And now we're rolling...

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I have been working hard these last few weeks to get ready for the trip, and today it finally began! To summarize my past few weeks, I gradated with my mechanical engineering degree from Oregon State, I participated in the Formula SAE West competition in LA with the OSU car, and I moved out of the house in Corvallis and into my parent’s house. And in case nobody was aware, my parents are awesome! I got to spend some time with them (along with my coolest sister) the last week. I finished organizing all my stuff, and packed for my long journey ahead this summer. And I will definitely miss the kittens at home, and my sister informed me that the kittens miss me already after one day.

Today was my first day of traveling, and it had some ups and downs. I was thinking to myself on the way up that I cannot believe this day has finally arrived! It is weird because I have been so excited and have been talking about this trip for more than a year, and now that it is here I don’t know what to do or what to expect. I am excited to see what life throws at me, but then again I am very uncertain on what will happen in the future.

This morning my dad rode his Honda to Beaverton with me, where we ate breakfast. From there I headed up to Everett, WA. I rode interstate for most of the ride, since I couldn’t find many twisty roads on the way to ride. In Everett I met up with my friend Liz, a girl I met while working at Boeing last summer. She is an electrician that is hired by Boeing, and we worked together for about a month. She cooked me dinner (thanks Liz, very good!), we ate while we watched UFC 1, went out to Coldstone for dessert, and then just came back to talk and hang out for the rest of the night. Overall, I couldn’t be much happier with how the trip is going!

Tomorrow I am riding to Othello, where I am staying with the Dorsing family. I found them in my Mennonite Your Way directory, and they were willing to host me for the night. It is weird to think about taking guests whom you have never met before, but I guess it works out ok otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. I love the short notice option for some of the hosts, they sometimes even let you come to their place 12 hours after you call them! I am trying to give the hosts at least one day of notice before I arrive. Since I don’t have any real plans for this trip, sometimes it is hard to plan things out for more than one day in advance.

And I wanted to say thanks for all your support as I have been planning this trip. I have heard nothing but great comments and support from everyone! I do know this could be somewhat of a dangerous and risky trip, since I am riding on a motorcycle. But I feel that I am a cautious rider, and can make it a safe and enjoyable trip. I had an awakening start to the trip right after I left Denny’s, where a pickup right beside me on the highway pulled over into my lane while I was there. I almost couldn’t find the horn, but I stayed somewhat calm and accelerated through the event to safety. This just emphasizes the saying of assume people don’t see you on the motorcycle, and assume people are out there to hit you 

Ok, well I am winding down for the night. I am going to have an early start at about 6am tomorrow, since that is when Liz leaves for work. Thanks for reading, thanks for your thoughts and prayers, and just thanks for being there for me!

Mike

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