Boise, ID Day off Ontario, OR

Boise, ID Day off Ontario, OR

Ride to Boise was short and sweet, lots of downhill, 38 miles, avg mph
for everyone was pretty close to 20, and we arrived there by 10 am. So
it was like we had two days off really. I spent some time napping and
reading by the river and then we got some pizza after exploring
downtown Boise a little. It's a very cool town, the most civilization
we have seen in over a week or more. That night we recieved some very
sad news from the Bike & Build office. Paige Hicks, a leader on the
Providence to Seattle trip, was hit and killed by a truck earlier that
day. Now I don't know if you've picked up on this from reading my
blog, but Bike & Build is a family. Even though only two people from
our group actually were aquainted with her, we all felt as if we had
lost a sister. This is B &B love. We talked, cried, prayed, hugged,
cried more and attempted to comfort each other in our loss. I cannot
imagine what their team and her family is going through right now.
Keep them in your prayers and thoughts. Paige's energy and legacy
lives in through us. We ride for Paige.

On our actual day off we slept in! In the morning everyone was still
quite somber, and we took it easy. I enjoyed expiring the local co-op
and then a picnic by the river. The Boise river and park in which we
ate was beautiful, and I spent a lot of time reading and journaling.
Then I was able to explore the Anne Frank memorial, which consisted of
quote walls! Including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights-which
I love. I sincerely enjoyed the whole thing. Then coffee shop then
bakc to the church for dinner. After dinner we started discussing our
grant applications. This is going to be hard, selecting who get money
and who doesn't and how much and who can use it best but also who
needs it most and how it will make the biggest difference. I'm excited
though, this will be great.

Ontario, OR 62 miles
Our last state!!!! This is insane how far we have come. We biked here
from Virginia!! From the Atlantic ocean!!!! Crazy!!!! Anyway, it was
nice and flat all day with no headwind! Emma and I were rather unlucky
however and had to change 5 tires between the two if us before the
state line! And then, after a stop at McDonalds my rear tire was flat
again, but not very so I thought I could just pump it up and ride the
remaining .25. Wrong. My tire developed boils all over, it was the
strangest thing. Dime size bubbles appeared all over, bummer. I still
rode it to the church because we were so so close and didn't feel like
changing any more tires. The culprit of the many flat tires turned out
to be thorns, and almost everybody got flats today. No worries however-
I put on a differen tire and hopefully everything will be good as new
tomorrow. Mail day was today! Thank you to Aunt Dianne and Uncle Don
and Summer for your letters, they were very encouraging. Also we
finished up reviewing the grant applications and we start makin
decisions tomorrow evening. Oh boy! Only 9 days left!!!!!!! Eeeeeeek.

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Challis, Stanley, Idaho City

mountains, going fast, mountains, biking, GRAND VIEW CANYON, headwinds, pizza, ranch/resort, babbling brook, beach, mountains, forest, pond, food, warm fuzzies, town hall, reviewing grant applications, stargazing, sleeping outside, cuddling,

21!!!!!, cold morning, decorated birthday bike, sweep, mountains, birthday pie at local restaurant, streams, Salmon river, desert, biking, mountains, Clayton, ID population 26 museum, natural hotsprings swimming and relaxing, SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINS, rivers, streams, ice cream, 60 miles, camping-in the most BEAUTIFUL PLACE IMAGINABLE, running through sprinklers, slip n slide, mountains, fields, sun, wine, friends, conversations, peace, love, serenity, Stanley, ID population 100 bar, a couple birthday drinks, sleeeeeeeeeep.

FREEZING MORNING, 38 degrees, frost covered clothes, rough start, hot tea, big brother, biking, mountains, evergreen forests, 91 miles, two endless mountains, GREAT descents, 42 mph, mountains, lovely scenery, great conversations and biking group, cold shower, being able to bike 91 miles over 2.5 mountains the day after my 21st birthday, shower, food, sleep.

