Real good sausage and tatters here

Rode ramp ranch, it has this foam pit for learning new moves, I tried to learn 360 tuck-no handers, but ended up just tweaking my knee out really bad. After that I jumped one of the spines there, dodged some kid, and ran right into a metal pole. I had, had enough of the park by then so I started driving towards El Paso, only made it a few hours before I was too tired to drive.

Drove the rest of the way to El Paso the next day, I ended up arriving in the dark and drove to a Wal-Mart to sleep. Next day I got up and explored the downtown area a bit. Checked out the border, there is this huge fence that separates El Paso and Juarez, with a bunch of border patrol driving up and down the fence all day. Ate at a Mexican café where everyone was speaking Spanish, even the menus were in Spanish. Ordering and paying for food was interesting, I tried not to use any English.

Cactus patch

Driving along the border fence

Colorful El Paso skatepark

Stayed at the walmart another night in El Paso. I was thinking about taking a walk across the border into Juarez, to check out mexico a bit, but first I had to get an oil change. The girl who wrote up my work order asked for my address, I said I was from Canada, so she said she’d just make up an address for the work order. When I went to pay I had the following conversation…
Check out dude: “wow, your from Juarez?”
Me: “Nah, I’m from Canada, the girl musta wrote that”
Check out dude: “ya, as a joke, right? Haha, don’t go down there, they’ll kill you down there”
He then drew his finger across his throat for dramatic effect.
I told him I was thinking about checking out the city later on, and he started reeling off some facts that I later verified on Wikipedia here.
“Due to Juárez’s position on the border between the United States and Mexico, drug and arms traffickers have moved into the city and with them the local cocaine and methamphetamine market has expanded. Recent violence among rival drug cartels has resulted in almost half of Mexico’s 8330 drug-related murders reported to have taken place since January 2007; Juárez now has by far the highest murder rate in the world. As of August 2009, Ciudad Juárez registers 130 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Recent murders in the city have grown not only in numbers, but also in barbarity.”

So after that I decided against it and drove north to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Beware of Rattlesnakes

strange trees growing out of the desert

November 18
Lots of driving lately, I have been basically driving straight up from Albuquerque with a few stops on the way.
Albuquerque was alright, I mostly just checked out a few skate parks and overnighted there. This one park had this crazy full pipe that was fun to carve around.

Dog House on route 66, sells footlong hotdogs, real good.

Next I drove to Gallup, did some laundry and overnighted there. Then up to Utah to check out the natural bridges.

Frosty morning at walmart

More driving through the desert

Can you spot the bridge in this picture?

How about this one?

This was huge, 9ft thick in the middle

view from underneath

Drving through the red rock of utah

standing on the edge of this huge cliff

view over the edge of the cliff, Utah is like being on another planet

After that I overnighted in Richfield, then drove straight on up to Idaho Falls.

New shoes!

I got up early the next day and checked out this huge army surplus store they have there. The place was warehouse sized and they stocked all kinds of cool stuff for dirt cheap. I also took a look the falls before driving onwards to Great Falls Montana, that’s where I am now. Today I plan on driving all the way up Calgary.
I’ll post a trip wrap up in a few days.

A small part of Idaho falls

Another part of the falls

The drive through Idaho, Montana.. pretty uneventful

Small set is straight ahead, they call it "slacker"

Wish I could have got a better picture, these trails are alot bigger than they look

After digging for a few hours this kid called Randy says that there is an indoor park where some bands are playing tonight. A bunch of us ride over there and I meet a few more people at the skate park. The owner of the park says I can stay there all week for $50 if I want to. In the back corner of the park a metal band is playing with a bunch of people watching, blocking up some of the ramps, but most of the park is rideable.

That was fun for a while, then I went over to a bar called EMO’s to see EHG play(I wanted to see them again after that killer NYC show). A few bands opened, most notably this band called Kegcharge who got the crowd moving real good. EHG played another amazing set, this time I was right up front and got a few good crowd surfs in.

Saturday I checked out Empire, an all bmx store.

Outside Empire, another terrible picture

Then went to the 9th street trail jam, lots of really cool stuff went down including a rail sesh, high jump and long jump contest. The big set wasn’t in the greatest shape even though we worked on it for a while yesterday, so only a few people were trying to get through it.

So many little bikes

Here’s a video from the jam

Went out and saw a bunch of punk bands that night, good show. I went to see Negative Approach but ended up taking off before they played.

COP playing

This pizza place was blaring Slayer and served up some tasty pie. Awesome.

Sunday, checked out of hostel, didn’t do much during the day, rode at the indoor park for a while with some people. Later on me Randy and Angie(this chick who rides) went to see this band called Black Cobra play.

