Week 1 By the Numbers

421.56 - Distance biked, in miles
350 - Starting weight of the happy couple, in pounds, bone dry
75.38 - Longest distance biked in one day, in miles
67.15 - Average distance biked per day, in miles (not including off days)
60.22 - Average distance biked per day, in miles (including off days)
39.8 - Top speed, in mph
15 - Route diversions
14 - Unintentional route diversions
10 - "Jon would say" uses by Austin (He finds it to be an easier way to give Steph advice.)
6.17 - Time spent waiting for ferries, in hours
4 - Ferries taken, in ferries taken
2 - Countries biked through
2- States biked through
1 - Off days (We counted the 18 mile day as an off day.)
0 - Headlamp uses (Day 1 was the summer solstice and we're pretty far north)

Week #1 COMMENT AWARDS!!!!

"Insert trophy image here" (the library computer wouldn't let us)

The Lewis and Clark First Post Award -Seth Walker
The Jerry Seinfeld Comedy Award - H Joshua Kotin
The Hasbro Wordplay Award - Jon Hatoun
The Tina Lehn Quantity Award - Tina Lehn
The Jon Hatoun Pun Award - Gail Guertin for her use of "recharge"
The Vodafone Long Distance Award - Austin and Nikki Conboy
The Octogenarian Blogger Award - Nana Conboy
The Marshall Spooner Co-Author Brains Behind the Operation Award - Louisa and Katie

With the added incentive of AWARDS for posting, the competition could get stiff, but don't get discouraged - your name could be on here next week!!

Award Categories Subject to Change

Day 7 - Castle Rock, WA to Astoria, OR! - 66.71 miles

Austin got a fever. We had to stop riding because Austin is sick. That's not an Oregon Trail Joke. We bought 10 Clif Bars at the Trading Post but could only carry 6. That's an Oregon Trail Joke.

We're thrilled to be in state #2 - especially since we may have taken our last ferry to cross the Columbia River leaving Washington. Astoria is beautiful and Austin milked his illness for a night in a hotel on the water with a great view and great amenities!

Day 6 - Porter, WA to Castle Rock, WA - 69.13 miles

The next couple of posts will be quick - we're more excited for the Week One wrap up posts...

Highlights: Gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens (those are snow capped volcanic mountains, for our Irish followers), no ferries missed, no ferries taken, making a toasted English Muffin from the Porter Deli into a PB & J.

Lowlights: 40+ degree temperature swing, leaving our Swiss Army Knife on the Porter Deli Counter.

Text from the Road - Wheeler, Oregon

We made it to Oregon, but haven't made it to a library. We hope to soon.


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Day 5 - Belfair, WA to Porter, WA - 63.02 miles

This was our easiest day so far - very few hills, no headwind, and a quick start thanks to a night indoors and oatmeal (Thanks, Hunts!). Austin had his first encounter with a "bike-hating" dog today, but like Simba in the Lion King, he found his roar when it mattered. He first tried to outrun it, but the dog was gaining on the uphill. So as a last resort, he turned around and growled...Steph was down the hill and around the corner and hoping whatever animal was attacking Austin didn't get the maps, but by the time she reached the dog, it was running away whimpering. Besides Austin finding his growl and sleeping in the backyard of a country store (two free nights in a row!), there's not much to report. We're excited to finish week #1 tomorrow and post a few weekly wrap ups.

p.s. There's an 80 year old woman on the computer next to us checking her facebook account! It may be time for Austin to join.

Day 4 - Seattle, WA to Belfair, WA - 18.58 miles

Go Mariners! We bought seats in right field to be near Ichiro, and he didn't let us down. He showed off his range in the outfield and was 3 for 3 by the time we left in the 4th (we HAD to leave ample time to catch the ~*#$*^ ferry). He even hit a homeroom that was caught by someone three seats away from us - too bad we showed up a few batters too late in the bottom of the first. The hotel amenities, the Pike Fish and Craft Market, and checking out Safeco Field were a great way to wrap up our quick stint in Seattle, but the memorable part of the day was undoubtedly the generosity of a couple we met in Belfair as we stopped for pizza three miles from camp. Since they live on the bike route, they immediately recognized our kind. Without even checking with each other, they quickly offered us a "warm shower" and a place to stay. After sharing stories about their own biking adventures and run-ins with other nomadic west coast bikers, Dave and Michelle Hunt (and children) welcomed us into their home for the night. We put our bikes in the large garage (which, no joke, even had a kitchen sink), and checked out the maps over tea. Dave gave us the lay of the land - what to expect, big hills, places where Adventure Cycling probably picked a bad route - he knew the local roads exceptionally well as a local truck driver and retired firefighter. Dave invited his brother John to come over as well and got out the coffee beans to grind in the morning - "for special occasions." We were flattered by the red carpet treatment and, although we don't drink coffee, enjoyed a great bowl of oatmeal before heading on our way in the morning. We learned of all sorts of news during our stay with the Hunts, including how the analogue-digital cable switch has greatly affected some parts of the country - Brother John referred to it as "D-Day" - and a couple celebrity deaths. Now we'll always remember where we were when Michael Jackson died. It's always easy to focus on the negative, but it was truly refreshing to meet the Hunt's and be reminded of how great some people are.

