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

Day 1:
Wow! The first day...
The very long first day. Last night before departure, we were running around doing last minute adjustments to the schedule, campgrounds, etc. Therefore, not only did we go to bed very ate, but we had to leave at 5 in the morning to make it possible to arrive in Atlanta at a reasonable hour. Faves started driving and Grubb and I would take over when he got tired. Grubb shotgunned second, I let him have his glory. As we hit Harrisburg, things started to get weird. Only in the movies had I ever seen a chicken truck, until today. A short time later, we saw a cattle truck, hauling feces covered cattle. But not until this did I truely realize that I was far away from home. While passing the Mason-Dixon Line, we drove over a small creek. Next to the road was a sign saying the name of the creek, "Blacks Run". But wait, theres more...While stopping to get gas at a rest stop, in a small town,we noticed some interesting characters. As we searched for a bathroom behind the gas station, becasue the last gas station had one, we caught sight of a man. Probably mid 20's, eating a sandwhich, in a phonebooth, using his bike as a seat(positioned sideways). As we passed him, he looked at us with curiosity. when we came up empty handed in the saerch for a place to relieve ourselves, we found that we were being followed by the mysterious hungry bicyclist that really needed to make a call. Post unsuccessful search, we went next door to a gas station that was 2 cents more than the last one. Not really sure how they get customers at all. Upon entrance to this certain establishment, we realized that it was the worst idea so far on the HDR tour. From the moment we walked in, our nostrils were filled with the scent of everything on the Subway menu. Whoever thought of putting a Subway in a gas station was brilliant. We were automatically yearning for just one bite of a five dollar footlong. Unfortunately no time to eat, gotta pce... As I entered the public restroom my sense of smell became confused. Do I smell...bath soap? Sure enough as my eyes catch up to my nose, I find myself face to face with a buff, black male, shirtless. I made my way to the urinal to do my buisness & notice the groown man cleanse himself in the bathroom. I proceeded to wash my hands and made my way out of this awkward position. Leaving Alex hanging. Sorry dude... From then on, we could not stop laughing with each other and feeding off each others energies. This is when the day really kicked off. We saw our first attractive female, six hours into the trip, North Carolina, definitely a cutie. There were certain highways of which's speed were monitered by "aircraft"! Could you imagine? Having them call in saying "yeah, there is someone speeding on I-85. Its either an SUV or a van. Cant see the license plate from here... Not really sure how that would work. Almost done. When Grubb was driving, he started hocking up something all kinds of gross. He reached back and attempted to let it loose over the window, but I don't know if you have ever spit out a window doing 80, but it doesnt always make it. Sure enough, it shoots back into the car, hitting Alex in the face... good times.
REFLECTION
And so it begins, the journey of a life time with two of my closest freinds. What else could a teenager ask for? Ok. Maybe an iPod Touch. Those things are pretty cool. In all seriousness, this is it. It didnt hit me untill North Carolina. We are on our own with not only the most freedom we would ever need, but we also have a purpose for our freedom. This is where we blow up & start living our dream. Not only will our freindship build, but we will learn so much in our travels, as well as see so much that even our parents haven't. This is an unbelievable opportunity, not only as freinds, but as buisness partners & we will make the most out of it for both situations. This is only the beginning...

Day 2:
People helping people...
This was the motto for the day. On more than one occasion in Atlanta today, we found ourselves helping others and being good citizens. Things started off slow today while trying to film the action portion of Atlanta. It was briefly interrupted by a homeless women telling us about her life to date. Her name slipps my mind but her image is engraved. She attempted to match her cloths with a few garments she posessed. She was forced to go to the bathroom eight feet from her bed, She approached us with her story. She is homeless, her mother in L.A. just passed away and she doesn't have the money to make the trip. The funeral for the cancer patient is next week. She doesnt want to sell herself for money, but she has no other choice. After we finish filming at the spot, we approached her with four dollars from our wallets (our only cash), a VX shirt and a Hip-Hop DX shirt. She thanked us a million and one times because her twenty dollars in her pocket was stolen from her while she was sleeping the night before. This seemed to be the first of many good acts by VX in Atlanta. The next came in segments. As we traveled down a random street searching for a new spot, we noticed a guy, seemingly frazzeled, standing next to the emergency phone booth frantically pressing the button. We continued walking until we realized that we had mix tapes and t-shirts to give away. We retraced our steps and asked him if he wanted some free shirts. He responded with "I knew something good was going to happen to me today." Curious, we asked asked him about his day. Apparently, he had just driven from New Orleans (Coincedence) and was in the car with females. They had gotten in an argument, which ended in him beining throw out of the car, luggage and dogs too. So he finds himself with duffle bag, and two baby pitbulls. No form of transportation, and no idea where he is. We handed over the free promo stuff and wished him luck. As we left, we asked him why he left New Orlands. He responded with "Too dangerous, man". So, looks like next couple of entries shoud be fun. Our journey continued, with him slightly in our minds. We procceded to getting two breakdance, one parkour, an one skate shot. After becoming hungry, thirsty, and tired. It was time to eat, drink, and rest. We started the long trek back towards the van, on which we would pass the place where we met the New Orleans guy. We joked about him still being there, only to find out he was truely still standing there. Meanwhile, five pitbulls are play fighting, like nothing else mattered. Thats the true freedom in nature. Not a care in the world. Anyway... We talked to him for a little while longer, mainly about his travels. Probably because we are now nervice that a black male with two pitbulls is running from New Orleans, while us three white teenagers with thousands of dollars worth of camera equiptment are just going to stroll into the city. As we depart, we tell him that we'll bring back a water from the car, seeing that he's been stranded for over two hours now. We find the van, rest for a couple and return bearing drinks. He graciusly accepted them, and explained that he was waiting for a cab and will probably be leaving soon enough. We wished each other luck and departed. We kept filming, for about five hours or so, only to walk by him still sitting there. Pitbulls asleep,(Too much freedom in one day?) We eventually offered him a ride because he was really chill. We made the hike back to the car, only to find hot water bottles and Gatorade. Truley a dissapointment. We returned once again to this spot, with our man from N.O. talking to some one, his ride. Can you believe that? It took him about 8 hours to get a ride from a friend. 5 different taxis never showed up. I have a feeling that this is only the begining of our experience with the homeless. For the next week we will be either sleeping in the car or a tent on the side of the road. Struggles... We, well, I... popped a tire today. I made too tight of a turn, and I caught a sewage drain that destroyed our tire, all because we went to McDonalds. We passed it by accident, so we went around the block. I guess I was a little too anxious for the cheeseburger. Immediatly after it happened, heart sunk. We fixed it up. Turns out, the McDonalds was closed. All that for nothing? Not really, if it didnt happen, I wouldnt have nothing to write about.

