Off to a good start!

I'm writing this post in a park in Glencoe, Illinois after a great start to the trip. It feels so great to finally be on the road! After staying up late last night trying to finalize the packing and so on, and not getting a very good night's sleep, I was worried that today was going to not be fun. But the send-off at Northside Community Resources was lovely and it was great to see so many friends. Thanks again to everyone who helped arrange that event and who attended. Not 15 minutes into riding, I already had an amazing and fun experience which was this guy (Brandon Love) rides up behind me and says "Are you carrying all that stuff with you because you are commuting or are you going on a tour?"

We rode together a while up the North Channel Trail and the Green Bay Road Trail and Brandon told me about his recent bicycle touring in the northwest etc. and I told Brandon my plans. His blog is here. Anyway Brandon, thanks for saying "hi" and it was awesome chatting with you .... that was an auspicious beginning to the trip. I'm not surprised, however, that things are getting off to a good start, given the many good wishes and blessings for the road I have received. Among them, from the lovely baking crew at Our Lady of Consolation I received a St. Christopher medal with blessings from my dear friend Fr. Paul which is mounted on Birdie's (that's my bike's name) "dashboard"

You can see more pictures from the Ohio trip here. Another really interesting blessing I received was a Jewish traditional blessing from my Kung Fu teacher Sifu Cardona which was two one-dollar bills, one of which I am to give to a poor person when I arrive at my destination and one of which I give to another poor person when I safely return home.... This makes me a messenger of charity and basically puts me on a divine mission with special protection and help to accomplish the journey and complete the mission successfully. Well, I guess my lunch break is over and I'll start pedaling again!