Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / EP323 | Rugged Destinations: A Family's Journey

Transcript

EP323 | Rugged Destinations: A Family's Journey · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast. I am
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I'm here with Amanda and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Patrick from Rugged Destinations. And we are here at the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: second annual Big Thing at the Ex-Overland Ranch in Montana.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And it's been a super fun couple of days. This
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is the last morning. You guys are probably getting ready
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to head off to some distant location, which will be awesome.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But thank you for being on the podcast with me today. Absolutely.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: We're happy to be here.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And a special thanks to Honcook Dynapro Tire for supporting
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this week's Overland Journal podcast. Be sure to visit expeditionportal.com
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to see our features on the recent Honcook experience at
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the fourth annual Bronco Stampede in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: took a look at the full line of Dynapro tires
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and some great Ford Broncos cars. from all over the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: country as they gathered at this community event of enthusiasts
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and top brands. Thanks again, Han Cook.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: And man, has it been a fun weekend.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Tell me some of your highlights. What did you guys
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: enjoy about the event?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So we got to pre-run the Back 400 and the
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: skills course.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, nice.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: On Thursday, we got to help the safety team get
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: their feet under them.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And you used your canter for that?
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: We used our new canter, which was... Perfect timing because
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: it's a new build to us. And so getting to
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: really stretch its legs and test it out on that
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: very challenging skills course.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: That's a rad truck. It looks like a JDM fire truck.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's not, but that's what it looks like.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It is, yeah. It's actually the second JDM fire truck
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: we brought in from Japan. I'm a huge profit for
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the JDM imports. We just have so many advantages.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. We're stoked. Any one that we've ever acquired,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: which we've done a few. We did an LJ78, awesome truck.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: And then we brought in a BJ74, which was, and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it's still running around. A good friend of mine has it.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And it's one of the few trucks that I've sold
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that I wish I could get back. But yeah, the
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: JDM stuff is they take such good care of their vehicles.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: They have such strict regulations around it. I think the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: next one for me is going to be a right-hand
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: drive Jimny. I'm very excited about that.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: I happen to love Jimneys. Yeah, it's on my list again.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It's a thing. It's like a motorcycle with roll-up windows.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: We happen to know where about a dozen Jimneys are,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: so if you need a phone number, let us know.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: That's cool. Yeah, there's JDM Off-Road out of Washington that's
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: bringing them in.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Brian Cox.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian. He's super knowledgeable on that platform, and yeah,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it, but then new clan, so
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: now we're riding motorcycles around the world. So I'll worry
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: about the Jimny when I get back sometime in 2030.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: So let's go through a little bit of your history. Amanda,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: where did you first find your love for being in
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the outdoors, traveling, vehicle-based travel? What kind of kicked that
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: all off for you?
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I have a really unique upbringing. Half of my family
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: is Italian. So I grew up traveling all over the place.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: My parents are scuba divers, so we would go to
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: really unique places when I was growing up to do
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: those kind of trips. Everybody else was going to Hawaii
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: or Mexico for their vacations. And I was like, I'm
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: going to Bonaire. Why am I going to Bonaire? So
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: that's kind of where that started. And then I remember 12, 13,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: and I was like, I want to do this forever.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: And then at that point, remote jobs weren't a thing.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: But that stuck with me forever.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And what do you find for yourself is what keeps
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: drawing you back to it? Like, how is it changing
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: you as a person? What are the things that you're
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: discovering still after all these years of travel that's keeping
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: pulling you back towards being on the road?
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Being on the road is where you get to find yourself.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: connection with the world around you it's such a relaxing
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: place you can get away from all the chaos and
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: stuff and just the people and the places and the
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: cultures that just everywhere we go it's something new and
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: so I just I'm addicted.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: To it yeah nice and Patrick what was that pivotal
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: moment that I don't know if you've had one but
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: as a traveler that that moment where you realize this
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: is part of me and it needs to be more
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of my life what was that story or that pivotal
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: moment that really drew you to travel We might get.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: More into this as the podcast goes because it's a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: long story.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we got time. Okay.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: So about 10 years ago, Amanda and I started shooting
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: photographs and video of what we saw as just camping.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Sure. And it is pretty much just camping. We have
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: a fancy term for it now.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: And then after a while, we discovered that you could
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: make a living doing this. And that was honestly extremely
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: surprising to me.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Understand the business side that didn't make any sense. And
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: this company started reaching out to us and saying, can
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: we pay you to do this art that you're making?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Which seems so surprising. It was like, you can make
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: money doing what we already want to be doing.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And so we started a business, launched it. We worked
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: for many years to get out of nine to fives
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: that we felt that Yeah. I'm not trapped in.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: And what was your careers at the time?
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I was an auto mechanic for about 20 years.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: It's a good thing. That's a great skill.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: It's a very handy skill.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: It's a great skill.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I was master certified with Mercedes-Benz.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Awesome. And with Ford Motor. And despite the benefits of overlanding,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: it's actually a great career. People don't realize that you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: can make a very, a great living. You can have
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a set schedule. You can actually leave your job at
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the end of the day and turn off that switch.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: So that that's yeah. What a cool career.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: I've also found I'm a huge, I encourage young people
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: to go into the trades all the time because the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: pay is excellent.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Like you said, it's a very flexible way to live.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: It's not like in a law firm where. Everything is
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: very high pace and it's very hard to take time off.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I actually got to a point in my career where
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I was able to spend about 90 days field, even
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: though I was working.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: A full-time job.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: It's one of those that really was the perfect jumping
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: off point for us. And then what would Amanda tell you?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: And AI isn't going to be swapping out alternators anytime soon.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So you got to be thinking about that. The trades are,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and they're also a long part of human history. For millennia, obviously,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that's how we earned our living was with our hands.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And there was very few knowledge workers even 100 years ago.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: So I think it's a pretty natural career path for
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of young people today. So how about you, Amanda?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Where'd you come from?
