Thanks for your advice everyone. This is something I want to do more than anything right now. It's something I almost feel like I need to do... to get to know myself, focus on myself for a few months, go exploring and have fun, things like that. As for the route comment, the Pacific Coast is exactly what I'm looking at. I'm in Central Washington right now, so I could start here and head over to the coast. According to what I've found it shouldn't be too difficult to turn it into a round-trip back and roll into my new college town at the end. The thought of it gives me goosebumps of joy.
I plan to test some things out with a weekend tour or two before I completely commit. I can rent some equipment from my university's outdoor pursuits rental shop, so there's very little financial outlay there. I need to get some panniers to carry things with (but I'd want a trailer for the long tour). The more I look into it, I think I could bail a month into it without a financial crisis. I think I'm mentally ready, now to get physically and materially ready...
Thanks again for all your advice.
