Monday May 2, 2005 - Placer High School (Auburn, California)  We are finally on the last week of the 2005 GOT MILK? high school tour. Week 8 is actually a week of makeup shows that got cancelled in weeks one and two due to rain. The first make up day was Placer High in Auburn. We had to make today's show an early one because it's the end of the school year and everyone is testing right now. So our show was at 8:45 in the morning, which meant that our ramp wizards, Armand and Martine, had to setup on Sunday night.

The athletes for week 8 are Gabe Weed, Marco Desanti, Tas Pappas, Jason Davies and Jim Burgess. I drove into Sacramento on Sunday night to pick everyone up at the airport, only to find that the airline had lost Jim's bike. They said it would be on the next flight and they would deliver it to the hotel. Jim came to find out later, that his bike did in fact make it in, but in order to get it in time for the show, we would have to go back to the airport and pick it up ourselves. Auburn is a good 45 miles from the Sacramento airport, so we hit the road at 5:15 AM. It was 90 miles round trip and we made it back just in time to pick up the rest of the crew and head over to the school.

We had about a 45 minute time block to do our show. Despite everyone getting little to no sleep last night because of our late arrival, the show went off like a well oiled machine. The students at Placer high were very responsive to the show and seemed most impressed by Marco Desanti's flip tricks. Placer High was originally scheduled to be the first show of the tour back on March 14th. The last 7 weeks have just flown by.
-- Jimmy

Check out photos from this show

Tuesday May 3, 2005 - Red Bluff High School (Red Bluff, California)  Stop number two on the make-up week of the GOT MILK? Gravity Tour brought us to Red Bluff California and Red Bluff high school. We were scheduled to do this show back in week 1 but had to cancel due to rain. Fortunately for us this time around, the skies were clear and it was excellent weather for a show. We had an afternoon assembly that started at 2:15. That was perfect in our minds because it was the first time in 7 weeks that our ramp crew, Armand and Martine, didn't have to get up and on the road by 5:30 AM. Those guys were able to sleep in and get some much needed rest.

The show was setup on the football field, we had a huge set of bleachers for the students to sit in, but they were also welcome to come down on the field. They were treated to quite a performance. Everyone was going pretty high on the ramp, especially Tas Pappas who did about a nine foot air at one point. Marco Desanti made and inverted flat spin 900 at the end of the show, and Jim Burgess wrapped it all up by doing a huge superman air and then did a 540 on the next wall. Special thanks to Bill Treat at Red Bluff high for all of his planning and willingness to accommodate us. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in later today and the forecast isn't looking good for tomorrow. Cross your fingers and I'll update you tomorrow.
-- Jimmy

Check out photos from this show

Tuesday May 3, 2005 - Foothill High School (Palo Cedro, California)  It wasn't looking good for Foothill High school last night. The weather reports were pretty grim, calling for heavy rain throughout the morning and rest of the week. To our surpise, we awoke to sunny skies again. Somehow the rain went everywhere around us but it was dry as a bone at the school. We had one assembly today in the quad, right in front of the gymnasium. We haven't had many chances to set up on concrete on this tour, but when we do the boys make great use of it.

Once again Tas Pappas was going as high as he could on that ramp and doing 540 variations. Jim Burgess did another superman air into a 540 to cap off the show, and Gabe Weed had the flatbottom and a good sized chunk of smooth concrete to ride on as well. As usual, we do trivia giveaways after each show. I ask questions specifically related to the stuff I talked about in the show relating to GOT MILK? and the anti smoking facts. Today was one of those days where I learned another amazing tobacco fact from a student. I gave a jersey away to a student who informed me that if you were to smoke a pack of cigarettes, every day, for one entire year, you would have over a liter's worth of tar in your lungs. That's got to be the second best fact I have learned on this whole tour regarding smoking. About an hour after the show, the rain came. They are calling for rain over the next few days, hopefully it will hold out for Enterprise High tomorrow. Jimmy
-- Jimmy

Check out photos from this show

Thursday May 5, 2005 - Enterprise High School (Redding, California)  We were hoping that the rain would hold off, but unfortunately it didn't. This is the second time that the weather has ruined the fun for Enterprise high school on this tour. The ramp crew showed up this morning to pouring down rain. Mr. Valdivia knew it wasn't going to let up so he just decided to cancel and try to reschedule for next year. We would have loved to wrap up the spring high school tour with a big show, but mother nature decided she wants us to go quietly.

Seeing as how this is the end of the GOT MILK? high school tour for this year, I think this is a good time to thank some people and break a few things down. This has been the longest spring high school tour we have ever done. Over the last month and a half, we have been to 31 schools, 1 fair, and covered somewhere between 2500 to 3000 miles of driving in California. We also celebrated two birthdays on this tour, Jason Davies turned 35, and Gabe Weed turned 31. We hit a few obstacles along the tour, but everyone pulled together as a team to make sure this tour was a success.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of the people who helped make this possible. First off, Steven Perelman, our primary liaison with the California Milk Advisory Board and the guy who works hard scheduling the tour and booking schools. Huge thankyou's go to our Tour Manager, Jason Hines. He spends countless hours making sure every last detail is handled. He takes the pictures you see on this website, talks with the schools and sponsors, helps set-up the ramp and troubleshoot. I could go on and on about the stuff that guy does. His job is never-ending and he rarely gets thanked.

Gabe Weed, rode the entire tour. He never missed one day. Even if we had a show cancelled because of rain, Gabe still went in and rode flatland while I talked about GOT MILK? and the anti-smoking facts. One day, he even rode two consecutive solo shows for 30 minutes each. He is the ultimate showman and he never complains, Gabe you rule. Jimmy Walker did the whole tour with the exception of this make-up week. There were many mornings where he would start off a show with a backflip and it would fire up all the other riders and the shows would be insane. Many days Jimmy stuck around to help tear down the ramp, just so we could get packed-up quicker.

Another person who deserves a huge thank you is Armand Sylvie, our lead driver and ramp guru. He is the ultimate ironman. Not only did he work this entire tour, he came out to California a full month before we started to get the ramp(s) in shape. Even on the weekends off, he was out in hotel parking lots, welding and banging away on the trucks, always making improvements. He hasn't seen home in a long, long time. Few people realize the amount of time Armand puts in. Even as I write this and this tour wraps up, he is currently heading off to the next spot where he will work on the ramp to make life easier for us at future shows.

Lastly, I would like to thank Michael Freeman and the entire California Milk Advisory Board. These good people see the value in this program and pay the bills allowing us to put this tour on and travel the state doing shows for these high school kids. The high school portion of the GOT MILK? Gravity Tour may be over, but the fun doesn't stop. We still have several appearances at fairs to do this year. The next stop is at the Alameda County Fair in June, come by and check us out.
-- Jimmy