I know that we’ve been back for more than a week now, but I do have one more disc donation that I’m privileged to report. We gave away our last disc on the day we got back to my good friends, Nick and Katie Pekarek. However, I was asked to wait a few days before publicizing this information. You see, the Pekarek’s are expecting and they wanted to be sure all their family members were notified before the news went viral.

Nick and Katie have been good friends of mine for many years and they called me while we were on the road to share the good news. After some thinking, I decided that it would be cool to donate our final disc to future baby Pekarek. We at The Break Side believe that every kid should have the chance to grow up with a disc in their hands, so we were proud to make it happen for baby Pekarek. The disc was donated in Marie Kragenbring’s name, and I know she will be proud too.

Of course, it’s too early to tell the sex of the baby so I can’t promise that it’s name will be Marie. But I think even if it is a boy, Marie would be a strong middle name. Timothy Marie really rolls off the tongue…but it’s just a suggestion.

After a heated debate, we chose the Badlands over Wall Drug for our last touristy stop on our trip. Schasse somehow convinced me that seeing really cool landscapes would be more fun than a drug store on steroids. He probably wasn’t wrong.

We arrived in the Badlands shortly before sundown so we made camp in the very nice and very free facility there. We fired up the grill for the last time and went to meet our neighbors. We had a tough time understanding them as they were vacationing all the way from Belgium (which is in Europe). However, a flying plastic disc looks majestic in any language, so we became fast friends. Schasse explained our trip to them and was happy to give a disc to their young daughter, Berthe. So, Brother Aaron, I think you’ll be proud to know that your disc will be traveling the furthest to get home.

The next day, we drove through the Badlands, stopping to check out various cool things. At one point, we bumped into Dave, the father of Dane and Grace, who both received discs when we met them at the Wind Caves. He said that he enjoyed reading our post about his kids and wished us luck with the rest of our adventures. It’s good to know that our disc recipients are checking out site and will hopefully spread our story to friends back home!

It’s pretty much a straight shot home from here, but we aren’t done giving away discs just yet! Hopefully we’ll meet a kid along the way that’s as awesome as Marilyn and John Zmuda. Then we’ll know we’ve got the perfect candidate for a disc donation.

Most people go the the Black Hills in South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, and so did we. Before we made it there, however, we wanted to check out the Wind Caves. I had no idea what the Wind Caves would be like, but a good friend of ours went there last summer and I thought it sounded like a magical place, so we decided we had to check it out. On our way there, we met some bison.

As it turns out, the Wind Caves aren’t very windy, at least once you get inside. But with 140 miles of tunnels, it is the most complex cave system in the world. So that’s pretty neat. We took a guided tour of the caves and made a few friends while we were there. Dane and Grace and their family were vacationing from Minnesota (Go Vikes) and weren’t nearly as scared as Chris when our tour guide turned all the lights off. For that, they earned themselves each a disc, courtesy of a few cats, Porch and Dolly. Tracie, I apologize that you can’t see your nickname written on the disc, but Grace really just wanted to wear it on her head.

 

 

We also met Anderson from Denver, CO within the depths of the Wind Caves. He had on a Colorado Avalanche shirt, but that’s probably just because Colorado doesn’t have a professional Ultimate team yet. My dad, Jeff Wagner, taught me not to like hockey from a young age. I thought it was because he didn’t like hockey, but I found out years later that it was just because he didn’t want to pay for me to play it. Hockey could have been my calling, but I found Ultimate instead, which of course pays WAY better. Anderson, my dad is awesome and I love him for pointing me in the right direction, but if you want, go ahead and play both hockey and Ultimate. You can credit both your dad and your disc donor, Caleb Gerdes, when you become great at both.

Alright, it’s a poor picture; let’s get that out of the way right now. Guess who was operating the camera, ha, ha, ha…

Anyway, Ken Schasse, Michelle Anderson, and Derek Levin, your discs have been donated to Seeger, Julian, and Liam, respectively (cool names, right?). Their family was vacationing from Wisconsin and Julian and Liam both caught the first disc I threw to them and completed the throw back to me. So yeah, they were gonna get themselves some discs. NOTE: I didn’t get the chance to throw one to Seeger, but I didn’t want it to sound like he dropped his.

While no disc is more special than another, I would like to make a special note about Derek’s. His disc is the only one we’ve given away than already has a few scratches from hitting the concrete. It’s also the only one that has allegedly been run over by a moving vehicle. I wasn’t there when the incident occurred, so I can neither confirm nor deny its accuracy. Lastly, it’s the only disc that has been given away on the second attempt. That’s right Derek, someone refused your disc when we were in Seattle. I’m sure the first two interesting facts had nothing to do with the third…

In any case, the fellas have a road disc (everyone needs a disc they can beat up on the road) and two pristine ones to use to perfect their flick hucks upon their return home. Heck guys, if you wanna see if you can throw Derek’s disc into Old Faithful, far be it for me to stop you. You only need one for a three-man_mark_drill anyhow. But seriously, you guys better at least use the other two discs to become some awesome Ultimate players.

