Andrew Lassiter's Spoketales

This is a week to remember. My last week in Vermont! (Whoa, not last week ever, just until I come back at the end of the summer). I leave for Cape Cod on Friday, then for Boston, then Philadelphia, then Charleston phewf! A few days of leader orientation, then rider orientation, then a build day in Charleston, then May 27 HIT THE ROAD BIKING woot!

I passed my fundraising goal this week thanks to generous donations from Roy Kennix, Sharon and Clarence Bowman, Alan and Melodie Huizenga, Josh Hill, Chad Butt, Daniel Shearer and Jen Lazar, Stephen Addison, and Katrina Lassiter! Thank you everyone!! I may have passed my goal but you can always donate to our trip through the link on this blog. Bike & Build awards grants to affordable housing organizations and gets young people like me and all my riders actively involved in the affordable housing cause!

ALSO on Friday and Saturday Sonah and I hosted a fundraiser yard sale and exchange, with lots of moving-out-stuff from both our homes and a good deal of donated stuff too. It was an enormous success and raised over $1000 for Bike & Build! Thank you to all my lovely neighbors who came out and supported me, and to everyone who stopped by and told me how awesome it was what I was doing or just bought some yard sale goods. Thank you to Zetty Morse and Kelly Galyean for donating some wonderful sellables and especially to Sonah Lee, Lauren Fereshetian and Alex Huizenga for ALL your incredible help at the yard sale, I couldn’t have ever done it without you!

I’ve been riding more in an effort to ramp up training before we leave. On Sunday I rode to Ferrisburgh and up to the top of Mt. Philo. People watching thought I was crazy, and so did I, my legs were burning on the way up. At the top I tipped over on the lawn in front of everyone because my right leg was too tired to unclip. Argh. It was beautiful at the top and there were lots of folks enjoying the day. One person gave me a coconut cookie!

South Carolina to Santa Cruz leaders are busy busy finishing up planning trip details and making sure everyone is ready to roll! I’m going crazy in Burlington packing up my belongings and moving out of my house. It’ll continue to be a hectic week but not much longer til we’re on the road!

Come to my Bike & Build charity yard sale and goods swap, the afternoon of Friday and morning of Saturday May 11 and 12, at 76 East Ave in Burlington (right at the stop sign that goes down to the Lake Monsters Field)!

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Wow! My journey is now sponsored right on through the magnificent states of Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. Only 496 miles (out of 4,109 across the country) of Oregon and California to go! Help me reach my goal of having my entire journey sponsored by May 15 before I leave from Charleston!

Thank you very kindly to this week’s sponsors! Tom and Bridget Moylan, Lucas Chatelain, Heather Truax, Rachel Keir, and Michael Bortin - thank you for supporting me so generously and remembering me even though it’s been awhile! Daniel Morrissey and Wright & Morrissey Construction stepped forward this week to sponsor TEN of my build days. An incredible show of faith in the affordable housing cause from a business owner invested in their community and their industry. Thank you so much for your contribution.

To Sonah Lee, your continued dedication and support means more than you know. Family and friends of family helped out this week, too; thank you to my uncle John Mills and my sister’s better half, Pat Forster. And lastly but not leastly, thank you to Carol and Joe Maulhardt for your gracious support.

It is inspiring to earn the sponsorship and the faith of so many diverse supporters…some who’ve never met me, or only recently so; and some whom I haven’t seen in years. It’s incredible to see how people will step forward and be a part of something they think is worthwhile, even in many cases without being asked. Thank you to everyone who’s helped me along the way. As this journey comes nearer and nearer to becoming reality, I realize how much it would never be possible without you all.

The weather is brightening! The trees are blossoming (one of my favorite moments in a year) and everything is quickly turning greeeeen! The cremees are out (seem kinda thick this time of year, did you notice?)! The rolling rides down the bike path and on Burlington’s bumpy two-tracks are lovely, and my new bike is fast and sprightly! So nice to finally get out on some good rides!

Almost all of our overnight locations for the summer have been determined, we have a lot of donated meals, affordable housing presentations and build projects coming our way. Wow, I am going to go crazy with all these exciting things happening at once. The sales rep at Earl’s last night as we were buying Sonah a new bike (sweet!) said that we’re all going to get about three weeks in and realize, holy crap! We still have a month and a half left!

Details forthcoming. Expect lots of useful or interestingly junky stuff, baked goods, plants, live music, and a beautiful bicycle. Some real big-ticket items! All entirely by donation to Bike & Build…take what you want, donate what you can!

Let me know if you have any yard sale items to contribute, anything you would donate or try to sell anyway, donate it to the cause!