Hop, Drop, & Roll Tour : The Book of Grubb

Day 1: Atlanta Part 1

"Oh My Lord, What Have I Gotten Myself Into?"

After waking up from a slightly unpleasant 3:30am, 1/2 hour nap, I hopped into a Sienna with two of my best friends and scrurried off to "Hotlanta."
My first thought went something like, "Here goes nothing" or "700 miles on Day One: Uh-oh." I have to be honest with myself and this journal: As we pulled out of that driveway or even going through the motions of saying goodbye to everyone I love, part of me was scared shitless. Who knows what could happen over the next thirty one days. The other part though, "Who the hell cares? This is how it's supposed to be." It's too late now", but thats how I want it.
So anyway, here we go. We're on the road again. One hour down, and I already want to kill myself. Everybody knows how little sleep we got, and despite us having two perfectly functional iPods, my best friends decide that they would rather have sing-a-longs from Mulan and even give their own little remix to songs we already know. After that, I convinced them it was time for some real music; even though Alex still feels we should release a CD of us singing Disney songs. Imagine that sales pitch, right? As usual, I fell asleep while Alex drove and Knopf navigated the highways. And as usual, I woke up to a new picture of me passed out in the backseat.
I woke up, Knopf asked me to drive. Despite my initial hesitation, I had a cigarette, drank some Monster, and was ready to go.
On the way we saw all kinds of rarities that the locals would see as normal: a tractor carrying the "Bulls-with-diarhea mobile", an area monitored by a speed detecting aircraft ("is that a Sienna or a Ford Explorer?," "Who's dumb idea is this?"), a stream called 'Blacks Run' found shortly after the Mason Dixon Line, and only one speed trap.
So after sitting behind the wheel for 11 hours, a couple of pee breaks on the side of the road, and a lot of trail mix, we made it to Atlanta. Judging by our conversations along the way, this trip is not going to get boring.
There's more to say, but for now: Goodnight moon, Goodnight knife who chased the spoon.

Day 2: Atlanta Part 2

"So Today We Met a Man Named Poo..."

Waking up today wasn't nearly as bad as it will be tomorrow. First stop was a place with a sweet ledge. We came across a homeless couple and the woman ended up telling us all kinds of personal things. Her mother apparently died a week ago, she's been selling her body to earn money for a bus ticket, and six dudes ran a train on her. We gave her some shirts and money, moving on with knots in our throats.
After skating and parkouring on a few other spots around Georgia Tech, we found our way into a sports complex where Alex interviewed me. It was really fun being in the middle of an empty stadium. It was almost eerie.
So about Poo... this man came all the way from New Orleans to Atlanta, only to be thrown out of his rental car with just his bags and his baby pit bulls. That man sat at an emergency phone, trying to call a cab for eight hours. Now continuing with our People Helping People ideas, we brought him water and more promo gear, and even offered him a ride. Hope dude is sleeping safe tonight.
All we had to eat before dinner was some ravioli and granola. I'm tired, hungry, and in a lot of pain; but everything is all right. We were about to go to Micky Schmee's until Knopf popped our tire. I put the spare on through an unusual amount of effort and prayed that my Shmeeseburgers would McMake my day.
The line was long, but talking with this attractive, black, british woman, got us to the front without even thinking about it. We ordered our 9 Burgers and Sweet Iced Tea and peaced to eat outside of Larry's Bar.
I found a ledge to poop off of. After Alex popped a squat on the wall next to me, Knopf figured he would come document the hilarious scene. We made our way back home and called the fam, showered, and filmed each other ranting on some really good topics.
I need to eat something before I crash. Despite the fact that it's always been better microwaved, this idea of cold ravioli and Spaghettio's is starting to grow on me. This trend may continue after we arrive back in Abington. Good day tomorrow, Goodnight this morning.

Day 3: Atlanta Part 3 + 4 -> Road to New Orleans

"Karma is Not a Safe-Haven for Our Shortcomings."

Despite our efforts to give back, we have still faced a lot of obstacles. Now don't get me wrong, we have had many blessings along the way. A hustler named Derek managed to get five dollrs out of us. A long day of trying to put together stunt footage took it's toll on our already exhausted bodies. I worry for Knopf and Alex because they seem to be falling vicim to some sort of congestive problem. Dehydrated and sore, they pushed on even after I got my last shot for Atlanta. We had to get food and water.
At a little place called the Corner Bakery, an angel named Patrina saved us. She let me fill our water jug and a few cups with ice water. After describing our situation and hunger, instead of giving us a bagel or a cookie, she blessed us with a full grocery bag of cookies, bread, and a tuna sandwich.
After that we hit the jack pot of Atlanta graffiti. Trains, tunnels, walls: all covered with art. Closing in on eight o'clock, We left for New Orleans. I could see, a few hours in, that Alex wasn't healthy or awake enough to drive, and Knopf needed some rest. I volunteered to take the wheel. Two hundred and some miles of cruising to Led Zeppelin really made it go by fast.
We finally made it to New Orleans and, after two and a half hours of looking for a place to sleep, we decided to set up our tent in a private camping ground. By the time we set up the tent, we realized the back hatch of the van was broken. I smoked a few cigarettes, it was 5 AM.
Turns out instead of keeping us cool, the cover to the tent turned it into a green house and left us laying in a puddle of our own sweat. So I woke up to an older Asian woman beeping her horn, trying to get us off her property. After explaining our situation of desperation, the only response I got was, "Free? Where you from free?"
We made it out before we could get breakfast. We saw a freight line. I took a nap while Knopf and Alex explored because I was exhausted from driving. We found a few other freight spots to film, dealt with Military Police, and headed towards downtown.
It was nice just cruising around, filming the sights. New Orleans is a very bizarre town Post-Katrina. It's a ghost town. The streets were full, but as you scan the sidewalks, you begin to wonder if all the cars are just thru traffic to the next city.
So we still managed to be productive during our slow and fragile day. We had a conference call with Andre and went to Juan's Flying Burrito. I have to add that the Flying Burrito is flying right through me as I am writing this. It's begging for a landing strip.
We had a failed mission trying to get a room at Motel 6, but found our way into a bizarre motel outside of the city that we saw earlier in the day.
Tomorrow is the day for action before we head off to Dallas. Two cities down, 13 stops to go.
H,D,R Baby!

