Hitch 50

WE DID IT!!!

2006-11-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, read about our whole trip by clicking on the Trip Log below. It's super fancy and organized for each day.

Or check out our final video and have a look around the site.

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Honolulu, HAWAII

2006-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Yup, we made it. Capitol number 50 on day 50.

We spent Monday around Los Angeles looking for different ways to get to Hawaii, but it was the guys from Fermata who came through and saved our dignity with only hours to spare. They organized a big party at Carpe DM, a bar in Simi Valley, just north of Los Angeles for us and arranged a percentage of the proceeds to buy us tickets to Honolulu.

It was about 1:00AM when they counted the money earned, called the airlines and booked us two return tickets to Hawaii, leaving at 8:45 AM from LAX. We celebrated late into the night with everyone at the party, knowing we were gonna accomplish our goal. Presuming we didn’t miss another flight.

Thankfully, this time we didn’t miss the flight.

Traffic on the 405 in LA this morning had other ideas, but we managed to get on the plane with about 10 minutes to spare and took off for Hawaii. Miho from the Waikiki Grand Hotel hooked us up with some rooms for us, the Golden Ticket winners, our friends and families. And Platinum Limousines set us up with a ride from the Airport to the capitol. Mary-Rachel, Kim, her husband Jay, Teresa and Lisa joined us at the capitol building for our final jump shots of the project and that was it.

So there you have it, Hitch 50 is complete. Thanks to the kindness of hundreds of strangers throughout North America we accomplished our goal today. First off, thank you to all 116 rides from Times Square to Honolulu. From cars to airplanes, trains to semi-trucks, boats to bikes, it’s the rides, and the people giving them which made Hitch 50 happen. Our shortest ride was Nathan in Atlanta, who set us up with an interview on CNN and our longest was Chris who drove from Houston through Austin to Oklahoma City. The point here is that all the rides are equally important, diverse and memorable. Thank you to everyone who put their lives on hold, took the day off work and welcomed us into your lives. Often welcoming us into your lives involved driving a few hundred miles in one direction to drop us off and drive back, alone on the same road. This is one of the things that amazes us most, how people will go long out of their way to help a stranger accomplish a goal. For this we thank everyone of you.

Another thank you to everyone who welcomed us into their homes. From mansions to college dorms, swanky urban lofts to trailer parks, tropical resorts to ice cream trucks, we’ve seen the diversity and cultural differences from every corner of the country. Staying in homes, meeting the people and living their lives is how we really got to know the people of America and what makes them unique. These experiences are definitely highlights of the trip and we hope to reciprocate the hospitality to all of you in the future.

We’ve spent the last 1200 hours traveling almost 24,000 miles, through 50 states, 3 countries and five time zones, our average speed for the past 50 days is just under 20 MPH. It seems like 1100 of these hours were spent talking with the people of America and hearing their stories. We never planned for this to be a sociology project, but as it evolved and as we began to see the differences and similarities of Americans the true underlie of America became clear. Political, religious and philosophical beliefs very from every region, but nothing is diverse as opinions on where the Mason Dixon line is. Really, we had 14 unique answers. Still not exactly sure of the correct one either.

The friendly rivalries between states, cities and colleges was always amusing to hear, and while people are different everywhere the common themes of kindness and unity are apparent in every corner of the country, but more than anything Americans are proud, and for good reason. The cultural and geographical diversity and beauty of this country is not matched anywhere in the world and is something to be very proud of. So when you hear the problems and troubles of the world, try to step back, focus on positivity and realize how good life is in America and how good the people of America are.

Now that we’re here it’s good to know we don’t need to get up in the morning and keep moving. While it’s been great, we’re looking forward to kickin’ back with friends and family in Hawaii. We’ll be hanging out here for a couple weeks now, so let us know if you’re in the area. After that we got no plans, but want to keep traveling and meeting the people of America and the world.

Anyone headed to Guam?

Scotty and Fiddy

And the Golden Ticket goes to...

2006-11-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ya'll remember Kim and Mary-Rachel from Raleigh, North Carolina?

If not, here they are after taking us to South of the border in Dillon, South Carolina.

But more importantly, here they are today:

Assuming we get a ride in the next 12 hours or so, we'll see you in Hawaii tomorrow.

From the Bay to LA

2006-11-27T04:46:00.000-08:00

Our bay area host, Ty just moved to Cupertino a few months ago, and is lovin’ it. He’s started his own PR company in the south bay area and is working hard to make it happen. Check out his site here and give him a call.