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: I was a paralegal for IP, for intellectual property. It's
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: like the most boring kind of legal work possible, but
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: I'm a detailed person.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. So I loved it. And it's great to
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: have a detailed person. On a trip, because yeah, I
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: would lose my head if it wasn't firmly attached to
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: my shoulders. I think that's why I have no neck
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: is that it would be gone. It would be missing somewhere.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: But yeah, you've got to have that on a team.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: So you've got to have the person that can keep
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the house running, literally running down the road and the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: person that could be planning the border crossings and all
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of the other logistics. It makes for a great team. Yeah,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: it's funny where we all come from. I've done some
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: 300 of these podcasts and I'm always surprised what people
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: were doing before they found their way. And then there's
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: not any real consistency. Now there is, people do tend
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: to have a creative slant, but it doesn't mean that
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: they came from a creative career field. They loved photography,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: but they were working for Mercedes, for example. Yeah, really
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: interesting how that all develops. So what was the kickoff
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: series of trips or was there something that you guys
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: big that you guys wanted to do? What really drove
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you guys to say, Hey, we're going to change our life. Yeah.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: The big, the, the big thing that, that led us
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: down this path was driving to the Arctic ocean.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Okay. Sure.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: We did that for the first time with our two
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: boys that we travel with.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: We did that in a, at the time we had
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: a Jeep gladiator and just a bed rack.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Top 10 simple drawer system.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: A pretty small refrigerator, like very humble setup. And we
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: did it very quickly because we didn't have much time off.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: So we did to Trudeau and back from Washington State.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a run.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: In just over 18 days.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Okay. I think.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: So it was like extremely fast pace.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: That is, what did you drive? A WRX? That is
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: quite a run.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: It was a lot. It taught us... to go slow.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: That was the trip that we learned we really do
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: have to slow down. We can't give ourselves that tight
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: of a schedule. And also, it taught us that it's
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: okay to take time as long as we have it.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: And at the time, we were not full-time living this way.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: We didn't have that opportunity, but it really was the
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: spark that lit the flame. We had spent our whole
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: marriage together and the boys growing up for the first
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: couple of years, traveling extensively, but never with that amount
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: of logistical burden, never with that amount of distance, never
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: with that level of remoteness. And so that really, those
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: were the determining triad of factors that made it, it
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: felt so, I remember it feeling so big and scary
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: at the time. And I was like, do we, funny
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: side story. We actually took the gladiator to a local
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: river in our area. It's like, we need to test
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: its ability. to ford water because we just never knew
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: yeah sure and so we took it through four feet
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: of water just to test it and i was like
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: we're good we can do.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: It hopefully you got some photos for that.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: We didn't ford water one time yeah we never had
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to but it really was a defining trip i think
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: for us as people for us as a family and
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: definitely for us as a brand.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: And What made you guys make that leap towards starting
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: to record the videos? Was people giving you feedback? Did
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you start in social media and then you said, hey,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: we're going to start to do some videos? Or what
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: was your goal around that?
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: The whole goal behind us starting was to just inspire
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: other families to get out. I would stay at home
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: at the beginning and I love traveling so much. So
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I refused to stay home. Our first son, when he
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: was two months old, I hit the road with him
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: and we did an international trip. We did road trips.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Up into Canada and down. And so many other moms
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: were just like, how did you do that? It's terrifying.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: So the whole purpose behind it was just to be
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: able to show people, if we can do it, we're
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: a bunch of goofballs. You can do it. It's not
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: that bad if it's just going to a state park.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: That's totally fine. But just get outside with your kids.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: It seems like kids, they just need their mom, their parents. Basically,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you think about the families that came across the United
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: States in a covered wagon. It was way harder than anything.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: We've got air conditioning now. It seems to be totally feasible.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I've never traveled with kids. I've never had kids myself.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: But I've seen a lot of families get out there.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And I think it's so important for our industry to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: continue to reinforce that it's totally possible to travel with
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: your family. Yeah.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: We'd like to go a step further and not just
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: say it's possible, but it's exceedingly rewarding. And the reason
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: we travel full time now is so that it's really
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: for our boys so that they can learn durability, resilience,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: faith in the ability to overcome any sort of adversity
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: they may run into.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: That's really why. We personally, those are our selfish reasons.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: For doing this.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: It's difficult to find those challenges because everything is built
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: around comfort these days. So you have to try really
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: hard just to put them through different kinds of challenges.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You guys ever read that book, Comfort Crisis? Be
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a good one to listen to while you're in the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: truck driving. But I think it is a crisis of
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: humanity is that we've done a lot of work to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: make life very easy and human beings start to break
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: when that happens. We're supposed to be challenged and especially kids.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Kids need to be challenged and grow and build self-confidence,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: be in awkward situations. We need to expose them to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: as many different kinds of people as possible. Otherwise, we
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: become very myopic. That's how things like racism develop is
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: when you realize, oh, it's like I'm special because I'm
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the way that I am. No, we're all special in
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: our own way. But you got to expose kids to that,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I think. Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Our internal messaging within our family is there is nothing
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: special about us.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: We're not, like Amanda said, we're just goofballs. That's how
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: we see ourselves. It's just wayward wanderers that are just
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out how to live a life that's
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: meaningful to us. And we also encourage our boys to
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: always lead with gratitude in any situation, right? And we've
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: been in some poor situations where things were not going
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: our way and we've had to stomp as a family
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: and take stock and realize we have our health. We
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: still have many resources at our disposal, even if some
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of them are not running properly at the moment.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Sure, sure.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Actually, during that Alaska trip, we watched our trailer wheel
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: fly past us. We had a little mini trailer with
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: a rooftop tent on it, so we had a second bedroom.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: And we watched that in the middle of the Dalton Highway.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: We watched that trailer tire just go flying off.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: That's terrifying.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Which is tough.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Did the studs break or did the lugs come loose?
