Jonathan Moore
Northern U.S. 2009
Hey everybody!
My name is Jonathan, and I grew up North Andover, Massachusetts. I am currently a sophomore at Boston University studying to become a computer engineer. I have no idea if that is what i want to do with my life, but I have plenty of time to figure that out. Right now my focus is on B&B. I can't wait to hit the road and pedal 4000 miles raising money and awareness for affordable housing. I think this is going to be an incredible summer. I won't have to wake up every morning and go to the same boring job, but instead I get to see new parts of the country - the scenic way.
I do have some experience working with affordable housing groups. During my junior year of high school, I participated in a week long trip with a few of my classmates over spring break. We, along with three teachers, drove out to Newburgh, New York to team up with Habitat for Humanity. That specific chapter had many projects underway when we arrived. The whole week we worked 8-plus hour days at several different locations, performing a variety of work. We laid a brick walkway, cleared a lot for a blitz build later that month, insulated and hung sheet rock, painted a house while on scaffolding, ripped up a rotted hardwood floor, and tore down a decaying ceiling, among many other small tasks. It was probably the most fun I had during any spring break. It was also very gratifying to work directly with the future home owners who were putting in their sweat equity. I also have done a couple day projects with Habitat for Humanity near my hometown. I feel working with affordable housing groups is one of the most satisfying types of volunteer work out there, and I hope to continue with it even after bike and build.
In terms of my biking experience, I do not have a lot on the road. Growing up I had always had a mountain bike and rode in the woods most of the time. Attending school in Boston, has driven me towards road biking since there aren’t many trees to ride through in the city. I have replaced my thick nobby tires with road tires and have been riding all over Boston. My bike has become my main means of transportation - its cheap, fun, and beats rush hour traffic any day. I still do not have much experience as a road bicyclist, so I definitely have my work cut out for me. I know its going to be a challenge, but I am up for it. The people who need our assistance to receive affordable housing will be my main motivation while on the road. I am really glad to have this opportunity to be involved in such a great cause. I can’t wait till the summer comes, and we embark on our cross-country mission!
PICTURES TO FOLLOW LATER. SORRY.
After two consecutive days of waking up at 5 AM for rides over 90 miles, we had an extra hour to sleep today. Although we did get more sleep, it did not seem to make any difference because we had completed 116 miles the previous day and we were absolutely exhausted. Lucky for us, we only had to ride about 60 miles into Rugby, ND today. The bad news is that we would be on Route 2 again, battling the energy and speed draining headwinds. I rode most of the morning with Kat and Rachel; we took it pretty easy and went at a comfortable pace. We found it a little odd that only a couple people passed us, but it seemed as if everyone had the same mentality and just rode easy.
Finding a good lunch spot anywhere in North Dakota is always tough because towns are so sparse and spread out. Kelsey eventually found a spot in what was pretty much the only town from Devils Lake to Rugby. The town was called Leeds and consisted of just a few buildings. We ended up eating in the parking lot of a frozen food company. At lunch we discussed our plan of attack for the North Dakota State Fair in Minot and talked about which concerts were going to be there during our day off and what else we wanted to do. We also tried to get free or discounted tickets to the Fair, but were unsuccessful and it looked like we be paying the 7 bucks for admission.
Following lunch the sun decided to hide on us, while the wind blew harder in our faces. The remainder of the ride was pretty boring and long as we rolled over more flats and passed field after field, until we finally hit the town of Rugby, which claims to be the Geographical Center of North America. We all thought that was pretty cool and posed for some pictures in front of a rock tower marking the center. In the same parking lot was a diner and seeing as dinner would not be provided tonight, about a dozen of us ate there. The food and service was excellent. The most popular order was a double bacon cheeseburger with curly fries and a glass of chocolate milk. We also worked a 20% discount on our meals, which is always awesome.
Once we completed our meals and the one mile left to Rugby High School, a large group of us headed downtown to explore and gather items for the evening activities. People had been looking forward to this evening for weeks; it was our Prom! The store of choice was the local thrift store, where we picked out ridiculous costumes. After we cooked a Mexican dinner and had our weekly family meeting it was time to party at Prom. The lights in the gym were dimmed and we bordered the dance area with our red LED blinking lights. It was quite the sight. The theme for the evening was couples and we ended up with a Hugh Hefner and his bunny, a salsa dancing couple, and a pair as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich among other funny costumes. As the festivities got underway, the music was not loud enough coming from the laptop, so we moved the party outside to the parking lot and used the van stereo. Outside, we got some odd looks from locals who happened to be driving by. We were slightly apprehensive about this so we moved back inside and found a way to connect our music to the loudspeakers in the gym. And as the music got louder the night got more fun, as people starting dancing on top of bleachers and balconies and raining fake money down upon the people dancing below. The ridiculous night continued to curfew and then had to unfortunately end, because we would have to wake up in the morning and bike ride another day before our second day off!