MOUNTAINS
i kind of really love mountains...a lot.
currently in Boise, ID-rest day tomorrow! short day today, only 38 miles and we arrived in town by 10am. Spent some time by the river, and at the coffee shop.

love you all
kristen

Idaho Falls build day, Arco, ID

Idaho Falls build day, Arco, ID
Slept in until 7:30am! We biked to the current Habitat ReStore and
office, where we met Karen, the new Executive director, who shared
with us the goals of this affiliate. They are hoping to go from
building one house to four houses a year with the help of their new
ReStore! So that is what we were doing all day, helping to prepare
their new ReStore by painting and staining both the inside and
outside. It looked great once we finished! Came back to the church to
shower and then I opened mail, this was the best mail drop ever!!!
Mainly because it is my birthday soon!! I got a card with stickers
from Kelly, a package from Summer with chocolate, flowers and a
promised massage, bike ride, and volunteering event, a package from
Aunt Dianne and Uncle Don with an AWESOME bike tshirt and gummy
candies, a package with many delicious snacks from Kathi, and my
birthday package from my family which was AMAZING. I got a glass duck
from Kevin, peace earings and a bracelet from Ryan, and.... a photo
album filled with pictures of family and friends wishing me a happy
21st birthday!!! And everyone wrote me birthday notes! It was SO SO
GREAT!!!! Thank you to everyone who was a part of that, it made me so
happy- I've been happy every day and was unsure if I could get any
happier, but this definitley made this my best birthday ever!!!! And
it isn't even my b-day yet!
After opening mail we went to the pastor's house for a massive and
great BBQ, and watched ourselves on two news stations!! What a great
summer evening.

Arco, ID 70 miles
Great day and ride. Lots of great conversations and we visited the
first nuclear power plant/museum! Rode through a lot if desert and
nothingness, and it got hot, but that's alright- we made it. Spaghetti
dinner with elk meat pasta sauce and watermelon for supper. Then a
bike clinic in which one child showed up, thirty minutes late, to fix
his bike. It was nice to be around kids again though, we also had the
two pastors kids to hang out with. A nice relaxing evening, but I
didn't clean my bike like I should have-that's what tomorrow morning
is for I guess!

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Pinedale, Jackson, WY, Idaho Springs, ID

Pinedale, Jackson, WY, Idaho Springs, ID

Century number 2! We biked 101 miles to Pinedale, WY!! Today was the
beginning of our photo scavenger hunt, and I was a memeber of team USA
with Alyson, Caroline, Will P and Mark. The hunt consited of taking
pictures with live animals, doing yoga poses, in firemen outfits and
much more. It was a lot of fun riding together as a group, especially
because we normally ride with all different people. A little after
second lunch (yes, another two lunch day!), the skies opened up and we
were pelted with rain, hail, and such and intense headwind we were
working as hard to pedal downhill as when we pedalled uphill. It was a
little frustrating. But that was the only bad part of the day. In
total we visited some horses, a llama farm, a fire department and got
to enjoy 101 miles of beautiful Wyoming. Once we arrived in Pinedale
we were greeted once again with immense generosity. There were snacks
and goodies and sodas waiting for us, along with a hint of what was
going to be provided for dinner. I told the wonderful woman who was
preparing some zucchini qnd red peppers for the grill, along with her
husband, about the garden my parents had back home and how excited I
was for the grilled zucchini. Then I was able to talk to many dear
friends from home, which was very very nice but it made me late to
dinner. This didn't bother me in the least as I prefer to go last in
the first place, but the husband noticed that there wasn't any
zucchini left for me, and was clearly upset. He went to the grocery
store, bought and grilled more zucchini! This is the kind of amazingly
generous and kind people we are encountering!