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Actually, the entire axle shaft, the stub, broke. The hump bearing,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: lug nuts, everything together just flew off.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: That's not easy to fix.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: We had to replace the axle, which was driving to
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Fairbanks to locate the one last axle that was available.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Crazy.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Six trailer shops and then driving another 250 miles back
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: to go get the trailer, which I think could have
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: destroyed our experience if we had allowed it to.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: But we led with gratitude. The whole time. It was
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: like we're complaining or we have this instinct to want
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: to complain.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: We're in Alaska. Yeah. With your kids, with your family.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're together.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: No one was hurt. No one was harmed.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. There's always some way to find gratitude in a moment,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: even the most downtrod moments. It's still available.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: And when he says that we stop to reflect, we
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: literally stop. Communication is huge in our family. We've raised
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: the boys to be able to talk about anything and
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: everything and just break down feelings or break down situations,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: help explain even just areas that we're in. So we
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: stop and we will verbalize to each other. We need
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: you guys to come up with something that you're grateful
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: for right now. Let's talk about it.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's important for travelers when they're moving
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: together to allow ourselves to be vulnerable with each other
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: because we're all going to have hard days. We're all
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: going to have days that we're not feeling good or
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: we didn't sleep well. And if we encourage each other
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and the way that we encourage each other is by
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: modeling that behavior. So being vulnerable with our partner and
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: when our partner tells us that they're struggling, allow them that.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: The hardest thing for me is, of course, I want
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: to fix the problem. But what Tavia needs in that
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: moment is for me to listen. And I struggle with that.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I want to fix, fix whatever is, but really what
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: she needs in that moment is for me to listen
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: to what she's experiencing. And then we can work on
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a plan together to solve the problem. And the same
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: for me. A lot of times we just want to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: be heard that we're having a hard day. And so
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: that's important. That's a great reminder for those that are
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: listening is when you're out there with your family, talk
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: before you leave, set expectations, do, And two boys you're
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: traveling with. Correct. And maybe share their first names and
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: what's each of their interests? What are they really into?
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And is it different? Are they into the same stuff?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Our oldest, I'll take our oldest. I'll let my wife
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: describe our youngest. Our oldest is almost a carbon copy
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: of myself.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: He is very stubborn, but exceedingly resilient. He's physically driven,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: so he likes to build and break and build again.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: That's his idea of a good time.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: He's our designated fire maker.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: He does his entire job. Okay. Usually in camp is
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: to acquire fuel, chop wood, and he's been doing that
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: since he was about six.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: That's cool. And how old is he now?
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: He's 11 now.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Okay. What a cool age. Yeah.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: And his name's Atticus.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: What a cool name.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was named after Atticus Finch.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one of my personal favorite characters.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nice. That's great. And then how about your youngest?
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Our youngest is 10.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, they're close in age. Yeah, sure.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: So Grant, he is a carbon copy of me.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: So we're a little bit more bubbly, probably a little
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: ADD out there.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I can relate.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: He's super bright.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: He's our bookworm.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: He loves to learn anything new. that's around him. He
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: just loves to do it. Fun facts, he will have you.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Okay. Something needs to be Googled.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, he is it.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cool.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: He just loves being in the outdoors. He's very social.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: He just loves to be around other people, be involved
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: with what's going on. So he doesn't particularly stick to
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: one job. He will just, what do you need help with? Yeah.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Oh, cool. That's amazing. And so you did this big
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: trip up to Alaska and clearly it You guys wanted
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to make that part of your life. But what was
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the next big trip for you guys after that?
