Zoo

Jackson and my buddy Andy and I went to the zoo this afternoon. We were orginally just going to go and check it out, but once we were there, decided to give it a go. It was pretty cool and Jackson seemed to have a great time. We first saw these fatties:

We checked out some other pretty cool stuff, and then went to the lions den. Jackson was almost eaten alive. Good thing he was so tough!

Once we got back we had some very tough decisions to make:

More miles

Another 45 wet miles in the saddle again today. I might have to get used to riding wet. Good times though. I think I am still a little cold.

Lunch time ride

I decided that 52 and sunny was worthy of a quick lunch time ride today. Here is what I saw on my ride today. 3 f-16's taking off just over my head - they proceeded to shoot straight up in the sky; one of them even did a roll as it lauched. I felt like a little kid. Mt. St. Helens was in full glory today as well. I passed one old (and hairy) shirtless walker, I raced a semi truck in a 25 mile per hour zone...and yes, I won. A 747 flew about 300 feet over my head - I was riding right next to the airport. And last but not least, this is what I saw for most of my ride:

The picture does not do it justice. Come out and see for yourselves, I have a nice 35 mile loop we can enjoy.

Welcome to Oregon

Well, I have been trying to get in a few more miles than normal. I have been traveling enough that my riding went down, but the last week or so has been better. We have had some pretty nice weather over the last few days. Well, I guess nice for Jan - 55 and sunny a couple days ago. Anyway, today was nice...fairly sunny and about 49/50. I was pretty excited because I was going to do a group road ride tonight. They typically do about 25 miles and I had about 10 extra on the way there and back. As soon as I stepped outside to get on my bike at 5:30 it started to rain. It did not let up until I got back to my house at 7:30. I ended up doing about 24 miles and it was wet. The entire ride was very rainy, I was soaked in the first 5 minutes. But this is Oregon right...it rains. So, this was my welcome to Oregon ride - it was worth every minute. Here is a picture from when I got home. It doesn't really show, but I was dripping wet.

Where have I been?

It has been a while since my last post. I spent the past 3 weeks back in Detroit for the Christmas holiday. We had a great time, but are glad to be back. We probably drove more in those three weeks than we have the whole time in Portland.

Our trip home was very adventurous, had a long and unexpected layover in Minnie (over night), went to the Mall of America for Margaret and Jackson to see. That place is a nightmare.

Anyway, I'll write more later. Happy New Year.