SIX-PACK
It Gets Hot Jn
Che Dalley
THREE RIVERS
TRUCK STOP
Words and Photos by Nik Freitas
LINWOOD
CENTRAL
LINDALE
MACKEY'S
Below left: Richard Paez gets horizontal in the Central pool. Slash a
cruncher. Below: After perusing the selection of Johnny Cash cassettes
and filling up on diesel and day-old hotdogs, Tim Garner gasses over the
light of the Truck Stop pool.
T
HE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY IS A
suburban desert, and with temper-
atures reaching 110 degrees during
the summer, what better way to
keep the wife and 2.5 kids .cool
than to throw in a swimming pool?
Enter the skateboarder of the Valley: bummed on
the flat surfaces and scarce spots to ride, their eyes
become like those of an eagle, ready to pounce on
any new terrain to skate. It's the perfect formula!
Add the two elements together and you get the
only answer possible: pool skating.
In the past few months, we have found ourselves
with six pools at our fingertips. Everyone has been
on the pool prowl: Richard Paez, Kelly Spencer,
Dale Blackmon, Jeff Duncan, Tim Garner,
Christian, John Sfetcu, Joey, Carrey Bruhns, and
J Angelo. The disease caught on quickly and
caused some others to come out of the woodwork
like Adam, Ken Skins, and Jamie Gilley.
The barrage of empty pools began a few months
ago when someone with skate goggles spotted a
burnt-down house in town. The process of filling
buckets began and we were skating-a left-hand
kidney with steep trannies, perfect to throw you
up the wall. The fully skateable shallow made it
perfect for endless runs, and tall weeds opted as
camoflage from the passing traffic. She was ours,
and Linwood pool was now her name.
Just like a cold, the desire to find new pools
spread to everyone, especially Dale, Carrey, and
HD