Route 66 Skate Trip: Jersey to Cali and Back (2004)

Jersey, heading west

In November 2004 we left Belmar, New Jersey, with one goal: skate. We drove to California and back, and the first stretch took us through West Virginia.

Louisville

From West Virginia we went to Louisville and skated the skatepark.

Oxford, Mississippi

In Oxford, Mississippi, we picked up an old friend, Chad Wellman. He used his camera for every photo on this page.

Route 66

Photos: Chad Wellman

From Oxford we took I-40 west until it met old Route 66, and followed that west. Old gas pumps, a tilted water tower in Britten, USA, a tire shop in New Mexico, and the Second Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere in Groom, Texas.

Old Route 66 was full of abandoned pools. Somewhere in Oklahoma, VW and Emmett scouted one that looked too steep to drain, so we moved on. Plenty more we never skated: too full, too square, or no time left on the trip to drain them.

One we did drain. It took four hours, and VW was the only one who skated it, for about ten minutes. Off Historic Route 66 in New Mexico there’s a ditch worth finding: bring a shovel and a broom.

Between pools: an abandoned motel off 66, and a bottle-rocket battle that VW Dan won on firepower.

More from the road

One pool the guys named Stinky Peat: abandoned, empty and rank. The boys emptied it while I slept in a motel across the street. At another, a local kid hooked us up with electricity, and we gave him a place to skate.

Phoenix

Route 66 took us to Phoenix, where we stopped to help Dan’s parents move. Then we got back on 66.

The Salton Sea

From there we went to the Salton Sea.

San Diego & La Jolla

Then San Diego, and on to La Jolla, where we stayed with friends.

Oceanside

In Oceanside we met Tony Alva.

Santa Monica & Venice

Then up to Santa Monica and Venice.

The drive home

We came home on I-20, dropped Chad back in Oxford, then drove on to Belmar, New Jersey.