Day One

He Said:

The first day of our big motorcycle trip from Portland to Indiana started out in a whirlwind really. I had waited too long to get some new tires put on the bike, so I spent the morning of our departure date in Salem, OR getting new rubber instead of riding. This added some stress to the morning for sure. However, to make matters worse, I had given my parents the key to our condo earlier that morning just in case they wanted to check out the nightlife in Old Town. This in itself wouldn't have been a big deal, as I anticipated my lovely "bride-to-be" to be home waiting with a cup of milk and some graham crackers, or at least have the door unlocked. Unfortunately, Lisa was putting in yet another long day at work. So, by the time I made it back to Portland at 1:00p.m. (departure time was supposed to be 2:00p.m.), not only were there not any graham crackers with milk, but the door was locked! This rendered me helpless to complete the packing and get on the road.

When Lisa made it home at 2:30 (yep, 2:30), we were off to the races in terms of getting the bike completely ready to go. We threw the bike and gear together and called it good. Eventually we made it out the door, or should I say parking garage, at 4:00 just a bit behind schedule. This should be no surprise to any of our family or friends as we are generally late to EVERYTHING.

The original plan was to make it to somewhere around Boise, ID the first day. This would have been a great goal but, as mentioned above, we were a bit off schedule already. Our new goal was to at least make it east of The Dalles. Considering this was just eighty or so miles, I figured this would be a goal we could manage.

Much to my surprise and delight, we made it all the way to Baker City, Or on the first night. After checking into the Roadway Inn, and having a somewhat creepy conversation with a fellow motorcyclist, we were counting sheep by 10 'o clock.

She said:

Noteables:

• Dropping Manny off - 4 trips to the car and a personal invitation (a lift really) and we are off...(a few tears after they declined extra pay to lose him).


• Finished work- Ok, a bit late, but I did leave... eventually.


• Tried to leave- something wrong with the technology..hmmm...glad I have Trav or I might still be there sipping a beer thinking about what might be the problem.


• Actually left- sore bum. already? It had only been minutes.


• Ate lint at Denny's. Yep, you read that one right. LINT. I still have a dry hack. I did mention this to the young gal taking my cash; she said she would tell the cook. What the hell? I wanted money off not some sort of good samaritan award.


• Finally, at destination- less sore bum (figure that out) and happy to have a comfortable room and terrific company for the night. Just wishing the lint would go down already. yuck.