best day ever.

Well, maybe not ever, but today was probably one of the best of the trip.

First the past couple of days:

July 20- into Prescott (pronounced "pres-kit", no lie. crazy.)

not a bad day. i held it down in the van with Molly and Lindsay. no big news there. My wonderful friend, Wallace, sent me a wonderful new CD to listen to--new tunes are always welcome in the van. That and the fairly easy ride (just a little long) made for a decent day. Prescott is a super cute town. We stayed at the Mile High Middle School, right next to the midle of town (for once) so we were able to venture in and play for the afternoon. Molly P. , Dave, and I went to a delicious bistro on Courthouse Square for lunch and got the low-down for good shops and evening hot-spots for our wonderful waiter. After a bit of wandering I went back to the school took a shower and a nap, had dinner, then went out with the group for Tony's birthday celebration. Talk about a great ime-- this group of people is lots of fun on hte road, but even more fun I think once you get us in real clothing doing things that normal people do.

July 21--a build day!
Fun times with the Prescott Habitat!! We were working on three houses simultaneously, the biggest build project that this affiliate had ever undertaken! I picked up glass and rusty cans for most of the morning and did a little trim painting with Emily Hodge and Kimmers. I think chapter did one of hte best jobs of informing us of the type of things that they're doing in their community. Susan, one of the construction coordinators, during lunch explained to us all their efforts in the area and allowed us hte opportunity to ask questions. Later, at dinner, which was prepared for us by the three future homeowners whose homes we worked on (umm, can you say fresh, homemade enchiladas and all the fixin's???), they also had a video that their chapter had made of the projects they've done and the impact these homes are making in families' lives. It was really cool to see how impactful just one house can be. Lee Anne and I, on the road today, were discussing it and noting how the money that we've raised that is going to the Orange County Habitat in Chapel Hill will be enough to fund one house--a whole house--and how much of a difference our ride this summer is making in the lives of one family. It will be changed forever. How cool is that to know that you, in one summer, with a few letters, some sweat, and a few tears a young person can do all that.

Today, July 22--into Wickenburg
So, decending mountains (yes, mountains in Arizona...who knew that there were so many and they went so far south) is lots of fun. Today's ride was beautiful and Lee Anne and I rocked the climbs that we did have. The downhills were fantastic, really windy and not too steep, so they were nice and long :) Once we made it down the second major downhill I got a flat tire (bummer, but easy to change now!) and then we made it onto this awesome stretch of road parallelling the mountains we just came down. We stopped and took photos with cacti (believe it or not, the first we'd seen in Arizona) and then pictures riding with no hands. We're old pros now. All in all it was a great ride, enjoyable, tough at times but in a good way. It was just a great day!!!

so that's all for today, sorry it's been a while but there's so muh going on!!

And i apologize to those who I should have been sending postcards too!! I'm terrible about I know. You all may just be getting postcards from all over the country all sent from San Diego... and they may or may not be blank.... :)

love you all,
CVH