Day One (and some other stuff)

So right now I'm l in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Plainfield, Connecticut. A whole lot has happened these last few days, too much to go through everything, but here are the highlights...

So we arrived in Providence and I met everyone, leaders and riders, at St. Martin's Church (funny enough, my cousins the Langmuirs live three blocks away and have gone there for years). All really nice people, all seem genuinely excited to be doing this awesome thing. Ice-breaker games were played, safety presentations were made, generous meals prepared by church partitioned were eaten, parking-lot bike clinics were conducted, and bonding commenced. This past Saturday (yesterday) we had our first build day about four miles from the church (we rode there). We were working building a house from scratch- building framing, raising walls and all that. Very different from the refurbishment stuff I had been doing up in Vermont, but very fun in that it's even easier to see the impact you're having as the walls rise and a home takes shape. The foundation was already there, but by the time we were done, all the first floor walls were up- it's amazing what six motivated people can accomplish in six hours.

Sunday (today) began with the symbolic tire-dipping ceremony. We all rode to a boat club on Narraganset Bay and dipped our back wheels in the "ocean" to mark the beginning of the journey. Hopefully we'll be doing the same with our front wheels in the Pacific. My mom, dad, sister Anastasia, aunt Rynnie and cousin Meredith were all in attendance, and I feel really lucky that they all could be there. Lot's of photos, cheering B & B alums, and speeches from the stalwart B & B veteran/programming director Natalie and our leader Natalie. After some quick but heartfelt goodbyes, we were off!

We navigated some rough neighborhoods and rough roads on our way out of Providence, though before long the cue sheets led us to a smooth, hilly, scenic, highwayish road that took us all the way up and then down the forty miles into Plainfield. Along the way we stopped at a cool flea market and I bought a little stuffed-animal bald eagle on a whim. He just jumped out at me... you know, we're biking across the country, it's the national animal, 2+2=4. I think he's probably going to be accompanying me for the whole trip, either poking out of my backpack or bungled to my bike somewhere. The first of many out-there purchases, I'm sure.

We arrived at our host (St. Pauls's) at around 2:30- some earlier, some later. The hosts served us an amazing buffet of home-cooked dishes and just couldn't have been nicer. After dinner, a nap and a little frisbee, it was off to the laundromat for me and my chore group. I provably haven't mentioned this yet- the trip is divided into five chore groups, each of which has a different chore every week. This week my group's on laundry, which entails gathering 30 riders' smelly clothes on a huge tarp, folding it into a "burrito", throwing it in the van, driving the closest clothes-washing institution and washing said clothes. Not the most fun, but very necessary. After the laundry was back and sorted, everyone started settling in and I started writing, which has actually taken a little while because all I have is my phone... though that should be my biggest problem of the day.

I'm going to sign off now because we wake up at 6 AM tomorrow to set out for Middletown, CT. I'll be posting photos soon, both of the last few days and the days to come.

Overall impression so far: this is just a really good good thing all around. It's gonna be a great summer.