After some careful research I found that leaving from Memphis you can hit a skate park about every hour to hour and half or so traveling through Arkansas, into Missouri and back into Arkansas.
We started on the road at 8 am Friday morning traveling from my house to Jonesboro, Arkansas - about an hour drive. I think they call it the Race Street Bowl, it is on Race Street, name follows location..... I did not skate it (was not feeling it), Ron and Coltrane skated it. They said it was slightly rough and the concrete coping did not grind to well. At one point they turned to me and asked did I bring any sauce and wax?? Yeah, uhmmm...no (should have thought of that before we left). So there you go, if you go to this spot bring sauce and wax to grease up some of the grinding surfaces. Other wise they really liked some of the lines that they skated. It is a fairly interesting bowl that starts off in a shallow 6ft section that waterfalls into a deeper 7 foot section back up to a 6ft pocket or you can go to the right and find a bigger 8 ft pocket. So the bowl has a lot of variation and possibilities. We were there about 45 minutes and they were ready to hit the road. No wax, no grind...no grind then no more skate was the consensus. Next stop West Plains, Missouri (2 hours).
Two hours later we found ourselves in West Plains, MO. Rolled up to the park just before noon, parked the car in the shade, pulled the cooler out of the trunk and had a little pre-skate lunch. It is kind of thrilling pulling up to a park, stepping out of the car and making your first sight of a fresh face. I was asked to park my car as close as I could get to the park, open the doors and blast music as a added ambiance. Nice little park that starts off with a bean shaped bowl which has a 4 ft shallow section that feeds into a 6 or 7ft deep end. The rest of the place has a lot of flat that is surrounded by a series of 2 and 3ft tranny with hips, stairs, ledges and banks. There is a little something for everybody. Even me who just rolled around and hit some of the shallow tranny. After hurting my knee a few months ago I have a slight aversion to concrete as I start skating again. My legs felt like jello at first, have not skated regularly in months. The guys were satisfied with the place all in all, nice little gem in West Plains. Another thing I learned was bring a broom and dust pan, add that to the list. Jonesboro and West Plains could have used a sweep. The music started cutting on and off at my car and I knew what that meant, dead battery! Yikes, I had left the air conditioner on that drained my juice, luckly I had parked the car on a slight incline and was able to roll start. Loud battery powered listening device, add that to the list as well. How did it grind?? I did not hear any complaining so I guess it was alright. Next stop Spring Field, Mo (just under 2 hours).
Stop number three of the day had us navigating through the average looking small city of Spring Field. Strip malls, neighborhoods, Chinese Buffets, hospitals and fishing equipment outlets... We finally navigate through all the bland Southern Americana and find the Team Pain skate park. It is a early Team Pain park so there was a lot of skepticism among of our home town folk as of its Stoke Ability. The park starts off indoors, inside there are probably over 10 thousand square feet of differing ramps, wall rides and ledges. It costs $10 to get in the door and you are required to wear a helmet. Once I signed the waiver for my 15 year old traveling companion Box Car Fred, we set off into the out doors where the work of Team Pain was uncovered, or viewed by me.
There were two bowls. The first was a massive bowl that has so much going on I am not sure how to describe. It has almost Vert, Vert and Over Vert in this bowl with in three sections, or something like that. I got some decent photos, take a look. For you locals of Memphis, the big bowl here in Spring Field looks like a step above Hammond, LA. It has steep tranny and lots of vertical. Just look at the photos even though I think I could have taken a few more. Then there is the smaller three pocket bowl that starts off with 4ft up to 8ft. This is what Ron and Coltrane (Box Car Fred) mostly skated. Ron did skate the big bowl a few times and commented how fun the lines were that he was catching but Box Car Fred said that it reminded him of Oxford, MS and refused to skate it. This is no Oxford, MS park that every one who skates says the lines are weird and maintaining speed issues. No, this is a Team Pain park that you could find any where in Colorado. Don't allow the idea it is an early build by Team Pain let you think less of this place, it is smooth, flowing and gnarly looking. Even though I did not skate it I can appreciate its meaning. You could tell from the lines that Ron took and from the lines the BMXr's were getting that there are lots of possibilities. And yes, there are more bikes than skateboards out here but no worries, they were all very cordial, much more so than in Memphis. Next stop camping for the night.
We drove an hour west to a place called Carthage, it is about 15 miles from Joplin our next skate stop. The camp site, Beagal Bay Haven,was a RV Park that allowed $12 dollar a night Tent Camping that included running water and electric for charging devices. The biggest draw back was the noise from the Freeway, I did not sleep well at all. We set camp, cooked some delicious food,went fishing and then back to our tents. Fun night.
