Why don't you get Ripple directly from the exchangers ?
How do you do it? Is there an exchange available that will let me trade in Ripple (with USD) directly. Gatehub possibly does, but I am having a tough time getting validated in Gatehub. I do not know of another direct XRP exchange in US
Deposit your bitcoin to an exchanger like Poloniex.com deposit BTC in there and exchange for XRP for low fees. Sadly I don't know how US legizlation works