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Today we had our eighth build day, and it was probably one of the most fun build day we had yet. The build site was a good 30 min van ride away in Cloquet, MN, so Habitat got us another van to shuttle us over there. We were all working at the same site, which isn't always the case. And I like when were are able to work together. It is much more fun that way. At the build site we trimmed and marked trusses, put up a roof, dug trenches and insulated the foundation. A news crews came by and filmed us for a while. Everyone was impressed with what we were doing and how fast we were making progress on the house. Lunch was provided at a car dealership, where they were grilling hamburgers and hot dogs for us. There was also a moon bounce, and dunk tank. I of course was dared to go sit on the dunk tank. Daryl who worked for Habitat really wanted me to do it, so I did. Will ended up dunking me first and I think I got dunked 2 more times afterwards. The owner of the car dealership liked my efforts and rewarded me with a hat. I was soaked, but ready to go back to work. I didn't mind doing it for a few laughs and smiles. After lunch we finished putting the roof on and called it a day. We went back to the church ate some pizza, bagel sandwiches, and leftovers before about 20 of us went to see the local Dutulth Huskies baseball team for free. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed that treat after a hard days work.
The ride from Pepin, WI to St. Paul, MN contained multiple large climbs. It felt as if we were going up hill all day. To make it better, it absolutely poured. I luckily ended up missing most of the rain, because a few of us (eventually turned into about a dozen) decided to stop at a little diner and get another breakfast; it was good, but the portions weren't large enough. After avoiding most of the rain, we hit the road again, continuing to climb. The nice part about it was that it seemed the higher we went the nicer the weather got. It ended up being pretty nice once we reached the church in St. Paul, but once we were there the weather took another turn around and began to pour again. I felt bad for the few still out there. We showered in parishioners homes, at dinner with a lot of the community and then had home stays. I for one am not particularly a fan of home stays because they separate the group, but you do get a comfortable bed to sleep in. My house ended up having 6 of us there, but all the other hosts took in 2 people.
I have not updated the blog for a while now, and I apologize. I will try and get caught up over the next few nights. Anyways, over a week ago we biked into Gays Mills, WI. The ride was 101 miles and covered in hills and gusting winds. Needless to say, the day was very long and difficult. We were going at a decent pace, but were probably not going to get in until about 7 pm. At this point we knew that there were at least 10 people behind us, so we were not worried about getting picked up by the van, until we saw it coming back and pass us. We got a little apprehensive and did not want to get picked up so we ended up picking up the pace a lot and booking it into town. Right before entering town we descended down a really fun hill with sharp turns. We got into town and hit 100 miles! The church was just around the corner and as we arrived dinner was being served. It was delicious and included baked ham sandwiches, scalloped potatoes, and veggies, among other items. After dinner we went over to the pastors house who opened her doors for us. We ended up hanging out in her family room talking with her for hours, which was nice. I ended up actually sleeping there. It was much more comfortable than the hardwood floor of the church.
Today's cue sheet was cut down to about 45 miles by riding along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Knowing this, we decided to ride the 5 miles back into Chicago and explore a little more. Our first stop was the Bean, which was really cool to take pictures with. Afterwards we had a second breakfast at a cafe in downtown Chicago. Some people decided to stay longer and shop, but Nate and broke away from the group and started to cruise. We were going for a little while until I passed a really nice building and noticed it was Sigma Alpha Epsilon National Headquarters. I had to stop and check it out. I went inside and was taken on a quick tour of the building getting to see some really cool historical things.
Nate and I then continued on our short ride day when all of a sudden we realized we were starving. We ended up in a really nice town in Illinois where we stopped at a bike shop checked it out, and were directed to go to a burger place, called Michael's. We waited about 30 minutes to order, but the wait was completely worth it as the burgers were delicious.
After eating we slowly got back on our bikes and kept riding hoping the day would be over soon. It was weird that such a short day ended up feeling so long. We also ended up driving right past the lunch site at about 30 mph. By mile 40 we realized we missed it and had to stop at a gas station to rehydrate. The ride finally came to an end at about 3:30 and we had a pretty standard dinner and night. Tomorrow should also be an easy ride into Wisconsin.
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Northern U.S.
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| Jonathan has currently raised $4,495. That's 112% of $4,000. |
Northern U.S.'s Affordable Housing impact:
Jun 20 - Portsmouth, NHJun 24 - Lebanon, NH
Jul 1 - Rochester, NY
Jul 6 - Ashtabula, OH
Jul 11 - Edwardsburg, MI
Jul 15 - Janesville, WI
Jul 17 - Madison, WI
Jul 25 - Duluth, MN
Aug 13 - White Fish, MT
Aug 13 - White Fish, MT