Through Texas, on to Colorado

So there's alot to tell here so it's gonna be a long one. Upon reaching Texas we went to a town called Tenaha, where we got a hotel because we needed beds and showers real bad. The rooms at the motel had bed bugs so we ends up using our sleeping bags on top of the beds lol. After leaving the town of tenaha behind we trekked across dirt roads and eventually tar roads (not tar and gravel, just tar) where we would slow down immediatly after each push. Our gps pointed us to a park called martins creek lake state park but gave us a route we would regret. The road it told us to take was blocked off so we had to go down a paralell dirt road that led us into a field with a few hundred feet of thorns and dense forrest (not to mention barbed wire) before we reached the dam. We walked a mile or two on top of the dam before climbing over more barbed wire. Right around the corner though was the park, and they had one campsite left. For 8 bucks a night we were ecstatic and spent an extra day, trying to forget we were in Texas. The only downsides to this park were A) no power except in the bathroom B) too far from town to get supplies, and C) there was a giant coal power plant right across the lake. The rangers there were pretty cool. They were some of the few cool people we met in tx. We then headed northwest for a few days of boring camping (not the fun kind) and dealt with having objects thrown from windows, people hollering insults at us, and drunks swerving into the shoulder. After a few unmentionable days we made it to Greenville Texas. At this point josh's backpack was torn up pretty badly, so my mom sent a backpack to Dallas where it was picked up by someone she went to school with, the kickest ass texan ever as fat as I'm concerned, Libby. She drove the pack out to us at a hotel in Greenville and we then went out for breakfast where we got to sit and talk for a while. Despite some cruddy happenings, she's totally cool and in great spirits. I feel privelidged to have met her, though breifly. The hotel we stayed at was kinda odd though. Apparently there's lots of hookers in Texas because we were in different towns and still saw hookers everywhere. Realizing that the daily temperatures were in the mid to upper 90's and the night time temps weren't much cooler, we started to realize we were in a dangerous position. With towns becoming more sparsely placed, shade disappearing, and locals becoming more hostile, we decided to get out of the heat, and more importantly out of Texas. Upon reaching Denton Texas we boarded a greyhound bus to Dallas which connected to one that took us clear out of the heat to pueblo Colorado. Not that it's much less desolate here in Colorado, but it's cooler, more beautiful, and the people are incredible. We stayed our first night at the KOA campground north of pueblo which was overlooking the Rockies, and even cooler, pikes peak! After resting up for a night we hit the road again finding a dirt road (we didn't know it was dirt til we got there) which led us into back country for about 15 miles before getting a short lift to the next paved road. Once on Tarmac again we bombed down a medium hill and carried on towards Fountain Colorado which is a beautiful town. As we were headed in we were stopped by a fella on a tractor, Christian, who sat us down and gave me a beer and asked about the trip. Check this out: it was memorial day and we had been dreaming about cookouts, and sure enough Christian invited us to BBQ and stay at his house. He also called up (with great effort, it's hard to reach anyone on a holiday) the local paper. That brings us up to today. We woke up comfortably and Christian helped us plan out a route to Utah, and we then met with Janet, the reporter, who interviewed us and all of us then shared our distaste for Texas lol. After the interview we said our goodbyes and headed up through fountain to Cokes Diner for Rite burgers with green chili (the best thing ever). The rest of the afternoon was solid pushing all the way to Old Colorado City where we are camping out for the night. Anyway that's the latest and greatest, y'all take care!

