Would you pick up this Man?
Today started abruptly at 3am after being woken by a dishevelled and confused vagrant who resembled our dear friend Dean. After much interrogation we were able to determine this was infact Dean after being regaled with stories detailing his last 36 hours of break downs, hitch-hiking 500 KM’s to Vancouver with bi-sexuals and learning the priceless lesson that paying an extra 50 bucks for a flight that has no stopovers compared to one that has 3 is a very good idea indeed.
After some horse play and obligatory urination in the hotel pool we made our way to South Beach for breakfast where unbeknownst to us, we were on the menu. No sooner had we sat down when we began to notice the abundance of male nipple rings, well manicured beards and more than 4 dozen kind eyes locked on us and our chiselled physiques. After a delightful/uncomfortable breakfast we had our first (and little did we know our last) morale boaster with two friendly/camp gentlemen yelling at us “hi Sexy!!!” as they hung out of their passing car window, the consensus being this was aimed at Josh and his sculpted 6 pack.
With some time to burn before we picked up our modest wheels, explored South Beach with caution and were left somewhat underwhelmed. Exploring done we embarked on getting to the Winniebago pick up point which resided in the deepest and darkest recesses of South Miami.
Picking up few supplies at Walmart
Having ignored our Winniebago instructional tour (pointless, we know everything there is to know about RV’ing), we took to the roads of Miami with gusto and headed for Miami International Airport to pick the 5thand final member of our touring party, Andy. Gingerly navigating through the Miami gridlock with Nic at the helm and Aaron/Ben (ABN) in the navigator’s seat we came across the unforeseen nightmare that is/was Miami International. After several circles around Miami Airport we got confirmation that Andy was in place for a running pick up at the arrivals terminal and attempted a bold and shallow drop-in to the pick-up bay where we were promptly greeted by the sound of our rear Air Conditioning unit on the top of our Winniebago being crushed/wedged against the top of Miami International Arrivals Terminal awning. Half an hour, a police report and 1 new sky light later we were back on the road with our full compliment headed for supplies and our everglades campsite.
Driving the beast out of the parking lot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqCH_7fSSg
Damage Assessment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TawPvCt05WU
Stuck under the awning at Miami International Airport. Notice the crushed AC unit.
After some hairy situations with some ill advised 3 point turns on dual carriage ways we managed to get to a K-Mart for much needed supplies, notable items: 5 boxes of cornflakes for $10, 2 star spangled banner camp chairs and Justin Bieber’s Back stage board game (unfortunately was not approved by the purchasing committee). Stock picking completed, we left josh to sort out the finer details of payment of the 2 trolleys while we cavorted around a dark and empty car parking lot like 4 rich white boys in our big expensive Winniebago. Circa 30 minutes of white boy grab-arsing around the RV we were approached by a speeding dark blue four wheeled drive, rolling down the drivers side window we were greeted by 2
She'll be fine
heavily strapped undercover police officers seemingly intent on flexing their authoritative muscle and shutting down our light hearted horse-play. Instead we were politely urged to leave as quickly as possible as we were “in the War-zone” referring to the high level of crime perpetrated from an estate 4oo metres from our position and that we would be targeted for an armed robbery should we not leave promptly. Never has an RV been packed so quickly.
And so we made our way to our campsite accompanied by the hardest tunes our iPods could muster to blend into our surroundings. After our arrival to the campsite we sat down and reflected on the day’s events and finished with Deans quote “If i didn’t get here today, I wouldn’t be here now”.
The stabin cabin crew
Grizzling across the states 