76 THRASHER
S LIFE WEARS ON I
have realized that
rad things happen
once in a blue
moon, and when they do,
you have to capitalize on
them and use them to
the fullest. A month or
so ago my friend Karma
came upon
skate-
boarder's dream: a
brand new car to drive for
three months...free. Like
a little kid whose parents
I went out of town and left
their keys to the station
wagon, Karma said the only
words that needed to be said:
"Road trip."
A
The Daewoo: a black four-
door sedan with a CD player and
plenty of trunk room. That's all
that really mattered. Daewoo is a
new car company that is letting
random people test drive their
cars for a few months at a time,
insurance paid for. Karma was
lucky enough to be one of those
random people and was plan-
ning on using the 5000 mile
limit to his advantage.
After driving around the city
and to random parks, the trip
was planned and the seats were
then occupied, with Karma at
the wheel, Richard Paez poised
in shotgun, Doug Saenz and I
strapped in the back, and
Dre Dog spinning away in
the CD player.
Our first stop was to meet
a carload of friends in
Visalia. Jesse Paez,
Jeremy Thompson, Dale
Blackmon, and Aaron.
were trailing the
Daewoo in no time
down the 99 to Bakersfield in search of the
Flumes, which is a huge cement halfpipe
with no flat and perfect lips. We were
bummed to find it full of water, but we knew
that there was still shit to skate in Bakersfield
before we continued into the Grapevine.
McDonald's banks were sessioned all night.
We skated for quite a while in hopes that
Knox would show up out of nowhere and
bust a hurricane, but no luck, so we drank
Budweiser all the way to Long Beach. We set
up camp at the Regency Inn (thanks to Vans)
and broke out the dice. Threes away comes in
handy when you want quick cash, but Rich
likes to go for broke. Twenties went down
and all Rich saw were threes. After a new
twelver and a jack shack, someone got a hat
trick and it was lights out.
The Vans park was the only thing
on our minds when we awoke, so
after guzzling hotel coffee we went
to find out about the hype. We
arrived at an outdoor mall and
could see a session under way.
The whole thing didn't make sense
to me as I looked up and saw a
gigantic picture of Cab on the wall
of the mall. I avoided my senses
and went in, telling the girl at the
computer that my name was
Birdo; the next thing I knew I was
being handed a helmet.
The place reminded me of a
roller rink where the kids get two
hours to skate, which is good
because it never gets too crowd-
ed. I'm sure you have all read.
about the place, so I won't go into
detail except to say the Combi-
pool is gnarly but no one really
skates it. Hell, it scared the piss
out of me. Anyone who ruled
Upland is my hero.
Alan Petersen came with us to
throw big ollies. Karma got a kick-
flip frontside boardslide on the rail,
and Jesse did what he does best:
make me cry. Frontside flips over
the gap topped the day off.
Overall, the place was good, but
all the people watching bothered
me bad. I called it quits after I fell
and looked up and saw a bunch of
people laughing at me.
The first of many Del Taco trips
I was put under our belts as we
made our way back to the
Clockwise from far left: Doing
his best Donger impression,
Richard Paez hops up on a high
50-50. Forget diamonds; beer is
the real way to girl's heart.
Jesse Paez breaks out his monster
snaps to frontside flip this Vans
park gap. Karma goes emo.
Regency Inn for more dice. Late nights led to
wrestling and broken glass due to a Karma and
Dale scuffle. We swept up the mess and await-
ed the trade show in the morning.
The trade show is a skateboarder's worst
nightmare everything you never wanted to
know about skating. It's the biggest lames in
the game pouring out of the woodwork with
a smile and a "Hey bro!" No thanks. I wish
they had Kleenex at the door when you
leave to either wipe your tears or to clean up
after you relieve yourself.
Over it and back on the road to Phoenix,
Arizona. Dre Dog had me convinced to smoke
chewy blunts by the time we reached Phoenix.
Karma called up his old friend Jerome and we
crashed after pizza and some Keystones.