The next day I woke up and was sore and decided not to skate. We started a fire and Steve got a bit of wood. He chopped down a small tree but couldn't drag it back. I took a nap as the dark was falling and got up to find Steve and Corey were gone. I went down the hill to find them and took a few slides on my way down. I was quite muddy by the time I got to the bottom, but not as muddy as one would expext. I watched some skating and a band and then headed with Steve and Corey back up the hill. Much to my delight, we burned the couch and some car doors that we found. A little later one of the locals decide to smash some of the windows out of his best friends car, which had got two flats and wasn't going anywhere for a bit. One thing led to another and he decided to burn the car. He kept saying 'I don't know why I'm doing this, this is m'best friend'car!' It went up in a blaze of glory.

The next morning I got up and was not feeling well. I suspected this was due to the hangover but I think it was that coupled with the flu, which I had the next day. Steve drove all the way home, which is a pretty easy drive for him.

There was a show at WMUC tonight so I decided to head up there. Some band called Peralta that Matt had met on tour was playing, and he told me they all had mustaches. When they arrived I was quite upset that they had all shaved them off. They were a pretty good band none the less. Matt and I skated some ledges after the show but were both pretty tired.

We got back pretty early and I found out my brother was in town. We met him for some burritos and then headed over to the beer store where Tim works. He was just getting off so we decided to hit the Riverdale ditch. My brother skated his old h-st, which I still have set up. We got there a little before 7 and skated until it got too dark. Matt, one of the locals who has been skating the ditch since the 80s, showed up and ripped it. He has such a smooth style and can carve into the channels, slide around, and then carve back out. It was a pretty nice session. I haven't skated the ditch in the evening for awhile and it was nice to skate in the cooler weather. I'll have to make it over for late sessions more often.

We left Stafford a little after 5pm. On our way back we decided to get some Burritos at Burrito Joynt, which happens to be right near the Franconnia Ditch, so we made a pit stop. Matt and Charlie were stoked on it. We skated it for a half hour or so, mainly carving around and doing some slides and ollies. Matt was pulling his usual array of unorthodox tricks. It was a nice wind-down session after Stafford, and for Matt and Charlie, it was another fresh spot and another ditch under their belts.

Saturday the session was going down at the Ocean Bowl. We headed up there late afternoon and it was pretty hot when we arrived. It has been quite a while since my last Ocean Bowl session so I was looking forward to it. Its been so long that I forgot all my lines. I started working on a new one which turned out to be far better then the old ones. Chris and Terri felt the bowl was too messed up so they declined the session. At first I noticed it was a lot more kinked then I remembered, but I soon got used to it. There is some plaster falling off on the hip but not where I hit it. There is also two missing tiles in the shallowend which served as a makeshift deathbox. E.D., Steve, and I all got some nice f/s slashes over the deathbox and Steve threw up some nice b/s's over it too. I managed to pull a decent sweeper in the deepend, but couldn't work it into a line. PA Steve was ripping up the street course with some sick ollies over the hip and a 360 early grab. E.D. grinded everywall as he did the night before. Steve was trying to find the line to hit the deepend f/s and finally found a nice one and threw up some f/s grinds. E.D. was trying some too but couldn't quite get on the coping. It is a hard line to find if you are goofy footed. Luckily, I'm not, so my f/s line is quite easy to find. I found a line where I double carve the deepend b/s, carve the flatwall towards the shallowend b/s, f/s a shallowend corner, and f/s the deepend pocket. I ended the day with 4 grinds and a sweeper in one run. It was a definitely a great sesssion, especially after the sun started to go down and the air cooled a bit. I managed to avoid falling on my knee the entire session. Steve wasn't so lucky. He took a nasty fall before I got there where he hit the hip head on. Even though he was wearing a helmet he still got a knot on his head.

Sunday afternoon everyone seemed to do their own thing. I really wanted to head back to the Ocean Bowl. Chris and Terri went to Exodus and E.D. followed. Steve wasn't sure so I hoped he would show up at the Ocean Bowl. I skated the Ocean bowl for about an hour and was exhausted. It was really hot out and the sun was blazing. I skated by myself for a bit and them some locals showed up. I skated the bowl with them for a bit and then decided to call it quits. It was just too hot to skate without shade. As I was leaving Dirty showed up, who we had missed all weekend. I talked to him for a bit and then headed out. On my way out I stopped by Exodus to see how the session was going. I took a couple runs on E.D.'s deck, who I found out skates really loose trucks. I still managed to pull an ok air. The sessions this weekend were great, but unfortunately there aren't any pics. I'm hoping to head up to the Ocean Bowl again because I can't stop thinking about her.

