Let her cry

I'm sitting here in Duluth updating this blog listening to Pandora and, "Let her cry" by Hootie and the Blowfish came on. Its been a long rainy day...a day for thinking.
I wanted to share the lyrics

She sits alone by a lampost
trying to find a thought that's escaped her mind
She says Dad's the one I love the most
but Stipe's not far behind
She never lets me in
only tells me where she's been
when she's had too much to drink
I say that I don't care, I just run my hands
through her dark hair then I pray to God
you gotta help me fly away

And just...Let her cry..if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be...let her be.

This morning I woke up alone
found a note standin' by the phone
saying baby, maybe I'll be back some day
I wanted to look for you
You walked in I didn't know just what I should do
so I sat back down and had a beer
and felt sorry for myself.

Sayin'...Let her cry...if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be...let her be.

Let her cry...if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow

Let her be...awww...Last night I tried to leave
cried so much I could not believe
she was the same girl I fell in lovewith long ago
She went in the back to get high
I sat down on my couch and cried
yellin' "Oh mama, please help me!
Won't you hold my hand?"And

Let her cry...if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be...let her be.
Let her cry...if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be...let her be.

"No one sees past those curls"

Rose garden in Duluth

A chalking for Calves

A chalking for curls

The ride into Sandstone was primarily on bike paths and AWESOME! Finally a chance to ride 2 abreast and not have to worry about cars. Kelsey and I decided to spend the day together and spend some time thinking about Paige and working on chalkings for her. We also talked a lot about family and our relationships. She likes to dig deep...
Later in the day we picked up Liz and spent the 8 hours ahead of us talking about nonsense, stopping for pop, trying to pet cats, and picking out our outfits for Llama Proma on Aug 1st. This ride was awesome...i love these girls.

Lets talk about Llama Proma: Micheal and Liz planned this whole elaborate prom for us. The guys and Kels had to pick out prom dates out of a hat and in the following days have to come up with creative ways to ask the ladies.

The ride into Duluth I was sweeping with Josh. It was nothing short of amazing. We gave the riders a challenge to capture amazing photos with locals. I also casually mentioned that chalkings for sweep would be appreciated. We were in for a BIG surprise! A couple miles into the ride there was a love poem for me, "Angela P. my queen to be..." and arrows pointed to a gift. 7 miles later there is a chalking to "curls" and "calves." I've been wearing my hair curly for this trip and Josh has the sickest calves next to Lance. Every 7 miles following we received a chalking from "dressy" & "mofaux"...we finally figured out it was Abby, who always wears new dresses, and Kelsey, who has a mofohaux. Ha. Captured in the photos above are the wonderful messages and illustrations they left for us. At some point we caught up with Denis and Nolan chalking a message for me but they got spooked and sped away leaving an empty circle where a new gift was supposed to be... I've got my suspicions about the 2 of them but they might just be trying to throw off all of the girls. There are only a couple more days for them to ask us... Kyle Lee wrote a sermon to Heather tonight and gave her a single white rose. That's pretty good!

After an awesome lunch with donated nectarines, we carried on and took a 7 mile detour into a dead end. We came across chalk pointing out amazing clouds with a B&B arrow...we were busy looking at the clouds and missed the directional arrow. Whoops. Once we hauled our butts back we caught up with a group cliff jumping into the St Louis river. Pretty awesome! We finally got moving once again and then ran into Kira and Kelly suspiciously standing outside a supermarket cleaning their faces with a roll of paper towels...

After dinner, the group displayed their local pictures with us. Leisl won herself one slow dance with us by getting herself and her bike tossed into a garbage truck. Kelly and Kira also won by taking a picture with Tom. Kira posed as a bloody vampire with jelly covering her mouth and arms and Tom using a string of garlic to fend her off.

We are staying at a Temple in Duluth and it has been really wonderful. Our host, Gary let us have a Q & A with him about Judaism and brought us into the sanctuary where he took out the Torah.

Our day off was a relaxing rainy one. We had Thai for lunch which was nice to get a little spice into our lives again. I also decided to put a hoop in my nose...

Thank Goodness for tall buildings

Ride into St Paul!

Bike paths were awesome

Build day in St Paul with a Brush With Kindness

Leisl and I working hard not to get lead poisoning.

Oh Kira, baby

Yup

Denis's midnight birthday celebration with sparklers that Mal sent. Yay!

A Tribute to Paige Hicks

July 20th was a sad day for every Bike & Builder. Paige Hicks, leader of P2S '10 and alumni from '09 had been struck by a truck and was killed. She was only 21. My best friend Gabe was her co-leader. He had called me with the horrifing news later that day. I hope I never have to hear him like that again. Its been heart breaking for all of us but the response from the Bike & Build community has been tremendous. As a tribute to Paige, all of the trips and many alumni have been chalking messages in her honor.

E E Cummings is one of my favorite poets and these words have been in my head since that tragic day. Kelsey and I got it down on the pavement of a bike path on Sunday on the ride into Sandstone, Mn. It's our small way of honoring Paige.

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is doneby only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

We love and miss you Paige

I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier

Nolan is the jokester of the group. Well...a select few got him back. ahem.

