“Good thing Dakine zippers are strong” is pretty much the only thought that ran through my head as I packed for our month long trip to Europe. You’d think being on the road so much would make me a better packer, but it really just makes me lazy and less selective when it comes to the packing process. Like I said, good thing Dakine zippers are strong.

            Before I jumped on my Denmark to Germany to Austria flight I had to do a little business at the Norco headquarters first. It was really serious business indeed like picking up my new VPS Six, ogling my new dirt jump and 4xxxx frames, and signing my contract as the latest edition to the Norco team. Tough stuff.

            After Pete Stace-Smith had attacked my car with Norco stickers, I took off and squeezed in one last BMX ride at Hastings skatepark. Of all things to leave, leaving my BMX is always the hardest. I reassured myself that it was only “see you later” and not “goodbye”.

            Because my parents rock, they saved me from having to Amtrack it down to Seattle to catch my flight and instead drove me. On our way mom stalked me up with cute jewelry and dad stalked me up with lots of food and vitamins from Trader Joe’s. Those along with my bike, my laptop “Hilary”, a schwack load of Oakley sunglasses, and my passport had me pretty much covered for the month’s worth of Euro road trippin’.

            Maybe I’m being a pessimist here, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a fun plane ride. Some are less annoying than others, but I don’t think I can look back and ever remember a plane ride as being FUN. This trip was no exception. The plane was nice, seats pretty roomy, food not horrible, bathrooms clean – it was pretty uneventful which is the way I like a plane ride to be.

            After two more little flights to Salzburg, I was greeted by my friend and camera man extraordinaire Cory. Another pleasant surprise was being greeted by all my bags, including my giant Dakine bike box! I had already planned for my bags to go missing because I’ve had some bad luck with that lately, so the fact that they all showed up made me really happy!

            Well, it’s time to let the fun begin and start filming in muddy Austria. Dha weles diwettha!