Three years ago, I went with a group to Minnesota for the second MKO! We drove from Kentucky and the trip was close to 13 hours long. We almost spent more time traveling than we did in Minneapolis! Who else has gone on a major trip for dama? If so, how long did it take you to get there?
Car ride wise, when Milan and I rode out for the Queen City Kendama open that was a solid 10 hours for me. 4 to Milan's house in PA and 6/7ish out to Cincy. That was totally worth it 100%. Total distance traveled though was my trip from Baltimore to California for NKR. I'm throwing this out there. NO ONE road trips as a crew like the DKT homies in Michigan. They legit pack the car full and roll out wherever.
DKT dudes are legit af for sure haha. They've road tripped like crazy for dama My longest road trip would be the first dama trip I took: driving Edmonton to Wenatchee, then to the coast, and eventually down to SF (and then back). Its about 32 hrs from Edmonton to SF one way. Longest distance would be to China though, especially considering I took a crazy route there. Edmonton -> Vancouver for almost a week -> Vegas for a trade show -> Shanghai -> bus ride to the town we were working in. Then the same route back! It was like 2.5 days from the time I boarded that bus until the time I arrived home. Had a layover in LA on the way back so I met up with Colin for a few hours, ate some Mexican food and then missed my flight because I went to the wrong terminal. Doh!
KWC had to be the longest trip because after arriving to Japan, we still did that fat bus ride to Hatsukaichi lol!
All the dama related trips i've taken so far has been about 4hrs from Houston. Road trip-wise, it's a 4 hr drive from Houston to Dallas for TX States Kendama Comp and then it was about a 4 hr plane ride to LA for NKR this year lol
I remember when some of the calgary dudes drove like 14 hrs to come to the Where We Are premiere in Wenatchee. Maximummmm respecccct
Uptown Joe and myself have driven to both coasts from Minnesota. Both trips take roughly 28 hours to complete if you take limited stops for rest. The first one was to the South Carolina State Fair. That is where I met Austin Ring, @Zach Porter and the rest of the GVK crew for the first time. We drove a White U-Haul Cargo Van ( that doubled as a home for most of the trip ) stuffed to the brim with kendamas. It was definitely one of the hardest kendama grinds ever. The other time we drove out to California for the Sacramento State Fair. Once again we stuffed our cargo van full and headed cross country to sell damas at another state fair. This trip was awesome because a lot of kendama players came by our booth and jammed. @Willy P @Christian Fraser and the roots tour even made a stop on one of the last nights we were there. Things like this get lost in my memory of amazing trips, thanks @Chad Covington for posting this up. International trips are always long. Especially when you travel to Japan twice a year.
I remember kicking it at the fair that night! Ah, KG Roots tour was amazing (not to be confused with Roots Kendamas, they're a brand that started after that tour happened). A bunch of dama homies packed into a sprinter van, spending a couple weeks touring up the west coast. It was awesome! That was actually an insanely long trip. I spent 2-3 weeks in Japan (that was the year before the first KWC, there was the 'GLOKEN Cup' instead), then flew straight to SF to start a couple weeks of KG Roots tour, which ended in Seattle. After that we drove back down to the Portland area to check out the Windell's skatepark, and then do some summer snowboarding up on Mt Hood. After that we hung out in Portland for a few days (by that time it was just me, Kristin, Eric Martin, and an old friend of mine named Nick), and then drove up to Vernon, BC (~10-12 hours?) to meet a couple other friends who were going mountain biking. The last couple nights we were in a tent in the pouring rain, and I was so goddamn ready to go home and sleep in my bed. Another 8-9 hour drive and finally I was back home, almost a month and a half later.
Definitely going to KG Roots Tour events. Went from Tahoe to the Sacramento stop...to to the Tahoe stop...to the final tour stop at Battle in Seattle. Lots of driving, but it was the coolest kendama experience I've ever had. Plus spent some time going up the cool parts of the Oregon coastline. Definitely a stretch of the country everyone should experience.
This year I drove solo from Eastern PA all the way to Minnesota for MKO16!! 16 plus hours due to traffic. Definitely worth it!!So many great vibes and great people. It was my first dama event I've ever attended
For KWC (2015+2016) a 7-hour flight from Malaysia to Japan, plus 6 more hours on bus with the most incredible team - Team Yuka! Got Team Yuka for two years in a row! Also, the most incredible dama homies in a 6-hour ride made it feel like 2. And in 2015, was the rowdiest bus ever, thanks to a certain hammered up guy from Sweets Kendamas who's got that red and turq / white fade dama who kept throwing nuggets to everyone. Proceeded to stay over for 5 weeks, made it to Tokyo to witness my very first World Yoyo Contest! One of the best dama travels in a list of more epic dama travels to come.
KWC 2016 was the furthest trip I've taken for Kendama. 4hr drive to the airport and a 12+ hour plane ride to Japan. Worth every minute. Set to do it again this year! Although I made my first solo drive ever into SF,4hrs away, after I got my license (got it when I was 30...) for Kendama! It was for a GT release party at SanFranpsycho. I was sooo dang nervous driving down and never in a million years did I think the draw to the Kendama scene would give me the courage to drive into that madness. I did it though and got some pretty sweet setups that day!
Don't forget the 6-hour bus ride! (And i'm hella sorry i screwed up Room 203's sleep with my snoring ahahaha!)
probably like an hour lol. There's a pretty good kendama scene near me so I don't have to travel very far. I do want to trek up to Oregon some day to go to one of those COTK jams and just sightsee
I don't go on too many trips but there was an event in Hawaii about 3 years ago that I ended up helping shoot some stuff for @Kendama USA and that was my first time ever in paradise. It was maximum craze there at the time, and we were on the morning news balls early. remember that one @MattSweets ?