Tuesday, May 18, 2010

the Adventure has begun!

So the trip started out with perhaps the coolest plane ride i have ever taken! We had a layover in Denver, but we just stayed on the plane. So while we were waiting, we got to talking with the flight attendant ladies (Susan and Jane) and started joking with them about singing one of their "southwest airlines" songs.. they said they wouldnt sing one, but we could! So we went back there and sang a song to the tune of You are my sunshine. They played it over the loudspeaker while everyone boarded! it was sweet.

After the song, they asked us what we were going to do.. and when we told them, they gave us a big bag full of peanuts and pretzels! it was awesome.. So when we landed we took pictures with them and then went to get our bikes!

The whole bike assembly process went surprisingly smooth. None of us had any problems and we were on the train to downtown portland in no time..

Once we got downtown, we went by REI and a local bike shop to get some last minute gear.. then decided to head to the house that we were staying at (Eric's cousin's house, the Reimers). This turned out to be our first main adventure.

After we had been biking for about 20 minutes, we asked a guy where we were and found out that we had been biking in the complete wrong direction. Then we realized that we were about 15 miles from the house. So we took off.

When we had about 9 miles left, it started to rain.
When we had about 7 miles left, it started to rain hard.

So we just kept biking down the little highway, getting drenched, and trying to avoid getting the spray from the other's tires in our mouths. Sweet.

When we saw the road that we needed to turn on, we were pumped because we thought we were there. However, as it turns out, they happen to live on top of the most ridiculous hill i have ever tried to climb on a bike (scott's gps said the grade was 15-25%). So we made it about 5 feet up it, then had to walk. It was so slick and steep though, that we had to take our shoes off to walk up it.

But we made it here.. They fed us a ton of awesome food.. let us throw our clothes in the wash.. and now we're ready to roll again..!

I think we are gonna try to do 60-70ish miles today. I'll let you know how it goes!

5 comments:

Sarah said...

haha...I love that you got to sing a song over the loudspeaker!! That's awesome! And what a way to start the trip..but in the rain. This is truly going to be an adventure... :)

Annie said...

Oh man! I love it! That is hilarious, I read the whole thing to the girls at work, and everyone was laughing, hard! :) I agree with Margaret, this is going to be great!

Em said...

Hi! I'm Jeff K's big sister. Tell him 'hi' from Mark, Emily, and James! Keep updating the blog! It's really fun to read about your adventure!

Lindsey said...

whoot whoot! so exciting haha! this will be a fun trip to follow!! good luck guys!

Pride8475 said...

I'm Nate, a friend of all the other guys but just wanted to say that your adventure sounds amazing. All the small stories you have, singing songs and free airplane peanuts, are also really awesome. Have fun!