Arkassouri Skateboard Tour and Photo Journal

Not sure where to start... Coltrane has been asking me to go on a skate and camp road trip for a while now. I had come up with a few different ideas. At first I thought that he and Ron could go  out with me to Colorado when I visited my brother but that did not work out since Coltrane has to be in school August 7th. Then I came up with the idea of going to Chicago and St Louis but that might be a bit of a stretch so I decided after a little research to do a simpler idea of Southern Missouri and Arkansas. 


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).

JONESBORO PICS

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).

WEST PLAINS PIC

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. 

SPRING FIELD PICS

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.

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.

WALKER PARK PICS

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.

SKATE STATION PICS

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.

BOARDERTOWN PICS

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. 

KANIS PICS

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.

Skateboard Decks For Sale made by Rufus himself

I have a couple of 8.6 and a few 8.5, they are 32 inches long with15 inch wheels base. I am not happy with the finish on them, painting has its ups and downs. I will sell them for $25 each plus shipping unless you are local.

The best way do buy one for now is email me at rufusskates@gmail.com to set up to buy one. Then once we have communicated hit the donate button on my blog and you can pay for it plus shipping that using paypal. The is the best system I have st this moment until I set up the merchant portion of this site.

This is the lot, the top two are 8.6, the rest are 8.5.

Spring Broke- Popsicle Deck Debate - Skateboarding a Marathon distance & Buy My Decks.

What is up homies! Man have I been busy this week, or lets say this year so far. Ok, so what you got cooking?

Besides traveling quite a bit for work I have been playing in two bands, doing family gatherings and making skateboard decks. It is skateboard decks and the spring time weather outside that inspired a day of writing. I am so antsy right now, I want to go outside and play its driving me mad.

Traveling for work is nothing that special. I mostly go to rural areas in Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas and Missouri to teach people how to use software and set up accounting books. It is rather satisfying work to say the least when there is a abundance of work. This year has been busier so far than most. Know anybody who needs someone who can train people? haha.

And Family.....What can I say, a couple of weekends ago I went to Little Rock AR and catered a baby shower for my sister. I have not catered in a very long time, years, but dam I still got it. My brother-in-laws father is in the food business and he said that the food and presentation was as good or better than professional services he has seen in Little Rock. What a great compliment. I have to give huge props to my assistant Alea though, she was perfect. Alea is my mother's helper around the house. I had only met her that day and knew only that she had been in food service before. She was terrific.

I have also traveled to St Louis for work but got to see my little Brother Sam who is attending Washington University. I have been to Mountain Home AR for a weekend and plan on going back week after next to visit my dad.

Ok, enough boring. Skateboards!!! Skateboards!!

My last blog post was about my Little Rock trip where I picked up some blank uncut decks. Since then I have spent an entire weekend working  on designing, cutting, sanding and finishing these nine decks. In the past I think the most I have ever worked on at once is two decks at a time. For instance, here is a blog post of cutting wood for the Vegan Luchador. With one or two decks you can be done with the wood work in a couple of hours tops. Nine decks present a whole new circumstance, you got nine decks, what the fuck??

Everything just takes longer. It makes me feel rushed to some extent having so many decks to finish. You can't get in a big hurry with them or they bite back. I have had to re-drill holes, sand paint off and repaint back on, scrap art work and just suck up the mistakes. There are places where the Black Enamel paint ran, but who cares, its a skateboard not a wall ornament. It can be a wall ornament after you have thrashed the hell out of it and worn it out completely.

The shape of the board is very similar to a Black Label shape with a slight adjustment to the sides and the nose. I used the tail design since it is fairly blocky. The basic idea is the same as a Popsicle shaped board, the sides of the board do not vary in shape, they are straight lines in width from nose to tail. The only true difference is this board has a tail that is square compared to a rounded tail. Some people who skate transitions like a squared off tail because it gives the foot more surface which makes certain tricks feel better. There is also more tail now which will extend the life of the board a bit longer. Finally there is no guess work in which end of the board is the tail. I see come skaters do something to their grip tape to indicate the direction of the tail/nose. It is a personal preference in the end. I do see more and more of these shapes being skated, so what ever....

I would like to make more boards but I need a better set up and a system. That is what I have realized from this experience so far. I also guess I should produce some Popsicle Sticks if anybody is going to buy them as well. Really, everybody should think of buying boards from local board makers like it is  supporting organic farming since that is what this is, sorta. I get my uncut blanks from a local guy. So support your Local Organic farmers which includes me.

