Day 165: Utah

     I had never been to Utah, so it was the logical choice to head there after we had seen enough of that Grand Canyon. Thats the beauty of this trip, nothing about it was planned. We were literally eating at the Wendy's by the Grand Canyon when one of us asked where we were going next and I suggested Utah. Thats when Mouse called his cousin who happens to both live in Utah and skates. He got the word that his cousin (Fin) would be down to skate with us and show us some of his local spots and parks. So it was decided, I took the first shift as we drove north to Utah. It was about an 8 hour drive to where Fin lives. It was a town called Provo, and its about an hour South of Salt Lake City. We arrived at around 6:00 in the morning and had a hearty breakfast at a Denny's. From there we met up with Fin and he took us to a couple parks to warm up and most importantly wake up. the parks were fun for a while but it was obvious that they weren't designed by people that skate. then we went to a grocery store a bought this soda that called "Apple Beer". It was totally delicious and I wish I had bought a whole bunch to take home. Then we skated this spot that I have seen in a couple of skate videos. Sean Malto (a pro skateboarder) did a backside overcrook shuv out on the rail, and that was cool to see a famous spot, even if it is just a parking lot to those of you that don't skate. Provo was a lot like Colorado. The climate was similar and there was a giant mountain view. I liked it there and I wouldn't mind visiting there again sometime.

Sean Malto is rad

Day 157: Impromtu Road Trip

San Fran

     So I just got back home from my road trip and it was rad to say the least. We traveled 4,372 miles through 5 states over 9 days. We had a full roster, David, Kevin, Mouse and I all crammed into a two door Honda Civic hatchback with not much more than our skateboards and a couple of clean pairs of undies. We hit some big name towns such as; Los Angelos, San Fransisco, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and San Diego. But we also made time to visit some lesser known towns; Trinidad, Gilroy, Provo, and Buckeye are a few.

 It was a great trip, and I think that the lack of planning may be to blame for it's success. When I say that we didn't plan out this trip, I totally mean it. All I knew was that I needed some money, my skateboard, and some clothes. We literally waited till the four of us were in the Honda to even ask which direction we should go. We didn't have any plans or reservations, no expectations or deadlines, thats the way to do a road trip.

San Diego

Shred sleds 

We decided on going South to New Mexico and skating there for a while. Then when we got bored, we would simply choose a new state to go to. We went from Colorado to New Mexico to Arizona to California to Arizona again to Utah to Colorado again. We slept in the car for 7 out of the 9 days. One night we got a hotel room and the other we slept at Mouse's grandpa's house in Buckeye Arizona.

Venice Beach 

It was a trip where showers where almost non existent and gas station food replaced our entire nutrition intake. A completely improvised, candy induced, skateboarding inspired, fart joke filled journey for me and my friends.

Sleepin on the road

Day 98: Visit The Dala Horses

Ice cream at the oasis 

     Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been too busy to get the blog up to date for that past couple days. I was super busy cause on Friday (Day 98), I drove out to Kansas with my dad and dog (Kota) to see my sister. She is a percussion major and we were out to see her junior recital. She goes to a tiny school in Lindsborg, which is known for its one stop light and Swedish dala horses littered throughout the town. My dad and I spent most of the day driving through the dusty plains of Kansas, so there wasn't much for me to do for my challenge. We drove and drove and drove and drove and then got some gas and ice cream, then we drove and drove and drove and drove, and then we saw some Jesus preaching propaganda billboards, then we drove and drove and drove and then I saw some windmill turbines, then we drove a little bit more. The three of us eventually reached the limits of Lindsborg at around 4:30 P.M.



From there, we did the normal routine; said hi to my sister (Sarah), ate some Pizza Hut, and watched some comedy central. It was a good ol' time with the family.

We got to taking Kota for a walk through town and Sarah showed us the sights (well, she showed us the stop light and some of the dala horses). They are really cool mini wooden horses that are all hand painted. I assume that they are painted by various artists from around the area. You can find them scattered about the area with little plaques that describe what the piece represents. I was told that sitting on these horses is strictly forbidden and I would be locked up and the key would be thrown away if I did so. Although I doubt the Lindsborg police would really take such harsh action, I heeded my moms warning and kept clear from the horses. That was until, Sarah took us to the big dala. It was another colorfully painted horse, but it was 4 times as big. Apparently sitting is permitted on the big dala but none of the small ones. It was clear what I had to do. I straddled the dala and snapped a quick shot. Thats about all that happened. Drove for 6.5 hours, ate some pizza, saw the sights of Lindsborg, and sat on a giant flamboyant horse. If thats not vacation, I don't know what is.

awww

Day 5: Random Road trip

Sweet baby Jesus I'm tired. Today was defiantly a success in terms of takin' names and kickin' ass. I was so busy getting my financial aid and classes figured out that I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough time to complete a 'new thing' for the day (or at least a half-way decent one). It was pretty late by the time I met up with Mouse to brainstorm possible challenges, and that wasn't going smoothly. We drove to the old Westy Mall (a run-down shopping center that has been converted into a rotting carcass in suburbia) to find inspiration. We walked around, talked to a couple of store employees in the middle of their closing routine, but the mall didn't pose many challenge worthy options, so I settled with purchasing a novelty hat. Mouse and I decided to try eating some sushi but the "hours of operation" graphic on the front door of Tokyo Joe's informed us that they had been closed for forty minutes. Things weren't looking good.

I'm not even sure which one of us proposed the idea (but I'll take credit) but we decided to take a mini road trip (It was our only idea left, making it our best). A road trip to Wyoming. I'd say that we were a good 80 miles from Cheyenne, which is long enough for me to feel the need to stop at a gas station to fill up on edible goodies. So we left Thornton with candy bars in each hand and Animal Collective blaring through the speakers. We kept each other amused with stories and jokes. Mouse utilized his talent of holding his breath. He went four miles straight on one mere lung-full of air, and if you don't think thats impressive then I politely suggest that you shut up and try it yourself. I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel after one mile. It wasn't long after that when we crossed the state line and completed the goal. We stopped and took some pictures of the giant WYOMING sign (I touched it), drove to a combination Denny's/gas station/gift shop to pick up a couple souvenirs and use the bathroom, and then I did a tre flip in the parking lot of a closed down McDonald's while in my moccasins. We had seen enough (It was getting late and the wind chill made skating less than enjoyable). So, we headed home. Driving through Fort Collins, we stopped at a gas station so we could pretend that we were from out of state. I told the man that sold me a losing scratch ticket that we were on our way to New Mexico. It was up to his imagination to fill in the blanks as to why we were traveling there. And then I came home. That, for the most part, is just about all of the notable occurrences of the evening; Dillon's oddly large lung capacity, Touching a massive sign that advertised the state we were in (which coincidentally was the same shape as the state as well), pretending to be tourists and having a stock pile of candy. Thats what road trips are about, and I think thats why I enjoyed the night (and the challenge) so much. Road trips are so simple, its just what ever you want to do, wherever you want to do it. I could have everything that I had done in Wyoming, in Colorado (maybe not the whole Wyoming photo shoot part). I would have saved a considerable amount of time and money doing so also, but it wouldn't have been the same. Even though I have done a lot of tre flips in a lot of McDonald's parking lots in my day, I've never done one like that, not in that situation. And thats what makes it notable. Thats what makes the contents of this entire blog entry notable, the fact that it was a spontaneous excursion, or the breath holding competition. Its nothing life changing, but it somehow made the night really god damn fun (even if it does sound pathetic). Random road trip...completed.