Kim Bouldin sounds lost.
“What day is this? I’ve lost track. I think we are on day 20,” she says, her voice lost in the growl of a passing truck.
She’s at a roadside convenience store just outside Biloxi, Miss.
The days are a blur. Roller skating 700 miles on rough roads over three weeks does strange things to your mind and body, says the mother and wife from Salida.
“We have created a great affinity for gas stations,” she said, describing a breakfast of Lays potato chips and chocolate milk. “I looked at my dinner the other night. It was Nutter Butters, Pringles and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I can’t believe the things I’m putting in my body. We are almost like pregnant women. We have these weird cravings.”
Starting in Cocoa Beach, Fla., Bouldin and a group of roller-derby skaters from Salida are traversing the country, pushing Thule Chariot strollers in a self-supported mission to raise money and awareness for victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
On Thursday, the women were nearing Fort Stockton in windy west Texas, more than 1,500 miles into their 2,800-mile, 80-day skate.
On their way to California, the Salida team has been welcomed by local roller-derby chapters, their group swelling to as many as nine skaters. Cars pull alongside with cold water or donations for their cause. Online fans track them down at campsites with fresh-baked treats. People they just met have provided hotel rooms.
“The generosity has been overwhelming,” Bouldin said. “People have been amazing.”
It hasn’t been smooth rolling. Those first days were rough. Pains all over. The vibration from uneven pavement rippled through their bones. Muscles ached. A hospital visit revealed not a stress fracture, just shin splints.
“Pure survival mode,” Bouldin said of those first couple weeks across Florida.
The chip-sealed roads and relentless headwinds in west Texas have been brutal. But per Texas’ notorious hospitality, well-wishers are plentiful, with passers-by often stopping with water and food. Even the police officers — who are called by passing drivers worried the women have babies in their strollers (they don’t — that’s how they carry their supplies) along Interstate 10 — have been sweet.
“The Texas cops have been the nicest of them all, such that we never dread interactions with them,” said Gracie Cole, who sparked the idea for a cross-country skate.
The States on Skates mission began at a roller-derby potluck. The were wrapping up a season with the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Cole, a new member and adventurer who has twice pedaled across the country on a unicycle, mused on the idea of a long-distance skate.
“Everyone’s eyes just lit up,” said Cole, whose deep adventure résumé includes becoming the first person to unicycle the 2,800-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Canada to Mexico, in 2009.
The skaters enlisted sponsors and chose the and the campaign for their fundraising efforts. The nonprofit group Joyful Heart works with survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. The No More campaign — which the NFL has championed with recent commercials — aims to raise awareness and ultimately end violence against women. The skaters want to raise $50,000 from their nearly three-month, self-supported skate across America.
“We want to skate for this bigger meaning, which is to actually end domestic violence and sexual assault,” Bouldin said. “We started looking local, but this is such a passionate cause for us, we thought to ourselves ‘If we are going to be skating across America, we might want to go bigger.’ “
(The local angle was thwarted, too, by the fact that it is illegal to roller skate on most highways in Colorado. It is legal, however, in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.)
After several months of fundraising, four Upper Arkansas Valley skaters had carved out their schedules to accommodate the entire route: Cole, Bouldin, Beth Richter and Brenna Eaker. Another eight or so women are joining for portions of the route, which traverses the Southern states to California.
Last week, Richter hung up her skates after more than 1,500 miles, calling the decision “bittersweet.”
“I have overcome and passed many (hurdles) physically and mentally on this journey,” Richter wrote last Wednesday on the . “I will miss continuing on the journey with the three strongest women I know. I also know that 1,500 miles is no joke, and it is a huge accomplishment! I am not quitting, I am simply finishing my journey at 1,500 miles.”
Before they left, Cole and Bouldin were purposely avoiding deep contemplation of the challenges ahead. There might have been a bit of denial in there, too.
“It’s not going to rain the whole time. Pretty sure there’s not going to be a headwind. So I’m happy about that,” Bouldin said with an eye roll.
While they all are veteran roller skaters, their preparation for long-distance skating was minimal. They are skating themselves into shape as they prepare for the Texas hill country west of Austin, and the lonely stretch of windy desert across west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are training states.
Cole has run across Florida. She won this year’s McMurdo Ice Marathon in Antarctica. She’s no stranger to prolonged suffering. A week before leaving for Florida, she was ready.
“We won’t be just seeing the wind through a windshield, or seeing the sun and light. We are going to be blown. We are going to be hot. It’s a more full experience,” Cole said. “There will be moments when it comes down to constantly moving forward. Getting to the next point and breaking it down into tiny bites. Coast to coast is sometimes about just one more crank of the pedal. Sometimes just knowing that going one mile a day will get you across the country. It might take longer, but you will make it.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
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