Thrasher Magazine

Rip 'N' Dip Road Trip Photos

The Rip 'N' Dip squad went on an epic cross-country summer trip and sent us a photo-essay of all the spots, struggles, and hi-jinx that come along with a trip like this. Photos and Words by: Alex Papke

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Having never been to Arizona prior to this trip, I had only a vague idea of what to expect when it came to the heat. With temperatures topping 115 before noon, it only made sense that Ryan started our day with the roof-to-pool gap as a warm up spot.


Fast forward a couple of hours and this guy is already hopping over bump-to-bars like a champ. You go, Townley. Crook popover.


But just when you think he’s gonna call it a day, Ryan starts sailing kickflips over this guy, too.


Things started looking up as soon as the sun began setting. The reduced heat made it a hell of a lot easier for Kevin to back Smith this hefty bump to ledge.


Actually, once the sun set just about everything got a little bit easier.


Jeff Carlyle had a blast grinding through the half-assed skate stoppers on this colorful bump to grind.


Ryan wasn’t sure if this bump to wallride would work seeing how close the rail is to the top of the bank, but within 15 minutes he had already done it five-plus times. You know, just to make sure he did it right.


Matt Militano, chillin' while everyone else empties the pool.


Our plan was to try and skate Flagstaff for the day but a storm made just about everything we wanted to skate wet. So it only made sense to take a quick pitstop at this pool in Two Guns, AZ. There was a bit of water in the bottom when we first got there, but with a little work we were able to make Jeff’s layback grind possible.


Once we arrived in Albuquerque and got our motel situation figured out, we made our way over to The University of New Mexico. Max Taylor found this rad wall that went over a long planter. With no visible black marks on the wall, he claimed this long wallride for himself.


Townley just got on Welcome!


Shortly after, Ryan came in frontside and got Max’s back. Solid use of teamwork, guys.


Jeff was determined to find this hubba that he knew was stashed away on campus. It took some work but we found the spot. Without much warmup, he rolled away from this lipslide fakie.


Once Jeff landed his trick, Townley got his back, this time with a wallie boardslide.


Ditch Crew.


A little heat never killed anyone, right? It didn’t seem to make this back tail any harder for Jeff.


Darien wasn’t down with the temperatures either.  


Kevin Liedtke turned 21 on this trip so we needed to do something fun. We somehow made our way to a five-star suite at the Four Seasons in downtown Austin—free drinks included. Kevin's favorite part was the bouncy beds.


Back on the Road.


And of course they were stoked on Max. He’s the baddest of the bunch.


Boob Selfie waiting for an Uber.


After getting kicked out of the hotel suite at 8 AM and being left on the street feeling insane, we decided to make our way to Dallas. Thinking we'd take the day off, I was hoping to pass out as soon as we got there, but these guys wanted to sweat out their hangovers instead of sleeping them off. Feeling shitty or not, Kevin didn’t have a problem taking nollie half Cabs over this gap in a line every try.


Lord Nermal blessed us.


Victory swim.


That night, a couple of homies took us around and showed us downtown Dallas. After getting kicked out of the spot, we circled back around for Ryan to get this backside 180 nosegrind.


Before leaving Dallas, Jeff wanted to try to skate an indoor rail he'd hit the last time he was in town. We successfully avoided the building's staff and got to skate it with time to spare. Jeff snapped his board first go but grabbed Max's and got the front feeble, no problem.


Matt having a blast in St. Louis.


Townley back tailing through the crust.


Minor traffic collision enroute to the spot.


Matt getting his feet warm with this upstream back Smith.


Jeff trying to get his last tries before we left town to avoid the monsoon.


Next stop on the map was Chicago.


Ryan pushing his heart out at Post Office ledges.


After flicking a couple out, this varial flip in the rain was a piece of cake for Townley.


After a couple of days in Chicago, we drove east to Pennsylvania to crash in Pittsburgh for a night. Although Max and Ryan went back home, we kept it going at this photogenic manual pad.


Once we got all of the broken glass cleared out of the landing, Jeff threw a switch ollie over the rail into this crusty bank.


Matt ended the trip with this bump-to-bike-rack fastplant in New York City. Can’t wait until the next trip, my dudes!