Good riddance louisianna

Sorry it's been a while, but except for a small number of cool individuals, louisianna sucks. Starting with our departure from new Orleans here's the story of the land of a thousand biting insects: we rolled down route 61 for about as far as we could on day 1 of this leg of the trip, until we found an oil pipeline/ refinery and we camped out just beside it. The spot wasn't bad, but we did get harrassed a little by a curious armadillo. Next we pushed for a day to a town called sorrento and walking into a dollar general we met Laverne. Laverne was really excited about our trip and invited us to stay with her and her husband Jitter. Jitter is a hell of a cook, and let us try his crawfish fettuccini which had 15 lbs of crawfish in it. In the morning we took off again towards what happens to be the cesspool of America (at least as far as people go). I'm talking of course about Baton Rouge, translated from French: "let's let the Americans have our rudest people and have them carry on the Parisian tradition of being a stuck up prick whenever possible". Fortunatley Josh had a freind in town from his airsoft site who helped us out so that was one cool thing, and there's a fantastic skate shop called Board Lords in the mall of louisianna. So we gladly left baton rouge (or tried to) only to find out the bridge over the Mississippi river is not passable on foot. Luckily after about 4 hours of waiting by the bridge somebody let us hop in the back of her truck and took us to the other side. We rode into a town called port barre where we met Sandy who took us in and cooked us dinner and made us cookies and brownies and such. After staying with her we skated up to chicot state park. Chicot wasn't a bad park except raccoons and biting insects. I've never been bit up this bad before. There are literally hundreds of bug bites on each of us. It wouldn't have been so bad but we were stuck there due to rain storms. After 3 days in chicot we headed up to kincaid resevoir up in the kisatchie national forest. We camped out there for a night with the usual bug bites and such (deet doesn't work, louisianna bugs treat it like hot sauce). Then it got worse. The roads we were directed to take (F U google) led us down dirt roads for two days. Luckily we ran into Casey, who took us down into town where we met a bunch of cool people (Jessica you are drop dead gorgeous). We took off again in the morning from where we met Casey and headed north west as far as we could go in a day and we made it to a few miles west of Converse louisianna. There we grabbed cheeseburgers and threw on our reflective gear to go find a place to camp. After 10 more miles we ended up camping next to a boat launch. And finally the next day we rode north to logansport out of louisianna!!! A few miles west of logansport (like 15 or so) is a town called Tenaha Texas, and that's where we got the worst hotel room ever. We thought bug bites were bad by the river, but this hotel room had so many bugs it was ridiculous. Anyway that almost brings us up to date. Y'all take care

Who Dat??? Long Way To Skate!!!

So a week in New Orleans is not enough. You could live a lifetime in that city and still not be satisfied. Everything from street performers to roaming artists and people who live only to breath New Orleans. Immediatly upon reaching Canal st. We saw streetcars and marquees advertising the seductive lifestyle of the city, drawing us in like the smell of a fresh baked pie in an old cartoon. More hotels than you could shake a stick at (all of them booked up due to jazzfest) and sounds of city life intertwined with jazz bands and street vendors. We trekked a few streets down to a small local skate shop for a new set of hardware for josh's board and in the process met a new freind, Joshua, who ended up getting permission for us to stay with him, at a very cool house with David and Roselynn, a very cool old musical couple who've been married 50 years!!! For the next week Joshua showed us not only the obvious tourist sites, but also the cool unknown spots in the city. On our second day in town, our freind Stuart aka Stuartini the Magnificent arranged for two tickets to the last day of Jazzfest for us, which was incredibly cool! We got to see everything from blues and jazz to Indian dancing to creole music and and even stuff like Juvenile (a rapper) and the great BB King himself! Over the next few days we rode our boards and sometimes bicycles around different areas of town and tried to find out what Nawlins tasted like. We had muffalattas (great oily sandwiches) and po' boys and all sortsa different Cajun delicacies. We got to see many different art displays like a mural done on a building in the bywater area by some new yorkers and some "junk shops" containing various antiquities mixed in with local artists work. We walked down to the industrial canal and hung out by the levy there to play with joshuas dog Betty and we got to go walk under a pier and took some fantastic pictures. Of course we went through Bourbon street as anybody would, but it wasn't like a central point or anything. We tried various Recipes of bread pudding all over town as well as other dessert foods and so forth. A few days in Joshua introduced us to a fella named Railroad Bill, an older guy with a mind that rivals the best in the world. Railroad Bill and I had a few discussions on history of different subjects and I've gotta say I feel smarter having done so. Sadly our time in Nawlins had to end at some time, and on the Saturday after we showed up we took off up the road again, this time camping next to an oil refinery (bah!) and making our way towards Baton Rouge. But that's another story. I'll post up soon (not another week I promise). Y'all take care

