Leaving Traverse City

I remember thinking two things:
01. What is that crunching sound?
02. Aw fuck, I broke my ankle.

Suddenly I saw myself in an emergency room getting fitted for a cast. Then I worried how I would be able to navigate the short layover in Chigago O'Hare. How would I be able to get to my connection in time? I was in a state of panic.

Funny how a little error can make yer world stop so suddenly.

Dad was wide-eyed: "Can you stand on it?" he inquired. I tried and was overcome with a nauseous buzz. I hobbled in and elevated the violated limb. Those moments were scary. Now what? After about 20 minutes I began slowly moving the tightened ankle. As sore as it was, nothing felt to "wrong." I was able to limb around and eventually made it into the car and off to the airport.

All week long, every step has been a reminder of the healing process. Each day gets a little better. Each stairstep is a challenge. I'm haunted by that little moment off that step. Little by little the limb feels stronger. The human machine is amazing.

Full steam ahead

Kickin' ass on all the projects. Learning so many new things...thanks to the good people at the printers for the patience + suggestions.

These details are top secret and can only be discussed on the premises. Company policy, man.

A Juno European Tour poster is on the chopping block. Thanks to Arlie for the trust and excitement and opportunity to help the band out. Amazing stuff.

Back in California.

Hate to admit it, really do, but man, the cool 50 degree temps and sunny SoCal skies that welcomed me were surprisingly pleasant. I'm trying to make the best out of this place. These sorts of affirmations are made in hopes of making things cool around me.

Spent the morning catching up on messages and emails. Communication, whoo-eee! Fessed all the bills up and replied to all the pertinent requests.

I'll be in Cali all of February, so if anyone wants to shoot the shit, get ahold of me.

Chief is gonna meet me at the office and we're gonna have a little summit meeting over some lunch somewhere in the Laguna hillsides.

Everyone: Have a mellow sunday.

Couch Patrol, Traverse City Div.

Mom has been taking good care of me around the house. Haven't done a thing since I've been in town. Hung out with my little sister Leah a bit and shot the shit with Bry Aleshire over lunch. Dad got in from his tri-weekly foray down to Detroit last night. We exchanged our usual lot of hugs, claims and threats over supper. As always, it is extremely pleasant to hang around the parents.

I'm itchin' to get back to my list of duties in the mag. Chief's got a healthy pile for me and I'm excited to do some designing in February. So I'm gonna lay low the next couple days, enjoying the family life. Then I'm down to Chicago to catch a flight out to the land of plenty, and, electrical blackouts.

Pretty excited to get down into the homelands. Traverse City or bust.

Our Bohemia objectives are completed. I'm blown away by the amount of time it took to wrap it all up. Battling the weather, the egos, the abilities, the logistics has burned so many days up here. I guess that is just the reality of the job. Fly back to a location, set up, scope shots, ride, take the shots and hit the road. Sounds pretty easy in a couple of sentences, eh. I'm amazed by all of it. The mags make it all looks so flawless, and how. Makes me wonder about all the pictures I've seen over the years. Makes me think about the behind-the-scenes stuff. Now that I'm on the inside of this little industry I'm seeing the processes first hand. It's pretty crazy.

We're leaving Marquette today and heading south down towards Nubs Nob and Boyne. Pat is gonna stay up here and hang in his hometown while Sean scoots off to get the shots for the mag. I'm going AWOL once we get down towards Traverse City. I can't wait. Lookin' forward to seeing Mom and Toby and Leah and the neighborhood.

These last bunch of days have been good for the team. We have gotten to know each other pretty well. Sean has shown me some amazing techniques and Pat has shown me some burly fuckin' stunts. They both have my respect.

Ma, I'm comin' home!

Upper Peninsula Michigan

Life up here in Upper Peninsula Michigan is peaceful and calm. The snows fall, the snowbanks grow, and life goes on...with warm hats, gloves and zipped-up coats as the local uniform. Everyone we have encountered has been amazing. We come in peace, preaching the good word of the mag, testifyin' for the pages of our periodical, faithful disciples in the power and glory of printed snowboarding adventures. And we're not just preachin' to the converted, those wide-eyed, inquisitive snowboarders lurking in the shadows of the day's stunt; we offer this crusade up to all who cross our path, and share our words with all who will listen. Snowboarder Magazine, glory be.

