Last night I finally packed my bike into the large box that I got from the bike shop at REI. It was big enough that I was able to put all my stuff in the box with the bike.

My good friend, Paul picked me up at just before 4 AM in order to get me to the airport with my big box. First we tried to slide it into the back seat, but it was too long. Next we tried the bed of his pickup. It was so big that it didn’t fit in the bed of Paul’s truck too well, hanging over the top of the gate. Paul put a strap over it so it wouldn’t fly out of his truck onto the highway.

At the airport, the box with my bike and all my stuff only weighed in at 70 pounds, and I had to pay a 150$ overweight fee. I still think it’s better to have everything in one box rather than having to manipulate several bags and the large bike box. Given the extra weight of the box, I think I’m packing pretty light.

Ever since one of our customers at REI told that he was going to do a tour with only one pair of shoes, I thought that would do the same. During the tour of the northern Rockies that I did years ago, I brought two pairs of shoes, sneakers and cycling shoes. However cycling shoes during that time were unsuitable for much walking, something that has changed with the advent of SPD mountain shoes. I figured that I could always buy a new pair of running shoes, if the SPD shoes just didn’t cut it for walking.

However, last night I thought about it again, and changed my mind and decided to bring a pair of worn out running shoes. I figure that if I decide that the extra weight of the shoes isn’t worth the trouble, I can always toss them out.

Even though the box had a big hole in the side and the TSA went through it, everything arrived safely and I was able reassemble the bike with no issues

I even had time to take it for a spin and get fuel for the camp stove and a couple of other items. There are a lot of bike lanes here, also a lot of traffic and quite a few areas where destitute people have found places to camp.

Tomorrow, I decided I’m going to take a bus to Seaside and really get started on the adventure. I was originally going to ride down to the sea, but it’s several days ride, and then I would have to backtrack.