We arrived in Prosser about 2 hours after the Spokane let down. Prosser is a much smaller town in the middle of the dessert. The park consists of a bowl. yep, that is it.
It is pretty fun and flows really well. It is a big contrast to the tight pool at Sandpoint. this one starts with a vert corner, which leads into a mini ramp channel and hips and waterfalls from 3' to 5' and passes into a clover which is 6', 7' and 10' deep... there are three waterfalls that you pass through while on the way to the deep end. The coping is both pool block and that great Grindline black pipe..
We had a blast but the dessert sun was not fun. At least the park had some shade to walk to to get out of the heat. We skated until about 8:45, waiting for dark. Because the camp site was on BLM land... But you kinda don't want to hang out until dusk.
It is called Horse Heaven Hills and is a series of foot hills or mountains, not sure what they are. All I know is you go way up and when you arrive to the top it is so peaceful and nobody is around. I actually did not sleep in my tent this time, just under the stars overlooking the HWY and the little town below. Sooooo good!!
After getting super good coffee in Sandpoint, we headed out. It was not too long of a ride and we were in Spokane, WA. We decided to stop at the Hillyard skatepark by Grindline. When we arrived it was pretty apparent that we were not going to spend much time here.
Weener kids were everywhere on bikes, scooters, and skateboards. The place is basically a vert bowl with a crazy snake run around it. It looks soooo fun but the collision factor is so high that I was not willing to risk a blown ACL or something because some dirty kid dumped his bike in front of me.
After a good night sleep and crazy dreams we packed up camp. It seems when ever Cappetto gets good sleep, I do not. I guess my new trick is to fall asleep first. There is nothing worse than trying to fall asleep knowing your buddy in the tent across the way is snoring away... when you are just trying so hard drift off to sleepville, then SNORT...
We stopped at the killer breakfast spot called The Panhandler. GOOOOOD food in Sandpoint. Big breakfast really gets you goin' and I really needed it. Because today is the day that I will do the stairs. I am such a big whimp on obsticals. and I had to get myself going. I totally spazed out last night and I blamed it on the piercing setting sun and my long drive up. But to day there is no excuses.
So when we got there, the annoying weener kids could not be seen. And just when I said it 4 of them suddenly appeared. It's like the crawled out of the drain in the deepend of the bowl or something. And this time two moms with a set of Grandparents were there too!! UGH! It's not like I have anything against moms or dada or Grandma or Grandpa but when i am trying to concentrate I really do not want to hear, hey mom look at mee! or hey Grandpa I can roll!!! and then the board shoots into the deepend when I come carving around.
That is just what happened, three times, then the little kid went into the pool to get it, while all the rentals and grand-rentals watched and he fell, bent his fingers back and let out a blood curdling cry for about 15 minutes. I hadn't even got my Old School Vans high tops on yet... So I brushed my teeth, went to the bathroom...
But then, after about 20 more minutes they left. So I started to try the stair line, I had it all scoped out from last night. But then two more came and in goes the board... So John was nice enough to spot me on the transfer wall. I was not about to go without this cred. So after the second try and the third and the fourth, I finally got above the stairs and it was like, shit. I got this and sure enough I made it over... I am a man now. It is a right of passage, into skateboard manhood to get your first set of stairs.
The whole shame of it is that it is soooo easy to do, I double trucked it on the next pass. I hate myself for not doing it yesterday but I am glad that I am part of the club now. There are many more obsticals to come but at least I got this one.
We got back on the road and drove through some amazing mountain scenery. The pass towards Idaho is pretty amazing. Lots of downhills, semi truck run offs and scenic overlooks. So you of course have to watch out for people cutting you off to get to the scenic overlook, dudes falling asleep or taking pics while driving, and of course, run away semi trucks!
It was a nice ride though, but we were both getting a headache from the constant altitude changes. I think Cappetto's ear canal burst or something, it was bleeding this morning? He seems ok though, the dude just keeps on going! No complaints! I am stoked to be on this trip with him. I think a lot of people would have cracked after one day of the stress of finding a place to camp and believing that it is Ok to do this... plus the threat of bears and wilder beasts and hillbillies!!
We got to Sandpoint, ID in the late afternoon, I kinda forgot where the campsite was so once again we drove around for about an hour, but finally found it. It's like "there's a country road with a lake on it" and 25 minutes later "where's the lake?" oh, maybe it is the next road... But we got a sweet spot. Across from where I was last year. This was the official free campsite, the other side was a bit more wild. It had a super dirt road with lots of rocks and deep puddles, it had rained up here as it did at Whitefish and was still a bit muddy.
But it was a good spot.
We got a nice night sesh in at the park. i love this little pool and the rest of the park flows really well. It had been a while since I rode a mini so that was fun too. The local kids do every kind of combo trick you can imagine and when I rode it I understood why. The one side is so mellow that I might even be able to pull off a blunt pivot to fakie... Well, maybe not.
We met some older locals who were super cool including the local shop owner. Dethbox skateshop. He had a super pimp Karman Ghia wagon. I am starting to re-live my infatuation with VWs. When I get back and I get my barn/complex I am getting one, along with an original mini, VW bus and VW 4WD eurovan with the double round headlights... keep dreaming.
We got up in the morning after a night on the town in Missoula. We walked around and checked out the sites and the peeps. There are lots of crazy bums in Missoula. Now I am not one to rip on the homeless. These peeps are for real. They are hobos with an attitude, try to start a fight with you on the street and heckle you? It's like, Chicago homeless are at least polite and say "god bless" regardless of weather you give them money... It's all an experience, I think if I lived there, I would hang with 'em. The all have stories to tell.
When we arrived to the park after a Donuts and coffee we realized that it was a grom-a-thon. They had a park district skate camp going on. Which was good for the kids, bad for us. Luckily we decided to sleep in a bit and the camp was about over. So I joyfully ate my cheap little chocolate donuts and drank some nice coffee. It was a peaceful wake up.
We bumped into a guy from Chicago, his name is Abe. He went to Columbia College and was a producer for WGN. He moved out to Missoula to do the same... Small world, he prolly knows my sister.
The session finally got going and I had some fun. I was getting frustrated about the extra flat again and the slickness. If you take a hard diagonal line and then try to push to the left or right, you are going down. I took a bunch of long slow carve lines in the flow and that seems to be the way to ride this park. I am used to tight layouts with rough surfaces that do not slide. It is all a learning experience.
I got to the point where I had lines and was about to start hurting myself and it was that pivot decision time. These mom's kept making comments about the kids without helmets and the swearing and the spitting, I was getting frustrated with them as they repeatedly watched their kids drop their boards into the deep end of the bowl and then run around to the shallow to buttslide down...
It was time to go, Cappetto was ripping the streetcourse and I had a quick bank session. I realized that they are super fun and should build some one day in my driveway. But first I have to get a driveway... Maybe when my sis buys a house, I'll show up for Ethan's B-day with a trowel, a concrete mixer, some bricks and a parking block...
Three is a charm a guess, the park was dry when we got to Missoula. We got a mini sesh in before the drops started falling again. I was pretty worked from the rainy drive and stuff. We found a super cheap hotel and checked out the college town.
So after the Morning sesh at Whitefish the rain came in. It was pretty serious as it rained all day. We stopped for Internet and coffee and decided to head south as originally planned. Unfortunately it was raining in Polson and St. Ignasius. Bummer. I took a few soggy pics and both can be seen in the Indy vids from the last two years.
