The month leading up to my departure was a busy one.  The project I had been working on was closing in on mechanical completion, which is always a hectic time.  On top of that, at the end of October I moved out of my condo and into the RV.  Anything that couldn't fit in the rig went on craigslist, the rest was going in storage.  The slim down had begun.  At this point, the majority of people still had no idea of my plans for the trip, they just thought I was crazy for my choice in housing. 

Two things amazed me during this month,  the endless amount of storage an RV has!  And how much stuff you really don't need.  I managed to liquidate quite a bit of my belongings, which in turn, fattened my gas
money fund, which in turn, was awesome. Still, there were some things I wanted to keep or that didn't sell.  My parents, in full support of my "cast off", offered up some storage space in the old horse barn...free of charge. 

So if I hadn't already past the point of no return by now, this certainly solidified it.  I had successfully jammed everything I needed into a 240 square foot, rolling home.

So by this time the gears really started to turn on making a trip happen.  The outline I came up with was to travel North America hitting mountain bike parks from coast to coast. I would start on the East Coast, since they open the earliest, and finish in Whistler. Of course this trip is easier said than done.  The first major step I took in downsizing my life was selling my truck.  This was a huge step for me!  That truck was my baby and it had traveled all over the US with me.  Even with the truck gone I still had not fully committed myself to the trip.  Walking away from my career and a steady paycheck was a decision not made lightly.
It was during a trip to Colorado last August for a weekend of downhill biking that set off a chain reaction of decisions. These decisions ultimately lead to this trip, this blog, and everything to come.
Riding solo that weekend I ended up sharing a chair with another rider.  We started off with the typical chair lift banter; where are you from? have you ever ridden here?  He said he was from Washington State but had recently left his job and was making a cross country trip hitting bike parks along the way.  And that was it, the push, the inspiration I needed, the rest is history.... Mike and I ended up riding the rest of the day together, sharing a couple parking lot beers and a few war stories.  We still keep in touch and I'm sure we'll ride again.

I had this idea in the back of my head for some time now.  It really started when I was working on the East Coast and spent an amazing winter riding in Vermont at resorts like Killington and Stowe.  The time I spent in the White Mountains rekindled the flame of adventure and thrill seeking.  Once spring came around I returned to my mountain biking roots and began exploring downhill parks in New Hampshire and New Jersey.
During the next couple of years I made every effort to feed the desire for adrenalin and exploration.  We continued to push the limits on the bike while ski trips were becoming increasingly focused on backcountry riding.  Even with some great bike and ski trips, the time spent in the mountains was just not enough.  I needed more than a long weekend of adventure.

A week later my dad and I were on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to pick up the RV I purchased, site unseen, over the phone.  I searched every major city on craigslist, ebay, rvtrader.com until I found the exact one I wanted.  I needed an RV with space to live in for long periods of time and the power to pull my 4runner from coast to coast and back again.  "Superstition RV" in Superstition, Arizona had just the rig I was looking for.  A used Ford E450 Four Winds with the bullet proof 7.3L Powerstroke and only 19,000 miles, I was sold.
Once the ink was down my dad and I were hitting the road back to the Midwest.  We had a tight schedule which didn't allow for any stopping during the 28 hour drive.  We drove in shifts and certainly put this machine though its paces.  The first tire on the trailer(I bought a flatbed to pull the 4runner) blew out about 8 hours into the drive and of course the spare tire was flat.  We eventually got that sorted out and back on the road after some tire slime and a late night trip to Wal-Mart.  Somewhere in Oklahoma I again saw sparks spewing out the fender of that pos trailer.  We pull over to investigate only to discover that the flat tire was caused by the spare tire breaking off the mount, then running it over.  So we have now gone through three tires.  We eventually made it to our destination even with the unwanted pit stops. I sold the trailer.