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: So the next big trip was Baja. And it was
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: just a few years later. And the difference in variables
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: were that we had both.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Left our nine to five jobs. Wow.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: We were running our business together. It was relatively new
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: to us. We were probably about nine months in to
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: it being our sole income. So we were in a
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: very vulnerable state, to put it frankly.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: We were terrified.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I found myself overworking constantly, almost to a fault, to
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the point that I would physically break down. And to
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: be totally honest, we had taken this soft approach. The
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: goal was always, let's go on the road full time.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: And we had taken this soft approach of, we'll take
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: local clients and we'll outmanage their social media, shoot their photos,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: shoot their videos. We were playing this digital ad agency
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: type of role, which was.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Never the goal.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: The goal was always an art firm. That was what
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: we wanted. We wanted to be in charge of creative.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: That's it. And we got fired by all of our
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: clients almost in the course of two days.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, no. And scary.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: And we found ourselves completely unrelated topic and we probably
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: don't even need to touch on it, but we also
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: found ourselves somehow involved in a lawsuit related to a
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: photo shoot that we've been on. And that was the
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: first time I ever had a panic attack. Honestly, I
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: didn't even know what it was. I told Amanda that my,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Palms were sweating and I couldn't breathe properly. And I
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: remember just going out of our office and I got
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: into the car and just drove aimlessly. I just drove
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: and it took me 30 minutes to realize I'd been
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: in the car just driving aimlessly and had, and I
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: was so terrified because I felt responsible. I felt like
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I was, I had talked my wife into this thing,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: this dream, and then blew it. That's what it felt
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: like at the moment. And it took us about three
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: days after that before we took stock, right? We were
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: able to stop and take stock. What do we have available?
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I'm not the numbers guy. I don't do that. I'm
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the driver. I'm the big picture guy in our relationship.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: And frankly, I didn't know how much money we had.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: And we had a little bit more than I thought
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: we'd get. I told Amanda, I said, with that amount
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: of money, I think we should just go to Baja and...
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: commit to what the real dream was from the start.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: And it either works or we come home with our
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: tails tucked. And I really don't think, looking back now,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I don't think it would have worked any other way.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I don't think unless my back was against the wall
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: or our backs were against the wall and we had
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: no other options, did that It effectively burned the boats.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you know that phrase. Provides a lot of clarity,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't it?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: It effectively burned the boats for us. We didn't have
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: to light the flame.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It just did it.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: And so we made our way to Baja and we
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: had absolutely zero idea what we were doing. And we
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: met all these wonderful people, many of them locals who
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: were so incredibly kind. They We were there for Christmas.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: So then we got to go to Abuela's house for
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Christmas dinner.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: This family came up to us on the beach. It
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: was like, we know you don't have family here. So
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: would you like to come to Abuela's house for Christmas dinner?
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And they fed us a seven course meal, this most
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: gorgeous thing.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Incredible.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: It was just, it was a life change. That was
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: the trick that was life changing. It's partially because of
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the conditions and variables of being in this extremely vulnerable
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: state and left, I was a broken person as we
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: were making our way down. I was thinking, we're probably done.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: This little idea that I had, this dream is fizzling
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: out and I'm going to have to watch it fizzle
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: over the next three to four months. And then I'm
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: going to have to go back and I'll be working
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: in a shop again. I don't see my kids, but.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: A couple hours a day. I, on the other hand,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: was optimistic which was like a reverse in roles for
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: us because when he said like all of his symptoms
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: that he was feeling and saying oh no I'm familiar
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: with panic attacks those are a close friend and I
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: was like welcome.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: You've made it you are human after all.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Literally about a week before our clients local clients had
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: let us go and I just felt this kind of
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: divine intervention and I called him while I was driving
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: and I was like I don't know how to explain
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: it but I feel like I just have this message.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: We're headed in the right direction. Whatever it is that
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: we're doing right now, this is the path that we're
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: supposed to be on. So when all of that stuff
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: happened and he was having a meltdown, I was like, nope,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: the universe told me that we're good to go.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: So we're fine.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: I'm cool as a cucumber. So the whole way down
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: and stuff, I'm like, no, it's going to work. I
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: know it's going to work.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: It's kind of neat how that can work in partnerships
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: where you hope that two people aren't having an anxiety
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: attack at the exact same moment. But it doesn't seem
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: to be that way. It seems to be that one
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: or the other realizes that they need to be in
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: a supportive role and they're not allowed to break down.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: And clearly humans have figured that out through the millennia.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: You can't have the whole village losing their mind all
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: in one shot. Some people got to step up and
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: fight the bear or whatever. But yeah, so you were
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: fighting the bear in that moment, which is cool. Yeah.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: And we have found it to be true that it
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: is exceedingly rare that both of us melt down at
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: the same time.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: And really a key probably of that trip as well,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: but just a key of our marriage and our business
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: together and everything is finding those accompanying skill sets, right? Understanding, hey,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: this is an area that I'm not good at. can
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: this be your job and this be your part? And
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I absolutely needed it in the moment. I was in
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: a place, I was in an extremely, I'm not an
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: incredibly emotional person.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I know my.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Therapists have always called me emotionally illiterate. I don't even
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: really know what I'm feeling, what I'm feeling it a lot.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: And so for me, it was terrifying because for one
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: of the first times in my life, I was truly
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: feeling like.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Raw, real, visceral emotion.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: And that was so challenging, especially when it felt like
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: there was so much on the line.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: How did it feel after you went through that? Do
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: you feel like you were able to recalibrate a little bit?
