This summer began with a laconic and mysterious voice mail from Heather Hightower in January: “I’m having a vision,” she said, “you and me, biking across America.” Though I am normally a creature of intellectual percolation, this idea immediately took hold of my imagination. About three weeks later, after a run-in with Bike & Build alum Caroline Eberly while getting frozen yogurt, my summer’s course was set. Biking across America for the affordable housing cause was the union of so many things that are important to me: helping others, challenging myself, seeing the county, and transitioning into post-school life (finally).
My TREK 1000 Discovery Channel bike was delivered while I was in Hawaii at Chris and Chelsea’s wedding, only half assembled. This year I have become quite a bit more handy in all things mechanical from my job as house mom of the Delta Gammas, so assembling the handlebars and attaching the front wheel were no big deal. My major revelation has been that all things manmade are held together by means surprisingly easy to understand – basically, either screws, nails, or glue. Plumbing is a cinch. All the parts just screw together! (This seems to be a metaphor for human relationships of all kinds. Do the two parts interlock easily, twisting together, or do we have to bang in a connector? Or, do things just stick?
On the day I turned in my thesis, I reached the halfway point of my fundraising, $2,000. Today, only eight days before I have to leave, I am still about $1,000 below my required $4,000, but I am hoping for some last minute generosity. Yesterday, I spent the day with a bunch of friendly retired men, putting the sub-floor on a Habitat house in Charlottesville. Today, I am very sore, but my hammering skills have greatly improved. I am nervous about this summer and what lies beyond it.
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