Here is the picture album to the boards in progress. They are not finished yet but getting ever so close. They will go on sale at the Half Marathon Skateboard event this weekend. The staging and registration at 9am this Saturday starts here according to their FB page - Faith Baptist Church of Bartlett 3755 N Germantown Rd, Memphis.  The boards will sell for $30 a piece. Not sure if any will sell, we will see.

Then my final thing that has been consuming time is playing music. I play drums with two bands. Both bands are power trios at the moment and I am the old guy. The other members in the band are high school students. I have ran across the paths of my little friends because they are all skateboarders who skate my boards oddly enough. I will have to write more about these experiences another day as things develop and we have opportunities to play out. I am not even sure what the band names are yet? And we need gigs!! So if you know anybody that needs a band to play then holler at us, leave a comment or something. If you want to listen  to some of the work then this is Band One and this is Band Two. Coltrane (he is in both bands) hates both demos but we need to record better demos then don't we fart knocker.

So maybe I will see you over the weekend and you can buy a board from me. I have a couple of 8.6 and a few 8.5's. Leave a comment if you want one because I will sell them to who wants them first.

Uncut Blanks

I had to manage a catering gig in Little Rock on Sunday. Since I had to do all the grocery shopping and most of the cooking I made my way to LR on early Saturday morning.

On my way to LR I stopped by Paige Hearn's warehouse and picked up nine uncut blank skateboard decks. The dimensions uncut are: 35 inches long by 9.5 inches wide. I am not sure what the plan is for this batch of boards is to be...NO one seems that interested in blank uncut pieces of wood on first glance it seems. I posted a great pic in the burdening social web site with no avail.

See there, that is a great looking flock of boards that want to be cut up, painted and trashed. I might do something like this with a bit more of a blocky tail, different graphic (if any), 32 inches long, 15 inch wheel base and probably at about 8.6 in width. 

If you want to inquire more about one of these decks feel free to email me at rufusskates@gmail.com. I will post more about the process as I enter into each phase. Later.

Cutting Wood - Longboards for David

I got a text late Friday night from David saying he got wood, that is two blank decks. Wow, finally the supplier had them, http://eastbilt.com has been out of stock for months forcing DAvid to skate somebody else's design. What time?? Better make it 10 am since my Liverpool Football Game starts at 9am.  That way I can watch the second half while working on drawing where the trucks go.

So he gets there at straight up 10am, very punctual, got to appreciate that. Unfortunately the game is on and Liverpool have not scored against Stoke, in fact no one had scored. So I get to work on David's first board, a massive 48 inches long by 12 wide. There is a pencil outline of where he wants me to cut out of the blank, this is the most massive skateboard I have ever help make. This bad boy is fully concave and going to be David's next skate for tranny. The other board is strictly a on the road long board measuring 10" X 58" with no concave. So the trucks got placement points.

The next stage happened just as the Liverpool game finished in a draw. That was a very weird game, Kenny had some crazy tactics that did not work today, hmm. To cut the blanks I have to use my neighbors tools which consist of a band saw and some sanding tools. I would really like to get my own setup but I do not have the space, no shop space per say any where to be had on my property. The concaved beast I cut out using the band saw. I followed DAvid's pencil outline the best I could, got it really close. Cutting blanks out gets intense for me for some reason but it is so much fun. I cut the second blank with a jig saw. You can actually cut all your blanks with a jig saw, I might try that in the future. Then we moved onto sanding:

 I use a belt sander primarily on the concave board. It is gets fairly tiring since you have to work the wood over and over to get a desired edge. I could use a router to do this but I would have to build a jig, one day.

Those are some big daddy boards, that pool skate is wide as shit.

Little more sanding.

Back at David's house for paint. Good Job.

Back in Memphis

Back in Memphis, jet lagged, tired and trying to get my life back. The last day in Bangkok I did not do much, walked around a bit, did some last minute shopping and headed over to Khoisan road for one last visit to hang out with my friend Costal. I did not stay for a long visit for I had to get up early the next morning and make a flight out at 815am. I did how ever ride a motorbike taxi back to the hotel, it was a wild ride for sure. The travel guides said to get there 3 hours before, so I did but the check in counter for Japan airlines did not open until 545. I got on the plane it was a nice 6 hours to Japan from Bangkok sitting next to this Japanese business man who did not smell like he had time to take a shower before he got to the airport. Got to japan and waited for two hours for the long flight to take off. I guess the flight took off around 6pm Japan time. I was suppose to have a aisle seat according to my itinerary but no, I had to sit between two dudes which makes for a slightly less comforting flight. It only took 10.5 hours to get to Dallas Fort Worth, but hey, I got there. I then had to go through immigration and recheck bags, exchange my currency back to US dollars and find a Hamburger and frosty beverage that yelled American. I sat down to wait for the plane and woke up to the boarding announcements, I had no idea where I was then I figured it out quickly. got my self together, got on the plane and headed to memphis. Don picked me up, we went to a Christmas party and then home.

