Passion Opens Hearts and Doors

I am floored by the amount of support, encouragement, advice, and interest that I've received from friends and family since announcing my plans for this upcoming adventure. A few examples:

One coworker of mine, Justice, is super excited that I'll be traveling along Highway 12 in Idaho because he knows of a couple great natural hot springs along that route that I should stop at. He keeps asking me to bring my maps in so that he can mark the springs' locations on there for me. Can't wait for that soak! My friend, Erika, works at Sea to Summit and is going to help me gear up and stay organized on the journey (Erika, we should talk this week about stuff!). Steve & Lindsay have offered to donate a super powerful lamp for me to use while on the road, just in case I find myself needing to travel at night for any reason. Tony, an equipment rep that calls on us at SparkFun, has friends in Virginia that he wants to connect me with when I'm at the tail end of my journey. Caley, an amazing friend of mine, crossed the country by bike with her brother a few summers ago and has graciously offered up an abundance of indispensable knowledge to me as I gear up and organize my plans for this trip. My grandpa even told me last weekend that, should I find myself in a bind anywhere along the way, he'll drop whatever he's doing, wherever he is, to come help me get out of trouble! And I'm pretty sure he was serious. 

And next week I'm having lunch with my realtor, Chris Ratay, to get his advice on long distance adventuring. If there's anyone who can speak truth to power in this realm, it's Chris. He and his wife currently hold the Guinness World Record for Longest Team Motorcycle Ride. In 1999 they sold most everything they owned and started traveling the world on two motorcycles...and did so for nearly 4-1/2 years, traveling 101,322 miles, through 50 countries and 6 continents! How awesome is that?!?

There are even folks that I've never met before who are willing to meet with me and share their insights and encouragement for the journey that I'm about to undertake. A couple friends of mine know this guy, Ryan Van Duzer, who rode cross-country last year on a 3-speed cruiser bike. That's crazy! My new LHT has 27 speeds and part of me is worried that isn't enough. How did he do it on only 3? Ryan and I have connected on Facebook and are going to try and meet up before I take off so that I might gain some invaluable eleventh-hour pearls of wisdom from him. He showed me this video of his trip last summer:

I'm convinced that a recap video of my trip would look quite similar to this. There's certainly going to be a tremendous amount of singing going on. And probably some white boy dancing too. But definitely a plethora of high fives will be doled out to the strangers I meet on the road!