Sunday morning we went out for breakfast in Cupertino with Ty and waited for our next ride, Bliss.

Bliss may just be the most eccentric person we’ve met. We realized when she showed up wearing blue coveralls with a dashboard covered in rubber reptiles while blasting trashy techno. Her personality came through right away and we knew it would be a fun afternoon. The fun afternoon started right away with the idea of “The Broom Game”. The broom game involves holding a broom above your head, spinning around 30 times, putting the broom down and jumping over it.

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After The Broom Game we sat down for a bit, said bye to Ty and headed south to Santa Barbara. Bliss is another fan from day one, and holds the record for most emails sent to us. I'm gonna guess about 120. She's also a grad student in Santa Barbara, on her way back south after Thanksgiving. She's a proud Vermont girl caught out in California, counting the days until she can get back east.

Bliss entertained us by missing exits, screaming randomly at cars, eating food which gives her stomach aches, complaining about traffic while in traffic, asking real random questions, texting us from 20 feet away and taking us to the outlet shops.

Here she is caught in her car door.

We stopped in Santa Barbara to see some of Bliss' friends before continuing south to the Los Angeles area.

We're currently in Simi Valley staying with Roy and Chris, getting ready for a big finish to Hitch50. We'll be around the LA area on Monday, looking for different ways to get us to Hawaii for Tuesday. Midnight Tuesday local Hawaii time is the deadline to be in Honolulu, so the clock is quickly ticking away. If you have ANY offers or leads for Hawaii please give us a call at 310.494.8058 or send us an email hitch50@gmail.com

Regardless of what happens Monday during the day, Monday night is the Hitch50, Day 49 party here in Simi Valley. We're having a big event put on by the band Fermata to try and find us a way to Hawaii, so come on out, hang out and have some fun.

Here's everything you need to know:

Where: Carpe DM Bar
When: Monday Nov 27 2006 8:00 PM
Most specific where: 5710 E. Los Angeles Ave, Simi Valley, CA 93063 - map
Cost: $10

Check out the band: Fermata

***GOLDEN TICKET WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY AT 5:00 EST.***

Sacramento, CA

2006-11-27T04:39:00.000-08:00

We came back into Reno and searched for some dinner. Dinner came in the form of the biggest buffet we’ve ever seen. It was an entire banquet hall with one whole wall full of every kind of meat, vegetable and starch possible. Throughout the room were salad and dessert table scattered in every direction. We couldn’t possibly leave Nevada without tackling the 100 yard buffet. Don’t worry though, Sean kept to his diet. After the rest of us gained several pounds, it was back on the road and off to California.

On the way to Sacramento we finally got our first speeding ticket of the trip. It took almost 21,000 miles but we’re thankful it finally happened. Yeah, thankful for a ticket, no road trip would be complete without it.

Sean and Aaron took us into Sacramento, also known as the city of trees. Apparently Sacramento has the most trees per capita. At the capitol building they have one species of every tree from California somewhere on the capitol grounds, which is pretty cool. We celebrated this fact with a different jump shot for every species. We're getting pretty good at them by this point of the trip.

We dropped off Aaron in Sac-Town and headed for the bay. Sean was going to see some family in Danville, just south of Oakland, but took us south into Cupertino. Ty, a fan from day one had offered us a place to stay and was waiting for us to arrive. We met up, said bye to Sean and started thinking ahead to Hawaii.

49 done, one to go…

Carson City, NV

2006-11-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

While we were in Phoenix for Thanksgiving Jody was working hard to find us a way to Hawaii. She used to be a reservations agent for America West, so she was workin’ the phones trying to get us some flights to Hawaii or California. She couldn’t line up Hawaii, but her friend Chris did one better with RENO!

That’s right we got a flight from Vegas to the Poor Man’s Vegas. We finalized the details at about 6:30 AM on the phone with Jody for an 8:20 AM flight. We were set, a flight to Reno. So we fell asleep for a couple hours…

Falling asleep resulted in the classic Las Vegas miss your flight trick. Looking back, it had to be done to get the full Las Vegas experience. We rushed off to the airport in the morning and managed to transfer our tickets to the last two standby seats on a later flight. So, in the end we got to Reno a few hours later, but got a good story out of the deal.

Sean and Aaron drove into Reno from Sacramento to meet us. As we walked out of the terminal they were just pulling up. We got in and started the short drive to Nevada’s capital, Carson City.

