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