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Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here.

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Thanks for listening to another episode

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of Hey Human podcast.

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This is episode 418, and my guest is

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Rick French.

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Rick is the cofounder of Pack Paddle Ski

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Adventures.

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He facilitates adventures

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to over 30 countries on all 7 continents

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with people from all over the world. He's

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also on the board of directors for Journeys

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of Solutions,

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enabling travelers to, quote, assist people and communities

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in the developing countries they have encountered on

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their trips with the goal to improve quality

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of life with infrastructure

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improvements, access to clean water,

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support for educational institutions, scholarship,

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and training,

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unquote, which is awesome.

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We had a great conversation.

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We talked about some of his more memorable

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trips, including

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meeting the Dalai Lama, dealing with a client's

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broken leg at nearly 19,000

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feet,

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elephants, a plane crash, a sultan,

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just so many stories, as you can imagine,

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over the years

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that he has,

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come to collect.

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I met Rick through Bonnie and Robin, who

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were on episode

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411,

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and they went on one of the adventures.

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They went to Mount Kilimanjaro,

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both having had

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experience with cancer, Bonnie having had cancer, Robin,

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whose ex had cancer.

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Anyway, after talking with them

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and hearing about

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the adventure they had, I knew I had

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to talk to Rick, and, he did not

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disappoint. What a man. What a really fascinating

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and good human. I can't wait for you

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to hear this episode.

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General stuff, Hey, HEMA Podcast is now on

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YouTube. I'm so excited. Yes. I finally put

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it on YouTube. It's under official Susan Ruth,

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so very excited

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about that. If you like getting your podcast

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on YouTube or want something different,

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there there it shall be. I'm also on

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Patreon at susanruthism,

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helps keep the show ad free.

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I'm on TikTok at susanruthism,

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and you can check out heyhumanpodcast.com

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for links and to learn more about my

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guests and the show. Check out susanruth.com

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to learn more about me and my other

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artistic endeavors,

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and follow susanruthism

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Find my albums, my music albums, on Spotify,

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Iheart. I'm it's all over the place now,

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wherever you get your podcasts. And please absolutely

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subscribe to my YouTube channel. Oh my gosh.

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That would be so

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awesome. Again, that's

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youtube.com/officialsusanruth.

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Thank you for listening.

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I appreciate it. Be well.

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Be kind. Be love,

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and here we go.

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Break French. Welcome to Hey Human.

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Hi, Susan. It's good to see you. You

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too. You look good this morning, Susan.

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That's good.

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I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed.

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Yes. Yes. Yes. Early for me. Where are

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you right now?

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I live in Western New York,

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so it's just after lunch here.

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It looks a bit humid out there.

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Yeah. It's been pretty humid. It's getting close

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to 90 today. Oh, no. It is. It's

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yeah. I don't like it when it's this

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hot. No.

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Yeah. Mhmm. I feel like 75 in a

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nice breeze. That's my happy place.

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Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It's like cooled out

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again. Yes. We're all gonna have to move

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north as the climate keeps getting hotter.

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I know. I met somebody on a plane

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once to Greenland and they were headed to

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Greenland so they could buy some land because

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they knew climate was gonna change. Of course,

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you can't buy land in Greenland, but I

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guess they didn't know that. Anyway so, yeah,

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That that was

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kinda wild. Yeah. That is that's really anticipatory.

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Yeah. Alright. Exactly. That's way north.

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Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's weird

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that Greenland is icy and Iceland is green,

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but that's a whole other story.

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Yeah. Yeah. You probably know that story. That's

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kind of a wild story. Yeah. Yeah. What

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story?

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Why it's called Greenland.

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I don't know. Well, it was a the

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marketing deal.

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Eric the reg, one of his slaves got

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killed. So he in revenge,

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he killed,

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somebody.

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So the council in Iceland,

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exiled him from the country.

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So he had to leave Iceland. So he

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sailed around, and he landed in Greenland. So

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to get people to come to Greenland, he

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went he sent people back and said, oh,

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it's so green. You can raise cattle here.

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There's farms.

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Yeah. That's that's why it's called Greenland. It

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was,

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I don't remember, it's like this 1100 or

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1300,

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something like that.

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Learn something new every day. Love it. Yeah.

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Yeah. Because we we've kayaked over there where,

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he landed where they lived. We've kayaked over

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in Greenland to the ice cap there and

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stuff. So

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Oh. Yeah. Well, let's get into you. Where

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were you born? How did you grow up?

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Were you an adventurer from the get go?

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Growing up is a question, isn't it? I

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I know about that. It's still an ongoing

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process. I was born in Western New York,

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a little town called Avon.

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So, yeah, started adventuring just as a kid

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sleeping in the backyard under a tent that

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we would make. And what was your first

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big adventure?

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I think the first big one

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is when I left the country. It was

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when I was 17 years old. We flew

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over to see a friend in England. I

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was just 17.

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Small things after that, of course,

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back then would have been

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late sixties, early 7 early seventies.

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You know, it's not like nowadays. So if

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you just went to another state, that was

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a a big adventure. Yeah. I just and

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then went to college in Maine.

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And as you guys went by,

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took a bus across the country and

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hiked a chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail

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north of you. We did Oregon and Washington.

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It's north of where you are. So that

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was in college. Did your family have wanderlust,

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or was this particularly your thing?

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My dad was always we were in scouts

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as kids, and I worked summer camps in

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the Adirondacks.

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So, yeah, my my dad always loved the

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outdoors too. And as years went by, he

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would go off this, you know, many, many

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times. Yeah. He's been in Nepal with us,

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you know, 5 or 6 times.

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Yeah. He you know, Mongolia. He he went

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all lots of places with us.

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Well, I learned about you through

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Bonnie and Robin and that they climbed Kilimanjaro

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with you, and

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that was an interesting story. And they kept

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talking about you, and

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I said to myself, that's somebody that's gonna

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be a a good storyteller.

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Let's get that going. So thank you for

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being here and for

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sharing your life.

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Thanks, Susan.

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Have you had every inoculation under the sun,

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I bet?

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Yeah. Probably.

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Yeah. You know, we have to get a

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bunch of different shots, but that's, like, not

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really,

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a big deal. I had a I was

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just got back from Japan a couple nights

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ago, and I had a, ear was closed

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up so I couldn't hear again. I was

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just at the doctor yesterday,

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and the and the doctor's looking at it.

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I was like, this is the first time

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I've ever told someone I don't know what's

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wrong, but I think there's something alive in

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your ear.

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So

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it didn't end up being anything alive. I

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was like and I was like, oh, that's

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fairly interesting. Anyway, I'm like, well, pull it

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out. He's like, I don't know if I

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should.

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Anyway, so yeah. What was it?

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It just was an ear infection. It it

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would it wasn't anything.

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But we we just

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but, yeah, you know, shots, different things. I've

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been pretty lucky, you know, I've never had

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dengue fever, never had malaria,

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never had any hookworm, you know, some basic

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stomach parasites and amoebas and things, but I've

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been really lucky. Nothing unusual.

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That's good. Well, let's jump into the adventuring.

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When did you start your company? Why did

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you start it? What was the mission at

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the front end and and what is it

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now? I got out of college in 1980

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and even in high school, I I always

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knew I wanted to do run it out,

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do outdoors in some way for a job.

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So after college for 5 years, I worked

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around the country for programs like Outward Bound

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doing,

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taking kids, that were at risk population. Sometimes

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we'd pick them up in the jails in

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handcuffs, take them in the middle of the

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swamp,

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search them, and they'd spend 30 days. If

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they did well, they got to go home.

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So I did that from 80 to 85

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all over the country.

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And then during that period of time, my

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brother I'm an identical twin.

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So my brother was back here in New

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York, and he

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wanted to start an outdoor business too. So

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he and my dad had already

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kinda put that together in 85. They're like,

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well, come back to New York and start

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this outdoor business with us. So I moved

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back to

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to New York with that intention and, you

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know, bought a house and needed redone, so

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you had a cheap place to live.

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And,

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you know, initially, we just went to back

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then, we just went to, his apartment and

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pulled the drawer out and dumped it instead

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of phone next to it. And that's how

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we started, and then spent that winter making

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our first couple canoes.

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You know, back then, we taught cross country

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skiing and backpacking,

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small things. And then as the years went

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by, it got, you know, bigger and bigger

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till now we've been on all 7 continents

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a few times. But that was the original

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intention. It was quite a bit different than

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it is now,

269
00:09:36,595 --> 00:09:39,014
but the world was different back then.

270
00:09:39,394 --> 00:09:41,394
The the point was just to enjoy being

271
00:09:41,394 --> 00:09:42,774
outdoors with people.

272
00:09:43,250 --> 00:09:45,590
And then as time went along, the attention

273
00:09:46,049 --> 00:09:48,049
changed a bit in in that, you know,

274
00:09:48,049 --> 00:09:50,230
realization as you get older at some point,

275
00:09:51,004 --> 00:09:53,804
you just feel fortunate to have these amazing

276
00:09:53,804 --> 00:09:56,205
gifts in in your life, and it's almost

277
00:09:56,205 --> 00:09:57,105
like a responsibility,

278
00:09:57,404 --> 00:10:00,039
not like an obligation way, but in in,

279
00:10:00,039 --> 00:10:01,660
like, a a way of, like,

280
00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:04,120
a way if you wanna share the things

281
00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:05,639
that have come into your life feeling that

282
00:10:05,639 --> 00:10:06,365
they're a gift.

283
00:10:06,845 --> 00:10:09,345
So then the intention kinda changed to,

284
00:10:10,365 --> 00:10:11,584
sharing more

285
00:10:11,884 --> 00:10:14,284
of the experiences of the world and and

286
00:10:14,284 --> 00:10:16,144
the adventures that could be had

287
00:10:16,509 --> 00:10:18,909
and watching how it impacted people's lives so

288
00:10:18,909 --> 00:10:21,149
much, you know, how it changed people's, as

289
00:10:21,149 --> 00:10:21,730
you know,

290
00:10:22,110 --> 00:10:23,709
you know, from the story of Bonnie and,

291
00:10:24,235 --> 00:10:26,634
you know, Robin. I can't we have so

292
00:10:26,634 --> 00:10:27,534
many stories

293
00:10:27,995 --> 00:10:30,394
of lives that have been changed. It's it's

294
00:10:30,394 --> 00:10:31,134
pretty huge.

295
00:10:31,450 --> 00:10:33,210
So, yeah, there's a bunch of different types

296
00:10:33,210 --> 00:10:36,089
of projects that developed over the years from,

297
00:10:36,089 --> 00:10:36,589
you

298
00:10:36,970 --> 00:10:39,519
know, wells in other countries to schools to

299
00:10:39,769 --> 00:10:41,644
we just got back from building a dorm

300
00:10:42,024 --> 00:10:44,205
at my, Tanzania friend's village

301
00:10:44,664 --> 00:10:46,125
in Africa in Tanzania.

302
00:10:46,664 --> 00:10:48,264
We were in Morocco in the fall, and

303
00:10:48,264 --> 00:10:50,049
right after the earthquake, and it was it

304
00:10:50,049 --> 00:10:50,950
was pretty intense.

305
00:10:51,490 --> 00:10:53,409
People were not able to go into their

306
00:10:53,409 --> 00:10:56,529
houses and stuff, and, Jaima, who works with

307
00:10:56,529 --> 00:10:58,220
me, and I, we're like, this is just

308
00:10:58,815 --> 00:11:01,215
often what happens is we travel somewhere and

309
00:11:01,215 --> 00:11:03,375
it was just something comes to us, and

310
00:11:03,375 --> 00:11:05,215
we can't really ignore it. And we just

311
00:11:05,215 --> 00:11:06,675
couldn't go home

312
00:11:07,049 --> 00:11:08,970
knowing there are people who didn't have homes

313
00:11:08,970 --> 00:11:09,470
anymore.

