another week of prep work

so in the process of getting supplies together ive noticed im still going to have quite a heavy pack. i decided to get my hands on an A.L.I.C.E. (All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment) pack, which is like a military backpack. theoretically this will give me plenty of space to carry everything neccesary. hopefully i wont need a frame for it to carry everything seeing as that would be even more weight and more unwieldy. im also trying to figure out what ill bring as far as lightweight clothing and how much ill need to have with me.
In all of this getting things together ive been thinking alot about this adventure of mine. of course its gonna be wicked awesome, but at the same time im thinking about all of my freinds and family ill be leaving behind. and if this trip is really awesome, will i even come back? what if i get to the west coast and stay there? or if theres somewhere on the way that i end up going back to after the trip? theres alot to think about in this so tell me what y'all think

Where were they going without ever knowing the way...

ok, just kidding. i have an actual plan for this trip. for realsies. we will in fact have a laptop in the gear so's we can post blog (text, video, and pictures) unless i get my hands on a phone that can handle all that. i would have liked to take my guitar, but its a little unwieldy, and therefore must be crossed off our list of supplies. as far as directions go, we're starting at VA Beach and headed to Memphis. this first leg of the trip is about 900 miles, maybe a little over, so it should take about a month, maybe a little more. im going to leave some room for problems in there, so we'll say 40 days. from that point we go south to New Orleans and should arrive around 15 days after that. the next leg is the biggest single stretch. we go all the way up into Colorado. 1386 miles to Aspen, CO will take us approximately 2 months. after this we head south to Phoenix, Arizona, which at 622 miles should take us about 20-25 days. then up to Las Vegas (we have to go to vegas) another 286 miles (10-13 days) then down to San Diego (THE WEST COAST!!!!) which'll be 343 miles (12-15 days depending on the climate) then from this point its up the coastal highway to LA and San Francisco. then inland to sacremento up to redding, then up into oregon theoretically. still working out the CA details, but we're pretty set on so far. i hope my new landyachtz board is up to the challenge. anyway lemme know what y'all think

you know whats great? a late night skate

ok so everyone knows that its colder at night right? for some reason it doesnt feel any colder to me. maybe thats because i just did a quick 5 miles before bed. right now in northern virginia there are barely any cars on the road, which is great because i have plenty of places to build up my legs by pushing uphill. other than skating and then skating some more, today was unproductive. cruddy, i know. but tomorrow will be better! im going into fairfax city to see what support i can rally behind this cause and also to skate the ups and downs around town. friday im going up to PA to see some family and to skate some mountain roads up in the appalachians woot! my buddy John Bennett (my teammate in this endevour) is working on things down in VA Beach right now, so we can get some people behind us who want to see us succeed. John has been a friend of mine for longer than most people i know, and i cant think of anyone who id rather skate this trip with. He is a Realtor with ZipRealty and feels very passionate about the "Green Movement". As soon as i told him i was thinking about this trip, he just about exploded "I'm in". and that was it. rock on. the pic up top here, thats john, everybody say hi!

so far where i stand

well i suppose i'll start with an introduction. im that guy who was a dick to everyone in high school. then when i finally grew up i stopped being that guy, but i still have the reputation of being that guy anyway. maybe that was the initial spark in my head that started all of this. i figured id do something so "out there" that id never get people telling me who i was or what i was capable of again. My names Tristan Storey Lock, and im a longboarder. My plan, as you will see in the months that follow, is to go 5000 plus miles from the east coast to the west, and all over in between. imagine the ultimate road trip. now imagine it green. not like the color green, like environmentally clean green. I already use my old board to get around the norfolk (VA) and washington DC areas, why not go a little further. i started skating in March 2009, borrowing this guys floppy sector 9 and fell in love with longboarding. Since then ive lost 60 lbs and gotten really excited about longboarding, fitness, and going green. But this is about more than skating and being environmentally conscious. i want to get everyone together here and make an affort to fund multiple sclerosis research. anything that doesnt pay for me and my support team to get across the states will go to multiple sclerosis funds across the country. starting at the end of february, ill be leaving VA Beach and headed northwest. through DC, pittsburg, and a few other spots on my way to michigan. then southbound through many cool places like memphis and so on, until i get to New Orleans. then northwest to Colorado, west to Las Vegas, south east to phoenix, west to san diego, and then north to finish in redding california. ill give you more details about the trip in the next few days. right now the road just dried up and i need to go skate. take care all