Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel guilty.  After all, I have created this wonderful blog and hardly found the time to update it.

Today we are in Grand Rapids, MN.  I'm ever closer to home and my farm, and I can just feel it on the horizon.  I haven't seen my family since Christmas, and it will be wonderful to share some quality time with them and the rest of the Bike and Build group.

Is anyone out there?  Do the internet masses desire more updates?  : P  

I suppose as they say, "If you build it, they will come."   So maybe I should just take the initiative and take more time and keep this up to date.

A note on today's ride; 85 miles into a voracious headwind gave us all a foretaste of the Midwest feast to come.  It was a difficult day.  Let's hope for an east wind to carry me on, away, towards, and beyond.

The Journey Is Underway!

Well, it has certainly been a whirlwind these past few months.

I've been so blessed with a multitude of people who have decided to support my trip; to those people, I'd like to extend my unending gratitude.  I'm biking across the country because of your help.

We're on the road!  We've had limited internet access, so blog updates have been fitful and delayed, but nonetheless we hope to be completely updated during our stay here in Lebanon.  On that note, WHOA!  First Congregational Church is hosting us, and I just can't say enough about their food.

I ate twice as much as I should have.  My stomach is wounded.  However, due to how good it tasted, I have little to no regrets.  Reminds me of about every other item of food that has been donated to our trip since I arrived in Portsmouth.  Geno's, Gaslight, the list goes on and on.  I don't think I signed up for Bike and Build to eat great food, but this has been a pretty welcome surprise on many occasions thus far.

Our bike days have been challenging, varied, and incredibly fun.  Beautiful New Hampshire scenery, awesome (translation to non-cyclists: HORRIFYING) climbs, extreme weather, and everything that goes along with biking across the country.  Our build days have been rewarding and it is an amazing thing to see the fruit of our labors appear before our eyes.  It's amazing what a group of able-bodied people can do with some shovels in just an hour or so.

We are safe, well-fed, happy, excited, inspired, tired, hilarious, and most importantly, smelly.

Keep posted:  we'll be building on Habitat sites here in Lebanon and Norwich for a couple of days before we trek westward into Vermont (and ascend the formidable Mount Bethel) on our way to Rochester.  I'll try to update you all as soon as I can.

All the blessings in the world to you all.  Till we cross paths again, don't let the wheels stop turning.

-Isaiah

How You Can Help

I need to raise $4000 for the trip this summer; roughly a dollar for every mile I'll be biking from Portsmouth, NH to Vancouver, BC.

You can help make my trip happen by going to the Bike and Build website (www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,118/), selecting my name (Isaiah Berg) from the list of riders, and making an easy donation via credit card.

Mail-in checks/cash is also an option, to the address listed on the website.

Thank you to all of my donors and supporters, and my greetings to those who have yet to become part of that group.  Your support means so much to me.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...

Well, every day is another day closer to the summer.  I'm super busy trying to balance a relationship, Bike and Build, academics, Grassroot Soccer, and cycling to some degree of success.

I have a tangible and unshakeable sense of excitement for what's to come that I really can't shake. Great things are always ahead; Bike and Build will certainly be no exception.

Beginnings

Well, here it is.  The first post in my new blog; a way to qualify, quantify, and quintessentially describe every aspect of life; whether it is biking across the country, being awestruck by the immense, or examining the little things in a whole new way.

Cheers to beginnings.