GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — FOX 17 first introduced you to Trey Howard and Quan Brown back in mid-October of 2023. They were about to embark on a basketball lover's dream tour, road-tripping across the country to watch a game at every single NBA arena.
RELATED: Best friends taking post-college gap year to visit every NBA arena in 88 days
The two best friends graduated from East Carolina University a few months before in May, and wanted to go on an adventure before they hit the real world. This is commonly referred to as a "gap year."
Their plan was to have the best gap year imaginable, dubbing themselves the GapYearGuys on social media.
On Monday, FOX 17 found out if the GapYearGuys accomplished their mission.
"It's gonna be hard to top that," Howard said.
Their original itinerary had them traveling 23,000+ miles in 88 days in an electric vehicle, starting on October 24th, NBA's opening night, to watch the Golden State Warriors host the Phoenix Suns.
“So many places we've never been before," Howard said. "I don't even know if we'll end up in those places ever again, but we went.”
All that traveling will make even the best of friends learn something new about each other, like Brown's relentless pursuit of Chester's Flamin Hot Fries on the road.
"He'd go into the gas station, and then, for like three days, he would just keep pulling out like bags of goodies," Howard joked.
The experiences they had were better than they could've imagined.
"We knew we were going to be close, but I had no idea," Brown said.
The GapYearGuys were invited onto the Target Center court in Minnesota for a live pregame interview on the Bally Sports broadcast, and were served a five-course meal in the VIP section of Capitol One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Some teams even sent them home with signed jerseys and swag bags.
Three months filled with memories that, like their friendship, will last a lifetime.
“It made me really appreciate this dude next to me," Brown said. "I look to him as a brother, and I think it just bonded our friendship, honestly.”
They documented the entire journey on social media, ranking each arena, fanbase and experience on a score of 1-10.
So FOX 17 figured it was only fitting they do the same for their trip as a whole.
“8.5," Brown said.
“I’ll go 7.5 for the simple reason that I wouldn't necessarily do it again, but I'm also very glad that we did it," Howard answered.
Not everything went according to plan, as is to be expected. The GapYearGuys' return to West Michigan is only temporary, as they still have five more games to catch (San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Indana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors).
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