7 days and counting

I feel a huge build up to this countdown.  I do not think there has ever been a summer that I have been excited for as this one.  It has become very difficult to keep my mind on school when there are so many things that lie ahead of me. A damper in my plan may be the maiden voyage of the sailboat since I am waiting on the necessary info to get it registered.  I wish our society was a little bit simpler, and if a man wanted to go sailing, he could just get a boat and put it in the water.  I did suspect that this may be an issue, so my alternate plan of kayaking the Missouri River from here to St. Louis might be in the cards.  You do not have to register kayaks to paddle the river, so it will be a simple task of dropping them in and following the course.  I have never kayaked for such a distance, nor spent much time on a river of its size, nor have much of an idea of what to expect; but I like it that way.  I am not much of a fan of intense preparation, training, or any sort of build up.  I like the idea of dropping in the water and seeing where it takes us.  I did look at a map however. Some sort of preparation is always important if you want to get somewhere.  I think it will be about 360 river miles, and my guess is that it will take 8 days maybe. We might surprise ourselves and make it in 4, or it could take like two weeks...but only time will tell.  My buddy Tyler has said that he is in, so we will be able to watch eachothers backs. We will bring our two kayaks, fishing poles, camp supplies and tent, rough map, and life jackets.  We will paddle during the day, camp on shore at night, and hitch a ride back home when we get there (most likely without the boats, so we will have to hide them or find someone to hold them for us unless we could find a truck willing to take us and the boats on).  

Changing subjects now, I am still in school for 7 more days.  This means cram time for all of the finals.  It always gets difficult this time of year when the weather is nice and i have to read biochemistry...but looking back, school doesn't take up as much as one would think.  I've been able to use my time well, especially summer and winter breaks.  In the past year, I traveled to the four corners of the U.S., totaling somewhere around 42 states.  I aspire for more however, and i can't imagine a reason to stop.  I have been into many different hobbies and activities over my life...but have never stuck solely to one because there were so many options.  As I have evolved, I have found that I am beginning to focus on one priority. Travelling.  From bicycling to sailing to more conventional methods, this is what i am into.  I want to see and I want to learn.  I will not be happy unless one thing is consistent; Progress.

10 days till lift off

In ten more days, I will feel free.  May 5th is the last day of finals, and the beginning of summer.  During the school year, no matter how fun and exciting things are, i always have a sense of urgency due to school.  There is always a project, test, studying, classes to go to...etc in the back of my mind. Lately however, I have had different things in the back of my mind.  While being busy with school, i have had plans in the back of my mind for this summer.  Many things I have planned out and other things i will take as they come.  May 5th is the day that it all starts, so i will summarize my plans from my head to here. This might be a long post.

