After 26 hours on an AMTRAK train from Los Angeles to Eugene, OR, and a one and a half hour bus ride from Eugene to the Western Coast of Oregon (Florence); we have arrived. No turning back now (of course, the “no-turning-back-point” for me was a month ago after spending $1500 on my Surly long-haul-trucker bike; that’s when i knew that i was really going to go through with this)!

I talk a whole lot about empowerment. Empowerment of self, empowerment of youth, empowerment through art, empowerment through poetry; and yet, biking across the country is something i never thought myself capable of doing. Something that had never really crossed my mind until my boyfriend called me fro Argentina one day and said something along the lines of: “Hey, i think we should bike across the country this summer! What do you say?” And instead of responding: “What?” or “Estas loco?!” i simply said “Great! When do we leave?” and that was the beginning of our planning to take on the TransAmerica Bike Route this summer; that was the idea, that a month later became a reality. And so here we are again, back at the beginning; Friday May 9th, 2008. 10:30pm in Florence, Oregon, at the Lighthouse Inn, room 22.

Me:
Finally showered and in bed writing this Blog.
After having spent the evening tying loose ends,
Packing and weighing paniers,
Organizing food for the next few days,
Charged all of our electronics,
Called the camp-site and made a reservation for tomorrow,
And worked out our finances and added up all of our receipts.

Cesar:
Still playing with screwdrivers and wrenches since 7pm.
Pimping our bikes,
installing our front lights,
tail-lights,
cateyes (speedometer/trip computers),
And fenders.

And so we are prepared,
intentions set,
paniers packed
and water bottles full.

Biking shorts on,
and wind-breakers ready.
cellphone charged,
Ipods loaded
And camera ready for the photo opp.

Tomorrow will be the first day of a life-changing experience.
And i give thanks for the opportunity,
i give thanks to the sun for lighting our path
the rain for showering over us,
the earth for firmly holding us
the stars for shining over our tent,
the trees for the oxygen they generate,
the mountains for reminding me of GOD
THANK Y0U, for offering yourselves to me in these next 75 days of courage, challenges, lessons, sweat, memories and adventure.