Day 17, Sweetwater, TN....

So a lot has happened since my last post. Let's see what I can fill ya'll in on...

I left off telling ya'll about our first day in Asheville. I forgot to mention that we stayed in UNC-As dorms! Yes. That's right. We slept in beds for 2 nights. It was awesome. Since we weren't at a church, we had to provide dinner for ourselves for the first time of the trip. A lot of us went to Asheville Pizza and Brewing company. I had an absolutely AMAZING pizza that I created.... w/ a black peppercorn crust, cajun chicken, chorizo sausage and jalapenos. The brews were good as well. We enjoyed our night on the town since we had a build day the next day.

Day 13, BUILD DAY in Asheville, NC
Upon waking up, my first thought was THANK GOD I do not have to ride my bike today, because my legs (and knee especially), were KILLING me from the day before's ride thru the mountains to Asheville. Upon walking into the lounge for breakfast, we're informed that due to smaller build sites, we would be divided and sent to 3 different sites. No big deal. Except. My group would be the ONLY group that HAD to ride our bikes to the site. Shoot me. No big deal, right? 3 miles. But. We're in the mountains, and my legs hurt, so it wasn't fun. The build day was amazing though. We built a wheelchair ramp for a house with Mountain Housing Opportunities. It was a blast, and we were one heck of a team. That night we had to provide dinner for ourselves again, so we went to a burrito place, then downstairs from it for ice cream. The night ended with Affordable Housing presentations, and myself staying up LATE (like tonight again), to update the blog.

Day 14, Asheville, NC to Gatlinburg, TN
YES! The day has arrived! We leave NC to venture into the beyond! But this was my day from hell, as well for other riders. Let's just say that the "mountains" we climbed into Asheville were definitely put to shame by this ride. And that my knee was totally shot by the time I got yanked by the van at 5:30... but we'll get to that. This ride was a tough one because there were 3 major climbs... and did I mention the mileage for the day was about 90 miles? The day started out pretty easily, with rolling hills and such, which my knee was very thankful for. Then the first mountain, which destroyed me, and I almost threw the towel in at the first lunch break. But, being the stubborn person I am, I decided to push it and ride on. The rest of the climb was just as miserable as the first half, but thanks to my buddy Andy encouraging me and sticking by my side, I made it to the Blue Ridge Parkway. That starts the 2nd climb, which wasn't as steep, but was long. I was determined to continue on, eventually cresting it, despite the copious amounts of motorcycles wizzing by us. The next few miles were worth every bit of pain that I had just put myself through. We decended from 5200ft to about 1000ft within about 10 minutes. It was AMAZING. I think I topped out at 45mph... although I could've gone faster. Then we entered the Great Smokey Mtns... 3rd climb of the day. This mountain fooled us, because it started kind of gradually. Turns out, It was not a nice mountain, and took its toll on my knee. I bowed out about 6 miles from the top, and tried to call the van to get me, but had no phone service. So I chilled for a little while, and luckily was picked up soon after. Amy was driving the van on this particular day, and had to pick up anyone that had not crested the final mountain by 5:30. I was one of 10 to be picked up, thank God, because we still had about 18 miles to go after the mountain. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful, camping on the lawn of First Baptist Church in Gatlinburg.
Miles to date...... (not handy, sorry).

Day 15, Gatlinburg, TN to Maryville, TN
This was a short ride, about 40 miles with one large climb and the rest rolling hills. I wouldn't know from experience though, because I was in the van riding shotgun. The leaders and I decided I should take a day off from riding to rest my knee. I really did not want to because I'd rather participate in EVERY ride and have my trek across the country be legit. But. It was for the best, and it was a short ride anyways. Gabe and I stopped on the side of the rode with a lot of the riders to hike to a waterfall, it was pretty sweet. The rest of the day was pretty chill, including going out to a bar downtown that night.

Day 16, BUILD DAY in Maryville, TN
Absolutely AWESOME day!! We ROCKED it out there! The entire team rode about 6 miles each way on our bikes to the build site. Blount County Habitat greeted us with cowbells as we rode in. I'm still not a fan of biking on our day off from biking, but I do think it's pretty sweet that we literally Bike AND Build in the same day... hence our name. This job site was amazing. We built the entire flooring system of a house, from the main support, up to the sub floor. We worked like a machine and made it happen. The weather was gorgeous, and I'm still a redneck thanks to it, haha. Last night we ate at Aubrey's, a restaurant in Maryville. It was totally free except for drinks and tip. The service was awesome, and the food was even better. (I had a salad... yes, I did.)

Day 17, Maryville, TN to Sweetwater, TN
Today was like any other..... AWESOME! This trip has been amazing, I don't think I can reiterate it enough. We woke up at 7am to pack and clean the church. I decided to ride and test my knee out, and it wasn't too bad today. Mike Vail and I were sweep for this one. A lot of people really dread their sweep days, but we got lucky. Today was a 39 mile ride thru rolling hills in the Tennessee countryside. We had some gorgeous views and a really relaxed ride since we had to hold down the caboose. Upon arriving at the host site (Sweetwater National Guard Armory...), we showered and immediately got in the van with the rest of the crew to go to The Lost Sea! Haha. This is the largest underground lake in the US, second largest in the world, and it's here in Sweetwater about 5 miles from our host. It was pretty sweet... kind of a tourist trap, but nice to be in a 56 degree cave rather than the 85 degree sun. 27 of the 31 of us went to the cave for a fun, relaxed afternoon, and it wouldn't have been the same without all of us. The rest of the day has consisted of us hanging out at the armory. By the way, I'm sad they won't let us drive the Humvee... haha. Tomorrow should be a nice ride, with rolling hills, and supposedly 80 miles..... we'll see about that, haha. Pray for my knee, and for my entire team's health as we continue... almost 800 miles so far!! Until next time, Gnight!
Miles to date... (sorry, not handy... next time, haha)
According to website: 735 Cue Sheets: --- Actual: ---
Days with Rain: 6

Pictures STILL to come... I promise. (Check out Facebook...)