One Week Down

Hello All,

We've finally made it to a place where we can update. It won't be too long and we can't get pictures up, but we thought we'd say hi and give a quick overview.

Basically, it's been amazing and challenging. We've averaged about 60 miles a day since the first day. Bremerton, WA, the very first town we went through had some huge, steep hills we had to walk up and were somewhat discouraging but since then, every hill gets a little easier and now we're in shape and climbing hills with 800 ft. elevation changes. For most evenings we've been camping in state parks, the occasional RV park and one night in nice guy's backyard by a creek. He just pulled up to us while we were looking for an RV park and offered us his yard for free. We've decided we really love Oregon because their state park system is incredibly bike friendly. First off, they will never turn a cyclist away, even if they're completely booked and they have secluded hiker/biker group sites for $4.00 per person per night and free showers! And the park staffs have all been really friendly.

We've made a few friends along the way, other cyclists heading the same way. The first were a group of three Canadians who made us feel really organized. We saw them about three days in a row. The last three nights we've been on track with a couple of ladies celebrating their 50th years by biking the Oregon coast. Most bikers seem to be planning on ending somewhere around the end of Oregon or San Francisco. We may be alone on the road after that.

The weather was pretty hot in Washington, but now that we've hit Oregon and the coast, it's been foggy and chilly in the mornings and evenings. Overall I think we've been pretty lucky weather wise. For setbacks we've had one flat tire, my derailleurs acted up a little, and we've been chased by at least 4 dogs. Other than that it's working out pretty well.

We'll try to add pictures next time. But just so you know, we're really enjoying ourselves.