314
00:11:09,929 --> 00:11:12,090
So we we came home, we raised some

315
00:11:12,090 --> 00:11:13,610
money, and don't and we donate all the

316
00:11:13,610 --> 00:11:15,345
money from the trip. And I just got

317
00:11:15,345 --> 00:11:17,184
a message last week that Rashid and his

318
00:11:17,184 --> 00:11:18,804
family just moved into their home

319
00:11:19,184 --> 00:11:21,839
in Morocco in the Atlas Mountains. But I

320
00:11:21,839 --> 00:11:23,379
don't know so many projects,

321
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:24,820
schools

322
00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:25,860
and

323
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,960
wow. I I don't know. Yeah. When you

324
00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:30,659
are a person of the world.

325
00:11:31,115 --> 00:11:33,034
I like that. I'm a person of the

326
00:11:33,034 --> 00:11:33,534
world.

327
00:11:34,075 --> 00:11:34,575
Yeah.

328
00:11:34,954 --> 00:11:36,654
Go, Susan. Go ahead and ask.

329
00:11:37,274 --> 00:11:39,595
When you're a person of the world, how

330
00:11:39,595 --> 00:11:40,414
does that

331
00:11:41,620 --> 00:11:42,120
shape

332
00:11:42,740 --> 00:11:45,059
how you see the world at large in

333
00:11:45,059 --> 00:11:47,079
its foibles and

334
00:11:48,524 --> 00:11:49,024
fisticuffs.

335
00:11:49,485 --> 00:11:49,985
And

336
00:11:50,684 --> 00:11:52,764
how do you how how does that make

337
00:11:52,764 --> 00:11:55,404
you Yeah. Does it egg you on and

338
00:11:55,404 --> 00:11:56,705
and push you forward?

339
00:11:57,190 --> 00:11:58,870
Oh, yeah. That's got you know, there's lots

340
00:11:58,870 --> 00:11:59,370
of

341
00:11:59,750 --> 00:12:01,769
pieces to that, but for sure,

342
00:12:02,149 --> 00:12:04,649
the world is very, very small to me.

343
00:12:05,004 --> 00:12:05,985
You know, when there's

344
00:12:06,605 --> 00:12:07,665
a war in Ethiopia,

345
00:12:08,205 --> 00:12:09,264
that's my friends.

346
00:12:09,804 --> 00:12:11,804
You know, that's like people that are now

347
00:12:11,804 --> 00:12:13,665
widows. You know, those are people,

348
00:12:14,769 --> 00:12:16,149
you know, that have no food.

349
00:12:16,529 --> 00:12:18,690
You know, when there's the earthquake in Nepal,

350
00:12:18,690 --> 00:12:19,990
those are my friends' houses.

351
00:12:20,610 --> 00:12:22,529
You know, when COVID hit, you know, my

352
00:12:22,529 --> 00:12:23,029
Tanzania

353
00:12:23,725 --> 00:12:25,085
friends that help us so much on the

354
00:12:25,085 --> 00:12:26,845
mountain, they had no food. They were selling

355
00:12:26,845 --> 00:12:30,284
the clothes. The world's very, very small. People

356
00:12:30,284 --> 00:12:32,384
are the same all over the world.

357
00:12:32,830 --> 00:12:33,889
That's kind of

358
00:12:34,350 --> 00:12:35,889
like a, you know, worldview, but,

359
00:12:36,830 --> 00:12:39,250
you know, there's a sense of, everybody

360
00:12:39,550 --> 00:12:41,410
all over the world is the same.

361
00:12:41,995 --> 00:12:43,215
Kids like to play,

362
00:12:43,595 --> 00:12:45,835
people like to be loved, people like to

363
00:12:45,835 --> 00:12:46,335
sit

364
00:12:46,875 --> 00:12:48,414
with each other and be heard,

365
00:12:49,029 --> 00:12:50,250
people like to laugh,

366
00:12:50,789 --> 00:12:52,629
people all over the world are the same,

367
00:12:52,629 --> 00:12:54,950
everybody just wants to be happy, so there's

368
00:12:54,950 --> 00:12:56,490
that, you know, awareness.

369
00:12:57,325 --> 00:13:00,524
Fortunately, in my world view, there's it's a

370
00:13:00,524 --> 00:13:01,425
hopeful view

371
00:13:01,804 --> 00:13:03,725
because if you listen to the media, which

372
00:13:03,725 --> 00:13:04,384
is mostly

373
00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:06,720
motivated by making profits,

374
00:13:07,340 --> 00:13:10,139
so they scare people and are angry, and

375
00:13:10,139 --> 00:13:12,220
then people believe that that's how the world

376
00:13:12,220 --> 00:13:13,500
is, but that is not at all the

377
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:15,325
case of the world. Know, the case of

378
00:13:15,325 --> 00:13:17,585
the world is people are amazing and beautiful.

379
00:13:18,365 --> 00:13:18,865
99%

380
00:13:19,245 --> 00:13:21,164
of the time, every story I could tell

381
00:13:21,164 --> 00:13:23,105
you would be about someone who helped us.

382
00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:25,759
Someone who, you know, we shared time with,

383
00:13:25,759 --> 00:13:27,759
played cards with at Everest Base Camp and

384
00:13:27,759 --> 00:13:28,259
Tibet.

385
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,660
And that way, my view of the world

386
00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:32,100
is hopeful.

387
00:13:32,665 --> 00:13:34,285
You know, that people people,

388
00:13:34,745 --> 00:13:36,205
I think, in their nature

389
00:13:36,585 --> 00:13:38,925
wanna be kind. They wanna share love,

390
00:13:39,384 --> 00:13:41,865
which is much different than most people's view

391
00:13:41,865 --> 00:13:44,250
of the world, but that's my that's my

392
00:13:44,250 --> 00:13:44,750
experience.

393
00:13:45,129 --> 00:13:46,570
I've been told I live in a bubble,

394
00:13:46,570 --> 00:13:48,570
and my response to that is I like

395
00:13:48,570 --> 00:13:49,309
my bubble.

396
00:13:50,345 --> 00:13:51,465
I think it's the rest of the world

397
00:13:51,465 --> 00:13:52,745
that lives in a bubble. I was just

398
00:13:52,745 --> 00:13:54,664
gonna say everybody else lives in a bubble

399
00:13:54,664 --> 00:13:57,200
because they're being fed a steady diet of

400
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,019
xenophobia and and Exactly. It's

401
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,419
heartbreaking to me, and people are

402
00:14:02,799 --> 00:14:04,799
so afraid now. Your kids go to school,

403
00:14:04,799 --> 00:14:07,125
and there's a sheriff outside, and there's metal

404
00:14:07,125 --> 00:14:09,524
detectors, and the doors are locked. Like, what

405
00:14:09,524 --> 00:14:12,404
message does that give? You know, that compared

406
00:14:12,404 --> 00:14:13,065
to, like,

407
00:14:13,445 --> 00:14:15,285
you know, a little kid in Japan or

408
00:14:15,285 --> 00:14:18,070
especially a little the Tanzania kids, you know,

409
00:14:18,370 --> 00:14:20,450
that are just so welcoming and come up

410
00:14:20,450 --> 00:14:22,610
immediately and wanna hold your hand and sing

411
00:14:22,610 --> 00:14:24,735
with you or twirl the hair on your

412
00:14:24,735 --> 00:14:26,414
arm. Yeah. I don't know the answer to

413
00:14:26,414 --> 00:14:28,735
all that. I just know that people live

414
00:14:28,735 --> 00:14:30,434
very, very afraid and anxious.

415
00:14:31,134 --> 00:14:32,995
That's not my experience of the world.

416
00:14:33,679 --> 00:14:35,539
Have you been to the top of Everest?

417
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,320
No. No. No. That's like a big freaking

418
00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,500
deal. No. I'll never go there.

419
00:14:40,965 --> 00:14:43,045
Yeah. People are kind of if you don't

420
00:14:43,045 --> 00:14:44,804
climb mountains, like, you might ask me that

421
00:14:44,804 --> 00:14:47,365
question, but, you know, to go to high

422
00:14:47,365 --> 00:14:48,904
altitude, it's above 26,000

423
00:14:49,285 --> 00:14:49,785
feet,

424
00:14:51,350 --> 00:14:53,350
what they call the death zone, that's like

425
00:14:53,350 --> 00:14:55,850
a big deal. That's a Russian roulette

426
00:14:56,309 --> 00:14:58,329
gamble, whether you live, die,

427
00:14:59,695 --> 00:15:02,115
And, in the highest I bet is 20,000

428
00:15:02,254 --> 00:15:02,754
feet.

429
00:15:03,294 --> 00:15:05,455
Few times, and I have no interest in

430
00:15:05,455 --> 00:15:08,409
going any higher. I don't really understand it

431
00:15:08,409 --> 00:15:09,549
because at that altitude,

432
00:15:10,169 --> 00:15:11,309
you don't feel good.

433
00:15:11,690 --> 00:15:13,850
And even when I I like the physical

434
00:15:13,850 --> 00:15:14,350
challenge,

435
00:15:14,745 --> 00:15:16,504
but when it's a challenge, it happens because

436
00:15:16,504 --> 00:15:18,264
of outside of my body and I'm feeling

437
00:15:18,264 --> 00:15:18,764
crappy.

438
00:15:19,225 --> 00:15:21,065
It's hard for me to enjoy the mountain,

439
00:15:21,065 --> 00:15:23,565
so I have absolutely no interest.

440
00:15:23,879 --> 00:15:25,639
We go to the bottom of Everest, which

441
00:15:25,639 --> 00:15:28,440
is, like, close to 18,000 some, but yeah.

442
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,460
No. Never been Which is still pretty high.

443
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,664
It is still pretty high. That is true.

444
00:15:32,664 --> 00:15:35,225
There are many high places. Because Kilimanjaro is

445
00:15:35,225 --> 00:15:37,565
what? 18 or something? 19 340.

446
00:15:38,825 --> 00:15:40,664
Yeah. Right off the top of your head.

447
00:15:40,664 --> 00:15:41,485
I love that.

448
00:15:42,429 --> 00:15:44,589
Been been there a few times, so I

449
00:15:44,589 --> 00:15:45,329
know. Yeah.

450
00:15:45,709 --> 00:15:47,709
For sure. I'm sure you're well versed in

451
00:15:47,709 --> 00:15:50,049
recognizing when people are starting to have issues.

452
00:15:50,384 --> 00:15:52,465
Oh, yeah. I bet they fight you, and

453
00:15:52,465 --> 00:15:54,004
they don't wanna stop. But

454
00:15:54,544 --> 00:15:56,384
Depends on the person. It depends on the

455
00:15:56,384 --> 00:15:59,285
issues. You know, usually, if someone's bad enough

456
00:15:59,950 --> 00:16:02,350
that they can't continue, no, they're not fighting

457
00:16:02,350 --> 00:16:03,950
you. They want you to tell them they

458
00:16:03,950 --> 00:16:04,690
can't continue.

459
00:16:05,309 --> 00:16:07,970
They they want someone else sometimes they know.

460
00:16:08,065 --> 00:16:09,904
They just like to be reinforced. Like, yes.

461
00:16:09,904 --> 00:16:11,924
This is enough. This is not safe now.

462
00:16:12,225 --> 00:16:14,625
Yeah. So not if someone still has enough

463
00:16:14,625 --> 00:16:16,769
fight to say they wanna continue for the

464
00:16:16,769 --> 00:16:18,550
most part, they're probably okay.

465
00:16:20,610 --> 00:16:22,450
I love that. They're just looking for a

466
00:16:22,450 --> 00:16:24,214
reason. They need you to tell them that

467
00:16:24,214 --> 00:16:25,595
it's done. Sometimes.

