Tumyeto army

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Michael Burnett

"Give it to her!" Harold kept inexplicably yelling, "Right there! Give it to her!"

Everyone was drinking beer and carrying on--even Scott Pommier, a usual teetotaler, could be seen pounding Keystone Lights in mixed company! I got to see a bunch of my old friends from my college days and heckle and cheer with/hem from the peanut gallery, It was the kind of good time you think of when you think "backyard barbecue blow-out."

Adrian made friends with a local girl skater who, though totally wasted, was at the same time intensely energetic. Her friends chased them around as she rapidly switched back and forth from passed out to running and kicking wildly.

10-STAIR SHOWDOWN

WE EVENTUALLY SPLIT to get a jump on all the street spots Denver has to offer. After a few false starts, we ended up at a new shopping mall which we were told had a perfect 10-stair. It wasn't hard to find as the Volcom dudes were already there with their big motorhome and all the lights set up. Pommier and I briefly raced to set up our gear, until I realized I was probably too drunk to focus and let him have it. Diego and I snuck into the plush Volcom RV and stole some juice boxes out of their built-in refrigerator. Dennis Busenitz yelled at us from the built-in bedroom.

Johnny, Ethan, Caswell and Spawn went to town on the stairs and then a few minutes later Adrian and his drunk/totally energized pal showed up and ran around a little more. You had to be careful, lest she run in the path of a flying skater, The cops even drove by when she was momentarily splayed out on the sidewalk but, miraculously, kept on driving, Luckily a friend took her home soon after.

Just as our session was winding down, the eS dudes showed up and cranked it up all over again.

The next day we finished the rest of the challenges and Johnny and Adrian got to skate the big BA rail, which the latter 5-0'd. Layton smacked his head hard on a front feeble, but bounced back up to get the make. That kid's a manimal.

"Oh, he's so on the team," Diego kept saying.

RENO/TAHOE

THE NEXT TWO DAYS WERE HARD as it was nothing but desert between us and our next city, Tahoe. Everyone was feeling pretty tore back and grouchy On that note, let me take this time to complain about our map.

The map we had on this trip was a travesty to all things cartographic. Ever heard that story about the people found stranded in their sailboat off the coast of Cuba because they were using the novelty map printed on a lobster restaurant place mat as their only form of guidance? Well that's what it felt like as we tried to navigate with the piece-of-shit pamphlet-disguised-as-map Beagle hooked us up with.

"Give me the fuckin' place mat!" I'd yell as we flipped bitch after meandering bitch. In Reno I griped so much about it that Josh pulled over and stomped into a grocery store to try and find a map that had Strawberry, CA on it. What he came out with was pretty much an identical version of the place mat--only differing in that it had "fun facts" inserts next to each city page. Seattle, it turns out, is famous for coffee.