Day 5: Dallas

''You Can't Push Harder Than Me''

After spending Day 4 recouperating, we woke up ready to bang out all of the action footage in one day. We had some really cool spots to hit, including a mini L.A. river.
I was surprised by how much skate footage I got. I haven't had much confidence with my skating lately, but I think thats going to change. I got a pretty sweet nose slide that I worked on for a while to get perfect. When I ran completely out of energy, I declared "Bob Dylan" and walked away with something we could use.
Knopf stepped up with a sick drop jump for some pk and got a pretty sexy break shot. Alex pushed hard to get the other skate shots and most of the break footage. I walked away from the nose slide mostly satisfied, yet I was extremely tired and very sunburnt. I called home to find that my dog was not doing so well. She's got congestive heart failure and is having trouble breathing. My parents said that she probably wouldn't be alive when I got back. It's rough to think about, but at least the rest of my family is healthy. We didn't do a lot of promotion while in New Orleans because of it's depleted sidewalk population. We got a few shirts out, got some burgers, and set off for Dallas. Technically it is day six, but there is no way I could have written something in my journal last night. Knopf drove for a while, most of the way actually. We got to our rest stop/temporary home at one thirty, barely. I thought I was dozing off at the wheel, jealous of the two snoozers in the car. I downed some snacks so I could make it to bed. I didn't actually move to go to bed. We all got in the most comfortable position we could and crashed until about nine. Turns out I left the head lights on for a while. Our car charger overloaded the battery so we couldn't start our car. After a quick jump start and promo to our saviors, it was back on the road. After dropping a stop on our list, we'll have two days in Dallas. Let's see what it has in store for us.

Day 6: Dallas Part 1

"We Built this City on Skate, Break, Parkour"

Dallas is, so far, a lot more then I expected. The architecture seems as if it was built to fit our needs: Interesting back drops satisfy our break dance shots, building structure gives us great stops to parkour, even the obstacles we skate encourage us to try new things, not to mention the graf we've seen so far. The day started off with some great establishing footage. I woke up in the car as Knopf and Alex pulled alongside a running freight. We benched it, got great pictures, and moved on to find some action. While watching the car as it sat in an illegal spot, Alex got his first parkour shot of the trip. I went and got a nice vault, though it took longer than expected. We kept moving, getting a few more action shots before arriving at a great scenic spot, right outside of the city. Instead of there being nothing but more buildings, there was a plain of grass and a few trees. We found a drainage pipe/dam where we got a break and parkour shot, both looked awesome. We took some great pics of the city scape and a graf spot along side a dirt road, beyond a huge hill. Down by these spots was a man drinking out of a 32 oz beer can while listening to his cassette player. The man had been a sign maker for twenty-eight years. He had an adam's apple the size of a kum kwat and a voice that made Barry White sound like a twelve year old boy. We grabbed some food and started looking for a place to stay. We ruled out a motel and decided to crash behind some masonry company and a power grid service station. We cleaned out the car and took some pictures of the lit up skyline. After a few interviews, we all chatted over some cigars and sat down to write in our journals before sleeping. Day 6 is over.

Day 7: Dallas Part 2

"Ready for the Long Haul"

So today we awoke to a paramedic tapping on our window and an ambulance in our rearview mirror. After making sure that we weren't just carcases in an abandoned vehicle, they told us the cops were on the way and we might want to leave. We left and went to a park nearby to get a few more minutes of sleep. Then we headed to Hector D. Garcia High School, where we managed to get our last six shots. At first I was struggling to get my balance on my board right. After Alex and Knopf got a few shots, I had to step up. Still feeling awkward on wheels, I twisted my knee. At that point, Alex started getting pissed off and took most of it out on me. He said that I was slackin' and that I was on the phone with my parents when I could be getting moves. I needed a minute to sit and cool off. First of all, my dog is dying and that's been on my mind, my parents were at the animal hospital, and other then that I was really stressed out. We've never had to get fifteen shots per two days with this few people. With no real time to heal, my body just felt sore all the way through. I sat down and had a cigarette. All of a sudden, I started feeling homesick. A lot of me just wanted to be home in my own bed, or eating dinner with my family, or hanging out with the girl I left at home. A lot made me want to be home, but I know that this is such a rare opportunity and it would cool out in a little while. I also knew that, just like every other time me and Alex got like this, we just cool off and the issue disappears. I came back to where they were filming. I managed to get two shots for break and started working on a skate shot. My knee was already sore, but I was getting close so I kept pushing. I got so close when my board snapped up and hit me in the knee. My leg buckled and couldn't put and pressure on it at first. We decided we could use that bail as the last Dallas skate shot. I was starving, exhausted, and now in a lot of pain. I just wanted to move on to the Grand Canyon and Vegas to rest up. We went to a buffet and stuffed ourselves before we got on the road. Knopf started off the driving at six and I took over at about ten. We made it to a pretty nice rest stop to lighten the ride a little bit. Unfortunately, as I was checking out my less unstable hair situation, an old dude walked in and turned the whole situation awkward. We burst out of the bathroom laughing our a--es off. I hopped in the driver's seat and started to head for New Mexico. After the border, I was going to look for a rest stop that we could boondock at for the night; however, there wasn't a single place for about 250 miles or so. Since I was the only concious one in the car, I had a lot of time to think to myself. Seven days and we've already seen so much. I feel like I'm going to become somewhat of a different person since I left for this trip. This trip has taught me so much and I have so far to go. I looked forward to the rest stop that was at the end of a seventy-six mile drive past the border. The only problem was that a line of orange traffic barrels blocked the entrance; it was closed. I was drowsy, but felt I could make the forty-eight miles to the next rest stop. It would have been much easier had it not been for the immense rain pelting our van. When I made it to the rest stop, I hit up the bathroom and then crashed for the night, after checking in at home. A few hundred miles to the Grand Canyon and we have a full day to travel. This rest will be good and the images we take from our next two stops will be fantastic, not to mention Yosemite soon approaching. There's nothing but everything out here and I can't wait for what's next. Goodnight.

