Levi Green Interview: 10 Tips to Surviving a Van Trip

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Levi Green has quietly been working away his winters and then chasing greener pastures in the spring for more than a few years now. Heading to the Philippines with a (so far unannounced) Skate Slate crew at the end of the month, we caught up with Levi to find out about his new wheels, why all the #sadtrain2k15 posts lately and got his top 10 tips to surviving a Van trip.

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Hi Levi! Where are you right now, where you chatting from?

Hey man! I’m just lurking around my hometown (citrus heights, CA) visiting family, recharging my batteries, and getting ready to take off for the Phillipines next week!

You seem to get around, Spain, Mexico, now Philippines! Where have you been hibernating for the Winter?

I’ve been trying! Just came off of a short hiatus living on an island in beautiful British Columbia and skating more parks than hills, but the break did it’s job and now I’m itching to skate in some new places!

Seems like you have some new gear to skate as well? What’s up with that?

Yep yep. I joined the Divine Wheel Co family at the end of last year in a pretty quiet manner, but we really started to get things going for 2015! I’m amped on the new things that will be popping up for you guys to try in the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled!

On another note though, I’ve just parted ways with my long time sponsor, Rayne Longboards. They were going one way, while I was still just sticking to my usual, so it wasn’t what either of us was looking for anymore. Sad day. I’m not too quick to jump into anything new though, so I’ll be rolling solo on the deck thing and riding whatever the homies are rocking. Shout out to Alex Amin at Valhalla and Nate Blackburn from Omen Longboards for showing some love right off the bat! You guys are rad!

Levi Green – Welcome to Divine Wheels from Resource Distribution on Vimeo.

Woah, new wheels and generally riding decks – what’s your favorite Divine Wheel right now, or generally what are you riding for wheels on the quiver?

Big changes, eh?! Outside of the new slide wheels we’ve cooked up, I’ve been digging the Pink Street Slayers a lot. Tons of roll speed with a buttery slide makes for a sick all-mountain wheel! I have, however, been turned onto the Green 65mm Road Rippers for some slideways fun recently… tons of variety between colors and molds makes it hard to choose most days though!

Oh yeah, and they also make some awesome park wheels too! The Park Rangers are my favorite!

Seems like more than a few people are pulling their own Rad Train and riding a few brands of decks early this season. With the ability to ride anything again, what are you stoked to get a chance to ride?

#Sadtrain2k15 baby! I’m honestly the most stoked on riding maple decks for the skatepark again, haha. Silly wrongboarders, right? Otherwise, flat cave is a fun new thing, as well as non-linear rocker and rounded rails. It’s also cool to try all of this new technology that we are properly spoiled with in today’s board market!

Sadtrain.. sounds a little off considering you’re heading to the Philippines? Why the sad face?

Well, you’ve got to fight off the bummers somehow, right?!

It’s all in poking fun really. I’m sad all of the family I’ve been with isn’t under one roof anymore, but we’re all still doing our things and we are able to do them together regardless. Plus “mad” and “bad” fit even less, haha.. I really just picked it as a funny name while I go solo and ride a few different brands and maybe find a new home.

Okay, so more just bummbed about the riding solo than anything. The Philippines should be fun for you then, we put together a sick group of guys – Will Royce, Byron Essert, James Kelly, Liam Morgan, Jimmy Riha, Roger Jones and Dubes are going as well – are you stoked to be traveling with a new crew of people?!

The group is definitely stacked! I’ve met up during travels with all of these guys before, but have never crammed into one van together.

Van trips can be tough, two weeks in the Philippines on Van-life is going to be hectic with any group. How about you leave us with your top 10 tips for surviving 2 weeks in a Van on a skate trip?

Plan for no plan (aka be adaptable and ready to go with the flow) Pack 2 bags. One that can be buried for the day and you can survive with out, and one with your daily essentials. It will save a lot of time and energy during travel. Spare socks and undies are crucial. If you’re a ripe bastard, you suck to sit next too! Don’t pack for just skating, pack for camping! Knives, flashlights, bugspray, matches, etc will all come in handy. Skate tools come and go, so the best thing to do is designate a van tool and tie the damn thing to the van with a shoelace! Don’t forget to bring a towel! They’re interchangeable with pillows too. Bring rad tunes. You’ll definitely need a theme song for your trip hashtag, haha Hammocks > tents for pretty much every trip! (Minus any treeless destinations) Keep it respectful and don’t be foolish, around both your crew and locals. It goes a long way and keeps the good vibes flowing! When it comes to spur of the moment nature dumps, sacrifice a sleeve over a sock. Trust me.

10 thoughts off the top of my head for ya!

Thanks! Any last words?

Remember, when bump drafting use two fingers instead of one!

*Thanks to Trent Stake and Divine Wheel Co. for hooking up the photos!

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