Last Saturday (April the 10th, 2010), I went on an all-day tour of southwestern Indiana, including a little bit of Illinois and Kentucky. I do that from time to time, mostly to help the guys at Concrete Disciples keep their "skatepark finder" complete, and current. Those guys rule, and do a lot for skateboarding. Especially with the skatepark finder… that's a boss-as-hell resource for every skater in the world, right there. So, helping out here and there is really the least that I could do, to give something back to the cause.
Anyway, here's the story, and some pics of my trip:
As always, I was up stupid-early. Like, 2:00 am stupid. Why I do this, I'll never know. I think that I just get so excited to actually be going somewhere, that I just can't sleep for shit. Oh, well… off I went, at 3 am. Out the door, and on my way…
First stop: Terre Haute, Indiana. Just to kill some time, really. This is the Vigo County Courthouse in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana.Vincennes is about an hour to an hour and a half from here, and it was my planned "first stop" of the trip. I was actually too early... nothing ever goes as planed. Architecture, by the way, is another geek-out interest of mine (besides history and airplanes and shit)…
Halfway to Vincennes, I realized that I was gonna be entirely too early. The sun doesn't come up until 7:00 or so, and I was probably going to arrive closer to 5. So, I checked my handy Rand McNally, because I "thought" that there was a skatepark nearby in Illinois that hadn't been documented yet. Sure enough, the 'ol memory banks actually worked [for a change]; Olney, Illinois was only about a half-an-hour west of Vincennes. Getting to and fro would kill about an hour. Perfect…!
Olney's skatepark. Otherwise known as the "Carrie Winter Skateboard Park". As you can see, they're a prefab collection of steel obstacles, on the outskirts of town. Not the best way to wake up. But, y'know, a job's a job…
On the way back to Vincennes, I kept seeing these signs for the Mid-American Air Center. Being an avation nut… I geek out on airplanes way harder than I ever will on architecture… I just had to check this place out. I figured it'd be either a museum, or some sort of bustling airport. What it really was, though, was a tiny airstrip (almost invisible, really…), surrounded by what appeared to be a junkyard of old earth-moving equipment. These are cranes in the sunrise, just outside the airport's gate. Eerie..
Lester Square Skatepark, Vincennes, Indiana. I got there around 8:00 local time, just in time for it to "open"… but, it was padlocked shut. The funny thing about this place was that, somebody (probably, skaters) had obviously tried many, many times to cut through the chain-link fence around the place. And, somebody (probably, the parks department maintenance crew) had duly patched all of the holes shut. Now, tell me: Why not just leave the fucking place open?! What's the point of locking skaters out of the gawddamned skatepark, anyway…!? It's their park, man. Let them skate it...!
You coulda built one hell of a skatepark, with this kind of money. The Lincoln Memorial Bridge (above, circa 1933, and still lookin' good!), and the George Rogers Clark Rotunda (below); Vincennes, Indiana.
The Euro-feel of this town is fascinating. Café and scooter, downtown Vincennes.
It's not exactly what I'd like written on my headstone. What an bummin' way to pass to the afterlife...
Evansville, Indiana was known during World War II as an industrial powerhouse. Nestled hundreds of miles away from a coast (where our factories could be safely sheltered from an enemy invasion or attack), factories in Evansville built landing craft for the D-Day invasion, as well as over 6,000 P-47 Thunderbolts at the old Republic factory on the outskirts of the modern-day Evansville Regional Airport (in the current-day Whirlpool complex). Here's a scale P-47 model inside Evansville Regional, to commemorate Evansville's immense contribution to kicking Adolf Hitler's ass.
Here's the front gate of the modern-day Whirlpool factory, with the P-47 historical marker front and center in the front yard.
Henderson, Kentucky's "skatepark". Beautiful little town, crappy little skatepark. Hey, Henderson: Don't our kids deserve just a little bit better than this…?
This isn't really any better. Indeed, it's anyone's guess which skatepark is shittier. This is Lamasco Park in Evansville. What a bummer…
This is Swonder, on the east side of Evansville, Indiana. Swonder is an indoor ice-skating rink, with a pretty well-equipped skatepark in it. It's also bonus-cool, due to the ice that's right next door. I barged in and out, unannounced and undetected. I'm kinda stealth like that.
I always stop in at Get Wet, whenever I run to Evansville. Nice place, that's fersure. Very "beachy" and "surfy"... but also, a way positive vibe. They have a few really cool "historic" pieces in there, as well. Like, this one:
Name the manufacturer of this green board, and who's model it is, and we'll send you a prize for doing your homework, and/or, knowing your shit.
Killer Skatepark, Evansville, Indiana. Not even two blocks away from Get Wet, which was kind of a shocker. Sort of bland and nondescript on the outside (you'd almost never guess that there's a skatepark here, just looking at the building...)
... but, whoaboy, the great things that you'll find on the inside! It took me about 30 pics, just to capture it all! And then, we also have...
More kick-ass skate memorabilia (in the form of a Santa Cruz Keith Meek "Slasher" Fliptail, in this case…); more kick-ass skatepark; and, more cool-as-shit skate shop. One-hundred-percent skater-built, owned, and operated… and, it shows. Check it out for yourself: www.killerskatepark.com.
I spent about three hours here, chatting it up with Glenn Davidson (the skater/owner of Killer), and his wonderful missus, Sheena. Glenn is an extremely cool cat, with lots of ideas, funny stories, and insights about all things "skateboarding". That's the kind of dude that I like to meet, right there.
The friendly folks at Killers pointed me toward two skateparks that… I didn't even know that these parks existed, man. Weird. They not only gave me names, but directions and addresses, too. This, kids, is why we support our local, friendly, skater-owned-and-operated skate shop: They're always down to help a skater in need. Well, the good ones are, at least..
Anyway, this one is Princeton, Indiana. Not much to look at, and a lot less to skate… but still, they must be documented for the guys at The Disciples. It's better to know, than not to know…
… and, here's Washington, Indiana. The "Blue Thunder Skatepark"…! Where, or how, they ever came up with that name is waaaaayyy beyond me… but, it did give me a chuckle, so it's all good.
The kids here were super-curious about what the hell I was doing, what with the camera and all [as usual]. When I told them that I work for a skateboard magazine, they kinda lost their minds a little bit. One of them even screamed "I Love You!" as I was leaving. Damn kids. Hey, dudes?! Here's a tip: Don't tell other dudes that you love them. Please. Especially if it's someone that you don't know, or have never met. It's just kinda weird. Now: If it's a hot-as-hell, 30-something female doin' the lovin'… well, that's a whole 'nother story. That, is something that a 30-something dude can certainly appreciate…
Paoli, Indiana. This one wasn't too shabby. It's brand-new, well-maintained, and plopped down on some smooth-ass concrete in a beautiful city park not far from downtown. It's not perfect, but it's better than most. The quarterpipe was fun. By 9:30, I was back home. Nineteen hours, 530 miles, nine skateparks, a whole lotta skating… and even a few touristy-attractions… all in one day.
If you ask me, that's a damn good day-well-spent.
