...this is going to be the greatest summer of all time. OF ALL TIME.

I may not know what I'm doing next year, but I do know what I'll be doing for the three months immediately following graduation: riding my bike from Providence to Seattle.

For those of you who haven't heard of Bike & Build, it's a phenomenal organization that raises awareness and money for affordable housing projects by organizing cross-country bike trips. On my particular trip, we will start off building at a Habitat for Humanity site in Providence, before heading west for the next two months. Averaging about 75 miles per day, we will also stop at 7 more build sites on our way to Seattle. At each host location, we will give a presentation about the affordable housing crisis, to raise local awareness for this important issue. When more than 5.1 million Americans live in "worst-case" housing conditions, and more than 13 million Americans are forced to pay over 50% of their income on housing, this needs to be a pressing national issue.

Personally, I have been invested in this issue since the beginning of high school. I was a part of a very active youth group that, on the week-long service trips we took each year, would inevitably be told by the organization with which we were working that we were so efficient at building that they had to scramble to keep up. During my first trip, I helped to rehabilitate houses in Appalachia. I had never seen the effects of economic inequality as dramatically as I did in this Virginia coal-mining town, and the experience stuck with me. I loved the hands-on work of building, the feeling that we were tangibly making a difference in the lives of others, with a product we could see by the end of the week.

If I know you personally, you'll definitely be hearing more from me about this, since I have to raise $4,000 for the cause. But if anyone out there is feeling generous, please don't hesitate to visit my profile on B&B's website and donate!

Throughout the trip I'll be updating this blog as regularly as I can. If you'd like a postcard (from any of these states), give me a donation and then email me your address and which state you'd like.

And like I said - don't worry; you'll be hearing about this again. My level of excitement about this summer is essentially off the chart. Biking + Building = a surefire recipe for success.