A beautiful day to begin riding

After spending a relaxing weekend with Mom, Jeremy, Steven, and Steven's awesome family (you guys are the best!), I finally began the actual bike riding. Jeremy and Steven kindly saw me through a pre-trip freak-out then drove me across the river from Longview to Oregon, so I could ride in their fabulous bike lanes. My sweet sweet bike rides so smoothly fully loaded, and I was having such a good ride in the perfect weather that I got a little over-ambitious and got too close to Portland, passing by any opportunities to camp. I ended up in a hotel at the edge of Portland, paying more than I want to for a smoking room that is only a little stinky. But it's okay, I took a long bath, and can ease myself slowly into this whole roughing it and living cheaply thing. Well, I'm off to bed early, so I can get up in time to fully abuse the free breakfast. More to come...