Oh hello!
I'm Megan O'Brien, a senior at UF majoring in Zoology. I really enjoy waking up on inflated plastic and riding my bike for 4-8 hours a day (although anything above 8 is just excessive), with caloric intake mainly stemming from food eating contests and church potluck dinners. This summer I'll be hitting up a three-fer when it comes to B&B--I was a rider on Central US in 2008, a leader on Boston to Santa Barbara in 2009, and have a smattering of CWMs in there to stave off the withdrawal. That picture of moustache-less Travis, his pneumonia, and me is from CWM09.
I swore to myself that I would keep doing B&B until Brendan let me do South Carolina to Santa Cruz, and now here I am on this epic route with all of you. I'm sure you can imagine how excited I am, but not many other people can. There's something special about B&Bers, and I can't wait to embark on daily adventures once again with the greatest people our generation has to offer.
Affordable housing is an issue affecting everyone, and my favorite thing about Habitat for Humanity is how sensible its mission is. Build a house with donated parts and volunteer labor, don't expect to make a profit, and charge what it is worth at a rate that the family can afford--then listen and make amendments if things change. Doesn't the idea of raising money and awareness for an organization like that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
Plus, the actual affordable housing cause is rarely understood by most citizens. Sure, everyone knows you need a home, but what percentage of your income should go to rent? And how big should it be, how many bathrooms does it need to have, does it count if it's substandard with bugs and leaking pipes? More and more, I feel like the job of raising awareness is to answer the question of who can help, and how. I won't ever forget biking through West Virginia in 2008, pulling off at a gas station for an absurdly long stop (the Apps are killer), and explaining to the cashier how Habitat could help build her sister's disabled son a wheelchair ramp and make their bathroom wheelchair-friendly. Bike & Build gives you such great opportunities to meet people and communities that you never knew existed, in addition to helping give other people hope for a better life.
And now, returning to biographical topics, here's a list of superlatives I've attained over the years: Most Likely to Crack a Helmet, Most Likely to Literally Die of Laughter, Most Likely to Prescribe Us All Drugs After Graduating From Med School, Best Makeout Stories, and Most Likely to Meet Future Husband After Being Hit By a Car While on Her Bike (I didn't like that last one--obviously a future husband wouldn't be driving a car).
B&B is awesome. Congratulations on your decision to take part in a life-changing summer, and I hope you're counting down the days to May 24th as often as I am. See you soon!
MOB
-Oh yeah? And go where? Where are we gonna go?
-I'll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen.
