Rob Saliski is driving the rented Ryder truck down Scenic Route 101 in California.

Ten feet to the right there are 50-foot cliffs. On the left looms large, red, cragged mountains. The truck is rigged with a boombox connected to speakers, which are hung in the corners of the cockpit. Rob is wearing a red bandana and sunglasses, screaming along with the music, chasing a little red Mitsubishi Miata and the needle on the speedometer is buried.

"Yeah, it got all the way around to the zero again," he said. "It was pretty amazing."

Ted Johnson is in the passenger seat, and he's thinking this isn't the way he wants to go out. But he knows right then that the guy next to him is his best friend and that they're going to have the time of their lives at Penn State.

They had actually met a year before. Rob showed up for his first day as a freshman at 7 a.m. He went to Pollock Commons, got his key and went up to his room in Hartranft Hall, expecting to find it empty. But inside, Ted Johnson was sleeping on nothing but a single blanket and one pillow. The rest of the room was bare.

"I just walk in and there's this guy sleeping there," Saliski said. "I had called him when I got the room assignment and we'd just discussed some basic things. I walk in, see this guy and he looks up and I'm just like 'Uh, Ted?"

Ted had traveled from Portland, Ore. on a train. He was not only tired and suffering the normal anxieties that all freshman go through, but his luggage was nowhere to be found.

So Rob's parents took him out into downtown State College to help him deal with the adjustment.

"We hung out for the rest of the day," Saliski said. "It was awkward, being the first time we met each other and all, but my parents said they figured it out back then that we would get along.

The Saliskis, who hail from Virginia, were a change of pace for Johnson.

"I'm from the North part of the West Coast," he said. "They're down over here, a little south. It's such a different lifestyle."

But despite all that, Saliski and Johnson were quick friends.

"We're both just laid back," Saliski said. "We're both movie buffs and of course there's gymnastics."

Oh yeah, gymnastics.

Both came to Penn State to pursue not only a degree, but also success in the sport they love.

"We went through that whole adjustment period together," Johnson said. "That brings guys really close together, especially when you're trying to adjust to athletics, too."

So after putting in their time in the stuffy dorms, the duo moved to the house they have lived in for the last three years. And poor Ted needed to get all his stuff from Portland to Penn State.

Luckily for him, Rob flew out and they rented the truck and headed east.

So the two crammed everything they could into the truck, including an old sofa and some mementos from Ted's childhood. They did their best to make the ride as comfortable as possible.

"If you've ever been in one of those trucks," said Johnson, "you know they are the most uncomfortable things in the world. No radio, no air conditioning, bumpy as can be. It was just awful. But we had a cooler up front with some drinks and we rigged up the stereo system.

"Actually, being with Rob made it an adventure. With him, it wasn't really that bad at all."

That, right there, is friendship.

But the adventure was only beginning. The first stop was Las Vegas, Nev., where they had made hotel reservations. One problem: they weren't 21 yet. So when they got to the hotel, the clerk wouldn't allow them to check in.

Until Rob took matters into his own hands.

"He picks up this courtesy phone, gets somebody on the other end and just starts going," Johnson says. "Twenty minutes later we have rooms and free passes to the spa."

In New Mexico, there's a thunderstorm and the radio is warning people about violent lightening strikes. There aren't any other cars on the road because the roads have turned into flowing streams about a foot deep.

But the truck isn't stopping.

And once again, Johnson fears for his life.

Albuquerque to Fort Worth, Fort Worth to Atlanta, the truck kept rolling, rolling, rolling.

They're outside Atlanta now and it's about 1 a.m. Rob has been behind the wheel for 16 hours and finally up ahead there's a little motel.

"First of all, Rob's been nuts all day," Johnson recalls. "Earlier we're driving through Georgia and he has on an old Marvin the Martian hat that I wore for Halloween and he's yelling out to people as we pass them. He was like the devil."

And finally, up ahead, there's some relief.

"We pull up and the place is a dirt pit," Saliski says. "There are thugs hanging out downstairs and hoods up on the balconies."

Johnson is used to the routine by now, but figures he'll ask anyway: "Are you sure this is such a good idea?"

"And of course Rob is like, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine. Don't worry about it," he says.

Then the police show up.

"They ask us if we have reservations," Saliski said. "I explain the situation and how we're driving cross country. He tells me just to get the hell out of there because it's a drug motel."

An hour later, the duo finds a suitable place to stay on the other side of Atlanta.

The rest of the trip, at least by comparison, is uneventful.

"Man, we finally get to the White House (the house they currently live in) and all the guys are out throwing horse shoes," Johnson said. "I'm so happy, so grateful to be home, I turn up the music and get out the window and just start yelling."

And on the driver's side of the car, Rob Saliski is doing the same thing.

Whether it is pulling all-nighters before finals or heading out on weekend nights, the two do it together.

"We've spent four years together," Johnson said. "A lot of times we finish each other's thoughts. When that happens, we separate for a while."

Last year, they realized their collegiate goal of winning a national championship.

"Doing something like that is amazing," Saliski said. "But what you remember is the guys you did it with."

Both also earned All-American honors — Johnson on the floor exercise, Saliski on vault.

Men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson knows how integral chemistry is to a team, and how much Rob and Ted bring to the Nittany Lions.

"I think the way they get along and push each other sets a precedent for the younger guys," he said. "Also, just as a coach, it's great to see because that is a friendship that is going to last a life time."

It's the type of friendship most kids find at college.

"There are so many memories," Johnson said. "But really, it's just things like sitting on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, drinking Kool-Aide, not wanting to do anything at all."