Phoenix Trip: Part 3

The main spot for the crew tends to be the park directly across the

street from the house. We roll out to join Brett. He is often the

first to hit it up and today is no exception. It is best to wait

until it gets a little later in the afternoon. That way the trees

offer a little bit of shade to help combat the heat. We head over to

the little spot off to the side of the park. It is where Brett has

put in countless hours over the years. It is a slab of concrete good

for smaller type jam circles. Billy, Richard and I start to warm it

up and make it happen. Frank shows up shortly after with Dave not far

behind. The side spot slab is getting crowded so we head over to the

basketball courts to keep the session going as the sun starts to set.

The courts are equipped with good lights and are concrete with a newly

placed tennis court type of top layer. Ryan and Harb are now in

the line up so we are working with a bit of a modified jam circle.

Inside circles, turbine hang fives, half packer links, hitchhiking

switches, and smith decades are common place items. We hold out for

as long as we can and try snapping some photos, but the basketball

players are starting to inundate the place. There are many spot

around so we check out another set of basketball courts which are a

short ride away. No dice. These courts are packed too. So we decide

to head toward downtown Tempe to roll around a bit and check out

what's poppin' for the night. ASU is right near by so it is decided

to head to lot 59. It is a giant asphalt lot for the school with a

strong steady slope to one direction. The problem being that only

some of the lights are on and therefore it dicey at best. I feel like

this spot is only good for certain types of tricks in the first place.

We only stay for about 15 or 20 minutes. Billy, Dave and I start to

roll out the long distance moves. Billy and Dave are working on the

wheel chair and hitchhiker side of things. I try out some

crackpackers, cliffhangers, and both forward and regular deathtrucks.

The hill is enough to take you from one end to the other if you can

let it. So I try my hand at a hang nothing. I think it is the

longest hang nothing that I have ever done, well over 100 yards. I

held it until I started to run out of room and then linked it to an

opposite elbow glide for good measure. Since some time has passed we

head back to the original basketball courts. Billy phones his wife

and she says that there are only 4 people on the courts now. It is

creeping up on 10:00pm and the lights at the courts turn off at

10:30pm. So Ryan and Harb start to make there way back to Tucson.

Dave rolls out too, work in the morning. The remaining riders keep it

rolling until the end. Having fun, socializing, and just perfecting

and evolving their flatland until the timers click off to bring the

darkness.