43. Mountains
Like the desert, the mountains are another piece of land-
scape you must cross to get where you're going. In this
case the hills were a breath of fresh air from the hot desert
sun. When you really get up there (10,000 ft), though,
breathing becomes a lot harder to do. You can't finish a cig-
arette because you feel like you're drowning. But the air is
fresh, and the parks in Colorado rule. Watch out for "Hey
Bros." The beer has an added and nice effect. Drink water.
50. Robbery
Yes it can happen when you are careless. With drunkenness comes confusion, and with confusion
comes mayhem, and with mayhem comes disaster. We left the van unlocked. Digital camera, tripods,
CDs, a pager, batteries, and a 151 hat-gone. Dudes cash in where you crap out. Lock your doors.
Left: Cody Boat, no comply, Montrose, CO.
Below: Aaron Harrison, lien to tail on a
bench, Salida, CO.
65. Hardwood
Floors
When you cruise through a town you never really think
about much except where you are going to skate. But
when the skating is done, it is time to find a place to crash.
More often than not you will find a couple of people who
are down to let you stay at their house, but when you are
with a bunch of heads, sleeping arrangements suck. The
one who gets the couch is the lucky one and usually does
not go out with everyone at night. Wez Lundry thinks
ahead. He brought a blow-up mattress. When it comes to
sleep, hardwood floors are cut.
61. Western Style
Cookout
The Western style cookout is probably the best thing in the world. It is
obvious where that beer company got the slogan "It doesn't get any bet-
ter than this." I even heard Hairball say it on our camp mission.
It really doesn't get any better though. I mean, you are in fields sur-
rounded by animals and trees and little cactus. A Jimmy Moore (see
#77) is sometimes required but just some damn hick will do. You dig
your pit and start a fire and then you cook your food.
Ol' Jimmy Moore had us grabbing rocks for a fire pit in no time. Colby
had all the veggies, Ben had the beer, Hairball had the corn on the cob,
Navarrette had a poncho, and Zac had the Rolling Stones and Johnny
Cash playing on the radio. It's perfect. You cook your meat in an open pit
and then you put it in your hands and eat it. The only thing that could
have made the cookout better would have been if we had killed the ani-
mal we ate or if we were on horseback. When on a Western style cook-
out, be sure not to sleep too close to the fire unless you want to wake up
in a cloud of ash and smoke. Trust me.
62. Attack of
Wild Animals
While Attempting
a Western Style
Cookout
Now, when you do decide to have a Western style cookout, you
must realize that you are in someone else's territory-"someone" else
meaning wild animals who are hungry. Bears, wolves, scorpions, and
who knows what else. Having a tent is a good thing, but when you
don't you should have a weapon.
A few of us were sleeping outside on our campout. Darren had a
knife. Jimmy came equipped with a stick of dynamite. I looked
around, found a branch, and whittled myself a spear. I felt safer then
and was able to sleep a little more at ease knowing my spear was by
my side. Nothing happened, but better safe than sorry. When you are
done eating, make sure to burn everything.
THRAS
69. Ditches
The desert country is known for its huge ditches. They are
finds, like pools, and fun as hell, each one a little different. In
Albuquerque there is the Indian School ditch, two miles of a
downhill ditch with big walls. When you get to the bottom there
is a gnarly regular-foot frontside wallride.
Chet frontside grinded the four-foot-high wall, and Florida Ben
dropped in off the rail. Little pebbles spell disaster in any given
ditch, and the cement is not forgiving. Colby Carter found out the
hard way. The hard way is not the rad thing in a ditch.
108 THRASHER
Sifty