Living the Dream: Tupelo

Our ride into Tupelo was amazing. We awoke to massive thunderstorms but after an excellent breakfast from the folks at Hamilton UMC and a little dance party to get the day started, the storm had all but dissipated. The morning’s ride was a smooth and easy one through the Appalachian foothills and I found myself cycling alone at an easy pace until the winding road I was following spat me out in Mississippi! Though our back road didn’t have a fancy smancy “Welcome to Mississippi” sign, I spotted half a dozen bikes under a bridge and followed the trail of crushed brush, scaling the bank up to the highway where I found several other teammates and posed with them under a very appropriate “Mississippi Rest Stop” sign.

We got back on the back on the bike for the brief stretch before where lunch was supposed to be set up, yet at mile 32 no lunch appeared! JD and I got off the bike to figure out where the van ended up (they had taken a minor wrong turn) and in the meantime played with a very sweet cow with a very rough tongue. He loved our salty arms.

I had a lunch of beans, slaw, mayo, and cream cheese on two hot dog buns. I understand this is a disgusting meal to normal folks but when you’re hustling to find 7000 calories to feed yourself every day, things like that start looking pretty yummy. I got so excited to get back on my bike after my nutritious lunch I forgot to wear my helmet in the parking lot! The consequence for not wearing your helmet is riding in the van the rest of the day, so I chilled out with Ethan for the rest of the day.

We arrived in Tupelo to a giant welcome banner, an Elvis cutout (Tupelo is Elvis’ hometown!), and big smiles from our hosts and fellow cyclists, Jason and Jennifer. They hooked us up with snacks galore and all sorts of cleaning supplies to get on a little bike cleaning party. After an awesome dinner (complete with cheesy biscuits!), they took us over to their house for the evening to just hang out and sit on real furniture (though some opted to curl up on Layla’s dog bed).

The next day was a Build day with Habitat. Our crew put together walls and, during our downtime, played a little stump. Basically, each person taps a nail into a stump and throws a hammer at the stump from a few feet away, trying to hammer in other’s nails. A very highbrow game, I assure you. The heat of the day got to many of us but we were rejuvenated when Donna, the Executive Director of the Tupelo Habitat for Humanity, invited us over to house for a dip in her pool. Simply Heavenly.

Dinner consisted of 4 different types of gumbo, as well as loads of “fixins”. Jason and Jennifer invited the cycling community of Tupelo out to chat with us as well, which was a lot of fun. After dinner, I led an Affordable Housing lesson about the impact of affordable housing (or lack thereof) on other socioeconomic factors, like health, education, and future income. (A good overview that touches on a lot of things we discussed can be found in my favorite TedTalk, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-cZRmHfs4). The best part of the presentation was likely the beginning, when we opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Though the presentation kept us from going out to this great local ice cream place Jason told us about, they brought the party to us (they even bought some special lactose- and glute-free ice cream for Nyx!). They are literally the best! After stuffing our tummies once again, most people hit the hay around 9:30.

Another day of Living the Dream – thanks for reading!

Lacy