Sean Perkey is easily one of the most interesting people of the trip and is working on a great web project. Sean weights 519 pounds and is working on losing 250 pounds. Check out his blog here: Watchmyloss.com and see how he’s doing or offer him some support, cause it’s one of the more awesome projects ever.

We cruised into the Carson City, got some photos, realized not too much was going on in town and headed back towards Reno.

Vegas baby, Vegas

2006-11-26T02:26:00.001-08:00

Our original plans were to catch a ride with Jody to Flagstaff, then hitch to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. This leg of the trip got a whole bunch easier and better after meeting Katerina, Jody’s intern in Phoenix. She was keen to go on a road trip and offered a ride to Las Vegas. Jody allowed her to take her final two days off work and we were on our way.

Katerina, a vegitarian, who is originally from Bulgaria, and has been in Arizona for about six years. She’s working to get two degrees in Tourism and Fine Arts at ASU in Phoenix. She’s been Jody’s intern for the past couple months working with her on developing and promoting Jody’s new album.

We cruised through the town of Sedona on the way to Flagstaff. Apparently the area is a gathering place for mystics who believe the earth's energy is concentrated into power spots some call vortices. This means the area is a giant energy vortex, which is good for healing purposes. Whether you believe that or not, the area is definitely worth a look and a popular tourist destination.

It was a good thing we took a sidetrack through Sedona because it became apparent we weren’t gonna make the Grand Canyon before dark, and it was fogged in. We needed to make the decision: roll the dice on seeing the Grand Canyon, thereby getting into Vegas late at night, or scratch the canyon and focus on one night in Vegas. We went with option number two and sped off to Vegas.

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On the way into Vegas we got in our first, and hopefully last car accident of the trip. But, don’t worry it was about as minor as an accident can be. Scotty was driving Katerina’s car coming into Vegas on the freeway when the cars in front slammed on their brakes. We went from about 70 MPH to 0 in about 100 feet, skidding, tires smoking, horn blaring to a stop in the middle of the freeway. The final stop came with the tap of the person’s bumper ahead of us. A very close call, no damage done, but a good story.

It was Thanksgiving weekend, so almost everything in Vegas was either booked or expensive, so we stayed at the lovely High Hat Regency, not to be confused with the Hyatt Regency. Welcoming us to our room were cigarette butts, mold and broken glass on the floor. We didn’t even want to think about what’s gone on in that room, so we hit the town.

It was just one night in Vegas so we needed to get it all in. We toured the strip, checked out several casinos, met lots of people and only lost $50 in the process. I was told to put $50 on red so I did. When the wheel stopped it was on double zero.

How anti-climatic, hopefully not a sign of things to come...

Thanksgiving with the Gnants

2006-11-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

We had originally planned to get an early start on Thursday and make it out of town, towards Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. However, by the time we were ready to get going it was mid-afternoon. So, this gave us perfect reason to stay in Phoenix and hang out with everyone there for another night. Plus, Richard and Carol Gnant, Jody’s parents invited us for an all American Thanksgiving dinner, which we couldn’t pass up.

Richard and Carol, like so many Arizona residents, are not from Arizona. They moved down from Wisconsin for the weather, and are lovin’ the desert lifestyle. We accompanied about 15 people from Jody's family for the harvest feast. All of them were overly welcoming and we were all thankful to be together. Richard even gave us a big shout out while saying grace.

After an amazing dinner prepared by many amazing cooks, the turkey caught up to us and we were down for the count. Jody’s mom kept us all going with her humor, some of which caught us off guard. Didn’t think many grandmas out there were as funny as her, and it has definitely rubbed off on the rest of the family. From young to old we all hung out around their house talking, laughing and of course eating for the night.

Phoenix, AZ

2006-11-26T01:58:00.000-08:00

We rolled into Phoenix just after sunset and made our way to the capitol building. Waiting to meet us was Katie, Jody and Scott. They were all following our progress and came down to get some capitol building jump shots. We got the shots, but there were no stairs so we needed to improvise. Improvisation came in the form of a good ole' fashioned human pyramid. It was Jody’s first experience at the top of a pyramid and she was overly excited about it for the next several hours. And for good reason.

Jody’s friend Leslie invited us all to come to Alice Cooper’s restaurant, Cooperstown in downtown Phoenix for dinner. Another offer not to be passed by, so we said bye to John and Mike then went for dinner. On top of hooking everyone up with free food and drinks Leslie gave us a tour of ‘The Dungeon’, Alice Cooper’s private lounge underneath the restaurant.

