Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Day 1: Wednesday, April 5

We woke up early this morning to get started as soon as possible. After eating as much as we could from the continental breakfast at the hotel we started on our journey. The plan is to take two days to ride the 100 or so miles up to Astoria, Oregon where the official TransAmerica Trail starts. Astoria is also where we will meet up with the third member of our party: Greg. Less than half an hour into the trip, as we were passing the end of the runways at the Portland Airport, four fighter jets took off overhead. It was a perfect start to the day (almost like being at a ball game at the conclusion of the national anthem.)
Unfortunately, I also forgot the maps that I had printed out of how to get from Portland to Astoria. We got turned around a little in the city, but it didn't take us very long to figure it out. Crossing the historic St. John's Bridge was really cool, however, the eight inch curbs and narrow lanes of traffic made it an interesting experience.

The weather was beautiful the whole day. However, after almost 60 miles, I was exhausted. We set up camp behind a construction site in Rainier within view of the Columbia River.