{"id":92327,"date":"2019-10-07T16:42:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T16:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-man-to-skateboard-800-miles-to-southern-california\/"},"modified":"2019-10-07T16:42:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T16:42:41","slug":"durango-man-to-skateboard-800-miles-to-southern-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-man-to-skateboard-800-miles-to-southern-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango man to skateboard 800 miles to Southern California"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jeff
Jeff Markman, a local skateboarder, works his way up Hesperus Hill on U.S. Highway 160 a few days before he embarked on an 800-mile skate trip to California. Part of the goal is to accomplish the trip, the other part is to raise $3,000 to give skateboards to a children\u2019s home in Brazil.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At dawn Tuesday, while the rest of Durango woke up, a local skateboarder took a backpack full of socks, banana chips and peanuts and started skating.<\/p>\n

His destination: Long Beach, California \u2013 800 miles away.<\/p>\n

\"Markman\"
Markman<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Jeff \u201cHot Dog\u201d Markman, 34, set wheels to pavement for more than the long-distance skate. He is skateboarding to raise awareness for a Durango-born fundraiser, Boards for Brazil.<\/p>\n

Markman, and local skateboarder Tim Schaefer, 26, created Boards for Brazil to send fully assembled skateboards to kids in or near Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. The Boards for Brazil fundraiser, created Sept. 15, has raised $1,425 of its $3,000 goal. For Markman and Schaefer, the fundraiser is a way to give back, to let others know Durango cares and even to move a step closer to who they want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t be who I am, I can\u2019t be who I want to become, unless I do this,\u201d Markman said.<\/p>\n

Markman faces a Nov. 1 deadline, the end of the fundraiser, to reach Southern California where he grew up. He\u2019ll be skating 30 to 50 miles a day for two or three weeks, over mountains and through deserts until he reaches Cherry Skatepark in Long Beach. When he gets there, he\u2019s going to post a video showing he made it, then eat a huge meal and go to sleep, Markman said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pretty intense idea, said local skateboarders Gabe Wilson and his son, Romeo Wilson, 10. They don\u2019t know anyone who has done a similar trip on a skateboard, they said.<\/p>\n

John Agnew, owner of The Boarding Haus and a sponsor for the fundraiser, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019ll pull it off,\u201d he said. It\u2019ll be tough: The side of the road is gravelly with shards of glass, and Markman will essentially be doing lunges with his riding leg the whole way while wearing a heavy backpack, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of crazy that he\u2019s going to skateboard that long,\u201d said Romeo, who is donating a skateboard to the effort. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool that he\u2019s willing to do that to give skateboards to kids in Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the deadline passes, Schaefer will purchase skateboard parts through Fortaleza companies to support the local market. Because both Markman and Schaefer are funding their own trips, 100% of the fundraiser proceeds will be used to buy skateboard parts, they said.<\/p>\n

Markman, his skateboard leaning against his leg and tattoos poking out from under his shirt sleeves, said the fundraiser is about positivity above all.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Boarding Haus donated Shark Wheels to Jeff Markman, who is skateboarding to California. The wheels make it easier for going over different surfaces and soften the ride a little. Markman is trying to raise $3,000 to give skateboards to a children\u2019s home in Brazil.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Markman and Schaefer want to let people know that the Durango skateboard community was grateful for the city\u2019s investment in the skatepark. Now, they want to show that the community cares by helping others, in the state and beyond, Markman said.<\/p>\n

They chose Fortaleza because Schaefer learned about the 3.7 million orphans in Brazil while doing volunteer work in the community. They want to give those kids, or others who can\u2019t afford a skateboard, the chance to have fun, join a community and find an outlet through the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a really unique idea,\u201d Agnew said. \u201cSkateboarding does help so many kids, especially, not just troubled kids, but people that are on their own or by themselves a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting at a coffee shop and wearing a pair of jeans ripped from a skateboarding fall, Schaefer explained that, for him, skateboarding has always been an outlet and a way to get through tough times.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Boarding Haus donated Shark Wheels to Jeff Markman, who is skateboarding to California. The wheels make it easier for going over different surfaces and soften the ride a little. Markman is trying to raise $3,000 to give skateboards to a children\u2019s home in Brazil.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As a teen, Schaefer experienced homelessness for a year. He partied; he got in trouble. His friend, a 16-year-old skater, died in a car crash. After that, he threw himself into skateboarding. He pushed himself harder, fell again and again, until he learned a challenging trick and felt the pride of getting it right. Through skateboarding, he found support and a community.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkateboarding has given a way to still be productive, and put our efforts into something creative, and ultimately get a beautiful outcome out of it,\u201d Schaefer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s family,\u201d said Markman, who also leaned on the sport through tough times. \u201cWe all know each other, and we all are very supportive. \u2026 If someone is really in need, they\u2019ll be taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaefer and Markman said others can find the same outlet in skateboarding, especially kids who might need that community but don\u2019t have the means to buy a skateboard and join.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Skateboarding) is the only way I know to share love and equality,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cEverybody has the power to make a difference, no matter if you believe it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Schaefer plans his trip to Brazil, Markman set off to accomplish one of his life goals: making the trip across the West and getting through the exhaustion, loneliness, excitement and dangers along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be able to be like, \u2018Look what I did,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018And I just went with a backpack with a lot of socks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fundraiser aims to raise $3,000 to buy skateboards for kids in Brazil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5740,5737,5736,5735],"tags":[13,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-92327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frontpage-lead","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92327"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=92327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}