2/1/2011 Day 1

This morning was nutty! I slept in my room one last time. Hannah was asleep next to me and my bicycle was on it's kickstand near the foot of the mattress. I did not want to get up. I was so comfortable I could have laid there forever. However, I had lots to do (even at 6a)! A breakfast with my mom at 7a, last minute adjustments, taking my mattress to the dumpster (it was high-time that thing left), and meet at the parking lot at the bottom of Junipero right on the beach.

Well, it just so happened that I was so comfortable, I DID sleep in! Slept until about 6:30a and started to rush around getting ready for breakfast with my mom. Once I was ready, I began to make the last minute adjustments to the packing of the bags and tried to get Hannah to get moving too.

After reluctantly throwing off the covers and getting up to get ready, we drove over to Park Pantry to meet my mother. She was already there and we saw each other through the window. We both smiled and waved; Hannah told me 'your mom is beautiful.'

After walking in and sitting down at the table, my mom started to go through the 'mom checklist' to see if I had everything she thought I may need. I said yes I have that to most everything she listed and she became a little teary eyed. I thought to myself 'this is really happening. Wow! Why do I feel so sick?'

My mom ordered oatmeal and home fries, Hannah had an omelette in between a croissant. I did not see anything that would ease my stomach. Then there it was, the fresh fruit and cottage cheese! Both women told me that I was not going to get a calm belly eating that combo, but I already knew I was the only person who likes the cottage cheese. I could eat that stuff up like it was candy!

The food came and we all scarfed down! My nerves were calmed by the meal and I realized there wasn't much time before I had to be at Dustin's place, I will refer to him as Streetz from now on in the blog, and I still had quite a bit to do. I reluctantly told my mom we had to go so I could get ready and we all got out of the booth and began to walk out the door. As Hannah and I departed from my mom, it hit me again. This is happening. Cue sick nervous stomach. Back to my house to finish getting ready.

Phone ringing off the hook and text messages going wild made getting ready take so much more time. It was nice though. Those who could not make it to the send off took time out of their morning to say good luck, good by, stay safe, stay warm, etc. It really meant a lot to me. I finally got everything packed, loaded and squared away around 9:20ish. I was supposed to meet up with Streetz around 8:20a to be at the parking lot at 8:30a to be pedaling on the bike at 9a. But hey, who's time schedule are we running on here? The people riding will make it to destination 1 on day 1 regardless of if we got there at 8:30a. That made my mind ease a bit and the stomach stop tossing and turning.

I rode down to Streetz's apartment, then we both rode to the meeting spot at the beach. As we turned the corner and started the descent down the hill, I noticed a good sized group down at the bottom starting to cheer. My cousin Kelly and her son Nicholas, Hannah, my mom, Errol, Ebbins, and Jordan. It was a pretty fantastic moment. After I got knee deep in the Pacific Ocean, to begin my ride from Long Beach CA - Long Beach NY, we took some pictures/had goodbyes/exchanged information. Then Streetz and I pedaled up the hill of Junipero and onto Ocean Blvd.

As we got onto Ocean and started on our way, we looked and each other and said 'we could have just went down the beach path for the first part. That would have been easier than this dang hill, especially as the first thing we do.' O'well. That is just something we like to do: make it hard on ourselves.

The day was beautiful and so were the trails. Riding the San Gabriel river bed to Coyote Creek river bed, then the streets of La Mirada, Whittier, Hacienda Heights. Then off to the hills of Diamond Bar and Chino Hills.

As we entered the back way into Chino we stopped and FreeWheeling, the first place I ever worked. I was taught how to wrench on bikes and now I am stopping in on a ride around the world. Crazy how things happen in 13 years! Anyway, John, the owner, was there and we started talking and asking questions about how our lives are going and all that jazz. It was really cool to see him. Healthy, humble and hilarious.

As we rode through the warehouse district of southern Chino, I called a few of the 'guys' from high school to see when they were going to meet up with us. First Robert(Tito) and Mike(Dirt) showed up in their car and took some pictures of us riding. Then Ricardo(the Boy) came speeding across the street on his bicycle to meet up and ride the last little bit with us! As we came to make a left onto G street I saw the rest of the guys on the corner cheering us on! Then they started running with us to Kenny's house! All of that was really cool. It is neat to see how much people are backing me up on this.

Greeted with a Corona and a hug, we began to talk and tell each other about stuff going on. More and more friends were showing up... as well as Hannah. It would be our true last night for a few months. She drove all the way to Ontario so that we could spend a few more hours together. We enjoyed our time talking, planning and laughing. It was really great to do that before we meet in TX.

Anyway, as the night was coming to a close I began to repack my panniers to fit better and my dad called. He wanted to let me know it was supposed to be super windy through Ontario and San Bernardino with gusts up to 70 mph! Insane! After we hung up and I began to repack my bags again, we all heard the wind start. We could tell it was going to be bad, so we tuckered out and went to bed. It did not sound like we were going to have very much fun on Day 2.

Bed time ensued...as it does now...pictures will be updated soon and I hope to post about Day 2 tomorrow morning.

Good night for now!