The (hairy) challenge begins

The ride starts tomorrow, but the last use of a razor was Thursday.

Not one, but three generous people took up Steven on his matching offer, so I didn't even think about packing a razor. As dictated in the terms of the deal, I will regularly post photos of my pathetic attempt at growing a beard.

The trip began on an interesting note. My bike box was too big to fit through the security screening machine, so the TSA employees had to open it up and manually inspect it. I offered to help, since the packing of a bike is fairly complex, and my venture is completely dependent on having an intact bike at the start. I was firmly told to go away. I offered to just show how to open it, since they were puzzled by the six latches. I was firmly told to go away. I then tried to explain that there were three layers of parts in the box, so that they wouldn't just spill everything out. One TSA employee yelled out "security!" having deemed me a threat to the nation. I ran away, then circled around to a point where I could at least see what they were doing. I once again heard the shout of "security!" and ran to the gate.

The bike arrived just fine, but I'm probably on a Homeland Security watch list now. I'm worried that I'll be deported while transitting Arizona.