The Steak Challenge

August 1, 2013

Build day in Amarillo, TX

The house we were building today was a five bedroom house, one of the biggest we've worked on so far. There were lots of different jobs for people to be doing so everyone was working hard the whole day. 

I was on the roof with my friend Shane putting in trusses that connect with the porch roof. We got to use a nail gun! It was a lot of measuring and math. We had to use the Pythagorean Theorem and find angles using sine and tangent. My high school calculus teacher would be very disappointed in how rusty my skills were, but we made it through. It was fun being on the roof and working with just one other person. 

When Shane would go down and cut the wood we needed, I would just lay on my back and soak in the giant blue sky. It was amazing. After we finished the roof we came down and helped people put up siding. Overall it was a wonderful day. Today was actually a very big day in ME2SB13 world. Today was the day that Shane was going to take on the 70 oz steak challenge at The Big Texan. We all got dressed up in our shirts that the Amarillo Habitat gave us and went outside to meet our Texas longhorn limos that came to take us to the restaurant. It was another moment on this trip where I had to pinch myself just to check that this is in fact real life. 

The restaurant was huge and had an awesome gift shop. Since Shane was doing the challenge, he had to sit up on a stage in the front of the restaurant with a timer behind him. 

The challenge is to finish a 70 oz steak meal in under an hour. Along with the steak he also had to finish three fried shrimp, a salad, a roll, and a baked potato! Once he started the challenge so many strangers eating in the restaurant came up to the table to take his picture. It was ridiculous! The whole evening was so much fun cheering him on. At one point two men told him that they would give him $100 each if he finished the meal. Unfortunately he didn't finish the whole meal--ate 56 oz of the steak though! If he had finished the meal it would have been free. Since he didn't, it was $72. We all had chipped in at the beginning, but the guys who put up the $200 ended up paying for his meal and then donating the $200 to Bike & Build. They were awesome. 

It seems that everywhere we go we A) make a complete scene, but B) find people that are incredibly generous and supportive of what we're doing. Tonight was so much fun being together as a team. 

Sweeping again!

July 31, 2013

Wheeler, TX to Amarillo, TX

Today was my third time being sweep my second time in four days, my second century sweep, and my first time being sweep with David. The day started off very foggy, like we were biking in a cloud. 

We set a new sweep record and didn't run into any other riders until mile 20! For a few miles we thought we could be on the wrong road. We rode on the same road for a while and came across our first cattle farm. It was horrifying. So far we've only seen the romanticized image of farming in beautiful pastures. This was neither beautiful not a pasture. There were cows on top of cows and the place seemed to go on forever. It was a depressing site but a glimpse of the reality that is the food industry in this country. 

The road we took there was one of the worst we've been on so far. It was not gravel but it was bumpy the whole way. I felt like my hands and feet were going numb. It got so bad that we kept thinking the mirages we saw in the distance were smoother roads. At one point we really did hit a patch of smooth pavement and we couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was. Unfortunately it didn't last for very long. To pass the time on the long straight road, David and I played a great game of Guess How Many Miles Away That Big Object In The Distance Is. Pretty much every time we made a guess we were short by a lot. 

Despite the bumps and the long road, we made it to the host site in amazing time. Our host for the night was a Habitat for Humanity site, our first of the trip. A bunch of people went out tonight, but when I came up the stairs to get in the taxi I saw the The Office was on. I was immediately conflicted. Ultimately I decided to stay and watch an Office matching and it was the best decision. 

Soundtrack to my summer - Part 1

Starting in Maine, there have been so many things that we've passed along our bike routes that I wish I could have taken a picture of. I've had this song stuck in my head multiple times throughout this trip. Two lines that stick out to me in particular are "Didn't have a camera by my side this time, hoping I would see the world with both my eyes" and "You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes". I know I've been filling you all in about my adventures through this blog (albeit a bit late sometimes) but there is still so much that I can't fit in this blog that I have enjoyed so much during my time this summer. If people take anything away from reading my blog this summer I hope it's that you should go explore more and really pay attention to what you find. 

