FINAL BLOG! (I think..)

I've definitely been putting this off for some time now. It's been just about three weeks since we reached the Pacific Ocean and dipped our front tires in, thus concluding our cross-country journey.

I'll try to recall as much as I can from our final three riding days before recapping the trip, overall.

Our last build day was in Palmdale, CA. Every ride day after that was 40 or less miles. We hadn't seen this kind of mileage since our shake-down ride in Revere during orientation.

We were excited to head for Santa Clarita, especially because most of us wanted to go to Hurricane Harbor (Six Flag Magic Mountain's water park).

The ride started out with some climbing. This was kind of frustrating. Here we were looking forward to this short and sweet ride, but now it looked like we were gonna have to sweat a bit, or so it seemed. Once we got passed mile 15 or so things started to look downhill (literally; thus, a good thing). We flew down hills and weaved in and out of valleys. It was a warm day, but we'd occasionally hit cold pockets. The traffic was pretty non-existent, too. All in all, we coasted for the remaining miles and were in Santa Clarita in no time. Everyone was looking forward to going to In N Out and we knew there was one on the way, so we waited outside its doors when we got there around 10 (didn't open til 10:30). Despite it being a Christian organization, the manager did not feel inclined to give us any discount. Whatevs.

Shortly after getting in to our host site (a church) we shuttled over to Hurricane Harbor. It was only ten minutes away. And the water park kind of sucked. There weren't many rides and most had annoying waits. The coolest one was this taco slide where you flew up the walls back and forth while in a big tube with three other people. I got legit scared at points, but all in the name of fun. I also got a scar on my elbow from some damn water slide. So after riding across the country on a bike I can point out my awesome little scar... from a water slide. Sweet.

That night the group had our final affordable housing meeting where we decided which grant applications we would allot money to. It went smoothly.

Later that night my friend from LA, Alexa, came up and visited. It was great to see her. We went to a local bar where we were celebrating Sadie's birthday. Fun times ensued.

Second last day of riding: Santa Clarita to Santa Paula.

Despite it being short, I remember it being a somewhat frustrating day because of winds. I rode with Nathan and we made a pit stop at Starbucks and chilled there for a while.

That afternoon Alex's mom took us all out to lunch at a local place. We definitely overwhelmed their small staff and small kitchen, but it was good food.

I was on everyone's case that day to get their "Bike & Build is..." done (you'll understand later), so did that for a while. Also, this guy took four of us back to his ranch to shower. He had this homemade swing in the backyard that was probably one of the scarier things I've done (just ask Andrea, Christina, or Lesley). He gave us some fresh grapefruit from his trees, though.

The church community all gathered for a huge dinner that night and it was really our last host provided dinner on the trip.

After dinner we all went out to a local bar. People filled out superlative forms for the banquet the next night and, more importantly, we did our MUSTACHE SHAVING! You see, the whole trip all the guys grew out mustaches for the "Molestache" contest. Some got pretty sketchy. It was great.

Later that night everyone gathered back at the church and we did the leader roast. People had some good material prepared and most of it was taken well by the leaders.

I don't think anyone was annoyed with waking up the next morning. I mean, it was our last day of riding. How could people be anything but excited?

Brendan (a program director) flew in from Philly so that he could drive the van the last day and all the leaders could ride. We all met him in a gas station before leaving Santa Paula where we listened to Trey and Goose's awesome rendition of "I'm on a Bike" (remake of "I'm on a Boat").

Amary, Nathan, and I made a quick pit stop after that to pick up some champagne to pop when we got to the Pacific.

Meanwhile, it turned we wouldn't be able to ride on the 101, so we had to pull over and wait for Brendan to reroute. The weather had been gloomy most of the day, too, and we hoped it would get nicer soon.

Pretty soon we got into Santa Barbara and took a bike route that was right next to the coast. It was weird to see the ocean right there next to us. No one was about to run in before we hit our final spot, though.

The plan was to rendezvous at a park five miles from the beach. We did so and then started riding all together. That got a little stressful. 31 people riding in a group can definitely feel a little dangerous.

Sarah was going to meet us a mile from the beach and we were planning on walking our bikes to the ocean with her. Sarah is the one who broke her elbow. Little did we know that they planned on getting Sarah one of those tri-bike-beach-cruzer things. We turned the corner and there she was waiting to lead us in. Everyone went crazy for her.

As we neared the beach spot we saw tons of family and friends holding signs and cheering us on. The group responded wildly and, after avoiding a car or two, we reached where the sand met the concrete. I don't know who set them up, but there were flags set up on the beach leading us to the water.

Everyone dropped their bikes before the sand and RAN. We ran straight into that ocean and celebrated for fifteen minutes. Hugs, cheers, songs (Build Me Up Buttercup), and popped corks resonated up and down the coast.

We. Made. It.

It felt amazing. It felt so amazing it really didn't sink in right away. We got our bikes and everyone lined up to dip the front tires in. Pretty soon after everyone had calmed down a bit and got ready to head to the host site.

After getting settled at the church we got ready for the banquet. It was at a local golf course's restaurant and they had a buffet set up.

Highlights of the night included: speeches from each leader (including a lovely poem by Megan and a nice slideshow by Ali), version 2.0 of Frustrating (this time the whole crowd knew the chorus), superlatives (best tan lines, most likely to give you a heart attack, etc.). We all went out to get drinks after and had a great night.

The next day people were already leaving. I woke up to some already gone. We had breakfast, took inventory of the trailer's contents, said goodbye to more people, slept a lot, played some foosball, and then went out in Santa Barbara.

Finally, the next morning we went to a cafe and returned to clean up our stuff. Pretty soon the van was full of eight of us heading to LA. I was going home, four were driving the van back to Philly, Brendan was flying back the next day, and three were staying with me a few days.

And then we left Santa Barbara.

I could continue with my last few days with Bike & Builders, but it's not relevant to the trip. Santa Barbara was our final destination, so that's where I will leave it.

Oh, and, also, here are pics from New Mexico, Arizona, and our final stretch in California.

Now, to wrap up the whole trip...

Haha, yeah right. Words can barely do this trip justice!

I say if you're young enough, then get out there and do this. It is amazing. Any person can do it. When you're out there with 31 others on a nasty cold rainy day or a hot long one, you just feel the strength of the people around you and it pushes you. And knowing that so many people have donated to your cause and believe and support in you. It just motivates you. Most of the trip is mental. Once you believe in yourself you're set. There might be hard days and your body might talk to you other days, but you should be too busy having the time of your life to notice.

Personally, I did have the time of my life. This was exactly what I needed at this point in my life. Things became clearer and I returned to LA with a greater sense who I want to be. There are so many places to go, so many adventures to still be had.

I don't know if I'd do Bike & Build again. If I did it would as a leader because I don't think I'd be able to top my first experience as a rider.

I've taken away so many great memories from this trip and have met some truly amazing people. I've even managed to learn a life lesson or two.

So, to sum it up, summer of my life. And, hands down, best experience of my life (thus far). Does that mean I should get out more? Doubt it. Just go do B&B and you'll understand.

Until next time, the wheel keeps on spinning...