Jody and Scott set us up with a place to stay in downtown Phoenix for the night, so we headed off with them. Leslie and Katerina, Jody’s intern came over with us to get down for the night. By get down, I mean rock out with the several instruments Jody and Scott own. We got down with the trumpet, accordion, piano and guitar while Jody sang. You may want to note, except for Jody, none of us can play any of these instruments.

Jody and Scott are such hospitable hosts and a lot of fun too. We were joking around, playing games and laughing the whole time in Phoenix. They didn't even get too upset when I invited a couple people from the street to come join our party, even though one of them was really sketchy. Sorry about that guys.

Jody recently quit her job and focused on being a singer. She is in the process of finalizing her album called Pivot, check out her web site here and have a listen. Or better yet, go see a movie anytime between now and the end of December, but go a few minutes before the show starts. Jody’s video for her new single “Hounds of Romance” is featured in all the Harkins’ movie theaters around the country before every film is shown. Scott is a furniture designer and manufacturer. Their home is beautifully decorated with the diverse and stylin’ pieces he makes. Both Jody and Scott’s creativity is abundant in everything they do, and makes hanging around with them just that much more interesting.

We hung out, laughed and watched Jody perform late into the night in their Phoenix home.

ARIZONA, but not Phoenix

2006-11-24T21:13:00.001-08:00

We got ourselves back to the Estados Unidos in Arizona and decided to head back to New Mexico. Yeah we know, we took the long way round to get to Phoenix.

Mike and John had been waiting to meet us near the Arizona/New Mexico state line. We met up at a truck stop, said goodbye to Jim and headed for Tucson.

Mike, John and Ken are all openly addicted to skydiving. They first went a few months ago and got hooked. So now they’re seeing everything in life differently, and by that I mean they look at their material belongings, think about how much they can sell it for and how much time in the air that money can get them. Ken is even moving back in with his mom to afford more jumps.

They took us out to their local coffee shop on Tuesday night to meet up with some friends then out on the town. Some local artists Paul and Jenn gave us handcrafted gifts. It was immediately clear that this coffee shop brought a lot of good people together and we felt right at home. We had a good time with everyone and after all was said and done we found ourselves in the hills outside Tucson at 4:00 AM with about 10 people checking out the silhouettes of mountains and giant Saguaro cacti against the backdrop of the black sky and millions of stars.

The next day we got going out of Tucson and headed towards Phoenix. John, Mike and Ken had been trying to set us up to go skydiving, but after many phone calls it was clear it wasn’t happening. We still went out to the drop zone and did this though:

We said bye to Ken at the drop zone in the Arizona desert and continued through the traffic jams into Phoenix with John and Mike.

Big 'State 49' Party in L.A. Monday Nov 27

2006-11-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

So we’re just leaving Phoenix now, heading to the Grand Canyon and Vegas Friday, then up to Sacramento, Carson City and into the Bay area on Saturday. After that we’re planning to be in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, and looking for a ride to Hawaii.

The guys from Fermata have stepped up and organized a pretty cool offer, which might just get us there. On Monday night they’ve organized a party at Carpe DM nightclub in Simi Valley, California and we need you there. It’s gonna be a party and a fundraiser, with a percentage of the money made to get us on a plane to Hawaii on Tuesday. It’s an all ages party, and the capacity is 300, so be there early.

If you’re anywhere in the area come on out and lets celebrate 49 done and one to go. Jump shots will be plentiful and the music will be good. So we’ll see you there.

We’re even gonna give away our Scotty and Fiddy shirts to a couple lucky winners. Also, the golden ticket will be drawn soon, and we'll try to get them there.

Where: Carpe DM Bar
When: Monday Nov 27 2006 8:00 PM
Most specific where: 5710 E. Los Angeles Ave, Simi Valley, CA 93063 - map
Cost: $10

Check out the band: Fermata

Meh he co.

2006-11-24T09:54:00.000-08:00

The next morning we got going and Jim showed us some of the beautiful areas around the mountains near Los Alamos.

We rolled out of the mountains and into the desert. The plan was to drive south to Las Cruces and meet up with another ride. The highlight of the drive south was the town called “Truth or consequences”. Apparently they named the town that so a game show would come there, but didn’t bother to change it after. Either way it’s a sweet name. We discussed what we like better: Truth or Consequences. Truth won 2-1.

