Why My Family And Friends Are Amazing

I think one of the hardest things about making this type of decision is to convince people this is simply not a pipe dream, that in a few weeks, the excitement of the prospect of this trip will NOT die down and I will not be still sitting here at my desk in three years wondering where the time went.  I've read enough trip blogs to know that the initial barrier of support from family and friends can be in surmountable and frustrating.  And this is why my family and friends are amazing.

I decided to make announce my decision on Facebook.  Oh the irony.  But it seemed like the easiest way to go, rather than having to take the time to tell the same story over and over again and rationalize why I made this decision.  And the response was overwhelmingly... supportive.  Most of my friends weren't surprised.  This was clearly the next step in the craziness that my life has ended up being.  Crazy good, that is.  My best friend's immediate reaction was "do it!"  Others have already told me they will come support me and take part in at least some part of this trip.  One good friend, who came to Cozumel to support me at the Ironman and has always been there to give me words of encouragement as I crashed my mountain bike or worked 90 hours a week, immediately started scheming a way to join me to climb Aconagua.  Another good friend decided to break his lease early so we could move together to a cheaper apartment so I can save money for this trip and has promised to join me at some point in South America, and even possibly by byk.  Others have been sending me links to blogs, gear lists, and "must see" places, trying to connect me with their host families from when they lived in South America.  I'm overwhelmed by the support.

The 3rd Annual Byk Ride Crew aka How LeeAnn Fell In Love With Byk Touring

And my family, who have, despite not quite understanding why I tick the way I do, supported me in all my crazy adventures, were probably the most supportive of all.  My big brother is considering coming down earlier in the trip to do some camping in Colombia with me.  My parents, without batting an eye, also gave me their support.  Not in a "good for you  honey" kind-of-way, but in the "is there anything I can do" and "can we visit you during the trip" kind-of-way.  That, my friends, is unconditional love because I know they have spent the last 10 years of their lives holding their breath while I throw myself out of airplanes, raft down the Peruvian Amazon on a rickety balsa log I made myself, whitewater raft over waterfalls, and everything in between.  They have supported me from the moment I walked away from having a free college education in Michigan to move to Washington, DC for a much more expensive school, to the moment I decided to go to law school, to the moment I decided to attempt an Ironman triathlon injured, and now to this.

A Trip Is Born

The Beginning

After spending the last year trying to use triathlons and races to distract me from my inevitable wanderlust, I realized that I needed to get things going on my "grand plan" that anyone who has known me even for a minute knows is always brewing in my head.  I know I've always told people that I wouldn't be a big firm lawyer forever.  I thought at the most, I'd stay at my firm for 2-3 years before flipping into doing public interest or international development work.  With the job market drying up, and having the blessing of a job that pays well, that only once or twice has become inhumanly busy for extended periods of time, I've managed to find my joy in life in bits in pieces.  And for the last 2 months, I've been floundering, trying to remember the law student who traveled to 20+ countries out of a backpack on $15 a day during law school, struggling with a job that I know has no future for me, job searching in a job market that seems to want to put me into exactly the same position, only somewhere else.  I've been in a mental rut, trying to find the motivation to get out of bed every morning. 

The Decision

Today I officially made the decision that on March 1, 2013, I will quit my job and begin a tour of South America that will have no planned end date, but with the intention of being gone for at least a year, if not more, finances permitting.  After February 5, 2013, I will have been licensed to practice law exactly 5 years, which is exactly the amount of time I need to be able to waive into most other bars to practice law without having to take another bar exam and will give me greater flexibility to move wherever I would like to when I am done with this trip.

The Tentative Itinerary

I had originally planned on trying to start in Mexico and work my way down, but I have traveled to every single country in Central America, some multiple times, and so much of South America is unexplored to me.  And so I tentatively plan to fly into Caracas, Venezuela and work my way west to Colombia, then south to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, cut east to Brazil, and then work my way south to Urugay, and back west to Argentina, and fly out of Chile.  I also hope to work in 21 days out of the biking schedule to tackle my second of the 7 summits, Aconagua, but will know more as I put together a tentative itinerary.

My child-like drawing of this itinerary with absolutely no idea if roads exist or what the political situation on any of the border crossing points is as follows:

Join Me

I'm hoping maybe you will want to join me for parts of this trip (preferably the earlier parts as I do not intend to have a firm itinerary per se as my experience has taught me you never know when you will love or hate a place, or when disaster strikes, when you might need to change plans.  Or to tackle Aconcagua which is best summitted after November 15th, and is perfectly timed towards the end of my trip.  Or just let me know if you have contacts, "must see" places, or "must do" things.  I plan on doing some other adventures along the way, trekking, climbing, paragliding, or whatever else crosses my path.

Short Term Action Plan (January - March 2012)

• Advanced Spanish tutor to recover my conversational fluency (paid, start Tuesday January 17)
• Create spreadsheet of all cash and backup funds (saleable items for emergency cash, 401k, IRA), create total trip budget, create personal budget to ensure all student loan balances are paid through the end of 2014 by the time trip starts.
• Move into a new place with roommate (crossing fingers Sr. Alex), rent no more than $1000 per person.
• Create checklist of items I need to acquire for trip
• Create checklist of bike mechanical skills I need to learn
• Maps and possible routes, get general timeframes
• Adventure cycling organization for travel partners