Contingency plan & more

14 DAYS!

For starters, I'm incredibly inspired and grateful of some donations that have come through. I recently received the largest donation to date. $399! I almost fell out of my chair! Please continue to share with family & friends, and encourage them to donate. The bare minimum to get the trip going is roughly $2,500 (that's excluding the food and occasional lodging).

Tonight I'll be skyping into a charity fundraiser that's being held in NY so I'm unbearably excited about that as well. It's one thing to dream, but to have it materialize before your eyes with the help of loved ones is an incomparable experience. Thank you so much.

On another note.

A fair amount of people have also expressed concerns about various issues. 

I've found that when it comes to my goals I can be pretty stubborn. I think to myself "The funds will come through", "the trip will go safely", "There will be insane challenges, but I know I'll overcome", and many other thoughts. However, I would be a fool to not have a backup plan. So many things that are out of my control that to not do so would be irresponsible on my part. With that being said, I'll go over a few points in the...

CONTINGENCY PLAN!

What if you don't raise enough money?

As of this moment, I'm roughly $1,000 short of starting the trip. I'm trying to cut costs wherever possible without compromising my health & safety at the same time. At the same time. I need to order the supplies by the end of this week so they all arrive here in time to start the trip. 

If I don't get enough funds to take me to California, I'll most likely have to stop in Dallas, Texas. As much as ever fiber in my body doesn't want to do that, the western half of the U.S. gets tricky & I'll have to continue it at another time. This trip would then be a trial run for another trip at the next possible date (summer 2013). 

What if you can't get to CA by Jan. 30th?

For those who didn't know, I have to be in California by January 30th because I fly out to China on the 31st. If I haven't passed Phoenix, Arizona by January 23rd, then I'll take a train from the nearest station to Los Angeles to ensure that I arrive on time to catch my flight to China. 

What if something (injury/illness) happens along the way?

At the moment my father is helping me compile a list of medical centers/clinics on my route so I'll know where the closest one is every day of my route. Also, I'll have a spot connect GPS. The video will tell you more than I could in this space. This will keep me in constant contact with everyone everyday & 5 specific people in the case of an emergency. If I don't post, the assumption can be made that something happened in the last 24 hours & that I'm somewhere within 60 miles from my last stop. In that case, local authorities will be contacted.

Do you have someone to cycle or drive with you?

At the moment, no, I don't have someone who will be cycling or driving with me. It's difficult to find someone who has the time to do such a trip (much less in the winter). However, I'm extremely open to the idea of people joining in (whether cycling or driving) for parts of the trip. If someone wanted to take a road trip across parts of the country, by all means, please do! I would love nothing more than to share this experience with another person! If you're interested, please contact me!

For the time being, those were the big questions that people had. If you had any more, please post them below & I'd be more than happy to address your question. 

Again, thank you so much for sharing this adventure with me! This is all very exciting, but I have to finish some papers, projects, and study for tests. 14 days to go!!! I'll be cycling and posting pictures before we know it! Keep checking in as I'll be posting more as departure date nears!

God bless!

On Deprogramming

Toru Goto - Deprogramming Victim. Illegally confined for 12 years & 5 months



This is Toru Goto.  He was kidnapped, tortured, and confined for twelve and a half years in an attempt to force him to recant his religious beliefs. After realizing that his faith could not be broken, his family (yes, his family) and the deprogrammers gave up and threw him out onto the cold winter streets. Since he was set free in 2008, Mr. Goto has been at the forefront of advocating against deprogramming.

Initially used in America during the 1960s, deprogramming has now migrated to Japan & impacts thousands of people. Some of their stories have been collected here (http://kidnapping.jp/index-e.html).

At the moment I'm in contact with organizations such as the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) and Survivors Against Forced Exit (SAFE) to tackle this issue & get the cause for this trip going. Both organizations have Unificationist ties, are quite knowledgeable about deprogramming, and advocate strongly against it. Ideally I want to pull Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and/or another non-Unificationist organization into the fight against deprogramming. We're only one of many groups that deprogramming has affected. I think that if any consensus can be reached, it's that deprogramming is wrong, and it has to stop!

Please continue to share the blog with family & friends! It's less than 3 weeks before I depart & I want to do this as safely as possible! I'm going to do this trip no matter what and any support is much appreciated!

Landmark!!!

Congratulations!!!


