Cycling Coast to Coast

I’m leaving tomorrow morning to bike down to Cape Cod!  Devon, Talia, Jess 1, Jess 2 and I are leaving from Cambridge tomorrow morning, and biking 70 miles to Sandwich, MA, where we’ll stay the night.  Then Thursday, we’ll bike the remaining 70 miles to Provincetown, stay overnight, and then take the ferry back to Boston on Friday.  I’m super excited for the trip.  I’ve never been to Cape Cod before, and this’ll be a great test-run for the trip and some fun times with other B&Bers.

The plan is to follow the Claire Statonstall Bikeway.  I’ve got cue sheets and maps printed out, but still need to finish up my part of the AHC and pack.

15 days until the trip starts!

While on the road, we have the chance to pickup mail about once a week.  Our mail is held at the USPS post office at each location, delivered by general USPS delivery.  Postcards, letters, care packages, or any sort of communication would be awesome!  Also, if you’d like me to send you a postcard while on the trip, please leave a comment.

Mail must be sent through the US Postal Service, and please make sure you send it with enough time to arrive by the pick-up date.  If you mail misses us, then the post office will forward it to the mail drop two weeks ahead.

Mail should get addressed to:
Bike & Build
Attn: Joanna Tong
General Delivery
ADDRESS
TOWN, STATE ZIP

The address, town, state, and zip are as follows:

Thursday, June 19, 2008
55 Mansion Street
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

Thursday, June 26, 2008
700 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Thursday, July 3, 2008
206 E 4th St
Bloomington, IN 47408

Thursday, July 10, 2008
500 W Chestnut Expy
Springfield, MO 65801

Thursday, July 17, 2008
900 Garth Brooks Blvd.
Yukon, OK 73099

Thursday, July 24, 2008
415 N Pennsylvania Avenue
Roswell, NM 88201

Thursday, July 31, 2008
223 N. Williamson Avenue
Winslow, AZ 86047

Thursday, August 7, 2008
201 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89125

Thursday, August 14, 2008
836 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93102-9998

Yesterday, Devon and I got up really early to take the commuter rail out to Lawrence to volunteer with Merimack Valley Habitat for Humanity.  Their current project is three homes on Market Street.  When we got to the build site, we found that out that in January, a fire had destroyed the project.  The three houses were nearly completed, and two families were supposed to move in within a few weeks.  It was a pretty devastating tragedy, but MV Habitat has gotten a lot of support and donations, and they’re working hard to rebuild the lost houses.  The foundation is laid for two of the houses, and the third has the exterior walls in place for the first floor already.

Our main tasks for the day were to help build interior walls for the first floor.  Devon and I worked with a group to put up walls for the master bedroom and closet, and then support beams in the basement.  Since we were there on a weekday, many of the volunteers were regulars, and they were very warm and helpful.  I had a really fun time, and definitely got better at hammering as the day went on.

As part of the Affordable Housing Curriculum, my job is to research two of the towns we’ll be staying at on the trip.  My two cities are Las Vegas, NV and Baker, CA, and these two places couldn’t be any more different.

Las Vegas, of course, is a big city, famous for its extravagent casinos, hotels, shows, and buffets.  Baker, on the other hand, has a population of 914 and is located at the edge of the Mojave desert, at the intersection of Interstate 15 and SR 127 (Death Valley Road).  Its claim to fame is the world’s tallest thermometer, at 134 feet tall.  Its height commerates the hottest temperature ever measured in the US, 134F, measured in Death Valley in 1913.

 vs.

As of 10:30am this morning, I am done with all academic work for my MIT undergrad career.  I’m not officially done until all the grades are in, and I receive my diploma on June 6, but there’s no more work!

All I have to do now is to do my part of the Affordable Housing Curriculum (for which I’ve already started doing a little bit of research), and ride to my heart’s content.  There’s also the little problem of how to pack up my room and get it back to California, but I’ll worry about that later.