I have never before been satisfied enough with living to say that I would be alright with dying. Tonight I had, for the first time in my life, that feeling. I have never been more satisfied with life than I am at this moment. We feasted at the Methodist Church thanks to the care and support of total strangers. They made vegan food for Emily, there was banana pudding, and the gratitude that people showed towards us was astounding. Everyone keeps saying that making us food and housing us is just them thanking us for "giving up" our summers, but I didn't give anything up- I've only gained. Watching the Bike and Build promotional video (that we've seen at least 30 times) still gives me chills even though I've been living it for the past 4 weeks.
But I'm getting ahead of myself seeing as I haven't updated since arriving in Kansas City. Well, as you can imagine after 100 miles nobody really felt up to doing anything too exciting so sleep came early for everyone. The next day we got to build with the KC Habitat and it has definitely been my personal favorite build day thus far. The people we worked with were awesome- super helpful and engaging and there was tons to do so we kept busy the entire time. I worked in the warehouse building interior and exterior walls for future habitat homes and so my hammering skills are killer right now. It got so hot the first day, though, that we were let out at 2:30 instead of 3:00. That night we were privileged enough to get some Royals baseball tickets donated to us and that was a blast! There was a 3 run homerun which led the Royals to a victory- fireworks ensued. We played Fuzzy Duck in the parking lot for about 45 minutes after that waiting for our van to come and pick us up and take us home. The next day at the build site was equally as awesome and this time we were all 31 together after lunch. More wall building led into building two doghouses (thanks to the direction of Zach and Noah) which Habitat sells at their Re-Store in order to raise money for their organization. So much fun! Again, everything was awesome and we got some KC BBQ as well as a suprise of popsicles from one of the home owners.
The next day it was time to bike again, but I won't bore you with all of those shenanigans. As per usual it was great times. The best day was when we were leaving KC heading to Lawrence we went on this crazy 18 mile bike trail that had trees down, bridges out, and lots of traffic. Bike & Hike & Build was the name of the game that day. It stormed pretty badly that day too, but watching the ominous clouds roll up on the Kansas plains was astonishingly beautiful. Lawrence was a treat when we got there because of the most awesome bike shop ever- Sunflower. The guys working were super helpful and looked at our bikes for free...which was especially great because guess who went through their 4th tire? Yep, this girl. The guy changed it for me though and told me that the new tire I have SHOULD last for a long time...here's to hoping.
Phew, I hope you're not bored yet! Finally, onto today which was our first day off in 34 days. I got to sleep until 9:30...luxury. The day held nothing but excitment from there- there were more massages, shopping, coffee, thrifting, relaxing, and of course tons of eating. Checking out Aggieville (as historic downtown Manhattan is lovingly deemed) was great! And like I mentioned in the first paragraph the love and support is rejuvinating.
Can't wait to pedal away tomorrow! AND the biggest ball of twine is coming up in the near future....HUZZAH!!!!
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