Indoor park called the shark tank

$50 a week and you can live here and ride as much as you want. Really good park too, lots of lines and everything flowed together smooth.

Monday, went to the T1 ramp jam early so we could ride for a few hours before it was packed. Joe rich, chase hawk, Aaron Ross, Morgan Wade, Robbo, and a few others were there. The jam was great, free beer and food, plus getting to watch some pro’s shred the ramp.

I didn't take any pictures of the jam, but here's a picture of the ramp I found online

Another picture I found

Then went back to the shark tank and rode for a few more hours with some dudes from Alaska and took a really hard fall. Gonna go ride ramp ranch tomorrow.

Across the street there was a new house

More empty lots..

this bridge went on for miles

Rolled in to India House, a hostel in New Orleans. It was a really good place with a vintage feel and full of cool people. First day I didn’t really check out the city too much, just took a walk along the Mississippi.

big wheel keeps on turnin'

Later that night a bunch of us got to drinking, and playing this drinking game called Circle that these German girls taught us. The game was really a rough go, and afterwards a group of us went out on bourbon street for the night.

The start of a crazy night

Next morning I woke up super hung over and spent the day wandering around the French Quarter checking out all the little stores, eateries and parks. That night there was a bbq at the hostel with some acoustic music on the stage. I took it easy and decided not to go out that night, but still ended up hanging out and trading travel stories till 2am. I haven’t stayed at many hostels on this trip, but this one was definitely the best I have ever been to, the atmosphere was friendly, and everyone was there to party.

I regret not spending more time researching the music history of New Orleans during my stay there, but I will probably be back…

Drove most of the way to Austin on Thursday, and arrived on Friday.

Vertwall and few other things

Amazing wooden bowl, complete with wallride

At one point I climbed the stairs up to the top of the 13ft tall vert ramp and tried to convince myself to drop in.

Perfect mini ramp in the background

Eventually I settled on dropping in on the 10ft tall vert wall instead. I met some interesting people down there too, people who asked me questions like “Which territory are you from?” and “Ya’ll use the Euro up there, or you on the dollar?”

In general, everyone I talked to in the south seemed to have a very limited knowledge of what was going on in Canada. I remember watching “talking to Americans” with Rick Mercer and wondering if people were really that uninformed, it is unfortunate that this stereotype is true as far as the people I talked with. On the other hand, even after travelling across the US, I still have a terrible grasp on geography and state/capital names which I mix up constantly… “Ya, I crossed the border into Seattle“.

I took a less traveled highway to get a better view of the south

Last night I stayed in Phenix, Alabama, which is right on the state line. I woke up and drove to the Columbus, GA skate park. It was a good outdoor park, and it was actually nice out today.

Scared myself real good on this spine

Strange street section, ledges were like small quarters

Then I drove further south to Panama City, Florida. On the way I stopped and picked up some boiled peanuts. The guy selling them was a true hill billy, with the best south accent yet. He talked real slow with long pauses between each word. “Ya’ll don’t have boiled pay-nuts in cane-a-duh?” I also saw a sign that read “Gator Jerky next right” and regret not pulling over to check it out.

Best paynuts in the south, yessir!

opening these made more driving interesting

There also seem to be a lot of old Crown Vics with 20“ or bigger rims around here.

gangsta, gangsta

I arrived in Panama City and checked out the beach for a minute, then ate at this really bland buffet. The people running the place were very friendly though.

Beach was empty!

Most stores were closed till next summer

Now I’m sitting in yet another Wal-mart lot. Apparently this one has rules against overnight parking, but there’s a few other rigs here, so hopefully we don’t all get kicked out. I talked to a couple staying a few spaces down from me, they’re originally from Salem, OR, but just rolled in after a long haul from New Mexico. Their rig is an old motor home that looks to be in rough shape, but if this van has taught me anything, its that a vehicle may look old, but that doesn’t mean it won’t run like a top. Tomorrow I’m driving west down the south coast some more to Pensacola where there’s supposed to be a killer skate park.

Reading before sleeping...

Nov 2nd
Today I woke up early and took a swim in the Gulf and relaxed on the beach for a while.

water was so clear

After that I did some laundry then drove to Emerald Coast Dirt and Vert and rode their awesome, but thoroughly weathered skate park. The park was 8 years old and the salt water had taken its toll on the ramps, but it still had a decent mini, boxjump, spine, and vertwall. There were dirt jumps too, but they were crumbling away and won’t be rebuilt till next summer.

Mini ramp, small vert wall

Crumbling DJ's

Good BMX track with asphalt berms

Right now I’m sitting in a walmart lot in the state of Mississippi, somewhere along the coast. New Orleans tomorrow, gonna stay in a hostel for a couple days.

