Evidence CXLIV: Last Session in Phoenix

More blagging, but shit has been hectic (see below). It was a Tuesday afternoon, and I was leaving Phoenix the next morning. Got the call the previous day about a session with Old Man Brian -- had to keep it DL. The parameters were set, and it was on. Worked all the damn day trying to get my house finished, shit packed and mailed, and cleaned. Eventually the time came for the meet up, so we headed there. On the spot: Brian, Frog, Chris. On the meet up: Court, Dixon, Craig, Hoss and I. Hoss and I had a moment of recognition: we actually skated this pool three years ago or so when it was a foreclosure. Now, Brian knew the owner and he was getting the pool redone, so we had a day to get some licks in.

Courtman charges f-side. 

Dickborg gets the rare fakie rock in the shallow. 

Frog gets the hand down f-side slider in the shallow. 

And Brian taps BS 5-0. All in all it was a fitting end to my Phoenix pool career (although I will be back over the years to skate more, I no longer live there). Been skating with Courtney the longest -- since the year I moved to Phoenix in 1997. Last couple of years we hung out way more than the first couple, and Courtney always has the low down on the Phoenix pools. He works as a welder for Haifley Bros, some of the best custom moto fabricators in PHX, and it's always funny to relate to him about the inherent corniness that dogs motorcycle culture these days. Dixon I met a year or two after I moved to PHX -- I think he moved there in 1998. He's got a funny story about the first time we met, but I will let him tell it. Solid dude, always down to skate, no bullshit, and he helped us out a ton over the years with the house, especially in the last couple of weeks. Thanks man. Hoss I met in 2007, which is kinda weird. I had just got back from Indonesia for 1.5 years, and went skating with Cody Boat. He said "That's Hoss Rogers, he's got a pool in Tempe, you should talk to him." That pool was Charlotte's, we skated it right after that, I wound up moving two houses away from Hoss, and he became a super tight friend. Always positive, always there to lend a hand, always on the hunt for pools. Craig I met just a year or two ago, through Dixon and Joe Dirt. Moved from Texas, went to ASU, got a job and stayed, he's been ripping non-stop and has become a killer pool shredder. Brian I met through Jimmy Moore, also around 2007. We've skated off and on a few times, and he's held down the Mesa quadrant. Frog too -- skated his ramp a few times, and skated pools a few times. Thanks guys.

This is obviously not a complete list of all the dudes I've skated with over the years in PHX. The list would be too long. Some have come and gone, some have gone off the deep end, some are still around, some have slowed down. A conservative estimate of the number of pools I've skated in Phoenix over the years (averaging 30 a year, 2.5 per month) would be 450 pools.  One year we counted and skated 52, and that was passing on a couple bunk ones. Moving to Boston is going to be different, let's just say that.