June 6th - Helen's birthday

By Ben Nitkin on

Helen in her birthday hat.
Helen wearing her ceremonial hat.

Helen turned 22 today. We're getting old. The group bought a birthday hat to commemorate the occasion and plan to pass the hat around for those with summer birthdays.

June 5th - Athens, GA

By Ben Nitkin on

Helen in front of a hay truck
Look at all that hay!

Today was really nice. The church we stayed at organized a bluegrass concert (sorry, but I didn't take photos) after a potluck dinner.

June 4th - Biking Again

By Ben Nitkin on

Abandoned rail station.
An abandoned station. A few people live inside, but the floor on one side of the building burned out.

Today's ride was nice, but early rain and a forecast for afternoon thunderstorms bagged the camera for the day. 

I did get some nice shots of an abandoned train, though. 

June 3rd - Three Homes at Once

By Ben Nitkin on

House missing siding on the top of the front wall.
The house I worked on at the start of the day.

Today we worked in a small Habitat development. Helen told me the brief story: the city had brought in roads, sewer, and water for a contractor, but he fell through. They offered Habitat the proprrty for $29,000, and Habitat bought it. The subdividsion is mostly developed now and contains a mix of houses built by Habitat for Humanity and Homes for Hope.  

I worked on siding the top of a houses front wall. Others installed subfloors or painted. Helen made a bus stop. 

June 2nd - Handicap Ramps

By Ben Nitkin on

Church at dawn
Yet another pretty church at dawn.

Today we worked with Rebuilding Upstate to build handicap ramps. Unlike Habitat, Rebuilding maintains and adds additions to existing homes. Our group divided in two and each built a ramp. My group built this long serpentine thing. 

June 1st - Greenville

By Ben Nitkin on

Predawn clouds
As usual, I was up a little early. Morning clouds are gorgeous.

Today's tide was around 70 miles and took is into Greenville, SC. Due to an unhappy accident, I had to ride in the van for the second half of the trip. (I rode down a driveway without a helmet. Oops.) I did get some cool pictures from the van, though. So it wasn't all bad.

May 31st - Hills.

By Ben Nitkin on

Cleaning chains in front of the church
Cleaning chains in front if the church. Click to rotate.

We biked another 50-ish miles today. The hills have been getting worse, but the group I was with was great. As usual, clock through the pictures and hover your cursor for captions. 

May 30th - The End of the Firsts

By Ben Nitkin on

Predawn playground
I awoke before dawn to pack laundry the playground looked really neat in the predawn light.

For a while, at least. The rode was around 50 miles, and nothing really striking stuck out. Still a nice day. 

May 29th: 70 miles and clean clothes.

By Ben Nitkin on

Helen pulling back onto the freeway
Stopping for a while at a river under the road. A semi buzzes by our bikes.

May 28th - My First New City

By Ben Nitkin on

Bikes on a tarp
I realized I haven't uploaded many day-in-the-life photos. Here are the bikes on their tarps (to keep hosts floors clean)

Today we biked 70 miles (mostly flat) from Charleston to Pinopolis. The latter is a small town full of wealthy folks' houses. 

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