Friday night we went out to this bar where you get a free cheese pizza with every beer. That bar was really cool, met some interesting people there.

Gettin' sloppy

Saturday we rode some street, I think, or maybe it was raining that day? then went to see EHG. This was probably the best show of the trip as far as I’m concerned, in fact this was one of the wildest shows I’ve ever witnessed. First of all, getting to the show was a trip, it was pouring rain and a long walk to and from the subway. We finally gave up and hailed a cab(gotta ride in a yellow cab if your in NY, right?). Eventually we got to the dock (did I mention that this show was taking place on a boat normally used for dinner parties?) and stood in line for a while.

The first band played, and they were a fast thrashy band that whipped the crowed into a frenzy. The boat had no stage and the show took place in a small space with a second deck wrapping around upstairs. Everyone was packed in really close. Next band to play was Goatwhore, who had the crowd chanting and fists in the air.

After that Pig Destroyer went on and played an insane set of grind. There was a small barricade around the stage that quickly got jumped by many and soon the room was just a sea of people with the guitarist and vocalist barely having enough room to even play, all the while people are flying all over the place in the “mosh pit” which now takes up most of the room. I recall watching all this madness unfold, and looking over my shoulder to notice that we were sailing past the Statue of Liberty.

Next up was EHG, they took the stage and cranked the amps with nothing but the screech of feedback for about 2 or 3 mins, all the while the drummer sat with his sticks clenched in his fists, pressed against his forehead rocking back and forth like a mad man on the drum stool. Eventually the first song kicked in and everyone went nuts again with some bouncer types trying to keep people from hitting the guitarists as they careened out of the pit. Every now and then I looked over my shoulder to realize that were on a boat, in the harbour, passing by skyscrapers while all this is happening…

Sunday we went riding and hit up a few famous New York street spots including the Brooklyn banks, the China banks, and various other spots that I’ve seen featured in many videos. Riding street in New York is fun not just because of the awesome spots, but because of the ride to and from spots. Blasting through traffic and squeezing between cars stopped at red lights before sprinting through a busy intersection is some fun.
That night we went out with Ryan who took us to a bar with the best jukebox ever, then we hit up some other bars that were alright.

Monday me and Jim rode a few street spots, and I managed to injure my hand by riding into a curb and flipping over the bars.
Jim decided a week ago he’d had enough of the trip so he packed some of his stuff up. Ryan came home from work(he traps racoons and takes their blood) and we met up with this dude called Pat then we all went out to that bar where you get a free pizza with every beer.

Ryan and Pat

Tuesday I dropped Jim off at Newark airport and drove most of the way to Washington. When I dropped him off I had no map, and hadn’t really looked at where I needed to go, luckily I found the interstate I needed and eventually found a map of the east coast at a gas station.

Wednesday I checked out Washington. I pretty much just parked and walked around for a bit, checking out this and that.

My buddy Abraham Lincon

I didn’t check out the white house because there was a ton of security, and it seemed like some event or something must have been happening because the cops had a bunch of streets blocked off(which made navigating out of the city a nightmare).

Thursday I mostly just drove south, through Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and probably wasted some time getting lost.

Friday I drove to Athens, GA because there’s apparently an awesome skate park there, but the weather hadn’t been looking too good all day and it started to rain just as I rolled in, so I ate at a Waffle House and drove south some more till I saw a Wal-Mart around Atlanta

Pittsburgh was pretty lame, tried to find this skate park called Mr. Smalls, but couldn’t figure it out. Finally managed to find propane at a U-haul. The streets were all back up or closed because they were shooting some car chase scene from a movie. Anyways we got outta there and headed to Harrisburgh, which is in between Pittsburgh and Philly. Pretty much just overnighted there.

Driving to Philly

Headed to Philly the next day. Ate some cheesesteaks at this place called “jims” downtown. Walked around a bit and checked some stuff out. I overheard that there was a Philly’s game on the go that night so we headed to the stadium to buy tickets, but it was sold out(I never really thought about the fact that it was post-season playoffs). We tried buying some from scalpers, but they wanted $300!
After that we checked out some bar that was lame, so we just headed to the Wal-mart to crash out. The wal-mart was pretty cool, they had a special part of the parking lot just for people to overnight.

The next day we rode FDR, which is this cool outdoor skate park that skaters mainly built themselves.

Parked by FDR

Hips and banks

Some quarters and stuff

Jim wanted to check out the zoo, so we did that, and it was alright.

Look, a rhino

A bear!

That night I went to this show at a church to see this band called TFD. They played a strange set of songs, and the show had a really poor turn out, so I didn’t hang around there too long. Then we overnighted at that wal-mart again.
I really like Philly, definitely a rad city.

