Back from the South

I spent the past week or so of my life trekking through the south, listening to Bright Eyes or Country (that’s it) and wakeskating a little bit. I was on a feature trip for Alliance and that means hanging out with 18 year old boys and riding around in boats. Not a bad deal over all.

I made it back in one piece, although I’ve developed some nasty allergies (I blame the bayou) and my patterns of speech have gotten a lot less proper. I even caught myself saying y’all at one point.  Louisiana rules though. Nice people, good food, and warm sunny weather. We ate at this place Raising Cane’s at least twice. It’s like In and Out for chicken fingers. Delicious!

We drove through New Orleans on the way back. It’s one of the few places in this country I’d never been, but always wanted to. We didn’t spend much time there. An hour at a Mcdonald’s on the outskirts (that happened to play a Matt Pond PA song while we were there) and then a drive by some of the crazy above ground cemeteries. I really wanted to stop, but it was 7:30 and they were all closed. The drive took us through a neighborhood still ravaged from the hurricane. As it turned out, it was actually not in that bad of shape. Other places we passed we straight boarded up and deserted. Definitely a sobering experience– it’s been almost three years!

We made it back to Orlando just in time to hop on a flight a day early, i upgraded with my miles (thanks Alaska!) and now I am home. I got goodies from Osiris, Devotid and UGP while I was gone and my tax refund from Oregon. talk about a home coming!

Today I’ve been scrambling to catch up. I posted a blog on Fuel, a little story about the Atmosphere gathering before I left on Future, and of course a bunch of stuff on Alliancewakeskate.com, including this video.