Planning...

How does one prepare for a cross country trip on a bicycle? Well let me tell how I am preparing! Considering I really like to wing things and just make them happen I'm going to do the following...Too much planning can eat into life so I'm not planning much! LOL

The game plan is to cover 2695.5 miles give or take a few miles over the course of the next X amount of days. Once I cover those miles I plan on turning around and heading back east. So I'll have a great tan on the left side of my body for the next X amount of days, then after the X+Y days I will even the tan out on the right side! lol Gotta love my thoughts...

Okay - back to the trip! I plan on towing a tow "Bob" that was lent to me from Jenny Bowen a friend of a friend that has turned into a pretty cool friend, I have a feeling will be for a long time. Early this summer she set out to ride from Seattle to Maine, however pulled the plug for reasons beyond her control, a lot of people did not feel safe about her continuing solo. I was very upset she was unable to achieve her goal of crossing the US on her bike but I do benefit by having Bob as my companion for the next "X" amount of days. I have no doubt she will continue this journey in the future - as she does not appear to be a quiter.

Items I will be taking are as follows:

My training bike, tow "Bob" which I will refer to as Bob going forward, so for those readers who chime in the middle of this journey Bob's not a breathing mammal! Camping gear, extremely lite gear from my speed hiking days along with some food, just enough to get me to my next destination as I don't want to carry to many extra lbs. My laptop and phone to communicate with the world and to update this blog (plus I'll have to check in on the Tour) even after Armstrong's unfortunate stage today! Levi still has a chance however my favor to win is Andy Sleck for those tracking the tour...(Text updates on the tour would be nice if anyone would like to update me on what's going on) More on what I plan on taking, bike repair kit will be a must and a couple change of clothes! I'm sure I'm missing something in the items list however I will update any items that show up on the radar screen along the way...

My travel map will be accompanying me as well... :) Must needed item as I will not know when I will have wi fi or cell service along the trip to make adjustments to my route as need be.

So I just got to Carl Junction, my starting spot for this trip cross country! I have assembled Bob and have the bike ready to go, now I just have to pack up the trailer and I'll be set for a 5:45 departure tomorrow morning. Today is Sunday the 11th day of July and it has been a hot and humid day so far so the next week in Kansas doesn't look too appealing for riding all day in the summer heat but I can't really control that so I'll do the best I can on staying hydrated while baking in the summer sun! I can't complain, the boys in France right now are laying down some hard days in the Alps, I'll just be crossing the flat lands of Kansas, going a lot slower! lol

So the day will start out in Missouri, just a few miles from the Kansas border where I feel the true journey begins. Lots of things to see in Kansas if you have never been there! I will be passing where I grew up in the first 50 miles so it will make for a nice quick reunion! The sounds of the meadowlarks throughout the day, the sounds of the breeze blowing the corn and wheat, and one cannot forget the sights of all the cattle grazing in the wide open spaces! I am truly proud of where I grew up! A local where family's worked hard not only at the work place but raising familys with the core moral values you find from the good 'ol Bible! I thank all those people that helped shaped me to the young man I became at 18 when I departed SouthEast Kansas...To all of you out there, Thank You for giving me one of the most memorable childhoods a young man could have!

I'll ramble a lot on this trip and pose questions for my readers so I hope you're ready to voice your opinion! My email is matt18carnal@hotmail.com or you can catch me on facebook as well, I would like all those readers that would like to voice there opinion or answer questions I pose to do so! Having something to look forward to each and every day while I'm out there on the road will be nice to have!

Okay - back to the route! I will travel along highway 400 till I get to Girard, Kansas and then work myself to the northwest, hopefully ending up at Thornton Lake for my first night of sleep! I hope to cover as many miles possible each and ever day, of course my health comes first so don't plan on me killing myself out there! lol - For those who know me, when don't I push the limits physically endurance wise! :) The plan is to stick to the following route until I get bored and want to venture out on my own and see where the road will take me... (http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/transamerica.cfm) The name of the route is the TransAmerica Trail and its a long one, but it has a lot of things to see along the way! I've seen a lot along this trail, however the last state is what I'm truly looking forward to as I have never seen Oregon! And for those wondering how I plan on getting back, well since I'm without a job and money is tight, I'm going to use pedal power! Once back in Missouri I am going to assess my fitness levels and determine if I have what it takes left in the tank to do the same thing towards the east coast. The east coast is a much shorter journey comparably to the westward journey!

The journey is what I'm really searching for though as the last couple of years have been extremely interesting for me! I guess what I'm searching for on this trip is the experience of doing something out of the ordinary for a young kid my age, traveling "from the middle" of the country to the west coast and then back to the east coast to finish back in the middle! Many have asked me why I'm doing this and I can't explain it to be honest! I have an adventurous spirit and willing to do about anything to make sure that spirit is at rest, I love to travel and meet new people and I love the great outdoors! One other thing that has me doing what I'm doing is all the people out there that would love to do something epic with there lives but hold it back because of the responsibilities of society! At the moment my responsibilities are extremely low, the scarsest resource many Americans complain about is time and since I appear to have an endless supply of time at the moment I'm going to take full advantage of what I have! So this is a journey for all those busy Americans out there that would love to travel cross country without a care and just experience the journey! Please do email me questions or things you would like me to experience on this route, because this journey is not all for me!

The blog is my ability to share my journey through text as to motivate all the readers out there to go after what you want, because I believe anything is possible with the life you have and it is way too short to wait for things to just happen! You have to make it happen if you want it! I have heard way too many stories along my journeys to not venture out, hence why I'm departing first thing in the morning!!!

Before I hit up the packing - I would like all my readers to spread the word about my journey and my blog to stimulate thoughts, as I am a huge believer in mass collaboration!!! As the network of readers grows this will also help me network a chain of potential places to crash or places to shower along the trip!

Alright - I'm off to finish packing and Godspeed!

PS - please look past the grammer and misspelling of words! I'll edit this when I get back... :)