After Asbury Park we headed down to Philly to get some Hoagies and stop by FDR to meet Roach, a guy we skated with at the Arcade warehouse in San Diego. He wasn't sure if he wanted to come with us, so we took some runs while he talked to some people. There were a lot less people around today so I took some runs using the entire park. I played in the mellow bowls but there is not much speed in there. I pulled some more sweepers in the pool pocket and took a hard slam on the last one. Luckily I was wearing an elbow pad which absorbed most of the impact. Roach was ripping FDR up with some sick crailslides and f/s grinds in the pool pockets, some ollies on the hips, and some high carves in the oververt. He decided to come with us and brought his friend Peter Gunn along since we had the room.

We had to drive down to 695 to get out to Ohio so we decided to stop and skate the Pot Springs ditch. I got some nice wallrides in and some grinds and disasters on the parking blocks. Roach pulled a nosepick on the wall and Gunn did some nice high wallride. Gunn also pulled some nice f/s rockandrolls. We skated for about 30 minutes or so and then got back on the road destined for Skatopia.

We arrived at Skatopia at around 1:30am Saturday morning. We turned on the lights and took some runs in the bowl and fullpipe. Roach and Gunn caught on to the bowl pretty fast. We were all pretty beat so we didn't skate very long. The next day it was too hot to skate so we hung out until the sun started going down. Bitter Chris and his wife, Terri, showed up late in the afternoon and took some runs on the outdoor ramp. Everyone started skating about this time. I took some runs in the fullpipe but was pretty tired after skating it by myself. I went over to the ramp and took some runs but didn't do much. Brewce was trying to air the gap between the ramp and fullpipe but didn't pull it. It is a BIG gap. Roach dropped into the oververt and made it but ate it on the waterfall and took a nasty fall. As the sun went down we moved the session inside to the bowl. I skated the bowl better tonight than I ever have. I got some nice f/s grinds and f/s airs in. I took a really hard slam but it couldn't stop me. Brewce told me I skate the bowl a hell of a lot better than I skate the vert ramp. Brewce was ripping it up as usual, skating faster than everyone. Brandon, his son, was ripping with some high airs in the deepend and some nice transfers over the hip. Gunn threw down a b/s and f/s layback in the deepend. Roach had some nice f/s airs in the deepend and a sick crailslide. It was definitely an awesome session and I was pretty beat up by the end of it.

I woke up Sunday in a lot of pain. I was far to stiff to skate. Roach and Gunn took some runs in the bowl but were mostly just cruising. I found some Spitfire experimental wheels there. They were marked 65mm, 95a but were worn down to about 63mm. I switched them with my Nicotine Danforth wheels which were just a little too soft. I left the Danforth wheels in the basket for the next Skatopian. The Spitfires had a small chunk taken out of them but it didn't seem to affect the ride. We left a little after 4pm and made it home at midnight. Roach and Gunn crashed at my house. More pictures of the trip and the next day's ditch session here.

The next morning we headed back over to Louisville but it had rained a lot during the night and was pretty wet. We decided to head to Skatopia instead of waiting around. It took us about 5 hours to get to Skatopia. When we arrived it was pretty hectic. It had rained quite a bit there and all the trails were muddy. We parked down by the barn and checked out the scene. Ben was working on the fullpipe. It was nice to see a familiar face right away. He told us Psycho was up at Camp ECRW by the purple bus. There was work to be done so Steve and I got to work. We shoveled gravel for an hour or so and then headed up the hill to make camp. We didn't have a tent so I slept in the purple bus and Steve slept in the bed of the truck. It was already pretty hectic the first night with some demolition derby and some skating. I skated the punisher for a bit but took some hard slams and decided to skate later on in the weekend. There was an awful lot of mayhem going down. Fireworks, potato guns, skating, offroading, etc...

