One of OUR first ramps was what ended up being called the "Chaos Quarter". Tommy and I took that quarter pipe that was stored behind my parents house and figured out an easy way to transport it with my van. When you looked at the side view of the ramp, it kinda sorta looked like a right angle triangle. We thought "Hmmm..." if the ramp was split vertically up the middle, then the two halfs could be flipped to form a "box" which would then slide right into the back of my '66 Ford van. It was easy enough to then bolt the two halfs back together and quickly nail down a top layer of plywood to ride on. Leaning the ramp againest the van gave it good solid support. Now that we had a ramp and a way to get it around, we needed a place to set it up. Well.. right across the street from the Truth House was a nice sloping parking lot that was perfect!. Since we only set it up on weekends, the business who owned the parking lot was never bothered by it. Obviously, this was way before the country/society became all fucked up with it's STUPID "litigation" way of thinking. I cant remember how many times we sat that quarter up, but I do remember it was several weekends in a row.The crowd of kids that came over to give it a try was awesome! .. It was NOT uncommon for as many as 30 or more kids there at any given time. All learning to kickturn. We were beginners at that time and a sucessful kickturn was a big deal. If you got a wheeler or did a grind across the top.. then you were "hot shit" for the day.
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I remember one day Bill Danforth showing up. He just got out of his car and skated up, hitting a "rock and roll" on his first run. Slaming his front truck into the top of my van denting the top and making a loud noise! Bill rides back and goes .. "sorry man .. didnt mean to do that". Bill rode for Madrid then.
Oh and here is a funny story. This car pulls up and Barry Henssler from the then Necros gets out. He was in town looking for something and seen the skate action and came over to ask directions. Well, Barry grabs this kid's board. He takes about 3 pushes toward the quarter pipe and loses control and falls off! We just all kinda stood there looking at him. He gets up, looks at the board and goes.. "What?? doesn't anyone in this town ride Trackers?". We all rode Independent trucks. We started laughing at him! he starts going off, telling us how lame WE all are...we tell him to get the fuck out of here before he gets his ass kicked. He runs back towards the car .. gets in.. and flips us off as they leave. What a DORK! I seem to recall someone throwing rocks at the car. ;-)
