Roxanne you don’t have to put on that red dress tonight

It’s been quite an interesting experience trying to adjust to the “real world” after 2.5 months of doing nothing but biking and of course building. No sleeping on thermorests, no reaching into a Bike and Build community food dish with just my hands, no second lunches, no nice cool weather, and most certainly no peeing on the side of the road. Just today I was driving in my car when I came on a green light that was going to turn red. Before I thought about it I yelled “stopping” and did the appropriate hand signals that a cyclist does to warn the bikers behind him/her that they are stopping. Oh boy.

One realization that I’ve had from biking across America is how strong my sense of adventure really is. Before beginning this 3,800 miles trek across the country I thought that I would do this one crazy thing, become satisfied, and therefore go back to the normal everyday life. The opposite happened. I realized how much I love doing out of the ordinary, eccentric things like this. They make life way more interesting. So what’s next? Graduate. How unconventional (ha!). But what I decided to do next is to start training for the Austin marathon that will take place in February. Besides I miss the out of breath, tiring, sweat dripping, hardcore sport that long distance running is and I’m excited to suffer like that again. So I guess I’ll blog here from time to time about that if anyone is interested. Also………

Top 12 Things I’ve learned from Doing Bike and Build:

1.) What don’t kill you will only make you stronger……. even if you think you might die (Nebraska).
2.) How happy one can be with so few material possessions. I spent most of my summer living out of a bag that I might normally take for a two day journey, sleeping on a thermorest, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day, taking cold showers at times (if there is one at all. Sometimes it might just be a hose), having 3 changes of clothes, sometimes sleeping under the stars, and not having a car! But it was the best summer of my life.
3.) Peanut butter is great on almost anything. Included but not limited to: bread (wow!), eggs, apples, sausage, strawberry pound cake, pineapple shortcake, gummy bears, bananas, pickles, carrots, peanuts, trail mix, cereal, yogurt, and peanut butter cookies.
4.) Peanut butter most certainly does not go on: deli meat, oranges, grapes, and avocadoes.
5.) The wind sucks so much (or should I say blows)
6.) Do not trust Jeff Hunt. Practical jokes are his forte and mine is apparently receiving them.
7.) Do not pass gas in the van.
8.) Most people you meet along the way are extremely nice and generous.
9.) Some are not
10.) One can become awfully close to 30 people over the course of the summer and it is strange when they are all of a sudden gone.
11.) And finally: Do not sleep between Barbra and Mark. It is loud.
12.) Roxanne never puts on a red dress. Only a red light. Oops.