Day 8: Grand Canyon

"Just Soakin' It In"

I woke up this morning feeling pretty well rested. It was weird hearing a clicking sound coming from the dashboard, though. Turns out, I somehow left the headlights on...again. And I killed our battery...again. After we got a jump from a guy at the rest stop, we got back on the road. Knopf was driving so I got a chance to catch a nap.
While I was sleeping, I dreamt about a party that all my friends threw me. People were just giving me presents and having fun. Wastle got me candy and some cigars. Alex and him must have been MCing the party, judging by their tuxedos and microphones. Knopf was in a dress, in a comical way. He was walking around with a whole bunch of hot girls in dresses that fit them a lot better. The only other thing I can remember from the dream was a woman with big 80's hair and a spandex, tiger print, suit that kept falling off.
When I woke up, we pulled into a pit stop and had something called a Laguna Burger. It was great, but it was easier to eat with a fork than my hands.
Following our GPS to "Grand Canyon National Park" actually took us to some residential driveways in Flagstaff, AZ behind the Grand Canyon National Park Science Center. Why it was an hour from the actual park? I don't know. When we finally made it near the park we checked into a motel. While waiting for the motel restaurant to open, we saw the dude from the front desk just hanging out on the bench out front. Alex was trying to talk to me, but I was distracted by the strong smell of marijuana coming from his area. The guy was sitting at the front entrance of a motel/restaurant/gift shop on the only road, smoking a joint. Wow.
After some more burgers, we headed for the park. We had to pay $25 for a seven day pass that we would only be using for the next twelve hours. We parked our car and went to check out the sights.
The pictures you may have seen of the Grand Canyon may be great, but nothing compares to the first hand experience. I felt something in my gut when I stepped to the edge of that cliff. With no railing to hold me back from falling hundreds of feet, I was on top of the world. Looking over this immense valley that seemed so untouched by man, it was refreshing beyond description.
We took some video and pictures and just sat to absorb it all before we headed back to the motel. I threw on some of my favorite chill music and we just cruised through the plains.
The hot tub was broken and loaded with beetles. At that point I decided it was time to go to bed. We'll be up before sunrise to get to the canyon. We want to see the sun return from a different angle. From there, it's on to Vegas. I'm so glad I came here and can't wait for morning.

Day 9: Las Vegas Pt. 1

I was so exited to see the sunrise that when my alarm went off, I kicked awake. We got our cameras together and threw on some slightly warmer clothes (apparently it gets pretty cold in the grand canyon).
On the drive there, all I could think about was how far I've come in becoming an adult. I just wanted to get out of high school. It just wasn't for me. I graduated to give myself options, to make my family proud; however, I really wanted to start my life.
As I sat on the very edge of an unfenced cliff, I saw the whole world in front of me. This massive landscape made me think that there's so much for me to do. So much to learn and teach. So much for me to live.
After filming some of the landscape, interviews, and taking pics, we went to grab some more sleep. We rested up and got on the road to Las Vegas.
There was a lot of interesting scenery on the way there. Winding roads through mountains and plains of just about nothing We actually passed over the Hoover Dam. That's something we weren't expecting to do. The traffic there was pretty thick, but the sights on the way were great.
We made it to Vegas. That city is something special. There is always something going on, no dull moments. After some cruising and promo, we headed to our hotel. It turns out that one of our financial backers has a Starwood Platinum card and had us upgraded to a delux room. In addition to that, they sent free pretzels and Becks to our room. We settled into our room, which was easy considering the incredible beds and bathroom. We spent sometime in the pool and hot tub before we went out.
We walked the strip for awhile, but only found those family groups sightseeing. My leg was getting sore from walking, so I convinced the guys to chill in the room for a minute so I could head back out when it was more exciting. We enjoyed our complementary gifts to make us more social. It worked. The second time we hit the streets we were talking to all kinds of people. First were the girls that were checking us out for about a block, we said: "What's up?" Turns out the one girl had a house party and wrecked her father's home. So in order to save her a--, she stole her dad's GTO and drove it to Las Vegas. Yea, that sounds like a good plan.
After we parted ways with them, we met two guys outside of a casino close to Treasure Island. The dudes turned out to be pretty cool. One dude was kind of the producer for the other, who had a rap album and some dvds in his backpack. We exchanged info so we could use their music in our movie.
Then we met a man in a burger joint not to far from the other dudes. He was about 6'9" and drunk as he can be. He was friendly, but he was loud and swearing all over the place. So of course, I wanted to talk to him. At 12 years old, this dude was taking care of his crack head aunt. He was in the airforce and he believed in nothing more than living a true, free life. He sat with us while we ate and entertained us with his semi-commercial rant against unconstitutional bull s--t. All in all, he was really cool, really funny, and really big.
After that, we somehow ended up partying in front of Caesar's palace. That really made the rest of the night interesting. At the end of it all, we went back to the room and crashed around 3.

Day 10: Las Vegas Pt.2 -> L.A.

So this morning was the first day we really slept in. We didn't have to go to L.A. until that night, so we went down to check out the spa, sauna, steam room, relaxation room, $100 robes, and showers. This place was hooked up. Chilling in the sauna with pineapple juice while Knopf wasted 19 towels; it was exactly what I was looking for.
We sweated out all the burgers and other crap we've been eating on the trip, got a nice shower, and packed up our stuff to go to L.A. I can't tell you much about the journey because I slept most of the ride. What I can tell you is that we drove through all kinds of amazing scenery. Freight lines climbing mountains just spells awesome.
We cruised around downtown for a little before we went to our host's house in the hills. His back deck overlooks all of L.A., it's beautiful. Tomorrow we have a breakfast meeting with our producer. Afterwords we're training with the creator of the martial arts/yoga exercise called Budokon. It's looking to be pretty interesting. Time to crash.

