Up, up, and away

So we have been climbing the Berkshires, it has been an exhausting and steep couple days. (We climbed on 17% grade, which was unfortunate.) To boot, it has been rainy and somewhat chilly. They were some very hard days, but I am proud to have gotten through both of them, and arriving on the early side to boot.
Yesterday we had our longest day, 85 miles from Pittsfield MA to Poughkeepsie NY. We crossed our first state line! Photos to follow. Kyle and I were sweep, which means we have to stay in the back and help with flats, other repairs, falls, or just support going up hills. It can be frustrating and difficult to have to climb at someone else's pace, but for most of the time we had fun. We chatted, had frequent food stops, stopped at a farmstand to buy strawberries, where I chugged a waterbottle to make space for them, took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous scenery, and generally frolicked. Even the hills didn't seem so bad after the last couple days of mountains. But then we got stuck in a bunch of rainstorms, had some scary dirt roads, and traffic. Naturally we got lost, both in downtown Poughkeepsie, and on the large campus of the school where we were staying, as no one could give us directions to the actual dorm. We finally got to the host location in the midst of a thunderstorm which we stubbornly biked through. Coming in with the last group of riders, it ended up being almost 11 hours on the road. Quite an epic adventure. We were all pretty tired and a little frustrated, but a hot shower and chinese food helped enormously.
Today we are off to the build site in Poughkeepsie, I am waiting for the van to pick up a second group. Love to all and thanks for the support!