A huge thanks to all donors! Together with all of your support we've been able to break the $1,000 mark!
Some have been wondering how the training and preparations have gone, so I thought I'd give an update starting with all the supplies that the first $1,000 is going towards.

Panniers - These are going to hold my life for 45 days

Cycling shoes & pedals- While these may seem a little less "essential" they're much more efficient & softer on the joints. If I was cycling across a state I'd be fine. Seeing as this is our beautiful country I'll be crossing, efficiency & less stress on the knees is absolutely essential.

Base-layers -  for cold weather cycling & camping the right base layers are crucial. The base-layers I'm ordering are from smartwool. Apparently they're the best money can get!

                  

Goretex waterproof jacket & pants - Goretex is renowned for its quality. For those cold rainy days I'll trudge through, it's comforting to know that I'll at least be dry. 

Mid-layer& joint juice -  This mid-layer is also from smartwool. It will keep my body heat close and comfy across the bitter cold & windy plains/deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The joint juice is just to strengthen my joints. Liquid supplements work much faster so I'm taking them as a part of the preparation.

And that's a good bit of it for now.

As you may notice, in order to do the trip as safely as possible, it's going to require some pretty hefty gear! The good news is that the funds are already covering virtually all of the appropriate clothes needed to cross the country in the winter. As this gear is going to keep me protected from mother nature (or as close as you can get), I deeply appreciate it. This gear could potentially save my life while I'm out there!

Please keep spreading the word to everyone & anyone!

You're making a dream come true!

One month to go!

Hello Everyone!

It's been quite some time since I last posted so I wanted to give you an update!

First thing: I got new gear!!! The Red packs on the back will be carrying all of my gear for the 45 day trip. they're highly durable, waterproof, and reflective (safety first right?).

A huge thank you to everyone who's been able to chip in. Altogether there was almost $250 in donations as well as numerous pledged donors. If you can't donate, please share with friends, family, coworkers, churches, distant relatives who're over for Thanksgiving, any millionaire (or billionaire) friends, post it on facebook, or  pass it on to any random people you meet. 

Second thing:  The Cause

There are some human rights issues that are not known to many people or organizations. One of these issues is Deprogramming. Deprogramming refers to "actions that attempt to force a person to abandon allegiance to a religious, political, economic, or social group." Often times this results in physical, emotional, psychological, and even sexual abuse. 

The reason I picked an issue like this, is because I grew up as a Unificationist. As a part of a minority religious group, one of the hardest things was growing up in fear that someone might find out my beliefs and stigmatize me a weird freak who needed serious help. So I stayed silent. That's not the life I'd like to lead, and this is the fight that I'm picking up. 

While some may say this is for "religious freedom" I'd like to think of it as a fight for the human conscience. "Freedom of Conscience", so to say. I'll post more on this issue and my beliefs as we progress.

For now, my goal is to get this issue onto the radar of International Organizations such as Amnesty International or the Human Rights Watch. Right now they don't have anything posted on their websites & I know many victims who wish they had International Support. 

Stay tuned as this blog grows to become more robust & highlights my preparations for this adventure. I'd love to have your company!

60 Miles

Today I cycled 64 miles to the other side of Atlanta and back to train for the trip. Since I'm shooting to do 60+ miles per day during the trip, I figured I'd get used to how it feels. Right now I'm riding 15-20 miles daily, but i thought I'd make a long trip today to get used to the feel of 60+. Final consensus, it felt pretty good. :)

On a side note, it was such a beautiful day. I wish I had a camera to take pictures and show everyone, but that's going to have to wait for a bit. The air was as crisp as the leaves and there were other cyclists out on the road. I love doing this.

Welcome & Synopsis

Hello all!

As some of may have heard, I'm going to bicycle across America to Los Angeles this winter. Here's the map!

While this may be a huge feat, it's just a way to challenge myself to do something "impossible". There are so many reasons why I want to do this that it seems crazy not to. Although everyone might not be up for a ride across the country, I encourage everyone to pick up something that they think is "impossible" and make it happen! I want this to be some sort of inspiration for people to challenge themselves in their daily lives to become better a person.

On the logistical side....

I just got a list of the specific supplies I need to make this happen. If you'd like to make an in kind donation, contact me so I can share this list. I'm also working on corporate sponsorship right now and will keep you updated on that.

A huge thank you to everyone who's donated! It's literally making a dream come true. :)