MISSOURI – Two skateboarders are pushing their way through Missouri this week as they continue a coast-to-coast adventure. Their journey has come with various bumps in the road, especially as they’ve crossed the show-me state due to one Missouri statute.

The California native skateboarders Jason Vanproppal and Orio Ramirez left Moberly, Missouri, on Friday with hopes of making it to Bowling Greene before crossing into Illinois.

Starting in Los Angeles, their journey has taken them across deserts in Arizona and New Mexico and through the mountains in Colorado.

“We went through the snow, the heat.” 25-year-old Vanporppal said. “The wind, if it’s going against us, it’s like the worst.”

What started as a spontaneous trip to cross the country solely on skateboards has turned into a mission of raising money to supply less-fortunate kids with their own skateboards. Vanporppal said they’ve already raised $20,000 during the trip and plan to buy skateboards just like the boards they’ve used to cross the country.

“Skateboarding helped us change our lives; it’s definitely helped me,” Vanporppal said. “You never know, like one of those kids could be the next pro or skate across the country too.”

Not only is their impressive social media following supporting their mission, but major brands like Vans provide supplies, and Chipotle provides free meals backing them as they continue cross-country.

With the saying “get lost in the push” and keeping positive perspective on their journey, Vanproppal says they don’t let the occasional hiccups get in the way of their mission.

One of those hiccups occurred with a run-in with Lafayette County police as they left the Kansas City area.

Vanporppal and two others were stopped by a Lafayette County police officer and nearly cited after unknowingly breaking a Missouri statute while skating along a highway.

According to Missouri law, riding on a skateboard or roller skates on any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk is prohibited.

“He made us drive six miles up,” he said. “After that happened, we were kind of a little nervous that it would keep happening.”

Now, Vanporppal and Ramirez are taking backroads across Missouri in order to make it across the state. Still, they’ve encountered five separate run-ins with police.

“Some of the cops have been nice and let us still push, but they still pull us over because people call because they are not used to seeing skateboarders on the highways,” Vanproppal said.

Still, Vanproppal and Ramirez continue on as they’ve reached day 54 of their journey in hopes of reaching New York City by mid-December.

Vanproppal’s passion for skateboarding stems back to when he was only nine years old, and despite leaving the hobby for video games at 13, he eventually returned to it in high school. Since then, he said he just kept doing what he loved, and eventually it turned into this cross-country adventure.

“I’m not rich; I’m not making millions of dollars,” Vanproppal said. “This experience feels like a million-dollar experience.”