Day 3:
One down, two to go...
Very long day. Started off slow, our host made us banana pancakes. Traveled to Atlanta to begin filming. Frustration began when Grubb chose not to bring his board because he said that he didn't think he could get a shot. In my mind, laziness. While filming a skate shot in the very hot sun, Me and Alex got frustrated because I have no board to follow him with. I realize that as I begin to get burnt. A hustler came up to us an offered us a deal. We give him five bucks for a cigar, he comes back with a laptop and sells it to us for thirty dollars. We went along with it. It was only 5 bucks. The deal fell through, no worries. Booya, the flower man, needed a light; Grubb hooked it up. Let him keep the light. Exhausted, we made our way to the bakery... closed. We talked them into giving us alot of baked goods that were going to be thrown out. Also alot of water and ice. Took a while to get the last break shots. Man approached us looking for a shirt he can have. He follows us to our last couple of spots but eventually gives up and leaves. We traveled back to the car to move on. We spot the homless lady from yesterday, waiting for a customer. It's ineresting seeing true poverty. The struggle. Didnt realize how long the drive to New Orlands would be. We are now in a camp ground just outside of the city. There is a freight line right next to us. This will make great footage for later. The bugs were eating us alive while we set up the tent and sleeping bags. We are not really suppose to be here, we are just beating the system. It was very much a community of trailer homes that were just posted up in. The crows are Caww-ing. Somehow the handle to the trunk broke. Kinda confusing, so I'll draw it...nevermind, too tired. Would'nt look very good in pen. We're taking the car into the a shop to see if it could be fixed. It is now 6:04 in the morning, not really sure if this counts for day three or if I'm breaking the rules. I'll just do it by my sleep patterns. This could get hectic.

Day 4:
Independence day...
Happy forth of July! Interesting day started sooner than expected. When we went to bed last night (early this morning) we thought we'd have a good night's sleep. Boy, were we wrong. Hotter than hell, we woke up in puddles of our own sweet. Gross right? The reason is that Grubb, not pointing any fingers, insisted that we put the plastic cover over the tent to make sure that if it rained, we would'nt get wet. Skys were clearer that a brand new window. We went along with it...It just so happens that the mixture plastic cover over our tent and the burning hot New Orleans sun caused a greenhouse. I have never woken up so hot in my life. I recovered by splashing my face with cold water. Now, I'm awake for the day. I got back in the tent and Alex asked what time it was. Having fallen at around 6:15, reached for my phone, and read off the time, 7:56. That's right, we got less than 2 hours of sleep. To make matters worse, as soon as we concluded that we needed more sleep. We hear a horn. Alex states "I think we're in someones lot". Of course we were. We knew it from the begining, but now we think that they're here to park and campout. We tell Grubb to go out and try to convince her that we were just in the wrong lot. Turns out that the lady honking was the owner of the campground itself. Therefore Grubb tried to explain that the campground was free. She responded "Free?! Where you from, free?!" She added a threat of calling the police. We quickly packed everything up, and left asap. While leaving, we noticed a freight line behind us. This inspired a day of freight hunting. So it started with alot of freights and ended with rain. The downpour started while we were getting something to eat, and ended our day. We finished eating, and then looked for more spots for tomorrow. After that we tried to get a room in the Motel 6, but it's a '21+' thing. So we were left hanging. W went to the police station to see what they suggest that we do. The police station was closed. Found our way to the cheap, nice smelling, huge towel endowed Motel that I am in now. (A bit of sarcasm).

Day 5:
Exhaustion...
Today was a very long day. Definitely the longest so far. We had to get 15 action shots before we left New Orleans. We awoke from a good nights sleep in the hotel room at 7am. On the road by 8, we were looking forward to the most action packed day so far. We first stopped by the spot that looked like the L.A. river that we saw the day before. We knocked out 2 skate, 2 parkour, 2 breakdance shots with ease so we moved on to the next spot. Under the highway ramps, there are very interesting looking structures. We took care of 2 more parkour shots & one more breakdance. This is when the exhaustion sunk in. We went around the corner to look for more spots & we noticed a near perfect skate spot. Truly a diamond in the ruff. As Alex warmed up for his 50-50 180 Out, I looked for a makeshift bathroom. When I returned, Alex was about to land it. We filmed it & got a sequence photograph of it as well. Then Grubb attempted a Noseslide & succeeded twice. We began filming him, but while filming he became almost too tired to perform. He finally landed a couple more, but they were a little sketchy. His back was lobster red an covered with sweat. The frustation was building and so was the tension. We were all spent, but we had to keep our frustation to our selves to prevent a freakout. Grubb was finally too tired to go anymore. That meant we only needed 1 parkour and 2 breakdancing shots. Alex had yet to get a parkour shot on the trip, which upset him some what because he wanted to be well rounded in each city. Therefore, he wanted to get the last parkour shot of New Orleans. Also, since he is the main breakdancer on the team, he would probably have to get both break shots as well. But, since he was very tired, he was hesitant about the big jump that we noticed. So he turned to me and asked if I was up for the jump, as well as one of the break shots. He also mentioned that his fingers were becoming numb. I was immediatly filled with the pressure to do the shots. I just barged them out, doing my first dance shot, ever. Off to Dallas.

Day 6:
In the Big D...
We woke up in a rest stop that Grubb had pulled into while Me & Alex were sleeping, with the AC blowing & the lights on. This was about Sam. Alex and I shook Grubb to ask why we were wasting battery. He responded by saying " So we can sleep easier." We have been at this rest stop for about three hours now, & we're all asleep for two and a half hours. We told him to turn everything off, but he had fallen asleep again before he heard our plea. Therefore, I, being in the front seat, reached over Grubbs unconcious body & and shut everything down. I rolled down my window & shoved my head out, into the breeze. We all awoke around 7 and were ready to go to the Big D. Alex and I got out of the car & used the melted ice (water) from the cooler to shower. While we were bathing in this not so sanitary way, We caught sight of two dogs staring at us . We looked at them curiously as they mimicked our glances. It seemed like our roles switched as if instead of humans watching dogs at a local park or playground, these dogs were watching our natural behavior. Then, as Alex was walking to throw out some trash, the dogs started dashing towards him. He yelped in fear because of his oncertainty about the dogs' intentions. It turns out they were just going for the little bit of trash that Alex dropped. They were moving like a pack. These doggs must have been ferral. We were the only people in that part of the parking lot, so they weren't someone's pets. They soon trotted toward the woods, slowly disappearing into the darkness. We positioned our van closer to the bathrooms so that we would be able to brush our teeth. Van is running fine. After we feel clean enough to roll into Dallas, we went to start the van up again. Nothing, it didn't even turn over. Our battery was dead. We walked into the parking lot, for some reason no one ever had jumper cables. After a long search, we found a guy who was more than helpful. He helped us out and we were on our way. As we approached the skyline, we were baffled by the architecture of it all. As we rolled through the streets, it was silent, very silent. Not too much hustlin' or bustlin', it was very mellow. By this time, we were looking for a spot to film at for our stuntwork, as well as getting establishing shots of the city. We roamed into an interesting parking structure, and found plenty of opportunities. We were soon kicked out, which is the fist encounter with police since we got pulled over yesterday. We desided to use our GPS rather than the directions that we used in our itinerary in an attempt to save some time. In doing so, we ended up going through a small town in Louisianna, where they are very strict about speeding. Apparently we were going 57 in a 45. We therefore got our first ticket of the trip. Anyway, back to today. We filmed a couple more shots to bring our total for the day to 6 stuntwork shots. While looking for graffiti in the area, we came across this unbelievable field of big pillers with graffiti on them. We did our best to find it, and wound up right next to it after a few small turns. It's an unbelievable spot. Huge, with a skyline in the background unlike anything Ive seen before. We made the trek to find the graf because they were behind a couple of grown in hills and a small creek. Just as easily as we found the spot to park, we found our way to the graf. We were overlooking this immense field with a couple power lines. We walked down to a trail, where we could reach both graf locations.While walking, we see a man sitting all alone in this remote location, listening to a walkman for a cassett tape, on a makeshift chair composed of a perfect length log. He was a man of few words, but after we passed and retraced our steps to return to the car, he spoke his story. He makes signs? Very distinct voice, almost god-like, very intense. So here we are, at the park spot that we found a long time ago, watching the lit up city from a distance. Beautiful...

