Introduction!

Hello! I have recently made a very important decision in my life. On June 18, 2011 I will begin a journey from Riverside, CA to Boston, MA on my bicycle. I am not a professional bike rider. I am no Lance Armstrong. I am actually a graduate student at the University of California-Riverside working on my Ph.D. in School Psychology. It has always been my goal to travel across the country, but I never imagined that I would be doing it on a bike. I will be spending the next six months getting myself better acclimated to spending long hours on a bike. Also, while this trip is a personal goal of mine, I felt like this would be a terrific opportunity to raise money for a charity that I believe is doing amazing work. I will talk more about this later.

Ok. So here are some plans that I have tentatively set-up for the trip. I will be leaving on the morning of June 18 on my Motobecane 300HT out of Riverside, CA. I realize that my bike is a technically a mountain bike, but it's amazing on the streets and a really comfortable cruising bike. I haven't finalized my route yet, but I don't see that being too difficult. I will be hitting as many big cities as I can between here and Boston. More people present, more people to listen to me. lol My tent will be my home throughout the trip. I have made a personal decision to exclude fast food/restaurants and hotels/motels from my trip. I won't be bringing many of my possessions along. I will be bringing my Bible. I will be leaving my beloved Kindle and laptop at home. I will be bringing my phone and using that to keep anybody interested updated. Unfortunately, I won't be bringing my dog either... The expected trip will consist of 3,000 miles which will likely take about 30 days to cross. How will I get home? That will be decided when I get to Boston.

Thank you for reading! I hope anybody reading this will keep up with me during the next several months. Since I am not on the trip yet I might not be making too many posts, but as we get closer to the trip I will begin posting more often. Please comment with any suggestions or questions.