Day 11: Los Angeles Pt.1

"This Place is Amazing"

After a cup of coffee, Andre, our producer, took us out to a full breakfast. It was awesome. We haven't had a full meal like that since we left home.
After that, we went to train with Cameron Shayne. Cameron invented Budokon, a hybrid of martial arts and yoga. We strolled to a park and began war-ups.
He showed us a lot of different, what they call, floating techniques. They're a real test in strength and balance. We even got a chance to give him a few moves that he could use for his program. Overall, it was a great workout. Cameron even helped me with my backflips. I've been so close with those for a while and he helped me get over the mental block.
He hooked it up with some dvds from his program. Keeping in touch with him will definitely be beneficial.
After that, we went back to our host's home. He made us our first home cooked meal in two weeks. We spent the rest of the night at the movies. After one night in L.A., I can't wait for two more.

Day 12: Los Angeles Pt.2

"Another Chill Day in L.A."

After we slept in until about 11, we went out to breakfast with Andre's friend Doug. The traffic in L.A. can be pretty bad, it takes forever to get anywhere. They do have some good places to eat, though. I had a barbecue chicken salad that satisfied my taste buds.
Doug is a really smart guy. He told us about his career in show biz. He's done it all; acting, directing, producing, promoting, etc. That's the kind of stuff I want to be doing with my career. I don't just want to be talent for a company that owns my image. I have to be a multiple threat. Talent in movies, making the movies, music production, restaurant management. We went to a barbecue to meet a few people. We were so tired. Me and Alex spent 2 hours early that morning talking about life and such before we went to bed at 5 A.M. We ended up falling asleep at the barbecue for over an hour. It was a good little afternoon nap.
Next we went to Venice beach so we could swim in the Pacific Ocean together. Pretty cold water. We headed to the board walk and came across the famous Venice Beach art walls to see some good graffiti. There were a few artists working on pieces and some girls taking pictures in front of the art.
We saw a circle of drummers. They were not professionals. Most, if not all, were intoxicated, whether it was just alcohol or something much stronger. It was interesting to see people being so active when they weren't aware of themselves.
We left Venice to go to a party at Andre's friend Fiona's house. There was a good amount of food and the house had a very relaxing environment so we didn't feel awkward. I got into a few conversations around the party, talking about what we do. The only difference with these conversations and ones with other industry people was that these weren't sales pitches, they were much more. I guess that's why the people were so captivated. I didn't just explain what we do, I told them why and where I see it going.
I ended up sitting in a circle of about ten people around a fire, with all eyes on me. Knopf and Alex came to jump in once in awhile. I didn't realize how focused they were on what I was saying until I broke off to talk to Alex. We stayed to listen to some of the other conversations, including one about California medicinal marijuana laws. Eventually we got tired and went home to crash for the night.

Day 13: Los Angeles Pt.3 -> Yosemite

"Our Last Day Here"

We had a pretty chill day today. We woke up slightly late and went out to breakfast with Andre and Ernesto. It was a pretty cool spot not too far from Ernesto's place. I had a Ruben for the first time since we left. It wasn't corned beef, but it got the job done.
I had fun staying at Ernesto's. His pets were cool and his house was just comfortable to stay in. Ernesto told us about some possible graf spots around the neighborhood that we could film. After breakfast, Andre dropped us off at the L.A. River and we explored.
We didn't get to see the legendary Saber piece, but we got a good amount of decent graf before Andre swung back around to pick us up. We drove around town for a while to finish getting our footage before we set off for Yosemite.
The drive was pretty long, but the sights were varied enough to keep you interested. I stayed awake for a while but, as usual, I dozed off for most of the ride. As night fell, and we got pretty close to Yosemite, Alex and Knopf began to get pretty drowsy themselves. We still had about an hour of driving left. I felt awake as a result of my decent nap, so I took over.
As we approached the park, the roads became windy and really fun to drive on. We pulled into the park before I pulled off to the side of the road. We could finally sleep for the night.
When I got out for my last cigarette of the day, with a flash light I could see charred trees all over. Also, as I held my breath I noticed a silence that made my ears ring. We were very far away from the cities we had been exploring. Tomorrow is going to be awesome.

Day 14: Yosemite

"Nature At it's Finest"

Waking up, I could still hear the silence like the night before. We ate breakfast at a hotel in Yosemite Valley before we headed up the trails. We don't really get the chance to eat a good breakfast often, so we took our time.
Our waiter offered us some good trail suggestions. We decided to take the Mist Trail up to Half Doome. I knew it was one hell of a hike, but the sights would be worth it.
On our way up, we saw Nevada falls from top to bottom. When we got to the second set of waterfalls, we felt the urge to do some real climbing. We went up an near flat wall and got within twenty feet of the falls.
Afterwards, we decided to climb down a bit to go in the water. It was freezing cold but really refreshing, clean, and an experience on its own. On our way out of the water, I slipped and damaged the camera almost to the point of not being able to use it. After we fixed it to use, we decided to climb down and get on our way to San Fran. The walk down was also pretty hefty, but we made it alright.
We still had enough time to make it to San Fran without stopping over night. The landscape between was so varied, it was really awesome. Desert, plains, farmland, cities. We even got to see a lot of freights before it got too dark. Overall, the ride was a lot shorter in comparison to our other trips so I was able to stay awake for a lot of it.
We made it to Alex's cousin, Becca's house and set up camp in her living room. She's really friendly and seems like a very active person. Our stay in San Francisco is bound to be fun. Plus we meet Cas tomorrow to film. It's going to be great.

Day 15: San Francisco Pt.1

After a good night sleep we went to pick up Cas. The hills in San Fran are really something and the architecture was so fun to look at. This city is going to be fun for action sports.
We picked up Cas. He already had a handrail picked out to skate. We went to check it out and he gave it a whole bunch of tries before we exclaimed "Bob Dylan" and move on. After that we went to the famous 3-up, 3-down set that has been in many a video. Cas did a nice finger flip there to start off our action footage for the city.
We went around racking up shots like it was our job. I even filmed my first flat ground backflip in the downtown park. The whole day went by and we managed to get 9 out of 15 action shots, bookmarking graf spots along the way. We hung out at Becca's for a while and then took Cas home. Apparently, we have a shoot with a professional photographer tomorrow. Very Exciting.