Friday we drove to New York

Ohio was a party, spent 2 days staying with Kyle and his roommates in Toledo, lots of partying, zero bike riding.

This kid called Jeff showed up from Cleveland, and we ended up following him down there and hitting up a house party the first night. After that we ended up sleeping on the floor his girlfriends dorm room. Next day we went to this place called Ray’s which is bike heaven(thanks to Jeff for getting us in free, and no questions asked). It’s this old factory that has been gutted and turned into a gigantic bike park(over 88 000 square feet!). I rode for 4 hours the first day, exploring every different room I could find, and I didn’t even manage to see the whole park. Actually I lost all the people I showed up with and didn’t find them until hours later.

The Rhythm room!

More pictures here
That night we went to Justin Simpson’s house(I think the guy is a pro bmx dude or something?) for some drinks before a big group of us headed to see some KISS cover band. That was a gnarly night.

Next day got up super hung over and got super lost trying to find somewhere to eat. Ended up eating at some McDonalds, and seeing how segregated Cleveland is. Went to Ray’s again for a few hours, and rode all the stuff I missed the first day. Your supposed to have brakes on you bike to ride there, but I just snuck my bike in, since I don’t have any on it. Someone finally caught me on the second day, but he didn’t kick me out, he probably should have though, cause I ended up running into 4 different people and nailing a wheel barrow in the dirt room.

After Ray’s we decided to start driving towards Pittsburgh. That night we stayed in a wal mart, but the van is out of propane so we have no heater. It was so damn cold, I wore 3 pairs of socks and still barely slept.

Tonight we still have no propane(gas stations only seem to do bottle exchange around here) so were moteling it.

October 15

Right now were in Toledo, Ohio.

Monday we went to this town just outside Detroit and met up with this dude called Jesse who rides. Stayed at his crib for a night and rode Transition Ramp Park, then went out for some beers with some other dudes.

Next day we just hung out and went to Albes(a bmx specific shop).

Luke, Jesse, Andy, Jim outside Albes

After that we went to Pontiac to watch Kylesa play. They put on an amazing show, and are probably the loudest band I’ve seen since Motorhead. The whole place was shakin’ from the sludge.

Next day we went to ride some skate park but it was locked up, couldn’t get in. Too lazy to jump the fence. Drove to Toledo after that and met up with this dude called Kyle who rides. Staying at his place right now, had a crazy night last night at the bowling alley, and met a bunch of other rad bmx dudes.

Saturday, woke up hung over to hell, didn’t really do much all day. Saturday night was a blast though, day 4 of Riot Fest had an amazing line up of Youth Brigade, Street Dogs, 88 Fingers Louie, and Cocksparer. The venue for the show was this huge old theater, and it was packed, I’ve never seen so many punks and skins in one place(I estimate 2 or 3 thousand people). The shows was great, although I didn’t spend much time on the floor.

88 fingers louie

"Oi!"

More pictures here

NOFX was headlining the show, so we left before they went on. We walked back to the parking lot where the van was parked, except it was no longer there. I recalled that before the show we refused to pay to park because it was $15, so we just left the van in the lot of a 24 hour laundry mat that had a bunch of signs saying no parking(but they  wont tow US, right?). Anyways the tow place was open 24 hours so we got a cab over there and wasted $170 getting the van back. Lesson learned? Probably not.

Next we made our way over to the cobra lounge again, where we met up with some people. Lower Class Brats played and it was amazing, a lot of beer was drank. Then we decided to check out this other bar called Exit, which is supposed to be Chicago’s punk and metal bar. It was alright, but kind of a let down after all the hype I’d heard about it.

Sunday afternoon was another hang over. We hung around all day not doing much, planning on seeing Indian play, but instead we decided to start driving toward Detroit. So right now were in some Wal Mart parking lot again in this town called Kalamazoo in Michigan. Its kind of halfway between Chicago and Detroit.

At this point we have put 25000 kms on the van since it was bought. In some ways I am super burnt out on living in the van, but there’s always something awesome on the horizon to keep the trip moving forward.

Yesterday in Milwaukee we rode this rad little concrete skate park in the morning

Little bowl and spine

Banks and rails

Toured the Harley Museum, which was bad ass

Serial number 1 Harley

bad ass WWI bike

Easy Rider!

Then hit up a free tour of the Miller brewery, which included free samples

terrible picture from the brewery tour, before the camera died

That night we went out and saw Zoroaster, Lazerus AD and Gojira play

Bang your head!

Stood at the back for Gojira

Earlier today we took a tour of the Jelly Belly factory, which was pretty cool. They said that in the warehouse there was approximately 4.5 billion jelly beans.

BEANS!

Then drove the rest of the way to Chicago. It’s raining again, maybe it’ll let up so we can hit some skate parks in this city.