OK, so I’m finally feeling like I’m ready for my trip.  This past week has been crazy, I’ve been running around doing everything possible to get ready.  I stayed down at school until Tuesday and then came home, and since then, I’ve gone to the dentist, got a haircut, picked up a new jersey, new biking shorts, a new seat, new cycling shoes(sweet Bontrager RLs), new Shimano SPD pedals, two underarmor shirts, a new cyclo-computer so i know how far I’ve gone, a new rainjacket, new sneakers, gone on two bike rides(42 and 30 mi), and gotten two flats on my bike and one on the car coming back from the city the other night. So, pretty crazy week.  And on top of all that I’m supposed to be worried about finding a job so that I have an income when i get back in August.

Anyways, I’m very excited about the trip, and I feel like I’m pretty ready. It's crazy to think about.  4000 miles, 64 days, 23 riders, 18 states and one incredible trip.  I can't even imagine what's ahead of me, but it's exciting.  I feel physically ready too, longer rides always tire me out, but it’s never really that bad, I feel like if I can do 60, another 20 or 40 miles is just a matter of getting it done.  I compare it to running, they always say that if you can do about 15 miles running without much of a problem, getting to 26.2 is easy because you’re just in that zone where you’re just running on endorphins and nothing else really matters. 

Once i find my memory card for my camera(or buy a new one), I will do my best to remember to post up pics of my bike and all my sweet gear for those of you who care.  Otherwise, I’m not sure when the next post will be.  My mom, my sister and I will leave Homewood on Wednesday morning, and have a few days in Pennsylvania/New York to visit with family that I haven’t seen in far too long.  I do plan on having my laptop with me the whole time(as long as it fits in the bag), and so hopefully I will be able to write here as much as I want, since I won’t have to wait for computer time every night.  Oh, thats the other thing I’ll put up pictures of; the team got backpacks for us, and it’s crazy to imagine that I will be living out of this not-so-big backpack for the next 64 days.

Also, thanks to everyone who donated, I couldn’t believe all the support I got.  I was expecting to have trouble reaching my goal of $2,500 but I’m proud to say that as of today, I have raised $4,692.50!!!  I couldn’t have done it without all the generous contributions from friends and family, and additional thanks to Mav and Maria who went around and got donations from the Illinois Evans Scholars house and helped raise almost $1,500 from the house alone!