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Since I can remember I've always wanted to make a west coast trip. Cali has been one of the few places that I've never visited, so when the offer to fly out and take a much-needed vacation was presented I didn't hesitate to take the offer. The plans were for me to fly out a couple days before the show and just hang out and rest. Yeah right.I flew out of Nawlins Friday morning so I could meet Garrick at the airport in Orange County, CA. Once I arrived it didn't take me long to find Garrick in the extremely small John Wayne Airport, he was at the bar were else would he be. We gathered our bags and met our ride to the Kontradictions Kompound. Once we arrived I was quickly introduced to some guys that are off the scale. There where more clean ass quality rides in front of their house then I've scene at some car shows. Once we got settled in and got rested from the flights it was time to eat and hit the clubs. We went to eat with the entire Kontradictions Krew and these fools should be banned from eating at the same place at the same time. I thought our lovely hostess and waitress were going to give us the boot before dinner was over. Ellis I hope you called her back? Anyway after dinner we loaded our fat stuffed asses in Ellis' daily and made our way to the club. There is only one problem with going out with West Coast people; they forget your 2 hours time difference, 2 am to them is 4 am to us. So when we finally made our way back to the Kompound I was beat.Sat morning was awesome a cool west coast breeze was blowing in and the weather was awesome. Garrick had planned a full day of features and shop tours that needed to be accomplished all in the matter of a few hours. First order of business was to feature a full-size that was in much need of some SSM camera love. Since we were running short on time we decided to split up to cover more ground. Garrick had plans to meet Josh to feature his crazy ass 94 silver and green Toyota, so I was off with Marko to drop his bad ass yellow Ford "LOLO" to get reworked and do a shop tour at Cyclone Performance. Once we accomplished the shop tour we decided to meet Garrick and the crew at the cover shoot. We arrived only to see one fine specimen of a Toyota before our eyes. Josh's truck is one word SICK.After the shoot was done it was off to the Kompound to get ready for a wild night in San Diego. We loaded in Ellis' daily and we were off. We arrived at the Gas Lamp district and met some of
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Ellis' friends that had beaten us there. It wasn't long till I looked at the clock and it was 5 am there time and we were beat. I can't say I really remember much about the ride home except Garrick hollering Denny's I need Denny's. So to shut him up we made the Denny's pit stop at 5 in the morning.Sunday morning was calling for rain. Now wait a minute SoCal only gets 30 days of rain total in a year and you mean its going to rain while I'm in town this suxs. I didn't come half way across the country to let a lil rain stop me from going to a show. We loaded up and headed out praying the entire time the rain would hold off till after the show. We arrived at Irwindale Motor Speedway to meet Jr. from Tailgate and HighBeams and Bryan from SoCalCustoms.com. Once inside the gates it was obvious there were enough spinning wheels on hand to make this southern boy dizzy. We quickly decided who was going to shoot what and made our way around the show grounds snapping shots before the rain set in. The crew of Swift teamed up with Dub Magazine to throw one incredible show. The USMC was also on hand showing their latest in offensive technologies and skills. Wheel vendors were everywhere with everything from a set of 20's to a set of spinning 24's to fix your ride up. The Irwindale Motor Speedway had their 1/8 mile track open with imports making passes all day long. Some turning out some pretty respectable E.T's. Then like the show god listened to our prayers the sun appeared and made the whole trip from Louisiana to Cali worth the effort and the loot. Not wanting to leave Cali without seeing the west coast beaches we made our way to Huntington Beach area and checked out the local sites. Once we got some West Coast sand in our shoes it was time to head to the Kompound for a nap and make dinner plans with the rest of the Kontradictions Krew. Monday morning brought all the rain that had passed us by the entire weekend. It was storming and to be honest I didn't care. This was an awesome trip. I accomplished all my goals 1) Eat at In-N-Out 2) Eat at Del Taco and 3) Party like there was no tomorrow.I'd personally like to give an Extra Special thanks to the hospitality of the Kontradictions Krew. You guys were great and you made my first and hopefully not last trip to Cali one I'll never forget. Photos by: Garrick Arends and Ben HusserText by: Ben Husser
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