Day 7:
Only the first week...
Interesting morning. Woken up by an ambulance, I know... apparently someone spotted us and called the police. The paramedics told us to get out of there before the cops got there because they would probubly ticket us for tresspassing. As we were talking to them, I realized my arm was numb. Because I was sleeping with arm under my head, out the window, I couldn't control my hand. It was flopping forward and back everytime I tried to move my arm. It felt like it was rubber. Anyway, we got out of there as fast as we could in fear of getting our second citation of the trip. We drove around to find a new spot to sleep for another hour or so. We finally came across a spot in the shade. Within 5 minutes, the shade dissapeared. I felt like we were in the sun, but I think I was the only one. For some reason, I was the only one not in the shade of the trees. It seemed like the sun was coming in the window and hitting me. I waited for Alex, who was in the driver's seat, to wake up and asked him to move the car into the shade again. 5 minutes later, the shadow disappeared again. I can't win. We eventually got up, washed our faces, and started looking for spots. We stumbled upon this middle school and started warming up. Alex and I banged out the last two parkour shots while Grubb practiced his bigspins and a four stair. We all rounded the building to find a huge stairset with what looked like the 'gnar-gnar' steps from Baldi Middle School. We finished up the stuntwork shots and met a writer. He writes Wrist1. He just tags mostly and does pieces in his blackbook. When we packed up, we went to get some food at a chinese buffet. This was our first meal other than fast food and Chef BoyArdee the entire trip. From there, I started driving to the Grand Canyon. I drove for about 5 hours or so and stopped at a rest stop because it was the last one for another 76 miles. Grubb volunteered to take over driving from there after our "meal" of Spaghettio's. I fell asleep in the back, only to wake up with Grubb driving in the rain. Only darkness surrounded us. I fell back asleep.

Day 8:
Nature's finest...
Today consisted of beautiful views and scenic drives. We woke up with Grubb in the front seat, trying to start the car. He left the lights on again. He and I walked through the parking lot looking for a generous human being with jumper cables. Finally got a guy that was willing and he helped us out. From that point on, I was driving. I drove starting from when we left that rest stop to when we stopped at our hotel for the night. The interesting stuff happened between them. Early in the drive, we used our GPS to find the Grand Canyon. In the " Attractions" menu, "Grand Canyon Park" showed up. This must be it right? We followed the directions for a long time. When we were only 10 miles away, we became anxious. Less than half a mile left and it still seemed residential. Weird... we follow a couple back streets, then we were there according to our GPS. But, although we believed it at first, we took a last turn and ended up in a very small dirt road behind some houses. Welcome to the Grand Canyon? Turns out it was a Grand Canyon Science Center for people studying about the history and origin of the Canyon. We went back the way we came and noticed a visitors center. Stopped in for directions. Another hour and a half drive, apparently. Thanks GPS. The rest of the drive was very scenic, thank god. I would've been so pissed if not. We caught sight of a hotel and got a room. The hotel's restaruant didn't open till 6, but because our phones didn't recognize the time zone change, there was a big mix up about times. We ate and set sail for the Grand Canyon. Again, very scenic drive. We arrive ony to find out that there is a $25 charge, per car, for a 7 day minimum pass. Cheap bastards. Always a way to make money. The canyon was breathtaking. We saw some people standing where there weren't any railings. We found out how to get there and went. It signified out freedom and independence. There was no one to tell us where to stand or what to look at, truely beautiful. Back to the hotel.

Day 9:
Rags to riches...
This morning we woke up at 4:30 AM to go to the Grand Canyon and watch the sunrise. It was an unbelievable experience. We found our way to a different peak then the night before. It was smaller which made it more exciting and free. I layed down on the edge with my head practically hanging off the edge. I layed there and just reflected on everything. We were so free. After experiencing all of this, we set off for the hotel once more to nap for a couple hours and pack. Now we set sail for Las Vegas. While driving, we realized we needed another oil change. After we found our hotel and a pizza place to chill, we came to the realization that it was also a bar. There were some interesting characters inside. A woman sitting at the bar was singing like she was in the shower, neglecting the existence of others. The DJ was a novice. He tried his best to scratch a record. FAILED. Our pizza was ready. We ate it at one of the booths near the bar. The bartender asked us for our ID's, we responded with " Can't we just eat our pizza." So when we finished eating, we left the bar and went to get the car. We checked into our hotel. Because Mr. Verruto booked it for us, and he's a platinum member, we got some perks. When we got into our room, I was ecstatic. To think that in the last week we slept in beds for only 2 nights, and now we're experiencing luxury like this. We got settled in and started to roam the room. We found a rubber duckie in the bathroom, mini bar under the TV, and a golden bible in a drawer. We stopped by the pool a little later to see if anyone our age was present at the hotel. Nothing was really going on. We jumped in a couple times and made conversation with the cute girl working the bar. Her shift was over so she went home. We receded back to our room to get ready for the night out on the strip. We all showered and got dressed for the adventure. We realized that we all instinctively got changed into jeans and a beater. I noticed it and stated " Is this too.... Boys II Men?" We laughed and Grubb put on a T-shirt. The night really took off. We met a bunch of interesting people. We interacted with a couple homeless people, a rap artist that was interested in giving us the rights to his music for our films, a 7 foot tall man in a fast food joint preaching about freedom of speech, and a group of prostitutes just tryin to get "broke". They were all from many different backrounds and at many different parts of their lives. We were out on the strip from about 9:30 PM until about 3:30 AM, with only one stop back to the hotel for a relaxation period. Unfortunately, I cant go into specifics. As you know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Day 10:
The day after...
Today was very relaxed. It started up around 12:30 in the afternoon. We went into the Spa at the hotel. We signed in and the woman gave us keys to lockers. We shuffled into the spa, locked our valuables, hopped into our robes, and jumped into the sauna. Spent about a half hour in there, followed by the steam room. We then showered and got changed. We proceeded to our room to checkout of the hotel. Because Mr. Verutto was a platinum member, we had until 4 PM to checkout instead of the normal 11 AM. We hit the road road once again, we arrived in L.A. and got some food. We rounded the city to look for spots and filmed some establishing shots of the city. As we were making our way to the house where we are going to stay, we came across streets that were at 45 degree angles. Then, when we reached the top, the other side was about 60. Got to the houe, saw Andre. Now watching Entourage.