We got to Las Cruces to meet up with another ride, but they flaked out and didn’t show. So we needed a new plan. We took Jim out for dinner and decided to keep going. We thought it would be fun to head back to Texas, so we did. Once we were in Texas we figured, why not Mexico? So we did. We showed up at the border in El Paso and got really confused. To drive into Mexico you give a guy in a toll both $2 and drive away on to the streets of Ciudad Juarez. No customs or anything. Figured they’d have something to secure the country. We looked for an immigration officer to stamp our passports, but found ourselves in a line back into the USA (where they do have customs). So we spent the night in El Paso and planned to head back south of the border in the morning.

When morning came we headed back to Mexico and didn’t worry about the immigration fuss this time, or lack there of. So we found ourselves in Mexico, the third country of the trip (we were in Canada three weeks ago). The roads got rougher, the traffic got sketchier and language got harder. We’ve officially arrived in Mexico.

Jim was planning to leave us just outside Ciudad Juarez, but decided to take another day off work and go for a Mexican drive. We were in the province of Chihuahua, and as you may expect Chihuahua dogs are plentiful. It look us only a minute or two to spot our first little creature, and they continued to show their hides for the whole day. We cruised through the bustling border town of Ciudad Juarez and headed west.

Mexico looked a lot like New Mexico, but when we stopped for lunch or to talk with the locals we got a much better Mexican experience. The people were all great, happy to talk with a couple white guys in bright shirts, who speak little Spanish, waving a camera around asking "Con permissio?, photographia". They looked confused, but smiled anyways.

Our quick Mexican tour look us through two provinces, deserts, mountain ranges and four military road blocks. But no border immigration. We had a good look around from Jim’s, or should I say Jiminez’s truck before heading back to the US in the afternoon. We crossed the border, said good bye to our Sanchez and Fernando personas and headed north into Arizona.

49 Down, ONLY ONE TO GO!!

2006-11-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

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Now that your trip is over, it'll be much easier to hitchhike your way home with a North American cell phone! Planning a backpacking excursion across Europe? Then be sure to have a international phone for all your calling needs. Our cell phone rental plans are the best in the business. Be safe, have fun and stay in touch!

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UPDATE: This post was a joke. If you actually thought we were done at this point take a closer look at the pictures below.

So the last few days have been crazy! We quickly knocked off the last few capitals and now we have only Hawaii left! This is awesome! We are moving really quickly.

Sacramento, California

Carson City, Nevada

(nobody was around so Fiddy had to take the photo)

Phoenix, Arizona

Santa Fe, New Mexico

So now that we have those done....all we need is Hawaii? If you have any ideas let us know. It's good to be here in sunny California...pay no mind to the red line

Santa Fe, NM

2006-11-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

Daddio was keen to drive us through Colorado, so we met him on Sunday afternoon in Colorado Springs. He recently retired from the post office, giving him lots of time to drive strangers around on random interstate road trips. We met up, filled up and headed south.

Daddio is an easy going grandfather who loves hot springs and prospecting. That’s right prospecting, as in gold prospecting. He doesn’t really fit the image of some rambling old man with a pick ax on his shoulder and a lantern in his hand, but that may be for the better. I don't think they are good at driving cars, only mules. He is part of gold prospecting clubs and has several land claims throughout the Rocky Mountains. He hauls a good amount of gold out of the ground too. It’s good to know the old days of prospecting are alive and well. Daddio is also a hot springs fan. He travels around the states finding new hot springs and hangs out there, for a while. Sounds like some pretty cool retirement projects to us.

Daddio took us from the mountains of Colorado into the vast open deserts of New Mexico. We got some authentic New Mexican green chili along the way and cruised into Santa Fe. After continuing the tradition of getting lost, we rolled up to the capitol building to meet Jim and get some photos.

Jim, or Dr. Jim we should say lives just north of Santa Fe in Los Alamos the birthplace of the atomic bomb. He’s a nuclear engineer with a great sense of humor. It came through right away when I asked him what he does in Los Alamos, he replied “I design what makes the rest of the world shiver”. Pretty intense stuff, but he’s a cool guy, and they don’t even make nukes there anymore.

He took us back to his place in Los Alamos for the night. We got to meet his mom, Mary and see the biggest TV ever, in his living room. That’s just how Jim rolls.

