It’s funny how we meet. Bladers, that is. Most encounters — at least for me — have started with a sighting of a Senate backpack, a Mindgame beanie or by happenstance at a spot, school, the airport, the mall or the skatepark.

In Arizona, we’re everywhere. It’s probably one of the few states where you could meet someone — who doesn’t skate — at a show, at a bar, any of the aforementioned and achieve the same effect.

“Oh, that’s a blading company on your shirt right? Does Dustin Latimer still skate? Casey McFarland?”

It’s a small world.

I met Derek Stanton three years ago in one of the dorms at ASU and we’ve been dudes ever since.

Any spot is fun to blade with Derek because he’s the kind of skater who will kill it whether there is a camera on him or not. He lives in a big house way out in the desert and drives all over the valley on a weekly basis.

While most of the blade community was in Detroit for the BCSD, we drove down to Tucson and met up with some of the locals. The two cities are separated by a 116-mile-long stretch of highway straight through the sand but it’s all love.

Derek put together this edit with some clips he got on a recent business trip to California. Press play, enjoy.

Photo by Ben Karris