Day 11:
It's business, It's business time...
Woke up in L.A. Sat up in my sleeping bag and had an amazing view of the Hollywood sign. For breakfast, Andre took us out to a diner. We talked about what's happened so far on the trip and all that good stuff. We mocked Andre's motions while we all tapped glasses before we ate, the signature make eye contact and open up your eyes so the people across the street can see. We also mimicked the motion of pointing your index and middle fingers at someone, which apperently means they've heard the story before. Both of these were taught to us by him and since we haven't seen him in a while, we thought we would remind him of these motions. After we ate, we went to the counter to pay, and the waitress began to tell us about what TV shows were filmed in the diner. She then insisted on us taking a picture of the register. Not really sure why. After we finally got out of there, we went to meet up with Cameran Shayne, the creator of Budokon, a mixture of martial arts and yoga. He was a physical trainer and Courtney Cox and David Arquette came to him looking for something new. They'd done yoga and jujitzu, but they wanted something in between. He invented Budokon. Anyway, we met up with him so that we could share our techniques with each other. We stopped by his house where we had to take off our shoes before entering. There were no chairs, very cool. He showed us a training video of what we were about to get into. We walked to a park and stretched. I started filming it to document it all. Grubb said he would take the camera for a while, but 5 minutes later he handed it back to me. I was filming for about an hour and a half total and only got to train with him for a couple minutes. His wife joined us, very attractive, great work Cameran. We went back to their house and we gave them VX shirts. After that, Ernesto made us some Peurto Rican food. Delicious. To the end the night, we saw Hellboy 2. Back at the house, Entourage.

Day 12:
Living the life...
Woke up today after a couple hours of sleep and were forced out by the cleaning lady. Grubb fell back to sleep on the couch while Alex and I went on the back porch overlooking the Holywood sign and fell asleep on the chairs. We woke up a second time with Andre standing over us saying that it was time to go. We proceeded to clean up our spot in the living room and were out the door to brunch. We went to this little cafe and met up with an old friend of Andre's. He was another example of a person in the industry getting too carried away away with drugs and alcohol. He was telling us how it was breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him. Apperently he's now skipping it as his afternoon snack. After we ate, we went to the market to get some dessert to bring to the BBQ later in the day. We eventually found this small bakery in a strip mall, and bought a cake that looked delicious. Even though we just ate, we went to the BBQ. It took us a while to find the house because on Andre's GPS, her house didn't exist. When we arrived, we stopped inside and dropped off the cake. It was placed in the fridge and we left to find a place to interview Andre. We drove around for a while with no luck. We returned to the house and did the interview in the backyard under a cool looking tree. After that, we ate, then napped. We woke up and said bye to everyone. We realized we could give some shirts out. We went to the car and put the shirts inside. We also both grabbed pieces of cake. We didn't tell Andre or Grubb about it until a couple of hours later. They were pissed that we didnt bring any out for them. We went to the beach and relaxed for a while before hitting up another party. We promoted like crazy, and the focus of the party seemed to be on us throughout the entire time we were there. We made new connections with interesting people. After the party was when Andre freaked out about the cake. Back to the house.

Day 13:
Leaving Los Angeles...
Our last day in L.A. It started off with a lunch with Andre and Ernesto. We went to this place that had opened two weeks prior, but somehow had "world famous sloppy joe." It's amazing that you can be named anything world famous in only 2 weeks. Anyway, the food was good, but it was pretty hot where we were sitting. Ernesto was obviously upset that we were leaving. He was talking more than usual and kept trying to make us laugh. After we ate, Ernesto showed us how to get inside the LA. river to film the notorious graffiti. We explored the river while Andre drove Ernesto home. As we approached the water, we began to smell feces. It truely smelled awful. Then we noticed some graf on some of the pillars. We filmed the pieces and started walking the side of the river. As we peered downstream, we noticed people in the water. I, jokingly, said " They're bathing in the water." Strangely enough, there was a family bathing in the dirty, dirty water. As we get closer I began to realize one of the girls is not wearing a shirt, or bra. We passed them twice. We went to the other side to get more graf and Alex had to poop. As we were filming, I was picking up caps for spray cans that the writers left. Alex pooped and used a shirt to wipe. We then realized that the shirt had already been used for the same reason. Gross. We finished up there. Drove around more and eventually left L.A., but not after Andre gave us all $100 each. Thanks Andre, we don't have to eat fast food all day now. He offered to pay my ticket, but I refused. It really is my responsibility. Now we were on our way to Yosemite National Park. Home of half dome and el captain. Alex said he would be cool to drive, and made it pretty far. Grubb offered to take over, and he actually didn't have his regular license on him, his temp. expired. He was winding around all the turns. When we parked, I turned off the lights.

Day 14:
Back to the wild...
We woke up with a deer next to the car. We had entered the park when it was closed, so we would have to pay tonight when we left. We cruised until we found parking. The views were amazing and each corner held a new destination. We took the shuttle bus to the most interesting trail. We trecked it until we came to a waterfall. The cameras were getting wet from the mist, so we made sure to get what we could before the lenses got wet. We moved on and hiked for a while longer. We came to another waterfall. We decided to jump around a little. We left the cameras on a rock off of the trail and jumped around on the crazy rocks. This was a cool experience because I never parkoured on an obstical with so much potential and so many different ways of getting around it. We filmed Grubb a little, but it looked weird because he was somewhat off balanced at times. Then we decided to climb the rock right beside the waterfall. We got a couple of usable shots before going swimming. We wandered down to where the waterfall calmed. Alex and Grubb jumped in first while I took a pic, then I hopped in. The water was cold. We climbed out, and Grubb took the camera to take back to the bags, and then he slipped. The camera hit the ground. We looked at it, but the only broken part was the shutter thing on the lens. I fixed it temperarily with some toothpics. Unfortunately, one of them came loose so I had to fix it again, it's a foreshadow of what is to come. We then filmed our interviews and started the 5 mile hike back to civilization. About 3 miles into it, the rain started. It was just a drizzle at first, but it soon turned into a downpour. We jogged the rest of the way only to be crammed into a bus full of wet people, just like sardines as the busdriver was saying. Now it was off to San Fran. We stopped at an In and Out Burger, and had some kind of experience. When we got into San Fran. We had fun finding the place. Until tomorrow......

Day 15:
Reuniting with a friend...
Today we woke up and cleaned up our sleeping arrangements. We drove out to the other side of the city and picked up Cas from his Aunt's house. We pulled up as he walked out, his eyes lit up. He was thrilled to see us. He mentioned that he tried to meet people out here, but where he was staying was a largely Mexican population. Therefore, he was having trouble communicating with them. We went to a Cafe and got breakfast. We were laughing like we were back in Abington again. From there, we went to a handrail that Cas spotted while he was here. He tried to boardslide it for a while. Close, but no cigar. We moved on. Got a couple more shots throughout the day. We parked at a meter, but you only got 6 minutes for ever quarter you put it. Very expensive for those who pick up change off the ground like us. We jumped around on a very interesting looking fountain. We then found our way to a local skate shop where Cas got his trucks re-threaded. We got directions to some local spots while inside. After we skated those spots, we moved on and left for our house. It took about a half an hour to find a spot to park. We got inside, ate, and relaxed. Cas had to be home by 10:00 PM. So, around 10:15, we left to drive him to his Aunt's. We dropped him off and said goodbye until tomorrow. When I was driving home, Alex and Grubb fell asleep. I then spent about an hour looking for a spot. Finally, I came upon a spot that was just big enough for the van. After we parked, we rolled up the windows. Failed. The passenger window was going up crooked. We tried to push and pull it back into place. Failed. We called in reinforcements and a tow truck eventually showed up. While we waited, Grubb called Tee, Alex called Marina, and I stayed warm in the car and reflected about the trip. The guy in the tow truck tried his best to fix the window. He got it pretty close, but said we need to get to a repair shop. We locked it up, now we're back at the house. Until Tomorrow...

Day 16:
Grubb's B-Day...
We woke up and got Cas from his Aunt's house. From there, we went to the nearest auto body shop to get the window fixed. The guy seemed really cool and he said that for some reason they get a lot of extreme sports athletes at the shop. He mentioned some pro skaters. We didn't stay too long to talk, we had filming to do. We walked the streets and found spots on the trek. One by one, we knocked out the remaining necessary shots. Along the way, we found a couple graffiti spots that were worth filming. Eventually, as we were on our last shot, Alex's phone rang. It was the guy from the shop. Our car was ready. They said that the window was up, but not functioning. They also figured out how to open our back hatch with a screwdriver. For only those two things, they charged us $240. This is another example of a mechanic ripping off a customer. Unfortunately, after the confusing walk back to the mechanics, we were still left with a window that wouldn't go down. We thought that this would be the end of the day for us. But Becca, Alex's cousin who was housing us in SF, knew a professional photographer who was interested in doing a photo shoot with us. We found ourselves on the top of a roof jumping from one building to another while the owners of the houses were probably away from home. After we filmed our stuntwork, it was time for the photographer to show his stuff. He didn't have his strobes, so we just used our floodlights. He wanted to take a couple portraits of us for his portfolio. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't the best that it could be. We ended up getting a couple mediocre shots and then getting pizza. We payed $45 for 2 large pizzas, not including the tip. We finished the pizza and went outside. For Grubb's b-day, he bought gifts from a store called "puff, puff, pass" on Haight street. We rescheduled our photoshoot for tomorrow.

Day 17:
The art...
Today was dedicated mainly to the graf in San Fran. While we have been driving around looking for skate spots, we've noticed more than enough graffiti to represent San Fran. So, after we woke up, we got Cas and started roaming. We found a bunch of what looked like legal walls. There were mostly full blown mural productions. One in particular had an Egyptian Theme with pharoahs, the Sphinx, and the pyramids. When we got there, there were two guys sitting on a car smoking weed. We acknowledged them and they did us. After we filmed it, we left. About 10 or 15 minutes later we passed the spot again and the guys smoking weed earlier were now finishing up the production. We went up and talked to them. Strangely enough, after getting to know their backgrounds, one of them said that they knew Alex's brother, who is a graffiti artist born in PA now living in Florida. Turns out we were talking to King 157 himself. It's such a small world. After about 10 minutes of talking, we left and gave them VX shirts. It was about the time that we planned the photoshooot with Brad. We called him and asked for his address. Alex and I left to pick up his equipment along with him. Becca told us that we could use the same roof as last night, so Alex dropped me and Brad off. We carried all of the equipment up three flights of very narrow stairs. After we got the last of it on the roof, we started setting up the lights. We made sure to be very quiet while on the other roofs, but one guy heard us. He came out cursing, saying "I Don't Give A F--k" to everything we said. He eventually said he was calling the police. We scurried back down the stairs with the equipment. So we guessed we needed a new location. Becca found another roof. We went up to the new spot to scope it before we lugged everything up. It was no good. There was no skyline view. We then ended up back at Becca's house, taking the photo in her backyard. We smoked cigars, then drove Brad and Cas home. On the drive, we saw a midget and a guy running for his life.

Day 18:
The twelve hour drive...
We awoke in Becca's house with a very long journey ahead of us. Our GPS said that it would be a twelve hour drive from San Francisco to Seattle. We needed to move our car before 10 due to two hour parking starting at 8, so we figured that we would just leave for Seattle then. Grubb offered to start driving as always. We drove for two hours and then I fell asleep. I woke up about two hours later to Grubb saying he was too tired to drive. I took over thinking only or a couple hours. I'm so naive. After we passed into Oregon, I realized we needed gas. Almost as routinely as going to the bathroom, I pulled into a gas station, walked up to the pump, and started pumping gas. I was awakened from my daze by a man saying, "You're in Oregon". I was very confused. Apparently, you can't pump your own gas in Oregon. He threatened us with the thought of getting ticketed. We let him finish pumping our gas while we used the bathroom. We stopped and got $5 footlongs and starred at the girls that worked there. Back on the road. We decided to go to the house that we were staying at and just crash rather than seeing the city. We're staying with the most random person. While in Yosemite National Park, we ran into Grubb's cousin and some of her friends who were taking a roadtrip as well, but they were going the opposite direction. She said that she stayed with a friend in Seattle for a couple days and he was cool about it. She gave us this contact information, and we got a hold of him. He was fine with us crashing at his place. We eventually pull up to his place and Lassie starts running around our car. It was a gorgeous dog and we assumed it was his since it followed us into the house. We brought our stuff inside and got to know him. He writes graf, sells drugs, and apparently doesn't own a dog. He found the dog earlier and it had been following him around all day. He made us some food, smoked some cigars, then we crashed.

Day 19:
The twelve hour footy day...
Coming into Seattle, we were a little stressed because we only had two days to get 15 shots with only three of us, instead of having three days and four guys like in SF. Although time was against us, we had to get it done. As we pulled into the city around 10 o'clock, we saw a bunch of spots right away. We came to this one building that was closed because it was Saturday. We figured that we could get 2 of the parkour shots done because there was so much potential. We ended up getting three of the five parkour shots there. We rolled down the street to another spot where we got kicked out. It was a post office, so they kicked us out very quickly. We went next door to a public storage building, but eventually had the same result, we got kicked out. But this time we realized that the place closed in 10 minutes. Therefore, we went to another spot and banged out a bunch of break shots. When we got back to the spot, Grubb dropped us off and went to get ice, water, and mustad. Don't ask...Alex started to warm up as I thought of angles to shoot his tricks. He eventually came to me and said that he wouldn't be able to land his ideas. We figured that we would just wait for Grubb to get back to see what he thinks. He returned and we ate some food and pondered. We eventually banged out the rest of the skate shots. All that was left was one parkour shot and one break shot. We drove to this pier and Alex got both of them. While he was getting the dance shot, there were people watching. One called down and asked what we were doing. We gave him the same old schpeil. Hearing this, another guy called down and said, "If you need a rapper in the movie, I'll get down on it." We were immediately interested because we always need so much music for films. We told him to come down and spit something for us. It was alright. We exchanged info. We got food and were thinking of seeing a movie. Theaters were closed. Grubb drove home. Alex and I fell asleep. I wonder if he did what I did last night; speed at about 110 MPH. When I hit 108, I saw lights. The cop passed me. The guys were asleep and I didn't tell them about it. I guess they'll find out when they read this.

Day 20:
Not another one...
We woke up today with one goal, to capture as much of the local graf as possible. When we got up, we asked our hosts if they knew where any spots for graf were. They had a couple good suggestions, but we didn't know Seattle that well, so we kinda needed a map. Sure enough, they pulled out a map of Seattle. Although it was pretty outdated, it had all we needed on it. From there we went to one of the spots that they suggested. As we arrived at the certain area, we noticed that it wasn't looking to promising. It just wasn't the normal, graffiti covered, neighborhood. After we drove around the area for another 10 minutes, we moved on. We stopped by a local freight yard to see if we could catch anything. Fortunately, there was a line with some boxcars. We walked the line and flicked the pieces that were worth it. We called Tyler up to see how he was doing. He told us how is skating has been. He also gave us an update on the graffiti in the Tri-State area. Seeing graf all around the U.S., it was interesting to hear what was going on in our area. After the yard, we were very hungry, so we stopped to get some food. After we ate, we decided to go a little outside the city so that we could drive into the city and see the skyline lit up. As we went outside the populated area, we found another train yard. While I was turning around, we caught sight of a skatepark in the making. It was almost like FDR in Philly. It was well developed and had a lot of potential. We flicked the graf and headed back to the city. We filmed the skyline and then saw a movie, The Dark Knight. It was very good. By far one of my new Top 10 films. The acting was stellar, especially Heath Ledger, Rest In Peace. After we saw the movie, I started driving home. I guess I lost focus on the speedometer because I got pulled over. I was going more than enough over the speed limit.

Day 21:
To Yellowstone...
After Seattle, we have a slight rest before before our last three-city push. It's mostly because of the large distance between Seattle and Minneapolis. Its going to be about a 24 hour stretch of straight driving. Therefore, we're gonna make a couple of stops to ease the pain of the long drive. Our first stop is going to be Yellowstone National Park. We are bound to see some amazing things. So, when we woke up, we thanked our hosts for everything they did for us and we gave them VX shirts to rock. They told us a good place to get some breakfast, a bagel spot down the street. We went to eat, when Grubb realized that he left his phone charger at the house. We stopped back once more and we were on our way. Grubb started driving, as usual. He made it about 4 hours before he needed to switch with someone. Alex took over. We realized that we were both hungry and in need of gas. We took the first exit that we saw and came to the gas station. We spotted an attractive girl and asked her where the closest pizza shop was, she was kind of a b---h. She just pointed us down the street. We started down the road and noticed a couple of girls on the street. We looped back to make noise and see what was up. Turns out that they were having a cheerleading practice and there weren't only four attractive girls, there were about 20. We were listening to "Sexy Lady" with the windows down as we passed. We were gonna say what's up, but the instructors were guys and we've annoyed cheerleading instructors before, and they're all a--holes. After we were obnoxious and loud, hunger hit us again. We noticed a couple pizza places on the street. We debated about which one sounded better. When we finally chose one, we parked, walked up, and walked back to the car. Closed on Monday's?! We went to the other one, also closed. What's with this town? We settled for some fast food.The fast food chains that are based on the west coast don't cook the food until someone orders it. That means that you aren't eating meat that has been sitting in a drawer for multiple hours. Our first experience with this type of chain was In n Out Burger. This time we stopped at a Zips. We ordered and ate it in the car. Back on the road. Alex drove for another couple hours, then we stopped at a rest area. It was my turn. Alex fell asleep in the back while Grubb smoked in the front seat (one of his cancer sticks). After he was done, he fell asleep. Now it was just me, awake, on another post-midnight shift. Grubb drifted in and out with the iPod. I would hear a song or two, then there would be about 10 or 15 minutes of silence. Then he would wake up and repeat. Eventually he completely passed out and I confiscated the iPod. This is where I started getting tired, with more than 3 more hours of driving ahead of me. Struggle. I started listening to songs that I know all of the words to so that I could sing and stay awake. Eventually my mind started f--king with me. I started seeing s--t that wasn't really there. Fortunately, I was able to stay awake for the entire drive. I pulled up to the gate of Yellowstone and we decided to sleep outside of the park so we could get breakfast in the morning. We parked on the side of the road where there was a guard rail made of logs on one side. We went and sat on the guard thingy and smoked cigars. We slept in the car, in our sleeping bags.

Day 22:
Coming of age...
We woke up to workers sawing down the guard rail thingy. I guess we were the last ones to use it. It was a pretty good send off if I've ever seen one. We eventually made our way to the local diner to consume some food. To our delight, we got the most attractive waitress that worked there. We were all flirting back and forth as she served us. We asked her about the park to see what the coolest part of it all was. She recommended the hot springs. When we left, we took her advice. En route to the spot, there was a traffic jam. A wild bison was strolling in front of the cars, just foreshadowing the rest of the day. We saw some sulfur deposits and hot springs and were fascinated by all of the sights and sounds of the park. We spotted a couple deer while driving. As we were leaving, we caught sight of what looked like snow on one of the mountain peaks. We explored and found it. We climbed to the top and chilled on the snow. We interviewed each other. I talked about the environment and how we need to do something to stop polution and prevent global warming. We went back to the car and were on our way out of the park. We began to drive out, when traffic stopped. There was a heard of bison walking across the road and blocking traffic. There were a lot of them. Probably fifty to seventy five of them. We eventually got passed and were officially on our way to Mt. Rushmore. After a couple hours of driving, we passed a freight yard. We stopped to get some flicks. Got kicked out by a worker, so I pooped in a boxcar. After that, it started to rain. Thunderstorms are totally different than back in Philly. Out here the lightning is unbelievable. While Grubb was driving, we hit a wall of rain. He was going about 70 and couldn't see ten feet in front of him. We slowed down and eventually stopped to stretch. We were in the middle of nowhere. It soon stopped raining. Not a single car other than ours was on the road. We actually did 20 push ups each in the middle of the highway. Got close and slept in the car.

Day 23:
Back to civil living...
We woke up only ten minutes away from Mount Rushmore. Grubb drove there. We slept in an interesting spot, between an 18 wheeler and a small shack. Grubb parallel parked it, very humorous. We approached Mount Rushmore. Some said it was too small and that they expected more. As we pulled close, it was unbelievable. We payed the ten bucks to park and approached the entrance. We tried our best to soak it all in and really admire the art and what it represents, while trying to avoid the overweight Americans trying to get a picture with Rushmore in the background. After we saw the sight, we were off. We passed a lake and since we haven't showered in a couple days, we figured that we would jump in. We heard a big splash followed by an, "Oh my God, that kid jumped!" We looked around and saw this big rock where people were cliff jumping. We jumped in a couple times and promoted to some locals. After we were done, we got in the car and left due to a thunderstorm that rolled in. We were back on the old dusty trail. While in the car, we were talking about what food we all craved. After a couple good ones, I suggested an old favorite, grilled cheese. We now had a new mission, to get to a diner and get a grilled cheese. The day turned to night and we decide to use our GPS to find a diner. Willy's Diner sounded good and it was relatively close. We made the journey to the location and found out that it doesn't exist. We drove around and saw two girls in the street, so we asked them about the diner. They had never heard of it. We talked, a third girl came and things got interesting, We promoted the ish out of VX to them. It was such a small town that they only have one police officer. We kept talking and eventually Alex got with one of them. The other two weren't feeling it. They got picked up. Back to the mission: grilled cheese. We looked up a couple more diners and called each one, all closed. Therefore, we made the rest of the drive on just the food in the car. We arrived at our host's house around 2 AM. The doors were locked. We slept in the car, in their driveway.

