09/04,05/05 - Fuck Flint, We're Going to Louisville!

 Sunday morning was rough, but we awakened to our planned road trip out to Flint, Michigan.  Jason Brabant got dropped off at Donnie's while Chris & I picked up Seth from Forest Glade.  The Cargo Van was going on its first road trip.

The Cargo Van was about to get more then it ever expected.  After crossing the border & gassing up in Hamtramck; we continue on our way to Flint.  Chris proposed at this time the idea of going to Louisville, Kentucky instead.  Donnie said he had nothing doing, Seth said he had no choice if we go & Jason had a day free as well...so the van got turned around & we headed to Kentucky...spur of the moment!

Chris has ADD & can't sit still; so he has to do things on road trips like give Kayla's happy meal toy Olde English clam hands.

The back seat of the Cargo Van; Donnie, Seth & Jason Brabant.

Why does Donnie have his arm around Seth...?

Anyway...

Stopping at an Ohio Rest Stop we are informed to get rid of our Glocks.

Our first planned stop was Cincinnati, Ohio.  The city really impressed me, I didn't know it was so beautiful & also didn't know it was so hilly.

Cincinnati downtown.

A castle on a hill in Cincinnati.

The home of the Cincinnati Bengals & Cincinnati Reds.

The above picture was taken as we left Cincinnati after we got to ride for 10 minutes.  You see we rode some dumb spot with benches then Donnie tried a handrail, cased the stairs & got a flat.  Hmmm, finding a tube in downtown Cincinnati at 7 at night on Labour Day Monday was not looking good so we needed to get on to Louisville, Kentucky to see if we could buy one off someone at the park.

Into Kentucky we spotted this water tower & giggled like school girls at the country area we had found ourselves.  Florence, Y'all!

Our first stop for food was a McDonald's in Carrolton, Kentucky (about 1/2 hour from Louisville).  Here we got another taste of Kentucky life with this dirty Cavalier panted like the Dukes of Hazzard car & also when we ordered our McDonald's & the cute server was talking.  Her accent was so thick that she would say things & Donnie would just nod & say yea.

Anyway, we all speculated on what it would be like to have her talk dirty in bed & we left on our way...

After 6 hours of driving we reached our destination of Louisville, Kentucky.  The largest skatepark in the U.S. was our reason & you can see it's quite impressive by this fullpipe.

A picture of the 24 foot high full pipe from inside.

Actually away from the initial fun of cruising around this park; we all found it pretty shit & would never return.  The park is designed for emo'd out, tight pants, do no tricks only get air types.  The ledges are garbage, the ones in the middle are far too steep & the park was clearly made for those who like to racetrack it around.

Alright, that was the cons.  The pros? Lights illuminate this place 24 hours a day; we rode it from 11:30 pm to 4:00 am & it was excellent for a person that stays up all night to have such a great place to ride at 4 am.  In Kentucky, nonetheless.

Needless to say, we did the, "did you think you'd be riding in Kentucky at 4am when you woke up today" question thing alot.

Anyway, Chris purchased a hotel for us in downtown Louisville & I felt like Chingy staying at the Holiday Inn.

A great place to park in a big city?  Across from the Love Boutique, of course.  Imagine if we got lost..."hey sir, do you know where I can get a peep show downtown?"

Chris manualing a ledge in Kentucky!  (For the record he never landed this.) We didn't get too many pictures of riding but of scenery since I was video taping all the riding.

Riding up the street we spot this mural.  I think I like Detroit's Steve Yzerman better.

Bridges over the Ohio River on the Louisville riverfront.

The other 4 bridges that spanned from Louisville.

This statue overlooked the riverfront, bird in hand.

On the riverfront was a large statue waterfall.  Chris & Donnie climbed across for a picture.

The mandatory cityscape picture.  Louisville was pretty cool actually, the city was clean & nice & had some of the nicest cars I've seen in a while;  there was ghetto people, but not really any ghetto activity going on.

This was Monday in these shots & Jason needed to get back for the start of school on Tuesday so we needed to head back up I-75.

Appalachian's Rock Walls surrounded our highway in Kentucky.  Didn't know it was that mountainous there, but Kentucky really was quite a breathtaking state...plenty of foliage & topography.

Our last piece of business was getting some Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky.  While in KFC some people were arguing about someone "don stole my cell phone." Chris & I laughed it up some more as we only understood 1 out of every 5 words.

Seth was scavenging it up all weekend.  He found my Commie shirt in the van & he also kept filling up the same McDonald's drink both days.

Seth rearranging the bikes so that he could sleep in the back.  5 bikes, 5 people & luxurious comfort?  Only in a Cargo Van!

While Seth rearranged bikes, I took some grass for Kayla since she's always wanted to go to Kentucky to see the bluegrass.  Chris wasn't happy with the piece I got & went to work on a 40cm by 40cm piece.

At a 5th 3rd bank nonetheless.

The drive from the Kentucky border is still about 4-5 hours; so Chris needed a coffee.  We stopped at a Speedway & I spotted this 'Beer Cave.'  Shit is too much to handle in the U.S.

Well, that concludes our spur of the moment trip to Louisville, Kentucky.  Hopefully shit will happen again but these days it's hard to get 5 people together to bike, let alone go for a 2-day road trip.

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