Our update: The Mt. Bohemia chronicles are in the bag. The photos have been snapped, bits of culture compiled and new friendships made. I'm excited to design the fucker up later on this spring.

We're back in Marquette for the night readying the troops for an array of local stunts hidden in the quiet, snow-covered countryside.

In a couple days I'll be down around Traverse City. I plan on goin' AWOL and headin' for homebase and the open arms of the parental unit. 'Til then, take care and enjoy the good days of January wherever you are.

Up here in da U.P., eh!

We cruised north through eastern Wisconsin all the way up to Houghton/Hancock. After a little bit of finagling we hooked up a room at the King's Inn in downtown Houghton. Our room was enshrined with a large chunk of ore in the wall, this is mining country, y'know. Oh yeah, these Upper Peninsula sumbmissions should showcase proper regional dialog. So that means interjecting "Y'know" after each thought, pause or exclamation in a thick northern Hoser accent. Just want to be authentic.

The next day, y'know, we cruised up the Keewenah Peninsula up towards Mt.Bohemia, y'know. We met the management aennd quickly arranged tickets and "backcountry" guides, y'know. We geared up and headed up. The elevation was impressive. We unloaded and dropped in. The pitches were pretty good, speed checks were popular. Lots of potential for berms, hips and booters on the runs. The "extreme" section of the area offered some pretty burly drops. Due to 30-40 degree temps the conditions were pretty packed out and rutted. But, with a little bit of snowfall things would be a "go." After a couple of runs we headed back to town for the night.

Our reception has been amazing. Management, locals and general populace have been very helpful and generous.

We're currently down in Marquette sessioning top-secret stashes all over the countryside. James, Mikey, Matt and Dave haven been navigating the team around town. Thanks.

It's snowing out. That's good. Even though the snowbanks are chest-high, some fresh snow would liven things up.

Floyd: I even met Mike Titter last night at Club Aurora. Pat A. dragged us in there to see him. We took your name in vain all night long. Titter's accent is thick as fuck.

Special thanks to Colleen and Chase for the amazing hospitality in wonderful Calumet. This region is so cool. Simple, rooted, rugged. I don't look 'to forward to going back to youknowwhere. Goodnight from Iron Country.

Made It

We're here! The flight was smooth as silk, arriving a little past 6pm central time. I quickly found the dudes and we wrangled a rental rig for the duration of the mission. Isuzu Rodeo, tough enough for the team. We jumped on the 94 north, stopped in Milwaukee for some grub and kept on going up to Green Bay. We're in a comfortable Hampton Inn for the night, relaxing and gearing up for the Upper Peninsula tomorrow.

MIDWEST SNOWBOARD MISSION

I fly out of Orange County this morning, touchin' down in Chicago later on this evening. I'll be on the road for a good 17 days, all over hell in the Mighty Midwest. This might include a trip back to the homelands in Traverse City, good lord willin'. I'll be back in Califucknia on the 28th.

Here's the deal: For all of you in the network checkin' out the site for whereabouts of the team, keep coming by every couple days. I'll be updating this log with coordinates and tentative regional plans. So say we're gonna be in the middle of Wisconsin for the day, I'll do my best to update this ahead of time a bit to let y'all know what's going on. Payphones will be used too, getting in touch with the riders I've spoken with up to this point. You know who you are. Organize yer teams and be on point. Fill the tanks.

I'll be back there with Pat A. from Ride Snowboards and Sean Sullivan, one of our Senior Photographers from the mag. I think we have some sort of van to navigate the backwoods with. Our first trajectory involves going north up to the Upper Peninsula to Mt.Bohemia. We have some stunts planned. Field crews are building and shaping kickers as I type this.

Here's a "on-the-road" e-mail address to drop me lines:
draplindustries@hotmail.com

Thanks, y'all, see you out in God's Country.
–Aaron James Draplin

January 11th is Leah Susan Draplin Day on the Draplindustries Factory Floor

Tomorrow is my little sister Leah's 18th birthday.

Whoa...18! I remember her wrapped-up-like-a-little-kowalski-sausage in the maternity ward like it was yesterday. She was an angel straight from heaven above. Her formative years were peaceful ones, filled with loving a brother and sister, and good parents in peaceful Northern Michigan burgs. She enjoyed playing with friends and looking up to her brother. They were good years for all of us.

And now, on the 11th we need to take a second to wish her a happiest of birthdays. Leah has turned into a beautiful young lady. We wish her the best from 18 on.

