Sweet Home Alabama!

Whew! So sorry for not updating for an entire state!! But in my defense, we blew through the state in four days (including a build day) and we had very little internet access throughout.

So. I believe I left you before our first century day. Wow that seems like 10,000 years ago. Anyway... The first century was great for me, even though it turned out to be 121 miles!!! On days of 90+ miles we get two lunches, and the first third of the ride flew by. Everyone was pretty pumped up about riding a century, and we were able to get out of the metropolitan area pretty quickly. The ride continued to go smoothly until second lunch; I was definitely ready for a break, but it didn't seem that weird to get back on the bike afterwards, even though usually we would be done by then. For awhile I was with a fairly big group, until we stopped a railway bridge over a river. Everyone was just hanging out, but I was getting pretty anxious to get to the border, so Laura and I took off ahead. We hit a gravel road but since that's what was on the cue sheet, we went down it anyway. We hit pavement soon, but the roads were not marked at all (an annoying commonality in the rural South, it seems) so we asked a man mowing his long to direct us to the highway. His directions seemed quite straight forward, so we went on our way. 15 or 20 minutes later though, Ben called, saying the group had been rerouted to avoid the gravel road. When we explained that we were already quite a way's past the road, and headed to the highway we wanted to end up at, he told us to just keep going.

And so we went. And went. And went and went and went. We were in pretty good spirits; I was being unusually goofy (as in, goofy to an unusually high degree. I realize it's not unusual for me to be goofy) and was having a great time making Laura laugh. It even distracted us from all the hills were going up and down and up and down. Finally, after an hour or so, we hit the highway, only to discover that the westward direction of the highway was going more or less back the same way we had just come. At that point though we just wanted to get there, so we headed west and soon spotted two Bike and Builders up ahead. Yay! People! We're going the right way! We were shocked to discover though, that it was sweep (the two riders who have to stay in the back of the pack). Since Laura and I fell off the map, they were instructed to wait for us before continuing on. We were flabbergasted that after starting in the front, we were now dead last.

The last 10 miles were pretty challenging, since we were already far over mileage for the day. It remained hilly, and while none of the hills were all that remarkable by themselves, a hill that is a non-issue at mile 20 can be rather irksome at mile 110. There were multiple signs saying we had entered Hartwell, but no town in sight, and at the crest of every hill we were simply greeted by another one. Finally, at long last, we arrived at the church with the sun low in the sky. All of our efforts were rewarded handsomely though, with our first genuine southern fried chicken dinner, provided by the church. After dinner we were all pretty exhausted; all I could manage were my chores and a phone call to SDL before collapsing in bed.

The next day we were in store for 87 miles, which became 97 after rerouting from road closures. I found this day pretty swell also. It was hilly--there were three hills which were by far my longest ever, one was over 2 miles! They were tough, but even while climbing (and certainly while descending!) I felt healthy and vigorous and happy to be alive. Several folks had a particularly tough time that day, but I really felt rather peppy throughout the entire thing. I entertained (or annoyed) my companions by singing Beatles tunes and having a solo dance party on my bike. I did end up getting a little lost when we were coming into Birmingham. We were going through some really gorgeous neighborhoods with amazing, unique houses (I later learned that Oliver used to live on one of the streets we biked down!) but we also had to navigate busy streets with plenty of drivers unused to seeing cyclists on the road.

The next two nights we stayed at the Habitat for Humanity volunteer headquarters, and they had BUNKBEDS! That's right, we had two nights in which we didn't sleep on the floor. I was also delighted to find a little nook with a mirror in which to practice--at school I almost always practice with a mirror and this was the first time on this trip I've been able to.

Our build day in Birmingham was my favorite yet. We were working on the finishing touches on two houses. I spent the morning making shelves for a closet with David and Steph, and I got to use power tools! Yes! I have to admit, I did feel pretty badass when I was cutting boards with a loud power saw.

The site supervisor was a very interesting guy. He was recently released from prison for bank robbery, and is a former drug addict, a sad after effect of the car accident which killed his wife and son in 1996. But I tell you, he is one of the happiest people I've ever seen. At lunch he was all smiles and wanted to tell us all "how good the Lord has been to me." He was constantly cracking jokes, rhapsodizing about how much he loves his job ("you couldn't drag me away from Habitat with a team of horses"), and even recited some Edgar Allen Poe poems, which I thought was the best thing ever (people don't recite poetry often enough, says I). It was very moving for me to see someone who had endured so much tragedy and hardship look around and see all the blessings in his life and be joyful about it.

Well, I still have two days to update, but my time is about up on the library computer so I'll have to save those for next time. Hopefully we'll have internet again soon! But for now, I'll just say that: I'm in Mississippi for the first time in my life, and have found many things interesting, not the least of which is the fact that I often have a hard time understanding people. True Southern drawls are no joke!