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!