lord of the flies

My friend Carrie Porter (who graduated in 2005 from Mariemont High School) convinced Northwestern to give her a grant to participate in Bike and Build, recording and blogging about small town America. For a little while, it seemed like the people and sights of, say, a town in western Missouri that claims its 12,000 lbs pecan is the biggest in the world, would be the most riveting aspect of the trip. However, I might argue that the social dynamic within the group of riders is far more interesting.

This is truly the most "fend-for-yourself" lifestyle that I have ever been a part of.
We subsist almost entirely on donations, which, when it comes to food becomes pretty interesting. For example, when there is something good to eat, it will literally be gone before you blink your eyes. So, the faster you ride to lunch, the better your options are, and so, I often see only the discarded remnants of the tasty morsels I missed out on. One afternoon, there was an empty spaghetti container with 4 forks in it glaring at me as I made my peanut butter, marshmallow and corn flake sandwich.** One day, soon after we had received a lunch meat donation, I overheard one girl say, "I really don't like cheese all that much, but, there probably won't be anymore tomorrow..." before throwing three slices onto a piece of bread.

Carrie and I have begun to refer to the disorganization as a Lord of the Flies-esque society. I am pretty sure she will be more eloquent in truly capturing the essence of the group dynamic, so I will try to link her blog to this one.

**Yes, I actually ate this several times in the beginning of the trip. I stopped only because we ran out of cornflakes.