As an outsider, you might think this trip wouldn’t have worked out. We had a super diverse crew ranging from Nyjah Huston, who was hurt and unable to skate, to up and comer Yuto Horigome who is just learning English, all the way to a raw New York City street skater named Cyrus Bennett. That right there is weird if you write it down on paper, but when you’re actually there, it’s amazing. Everybody was getting along. Nobody complained about spots or food or each other. It was like the trip could have kept going for another couple of weeks through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. And although it was such a diverse crew, the vibe was on point because of how Dom Travis and Scuba Steve pulled it together. If you got a bunch of rad people from around the world and put them all together on a trip with a common interest, well… of course it’s going to go good! ---Mike Sinclair
Photos by Ryan Flynn
“I wish we got to skate more in New Orleans. We only stayed for a day. You can hit a spot or two in a day but it looked like there was so much more stuff there.” ---Bobby Worrest
New to the Zillow app, Blake the realtor was giving house pricing tours in each city we went too. Switch heelflip in the high 500s. Little Rock, AR.
I didn’t know what to expect from Stu Kirst on this trip, but he manned up and went full gnar on this Ollie. He killed himself on this one. He made it and had to powerslide on the other side of the street and got pitched straight to his back into the curb. Little Rock, AR.
“This trip was a little different because we went to parts of the U.S. less traveled. Passing through Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas and even New Orleans was an eye-opener to neglected towns. In New Orleans the kids were so damned stoked and in Baton Rouge we showed up to a 50-pound crawfish boil! It was my first one so I was blown away, thanks Ruckus.” ---Blake Carpenter
Alex’s whole existence is a no-brainer for being a skateboarder. He is from skate royalty. Backside Smith grind. Little Rock, AR.
“Everyone besides myself was the MVP. But seriously Yuto—it seems like every five years there’s a blue moon or something and some unknown kid comes out of nowhere. He’s just unbelievable. I think his talent awed everyone. He can skate everything too. That was the weirdest thing.” ---Alex Olson
Daan only played reggae and country music in the van for two weeks but I heard he learned how to speak English through listening to country songs. Crook bonk. Little Rock, AR.
Yuto, switch frontside hurricane. I don’t know if he’s learning English faster or NBDs faster. I can’t tell. Houston, TX.
Bobby turned a new leaf recently and has been on a health kick. I had to call him out once for over indulging in the health kick treats. He’d be like, “I heard these peanut butter and banana organic treats are good for you,” and two seconds later, the whole bag would be gone. But it’s working for him because he’s looking good and ripping hard. Frontside noseslide. Austin, TX.
“Nyjah didn’t come until the last four days. It was an eleven day-long trip. Once Nyjah showed up no one gave a shit about the rest of us at signings, pretty much (laughs). Actually, kids really like Yuto too. I had heard about him almost winning Street League so maybe it was from that. He’s really cool. He’s a nice kid.” ---Cyrus Bennett
I was going to go get bondo for this spot but Cyrus Bennett, who is no stranger to crust, landed this backside Smith grind before I even got to the van. Oklahoma City, OK.
Captions by Mike Sinclair
Quotes by Mackenzie Eisenhour
