Silas Baxter-Neal.

How did you get the name Silas?

I think my mom was reading a book and saw it. My parents were definitely hippies back in the day and it was a name they liked. It had meaning. Most people are psyched on it. When I was a kid I thought that I would hate it when I got older, so I had my parents change my middle name to Peter. Then I could have a normal name if I wanted to be a normal dude and get a job at a bank. I could be like Peter Neal or something. I never got harassed about my name, but having four names threw people. I would get asked why I had so many.

So your attempt to normalize your name backfired?

Yeah, although who knows, I could be selling houses someday or managing some firm where I feel I need to have a normal, corporate name. It might come in handy someday, but not right now.

Do you have any goals for after skating?

Yeah. I want to move out to the woods and live on a farm, and just relax. I'd like to have an organic bed and breakfast of some sort out in the woods.

What is it about the woods that interest you?

I just like being away from things, being away from people. I like nature a lot. I grew up in the woods, outside of a city, so it's kind of a return to where I came from in a lot of ways. I get kind of over being in a city. I've never lived in a city where it's not easy to get away and be in the country. Even in San Francisco all you have to do is go across the bridge to Matin County and it's a beautiful, lush forest with great hiking trails and beautiful beaches. In Oregon it's pretty easy to get away too.

I know you said in the past you're not a hippie, but a lot of the things you're discussing are stuff that hippies would probably be into.

I guess I have an aversion to the word "hippie." That word has been so tainted by the stereotypical image of a hippie, and I don't really feel I fall into those guidelines. I like the nature, I like the woods, I like being an intelligent and progressive person, but that doesn't mean I'm a hippie. I am who I am: I'm a dude who skateboards.

It seems like that's one good thing about skating--you can really be into anything, and for the most part people are accepting.

Oh yeah. Skating's great for bringing people together. Just the idea of traveling around, even in the US, and seeing what it's like in other states and cities. It's pretty crazy. You grow up on the West Coast and go to the Midwest, and there's such a difference in lifestyles and cultures and realities. You have a stereotype of what people are going to be like, and then you meet them and they're cool, and it changes your mind. Even just going out skating, being around someone who looks like the opposite of what you are--gangster or whatever--and then you meet them and kick it with them, and think, "Hey, I just changed my mind about that too."

And you probably wouldn't have met your wife if you didn't skate.

Oh yeah, I definitely wouldn't have met her. I'd probably be in some kitchen somewhere if I wasn't skating.

You also wouldn't have had your elbow boob.

Yeah, when I had a broken arm I had fluid building up in my elbow. I had metal in my arm, so if I hit it, it would swell up real big. It was like a little tit.

Did having a breast on your elbow throw off your balance at all?

No, it wasn't that big.

So you didn't need any support?

No, I didn't need an elbow bra or anything like that.

That was during a period where you kept getting injured, right?

Yeah, I broke my arm and my foot in the same year. I was laid up for about six months with my foot. Then I got out of the cast, and two months later I broke my arm and had to lie down again for about four months.

What was that like?

It was fucked. I cut out all my skate friends and all my skate activities. I wanted to skate so badly, but I just couldn't. I couldn't be around my friends, talking about it, listening to it.

I got pretty bummed about that and made a bunch of new friends; tried to make sure I had a girlfriend all the time. I got myself in trouble. I drank a lot, partied a lot. It sucked; trying to live a normal person's life, do what normal people do.

Where do you see skating in your life now, is it number one or is your wife more important?

I don't know what that really means, "number one." I think about skateboarding more than anything else, but it's not like I would ever be in a situation where I had to choose between either one. I'm number one in my life is I guess the answer to that; what I want to do, what I desire. If you're in a situation where your girl's like, "You got to pick me or your skateboard," then she's not a tight girl. If you're in that situation there's an obvious answer, and it's not just because skateboarding's number one, it's because you want to live your life and do what you want to do. Why be around someone who's not supportive of you and what you want to do with your life?

So I take it your wife is supportive of your skating.

Yeah, she's tad. She loves what I do, is really independent, doesn't get bummed when I go on trips, and has enough of her own hobbies and activities that I'm not her main focus in life. We have a life together and are working towards something together, but we also have things going on with our own selves. It's not like, "Oh, what did you do today? I already know because I was with you every moment of your day."

It seems like a lot of girlfriends of skaters live through their boyfriend's career if they don't have anything going on.

Yeah, I've had girls that have made me into their hobby, and that was such an unhealthy thing for me and them. They'd just wait around 'til you got home and then be bummed that you were out skating or thinking of skating all the time. Everybody's got to have their own hobbies, activities, and goals. Just because you're girlfriend/boyfriend or husband and wife doesn't mean you're one entity.