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: So, yes, I was.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Short answer.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Long answer. We had the most poetic, the most beautiful,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: the most satisfying, the most everything three months of our lives.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: I feel like we rediscovered ourselves as people. I feel
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: like we rediscovered ourselves and rewrote our story as a family.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: And it ended up being the pivotal moment, I think,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: in my life. It turned into probably the most important
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: period of time. There was more growth for me personally
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: and for us as a family as a whole in
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: that period of time than I think we've ever had.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: It was just a fast track to This is how
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: you do business. This is how you communicate properly. This
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: is how all of the things, any skill that we
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: might need.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: You guys leveled up.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Extremely fast. Because we had no option. We were
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: out of options. And so the figure with which we
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: would attack something was like endless. There was an endless
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: gas tank for attack at that point in time. There
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: was desperation in such a valuable moment. valuable asset sometimes.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, absolutely. It can spark a lot of change,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: give us a lot of focus and motivation. You guys
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: have been through a lot together, traveled together, running a
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: business together. What are you most proud of Amanda for?
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Amanda is, and many people don't know this, so hopefully
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: this message can find its way to the masses, but Amanda.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Is- About 50,000 people, so it's a good start. Perfect.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Amanda is almost- entirely responsible for the creative side of
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: our business, especially post-production, copywriting, social media management, all email campaigns,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: all of that. I handle most of our business side
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: and we both shoot photo and video simultaneously. But other
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: than that specific task of just production, The pre-production, post-production, distribution,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: all of that is divvied up between the two of us.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: And I would say the thing that I am most
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: proud of Amanda for is her seemingly endless ability to
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: be creative, to find a new way to say something
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: that's been said many times, to find a new way
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: to edit together clips that evoke emotion out of people
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: in a way that I would have never. And I, frankly,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: for someone who runs a business, on social media, I
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: actually don't spend all that much time on social media.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: And I will go on every once in a while
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: because a client will need specs or something off of
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: our social and I'll scroll through and she'll find me
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: crying in the seat of the car. Cause I'm like
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: watching these beautiful things that she's made that I'm not
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: even aware of. Cause there's this whole distribution process that
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: happens without me involved.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: And I, I get to December her art. Just like
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: any other consumer.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. And it is art. And it's an important
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: form of expression for travelers. It inspires others to get
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: out and see the world. And then it also gives
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: us that expression of our own experience. We don't want
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: to hold that in. We want to find a way
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: to be able to express those things. And same question
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: for you, Amanda. What are you most proud of Patrick for?
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: So many things. But Patrick's our rock in every way.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: He's so patient and compassionate and... so driven. And that
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: example for our boys, they're every day. I look at
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: the way that he interacts with our boys and I
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: couldn't be more excited and more proud of the fact
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: that I found him. He's my partner in life and
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: I get him for the rest of our lives. I
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: can't believe that at times where I just want to
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: pinch myself. But yeah, I think that and then obviously
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: the business side, just him being able to step up
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: and then work together with me and just make this
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: dream come true.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: And to grow as a family in that way, it's
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: so rare. Like to your point earlier, someone who works
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: a full-time job, you're lucky to spend two or three
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: hours a night with your kids and you guys get
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: to spend huge chunks of time and see them overcome challenges,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: see them have their first steps literally and figuratively where
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: they're having these aha moments of the young person of, yeah,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I just did this thing or whatever. Yeah.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: It's crazy that even with us traveling full-time, we spend
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: all of our time together, it still doesn't feel like enough.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: It still feels like, I just, I just wish we
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: could have even more somehow.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: And think about how many families, they just don't get that.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: They get hours a day if they're lucky. And a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: lot of times the kids are on their devices for
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: those hours or the parents are, and they really don't,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: they're not starting fires together. They're not digging the truck
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: out cause it's stuck or whatever. Like those are pretty
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: defining experiences. I would think as a family. Definitely.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: We personally, we get a lot of interaction with our
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: community who will reach out directly and say, I'm dealing
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: with this problem or I have this. One of the
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: big ones is my kids don't enjoy it or my
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: wife doesn't want to go. That's what we hear a lot.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: I get a lot of, Amanda gets a lot of
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: messages of, bro, you're lucky your wife likes to go.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: But I know that.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: We extend a lot of grace to modern parents because
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: the cards are so stacked against you, right? There's this world,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: like we discussed earlier, that's totally trending toward comfort and distraction,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: which can be incredibly hard to overcome. Your kids, they
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: go to school because you have to go to work.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: They get exposure to All kinds of things that even
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: if at home you're super prudent about screen time and
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: understanding biology of your brain and how it's affected by
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: interacting with digital devices, your kids go to school and
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: you don't know. They're there for eight hours, nine hours
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: a day. And I also understand that it's both a
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: problem of resources and agency for modern garrets. They don't
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: have the resources a lot of times, so we have
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: to go to work. We have to go do this
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: job to be able to keep the things that we
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: honestly were told by culture that we have to buy.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: And then once we have more things, we have to
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: go do more work to keep paying for those things.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: And all the while kids can end up in kind
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: of the ether where.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: In the algorithm.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And they feel like mom and dad aren't around.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: And when they are around, they don't really seem like
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: they want to talk. I'm guilty of it as well.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Dad gets home from a long day of hard work
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: and I'm tired. I gave everything I had to that.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: And so probably when the boys were like tiny, I
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: used to do this thing where I would sit in
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: our driveway still thinking. Living in a stick house and
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: stationary and just in that whole thing. We call it
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: being in the matrix internally. And I would stop in
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: the driveway, close my eyes, breathe deeply and be like,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: I have to find the best version of myself to
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: walk into the house with. I can't give the best
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: version of me to my job that when it's all
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: set up, isn't going to matter at all. These people
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: are the ones that matter to me, right?
