Heatwave Tour Journal - by Jackson Brower (Part 2 of 3)

Chicago street jam today. Barely made it to grant skatepark and met up with Noah, Austin, and Keaton before we had to mob to the first spot. Did a few things, some crazy stuff went down. So much a hectic first experience in Chicago. After the jam, we went to a venue where we watched the TiltxFriendly, Mike Hohman and Logan Fuller's video, and The Evil Corp premier video. Absolutely insane watching such amazing videos back to back. Had to watch a few times the next few days to digest what went down. 

Woke up at our campsite and went to 

Rode at grant skatepark most of the day, got some good clips with all the boys. Amazing to see the biggest buildings of downtown Chicago covered in clouds. Went to Busty Justys for a bit then went to our campsite. More humid in Illinois than I thought it’d be

Went to a really good diner called TNT by Justin’s house. Rode a skatepark built on an old tennis court that was really fun. Lots of sweaty clothes. Slept really good tonight 

Left Chicago and drove thru most of Illinois. Got to a gas station in the evening to fill up and heard a tin-can kind of noise. Ended up being one of the lug nuts snapped off while driving, along with another one when we tried to tighten it. Drove 6 miles down to a rest area to wait to get it fixed in the morning. Bunch of cops were in the rest area all night searching/arresting someone they pulled over, quite the show. Slept really good in the hammock in between some trees I found.

got to a local mechanic really close by and got the lug nuts replaced and oil changed. While waiting for our car to be done in Farmersville, Illinois we found a ridiculous waterfall handrail that we tried a few times until the local sheriff cane and kicked us out and escorted us out of town. Driving noticeably smoother now, much more assuring. Got to Missouri today, drove another 500 miles I think, rode a skatepark in Eureka and saw a kid jump his dirt bike out of a quarter pipe. Lots of water drank. Got to our KOA and laid in the hammock for the rest of the afternoon and unwinded for the night with the boys. 

Usual diner in the morning. Went to an abandoned church in SW Saint Louis, Missouri that a skateboard association has built into an indoor DIY/skatepark. Over 170 years old. First scooter riders to ever be in there, absolutely insane to ride in there. Had a good night at the campsite with all the buds

Didn’t do much today other than drive to Kansas. Went to a very interesting pawn shop in Independence Missouri right before Kansas with very interesting people dressed differently around us. Went bowling that night with all the north boys, had a great time. 

Filmed a bunch with all the boys in downtown Kansas City today, got some good stuff. Badger did some crazy shot on a famous rail in KC that only crazy pro skaters have hit. Absolutely crazy shit. Great end to Kansas

Drove another 470 miles give or take to A town outside Denver, Colorado called Commerce City and stayed at Isaac Miller’s house thanks to Badger. Nice cat nice house nice guy. Slept really good on a bed for the first time in a little.

Rode D Park skatepark in downtown Denver with all the boys and some Co Crew homies. Later went to Evolve indoor skatepark and had a lil ride day. Fun to ride with all the Denver dudes and meet them. Big ups to Isaac for having us all at his house.

Went to a skatepark in Parker, CO where we had a ride day planned, and as usual for us so far in the trip it rained right when we got there and got super wet. Still, though we all rode it, soaking wet and had a really good time and eventually it dried and we could ride a bit more.

Woke up and drove to an unreal handrail that Isaac wanted to do. He ended up falling really hard on the groin and threw up, madness to see him try it. After that, the car's battery seemed really low so we went to an auto zone where we found out our alternator was completely dead and needed replacing. We sat there for about 3 hours while a mobile mechanic and two of our Canadian brothers had to take an Uber to the airport since the van was mia. After the van was fixed we rode spots in downtown Denver then Issac showed us some after he got off work, really cool to see these spots in person.

Drove about 9 hours south to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Drove through the craziest lightning storm as soon as we got into ABQ, the worst/coolest storm I’ve ever seen. Was expecting the exact opposite of flash floods to happen in New Mexico. Got to Tommy’s house tonight