Jackson, WY
The ride in was great, the Teton Mountains looking bigger and more
beautiful with each mile. Everything we are seeing is just stunning.
Finished up the scavenger hunt and arrived at a house about 7 miles
outside of Jackson Hole, WY. We camped out at the Ambler's just
because they are a kind couple. Some slept in tents, some in the
garage, some on the deck, and some (like me) in the back yard-which
was the PERFECT place for stargazing. Located out in the country, we
were surounded by beautiful fields with wildflowers, horses and cows
grazing together, and of course the wonderous backdrop of the
mountains and hills. Words cannot describe the serenity and beauty of
this place.
The next day was a rest day, so we managed to sleep in until 8, after
an initial wakeup when the sun was rising. I spent the morning
journaling, reading, and soaking in the beauty of the mountains. When
people ask me what is my favorite part of the trip, I first say the
people and then the mountains. I have no idea how I will handle being
in flat Michigan in a few short weeks. Later we went to the Grand
Teton National Park and saw some herds of bison, then into downtown
Jackson to explore. It's a great town! Back to the Amblers for dinner.
There was laughing, singing, eating, drinking, dogs, wonderful weather
and scenery, great conversation and people. A recipe for a perfect
summer evening. After judging the photo hunt pictures, it was time for
a little more stargazing before drifting off to sleep.

Idaho Falls, ID
Epic day. Climbed Grand Teton pass, which is one of our steepest
climbs this summer. About 5 miles of 10% and higher grade. As each one
of us reached the top, we were first greeted by Sharif waving the
American flag and then Will Green carrying speakers with music, all
cheering us on. Then came Joe with the cowbell and a high five and the
rest of the group cheering and making a spirit tunnel. Lots of yelling
and adreneline rush. Once everyone made it to the top, we had a dance
party celebrating our accomplishment. We climbed another mountain!!!
After the descent we all got world famous huckleberry milkshakes
before continuing the remaining 70 miles to Idaho falls. When lunch
was over, I was filled with energy and went descently fast over some
more uphills and downhills both. Then some annoying construction, a
stop at Wendys, and we arrived at the church greeted by three sweet
girls who showed us where to put our bikes and where we were sleeping.
Dinner was great, a baked potato bar! We are in a new state after all,
yeah Idaho!!! I sat with this marvolous woman named Shirly who
reminded me of my grandma. So so sweet, this church has been my
favorite so far I think, they are extra kind and nice and thoughtful.
Build day tomorrow!!!

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Steamboat Springs rest day, Maybell, CO, Vernal, UT, Flaming Gorge, UT, Rock Springs, WY

Steamboat Springs rest day, Maybell, CO, Vernal, UT, Flaming Gorge,
UT, Rock Springs, WY

Rest day was relaxing, slept in, went out for breakfast, spent a LOT
of time at the coffee book shop again, bike shop, art gallery, made
dinner and then..... HOT SPRINGS. Strawberry Springs- they were great.
Very natural, outdoor rock pools with hot hot waters and warm water
and cold water from mountain springs. So nice and peaceful.

Maybell, Co we were camping, middle of nowhere. It stormed again, and
we made dinner in the trailer and served it in the girls bathroom! It
was crazy. Everyone went to bed early because there really wasn't
anything to do bu talk and sleep. So that we did.

The ride to Vernal, UT was fun. A dinosaur theme for the day because
we were bikin through Dinosaur, CO and ending in the dinosaur capital
of the world! Crossing state lines is so much fun! Utah is beautiful,
and I couldn't help but picture prehistoric life roaming around the
lands we were biking through. Once in Vernal, and after showering and
dinner, I did a lot of bike maintenance. With the help of Andy, I put
on a new bike computer, break pads, tires, and cleaned my chain and
cassette. Whew!! Like a new bike- it was fun and relaxing.

Flaming Gorgeous! Wow. I'm having a hard time taking in all these
amazing views and realizing that this is real, that I am biking
through them. So so beautiful! Lots if climbing and then a great
descent. Camping again, so I hiked a little ways fot find some quite
time in nature at the edge of a cliff. Absolutely magnificent! Later
we had a campfire and told stories while eating smores. This was after
our town hall meeting, in which we read warm fuzzies, and talk about
our highs and lows of the week, along with any other business the
leader might have. Much later, after watching the fire die, Will P and
I discussed fate, God and life in general while watching the stars,
laying on a picnic table. It was the most amazing night sky I have
seen in my entire life. We could see the whole milky way arch, many
shooting stars, and everything was so crisp and pure and bright and
beautiful. It was EXTREMELY difficult to pull myself away from the
stars to crawl into my tent for the night.