468
00:16:26,375 --> 00:16:27,514
Exactly. Yeah.

469
00:16:27,894 --> 00:16:30,615
Mhmm. Yeah. My dear friend Damaru on the

470
00:16:30,615 --> 00:16:32,394
way down from Kili one time,

471
00:16:32,759 --> 00:16:33,000
he,

472
00:16:33,559 --> 00:16:35,399
caught the toe of his foot and tripped

473
00:16:35,399 --> 00:16:35,899
forward.

474
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:37,559
And I turned he we were at the

475
00:16:37,559 --> 00:16:38,919
end of the line. I turned around and

476
00:16:38,919 --> 00:16:40,360
went back. He's like, Rick, I think I

477
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:41,879
broke my leg, but people tell me that

478
00:16:41,879 --> 00:16:44,014
a lot. And no one actually had broken

479
00:16:44,014 --> 00:16:46,115
it at that point. They just hurt themselves.

480
00:16:46,335 --> 00:16:47,534
So I'm like, oh, I don't know. But

481
00:16:47,534 --> 00:16:49,634
first bad sign, it was it was Damiro.

482
00:16:49,774 --> 00:16:52,000
Damiro is tough. He's not one that would

483
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000
be a baby and say that. So I'm

484
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,000
like, okay. But people still tell me that.

485
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,360
And then he said, oh, I heard a

486
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,179
snap. That's like sign number 2. That's bad.

487
00:17:00,394 --> 00:17:02,235
So then I palpated his leg, and there's

488
00:17:02,235 --> 00:17:03,595
a huge dent in the front of his

489
00:17:03,595 --> 00:17:06,075
one shin. I'm like, Dammer of Field, is

490
00:17:06,075 --> 00:17:08,075
is that supposed to be there? He's like,

491
00:17:08,075 --> 00:17:10,174
no. I'm like, yeah. You broke your leg.

492
00:17:10,460 --> 00:17:11,660
So, yeah, we had to,

493
00:17:12,779 --> 00:17:15,980
improvise a splint. We cut shoelaces out of

494
00:17:15,980 --> 00:17:18,220
our boots and cut stuff sacks to make

495
00:17:18,220 --> 00:17:19,039
rope and

496
00:17:19,375 --> 00:17:20,115
took twine

497
00:17:20,894 --> 00:17:23,214
and made a splint out of my friend

498
00:17:23,214 --> 00:17:25,695
Youssef and I, we made took trucking poles

499
00:17:25,695 --> 00:17:27,829
and made a splint, and then we put

500
00:17:27,829 --> 00:17:28,569
them on,

501
00:17:30,150 --> 00:17:32,170
sleeping pad and dragged them down the mountain.

502
00:17:32,470 --> 00:17:34,250
It was snow too at that point

503
00:17:34,595 --> 00:17:36,515
until 12 of the porters came up the

504
00:17:36,515 --> 00:17:38,134
mountain with burlap bags.

505
00:17:38,515 --> 00:17:39,875
And then we carried him down to the

506
00:17:39,875 --> 00:17:41,095
base camp at 155.

507
00:17:42,009 --> 00:17:43,950
We duct taped him into a stretcher

508
00:17:44,410 --> 00:17:46,089
with a sleeping bag and a tarp because

509
00:17:46,089 --> 00:17:47,849
he had to go over cliffs. We don't

510
00:17:47,849 --> 00:17:49,230
want him to fall off the stretcher.

511
00:17:49,930 --> 00:17:50,430
So

512
00:17:50,884 --> 00:17:52,964
he was okay. He wasn't too she wasn't

513
00:17:52,964 --> 00:17:54,884
too shocky or anything, just a little bit

514
00:17:54,884 --> 00:17:55,545
of pain.

515
00:17:56,644 --> 00:17:58,404
People always say, why don't you helicopter him

516
00:17:58,404 --> 00:17:59,065
out? Well,

517
00:17:59,670 --> 00:18:02,470
slight possibility you could get a helicopter maybe

518
00:18:02,470 --> 00:18:04,470
from Nairobi. By the time you do that,

519
00:18:04,470 --> 00:18:06,470
these guys could have them out. So, yeah,

520
00:18:06,470 --> 00:18:08,070
we took 2 days and got them down

521
00:18:08,070 --> 00:18:09,369
the mountain, you know,

522
00:18:09,734 --> 00:18:11,734
eventually flew him home and he had some

523
00:18:11,734 --> 00:18:12,234
surgery.

524
00:18:12,775 --> 00:18:13,994
Yeah. Mhmm.

525
00:18:14,615 --> 00:18:17,674
I'm just picturing being duct taped to the

526
00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:19,519
to the outside of a helicopter

527
00:18:20,059 --> 00:18:22,940
and being like, okay. You're good. Yeah. Well,

528
00:18:22,940 --> 00:18:24,460
that was just we duct taped them into

529
00:18:24,460 --> 00:18:26,301
the stretcher because when you're going over a

530
00:18:26,301 --> 00:18:28,997
cliff, you're putting the thing, you know, kind

531
00:18:28,997 --> 00:18:31,692
of vertical and you wanna fall off. Really,

532
00:18:31,692 --> 00:18:32,703
really, we just

533
00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:34,640
He was a good sport about it. They

534
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,400
never do that in the show MASH. That's

535
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,759
Yeah. There's a lot of things we probably

536
00:18:39,759 --> 00:18:41,875
do in real life. Yeah. Uh-huh.

537
00:18:42,335 --> 00:18:44,255
Yeah. Uh-huh. And you get to meet the

538
00:18:44,255 --> 00:18:45,075
Dalai Lama?

539
00:18:46,015 --> 00:18:48,414
I did. Yeah. 1, some of these things

540
00:18:48,414 --> 00:18:50,109
happen because I sit in my living room

541
00:18:50,109 --> 00:18:52,109
and every now and then ideas come to

542
00:18:52,109 --> 00:18:54,210
me. And a couple of years ago,

543
00:18:54,669 --> 00:18:55,809
I had this idea,

544
00:18:56,429 --> 00:18:58,269
I'd like to see and look into the

545
00:18:58,269 --> 00:19:00,644
eyes of the most spiritual person in the

546
00:19:00,644 --> 00:19:03,045
world. So that, now, who would that be?

547
00:19:03,045 --> 00:19:05,065
And the Dalai Lama popped in my mind.

548
00:19:05,365 --> 00:19:06,805
So I'm like, I should go meet the

549
00:19:06,805 --> 00:19:09,190
Dalai Lama. This is, like, how my mind

550
00:19:09,190 --> 00:19:12,150
goes. I it wasn't really a practical or

551
00:19:12,150 --> 00:19:14,230
thought out idea. It was just, like, that's

552
00:19:14,230 --> 00:19:15,990
what I should go do. So then I

553
00:19:15,990 --> 00:19:18,375
started looking into it, and I'm like okay

554
00:19:18,375 --> 00:19:20,535
he lives in Dharamshala we could set up

555
00:19:20,535 --> 00:19:22,215
a trip we'll go to Dharamshala. I've been

556
00:19:22,215 --> 00:19:23,914
to India and Nepal a few times

557
00:19:24,295 --> 00:19:26,154
and it's done great trekking there.

558
00:19:26,570 --> 00:19:28,090
Hey. When there when we're there, we should

559
00:19:28,090 --> 00:19:30,250
do something more than, just trek and see

560
00:19:30,250 --> 00:19:31,210
the Dalai Lama. Let's,

561
00:19:32,170 --> 00:19:34,730
let's, volunteer with the Tibetan refugees for a

562
00:19:34,730 --> 00:19:36,269
while. So we did that too.

563
00:19:36,634 --> 00:19:38,075
So yeah. But we didn't know a way

564
00:19:38,075 --> 00:19:39,755
we could see the Dalai Lama. We just

565
00:19:39,755 --> 00:19:41,115
knew we didn't even know if he'd be

566
00:19:41,115 --> 00:19:43,855
there. So we set up this whole experience

567
00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:46,240
to do that, and when I was coming

568
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,079
back from Everest Base Camp the year before,

569
00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:50,019
it was after the earthquake in Nepal,

570
00:19:50,559 --> 00:19:52,079
and my friend's houses had been,

571
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:54,500
damaged.

572
00:19:54,944 --> 00:19:56,865
So but they so we're gonna help them

573
00:19:56,865 --> 00:19:59,265
with their houses, but, Kami comes to me.

574
00:19:59,265 --> 00:20:00,884
He's very, very devout Buddhist,

575
00:20:01,424 --> 00:20:02,325
up in the Solokumbu

576
00:20:02,625 --> 00:20:03,125
area,

577
00:20:03,450 --> 00:20:06,029
You know, it's the Everest area. The Sherpa

578
00:20:06,049 --> 00:20:09,210
people are and especially the older people, extremely

579
00:20:09,210 --> 00:20:09,690
Buddhist,

580
00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:11,549
very, you know,

581
00:20:11,850 --> 00:20:12,350
ritualistic.

582
00:20:13,054 --> 00:20:14,734
He's like, I should come with you. I

583
00:20:14,734 --> 00:20:15,554
was like, okay.

584
00:20:15,934 --> 00:20:18,115
And then my his other buddy, Lakpa,

585
00:20:18,654 --> 00:20:20,255
says the same thing. I'm coming with you

586
00:20:20,255 --> 00:20:20,755
too.

587
00:20:30,234 --> 00:20:32,394
I never know what that actually means. I

588
00:20:32,394 --> 00:20:35,035
just said, okay. So as the year went

589
00:20:35,035 --> 00:20:36,575
along, I contacted,

590
00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:39,000
and I was like, hey. Your house has

591
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,159
got ruined. We really should, you know, put

592
00:20:41,159 --> 00:20:43,079
that money and come to your place to

593
00:20:43,079 --> 00:20:44,460
help rebuild your houses.

594
00:20:44,804 --> 00:20:47,125
And commie's response was no it's more important

595
00:20:47,125 --> 00:20:48,424
to see the Dalai Lama.

596
00:20:48,804 --> 00:20:49,625
Isn't that amazing?

597
00:20:50,085 --> 00:20:51,144
Wow. So anyway,

598
00:20:51,605 --> 00:20:54,099
so we go and my son to and

599
00:20:54,099 --> 00:20:54,920
we go to Darmasala.

600
00:20:56,019 --> 00:20:58,500
And, yeah, the Dalai Lama was in in

601
00:20:58,500 --> 00:20:59,720
in at home.

602
00:21:00,019 --> 00:21:01,940
As far as I knew, no Americans had

603
00:21:01,940 --> 00:21:03,884
gotten to see him. No. Nobody had seen

604
00:21:03,884 --> 00:21:04,384
him.

605
00:21:05,164 --> 00:21:06,845
You know, other people would come and see

606
00:21:06,845 --> 00:21:08,445
him, a lot of Buddhist people and stuff,

607
00:21:08,445 --> 00:21:09,424
but no Americans.

608
00:21:10,349 --> 00:21:11,950
So after a few after a week or

609
00:21:11,950 --> 00:21:13,950
so working with the Tibetan refugees, this is

610
00:21:13,950 --> 00:21:16,269
after we track some, I sent my son

611
00:21:16,269 --> 00:21:18,269
down to Delhi to get to pick up,

612
00:21:19,075 --> 00:21:20,994
to jump on a bus and get my

613
00:21:20,994 --> 00:21:22,934
Sherpa friends to come. So they come,

614
00:21:23,634 --> 00:21:26,035
and I think that afternoon before I was

615
00:21:26,035 --> 00:21:27,394
even back from a little hike in the

616
00:21:27,394 --> 00:21:29,539
hills, they'd gone down the temple, and they're

617
00:21:29,539 --> 00:21:31,140
like, Rick, Rick, Rick, we're gonna see the

618
00:21:31,140 --> 00:21:33,380
Dalai Lama tomorrow. I'm like, how did you

619
00:21:33,380 --> 00:21:34,980
do that? Like, oh, he always went to

620
00:21:34,980 --> 00:21:37,059
the office and asked. Like, easy. You come

621
00:21:37,059 --> 00:21:38,440
with us. I will show you.

