"Leave the gun, take the cannoli"

In between studying for finals and writing research papers, I have been trying to sneak in what I hope is productive procrastination.  Today's afternoon procrastination endeavor was getting feedback from past participants about what to bring, what not to bring, what to do, and what not to do.  Basically, what did their two months biking across the United States teach them about how they might do things differently in the future?  

Here is what Bike & Build advises: 

And here is what some past riders had to say: 

• "I would have assigned someone to be in charge of making sure the pots & pans made it in the trailer every morning...as you know we went through quite a few of those" 
• "I wish I'd taken more pictures, preferably of each host and location" 
• "I would have taken that skull I found in FL instead of waiting for Marco to get me one in AZ" - this gentleman is referring to an animal skull so don't fret 
• "Write every day in your journal.  The summer was a blur..."
• "More chalking.  There is no such thing as too much chalking" 
• "Make a journal entry every day, even if its just a list of notes about the day, every moment is worth remembering" 
• "I wish I brought a headlamp with me.  It makes camping and packing the trailer in the dark way easier" 
• "Keep a blog or journal.  I missed one day and am bummed about it to this day" - are we sensing a trend? 
• "Spend more time talking with locals and hosts; yes, you are exhausted some days and just want to fall asleep eating that second helping of dinner, but they have some AMAZING stories" 
• "Before and after pictures of tan lines.  Before and after measurements of calfs, quads and glutes" 
• "External hard drive to grab everyone's videos/pics before the end of the trip" 
• "I'm glad someone brought a solar powered radio.  It made lunch so much better" 
• "Only take two t-shirts max.  You'll have six new ones by the end of your trip" 

and finally.......

• "remind yourself as often as you can that you are biking across the country!!!  Sometimes I got so caught up in the sore muscles and the long, hard days that I temporarily lost sight of the AMAZING adventure that my fellow riders and I were on each day.  Tell yourself each day how epic this opportunity is, and live it up.  Most of us will never have another summer to do something as awesome as this again.  Don't lose a single moment of it doubting yourself" 

So on that note, I should probably return to my studying and paper writing so that I can finish out my school year on a strong note.  But it really is a challenge to focus when I know that such an amazing summer awaits...