March 21st, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 57 miles / 92km
Average speed / ????: 9.5mph / 15km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 04m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3678mi plus 280mi (?) / 5920km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N33° 24′ 29.16″, W112° 50′ 9.97″
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Thank you to C.R.I.S. Camera of Phoenix for going well beyond the call of duty and not only giving my camera repair utmost priority due to my ongoing travel arrangements, but also supplying me with a replacement camera to use while my camera is being fixed!
A special thanks to BJ Adams, the Sales and Marketing Director, for his help on this. He came into central Phoenix himself to hand me the replacement camera so that I would have it in time for leaving today.
When I first contacted C.R.I.S. Camera, I thought it was long shot. I had a feeling it would be one of those faceless high-walled corporations. But no, amazing customer support, with real people on the other end of the phone and computer screen. Thanks guys!
All the following photos for the next week or two of updates were taken on a dinky wee Kodak Digital Camera. I still missed my Canon G9, but it was great to at least be able to record the images from the road.
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Cookie cutter city development. Ever heard of that term? Michael Grifka and his mother were wonderful hosts over the last few days as I recuperated from the week or so of tough skating from El Paso to Phoenix. It was Micheal who used this term to refer to the massive malls and all-the-same landscaping of the newer neighbourhoods of Phoenix.
My image of Phoenix is wide footpaths, new shopping complexes, smooth roads, and beautiful desert inspired landscaping. All very nice, but I see what Micheal means. All stamped out of the same mold, so to speak.
It took the better part of half a day to get out of Phoenix, and I started skating on the shoulder of the I-10 freeway once I got to the outskirts. The freeway shoulder was open to bicycles, as it has been on major stretches in Texas and New Mexico where I had no option but to use the noisy character-less highway.
It wasn’t long however before a Highway Patrol Police Officer saw me and stopped to check things out.
He pulled up behind me. I stopped. He got out of the car and walked over to where I was standing off the shoulder of the road. I could tell he was wearing some sort of body armour under his shirt. Locals tell me that officers have been killed on this highway.
“So, ah, what are you doing?” the officer asks.
I give him the low-down. He looks at me sceptically, further acknowledging my feeling that the further on I get on this journey by skateboard, the less people believe that I have actually skateboarded all the way from Florida.
“You know, you’re not allowed to be on this freeway. This is a controlled access highway where only vehicles are allowed. A skateboard is not considered a vehicle” he replies.
I explain that to my knowledge, there is no other reasonable alternative if I am to skate to California. I also explain that Highway Patrol in other states have on numerous occasions allowed me skate on the shoulder of the freeway, acknowledging that I am doing it in a safe and controlled manner, especially considering my overall travel goals.
“I’m sorry, but to be on the highway on a skateboard is in violation of the law, and you’re going to have to find a different route,” the officer replied. “I’m not going to write you a ticket, but I am going to give you a warning.”
He writes out the warning and hands it to me. He then suggested an alternative route. A solid 40 miles or more out of my way, I have no option but to accept it. I need to get to Hemet in California, about 200 miles away, in 7 days. The Lowe Syndrome fundraiser where I am to be the Keynote speaker is on Saturday the 29th. With an extra 40 miles now to add to that distance, I can feel the pressure mounting.
By this time, it is the afternoon, and it is hot. Summer is coming, and I can feel it. Oppressive heat.
The wind and roads were kind today however, and by the end of the day, I had carved out 57 miles, and was still feeling good. I stopped in at the Tonopah Fire Department HQ to fill my water bottles at around 7pm, half an hour before sunset. Before I knew it, I was being given a tour of the facilities by the on duty fire personnel.
By the time we had finished, it was getting dark. “I don’t mean to put you guys on the spot, but I wonder if it would be OK if I camped on the fire department grounds tonight?” I asked them.
“That’s fine by me,” Captain Jerry said. “But you’re most welcome to crash inside the HQ if you want. We might have a callout during the night, and might end up waking you up, but you’re most welcome. We’re about to put a movie on if you want to watch. Relax in one of the recliners…”
So tonight I find myself clean (they let me use their shower), relaxed (they have some super comfy recliners there), and refreshed (got to watch a movie with the guys), and rested (they pulled out five or six blankets for me to sleep on in a quiet corner of the HQ). A massive thank you to the Tonopah Fire Department!
