A never ending journey.

As I try to sleep the night before, I go over all the plans in my head. I wonder if we have everything packed. Is all the food on ice? Do I have enough socks? Did I pack my hair gel? You know, the obvious questions. By then it’s already 3am and the alarm is gonna go off in an hour and a half, but the excitement of the trip keeps me up.

We roll up to Okie’s place around 5:15am. We finally get out of L.A. at 5:45. On the road…

The idea of the “Insane Nature Tour” came from Tracy White and I taking a few selective friends to this sick lookout spot near Woodward West. We would bring wine and snacks and watch the hawks sore while the sun set between the valley. I know, it sounds pretty romantic, but the time we spent out there was epic, good times. Thus; here I was at the birth of another “Insane Nature Tour.” To really understand this concept, you’ll need a car, then you need to drive at least 3 hours out of town, because anything less isn’t a true road trip, then you gotta search for a spot that makes you say “Damn, this is Insane Nature!”… oh yeah, don’t forget your blades!

Off we went, heading up the 101 to the majestic Humbolt Redwood Forest in Northern California. The crew consisted of Chris “Okie” Calkins and his girlfriend Megan Hines, my boo Hagar Alfi, and myself. Our first stop was an oceanside campground called Wright’s Beach north of San Francisco. Before our first destination we had to make a pit stop at Petaluma skatepark, an old school park that I last visited on a Bauer tour with AJ Jackson and Tracy White back in ’97. It looked smaller than I remembered, but it was fun and brought back some great memories. There were a few lines that worked, plus it was a biker spot with lots of hips and bowls. We were a little sluggish from the drive, so we had a mellow session — we weren’t trying to get wrecked on the first day of the trip.

The first night we camped on Wright’s beach near Bodega Bay, CA. The sunset was epic and we were under a spell… Insane Nature starts now!!!!

In the morning we were on the fast track to Fort Bragg, that’s where we hooked up some baked goods and grubbed on “Los Gallitos,” a bomb authentic mexican spot. After getting a few supplies, we headed north on the 101 (Redwood Highway). As we got closer, the redwoods started to pop up alongside the highway, even the smaller trees were bigger than any of the trees in L.A. I was reminded that a human life span is just a second compared to these ancient Redwoods.

We arrived in Humbolt in the early afternoon and had plenty of time to set up our campsite and chill. We booked a tent site, but they gave us an RV site right next to some in-considerate neighbors who left their super spotlight right on our tents all night. Okie finally couldn’t take it and went over to ask them to turn it down, and after an uncomfortable silence they complied. We made the best of it, besides, we were surrounded by dinosaur trees in the middle of the world famous Avenue of the Giants… Not too bad at all.

The next day Okie and I had to roll the campground a bit. There were some mellow hills, nothing crazy. Down the way there was a rail alongside the handicap ramp. So we had to do what we do. Okie had to handle this one because I recently retired from handrails, and the rail was a bit more challenging then expected. Turns out Okie had to gap out over a hole in the ground while campers were watching in wonder and amazement.

I would have to say that the finest moment of our trip was when we drove the car down to the river and set up camp for the day. We enjoyed some grub, some cold drinks and shared some laughs. We found a rope swing going right into the river, which was the cherry on the sunday.

The forest is so dense and full of magic and mystery, it must have inspired countless writers, storytellers, artists, and poets to create their masterpieces. Others say it’s a spiritual place where energy flows. The native indians believed a house made of trees was understood to be a living being. The redwood that formed its planks was itself the body of one of the Spirit Beings. Spirit Beings were believed to be a divine race who existed before humans in the redwood region and who taught people the proper way to live here. They only took what they needed to survive.

As we made our way back south we decided to stop for the night in SF. We visited Bernal Heights to meet a few local bladers like Kennan Scott and Eric Moore, then grubbed at Baby Blue’s BBQ in the Mission district. After stuffing ourselves, we headed to one of the greatest bars I’ve been to in a long time… Zeitgeist! NO videos, NO photos, just some good grown folk fun!

Before heading back to L.A. we stopped at hippie hill to soak it all in and reminisce about our trip. We couldn’t really describe in words how amazing the trip was. You’ll just have to see for yourself.

“The life long tour” will continue to take us to places we wouldn’t go to on the regular, and the fact that we will always have our blades makes it even more official. The ingredients for “The  Insane Nature Tour” are simple. Grab your skates, go see some shit you’ve never seen before, find a skatepark or two on the way, and then capture the moment… BAM!