Monday, July 20, 2009

Bluegrass and Banjos!

Day 43 - July 16, 11:35pm
Build Day. Fort Collins, CO

Today we got to sleep in. 6:30 vs 6. We'll take it. Larry and I took the liberty of setting up a sweet flying V table formation in the dining area. Not the most apparent to all but appreciated by those cognizant few.

Headed to the build site which was in a pretty nice community. The house was basically up and actually set to unveil in 2 weeks so we were just finishing up. Not the most work for 32 people, but a healthy amount of roofing, landscaping, painting, and electrical work kept us moving. As for Steven and I, our task lay beyond the reach of mere volunteers. As we descended the ladder into the dark cramped abyss of the "crawl space" our initial enthusiasm became harder to muster. A crawl space is basically a basement but with only 4 or so feet of clearance and not meant to be lived in. For some reason, Steven and I, two of the tallest on the trip, thought it would be fun to hang out here all day. I mean i think the Czar's prisoms might have been less small.

We replaced the old wooden central support with a metal one and then sweeped the entire area clean. By replacing the support, we really mean we let Larry the guy in charge handle it, which given that it held up the house basically probably made sense. What didn't make so much sense was me immediately grabbing the drill bit of our impact drill to compare it to another just as it had finished cutting through concrete at like 7,000 rpm. Live and learn i guess, or more appropriately live and burn. It was nothing serious fortunately, but definitely not the funnest to touch scalding metal. Its definitely not as fun when we don't get to see the visible progress that comes with doing exterior framing, but satisfying nonetheless.

Back at St. Pauls, preparations were underway for our spectacular benefit concert. There were a decent number of people, a great stage and lawn, and proceeds all going to the local Habitat and us. There were a whole slew of bluegrass performers that Noah had all coordinated which was great. Just chilling on the grass with everyone and hearing that sweet soulful music was so centering. Things got a little wild(read: dancing time) when this amazing family bluegrass band called The Hartmans started playing some amazing stuff. The oldest of the five was just entering college!

Also gave our last presentation to the crowd with the Snuggle chore group. Definitely squeezed out some good laughs with a joke i had been saving up for a while. Even got to meet Julie's dad who is just super endearing. Love Love Love it when i get to meet people's parents.

Also, MAIL DROP TODAY! Love You Ava!!! Love You Mom, Dad, Theia Gina!

The 3 hour concert was so great and way better than anyone expected. Super props to Noah, whose whole family was out to celebrate which was sweet. it was really a great way to just mentally and physically unwind for the challenge ahead of us, that is, the climbing 3,000 feet in 49 miles challenge.

I know tomorrow is going to be horrible physically but im so pumped. So long as i wake up actually ready and knowing im going to have the hell beaten out of me by that ascent its all good. Again, the physical aspect of cycling is intense. It's wierd, I mean im really looking forward to being so miserable at times omorrow because i know its going to be just so utterly surreal and ridiculous how much we have to climb that it'll probably be hilarious. Not to mention salivating at the sense of accomplishment waiting for us at the top. Man, those mountains are going down.

See you at 8,000!

No comments:

Post a Comment