May 31st, 2021

TandAmerica Eve

It has been over 20 years since since we were last in this predicament. I can't say I remember much about the process back then, but I do not remember it being this arduous. But then again, we didn't have kids, full time employment, or even a permanent place to live. We were tour guides living out of a bag and traveling the world. We only had ourselves to worry about and our gear was ever ready. So we rolled easy and untethered.

This trip will definitely break those chains for a time being, but boy has it been work getting here, and a ton of work the last few days. We flew from Boston to Portland, got the rental car and ran all around town getting a few items from a bike shop and REI. We battled hungry kids, lack of sleep and frail emotions and at the end of the day we crashed early and hard. And we woke up today to do it all over again, but this time, after getting to Astoria. The bikes were mostly put together when we got to the shop, but we had to jump in and help finished them off.

It was just after 6 when we finally left the shop. We went out to get tacos and headed to the motel to finish packing. After we could not pack anymore, we headed up to the Louis and Clark National Historic Park on a tip from a local resident. She said we had to go up and see the sun set and she wasn't wrong! What a sight it was. We felt very lucky to be there, that overlook justified all the hard work.

As the evening rolled on I kept thinking about what laid ahead for us and felt that the last few days have been all woth it. In this Evve before, I know I'll sleep soundly and wake ready to hit the road.

​FB