I awoke early Saturday morning to the sound of 'Incoming!' and fireworks. Camp Keystone was getting an early start on the potato wars and our camp soon returned fire. I didn't get enough sleep and wasn't feeling too great. We headed to the store to get some food and some potatos. After getting back Steve drove the truck up the hill, which was still pretty muddy. It was quite an experience. We got stuck on our side with two wheels almost coming off the ground but made it up ok. There were some more of the usual mayhem today. I was really tired and managed to get some sleep amid the chaos. I felt better when I woke up and participated in some dirtboarding. Ben made a trail that went down a mellow hill and then hit a steep drop off with overgrown plants on each side. They went over the trail and made a small tube to shoot through. Many tried but few made it down and rode away. I tried a couple times but ate it each time. It was a lot of fun and still a bit muddy so the falls didn't hurt too much. A lot more people showed up including the CKY crew, who were bombarded with potatoes and fireworks and left before the night was through. Bands began playing as the sun went down and we went down to the bowl to check out the action. Brewce Martin was destroying the bowl. I have never seen anyone skate anything so fast. I ran into AC from West Virginia down by the fullpipe. I was pretty tired and after hours of insanity down by the barn I headed back up and fell asleep.

Saturday morning I awoke a bit later than the previous day and felt much better. I had some breakfast and went down with Rob to skate. I sessioned the fullpipe for a bit and then went up to the punisher. I was getting pretty high in the fullpipe, probably about 10 o'clock. I was skating the punisher a lot better than the last time. I was getting some nice f/s grinds in the deepend and some sweepers in the lowend. I tried skating the small bowl outside but it had some holes and the plywood corners didn't match up to the metal. It was very hot so I took some more runs in the fullpipe and headed back up to the camp. I watched the mayhem for most of the day. There were a total of 8 cars burned over the weekend, and most of them were burned today. There was a lot of demolition derby, rallying, and a truck tug of war. The potato war raged on and Camp Keystone pulled out the slingshot. The slingshot was extremely deadly because you couldn't hear it shot so potatoes could land at anytime. I tried shooting the tube on the dirtbird a couple more times but was unsuccessful. Rob took a pic of me barrelling down the tube so hopefully I will get that sometime. When the sun started to go down we headed back down to the barn for some more skating. I ran into Scott Greene from Philly, who I skated with at Skater Island a bit ago. He sessioned the fullpipe and the punisher with me. He pulled a sick f/s kickturn on the fullpipe where he grapped the coping of the drop in. I was getting a little higher than earlier in the day and it felt great. I took a pretty hard slam and slowly moved off the pipe. After the slam I decided to give the fullpipe a rest and I went up to the Punisher. I was skating a lot better than before and getting some great f/s grinds in the deepend. I got a nice f/s air partly out of the deepend too. I pulled a bunch of sweepers in the lowend and they felt great. I skated until I couldn't skate anymore and had to rest before walking back up the hill to camp. There was a lot of mayhem going on at camp. I watched it until it was dark and then headed back down to the bowl to see the skating. Brewce was destroying the bowl again. Science, Grant, The Governor, Shorty, Stranger, The Rueler, and many more were killing it. I left a little earlier and went back to camp to hang out. I was extremely tired and skating so much and went to bed rather early.

On Sunday I got up rather early and ate some breakfast. We cleaned up a bit and headed out. I gave Brewce a nice donation for CIA and I picked up some stickers, a shirt, and a video. As we were ready to pull out a drunken idiot drove the tow truck into the barn but only damaged one wall. We left around 11:30am and made it back around 7pm. It was quite an adventure and I can't wait to go back in the fall. More pics of the skating and mayhem that went down here.

The next day we got up and hit Skater Island at around 11am. We spend a good deal of time in the bowl but hit the snake run and the vert ramp too. I managed to pull a couple nice f/s airs out of the bowl. I also managed to b/s and f/s grind the deepend and the shallowend pockets. Steve laid down some sick long f/s grinds in the deepend. Steve wanted me to skate the vert ramp and after a little convincing I went over. At first I was dropping in and just doing some cess slides on the walls but I started trying to pump higher and managed to get a nice b/s grind in. Steve had some speed and b/s grinded the 13' extension (with pool coping). I was thinking about dropping in on the extension and after a little hesitation I got up the nerve to do it. After I did it Steve felt he should too. He pulled it and then started attempting to air the channel. It took him a bunch of tries but he pulled a couple sick ones. He tried some b/s ollies over it too but didn't pull any. It was a rad session. We left around 4pm and made it home around midnight.

