It Begins...

Hello all! Here I am, with my first ever blog! What inspires such a drastic move on my part? The most epic undertaking of my life...

I have officially been accepted to Venture Expedition's Just+Hope tour, a cross country bike (as in bicycle) trip that will take me and 12 others from Seattle, WA all the way over to New York, NY! As I type this, I am again reminded just how long of a trek that is! It's pretty far people, pretty stinkin' far. Something like 3,200 miles. But, what a great challenge its going to be!

Let me take a minute to be totally honest... biking cross country has never even been on my radar. My brother Brian and my brother's sister-in-law have both done trips with this organization, but I really was never so sure that it would be for me. What changed? In the past few months I have recognized the fact that I have lived pretty complacently at times and was in need of a challenge: this will be the biggest physical, mental, and spiritual challenge of my life (all quarter century of it). I'm looking forward to the challenges and rewards of such a journey as the Just+Hope Northern Tour.

Our group will be fundraising and raising awareness for the Just+Hope campaign, which "works to connect churches in the US with local churches and communities in areas experiencing oppression and various forms of injustice. The goal is to see the body of Christ work together to fight issues of poverty, human trafficking, the use of child soldiers and other forms of oppression." I know my eyes will be opened to a lot of issues I have previously known little about, and I'm excited to be part of such an excellent goal.

So, training has begun... today was my first real bike ride (I did a short little stroll yesterday to get used to clipping in and out and such... I'll admit, I tipped once right near the start of my ride when I tried to emulate my brother who can come to a full stop at a stoplight and balance in place without unclipping pedal. Me, not so much). I managed 22 miles today and felt pretty good. It's a long ways away from "century" rides (over 100 miles, which they expect us to conquer a few times before the tour starts), but I think it's a good start. Come June, I hope to be ready to conquer those mountains!!!

That's all for now... my first blog post... complete. I'll try to post from time to time as I train and especially during my trip, so, check in from time to time. I haven't yet officially started fundraising, but very soon, so I'll let you all know those details too when they begin. Stay tuned!