Road trip from Arizona

I had a very interesting trip this time around.  I flew home to my parents house in Delaware for four days.  I had to study for a professional exam that I needed to take in Phoenix, Arizona.  From there I flew to Arizona on May 5th to take the exam the next day.   Rachel flew out to Arizona with me from Pennsylvania because she needed help moving to Oregon and it all just worked out perfect. We got this sweet place to stay that was like a desert oasis.  We spend plenty of time packing and packing, but we still had time to enjoy the pool and hot tub.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as much pool time as I wanted and I was a little crabby to Rachel....sorry. We hit the road on the 9th and made it home on the 10th. The sunset leaving Arizona was amazing.  Best part is that I passed my exams, which was a huge relief.  

Campus Rail Jam Tour - Oregon State University

The Campus Rail Jam tour made a stop at Oregon State University on May 21, 2009.  The day was beautiful, but it was a scorcher.  I had a hard time motivating myself to compete.  I had already qualified for the finals in Portland, but I wanted to get some extra practice on the set up and maybe get a chance to take some money home.  I had a great time seeing lots of familiar faces.  The Oregon stops always draw a good crowd of people.  I got to meet a really sweet girl named Emily and I got to hang out with Ashley Thornton and meet her boyfriend.  Overall, even though I felt sluggish, the event was a blast and I took home the money I was hoping for.  

Mt. Hood Meadows and Kona Lager's Pond Skim

April 25th was a really frigid day to be holding a pond skim.  The objective of the event is to clear a 100 foot long pool of water that is even colder than the air.  The objective may be to skim the pond, but this is really a costume contest.  So really, the objective is to have the most elaborate costume that will not inhibit you from making the cross.  Due to lack of time and care for preparing  a costume, I kept it pretty basic and unoriginal. The first time around was a breeze.  I successfully made if to the other side.  Thank god, I don't think I would have been able to handle being wet and cold.  It was cold enough when you were dry.  Second time around, I was almost going to go swimming, but my determination to stay dry helped me to force myself above the water.  The competition was fun, but I think that next year I'll stear away from the gaper show.  

Whistler 4/20

This was the most memorable 4/20 holiday celebration yet.  I jumped in a car with Halo, Karim, and Ellie. We made our way through the northwest and over the boarder of Canda and the U.S. to make our final destination in Whistler, B.C.  On 4/20 we got to go ride even though it was socked in and difficult to see. Shredbetties,com was nice enough to be able to help with lift tickets making the day and the whole trip all that much better.  

Post riding, we celebrated further by lazing about the pool and hot tub as the sun graced us with a few moments of sunshine.  Eventually, some how, Mark Frank Montoya joined our shit show and drank some vodka and grape cool-aid "Grape Drank!" with us to kick start the night.  

A nice stroll over to the Aussie house solidified the purpose of celebrating 4/20 and rejoined some good friends for a good time.  Well intoxicated at this time, I thought it would be a great idea to go long boarding with Josh, which turned out to not be a good idea.  I was left with a wonderful scar the size of my shoulder blade to forever remember this day.  

At this point the rest of the night beings to become a fuzzy mess, but a few more drinks later and a few bars later we ended up at Buffalo Bills dancing our asses off to a Led Zepplin cover band.  With all of us doing air guitar, one could have guessed we were all having a great time.  Thankfully, Erykah showed up to help us drunkies make it through the rest of the night.  She helped us purchase food to eat and baby sat us like a bunch of little kids.  

The rest of the trip panned out to be just as fun.  I had a great time riding with Erykah and Ellie.  It is not too often I have the opportunity to shred with those ladies. Karim was really sweet and was nice enough to take photos to document the event. I think spending 4/20 in Whistler may need to become a yearly tradition.    

