Portland, Build day, Vernonia, CANNON BEACH/ PACIFIC OCEAN!!

Portland/Greshem 85 miles
We didn't actually stay in Portland but in a town about 12 miles east. This was Mt. Hood day, and we were all very excited and nervous, this being our last BIG mountain day. I myself had saved up about 10 packages of shot blocks to give to people today, expecting it to be difficult. It was hard, don't get me wrong, but certainly not the mountain we were expecting. We would go up and up and then down and then up a little and then down. After lunch we went up just a little more and there it was: "Next 6.5 miles steep downgrade"...that was it? Mount Hood, really? that's all you got? In all fairness we just went over the southwest portion, but it was a disappointment for many of our team. Now that my rant about Mt. Hood is over, our church host was great. They provided us with snacks! After a great dinner and a night on the town we had a good night's sleep to prepare us for our last build day!!

Portland Build day
Our. last. build. day. We are having a lot of "lasts" and it's beginning to get hard to not think about the end. So we continue to live in the moment and enjoy every minute of this Bike & Build experience. At the Habitat build site we worked on painting, siding, porch roofs, cleaning and other tasks. For lunch we had the most delicious pulled pork EVER! That night Habitat for Humanity of Metro Portland threw a party for us at the Green Dragon Pub in downtown Portland with one free drink per person, door prizes, and lots of Habitat folks and Bike & Build alumni, it was great! Then several of us traveled to the Last Thursday's street fair, which is difficult to put into words. I'll just describe a couple of the things that were taking place: free advice booth, $1 clothes box, sewing machine powered by bike!, bike jewelry, LOTS of art, lavender flowers passed out everywhere, street musicians, a band playing a song titled "Let's Ride Bikes", Native American tribal drums and chanting, fire dancers, LOTS of awesome and unique people. Yeah, this one street that was closed down for an amazing street fair occurs on the last Thursday of the month all summer-this is something to check out if you are ever in Portland. It was epic and we loved it-very Bike & Build appropriate.

Vernonia, OR
Started the day by biking through downtown Portland and stopping at Voodoo Doughnuts (YUMMM-I had a cake doughnut with chocolate frosting with peanut butter and oreos!!!) and Stumptown Roasters coffee. We continued on Skyline Drive, which included LOTS of climbing, but it was very beautiful and worth it. Due to a large case of "we don't have much time left" I have been attempting the past several riding days to spend time with everyone on our team, and today was just perfect! Started out with a large group, then some smaller groups, then some one on one riding with several riders. It was perfect. Lots of different speeds, people, sights, conversations. This is our last night together and we are camping-which is very fitting because it is just us. We celebrated our time together by writing Sunshine notes for everybody-this is just a sheet of paper with your name on it that everyone writes something they like, value, admire, etc about you. Writing 30 heartfelt sunshine notes takes some time, but it is very much worth it. Then paper plate awards! I was awarded "Most likely to give you the shirt of her back, both kidneys, a lung, perhaps a cornea & an arm if needed" Some reminiscing around the fire ended a perfect evening before drifting to sleep.

Cannon Beach and the PACIFIC OCEAN
WOW. OUR. LAST. DAY. It's hard to believe that after ten weeks we have finally arrived. The day started very slowly. Leader speeches, lots of hugging, some tears, and we were off! Until we all stopped at the local coffee shop. We needed to completely take over an establishment for one last time, enjoy each other's company a little longer. And THEN we were off. Part of the day was spent biking over the Coastal Range. About two miles away from the beach everyone stopped so that we could all bike in together. This is also where we could see the Pacific Ocean for the first time! To say we are getting excited at this point is an understatement. The last two miles were filled with screaming, adrenaline and endorphins pumping, the sight and smell of the ocean adding to the emotional and sensational overload. As we came through the town and took over the road the streets were lined with people, it felt like a parade.

