Everything's bigger in Texas, and warmer.

On the way to Big Tex, we hit up a really fun little bowl in Lafayette Louisiana as the sun set. Grilled cheese and cold soup filled our bellies while the bus shook, rattled and rolled down to the eastern edge of Texas. A few hours later we found ourselves at a free ferry to Galveston. We asked the attendant to direct us toward some quality local eats. He suggested iHop and WaffleHouse. Saaaaaaawing and a miss. The island was a ghost town! While talking with Randolph the Wal-Mart security guard, I learned that about half the population of the island fled after hurricane Ike. The bus was beginning to smell pretty foul at this point, but we spent yet another night warm and cozy in the confines of the beer gut; safe in another Wal-Mart parking lot. The next day we rolled along the beach and pulled up to the park around 11. Holy shit! Another Grindline gem! The Johnny Romano memorial skatepark is a stones throw from the beach and contains one of the flowenist bowls I ever have seen. A shallow end with perfect transitions from 3 - 7 feet lies closest to the street with a 7 - 12 foot deep end behind it. A massive cradle lurks in the corner with a crazy doorway window cut out of the back, just above the vert line. That shit is make or break, there is no working your way up. Apparently the budget was cut at the last minute, so the "street" course ended up being a really weird little concoction of banks and transitions that looked to be thrown together. The locals did flip tricks into a little bank and fly-outs out of the bowl while we figured out some lines. Once in a while somebody would toss themselves into the bowl. It always bums me out to see such an amazing bowl go unshralped. Oh well, more for us. Not much went down, we just enjoyed the endless flow. A couple of older dudes finally showed up and started hitting the deep, illuminating some options for us. Pierre took a pretty harsh slam onto his tail-bone after a smiple mistake on his was out of a pocket. Pierre got to talking with Beano the local, who offered us a parking spot and some power for the night. Beano had grown up on the island, and refused to bail out because of the hurricane. We ended up spending the night in his "Man Cave" over his garage; making chili and taking in the new Thrasher vid, "Prevent This Tragedy" on some comfy couches. Beano used to be an Amateur, and told us some stories about a young Tony Hawk crying at a contest. We made ourselves at home per his request and slept comfortably in the warm breezy Galveston air. We were up by 7:30 the next morning as Beano had work at 8. We all shot the bull for a bit, said our thanks, and then made our way back to the park to make some breakfast before hitting the road for Autsin, with a stop off in Houston to check out their new Grindline park. Thanks Beano!