Road Trip Across the Country

I had the opportunity to drive across the country from Pennsylvania to Oregon in a large Dodge Durango.  Of coarse I had to raid my parents house and completely fill the truck with stuff.  Jeff and I hit the road on Monday March 23 at about 5 p.m. with a mission to get to Colorado State University by Wednesday morning, less than two days later.  The Campus Rail Jam tour had a stop there and I really wanted to participate in the event.  The drive out there was long and tiring.  We really couldn't stop to sleep for two reasons.   First, there wasn't enough time.  Second there was no room in the truck to lay down.  We had a chance to catch a few hours in and there, but overall it was a straight long drive to Ft. Collins.  I showed up about two hours past registration, but the guys putting on the event were cool enough to let me compete.  The girl vibe there was great.  I had a chance to meet Amanda Poindexter and Charlotte Trundle, both really great girls.  The comp was a success, I took first place and walked away with $100.  The next stop was going to be Salt Lake City.  We headed north and went west on I 80 until about two hours later we hit a block in the road because of weather.  Jeff was a strong person for being able to drive through the storm, but it was crazy, gnarly.  We had to turn around and figure out a plan for the day.  We decided to head back south and try to make it to Breckenridge for the night so we could visit a good friend Aaron Thompson and have a warm place to sleep.  Thankfully, we made it there safely and had a wonderful night of comfortable sleep.  The next day Aaron showed us around and took us on some sweet runs.  On our way out we had to stop at smoke shack tucked away.  I'm sorry locals, but it is too cool not to mention.  The shack was so well built and not appropriate for people with a fear of heights.  

The next day we started back on the road with Salt Lake as our destination.  We got there and spent our time with Steve Pierce and Sam Driver.  Many pow turns were created at Brighton and in the back country.  I had a great time.  I also had a chance to catch up with my friend Abby Johnson. 

Once we left Utah we started to head towards Spokane, Washington but stopped in a small town called  Mcall in Idaho.  Jeff and I spent a night in a nice resort and had a wonderful opportunity to relax and catch up on some chill time after being on the road for so long.  We enjoyed a good home cooked dinner and a few cocktails, but we had to get to bed early to get on the road early the next morning.  The drive to Spokane was long because of snowy road conditions, but thankfully I made it to Spokane in time again to compete at the next stop of the Campus Rail Jam tour.  This stop was at Gonzaga State University.  I'm so glad I got to compete at this event.  Mt. Hood local Becky was there and I had a chance to meet a girl named Kendra that is from Canada.   The competition was a lot of fun and I walked away with first place again and some cash to put gas in the truck.  We took off after the competition and drove till we made it home to catch an amazing night of sleep, in our own beds.  

Mamafest 2009 at Summit at Snoqualmie

On March 14th, a non-profit competition was held for the cure for cancer called Mamafest at Summit at Snoqualmie. There was about a foot of fresh powder and it was completely silly to be doing a competition since the rails were caked in snow and the jumps were super fluffy, but regardless the comp was on.  There was a great group of girls that came out for the event and local rider Raelynd Tarnove took first place followed by myself.  She had a sweet 540 and sweet style on the rails.  Overall the event was a great time. Since this benefit has a great cause, there was a great group of spectators and sponsors.   I hope that Mamafest will be held again next season.  

Billabong's Flaunt-it at Mt. Symoure

Canada was quite the adventure.  Halo and I started our way into Portland to meet up Karim Hadid, who was rad enough to come with us to shoot photos.  From his house we hit mad rush hour traffic so we scoped out some stuff at the zoo.  There we chilled in the train, drinking beers in mailing envelopes and killing some green.  Our final destination for the evening was Bellingham, WA at a friends house to post up before crossing the boarder the next morning.  The next day started out amazing.  We made it through the boarder to Mt. Seymour with ease and the morning was sunny and splendid.  Billabong was holding a competition called Flaunt It for female riders only.  There was a huge turnout, I thought, with 30-35 girls.  The slopestyle course was really fun. There was a pseudo stair feature at the start going into one easy to clear jump into an impossible to clear jump.  The second jump needed to be pointed straight at from the first.  I went for the large side, only to case it and bruise up my heel.  From there I stuck to the small side.  Halo was killing it.  She has been recovering from a knee injury and I thought she had a great performance.  The second part of the day was dedicated to a rail jam that was held on the pseudo stair features.  The comp was based on best trick, not overall performance, so I focused one doing my best stock trick...tail 270 out on the flat down box.  That landed me a spot on the podium in 3rd.  From there we drove to Whistler.  Thanks to a group of Australians, we had a place to crash and people to party with.  The village was a riot that night.  Halo and I got our dancing shoes out for the occasion.  Did I mention we polished a bottle of 151 prior to going out.  Unfortunately, I lost 20 canuck dollars and my hoodie.  Where they went?  I wish I knew.  At least I didn't loose myself.  We were expecting fresh snow the next day, which was a total deception.  Due to the lack of snow and our major hung over state, home is where we found ourselves late that night.