March 19th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 36 miles / 58km
Average speed / ????: 10.1mph / 16.3km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 3h 36m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3621mi plus 280mi (?) / 5827km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: not much
Descent / ??: lots
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a
Short blat into Phoenix today. Met up with Michael, a long time 14degrees Blog reader. Stoked. Staying with Michael and his mum. Jolly nice folk.
March 18th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 43 miles / 69km
Average speed / ????: 9.0mph / 14.5km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 46m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3584mi plus 280mi (?) / 5769km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: not much
Descent / ??: lots
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N33.22.49.9, W111.35.51.2
Brrr. Woke up this morning to a hard frost. And my tent was pitched in the shade of a rock. The tent would not dry…wet tent in my pack all day.
If you want a nice vintage railcar, by the way, you need to visit The Top of The World. One for sale there…
There was a big plus today however. All those vertical metres I climbed yesterday were to be descent metres today. If only there had been no traffic. Big loaded truck and trailers barreled down the narrow winding road all the way from the top of the pass between Globe and Superior, down to Superior.
I had to time my short downhill bursts well. Jump on the board once one line of traffic had passed, barrel down the hill for a few hundred meters, looking back to see if I would be caught up to by the trucks, before getting off the road again when I saw another line of vehicles coming.
The shoes held up well on the 6% grade long descent to Superior.
Once in Superior, it was a long climb back up Gonzales Pass. Bonus was that there was an under-construction road parallel to the old highway. Smooth and quiet it was. The workers cared not that I was using the new road. Happy times.
The other side of Gonzales Pass was the same. A nice gentle gradient all the way down to Florence Junction on super smooth brand new blacktop.
Once again, as soon as 1pm rolled around, the day heated up. By that time I was in Apache Junction, more or less at the beginning of the massive 70 mile wide urban sprawl that is the Phoenix area. I stopped in at a grocery store and bought chow mein noodles for lunch.
The rest of the day I spent pushing on towards the center of Phoenix. I got as far as Tempe before deciding to call it a day. From Apache Junction, I followed Baseline Road to Tempe. At the south of Tempe, this road is mostly rural/soon to be developed urban area. At the outskirts of Tempe is a large IMAX theatre with a large mall. It was still too light to set up camp in the large open area/field behind the mall, so I treated myself to a movie. Watched The Bank Job. Not as great as its hype promised, but still a good flick. The movie finished at 7pm. Dark enough to set up camp under a tree in the open field. Slept like a baby.
March 17th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 48 miles / 77km
Average speed / ????: 7.4mph / 11.9km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 26m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3541mi plus 280mi (?) / 5700km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 1120m
Descent / ??: 550m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N33.21.15.8, W110.58.48.2
Don’t be fooled. In this part of the country, anything over 4,000 feet (1,200m) is really high. Like Top of The World high, as the community on the top of the pass between Globe and Superior call it.
So today I continued through the San Carlos Indian Reservation dodging hail storms. Chilly, t’was. The photo below was the last photo I took today on my Canon G9 camera:
Soon after, I dropped the jolly thing. Onto the road. Clunk. Turned it on. By its own accord, the lens zoomed waaaaay out to its full extension, stopped, beeped at me, and shut off, giving the error message Lens error, please restart camera. Hmmm. Lens error. You don’t say. I tried to restart the camera, but the lens just stayed zoomed out. Not pretty. Not a happy chappy, I wasn’t.
No matter what I did, the camera didn’t return to normal. I spent the goo part of 30 minutes trying different things. In the end I gave up, despondent. I really quite like taking photos, as you may have noticed. So I was gutted.
I began skating, and tried to think of what to do. It’s a jolly good camera. At least, it was. And I hope it will be again. I visited the public library in Superior to see if I could find a camera repair outfit in Phoenix that might be able to fix the camera for me. In the end, I ended up shipping the camera ahead of me to C.R.I.S. Camera in Chandler, a city that makes up part of the great seething metropolis that is the Phoenix area. C.R.I.S. Camera was confident they could give me an idea of what will need to be done to make the camera useable again.
So it’s all up in the air until I hear back from the repair place. Until then, I am taking photos on a disposable film camera. That should be a laugh.
