Connecticut, New York, New Jersey

Sorry it's been so long sense my last post. Internet has been so scarce around here. I actually "hacked" a router to get the internet working. It was kinda fun. So here is the latest update.

It’s been a great few days for riding. We spent 4 days in Connecticut riding and building. I will admit that I have no desire to visit Connecticut any time soon; especially on a bicycle. The hills in Connecticut are long and steep. We had amazing hosts that housed us along the way. We stayed in Plainfield, where the church hosted a huge community picnic for us. Tons of people were there and a few of us hosted a bike clinic for the local kids. Also, my chore group this week is the “Dinner/Presentation Crew” where we either make dinner when it is not provided, or present “who we are” when dinner is provided. Its kind of fun, my group is known as “Smuggle”… and yes we have a “cheer”

We then cycled over to Middlefield, CT. This was also a very hilly day. In Middlefield we were able to stay in a beautiful church hidden within a little forest. Members of the church took us to their houses for showers and then had another community dinner at the church. The church’s youth group was the main force in helping us out. They were a lot of fun to hang out with during dinner. The next morning, however, they had to go to school. They don’t start their summer break until the middle of June. LAME!

On the 8^th we went to Danbury, CT. Again, the hills were killer. Steep and long hills for all 52 miles. We did get a little lost because our directions were wrong but we finally figured it out with good old technology. This was a fun ride when it came to the down hills. We had one that lasted 3 miles on a road known as “Punkup Rd.” The group I was with did punk up that hill the entire ride thou. We also got to stop by a lake and take a mid trip swim. A very refreshing thing to do but also very wet for the rest of the ride to the next host location. The hosts themselves were very excited for our arrival. They have been anticipating our arrival for months. And when we finally arrived, we were greeted with the entire youth group in the church’s driveway cheering and greeting us in. They also had all of our pictures from the bike and build website on the walls with our bios. Later I learned that the church had a fundraiser so that they could buy all of the food we ate.

We had a build day in Danbury. The group was split up. I was in the group that was able to renovate a house that will be used as a transition house for veterans. He first sanded floorboards inside because it was raining. After lunch it was still raining but the site supervisor didn’t care and had us pull a wall of weeds outside. It was actually a lot of fun. The group I was with had a lot of fun and got the job done fast. We were then able to learn more about how the city is working with homeless shelters to help get people into homes.

From there we went to New York. THIS DAY WAS NOT FUN!!!! We had a lot of uphills with only 3 good downhills. But there was an awesome creamery on the top of our last hill. I got some of the most amazing ice cream there. It was chocolate ice cream, with chocolate syrup, with chocolate fudge, and chocolate brownies all mixed in. AMAZING!!! And totally worth all the hills… Kinda. We stayed at one of the leaders aunts house. They also cooked an amazing meal for us. We also had a lot of family members visit for the people from the east coast. It was a great night of meeting some great people.

The next day we rode through New Jersey into Pennsylvania. Seeing that we were going through NJ was a nice surprise. Now I can say I went through 18 states instead of 17. This day I was on sweep with Doug. This is where we are designated as the last people to make sure no one is left behind. It also rained the entire day. This wasn’t too bad. When the wind kicked in, it did get a wee bit uncomfortable. My bike computer broke this day. I’ll get a new one at the next bike shop I find.

We are now in Pennsylvania and I will be telling you more about that on a latter blog. Sorry it has taken so long to post this but Internet is so scarce out here. Love and happiness to everyone.

~Ryan