I'm back on my bike and getting stronger! 40, 63, 74 (miles) ... Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota. The past few days have been so beautiful, and I am ecstatic to feel connected again. Yesterday we crossed the Mississippi River, a place I knew only through childhood songs. It was absolutely breathtaking. It stayed by our side for most of the day accompanied by rolling hills and enchanted forests. This is the stuff fairy tales are inspired by.
On our journey to this point we have stopped to do work on a few houses. The place that really stands out in my mind is Janesville Minnesota. This is a small town filled with incredibly friendly and happy people. They are going through a lot of problems right because the GM Plant which employed many of the towns people closed down. Of course there is a domino effect and there isn't much money spent and other businesses have begun to close down. Not only this but they have had flooding problems in the past which probably took large amounts of money to repair. Situations like this are not uncommon, unfortunately we have past through other towns who have had to deal with major floods, and many towns in which most of the businesses are vacant...its very unsettling.
My eyes were opened to something else while in Janesville, something which was more than unsettling. I was working on a house through a program called Community Action. They tear down and rebuild worn down and abandoned houses. They also work with troubled teens who would be unable to find jobs otherwise. The teens, although stand offish at first and pretty unmotivated, were good people once you got to talking with them. So when the man who oversaw our project told me they had no respect for him I was puzzled. He said they saw him as nothing but another white man telling them what to do. A few hours later as I walked down the sidewalk from the toilet a cop car pulled up behind me and asked if I was lost. He asked this because I was a white woman in this neighborhood. Apparently the people of this neighborhood constantly have to put up with discrimination. Its disgusting that things like this are still happening. How can we grow together if we treat each other in this way? I felt as though just interacting with these people for one day made a difference. I wish that we could have had more time together. Everyone should really learn to be careful with the ideas that they project onto others. If someone is expected to act a certain way than eventually they will. If you treat someone badly they will act badly, if you speak positively to someone than they will live in a more positive manner. Next time you walk past "the bad part of town" think twice about the people who live there. They're just like you and I.

Also I just want to point out that it is incredibly hard to document this journey. There just are no words to describe exactly what I am experiencing..

So some of you might think that in order to do a trip like this we must be crazy. Well the thing is..we are, all 30 of us. We are spandex wearing, peanut butter eating, floor sleeping, adrenaline seeking machines. Machines built of flesh and blood, pushing ourselves to the very limit of our capabilities. Believe me when I say that the human body is capable of much more than what you would assume..it just takes a bit of strength from both the body and mind. There are multiple times on this trip that I was just completely exhausted and approached the bottom of an incredibly steep hill and thought there was no way I would make it to the top. Well guess what, I did. I know this to be true for many others on this trip as well. If you focus your mind on attempting to achieve the unimagined, many times it can be achieved. Its truly amazing what our bodies can adapt to.
I have not only been exposed to people with incredible minds but with huge hearts as well. Its beautiful to come across so many people who are willing to help each other and lift each other up. The communities we have entered have welcomed us with open arms, giving a place to sleep to complete strangers...cooking us elaborate meals. Even the people I have stopped to speak with on the streets have been so kind. It is nice to have a new perspective on my country, to see people coming together and helping each other out rather than staying divided by their differences. I had recently been sort of bitter towards the ways of our country due to all the negativity the media has exposed us too. I now see past this ignorance. The world is filled with good and bad people...more importantly good people. I have definitely developed a new love for our country and its people. There is, however, a lot of work that needs to be done. It is a slap in the face to bike through some of these towns and see the conditions in which some people live in. Many of them do not even have the ability to do something as simple as recycle. How can we go into other countries and tell them how to live when we ourselves have problems we need to solve? It feels really good to be of some help to people in need and not just talk about all the things that our government is doing wrong.
Just last week I worked at putting siding up on a house in one of the most run down neighborhoods in Rochester NY. When I first got there I thought that I would be of no help at all because I had no experience. I ended up solving a problem that the workers were having with the siding..all they needed were a pair of fresh eyes. We also learned that when people in these neighborhoods see a new house go up they will start to care more for their property. The good energy spreads, the neighborhood becomes a better place to live. Its an amazing feeling to help provide a basic need for someone. There are so many people out there who just had one small misfortune and are stuck in a really bad place. We learned about one of the families that Habitat has helped and it was just heartbreaking. A women whose husband had a stroke and could no longer work and was continuing to support her children on a teachers salary but could not. So here's someone who spends most of her life taking care of other children but is not paid enough to provide for her own? This is not right. This is only one example, there are so many good hard workers who just can not survive..something has to be done.
I am now in Ashtubula Ohio and just finished painting a building. I am unfortunately not going to be biking for a few days because a woodchuck ran out in front of my bike putting me on crutches. This will be another challenge of my mind I supposed..staying positive. I am missing being out on my bike. Seeing things from the seat of my bike has really connected me to the environment which surrounds us every day. I have smelt heard and seen things that I would not if I had been in a car. My senses seem to be heightened. While pushing myself up the mountings in NY and cruising down at 45 mph (on a bike! wo!) I was stopped in the middle of the street by a bear. She froze and I froze; we just looked at each other in the eyes for a good 5 minutes. She than ran away and was followed by the cutest little baby I ever did see. I can't wait to get back on my bike.
"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Ghandi