On June 2, 2008, four college students set out to travel east, using only two skateboards and two bikes, without any mapped out destinations other than their objective-get to

New York City.

“We knew the general direction of Indiana, and we just started skating down Lake Shore Drive until it dead-ended,”, Arthur Swidzinski, a junior television major at Columbia said. “We stopped at a convenience store and were like ‘Hey, which way do we go to Indiana?’ He was like, ‘This way. Don’t go through Gary.'”

The students’ experience on the trip was recorded in their documentary, Shred America. Even though the gang faced many challenges of police, bad wipe-outs and the drudgery of skating around 40 miles a day through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, the group was determined to reach their destination in a month.

“You only live once. Why not experience everything you can?” said one of the bikers, Anthony Michal, a sophomore film and video major at Columbia.

Attached on the backs of the bikes were 100-pound trailers full of two HD cameras, granola bars and other food; a two-man tent; spare clothing; first aid kits; extra tires; and extra wheels. Each night-unless they were lucky enough to have somewhere to stay, like a stranger’s house, backyard or at a planned spot-all four would sleep in a two-man tent. Sometimes the foursome would stay at camp sites; other times, like in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, they would just walk off the side of the road into the woods and pitch the tent.

“It was the most uncomfortable cramp I’ve ever slept in,” Michal said. “I’d never gone camping before that either. To go from never camping to ‘you have to camp to survive’ [was] crazy.”

The first week was the toughest for the crew, Michal said. Any training for the thousand-mile trek they had done consisted of running about one mile a day, Swidzinski said, not necessarily enough training for the 30 to 60 miles they skated each day. Much of what they did was unplanned, and had no other objective than to complete the goal they came up with one year earlier.

The idea for the trip came after Michael Kosciesza, one of the skaters and a junior television major at Columbia, woke up from a nightmare and called Swidzinski about doing something crazy-skating across the country.

When they were on their journey, the once-thought crazy idea developed into a daily grind. A typical day for the group consisted of waking up at about 7 a.m., packing up, eating, getting on the road by 9 a.m. or 10 a.m., skating until it was dark and sometimes past dark, Michal said. They would take a few breaks during the day depending on the weather or the terrain.

Only one week into their journey, their environment had already gotten to them. Kosciesza had a cold James Lagen, the other biker, and a pre-medicine and psychology major at Loyola University, had thermal burns on his legs. nd Michal was almost mauled by a dog, he said. Swidzinski recalled the group having to dodge funnel clouds forming in the distance and being hit with pouring rain before barely making it out of Indiana. And when they finally made it from Chicago to Ohio on skateboards and bikes, they still had more than 800 miles to go.

“When you’re driving a car, you take miles for granted,” Kosciesza said. “But skating 60 miles or 30 to 50 miles a day, it’s horrendous.”

Even with all the obstacles-like being stopped by cops more than 20 times for riding on the shoulder of the highway-and through all the frustration-like when Michal got so angry at his heavy load that he smashed his electric razor against a wall and dumped some clothes and CDs-they were determined to push on.

“We knew Arthur and I would do it no matter what the circumstances [were],” Kosciesza said. “But with the crew, we were doubtful with that. The first week we were sore all over. We only got about six hours of sleep [a night].”

As they trekked through Ohio, their bodies became more conditioned, Michal said. Along with their bodies, their minds also adjusted to the circumstances.

“You’re almost like a bum with money, but you [only] rely on people so much,” Michal said. “We relied on each other, but you would need help from people. I’ve never put myself out like that before. It was really cool to get a warming feel from everyone.”

What was originally planned to be a film about skateboarding turned into seeking the answer to a question posed by Kosciesza: “How will America react to four dudes traveling across the country?”

Their documentary is their largest project as of yet, Swidzinski said, and they are now learning how to deal with newfound obstacles.

“This is a whole learning experience for us because this is our first major production,” he said. “So we don’t know what it takes. We have to take care of rights, we have to e-mail a bunch of people to make sure we can use this footage or use that footage, buy rights, which is super expensive, and we don’t have that money.”

But sometimes the obstacles they faced were easier to overcome than they had thought. Michal said he expected to be unwelcomed by the majority of the people they ran into, but realized how nice people could really be. At times, when they weren’t camping, they were fortunate enough to have random people give them a place to spend the night. Often, these people showed real interest in what they were doing, and offered to help out any way they could.

“People would randomly come up and be like, ‘What the hell are you guys doing?'” Michal said. “And we were like, ‘Oh, we’re skating across America’ and they were like, ‘Well, if you need a place to stay, we’re up the road.’ That was cool.”

Both Michal and Kosciesza said their stay with Dave DeNoma, a freelance photographer taking pictures for the New York Post, stuck out the most. He spent most of the day with them in Pittsburgh and showed them around town.

“We didn’t get to do that often-get a nice shower, a nice floor to sleep on,” Kosciesza said.

At this point, the group used to attention from the media. Before the trip, they worked their public relations skills talking to The Daily Herald, Spike O’Dell from WGN Radio and gaining sponsorship from skate companies, as well as finding Michal and Lagen to document them.

Lagen had known the skaters from high school. And Michal only knew the guys from seeing them skating at parks. He joined about a month prior to the trip after the original documenter dropped out, Michal said.

Michal and Kosciesza agreed, before the trip began, any thoughts of ditching out disappeared after the media outlets began covering their preparations to leave. Throughout the trip, media outlets tried to get a hold of them for interviews.

After 35 days of skating with five to seven days off for visiting different cities, the group made it through the mountains of Pennsylvania to New York City, only to be welcomed by ABC News with a five-star hotel room for agreeing to appear on “Good Morning America.”

Kosciesza and Swidzinski have a history of accomplishments ranging back from making skateboard videos in sixth grade, to placing in the Chicagoland Film Festival their senior year at Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Ill.

“From the time that they were freshmen doing introductory radio projects until now- Shred America-they’ve always progressed,” said Jim Wunderlich, their high school production teacher of four years. “And each year you can just see them getting better and better.”

Swidzinski and Kosciesza are still in the process of capturing the film and transferring it to a digital medium. They said they wanted to give themselves a lot of time, because of school and work. The two have been in the process of rditing the film since the beginning of the 2008 school year. They think it will be ready to be released sometime before summer 2009, but not without a lot of work still left to do. Their passion for filmmaking helps them along their path to that goal.

“I think that’s where Mike and Arthur are unique,” Wunderlich said. “They have a real passion for moviemaking-not unlike the basketball player who’s out there practicing his shots all the time or the swimmer who’s swimming laps. They were really dedicated to their craft.”

When it comes to the two-who have been filming and skating most of their lives-this film seems to be a culmination point for their lifelong interests.

“When you’re on your board, it’s way different than being on a bike; it’s way different than being on roller-skates or whatever,” Swidzinski said. “You can just pop up your board and take it wherever you want.”

Twenty miles before they reached New York City, Michal said he started high-tailing it and was miles ahead of the others. But he had to turn around because the other guys were stopped by the cops. After he met back up with the group at McDonalds, they finally made their way to the bright lights of Times Square, like a breath of fresh air, at around midnight. They knew they were done, Michal said. From what started as a dream one year earlier, they had pulled together to conquer their obstacles and found a way to their destination.

For more information, visit ShredAmericaFilm.com.