1st Day!

Buenos Noches
We are finally on our way!  We left Calgary today at 2:00 pm (a little later than we would have liked) and arrived at Cranbrook this evening.  We had nice weather to start and end the day, but we got to ride through the rain for a couple hours through the mountains (by Fernie).  Yuck!

I left downtown by noon, got everything on the bike and said some last farewells to great friends (sorry to rush so much).  There were lots of people wishing us good luck for the trip and I really really really appreciate the Saint Christopher's (patron saint of travellers - such a cool gift) and the highway bells for each of our bikes (Another cool gift).


Planning:
 - All our initial plans for how we would start the trip just flew out the window
      - Lolo pass is closed due to forest fires, so we decided to head West to the coast right away
      - A good friend gave us a tip on a route through the Islands West of Seattle that we are going to try
      - We talked about a great ride through the cascades and will head there tomorrow
 - We are still eventually heading South and will get to Panama one way or another
 - No idea where tomorrow will take us.  We will play it by ear and see how Jada is doing.


Feelings:
 - Anxious to start the trip (the whole family was up early raring to go).
 - Nervous about Jada's first long trip on her bike.
 - Hyper - Jada and Brandon after a long stressful day riding (oh my god were they annoying!)
 - Relaxed as we realize that we made it through the 1st day (thanks to corona's)
 - Odd - When filling out our rental agreement last week we had to put "Stewart and Karen Adams of No fixed address"
 - Exhausted - Big Day!

Dream of good travels and adventure for us,
Stew.

The Start

The Crew just before we left (Brother-in-law Bob, his brother Gary and wife Rita and a friend from St Walburg, Stu Gammell)

The Route