Made it to Astoria, OR

Ok. We made it to Oregon and we saw the Pacific today. We had to ride across a 4 mile bridge but we're here. It wasn't too bad and all the cars gave us decent space. It was only 45 miles or so today. Yesterday was a killer though. We did 69 miles and it was rough. The last 10 miles had three huge hills. It was a tough pull into Raymond, WA.

Raymond was a weird town. It was basically a ghost town but there were all of these rusted iron sculptures of townsfolks all around. It was the kind of thing from a horror movie where they all come alive after dark. We ended up cruising to South Bend since there was no motel in Raymond.

My karma is restored

The world has been righted. I got my bike from FedEx. I got a replacement camera. I got my bike together and we made the 3:00pm ferry to Bremberton. We did about 38 miles, making it down to Shelton, Wa. We're going to do about 60 miles tomorrow to Raymond, and then 50+ to Astoria.

We averaged about 14.7 mph with the hills which was awesome. I did have a thought that Kansas might not be so bad when I was on the first hill. The shoulders were great in some places and super sketchy in other. We had to ride on the side of a small highway for a couple miles and then it chilled out. There was only one super shady section where the should was about two feet wide.

We met some characters already. Jake and I have a good vibe about the people we're going to meet along the way. We met Kermit this morning at the ferry terminal. He was pedaling a rickshaw and was interested in our bike. There was a Jesus freak in shady van at the Safeway in Shelton and the motel clerk was very chatty. Should be a good time.

Alright, time for bed.

If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...

I'm in Seattle now.

It's a little late so I'm gonna rush through this but today was unlucky. My bike's not here yet. It's stuck in Kent about 30 minutes away. There was a snafu with the shipping agent. Then Kainoa dropped my brand new camera. Luckily I got the accidental damage protection plan from Best Buy. Lastly, we met Jake and a friend for beers. On the way, his friend's car got stuck in reverse and was undrivable.

Hopefully today will be better.

Heading to Seattle

Well, today's the day I head to Seattle. I got up this morning and would've surely missed my flight had I not actually looked for it online. I really thought it was with US Air but it turned out to be Southwest. Catastrophe averted. That would've been embarrassing.

The plan is to head to Seattle, where Kainoa will graciously pick me up and set me up at his place tonight. Maybe a baseball game tonight with Jake. He was talking Mariners-RedSox. Then I'm putting the bike together so Jake and I can meet up Thursday morning to take the ferry to Bremberton. Then it's off to Astoria to wait for Andy. We should be there by Saturday and Andy should get there Sunday.

I went out with my cousins in Baltimore last night. Brian, Sean, Jason, Zack, and Zeke. It was a blast. Went to the Oriole's game and Captain Larry's. The game was tied at 8-8 when we left at the rain delay. They resumed after an hour and the Orioles pulled it out 10-9. It was ridiculous because the guy was 30 ft short of a game winning grand slam. Here's a pic of us at the game. Maybe if I had asked a nicer guy the picture would've turned out a little better.

And yes, I got a pre-ride haircut.