| Day 2 – Augut 2nd to August 3rd From Oklahoma City’s RV Park to Diamond City Arkansas The people in Oklahoma are so nice! Today’s morning at the reception/lobby/recreation area (yeah – it was all packed into one cozy room, but it was cool though) while having breakfast, we were greeted by the friendliest of faces. David Miller, a fellow breakfast eater pleasantly said hello to us as we were indulging in some blueberry muffins and the local daily paper. David is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and he is also a guy that I’ve never met. He took an interest in our endeavors right away by asking us what we are going to do in Oklahoma. “Go to the Matt Hoffman Sports Park, but beyond that, I really don’t know what else is in Oklahoma,” I told David. He hopped into tour guide mode and start giving us so insight into the city. We took him up on one of the suggestions … it was time to go see the Oklahoma City Memorial. A place that seems like many people have forgotten about from the top of their minds, myself include, perhaps because the 9/11 attack overshadows this event. But, nonetheless, it was an event that shaped a large part of our nation. The site was sad and sorrowful to see pictures of some of the people killed on the chain link fence, but at the same time peaceful and pleasant to see the calm the memorial brings to those who visit the site. A library type demeanor is almost immediately adopted as visitors step upon the grounds as a way to show respect to those who perished. It was quite an experience, an experience I won’t forget. With a mellowed out personality from such a powerful visit, we calmly reentered our transportation device – my Honda Accord – and proceeded to our next destination. We were off to Hoff’s house. Dude, Hoff don’t mess around. The Matt Hoffman Action Sports Park’s got some mad concrete precipices slanting down the natural man made cement grounds that could make a sky diver adopt skateboarding as a new leisure activity. This park’s got some bite. With my mandible hanging half way down to my toes, I was confused when I only saw a few skaters, a couple bikers and … no one else at the park. At Amarillo, there were tons kid extraordinaire, future world geniuses, tearing up there park, all of whom would have loved, I mean loved to ride the conception of this cognitive brilliance. Nonetheless, there were some skaters there, cool people too. In no time, I was chatting it up with a cool guy named Richard who lives further south in Oklahoma is a town called Lindsey. He was telling me his town’s only got two skaters – him and his buddy Jason. He’s been skating for three months and is already pulling out some sick tricks. I guess his buddy Jason’s been at the sport for a long time and is absolutely ridiculous – major props to him for picking up mad skills in an area that is almost as aloof to fellow skate company as an Eskimo would be in an igloo on a hunting expedition. Big props Jason, I’ll be looking for you on ESPN. Richard was teaching me some tricks that I can’t do, like a back-footed kickflip and back-footed heelfip. To return the favor, I showed him some back-footed tricks, which from his reaction, he was stoked to see. Richard, this site’s got a video up showing the 180 Guflip I was showing you, check it out, maybe it’s another trick you and Jason add to your trick repertoire down in Lindsey, Oklahoma – all I got to say is represent! As the hours tipped toes by, more and more skaters started rolling in. It was sweet to see the camaraderie around there – As additional decks rolled into the park, hands started slapping hellos. Gage gave props and a shake to Mike Carey, Mike greeted Chris and James, and whether a new arrival only knew one skater there, within in 5 minutes they knew all. Man these guys were good … they putting down sick tricks and trick combos that caused my inner ahhhh to jump out and say “ahhhh” ever time one was busted. Yeah, I said inner ahhh man … what is it? …it’s like the trigger to laugh at a funny joke, but in skateboarding it’s when you see a performance of tricks that are so good your inner ahhhh man comes out in audible form and lines the air waves with some frequency. Yeah, no seriously, I believe in the inner ahhhh man, he exists, everyone’s got one. No that’s cool if you don’t believe me, but just watch, when this documentary comes out , so will your inner ahhhh man. Make sure to do me a favor though, when your ahhh man comes and says hello, say hello to him, introduce yourself because obviously the two of you have never met. Say, what’s up inner ahhhh man, it is so nice to meet you. Anyways, we were chilling with these guys for a good amount of the afternoon. Mike Carey was laying down some sick tricks and combos. He’s got a skate video coming out soon. Hey Mike, I’ll that video out man. Thanks again for all the skateboarding insight! Some guys there invited us to join them tomorrow as they headed west to some parks in Texas. We were bummed cause we just came from Texas and we were off that night to go East to Arkansas. Thanks for the invite guys! Major props to all of you for your mad skills. It was great to meet you! I checked the tele for the time and we were staring at a cuatro tres zero which means it was 4:30 pm CST and we had three and half hours to rendezvous at a church in Diamond City to hit up my former bosses parents, exchange hellos, present some thankfully cupped hands that ask for the deliverance of keys that would unlock the doors of their lake house. Off we were … Ah, for all you travelers, it takes longer than 3 and half hours to get from Oklahoma City to Diamond City … it took us a good 5.8 hours to make the trek. Man, why didn’t anyone ever tell me Arkansas is so beautiful! This place has got crazy nice rock formations, hills greener than Ireland and I can say that because I’ve never been to Ireland, and open pastures that provides a better inhabitance to cows than Santa’s got in the North Pole. Hahaha, talk about back country, yeah, hey everyone, I found it! I found BFE! Yeah, if you ever get lost and claim that you are in BFE feel free to give me a call me and I’ll help you out, WHY, cause I’ve been there. I felt like Phifel being carried out to the sea, dang we were drifting out to nowhere. But as the saying goes, it is when you get lost that you get found. And found people we did, the Jeffersons! Thee nicest people. They greeted us with warm hellos and bright smiles. We get to their lake house, tired, exhausted, and most of all starving … not only do they open their vacation house to us to stay at exclusively, but they’ve got drinks chilling in the fridge, a large box of pizza resting on the counter, donuts, and goodies all prepped and ready for our consumption. We were so grateful and thankful to them … wow, Southern hospitality, people weren’t joking around, it exists! We hit the sacks – two nice beds and a couch – soon after. It’s 11:14 am CST and I’m up and ready to go … but Mattis and Andrew are still hugging their pillows. I’m going to get these guys up and rolling, we’ve got an adventure to live. Till later, Mark |