LUKAS KUBEJA
Flowers and Bikes
August 8, 2026
A tranquill morning ride to get coffee from a coffee shop I hate, Harder Day on Sandy and 46th. At least the winds had changed and the late summer wildfire smoke had cleared; you can still see it when you look out east past the mountain. Makes me sick...
This was August 6, 2026. One day before my 26th birthday. I haven’t been sleeping well. Ruminating on the the imminent end of the eden that is a family health insurance plan. Money’s a drag. At least you can trade it for java.
It’s All Down Here From Here
July 24, 2026
Took an 8 days down the coast with my two buddies, Forest and Dylan. I never thought of myself as a roadtripper but this trip maybe turned that around.
We set off from Portland on Thursday, July 16. We set off down the I-5 to Grant’s pass before heading Southwest along with the Smith river to the great pacific shores of highway 101. We camped just south of crecent city at a campsite called Gold Bluffs. You need a reservation to stay there but you can also just say fuggit and sleep in the woods by the camp. That’s what we did.
We woke up early and took off to the bay. We were staying with Forest’s friends, (soon to be my friends) Jack and Courtney in Oakland. Jack and Courtney are both inspiring artists who recently had quit their jobs to pursue art full-time. They split their time between Jack’s truck-bed camper, their studio, and various dog-sitting arrangements they find online. Luckily they were dog sitting at a dope ass mansion with a terraced backyard and a trampoline at the time of our visit.
We stayed two nights in Oakland. Saw a couple galleries, skated, and got to hang at the art opening that Forest and I had pieces in. It was at a small DIY gallery called Big Door but there was a pretty reputable line up so we were honored to be included.
After Oakland we hit the 1 through Big Sur. Probably the prettiest section of our drive. Rugged mountains cascading into the pacific as far as you can see down the shoreline. Calm breaks in the topography where caddle and horses graze in fields of yellow flowers, wind sweeping across their backs as the fog sweeps in and out, the sun kissing the water as it descends to it’s westerly rest. Then looping around the backside of earth to warm our tents pitched high up Plaskett ridge above the clouds were we camped for a night before saying bye to sweet northern Cali.
At this point we’d had many nights of drinking and bad sleep behind us. Nothing too ruckus but stil we were tired as fuck. We headed a few more hours south to camp just outside of Ojai by a creek. It was hot and dry and the creek was not the most welcoming body of water considering we came down from the PNW but just enough to wade-in and cool off. We hiked up a ridge for sunset and fell asleep early.
The next day we made it to LA. We mostly just skated and chilled in LA, went to the park and stuff. East LA kinda feels like Portland to me in a weird way. I like frogtown. I didn’t want to leave...
I like living in a car. You don’t have to pay rent. Of course all vacations are escapists fantasies but coming home from this one felt harder than usual. Such joys bring such fears. Being an adult is being afraid; weighing every consequence before making a decision, lying awake at night wondering how shit will shake out. I wish I could say that you can keep it.