Here we go

George Hanson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.

Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened. Hey, we can't even get into like, a second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or somethin'. They're scared, man.

George Hanson: They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.

Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.

George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.

Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.

George Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.

So here we go, ever since I saw Easy Rider as a junior in high school I've been hooked to the idea of a cross-country, insane motorcycle adventure. I've wanted to just hop on my bike and disappear for a while; carefree and happy. I feel like I am at the point in my life where it's possible to take a month off from work and see if I can do it. I'm pretty sure I can. I wanted to model my trip on the ride taken in the movie but to take it to an extreme in case I never get the opportunity to do this again.

The trip basically consists of a loop around the entire country. Starting from Hebron, ME I will be working my way across the north to Seattle, stopping at a bunch of national parks and campgrounds along the way. From Seattle I am heading towards San Diego, all the way down on rt 101 and 1, to cover the entire west coast. After San Diego I'm heading across the southern part of the country to New Orleans (almost like the ride from LA to New Orleans in Easy Rider). New Orleans to Washington, D.C. and then back home. One gigantic circle with a lot of stops along the way. 21 days (plus a few extra relaxing days) and over 9100 miles. And I'm leaving tomorrow!!!

I'm going to try and post a ton of pictures and further blog posts every few days when I start to feel too disconnected from the world and need to boot up my laptop, which hopefully isn't too often (it is a vacation after all).

Cheers!