Now, I'm not gonna preach to her, I'm not gonna wave a finger in her face warning her of life's winding roads, but, I will leave her with 10 pieces of priceless ranch knowledge.

1. Never smack a man who's chewin' tobacco.
2. It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
3. Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut.
4. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
5. Always drink upstream from the herd.
6. If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.
7. When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.
8. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back.
9. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
10. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

Pre-Midwest

Tryin' to wrap things up in the office before I embark on my Midwest mission. Word is that it's snowing real good back there in those parts. Mom said Traverse City got a foot alone today. I'm so excited to get back there. Imagine that, excited to go to Wisconsin.

Rain Action: It's raining out today. Pouring, actually. I can't believe it. It never rains down here...never ever. I don't know how the vegetation can survive. Those summer days...hot, hot and dry. Claustrophobic. The rain makes everything feel alive and organic. The grass becomes greener and actually looks alive. Oh yeah, the people slam on their brakes causing freeway accidents. Hydroplane city, man.

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. -John Updike

Lake Elsinore turned out to be a big bust.

Rose had me whipped up real good with tall tales of hole-in-the-wall joints offering exotic items. The pass over to Elsinore was refreshing because it was free from the California action that grates me so bad. Just mountains and winding road. Rose drove it with stories of previous head-on alpine crashes. Great stuff to be reminiscing about. Once in town we hit the strip and dug around some shops, coming up empty-handed and bummed out. We walked around a bit and hit the road. Tough little town. The Lake is rectangular, filled with rerouted run-off or something. Ahhh....God's Country.

A Threat

You better've went and checked out the Snowboarder site. These fuckers are working hard to keep it fresh and daily updated. Maybe snowboarding isn't your deal, nevertheless, it's worth a stop whilst surfing. Chaka.

The first card of our "Once-A-Goddamn-Month" series was sent off yesterday. I set a record this time with the outgoing numbers. Hope everyone enjoys them. Card no.2 is in the works rights now on the Factory Floor. Our engineers are tooling and refining some thermographic processes. That is all we'll say. Big plans, small brains, high hopes.

Today we are heading into the hills, east, towards Lake Elsinore. Rose is driving us in his beautiful VW Passat wagon, and we need to say, "Thanks, man." We are on a search for treasures. Dad taught me when I was young the importance of a man's treasures. Sacred items. "Mistys" as my East Coast affiliates might say. I'm in the process of organizing proper shelf units to display my smaller treasures back at the ranch. We're gonna find something amazing today...I can feel it in the bones.

"Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl." -Benjamin Jowett

Comprehensive Site

Snowboarder Magazine has a comprehensive web site that is finally up walking on all fours. Daily updates, supplemental magazine footage and info, resort cams, on-line features and a bunch of other rad stuff. Bookmark the site and check it daily for all yer snowboarding needs. Or else.

www.snowboardermag.com

I'm extremely proud of our web team for their work on the project. Evan Rose and Jason "J1" Gerardi, take some bows. The site is growing daily with new goodies coming in from all over the nation. The best part is that our site isn't selling you anything. No big ploy trying to get you to shop, spend or suckle; just a well-organized pile of supplemental magazine content. See the tricks in action…the mag's finer images come alive. Read up on reports coming in from all over hell. Enter contests. Talk shit. Plan a trip. Hang out. Read. Click on stuff and hang out.

The site also has its nauseating moments too. Check out the section entitled "Real Class Act" for little bios on the Snowboarder Magazine staff. Yes, dissect the jackasses who get paid the big bucks to deliver you month after month of Snowboarder magazine. Get a jump on all the necessary stats, stories, photos and quotes to bring the mag's crew to life. Before I joined the team I had absolutely no idea who did what at the mag. All those years I read it and wondered about the invisible team of guys building things. Those days are long gone. We are making an effort to makes ourselves available to our readers…for curiosity's sake, contribution action, and general shooting the shit. Warts and moles and all, check out "Real Class Act" on www.snowboardermag.com.

Here's the official Snowboarder Magazine Draplin "Real Class Act"

JUST IN FROM FACTORY FLOOR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT HARRY BRUMER:

01/01/01 Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico

"Draplindustries shirt, "Anvil" model, spotted on random street grommet.
Suspected to have entered the country via Sweden, this sighting further
extends the list of foreign locales in which these ultra-hip, and no less
rare, threads have been observed."