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.
"It's a very key human interest story," said Emily Flohre, associate producer of the Martha Stewart Show. "They're young, and we love doing stories about the environment."
Gardner said that his nerves kept him up all night after he got the call about the show.
"I was just laying in bed thinking of every embarrassing thing I could say," Gardner said.
Gardner said he usually finds himself fine talking in front of an audience, which will be about 200 for the show. The cameras, however, will present the problem.
"As long as I block the cameras out, I'll be fine," Gardner said. "I'm just worried about that first walk-in."
Although the show won't air until Arbor Day on April 25, the filming will take place on April 16. Gardner said he is uncertain of whether being away from the Tech campus will be beneficial for him on the shooting's anniversary.
"I was really thinking altogether that I kind of just wanted to get away from the chaos that will occur on the campus," Gardner said. "I go back and forth. I really wanted to be here to be involved, but I think it might be nice as far as my mental health goes."
In regard to the students' physical health, they know they will need a full and balanced diet to complete the trek. Although Gardner's father will give him $100 a week for food, a lot of donations will be needed. So far, the two have collected $10,000 in donations.
"A lot of the costs would go significantly down if we would just find people who would be nice," Gardner said.
As of now, the bikers plan to be camping at stops, but they contacted hotels to ask for donated rooms or even a conference room and a couple cots.
In order to raise money and awareness, the two created a Web site -- plantingamerica.org. Depending on the success of the bike journey, they may keep the company going after their trip.
"Hopefully we might be able to do something philanthropic after the trip is over," Cortina said.
In response to suspicions about the practicality of their goal, Gardner said they are very positive they can complete it, but it's not the most important aspect of the trip.
"In the end, the whole thing is about inspiration," Gardner said. "Even if the project quit now, I would consider it a complete success."