautiful I couldn't complain one bit. Also, at the slower pace, my legs felt extremely strong, the strongest they've felt so far. Even still, they're enjoying the day off today.
Today was supposed to be a build day, but instead, we helped out a local high school Habitat Chapter in raising money for their trip to West Virginia to build in the spring. They held a car wash in the parking lot of the church where we're staying - Our Lady of the Snows. So, we all rolled out of bed at approximately 8:45am (I couldn't believe I actually slept that late) and right out to the car wash at 9. It ws the most successful car wash I've ever been a part of - we raised $847!
Tomorrow, we're off to Towanda, PA. We have about 7,000 feet to climb, but over the whole course we'll actually be decending a few hundred feet. Oh, and last night over a few beers, Tommy and I just may have made our Seattle-San Francisco trip approximately 1,200 miles longer...Sante Fe, anyone?
I have been having a wonderful time and can't even begin to explain the trip in words, much less rushed words. Yesterday I woke up with a song stuck in my head, but the only lyrics I could remember were "sun, sun, sun"...it's a song called Burgundy Shoes by Patty Griffin, if you care to fill in the blanks. I awoke in a cabin in White Lake, NY to a beautiful sunny day and a large brown cow outside my window. It had migrated over through the woods from the farm next door. A bit of a rude awakening as I stumbled out to the bathroom and remembered Pastor Dave's warning about the family of bears nearby. I had a great day biking with Amelia as sweep riders - maybe even the best day I've had so far. We passed over very hilly but less mountainous terrain (two days ago we climbed a 4-mile long hill...followed by an AMAZING 2 or 3 mile decent). Nothing beats hitting nearly 50mph on a bike.
As we came into the Delaware river valley, we stopped to take pictures and were approached by a woman from the Narrowsburg (sp?) River Reporter. She took our names, a photo, and our story and will likely be publishing an article next Thursday or Friday, so be sure to check it out. Amelia and I crossed the river after a while and stopped to take a picture at the Pennsylvania state sign. Luckily, there were a row of cars for sale parked randomly beneath the sign (weird, right?) so we had a perfect prop for the self-timed camera. As soon as we passed into PA, the road size and form changed. It was suddenly made of some red material and there was absolutely no shoulder. The drivers were a little more cranky, too, but overall not too bad. We biked on and on, eventually hitting our lunch stop around 12:30. We left lunch for the remaining 40 miles around 2:15. By the time we had covered the rest of the route it was almost 7pm, but the scenery we passed through was so beautiful I couldn't complain one bit. Also, at the slower pace, my legs felt extremely strong, the strongest they've felt so far. Even still, they're enjoying the day off today.
Today was supposed to be a build day, but instead, we helped out a local high school Habitat Chapter in raising money for their trip to West Virginia to build in the spring. They held a car wash in the parking lot of the church where we're staying - Our Lady of the Snows. So, we all rolled out of bed at approximately 8:45am (I couldn't believe I actually slept that late) and right out to the car wash at 9. It ws the most successful car wash I've ever been a part of - we raised $847!
Tomorrow, we're off to Towanda, PA. We have about 7,000 feet to climb, but over the whole course we'll actually be decending a few hundred feet. Oh, and last night over a few beers, Tommy and I just may have made our Seattle-San Francisco trip approximately 1,200 miles longer...Sante Fe, anyone?
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