Gators, Casinos, and the Big Easy

First allow me to apologise it's been a wild week! We've been going solid and haven't had the battery in depth story action lol. So, where to begin. Upon leaving jeromes we encountered that old issue of really enjoying a place and not wanting to leave, and we got a late
start on the road and didn't even make it out of Alabama. We rolled until dark and ended up camping out behind a church and not even pulling out the tent or bed rolls. We figured an early start was a good idea and had a solid day of skating through a little bit of rain and made it to the Mississippi border by about noon. A few miles down the road we were hurting for water and stopped at the only place around which ended up being really cool. At Gulf Coast Gator Ranch and Tours we got to see and even hold alligators and take an airboat ride around the swamp. We found out that gators love marshmallows and that they can grow up to 19 feet, though the biggest we saw was 16 feet, which is still huge. They gave us directions to a convenience store down the road with great chili cheese dogs and after loading up on chili cheesy goodness we carried on. The next town was called Pascagoula, a town known for it's ship and oil rig building industry. Josh scouted around the area and we found a camping spot under the bridge and even though it was a little windy it was a good spot. That next morning was a great skate: nicely paved roads with decent temperature and plenty to look at. We skated through a small city called ocean springs and then across the bay into Biloxi. Now Biloxi is a casino town and this becomes apparent as soon as you get halfway up the bridge. Immediately after the bridge are three casinos, the Isle, the Palace, and the Grand. Thanks to some intel provided by a freind and fellow traveller, Sean "Rickshaw" Robinson ( rickshawusa.blogspot.com ) we were able to find a spot in a field between them with power and water. Sean has been riding his rickshaw across the country with his dog Coop in the back and has had the good fortune of meeting some of the same cool people as we have. In Mobile he met Bucky (the bartender / photographer) and got to see some cool things in Mobile thanks to Bucky. Anyway back to the Biloxi part of the story. We skated around Biloxi that night and took pictures that I edited with an app I got that can apply different lens, filter, and developing techniques to make the iPhone camera capable of some incredible pics. From Biloxi we took off down the boardwalk and sidewalks along the beach through Gulfport all the way to waveland which is next to Bay St. Louis. waveland was ground zero when hurricane Katrina hit back in 05 and the damages are still very apparent. In neighborhoods that used to have houses everywhere there are now maybe two or three in a block. There are still stilts but not houses, since they were washed away by the storm. The plan at this point was to go to buckingham state park and shower up, but unfortunately that wasn't an option: it wasn't open yet. Damages from Katrina wrecked up that park so bad that it's 5 years later and it's just getting ready to open. Due to our unholy stink from sweat and road grime, we needed showers, bad. We stopped in at the travel express inn and we got s special rate because they were cool people. We stayed overnight but upon awakening Josh was sick and it was raining so I paid for another night. That day I got to know the cleaning lady and decided to cook dinner for her since she was hurting for money. I made a big pot of chili with fresh ingredients and a new secret ingredient (spinach). The next day we took off again towards New Orleans along roads heading through the bayou. With some luck and ALOT of pushing we made it into Nawlins and got to roll around the French quarter. While taking a break we ran into Joshua (not trip Josh) and he ended up finding us a place to stay, buying us dinner, and hanging out with us. I'm gonna cut y'all off here and do the next post starting from this point in a few days so that nawlins stories stay together. Anyway y'all take care

Mobile and it's ups and downs

So we made it into mobile expecting awesome sauce but upon attempting to get into downtown we met with misfortune. I bit it a few times due to cruddy sidewalks and even soaked my feet by rolling through a hidden puddle. We rode down dauphin street all the way to the waterside. Not that it's not a cool looking place, but being down there with backpacks kinda sucked. We spent a few hours trying to find somewhere to camp and ended up having to get a hotel room. On the upside though after dropping our gear and getting showers we went down to a sandwich shop for food and a pitcher of yuenglings (for me). After talking to some of the people hanging out there I went a few doors down to paddy o'tooles for a few beers which was a great choice! Bucky the bartender listened to my stories and told everyone else that was there. I got to meet all sorts of people including my buddy Jerome who took us in for the next few days. After leaving and goin to dennys for 17 pancakes I returned to paddys for another beer before going back to the hotel. When I got back to the bar bucky showed me his phoography project which was this cool creepy doll imagery. The next day bucky took us out to an amazing Cajun place called the hungry owl which I will admit has THE best Cajun food ever!! And for only $10 for a big plate of awesome! Afterwards we went to see a display of tanks and aircraft and a battleship at a park in the bay which was cool. We tried to see some gators there and one popped up out of the water but it dove down before I could snap a pic. To get better pics we went across the bay to a small park known to have alligators all the time. I caught a great pic of a turtle and a few of gators, and Josh almost jumped in to wrestle one lol. Next few days we sat out a big ol storm that came through throwing hail and flattening some houses in Mississippi, luckily leaving us alone. My birthday (Sunday the 25th) was spent with Josh and my new freinds Jerome, Tim, and Stephanie and was a cool time! I had a steak and a few beers so I figure I had an awesome time. Anyway I gotta roll so y'all take care

