June 17th - Visiting a Cropduster

By Ben Nitkin on

Leaving Stuttgart.
Leaving the Episcopal Church in Stuttgart. The folks there were all really inspired by our trip, which touched me. They also took lots of photos of us.

The route today was very pretty. We wandered through an assortment of cropland, leaving behind Stuttgart's rice paddies for soy, corn, and other crops. (Riceland, a major rice processing company, is based in Stuttgart, but I didn't get any pictures of their facilities. It's a shame.)

Along the way, we ran into a small cropduster airstrip. As we approached, one of their planes landed, all of 50' off the road. We pulled over for a bike to chat with the employees. A few facts: each of the planes cost around a million dollars (an older style with radial engines are more like $60k but lack the payload capacity.) They can carry three to five thousand pounds of dry fertilizer, but need nice weather to safely approach the higher end. The airship only served a five mile radius: flying that far takes 10 minutes, and the fertilizer tanks are only good for 15 minutes of dumping, so the further away the field, the less airtime is actually spent dusting. They have a relatively short season (May-September) of long days, and around four months annually with next to no business.

Our evening host was a bike and build alumni who invited us to stay in his house. He and his wife have both ridden the SC2SC route in different years and were very interested in comparing our experiences to theirs. Especially since the 18th is a day off, it was nice to stay in a real house with a non-industrial kitchen. 

June 16th - Into Arkansas

By Ben Nitkin on

Our trip has been maintaining a blog at sc2scqt.wordpress.com. Each of us is assigned to write a journal entry once a month (ish) and the 16th was my day. Without further ado, here's the cross-posted journal entry. Sorry about the formatting...

Today held a laundry list of accomplishments. It’s the longest day so far – at 95 miles, it beat out our prior record holder by 7 miles. We crossed another state line into Arkansas, our 5th state so far (we cross 13 in all). We stayed a really funky canoe outfitter instead of a church. And we crossed the 1000 mile mark. We have ridden 1000 miles. On bikes. From South Carolina to Arkansas.  It’s a little crazy.

Since today’s ride was 95 miles, we started early. Wake-up was 4:30, well before dawn. We packed quickly and headed outside for air, brake, chain checks and then breakfast. I enjoyed watching the sky gradually illuminate.

June 15th - Into the Breadbasket

By Ben Nitkin on

Church at dawn
We stay almost exclusively at churches, and they're almost always pretty at dawn.

We transitioned scenery today. The Appalachian mountains came to a gradual close and have been replaced by farmland. (It's also been a few days since anyone fed us grits and the southern accents have been getting stronger.)

Our evening host was a canoe outfitter that custom built 33' canoes and ran excursions down the Mississippi river. 

June 14th - Oxford and its town square

By Ben Nitkin on

Our Oxford host
The church that hosted us in Oxford

The forecast called for rain today (which it does every day down here). For some reason, I spooked today and decided to leave the camera packed for the ride. 

We rode to Oxford, spending only 60 miles on the bike. It's so funny to say "only 60", but after days of 70 and 90 mile rides, 60 feels short. Most of the group arrived relatively early and wandered out to explore Oxford. The town had a cute little central square, not unlike Easton, PA's circle. Helen and I split a frozen yogurt to help cool down. 

June 13th - Rebuilding

By Ben Nitkin on

Painting trim.
A bunch of the group painting trim for the house

Habitat doesn't usually rehab houses. It's hard to tell what sort of shape they're in before taking them apart, and they're often more trouble than they're worth. 

This house was a rehab. Wells Fargo had foreclosed on the house 3 years prior. After failing to sell the failing structure, they donated it to Habitat. 

During our build day, we started replacing the roof, painted trim, and cleaned up the property. 

June 12th - A Whole Building for Youth

By Ben Nitkin on

Youth room
The youth room we started in. The next few photos take you through the room.

Pictures for today start in the evening because the host set aside an entire building for us. We were in a dedicated youth building, with amenities including ping-pong, a piano, a drum set, and a small theater setup. 

The ride took us across yet another state line into Mississippi. For whatever reason, we never actually saw a state line sign. There was a sign for a Mississippi visitor center, so there's that. To get to the sign, we had to crawl up a highway overpass and onto the shoulder. 

June 11th - Hamilton, AL

By Ben Nitkin on

Paceline riding
Biking in a paceline. If I'm careful, I can pull out the camera while riding.

Today's ride took us around 75 miles into Hamilton, AL. Early in the ride, we ran into a bunch of friendly old folks hanging out at a gas station. A sign hung over their seats pronouncing "LIARS BENCH". They'd seen B&B come through in past years and were curious what we were all about. 

June 10th - A General Store

By Ben Nitkin on

Helen having some Gatorade
Refueling in the middle of nowhere

An unremarkable day, all told. Or as unremarkable as any day when you're biking across the country. 

We did run across a bona-fide general store that sold gas, snacks, live bait, animal feed, basic medicine, ... you get the idea. 

I also ran laundry in the evening with the rest of my chore group (there are 6ish of us). We packed up everyone's laundry and got to the laundromat at 7:45, then learned that the laundromat closed at 9. We managed to finish almost everything. I was impressed. 

June 9th - Scottsboro, AL

By Ben Nitkin on

Dawn at Berry College
Berry's campus is pretty at dawn, too.
Today's ride brought us across the state line into Alabama. Beyond crossing the state line, we changed timezones. I am now in Central time! The ride covered lots of rural roads, and host cities have been getting a little smaller.

June 8th - Deconstruction

By Ben Nitkin on

Jackhammering a sidewalk.
Tearing up a sidewalk that went the wrong way.

Today was a little odd. We were working on rehabbing an old Habitat house. The original owners hasn't taken care of the house, so Habitat was rebuilding it for a new family. New siding, replaced flooring, new appliances, the works. 

We spent the day working on siding and demolishing the original driveway. A property dispute with the neighbors cost the property street access from the original driveway, so we ripped up the concrete in preparation for a new one. 

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