My typings from day 2 of the Philly Freestyle Trip, 2013…
Friday, Sept 13, Airport Hilton in Philly.
12:15pm I have been here less than 24 hours, and have eaten two gigantic cheeseburgers already. Not good — well — the burgers were OK, but I can’t do that the next 3 days. The hotel restaurant’s menu is very limited, and there is really nothing else around here, as the hotel is quite literally across the highway from the runways.
I slept in pretty late today. I probably needed it. My friend Terry Synnott and his wife, Jenna, and a friend, are coming in later this afternoon. I believe they will be at this hotel. Looking forward to meeting them for the first time in-person. So strange to “know” people for all these years and never meet face to face. But I feel these are real relationships, for sure. We share the skateboarding bond, which often equates to instant friendship.
Hotel rooms have to be the most solitary places in the world. If I were writing a book, a hotel might be a good place to do it. There’s nothing else to do. It is quiet. If you don’t like “to drink”, most hotels are pretty boring. I can also see how people who are on the road all the time become drunks. Most people would not enjoy sitting in a hotel room reading or writing every night. They would seek out the bar, and soon they’d be done.
I am digging this coffee that was in the little machine in my room. Single cup servings, measured out pretty well. Cream and sugar. It’s not bad at all. I needed it too. Feel an ocular migraine coming on.
Considering all the sitting in airports and on planes yesterday, my back feels alright. If I can loosen up a bit today with a short skate session, just to get my legs under me, I think I’ll be good for tomorrow. I still have very little in my bag of tricks. Looking at the Masters division, with a little practice I might have done well. I may still.
Only a skateboarder would go to a new city, a historic and famous city, and sit in the hotel until it is time to skate.
Well, time to let this burger digest.
6 minutes later…tried to sleep, but I have slept all I can. Reading may be the ticket.
9pm I spent most of the afternoon watching World War Z on streaming Amazon.com. It was better than I expected. Actually, it is pretty good and exciting.
About 3/4 into the movie, and maybe 3pm, Terry called and they had gone directly to the contest site to skate, without coming first to check in at the hotel. I made a quick call to Enterprise Rent-a-car at the airport, got the hotel shuttle driver to take me over there, and within about 25 minutes I had a car, had my board in the trunk, had a vague idea based on some half-ass directions how to get to this skate spot in downtown Philadelphia, and was on the road.
With very little difficulty I found the place, and when I got there Terry, his wife Jenna, Dave Vey, swedish freestyler Felix Jonsson, JT, and Gary Spatola were already there. So good to meet Terry after all these years of internet communication.
The spot is pretty cool. It is under a freeway on some basketball courts, next to a public ice rink — also under the freeway. It’s in a classic Philadelphia neighborhood — so cool! The surface is pretty good. The whole thing has a bit of a slope, which is a little freaky at first, but really not a big deal after you get used to it. I was glad to be there a day early and have a chance to check it out. I never skate well on the first time at a spot, even on flat ground.
Sooo…we skated, then Terry’s group and I went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and me down a the hotel sports bar for dinner. Great time at dinner talking with them. Terry is a freestyle skateboarding history freak, as am I, so it was fun.
Now back in the room. Lights out soon. Long day of skating and fun tomorrow.