May 5th is my last final, finished at 12:30 pm.  The next day I will be heading to Stockton Lake to put my sailboat in the water for the first time.  I have been doing a lot of work with the boat trying to get it ready to go, so it is going to feel extra nice when the sails are up and the wind is in my face.  I am unsure who will be joining me for this maiden voyage, but i am hoping that Austin will make it for atleast the first day, since he is my partner in crime who came with me all the way to Maryland to pick the boat up over winter.  Also, my buddy Tyler has been helping me quite a bit with the boat, and he is going to be free to join me as well.  Everyone seems to have a big interest in coming...but it seems like people are more excited about the idea of going instead of actually making it happen.  I still have some details to work out with the boat, so my backup plan if i cant get the boat ready in time is to kayak the missouri river, from kansas city to st louis.  The kayak trip will most likely be pushed to a later time to make room for other trips.  After sailing for 9 days or so, I am going to join Tyler on a trip to Florida where he is looking at a marine tech school that he is applying to. He is wanting to leave around May 15th and stay for 5 days or so; we will be staying at this really neat house on the river and i might be able to convince Austin's uncle to take me out sailing if that can work out.  When i get back from Florida I will be attending my sister's wedding reception on May 23rd.  The following day I am leaving for Europe! So far my plan is to fly into London and then ride my bicycle 2oo miles across england to Manchester where my friend Aaron Hand is studying.  I might travel around with him a bit and i might try to go visit another friend of mine who might be in Italy around that time.  I am super excited for the bike ride and to visit my friend Macy in London, Aaron (who will be riding with me from London to Manchester), and Margherita who lives in L'Aquila, Italy whom I met while traveling in Venice and Prague the summer before last.  I am kind of squeezing as much time as i can out of Europe because i will have to make it home in time for wheat harvest. I am planning on flying home June 22nd and then i will drive out to Dodge City, KS.  During harvest every year i drive the combine tractor and semi-truck on my grandpa's farm.  It is an awesome experience and a great way to make some cash by working hard.  Harvest should be done before the 4th of July which i would like to spend at my home in Lake Lotawana, Mo.  It wont be too much of a break however because I am planning on leaving July 5th for Denver, CO....by way of bicycle. It will be a 600 mile trip and take atleast 8 or 9 days if everyone is in shape and we have no problems.  Lots of people are invited to ride on this trip...but more certain will be Aaron Hand and Austin Goldberg.  I am hoping to get a group of 5 or so......but i will be just as happy with one or two..or none at all. Its another one of those things where you never know who will go until we are on the road riding.  From Denver...I might try to make my third attempt at climbing Longs Peak, I might continue riding my bike all the way to the west coast, I might hitch around and try to make my way up to the northwest and even Alaska, or i might come home and prepare my next move.  This point in time will really depend on the previous couple months.  I really want to kayak the Missouri river this summer, so if i havent accomplished this yet, now would be the best time.  If sailing went well at the beginning of summer, I hope to take my sailboat to Chicago and sail across Lake Michigan, to Mackinaw Island, into Lake Superior, and visit a little bit of Canadian boundry waters.  By this time...the summer should be close to over and the first day of school will be August 24th. If there is time, I will take some smaller trips to Bennett Springs or Omaha.  If there is a decent amount of time, I will take a trip down to Louisiana or up to North Dakota to mark off the last few remaining states that i have still yet to visit. If i run out of time...i can't be too bitter, because getting my doctorate and being able to make a real difference in people's lives is also something i've always dreamed of doing.  So there you have it, if there are any readers of this blog, my summer plans 09'.  I will feel pretty accomplished if i can fit all of that in somehow, and i will feel pretty lucky if I am fortunate enough to experience everything that i want to.  The world is a pretty big place...but it feels smaller and smaller with every experience and adventure.

On another note....aside from trying to stay up on school....i have been bicycling, working on my sailboat, fishing, gardening, and welding.  There are too many things i could write about right now. I'll wait until a later post.

post-script: a quote got stuck in my head that i stumbled across in my biochemistry book.  It is from a guy named Albert Szent-Gyorgyi who received a Nobel prize in physiology for his work on the citric acid cycle and discovering how muscle contraction works. He said, "Discovery consists of seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought."

I knew it would be a long one.

Me and the internet

The internet and i dont really mesh so well.  I wish I could use it to it's full potential sometimes, and i wish i could stay up on things like a blog, or return emails, or buy and sell on craigslist more efficiently, or respond to facebook messages.  I havent been able to do it yet, and in some ways I like it that way.  Falling behind with technology is not something that i am ashamed of.  I dont want to rely on the internet for my connection to the rest of the world. However...i think that couchsurfing, craigslist, facebook, myspace, twitter, floatplan, ebay, ichat, and many different blogs are useful tools.  By avoiding them, i would miss out. It is a real love-hate relationship. 

So anyhow, this is my attempt at staying with it...despite my grudge against the internet junky era. I started this blog months ago...but never felt a need to say anything to the rest of my internet peers. I always felt like the people who talk the most are usually the ones that dont have anything important to say. Hopefully I can share things that are meaningful or inspiring.  I feel like many people put too much thought into these things, or are trying to emit an image of themselves that they want others to see.  Optimistically, this won't be the case. From here on, i will try to describe my life, aspirations, thoughts, and views.  If not...maybe i will give it another go in a few months.