Day 1 - Off to St. Helens, Oregon

The first official day was from Astoria to St Helens, about 70 miles.  It was a nice ride, but I was tired at the end.  Astoria is a scenic town on the the south side of the Columbia River near Ft. Stevens State Park where Lewis and Clark ended their journey to the West.  

The first picture is of me getting ready to leave the hotel parking lot.  For part of the route the river was in view and almost all of the route was very scenic as we rode through dense woods which were very lush with greenery.  This is normally true, but even more so this year with all the rain Oregon has received the past few months.  The second picture gives some idea of the wooded area.  There were a couple of serious climbs with some fast descents.  

The third picture is my fashion statement as my riding clothes matched my bike.  This was purely accidental, but pretty cool. I was tired at the end of the day and have not yet told my body we are doing it again tomorrow, expect a little longer.  I plan to break it gently to it tomorrow.  I am not going to mention there are 49 more days remaining.  

Tomorrow we ride through Portland to Welches which is on Mt. Hood.  My goal is to get thru to Welches without getting lost.   I do not have the best sense of direction.  Once got lost on a one way.