On the road.
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Is it possible to plan a road trip without thinking of On the Road? Like Kerouac’s road trips that eventually resulted in his novel, my road trip, too, will result in a book: Midwest Shreds: Skaters and Skateparks of Middle America.
The Midwest is massive and no single book can contain it all or fairly represent all it has to offer, and this will not be my only road trip to meet skaters and see what the region, both its rural and urban areas, has to offer skaters.
For this trip, over the course of 3 weeks I’ll travel along this route:
I’ll start in Columbus, Ohio, since that’s where I live and go to West Lafayette, Indiana, to spend a weekend at Schmidty’s Ramp and Camp. It’s a private skatepark in a rural area where visitors camp in tents on the property and shred until they can’t. The spot is beloved by rollerbladers.
From there, I’ll go south to St. Louis, home of the bucket list-worthy Sk8 Liborius. Fashioned from an 1800s cathedral, the former St. Liborius church is now home to one of the coolest indoor skateparks in the world, complete with stained glass windows.
After that, I’ll go north to Davenport, Iowa, where there’s a different type of skate church I want to check out. A church built a skatepark on its property for its congregation.
Then I’m heading to my most western point, Des Moines, Iowa, to catch the Dew Tour. Some of the best skateboarders in the world will be competing at the newly opened Lauridsen Skatepark, which at 88,000 square feet is the largest in the country.
Next, I’ll be traveling north to the Twin Cities to check out the scene there and make a special stop at the Riedell Skate Factory in Red Wing, Minnesota. Riedell has been a family-owned skate manufacturer since 1945 and they sell some of the best skates on the market.
The next stop after that is Madison, Wisconsin, where I’ll be checking out a DIY park that was built as a haven for local roller skaters who weren’t welcome at some of the other skateparks in the area.
From there, I’ll be in Chicago for a few days. There’s so much there that I’m still trying to decide what stories I’m going to focus on!
My last stop will be around Detroit, where I’m going to hang out with a couple of skaters and get the scoop on the scene there. I marked Bloomfield Hills on the map because I’m going to be staying with a friend there, but the stories I chase will be around Detroit.
I’d love to find more interviews in Madison, Chicago, and Detroit, especially with BIPOC. If that’s you or someone you know, please reach out at mandyshunnarah/AT/gmail/DOT/com and/or @midwestshreds on Instagram. I’ll be in these cities at the end of May and early June.
