joeTrek.com is a site dedicated to the enjoyment of combining the love of travel with the geekness of communication. joe rehana (this author) has had the fortunate blessing to travel about the globe in a variety of formats: aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence while enlisted in the US Navy; on planes, trains, and automobiles; on bicycles, on foot, and on inline skates. joeTrek 2008 is another attempt at a journey in which using inline skates is the mode, but the mission is the same--to have fun, to test the mettle, and to combine the joy of travel with the love of technology.

joeTrek 2005, the origin of joeTrek as a label, was an attempt at inline skating the inner perimeter of Australia starting in Sydney with the goal of returning back to Sydney some ten months, and 10,000 miles, later. the trek was cut short when joe decided the debt on his Visa and MasterCard exceeded his ability to maintain payments w/out a job, the roads were NEVER going to get better, and his visa extension never materialized. with swollen and blistered feet, the thrill of the feat already beaten out of his head, and with the very idea of ever putting skates on again unlikely, he detoured to Darwin where he called it quits just short of skating 3,000 miles.

joeTrek 2008 is something of an attempt to redeem joe's inner urge to complete, in full, his vision of combining the awesome ability communication technology has allowed a single person to generate content, along with his pursuit in masochistic endeavors (referring, of course, to defn-3: "A willingness or tendency to subject oneself to unpleasant or trying experiences"). Scheduled to begin June 1 from the garage of GoCar Tours wharf side in San Francisco, the 2008 skate is a race for the east coast, not a race for the Whitehouse, but in its direction :). As a marathoner enjoys the sweat and medatative state of a long run, this trek is also like that; the pursuit of a good sweat. joe will be "racing" towards Ocean City, MD working to finish before the fall semester of school takes him back to Southern Illinois University where he's pursing a degree in Photojournalism. He hopes to complete the skate in 60 days or less.

Many times when a mode of travel is something off the beaten path, the general sense is that there's a cause or a fund-raising effort in concert with the journey. While many of these causes are righteous and to be respected, joeTrek is not about raising money or bringing about awareness to any particular cause. joeTrek is nothing more than the pursuit of a personal goal, but donations to joe's college fund are gladly accepted. joe would love nothing more than to erase his debt with your dollars.

But who has any extra cash these days. With gas nearing $4 a gallon and grocery costs climbing, this site is not a plea for your hard earned dollars. This site is also not to make you aware of the number of inequalities in the United States, as well as around the world. This site isn't trying to warn you about the lasting effects of greenhouse gases or a plea to bring our troops home from a war based on false pretenses. This site isn't in hopes that you'll find time to educate yourself on the crises in Darfur and help those poor souls. This site isn't even about hoping you will take part in one of the most exciting presidential campaigns at a time when the world could really use informed participation.

joe rehana [me, the writer, trying hard not to say "I", "me", "you"] hopes nothing more than to have a safe journey from coast to coast and possibly inspire YOU to take the foot off the gas pedal this summer and put it to a bike pedal, or to the pavement, for short trips about town. You could test your own mettle for a cause like Mike Cox, or you could really try the extreme like Dean Karnazes. But, in general, maybe this trek will inspire some to get outside and enjoy nature while there's still nature to enjoy. Not that the rush of a mac truck nipping at the edges of joe's reality is exactly nature, but it's outside and: "There's no bliss. Rather, it's an absence of any constriction, including feelings of bliss. The feeling is vast openness and freedom and lightness. You don't have a sense that I'm in here and the world is out there," (Ken Wilber).

Thanks for your interest in joeTrek. Return often once the journey begins (june 1, 2008) for a virtual front seat in the Chariot Carriers CX1 Stroller (intended for children, but on this unsupported jog, it's used for gear). this site will be updated using the Nokia N95 camera phone as joe tries to put to practice his gathered journalism skills [which doesn't mean he can spell]. With his goal of completing in sixty days or less, the trek will first follow the route laid out by the Adventure Cycling Association in their Western Express map set and then use a patchwork of secondary roads along U.S. Route 50, with rt 50 as the primary course. joe's first scheduled day off is in Gunnison, Colorado where he will visit friends in nearby Crested Butte - the ski town he lived and worked in for more than five years. the second scheduled stop is in Olney, Illinois - where joe currently lives. both of these towns are on route 50, both are unique and beautiful in their own designs, and both are connected by the same road that virtually connects one coast to the other, much like all American' towns and Americans are connected to each other in the theory that all men are created equal and "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." In Olney, if joe makes it by July 4th, he will rush down to visit family and friends in Carterville, his hometown and the site of his TWENTY year high school reunion [has it really been 20 years?].

joeTrek hopes to capture some of the uniqueness of this route and of life along it through the blog and photo gallery to be found here on joetrek.com--but hey, remember, the camera phone is only 5 mega pixels and is equiped only with digital zoom, not optical, so don't expect Australia-joeTrek-quality pictures.