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| JOPLIN MO |
The next day we break camp and head over to Joplin who have an indoor park. The picture looked sick, there is a bowl or two there but there is no info on the web about it, maybe I should have called.. We drive the 20 minutes, navigate through town, pull up and no cars. Dam, I look on their web site and sure enough they do not open until 1:30pm, on a Saturday? Come on dudes, wake up and open at a 11 like every one else on this tour!!! It was 1030 am and I was not about to wait around while Fayetteville, Arkansas was only a hour south of Joplin. Maybe another day. There is so little information about it I was hoping to provide people with more. So off to Razorback Country, Whooo Pig Sooey!!!
So we drive through the campus of University of Arkansas around 11:30 am, I decided to find some shade and pull the cooler out for lunch. We ate some nice chicken breasts I had cooked the night before. Add a little cheese, mustard, chipotle sauce, bread and a cola equals happy campers. There are two spots in Fayettville: Walker Park and Skate Station. After eating we head to Walker park, five minutes from the University.
Walker Park is a free outdoor area that is all concrete. You walk in and the first thing that you are greeted with is a flow section that dumps you into a small quarter and back to flat. Again the guys skated while I took photos and rolled around a bit. Concrete is freaking me out a bit ever since I busted my knee. I want to skate but as soon as I step onto my board I have that fear. Until I get over my fear.... skate wood.... Ok Walker Park, lots of tranny, nothing to large. The guys said the tranny is kind of weird. They said the tranny starts off nice and then is kinky at the top, not sure..they just complained about keeping up speed.. It was really hot so after they stopped by the play ground to swing on the monkey bars and admire the big slide we drove another 5 minutes away to Skate Station.
Skate Station is a indoor park, waivers, $10, no AC except in shop, yada yada..... Though once inside you got all kinds of tranny to skate. There is a huge ass vert ramp, a foam pit, 2.5 mini, 3.5 mini that tranfers into another ramp with a wall ride, 5 ft kidney bowl shaped bowl with wall ride, banks, ledges, wall ride, little tranny here, little tranny there. I did how ever skate this place because it was wood and it had variety that I could work my way around. So much so that when I first got there I did not want to skate the bowl but after being there a while I finally hit the bowl, it was fun. I tried skating the vert ramp and felt overwhelmed to the max. I remember skating vert for the first time 25 years ago and felt very much the same except I could pump and kick turn on my first day this time. There is also a bigger bowl under construction that will be fun as hell, check the photos- GOT TO GO BACK. The place was a sauna though, so hot inside but we had a really good time. Form there it was to Lake Fort Smith for another camp adventure.
It took about 45 minutes to find the camp ground that was actually on Lake Fort Smith. We were lucky since it was the very last site available and it was next to the lake. This camp area was a good starting point for the next day since it was a 40 minute drive to our next to last skate spot. We set camp, waded in the lake, found out the astronomy club was meeting in the parking lot, ate dinner, viewed my slide show of the days photos and headed back out to the parking lot out by the lake. There were about five dudes set up with these high powered telescopes were we got to see a star cluster, a nebula and a couple of other galaxies. The guys seemed to really enjoy it, especially Ron, he seemed to understand how much work and fore thought went into this trip. I appreciate the appreciation, its rewarding to receive. Ask and you shall receive.
So Sunday morning we break camp, drive to Fort Smith and head to Boarder Town. Boarder Town is a indoor park, AC, waivers, $10 blah blah..... It did have AC. The main attraction at Boarder Town in the Team Pain boat hull shaped bowl. The bowl is literally shaped like a boat hull. I did not skate it for I felt sick and had split my toe open the night before on some rock ledge so wearing a shoe hurt like a beaatch. That bowl looked awesome. I let them stay there for a few hours I think... Don't worry kids, I am going back at some point this year.
So we piled in the car, ate some Mexican food and headed to Little Rock. We stopped at Kanis Park were they skated for 10 minutes and said it was to hot to skate. We went to Vino's and then drove home. I had planned on camping at Enjoy for the night but it was really hot and I had eaten enough shit for one day. In other news Kanis Park is getting bowled in. There is fill and tranny work that looks like a big time move by our favorite DIY crew from the Little Rock.
In Conclusion the Trip was a huge success. I would have to do it different next time, take some older folks with a mix of younger folks, maybe hit a cheap motel one night and wait for cooler weather. I went north because it is 10 degrees cooler at night, just enough to be comfortable at night in the summer. Further North would be ok in the summer but with a young adult and a kid it is hard to go much further. The route is pretty sweet though, the skate spots are sweet. Later.
