Andy Meisel - Gagenau

"This was my dad's favorite place, and he always had one of these", say's Andy as he lifts up a small rocks glass with raspberry liquer mixed with cream. It's been a tough year for Andy Meisel of Gagenau, Germany. Losing his father and his ability to skate have made things less than simple for he and his mother. An injury has him laid up for nearly a year. He and his mother put Mitch and I up for a night as we were hitting some nearby shops in Stuttgart. Andy skates for Odeus, the company I have started to do some rep/translation work for. It is easy to see that Mitch and his brother Alex consider their skate company an extension of family as we paid Andy a visit during our sales trip. We went out to a tiny lokale across the river from Andy's house and just spent the evening talking about skateboarding, his new Polish lady and everything else. Andy seems to be doing well, positive given the circumstances, although Germans aren't exactly the kind of people who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Andy's mom was so nice to let us crash at their place and get a real breakfast before heading out the next morning. One of my favorite quotes, and I think I have used it before is, "The only reason a road is good, as every wanderer knows, is because of the homes, the homes, the homes, to which it goes." The true pearl of traveling is meeting warm people like the Meisels.

To check out some vids of Andy skating, and to leave him some encouragement on his site, visit
www.andymeisel.com