622
00:21:38,804 --> 00:21:41,045
So I go the next day, and there's

623
00:21:41,045 --> 00:21:42,424
this line of people

624
00:21:42,724 --> 00:21:43,625
out the door.

625
00:21:44,244 --> 00:21:46,484
But these guys had an invite to go,

626
00:21:46,484 --> 00:21:48,130
so they go in. I go into the

627
00:21:48,130 --> 00:21:49,109
office with them,

628
00:21:49,490 --> 00:21:51,490
and and they're very very reverent. And then

629
00:21:51,490 --> 00:21:53,809
we pass them through the office, and they

630
00:21:53,809 --> 00:21:55,815
go on in, and the office says, oh,

631
00:21:55,894 --> 00:21:57,014
and I said, oh, you know, is it

632
00:21:57,014 --> 00:21:59,254
possible we could meet the Dalai Lama? And

633
00:21:59,254 --> 00:22:01,434
they're like, oh, you're American. You write email.

634
00:22:01,815 --> 00:22:02,315
So

635
00:22:03,174 --> 00:22:05,079
so I went back to the lodge and

636
00:22:05,079 --> 00:22:05,740
wrote an

637
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,059
email explaining I was there with my family,

638
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,220
and we work with the Tibetan refugees,

639
00:22:10,599 --> 00:22:13,880
and my dear Sherpa friends were there, blah

640
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:14,924
blah blah blah.

641
00:22:15,224 --> 00:22:16,924
And I thought I would never hear anything.

642
00:22:17,384 --> 00:22:19,224
Like, a day or so later, like, 9

643
00:22:19,224 --> 00:22:20,664
o'clock at night, it was a kind of

644
00:22:20,664 --> 00:22:22,585
message. It's like, his holiness would be glad

645
00:22:22,585 --> 00:22:23,369
to meet you.

646
00:22:24,170 --> 00:22:26,490
So yeah we went down and there's all

647
00:22:26,490 --> 00:22:28,410
these calm people calm is an area of

648
00:22:28,410 --> 00:22:29,789
eastern Tibet beautiful

649
00:22:30,170 --> 00:22:32,775
Tibetan people and people make this pilgrimage to

650
00:22:32,775 --> 00:22:34,855
go see the Dalai Lama, and there's maybe

651
00:22:34,855 --> 00:22:36,474
a 100, a 150 of these

652
00:22:36,775 --> 00:22:39,734
beautifully dressed laden. Common people often wear long

653
00:22:39,734 --> 00:22:41,480
pony, black ponytails, and

654
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,559
massive jade jewelry. And they're carrying massive amounts

655
00:22:45,559 --> 00:22:48,460
of jewelry and gifts, and there's 100, 150

656
00:22:48,679 --> 00:22:51,225
people, these guys lined up outside. I mean,

657
00:22:51,225 --> 00:22:52,525
it's it's amazing

658
00:22:52,825 --> 00:22:55,065
the reverence they have. And we know nothing

659
00:22:55,065 --> 00:22:57,859
in America of reverence like that. I mean,

660
00:22:57,859 --> 00:22:59,940
that is so enlightening alone. Well, we do

661
00:22:59,940 --> 00:23:02,200
it with we did that with celebrity, unfortunately.

662
00:23:02,980 --> 00:23:04,200
Yes. A little different.

663
00:23:05,005 --> 00:23:06,684
What they're it's a little different what we

664
00:23:06,684 --> 00:23:09,884
worship there, I think. But, yes. Unfortunately, it's

665
00:23:09,884 --> 00:23:12,365
right. Although I'm a little uncomfortable with humans

666
00:23:12,365 --> 00:23:15,070
worshiping humans, but I get I get the

667
00:23:15,070 --> 00:23:15,570
concept.

668
00:23:15,950 --> 00:23:18,990
It's the idea that they represent, and the

669
00:23:18,990 --> 00:23:20,850
Dalai Lama, for those that don't know,

670
00:23:21,230 --> 00:23:23,809
is a in their belief system,

671
00:23:24,434 --> 00:23:25,734
is a reincarnation

672
00:23:26,275 --> 00:23:28,755
of the Dalai Lama before that and so

673
00:23:28,755 --> 00:23:31,174
on and so forth all the way back.

674
00:23:31,859 --> 00:23:33,880
Yes. Yeah. So for them, it's

675
00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:35,720
not so much worshiping

676
00:23:36,099 --> 00:23:36,839
him as

677
00:23:37,140 --> 00:23:39,140
a blessing for in their life. You know,

678
00:23:39,140 --> 00:23:41,054
in the Buddhist system, you wanna gain as

679
00:23:41,054 --> 00:23:42,835
much merit as you can to move along

680
00:23:43,134 --> 00:23:45,134
through your different cycles of your life. So

681
00:23:45,134 --> 00:23:47,714
it's it's a way for them to gain,

682
00:23:48,494 --> 00:23:49,234
more merit.

683
00:23:50,140 --> 00:23:52,299
So, anyway so, yeah, we get we went

684
00:23:52,299 --> 00:23:54,539
and eventually they call us and hung out

685
00:23:54,539 --> 00:23:56,220
with them for a little bit, had some

686
00:23:56,220 --> 00:23:57,820
pictures taken. And he's like, where are you

687
00:23:57,820 --> 00:24:00,674
from? I'm like, oh, you've been nearby, Harrier.

688
00:24:00,734 --> 00:24:02,974
I said, you spoke in Ithaca. He's there's

689
00:24:02,974 --> 00:24:04,894
a little town, a college town nearby. He's

690
00:24:04,894 --> 00:24:07,440
like, oh, yes. Ithaca. Very small town. So

691
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:08,880
we had a little chat, and, yeah, it

692
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,740
was really emotional. We were all crying.

693
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:12,259
It's really emotional.

694
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,179
Does he have that,

695
00:24:16,234 --> 00:24:19,134
supernatural almost presence? I've heard that he does.

696
00:24:19,515 --> 00:24:21,375
I don't I don't know about supernatural,

697
00:24:21,755 --> 00:24:22,815
but I would say,

698
00:24:23,759 --> 00:24:25,059
a very holy presence.

699
00:24:25,599 --> 00:24:26,819
Holy as in like

700
00:24:27,679 --> 00:24:28,339
like peaceful

701
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,159
and still and connected to that piece of

702
00:24:31,159 --> 00:24:33,835
our ourselves, of our I don't know what

703
00:24:33,835 --> 00:24:36,394
the words are, all different spiritualities use different

704
00:24:36,394 --> 00:24:38,734
words for that energy, that vibration.

705
00:24:39,595 --> 00:24:40,974
There's a sense of his

706
00:24:41,410 --> 00:24:42,630
being present to that

707
00:24:43,250 --> 00:24:44,789
and aware of it. Yeah.

708
00:24:45,090 --> 00:24:47,430
And part of it. Yeah. It's really emotional

709
00:24:47,730 --> 00:24:48,869
to look at his eyes.

710
00:24:49,505 --> 00:24:51,765
Really amazing, but the whole experience was amazing.

711
00:24:52,065 --> 00:24:54,224
You know, talking to the Tibetan refugees who've

712
00:24:54,224 --> 00:24:57,200
been electrocuted and tortured and their the families

713
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:57,859
are tortured

714
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,720
and you know, Kami and his wife you

715
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:01,940
do a chorus chorus

716
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,420
in in Tibetan Buddhism. A chorus

717
00:25:04,724 --> 00:25:06,585
a circle around some sacred

718
00:25:07,125 --> 00:25:08,484
area. It could be a mountain. It could

719
00:25:08,484 --> 00:25:10,724
be a temple. You know, every day the

720
00:25:10,884 --> 00:25:12,404
again, it helps you gain merit. You know,

721
00:25:12,404 --> 00:25:14,759
every day there'd be 100 you know, of

722
00:25:14,759 --> 00:25:16,440
Tommy and his friends, you know, it's spinning

723
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:17,980
the prayer wheels and chanting,

724
00:25:18,759 --> 00:25:21,134
you know, to be just amongst all that.

725
00:25:21,134 --> 00:25:22,974
Just to be amongst the people that are

726
00:25:22,974 --> 00:25:23,875
so reverent

727
00:25:24,894 --> 00:25:27,055
and believe and live a life where they

728
00:25:27,055 --> 00:25:28,195
value so much

729
00:25:28,740 --> 00:25:31,539
spiritual parts of ourselves, which is not common

730
00:25:31,539 --> 00:25:33,779
in the US. I read a book about

731
00:25:33,779 --> 00:25:35,480
Bali once, and

732
00:25:35,805 --> 00:25:37,825
it spoke a lot about that. I assume

733
00:25:38,285 --> 00:25:40,205
I kind of like in the Bali people

734
00:25:40,205 --> 00:25:42,684
and the Nepalese people as having that same

735
00:25:43,769 --> 00:25:46,750
they're tapped into such a deeper reverence

736
00:25:47,049 --> 00:25:47,549
than

737
00:25:48,650 --> 00:25:50,575
some people from the rest of the world.

738
00:25:50,575 --> 00:25:52,095
I think a lot of people that live

739
00:25:52,095 --> 00:25:53,154
close to the land

740
00:25:53,774 --> 00:25:54,674
are that way.

741
00:25:55,134 --> 00:25:57,214
I think, the farther we get from the

742
00:25:57,214 --> 00:25:59,214
land, we just tend to lose that. I

743
00:25:59,214 --> 00:26:01,509
think it's I think when you live close

744
00:26:01,509 --> 00:26:03,929
to the land, it's pretty hard to miss

745
00:26:04,950 --> 00:26:05,769
that connection.

746
00:26:06,710 --> 00:26:07,210
Yeah.

747
00:26:08,470 --> 00:26:08,970
Yeah.

748
00:26:09,644 --> 00:26:10,865
You were once

749
00:26:11,244 --> 00:26:13,904
alone in the desert for 40 days?

750
00:26:14,445 --> 00:26:15,164
Yeah. Just,

751
00:26:15,724 --> 00:26:17,404
just before I was in Japan in the

752
00:26:17,404 --> 00:26:20,269
last couple of weeks, I went into south,

753
00:26:20,670 --> 00:26:22,769
Southern Utah to the canyons there

754
00:26:23,070 --> 00:26:24,690
to do a desert solo.

755
00:26:25,230 --> 00:26:26,529
And it was purposely

756
00:26:27,335 --> 00:26:28,294
kinda left,

757
00:26:29,815 --> 00:26:31,494
you know, you could hike, like, the Crest

758
00:26:31,494 --> 00:26:33,255
Trail or something and be alone, but then

759
00:26:33,255 --> 00:26:35,034
you still have a task every day.

760
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:36,920
So this had I was on I had

761
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,680
my packraft, so there was a 100 mile

762
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,839
river, and I got and I walked out

763
00:26:40,839 --> 00:26:42,839
of a 4 wheel drive to get resupplied

764
00:26:42,839 --> 00:26:43,339
twice.

765
00:26:43,644 --> 00:26:45,005
But on that 100 mile river, I had

766
00:26:45,005 --> 00:26:46,625
this little 8 and a half pound raft.

767
00:26:47,005 --> 00:26:48,525
So I could go a few miles and

768
00:26:48,525 --> 00:26:50,205
there'd be another canyon, and I would hike

769
00:26:50,205 --> 00:26:50,865
that canyon

770
00:26:51,390 --> 00:26:53,009
for an hour or 3 days.

