Skate or try.

Paw Paw used to have a Big Wheel department store. This was in the eighties. I remember the big red sign, and buying my first CD there, Ugly Kid Joe. They also had a small (three or four games) arcade in the front, back when every store had a few games up front.
The story today starts with a sidewalk (parking lot?) sale at Big Wheel. Amongst the sale items, I came across the skateboard I had wanted since first seeing it wherever. Department store skateboards where expensive then, despite the low quality workmanship. But this sale had it so cheap I could talk my mom into buying it and letting me pay it off.
Veriflex Ramp Rat. The top had the classic eighties two part grip tape with the logo in between, the bottom was white with a graphic of a rat on a ramp in the middle. It came with large orange wheels and yellow plastic rails. Back then, wheels were soft and boards had extra plastic covering the nose, tail, sides (rails) and trucks. I think the idea was the wear and tear would be on the replaceable parts, so you could keep your deck forever. Problem being skateboard decks are like computers, outdated within a year.
So, this white, yellow, and orange monster of a skateboard started me on an obsession that would last all the way through middle and high school. An obsession that has not fully left me even today as I have just now beat my eighth Tony Hawk skateboarding game. In between we have years of mediocre skateboarding, lots of good times with friends, and too many skateboards to count. I haven't really skated in about ten years, save for a time or two. But I still remember winter days just waiting for the sun to dry the roads enough to skate on, wheel bearings that froze up because I couldn't manage to stay inside even though it was raining and wet out, and long long hours by myself just cruising back and forth, never really getting any better.
Back in the day, I would ride my board to school, the store, a friends house, or nowhere at all. I would play with it in my room if I couldn't go outside, I would take it with my on family trips and skate for three minutes at a time while we gassed up the car. I went from a time when I could be no more than ten feet away from by board at any time, to when I didn't have a board at all.

Until next time... gleam the cube.