PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
MOAB UTAH is located in The Four Corners, an extremely rugged region of the United States consisting of southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona and southeast Utah. The name comes from the Four Corners Monument, located where the four states touch — the only location in the United States that is on the boundaries of four states.
On The Edge: “I promise them a near-death experience, and I deliver.”
When Elijah Adams signed up for a church trip to Moab, he thought he was going to Israel. After all, wasn’t the biblical Ruth a Moabite? “I didn’t know what we were signing up for,” he said of the trip he and his dad signed on to in 2000, when he was 14.
“I didn’t know what a mountain bike was.”
He soon found out.
Moab, as things turned out, is in the Four Corners in Utah, a land made for rafting, repelling, hiking and biking. Adams and his father spent a week doing all that and more as part of a church trip led by Dr. Vincent Marino, a Cocoa Beach, Florida family practitioner.
Adams remembers being in awe of a rock climbing guide the group nicknamed Spiderman because of how he could scale a particular passage in minutes.
“It took us half an hour and only three of us could do it,” said Adams, who also remembers the pain he endured after his efforts. “I couldn’t open the car door. My fingers wouldn’t work.”
Though there were plenty of fun and games, the more serious aspects also made an impression. He remembers the Bible study that first year, which focused on the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Perhaps the best way to sum up his feelings about the experience is the fact that Adams, now 24, has been back four times.
“It is the teenage boy’s paradise,” said Marino, who has been organizing the annual May excursions with three other leaders since 1997. “I promise them a near-death experience, and I deliver,” he said.
In fact, the danger appears to be a large part of the draw. Marino recalls running into a former participant in Wal-Mart a few years after a trip. He raved about the experience Marino said, exclaiming, “I had five days where I almost died every day.”
“That’s why the boys love it. It’s on the edge,” Marino said. (He hasn’t been able to take girls on the trip because he doesn’t have any female chaperone volunteers.)
Practicing On Pig Feet
Fortunately, Dr. Marino can report no serious injuries during any of the trips, though there have been a couple broken bones – a chaperone broke a rib and collarbone doing mountain bike jumps in a parking lot after a ride – and plenty of lacerations.
Dr. Marino travels prepared to wash, numb and stitch wounds, and even will offer to let someone try their hand at stitching, with the permission of the patient. They practice first on pig feet Marino picks up in town. Not to worry – he’s a pro, and he’ll re-stitch if necessary.
NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED: “It’s the teenage boy’s paradise,” said Dr. Vince Marino, who has been organizing an annual May church excursion to Moab, Utah that includes rafting, repelling, hiking and biking. “I promise them a near-death experience - and I deliver,” he said.
Dr. Marino has no doubt that the teens relish the time going wild in the outdoors. But he looks ahead to when those teen boys become 30-something dads. That’s when the true impact of the trip will kick in, he said, and they’ll resolve to recreate similar experiences for their own kids.
The key to the profound nature of the trip is their young age, he said. “It’s a time in their lives when things are bigger and more exciting,” he said. A similar experience as an adult wouldn’t have the same impact.
Growing up in Alabama, for example, Marino remembers a bike route he used to take. In his memory, it was a long ride to a huge cliff. He returned years later and discovered what a difference perspective makes: The bike trail measured about four miles. “I was stunned. I thought it was more like 14 miles,” he said. The cliff, too, seemed to have shrunk over time.
Today, he watches the teenage boys rock climbing in Moab and knows they’re creating memories that will loom large their entire lives. “I guarantee they’ll be drooling on themselves in the nursing home, thinking about a jump they took,” Marino said.
Marino grew up enjoying whatever activities were available where he lived. After Alabama, his family moved to Cocoa Beach, where he enjoyed surfing and making trips to Central Florida springs to snorkel.
DR. MARINO PRACTICES family medicine in Cocoa Beach, and his wife, Tammy, serves as nurse and office manager. Their three sons and daughter, now grown, shared in many of their adventure outings.
Deep Brevard Roots
Dr. Marino graduated from Cocoa Beach High School, attended Brevard Community College and finished at University of South Florida with a degree in chemistry at age 27. When he was told that was too old to start medical school, he made a self-proclaimed crazy move: One month later, he bought a one-way ticket to the Dominican Republic, picked up a Spanish-English dictionary in the Miami airport and started medical school at Universidad Central Del Este.
He practices family medicine in Cocoa Beach, and his wife, Tammy, serves as nurse and office manager. The two share a love of the outdoors. Every year, they take a trip to Glacier National Park; last year they logged 80 miles of hiking in six days, averaging 2,000 feet of elevation a day. “If we don’t get chased by a bear, it’s not a good vacation,” Marino said.
Their three sons and daughter, now grown, shared in plenty of their adventures. “They’ll tell you that I was a lunatic father,” he said.
He continues the tradition in Moab. When Marino talks about his fellow travelers, it’s clear he puts a different value on words like “insane” and “crazy.” To him, the terms are the highest of compliments.
Awakening
His spiritual awakening came in 1988 – June 6, to be exact. He remembers the day when he visited a Merritt Island church with a friend. The pastor spoke on Samson, from the book of Judges, a prophet who squandered God’s call. Marino felt screwed to the chair and remembers thinking the sermon was directed at him.
He described his life at the time as “a fairy tale in reverse.” He had money, fast cars, lots of crazy friends, but no meaning. “It totally changed the direction of my life. I was going left, and then I was going right,” he said.
The experience got him back on track. “I think we all grow up with an innate faith. It was always there in the background,” he said.
The youth trips to Moab reinforce that faith in the youth, with twice daily Bible studies. They also plant seeds that will bear fruit in stronger families in the future.
“This adventure is so much in their mind. They’re going to want to share such an adventure with their kids,” he said.
CROSS COUNTY BIKING and rock climbing in Moab creates life-long memories for teens that will loom large their entire lives. “I guarantee they’ll be drooling on themselves in the nursing home, thinking about a jump they took,” Dr. Marino said.
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