771
00:26:53,390 --> 00:26:55,950
Whatever I felt like. But the idea was

772
00:26:55,950 --> 00:26:56,609
to be,

773
00:26:57,869 --> 00:26:58,365
immersed

774
00:26:58,684 --> 00:27:00,304
alone and really, really

775
00:27:00,845 --> 00:27:01,345
intense

776
00:27:01,644 --> 00:27:04,224
beauty. It's one of my favorite areas and

777
00:27:04,605 --> 00:27:05,825
it was a really,

778
00:27:06,125 --> 00:27:06,605
really,

779
00:27:07,164 --> 00:27:09,179
intense experience. The first

780
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,659
2 weeks were really, really hard.

781
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,734
It was really scary and just to process

782
00:27:14,815 --> 00:27:16,755
things in your life that have been painful

783
00:27:16,974 --> 00:27:17,954
or hurtful or

784
00:27:18,414 --> 00:27:20,434
sad is pretty pretty brutal.

785
00:27:20,815 --> 00:27:22,494
And that was not for the faint of

786
00:27:22,494 --> 00:27:25,029
heart. And then it kinda transitioned, but then

787
00:27:25,029 --> 00:27:25,849
by the end,

788
00:27:26,389 --> 00:27:27,849
who was just this amazing

789
00:27:28,230 --> 00:27:30,630
awareness, you you you only slept under my

790
00:27:30,630 --> 00:27:32,250
tarp 3 nights because of rain.

791
00:27:32,634 --> 00:27:34,795
The 37 nights you're under the stars. I

792
00:27:34,795 --> 00:27:36,795
have pretty minimal stuff. Basically, the clothes I'm

793
00:27:36,795 --> 00:27:37,295
wearing

794
00:27:37,835 --> 00:27:39,515
and a tarp and a sleeping bag tarp

795
00:27:39,515 --> 00:27:40,577
if it rains and my raft, of course,

796
00:27:40,577 --> 00:27:40,629
and a pack and some food. But, so

797
00:27:40,629 --> 00:27:41,384
you have pretty

798
00:27:42,299 --> 00:27:44,460
and some food. But, so you have pretty

799
00:27:44,460 --> 00:27:46,000
minimal stuff, and you're

800
00:27:46,460 --> 00:27:48,559
just exposed the whole time. And

801
00:27:48,940 --> 00:27:51,231
and especially to me in Utah, the sunrise,

802
00:27:51,231 --> 00:27:53,105
sunset, the rocks glow. I rocks glow.

803
00:27:53,404 --> 00:27:55,085
I don't know how they do it because

804
00:27:55,085 --> 00:27:56,845
the light seems to come from within the

805
00:27:56,845 --> 00:27:57,345
rocks,

806
00:27:57,805 --> 00:28:00,125
but that's my experience of it. So there's

807
00:28:00,125 --> 00:28:02,259
this. And in addition, you're like going to

808
00:28:02,259 --> 00:28:04,179
these places where there's one stretch where there

809
00:28:04,179 --> 00:28:04,839
were like

810
00:28:05,140 --> 00:28:07,700
9 giant alcoves in a row, and a

811
00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:09,619
1000 years ago, people lived in each of

812
00:28:09,619 --> 00:28:11,724
those. There was evidence of where they lived.

813
00:28:12,265 --> 00:28:14,184
So there's this whole blend of,

814
00:28:14,744 --> 00:28:15,244
antiquity,

815
00:28:15,705 --> 00:28:16,205
eternalness

816
00:28:16,744 --> 00:28:17,244
of,

817
00:28:18,170 --> 00:28:19,150
experiencing kind

818
00:28:19,609 --> 00:28:20,109
of

819
00:28:20,730 --> 00:28:22,829
being part of nature or

820
00:28:23,450 --> 00:28:24,809
I don't know, I get sound too new

821
00:28:24,809 --> 00:28:26,545
ages, kind of a hard thing to

822
00:28:27,505 --> 00:28:30,164
express, but it was it was an incredibly

823
00:28:30,305 --> 00:28:31,525
stilling experience,

824
00:28:32,305 --> 00:28:34,404
you know, and it developed a real awareness.

825
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,240
You know that there's a stillness inside of

826
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,099
us that we don't normally tap into.

827
00:28:39,559 --> 00:28:41,400
And then, like, that's the real place that's

828
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,019
that's each of us, you know,

829
00:28:43,394 --> 00:28:43,894
that's

830
00:28:44,195 --> 00:28:45,575
who each of us are.

831
00:28:46,035 --> 00:28:47,875
And it's so much different than how we

832
00:28:47,875 --> 00:28:50,295
normally live. It was amazing. Amazing.

833
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,400
Yeah. When you go into something like that,

834
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,420
do you have an idea of the processing

835
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,160
you're going to do or does everything come

836
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:57,900
up naturally?

837
00:28:59,274 --> 00:29:01,615
Well, I think, you know, for me, my,

838
00:29:01,954 --> 00:29:04,075
I have an awareness. I I didn't wanna

839
00:29:04,075 --> 00:29:05,774
have, like, big expectations

840
00:29:06,075 --> 00:29:07,214
or rigid ones

841
00:29:07,710 --> 00:29:08,210
because,

842
00:29:08,669 --> 00:29:10,589
if you have an expectation, I see this

843
00:29:10,589 --> 00:29:11,730
for people on trips,

844
00:29:12,349 --> 00:29:14,509
then you limit what happens to fit in

845
00:29:14,509 --> 00:29:15,569
within those expectations.

846
00:29:16,464 --> 00:29:18,484
So instead, it was very conscious

847
00:29:19,265 --> 00:29:22,144
to just be present to whatever was

848
00:29:23,424 --> 00:29:24,200
part of

849
00:29:24,599 --> 00:29:27,000
the beauty of what happened. So being that

850
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,099
long alone and and that quiet,

851
00:29:29,639 --> 00:29:32,380
you almost, like, observed what you were experiencing

852
00:29:32,519 --> 00:29:34,835
and feeling whether it's sadness or pain or

853
00:29:34,835 --> 00:29:35,335
loneliness,

854
00:29:36,914 --> 00:29:37,414
fear,

855
00:29:37,715 --> 00:29:38,775
joy, happiness,

856
00:29:39,235 --> 00:29:39,735
calmness.

857
00:29:40,674 --> 00:29:43,960
It almost was like looking at inside yourself

858
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,660
and you could see that.

859
00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:49,160
So whatever kinda came up, it just it

860
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,255
I didn't change it. I didn't really even

861
00:29:51,255 --> 00:29:52,634
think about it too much.

862
00:29:53,015 --> 00:29:53,755
I just

863
00:29:54,055 --> 00:29:54,795
watched it.

864
00:29:55,414 --> 00:29:56,934
And then then I would watch how it

865
00:29:56,934 --> 00:29:59,250
would change, or usually what happened was after

866
00:29:59,250 --> 00:30:01,250
a while, it didn't even weren't even that

867
00:30:01,330 --> 00:30:03,509
in that place again. It it just disappeared.

868
00:30:04,529 --> 00:30:06,769
And it was interesting, you know, initially, I

869
00:30:06,769 --> 00:30:07,430
was, like,

870
00:30:07,934 --> 00:30:10,335
it wasn't gonna have any structure, but I

871
00:30:10,335 --> 00:30:12,355
found that I needed a minimal structure.

872
00:30:12,734 --> 00:30:14,414
It helped me feel a little bit more

873
00:30:14,414 --> 00:30:14,914
grounded.

874
00:30:15,250 --> 00:30:17,650
Like, okay, I'll I'll do a little yoga,

875
00:30:17,650 --> 00:30:18,630
then I'll have breakfast,

876
00:30:19,170 --> 00:30:20,769
and then I'll sit and read or write

877
00:30:20,769 --> 00:30:21,910
for half an hour,

878
00:30:22,210 --> 00:30:23,830
and then I'll walk for a while,

879
00:30:24,484 --> 00:30:25,865
you know, see where I am,

880
00:30:26,164 --> 00:30:27,465
so minimal structure,

881
00:30:28,325 --> 00:30:30,244
but the thing that kept free was just

882
00:30:30,244 --> 00:30:32,325
to pay attention to the experience you're having

883
00:30:32,325 --> 00:30:32,825
inside,

884
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:34,480
which is amazing.

885
00:30:35,019 --> 00:30:35,519
Yeah.

886
00:30:36,380 --> 00:30:38,220
Do you believe in God? Are you a

887
00:30:38,220 --> 00:30:40,159
religious person or a spiritual person?

888
00:30:40,464 --> 00:30:43,585
I would say spiritual. God's a tough question

889
00:30:43,585 --> 00:30:46,464
because that means that's so loaded for so

890
00:30:46,464 --> 00:30:49,070
many people. For sure. I use that word

891
00:30:49,070 --> 00:30:51,330
sometimes, you know, for myself, for convenience.

892
00:30:52,509 --> 00:30:54,529
For me, it's more like an awareness.

893
00:30:55,684 --> 00:30:57,125
The best I could come out of it

894
00:30:57,125 --> 00:30:59,125
from the desert with was there's more like

895
00:30:59,125 --> 00:31:01,705
at some point came out with an awareness

896
00:31:01,765 --> 00:31:02,505
that there's

897
00:31:03,220 --> 00:31:04,599
like, an all forever,

898
00:31:04,900 --> 00:31:06,519
an eternity, kind of like,

899
00:31:07,619 --> 00:31:08,759
waves or energy

900
00:31:09,779 --> 00:31:10,279
that

901
00:31:10,634 --> 00:31:11,615
if we're still

902
00:31:12,154 --> 00:31:14,414
and allow ourselves that we will

903
00:31:14,955 --> 00:31:16,974
move with that be part of it.

904
00:31:17,490 --> 00:31:20,609
It sounds too mystical, so I'm reluctant to

905
00:31:20,930 --> 00:31:23,490
It doesn't. It it makes total sense. It

906
00:31:23,490 --> 00:31:24,549
doesn't sound mystical.

907
00:31:25,255 --> 00:31:27,495
Yeah. So I have that awareness that there's

908
00:31:27,495 --> 00:31:28,475
some sort of

909
00:31:30,134 --> 00:31:32,315
something. I don't believe in, like, an omnipotent

910
00:31:32,455 --> 00:31:35,420
somebody's up there pulling strings. Nothing like that.

911
00:31:35,420 --> 00:31:37,900
It's more like that there's an energy or

912
00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:39,039
a presence or,

913
00:31:40,059 --> 00:31:42,460
a pattern maybe that when we're with that

914
00:31:42,460 --> 00:31:42,960
pattern,

915
00:31:43,775 --> 00:31:44,515
we're calm,

916
00:31:45,295 --> 00:31:48,035
we're happy, we're more kind, we're more generous,

917
00:31:48,974 --> 00:31:50,515
we can then still experience

918
00:31:51,099 --> 00:31:52,720
pain or sadness or suffering,

919
00:31:53,099 --> 00:31:55,099
but there's a calmness below it that makes

920
00:31:55,099 --> 00:31:55,839
it okay.

921
00:31:56,380 --> 00:31:58,960
Mhmm. So it's more like more like that.

922
00:31:59,259 --> 00:32:00,080
But also,

923
00:32:00,634 --> 00:32:02,315
it's like a pattern that no one would

924
00:32:02,315 --> 00:32:05,035
say destiny or whatever, but there's when you

925
00:32:05,035 --> 00:32:07,195
live, like, in that place or in that

926
00:32:07,195 --> 00:32:07,695
awareness,

927
00:32:08,154 --> 00:32:09,855
things come into your life.

928
00:32:10,340 --> 00:32:12,420
And I don't even wanna use really use

929
00:32:12,420 --> 00:32:14,660
a word that, you know, are supposed to

930
00:32:14,660 --> 00:32:16,580
come into your life. If you live in

931
00:32:16,580 --> 00:32:18,820
a aware then there are things that come

932
00:32:18,820 --> 00:32:21,015
into your life. Like that idea, like, oh,

933
00:32:21,015 --> 00:32:23,015
I should go see the Dalai Lama. Or

934
00:32:23,015 --> 00:32:25,674
like, oh, I should go, you know, whatever.

