So Long Sendai

Well, it`s been a while since I last had a chance to use internet so a lot has happened. Well not really all that much except loads and loads of skateboarding. When my poor feet got beter I started out from Kuji and made it to Miyako in just two days. Allthough I was exhausted, I was extremely pleased with myself. That around 80km push in just two days. It might not sound much, but in that extremely tough terrain and scorching heat during the days and rain in the evenings, it was quite a a battle. I am specially fond of the final approach to Miyako. There was a massive thunderstorm as I skated down the huge hill leading down to the town. Wet, dark and dangerous, but Most Awesome at the same time. I faithfully followed the route 45 down towards Sendai stopping in Kamaishi, Kensennuma, Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Mitsushima and finally Sendai.

I was pushing like a man possesed, straining myself to the limits basically every day. At one point I was forced to stay in my tent for allmost 36 hours because of heavy rain and exhaustion. It was really boring. I slept most of the time, because I had pulled a allnighter before that. That was because of the heat. For the first time here, I`ve experienced the dangerously hot weathers. around 30 degree celcius and soaring humidity makes the air as fresh as a warm, wet blanket and heat strokes became major concern. Basicaly I was pouring sweat only after packing my tent in the morning. I decided to go into night rider mode, since it is a little cooler during the nights and I am naturally a nocturnal creature. That all nighter was pretty rough. I went on untill about 5am when I finally found a god spot for my tent. The last few hours reminded me a lot of my time in the military. Pitch black, slight rain coming down, feet hurting like hell. Every time I hit a smal rock ro something else that woud make my skateboard stall, I just fell down on the ground and lie there for a while wheezing and thinkin why would anyone ant to ruin their summer vacation on a endeavour like this. Then I slowly, slowly got up, took my skateboard and kept on pushing.

Good sides about skating at night
It is a bit cooler
Less traffic

Bad sides
It is very, very dark
Stores are pretty much closed. Thank goodnes for the plentifull vending machines and Lawson Stations.
It seems to rain allways.

The darkness makes stuff hard. It gets really dark at about 20.00 (unlike in Finland where the nightles night happens every summer) and Japan really doesn`t have that many streetlights.All I can see while skating at nights is the thin strip of road that my flashlight lights. It`s very hard to see little stones, cracks in the asphalt nad the general shapes of the road.

When I was approaching Sendai, the terrain really flattened out and I made good going. I arrived in Sendai and slept the night in a nice Manga Cafe, called Alpha. It is weird bu nice to crash in a small cubicle with a matress as a floor. I spent some time in Sendai and set out towards south just now. I am now in a antoher Internet Cafe, about 15km from central Sendai, waiting for the rain to stop. I had to say goodbye to the Route 45 in Sendai. I`m now going down the road number 6.

Some random observations

I hate hotels. I seem to sleep a lot better in my tent or in abandoned houses and such. I now avoid hotels as much as possible.

The board is holding up very nicely. It has been bumbed around, it has gotten submerged in water a few times and gotten just as wet from the rain innumerable times. It has fallen of a cliff and of a roof of an abandoned school. And it`s fine. I asked a board for serious use and apparently got one. Great!

I had to buy new shoes again from Sendai. Back to Merrels, much to my delight.

I seem to have misplaced my USB cable somewhere, so now pictures thsi time. I try to post some as soon as possible.