Boys, fire up the Buick, lets go to SF! Road trip from Vancouver to San Fransisco has begun..
By Tyler Holm
Photos by Liam Glass
First couple heads in the Regal were myself and Kieran Zimmerman. Kieran is a smooth talking, cigaret smoking bad ass who doesn’t take shit. Then convoying with us was Mikey Ray, driving along with Steve Graham and Liam Glass’s lazy no driving asses. All of which are bonafide badasses. First Stop, need to swing through Portland to scoop Adam Hopkins. Dudes a god damn psycho. He parked his van and was waiting for us by a sloppy curb. Adam’s first suggestion when we picked him up was to hit the strippers and get steaks. He spoke highly of the Portland strippers. But I told Adam, ‘Hell no Adam, I’m a god damn family man, also I don’t eat red meat. And that stripper is someones daughter!” Frigging Adam, so loveable though. Also, we still had to make it to San Fransisco. We kept on track and made it that night to Eugene, OR.
When we got to Eugene we still had some sunlight. We went to that classic covered rail spot everyone wants to skate, but once they get there they bitch out! Mikey Ray is a mad man though. He likes to get comfy on a rail, and I like it. Next we hit a night sesh at the Washington Jefferson skatepark. That park is lit and the lights stay on late. Also a pretty psychedelic park design. Hopkins obviously annihilated every nook and tranny at the park. CANT STOP THE HOP!!!
We stayed in an airbnb for one night in Eugene to split up the drive. When we arrived the landlord was there. She lived above the house we rented and she was high as hell on something. She was quick to let us know it was chill to smoke weed in the house and she also shared with us some of her favourite local artists. We saw her drive off in her truck and I’m pretty sure she could not see straight. The place was spacious and comfy though. Thanks!
Woke up in Eugene with a mellow 9 hour drive ahead of us to SF. Back on the road! We crushed some tunes and played some beers to pass the time. When we arrived to the Airbnb in SF, Layne Caplette was already there! Sneeky devil. We all celebrated being in SF together and started crushing Coors Banquets like they owed us child support! Bout 45 mins after arriving to the airbnb, look who rolls in… Dillon Moore! Love that guy. The beers and celebrations to be together in SF raged on.
First full day in the streets was bad ass. We went to Lower Bobs so Adam could get his tranny fix. TBH starting the day off skating tranny is the way to go. Not only did Hop stack clips but everyone was fired up by the time we left. Except Layne who lost his new iPhone. He was convinced it was stolen. Right before we were about to leave, some dad looks down on the road and was like “this anyones phone?” haha. It must’ve fallen out of Layne’s pocket. What a goof! I guess that put Layne in a good mood cuz next we went to that handrail in Oakland that has the slight gap out at the bottom. Sw fs blunt… geeeeeeez.
Lots of people warned us Oakland was hood. But we just got good vibes out there. There was this taco food truck that we stopped at for some eats. We decided we’d pass the time by rolling some dice for dollar bills. All of a sudden this brother walks up and was like “what you boys playing?” We told him Ceelo. He lost his shit. “White boys that know Ceelo?!” He cried out. He couldn’t contain himself. He asked us where we learned to play. We told him Canada. That just pushed him more over the edge. Dude was a great guy, we spoke for a while. He was on his way to church, had to help them fix a radio or something.
Later that evening we were all spent from a long day in the streets. Feeling really good about the day and amount of clips we got, we decided we’d earned ourselves some beers (we earned em every night). Adam was pretty eager to bomb some hills, so we hit the streets for some night time hill bombs and brewskis! We were bombing down this pathway that was pretty steep and zig zagged all over. All of a sudden we hear, “OH SHIT!” We look over and it’s Steve Graham going fucking as fast as he could go without speed wobbles, flying towards a bend that he’ll never be able to make. Next thing that happens he flies off the path, hits the grass and gets tossed about a billion feet down this huge hill. “One less mouth to feed” I thought to myself. We all knew Steve would die soon enough. The way he skates, wouldn’t last much longer. I guess somehow with all the beers in his system he stayed limp enough in the bail to survive! “Get back up Steve, we’re almost at the bar!”
I forgot to mention Mike Davidson showed up 2 days late to the trip. That dudes a legend on trips. Drinks the most but is always up early ready to skate and film. The first night I think he was trying to be funny so he passed out on the kitchen floor with only a tee shirt as a blanket. It looked like the most uncomfortable set up. Propped next to him was a half full 4L jug of ice tee and a 40oz of Vodka. I guess late in the night he knocked over the ice tee and soaked himself and his t-shirt blanket. Good thing he only brought the one shirt…
I mean, sometimes when you’re on the road with your boys, shit gets a little bit sloppy. But we’re all on the same page, just looking to skateboard and have fun. For every beer there was a trick. As I’m writing this I find I’m mostly writing about the things that I found funny. If you want to hear about the skateboarding, just look at these photos and watch the footage. That shit speaks for itself. It was a heavy ass crew and we had a great ass time. Nothing better then hitting the road with your friends to skateboard and have fun. Thanks Timebomb Trading for all the support. See all the footage from this trip in our new video, “Three in the Front”!!!