935
00:32:26,455 --> 00:32:27,115
You know?

936
00:32:28,169 --> 00:32:30,569
It's the flow. You're you get in with

937
00:32:30,569 --> 00:32:32,809
the flow. Yeah. It's more like just a

938
00:32:32,809 --> 00:32:34,169
flow, but you have to kind of be

939
00:32:34,169 --> 00:32:35,869
still enough and notice it

940
00:32:36,275 --> 00:32:37,494
and just say, okay.

941
00:32:37,954 --> 00:32:39,815
Because it normal normally,

942
00:32:40,115 --> 00:32:41,714
we would tend to be scared or shut

943
00:32:41,714 --> 00:32:43,255
down or say that's not possible.

944
00:32:43,769 --> 00:32:45,130
I don't know how many times I've done

945
00:32:45,130 --> 00:32:46,109
things that are impossible,

946
00:32:46,970 --> 00:32:49,609
but it's it never really occurred to me.

947
00:32:49,609 --> 00:32:51,289
I mean, sometimes it didn't work. You know?

948
00:32:51,289 --> 00:32:53,289
That's okay too. You know? Not everything played

949
00:32:53,289 --> 00:32:53,595
out.

950
00:32:54,154 --> 00:32:55,835
But a lot of that stuff was played

951
00:32:55,835 --> 00:32:56,335
out

952
00:32:56,954 --> 00:32:59,595
way beyond anything I ever could have created

953
00:32:59,595 --> 00:33:01,534
or written or expected in my life.

954
00:33:01,859 --> 00:33:04,500
Oh, we limit ourselves far more than the

955
00:33:04,500 --> 00:33:08,119
universe will limit us. It does. Yeah. Yeah.

956
00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:10,914
Which is pretty amazing to have been able

957
00:33:10,914 --> 00:33:12,134
to live in that way.

958
00:33:12,835 --> 00:33:13,894
I'm super fortunate.

959
00:33:14,275 --> 00:33:15,015
That's beautiful.

960
00:33:15,315 --> 00:33:18,115
Did you encounter a single soul on this

961
00:33:18,115 --> 00:33:18,615
journey?

962
00:33:19,370 --> 00:33:21,870
Occasionally, like the 1st 7 days, no footprints,

963
00:33:22,170 --> 00:33:24,009
but there were maybe 3 or 4 access

964
00:33:24,009 --> 00:33:25,610
points where people could come in from the

965
00:33:25,610 --> 00:33:27,565
side into that main canyon, and then I

966
00:33:27,565 --> 00:33:29,884
might see a couple people. Yeah. But I

967
00:33:29,884 --> 00:33:31,505
could go days and not see a footprint.

968
00:33:31,884 --> 00:33:33,984
So occasionally, I'd see people. Mhmm.

969
00:33:34,605 --> 00:33:35,105
Yeah.

970
00:33:35,609 --> 00:33:37,309
It sounds really wonderful,

971
00:33:37,769 --> 00:33:38,669
actually. It was

972
00:33:39,049 --> 00:33:40,269
pretty amazing, Susan.

973
00:33:40,730 --> 00:33:41,950
Yeah. Yeah.

974
00:33:42,544 --> 00:33:44,164
I know you have a story about elephants,

975
00:33:44,384 --> 00:33:46,325
which is one of my favorite creatures.

976
00:33:46,704 --> 00:33:48,325
Tell me the elephant story.

977
00:33:48,704 --> 00:33:50,325
Sometimes we've used elephants

978
00:33:51,710 --> 00:33:53,789
to go look for, like, tigers in the

979
00:33:53,789 --> 00:33:54,930
jungle and things.

980
00:33:55,630 --> 00:33:57,170
And one time we were

981
00:33:57,710 --> 00:34:00,615
using, elephants to cross a river by the

982
00:34:00,615 --> 00:34:02,315
border of India and Nepal

983
00:34:03,335 --> 00:34:05,494
and there was a young baby with a

984
00:34:05,494 --> 00:34:07,894
cleft palate and cleft palate you can't nurse

985
00:34:07,894 --> 00:34:10,299
so the baby would die and, we had

986
00:34:10,299 --> 00:34:11,900
in our group a woman who had a

987
00:34:11,900 --> 00:34:12,639
cleft palate,

988
00:34:13,019 --> 00:34:14,780
so this was many years ago before I

989
00:34:14,780 --> 00:34:16,494
had done so many of those projects that

990
00:34:16,575 --> 00:34:17,235
we mentioned

991
00:34:17,855 --> 00:34:20,335
before, wells and schools and dorms and kids

992
00:34:20,335 --> 00:34:21,474
and orphans and things.

993
00:34:22,095 --> 00:34:23,235
The baby that

994
00:34:23,855 --> 00:34:26,275
the person in our group was very moved

995
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,199
by the situation this young baby was in

996
00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:31,280
and said we should can we do something?

997
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:32,579
So we used our interpreter

998
00:34:33,039 --> 00:34:34,639
to talk with the mom, and as it

999
00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:36,744
turned out, shorten the story of it, as

1000
00:34:36,744 --> 00:34:37,945
it turned out, it's all it took was

1001
00:34:37,945 --> 00:34:38,605
a $100

1002
00:34:39,144 --> 00:34:40,905
to pay for a bus ticket and hotel

1003
00:34:40,905 --> 00:34:42,204
because in Kathmandu,

1004
00:34:42,949 --> 00:34:45,030
a doctor Japanese doctor would come once a

1005
00:34:45,030 --> 00:34:46,489
month to perform this surgery.

1006
00:34:46,869 --> 00:34:48,869
So for a $100 is so the next

1007
00:34:48,869 --> 00:34:50,949
year, we're back riding elephants across the river

1008
00:34:50,949 --> 00:34:53,414
again with another group, and they had another

1009
00:34:53,414 --> 00:34:55,574
baby and they came running out. And first,

1010
00:34:55,574 --> 00:34:57,335
they were very excited and they're showing us

1011
00:34:57,335 --> 00:34:59,434
the baby that was nursing and living,

1012
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:01,679
and then they were scared because they had

1013
00:35:01,679 --> 00:35:04,239
another baby. So again, the second time we

1014
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,219
also sent them to Kathmandu for that surgery.

1015
00:35:08,014 --> 00:35:10,335
That's amazing. But those things that's kinda what

1016
00:35:10,335 --> 00:35:12,094
I say. Like, if you just live with

1017
00:35:12,094 --> 00:35:14,094
your eyes open a little, these things come

1018
00:35:14,094 --> 00:35:15,715
into your life and then

1019
00:35:16,429 --> 00:35:17,170
you kinda

1020
00:35:18,030 --> 00:35:20,369
just you just do it because it's there.

1021
00:35:20,389 --> 00:35:22,510
You know? You you stop and pause and

1022
00:35:22,510 --> 00:35:24,210
talk to these people and pay attention

1023
00:35:24,934 --> 00:35:27,255
and you realize this is nothing to take

1024
00:35:27,255 --> 00:35:28,875
care of this and help these people.

1025
00:35:29,255 --> 00:35:29,914
It's so

1026
00:35:30,295 --> 00:35:32,554
it's so easy. Yeah. And

1027
00:35:33,690 --> 00:35:36,170
and again, it the world is a tiny

1028
00:35:36,170 --> 00:35:36,670
place.

1029
00:35:37,529 --> 00:35:38,750
Such a tiny place.

1030
00:35:39,210 --> 00:35:40,269
It's very small.

1031
00:35:40,775 --> 00:35:42,394
You know, people are the same everywhere.

1032
00:35:43,335 --> 00:35:44,135
Mhmm. So

1033
00:35:44,534 --> 00:35:46,315
So I have written down here

1034
00:35:46,775 --> 00:35:48,394
let me just look. It says,

1035
00:35:48,989 --> 00:35:50,989
I was a guide on the highest mountain

1036
00:35:50,989 --> 00:35:53,969
in Antarctica with the sultan of Saudi Arabia

1037
00:35:54,269 --> 00:35:56,670
and a plane crash with a dog sled

1038
00:35:56,670 --> 00:35:57,170
driver

1039
00:35:57,875 --> 00:36:00,434
of Admiral Byrd. Those are two stories, I

1040
00:36:00,434 --> 00:36:00,934
suppose.

1041
00:36:01,394 --> 00:36:02,934
That's all one same story.

1042
00:36:03,394 --> 00:36:04,375
It's one story?

1043
00:36:05,075 --> 00:36:05,575
Yeah.

1044
00:36:06,114 --> 00:36:07,095
Let's hear it.

1045
00:36:07,420 --> 00:36:07,920
So

1046
00:36:08,220 --> 00:36:10,220
oh, over the years, so many that's one

1047
00:36:10,220 --> 00:36:12,300
of the big ones. So another time years

1048
00:36:12,300 --> 00:36:14,700
ago, I was again, I had this idea

1049
00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:15,200
that

1050
00:36:15,505 --> 00:36:17,344
I should have life goals. I was maybe

1051
00:36:17,344 --> 00:36:19,744
in my thirties back then. Now that everybody

1052
00:36:19,744 --> 00:36:21,425
should have life goals. That's what I've heard.

1053
00:36:21,425 --> 00:36:22,864
So I'm like, oh, I should have life

1054
00:36:22,864 --> 00:36:24,644
goals. I'm I'm kinda little

1055
00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:27,579
little irreverent and a little silly. So I'm

1056
00:36:27,579 --> 00:36:29,260
like, oh, I should have life goals. Kinda

1057
00:36:29,260 --> 00:36:31,019
like half like, oh, that's a good idea

1058
00:36:31,019 --> 00:36:32,460
and half like, this is fun. This is

1059
00:36:32,460 --> 00:36:34,155
silly. So I'm like, let's see. I need

1060
00:36:34,155 --> 00:36:35,994
to go where they invent chicken wings. I

1061
00:36:35,994 --> 00:36:37,835
need to drive a bulldozer, and I should

1062
00:36:37,835 --> 00:36:38,734
go to Antarctica.

1063
00:36:39,434 --> 00:36:41,170
So I'm like, okay. So I'm like, well,

1064
00:36:41,170 --> 00:36:42,769
how do you get to Antarctica? Well, I

1065
00:36:42,769 --> 00:36:44,690
had no money doing this job. You you

1066
00:36:44,690 --> 00:36:46,550
have base you have almost no money.

1067
00:36:47,250 --> 00:36:49,010
That that's a choice you make when you

1068
00:36:49,010 --> 00:36:50,764
do this kind of work. So I'm like,

1069
00:36:50,764 --> 00:36:53,005
and it's really expensive to go there.

1070
00:36:53,965 --> 00:36:55,405
So and I didn't wanna just do a

1071
00:36:55,405 --> 00:36:57,324
cruise along the coast that didn't interest me,

1072
00:36:57,324 --> 00:36:58,764
and there was only one outfit in the

1073
00:36:58,764 --> 00:37:00,800
world. How you can get to the interior

1074
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:01,460
of Antarctica?

1075
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:03,680
And they're set up to do logistics to

1076
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,019
climb the highest mountain there called Mount Vincent.

1077
00:37:06,454 --> 00:37:08,135
So these people that wanna do the 7th

1078
00:37:08,135 --> 00:37:09,974
summit thing, you know, these highest mountains around

1079
00:37:09,974 --> 00:37:12,295
the world, they go. And to get there,

1080
00:37:12,295 --> 00:37:13,655
what you have to do is you go

1081
00:37:13,655 --> 00:37:15,514
to Chile, and then you fly

1082
00:37:16,030 --> 00:37:18,030
onto the continent under the ice in the

1083
00:37:18,030 --> 00:37:20,269
middle of the continent, Antarctica. That's how you

1084
00:37:20,269 --> 00:37:22,110
get there. And you have to go through

1085
00:37:22,110 --> 00:37:23,764
these folks, and now they have a jet.

