July 22 update

I don't have much to say about my ride today. I didn't take any pictures, although the ride was very scenic. We rode along a busy highway, a bike path lined with cherry trees and along side vineyards and hazelnut groves. This climate seems to favor flowers, especially petunias and roses, but also many other species I don't recognise. The farmers are harvesting wheat and the fields have more of a golden color than the grain fields at home.

Tomorrow I will see the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and we will travel over the headlands overlooking the sea. We have 3 big hills to climb, but not mountains, and all three of us are traveling at a more relaxed pace. We only have to do about 50 miles per day to finish Tuesday morning.  When we reach Astoria, we will take each other's pictures, I will go to a bike shop and arrange to have my bike shipped home, and  then make my way to the Portland airport. By Wednesday or Thursday morning I'll be home.

I did not get much sleep last night, I've found that I sleep much better in my tent than in a strange motel room. I tossed and turned most of the night thinking about my trip. I met so many nice people on this trip, and only a very few jerks. I've made some very good friends in Pat and Charlie. Pat and I have traveled together for over half the trip, and Charlie for only slightly less. I feel extremely lucky to have shared my ride with them. I could not have hoped to to have teamed up with a more compatible group. I think I would have finished the ride without them, but it would have been a long and lonely road.

I plan to have some post cards made from the picture of myself at the finish, and send them out with a note of thanks to a long list of people I have encountered along the way.  I hope I can express how grateful I am to them.