Day 3 - Whidbey Island, WA to Seattle, WA - 65.17 miles

"Missed the boat." That's an expression, right? Well, if so, it makes a lot more sense to us now. Despite our many obstacles (canceled ferries, head winds, ridiculous hills) we made it to the 7:55 ferry in Bremerton which allowed us to make it to our hotel for the last hour of hot tub time. Big shout out to Tina for helping us find a hotel with breakfast, laundry, a HOT TUB, pool, internet, and shuttle service to anywhere in Seattle - all included with the room. Austin might have shed a tear that we missed the Wednesday night Mariners game, but he was ecstatic to learn of Thursday's "getaway game." We hit the town for a delicious dinner and some live music for about 42 minutes before we had to collapse in our bed (also included with the room).

Day 2 - Ferndale, WA to Whidbey Island, WA - 75.38 miles

"Tougher 'an a butcher's dog." A highlight of any day is passing a fellow biker doing our route in reverse. We passed our first today, a 62 year old Georgian (think Atlanta) named Bill. His excitement for the trip hadn't dwindled by day 42; he seemed envious that our journey had only just begun. Upon seeing Austin's Ireland biking jersey, he shared a story, from which the quote comes, about how an Irish stranger described his efforts. We'd like to take credit for being so tough, but we think it had something to do with his age.

We confirmed our diagnoses of gephyrophobia when we went over Deception Pass. Although we walked our bikes across because the walkway was too narrow, we still had to stare at one spot on the ground to reach the other side. The ironic part is that there were dozens of people who had come to the bridge just to walk across. I guess if we had looked up the views would have been spectacular.

Day 1 - Vancouver, BC to Ferndale, WA - 63.47 miles

Day 1 By the Numbers:

63.47 - Distance biked, in miles
7.89 - Cost of a footlong sub at Subway in Canada, in Canadian dollars
6 - Wrong turns
5 - Expected cost of footlong sub. We're surprised they're not on the metric system too.
4 - Harrowing bridges to cross
3 - Number of tries it took to light the stove, without Jon
2 - New cases of gephyrophobia
.49 - Cost of the farm fresh Canadian spinach that they let us take through customs (not a code name)

By the Numbers will usually be a weekly post, but we thought we'd give you a taste on Day 1. We're thrilled to be back in the land of $5 footlongs and cell service. We don't think we're allowed to say we're sore yet, so we'll save that for another day.

About "Texts from the Road"

Hi everyone, my name is Marshall, and I will be posting "Texts from the Road" for Austin and Steph for the duration of their journey. They aren't always going to have internet access at all of their stops, so as long as one of them texts me, I can post their short updates for them here under the "text from the road" heading. I tried to convince Austin to set up a twitter account, so he could just "tweet" on his own from the road, but he wasn't game. As a result, we will be doing this the "old-fashioned way" (circa 2007): he will text or call me with an update, and then I will post it on the blog (along with an interactive google map image of where they are--go ahead, click, zoom, and drag that map below...cool!). Again, just to be clear, I am not with them on the trip. Nope, I'm sitting comfortably in my computer room in CT just trying to help my friends spread the good word. Enjoy the posts and if you like, you can pretend like I don't even exist and these "texts from the road" are magically making their way via the internet from Austin and Steph's phones to your computer screens. As far as you know, I don't really exist (except for the "posted by marshall" at the bottom). Please enjoy!

Text from the Road – Whidbey Island, WA

We thought getting the ferry to Seattle would be our only worry of the day, but the short ferry ride across Admiralty Inlet has been canceled until noon due to strong outgoing tides. We got up at 5:20am to make sure we’d make the 8:45am ferry, so waking up early doesn’t seem like such a great idea anymore. Although we wouldn’t trade the views of the water, we certainly wouldn’t have this problem biking across Kansas.

We hope to post more from Seattle tonight.

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Day 0- Newark, NJ to Vancouver BC (via Phoenix) - 4,000 miles

"Are you anticipating a bumpy ride?" We're not sure if this comment from the air hostess was a metaphor for anything, but we appreciated her quick wit as we boarded the plane wearing our bike helmets! We arrived safely in Vancouver and were at the Atomic Bike Shop by 3pm to pick up our bikes. Steven, the owner, opened the shop on his day off to get us going. What a guy, eh? Some of the highlights of our day in Vancouver were Steven showing up and having our bikes ready; getting spare inner tubes, a patch kit, and chain lube (these will go well with the inner tubes, patch kit, and chain lube that we have in CT); eating a delicious Malaysian meal, watching "Bard on the Beach" (a surprisingly professional rendition of Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors"); and reading your comments! Biking starts tomorrow; 4,000 miles in one day is going to be tough to beat.

Day Negative 1 - Greenwich, CT - 0 miles

The bags are packed, we're ready to go! Few things we thought you should know:

1) We have no idea how often we will be able to update this blog.
2) Your comments will be our inspiration to keep pedaling.
3) Mom (Tina) is the reigning comment champion - prizes if you dethrone her!

Talk to you from the road!!