Booze Cruise 2009

Posted on Monday, November 23, 2009 by Rob

Words and Photos By Stalker Steve

The 2nd annual Booze Cruise took place without a hitch (almost) Friday night. We skated through Ybor City, Downtown, and Channelside hitting Rock N Sports, Hooters, The Hub, and Reservoir Bar. Scotty The Body got a cake celebrating his 10 years of service to Skatepark of Tampa, we skated flat in The Hub, Schaefer got slapped by a chick and poured a drink on her, then they hugged it out, I got in trouble with Tampa PD for telling a driver to turn on their lights, and Adam Kearley and his girlfriend, Catherine, got tickets for riding bikes without lights as the cop let 30 skaters go by without a word. So, yeah, all in all in was a great night and I hope you were there to enjoy a fun time with us.

We're probably doing another one in 362 days or so, so mark your calendar. See you then.

Rob and I were on some sort of Spy vs. Spy deal, but it was geek vs. geek as we both shot photos like Asians on vacation.

Cruisin' Body.

Adam Kearley's girlfriend, Catherine, before getting a ticket for not having lights on her bike.

Schaefer laughs at open container laws.

I caught a short skitch on Adam Kearley's bike. This was my angle.

Schaefer didn't share Body's enthusiasm I guess.

The bike brigade.

Porpe got showy with his cruising techniques.

This was the lame part of the night when Tampa PD stopped most of the crew for a quick annoyance.

One of the members from the USF Skateboard Club didn't get stopped and was really hyped about it.

Metal Mike took a slam between Rock N Sports and Hooters.

Clements always ends up looking like the mature adult more than anyone else in our crew.

We filled up the bar at Hooters.

The USF Skateboard Club representative and Schaefer.

Body was really hyped to see a bunch of Hooters waitresses...

Then he realized they brought him a cake and he got that much more excited.

Body should get a "Comfy Life" tattoo on his stomach, Tupac style, but instead of the I being a bullet the O can be a pillow.

Holly Ryan caught a ride on the back of Jenna's cruiser.

Schaefer is the only person who can go from pouring a drink on someone to hugging them in two minutes.

Porpe, very excited to be here.

Porpe, Kearley, and Catherine.

This is when NWA came on and we all saw who was the most "down" and knew the most lyrics.

Lako and Metal Mike.

"'Cause some police think...they have the authority to kill a minority!"

Quick stop to check out the lights on the Hotel Tampa.

Shotgun!

Porpe and I had to get in a quick chest bump.

I forgot we haven't done a floor shot in a while, so Schaefer grabbed the camera and got it done photo.

I noticed the trash can said "Schaefer" on it.

Body's night got that much better when the Jameson girls showed up.

PBR Porpe.

Booze Cruise 2009: Rob Meronek's Photos and Captions

A couple weeks ago, I put up some old shoes on eBay and raised $600 to pay for our drinks on the Booze Cruise. The bar tab at Rock n Sports, the first stop, was under $200. This was due to one thing: slow service. I don't understand understaffed bars. A couple extra bartenders and this tab would easily have been triple. Take this and multiply it by all the people that were there all night and it doesn't make sense how you would not call in every single employee if you owned a bar that was slammed.

Now here's what a bar tab looks like when customers can consume as fast as possible. There's some food on here, but the majority is booze. Oops, the Booze Cruise went about $200 over budget. Imagine that. Yeah, you're welcome, bros.

This is about half the crew ready to hit the ground rolling out of Centro Ybor.

Girlfriends rode bikes.

Somehow Kearley and Catherine got $50 bike tickets for no lights while everyone else on skateboards was able to skate away. I thought for sure I was in for another opportunity to clown Officer Doofy. Maybe Doofy and crew are starting to realize how silly they're being with giving skateboarding tickets?

A collection was taken from the entire crew so we could pay for the bike tickets.

Ryan, Brandon, and Lako who went back to the smokes like returning to an old crappy girlfriend.

Food and flashes run this dude's life.

What asshole is serving Body's cake upside down? Ruining some damn good frosting there. That's Justin from Innetech and Kevin Sullivan from college.

A cake fight landed a nice to-go piece for Stalker Steve.

Angel of the FSEC was nearby parking cars so he stopped in for some cake. Lako is still making out with smokes like that old crappy girlfriend.

We are now at The Hub where Schaefer is making new friends as usual. This is the girl that smacked him that Stalker Steve was talking about.

The last thing I ever thought I'd shoot a photo of is Stalker Steve skateboarding in The Hub. He was later shirtless, but I'll spare you those photos.

Austin from the Shop stopped by after his shift that night. You need to check out some of his artwork next time you're in the Shop. Austin, let's get some of what you're doing on the website?