Im goin to Jackson...

so upon leaving Birmingham we had a tough few days rollin south on routes 119,25,5,and eventually 43. between those roads we got to stop in Briarfield State Park and saw Bibb Furnace, an old civil war Furnace used for manufacturing Confederate cannons for their navy until being demolished by the union forces. afterwards it was rebuilt and used until 1889 when the company that rebuilt it went under. after staying at briarfield we went south on 25 a few miles and made it to Six Mile, a small area with some awesome people. we stopped in at 6 miler grocery and were treated to lunch, advice on travels, route planning tips, road hunter stickers , and t-shirts! travelling down the road we also ran into a reporter from the North Bibb News. Daniel asked us some questions about our trip (i was impressed, hes too good to be at a small paper) and snapped our pictures and sent us to a restaurant on the south side of town called the Sawmeal restaurant where we got some southern cooking and enjoyed ourselves, and our dinner was payed for by the same fella that bought us lunch at Six Mile! then we headed south until just short of Marion where we camped by a church next to the Cahaba River once again. (last time was before Birmingham). Next few days were unremarkable except for a breif ride we got headed into a town where the driver was drunk as hell (had i known we wouldnt have gotten in but we didnt jump out for fear of losing our packs). anyway i gotta run but ill post soon. we should be in Mobile by the weekend so ill keep you posted!

SHAKE N' BAKE!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!

so first i wanna say that Chief Ladiga was more than just the name of a trail we rode, but also the chief of the creek nation before the trail of tears, and i still think its pretty F@#$ed up that the gov't kicked them off their land. but anyway, we rode into Alabama like it was a nature tour. the first 8 miles into this wonderful state was a constant cruising downhill past beautiful mountains that looked almost like camoflauge with their integration of dark green, light green and brown trees on the mountains. add that to the tree blossoms that adorn the trail and you have an amazing view and the only thing that spoiled it was the mass amounts of pollen. there were literally clouds of pollen blowing past us like some sort of chemical weapon aimed at my olfactories. after a few miles we ran out of water so josh dicided to go down off the path to gather some fresh water from the stream nearby but didnt think to examine his path down the slope. after pushing through masses of thorn bushes he got to the stream and filled a few bottles and climbed back up to the trail. a few miles later we reached the town of Piedmont (foot of the mountain) Alabama where we met with some locals in the welcome center and i learned a little local history. after being there for a little while Jack (one of the fellas i was talking to) made a call to Rebecca Walker from the Anniston Star (a local paper). that evening we camped out by a naturally flowing stream that bubbles out of an underground location. the next morning we packed up and headed to Anniston along the Chief Ladiga trail and met with Ms. Walker for an interview for the Star and she ended up pointing us towards Wigs Wheels, a cool ass bike/skateboard shop in Anniston where we met Robert Smith who decided to let us stay the night at his house. he and his wife Ridgely treated us very kindly and even cooked us eggs in the moring before we headed into town. in town we were treated to a tour of the local veterenary hospital and we were excited to meet the doctors who patch up the animals. the Anniston Veterinary Hospital also happens to be the meeting place for a group of professional bicyclists who were meeting for a yearly competition where they ride through the town, and the day after is an event that is a 102 mile ride out of town, up the biggest mountain in Alabama, back down, and back to town, called the Cheehaw Challenge. After leaving Anniston that day we made it to Talladega Super Speedway where we got to take a tour of the track as well as the International Motorsports Museum next to the track. after leaving Talladega (Shake n' Bake) we made it to the Cahaba River where we camped next to cool flowing waters. upon waking the next morning we headed into Birmingham where we met with Andy Bell who is a kick ass dude, and he showed us arouna nd introduced us to Jan Bell, the chapter president. shortly afterward they called CBS 42 to come interview us, and we made it onto the nightly news! teres even a 17 minute online video interview, that i will post the link for. later in the afternoon we got to visit Faith Skate Supply in the city and hang out there for a bit. that night we stayed with Taylor Lander who took us out for drinks and so forth for a very enjoyable night on the town. today is Saturday the 17th and we are going to BBQ and it will kick ass! anyway its party time, Y'all take care!!!