Day 16: San Francisco Pt.2

"Welcome to Legal Manhood"

Well, it's my birthday. I'm 18, and it feels awesome. I got a lot of work ahead of me today, but it's VentilationX work. So, I'm good. Although we got a lot done yesterday there's still some more shots waiting today.
We had to start off the day dropping off the van to get the window fixed; somewhere along the way it broke. After that, we found a few spots in the industrial district to get shots. We ended up going all over that area, walking along the waterfront to find obstacles and managed to make a few spots out of nothing.
Walking around on foot felt like old times. Back when no one had a car to get around. It was exhausting but refreshing to get that kind of walk.
We managed to get the rest of the shots pretty easily before we had to go pick up the car. The car wasn't perfectly fixed because of time and money reasons. Before calling it a day, we went down to Haight Street to look around for a special birthday present for myself.
So Becca, our host, set up a photo shoot with a professional photographer she knows. We went to her old apartment, (she still had a key) and went up to the roof. While waiting for the photographer to show up, we did some filming of roof gap jumps. It's been a while since I jumped around on a roof too.
When Brad, the photographer, came with his camera, we set up our spot lights and he took some group photos of us. The work he did, even without his own equipment, was still the s--t. He wants to do the same thing tomorrow with more advanced equipment. That I want to see.
I'm getting some rest because we have establishing shots to get tomorrow.

Day 17: San Francisco Pt.3

All that needs to happen today is some filming of graf and another photo shoot with Brad.
We drove around to a whole bunch of legal walls that we bookmarked. We even found some writers while they were working on a wall outside of a tavern. They were cool to tell us about themselves and they even gave us a run down of Santa Clara.
When it got closer to 6 o'clock, we split up. Alex and Knopf went to go pick up Brad and set up our rooftop location. Me and Cas hung out at Becca's until they were ready. Only they were gone for over 2 hours. We were able to watch a movie and even start another before Alex called. Turns out they were in stand-still traffic for an hour and a half before they made it to Brad's.
When they finally started setting up the equipment, we got kicked off the roof. We were forced to find another spot. We drove all around the city looking for a spot with a view of the city lights. The highest point in San Fran sounded cool, but when we got up there we were literally in a cloud. All kinds of water and wind made it impossible for a photo shoot, let alone even standing up there.
We ended up making Becca's alley our spot and it turned out to be really epic. Brad's equipment was so extensive compared to what we had. So, after about 45 minutes of setting up, we got the perfect picture. We broke down the equipment and celebrated our last day in San Francisco with some cigars.
Tomorrow were off to Seattle. It's a long drive but Alex says that the city is awesome. My cousin Jenna even got us a place to stay nearby, in Olympia. So long for now.

Day 18: San Francisco -> Seattle

After sleeping in until 10am we took off to go to Seattle. I started the drive. While I was driving we saw a few freight trains. Even found a guard in the middle of hooking up a new train.
I drove a good six hours before I started to nod off. The sun was actually putting me to sleep, so I switched with Knopf and crashed in the back seat. That took care of, basically, the rest of the ride to Olympia.
It was about three in the morning when we arrived. Our host, Matt was still awake and he welcomed us in. He even made us vegan tacos. While we were feasting, the rest of his friends came in from the movies and we all sat around talking. Me and the guys all ran out of energy at the same time. So now I'm going to just finish this journal entry and rest up for tomorrow's action footage. All finished, see you in the morning.

Day 19: Seattle Pt. 1

"One Day for Action. Let's Do It."

A good night's rest put us in position to get all our action shots so the rest of Seattle could be a breeze. We drove along the water front piers spot hunting. A little past the busy section of the pier we found the perfect spot.
This place had a lot of potential and no one around. First shot of the day and I smacked my knee into a wall running at full speed. It put me right on the ground. The adrenaline in my body helped me get that shot and one more move in before the swelling made it hard to walk.
We started racking up footage and got 9 out of 15 shots before lunch. After some fast food, we found a few more spots that we had previously got kicked out of. By the time the sun was going down the swelling in my knee dropped enough to got the last two skate shots of the day.
We went back to the busier part of the pier to finish filming for the day. After a good amount of effort on Alex's part, he got two more moves in. We were outside an aquarium that was hosting a wedding. One of the caterers came out a rapped for us. Apparently he's got a CD with some "sick tunes" on it. We gave him a t-shirt and some mixtapes and he went back to work.
Exhausted, we attempted to find a movie theater to see a movie before heading back to the house. After seeing lines around the block we decided to take the hour journey home to sleep. I got a second wind on the way home that kept me awake right up until I stepped out of the car. In desperate need of sleep, I went right to bed.

Day 20: Seattle Pt. 2

Matt suggested a few graf spots to see around Olympia and Seattle. We found some walls around Olympia but a lot of the art was dissed all over.
We drove to downtown Seattle to see what we could find around the University of Washington, one of our suggested areas. Absolutely nothing. So, we went to a yard that we had seen the day before. We saw a decent amount of freight art.. Afterwards we talked on camera about our teamate, Tyler.
A drive along the waterfront took us past some more freight trains and to a cement skatepark under the highway. There was enough graffiti there to finish our graf footage.
Now we had the rest of the night to experience the city. We drove to a movie theater to buy tickets for a midnight show. We got to walk the streets and interact with people walking around.
The city was pretty active at night. A few hours and some burgers later it was time to see our movie. It ended at about 3 am and with an hour drive home, I was prepared for some passenger seat sleep.
Everyone at the house was asleep when we got back so we just cleaned up a little and went to bed.
Tomorrow we have a long drive to Yellowstone National Park. I don't really know what to expect other than what I've seen on the Discovery channel. Anyway, it's 5 am, time to sleep.

