Once upon a time....

Once upon a time…....there was a boy and a beautiful smart blonde hiking through the woods. An idea came upon them. What would you do if someone gave you $100,000 on the condition that you had to travel for a year, and you had to leave right then? Would you do it? Where would you go? How would you go?

After the hike, the boy (that’s me) started to think about this a little more seriously. No, I didn't really expect anyone to drop a 100k on me, but I did start to think of ways to raise the money, and where I would go. I managed to convince a few people that I was serious about trying to turn this whimsical topic of hiking discussion into reality.

Well, I took off for a few months and started off flying to London. From there I went via train to Poland where I met up with the aforementioned beautiful smart blonde and journeyed to Gniezno, and Berlin. From there, Prague and Budapest where I managed to get tear gassed. Next came Venice, thenThe Vatican, Rome, Tel Aviv, and finally Jerusalem.

Take a look at a few of the Responses from friends who replied my original question. I shamelessly billed this trip as the utlimate beer run. Many friends, old and new, became Certified Beer Run Benefactors.

Why did I do this?

What did I hope to accomplish? I'm not quite sure if there is any one answer to these questions. Perhaps I could wax philosophical and come up with some deep meaning for all this. Maybe I just needed to live a little adventure rather than read about someone else's. How many old friends would I meet for the first time?

As my buddy Carl wrote "At least this idea is safer than buying a motorcycle". That comment was inspired by a little "flying" accident I had. The problem was that I was supposed to be in the seat of a Goldwing motorcycle, but instead wound sailing through the air after having a head-on crash with a small truck. My favorite description from an eye-witness was "Well, you flew thirty feet up in the air in that direction, and your helmet went 50 feet in the other!". Yes, it was a great helmet. Too bad I forgot to strap in on, so the only broken bone was my skull. Those who thought I had a thick one were proven wrong. Luckily some good neurosurgeons were in the hospital that day.

Originally the doctors weren't too optimistic about me living through the night, so now I figure I'm on bonus time and plan on making the best of it. ROAD TRIP!!!