Georgia part 2

So in the second half of our journey through Georgia we skated into Atlanta to find the famous Woodys Halfpipe Boardshop. Upon arriving we recieved a warm welcome from John, the owner and proprietor of the shop. After buying new trucks and bearings and so forth he had one of his employees drive us around the corner to the motel 6 where we decided to stay for the night so we could get used to our new setups. We got to meet and ride around with some of the local longboarders (apparently there's a huge longboard scene in the ATL) and we caught some pics that'll be up here soon. The next morning we went back to woodys and Josh ended up trading his loaded for a sick new earthwing supermodel and John decided to give us free shoes because he liked what we are doing. The guys at the shop told us about the Silver Comet Trail, which is a bike/pedestrian/skate trail that goes through the mountains from Atlanta to the Alabama border. We safely made it out of Georgia and are now in piedmont Alabama resting up by some cool springs. Anyway, the batteries are dying so I gotta run. Y'all tame care

Georgia, part 1

So upon entering Georgia, we had no idea that Georgians are the nicest people ever. Every town we go through is home to people who look past our boards and see us. Instead of ignoring outsiders they treat us like champions and I appreciate it. Jimmy Wilson and his daughter Brooklyn were riding past on a 4 wheeler and stopped to ask us what we were doing. Immediatly after they drove off to their house to get us I've water and green tea and then met us in town to by me insoles for my shoes. He then offered to let us shower at the fire station he works at. Shortly after we were going through town in Lula and met Skye who made us a pizza and then down the road a few miles we had passersby offer us a place to stay. I love georgia! The next morning (yesterday) we hoofed it into Gainesville and were invited by my new freind Joel to hang out at his tattoo parlor through the rain. Jimmy had called a freind from the Gainesville Times and we met up with their reporters at the shop. Http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/31765/ afterwards Joel hooked us up with some free work too so we got new ink! Pictures soon! y'all take care

First post back on the road

First, I'd like to thank my aunt krista for sending this new iPhone which I'm using to post this. Second, going south from sylva is a nightmare! Not like it's gonna be any better in the Rockies, but these mountains seem monstrous. Beautiful and majestic, yes, but a real pain in me arse to walk up. Couple that with the fact that they're busy so we walk back down them and add in the heat and you have a cruddy tasting travel sandwich. Real sandwiches are great, cruddy ones not so much. On the bright side people are very freindly and very supportive of our cause! Tonight we decided to splurge and spend $16 on a campsite instead of camping in the woods. We are finally in Georgia and feeling like champions for crossing all of north cackalackie. We got a guided tour of a small town called Tiger and we took a few pics that I'll put up soon. We are around 100 miles from the ATL and we expect to be there by Sunday at the latest. Anyway it's time to pass out from sheer exhaustion so goodnight everyone. Y'all take care!

Sylva!!! WOOO!!!

so we've made it almost all the way across North Carolina to our first supply point on the trip. we have recieved an iPhone from Aunt Krista (if anyone wants to pitch in for service that would be wicked cool) and this thing is incredible. our pics are much more clear, our videos have sound, and we can post them on the go which is cool. Sylva is an incredibly cool town and as such we have skated it a little bit. we got to ride down the hill next to the courthouse/ new library in construction. the traffic wasnt bad, but we had to be careful anyway because of a few cars here and there strategically placed in our way. the town of sylva has a great music shop called In Your Ear Music where we picked up a few new stickers for our boards and talked to some locals which was fun. later we skated around outside a bank nearby and i convinced my uncle jon to try out my board. my 6 year old cousin Sam even tried out riding a longboard which was cool. later we went to a kick ass cuban restaraunt called Habana by the Creek, which had some of the best food ive had in a while. Other cool items we have now are a GPS unit which is awesome, and a solar charger to juice up our technology on the road. we have now completed over 600 miles of our trip. heres a little bad news though: all 4 roads west of here are closed due to rockslides. no bull. apparently theyre not gonna open anytime soon either. so our route will have to change to head south so memphis might be out. however we can find some cool stuff in georgia or alabama im sure. anyway if any of you have suggestions go and post them up here. yall take care