We went to Mexico

2006-11-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

¡Hey! ¡Please DIGG us! ---->

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That's right, we're hitchin' in Mexico. We had a sign that said "New Mexico", but some guy read it as "Mexico", so he drove us there. Oh well, we'll go with it and do some grassroots hitching across the top towards Tucson tomorrow. We'll be on the side of the road on the highway 2 just south of Ciudad Juarez in the morning.

Hasta mañana,

Sanchez y Fernando

Denver, CO

2006-11-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

John finished off his leg of the trip by driving us from Cheyenne to Denver. By doing this John entered the running for a number of Hitch50 awards.

1. Shortest time to visit two capitals by one driver
2. Quietest dog
3. Biggest bail after a jumpshot attempt

Riding with John was truly a pleasure; he drives fast, talks good and generally, he just 'brings it'. After lunch in Cheyenne he took us into the Mile High City. Around town there are some interesting attractions. There was a giant blue bear peering into the convention center and two massive white alien-like statues danced outside the center for performing arts. A block away a 20-foot tall broom swept some litter into an equally over-sized dustpan. And there was a 60 foot chair with a horse standing on it. The Mile High capitol building even had the exact step marked off that was one mile above sea level.

We parted ways with John and were met by Ryan who had offered us a place ot stay in Boulder, CO a little bit north of Denver. Boulder is a college town that has endless outdoor activities nearby. Snow-capped mountains cover the horizon and young people on bicycles whiz by in every direction. We tried to fit into the college theme by checking out the Colorado University men's basketball game. We cheered all 11 points CU scored in the first half and had faith that they were plotting a comeback right up to the final horn on Air Force's 45 point victory. Ouch. After the game we met up with some of Ryan's friends and headed out to take in some of the local culture.

During our night out we were met by Kristen who contacted us through the site. She is a member of the Boulder trail runners and she brought along her friend Andy who has hiked across America and plans to snowshoe across the states. Wow, he makes hitchhiking seem like an easy way to travel.

In the morning we were in need of some fresh air. Thankfully Bob and Mary entered the plot to take us south to Colorado Springs. They are friendly grandparents who are deceivingly high-tech. The mini-van they picked us up in had every possible option including an electric door that opened by itself at the push of a button. Yes, we're easily impressed. Bob talked technology with us during the ride and told us about his plans to one day make it up to outer space in a shuttle. Both of them were so hospitable and fun. They proudly showed off pictures of their grandchildren, showed us around the local mountains and even bought us lunch.

We had a really good time with Bob and Mary but parted ways in Colorado Springs. Waiting to take us south was Garry, better known as "Daddio".

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Cheyenne, WY

2006-11-20T00:48:00.000-08:00

Spent Friday night in Ogallala, Nebraska.

John drove us into Cheyenne on Saturday morning.

Cheyenne was nice.

We ate lunch and got some photos.

The weather was favorable.

Alexandra ate the dog!

2006-11-19T00:49:00.000-08:00

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Hitchhiking is virtually impossible these days without a cell phone or international phone. Consider a cell phone rental if you're worried about complicated plans or contracts. Our North American cell phone is ideal for your hitchhike across the USA. Get that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing you carry a reliable cell phone; you don't even have to eat any hot dogs this time!

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Does everyone remember Alexandra from Illinois? And the challenge we made to her?

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If you have no idea what's going on right now, here's the challenge we gave Alexandra last week:

"She is into competitive fitness routines; kinda a mix between bodybuilding and a beauty pageant. She’s actually on her way to LA today to enter a competition on Friday. Now, here’s where you can help. We challenged Alexandra to eat a hot dog on stage. If she does it, and does it well, we’ll fly her to State 50. So we need you to email her and encourage her to chow down on stage. C’mon it’ll only take a second. We’re not joking either. "

So on Friday she ate the dog. The pressure was on, the world was watching, but she pulled it off. This may be the first, but definitely not the last time anyone ate a hot dog on stage at a fitness or beauty contest.

Well done Alexandra, see you in state 50.

A trail of crime across America #9

2006-11-18T01:13:00.000-08:00

In the state of Illinois changing in a vehicle is illegal, except in the case of fire. Also, bowling is prohibited in many areas. It doesn’t look like there’s any fires going on in the area. And there's some kind of human/surfboard/energy drink bowling caught on this security tape. 2 laws. 4Foreign men in 4 wetsuits. 10 cans of energy drinks. 1 awesome video.

Shame on Scotty and Fiddy for bringing some nice Australian boys in as accomplices to their crimes.

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Good thing we're all out of Illinois, two crimes at once is no joke!

