By Ben Nitkin on
We crossed another state line today! I don't think I've biked across a state before Bike & Build. And now I've crossed South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Geez.
By Ben Nitkin on
One of my images from yesterday noted that these South-central towns have three features: churches, silos, and water towers. Today, I'd like to submit a similar description for the plains between the cities (towns, communities, whatever they are): oil wells and wind turbines. It's an odd mix.
By Ben Nitkin on
At just a smidge over 2000 miles of wear, my back tire blew up today. It wan't too bad, really. I was only two blocks from the Babtist church and going slowly. Really strange, though. One second you're riding. Then a loud bang, like a nailgun. Then the road is suddenly harder and the bike starts sliding around.
Today's ride took us from Oklahoma City to Watonga, OK in 74 miles. Outdoor of the minor afternoon explosion, the ride was really nice. We left OKC a bit past dawn, as usual. After leaving downtown, the route took us on trails for a while. Then we all got lost. We found our way, then settled in on the historical path of Route 66.
Increasingly, we barely hit civilization on these routes, so even a lone gas station is an event.
By Ben Nitkin on
We kept building on the same house today. As I wrote before, the sheeting needed a ton of nails, so lots of today was spent nailing those down more securely. We also hoisted a pile of prefab roof trusses, and a few people scrambled around on the roof nailing then down.
By Ben Nitkin on
Our two build days in Oklahoma City were spent on the same build site, so we had the chance to make really substantial progress. Our group arrived to an empty concrete slab and managed to complete the framing and sheeting in one day and the roof trusses the next.
The Habitat site was super organized,too. They'd previously laid out the to and bottom plates for every wall. Stud locations were penciled and doors and windows were marked in color-coded spray paint. The doors and window frames themselves were all preframed.
The house itself had a 2-car garage, two bedrooms, a kitchen, den, and lots of closets.
By Ben Nitkin on
Today's ride took us 92 miles into the first real city we've seen in a while - Oklahoma City. High headwinds made the ride a little slower than usual. There are reliable winds out of the southwest across most of the plains, and they were rough today.
The ride was great, though. I was with Erin and Lauren, and they both did a great job of pushing forward despite the winds. We only z stopped every 15 - 20 miles, which works out to two hours or so between breaks at headwind speeds.
By Ben Nitkin on
We crossed another state line today as we rode from Van Buren, AR to Henrietta, OK. At 109 miles, this was the longest ride so far.
A few miles before lunch, Dustin, Helen, and I decided to stop at a donut shop for a snack. On a whim, we also grabbed a dozen to share at lunch. (Did you know that a box of a dozen donuts will fit on the back of a camelback?) Everyone loved the treat - even though we career carry all manner of leftover goodies, fresh-baked donuts were a winner.
Helen's knees weren't feeling so great today, so she decided to call the van a few miles before lunch. After taking a day off to recover, she got back to biking.
By Ben Nitkin on
We continued our long stretch of rides today, biking 88 miles to Van Buren. This stretch totaled 380 miles in 4 days, and somewhere over 500 miles in the complete week.
Everything about this trip is absurd and a little larger than life.
By Ben Nitkin on
Tropical storm Bill moved out today. After some overcast rain yesterday and some overnight thunderstorms, not much was left in the morning and the squall line we were forecast to bike through never materialized.
Not that I'm complaining.
The day started off rainy but cleared around 7:30. I'd expected more rain, so the camera sat the day out.
The route took us along a quiet highway for a few miles then ducked down onto a riverside trail. As with everything else around here, the river was flooded a little above its banks and the trail was wet.
Later in the day, we climbed to the overlook at Petit Jean, part of a national park. (I'll try to get pictures from my phone up here). The van met us at the top with lunch, and we hung out, admitting the view over farmland and flooded fields.
A few miles after lunch Helen and I stopped at a small Amish country store for ice cream and chatted for a while with the locals about geology, poverty, and woodworking. The descent from Petit Jean was long, winding, and gorgeous.
By Ben Nitkin on
Little Rock hosted our first day off. As I mentioned, it was asks the first non-church host, so we were in a real house. Our hosts were a couple who had both ridden SC2SC in different years.
I caught up on my photo journaling, Helen played with watercolor and writing in her journal. It was a really pleasant break from the physical exertion of Bike & Build.
Other notes, in no particular order:
