Between my sophomore and junior year I spent a summer in Colorado and most of my freetime hanging out with my cousin. He was and still is crazier and testing limits way more than I ever have. He had a barbell that passed through his lower lip. When he talked about having piercings and when I looked at his piercings I always wondered, "could I do that?". Could I push that piece of metal through my lip? I had to know. So I did it. I kept in for three days and really decided that the pierced lip look was not my look and the irritation that was involved wasn't worth it. As I was pushing at absolute full speed, pretty much exhausted with only 20 miles of our entire trip left to go but the light fading fast I realized this was somewhat of the same thing. I HAD to know if I could do it. I had to know if I could ride my skateboard across Washington. So I did it.

After our trek up Stephens Pass we slipped and slid our way down the other side. I probably did more sliding on my longboard on that pass than the rest of my life combined. Every turn was a speedcheck for 7 miles. It was super fun though. When the sun left us to ourselves we began looking for a campsite. There was a sign for a campsite off the highway and we started off for it. When we found out that it was 2 miles up the road we opted to camp just off the road in a little clearing by the road looking over a river that ran by it. Perfect spot for sleeping.... and taking a crap apparently because in the morning we found toilet paper all over the place. It was disgusting. I climbed into bed and realized the last water I'd drank was at the top of Stephens Pass about four hours ago and we had no water with us. Too tired to do anything about it I decided to forget about it and sleep through it. My body had other ideas. At midnight I woke up dreadfully thirsty. I had to drink some water. I climbed out of my sleeping bag, walked the mile and a half to the campsite all the while trying to not let my mind transform the noises in the woods into cougars and bears. I filled my water bottle up with the big, squeaky, hand pump, drank a half-gallon and still felt thirsty. Then walked back to camp and dropped into peaceful sleep.

The next day we pounded out fifty miles. Finishing our trip in Everett, WA. Oh man it felt so good to be done. When we finished we just sat down on our longboards and panted. Then we recounted the awesome people who had helped us on our way. We definitely experienced the good in man on this trip. I'll be honest I would think long and hard before embarking on a journey like this again but now that it's done I look back and see all the awesome parts about it. Now I know I can do it.