After an early morning start from Wichita, Jack Sisson arrived in Pratt about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon — not a bad time for an inline skater. The Connecticut senior at Dartmouth College started an estimated 100-day trip on June 10 at Yorktown, Va. Before he reaches San Francisco, he will have skated nearly 3,500 miles.
The cross-country journey is something that’s been “floating around” in his mind for a while. During the last winter he worked out a route, secured some funding from friends and family and contacted a charity to benefit from publicity he garners along the way.
“I figured if I was going to do it, I might as well do it for a good cause,” Sisson said.
He estimates about $3,000 has been donated as a result of his adventure to Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization that works in more than 40 countries and reaches about 5 million people a year.
Sisson posts blogs on his website, www.skateforhunger.com that has a link to Action Against Hunger, where direct donations can be made.
He usually skates about 50 miles a day, carrying everything he needs — a tent, sleeping bag, extra skate parts, a cell phone, GPS tracker, a change of clothing, a few granola bars and most importantly, a three-liter water bag — in a backpack. He tries to keep to the shoulder on highways and prefers sidewalks in towns. The route has been altered because he discovered that it is illegal to roller skate on Colorado highways.
In an emergency, he can camp out, but most of the time he has overnight accommodations arranged by his mother. Ellen Sisson contacted Angela Madden, pastor at Pratt Presbyterian Church, who called on Alan Luttrell, a member of that congregation who has biked across Kansas a few times.
Sisson prepared for the trip with strengthening exercises. His skates are nothing special, he said, however he does pay more for high quality wheels. Good technique keeps his feet from blistering, but he admits to sore legs. The heat — as high as 104 degrees on some days — is “manageable.” He starts and ends earlier and is cooled by the moving air he generates.