Day 24:
Back to the action...
There has been a couple day break since our last day of filming our stuntwork. This will be a pretty difficult challenge due to our lack of rest. We woke up today just like every other time we slept in the car, with someone tapping on the window. But this time we weren't getting kicked out of an area. This time, it was the most welcoming wake-up ever. Our host came down, tapped on our window and spoke to us like an angel, "Hey, do you guys want to come upstairs? You can come in and shower or eat or sleep in a bed if you'd like." You best believe that we practically sprinted up those stairs. The family welcomed us with bagels and cream cheese. We talked as we ate and got to know what they were really about. Then we took them up on their shower offer. I went first. It was so refreshing after not showering for about 5 or 6 days. When I got out, I looked for the guys only to find them in an enormous TV room on a gigantic couch dozing off. Grubb got in the shower next. I sat on the couch and realized why they were dozing off. Alex showered last and then we were on our way to roam the city. We found this industrial area that had a lot of potential. We took care of a bunch of shots that we needed. We went from spot to spot and knocked out all the parkour and break. We'll get the last of the skate shots tomorrow. We went back to the house to wash up. We jumped in the pool and ate dinner, twice. We ate Mcdonald's on the way home and they offered an actual meal. We couldn't say no. Our host's son showed us some places downtown. Not very exciting. Then we hung out with an old, old, friend. When I was in 7th grade I "dated" this girl. We did the whole cliche, go to the movies and kiss at the end thing. At that time, that was a big deal. Anyway, while we were "dating", she moved out to Minneapolis. We talked still but at 13 it's hard to do a relationship, let alone with 1000 miles between you. So, we got a hold of her. Grubb grew up with her, so he was taking control of the situation. We went over, chilled, had fun. Grubb got with her and unfortunately her friends never came. Alex and I were disappointed.

Day 25:
What's next?...
I woke up on her couch sweating. She was getting ready for work and the guys weren't fully awake yet. She said bye to Alex and I. Grubb drove her to work. Alex and I slept for another couple minutes waiting for Grubb to get back. Woke up a second time and we leave. It was raining, which meant that we couldn't get the skate shots. We were bummed, but we needed to flick some graf before we left for Chicago. We went to a couple spots and did what we needed to do. From there, we went to the house that we should've stayed at. Our hosts were slightly confused as to why we never slept at their house while staying with them. We walked down to the basement to find their son playing Call Of Duty 4 on a humungous screen. We talked, Grubb played a little, and then we went upstairs. We used their sauna and then showered. It was so refreshing. We did some interviews and then it was off to Chi-town. I started driving, take that Grubb. I drove for a while and Alex and Grubb fell asleep. I started getting hungry and tired. I listened to music until they woke up. I suggested food and they got excited. Then it came to me. The f--king grilled cheese. GPS'ed a diner and got there as fast as possible. Moes's Diner, Almost World Famous. Ate the grilled cheese and drank our chocolate milk. We were so happy. I kept driving and eventually we were getting close. We pulled into view of the skyline, beautiful. Drove across the city, made our way to the house of Andre's friend. As we pulled up, I noticed that the neighborhood wasn't so welcoming. We rang the buzzer and she let us in. The place is a lot bigger than it looks. She is giving us full range on her basement. We are also able to do our laundry, which we haven't done since LA. It really blew me away. Now we're about to crash. Only two people can fit on the couch. Struggle.

Day 26:
Back on the Grind...
We woke up today at around 11. We got a lot of sleep. We eventually got up and out the door, only after we ate some bagels. Our first stop was FedEx. We heard that FedEx Kinko's scans their boxes and it has the possibility of completely wiping our tapes. Therefore, we use Federal Express, which is where the major shipping headquarters are. This way, as we are told, if we go to the source of the shipping, they won't scan it. So, we put it into our GPS and it said that it would take about an hour to get there. We were on our way, then we hit some traffic. We sat in the car for 2 hours before we hit the FedEx. We sent our tapes home and we were hungry. We stopped at McDonald's once more! Then it was time to jump around. We made the drive back to the city and found a great skate spot. Alex did a 50-50 and we were back to the searching. Our filming day pretty much consists of us searching for spots. We'll drive around until we see a spot for any of our extreme sports. We'll find a place to park legally, or illegally, and bang out the shots we need before we get kicked out. Then we move on to the next spot. So, back to today. We found a high school with some crazy railings. I got 2 parkour shots and Grubb got 1. I did a very big drop multiple times. I tweaked my knee a little bit, which may have affected my MCL, which I pulled before the trip. This is the first time that it has bothered me since I finished my physical therapy. We went to McDonald's again, unfortunately. We returned home after we ate, only to find our hosts about to cook some burgers themselves. Only if we held out until we got home. They offered us some and we couldn't deny it. We went downstairs and did some interviews until they called us up. We went upstairs and ate some turkey burgers with other delicious and healthy treats. We talked over food and eventually went back down. We watched Click and some of Talladega Knights. I finally watched SportsCenter. First time this trip.

Day 27:
Promotion, Promotion, Promotion...
Although it was scheduled to be an intensely action packed filming day, we ended up doing the most promotion this trip. We started our day with our host making us pumpkin waffles and sausages. They were amazing. From the house, we went to the skatepark that she suggested. When we got there, there were only a couple other kids skating. Alex got a manual and then wanted to 180 out. It took him a while, but eventually we got it. I was sitting on the fence for about an hour and a half or 2 hours filming it. My legs were numb and it exhausted me. Grubb stuck an Indy. Then the promotion began. We gave all of the skaters shirts and postcards and got pictures of them rocking the gear. While talking to one of the parents, he asked if we wrote. He practices writing while his kid skates and wanted to know if we needed help finding local spots. We exchanged numbers and look forward to meeting up with him. From the park we wet to Subway, but as we approached it, we saw heaven. White Castle. We got about 20 burgers and 4 fries. Then Grubb's leg cramped up in the middle of a story he was telling. We came home to rest before we finished the shots. Grubb passed out while Alex and I watched Hook. We then finished the necessary shots and went back home to shower and rest once more. We all showered and got clean. We were deciding what to do for the night and we settled on going to the movies. We parked at a meter since they don't use them on Sundays. We walked to the theater, only a block. We approached the ticket counter and got tickets for Wanted. We thought that was the only movie we were going to see tonight. We were wrong. The movie didn't start for another hour so we went into a Batman showing. We watched the first half hour or so. Because we already saw it, we had no problem walking out and going into the movie that we paid for. We watched Wanted and were pretty impressed. I definitely liked it. When it was over, we went back into the same Batman theater. We watched the end. Then we went into another Batman theater and watched the middle. Home.