The dance party into Chicago.



LOVE HER!

Hmm...I love me a good manstache

One of the funniest moments when we finally realized that we matched.

On a bike path into Chi-town

Trav...looking real good.

Steph getting Josh on his B-day with water balloons.

Ride into Soldiers Grove...Mark pulled me going almost 24 mph. It was awesome.

Trav and I are obviously obsessed with cheese.

Build day in South Bend...we were sodding. (is that aword?)

Wisconsin was a really beautiful state to bike through. Some high lights include:

Madison day off: Dan Carmody from NC2SD '08 came out to say hello and joined our whole group later at a local brewery. There was pool, shuffle board, darts, and a TON of beer. The following day we started with breakfast at a diner and that's when my hang over kicked in. The rest of the day was spent exploring Main street near the college and doing some impulsive shopping. I got a new camera though. I was mistaken for a homeless person when I fell asleep on a bench outside of a sporting goods store that Kelly was shopping in for 2 hours...that was nice and hysterical. Mind you I was wearing a fancy new dress I just bought and had my aviator sunglasses on. Homeless?...sure.

Soldiers Grove: This was a century ride, 103 miles, and I was riding strong. The terrain was hilly but really nice. We had 2 lunches at ranches in the middle of nowhere. Kelly handed out water guns which were a huge success. Once we got close we were riding through apple orchards which the town is known for. I rode in with Micheal, Josh and Steph to finish out the ride. We stayed at our first school.

Onalaska: We got a late start today due to crazy fog. I think most of us appreciated it though. It was a sad and frustrating day for all of us. I rode by myself for some of the morning and then Sam caught up with me which was a nice distraction. The terrain was really hilly and my legs felt like jello. We re-routed onto a road that was really beautiful with rolling hills and by that point we were with Travis, Josh, Stephaine and some others. To pass the time, Travis asked us to think about a meal that we could have prepared by anyone we wanted, a guest to invite, and a location for the meal. Everyone started talking about food and we got really hungry, really fast. I think my meal would be prepared by my mom. I love her pasta putanesca and homemade white pizza with Gorgonzola and onions. We would be on my grandparents farm in Italy and I'd hope to share the meal with both of my parents. My dad is opening the restaurant again. Its bittersweet for me. I miss them. Our stay in Onalaska was really great. The hosts and community members were amazing and the dinner was really, really delicious.

Pepin: It was Josh's Birthday today! I drove the van today and it was raining but the riders loved the ride and it went quick for most of them. Once we got into town the rain had stopped and everyone ganged up on Josh with water balloons. Today was also mail drop. Another letter from Emily and Tom. I love them, thank you so much. I also got a package from Mal-thanks so much!

Cheese Curds & Beer Brats...Wisconsin, I love you.

Janesville was our first stop in Wiscaaaaansin and is home to 2 of our riders, Sarah and Kate. Also home to former NC2SD co-leader, Ben Ryan. I was driving the van that day with sickly Kelly in the back. She had been battling a cold for several days but by lunch time she was pretty lifeless with crazy pains all over. I stopped at a bar called Como Inn for the riders lunch spot–it had a shaded area with picnic tables and a volley ball court. The perfect combination for crazy people like us. Once people started rolling in they formed 2 teams and played a couple of games. For some reason we the leaders have whistles on our keys (which we don't use on the riders) so it seemed appropriate that I get up on the refs chair and call the game. It was pretty amazing.

Once we got into town, Nigella met us at the church and took Kelly to Urgent Care and we later found out that she had a kidney infection. Real nice. She set up camp at their house for the rest of our stay in Janesville and pretty much slept for 72 hours.

Friday night: Sam Ryan picked me up and we headed over to Sarah's house to meet the group for a bonfire and some beers. Sarah's dad is from New Zealand and taught the boys this chant/dance. Its now part of Sam Ross and Travis's 100 step handshake. Tonight I got to sleep in the guest room at Nigella's BEAUTIFUL house. It was so great to have a bed.

Sat: Today was a build day and when we got to the Habitat site we quickly noticed that the site supervisor looked like he could be brothers to our own, Paul Northrup. Seriously, they were the same person. Sarah showed up late so we told her that he actually was Paul's brother and she later approached him asking him all kinds of hysterical questions. Both got very confused and we laughed a lot! Today was crazy hot and there was little to no shade around the house. The group split up– some were on the roof and some were doing siding. There weren't quite enough jobs for 31 so Denis and Kyle went to get Elvis, our van, fixed and I made sure everyone was staying hydrated. The build was a success...everyone shared the job duties and we all got a taste of everything.

Later that evening we were shuttled over to Kate's dads house for dinner and were blown away. The driveway was chalked "pasta free zone" and our hearts sang with joy. (We've been eating tons of pasta and lasagna and are sick of it!) Kate's step mom works in design too so she printed huge banners with a collage of photos from our trip and also had yellow NUS 2010 t-shirts printed with our names and itineraries on the back with matching "thank you" cards. It was incredible. Let's talk about the food...beer brats, the most amazing and juicy burgers I've ever had, local famous subs, chicken, salads, dips, fruit, desserts, and local beer! It was the perfect ending to a great weekend and a warm welcome to Wisconsin.