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I can say that's very rare and obviously another thing
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: to be proud of your husband for because to put
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: your kids first, that's pretty amazing. Put your family first.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: So much intention. Every single day has to be led
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: with intention and it is exhausting. There are days where
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: it would just be easy. Let's just throw the TV on.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Or hand them the iPad or loop.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: It's just a missed opportunity. It's future regret. Trying to
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: look at it from that perspective in the moment will
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: hopefully fuel a little bit of motivation for taking things
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: on with more intention.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you make things a little easier today, but then
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a much harder tomorrow. Whereas if
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: we have a harder today, easier tomorrow.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: How do you guys, with your kids traveling with you,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: how do you guys set up their education? Do you
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: guys have a preference around that? What do you guys
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: like to do to keep your kids engaged?
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: We've been passionate about homeschool from the start, prior to
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: us even graduating. discovering photography and stuff. We just know
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: that the school system, it's challenging, right? People will literally
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: move to different states or different cities to be able
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: to get into the right district to be able to
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: get good schooling. I was super excited. I remember when
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: I told him, I think I can do this.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: I think I can do this.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: We left out because our boys are super bright.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: They're super smart.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: Absolutely skipped a generation. They're way smarter than we are.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: But I just started piecing stuff together. It was pre-COVID,
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: so it wasn't easy to find material, but they were
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: also super young, talking preschool stuff. So it wasn't that difficult.
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, I just made it fun. Then COVID hit,
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: but I felt like I'm prepared. I'm already in this.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: And then since then, one of the positives that I
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: see came from COVID is that all sorts of material
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: is available now. There's so much available for all sorts
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: of different learning styles. So I cherry pick. I pick
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: all sorts of different things. Different... What is it? curriculum
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: yeah essentially yeah so for all the different subjects but
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: we also with traveling we have exposure to so much
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: that half of their education is just what they're learning
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: on the road from different cultures languages questions yeah they
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: they've made friends that they can't speak to each other
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: they're figuring out those sorts of hand motions.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: How cool is that? Yeah, you're not just showing them
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the Sea of Cortez on a map. You're like, they're
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: there on the beach swimming with the whale shark.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: What kind of fish did you catch? Let's go figure
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: it out.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cool.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: Figure out more about it.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Wow, what an amazing experience.
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: And a special thanks to Honcook Tire for supporting... this
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: week's podcast. What's it like when over 20,000 Jeeps and
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: more than 50,000 people get together in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee?
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: We join Hancock Dynapro Tire to capture the awesome energy
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: of the 2026 14th annual Jeep Invasion. Keep an eye
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: on ExpeditionPortal.com for our upcoming event recap and get inspired.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Thanks again, Hancock. What other advice would you give to
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: parents that are hoping to travel with their kids or
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: just starting to travel with their kids? What other advice
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: would you give to parents?
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know that there's any cheat codes or tips
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: and tricks to this one. I would say in general,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: there are some overarching themes that matter a lot. We
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: already touched heavily on communication. I think that that is
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: the one that we will always come back to with
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: anyone seeking input. is no matter what the conditions are,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: just keep communication. And if you have to build systems
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: that require communication, like every morning we're going to have
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: serial hour where we discuss what we're doing as a family.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Cool.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Having the ability, because we will literally have, it's time,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: we need a timeout. We need to stop everything.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Nope.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Zero distractions.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Pull over on the side of the road.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: We're all going to get out of the car. We're
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: going to take a walk down whatever trail we can find.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: And let's just discuss the state of Where are we at?
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: How's everybody feeling? Did anybody not sleep well? Is everybody hydrating?
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Are we not eating enough calories? Because it's really the
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: basics that get you has been my experience. It's not
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: the complex things. The complex things are the issues that
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: we almost create ourselves. It's the basis. It's, I haven't slept,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not eating enough calories, and I'm not.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Drinking enough water. What are the fundamentals?
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: If you do all three of those, you can keep
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: the line of communication open and keep it more functional.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: And I would say to just take it slow. I
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: know that, especially with the mentality of nine to five,
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: like we're always in a rush to get to the
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: next thing. Slow it down. Look at things from a
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: child's perspective. They are sponges and take stuff in. You'll
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: be amazed at what they'll just stop and Look at something.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: The things that they notice, it's incredible. So try to
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: go at a slow pace. Set realistic expectation. It's easy
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: to want to cram in a ton of stuff into something,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: but it can be overwhelming. And then things inevitably go wrong.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: And that can destroy somebody mentally. And check all the boxes.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Those were possibilities. You're going to have some more to
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: come back to at a future date.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great advice. Some questions to work through with
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: you guys that'd be fun to ask is what, what
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: do you guys, what did you find was your most
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: intense moment in your travels? The thing that was like,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: that just, it sounds like you shared some of that
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: around losing all those clients all at one time, but
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: did you have a really, an aha or a really
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: intense moment in your travels that you could share with
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: the audience? A great story.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: Definitely. I would say the most intense moment was on
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: that same trip. It wasn't, we weren't quite into Mexico.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: We were in Southern California in the middle of a
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: remote desert area there. And we were asleep. It was
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: probably about 1030 at night and we had been asleep
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: for an hour or so. And we woke up, I
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: woke up, we all did, to gunshots going off. And
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: I've spent decades I wasn't in the military or law
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: force or anything, but I spent just enough time around
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: guns to know what a gun sounds like when it
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: is pointed toward you as opposed to pointing away from you.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: And then we started hearing ricochets going past the truck.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: And Amanda was obviously terrified. I was terrified. And all
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: we could do was roll over and cover the boys
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: because we... in a rooftop tent.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: We have zero ballistic protection.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: And I do believe it was gross negligence on the
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: people's part. I don't think they had any intention of
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: harming anyone that they just possibly intoxicated. Definitely not thinking clearly.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: And we're driving through the desert, shooting guns from the truck.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: The second they kind of noticed us, it seemed like
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: they went like, oh crap, we might've heard somebody. And
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: so I stopped shooting and took off very quickly. But
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: that was one of those, it's essentially impossible to get
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: to sleep after that.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: So we slept.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe a handful of hours, tops, that full night. And
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: the next day, that was when Amanda and I had
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: to go take a timeout.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Whoa.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: What are we doing?
