Counting Down...T Minus 7 Days and Counting

Well the time is drawing close!  Less than one week til starting the ride in Florence, Oregon.  I'll probably dip my tires in the Pacific on June 14th, to save some time June 15th morning so we can get an early start for our first day's ride... 78  miles to Eugene.

One of the nice things is that we have had a couple parties with friends, neighbors, colleagues and family here in Madison to celebrate the sendoff.  We had one last week with my work colleagues.  

 My work colleague Jim created the nice bon voyage card.  He's a talented guy.  My work colleagues even got me this nice hernia repair kit from Ace Hardware.  No tools required.

How thoughtful!

Then this week we had a potluck BBQ sendoff at our house with many of our other friends and neighbors.  It did rain so we were chased into the garage, but otherwise a good time was had by all, I think.

I've barely begun to pack as I have several major deadlines at work and have had to work seven days a week about 12+ hours/day to try and complete everything before I take off.  Oh well, no rest for the wicked as my Mom used to say!

This is the last I saw of my bike on June 2nd before I dropped it off at REI here in Madison to ship to the REI in Eugene.  We'll be reunited on Friday.

More to come.  Thanks for your moral support and well wishes.

G