Day 0 - Arrival in Sutherlin, OR (September 10, 2011)
We spent Saturday morning prepping to leave and worrying about everything fitting into our 2 bags. I'm using my black extra large Northface waterproof bag, and we bought a Large Northface waterproof bag as our second. It's purple so it should stand out in the pile of bags a little better. Everything was a little full, so I decided to trade out my Thermarest for my original 3/4 size Thermarest that Phoebe had been using for camping of late to save some space. It actually gave me a little more space than I had thought. Jada helped Ellen pack individual packets of jerseys and shorts for every day.
We finally left the house at 12:45pm. Traffic was really good, so we made it in only 2.5 hours. It was convenient that we left after both of the Oregon college football home games had started to avoid that traffic clogging the I-5 corridor. It was 96 degrees when we arrived in Sutherlin, OR. Long term parking was outside of town in a large pasture which was really bumpy to drive through. Ellen wasn't feeling too well after bouncing across the prairie to our final parking spot for the week. The nice thing was we got to leave our bags at the end of the rows so the nice high school football team kids could cart them for us the 1.2 miles to the school where registration was while we rode over there. There weren't any lines except for water. We picked up our materials, stickers, bracelets, and jersey's. Ellen created our license plate. When we came out of the school, our bags were waiting for us right outside. Ellen walked the tandem while I carried the bags until some football players took pity on us and took our bags.
We pitched our tent in the soft grass of the football field which was already filling up. Ellen helped setup the tent and cots even though she was hot and tired. I brought along Jada's Luxurylite cot for Ellen to use on the trip. By the time we finished it was 5pm and time to eat. Dinner ribs and veggies. We sat for a while in the shade of the dinner tent enjoying the cold water and cool breeze. After dinner, Ellen played on the playground just to the left of the main stage in the park. There were a bunch of teeter totters, and Ellen was actually sad Phoebe wasn't there to enjoy them with her. I found a picnic table in the shade to listen to the entertainment and write while waiting for our first evening's announcements. They're supposed to start at 7:30pm, but they didn't start until closer to 8pm. Ellen got a solid playtime tonight, so she should hopefully sleep well. I watched the sun set behind the hills at 7:23pm, and the cool breeze got cooler instantly. We had clear skies and a full moon too. That'll make it nice and bright when I have to get up to go to the blue rooms in the middle of the night. We put the rain fly on the tent for some privacy when we got back since the tent is almost all mesh. Ellen feel asleep immediately when she laid her head on her pillow at 9:30pm. I'll get her to bed earlier tomorrow night.
For more ride details, reference www.cycleoregon.com.
Continue to Day 1.