BLACK MOUNTAIN!!!

yesterday we reached a new level of cool. we got to finally find local longboarders to skate with. and not only do we have a place to stay with a cool couple, Tiffany and Cassie, but Tiffany showed us the local spots to skate through this mountain community, and introduced us to some cool local people. we're caught up here for a day because of rain but its not a concern, this town is AWESOME!!! we are about 2 days from sylva where we will rest up for a few days at my uncle pogu's place. anyway i have a few things to do here so ill talk to yall in 2 days. yall take care!

Ups and downs all around

Hey guys its josh i cant press enter on this computer so bear with me, We keep finding small shops and such to update the blog and facebook group. We are over 2 weeks in and loving every moment of it. We had our first tragedy though, My old board the supertanker broke in Chapel hill so i bought a Loaded vanguard and lost basically all my funds. Plus getting kicked off the Blue Ridge Parkway wasnt fun but we should have called ahead. Weve met some really cool people in the past few days so im going to do a few shout outs. Big John for the ride over 85(super cool),,,,Leyland for showing us how awesome life can get(Coolest dude alive),,,Matt who bought us ice cream(Tasted aaawesome),,,,Luther,Ian,Pink haired chick,Andrew,Jay,,,Travis for lending me a backpack since the supertanker broke(Super sweet dude),,,,Britt at talbert grocery(Free snacks always rock),,,Cheerwine soda driver for free drinks,,,Dudes at Lake belews,,,T for the ride up the hill,,,Kayla the most awesome girl alive for the ride and site seeing...P.S. Kayla you rock my socks and can come chill with us anytime,,,Spongebob dirty pants the dog for giving us shits and giggles,,,Dude at Canvas skate shop in Mtn. Airy for the pivot cups and stickers,,,Zeke in dobson for the place to crash(Superrrrr cool guy) Ill write more once i get to a fully functioning computer..PEACE

Pics from week 2: Lake Gaston to Carrboro to Union Ridge Church, Browns Summit, Walnut Cove, Westfield, Mt. Airy and Blue Ridge Parkway (the bit we were on it)

http://www.vancnews.com/lake_gaston/

Monday, March 22

Sorry we haven't been on too much, but since we no longer have a computer, we have been keeping a written journal so we will be able to update in a few days. This is courtesy of my mom who is filling in for me today. We are in Mt Airy, otherwise known as Mayberry (Andy Griffith) right now. Check out the Lake Gaston Gazette-Observer for a copy of the news article.

we're in the news!

so going for a milkshake at Andys Burgers at Lake Gaston, we were suprised that one of the staff called the local paper the Lake Gaston Gazette Observer, and within 10 minutes a reporter, John Sessoms was on scene to ask us about our trip. being interviewed and having our pictures taken was incredibly cool. we've also been suprised a few other ways! 1) josh's mom talked to her boss and now we have a sponsorship from World Gym and 2) his grandads girlfreind Maggie made us Long Way To Skate stickers!!! incredibly cool. we have been stuck in lake gaston because of barrages of rain (blah). but hopefully we'll be underway at sunrise tomorrow. ill be posting pics up here in a few minutes, and i fixed the page so it loads faster (the maps on a separate page now). anyway, ill go finish updates on everything so ill talk to you later. yall take care!!!

day 4

we've been through a few counties of the great state of north carolina, and despite cold nights, the days have been fantastic! we camped out a few places and found that pine needles under the tent make for great mattresses. theres been plenty of great pics that ill post up as soon as i have a chance to get them off the camera. my pack was way too heavy so i had to send off the laptop :( oh well. also the phone died so we're waiting on it to chanrge right now. we've mostly been eating granola bars and cheeseburgers, except the other night we got 2 large pizzas for $10 which was needed i assure you. i would like to thank john and heather, mary, tom, operation smile, john and wesley, pete on the bicycle, and sherriff webb of gates county. youve all been a help! anyway its about time to run off again but we'll let you know when we can whats going on! so far we are in Roanoke Rapids NC. not bad at all. anyway, yall take care!

