My Journey

ITTOG

Well-known member
ITTOG.....thanks. Hey I'm curious if you've seen YouTuber Andrew Muse ? I ask because he built his own truck camper and I think you might enjoy watching his build videos. Actually everyone that likes Golden Retrievers & truck campers, and outdoor activities should check his VLOG out. He was actually a member here on XP but.....for reasons I can't imagine why.....members here seem to have ran him off with hateful comments.....

Yes I am aware of his channel. I found it because of the truck camper build and have just kept watching. I love the looks of that truck and would love to build a rig like that some day. I do like Kicker. Kicker doesn't seem to be afraid of anything.


Jerry it looks like that was a perfect job for you and many of us on here. Too bad it wasn't a permanent gig (just an assumption on my part given you went to CA). I see surveying equipment so what did the job entail. Cool Datsun.
 

tikirob

New member
It's amazing Jerry that so many people require other people to pay for there travels! I figure if you don't have money to travel, then maybe you shouldn't be traveling! I have such a issues for Patreon users! My wife and I travel as well and would never ask someone or beg for someone to put gas in my vehicle or help fund videoing equipment so I can travel. We stopped social media posting and social media in general (FB, Insta) and taken back just enjoying what we have at the present and in front of us. Getting off my soap box now! We love watching your travels and the new puppy!
 
I'm late to the party, but it makes me happy to see you back to having 2 friends with you again. They are both beautiful and you are giving them the best life possible.
Absolutely loving the Alaska memories as well. Driving to there is a must do thing for me, and the allure of the journey. I know the trip is exponentially easier today with the additional infrastructure and our modern reliable vehicles. This office I'm working in suddenly feels smaller than normal as I think about making that trip.
 

tgil

Well-known member
I've thought it often and maybe even said it before, but it'd would sure be fun to share a fire with you and listen to some of the stories you have! I know you have mentioned your time with the peace corps before. I bet those pics and stories would be interesting as well! There is so much outside our Nation's borders, but so much inside that I would like to see first! Since I won't likely live to 100, I will run out of time before I get to see much of it!
 

Pacific Northwest yetti

Expedition Medic
X2 on a remote campfire and stories with Jerry and the Pups
I've thought it often and maybe even said it before, but it'd would sure be fun to share a fire with you and listen to some of the stories you have! I know you have mentioned your time with the peace corps before. I bet those pics and stories would be interesting as well! There is so much outside our Nation's borders, but so much inside that I would like to see first! Since I won't likely live to 100, I will run out of time before I get to see much of it!
 
Again more epic stories! Im def jealous. Had some fun when I was younger doing the wild land fire fighting often in remote areas but nothing that can stack up to yours! Def had some sketch helicopter rides in storms. Keep the memories coming.
 
ITTOG.....Kicker is great ! He's my favorite member of that team (he rarely speaks).....

Regarding Alaska I worked for a private contractor establishing & setting monuments. Every monument set required an area to be established large enough for a helicopter landing. We also marked (3) bearing trees for every monument set. I worked on another project while living there which entailed the cutting & marking of a portion of the northern boundary of Denali National Park.....

tikirob.....sure I do understand your point but on the flip side the people that maintain VLOGs must put an incredible amount of time & energy into their products. I enjoy many VLOGs on YouTube (I have no TV) and it's always free. Once a week I watch a Dirt Sunrise video (I love their videos ! ).....always free ! I can't help but wonder the number of hours that Tim & Kelsey put into their VLOG.....times have changed and I'm trying to change too.....

blanketslayer.....Canada & Alaska are still amazing places to explore.....we may head north ourselves this summer depending on Covid-19. Don't let me rain on your parade.....you will love it.....

Arjan.....thank you.....?.....

tgil & PNWY.....be careful what you wish for ! I can go on forever.....

JD.....I am computer illiterate.....

Sierra Valley.....here's a few more memories.....



My first trip overseas.....I was barely out of high school but I had already been dreaming for years about seeing the world. I can remember as a young boy going to the bank with my mom and she'd be with the teller while I sat in the lobby scanning those National Geographic magazines. I'd leave that bank in my own little world dreaming about that day that I too could see the world.....

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Every penny I earned I tried to save.....I was still broke when I hit the road. It was the goodwill of strangers along the road that enabled me to live out my dream. Hitchhiking back then was much more accepted as a normal practice than it is in the world that we live in today. So I stood on the side of the interstate with my thumb stuck up in the air.....I'm sure I was apprehensive yet I'm sure I was filled with excitement as well.....

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Of course I couldn't hitchhike to South America so I purchased a plane ticket which took me from Miami, Florida to Caracas, Venezuela. As I recall it, it took me about a week of hitching rides on the interstate, camping in my tent at night, to make it to Miami, Florida. I stayed with a friend there until my flight took me further south.....to South America !

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Again, I have few photographs available.....it was slides back then. I remember hitching rides across Venezuela.....meeting people that I could barely speak with.....seeing places that before were only seen in magazines.....

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I remember back then camping for days on a remote beach on Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela (I think it's no longer remote). I'm surprised that I ever left that island paradise but the road has always called to me.....

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I crisscrossed Venezuela, then headed for the Andes Mountains in Colombia.....what a beautiful world it was.....

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After exploring Colombia I took a flight to Panama next and after Panama I returned to the United States. I could go on & on but I'll spare you the details. I left with little and I came back a rich man. It would be my first deposit into the Bank of Exploration but not nearly my last. My first memories of travel were special and they were all mine.....

Those were the days my friends.....

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tgil

Well-known member
Tim and Kelsey are probably one of the few that we follow and enjoy there adventures! They are so down to earth and don't push the patreon thing! Stay safe and enjoy!
It's funny you say that! I also enjoy their videos and them as "down to earth" people, but their videos were where I first learned what patreon was. "we need money for tacos" or something like that, is what I remember? It's probably been almost a year since I watched any of theirs, but they are a favorite!
 

GregSplett

Adventurer
I ran the olympic mountains for 13 years with a black lab named Bear. We were coming down the Greywolf river trail when down the trail Bear spotted a guy taking a nap on the side of the trail. She was young back then and took off full throttle to go investigate. I, like you imagined, starting yelling "Bear"! I think Bear arrived just as this poor guy was opening his eyes and Bear started licking his face as I was angrily yelling "Bear"! No joke the guy peed his pants. I felt absolutly terrible for the guy. The young man was here from the east coast for work and had taken two weeks off to explore the Olympic mountains. He had been in the mountains for week and was trying to get from the Greywolf to the Dungeness and was confused because of a washed out bridge and trail. He smartly posted up on the side of the trail to seek advice and got bushwacked by Bear and I.I took him home to my house that night let him shower and do laundry and eat and drink as much as he could. Next morning I took back up to the gold Creek trailhead and off he went. I used to crab Alaska back in the eighties. Would fill my pockets with cash and spend my time off deep in the mountains mostly by myself. Actually still have some of that money.
 

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