Would you go back to Bangkok?? Yeah, but not to stay in someone's house like that again. I actually met this guy at the Christmas party, don took me to, that spent two months in Thailand many years ago. he described doing a few things I wished I had, like renting a motor bike in Chaing Mae. It was somewhat interesting being incorporated into someone's family but it got old since they were not the best of hosts. I do believe that I could go back and have a grander time than I did on this trip. I experienced a culture far different than the one I live in and that is what counts most of all to me. There is far more to Thailand that what i saw although I saw a good bit. What i saw more of than I had wished was a troubled and tormented family man. You can't always go on a trip like this an expect every moment to be grand. I had some grand moments and I had some terrifying ones, as well, all the in between. Did I do this trip the right way?? Not sure, I would do it different next time. I actually met a guy from colorado on the flight to Japan. He had been on the south beach islands of Thailand partying very hard. Is that worth doing?? I would not want to have had it any different to tell you the truth. It was truly a growing experience.

I new beginning in Bangkok

Now I am in Sukhumvit in a nice little hotel not far from the center of activity for the area which is mostly comprised with street markets, street food, large malls, bars, restaurants, 711 after 711 and other various businesses. I am doing the tourist thing now for the last couple of days left in Bangkok. Instead of living in someones house and abiding by their rules. I now make up the rules and do what ever I want. It is almost noon here in Bangkok while it is 11pm at night back where my buddies in United States reside. It has been an interesting ride to say the least the last three weeks. I have seen a lot, done a lot and have gone past what the usual tourist might see experiencing what it is like to live in Thailand as a real Thai. That does not mean that all my time was entertaining and fun, its means I saw life as it is lived...the good, the bad and the ugly. While in my high school friends home I had to resign my usual everyday routines and abide by the house rules. It was exhausting some days when your host snapped at you about leaving a light on in the bathroom or leaving your rooms air conditioner on when you were not in the room at the moment. There are slews of instances like this, every little thing I did was scrutinized in one way or another as though trying to find fault in the most unimportant events to make me look like a unworthy house guest. I don't think they wanted me there from the beginning but I don't really know that, maybe it was after the first week. I should have gotten a hotel room a long time ago but I kept hanging on because I did not want to give up on the person who I thought was my friend. People change is all I can say, and the person I knew was not the person I met in Bangkok three weeks ago.  Enough of that....and don't think I have had a bad time here either because that is not true, I have had a great time here other than a few set backs here and there.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to meet up with a friend I met when I was in the South of Thailand two weeks ago. I took a taxi to a area known as Khoasan Rd were my new friend Costal is staying. He gave me a address and google map location and to meet him there at 4pm. So we meet up. Costal is a great guy, real easy going,  we have a  lot of things in common. He lives in Basel Switzerland,  works as a I.T. professional, has a girl friend and lives in a warehouse apartment were he makes tents and bike trailers among other things. I met him at his hotel and then we set out over to a local bar for a sit and chat. We started walking towards the street and I asked Costal where his shoes were?? No shoes he said, he walks bare foot every where. You guys ever heard of Dean Potter, the famous mountian climber, slack liner and base jumper. Dean does not wear shoes either because he says walking bare foot makes your feet at their best and even improves posture. Costal is a climber as well but I dont think he knows Dean yet, I bet he will after reading this. You should check out the documentary on Dean Potter, its really good. So after sitting a while and watching people by the street side restaurant we headed for a cab to Siam square which is right by my hotel. We just continued to talk and walk around. Costal gets a lot of attention walking around Bangkok with no shoes.  We walked around the Siam Square mall, went into a tobacco shop to pick up cigars and the girls in the shop were so taken by his lack of shoes. They laughed and giggled, asked him a million questions, it was really funny and definitely an ice breaker conversing with strangers.  He says he enjoys the attention and that having the confidence to walk around with no shoes builds character. I go back to Dean Potter and if Dean Potter does it then..... Dean is the best climber in the world by the way. So we parted ways around 930 or 10, I headed back to the hotel for a goods nights rest on a comfortable bed. Not sure what I am going to do today, Costal said something about a Imax show or something.

 Anyway, tomorrow is my last full day in Bangkok. I leave Saturday morning on a 815 am flight. That means I have to be at the airport around 6am or before. I will have to get a cab at 430 or 5am then, uhgg. I can't wait to see my own stuff again, haha - later.