A rest day

July 29, 2013

Yukon, OK to Cordell, OK

I've had a cold for the past two weeks that I haven't been able to kick. This morning I woke up and finally conceded and decided to take the day in the van to rest and allow my body to get better. This was a hard decision because I don't like missing any biking, but I know it will be better in the long run. After everyone had left for the day, I hopped in the van and passed out immediately. I woke up when we got to the lunch spot and assumed we were at a gas station like usual. When I heard bikers arrive, I got up to see that we were in an Oklahoman oasis! It was the most beautiful thing I could have woken up to. 

They also had one of the most surprisingly intense water slides I've ever seen. I didn't go on but it was extremely amusing to watch. 

The rest of the ride in the van I sat in the front since I thought if I got any more sleep I wouldn't be able to fall asleep that night. It wasn't fun driving by all of my teammates because I wished I was out there with them in the heat and the headwinds. I realized that I had lost all concept of how fast cars can move because we reached the host site, 45 miles away, in no time at all. Once there we found a hose out in the front and greeted people with it as they came in. Tonight was also laundry night for my chore group and what a struggle it was. The laundrymat in Cordell didn't even have a change machine so we had to go 20 miles away to Clinton, OK. Once we out all the clothes in the washers, we were told that they wouldn't be done for 45 minutes and that we had to be out no later than 10pm. That left us almost no time at all to dry the clothes. Luckily it wasn't very busy so once the washers started getting done we frantically ran around the place stuffing only 2 or 3 laundry loops of clothing in each dryer hoping the space would allow them to dry quicker. By 10 exactly we had our last loop out of the dryer and only a few things were still damp. I know a couple people were annoyed that their laundry wasn't completely dry, but we did our best and kept our cool doing it, too. The sunset was also a nice end to the night. 

Bigger in Texas

July 30, 2013

Cordell, OK to Wheeler, TX

After taking a day off yesterday, I was beyond excited to be back on the bike. Plus, we were going into Texas today! I can't believe we've biked all the way to Texas. It still seems so surreal to me. The scenery was beautiful in the morning, but there was absolutely nothing around until we reached a cafe a mile 20. Before that though we took a break to take some cool pictures!

We had our lunch in a small town we passed through in a coffee shop. Since we had all eaten food at the cafe at mile 20, first lunch was a quick in and out. We started to hit some headwinds again today on the straight open roads so we tried our hand at pace lining for the first time. It really made biking into the wind a whole lot easier, but it definitely required more concentration. 

After a while with a larger group, Casey and I broke off and went really fast to second lunch. The road we were on wasn't a very safe one since there were lots of semi trucks but no shoulder. Apparently the truck drivers were talking about us over the radio and the things they were saying weren't very nice. However, we were glad that they were talking about us at all because that meant that they knew we were on the roads whether they liked it or not. Right after lunch we hit the Texas state line! It was a big milestone that I had been looking forward to. 

Once we got into Texas a gigantic shoulder appeared. So yes it's true what they say, everything IS bigger in Texas--even their road shoulders! Again, Casey and I booked it from the state line to the town we were staying in. Since the shoulder was so wide we were able to ride side by side and chat. The only really exciting thing to happen was two crazy dogs decided to chase us up a hill when we were only a few miles outside of the town. That adrenaline rush stayed for the rest of the ride. Our hosts in Wheeler were great and gave us delicious snacks when we rolled in and made us an amazing dinner. Tonight we also heard presentations on affordable housing from our leaders. I feel like I haven't talked much about that aspect of my trip in these blogs so I think in the near future I'll write one to paint a picture of the cause I'm riding for this summer. 

