The Countdown is ON!

With 5 days until I get to Florida for my first day of orientation, I am officially starting up my blog and hope to post at least every other day! This will be a perfect way to keep all of my friends and family up to date on what I have been up to and to follow my journey across the country. I, of course, have to start my post with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who made this trip a possibility for me and for all of the overwhelming support I've received. I would have never been able to do this without my parents especially. I am so so blessed with the best support crew ever. I have finally accomplished everything I need to do in order to get on a roll and the only thing I have left to do is pack up all of my gear and pray that I can fit it into the little bag I bought today! The bag is 4500 cubic inches big (about 15 gallons) and has to fit all of the following items... Squashing a large amount of stuff into a small bag will be a new talent of mine at the end of this trip!!

I was able to buy everything I needed by going to TrySports, Dick's Sporting Goods, Walmart, REI, and Target! It was definitely a lot easier to find the items than I thought it was going to be. TrySports was able to give me an amazing deal after they heard about the trip and charity work I am doing over the summer. Also, when I went to REI, they were able to honor a discount that wasn't valid for a few more days because they were so excited about my trip! On top of all that, one of REI's employees is doing the Central ride this year so it made me even more excited!

I am a caterpillar!

New mountain biking shoes!

Tomorrow I hope to be able to start packing everything up and doing a test run for my bag! Hopefully it all fits nicely and I still have enough room for the things I get at orientation.