The Inaugural Post

I'm 4 days from my 21st birthday, a college student, and a millenial. From this demographic information, one would naturally assume I'm fully comfortable with this blogging business. Wrong. I'm hopelessly slow at texting (and thus hopelessly out of the loop), haven't looked at my facebook page in days, and didn't know what "twittering" was until a few days ago. In short, this is all new to me, so be patient as I experiment. This will be my medium of choice to communicate with you, the donors to my adventure. It is your one-stop source for all updates on the Great Transversal of Minnesota. 

Speaking of this adventure- its probably one of the crazier ones I've cooked up. Actually, I don't deserve all the blame. My teammate and I were in the middle of a long run, and, after a lull in the conversation, began brainstorming some "sweet" things to do over the summer. The funny thing about long runs in 80 degree weather is that anything which sounds "sweet" after 90 minutes of running would appear absolutely insane to a person in normal circumstances. Thus, our idea of biking across the United States while surviving on roadkill was deemed a little too extreme in the days after it was conceived. One idea, however, was just crazy enough that it sounded somewhat legitimate when we weren't in the middle of a run. Essentially, we would kayak, bike, run, swim, and rollerski for 400 miles in a north to south direction down Minnesota. 

Being young, idealistic, and impressionable, I kept the idea in the back of my mind. Only months later, when I was brainstorming ways I could raise money for college scholarships for orphans in Lima, Peru, did the idea to use The Great Transversal occur to me. Suddenly everything made so much sense. This crazy little idea, conceived many months ago in the sweltering heat of the Minnesota summer, has finally come to fruition.

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the context surrounding this trek. Check back soon for route details. 

Happy Trails,

-Mike