Powell-Peralta Tour - Common Thread - part II sr pp ct bs lip Steven Reeves back lip walker pp ct Morning in the mountains We were up early. Breakfast & coffee. Shenanigans. The team visited Wave Rave, a local shop and then immediately headed over to Mammoth Skate Park.  Jordan flew a huge kickflip over the center island, Shane flowed like water throughout the park and blasted backside airs. Josh feebled the doorway and Aldrin ollied everything. Steven Reeves fought with the tombstone for a frontside disaster. According to the locals it had not been done before . Reeves= 1 Tombstone = O jh kf pp ct Jordan Hoffart - kickflip sb bs air pp ct Shane Borland - backside air jhawk f pp ct Josh Hawkins - feeble grind sr tstone pp ct Steven Reeves - frontside disaster cb b pp ct Chad Bartie - blunt The next day, Chad Bartie had to depart for a contest, so --after a final Mammoth session--the team headed up north toward San Francisco. We drove to Mono Lake enroute. Mono Lake is old and mysterious. It's like visiting Mars. Desolation, dust, decay. Everyone was quiet. Wind and silence. Old ghosts. Photographs were taken and the van was quickly knifing towards Yosemite. mono lake pp ct Mono Lake team road warriors pp ct Road warriors Darkness was falling and the mood fell with it. Somber. Awe. Who would not be in awe of Yosemite? All we --briefly--saw before night were giant trees, boulders and mountains that care not for the trivialities of mankind. It was primitive. Pulling over to a stop in the park, we climbed out of the van. It was darker than death. I walked up into a grass field and lay down. I think that I saw every star that ever was. The sky sparkled. We rolled into San Jose very early in the morning. Everyone shuffled into the hotel and fell into the deep well of oblivion. Sleep. night sky pp ct Night sky - Yosemite The next day, we met up in San Francisco with Big Pauly at House Of Air. Trampolines were bounced and we all had an epic time. Big Pauly came with us and served as a guide. Driving through the city heights, Aldrin spotted a tree stump gap and politely asked to pull over. "I think a fastplant can go down over that." - he mused. With a heavy cloak of fog blanketing the nearby buildings, we set up the cameras, he set up a board and the gap was quickly immortalized. ag fp pp ct Aldrin Garcia - San Francisco fastplant We hit a lonesome nine stair flat rail deep in the night. It was inspiring to watch Aldrin, Micaiah, Josh & Jordan set themselves mentally then crush the rail. They threw themselves down it with abandon and photographs cannot do justice to the stoke they all felt. This then seemed to be the common thread. Caballero is a vert legend, Reeves is an all-terrain vehicle as is Bartie. The other guys are predominately street destroyers of the highest order yet the stoke they all feel and the fun they have is the commonality they all share. They skate and it fills a void like nothing else. Fun. sc ba pp ct Stevie Caballero- Gosh! cab and crew pp ct Cab and crew The team kept lodgings in the San Jose area to be near Steve Caballero. We met up with him at San Jose Lake Cunningham park one afternoon. The team watched as Steve completely reigned supreme in his home park. After a rad run, they would all be yelling - "That's our guy!" and high-fives were everywhere. Cab has Teflon smoothness & more lines than Knotts Berry Farm. Watching him ride that pool was a treat and we were all talking about it the entire time at dinner afterwards! The team hit some amazing street spots on the final few days of the tour....  but more on that on Monday in part III. Thanks - Ozzie