Spent the day swimming in the Arizona side of the Colorado river and staring at California. Can't believe we've come this far, 120 in the desert tomorrow.

Sleeping under the stars after fire hose showers. Five down, 3 to go in our march to the Grand Canyon.

Pie in the Sky

Yesterday we climbed 80 miles to the Continental Divide and the Toaster House in Pie Town. Today we ate pie for breakfast and biked to Arizona.

The glory of His creation and a 14 mile descent into Carrizozo made a long sweep day completely worth it. Riding thru Smokey the Bear's hometown was key too.

Today is Bike and Build Day!

The mayor of Portales, NM has declared today, July 29, to be Bike and Build Day.

We are officially in New Mexico, our third to last state, after traveling through the Texas panhandle, the beef capital of the world. Cow farms stink, but I still think poultry farms are worse.

There's a bug going around the group, and I woke up with a sore throat this morning, so I'm going to make this short and get to bed.

Last night we held a Bike and Build Prom--thrift store style. The Methodist church in Hereford, TX had a phenomenal youth space with couches, a sound system, cafe tables, and plenty of room for a dance floor. The dancing kicked off at 7 and the guests took pictures, danced, and drank delicious water expertly mixed by bartender Aaron until they were exhausted and went home to bed around 10 pm. A great time was had by all. When I have time to upload pictures I'll edit this entry and add them.

Today I rode sweep with Amary. The first 50 miles consisted of long stretches of cattle farms broken up by "towns"--usually a gas station and some farm machinery repair shops. The highlight of the day was Joe's Boot Shop in Clovis, NM, a huge cowboy outfitter shop with over 10,000 boots to choose from and hats custom steamed while you wait. Did you know that cowboy hats start out with a round top and flat brim? I certainly didn't before today.

We're staying in dorms (= beds!!!) at Eastern New Mexico University, and dinner tonight was hosted by the local UMC with guests including members of the town council, the local habitat board, a habitat homeowner (Wendy), and the mayor. After dinner we got a tour of the Habitat REStore and Wendy's new Habitat home, all against the epic backdrop of a New Mexico sunset and phenomenal lightening storm.

Wakeup is at 4:45.

Century (that's 100 miles!) into Amarillo today, now we're watching Brando try to eat a 72 oz steak at The Big Texan.

B2SB in the News

Look for me around -29 and Matt's head/hands at -10.

Bike and Build Cyclists Help Habitat in Tulsa @ Yahoo! Video