Thank you to Nigella & Jim for taking care of Kelly and opening your home to us and for providing lunch for us the ride into Madison. You guys are truly wonderful people and I feel blessed to know you.

4 states in 6 days

Niagara Falls!

X-tina rode with us into RIT.

The dock at Avon Lake.

John & Cathy Berner provided 2nd lunch on one of the hottest rides. The riders were so happy to jump into Lake Erie in their back yard!

About 2 miles away from the church in Niagara with Kelly & Kate.

The whole crew showed up!

Beth carried this flag the whole 1.5 miles to see fireworks. It was great for photos.

Leaving RIT on the 4th. We sang the Star Spangled Banner.

In Ashtabula, the night before our build day. This was the dance party. Club Northern.

On the Maid of the Mist in Niagara.

Ride into Rochester, NY. Sam (1oolbs) was on the seesaw with Paul (250lbs) and obviously was stuck in the air so I jumped out to even the playing field.

3 states in one day. We left Westfield, NY, hit PA, and then onto Ashtabula, OH. Notice Nolan creeping in the background.

Watching the fireworks in Lockport, NY

Paul got go-carts donated while we were staying at RIT.

Obviously, we were really excited.

Avon Lake, Ohio. This was the home of one of our home stays hosts. Everyone went swimming in lake Erie with the sun setting. A-MAZING.

Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois-check. Onto Wisconsin tomorrow. And then we will be almost half way. Time is seriously flying even though each day feels like its days long.

Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois pretty much all looked the same with lots of farm land and flat terrain.

Chicago is legit. I rode in with Jamey, Sarah, Kate, Paul, and Liz. The first 85 miles were pretty awful because the roads were terrible but once we got into the city and on the Lakeshore bike path we were all blown away. Probably the best 15 miles I've ever had on the bike. Once we were close enough to see the sky line we got off the bike and Jamey hooked us up with our theme song; Scissor Sisters, "I don't feel like dancing." People were looking at us like we were crazy but that pretty much happens everywhere we go. Diane, Sarah and I went exploring Lincoln Park once we were all showered up and treated ourselves to some sushi. Man, I miss sushi! Liz, Sarah, Jill, Kels, Beth, Kelly (and her friends) and I went to a bar after dinner. Kate and her aunt met up with us a little later and her aunt put $50 on a tab for us. I think I had 5 beers. Nowadays, I really only need 3. I'm a lightweight again. Let's just say I slept really well last night.

We pushed wake up to 9AM this morning which is a real treat compared to the 5AM norm. So Kelly, Denis, Ang, Tyler and I went to breakfast. We felt like normal people again. Thanks for picking up the tab Tyler.

We rode into Grayslake today and Kelly and I stayed together for the whole day. Most of the day was on bike paths and the first 10 miles were hysterical. We were on a path that had many sculptures that made for great photo opts. There was one incident with a gigantic red horse...I climbed up as Kelly set up her camera on our bike tripod. She climbed up fast, the picture took, and she proceeded to climb down. I, on the other hand, was unable to get down that easily. After about 5 1/2 minutes of her directing me where to put my feet and hands I suggested she cup her hands and hold my foot so I could hop/catapult down . She knew better and said no. Finally, I got my footing and was able to get down. Note to self: I fail at climbing things.

Here are some pics from the past couple of days.

Let's talk about mail drops for a sec

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

This past Thursday was amazing. Becca, thanks for the "WOOF" socks. Emily, thanks for the half- Birthday, Birthday card. Happy half Birthday to you too! Janine, thanks for the cute card and maps of Chi-town. And to Robin, Katie, Kelly, & Amy...you ladies are too much. The spread of goodies were so amazing, it really warmed my heart...and gave me a belly ache! Magazines, girl scout cookies, chapsticks, cliff bars, hair ties, sun screen, candy, etc. I love you and miss you guys!

Ohio is HOT!

I love you Ohio but your temperatures have been insane. Apparently we brought a heatwave with us...

Yesterday was awesome/not so awesome. We hit the road around 7:30, biking from NY, hitting the PA state sign and then into Ohio. Nolan's parents and 2 brothers came out to meet us and provide 2 lunches. It was incredible-chicken wraps, bean & corn salsa, and fresh fruit. (P.S. I'm eating entirely too much nowadays) But the heat was ridiculous and the day ended up being super long. I was pretty close to bonking...like 2 mins away from the church. OOF!

Last night, Jamey found a stereo system in one of the rooms of the church we are staying in so of course we had a little scheming session. Kelly and I hit up Wal-Mart for glow sticks, bubbles and ridiculous sunglasses and Jamey worked on the signage for our surprise dance party. We transformed the kitchen into a dance floor and used our headlights as strobe lights. Paul was the bouncer. It was hysterical.

In other news, my tan lines are getting ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean awesome. Also, my camera broke. Who wants to buy and send me a new one?

Thanks to Becca & crew, Emily, and Babs for the mail drops. Love you guys.