In May 2015, I started working from home as I finished up grad school. This gave me the opportunity to work from home and live anywhere. Originally from St. Louis, going back home for the first 7 months was an easy choice and was both fun and relaxing. That being said, the opportunity to work from anywhere certainly doesn’t come often and this was something to take advantage of before the opportunity escaped.

Not too long after starting the job, I started joking with friends about moving around the country for the year. Certainly this wasn’t a feasible idea…or was it? As the days piled up and the options were weighed, it became obvious that traveling around the country was certainly a possibility. What had started as a playful idea that was fun to joke about, became more than an idea as the snowball started to roll down the hill.

Soon, enough people had heard about the idea and encouraged me to go through with it that it became a reality. I started to consider how to shape the journey and where I could visit during my year on the road. To provide some structure I decided on 12 cities in 12 months. This would become the early tagline for my journey. One month was long enough to land in a city and see all the sights before moving on to the next city.

As my plans developed some meat to them, I noticed how quickly this resonated with those around me. The tagline was sticking with people and it was a powerful message. Each time I talked to someone new about the idea, they were engaged from start to finish. There was an opportunity here to do more than just travel around the country. Seeing 12 different cities would be an unbelievable experience, but there was an opportunity to do something much bigger here. There was an opportunity to MAKE AN IMPACT on not just my own life, but others as well.

Over the course of the year, my journey will be impacted by the incredible generosity of others. This became obvious as my plans started to fall into place. Blessed to have friends and family willing to open up their homes to me and share their couches/extra bedrooms, my journey will be helped immensely by their generosity. The impact of these 12 months must be passed along to others, especially those not fortunate enough to have couches and beds to crash on across the country.

Over the next 12 months, I hope to make an impact through the power of 12. This site will certainly chronicle my journey and pass along stories from each corner of the country, but more importantly it will be about the 12 hours I spend in each city helping those in need and the $1.00 I will donate for every 12 miles I travel to a charity each month. I encourage you to read about the causes and peruse the stories, but also consider joining the push and making a pledge to MAKE AN IMPACT.