Update

Here are some post trip pictures. The first is of our arrival at the Portland airport, long hair and tan arms. The next pictures are of our bike boxes when they showed up at my (Erin's) house Sunday morning. Not quite sure how the bikes were still intact with all that damage to the boxes. Luckily Amie and my bikes were undamaged, McKayla's had some derailleur issues. Because of the large, gaping, unexplainable holes, McKayla and I also lost many possesions that we packed into our boxes. I lost all my maps and memorabillia items, plus the homemade jersey I wore everyday on the trip. McKayla lost a lot more. Now I know, don't travel with a box that huge and don't put loose items in it. Although, to be honest, the airline security clearly gave our boxes a rediculous and halfhazard examination (making sure we didn't smuggle drugs across the border in our carbon fiber seat posts I guess). Along with my other missing items, my front wheel was turned 180 degrees, the waterbottles were taken out of the waterbottle holders, and one of my tire lugs was missing (I happen to know that the tire lug was clipped to another and zipped inside my pannier pocket inside the box, yet only one lug was missing...) Oh well, one thing the trip taught me is that I can be fully self-sufficient and happy with very few posessions. I still have many fond memories of the trip and have learned so many lessons that no material object can embody. I'm glad that we all made it home safely (and our bikes too)!