Life Spoke

I rode from the beach in Florence, Oregon today. Tracey and I met up with Dan Harrington, Andi Thomas and Rob Ramlow. We all walked down to the water with the bike and I rolled the back tire into the Pacific Ocean. We took a ton of pictures!








I spread a small amount of my grandmother's ashes into the Pacific Ocean and will carry more to New Jersey and spread them in the Atlantic. I also filled a small bottle with Pacific Ocean water and will carry that with me for the same purpose.

The ride was good. 65 miles in 4:45 of riding. 10 miles from the beach I was riding along and just became overwhelmed with emotion. I realized that today was the first day of a seven week journey that has and will continue to revolutionize my life. I thought about Brian and missing his companionship, that really hit me deep. Seeing Dan one last time was also tough; I don't know if he'll be able to have a celebratory drink when I return to Oregon or not.

After a while a settled into the rythm of pedalling and listening for traffic.

I had to go through a 1/4 mile tunnel. The noise inside a tunnel is deafening. At about halfway through, a log truck entered behind me and the air exploded with the sound of a big diesel engine. It then proceeded to get louder and louder as he approached. Nerves. Lots of nerves to keep pedalling straight and not stop to cower against the wall.

Tomorrow is the picnic. Sunday I leave town. Thank you all for your well wishes!
-Drew