Day 21: Seattle -> Yellowstone

Twelve hour drive today, I started it off. We left at about 11 so we could make it to Yellowstone that night. I never realized how big Washington state is. The entire six hours I was driving I didn't even make it into Montana.
By about four in the afternoon I had to sleep. Alex took over for me and I fell asleep in the back seat. I woke up in a town called Cheney, where we stopped to grabbed some food. Besides a burger place and a cheerleading squad, the place was a ghost town.
About an hour before midnight, Knopf and Alex switched and I hopped up front to jam out to some music. We drove until 4 am when we finally arrived outside the Park's gates.
There was a fence nearby that acted as a bench while we talked over some cigars. Tomorrow we get to explore the park. Can't wait.

Day 22: Yellowstone & Trip to Mt. Rushmore

"Our Bench Was Gone"

We awoke to chain saws this morning. There was a crew outside our car dismantling the fence we made into a bench the night before. After we wiped our tears over the loss of our wooden friend, we headed to a diner to get breakfast.
Alex claimed to be starving and ordered up all this food. Now, whenever I go to a diner, out of my love of breakfast food, I order a lot and a good variety of choices. So when my food came, I was ready. I had pancakes, bacon, eggs, and a big cinnamon roll. I finished most of it when I saw Alex had eaten half of one pancake out of three and some of his oatmeal. I think he was just trying to show off to our cute waitress.
Now it was time to go explore Yellowstone. This park turned out to be more of a "look-at" park than Yosemite. A lot of the sights were along roads so you could just pull over and take a picture, not that that was a bad thing. We saw a lot of wildlife and interesting scenery. There were hot springs, sulfur deposits, mountains, and untouched forest for miles. We even saw some deer and bison. I think the highlight of the park was when a herd of Bison completely blocked traffic. Anybody outside of their car was at least 50 ft from the ones on the road. I had to get closer. Next thing you know, I'm 10 ft from an 800 pound bull. They were gigantic animals.
We coasted through the rest of the park and headed towards Mt. Rushmore. It was also the most ridiculous driving I've had to do on this trip. I spent hours weaving on ridiculous turns through the mountains.
On a break between one set of mountains and the next, we found a freight yard. I dropped the other guys off and went to get gas from a station near by. When I got back I could see a big storm coming in. You could feel the heavy wind and see the lightning surrounded by dark clouds. The guys got kicked out of the yard by a guy driving around the trains, but they stuck around to get a few more pictures, anyway. They didn't get back in the car until the wind started kicking up huge clouds of dust, making it impossible to take pictures. We had to get back on the road anyway.
The storm caught up surrounded us for miles in every direction. The rain wasn't too bad, but the wind made it difficult to drive on the winding road. I hit the worst rain after I came out into the valley. The wind and rain hit so fast, it pushed the car over a lane. I couldn't see five feet in front of the car and I was now going less than 20 mph. The rain continued for a good 20 minutes without letting up at all. So when we finally got out of the rain we had stop for a pee break. There was no one around on the highway so we decided to drop and do 20 push-ups in the middle of the road. Just for the hell of it.
After we got all stretched out we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Mt. Rushmore. We stopped about 20 miles from the park to find a place to sleep. We ended up parallel parked between a tractor trailer and a wooden shed in a vacant lot. In order to guarantee a good night sleep, we unwound with some cigars.
Tomorrow is our, in my mind, least exciting stop. Who knows, it could be terrible or it could be awesome. I guess we'll find out.

Day 23: Mt. Rushmore

"Face to Face with some Amazing Presidents"

For the first time on this trip, we have woken up in our illegally parked car without being chased out of the area by the authorities. With the normal 4 hours of sleep we were ready to take on the day. We grabbed some budget cereal and milk and had breakfast in the car. It was a half hour drive to the park. On the way we saw a lake that we decided needed to have us swim in it. But that had to wait.
When we got to the park, it wasn't as busy as everyone kept telling us it would be. We payed the fee to get in and parked our car. The mountain itself was larger than I thought. The park was really well set up and decorated. We took pictures and filmed the sights. On our way back to town we went to the lake.
When we parked the car and got out we heard a splash followed by a kid saying some just jumped off those rocks. Alex immediately demanded to know where they jumped from. The kid pointed us over to a collection of cliffs around the side of the water.
We made our way around and up the cliffs to measure up the jumps. They were pretty hefty but nothing we couldn't handle. Alex went first and I followed while Knopf filmed. Soon enough we were up there with three more people, along with a boy scout group watching. Eventually I switched with Knopf and Alex started filming from the top of the cliff. After a few jumps, some dark clouds rolled in and it started raining which was nature's way of saying we needed to start driving to Minneapolis.
Listen, we've been craving a grilled cheese since we left Seattle. So the search for a diner was on. All the diners we found were miles and miles off of our route. That was the story until we found Willy-D's Diner. The only problem is that it didn't exist. The GPS brought us to bar where Willy-D's was supposed to be. So now we're in a bumble-f--k town with a population a third the size of my graduating high school class. There we saw two girls walking around. We stopped to ask if they knew where Willy-D's was or if they knew where we could find some grilled cheese. They had no idea of either except for a town twenty miles in the opposite direction.
Next thing you know, we're handing them promo gear and t-shirts. Eventually we had to get back on the road because we still had an hour and a half of driving and it was already 1 am.
When we continued the drive I called an old friend that moved from my home town about 5 years ago. She was so surprised to find out I was in Minneapolis she invited us to hang out tomorrow. That brought us to our hosts house. Everyone was sleeping and we were locked out so we decided to sleep in the car in the driveway. After we do our action I'll get a chance to catch up with someone who used to mean a lot to me.

