Kevin Ebra is the self-proclaimed Skateman.
The Iran-native started rollerblading in 2006 and quickly took it up professionally. He's made three long-distance journeys in his home country, one in Canada and another in Turkey, each for a different cause.
He's spent the last three days in Thunder Bay, in the midst of his sixth journey as the Skateman, raising money for the Childhood Cancer Canada Foundation.
"This is my dream - helping people and then travelling and then skating," he said Saturday at the Arthur Street Marketplace, where he's been staked out the last three days collecting donations for his campaign.
Ebra, who has spent the last three years living in Toronto, left the provincial capital on July 19 and hopes to make it to Vancouver in 120 days.
The journey so far has been good for Ebra, despite a little rain along the way.
"Every one on the road helps me," he said. "Everything is OK - weather, roads, temperatures."
The most difficult aspect is all the hills he has to climb on his skates.
"Up is hard, but down is easy," he said with a laugh.
Ebra hopes to raise $200,000 for Childhood Cancer Canada and so far has collected about $6,000.
He's met many people along the way and he gets as many people as he can to sign the vehicle that travels alongside him on the trip; that includes a signature from Thunder Bay's Mayor Keith Hobbs on the roof.
Ebra is heading to Kaministiquia for Sept. 1 followed by English River, Ignace, Dryden, Vermillion Bay and Kenora before crossing the Manitoba border.
Follow Ebra on his tour here.