Rock Spring, WY
Another amazingly beautiful state! I am in awe for almost every ride!
Well except for when it is very steep or ther is a strong headwind.
Lots more uphills and downhills. This church provided us a potluck
dinner, which is always our favorite, especaly after 6 days of cooking
for ourselves. Currently watching Harry Potter on the projector in the
sanctuary while eating some donated snack food! The people here are
VERY generous! Only three weeks left :(

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Estes Park, Granby, Kremling, Steamboat Springs

Estes Park, Granby, Kremling, Steamboat Springs

As you can very well see, blogging has taken somewhat of a back burner
here in the Great state of Colorado. Everyday here has been absolutely
amazing. Currently blogging from a place called "coffee books friends"
definitely my kind if place.

The ride to Estes Park was hard, we had to climb some pretty steep
hills- but beautiful. The descent into the town itself was by far the
best downhill ride of the trip thus far. Perfect weather (well
everyday has been sunny, we are in the state where it's sunny 300 days
a year after all) and a gorgeous view while zooming down at 30 mph-
very satisfying after the tough morning climb. The place we stayed was
Eagle Rock school, which was this fantastic private school for
troubled youth funded completely by Honda. I encourage you to look it
up and check it out!

The day of Granby was the best day of the trip thus far- on so many
different levels! Every other day I feel like I say "today was the
best day ever" but really- this day was something special. The morning
began with homemade breakfast burritos, homemade granola, yogurt and
blueberries-all provided by Judy, a volunteer at her local Habitat who
has been providing the meals for the Bike and Build teams for the past
six years! She was so great, as well as her food (she made a delicious
dinner the night previous as well). As we were finishing breakfast,
Will P got everyone's attention and began to read a poem-to ask me out
to the Bike & Build Prom which was to occur that night. The very
eloquent and clever poem worked it's magic and I accepted the
invitation as well as the flowers he had picked. It was very sweet. On
to the ride. WOW, words cannot describe adaquately the beauty that is
Rocky Mtn Nat Park and Trail Ridge Road. The entire day I could not
keep the smile off my face. If you don't know, Trail Ridge road takes
you to an elevation of 12,183 feet up a mountain. I biked that! Little
Kristen biked up another mountain, a bigger mountain! Pictures cannot
even begin to do this beauteous creation and nature justice. There was
a Very strong headwind at the top of the mountains which almost
knocked several of us off our bikes! But we all made it. There was
snow at the top and I was able to utilize my arm and leg warmers.
Wildlife we saw: marmots, elk, moose, deer, prarie dogs, and lots of
birds. Another thing we saw was the 4k for Cancer bike group- who are
are also bikin across this country for a noble cause. The downhill was
nice, not quite as pretty as the ride up, but still beautiful. It was
almost easy biking up the mountain because there were so many
wonderful things to look at to destract me from the fact that I was
crawling slowly up at 3-4 mph in my lowest granny gear. Anywho...after
we arrived in Granby and a visit to thrift store for some last minute
prom acessories, preparation for prom began. This was a big deal- and
had been in the works for weeks. There was a prom comittee, photo
station, decorations, and voting for prom court and prom king and
queen. Soon everyone dressed in the best (or worst/wacky) outfit they
had put together after several visits to Goodwill or local trift
stores. My dress was green and I wore a sparkly gold jacket with
shoulder pads. It was absolutley fabulous, the only thing that could
have made it better was if we could have seen the fireworks- but after
waiting on the playground with Will and Jen for thirty minutes without
any luck, we headed back to the dance floor. Someone (Noah I think)
had the bright idea of turning on everyone's blinky bike head and tail
lights, so that made it seem much more like a real dance. We had so
much fun! The night ended perfectly with star gazing, seeing the milky
way and shooting stars, and sleeping outside surrounded by peace,
love, stars and mountains. What a perfect day.

