“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

I have always loved that quote, and on May 1st, I will be heading -somewhat- confidently in the direction of one of my dreams.  May 1st marks the day that I will be departing on a motorcycle tour of the United States. This will be, by far, the largest and most ambitious moto-journey I have had the good fortune to be able to take.

To make this trip happen (and to do the trip how I wanted, and for as long as I wanted) required that I make some life adjustments. I have sold or gotten rid of a large portion of my belongings, given up my apartment, put whatever possessions I couldn’t make myself part with into storage, and as of the 1st of May I will be “homeless.” It will just be me, my bike, and the open road… living the life I have imagined. Even if it’s only temporary…

But I also wanted this trip to be about more than just me fulfilling my dream of riding cross-country, so I made the decision to use this opportunity to attempt to raise money for charity.  My trip is paid for out of my own pocket, which means every dime I raise will go straight to Riders for Health.

Some quick facts about my trip:

• There is no pre-determined end date… but I do have a set budget, so I can ride for as long as my money will allow.  Naturally, I want to ride as long as possible, so I will be doing everything as cheaply as possible. If you like ride reports that include pictures of large meals in fancy restaurants, then this report may not be for you. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy nice meals in expensive restaurants… but if choosing between a nice sit down meal and another day of riding, riding will win every time. I anticipate that I will be able to tour for a minimum of 3 months… but I’ll be able to be on the road much longer if I watch my budget and my bike doesn’t need anything major.
• I named this tour “Nowhere In Particular & Everywhere In General” because I have no pre-plotted route. Every other motorcycle trip I’ve taken has required that I return home by a certain date, and I wanted to go as far as possible, thus every detail was planned in advance… right down to every gas stop. I intend to fully embrace the open-ended-ness of this trip by attempting to strike a balance between micro planning and no planning at all. I have programmed my GPS with certain sights and roads I want to make sure I see and ride, but other than that I'll have nothing but the electronic compass on my GPS to guide me. I think the freedom to go wherever the mood strikes will be a refreshing change, and I’m looking forward to indulging my wanderlust.
• I can count the number of times I have been camping on one hand… and I was born and raised in an urban environment, so to call me a “city girl” would be completely accurate. Although my outdoorsy experience is very limited (I pretty much have no idea what I’m doing), ignorance is bliss and camping will be required in order to stretch my travel dollars… so camping is what I will do. I anticipate that camping shenanigans will rank high in entertainment value on this trip. There’s nothing like spending a night outdoors to make you feel like you’re once again part of the food chain.

My goals for this trip:

• Raise as much money and visibility as possible for Riders For Health, a favorite charity of mine. I have no experience raising money for charity, but I wanted to make a concerted effort to do so while on my trip. I’m hoping that the people I meet and speak with along the way, as well as those following along on the interweb, will be inspired to learn more about this fantastic organization and the amazing work they’re doing in Africa… and hopefully also donate some money to such a worthy cause. There is a short informational video about Riders For Health and the work that they do on the left side of this page.
• Ride in every state… yep… EVERY state that makes up the contiguous United States of America.
• Earn the Iron Butt Association's National Parks Tour Master Traveler award.
• Keep up to date on my blog.
• Finally get to meet people that I’ve known for years but only over the internet.
• NOT get any tickets.

I think that about sums up the nuts and bolts of my trip.

This is an especially exciting time for me- a trip of a lifetime isn’t an exaggeration- and I hope you’ll follow my progress on my blog where you can also leave me comments and encouragement and hey, even recommendations about places to visit and stay. I will have my SPoT satellite messenger tracking my entire trip, so the interactive Google map on my blog will have my most current location (updated every 10 minutes). If you would like to see where I am, just visit my blog or click here.

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