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Grant Gardner, a junior marketing major at Virginia Tech, and Matt Cortina, a junior at Rutgers University, often passed time at a coffee shop in their hometown of Flemington, N.J.
In December 2006, they became tired of playing chess or Scrabble and decided to do something proactive and inspire people across the nation.
On May 14, the best friends will begin their trek across America on bikes, planting one million trees along the way.
Gardner said that they wanted to head a project in which everyone could take part.
"We wanted to inspire people," Gardner said.
Gardner and Cortina met in sixth grade and have been close friends since. After growing up in the same town, the two went in different directions for college. As a marketing major, Gardner handles the business side of the endeavor, while Cortina, an English and linguistics major, is the project's secretary.
Although Gardner said he "wasn't necessarily actively involved in environmental projects" before this one, he has been interested in bicycling for a while. He has played football since he was five and played several other sports throughout high school, but problems with his knees meant he needed to find a low-impact sport.
"Bicycling became my new thing to take on as far as a challenge," Gardner said.
He has been training extensively to prepare for the journey, which will have he and Cortina cycling up to 120 miles a day. Last Wednesday, Gardner completed his longest route so far -- the nearly 80 mile trip from Blacksburg to Roanoke and back. Cortina recently rode 50 miles from his New Jersey campus to his hometown.
The bikers will be stopping for a few days in 56 towns along their trail to set up workshops and teach people how to plant trees. They are working with many schools and local organizations, as well as requesting donations of seedlings from local and state nurseries.
"Ideally, we would have already contacted some organization in the town to help sponsor the event with us," Cortina said. "It's not this huge, advertised event, but we hope through local media and volunteers, word will get out."
So far, the tactic has worked. Local media have covered the event, and the bikers received their biggest break when a producer from the Martha Stewart Show called offering airtime for the story.
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