The Grad Party

All of last week was devoted to preparing the house for the party. There were about 100 people in attendance and they all seemed to have a good time. We all celebrated by stuffing our faces with catered food, drinking free beer and me accepting vast amounts of cards with monetary gifts inside. luckily there were no cicadas.

The party was also an opportunity for me to get a very significant photo. Of all of the friends I have had over the years only a select few are still around. The people in this photo are my dearest friends... and they are all girls. This party was the only thing that has ever and will ever get them in the same place. Going from left to right: Kristin, "Stark", Me, Kathleen and Sena. After returning from this trip, these are the people I will be calling and sharing my stories with first. Most importantly, the time limit on my trip is a result of one of these people getting married and I refuse to miss it for anything on this Earth. Also, day I leave has been postponed until the day after Kristin's grad party (July 15th)

Thank you to everybody that came. I hope you had a good time. Pay close attention to this site because some of the funds you donated to me may be used on this trip. I suggest adding this site to your favorites or, even better, your RSS feed.

Countdown til Takeoff

Its about one month before I leave and I really cant wait to get on the road. Waiting around here is really taking its tole. It is very lonely in this town nowadays and I don't even have a job to keep me busy. Ive been working some odd jobs to give me something to do so if you need your lawn mowed please let me know. I could really use anything to help kill time before my grad party and then the family vacation in July.
I recently bought the motorcycle that will take me on the first leg of my trip (hopefully not the only leg). I got a 1983 Honda 750. Thats right, its a year older than ME! Motorcycles are much simplier machines than cars, they age much slower. It does have some minor wear and tear: the right signal wont stay illuminated (still blinks when I need it to), there is a small dent in the gas can and a few very small rust spots. After a fluid change and a wash it was running and looking great until I accidentally drained the battery. I tried to start it while I had it hooked up to a charger and now my meters wont light up. Oh well, I got a great price (practically stole it) and with a little work it will be ready for the long open road.

Who the Heck is Gavin?

My Name is Gavin McDonald. I'm 22 years old and I live in a Chicago suburb. In May of 2007 I graduated from Illinois State University with majors in economics and finance. While at ISU, I was also involved in an organization called College Mentors for Kids. I mentored at risk 4^th graders in an effort to get them motivated to pursue a college education. In the photo is one of my little buddies named Kameron. I explored areas for future careers such as environmental studies, financial planning, economic development and even the Marine Corps. My interests have come to rest on environmental business and economic redevelopment. Before I go on to pursue a career I am going to use this gap of time between college and real life to take a little trip. After living a dismal junior and senior year at college I knew it was time to take a trip to shake off all the heebie jeebies from double majoring.

Other things about me:
I am a bit of a health nut. I really like to work out and eat well. I enjoy the being outdoors, snowboarding, outrunning my dog, political humor and arguing morals. I’m also addicted to Chap Stick and dark beer. I hate dancing… a lot. I live with my brother and step father.

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Keep the Journey Going with Gifts from the Road

The first words out of most of my friends' mouths when I tell them about this trip is usually "awesome... you're crazy" or "where are you going to sleep?" Then the second thing said is "SEND ME A POSTCARD!" Well, guess what everybody, thanks to the combination of everybody wanting gifts from the road, more Ryan Balfanz genius and a great idea that was not mine, you can all get your gifts!... as long as you donate.

So here is the deal. Depending on how much you donate the the trip fund is what you get.

• $5+................... Postcard. Postcards and postage can get expensive. Ill use the $5 to send you the postcard from whatever outlandish place I am and then ill take the remaining dollar or so and try and feed myself.
• $25+................. Gift. A handmade piece of jewelry from an Native American tribe, a vibrant scarf from the middle east or whatever else I can find at the local street market that screams the culture of the country I'm in.
• $50+................ Significant gift. I'll take requests! A bottle of wine from Napa Valley, a Buddhist monk's sandals, an African spear, a Thia bar girl, a freakin' monkey?? for 50 bucks and if you play your cards right, I'll get you Kim Jung-Il's reading glasses! ->
  

• $Other$+.................. If you enjoy the website, its stories, photos and want to see more, you can also make an "in-kind" donation. A couple bucks can score me some food or even a place to stay for the night, depending where I am. Every little bit can go a long way.
  
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  *** Make sure you email me your address. Credit card payments accepted ***
  

This is just one more way to be with me on this journey. Your name will also be proudly displayed here on the website.

Please not that I can not actually send you a monkey, a Thia prostitute or anything else that is illegal by U.S. or my host country's laws. This includes narcotics and bootlegged media. Sorry.

Drew Kondratowicz

I met Drew after I slipped in the bathroom while taking my very first collegiate shower. I was bleeding from my brow and needed a band-aid, so logically, I went to my dormitory Resident Assistant who freaked out at the site of the blood and squealed like a little girl. We became friends over time and was the first one to introduce me to what backpacking was by sharing stories and photos from his recent trip to Europe.

Drew has come long way from a lowly dorm RA. He often expresses ideas for my travels in a jealous tone because he is stuck in Iowa doing genius things. Drew is a graduate student at the University of Iowa studying biology with emphasis in virology. Another genius friend, another great influence.

Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts took off after college to backpack the U.S., then teach English in Korea, then he started backpacking Asia, then the middle east. To this day this man has no permanent address and wrote a book on the vagabond lifestyle tackling all issues from how to quit your job to the philosophy of living poor. It's a fantastic book and I recommend it to anybody that is thinking about hitting the road for awhile. He also has an amazing, group written blog about the travel lifestyle that adds to his plethora of published travel stories.

www.vagablogging.net

Ryan Balfanz

Certain friends of mine have given help and influence that has greatly affected this trip. This is Ryan.
Ryan Balfanz has been a very influential person thus far in the development of this trip. Not only did he take the vast amount of time it took to hold my hand through the website building process, but he also introduced me to motorcycles. I jumped on the back of his bike on day in a joking manor and he took me for a short ride up the street... I hooked. I later went on to take the class to get my motorcycle license, and guess who my my instructor. Today he helps out with website questions I have and discusses motorcycle routes to the west coast.

Ryan Balfanz is now a graduate student studying physics. He does "Computational Condensed Matter Physics" right now, I don't really know what that means but hey, he is really smart. He is a mathematical giant, a computer genius and one of the nicest guys I know. He always takes the time to help others.

Visit his website at http://phy.ilstu.edu/~rbalfanz/

Contact Me

Email me: GavinRMcDonald@gmail.com

Call me on my cell while im in the US at 347-200-0568

If you are looking for travel advice then feel free to shoot me a hoot. I enjoyed my time on the road and am happy to help others get out there.

Thank You for your Contribution

Money is not quite as tight thanks to you. I hope you have enjoyed what you have read here and I look forward to your future reading enjoyment and lively comments. Have a fantastic day and I suggest you make it even better by boasting your generosity to everybody you come in contact with. Thanks again!


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Links

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