Cottonwood, Arizona

The ride to Cottonwood was a rollercoaster of hills. Luckily it was more up than down. We spent the whole morning climbing a mountain. It was slow work, but the views were totally worth it. As I passed people from behind, I had a coordinated rhyming chant with an attack team. I would scream the persons name three times and adter each time, a rhyming word would be yelled. It got people smiling on the 7th straight day of riding where moral seems to be low. So for example, Devin, revin or Ryan flying or Max attacks. The best part was the nine mile downhill after lunch where we descended about 3000 feet. Some chose to do this part naked, but I'm real partial to clothes because they protect you if you fall. I just enjoyed the 47.9 top speed and the views all around me. Because there were so many downhills today, I reached the host site relatively quickly today. They bought us passes to go to a gym that had an indoor water park. I got to the gym at 1 and while everyone started swimming, I did a nice 2 hour upper body workout. I've been losing weight on the trip because my chest and arms have been shriveling away. So I pumped some serious iron in my cycling shoes and spandex and then went swimming. There was a water slide, hot tub, lazy river, water volleyball and basketball. I did it all as I stayed until 530 when the last shuttle left. I was so busy doing activities that I forgot I hadn't eaten for a while. That dilemma was quickly remedied when we returned to dinner waiting. I started off nice and slow with vegetarian fare, but then saw my downfall when I binged on three slices of Texas sheet cake with yogurt and two bowls of ice cream. Here I sit resting until it gets dark enough to stargaze with all the awesome telescopes that have been imported to the church parking lot. Another great day in the books, another magical night waiting to happen.

Last night was one of the coolest nights on the trip. Karen who ran the show for us in cottonwood is involved in an astronomy club that was totally legit. When darkness fell, there were atleast 6 telescopes, a couple controlled by computers which made a complex instrument even more complex. One was a famous telescope that had been used to discover the Hale-Bopp comet in 1995. We started off our space quest with the viewing of an iridium flare. One of many old satelittes orbitting earth was set to cross through the night sky and have the sun reflect off of it at 8:37:30. This reflection made a light in the sky brighter than any other that lasted for about 7 seconds. Not only was this a cool phenomenon, but I was impressed that people knew exactly where and when this was going to happen in the night sky. We were shown nebulas, planets, binary star systems, constellations, light polution from Phoenix and so much more. There is a really big push for clean skies out here so there are all different types of laws and ordinances against certain wattage lights and casting shadows on other peoples property. It's really progressive environmentally and shows where the priorities of the town are which impressed us all.
The knowledge these people had of everything in the sky blew my mind. The sight of Saturn and it's rings and Jupiter with distinct color lines was a sight I'll never forget. I've seen photos in textbooks my whole life, but nothing compares to a real life view with my own two eyes. Nothing in my life has ever made me feel so small than being surrounded by mountains and viewing billions of stars in the Andromeda galaxy. Simultaneously, the humbling feeling gave me a deep appreciation for this life I'm living. After seeing a couple shooting stars and meteors it was bed time. Rule of thumb, no sleep until you see three shooting stars. Once again, I woke up with a dew covered sleeping bag long before my time adjusted body heard the alarm go off. The sun was shining on me and warming my body, so before I even really woke up, I had taken my shirt off to let the morning rays heat up my back. The day was not what a typical build day is or should be. I guess cottonwood habitat had some trouble with a contractor which put a halt on construction. This left us with nothing to really do which absolutely sucked because on an affordable housing trip with only 10 stops, I want to make as big of an impact as I can on every stop. Our crew was split up into two shifts each working two hours at the restore. For those of you not familiar with restore, it is a second hand furniture and hardware store that funds habitat builds. We did some exterior painting and painting of furniture along with organizing new shipments. At 1030 work halted, we lazed around and waiting until a noon lunch. There was not even close to enough work to keep us occupied, but we got a nice little oasis after as we were treated to another day of gym passes. Feeling ambitious and underworked, I ran to the gym from the restore warehouse and got there at 1 to start a back shoulder and ab workout. I cooled down nicely right after with another dip in the pool. A bunch of us had a waterslide competition to see who could get down the fastest according to the timer on Wiser's watch. It got pretty intense as we all tried different techniques for speed. I ended up winning with a track time of 8.46 seconds and shoulder blades that were a little cut up from arching to reduce friction. Four o'clock rolled around and pool time was over. It was off to a restaurant to a pasta dinner that had been planned for us. There were a handful of locals interested in our story and like always I hunted a couple down to chat with. Wouldn't you know how small this world is that the man I was talking with, John Barber, grew up in North Haven. We talked about our towns, landmarks, landmarks and memories for about 20 minutes before we talked about baseball for another 20. 20 must be the theme because he left me a 20 dollar donation and then gave me his phone number in case my travels ever bring me out here again to explore Sedona or the Grand Canyon, I would have a place to stay. After dinner we started our first night of affordable housing grants applications. Our route was assigned 10 applicants such as local habitat chapters that applied for grants with bike and build. So besides the individual $500 we all get to donate, we have 18,000 dollars collectively to dispense as a group. Our grants state specifically what the groups will use money for so we went over the ground rules of what to look for and the ground rules. I'm very excited to get started with this because the financial impact of this trip will start coming to fruition to complement the physical impact we've been making. After that meeting was over, it was on to catch the sunset. Good thing there was a hill in an RV park across the street surrouded in barbed wire and no trespassing signs. So of course I decided to trepass, climb the hill, and catch the sunset. Only the meeting took a long time and I missed the sunset. But there was a full 360 degree view of mountains and two cities, Jerome and Cottonwood. I stayed on the moutaintop for a substantial amount of time just rotating and taking in the magnificent grandeur of it all. As the stars and planets made themselves visible, I applied the astronomical knowledge I had from the night before to point out items in the night sky. It was all very thrilling. Top the day off with a round of laundry folding and bin cleaning and there's a full 18 hours well spent.