Transportation

Mom and Dad bought David and me skateboards in 1970 when our family made the 3 week round trip from west coast to east coast in our new VW bus. This is it, and it has the same wheels David bought for me in the mid '70s.



I have kept the vintage skateboard in my car since the late '90s, breaking it out for whatever short jaunt I needed it. For example, I ended up in a parking spot far from the entrance of the grocery store on a hot day. Why walk the distance when I could cut the travel time to about a third of that? So, I got out the board and starting pumping toward the building. A sharp-eyed teenage girl saw the board at a distance and called out, "Hey! Old school. Cool!" Old school. Loved that.

You can't miss hearing me coming. The board is 3/4" thick and has no flex like today's boards. It is a sounding board that pronounces every crack in the sidewalk.

In 1996, I sometimes took the train to work...and often went in late enough to miss the shuttle ride available to earlier risers. I'd ride my skateboard for the half mile or so, dress pants and shoes and all. One time I had a spill in such clothes. I'm sure I looked goofy enough riding the skateboard in nice clothes before splatting on the ground.

It would be a safer ride if I got a new flexible skateboard with larger, softer wheels. But I like the old skateboard because of what it is. I'm now at eBay whose buildings are spread over a long narrow campus. The meeting is in the furthest building? Dang. But, hey, I get to ride the skateboard. It catches people's attention; "Hey, you could sell that on eBay!"