Cycling Coast to Coast

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.

Happy new year!

I’ve been home in California for winter break, and it’s been pretty relaxing. The donations have kept coming in (thanks so much to everyone!), and I’ve also done some shopping for bike gear. Performance Bikes has a retail store in San Francisco, so I picked up my first pair of spandex cycling shorts, a wind shell, and arm & leg warmers.

Last week, I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity SF, who is building 12 single-family homes in the Outer Mission neighborhood. They’ve already finished a few houses, and the first family moved in just before the holidays. It was really inspiring to see what’s possible with volunteer labor. They’ve started laying down the foundations for two new houses, but because it started raining, most of the work we did was indoors in one of the houses nearing completion. I spent the day getting my hands dirty painting all the windowsills and door frames in the house.