On Tuesday we finished the West Coast leg of the Dear Suburbia tour, and we’re now officially heading east. We left Encinitas at 11:00 p.m. that night and drove 20 hours straight so we could see Iron Maiden the next day (with VIP tickets, thanks Brandon!).

We’d gone from San Francisco to Encinitas in a week, making six rad stops at local surf shops along the way (stop number one, the world premiere in Huntington, not included — see that one here). Tour life has begun to take its toll on our bodies: blood, smoke, sunburns, McDonald's, wetsuit rashes, green-bottled beer, Mexican food and sunflower seed wrappers define this existence…and may lead to the end of our existence if we’re not careful.

We’ve managed to surf really fun waves the whole time though. We’re currently field tripping in Austin and are really psyched for the next premiere at Ohana Surf & Sport in Galveston on Saturday night. Until then we’re searching for pools with pro skater Jack Fardell, who jumped in the van with us back in LA. We’re also gaining Dion Agius and a few others before Saturday.

Here’s a little recap of West Coast highlights:

Kolohe Andino drove up to SF with us and shot the best photo of his life. It’s currently being turned into a T-shirt. It involves a dead deer (Deer Suburbia jokes not tolerated) and is very dark. Kolohe also bought a liquor store tee in Cayucos that says: “Fourth of July in Cayucos.” It was on sale. We hung out at Proof Lab in Mill Valley, showed the film there and skated their sick park in back afterward. The next morning we surfed Ocean Beach with booties in August and drove to Santa Cruz, where we went to the carnival, because that’s what we call Kai sometimes. Kai + Neville = Karnival.

Next stop was in San Luis Obispo where we partied like college kids, with college kids. After the premiere (at the public library) we were invited to hang out with some Cal Poly girls, so we hung out, and some people kissed, and we saw the wall of gum. It was a night of interesting opportunities.

The next morning we powered south early and surfed for four hours in Ventura. Waves were 3-foot and the weather was 85 and windless. Ramps everywhere. Then we stopped by Dane Reynolds’ house for a frosty Coors Light before the Santa Barbara premiere, at the Channel Islands store off State Street. The dudes and girls that work there are amazing. Pat Ecker and his crew are the sickest. Yadin Nicol, Dillon Perillo and Dane all came out to introduce the film too. Yadin was almost in tears watching the final day footage of Dillon and John John in Japan, which was two days after he'd broken his ankle on the same trip.

After the premiere Dillon night-skated the park nearby. Yadin was leaving for Teahupo'o in the morning for a surf contest. Dane went to Milk and Honey for food and then we had a beer and played darts at James Joyce bar.

The LA stop was at ZJ Boarding House on Sunday. Pro skaters Dylan Rieder and Jack Fardell came to hang with us, and Dillon and Craig Anderson as well. We sang karaoke all night and danced, then surfed Malibu the next morning with everyone.

For the final West Coast premiere we set up the big top under the stars at Hansen’s in Encinitas. That town is swarming with kids who all look like they rip, and they all came out for the film. First Kolohe Andino took the stage and spoke about a trip he went on as a kid where everyone was mean and made him cry, but he said Dane and Taj were not like that when they went to Indo for Dear Suburbia.

Then, once the credits rolled, in Encinitas, our van doors were closed and we did not stop until we reached San Antonio to see Iron Maiden. More on that and our cross-country leg coming soon.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us on the West Coast. Thanks to Hurley, Nike and Monster for helping power our tour and being rad and giving everyone so much free stuff. Thanks especially to all the surf shops we’ve gotten to hang at. Surf shops are by far the coolest thing going in any town good enough to have one. Go stand around and talk shit at the shop near your house right now.