Tumyeto army

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Michael Burnett

Our friend Joel, a filmer I know from the days when I used to shoot with the kids on Warner Ave, lives in Atlanta and played tour guide. Gareth peed at Piss Hubba (no offense Atlanta!), then we went to the big rock ledge.

That thing is a behemoth! Imagine a 12-stair rail placed on the top of a small hill. It's probably 12-feet high from top to bottom with a six-and-a-half-foot drop off the end of the rail. Before we could even get the lights on, Adrian went native and jumped on a wildly sketchy boardslide. Next thing you know, Gareth caught the spark and went for the big ollie, kicking it out and severely stomping his heel. We pulled him to the side and Adrian kept on jumping. A few minutes later he plowed through with a monster crooked grind while our eyeballs melted into our skulls like in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Johnny set off a bunch of celebratory bottle rockets and sky screamers and we were out. Thank you, Atlanta Thank you!

Little did we know, Gareth would be out for the rest of the trip.

LOUISVILLE, KY

ON OUR WAY OUT OF ATLANTA, conversation focused on the Misc. Challenges--most noticeably the three involving making out with someone of the opposite sex. You got 10 points for making out with a woman five years older than you, 20 for a woman over 30 and 50 big ones for (gasp!) locking lips with a woman over 40. We speculated on our chances as we drove through the night to our next city: Louisville, Kentucky.

"Don't worry, fellas," I told them, "I have a feeling our ship's about to come in."

As we cruised along the dark interstate I told them the legend of the Sleep Chamber--a skate hostel a block from the Louisville park where it was rumored road-weary skaters could find comfort and maybe even the sweet affections of the fairer sex. We spoke of this, and other such things, late into the night.

The next day we arrived in Louisville, Kentucky and opened our challenges: 1. Become Best Buddies with Buddy Best 2. Have a Sticker Pasting Contest in the Pipe and 3. The Woodstock Challenge--Build a Wacky Board.

We headed to the thrift store to get materials to build our wacky boards and stopped at Home Skateshop to set them up. I kind of knew Buddy Best from past road trips and gave him a call to tell him we wanted to meet up. To help solidify our best-buddy goal, I went to K-Mart where I built him a gift bag complete with balloons, ribbons, a personalized pinata and a bunch of other lovely little presents. He told me he'd meet us in Louisville that night.

We got to the park and almost immediately met the proprietors of the Sleep Chamber, two lovely ladies who also manage the extreme snack bar They seemed happy to help and advised us to check in later that night.

We rode our Woodstock Boards until they either broke (as was the case with Diego's ironing board), or they broke us (Gareth's boom-box), and then cooked like hot dogs trying to get a bunch of the ledge and manual tricks. By the time it got to 102 degrees, we decided to go back to the hotel and swim.

The sticker-pasting contest in the full pipe that night was a hit. A crowd gathered around to see who could stick their decal the highest and after some practice rounds it was pretty much between Johnny, Adrian, and Diego. A local gnarler named Tyrone also got in there, representing Louisville with a wild frontside thruster.