DAY ONE!!!

yeah so we just woke up and we're waiting on my buddy john who has decided to make up french toast before we head over to the beach to start the trip.it was kinda nice to get a night of sleep without worrying about the trip ahead of us. we got a chance to stop in at a few surf and skate shops in the area, and settled of Wave Riding Vehicles down in Virginia Beach. not only were they excited to hear about the trip but they hooked josh up with a discount on new wheels and grip tape for his board. so thanks guys at WRV, you rock! other than that we rolled around downtown norfolk before going down to the beach, and snapped a few pics that'll be up soon (not many but a few). we'll let yall know about today sometime soon!

so its go time

in less than an hour me and josh are getting into a car to get a ride down to VA beach. this'll be our last night before the trip begins tomorrow morning. theoretically we'll be able to post up some pics tonight before we take off, but we'll see what happens. anyway i gotta get finished loading, but ill post back up on here soon. and keep your eyes on us, itll be a great trip. starting at 8 AM on the VA beach boardwalk, we will have a LONG WAY TO SKATE!!!

To Hill Bombers and Pedestrians alike!

We are on the final countdown (yes, Europes song rocks even if it is as dated as jean jackets)!!! its this week that our journey begins. final prep is now just that, final prep. our packs are together, our supplies have (mostly) been gathered, our shoes are tied and our (arses) are in gear. im not saying yall cant help us out whenever you can (that would be cool), but so far things are looking pretty mother effin gangster. id like to thank all of you that have offered to give us a hand along the way, and chances are we'll have to call on those favors at some point, but at the moment we're confident that things are groovy (thats right, i said groovy. if you dont like it go read some whiny preteen blog with all of todays terminology). any feedback yall have before we take off will be appreciated, and anyone you can talk to that might be interested in this... well go ahead and tellem to log on!!! OR ELSE!!! j/k but anyway for reals yall should tell everyone, even the checkout clerk at the grocery store to go look this up and take a look. anyway, its late and i gotta start doing the day time thing (wake up at dawn, go to bed at some point before midnight). yall take care!

getting it all together

so updates... umm, well ive been skating around with my now almost complete backpack on me to get ready for the road. i now have lightweight clothing to tackle all the weather ill get on the road, from cold and rainy to hot and sunny. even magic boxers that are all sortsa comfortable. to be honest im a little nervous about the trip, but im also hella excited. im sure itll be nothing i cant handle, but all the same i have that little "oh $#!^" going off in my head. anyway, i want to thank all of you who have joined up to follow our journeys on the blog here and id like to ask a favor of you: tell your freinds and family and co-workers and people on the street etc. about the web page and the trip. we could use the support. anyway, til next time, yall take care

I Made The Page Look Groovy

Yeah ok, so get this: April Bass from the Central Virginia Chapterof the National Multiple Sclerosis Society gave me a call today. Now this trip is recognized as an Official Event! i dont know about y'all, but i think this is really cool! not much in the way of news other than that today, but i hope y'all leave me a comment on whatcha think of the changes to the page. take care!

too much snow

those of y'all in the DC area know what im talkin about. those of you who are other places havent seen the masses of snow everywhere here. there are no sidewalks, only streets half plowed and full of slush. lacking the ability to skate right now isnt all that groovy, but i built an igloo with some freinds. not really very productive but considering the weather its hard to do much. we'll be getting on the road in a few weeks here, so keep yourselves tuned in. pics and video up all the time when we get going. yall take care

FAQ time!!!

Any questions y'all got about the trip, nows the time to ask (not to say i won't answer later questions) anything at all feel free to chime in!

Hey from Va

Im josh stowe, Im the potential new team member and i cant wait to set off on this adventure. Ive made alot of mistakes in the past and have lived off other people for to long. Its time to take my life into my own hands and set off to change the world one push at a time. I hope you all accept me with open arms as i join tristan in this adventure of a life time.


