I turned 30 years old this past March. I have been accepted into law school, (although I have yet to commit to going). By all outward appearances it seems as though my life is at or near a major transition point. Perhaps I am.
I will most likely take out an obscene amount of loans and go to school in the fall. I'll live the next few years as best I can as a student. But with the reality of such a pretty penny's worth of debt looming on the horizon, I'm forced to ask myself whether working in an office over this coming summer is really the best use of my time. For me, the answer is 'no'.
For quite a few years now, I've had the idea of riding a bicycle across the country kicking around the back of my head. I have, (like most people), been riding a bike since I was kid, but, (unlike most people), I never gave it up. I'm too self conscious to wear tight spandex and risk coming in last place at race, and too cynical to run with the messenger crowd. But all the while I've always enjoyed getting a bit of sun and running a few red lights while riding my bike from point A to point B.
Unfortunately, I live in Minneapolis where the costs associated with riding five months out of the year - think breathtaking cold, near constant darkness, and ice galore - make it really difficult for me to get excited about riding. But spring is upon us, (although the weather report calls for 6 inches of snow within the next 24 hours), and the pull of taking a major trip is just too great. After years of giving myself bullshit reasons why I couldn't take a three month excursion: not enough time, not enough money, etc., I've decided to finally take the plunge before curling up with a stack of books for the next three years.
My childhood friend from the Great State of Nebraska, PeterB, has agreed to take a cross-country trip with me. Some of you know PeterB. Those of you who don't, should want to know him. He's a one man army kind of guy.
In a nutshell we're embarking from San Fransisco in late May and making our way (hopefully) to New York City via the West Coast and hugging the Canadian border. We're going to sleep on the ground most of the time, and it should take about 90 days to complete the trip - just in time for me to start school, (where ever that may be).
I'm going to do my best to maintain a near-daily blog during the trip. I'm a bit of a Luddite, so the whole blog concept seems a bit self indulgent to me. I'm sure I'll become more comfortable the more I write. I'm not sure what the content will generally consist of, nor do I know if anyone will read any of it. Perhaps a number of people will read this. Perhaps none will.
The reasons for undertaking a trip like this are a bit complicated, and I'll do my best to explain them in subsequent posts as well as giving much more detail regarding the details of the trip. And there will be a lot of pictures posted as well. Everyone loves pictures.
In short, thanks for taking the time to read this if you've made it this far. And much more thanks in advance if you continue to check up on this site from time to time to read more. I'm sure to write much, much more in the coming months. Hopefully it will be worth reading to you.
