Since I live in California, the easiest option is just for me to go East.  My endpoint is the Statue of Liberty in New York. Click on the thumbnail to see a rough estimate of my projected path.  I’m sure things will change along the way and I want to post a more detailed map at a later date.  I’m estimating my distance to be over 3, 000 miles and I’m expecting to be done well in advance of (assuming I make it all the way) the 8 month mark.  I’ll be starting my journey on January 2nd, 2016.

The numbers on the map are arbitrary sections I set to break up the country into sections.  As I get closer to my start date I keep thinking, “Holy shit. That is a long way to go.”  This idea was getting me scared because that is a huge thing to tackle.  I don’t want to feel like a complete failure  if I end up giving up part way through, especially if I was just having a couple rough days that convinced me to quit.  So that is where this idea came in.  I broke the country up into 4 major sections (I may cut it again before leaving).  My idea was that I will not allow myself to give up before completing the given section I am in.  If I am having a weak point in my mentality and want to call it quits I’m only allowed to if I make it to a checkpoint.  This will allow me time to think through if quitting is really what I want or if it was just a moment of weakness.  (Mom I’m sure you’re reading this so, yes, I’ll break my rule if it is an emergency or real danger to continue).

The other purpose to breaking it up is feeling a sense of accomplishment.  I know all my friends and family would love me and be proud of whatever distance I managed to cover but I’ve always been hard on myself when it comes to goals.  If I set the entire single goal of making it NY and didn’t I would feel like a complete fuckup even making it 2000 miles.  Luckily, I know myself well enough to know that if I break the country into shorter but still relatively long goals that will still greatly challenge me, I’ll be much better at accepting that as an accomplishment.

CLICK BELOW to see a full screen view of my tentative route!