Day 28:
Close Encounters...
Today we woke up around 11 and left our housing for the last time. We left our keys on the counter and were on our way. Today's mission was to capture the cities' culture and graffiti. We were thinking of meeting up with Dwel, the local artist, and have him show us around. Our schedules conflicted. We were forced to wander the city without the eyes of a native. Since Chicago wanted to stop graffiti in the city, it is illegal to sell or purchase spray paint inside city limits. This also makes it difficult to find any good productions in the city. We were on the highway, we saw an old factory that was plastered with graf. We stopped and found a way into the property. We flicked a couple things around the factory. We approached the major building and I saw a door. There had to be some crazy s--t inside. On the first floor, it was mostly tags and throwups. I saw some stairs. We started going up them. Then things started getting crazy. We realized that the staircase wasn't entirely there. It was pretty much a fire escape without the landings after each set of stairs. This means that we could walk up a flight of stairs and then walk on the iron bars that remained there to get to the next set of stairs. We made it up a couple stories and realized that if we were to fall, we would fall down 5 stories and probably die. We were trying to decide whether we should go up more to see the graf, or if we should just get more stuff outside. As we were deliberating, we heard a noise. Footsteps above us. I looked up and saw a guy coming down the broken down stairs. I signaled to Alex to get the f--k down. He may have been a writer or a lunatic hiding from the cops. We bounced and got back to the car. On to Colombus. Grubb drove to start. He got pulled over and got his first ticket. He was really upset and called his Mom. She was pissed. We ate at a buffet and Alex drove the rest of the way. We arrived at Niko's Aunt's house and gave them a rundown of the trip so far.

Day 29:
Send in the Reinforcements...
This is the last day that we have to get action footage. Our last city and our last big push. We woke up to Niko and our hosts making breakfast for us. They wanted us to go to the lake before we went into the city, but we didn't have the time. It was on to our last day of hardcore filming, and it helped to have Niko skating with us. We scoped a couple spots before we parked. Our first find was a museum. Not the best idea. We got kicked out. We moved across the street, same result. We moved on, found a 5 stair, Niko hardflipped it. By far the best skate trick so far. Then we went to a spot that we figured could take care of most of our shots. We parked and walked to the spot . We jumped around and took care of about half of the shots. Then we got thirsty and our tape ran out. Niko and Grubb went to the car with the intentions of dropping off a new tape and then driving to get drinks. Alex waited on the street for a while until he saw them finally pull out of the parking lot. As he waited for them to turn left and drop off the tape, they turned right to go to the supermarket to get the water. They forgot about the tapes. They called us and said that they were turning back around. Alex and I, in the meantime, got a couple more shots with the still camera. We waited and waited. Niko came down with a tape and then they went back to the store. We moved to another spot and waited for them to get back. Another long wait. We saw a squirrel lying down. Never before had I ever seen a squirrel not on its 4 legs or perched on its back legs. This squirrel was laying on its stomach. We got a couple good pictures of it and tried to get close to it. It ran away and then Niko walked down the steps with a gallon of water. Our savior. Grubb followed with a cooler full of food. Our other savior. We got the last shots and went back home to eat. We drove past a park with music, moonbounces, and fun. We got to the house and our hosts were on the way to the park. We joined them, jammed, and got promotional frisbees. That night, we ended up on the back porch of the house smoking cigars with Niko's grandmom. Interesting.

Day 30:
The Last Stretch...
Our last day, in our last city. We woke up and said goodbyes. I told Niko's Aunt that we'll stop by next time we're in Ohio. Holler? We were on our way, we just had to find some graf. I went to a spot that we bookmarked on our GPS yesterday. We flicked the pieces. We wandered a little bit to where we remembered seeing a freight line. I drove practically right up to it. We approached the line, but saw a wall that was coated with graf. Some pretty good stuff. We eventually began the drive to Niagara Falls. I drove the whole way. We stopped for gas once and spent time looking for skate parks. We mapped out a skatepark in Alcron, Ohio before we left for the trip. We followed the directions to the address. We were in the city, downtown, with no skatepark in sight. We stopped the car and asked a guy on the street if he knew where the skatepark was. He said that he never heard of a skatepark in the city of Alcron. We asked another person on the street if they knew. He said that there was one a couple cities away. We noticed that it would make us backtrack our route so we decided to just move on. We drove on and saw a skatepark off of the highway a couple hours later. We took the first exit we saw and eventually found it. It was closed. We were slightly confused because the sun was still up and the sign said it was open from 8 AM til Dusk. Some of the ramps were wet, so that might have something to do with it. We got back on the highway and continued the long drive. We finally got to the city of Niagara, New York. We stopped in a parking lot to see where we should sleep for the night. We decided to get some food and saw this girl with one of the fattest behinds we've ever seen. We jammed out with cigars and music until we fell asleep.

Day 31:
Only the beginning...
We woke up today at Niagara Falls. When we all got out of the car, we stretched and washed our faces. We then went into the state park and proceeded to the Falls. Grubb has been there before, but I haven't, so he did his "I know everything about this place" talk. As we made the journey to the water, the anticipation built up. Finally, we saw the American Falls. It was truly amazing. Although it was cool, it was nothing like the Grand Canyon. Niagara Falls was way too loud, while the Grand Canyon is so peaceful. Niko's Mom told us that for some reason, you are more happy at Niagara Falls than any other place (something about electrons). Niko found a hat. He climbed over the railing at the falls to get it. He also made up an accent? I didn't think it was possible to make up an accent...check it off the list. After the Falls, we started on the last long drive. The last moments on the road. We made a stop in Ithaca, NY. We knew of a skatepark in the town that we hit up before. We got there and I cleared out the van while the guys got some shots. It started to rain as Niko was skating. Grubb met some locals who were smoking out of a straw? Weird. We got Niko's shots and started to head out. Now is the last of it. We slowly rolled into PA. It was the first time that we were in Pennsylvania in a month. It was a weird feeling and I don't know what I thought of the idea of being home. I was torn. As we approached Abington, we started noticing that we knew just where we were. When we rolled into Lancer's Diner, it hit me. I was home. As Wastle's van pulled in I couldn't help but jump around. We all finally reunited. We went inside and told some stories and caught up with what we missed while on the trip. It's been a fun trip, but it's only the beginning.

Recap:
I've grown alot on this trip. I've experienced the worst of the worst and the best of the best. To do this at my age, with 2 of my best friends and not have to deal with the Abington bulls--t, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life, so far. This is only the beginning of the road. Hop, Drop, and Roll is just the 2nd of many trips and experiences that VentilationX will take part in. We plan to do everything that we dream of. Find something you love to do, and then find someone to pay you for it. We want to become more than just who we are now. This means taking over in every outlet. Back to the trip. We now need to take the one of a kind footage that we've captured and create a masterpiece. It will blow XYZ out of the water. We truly captured the people behind the action sports. Until next time, I need to catch up on some sleep. Keep watching...