Greetings from Pittsfield, IL!

Our stopover in Pittsfield, Il was one of my favorites yet. As we rolled into the small town, we were greeted by an enthusiastic and excited crows at the church that was hosting us. After a quick swim and a shower at the Pittsfield public pool, we headed back to the church for dinner. We were so impressed with how many people came out to have dinner with us and see our presentation. It was really cool to interact with such a big crowd.

During dinner we gave our presentation on Bike & Build, the affordable housing cause and our work with Habitat thus far. One of the women from the church inquired as to how we chose where we stop and help build. She then explained that Pittsfield is currently working on their first Habitat home and it is really struggling because there just are not the finances that is needed to support the project. Hearing this information really made me wish that we had been able to build at their site. The community was so amazingly hospitable to all of us, it would be so great to give back to them. Hopefully, the P2SF2011 crew will be able to put some hours in with them next year.

One of the women at the church is a hair dresser and volunteered to give us all haircuts if we were interested...I don't think she knew what she was in for. A whopping 13 p2sfer's had mohawks by the end of the night. It was amazing - she did such a great job!

The brave crew of 13 rockin' the 'hawks

After dinner we all kind of mingled around for a bit and a bunch of us decided to walk to the town center to see the annual Pig Festival that was going on. Pittsfield, apparently, has lots of pigs, and the Lions Club hosts a pig festival each year. It consisted of some live local music, vendors, and of course lots and lots of pork...in all forms. It was great to be able to have something to do at night and get to see a bit of the town.

Instead of staying as a group at the church, we each got a chance to stay with a host family from the congregation. My and Laura's hosts were Rod and Cindy Prentice. A bunch of us were able to stay at the Monroe Inn in the center of town which was a huge treat. Queen size beds, private baths and even a TV! It was unreal. A huge thanks again to all of our hosts - it was so special to have the "homestay" experience and get to know you all!