THE LURID TRANSVERSAL
OF ROUTE 70
The next morning we got the hell out of Colorado and
headed to Seattle, Washington. Nineteen hours and a very
boring drive later, we were in Seattle. It was 5:00 am, so 1
called Wez Lundry of pool dust fame and got directions to
his house. Wez played host to us for the next four days
as we terrorized his apartment and friends.
Seattle built a skatepark for everyone, and it was
actually pretty cool. We skated that every day. We also
skated the University of Washington, which had a
super huge campus and some cool spots. But, the best
was saved for last. One clear (gasp!) sunny morning. Wez
took us to the hat. The big ol' cowboy hat that Matt
Hensley and Dan Sturt made famous a few years back.
We all decided it was the coolest thing we had ever.
skated. Cars honked at us, and Wez backside Smith
grinded it. It used to be an old gas station, but now it's
a historic landmark, so we left quick. Wez then took us
to the Westside Bowl. The pool was eleven feet deep
and completely built by hand by skaters, punk! None
of us are proficient pool skaters, so it was pretty intim-
idating. But Gagne pulled off a rock n' roll in the deep
end while holding the blaster listening to Van Halen.
The locals Munk. Mike Swim, Scott Smiley, Wez, and
many others were super friendly and ripped the hell
out of the pool. We even got to see a few fights between
Scott Smiley and the neighbor who was trying to get the
pool filled in. Basically, the neighbor sucked, and
Monte, who owns the house, rules.
We drove up to Vancouver one day to skate Whiterock.
We had a really good session there. All of us were basically
going as fast as we could and carving around.
Sunday, June 2:
We left Seattle for
Portland, Oregon. We
arrived under the Burnside.
bridge in the late after-
noon and were all just
completely amazed by what
stood before us. All the
photos and video footage
in the world don't do
Burnside any justice. Just
go there! The locals are
super friendly, and you'll
have the time of your life.
We left when it got dark
and went to our friend
Matt's, another Connecticut
transplant, to eat and do
laundry. Dirty didn't have
any clean clothes when we
left, so he packed all his
dirty clothes.
Clockwise from left: You can pick your nose in public in NYC and nobody
cares. Even if they did, Gagne would do it anyway. Dave Probus transfers
at the Seattle Skatepark. Jim grinds a rail at Amherst, Mass.
Driving cross-
country is a
really good
experience
and something
that everyone
should do at
least once.