Day 1

After months of planning and many challenges, Becca and I are on our way. Everyone is wishing her well, and is duly impressed with the undertaking of biking across the U.S. I am just the cheerleader, sag wagon driver, Mother Hen. I'd like to relay some of Becca's experiences, but clearly only from the sidelines where I am waving flags of encouragement without the pain of exertion or the glory of such an accomplishment.

I picked Becca up in Portland and we drove to Cannon Beach, ate dinner and dipped in my hot tub before bedtime.  It will most likely be her only ride in the Nomad Moon (my camper van), as I'll be following along for only a month, or at least till she gets through the Rocky Mountains. I was impressed that, in spite of my offer to carry most of her gear for the first couple of days, Becca insisted on piling most of it on the bike to add to her training for what's to come. She got her start in Astoria, OR, along the Columbia River Walk path and rode about 41 miles to Rainier while I goofed off, ate a salmon burger, made some phone calls and visited a friend in Astoria.  I arrived at our first campground a couple of hours before her and got started preparing a high carb burrito dinner. 

When Becca showed up I heard all about the gruesome 2 mile uphill climb (that I drove in 3 minutes), the muscle fatigue, hunger and thirst, but also the serendipitous encounter with a fascinating local. Somewhere near Clatskanie she stopped to eat her sandwich by a deserted looking building, and the resident surprised her on the lawn.  He was an Iranian man who regaled her with stories of locals who would show up on the property needing a helping hand, which he provided. The old house seemed to be a kind of vortex for the down and out, and Becca's exhausted arrival would no doubt be one more story to add to the collection; the "senior citizen lady" riding her bike solo cross-country. She left revitalized for the rest of the day's ride...

Meanwhile, the faithful van decided to give me some trouble when the navigation system failed and the screen went black. Since we were headed to Portland on Day 2, I called around for some Plymouth Ram dealers, but I knew I was dreaming if I expected anyone to drop everything and fix my van on a moment's notice.  I'm not willing to delay our trip by hanging around Portland for more than 24 hours, so I guess I'll be doing the rest of the month without Pandora, hands-free phone, radio, back-up camera, etc. Oh well, first world problems, right?