Ok, so some of you have figured out I'm new at this blog thing.  I apologize to the folks who have received this a couple times.  I'm trying to work the bugs out before I hit the road.  I think I have the format and the right site this time to accomplish what I want.

So, I guess the least I could do between mea cuplas is to provide a mini-update:

I'm at seven days and counting.  No jitters or regrets...and I don't think I will have any.  I'm not feeling like superman or even 40 (years old, that is) but I feel good enough to hop on the bike and start pedaling.

Diet has been good and I feel like I'm getting the carbohydrates and proteins in at the right time.  I even out-ate my youngest son, Luca this evening.  That is a first!!  The plan for the rest of the week is to get in my in four to five 30-50 mile rides and then take the last two days off in order to be fresh.

Most of the route is pretty simple; hit the Coast and head south.  The most vexing part (so far) is what route to take TO the Coast.  Right now, I'm planning to head out from our house in West Linn, hit 99W and cut over to 18 and end up in Lincoln City.  Good route as far as elevation/climbing goes (little) but not ideal from a  traffic standpoint.  There is a PDX to the Beach route that takes a very similar path but cuts north towards Pacific City.  The advantage to this route is that it is less travelled.  The disadvantage?  It heads North for a bit.  Hard to believe I will turn right when South is to the left.  Still thinking that one through.

A little about how I will occupy my time on the trip:  I expect that I will be riding between four to six hours per day.  That should get me the 60 miles (average) per day I expect.  Pitching and breaking camp will naturally take up a portion of the day but I expect that to be  limited to an hour and a half per day.  Aside from managing the blog which I'm figuring will take some effort between getting set up to blog, downloading photos, and posting, I plan on doing a fair bit of reading.  Thanks to Marty Mudry (I will leave it to him to explain our exact relation), I will be reading two books by Edward Abbey; Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang.  Based on my 35 page dive into Desert Solitaire, I'm really going to enjoy it.

Well, time to plan tomorrow's activities and then chill.  Take care.