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Week Six
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Monday
April 17, 2006 - Rio Americano High School (Sacramento, California) Week # 6 of the got milk? Gravity Tour brings us to familiar territory, Sacramento. If you haven’t been following my updates the last two weeks, we have been dealing with rain off and on for a while now. I was a little concerned about the weather last night, on my drive in from Reno. A major winter storm had blown through the Sierra Nevada mountains, bringing 100 mph winds, and plenty of snow. We had a rough time driving. It took us about five or six hours to get from Reno to Sacramento, which is only about 130 miles. I figured if it was snowing this hard in the mountains, then it had to be raining in Sacramento. Thankfully, I would later be proved wrong.
When we got out of the snow and into the Sacramento valley, it was clear skies. When we woke up this morning it was sunny and clear. That was great news for the students of Rio Americano High School. Our show today was in a grassy quad right in the front of the school campus. The students came out to the quad once the lunch bell rang, and crowded around the ramp to watch the athletes perform. They got quite a show today. Jimmy Walker was doing all of his tricks well above the railings and the got milk? banners on the top of the ramp. Danny Mayer was going very high as well, and pretty much did every single kickflip and varial trick he knew how to do. At the very end of the show, Jimmy Walker did a huge 540, into a flair (backflip 180), then did another 540 out of the flair. I can’t think of a better way to end a performance.
Normally I reserve the last paragraph of my wrap-ups to give someone special thanks. When I do that, its usually thanking a teacher or school Principal. Today my special thanks goes out to mother nature for letting the sun come out, and giving us a perfect day to put on a show.
-- Jimmy C
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Tuesday April 18, 2006 - Laguna Creek High School (Elk Grove, California) Today was another bright and sunny day. The weather was perfect: nice and cool in the morning, and just warm enough in the afternoon. Not too hot, not too cold - just a perfect spring day.
Our stop on the tour today was in Elk Grove, a community just about 15 minutes south of downtown Sacramento. Today we performed for the students of Laguna Creek high. We did two shows today, one during each lunch period. Today was an easy day for me, I got to kick back and enjoy the show, because Daveee Blair is announcing all of this week. Laguna Creek High got two amazing shows today. All of the athletes were riding the ramp like it was the first competition of the year. Jimmy Walker was doing flairs (backflip 180’s) in his intro runs. As soon as I saw that, I knew it was going to be an amazing day of riding. When one of the athletes starts firing off big moves in the earlier part of the shows, all of the others start feeding off of that energy. Each show lasted about 40 minutes. For the end of show # 1, Jimmy Walker did a one-handed 540 into a flair. The second show ended with a tour first, Jimmy Walker landed his very first ever turndown flair. Up until now, he had only landed this on a resi-ramp. He had tried it twice before on week # 3 of the got milk? Gravity Tour, but wasn’t able to pull it off. Today he made it happen and the students of Laguna Creek High erupted in applause.
It was another great day of riding, and great weather, a perfect combination. Everyone on the tour is getting excited because one of our favorite events is right around the corner, the Stockton Asparagus Festival.
-- Jimmy C
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Wednesday April 19, 2006 - Sheldon High School (Sacramento, California) Today our show was at Sheldon High School, which is located about 20 minutes south of Sacramento. This is a fairly new school with a huge quad in the center of the campus, which made for a perfect setting for our show.
We did two performances today, both during lunch periods. During both lunch periods, the students packed into the quad and crowded around the ramp while Daveee Blair talked about the riders and the tricks, and explained to the students what the got milk? Gravity Tour is all about. Since Daveee was announcing, I got the day off again. Daveee had the students fired up about the show.
Both groups were loud right from the start, and they didn’t stop cheering until the shows were over. Jimmy Walker started off the first show by doing a huge flair (backflip 180). After that, the other riders fed off of Jimmy’s energy and everybody was going wild on the ramp. We had a tour first today as well. In the past we have been to schools that make their own posters to promote our event. The students of Sheldon high not only made posters, but they put all the names of the athletes on them. One student even made a poster that was about 5 feet tall, and was the shape of a skateboarder doing an air. I thought that was pretty cool.
That wraps it up for today, only one more day until the Stockton Asparagus Festival.
-- Jimmy C
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Thursday
April 20, 2006 - Cordova High School (Rancho Cordova, California) Today's school was amazing. When we showed up we had about an hour to kill. So we decided to throw the football around that I had purchased on last year's fall tour. Throwing the football around with Tristen (Jimmy's son), Tyler (ramp crew), and Danny Mayer (pro skater) was a blast. But somehow it turned into us trying to throw the football full court and make it in the basket.
After about 20 minutes of us trying, Tyler decided it was time and made a full court shot with the football. Once we finished, the show was about to begin so everyone got thier pads on and started warming up. When the show started the energy was high and the riders were feeling it. Mark Englehart (inline) was amazing the crowd with huge 720's and ended his day with a gigantic flatspin. Danny Mayer continued his mastery of the ramp with some perfectly executed flip tricks. The students loved it and it was a great day for all. Thanks again to the staff and students at Cordova High School.
-- Daveee
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Friday April 21, 2006 - Stagg High School (Stockton, California) The school of the day was Stagg High School in wonderful Stockton, California. Everyone knew that this was the first show before we had to go over to the Asparagus Festival and had 2 more shows. When the show began, Jimmy Walker started off in his intro run with a huge flair. Jimmy contined his amazing riding with huge 540 and a tail whip to end his day on the ramp. We had a special guest today when Tas Pappas (pro skater) showed up to help us with this show. Tas flew in to skate in the fair demos but decided to go big during the high school show. He was flipping the board around the whole day and ended his last run with an amazing 540.
Special thanks to Jim for having us out here today at Stagg High School, The students knew every Tobacco-Free trivia question I threw out at them so with the last ten minutes of the show we decided to have a little dance contest. Thanks to all the students who went all along with all my antics.
-- Daveee
Check out photos from this show
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