Its on, baby!

This is happening!  We are a go!  Divert all power to the main engines for maximum warp because The Great Pan-American Tour of 2011 is officially on! 

So to bring y'all up to speed, I made it back to Wenatchee a couple weeks ago; took care of some business, got a haircut, went to the dentist, you know, the usual pre-adventure things that we all gotta do.  Next, I hitched a ride to Seattle with Andrew to catch a Sounders game (We won!) and to hang with the old gang for a bit.  It was great fun-- Drinking, shish-ka-bobs, double dreams hands, we really managed to squeeze in a great deal of good times into two short days.  On the 23rd I caught the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton.  It was a beautiful day with just a few clouds in an otherwise blue sky.  A lot of great views of very fancy houses with wealthy children running around their perfectly maintained beach-front gardens.  damn kids!  Leaving Bremerton I hooked up with the Adventure cycling Association route that runs from Vancouver BC to San Diego - had to ride up some of the biggest steepest hills I've ever rode up, but like I said, it was a great day and I was very excited to finally be riding.

That first day I rode 70 miles to Elma WA and though it was beautiful at first I ended up getting rained on for at least 2.5 hours.  Heavy rain too, My feet and hands were soaked- not terribly fun.  But I made it and I camped out in the backyard of a hostel.  The guy running it was nice and the next morning suggested an alternate route for my ride to Astoria.  I took his advice and rode 95 miles the second day.  It was long but I made it and his route probably saved me another 45 miles on top of what I already rode.  Along the way I met some Germans that were also riding in the same direction and a group of five cyclists from Canada.  I ended up riding with a few of the Canadians for a couple hours - they were very friendly and having them with me helped boost my speed that day.  It was a long day though so I was grateful to meet up with Connie and Paul Benoit-- family friends who gave me a shower, big meal and comfy bed.  Thanks P and C, it was delicious and much appreciated! 

The next day was just a short ride from Astoria to Cannon Beach where I met up with my friend, Ariel.  She and Chris put me up for two days and showed me a great time in CB.  We went on some beautiful hikes, ate some good food, drank some good wine and got our dance on; It was a blast!  I also skinny dipped in the Pacific ocean, which I wanted to be part of my start and finish rituals for this trip.  Like a good beer, it was cold but refreshing and by the end my pants were off.  I also dipped my bike tires in the ocean, as per the custom of coast to coast cyclists, and by doing so, officially started the journey!  My original plan was to kick it off in Bellingham, but this way I can make it seem like the trip is longer, and I was really really excited to get it going. 

After a fun-filled two days in Cannon Beach and after the official start, I rode the 80 miles to Portland to meet up with my man, William J.A.P.  I made it into P-town about 10:30 and was quite hungry so we went out for a beer and some food.  The next day we had a great time, drinkin beer in the afternoon, sitting outside and enjoying all that Portland has to offer.  That night it was soul/reggae night at this awesome club so Will, MJ and I went out dancing and cut a mean rug for at least three solid hours.  The music was great and we totally got a bunch of people out dancing.  Great energy, great music, and still enough room to get my groove on; it was some of the best dancing I've experienced in a long time!  We also hit up a goth bar and tried dancing there, but by that time my feet were so sore and blistered I couldn't cut it to my maximum potential.  Overall a great night! 
So that's where I am at now- Hangin out in Will's apartment writing on my blog.  He's sleeping now, snoring away like a little angel. :)  I plan on riding out of Portland and back north up to Seattle tomorrow - it should take no more than two days. 

Here is my photobucket account with a bunch more pictures uploaded to it.


http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k503/Gregasus/

  That's all for now, stay tuned for more adventures from the open road!