Longboard for Love: Its A Beautiful Day, Don't Let It Get Away

May 18, 2013

What a marvelous day! Truly a glorious day. My father has been in California for work and this morning he met up with us. He took our packs in his car and left Kenton and I with some water and let us take off down the road.

We started in Oxnard and traveled forty miles to Venice Beach. We FLEW down the highway. The conditions today were ideal. A slight downgrade. Smooth roads. Gorgeous scenery. We were right on the beach almost all day. It was quite the change from the windy, jarring, gravely roads that started the week off. It was perfect.

I had a realization on the road. When I first planned this trip I wanted to go from San Diego and travel north. Someone convinced me I should travel north to south instead. I am grateful they did. The reason is that if we were headed north we would be on the east side of the road and the ocean is on the west side. The view would not be as good. Instead we are on the west side of the road right up next to the water, and the view is spectacular.

The ocean just looked so beautiful! All day!

So my board was run over by a car today. Kenton and I stopped for a break and I put my board down by the road. We walked over to look at the water. After a few minutes we hear a loud popping noise. I turn to see a lady has just run over my board. She goes over it, the board pops up, flips through the air a few times, and crashes down about five feet away. My worst fear has come to be. My board has been run over. I sprint to the spot praying that it is still intact but expecting the worst. It is a piece of wood after all. The victor in maple wood vs. a car is no question.

I run over and pick up the pieces...but wait...not pieces....one piece. One board? Still good? Inconceivable! I inspect it, stand on it, and nothing seems wrong. The Kahuna board and Bear trucks are intact and perfect! I even went and rode twenty more miles on it before the day was through. Amazing! AMAZING!!!

Workin the short shorts today

Today made me really happy because we really moved and we moved far. Although we did take time to enjoy the journey. We saw a whale! We took a lot of pictures. We rode along beautiful beaches, and met some wonderful people. We were touched by the generosity of the people we met. When dad took us to lunch (which was way better than our daily diet of granola and beans) he mentioned what we were doing to the people sitting at a nearby table. They gave us a very generous donation and lots of good advice for upcoming roads. At a later meal we mentioned our cause to the waiters at our table and they donated too. I've never had a waiter give me money! When we arrived at Venice Beach we took a moment to walk around and see stuff. I went to look at the skateboard shops and we told them about the trip. They were really nice to us too. I'm just so impressed by the kindness of other people.

What a beautiful wonderful day.