wrote this in about 30 min, i had to to it for an English class.

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As the sun shined through his window at the crack of dawn, Mike woke up from a long

rested night and knew that today was the day he will set out on a road trip that he would never

forget. Mike is a 18 year old kid that has a dream of one day becoming a pro skim boarder. As

Mike woke up and got dressed, he packed his clothes, put on some sandals, got something to eat

and loaded his bag of clothes, a couple extra pairs of sandals, few bars of wax and his skimboard

into the bed of his truck. Mike of course was not going on this journey alone, he was acompineed

his two friends, Paul and John. As mike drove over to Pauls house he could not stop thinking about

what to expect on this road trip across the southern states looking for the perfect wave to get on

camera that would hopefully help in becoming a pro skim boarder.As Mike arrived at Pauls house,

Paul was already waiting outside wait anxiously while enjoying a hot cup of coffee. They loaded all

of Pauls belongings and most importantly his skimboard into the bed of the truck. On the way over

to Johns house they knew he probably wasnt ready being that he is probably the worst kid ever

when it comes to getting up early in the morning especially at 5 AM. Knowing that John is going to

take forever Mike figured he would stop by a convient store and pick up a couple of energy drinks to

keep him awake knowing that he has a very long drive ahead of him. When they arrived at Johns

house Mike and Paul both knew this would be a tough task because he is probably still sleeping.

Instead of knocking they just walked in his side door which John left open the night before incase

he didn't get up. As they got into his room surprisingly he was not there, all of his bags were

packed but John was no were to be found. They walked out into the kitchen and it seemed that

John had fallen asleep on the counter while eating a bowl of cereal, they woke John up, got his

bags, loaded up the truck and they were off. There first stop was Venice on the east coast of

Florida. When they finnally arrived there after a few hours of driving there was indeed some very

profitable skim, the waves were over head and there was a close shore break. They skimmed there

for a couple of hours, went to get something to eat and then they were off to there next stop, the

Sebastion Inlet. As they arrived at there next destination they were very dissapointed because

there was no skim. There was over head waves but they were too far out to reach. At this time it

was getting kind of late so they checked into a motel and called it a night. The three boys figured

they would sleep in because they knew that would be driving for a very long time up to the

panhandle of Florida and possibly farther if the skim wasn't any good. As they reached the

panhandle of Florida there was some pretty decent skim. About chest high with a very close shore

break. They skimmed there for a couple of hours but Mike was still not satisfied with the footage

they have been getting. Mike wanted something that know one has ever seen before, he wants to

catch a wave that in most cases would look like death, he wants to catch a wave that know one in

the right state of mind would even consider trying, but Mike didn't look at it like this, he wants to

become a professional and will not let a risk stand in his way, even if it is a life or death situation.

On the third day of there journey as Mike stopped at a gas station to get a drink and some gas he

noticed something on the television behind the register when he was paying, there was a huge

hurricane heading for California and Mike knew that this would be his chance, his chance to prove

that not just surfers are the ones who can catch huge waves. Mike knowing that catching a huge

wave so close to shore might be a problem and if he does not ride it all the way down the beach

then he can get crushed by it and could possibly drowned. Mike wasn't bothered by the serious risk

of this, he knew that this was something he had to do. After a few days of driving, Mike, Paul and

John arrived at California but were kind of early, the hurricane wasn't suppose to hit for another day

or two. The three boys figured since they had a couple of days to just hang out they would see what

there was to do around the town. They first checked into a motel and had it reserved for the next

day to make sure they wouldn't end up spending all of there money and not having a place to sleep.

As they went out on the first night they ending up going to the mall were they got a bite to eat and

ended up getting kicked out by a security guard not to long after because they thought it would be

fun to slide down an escalator sitting on food trays from the food court. When they left the mall they

headed out to the beach to see what to expect when the hurricane would hit. To there surprise the

waves were already chest high and the hurricane was still a couple hundred miles out in the Gulf of

Mexico. The next day the three boys just sat around the the motel watching television and just

relaxing knowing the hurricane was going to be there and they would need there rest. As the next

day rolled around quickly Mike was the first to wake up because he knew that today would either

make or break his career, this would be a once in a life time chance. As Paul and John woke up

Mike was already ready to go. After they all got something to eat they headed to the beach not

knowing what they were about to get themselves into. When the three of them walked onto the hard

wet sand they couldnt belive what they saw, twenty foot waves barreling over like the pipeline in

Hawaii. Mike was starting to have second thought but he knew that he had to do this. Paul and

John refused to go out there and did not want Mike to go either but they couldn't talk him out of it.

As Paul picked of the video camera and made sure he had a good view of Mike, Mike started to

walk out there without a care in the world. As he saw the perfect wave building up about 50 feet out

he knew that this would be it. He yelled to Paul to get ready and then Mike took off running faster

then he had ever ran before. As Mike threw the skimboard onto the hard wet sand he jumped on it

and glided out as smooth as silk. As the 20 foot wave started to engulf Mike, Paul and John thought

he was dead. Paul stayed on the camera just incase and hoped for the best. Mike came flying out

of the barrel about 30 seconds later knowing that he had proabably just rode the biggest wave in the

history of skimboarding and came out alive. About a week after Mike submitted the tape to Zap

Skimboards, they sent him a letter and a plane ticket in the mail inviting him back out to California

to join Zap on tour for all of their professional skimboard competitions. Mikes dream of becomming

a professional skim boarder had finnally become true and had no one else to thank except for his

two best friends, Paul and John.