Today I rode with Bill and Devin, where we crossed paths with the Bike and Build van every few miles. Bike and Build rides across the country to raise awareness for affordable housing and works with organizations like habitat for Humanity during “build days” along the way. It was inspiring to see another group with a mission and more fun as we will hopefully cross paths for the next few weeks. They started in Hazard this morning and were stopping in Daniel Boone National Forest, where we had lunch and chatted with their van group before continuing to Berea. Comparing their chalk arrows and detailed route planning with google maps directions plotted right before we start biking that day, I felt a bit underprepared but thankful for our group’s flexibility.
Near the end of the day, we passed a few cyclists part of Bike the US for MS, another bike group raising money and awareness for MS. We couldn’t find the place they were staying in Berea, though I hope to chat with them if we cross paths in the future!
I think today was the earliest we reached our destination for the entire trip (2pm!), even though we biked 45 miles today. It’s a bit of a long story:
It started with direction mishap. Basically, Caralyn had taken a picture of the TransAm route (route 76) which we had decided to follow. Bill, Devin, and I started out first, following the well-signed route 76 markers and thinking it was the same as Caralyn’s map.
Wrong.
None of us realized that the 76 changes often, and we had inadvertently followed a more southern route. About an hour into the ride, we realized Leah had called Bill, trying to find the car keys. (They were in his bag and she found them. Problem solved.) But when Leah couldn’t reach our group right away, she called Caralyn and Evan and asked them to split away from Erin and Edgardo to find us. However, they were on a different route and probably wondering why they couldn’t find us for at least half an hour. With each group passing into and out of cell service, it took a while to clear everything up. Devin, Bill, and I ended up eating DQ, which was a lot faster than our usual picnics.
After arriving at Union Church, we played on the playground until Erin arrived in the car. Thank you, Dave, for letting us stay at your church for the night! Devin and I made Chicken Parmesan and I made rice in a rice cooker, which made me very happy because I have been deprived of good rice for a whole semester :).