Lincoln, NE

2006-11-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

Dusty sped us into Lincoln on Thursday night, arriving shortly before the witching hour. We got our jump on at the capitol, then looked for a place to stay. Dusty is a good Nebraska guy, he's even getting married in a few months and starting up his own software business. Not bad Dusty, not bad.

Joe called us up as we were coming into town and offered a place to stay. Joe has a sweet new house in the Lincoln suburbs, and offered up some rooms for us. He works as a local carpenter and wanted to have us over. He even hooked us up with food before we left in the morning.

Tom had arranged to pick us up Friday morning at Joe's house. He took a couple hours off work from the hospital to take us out of town. Tom let us off in York one hour outside of Lincoln, with about eight more hours of corn fields before Cheyenne or Denver. We got going on the side of the highway and waited, and waited, and waited. Then we waited a couple more hours. This gave us time to think back to Day One when Ed from Massachusetts sang us the Nebraska fight song.

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We even had a sign saying "Colorad", the O didn't fit, but got nobody. We did watch all the college kids with Colorado plates drive home for Thanksgiving though. Finally after waiting on a cold, windy on-ramp Armando pulled over.

Armando speaks very little English, and we speak very little Spanish. In fact, we highly doubt he will ever see this web site. We tried to tell him about it, but there's no way he knew what we were talking about. He just responded with a friendly smile and laugh. Armando was our second non-English speaking driver, but he was the first driver to frisk us. It wasn't even at the beginning of the ride, after driving a half hour or so, he asked us to pull over (Scotty was driving), got us out of the car and frisked us. He patted us down as the construction workers beside us looked on puzzled. He seemed pleased with our lack of weapons, so we got back in the car and continued west. So, why was Scotty driving? We don't really know, he wanted one of us to drive, and we needed to make up some lost time, so off we go. Armando was a really nice guy, but we don't really know what his full story is. Couldn't find out what he's doing in Nebraska, what he likes to do, or why he drove us here to Ogallala, in western Nebraska. Either way, we parted ways with big high-fives while he shouted "Amigos!"

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Des Moines, IA

2006-11-17T22:13:00.000-08:00

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On Wednesday night Andy elevated his status from awesome to legendary. Without even thinking about it, Andy agreed to drive us all the way to Boulder, Colorado. Remember he came out of surgery a few hours ago. But here’s the catch: Andy didn’t have his car, and Matt needed to drive back to Springfield. So, Andy got on the phone, called around looking for a car to drive over 1000 miles west. One prospect fell through, then another and the chances weren’t looking good. In comes Casey to save the day. Casey drove a couple hours up to Walcott, Iowa to pick up Matt and take him back to Springfield. So, Matt left his car with us to drive to Boulder, Colorado and back. Don’t worry, we’ll go to the capitol in Denver too.

Andy may just be the nicest guy around, or at least in the western hemisphere. He works for his local church helping kids as a youth minister. He is an easy going guy who has no problem sacrificing the pain of recent surgery to drive some strangers a couple states over.

So we spent Wednesday night at the I-80 truck stop and got going the next morning. And by morning I mean 3:00 PM. That’s just how we roll. The drive through Iowa was exhilarating and unbelievable. Flat, empty fields, mixed with thin, leaf less trees, and billboards. Don't forget the billboards. Andy made the arrival at the capitol building more exciting by jumping curbs and taking the governor’s parking spot.

There to meet us was Julia, Heather and their families. They were all excited to see us and get in on some group jump shots.

We met a senator and he invited us into the big political speaking room to have a look. It was interesting, but getting photos was way more fun than anything else.

We were gonna stay longer, but he asked us if we wanted to attend a gubernatorial. That was the most awkward word we ever heard so we left and went outside for some more photos.

We said goodbye to out capitol guests and continued west. In the town of Council Bluffs disaster struck. Andy got a call from work, they needed him there, so he called off Colorado and planned to head back towards Springfield. Oh well, duty calls. It worked out well, as Dusty had just called to offer a ride from Omaha, Nebraska to Lincoln. So we met up with Dusty, said goodbye and thanks to Andy, then kept heading west.

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A trail of crime across America #8

2006-11-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

If any person has a puppet show, wire dancing or tumbling act in the state of Indiana and receives money for it, they will be fined $3 under the Act to Prevent Certain Immoral Practices. We have no idea what wire dancing is and tumbling just doesn't sound safe. But a puppet show? We couldn't resist.