Best sweep day ever

July 28, 2013

Chandler, OK to Yukon, OK

Today was my third day being sweep! Sweep is always pretty fun because you don't have to go that fast and you have to stop at all the cool places people find along the way to take breaks at if you catch them. Today especially was filled with lots of fun things to pass the time! The first cool place we found people was at a historic gas station on Route 66. Apparently it's the oldest remaining one along the road. 

Our next attraction was one that we knew we would pass because we had seen other riders post about it on Facebook already. And it's a good thing we knew about it because it was very small, but definitely worth it. 

This sign was in the driveway of a weird auto repair shop (or at least that's what a few of the signs said...). It's pretty cool that this road goes from Chicago to LA. A few more miles down the road and we hit another Route 66 attraction--the round barn! It's a historical site merely because its round. We went upstairs into the loft and played with the acoustics and windows. 

Literally less than a mile from the round barn, we hit our main attraction of the day--Pop's!! It's just a gas station on Route 66 but it's way more than that. They have over 650 flavors of soda available for purchase and some of them get really weird. We spent a few hours there trying sodas and eating lunch. 

The rest of the ride was not nearly as exciting, but it was generally pretty populated which was a change. We also encountered our first real head winds. They were tough to ride in, but I'm sure we'll encounter much worse on this trip. When we got to the host site it was like we had accidentally biked to a spa. We were greeted at the door with ice cold towels to cool us down and then our bikes were put in the que for free maintenance provided by a local bike shop. They also had provided amazing snacks and took us across the street to one of the church member's pool. We were in heaven.

 

The dinner they provided was also amazing. And just to top it off, they had an ice cream social set up with all different types of homemade ice cream! The whole church was invited so a lot of people were there. It was the most people we've given the presentation to so far. We've had an amazing time in Oklahoma--everyone has bee extremely generous and friendly. 

My first rodeo

July 27, 2013

Tulsa, OK to Chandler, OK

This morning the group I was riding with wanted to grab some coffee before we left the city, but for whatever reason all of the coffee shops we went to were closed! This city has been pretty empty since we've been here but this was really weird. Anyway, we headed out of the city coffeeless, but thankfully for their sake found a cool Route 66 themed coffee shop a few miles down the road that a bunch of people stopped at. The sweepstakes for today was the weirdest thing consumed so I grabbed a menu and found the weirdest thing I felt I could keep down for the next 50 miles. What I landed on was chocolate Pepsi. They had vanilla, cherry, and strawberry as well but they didn't seem as strange. And strange it was! It kind of tasted like a float with chocolate ice cream, but by halfway I couldn't muster to drink any more of it. They never announced the winner for hat day, but I'm pretty sure I won. 

For the next 20 miles, we encountered the craziest dogs we've seen yet on this trip. They were growling at us, and the ones that weren't on chains or fenced in often came running after us, seemingly looking for blood. It was mildly terrifying. Luckily no one was hurt, although one dog did apparently do something to someone's tire. Lunch was at an amazing lake in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. A few people had been swimming before I got there and didn't really recommend it so I just enjoyed the view of the water. 

We've started to follow Route 66 at this point so we were on it allllll dayyyy. It's not a terrible road so I don't really mind, but it's easier to zone out when you see that your next turn is in 45 miles. I was riding with three other people today, but two of us ended up breaking out up front and riding solo for most of the ride. It was one of the first times I've riden basically by myself and I actually really enjoyed it. We stopped every know and then to stretch and regroup as to not go crazy on the never ending road. Biking into Chandler, there were multiple signs advertising their rodeo that night. After dinner, a large group of us headed down. Turns out it only happens the last Friday and Saturday in July every summer and we just made it! I have to say I have never seen anything like it except in movies and I had no idea things like it actually existed in real life. So many people had on cowboy boots and hats, from the toddlers to the elderly. We saw some lassoing, hay bail push racing, bull riding, horse riding, and the best of all, kids playing capture the flag off of baby cow tails. I will embed the video soon because it might be the funniest thing you see all week.