The next morning we got to sleep in! For one, we had a late night with
prom, two it was the fourth of July, and three it was only a 26 mile
ride to Kremling-downhill!! So we didn't leave until after 12, some
time at a local coffee shop and Lots of cleaning. The ride proved to
be a little more difficult than expected, due to a very strong
headwind. We've experienced more wind in Colorado than Kansas! Our
arrival at the campsite was followed by unloading the trailer and
pitching tents. This was our first time camping! So much fun! Because
this week I am on dinner crew, we made some rice, beans and hot dogs
mixture with some salad. Still very windy and the temperature dropped
rapidly. I put many layers of clothes on and was still cold. We walked
to downtown Kremling to watch the 4th of July fireworks which they
shoot off the cliff. Slept wonderfully in a tent bundled up, but
waking up was Rough!

It was so cold this morning there was ice on the tents! Many more
layers were added and we were off biking, numb fingers and toes for
many miles. A couple thousand feet climb up Rabbit Ear pass, and then
a great descent for over 7 miles into Steamboat Springs. Now we are
here, ready to relax for our day off!!!!

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Akron, Denver, Boulder Colorado!!!

Akron, Denver, Boulder Colorado!!!

Sorry I haven't blogged in soo long! I'll just give you some of the
highlights of the past week.

Biking into Colorado was epic, leaving Kansas behind. We spent over an
hour at the welcome to Colorado sign taking pictures, we were a little
excited. Kansas was great, the first hundred miles of wheat fields,
but the novelty of it wears off. This being said, the "town" we were
first in Colorado was literally in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded
by wheat fields, with no sight of any other type of civilization for
miles and miles was the little church in which we stayed. That night
we were blessed to have watched the most incredible, beautiful,
amazing, awesome sunset I have ever seen in my entire life. The
combination of the view over the golden wheat fields, peaceful
setting, the whole CUS 2010 b&b team sitting together for hours,
guitar music, dancing, good conversation made me more joyful than I
can even describe.

I biked 105 miles into Denver!!! And it was windy and hilly! Crazy,
this summer is just crazy, I'm gaining so much self confidence as
well, if I can do this: bike across this great country, I can do
anything if I just set my mind to it. For most of this ride I kept
singing America the Beautiful, especially when the Rocky mountains
finally came into view. Biking past waves of amber grain wheat fields
and seeing the mountains majesty as we bike sea to shining sea was
just mind blowing. Emily and I both teared up multiple times, each
case when we arrived to the crest of a hill we had just climbed.
Denver is a Great Great city, very bike friendly and we were welcomed
by some b&b alumni and family members and friends. I loved Denver. On
our "off"'day we took part in a "race for a place" fundraiser for
affordable housing organizations and bike and build. It consisted of a
luncheon, biking around Denver on cruiser bikes as part of their
amazing bike share program, and then free appetizers and drinks at a
brewery. After visiting with a dear friend from home who is working
for the Denver rescue mission this summer (Brooke Willis!) I was
excited to open mail and then head upstairs for the professional
photographer who wanted takes pictures of us for free! Bed time came
too early.

Boulder is equally enjoyable, I can picture myself living in either
Denver or Boulder at some time in my life. The ride in was beautiful
with some interesting twists-which just made it all the more an
adventure. At times I think my overly positive search for the silver
linings might annoy some people, but it is there!! Anyways. Boulder
is great. Pearl st ( the downtown) is filled with cute shops and
street performers at all hours of the day and night! Live music,
drums, jugglers, magicians and more provide entertainment all the
time, it great. Boulder is very hippie friendly and green. When we
worked with Habitat on our build day I was able to see this even more
with there wonderful green building strategies. This Flatiron Habitat
has been my favorite affiliate by far- they have their stuff together
and have fun. We were framing today and putting up floor joices
(spelling error??) for the 2nd floor. It was a great time and we all
worked hard until 4 pm. After shower and food, some more exploring of
Boulder ensued and we ate cheesecake while listening to some Celtic
rock/string music. Now a little blogging then bed! Tomorrow begins the
climbing of the mountains!!!!

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