And what better time to do a puppet show then on live radio? But fear not, we're not fugitives on the run in Indiana. We managed to get pardoned from a Judge in the court of appeals for breaking this law.

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Matt, Andy and the Buick

2006-11-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

Matt and Andy saw us coming into Springfield this afternoon and acted quickly to set us up with a ride. The two Springfield residents gave us a call and offered a ride to Iowa. So in Springfield the Aussie boys passed us off to Matt, Andy and their Buick. It would be hard to match the fun of the previous ride, but we didn’t know what was in store for us.

Matt and Andy turned out to be the perfect people to meet. They are both on their way to all 50 states as well, with 48 done they have only Alaska and Hawaii to go. Matt even promised not to cut his hair until he goes to number 50. While working towards this goal they put about 25,000 miles on the Buick since March, combined with working full-time and going to school.

Andy gets the “sucking it up and bringing it” award. He had surgery on Wednesday morning to repair some damaged tendons in his right arm. Instead of resting or recuperating, Andy joined us for the trip. Not to forget about Matt, he blew off working on a project and studying for a test on Thursday.

Both guys are all about spontaneous road trips. They’ve been known to drive a couple thousand miles to try a burger in Pennsylvania, go without warning to the beach in Florida and double on a Honda Goldwing to the Harley Davidson rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Both guys even come with random, but very impressive talents. Andy is an Etch-A-Sketch master, while Matt can do this:

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They took us up to the world’s biggest truck stop on I -80 in Iowa. You must see this area to fully understand. We arrived at night, so it was hundreds, if not thousands of rigs lined up far into the distance, all idling for the whole night. The building is better described as an interstate castle; it has different levels, branches and rooms stretching in every way. They sold everything inside from food to dolls to a mace. Who buys a mace at a truck stop? Or better yet one of these?

Out of all the stuff being sold the shirts below were the best. Don’t just look at this photo, open it up and carefully examine it to get the true meaning of the garments. We asked the big, intimidating trucker took the photo for us what his favorite one was. None of us saw it coming when he chose the purple unicorn one Matt is wearing.

We were looking for a Basset Hound shirt for Matt, but unfortunately they didn’t have one. You see, Matt, like Scotty is a Basset enthusiast. Matt even owns a Basset named Norman. Norman is from Alaska, and has record breaking ears. Well, fortunately Scotty had a Basset Hound shirt with him, and passed it on to a fellow Basset lover.

To celebrate his new shirt Matt did this:

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Will she eat the dog?

2006-11-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

Remember the other day in Illinois how we challenged Alexandra to eat a hot dog on stage during her routine at the Fitness Hollywood event this weekend in Los Angeles? Well, she does her fitness routine tomorrow, and we just got word from somebody who'll be in the audience that they're gonna video tape the whole thing. Come back tomorrow to see if she scores herself a free flight to state 50!

A million miles from monday

2006-11-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

A few days ago some people sent us the link to one of the best travel/surfing projects ever: www.surfing50states.com

This is Jonno and Stefan, two Aussie blokes traveling to all 50 states and surfing in each one. I think we can all agree that’s the most awesome thing you’ll hear today. They’ve been around the great lakes for the past few days, surfing on Lake Michigan, and were staying in Chicago on Tuesday night. We got in touch with them and organized a ride to Springfield.

The fun started right when we met them. They got an ice cream truck from their sponsors, but it has some battery problems. So here we are, on State St. in Chicago, no room for cars to pull over, no jumper cables, no chance of moving anytime soon. Or so you’d think. It was a team effort of pushing the truck around to make room for a car, pulling a car over in front of the van, finding jumper cables and hooking them up. But they weren’t long enough. No problem, find another set, link em’ together and we’re in business.

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After we successfully revived the truck we set off to Springfield. Jonno and Stefan have such a good setup: an ice cream truck full of surfboards, energy drinks, sweet hats and a massive sound system. The ice cream truck song even works. They originally had the idea to travel to all 50 states in 50 days, but wanted to spend a longer time in America. So they came up with the idea of surfing in each state over a six-month period. How will they manage to surf in every state? Better check out their site: www.surfing50states.com

The noisy, crowded van cruised into Springfield Wednesday evening and straight to the capitol building. Our new Aussie friends got in on some capitol building jump shots in the pouring rain.

One of Illinois state mottos is “A million miles from Monday”. While today was only a couple days away, it felt like much more than a million miles away. Thanks for the good times boys, and have fun out east.