By the way, today I skated uphill more than I ever have before. 1120m, or about 4,800 feet, for those who are still fond of overly complex systems of measurement. That’s only 500m or so off the most I ever climbed on the bicycle (Amasra, Turkey). Madness.
I camped at the top of the world, and hoped it wouldn’t get too cold way up there…
March 16th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 48 miles / 77km
Average speed / ????: 7.5mph / 12.1km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 23m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3494mi plus 280mi (?) / 5623km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 215m
Descent / ??: 380m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N33.12.42.2, W110.12.34.9
Right ‘o then! No more of this hanging about lounging in hot springs! Time to get on the road.
I was totally stoked when I woke up at 5:50am this morning. Bright and early. When I woke up, the wind was blowing from the east. Very nice. A tailwind.
As Murphy’s Law would have it, however, the moment I got everything packed up and ready to go, the wind had turned around to a gusty westerly – right in my face. The story of my life here in Arizona, I thought, and pushed out onto the highway.
I stopped in at the Safford Walmart for supplies, and saw my mug on the front page of the local news paper (The Eastern Arizona Courier). Employees at the WalMart recognised me from the paper, and asked for my signature on their copies of the paper. Nicolette Gonzales from the WalMart McDonalds Restaurant called me over and treated me to a free breakfast. Thanks Nicolette!
The wind blew strong from the west all day. It wasn’t until 5pm that it died down. In between I passed through the San Carlos Indian Reservation town of Bylas. Litter and general social decay was the impression the town left on me.
Passed through the one-house large town of Geronimo too. Geronimoooooooooooo!
I set up camp as the light was fading in the west. In amongst nice daisy fields. Nicely nice.
March 15th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
The body is very communicative. When it talks to me, I try to listen. Last night it was saying that I need full day off. It said this by not letting me go back to sleep after I woke up at 2am.
So here I am, updating the website on David’s computer that he graciously let me use. Thanks Dave.
I have a fairly tight schedule to keep over the next two weeks or so. I am speaking at a benefit dinner for Lowe Syndrome in the city of Hemet, just south east of Los Angeles on the 29th of March. That means that I’ll have to keep up an average of at least 47 miles a day when I’m skateboarding in order to get there on time. Nothing quite like a little pressure to get things going.
It has been a pleasure staying here in the campground/hotsprings at Essence of Tranquility. Very relaxing, and other very cool campers!
March 14th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona)
Today’s distance / ???????: 10.7 miles / 17.3km
Average speed / ????: 11.9mph / 19.1km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 54 minutes
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3446mi plus 280mi (?) / 5545km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: Safford Chamber of Commerce
Wow. Tailwind, downhill. Average speed of almost 20km/h over one hour. Lovely short morning of skating today down into the Gila Valley and the town of Safford.
Coming into Safford, I bumped into two other cross-country travelers, one going by the name of Stumpknocker. Cindy and Mark are their real names. They have been enjoying tailwinds in the afternoons for the past week or so…
I stopped at the Visitor’s Center / Chamber of Commerce, and arranged for an interview with the local paper. While I was waiting for the reporter to come, I visited the laundromat to clean my clothes. Five days of grime is not pretty.
Interview over, Joane from the Chamber of Commerce was nice enough to drive me the five miles to the Essence of Tranquility, a campground/hostel/hot springs resort just south of town.
For US$15 a night and unlimited use of the hot spring tubs, I was in!
A great spot to relax and recharge.
I met other campers including Carlos the Guide/Educator/Speaker, David the rockhound, Jana (a Croatian, Carlos’s girlfriend, and soon to be biologist), and Karen the social worker from Phoenix.
March 13th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Arizona),USA (New Mexico)
Today’s distance / ???????: 49 miles / 79km
Average speed / ????: 8.2mph / 13.1km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 6h 01m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3435mi plus 280mi (?) / 5528km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 345m
Descent / ??: 615m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N32.47.16.0, W109.32.47.4
At the usual time, a few minutes before sun-up, I was up and getting ready to leave for another day of skating. For the first time in quite a while, I was feeling great. Anxious to get on the road, anxious to see what lay up ahead. The wind was still blowing when I retired to my tent last night, but like the last five days, it was calm in the morning. A slight tailwind even.
I was on the road by 8:05am, about an hour after sun-up. Breakfast was sultana bran with reconstituted powdered milk.
