First build day and first two ride days

Yesterday was very busy. Our group of 32 roofed an entire house in one day! We woke up early and headed out to the site. The family was a retired couple living in a house just outside of Charleston. At the site, there were a few Americorps people and a few worksite foreman. The weather was quite cloudy and a few sprinkles in the morning, but Mother Nature held off when we worked. We scraped off the old shingles fairly quickly. My job was to pick up the loose shingles and chuck them into the dumpster below. During one of my loads, I scraped my thigh. The scratch was extremely minor, but thanks to my genetics, I bled enough that I had to get off the roof and ask for the first aid kit. Simple pressure was not enough for the minor scratch. So yes, I managed to be the first one to be "hurt" on the worksite. Since I was already on the ground, I decided to help out one of my teammates who was picking up scraps that had fallen to the ground. Later, I used a magnet find all the nails off the ground. When I was done, I headed up to the roof to help pound nails. I did that for the plywood, the felt tarp, and finally the shingles. The felt was my favorite because the nails were short and easy to pound. I felt really bad when I pounded in a nail crooked, but I got better as the day went on. I'm still not an ace at hammering, but I definately got better as the day went on. Once we finished, we went back to eat dinner at Sticky Fingers, a local BBQ joint that has been mentioned on "The Colbert Report" several times. For. B dessert, I visited a local frozen yogurt shop with three of my teammates. To finish off the night, I made some last minute alterations to my bike and packed up.

Another early morning on our first ride day (I'll be really good at waking up to exercise after this summer! I helped with breakfast because that is my chore group's job this week. After a hearty breakfast, we headed out to the beach near the fort for our wheel dipping ceremony. The local news crew came out to wave us off as well (Charleston ch. 4 if you want to search for the footage). Once we dipped the rubber of our rear wheel in the Atlantic, we hit the road! I was one of the last to leave the beach, but the drawbridge was up and I caught up to most of the group. 9nce there, I rode with Karen most of the way to Monks Corner, SC. The 44 mile route from the beach was very flat and simple. I had fun looking at everything though and thought of Matt as I passed Highpoint Ct. We made it to the church by 2 and most people went swimming at a nearby lake (but I was a party pooper and took a nap instead). I was quite tired and didn't finish my blog, even after my nap.

Today was an interesting day. A 66 mile ride changed into 90 miles! We had a great breakfast cooked by several church members. I headed out on my own for the beginning of the ride. I didn't find anyone going at a good pace until around mile 20. I was not a big fan of the road as igt had many potholes and rough parts, which aren't fun. I rode with a large group for ia while. for about I rode with them for about ten miles until we saw something odd; some of our teammates riding in the opposite direction! The directions were to a dead end and we had to backtrack 8 miles. And our reroute ended up being a little longer than the original route. I skipped around groups again because I kept taking breaks in the shade. I was alone when I pulled into Sumpter and I wound up going 2 miles past it. Thankfully, a man was nice enough to use his GPS system to help me find the best way to the church. I finally made it in around 6 pm. Long day with lots of heat and humidity, so I'm off to bed now!