Trendkill Road Trip : Philly to Chicago

After a month of sitting around and smoking our faces off in Philadelphia Hep, Logan, & I were ready to go on any possible road trip.  For us, the Chicago jam has taken over the glory of what used to be the Brooklyn banks jam a couple years back.  So there was no one way we were gonna miss out on it.  My car got fucked last year from the 12 hour drive so we had to rent a car this year which turned out to be the best fucking idea ever.  Thrifty car rental, get the Ford Fuzion!! It was like we were riding a space ship across the Midwest.  Anyway here are some photos I managed to snap amongst all the mayhem.  

We made our first stop in central PA, Logan's hood. Stopped at this fun little tranny park in Williamsport.

 

Hep Greg - No hands

Nosepick from Logan or toothpick, whateva.

Picked up the camping gear & chilled with our boy Duney

Greg copped a new DVX, Say sayonara to the GL2

Fucking Ohio and their shitty ass fast food

After our first night of driving we made it to Ohio and decided to stop at a random campground at 2 am, of course it was closed but I snagged a map from the office and we heading to the back of the campsite so no one would find us. 

And then Karma struck at 6AM in the morning, our tent got flooded by a downpour of rain.  Logan had bought a bottle of rum so we chugged it quick and ran outside to take the tent down.

Greg was Salty

"The Seawalls"
The Jam this year turned out to be a pretty big bust, we got immediately kicked from 3 of the spots we went too.  A lot of the older guys were just chilling out watching the groms.  It was sick to watch the new guys shred it this year, I'm not sure where everyone was from but there were some hammers being thrown down by dudes I'd never seen before.

"The Rittler Rail"
This was easily the sickest spot of the jam, everyone was feeding off each other's hype and the riding was gnarly.  Deprived of legit handrails in Philly, Logan went fuckin hambone when he saw this rail.  Lip, Frontboard, Backlip, and Icepick, if we didn't get kicked I know he would of just kept going.  The ground at this rail sucks though, pebbly sandpaper, instant hand holes if you fell.

"Tom K vs. the Pigs"
While riding back on the train from Chicago we spotted this giant ass bank from the window.  Tom said he'd been meaning to hit this for awhile.  We loaded up the van the next day and headed to Blue Island.  The cops came to kick us out before he got a real try but that didn't matter.  We paced around the parking lot for a second and came right back stealth mode so Tom could get it in.

A lot of people still think about the infamous fall when they hear Tom K but I just think about how gnarly it is that he's still shreddin after all the bullshit he went through. Fuck yeah dude.

The Tilt Squad

We parted ways with the Tilt homies sunday night and starting our trip back home.  Around 2 am again we stopped in Ohio to try and find a random park to sleep in.  We came across "Bible Park" in the middle of nowhere, how appropriate.

While setting up the tent in the middle of night we heard the howls of coyote pack across the pond, but we said fuck them cause we were too tired to care.  "We're dead" Logan kept sayin.

The pond creature of Bible Park

"Board to Fakie from the bank"
On our way back from Chicago we decided to stop in Pittsburgh, PA for a little spot lurking.  I wish I had taken more photos cause Pittsburgh has maaad spots everywhere.  This was at the MLK school, there was some dude there watching and I guess decided that he liked us. He wrote us directions to some skateparks and even offered us a place to stay for the night.  But we declined, on the note that he could of either smoked us all out or wanted to kill us. 

"Keeping the youth hooked"
There little dudes were stoked to see us riding MLK, their grandmother kept telling "they bigga than you!" to keep them from trying tricks, but that didn't stop em.  They had them janky ass scoots though, so Logan the scooter technician helped em out.

"Boyce Park"
After Greg's cam died we decided to hit the road and get back to Philly, but shortly after getting on the highway Logan saw a sign for a park that he knew.  We skirted off the exit and got a sunset session in, twas glorious.

After this road trip I've realized how awesome and cost efficient it is to just camp out instead of finding some cheap hotel.  I'd advise everyone to do the same if your planning on going on a riding road trip soon.  It may be a shittier night's sleep and you might get rained on but at least you'll get some stories out of it. 

- McKeen