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Get into Mexico quickly. It'll be much safer.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: We share that story often to let people know that Mexico,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: for us, was sanctuary.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: The people were kind. It felt safe. It was safe.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: We never got sick. Really, nothing bad and everything good
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: happened there.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Especially traveling as a family. The Mexican culture is all
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: about family. So for you, you guys come up to
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: a military checkpoint, you're there with your kids.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: They're going to, it's going to be a totally different
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: experience than me rocking up solo on a motorcycle. They're
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: going to give me all kinds of grief. Yeah, totally. Yeah.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: That sounds like a really intense moment. I'm glad everybody
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: was okay. That would be scary. Yeah.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: It is ironic that the only place we've ever been.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Shot at is in Also not ironic, right?
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Okay. And one of the things we love to ask
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: about is how do you guys give back to the
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Overland community? How do you give back to the cultures
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: that you visit? What are some organizations that you guys
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: like to donate to? What are some ways that you
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: guys give back in your travels? Do you want to
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: start that one? Sure.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So we've been involved with a few like veteran
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: organizations being able to donate our time to be able
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: to go and be the photo team for being able
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: to do trips and stuff, which is honestly, I think
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: it's more rewarding for us at the end of the day.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: It's still not contributing enough, but that's been fantastic to
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: do that. This year we made the decision to be
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: the title sponsor for the Northwest Overland Rally.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: Nice. I love that.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: It's really no kickback for us. We're not selling products
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: or anything, but for us, like this community is everything.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: They're family. So for us, it was a way for
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: being able to give back, rally some of the companies
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: that we work with to help with giveaways.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Cool.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: Obviously, going at Jenny out.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're just getting started with that event, which is exciting. Yeah,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: it's crazy to think we started that event in 2009,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: and it's still going. It's changed hands a few times,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: but yeah, that's great. How exciting is that? for each
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: of you a question, how do you feel like travel
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: has changed you the most personally? Like in your, if
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: you look at your life, how has it changed you? Wow.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: For me, that's an easy contrast because I'm a city kid.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I grew up in Seattle. Okay.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: I was very metropolitan. I always thought I would live
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: in the city. I always thought I would buy a
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: house in the city. I didn't know how much houses
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: in the city were going to cost me. Like, And
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: then after meeting Amanda, she was really the world traveler.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: She was the one who had been all the places
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: and she convinced me that this thing was worth doing.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: So for me, it's very vivid. If you look at
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: who I was as a child, I was like a
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: punk rock, skate parks, going to live shows on Capitol Hill.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: And then now here I am. I can't remember the
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: last time I wore shoes.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I'm an artist. I love it.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: It's so contrast to what I see as part one
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: of my journey and part two now that we're luckily
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: still at the beginning.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Fortunately, books are meant to be a lot of chapters.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: We're supposed to do different things. How about for you, Amanda?
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: Honestly, I think the mental health journey for me, it's
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: been great. I think I I had an interesting upbringing
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: and stuff. And then I just don't do well in
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: super organized stuff, even though I was a paralegal, right?
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: That's very detail oriented. I found out that's really not
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: good for me. I am an artist. I am creative
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: and I do need to feel connection. And that's what
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: travel gives me. I get to connect with the world.
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: I get to see how the world is connected. It's
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: really easy to get lost with the news saying that
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: everything is scary and everybody is bad and So I
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: just get such clarity when I'm on the road.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's interesting. So you found that you've been able
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: to have artistic expression that you didn't have before. And
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: then it sounds like clarity, which that's what a cool outcome.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: I think that's what we're all looking for is a
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: little bit of clarity in life, which is cool. If
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: you guys could own any, you know, this has to
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: be a new vehicle. If you could own any Overland
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: vehicle in the world, no limit to your budget, what
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: would you guys... Want each one of you.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: This is going to be a different answer.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, I know Jimny.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: Brand new Jimny.
