Getting there is half the trouble. The week leading up the bus trip was hectic. There were last minute supplies to buy, mail to forward, numbers and addresses to record so I could pay bills, send cards etc. Both Patti and I moved out of our apartments, putting all our belongings into storage. This saved a lot of money, but was an incredible hassle. We stayed up three days straight packing up. Neither of us would have made it had it not been for the help of our friends. Thanks Harold, thanks Jen! You guys pulled us through one of the most difficult parts of the trip.

Next we had to get to our respective bus stations. I left from Arlington, TX, Patti from Burlington, VT. Thanks Todd for picking me up at 6 am! I payed extra to have Greyhound ship my stuff. That way I didn't have to move it from bus to bus, I just had to worry about it getting lost or stolen. Patti chose to bring it all herself. When I met her in Chicago she was just about incoherent, crumpled over her boxes waiting in line for me, and the next bus.

The Greyhounds were an experience. Three days is a long time on a bus. The worst part was sleeping. There is no way to comfortably sleep in a bus seat. We nabbed the back seats to stretch out in almost the entire trip. The next worst part is staying clean. The stress of packing and the lack of a shower made my face break out really badly. I felt like a leper.

The bus rides were cheap. About a tenth the cost of airfare. We made the best of it. We got mentally prepared for the trip. By the end of the bus ride everyone on the bus knew each other. We played cards, read, played chess, ate together etc. Shared suffering spawns comeraderie amongst complete strangers.

When we got to Seattle we were alarmed to find out that Patti's stuff had been shipped from Spokane to Portland. Ironically that was the one bus change that Greyhound didn't make passengers move their own bags on. Regarding our inquiries, Greyhound was not the least bit helpful or kind. They would only repeat that the boxes would get to Astoria, eventually. Now especially I was worried about my boxes. I was very relieved to find them in Kelso on the little bus that made the final hop to Astoria.

At the bus in Astoria, I built my bike, and packed everything on it. It took about two hours. While I did that, we met a couple who were biking south along the coast from Seattle to California. They were on their fifth day. They told us that the previous day there was a moose at their campsite. They were really enjoying themselves. It gave us hope.

The bus stop is right next to the visitor center. There we got directions there to the nearest B&B - where we could we FINALLY got a good nights sleep. It had been nearly 6 days. We needed a little luxury, which we got at Clementine's.