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THE LURID TRANSVERSAL OF ROUTE 70
STORY AND PHOTOS BY SEAN CRON AN
I went on my second cross-country trip in three
months, and, like the first trip (Cold Weather
Commandos), I didn't know quite what to expect.
Four skaters who barely knew each other got into
my car and headed west with the intention of going
to as many skate spots as possible and having a
really fun, three-week vacation.
Saturday, May 25, 1996:
Jim Gagne and Jesse "Dirty" Daner showed up at
my house with so much luggage that they practical
ly filled up the entire trunk. Our first destination
was Louisville, Kentucky, which was the home of
our fourth travelling companion, Dave Probus.
Fourteen hours later, we were in Louisville and
went to skate around the downtown area. Jim and
Dirty quickly decided that Louisville was an awe-
some place to skate. But, our destination was 2,000
miles to the west, so we grabbed Dave, crammed
his crap into the overstuffed trunk, and took off.
That night while driving on Route 70, the heavy
Jim Greco clears a whole street in New Haven, no lie.
metal tapes -Motley Crüe, Ratt. Guns & Roses, Van
Halen that Jim and Dirty brought began to take
their toll on me, so I retreated to the comfort of my
walkman. My car's radio broke the day before the
trip, so Jim brought his $20 ghettoblaster, which
constantly pumped out the aforementioned metal.
Around that time, everyone started to use nick
names. I was Cro-Mags, Jim was Asshole because he
is one. Jesse was Dirty, and Dave was Kentucky.
Our first real stop together was in
Breckenridge, Colorado, at the Bigfish Skatepark.
When we pulled into the parking lot, it was
snowing. No one was there, but the door was
open, so we cranked the blaster, went in, and
started skating. After five minutes, we were all
completely dizzy from the lack of oxygen. After a
couple of hours, we were all reasonably accli-1
mated, but still felt kind of sick. We met Jake.
who runs the park, and he and I caught up on old
times as he is a transplant from Connecticut.
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