I keep getting these text messages from Bill McNelis that recall very specific, oddly interesting and sometimes inane moments from last year's bicycle trek across the country. Messages like:

"One year ago today, a triangle saves us, teddy bears for us both."

Well, this has to be a quick one, because my friend Jen is waiting for me in San Francisco, and I still have a while to drive before I get there.

But...as I mentioned in an earlier blog, I had a certain pilgrimage to make, and I have made it.  I'm sitting in the Flying Goat coffee shop in Santa Rosa, California, a coffee shop that is apparently frequented by one of my favorite musicians of all times, Tom Waits. 

Sadly, no Tom Waits here now.  However, this could be a good thing after all, as I was told by a guy who used to play soccer with his son that, “he hates it when anyone recognizes him as being…him.” 

On Saturday, September 6, 2008, I completed my trip from Boston, MA to Cannon Beach, OR by bicycle. 

I arrived at the Pacific shore at about 1:15pm, which means I was actually on the road to begin the 80-mile ride by 5:30 am, also known as before the crack of dawn, which actually felt great.

Standing at the dramatic, fog-swept but sunny Oregon shore, with Haystack Rock http://i.pbase.com/g3/70/542370/2/52631916.ORcoastHaystackrock.jpg looming in the distance, was incredible, and is a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I just wanted to do an update because I haven't blogged in a while.  I have a lot to tell from the last week, which will not all be in this post.

 

Matt!  You let the cat out of the bag.  Heh. 

Yes, I am in Seattle. 

This post is from back when I was in Wisconsin.  See, I was writing back there, just taking too long to do it, and not posting.  “Better late than never” is going to have to be the motto for a couple of these blog posts.  Those of you who know me well are probably snickering to see me using that phrase.  Yeah, I know.
  
Wisconsin.

Don't blink, or you'll miss Idaho!  I'm in the narrowest part of the state.  I just entered Idaho (and Pacific Standard Time with it - woo-hoo!) yesterday afternoon, and will be leaving today.  I just wanted to check in and say I'm here so I don't skip posting from this state altogether. 

Kellogg is the town, and though I won't have any time to actually check it out for myself, my couchsurfing hosts here, Aaron and Emily love it.  From what they said it is an awesome place to live, especially if you're a skiier.  No Cornflakes or potatoes anywhere though...sizzzzzzz. 

Gollington Jeepers.
I logged in today for the first time since my last post and was blown away by all the comments!  Thank you very much, everybody.  It means a lot to me to know you're all still reading.  That means I’m not out there on the road alone, you guys are all riding along with me.  That was really corny, but true.  Also, very few of you could keep up with me.  Probably only Josh actually.  Heheh.
I apologize for not making it to Blogsville, USA yesterday, but the ride to Missoula, MT was...wooooo.

Alright, so if you're reading this blog, you've probably already read that Matt and I have split up on the trip.  In fact, Matt's kind of already finished with his.  I pretty much agree with the reasons he gave as to our splitting this up.  I don't know if it came off in that post that we're still on good terms or not, but we are.  Matt actually waited until Saturday to post about the split-up because I told him my parents would have a better time on their vacation if he waited til then.  My parents worry sometimes yousee. 

Here comes an absurdly long post. This should make up for about twenty I haven’t put up in the last few weeks. If you want to read it, maybe printing it out and reading it over lunch might be a good idea. The next one will be a lot shorter. This post, by the way, takes a bit of poetic license and combines an event or two from two different coffee shops (in two different cities). Pretty unimportant to the post, but if you are one of the people who recognizes the discrepancies, enjoy! It’s like seeing the back side of a movie set, or “that man behind the curtain” in the Wizard of Oz, or, uh, catching a fellow with his pants down. I don’t know. Make it whatever you want. Probably the pants thing is fun.

I often, in defiance of all logic, procrastinate and practice avoidance most when dealing with matters that are important to me.  I guess I build enormous expectations in my head for what I want to accomplish, and when the time comes to actually execute the ideas I’ve cooked up, I’m overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin.  Well, I had some grandiose concepts cooked up for my bike trip writing, and here we are in Cleveland already and I’ve still only written one blog entry. 

“And so begins, begins our odyssey.”

It took seeing water off to the right to finally cut through the dense fog surrounding my brain.