O as he stated i am a cruiser, Id rather enjoy the view that speed down a hill head first. I ride a 56" dregs supertanker, Its the 18 wheeler of the longboard world and works just fine for my style of riding. I have taken my fair share of spills though and have been really nervous to go fast after my last fall which put me in the hospital. I practicing everyday though so when it comes time to leave ill be in top shape

heres the latest from the peanut gallery...

not a huge amount of news this week. a possible new team mate has arisen from the ranks of "normies" (those of you who are not like us and therefore don't ride longboards) and has expressed interest. i will leave his name off of here until he decides what info he wants to put up here. but hes a cruiser rider (meaning rides a cruiser longboard) so this will be cool. not like a super fast trip which is good because its good to see the country, not just blow through it. also talked to Dan Gesmer at seismic wheels. very cool. anyway, Y'all take care

in the rubble

BTW Fairfax, VA was destroyed tonight because two young men (Steve Pitelli and Tristan "Lockimus Prime" Lock) Bombed every hill in the county. Armed with a 12 pack of bud light they skated every half-decent hill and made it their (expletive deleted). be aware if you see somebody skating at 20-40 mph on a skateboard (and especially look out for the bright orange helmet) because these two ruffians might be bombing past your front door! Also!!! we have started collecting donations towards the National MS Society!!! go donate your money now!!! OR ELSE!!! p.s. 100%of the FB donations are going to the MS society. any donations during the trip will be handled otherwise
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/37770?m=c80f5b0c

Video?

yeah so i am a big bag of fail when it comes to having reliable camera equipment. i know i said id put up a new video of skating DC, but thts not happenening right meow. my bad. the camera i have available would make fred flintstone laugh about its low quality. anyway, ill get my hands on something in the near future theoretically. also bad news, John quit, so he's not coming along. Just me now, unless one of you would like to come along? if not, thats cool. im doing this one way or another. anyway, its 450 in the AM so im gonna go pass out for a few. Later Y'all

My names Tristan Lock, but you can call me Forrest Gump...

So its kinda funny, the more i tell people about what im doing, the more i hear "Wow, like Forrest Gump on a skateboard". In concept i guess, but 1) im smarter than the average bear, 2) im doing this for a cause, 3) im not just aimlessly running. other than that though, i suppose i am kinda like the (character?). anyway, i am ecstatic that this blog has 16 followers, and whoever else is reading too. thats AWESOME!!! like really wicked cool, and i appreciate it, for real! anyway, i gotta go deal w/ the DMV now to try again (3rd time now) to get a new ID. travelling without one would be a bad idea.

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

So lets teach y'all a little about MS

I want you all to know what it is im skating for here. MS is a pretty messed up disease. to break it down basically its a disease that stops the brain from controlling the body. you go from being healthy and active to being unable to move. now i don't know about you, but that sounds like something that modern medicine and technology should take a serious interest in curing. not that theres no reasearch going on, but the only results so far are to slow it down or change the course of the disease. the results are invariably debilitating although to different extents for different people. i mean how would you feel if youre an athelete and you one day get told youre gonna be paralyzed in a few years. i dont know about you, but i think that would be pretty cruddy. i consider myself lucky that i dont have MS, but i consider myself luckier to know some of those brave people dealing with it. despite the disease trying to rob them of livelyhood, they turn around and push on every day with a dignity greater than most. and its not like this is something that'll never affect you in some way either. i personally know four people struggling with it, and im sure you all know somebody with MS too. every hour here in the USA, theres another new diagnosis of MS. 400,000 people here in America, and 2.5 million overseas, live with this disease. so take some time, learn about this. lets work for a cure. me, im telling you all about it, and im gonna spend 8 months skating across the country to tell everyone about it. whatre you gonna do?

NEWS!!!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! i hope this ends up being a great year for all of you! so heres some cool news: 1) Judy Griffin from the National MS Society sent some info and i am psyched! im gonna have some forms soon to make this an official fundraiser! 2) i got a new board, a Landyachtz Drop Speed with some 85mm Hawgs wheels and the sidewinder trucks off my old sector 9. this board is fast, stable, and carves like a dream to boot. 3) if you look down to a few posts ago, you'll see that not only did we get the first comment on this blog, but its none other than Dave Cornthwaite himself!!! when i saw this i just about crapped my pants!!! thats sooo cool!!! anyway, im gonna keep on skating for some practice, and ill be putting up a new video this weekend where ill be skating DC! take care and keep on pushing!