We got back from the Falcon at around 7pm and got some Pizza. Jonny called his roommate Andy and, after calling off some plans with his girl, he was down for the Louisville sess. We left a little after 8pm and got to Louisville a little after 11pm. This park is absolutely insane. It is open 24 hours and is fully lit. As we drive up the park we can see the 24' full pipe staring us down. The park was pretty packed but Jonny and Andy said it was least crowded they have ever seen it. I went over to the Full Pipe which seemed to be the least crowded area. There is a 4' bowl to 8' to 11' to 24' Full pipe to another 11' bowl. I took a couple runs and immediately found a nice line. After a couple runs I found the guys sessioning a 6' area that drops down to an 8' bowl. We took a couple runs and then headed back to the full pipe. We sessioned the full pipe and bowls with some rad locals. All the bowls were flawless and the waterfalls were perfect. I managed to incorporate some sweepers and some early grabs in the 8' section into my run. I was able to get a lot of speed and was getting to about 9:30 on the fullpipe. Both Jonny and Andy were working on their lines and were getting just over 9 o'clock by the end of the night. Steve started off skating his punk point which has softer wheels and looser trucks. He wasn't able to get enough speed and after slamming in the full pipe and having the punk point (which doesn't have much of a point anymore) fall from 12 o'clock he switched to his Wolfpack deck. He was immediatly skating much faster and getting higher in the pipe. He was hitting 10 o'clock and had all the locals cheering. He also threw down some b/s grinds in the 11' sections. At around midnight a band started playing and jammed till about 1:30am. There were still a ton of kids there. It didn't start clearing out until about 4am and there were still about 60 people there. We were all pretty beat and decided to call it quits at 5am. We met some locals who gave us the lowdown on Skatopia which we were very grateful for. This park is almost unreal. The only thing it is missing is a closed in bowl with some pool coping. A couple tight pockets would be nice too. We got back to Jonny and Andy's apartment at around 8am and passed out.

We got up around 3pm and got some directions to Skatopia. Jonny and Andy had plans so Steve and I went by ourselves. We got there around 5pm. It is in the middle of nowhere and a pack of dogs greated us as we drove up the long driveway. We passed the house and there are signs that say 'Skatopia,' 'No Minors beyond this point' and 'No law enforcement agents beyond this point.' We drove past the signs and pulled up to a large barn with a huge ramp next to it. We went up into the barn and got our first glance of The Punisher. 13' deepend, 6' lowend, and pool coping all around. There was a little water in bottom so we took some shirts and soaked it up. We've heard many stories of people getting wrecked here so we were a little wary of it. I hopped in and went down the waterfall from the shallowend and carved around. I then tried dropping in, carving the lowend corner and going down the waterfall. After a couple tries I did it and found a decent line. After I got comfortable I started carving higher and got a b/s carvegrind in the deepend. Steve soon followed suit with some b/s grinds of his own. I started experimenting with a different line - b/s lowend, b/s deepend, f/s lowend pocket, f/s deepend. This line felt very good and after getting comfortable I got some nice f/s grinds in on the deepend and damn that pool coping felt good. After getting some more grinds in I tried some early graps below the coping. I took a pretty hard slam on one. I took a final run and decided I was done. We packed up our stuff and were about to leave when some locals showed up. We watched them take a few runs and decided to join the session. One of the guys was ripping it up with airs over the hips and all types of lip tricks. Another was doing some of the fastest f/s carves I've seen. They put on some music and I was getting pretty pumped up. I was pulling some f/s grinds and early graps. I got a nice f/s carvegrind in the shallowend and had so much speed I got some air going down the waterfall. I managed to land ok and was on the fall wall before I knew what happened. I threw down some sweepers in the shallowend and was able to go right into my line. We skated till about 10pm and started our long journey home. We got a little lost leaving but were able to find our way to the main road. We arrived at Steve's house at around 5am and I crashed there. Overall it was an awesome trip. We didn't get to hang out and party much but we did a hell of a lot of skating, and when you don't have much time, skating and driving is all you can do.