Day 24: Minneapolis Pt. 1

"What A Freakin' Day"

So the day started off with the husband of our host tapping on our window. Instead of saying "What the hell are you guys doing sleeping in our driveway," he said, "Do you guys want to sleep inside, shower, or have breakfast?" My eyes lit up. It was if God had sent the nicest people down just to host a haggard extreme sports team.
So we went inside and did a little bit of everything. We had some bagels, showered, and took a power nap before getting into the city to film. This house was awesome. As the creator of NutriSoda, Leslie, our host, had the drink everywhere, along with cool artwork that incorporated the can. Not to mention, they gave us use of the entire third floor. A workout room, a huge living room, a bathroom with a walk-in shower and sauna, became ours for two days.
After we freshened up, we went spot hunting. We went down to the industrial area and started with some breakdancing footage. After a little while Alex got sick of the spot and we decided to move on.
We drove around and found enough spots for us to get 8 out of fifteen shots. At that point we decided to head back to the house and film by the pool. I did some flips with Knopf into the freezing water but it was all worth it. After we dried off we ate dinner with our hosts, a sweet home cooked meal. That got us ready to go out for the night.
Now at this point I'll have to end my journal entry early. We're going over my friends house and I'm not sure when I'll be back to finish this. So until tomorrow...

Day 25: Minneapolis Pt. 2

"What a Night..."

Well I'll tell you that this was no normal night for me. Nor will this be a normal Journal Entry. I'll start off by giving you some background of the situation. Me and Aubree have somewhat of a history. We were friends since Elementary school. So naturally as we got older we had the usual crushes on each other. Only two things went wrong here: 1.) We never told each other 2.) until she moved to the Midwest. We didn't see each other for a year and a half, during a spring break visit, and not for another 5 years after that.
Because of our friendship and occasional conversations online or on the phone, some feelings always stuck with me, even through my other relationships. I didn't really know what to expect from her or the night in general. I was anxious as we pulled up to her apartment. I open the door and she stepped out with a huge hug. We all stepped inside and started to catch up. She told us about what she's been up to and what she planned on doing and we went through the usual schpeil about VentilationX when people ask about us.
Next thing you know she's going through a bottle of rum like it was lemonade. That's when her and I really started to catch up. We reminisced over the old days. Then I realized she was truly drunk when I saw her stumbling around the house. After I came back from the bathroom, she was gone. Neither of the guys noticed her leave. I ran out the door looking for her, I found her down the street.
A few houses down, she was sitting by the curb and, when I got there, she told me that she was feeling sick I knew I had to talk her stomach down because thats what I usually do when someone feels sick.
We walked to a nearby park that had the perfect view of the Minneapolis skyline. It was really amazing, especially at that time of night. I thought it was really cool of her to bring me there.
We started talking about our days back in Glenside. After a few minutes I realized how delirious she was. She didn't refer to me by name but she did continue to tell me about her friend Ben who was coming to visit her. She said that she wanted to look cute for him when he came over, and went on to tell me about how crazy she was over him. She didn't even know how I felt about her.
In efforts to try to bring her back to earth I began asking her questions that stated clearly that I was Ben Grubb. While she did stray back to forgetting who she was talking to, she finally realized it was me and told me she wanted to tell me something.
At first she told me that she could trust me with anything and she knew i wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Surprising enough to myself, she was right. I cared about that girl. I felt like everything she was saying, despite her current state, was how she really felt. This showed what was in the gap between us after all these years. The secret she told me was only shared between two other people, but I still hold my tongue for my own reasons.
I felt like I was in a dream. Years ago, I couldn't have seen this happening. Someone I had feelings for years, even after she had moved away, was spilling her heart to me.
Only problem was, it was a dream. After I brought her back to the house and got her to her bed, I crashed. I figured we could talk more in the morning when we were clear minded again.

She woke me up and asked me to take her to work. This was my chance to find out if it was all real. However, her entire aura felt different. When I asked her about what she remembered from the night before, she couldn't really give me all the details. I told her some of the things we talked about but she was more embarrassed than ready to talk. She wasn't the same. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. It was a total flip from the night before.
I dropped her off at work and told her to keep in touch. I drove back to the house trying to up my spirits with my favorite music; it didn't help much.
It wasn't until I got back to the guys that I noticed the wet ground. It was our last day in Minneapolis and we still had four skate shots to get. I woke the guys up to formulate a plan.
We decided we didn't have the resources to get those last shots in the rain. So we went through the motions of getting back on the road. We went back to our original host's house to get showers and collect our stuff. We hung out in the sauna for a bit too.
Because of my long night, I slept most of the way to Chicago. Occasionally waking up to read and hit the bathroom. We filmed on our way into the city and found our new host, Sonya. She will take care of our shelter for the next three days, thanks to our manager Andre.
We have three days in Chicago and I've heard great things. I'm not quite sure how we'll split up the filming but I'm sure it won't be that stressful.


Day 26: Chicago Pt.1

"All This for Tapes?"

So we decided the first important thing of the day was to ship the 18 tapes we had sitting in the car. We should have mailed them back weeks ago, but we've been letting them build up. Its only an hour drive according to our GPS. However, with all the traffic it took us over two hours to get to the Fed-ex. Alex showed his restlessness more than Knopf and I. He could not stand sitting in a car, when we could be filming.
When we finally got there the guys went in, while i stayed outside to call to my family. Its been rough being away from my parents and my sisters this long. I know i get more homesick than Alex and Knopf, but I do want to be home again, even if this trip has been a blast. We had the same trouble in traffic getting home, and when we got back to the city. We only had a few hours left. We got right to filming.
Alex worked really hard on getting a shot on well waxed set of stairs. After that we saw a school with some amazing Parkour possibilities. Knopf and I both got some shots there. We decided that we would get the remaining ten shots tomorrow, so we could space it out and get more substantial footage for the time ahead.
Showers and sleep were both necessary so we went back to the house to rest up for tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we'll go out, but tonight, I am exhausted. Sonya even invited us to some burgers her husband had cooked up. Not going to bed hungry. Goodnight.