We walked our bikes down the stairs to the beach, stripped off our jerseys and gathered for the sprint into the ocean: the Pacific ocean which we biked to from the other ocean, the Atlantic ocean. WOW. At the count of three we full out sprinted and dove into the ocean (which we biked to from the other ocean). Not even realizing the freezing cold temperature, all emotions firing at once we were screaming, hugging, laughing, crying, jumping, splashing, hugging, CELEBRATING our accomplishment in the shadow of the magnificent Haystack Rock. We also did the Haka-a New Zealand rugby chant/dance thing that we have been working on all summer and wow does that make you feel powerful-especially doing it in the ocean after having biked there from the other ocean. More hugging, splashing, screaming, someone popped some champagne which was passed around, and we made our way out of the ocean.

You are probably thinking, "Could Kristen's life get any better?" because I was! I just biked across the entire United States of America, ocean to ocean! My whole soul was bursting with joy at our accomplishment. But it got even better! While I was walking out of the ocean arm in arm with Emily, I heard someone say "your friends Kristen, your friends" and then I hear my name, "Kristen!" Standing in front of me are Summer, Maeghan, Virgina, and Monique: four of my dearest friends from home!!!! I wasn't expecting anyone to be waiting for me at the end, Oregon is a long way from Michigan after all. 44 hours as I was told by my insanely ridiculous amazingly awesome friends who road tripped from Michigan to Cannon Beach, OR to surprise me. I completely lost it at this point and started sobbing/balling/laughing/hyperventilating. My. friends. came. Summer, Maeghan, and Kelly drove me to the beginning of the trip and now more came to meet me at the end! I know that Kelly was there in spirit :) Oh man, I'm crying again as write this blog post. I am TRULY blessed with great friends indeed. They arrived in Cannon Beach around 10am that morning, spent time chalking the streets and waiting for us to arrive. When we did arrive we went flying right past my friends and the group of parents they were with, so they had to sprint down the beach to make sure they didn't miss anything. THAT's dedication. We were able to spend a couple hours together after our group arrived at about 4 pm. My friends had to get back on the road at 8pm in order to arrive back in MI for Monique's class. MY FRIENDS DROVE THOUSANDS OF MILES TO SPEND A COUPLE HOURS CHEERING ME THROUGH THE FINISH OF MY BIKE AND BUILD TRIP AND THEN HAD TO TURN RIGHT BACK AROUND AND DRIVE THOUSANDS OF MILES BACK. And that's not all, they made and were wearing t-shirts saying "Peace Love Bike Build" and brought me a present. Normally I don't like to brag, but this blog post is going to be a little extra boastful: I am certain that I have THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. go ahead, try and find some better ones. I also need to mention that both Summer and Kelly have been sending me mail all summer, as a constant encouragement from home.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'm still freaking out a little bit. I, little Kristen, have biked from Virginia Beach, VA to Cannon Beach, OR. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Across the entire country. Through 12 states, 3,835 miles, through mountains, plains, deserts, forests, small towns and large cities. I, WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

That evening we had a picnic celebration with all the family and friends that had come (my friends had to leave a little early). Good food and drink was followed by more sentimental and touching leader speeches, a campfire on the beach, fire lanterns sent up into the sky, memory sharing and the first of many goodbyes. This day has been a whirlwind of emotions, and bittersweet. We accomplished something HUGE together, for a great and worthy cause: adequate, affordable housing. And now we must part ways.

This day was the official end of the Central US 2010 Bike & Build trip, but many of us stayed together for several more days, exploring Cannon Beach some more (Haystack Rock is AMAZING, there were starfish, sea anemone, and much more), spending a little more time in Portland together. Cherishing every last moment with each other. People slowly trickled away however, and my time came to go on the train Monday August 2nd at 4pm after saying many goodbyes in the beautiful Rose garden in Portland. The train took me from Portland to Chicago and lasted a little over 2 days, on the train I was able to share my story with many strangers and gather my thoughts about this life changing summer.

My fantastic family picked me up Wednesday in Chicago, where we spent the evening together at Navy Pier (and where I was able to see an old friend Sabrina!!). We came back to Michigan Thursday and now I am home. Very happily home, but missing my Bike & Build family very much.

The trip of a lifetime is now over, I will post one more blog hoping to share some final trip thoughts, how I grew and what I learned; attempting to explain and share in some way how Bike & Build CUS 2010 affected my life.
much peace and love