1086
00:37:23,764 --> 00:37:24,964
But back when I did it, there was

1087
00:37:24,964 --> 00:37:27,125
a c one thirty. I wrote them. I'm

1088
00:37:27,125 --> 00:37:29,444
like, hey. I'm Rick French from South Lima.

1089
00:37:29,444 --> 00:37:31,059
Like, they would know that is, you know,

1090
00:37:31,139 --> 00:37:33,219
Yeah. I'm like an outdoor guide. I'll come

1091
00:37:33,219 --> 00:37:35,139
in for free. I'll help, you know, guide

1092
00:37:35,139 --> 00:37:36,900
your clients up this mountain. Like, I didn't

1093
00:37:36,900 --> 00:37:38,359
really have the experience anyway.

1094
00:37:38,695 --> 00:37:40,614
A month before November, I got a phone

1095
00:37:40,614 --> 00:37:42,474
call like, hey. Then we got a opening.

1096
00:37:42,855 --> 00:37:44,535
Could you come in a month down to

1097
00:37:44,535 --> 00:37:45,035
Antarctica

1098
00:37:45,974 --> 00:37:48,440
and help be an assistant guide? I'm like,

1099
00:37:48,519 --> 00:37:49,019
yeah.

1100
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:51,980
So, yeah, I flew down there and

1101
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:53,819
sitting around.

1102
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:56,574
Any bush flights, whether it's Antarctica or the

1103
00:37:56,574 --> 00:37:58,494
Arctic. You never know really when you're gonna

1104
00:37:58,494 --> 00:38:00,195
fly, but particularly Antarctica,

1105
00:38:00,815 --> 00:38:01,954
especially back then.

1106
00:38:02,414 --> 00:38:04,510
So you sit in the airport every day

1107
00:38:04,670 --> 00:38:06,610
until they think there's good weather.

1108
00:38:06,989 --> 00:38:08,670
In this case, there are a few people

1109
00:38:08,670 --> 00:38:10,989
already in place on this base camp. So

1110
00:38:10,989 --> 00:38:12,590
every day, we'd go to the airport and

1111
00:38:12,590 --> 00:38:13,090
wait.

1112
00:38:13,394 --> 00:38:14,454
Well, I'm in the airport.

1113
00:38:15,795 --> 00:38:17,875
First, we're sitting around with these guys. There's

1114
00:38:17,875 --> 00:38:20,614
some Middle Eastern guys and, I don't know,

1115
00:38:21,369 --> 00:38:22,829
playing cards or just chatting,

1116
00:38:23,210 --> 00:38:25,690
and they're introducing themselves and they go around.

1117
00:38:25,690 --> 00:38:27,609
And one guy's like, oh, I'm the sultan

1118
00:38:27,609 --> 00:38:28,590
of Saudi Arabia.

1119
00:38:29,275 --> 00:38:31,434
Like, okay. And the other guy's like they

1120
00:38:31,434 --> 00:38:32,875
did the other guy didn't speak. He was

1121
00:38:32,875 --> 00:38:35,034
Korean. His friends spoke for me. Like, oh,

1122
00:38:35,034 --> 00:38:37,170
he's whatever his name is. He's, like, climbed

1123
00:38:37,170 --> 00:38:39,010
Everest 5 times and 3 times in the

1124
00:38:39,010 --> 00:38:40,530
winter. And they got to me, and I'm

1125
00:38:40,530 --> 00:38:42,130
like, oh, I'm Rick from South Lima. You

1126
00:38:42,130 --> 00:38:42,630
know?

1127
00:38:43,010 --> 00:38:46,295
But, anyway, also in the airport was, Norman

1128
00:38:46,295 --> 00:38:46,795
Vaughn.

1129
00:38:47,174 --> 00:38:49,414
And Norman in 1928 was going to school

1130
00:38:49,414 --> 00:38:50,074
at Harvard,

1131
00:38:51,174 --> 00:38:53,329
and he was a dog sled musher. And

1132
00:38:53,329 --> 00:38:55,569
Admiral Byrd needed dog sled mushers when he

1133
00:38:55,569 --> 00:38:58,050
flew across Antarctica. He's had a step set

1134
00:38:58,050 --> 00:38:58,789
up depots.

1135
00:38:59,329 --> 00:39:01,089
So they used dog sled mushers to set

1136
00:39:01,089 --> 00:39:01,909
those depots.

1137
00:39:03,074 --> 00:39:04,215
So in 1928,

1138
00:39:04,914 --> 00:39:06,914
Arnold Berg I mean, Norman Vaughn was this

1139
00:39:06,914 --> 00:39:09,074
young college kid, does the dog musher for

1140
00:39:09,074 --> 00:39:11,235
him. So Arnold Berg named him mountain for

1141
00:39:11,235 --> 00:39:11,699
him.

1142
00:39:12,739 --> 00:39:15,380
So Norman's well into his eighties now. There's

1143
00:39:15,380 --> 00:39:18,199
this amazing guy who's lived in Alaska,

1144
00:39:18,500 --> 00:39:20,420
hand me his business cards, like, the oldest

1145
00:39:20,420 --> 00:39:22,164
and slowest. He'd done like they did around

1146
00:39:22,164 --> 00:39:23,144
13 times.

1147
00:39:23,844 --> 00:39:26,025
And what had happened was the year before,

1148
00:39:26,085 --> 00:39:27,765
there was only one plane that flew to

1149
00:39:27,765 --> 00:39:28,265
Antarctica.

1150
00:39:28,644 --> 00:39:30,344
And this pilot of that plane

1151
00:39:30,889 --> 00:39:33,369
this year that I went started his own

1152
00:39:33,369 --> 00:39:34,429
company to compete

1153
00:39:34,969 --> 00:39:36,730
with the old company and he flew I

1154
00:39:36,730 --> 00:39:38,109
think was a dc 3,

1155
00:39:38,625 --> 00:39:41,664
Bruce was his name. So Bruce was starting

1156
00:39:41,664 --> 00:39:45,264
this competing company, and Vaughn, Norman Vaughn, hired

1157
00:39:45,264 --> 00:39:46,164
on with him

1158
00:39:46,780 --> 00:39:49,360
to fly him to go dog sled

1159
00:39:49,660 --> 00:39:51,199
to his mountain and climate.

1160
00:39:51,500 --> 00:39:52,860
It was also the last year that you

1161
00:39:52,860 --> 00:39:54,480
could dog sled in in Antarctica

1162
00:39:55,235 --> 00:39:57,394
because they nixed the dogs because the dogs

1163
00:39:57,394 --> 00:39:59,315
bring disease and and and it's not good

1164
00:39:59,315 --> 00:40:00,135
for the seals.

1165
00:40:00,434 --> 00:40:02,914
So all these pieces are, like, coming together

1166
00:40:02,914 --> 00:40:04,454
at this moment in this place.

1167
00:40:04,769 --> 00:40:06,210
He needed to raise, like, a, I don't

1168
00:40:06,210 --> 00:40:08,710
know, a 1,000,000 or $2,000,000. He's, like, 500,000,

1169
00:40:08,929 --> 00:40:11,909
a thou a $1,000,000 short. So National Geographic's

1170
00:40:12,130 --> 00:40:13,409
there with them because they were one of

1171
00:40:13,409 --> 00:40:15,554
the sponsors. And so you're hanging out, like,

1172
00:40:15,554 --> 00:40:17,875
having grilled cheese with all these people, and

1173
00:40:17,875 --> 00:40:20,034
Sultan's talking about the racehorse he owns for

1174
00:40:20,034 --> 00:40:21,174
the Kentucky Derby.

1175
00:40:21,769 --> 00:40:24,909
Anyway, eventually, we fly in the C 130

1176
00:40:25,849 --> 00:40:26,590
down there.

1177
00:40:27,050 --> 00:40:28,809
Sultan was with us. He was gonna fly

1178
00:40:28,809 --> 00:40:30,730
to the South Pole. He wasn't gonna climb

1179
00:40:30,730 --> 00:40:33,235
Vincent. I had other clients that were climbing

1180
00:40:33,235 --> 00:40:35,795
Vincent. So as we fly down, once we

1181
00:40:35,795 --> 00:40:38,114
land, a couple hours later, when it happened,

1182
00:40:38,114 --> 00:40:40,579
it was this other plane that Norman wasn't

1183
00:40:40,579 --> 00:40:42,179
on it, but his advanced crew was on

1184
00:40:42,179 --> 00:40:42,679
it,

1185
00:40:43,139 --> 00:40:45,460
and that DC 30 tried to trail the

1186
00:40:45,460 --> 00:40:46,199
c 130,

1187
00:40:46,659 --> 00:40:47,719
but it was slower.

1188
00:40:48,255 --> 00:40:50,034
And by the time he got to Antarctica,

1189
00:40:50,255 --> 00:40:52,355
the fog had settled, and he crashed.

1190
00:40:52,974 --> 00:40:54,275
So when I was woke

1191
00:40:54,574 --> 00:40:56,755
up, there were, plane crash survivors,

1192
00:40:57,349 --> 00:40:59,030
in the in the kitchen tent, and they

1193
00:40:59,030 --> 00:41:01,190
were still chasing down some dogs and some

1194
00:41:01,190 --> 00:41:01,690
survivors.

1195
00:41:02,550 --> 00:41:04,150
So there was a lot of drama, of

1196
00:41:04,150 --> 00:41:07,164
course, because it's pretty serious situation, obviously. There's

1197
00:41:07,164 --> 00:41:09,264
a bunch of survivors from a plane crash.

1198
00:41:09,804 --> 00:41:11,984
1 guy was injured pretty bad, Jerry,

1199
00:41:13,199 --> 00:41:14,719
and I took turns in the med tent

1200
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:15,380
with him.

1201
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,160
Basically, he's on morphine, and he's busted up

1202
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,454
in the head and his leg. And my

1203
00:41:20,454 --> 00:41:21,574
job was when he had to go to

1204
00:41:21,574 --> 00:41:23,335
the bathroom, he'd be kinda grown. I'm like,

1205
00:41:23,335 --> 00:41:25,094
oh, you gotta go, Jerry? He's like, yeah.

1206
00:41:25,094 --> 00:41:27,414
I'm like, alright. Roll over. Hang on. I

1207
00:41:27,414 --> 00:41:29,594
got it. Go ahead. You're in the bottle.

1208
00:41:30,109 --> 00:41:33,469
Eventually, the National Geographic paid for a rescue

1209
00:41:33,469 --> 00:41:34,829
plane to go get them, which is about

1210
00:41:34,829 --> 00:41:35,329
$100,000

1211
00:41:35,869 --> 00:41:36,619
back then.

1212
00:41:36,925 --> 00:41:39,804
So that took all of them off, and

1213
00:41:39,804 --> 00:41:41,105
then we went and climbed

1214
00:41:41,405 --> 00:41:42,144
Mount Vincent,

1215
00:41:42,764 --> 00:41:45,609
which, you know, these bush planes and little

1216
00:41:45,609 --> 00:41:46,109
bush

1217
00:41:46,409 --> 00:41:46,909
plane.

1218
00:41:47,289 --> 00:41:50,429
It's a twin otter and couldn't get there.

1219
00:41:50,489 --> 00:41:51,929
So we sat down, like, 1 in the

1220
00:41:51,929 --> 00:41:54,264
morning, sat down and we sat down at

1221
00:41:54,264 --> 00:41:56,184
an old Chilean army base that had been

1222
00:41:56,184 --> 00:41:58,204
abandoned because they had crashed a plane too.