Day 27: Chicago Pt.2

"Just a Walk in the Park"

After a decent night sleep, we had to get to filming. Sonya told us about a skate park nearby and we decided to start there. The park was awesome. Not too crowded, clean, and all cement. Perfect. We started off riding around and Knopf filmed us carving all the curves.
Alex found a big manual pad to skate but I couldn't find anything I wanted to film. That was until I found this really awesome drop in set up into a set of bowls. I could hit the hills and get a trick out of the bowl. It was hot but I stayed hydrated enough. My knees started to kill. I landed a few but then I finally landed the perfect Indy on to the flat.
We still had a lot of promo stuff and shirts in the car and I had a lot of fun handing to the younger skaters around the park. A group of them actually sat on the edge of the bowl and cheered me on while I was skating. We rode around the park handing shirts and postcards to all the kids and their parents. One of the parents happen to be a local graffiti writer, DWEL, who offered to show us around to a couple of good graf spots to take pictures.
Next, we went to refuel on some food and liquids because I felt pretty dehydrated. White Castle Burgers made me feel worse. I started feeling sick and light headed. I don't attribute it to the food actually. I just sweated out all my fluids to the point where my leg completely cramped up. I couldn't walk. I felt sick. I needed to just lay down and recharge. We went back to the house and took a nap.
Afterwards, we found another spot close by and killed it. We got the last two parkour shots right off the bat. Some cool trees near the spot provided some good breakdancing footage. Alex and I banged them out. Then we went to a tunnel where we finished off the dance footage.
At this point we had to kill the night with something fun. We went to the movies, again. It isn't the most exciting thing but we were exhausted. When we went to the theater and bought our tickets. We had enough time to jump around to other theaters. Three theaters and a movie and a half later, we left to go home to rest up for graffiti filming and the trek to Columbus and met up with Niko.
Chicago was awesome and it is my top 5 for cities I would go back to, definitely.

Day 28: Chicago Pt. 3

All we had to do was get some pictures of graffiti and head to Columbus. We were supposed to meet up with Dwel but since he was at work, we were on our own.
We realized how useful it is to have a local writer with you when you are looking for graffiti. We found a little here and there but we decided to just take off for the next city.
On our way out, we noticed an abandoned building that was at least ten stories tall. I pulled off the highway and parked outside of the barbed wire fence. Alex and Knopf got out of the car and went to look for a way in. We wouldn't have gone into this building had we not seen the blockbuster pieces on the roof. They were in there for a while before they came running out, telling me we had to leave now. Later I found out they had been making their way up a dilapidated staircase in the huge building when someone apparently started coming down the steps above them. When you're in an area dominated by graf, you don't just approach someone because you could be on protected territory. Some crews are peaceful, some can be aggressive. That is why it is important to be careful, always.
The only eventful thing to happen on the way to Columbus was that I got a speeding ticket. I know I was speeding, but I was still irked about the situation. As I was going 30 over the speed limit, I realized I should slow down. So, of course, I drive by a cop. Now, he was going the opposite direction across a 3 lane median while I was a driving with about 4 other cars. Not to mention he was an off duty cop and I dropped to 80(20 miles over) before I saw him. He marked me down for 86 mph, which is funny because 26 happens to be the slowest to be going for the maximum ticket. It's also the difference between a $145 ticket and a $190 ticket. So now I have $190 dollars hanging over my head when I get home.
That put me in an instant bad mood and when we stopped for food, I told he guys I wanted to switch drivers. My dad was calm about the situation and told me I could call the local judge to talk about it. My mom just freaked and threatened to take my car when I get back. That just isn't going to happen.
I slept most of the drive to Columbus. When we got there we were greeted by Niko and his family. We're staying with his Aunt who lives right outside of Columbus. They wanted to hear about the trip so we gave them a summary. It took a while and included a lot of laughs. Now I'm exhausted so I'm going to sleep.

Day 29: Columbus Pt 1

We got a little bit of a late start and we still had to get 15 action shots before the sun went down. We went downtown. Our first stop was a museum, but we got kicked out before we finished setting up to skate.
We went across the street to skate another ledge but we were booted from that spot too. We even went further down the street and Niko spent some time working on a hardflip on a fresh set of stairs, even landed sketchy a few times. But then, we were kicked out again. We finally found a spot that we knew we wouldn't kicked out of.
It was underneath a bridge. There were some homeless but you really couldn't call them homeless. It's not the same image you'd expect. They had a mattress, tables and even a television. They talked to us while they were fishing in the river. We managed to get more than half of our footage there before Niko and I went to get water and supplies for lunch.
We still had a few shots left to get and were drained. I took what strength I had to finish up my shots. Alex and Knopf banged out the breakdancing and next thing you know, we were finished the action for the entire trip. Luckily for us we had a barbecue waiting for us when we got back to celebrate. Before we ate we went down the street to check out a block party going on at a park nearby. Me and Alex were jumping around dancing and doing flips for all the kids. We handed out postcards and went home to eat.
After we ate and talked for a while, everyone but myself and Niko went to bed. We talked about all kinds of life topics over a few cigarettes. He eventually crashed and I'm going to bed soon. Right after I help Niko's Aunt Vanessa with the laundry. It's 5 a.m.. Late Night.

Day 30: Columbus Pt 2 -> Niagara Falls

All we have to do is film graffiti and drive to niagara falls today. You have no idea how happy I am to know that my whole body hurts and I got no sleep last night. It's okay though, we had some breakfast and said goodbye to everyone. Niko is going to come with us until the end of the trip.
We drove around columbus for a while but we couldn't find any art that was worth filming. But then the guys saw a freight line and followed it to a bridge that was full of graffiti. We spent a good half-hour filming there.
We then left for Niagara. On our way, we were going stop at the DC plaza and the Akron skate park. We missed our chance for DC so we followed the directions to Akron. We drove another hour to find that no one ever heard of a skate park in Akron. Whudya know? I guess when your planning this much, some mistakes can be made.
When we finally made it to Niagara, it was just about time for bed. We actually ended up parking our van behind a beer distributer off a main road. It was our last night in paradise and we wanted to do it right.
Tomorrow is our last official stop on this crazy train and then we have to get home and put this all together. It's gonna be tough leaving the road behind but I'm ready to be home. So from a parking lot in New York, Goodnight.