Eesa World Tour: Part 2SLC to RNO
JUNE 19TH: ARRIVE PARK CITY/SLC We roll into Park City at the crack of 10 AM eight-hours later than we thought we would but with the two mechanicals and a short skate session at one truck stop, not too bad, 44 hours from VT to Utah. We roll into the Park City Skate Park and try to shake the cobwebs from the trip and push around for a couple of hours wishing Vermont had a park half this good. Calls are made, copious amounts of coffee are drank, Tomich and Coulter are locked down to meet later and talk 08 product. We head into SLC proper and visit a handful of snowboard shops, geek out on all the free wi-fi and get some solids down. Our Utah rep, Jeff Oaks hooks up with us and JP rolls up shortly thereafter. We grab a bite to eat and head over the local skate park to have a roundtable and push around a little bit more. Unfortunately for us, Monday nights are BMX nights, so it’s a no-go on the skate session. Plan-B unfolds, head to Coulters spread out in the kitchen and get our round-table on. We can’t go too in-depth with what went down, but needless to say, Coulter and JP were on point with new product intros and designs. Shortly after the RT, Coulter offered up the shower, which I quickly jumped on and man did that hot water and a non-80 mile an hour shower feel good. At the crack of 10:30 we pushed off to Reno/Lake Tahoe to meet with Travis Kennedy, Jake Devine, Christian Walters and handful of locs for another RT. JUNE 21ST: ARRIVE RENO/TRUCKEE We calculate the RV gets a whopping 8-MPG and as we are leaving SLC, Limoge informs us there are not a ton of gas stations along the way. As we approach the last gas station for 66 miles I glance at the odometer and see we are a little under ˝ full which should get us around 100 miles. As we are hammering down the highway, I notice the fuel gauge is dropping quicker than usual, some hills but nothing massive, I begin to see signs for the next gas station, 50 miles, 40 miles, 30 miles, 20 miles, at this point we are on E, can we punch it another 20? 10 miles to go, we must have one gallon left, the needle is buried way past E and I can see the town in the distance. Sputter, sputter, not going to make it.
Frost pops his head down from the cocoon of horror “Oh-no you didn’t”. No, we’re stopping to enjoy the scenic salt flats at the crack of 3 AM, awesome. A call is made to AAA, 30 minutes and 5 gallons of gas later we are back in business. As the AAA mechanic is filling the tank I gotta ask, “How close were we”? His short and direct answer, “Close”. 3 miles later we pull up to the gas station top ‘er off. I crawl into the cocoon of horror and wake up in Reno, the way every road trip should work. We do our stock early morning, no one at the park skate and wait for the shops and riders to wake up. We place a few calls and visit a handful of shops in Reno. Kristian Walter (K-Deezy) rolls up and we head off to Truckee to hook up with Kennedy and Devine. We dive into the 07 product, for some it was the first-time seeing the collection and they keep asking, ‘that keeps you warm and dry’? Followed shortly thereafter with ‘that’s f-ing sick’. The riders are amped and we dive into the 08 collection. More great ideas are thrown down, sketched out and put in the quiver for development. After a solid round-table, beers were cracked, high-fives were thrown and the Truckee crew busted out the turntables and mikes. Kennedy freestyled for a bit, with a couple weak but funny follow-ups by anyone willing to step up. All-around, fun was had by all, and we finally got to sleep outside of the RV and on a bed for a change. Portland/Hood and Vancouver/Whistler trip reports to follow……stay tuned. eesa’s inaugural collection hits select specialty snowboard shops this fall in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan, in addition to online distribution through www.eesa.com. Shred on, Cleary
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