Words by Adam Burgess
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

Ryan Dodge - wallride backside 180 out on the bank to sign thing

Adam Burgess - pop shuv through the Miami skyline

The first day we went to this spot, I still hadn't figured out my fancy new sequence camera, so all we got was a regular photo of Ryan Dodge's switch 360. The next day I figured it out. We went back and Ryan threw down another perfect one. Give the sequence a little time to load - it's a 1mb gif file.

This place is called White Spot. Ryan Dodge hit it with a frontside noseblunt slide 270 out

If you're skating the side on the left, you are absolutely insane

All of the dips had water in them except the middle one. When it's all dry, it must be pretty fun to hit all four or five pyramids in a line

The abandoned stadium as seen from the parking lot

See the rusted out floor below the ladder? Extra sketchy. The rest of the floor was really weak, too. It felt like anytime you could fall through and be cancelled from this spot and probably from life

Ryan Dodge had this bank to sign gap thing figured out pretty quick. This is a backside 180 over it

The abandoned stadium is covered in graf

That's the tower thing at the roof spot that you go into to get on the roof

We had a great time enjoying the Miami and South Beach nightlife after skating all day

This is Ryan Dodge on a perfectly executed switch backside 360. Check the sequence

Normally I'm the one with the melon grab photos. Since I'm incapable of doing that over this gap, this time Ryan Dodge took care of it

Ryan Dodge 360 flips while people down below in boats cheer and shout at us

I guess Curtis Valentine is not afraid of heights. You don't even know how scary it is to be sitting like he is right now

Brian Delatorre hip up a few spots with us. This is a crail over the bank to wall gap. He also works at MIA Skate Shop

Looks like Adam Burgess is going to ollie right into downtown Miami

Rob Meronek - a little hung over early in the morning with a plain old ollie at this waterside spot near Curtis Valentine's house

TOTAL MIND BLOW!!! This statement sums up my first weekend of March 2006. It’s safe to say that the minds of Ryan Dodge, Rob Meronek, and me, the Deuce Crooked-Armed Bandit, have not fully recovered from our Miami get-away. This Thursday to Sunday adventure will be listed in sequential order if I can remember how to use my fingers for typing purposes.

What day did we leave? Oh yeah, it was last Thursday, and a beautiful central Florida day it was when Rob scooped me up. Rob and I arrived at Ryan’s crib and after entering the front orifice of his domain, I volunteered to handle some of his luggage. This particular bag that I now held in my possession contained a VX-1000 with the proper accessories, of course. Rob’s trunk was reassembled and we all hopped in the car gleefully with thoughts of thrashing, sun-bathing, and women-watching. After departing from Ryan’s block, the sight of the camera bag was noticed in my peripheral as it sprouted wings and flew of the roof of Rob’s VW.

At this point I was cursing my lack of short term memory and quickly took full responsibility of the damages which were unbeknownst to the MIA bound three amigos. I teleported myself out of the vehicle only to watch the bag, and camera, almost get run over by on coming traffic. I lunged across the street with 10’ strides and was holding the bag once again. All I could do was laugh it off and appreciate the laughter of my fellow passengers, which helped to sooth my TOTAL MIND BLOW!

With that horrid experience checked off my list, I came to when Rob was mentioning something about the infamous Lakeland Hooters. With the power of two brains, which are always better than one, Rob and I realized that Miami is south off of I-75, not east off of I-4, which leads to Orlando, the worst city in Florida. So we back-tracked our way to I-75 south and shortly exited the interstate in Riverview, Florida. The closest restaurant felt like three days of the interstate and happened to be a Pizza Hut that served beer. This Pizza Hut was actually a time warp frontin’ as a restaurant, but luckily for us they had beer (Mental Note: Never go to Pizza Hut again!).

Eventually we arrived in Miami with our MINDS TOTALLY BLOWN! This escapade is normally a four hour drive from Tampa, but we made it in six. Curtis Valentine, our homie and washed up soul singer, was contacted and met us at the Purdy Lounge on Miami Beach. We quickly reunited like the “Clan” and enjoyed some fresh tunes and brews. We retuned to Curtis’ apartment, slipped on a break dance matt, and fell asleep with the swiftness.

Six hours later I awoke around 9:30am and allowed my posse to sleep. I strolled the block and upon my return noticed the crew was ready. I obtained directions to the best spot I have schralped thus far, scenically speaking. After ripping with the local pelicans, we decided it was time to thrash with the buzzards down the street. We rolled up to the spot looking extra hard, mean mugs and all, and I escorted the three man crew to the 100’ rooftop. Luckily for us the local Dirt Squad had allowed me to attend their stomping grounds on a prior Miami visit, so we were prepared for a full on ninja mission (Ninja Tip: Have an Asian person in your ninja squad, i.e. Robert Meronek). Ryan Dodge is an animal, ‘nuf said! Check the photos. Somehow the drawbridge and ladder did not collapse and we made it out alive. TOTAL MIND BLOW!

The beach was then lurked, food was consumed, and we were all burnt from the inside out. Hours later we hit up the Marlin on South Beach and ragged posse deep with the likes of those captured in Rob’s photos .

Of course I awoke before the rest of the crew and had drunk just as much if not more at the Marlin (I think this is because I have a solid foot and 20 lbs. on both Ryan and Rob). The block was again held down hard by the likes of the Deuce Crook. Later on, the VW made it across the bridge, beach-bound, where we met with Matt Cantor and Brian Delatorre at Ed Selego and Chris Williams’ shop, known as MIA. Matt and Brian are genuine people and great to skate with. Most of the spots we toured were in the ghettos of Miami, but coming from the industrialized and gentrified plains of Tampa, this made no real impact on us.

Later on that evening, Curtis led the way to some tourist trap on the beach and we peeped the scenery until it was time to attend the pre-bar party. Alex Bowers was taxied to Curtis’ apartment by the likes of Amanda, beers were consumed, and the walk to the bar had begun. We blessed The District with our presence and ended up leaving Curtis and Alex with the local females. Our minds were still in a post-MIND BLOWN state as we passed out fully clothed one more time.

Sunday consisted of a short ninja mission to the roof top for one more memorable session. It was then determined that our MINDS were almost completely BLOWN, so we decided to take Curtis home and make our way back to Tampa. Ryan had fallen asleep right before Alligator Alley when Rob realized he needed gas. A random toll worker informed us that gas was 25 miles away, so we were hoping for the best with gas light beaming hard. Rob missed the exit and quickly drove across the sketchy median of grass that most are warned not to drive across. As we were driving up the exit ramp Rob stated that it would suck to run out of gas on the ramp, and I seconded this obvious observation. Rob then turned into the gas station at the exact moment that his car was gas free and we coasted to the pump. TOTAL MIND BLOW!

The drive home lasted four hours instead of six, and no time warps, technological accidents, or TOTAL MIND BLOWS were encountered. Big-ups to Curtis for the shelter and bar tours, big-ups to Brain and Matt for not being to cool to thrash with the out-of-towners, and big-ups to Jonathan “Yonnie” Cruz for coining the phrase that is hotter than the sun: TOTAL MIND BLOW!!!