Day 1 & 2 (abridged)

First of all, big thanks to everyone who made it out to Virginia's house on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun, and the first time I had seen a lot of you for a while. It was a very special night.
After a late start, Ashlinn and I jumped onto Rt. 17, headed for Augusta. Less than five miles into the trip, I received the first flat tire. It was surprisingly easy to replace in the rain! We kept our spirits high, and continued riding. We saw a ton of animals along the way. Let me make a list for you:
Wild Turkeys
Horses
Cows
A big turtle
A goat standing on it's hind legs
Baby goats bleating at us
Duck Eggs
Quite impressive if you ask me. We got into Augusta late in the evening and enjoyed Pizza Hut, courtesy of Jenny Parmalee! We stayed at the cheapest place we could find, which was Motel6. It wasn't the camping we plan to do, but we were already soaking wet and needing showers. I passed out, as you can see in this watercolor that Ashlinn did. Total miles: 41

The next day, we rode to Dunkin Donuts, fueled up, and then checked out Tom's Bike Boutique in Winthrop. Tom was a very nice guy, and gave us some good advice about our days route. He was right, there was construction on Rt. 219, and we did have to walk our bikes across some rough roads. Day 2 was a lot drier though. The mist kept us cool and comfortable. We saw more roadkill than live animals this day. Despite big hills on Rt. 108, we made it back to Rumford for hot chicken soup with my folks. We will hang out here for a few days before we head to New Hampshire. Total miles: 50.4

Catching Up

I've been riding my Trek 520 for almost two months. I love mine, and Ashlinn loves hers. I still haven't done any long days on it yet, but with unemployment less than two weeks away, I feel I will be in the saddle much more. I've also been riding with my new BOB trailer, which I bought from Minya. The combination of the two are really great, even for quick trips to the dump or grocery shopping. 

In other bike touring news, friends Alan Winslow and Morrigan McCarthy are heading across country this summer too. They've got big plans though. Read all about it at www.tandemproject.org.

And in more bike news, Bagwell has fixed up his new old Peugeot. I got the frame last summer, but it was way too big for me, and wasn't even close to ridable. Bagwell has got it going though, and will join us in the Camden bike gang.

The Deal

So here's the deal:
Ashlinn and I are riding our bikes to Portland, Oregon. We're leaving at the beginning of June, and are allotting two months to complete the trip. 60 days of biking and 60 nights of camping. Once there, we are going to give the Northwest a shot. From what people have told me, I'm going to love Portland. "It's not 'too city' or 'too country'" they tell me. "It's so progressive and green."

That right there is Ashlinn's bike. The folks at Maine Sport Outfitters were very helpful, especially Mike Hartley. He gave us a lot of information about realistic touring. As much as I read about touring, it still seems more useful hearing it from a real person. Minya, a former 7 Bay roommate, has also proved herself to be a wealth of knowledge.
Although I will miss The Workshops, and everybody there, I think this is an opportunity for me to do something that may never be possible again. 23 years old seems like the most appropriate time to be doing things like this. Afterall, if I had gone to a traditional four year college, right now I'd be a new graduate, sick of working part time at a restaurant in Bangor or Lewiston, and be ready for an adventure. Luckily, I've got enough cash saved up that these 2 months of unemployment, preceded by many large purchases, will be survivable.
In addition to the fantastic things people tell me about Portland, they also like to tell me how much of a "life changing experience" this is going to be. What a great way to start a new life; saddle sores and soggy sleeping bags.

New Google Maps Test

Just another Google Maps test. This is done without the iframe, and just the embedded maps provided by Google Maps. I'm not sure why I didn't do it like this before.

View Larger Map

Posting from Email

This is a test post from my Gmail. I am also attaching an animated gif.

The National- Apartment Story

Testing the YouTube "post to Blog" feature. You can do this right from the YouTube page. I figured I would do it with a great music video from The National.

Test Test

this post came directly from Shane's new Voyager cell phone.

Testing 1,2,3

well that didn't work.

Hold Yer Horses

This blog will not be updated, or even started, until May 2008. If you are here, you're probably spending too much time exploring the internet.

Don't forget to come back in 2008!