Skating to Show the Good in Humanity

By Claudia Koch, Staff Writer

At the still-too-young age to have done all the continent hopping she’s done – alone – 23-year-old Yanise Ho lit briefly in Keysville last week. In a brief conversation with her, she explained her latest venture, or adventure as the case may be.

“I just want to show that there’s still a lot of love in the world. One bad apple does not mean everyone is bad. I wanted a chance to tell a good story.” And her method for doing this is to take on a gigantic challenge: skating from Miami, Florida to New York and then on to Los Angeles, California, depending on the people she meets along the way to provide her with food and shelter.

It would be an impossible task to list chronologically the cities and countries this young woman has visited all over the world, but the most important was probably when she decided to go to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which is a well-known center for winter sports and ecotourism. There she mastered inline skating, also known as roller-blading, and joined an inline skating marathon in Minnesota. From there her project was off and running, er, rolling.

Yanise travels with no money. “I’m a free spirit,” she laughed, “a free bird!” Totally dependent on people she meets along the way, she says she can “always manage to find somebody to take me home (with them).” And that’s pretty scary in and of itself, but this brave and determined woman is confident in the goodness of people.

Born in Hong Kong, Yanise said she has the full support of her parents, who are still in China, and even that of her grandmother who is very adept at social media, and that’s how they all communicate. She carries a GPS tracker and says there are a lot of people who follow her travels that way. She says she hasn’t had to replace her boots yet, but the five wheels on each of her skates have to be replaced about every 700 miles. The manufacturer of the polyurethane wheels, Flying Eagle, sends wheels, helmet, and any protective gear she needs. “I don’t always wear the pads, though,” she said. “It’s too hot.”

When asked to gear up for a picture, Yanise finished stowing all her belongings into a pack which she said weighs 40 pounds and then sat down to bring the straps up over her shoulders and adjust them properly. The next step was to stand up with all that weight, and frankly, she looked like a little turtle on its back trying to turn over. She couldn’t weigh more than 100 pounds herself. She was ready to set off on the next leg of her journey. “I hope to make it to Burkeville today,” she proclaimed. “I stay on main roads and 360 is all right.”

When Yanise’s journey is complete she will have skated 6000 miles. The current record for inline skating is 5300 miles, set by a man. “I want to beat him, too,” Yanise said with a little grin.

You can read more about Yanise at www.yaniseho.com or on Facebook The Bladress.