BICYCLES

I am now sitting in a beautiful public library in LIVE OAK, FLORIDA, home of _____. I'm not actually sure what Live Oak is home too, but there are a couple of things I do know: it has multiple fast food restaurants, multiple grocery stores, and multiple sporting goods stores, which makes it bigger than ALL of the towns we passed through today. Or at least most of them.

Today was many things. Today was the day that I got a flat tire (!!!!!!) I needed a lot of help changing it. But I assisted in at least 25 percent of the endeavor, and I think 25% is an honorable percentage. PLUS if that isn't enough for you... I still have grease stains on my legs. Delicious. Tangentially, I also have a great farmer's tan.

Today was also the day we biked for 55 miles on one long flat road known as I-90. We stopped for lunch at a great petting zoo with poor helpless malnourished mistreated exotic animals. There was also a Christian rock band.

Which brings me to my next topic: Christianity. IT IS EVERYWHERE. "Happy Father's Day; Real fathers love God" is my favorite billboard so far. There have been about 400000 churches so far along our route. We have also been staying in churches and showering at megachurches and basically, God is very present in my life. Which is great.

As for biking, I am a member of what we have dubbed, alternately, Team Tardy, Team Terrible, Team Terrific, and Team Tenacious. Basically what we're trying to say is that we go slowly. See the scenes. Snap some shots.

Yesterday we biked 60 miles, from Jacksonville to Glen St Mary, a town which was the smallest of small. We spent about 15 of those miles on a Rail Trail with, get this, NO CARS. Hilarious jokes were cracked, lifelong memories were formed.

The day before that we had our first "build day", working with Beaches Habitat in Jacksonville. I felt very magnanimous at the end. I laid sod. WOW do I dislike laying sod. But at the end we had created a lawn where only dirt had been before. TEAMWORK IN ACTION. Matthew and I also put up shutters. I even used a powerdrill and I only messed up 3 times. We put one shutter on upside down. Then we realized our mistake, fixed it, and proceeded to put the next shutter on upside now. The shutters were blue and beautiful, and they really tied the house together.

IN CONCLUSION, I hope all of you are well, and don't worry about praying for me because the whole state of Florida seems to be already.

this is a blog about me and my bike

hi family, friends, anonymous people who can but probably will not read this blog. i am a little afraid of the idea of a blog (self-indulgent?) but here it is. a blog!

background: this summer, i am riding my bike three thousand and something something miles from jacksonville, florida to san francisco, california. i have raised over $4000 for affordable housing/this trip (thanks guys) and the trip will give me an opportunity to meet the people who will benefit from that money, raise awareness about issues surrounding affordable housing, build some houses (yikes), get some great tan lines (yikes), clad myself in spandex and swelter in the southern heat.... etc.

i am flying to jacksonville tomorrow via charlotte, where i will unite with my dear friend matthew (from cityterm) so that we can strategize about how to present ourselves to "the group." i think i have it in my head that bike and build will be like survivor without the coconuts, or big brother without the mod houses, or celebrity fit club without screech. anyway. perhaps matthew and i will color-coordinate our outfits.

and then i will be off (!)

here is our full itinerary

and here is a link to the communal and perchance more neatly polished and less biased/judgmental group blog

and here is a link to a minor secondary news information source if you find our/my reporting inadequate

and i believe that that is all, for now.

except if you want to send me food or gifts or other tokens of affection here are our mail drops:

June 21st Milton FL
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
5111 Dogwood DR
Milton, FL 32570-9998

Jun 28th New Orleans LA
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
610 S Maestri PL
New Orleans, LA 70130-3429

Jul 5th Natchitoches LA
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
240 Saint Denis ST
Natchitoches, LA 71457-9998

Jul 12th Wichita Falls Tx
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
1000 Lamar ST
Wichita Falls, TX 76301-9995

Jul 19th Las Vegas NM
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
1900 Hot Springs Blvd
Las Vegas, NM 87701-9997

Jul 26th Ship Rock NM
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
91 Highway 491 S
Shiprock, NM 87420-9998

Aug 9th Lake Tahoe CA
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
7005 N Lake Blvd
Tahoe Vista, CA 96148-9800

Aug 16th San Francisco CA
General Delivery
C/O Bike and Build- Rider's Name
450 Golden Gate AVE
San Francisco, CA 94102-366