Day 100 - Borrego Springs, California
All Profits go directly to the Pushing The Art Foundation *after production costs and taxes
On day 100, I had the goal of skating from Westmorland, CA to Ocotillo Wells- where I’d hit the store for water and food, to prepare for a night camping in the desert. On my way out there, I had a woman pull over and ask me if I needed a ride. We chatted for a while and she gave me a slice of grapefruit before driving onward. I had to go through a border patrol checkpoint, and I got stopped when I met with the agents. I wasn't in trouble, I had gifts waiting for me, from the woman from earlier. It made my day a bit brighter, and once I turned onto the next highway towards Borrego Springs, it was smooth sailing. After pushing through the day, it was time to sit and paint. I found a chill little spot where I had some mountains to paint. When I was working on the piece, a man in an off-road vehicle rolled up to see if I was alright. After briefly chatting, I finished up and ht the road. When I got to the only hotel and store for 60+ miles, it was closed. I checked online ahead of time and I must have been looking at their weekend hours. Although I was kind of screwed, I had to remain calm. I filled my bottles with well water (which was for emergency only and got me sick) but I knew I would run out of food before I made it to Julian. I rationed my snacks, and pushed forward without losing hope that I would be ok! I wasn’t scared, I was excited! Running out of food and water in the desert is no joke! Day 100 seriously tested me, but I feel like the 99 days before this had me mentally prepared to handle whatever the universe threw at me. I learned a lot along this 3500 mile quest skateboarding across the country... and the biggest hurdles weren't in nature or on the roads... but rather in my mind. My biggest defense against the challenges along the way had nothing to do with my physical fitness or knowledge of the outdoors... my secret weapon was positive mental attitude! The rest of my night was very difficult. The roads were super rough, and I had quite some climbing to do. After the sun went down it got really cold and super windy. I hit a point that my body didn't want to keep moving, so I set up camp on the side of the highway. I was in a pass that was winding canyon and mountain roads- really far from civilization. I kept hearing things while I laid in my sleeping bag, clutching my knife until I passed out... I made it 54 miles with a 2700 foot climb.
