Louisville, KY

Today was our first day off from any obligations and it was awesome. I really enjoyed exploring the surrounding neighborhoods that we were staying by and also seeing the city center. The church we are staying at is in the southeastern part of Louisville and the houses around us are all very well maintained with beautiful landscaping. 

In the morning I went on a short run around the neighborhoods and found a nice park and trail near by. 

Nice swimming area. 

After breakfast my friend Roge and I biked to the city center and walked around the shops. We stopped in a few cool stores and one of them gave us a free bottle sock, which was an idea that was originally on shark tank. Louisville is also well known for its bourbon so we stopped in a bourbon chocolate store and I tried a bourbon chocolate cherry. The guy working there was really interested in our trip and wrote down our program name to make a donation and follow us. For lunch we ate a place half indoors and half outdoors called Garage and I tried a German beer with a hint of banana flavor which was pretty good. 

City center. 

Big ass bourbon in the chocolate shop. 

KFC, unfortunately it was closed today. 

Outdoors patio shop. 

Garage. 

German beer. 

Cool store we stopped in. 

Wall we wrote on. 

After walking around we went to the riverfront of the Ohio river. 

View of the city from the bridge. 

Water park we cooled off at. 

I had a great time exploring the city and it was a lot nicer than I was expecting. There was also a strong sense of a biking community around from the shops and bike ways on the streets. Outside of the city center there were a lot of great looking restaurants as well as some nice parks and nature areas. So far Kentucky is my favorite state we've been through since the roads have been really enjoyable as well as the places we've stopped at. 

Paris, KY to Louisville, KY

Today started slower than usual since many people were still tired from yesterday. In the first mile we stopped along the road to feed a horse and its fawn. 

Town of Paris. 

The ride was really pretty and a lot of rolling hills which is my favorite type of ride. 

Kentucky farmland. 

Around mile 60 we were on a pretty busy road. The group I was with made it through just fine but we later found out that one girl on the trip got hit by a car. Apparently it was the driver's fault and it was a low impact accident but she did go to the hospital. She was there for a few hours and was later released with some bad skid and road burn marks. As of now she is ok and is able to continue with the trip. 

Tomorrow is our first day off and I'm looking forward to seeing the city. 

Huntington, WV to Paris, KY

We woke up at 5am to begin our day ofT pure riding. Today was our longest mileage day of the entire trip and also the longest mileage day of all other bike and build routes. We did 116 miles and contrary to our belief that it was going to be all flat there were actually a few hills in the beginning and end. I preferred the hills to the wind though which slowed me down more. The beginning of the route wasn't very scenic but the last 25 miles were very pretty through the Kentucky farmland hills. We had our first lunch at mile 42 and then another lunch stop at mile 80. All of our stops were meant to be very quick but second lunch took a while because the van hadn't left from first lunch yet. We eventually made it into the host around 6:30. We ate dinner and got to go swimming at the pool since we are staying at a YMCA tonight. 

Entering Kentucky. 

Kentucky farmland. 

More Kentucky hills. 

Marietta, OH to Wellston, OH

Today was our longest mileage day yet of the trip with a total of 87.8 miles. Most people were able to make it all the way, with a few people getting picked up. Since there was a lot of ground to cover we didn't have much time to stop. I did take a few pictures and we stopped at a lake at one point to get in a much needed swim. 

Ohio farm land. 

Looking like thugs in front of a broken down bus. 

Ohio land. 

Lake Hope we stopped at. 

Riding in the back of a pickup truck to get to the showers. 

In the morning of our ride one the team leaders' parents rode along the route on a tandem bike and they were moving fast! There were also some B&B alumni that are staying with us tonight. There seems to be a very strong B&B alumni commodore in every state we visit. 

Huntington, West Virginia build day

Today we had a build day and we finally had the opportunity to help build a house from scratch. When we got there the frame was built. Most of the day I worked on building walls for the interior of the house. My hammering of nails was a slow process at first but I eventually got the hang of it. 

House when we first arrived. 

Inside when we first arrived. 

Building some walls. 

Cutting wood for walls. 

I also worked a little on the insulation of the outside walls. Some other people worked on roofing and shingling as well. I forgot to take a picture at the end of the day but we were able to get a lot done. I really enjoyed the work we did today since it directly applied to affordable housing. 

After building we hung out at the church, which is six stories high and has a bunch of different rooms. I also explored the city a little more too and took some pictures. 

Small park near the river. 

The Ohio river. 

Near the shopping center. 

Shopping center. 

Wellston, OH to Huntington, WV

To end our 8 day streak of riding we finished off with a relatively easy ride since it was mostly down hill. Although it was long-around 75 miles-the day went by pretty quickly. The route was not very scenic either so I didn't take many pictures. 

Our group is celebrating half Christmas by playing secret Santa. We each picked a person's name out of a hat and have to find that person a gift. So along the way we stopped at the family dollar but I didn't find anything. When we arrived in Huntington we had time to walk around. I stopped in a few bike shops and running shops and found a magnet for my person. The people working at the shops  were really friendly and interested in our trip and I got some free gu. I walked around the town a little more at night and found a nice shopping area as well. 

The church we are staying at is huge and feels more like a college dorm building. There's a large game room with a tv, ping pong table and pool table. Tomorrow will be a much needed day off from biking as we will be working on our next build day. 

Only picture of the day. 

Weston, WV to Marietta, OH

We began the day at 5:30 today because each chore group rotated and had new chores to do and also because we had a longer ride day today. My group's new job was to load the trailer with everyone's  bags, which was pretty quick and easy. We then began the ride around 8 am. Nothing very exciting happened during the ride today but the parts through WV were again very pretty. The roads were very narrow with trucks driving by so at times it was a bit dangerous. My group always communicated though so we made it through safely. Towards the end of the ride we made it into Ohio and the rest of the ride was flat with a pretty hard head wind. 

Entering Ohio. 

Ohio river. 

The town of Marietta is the first official settlement in the US so it is very old and historic. Many of the streets are made of brick and its quite pretty. 

Parsons, West Virginia to Weston, WV

Today began with two huge climbs to help us wake up in the morning. I was still really tired so going fast was not something I was trying to do. We got to a gravel road and I again was getting tired of not riding on pavement. We made it to lunch at Audra State park but it was basically just a camp ground in the woods. 

Our personally painted trailer. 

After lunch we headed it but a mile later we came to a beautiful river to go swimming in. 

View from the bridge. 

View from the beach. 

After about an hour of relaxing we rode on around some really pretty hills and farms. I could tell that WV is a very poor state but it is very beautiful. I was worried we would have more huge hills I climb but it was mostly just rolling hills through the valleys. 

We got to the host around 4:30 and were once again greeted by the generous hosts. They took us to a pool down the street but we didn't have too much time to go swimming. The pool felt great though and it had a great diving board and slides. 

At night we had a "family meeting" where we again each discussed our highs, lows and give kudos for the week. I said my high was yesterday with the great climbs,  swims, trail and great company. I didn't have a low for the week and I gave kudos to a girl Yudi. She was on the trail with me at the end of the day yesterday and she did a great job leading and communicating with the rest of the group. Everyone else was really tired the next ride day but she powered past a bunch of us any way.