BENGARLAND!com

So I didn’t get the internship with the USDA and I won’t be going to Europe in the spring. They were looking for economics people, and not agriculture people, unfortunately.

A couple weeks ago, I talked to Dr. Armitage, one of my favorite (and incidentally, most well-connected) professors in the Horticulture department, about getting an internship this spring. He had told us during class about an outstanding nursery / garden center in Portland, Oregon called Al’s. To make a long story short, it’s not a done deal yet, but I should be working out there for a few months this spring.

The plan is to ride my bicycle across the country during January - February. Maybe even leaving in December. I’ll be taking the Southern Tier route, which basically follows the general direction of I-10, except it’s along secondary highways and other roads. Then it’s striaght up the west coast. Right now, it looks like I’ll rent a minivan and drive across most of Texas, just to save some time. I have to visit my friend Laura in New Orleans, Diane in Phoenix, several people in San Francisco, and Stephanie in Sacramento. Should be a (tough and excruciating) blast.

On the way back, I’ll take the TransAmerica route from Portland, through Yellowstone, down to Colorado and across through Kansas, Kentucky, etc to North Carolina. I’ve still got to figure out how to get my stuff to NC, where to store it this spring/summer, and where I’m gonna live when I get there in August. Somehow, these things seem to work themselves out.

To make the trek easier, I’m converting my bike into an Xtracycle. I’ve already purchased a 1-person tent, sleeping pad, and 0-degree sleeping bag. Plus random new bike stuff that I will need, like a tough new 36-spoke rear wheel. Now all I have to do is spend nearly every weekend between now and then riding my ass off. I’m thinking a few camping trips up to the family land are in store. It’s 40 miles each way, so it should be good practice. By the end of December I need to be able to go there and back in one day, fully loaded, to be ready for the cross country journey. This may just be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, keeping in mind that I’ve climbed up the glacier of an active volcano and stood 20,000 feet on top of the world in Ecuador.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

My family thinks I’m nuts.

I think they’re nuts for not buying Apple stock 9 years ago when I told them to.