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sold on the Jimny, but I also have
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: always wanted a G-Wagon, but I want it to be
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: an older G-Wagon. I've had that dream since before meeting him.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: So that's going to happen.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: It's going to. You should do that. They're great. Yeah,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: that was one of my favorite cars. Had an old
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: school G-Wagon for 12 years. Loved it.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: I luckily was a Mercedes mechanic, so I have some
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: strong opinions on what year and model range we will get,
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: but I'm sure we will achieve.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Those cars are so good.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: They're so capable.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: They're so good. So capable.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: I think for me, a dream vehicle would be, I've
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: been picturing a Volvo C303 for years where the whole
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: top goes up, the whole roof, and has the ability
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: to turn into effectively a miniature apartment. Yeah. There's a
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: bunch of barriers to overcome with the Volvo stuff. They
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: have a bunch of intricacy. It's annoying and practical or
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: stateside use, but with enough time and effort, anything it
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: is can be.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, those are fun choices for sure.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: What would be, yeah, I don't know if either of
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: you are big readers, but as are there books that
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: you guys have, you made some reference to some characters
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: in some books. Are there books that you guys each
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: like some that you could recommend to the listeners?
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: Gosh, there are a ton of books that we like.
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: And actually, that would be a recommendation that we give
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: all the time for families. Our family listens to audiobook
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: in the car. We're not listening to music. And we
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: like to pick stuff that is based around the areas
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: that we travel to.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Smart.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: The boys stay invested, so when we get to that location,
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: they're like, oh, I heard about that book. Yeah, To
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: Kill a Mockingbird is one that we've read many times.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: What an incredible book.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: It's a favorite.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And unfortunately, people read that book when they're in
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: high school or whatever. It's an assignment and they have
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: to get it done. I would really encourage people to
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: come back to that book as an adult because it's
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: incredible writing. The prose in that is just over the top.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: It's extremely impactful. It was to my upbringing and so
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: much so that obviously we named our first son that.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. I would say.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: I'll do a contemporary one, like a recent one. I
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: think that because Project Hail Mary is in the main
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: stage right now, if anyone has seen the movie, please
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: go read the book. It is seven times.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Better than the movie. My nephew told me that. He
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: read the book, and then we went and saw the
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: movie together, and he's got to get the book. It's
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: so much better.
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: It's one of those where the book is so fascinating,
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: and you get to learn about advanced physics, which Like
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: Amanda touched on, I never did well in school, so
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: I never got to touch on a subject in school
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: for myself. So it's really fun, super entertaining, and it's
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: very family appropriate, where kids can learn and come up
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: with cool ideas while they're listening.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: I need to do a better job of reading more fiction.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: I've probably read five fiction books in my entire life
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: other than assignments when I was in high school. But yeah,
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I did read the Dune series, and that was really great.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Very good. Yeah, another good one. So... How do people
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: find out more about what you guys are doing? Tell
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: us about your YouTube channel, your Instagram. How do people
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: connect with you and follow your journey?
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: We are at Rugged Destinations essentially on everything. And our
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: YouTube is very dedicated to just updating people on either
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: our latest large trip. I will typically make a full-length
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: feature film out of our videos. larger trips when I
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: feel like there's some story to tell, or I utilize
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: YouTube to update people with our equipment.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: And our build.
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: So we'll usually take time out and pause and say,
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: here's the second phase of the Mitsubishi Cantor we're building
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: right now. Give people an update before we know new
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: big updates are coming. And then all of the other
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: social media platforms, we are launching somewhere between two and
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: five pieces of content every day.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a lot.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: On all of them. And so those are going to
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: give you much more just general insight into kind of
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: our psyche and what we're thinking and feeling. We really
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: try to focus on making our social impact on the world,
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: the digital footprint, very positive because we feel like with
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: all of the negative that we receive, the only way
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: that we have seen to overcome that is just more good.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't read the comments. You're supposed to read the comments,
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: but don't read the comments.
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, luckily we've gotten okay at reading the comments. And
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: we find YouTube's the only place we get negative comments
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: because we're speaking more... We're speaking more directly about choices
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: that we've made.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. Those kinds of comments are fine.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, someone always has an opinion that you chose the
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: wrong car.
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: The wrong tires or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, that's interesting.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: What is the next big thing for you guys? What's
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: your next big trip? Where are you guys building this
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: canter to go do?
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going to... Get the canter finished up, and
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: then we're going to go back down to Baja for
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: another three months.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Awesome. This winter, you think? Yeah, perfect timing. Yeah, that'd
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: be great for that.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: That's going to be our shakedown for what is actually
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: our next big thing, which will unfortunately probably be after
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: the next... XO range, big thing. That's okay. We'll ride
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: it next year.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: We saved it this year. Yeah, there you go.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: Which is the Cantor is being built to ship to
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: South America.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: So South America is our next. Unfortunately, we're right-hand drive,
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: so we can't drive through Central America.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: We plan to ship directly to Columbia.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: That's wise anyways. And then South America is awesome. Yeah.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: And then we'll spend probably a couple of years just
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: making our way across South America and see what happens.
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: And then we actually heard from friends recently that it's
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: cheaper to ship somewhere else from South America, then back
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: to the U S so we may just ship to.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Europe or Africa or whatever. Yeah.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: I'm prudent with money these days. So a cheaper price
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: on shipping.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: I'll take it. That's great. Thank you both so much
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: for being on the podcast. Thanks for being at the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: big thing. Thanks for all that you do and your
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: family does to encourage people and families to get out
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: and travel and see the world and, Really appreciate you
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: being on the podcast with me this morning. Absolutely. Right
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: back at you.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: Thanks to the whole EXO team, Overland Journal team, the collective.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: Guys encouraging a community of people like us to go
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: live wild lives.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It rarely makes sense. Yeah, we're honored to do it.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: And we thank you all for listening, and we'll talk
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: to you next time.