Whoa, not a great start on
updating the blog. Most All of my
time over the last week was dedicated to biking, sleeping, hot wiring the van
(more on that later), recovering from laryngitis (that too), and generally
trying to make this team work (it is!). Better late than never, no?
Orientation
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Crossing the SC line while driving to Leader Orientation!
Orientation was a complete
blur. I completely lost my voice (and my energy) about 5 hours prior to the
arrival of 24 anxious, excited riders. Much of the weekend was spent
whispering, “Please yell at everyone: _______” but my awesome co-leaders really
stepped up and helped me out through our first few days and things got going
without a hitch.
One major highlight was
Trinity United Methodist in Charleston, headed by “Pastor Daniel”, who hosted
us in Charleston during orientation. The kindness of the entire church was
overwhelming – each of us was approached personally by a church member would be
individually praying for us this summer, and Pastor Daniel even wore his very
own Bike & Build “kit” (jersey and cycling shorts) during his sermon. He
rode with us, played games, and his son even showed off his impressive smarts
by memorizing every single rider’s face and hometown!
Pastor Daniel's son reciting every rider's hometown!
We also had the opportunity to volunteer at our very first build site as a team! The Charleston Habitat for Humanity had us working hard leveling out the home’s yard and even pouring and leveling concrete! A few of our riders ended up slipping and falling right into the thick goo, but all were good sports. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to go to a health clinic for my illness, but not before snagging some ice cream that my Mom and Grandmother brought – yum! The doc gave me a shot and some meds, which helped, but I am convinced that the 30 minute nap I got in the waiting room and the delicious meal I had with Mom and Grandma at “Hom” (fitting, eh?) did me just as much, if not more, good. The night was spent at the Mud Dogs Baseball game, tickets for which were generously provided by the kind folks at Trinity
During the morning of our “Wheel
Dip” ceremony, Pastor Daniel and some of the congregation even prepared a
send-off for our team, including hand-picked Bible passages, my favorite of
which was Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink , or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (It is.) He
also shared with us a beautiful song he wrote for our route, “Eternal Father
Strong to Save”. He didn’t read it (for fear he’d start crying, he said) but the
words are as follows:
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the might ocean deep
Is own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Spirit of God, give us your strength
Who bike and build our nation’s length,
Wher’er we work, wher’er we ride,
Wher’er we play, be right beside
Us when you hear us cry to Thee,
Protect us, SC2SC
I was so fortunate to be able to have my
Mom, Dad, Grandma Brenda, and friends Keef and Pat. Though Charleston is
unbelievably picturesque, there was no easy access to the beach – we ended up
scaling down a somewhat intimidating 4 foot drop onto a minuscule beach (during
high tide) to wet our back wheels in the Atlantic. Though a bit inconvenient,
why not start an adventure with an adventure? Marcus, one of the three B&B
alumni, really embodied the spirit of “living in the moment”: swimming,
building a sandcastle, really taking in the beginning of a wonderful
experience. His example is something I really find myself looking toward
whenever I’m wrestling with logistics or hurrying about; I know all too well
how quickly this time slips away…
Monck’s Corner (May 25th)
Our first ride day into Monck's
Corner was a relatively short one, only 36.5 miles and beautifully flat. Much
of the day was spent figuring out how to ride safely with this huge group of
people who had only just met, but I’m proud to say that our riders did a
marvelous job. Brendan, our director, drove the van this ride and found us a
prime lunch stop at a gas station equipped with SC’s legendary boiled
(pronounced “bawled”) peanuts. Legendary.
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Gotta love that Spanish moss!
The support van also had some…complications.
It wouldn’t start, no matter what we tried! The problems began within hours of
Brendan departing, so we first thought (hoped) it was his idea of a dirty
trick. It was not. Long story short, some church members taught us how to
bypass the shorted wire and start the engine. Granted, we looked like we were
stealing it each time we went through the 3 minute process of starting it up,
but it worked.
Technically, our host was in
Pinopolis (at Pinopolis UMC), a peninsula jutting out about two miles from
Monck’s Corner. Best thing about a peninsula? Water. The host was surrounded by
a beautiful lake that many took advantage of with a nice swim. After our
delicious provided dinner of mashed potatoes, green beans, and grits, I was
totally out – I fell asleep at a running record of 6:30pm! I missed out on the
night swim that many riders took (one that was accompanied by an apparently
breathtaking “moon rise”, but I got a much needed 12 hours of rest for the next
day.
That’s all for now – I am
definitely in need of some beauty sleep! I hope to get caught up on entries
(including pictures!) tomorrow, but until then: work hard, play hard, sleep
hard.
With Love,
Lacy
