Hello! Hello! Hello!

Since this is my first blog, I thought I'd relish in the oh-so-exciting world of introductions and pre-adventure musings. Nothing too exciting yet (yet being the pivotal word in that sentence. Yeah!), but relevant in the bigger picture for my own sick pleasures of compare and contrasting. Currently I am perched, as par usual, along the back wall of the Durango Coffee Company slurping an acai smoothie and nursing two wonderfully tender legs from today's ride. It was my first ever 50 mile ride, and having virtually zero experience on a bike prior to about 5 months ago, I was pretty pleased with the accomplishment. 50 miles is the average mileage we'll be doing a day (ranging from 23-80) along the way. Despite the discovery of an impaled hawk in a barbed wire fence and my front brake system deciding to announce its existence by smacking me in the face, I'd say the ride was a success. Two thumbs up for no head wind, balmy, yet placid, weather, and incredible company. The yummy nut and fruit bars toted by the illustrious Lucy Richards added to the overall splendor.

Now on to more juicy, less food related topics (or juice related for clarity purposes). We leave in 7 days for Pueblo (where the Colorado sector commences) to begin peddling the first few miles of a 2,0000 mile journey to D.C. Nervous might be a little too mild of an adjective, but its intent will have to suffice. Despite a few anxious nerve endings rearing their heads then and again, the waves of excitement are hard to ignore. Being able to see the United States in all its glory will be something to cherish, especially with my "ship off to foreign locations" mentality that plagues much of my other aspirations. My mom once told me, and I think is also insinuated in the deliciousness of a book Candide, if you can't find happiness in your own back yard (or garden to be semantically accurate) then you won't find it anywhere. And I figure, since we live in an increasingly expansive and globalized world, the ubiquity of the United States of America, if you think about it proportionally, IS my backyard-reservoir-of-happiness they speak of. So what the hey! Here I come U.S.A! Welcome home.