6 days left

I can feel every nerve coming out of my spine. There is a prickly electricity that is pulsating out of it every time I think about the trip. 6 days. 6 days left before I make it happen. Only 4 of those days are in Tacoma to prep for the trip. I fear that it may not be enough. The other 2 days are either last second fund-raising tour stops or test runs on the bike. I am running out of hours in the day to prepare and it shows in my eyes. The tension is as dense as a diamond and, if it pays off - twice as beautiful.

All day I crunch numbers, work on routing, stops, fuel and housing costs, contingencies, responsibilities, anxieties, once-in-a-lifetimes, dreams, fears and the mental, physical and emotional will power that it's going to take to see this through. It's a lot of work and my mind is a mess with the details and with each new issue comes two distinctive approaches to handling it. The first method is the fantasy resolution. This involves magic money, amazing feats of strength and/or endurance and crack precision timing. This is the sort of planning where there are no road blocks, speed bumps, bad weather, sore butts or long lines. I like this type of thinking as this is what makes a dream so brilliantly fantastic. However, realistically I think this type of thinking is the biggest hazard to the trip. Complaceny and lying to myself will leave me bleeding to death on the side of the road. I must be cautious not to let myself get to carried away.

The other sort of approach to each matter is the defeatist and pessimistic, "It ain't never gonna happen" mentality. This sort of thinking involves me harshly erasing my math or specific stops from the day planner or repeating, "fuck" in much the same way a man seeking a revenge on someone repeats their name over and over. In this approach, a particular stop might be too far away from the given route or add too much distance to a certain day (which is dangerous) and thus, the pre-steps and the post-steps of the detour are eliminated and a new route has to be discovered in it's place. This involves recalibrating distance, fuel costs, timing and the "worthiness factor". This is any part of the trip that gives the trip it's merit. Any fool could ride across America, but if they didn't "stop to smell the roses" then why go at all? Worthiness stops are what make the trip, the trip.

The danielrock.com web site has the tour dates. Every day I have to change my stops and this usually means I am changing what gear is coming with me and what isn't worth taking. This means I have to change my fuel numbers and the number of stops. This means that "who" I see or "where" I go gets punched around a lot. I think you can see the pattern of insanity developing within me. Once you see how deep it really is, then image me on a bike for 40 days, alone.

Sadly, all of this pre-planning has meant that something was getting neglected in my daily life. Sadly, most of that neglect is being felt by my friends. At what cost should a dream become a reality? Have I become so blinded by the trip that I am willing to walk past a fallen friend without extending my hand? I am dismayed at my behavior.... I'll send them a card or a gift certificate to the Olive Garden.

Also neglected - The perch. It's filthy. I have four days to stop mail, clean the perch from top to bottom. And I mean a real cleaning, not casual bachelor cleaning but obsessive-complusive germaphobe cleaning. I need to throw out all perishable foods that smell when left unattended for six weeks, do laundry, pay off the monthly bills and stay on top of my exercise regime. AND I still need to pack up the bike and then unpack it and then repack it, then unpack it and then repack it again. Not an easy task when I am still running around trying to finish off the little things. Who wants to bet that I start the trip without my pants on?

I am still a $210.00 away from my gas goal, but I think I will be able to make it anyway. I am grossly over-estimating the fuel costs so I think that I will be fine when I get out on the road. I want to say thank you to everyone that donated to the cause and helped me out over this past month. Your generosity will not go unrewarded. For those of you that donated to the blog cause, I am sending... ...full color... ...nude photos! Please email me and let me know if you want hot blonde-on-blonde action or if you want Hot Mandingo on fair skinned red headed girl nastiness or if you prefer Ron Jeremy. It's the least I can do for you. For those that didn't donate, this is your last chance to be a part of the action. [see button at bottom of posting] This offer for full color nudes ends when I run out of pages in the magazine so act now!

Yes, I'm extremely nervous. Yes, I'm scared. And YES, I'm so excited that I can't sleep!!! I am nothing but a ball of nerves and I love it. I am standing ever so close to the edge and I am filled with reckless anticipation about what is going to happen. If you could only see the smile on my face you would know how much it means to me to see this happen. I want this to happen for me and for everyone else that has a dream they never think will come true. It's my contention that if you "believe" in your dream, that you will make it happen.

The Invasion of America begins in 6 days. For those of you that know me personally and have felt the neglect that shrouds my days, please, please forgive me. Please know that I carry you with me every mile of this ride and that your faces and voices will be with me.

Full color nudes. Press here!