The funny desert trees stood proudly in the morning light.
Ten miles down the road, I entered Arizona, and my world changed forever. At last, smooth roads. Smooth, rolled, blacktop.
The roads in New Mexico were acceptable. The roads here in Arizona are exemplary. Excellent. Smooth, quiet. Luverly.
The scenery has changed, also. Tighter valleys. The mountain tops are closer. The contours and lay of the land is more understandable. Clearer passes. Distinction between up and down.
Once again, as if by clockwork, the westerly wind arrived in force at 12 noon. I was feeling good however. Blow as hard as you may, you dastardly wind! I have a smooth road! Nothing can stop me! I would come to regret those words, as you will see in the next post…
It was a long hard climb out of Duncan, uphill and into the wind. The top of the ‘pass’ came around however, and I felt the gentle downward slope towards Safford. The wind prevented any easy coasting downhill however, and I had to push even though I was heading downhill.
Amazing hills and surrounds here…
Like yesterday, I took shelter around 5pm and ate dinner, carrying on after a short rest for another two hours. Instead of using my hammock for shelter today, I sat in a large culvert under the road, out of the sun and wind.
I was still 10 miles away from Safford when it started growing dark. Time to stop and camp. I jumped a fence and found a spot just out of sight of the highway behind a not-so-grassy and very stony knoll.
March 12th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (New Mexico)
Today’s distance / ???????: 45 miles / 73km
Average speed / ????: 8.8mph / 14.2km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 08m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 3386mi plus 280mi (?) / 5449km plus 450km (?)
Ascent / ??: 145m
Descent / ??: 195m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N32.29.59.6, W108.51.36.1
I woke up at my normal time of 7am this morning; about 15 minutes before the sun itself starts to appear out of the horizon. At this time of the morning here in New Mexico, mirages are the most prominent. Hills that I could see in the distance at dusk last night are gone, only to slowly appear from the top down as the sun rises. They begin as brown dots hovering above the horizon, and as the sun rises, they drip a steady flow of colour down onto the horizon until they finally make contact with the brown line of the earth in the distance. They then slowly begin to take shape, the brown dot elongating horizontally, while slowly moving upwards, leaving a normal-looking hill in its wake. The elongated brown dot eventually disappears as the hill takes over prominence on the horizon again…trippy stuff…
Another dry, sunny day today, with no wind whatsoever in the morning.
Even more exciting was crossing the Continental Divide. Admittedly, it was probably the lowest crossing there is in the US, at only 4,500 feet / 1,300m. But what a psychological boost! All downhill from here! Well, in spirit, at least. There’s still a heck of a lot of flat country out here!
The headwind, as if on cue, started blowing at 12 noon. The same thing as the last few days. Calm, a little tailwind even, in the morning, and then the westerly picks up in the afternoon. It was a long slow push into Lordsburg, where I met with local reporter Helen from the Hidalgo County Herald. This interview comes hot on the heels after a report in the Deming Headlight paper in New Mexico (see article here). The interview with Helen over, I snuck into the local library and sheltered from the hot dry wind for an hour before rather begrudgingly set out again.
I left the big noisy I-10 interstate highway, and set off on the wide-shouldered highway US70 in the direction of Arizona. Again the surrounding landscape was bare and desolate.
I stopped for dinner on the roadside at about 6pm, 1.5 hours before sunset. I used my hammock/parachute as a windbreak and enjoyed tortilla wraps with tuna, blackeye peas, and Tabasco hot sauce, washed down with Gatorade (I buy the powdered drink mix).
Another hour and a half of skating saw me about 15 miles from the next town, so I found a spot next to a disused water tank to set up camp.
March 12th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories
Greetings.
3,615 miles / 5,820kms.
Just passed it. The current Guinness World Record for the Longest Journey by Skateboard. Stoked.
Still a long way to go until I head home to New Zealand though. From here in Lordsburg, New Mexico, USA, I continue skateboarding west through Phoenix, Arizona, all the way to Los Angeles. Then off to China to complete the 3,000 mile bit I couldn’t do at the beginning of the journey.
It is hot here. I’m only here in the library because of pressing internet stuff. Honest. Nothing to do with slacking off…
Flickr.com is blocked by the library internet filtering software, so no photo updates on this one.
I hope to do that in Safford.
Till then, toodle loo.
