So on the way back from beloved Kokomo, after John and I parted ways, Calabro called me up. I guess he was ready to get on the road too and his movie fantasy went well, some of the dudes were still there and even getting scenes in the film! Pretty cool stuff.
We decided to go to Davenport, IA and finally check out the park. I have been meaning to get out there for 2 years. I had only heard great things about it and was looking forward to some more good times. We arrived Thursday around noon and had not stopped for lunch. So we went to take a quick look. I personally was not into it. My first impression was oh no, crash up derby! But I tried to keep an open mind.
We found some local Grinder place and had pasta. I should have went for the "gondola" sandwich but was trying to eat less spicy, to give my stomach a break. As I mentioned before, the stress accumulation from this semester has been enormous and my winter eating habits (self medicating) took its toll on my stomach... Anyway, I ordered a "salad" the meal, it was a styrofoam bowl with some iceberg lettuce in it? But the garlic bread was good (didn't I just say I wasn't eating that stuff?)
We got back to the park and it was flooded with kids, bikers and a few skaters. I knew it was bad news when I saw a kid walking in with a megaphone. Apparently the street skaters use it to inform people to get off of the obstacles when they skate. The park is very big, had nice lights and even has facilities, bathroom, snack shack, eating area, etc. It was all closed of course due to the early Spring season.
So the park has its strong points. It is supposed to be a Site Design park but I think they designed it around 2000 and the city did not get around to build it until 2007. I think that skatepark companies have learned by now that a street course/flowbowl that interlock do not mix well. The crash up derby factor in this park is 90% on a medium day. Bikers sit on the opposite side of the park in the street area, and air into the flow area. Which makes for near death experiences with collisions and even landings. Yes, they might just land on you or into you, even if you are standing on the deck, because it is fly-out city too.
I took maybe 5 runs and if the park was totally empty, it would be fun or if I was a local and had local clout then maybe I could deal with the near collision stuff. But I am not going to blow my knee out on the 3rd day of spring and a park that is 3 hours from home and one that I am not particularly fond of...
The little kid fight was slightly entertaining, I was so ticked at the locals for snaking, fliping boards in the bowl as I carved by, or the bikers for just being who they are that I actually stood there for a minute and watched. Then I was like, I better break this up or something, luckily a local who knew the kids did the dirty work. That is whole other issue, you don't know who's big brother is watching from across the street in the nova or whatever...
Then the dummies got into it again, I already had my stuff packed up and was ready to go. By the time we got to the van, 5 squad cars had pulled up and the kids were in custody... They apparently have lots of trouble out there at the park and the police have survelance cameras installed and the response time is very fast. They do all kinds of things to "punish" the skateboard community by turning the light off for a month or closing the park. When these kids were not even skating, one was talking shit and eating doretos and the other was riding a BMX bike in the muddy and recently landscaped area outside the park...
Anyway, I had enough, Calabro could care less and we were already over it.
No comments:
Post a Comment