What's this all about?

I have been a fan of Donald Miller's writings since the fall of 2004 when a friend introduced me to Blue Like Jazz while we were studying in New Mexico. I didn't read another book by Don until another friend introduced me to Through Painted Deserts shortly after we hiked across northern England following "Hadrian's Wall Path" in the spring of 2006.

Since then I have read Don's two other books, Searching for God Knows What and To Own a Dragon. I highly recommend all of them. I signed up for Don's email newsletter a few months ago and this past weekend received the first letter Don had written to us. In this letter he described that he would be riding across America to support the Blood:Water Mission, a not-for-profit organization with a goal of building 1,000 fresh water wells in Africa. This bike tour is designed to raise awareness of the mission and support the cause financially by way of donations.
For detailed information on the cause please go to...

http://www.bloodwatermission.com/

http://www.donaldmillerwords.com/

http://www.ridewelltour.com/

From these sites you’ll be able to see a much better description of the cause including a video from Don Miller describing his recent involvement with the Blood Water Mission.

So where do I fit in? Saturday morning I encountered a moment of inspiration, which turned into a surge of ambition, and in a rare turn of events, evolved into action! After reading the email from Don, I roused myself from bed and asked my flatmate what the distance would be to bike across America. We found on Google maps that from LA to Washington DC is approx. 4,305 Km (2,675 Mi). I know that doesn't actually equal coast to coast but I plan on updating the exact route after I find out where the team will be taking off from and ending. I'm planning to do the 4,305 kilometres in a gym here in London, England. In order to complete the 4,305 Km in seven weeks I'll need to ride an average of 615 Km/ week. My plan is to bike around 30 km/hr for 3 hrs a day; an hour and a half in the morning before work and another 1.5 after.

I know my ride won’t exactly coincide with the team’s because I’ll be going on a few holidays during that time, thus in order to finish around the same time, I’ve already started my ride!

I’ve also started tracking my progress from Santa Monica Pier in LA on Google Maps. You can see where I’m at by following this link to Google maps:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=115645441922679210953.00044d91f1f27576fb504&mid=1211202275

Thanks for your interest in the mission! If you would like to support the cause financially there is a link on http://www.bloodwatermission.com/

Right now I am in the process of investigating Deutsche Bank’s fundraising matching scheme so if you’re considering a donation, please hold off until I find out whether I’ll be able to track it somehow and use it towards the matching scheme.

Check back often for updates and to find out where I’m at on my journey across America (sort of…)!


Cheers,
Scott

P.S. Don, I'm planning to be in Portland sometime in October. Let's do coffee :)