We knew that we would only be in Idaho for an hour or so on our way through to Montana, so we had to make our time count. We didn’t want to say that we just passed through Idaho, so we pulled into a rest stop to hopefully give a disc away.

While we were tossing a disc in the parking lot, a van with a Minnesota plate rolled up. A family with two young kids hopped out, so I ran back to the car to grab a few discs that were donated by Minnesotans. I found Jeff Wagner and Lisa Anderson (who both live in Minnesota) and the discs found their way into the hands of Levi and Piper.

As it turns out, the family was actually from Seattle and the van was a rental they were taking to Fargo. But they enjoyed the discs nonetheless. Their dad even taught them to throw a chicken wing and I’m pretty sure Levi could throw it further than either Chris or I. So I didn’t exactly get to meet any Minnesotans, but I think we still made their day!

In any case, Minnesotans are awesome. Especially Neal Hanke. I’m sad that the end of our trip is drawing near, but it’ll be fun to be back!

Thursday was our last day in Eugene, so we decided to spend it hanging out with a guy who you’re going to hear a lot more about in a coming episode. The first thing we did when we rolled into Eugene was attend a Darkstar practice. Darkstar is one of the oldest club teams in existance, founded by a man whose name every competitive Ultimate player will recognize: Henry Callahan. It was here that we met Daniel Walling. The lefty backhand huck throwin’, bro tank/knee-high sock wearin’ dude was supposedly talented in many and various ways, so we had to see what this guy was all about.

We went over to his house/workshop and we were not disappointed. Dan and his father share a workshop where they make various crafts, ranging from hats, shoes, and quality wooden utensils. Everything they make is made in the most sustainable way possible, using mostly recycled materials. And this stuff is cool.To learn more about what they do, check out the websites for their shoes and woodwork.

While we were there, we met Dan’s twin eight year-old sons Ari and Leo (both three-letter names meaning lion). They both happened to be wearing two of his old Darkstar jerseys, so they already looked like stud Ultimate players. The only thing they were missing was a few discs. Luckily, we had a few to spare. Thanks to Brian Franson and Carol and Art Riehle, they can now put an end to the argument of who has the bigger backhand. Check them out trying to throw a disc to one another at the same time:

After spending Monday night in Eugene, it was time to say goodbye to Eliz. Before she flew out, however, there was one more thing she wanted to see. Growing up in England, one of her favorite movies was Stand By Me because it gave her an idea of what it was like growing up in America. She somehow knew that it was filmed in Brownsville, OR, which is about a half hour from Eugene.

We left early in the morning so we could spend some time in Brownsville before Eliz’s flight out of Portland. We drove to Brownsville and spent some time driving on back country roads, into random driveways, and trespassing on private property in order to find places where certain scenes were filmed. When we came upon the field where the tree house was built in the movie (it’s no longer there, but the tree is) we found other men, Allen and Gabriel, taking pictures. You can imagine my surprise, as I figured Eliz was the only person on Earth who would come all the way to Brownsville just to see some old movie scene locations.

As it turns out, Brownsville is a pretty popular summer tourist location, according to Allen, who runs a Bed and Breakfast out of his home nearby. Allen invited us all back to his place for some apple juice and more Stand By Me talk. We spent about a half hour getting to know Allen, as well as the Gabriel and his family, who were road-tripping the West Coast as well.

After telling them a little bit about The Break Side, I asked Gabriel if I could give a disc to his daughter. I didn’t realize until recently that we have yet to give a disc away to a female, so it was about time! I let her pick from the three disc designs I had (Wind Chill, USAU Nationals, and SolZone). She decided she wanted the one with the sun on it, which I knew would make the donor, Paula Meyer, very  proud.

The entire Bozza family wanted to pose for the picture, which was a shot that I really liked. The girl’s name is Nevaeh (NA-Veh-Uh), a name given to her because it is the word Heaven spelled backwards. She was about the cutest kid ever and it just seemed so fitting that her disc would come courtesy of Paula and Inner Echoes.

Ever since leaving San Francisco on Wednesday, we’ve been pretty much out of touch with the rest of the world. Turns out there isn’t much in the way of modern technology in northern Cali and most of Oregon.

That being said, we have had quite a bit of fun the past few days. It started with my friend, Eliz Bamford, flying all the way from England to spend a few days on The Break Side tour. We’ve hiked Mt. Shasta, explored_and_swam_in_Crater_Lake, and been pretty unproductive in all things Break Side.

That said, we did manage to give away two discs while swimming in Whiskeytown in Northern California. Curtis, right, played a little catch with Eliz and I. His throws weren’t the best, but his heckling was spot on. There’s certainly an Ultimate player in him. Of course, we couldn’t leave his friend Daniel empty-handed, so both young men are proud new owners of discs courtesy of Taylor VanOosbree (TVO) and Jim and Kay Wagner. Thanks guys!

Lastly, I’d like to quickly mention how awesome Carol and Art Riehle are. Just because I can.