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I’ve heard that Texas Heat Wave was well known for having the baddest rides around. I also knew that the weather it’s self sucked (specially for a boy from Idaho), but boy was I in for a treat this past weekend! After flying into Austin at around 12:45am Friday morning, my weekend was about to begin. The first thing on the agenda, well, we headed to the work place of Cope Kessler, owner of Sinister Motorsports. The next 24 hours would be a blur. I think we each got about 1 hour of sleep. However, there was tons of phat rides coming and going. We weren’t even at the show yet and I was already getting excited. Finally, after very little sleep and managing to get Adam from Big Time Threads to wake up, we were on our way back to Cope’s shop to load everything and head to the show. One thing that I came to discover here was how fast you can get into the show with a press pass…..wow…saved tons of time. Once into the show and unloading everything, it was time to head out and take photos. I couldn’t have done this without the help of Russell and Brandi Gulow for watching the booth! So off I went. While walking around, I noticed that the common vehicle around the show were all bad ass rides. Those vehicles, along with the sun beating down on my balding head, made me think of that saying “Don’t mess with Texas!” But there was no time to sit and drool over one ride, there were tons more out there that needed attention. As we made our rounds, I was keeping in mind which vehicles I would like to feature. I didn’t think I was going to have time, but I ended up making time throughout the weekend to capture a few features. After one battery died, I popped in a new one to find out that the heat had drained my good batteries! But coming prepared, I managed to have enough life out of other batteries to continue the venture. After making one pass through the show and seeing all of the NC, ST and RA rides it was time to venture on out to talk with some members from clubs such as Pleasures, IV Everlow, Subculture, Gravity Permits, and Explicit Concepts. Well, the sun has now went down and we all know what that means. It was just after 10pm and time for the Bikini contest (or lack there of). Once again, those press passes came in handy to get the camera close to the action for all of you readers to enjoy. It was totally business. I just wanted to make sure I was capturing material the readers would enjoy. After the contest, it was time to head to the camp grounds where we found bumper to bumper rides cruising around and drunk minitruckers everywhere!
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My quest to still meet new people was on even though I knew deep down they wouldn’t remember me cause of the alcohol prohibiting themselves into remembering anything of that night. Well, after all of the excitement it was time to go get at least 3 hours of sleep. This would equal the total hours I have gotten the rest of the weekend. Aaaaahhh Sunday has arrived. I managed to sleep a strong 3 hours and feeling good! After a quick shower and a stop at McDonald’s, it was time to go through the show one last time to make sure that I didn’t miss anything from the previous day. Will walking around, Brandi managed to round up a Tacoma I wanted to feature, so now my time restraints were in effect. After going around and noticing the same rides from Saturday, myself and some new found friends decided to go drag body in a purple (as I call it but he disagrees) Tracker to sell some SSM shirts. What we found is that the Girl Tee’s sold a hell of a lot faster then the guys. By this time, some clouds were starting to roll in which was kind of nice for the feature I was about to do so that the sun wasn’t overbearing. But what I didn’t know is that Mother Nature was about to test my photographic skills! As I met up with Eric to shoot his Tacoma (which will be in our Sept issue) the rain began to fall. It didn’t look like it would last, so he headed back to the show to get his shami and then back to the shoot. Once he got back, he and his girlfriend began to dry off the Taco. To save time I shot off a few quick pics of random things. Once it dried, I began shooting. Then it started raining. Not drizzling, but pouring! Once I finished we headed back to the Sinister booth where we saw people clinging on to there tents so the wind wouldn’t take them away and hail pummeling nice rides trying to do it’s damage. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to say good bye to most, but the airport was calling my name. But, all and all, I thought this was a kick ass show and I’ll be back next year, guaranteed! I would like to give a special thanks to Bill from Ekstensive (http://www.ekstensive.com), Cope (http://www.sinistermotorsports.com) and Pat (http://www.maxwell-designs.com) for pulling together to help fly me out for my first Heat Wave experience. By Garrick ArendsCoverage continued next page >>
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