On July 20th, we lost our incredible, fearless leader Paige. She died after being hit by the oversized load of a truck. You can check out www.bikeandbuild.org for more info. But it's been a really hard 4 days. A lot of people don't realize how close bike and build trips become. When you struggle, achieve, and grow with 30 people, they become family, and we have lost a family member.

Paige was such an incredible person. Always happy and always herself. She knew exactly how to read everyone and was really in tune with our needs. She would wear her overalls, fannypack, bump-it, hot pink nail polish, and temporary tatoos out all the time. She texted me whenever we were within 20 miles of a chipotle. She rode the first naked miles of the summer, and she planned our first party. She had a picture of Harry potter taped inside her bike frame, and she named her bike "firebolt." Paige was always approachable and everything you could want in a leader. I'm going to miss her hugs and massages and random dance party breaks and throwing the frisbee. Mostly I'm going to miss Paige's love for every second of life.

We haven't biked since, and we are on our way to St. Louis for Paige's memorial services on Monday. While we were in Chadrin, NE we were hit by a huge hailstorm. We spent the next day helping clean up and rebuild the town. We boarded up a lot of broken windows and cleaned gutters. It was really great to be busy and helping out. We've been talking a lot, and most of us are pretty set on getting to Seatle no matter how hard it is. I definitely am. We also all really feel that it would be a disshonor to Paige if all we rembered was her death instead of rembering all the amazing times we've had. I really appreciate everyone's texts and blitzes and phone calls!! My friends are really supportive, and I love you guys!