SOUTH JORDAN — Three friends from the East Coast are taking on America with their skateboards 15 miles at a time, and they rolled into this community Monday night.
The three, who left Newport, Ore., on Aug. 2, are trekking 3,000 miles across the country to Springfield, Va. They hope to make it there by mid-October.
"It's good to have crazy friends," said trip organizer Adam Colton.
A trip that started out as a wishful thinking for Colton, 22, of Springfield, Va., and Shayne Rivers, 25, of Burlington, N.C., has transformed into a full-scale fund-raising event for fellow skaters in the Washington, D.C., area.
"People on the side of the road have stopped us and given us money," Colton said. "We'll even take a dollar."
All donations made to the group while crossing the country will be given to the East Coast Round Wall Foundation, which is based in Washington, D.C. The foundation recently built a skate park in Anacostia out of recycled materials.
Now they would like to build a learning and art center near the park. The money raised by the skateboarders will go toward building the center.
Colton said the Anacostia neighborhood is rough, but when the foundation decided to build a skate park it got the children involved.
"Now, they're skating the skate park instead of sitting around looking tough and doing nothing," Colton said.
The foundation's goal is to give the children more opportunities through the center.
During the trip, Colton and Chris Gregory, 25, of Boone, N.C., skate behind an old royal blue school bus that serves as their support vehicle. The bus, driven by Rivers, drives 15 miles ahead, then waits for the two skateboarders to catch up before going another 15 miles.
At about 900 miles ridden and more than $5,000 dollars raised, the group is gearing up to take on Provo Canyon Wednesday.
But Colton said he doesn't like Utah's "rumble strips" along the highways. The bumps, which are designed to alert drivers when they are veering off the road, don't make Colton's ride very smooth.
Luckily, he said, the skateboarders haven't had any major spills.
"There have been close calls where our boards have gone into the road, but they haven't gotten hit," he said.
The route the riders will take is not set in stone, and for now, the plan is to travel from Provo to Denver, Colo. Larry Peterson, who maps out the skateboarders' course, said he is trying to keep the route closer to cities, "because the more publicity they can get, it means more money for the charity."
The skateboarders met Peterson, owner of LongBoardLarry, when their bus broke down for five days in Salem, Ore. Peterson helped make new longboards for all three skateboarders and became one of the trip's major sponsors.
"We were skating at a park and I said, 'Wow, Larry, this board you have here is huge. It'd be perfect for going across the country,' " Colton said.
The longboards range from 43 to 51 inches in length compared to a shortboard, which measures 28 to 30 inches. The boards also have larger rubber wheels that, Peterson said, absorb more.
"It'd be like a wagon wheel compared to a car tire," Peterson said about the bigger wheels.
Colton said the group has a few skateboards that they can give away. They gave one to a teenager in the Brigham City Wal-Mart parking lot.
"We made him compete for it," Colton said.
Gregory said that the skateboarders will ride rain or shine and usually get going around 10 a.m. and ride until around 5 p.m. He has been skating since elementary school.
"It's fun and it's good exercise," Gregory said. "It's something positive to get involved in, and it's just something good to do."
Colton said that people can track the group's progress, and donate to the cause, at whoisadamcolton.com.
"I think we're doing a good job," said Colton. "We're not rushing through the states. A lot of people didn't think we could do it. My dad thought for sure we'd call him from Oregon crying."
E-mail: nclemens@desnews.com