1223
00:41:58,425 --> 00:42:00,320
So they they're bad in this army base.

1224
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:01,760
Everything was buried. So at 1 in the

1225
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:03,280
morning, with nothing else to do, there's a

1226
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:05,680
few bamboo poles sticking up. So we went

1227
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,680
around dug by those bamboo poles and pulled

1228
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:09,905
up tents and we pulled up benches and

1229
00:42:09,905 --> 00:42:12,784
stoves and food, and we just started cooking

1230
00:42:12,784 --> 00:42:14,304
and eating all this food that had been

1231
00:42:14,304 --> 00:42:15,905
buried for 10 years. We never really have

1232
00:42:15,905 --> 00:42:17,125
anything else to do.

1233
00:42:17,585 --> 00:42:18,085
So,

1234
00:42:18,599 --> 00:42:20,039
anyway, then we went out and, you know,

1235
00:42:20,039 --> 00:42:22,199
climbed the mountain, which was, you know, an

1236
00:42:22,199 --> 00:42:24,059
adventurous climb and all that. And,

1237
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,514
yeah, we got back. I left the continent,

1238
00:42:27,054 --> 00:42:30,194
and then Norman had to downsize his expedition.

1239
00:42:30,815 --> 00:42:32,815
It's kind of a cool story. He downsized

1240
00:42:32,815 --> 00:42:34,194
because he didn't make much money.

1241
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,680
So he downsized to, like, 2 like, 3

1242
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,760
guys to help him, and they flew him

1243
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:40,579
to the continent.

1244
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:42,640
Now they flew him with the same agency

1245
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,744
I was using, like, very much downsized.

1246
00:42:45,365 --> 00:42:47,445
I don't even know if JobShedale Geographic was

1247
00:42:47,445 --> 00:42:49,285
still on board within them. They flew him

1248
00:42:49,285 --> 00:42:50,885
to the base camp, but he never got

1249
00:42:50,885 --> 00:42:53,065
the weather to go climb his mountain.

1250
00:42:53,769 --> 00:42:55,929
So what happened was there was some guy

1251
00:42:55,929 --> 00:42:57,869
that had a lot of money. So everybody

1252
00:42:58,329 --> 00:43:00,510
around the base camp he was very charismatic,

1253
00:43:00,650 --> 00:43:02,489
Norman. He's, like, 82 year old. Just a

1254
00:43:02,489 --> 00:43:03,195
great guy,

1255
00:43:03,594 --> 00:43:05,835
but very charismatic. So after a month of

1256
00:43:05,835 --> 00:43:07,755
living in in this base camp on the

1257
00:43:07,755 --> 00:43:09,835
ice, this guy with a bunch of money

1258
00:43:09,835 --> 00:43:11,594
comes back from the South Pole. Some people

1259
00:43:11,594 --> 00:43:13,090
go just a day to go see the

1260
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:15,329
South Pole. Comes back in the camp, and

1261
00:43:15,329 --> 00:43:17,250
this guy's like, well, why is everybody so

1262
00:43:17,250 --> 00:43:19,329
quiet? What's up today? You know, like, oh,

1263
00:43:19,329 --> 00:43:21,434
Norman couldn't get to his mountain. So the

1264
00:43:21,434 --> 00:43:23,514
guy pulls out his checkbook and walks over

1265
00:43:23,514 --> 00:43:24,815
and gave him, I don't know,

1266
00:43:25,275 --> 00:43:27,054
$50,000. Sit here for next year.

1267
00:43:27,514 --> 00:43:28,954
So he did end up going the next

1268
00:43:28,954 --> 00:43:30,554
year. By then, he didn't couldn't have dogs

1269
00:43:30,554 --> 00:43:31,019
anymore

1270
00:43:31,420 --> 00:43:33,099
because of this, you know, thing was in

1271
00:43:33,099 --> 00:43:34,619
place. And he did. They flew him to

1272
00:43:34,619 --> 00:43:36,619
the base, and he did eventually climb that

1273
00:43:36,619 --> 00:43:37,119
mountain.

1274
00:43:37,900 --> 00:43:39,760
So, yeah, that's that story.

1275
00:43:40,059 --> 00:43:42,355
Wow. That's a it's a lot of twists

1276
00:43:42,355 --> 00:43:43,015
and turns.

1277
00:43:44,355 --> 00:43:46,755
Yeah. Right? Do you stay in contact with

1278
00:43:46,755 --> 00:43:48,675
Norman or the sultan or any of the

1279
00:43:48,675 --> 00:43:49,175
people

1280
00:43:49,679 --> 00:43:52,960
along the way? A a little bit. You

1281
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:55,280
know, peripherally for my Alaska friends, I knew

1282
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,519
when Norman died. The guys that were on

1283
00:43:57,519 --> 00:43:58,179
the climb,

1284
00:43:58,824 --> 00:44:00,824
all of them continued and tried to climb

1285
00:44:00,824 --> 00:44:01,324
Everest.

1286
00:44:01,864 --> 00:44:03,385
1 of them was there on the climb

1287
00:44:03,385 --> 00:44:05,224
the year at Krakow was there. There was

1288
00:44:05,224 --> 00:44:07,164
all that drama, and they wrote that book.

1289
00:44:07,710 --> 00:44:09,389
So one of my clients, Lou, was at

1290
00:44:09,469 --> 00:44:11,150
he's in that book. And so I did

1291
00:44:11,150 --> 00:44:13,150
contact him because he was on the mountain,

1292
00:44:13,150 --> 00:44:14,829
and he didn't get to the top, but

1293
00:44:14,829 --> 00:44:17,089
he had a different take than Krakauer's book.

1294
00:44:17,505 --> 00:44:18,965
Well, it's the book's take.

1295
00:44:19,905 --> 00:44:22,625
Well, Krakauer, it's that's that's a long story.

1296
00:44:22,625 --> 00:44:24,784
I mean, Krakauer, you know, was there trying

1297
00:44:24,784 --> 00:44:26,885
to understand why all those deaths occurred.

1298
00:44:27,230 --> 00:44:28,670
There was either a lot of deaths on

1299
00:44:28,670 --> 00:44:29,329
the mountain.

1300
00:44:29,789 --> 00:44:30,690
So Krakauer

1301
00:44:30,989 --> 00:44:31,650
was there

1302
00:44:31,949 --> 00:44:33,889
just trying to tell the story, but,

1303
00:44:34,349 --> 00:44:36,130
anyway, that that's a complicated

1304
00:44:36,429 --> 00:44:38,534
question, but it it Claimed a lot of

1305
00:44:38,534 --> 00:44:39,894
lives. Yeah. I think,

1306
00:44:40,694 --> 00:44:43,514
18 this year. Sherpa Lagos called Chomolunga,

1307
00:44:44,269 --> 00:44:46,849
not not Everest. So the locals call Chomolunga.

1308
00:44:47,309 --> 00:44:49,890
But, yeah, anyway, so the one guy tried

1309
00:44:50,190 --> 00:44:51,710
to go to Everest. He didn't go. The

1310
00:44:51,710 --> 00:44:53,025
other guy I heard from you, he was

1311
00:44:53,025 --> 00:44:54,324
on the Tibetan side.

1312
00:44:54,704 --> 00:44:56,065
He tried to go up there to, like,

1313
00:44:56,065 --> 00:44:57,664
pass some dead bodies. He like and he's

1314
00:44:57,664 --> 00:44:59,025
like, Rick, why am I here? I didn't

1315
00:44:59,105 --> 00:45:01,059
wasn't with him. He wrote me later. He's

1316
00:45:01,059 --> 00:45:02,660
like, I just turned around after a few

1317
00:45:02,660 --> 00:45:04,920
dead bodies. And the other third guy

1318
00:45:05,460 --> 00:45:07,860
was a fireman and contacted me because he

1319
00:45:07,860 --> 00:45:09,125
wrote a book. So I was in his

1320
00:45:09,125 --> 00:45:11,364
book for a little brief part, and he

1321
00:45:11,364 --> 00:45:13,364
had gotten into his drama, run some rescues.

1322
00:45:13,364 --> 00:45:14,885
He got stuck at a Ferris wheel. So

1323
00:45:14,885 --> 00:45:16,650
I did have conversation

1324
00:45:16,949 --> 00:45:17,449
after,

1325
00:45:17,989 --> 00:45:20,309
Vincent with the the guys that were clients.

1326
00:45:20,309 --> 00:45:20,809
Yes.

1327
00:45:21,190 --> 00:45:22,570
Yeah. It's interesting.

1328
00:45:23,030 --> 00:45:23,530
Yeah.

1329
00:45:23,925 --> 00:45:25,144
You I mean, you've

1330
00:45:25,684 --> 00:45:26,744
had now, what,

1331
00:45:27,125 --> 00:45:27,625
1,000

1332
00:45:28,085 --> 00:45:29,925
different clients around the world. I mean, you've

1333
00:45:29,925 --> 00:45:31,125
been doing it for a long time. I

1334
00:45:31,125 --> 00:45:32,105
imagine the numbers.

1335
00:45:32,789 --> 00:45:34,869
Yeah. I mean, it's gotta be huge. Right?

1336
00:45:34,869 --> 00:45:35,449
I mean,

1337
00:45:35,829 --> 00:45:37,909
you know, counting starting in 80 if you

1338
00:45:37,909 --> 00:45:39,989
count all the delinquent at risk programs, that's,

1339
00:45:39,989 --> 00:45:42,355
like, 45 years. I mean, I know I

1340
00:45:42,355 --> 00:45:45,315
look like I'm probably 35, but You look

1341
00:45:45,315 --> 00:45:45,815
young.

1342
00:45:46,275 --> 00:45:47,015
Thank you.

1343
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,239
How was your Japan trip? What did you

1344
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:54,079
go to Japan for, and how was the

1345
00:45:54,079 --> 00:45:54,579
journey?

1346
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,320
That's a really neat, amazing trip. Well, we

1347
00:45:58,320 --> 00:45:59,925
go there to do Kumano

1348
00:46:00,625 --> 00:46:03,045
Kodo, which is a Shinto Buddhist pilgrimage.

1349
00:46:03,744 --> 00:46:05,764
So starting a 1000 years ago,

1350
00:46:06,385 --> 00:46:08,804
the people in Japan would make a pilgrimage

1351
00:46:09,119 --> 00:46:11,140
to the key peninsula that has a lot

1352
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,840
of springs and hot springs and emperors and

1353
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:14,340
abdicated

1354
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,804
emperors would take 800 of their finest friends.

1355
00:46:19,025 --> 00:46:20,945
As they take their servants, they carry the

1356
00:46:20,945 --> 00:46:21,445
emperor.

1357
00:46:21,824 --> 00:46:23,744
That for a 1000 years, they've been doing

1358
00:46:23,744 --> 00:46:25,909
this pilgrimage through the mountains. So there's

1359
00:46:35,574 --> 00:46:37,815
and you that gains you merit and that

1360
00:46:38,215 --> 00:46:40,795
those sometime are buried, that's a sutra.

1361
00:46:41,175 --> 00:46:44,135
So there's these sutra mounds, these buried mounds

1362
00:46:44,135 --> 00:46:46,920
of these sutras on the way. So it's

1363
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:47,840
this combination

1364
00:46:48,220 --> 00:46:48,460
of,

1365
00:46:49,099 --> 00:46:50,160
ancient spirituality

1366
00:46:50,860 --> 00:46:52,894
with these shrines along the way that you

1367
00:46:53,135 --> 00:46:54,735
pray at and ring the bell at and

1368
00:46:54,735 --> 00:46:55,954
wash your hands at.

1369
00:46:56,414 --> 00:46:59,855
Hot springs are soaking, very rural local culture,

1370
00:46:59,855 --> 00:47:01,715
little villages, beautiful people.

1371
00:47:02,199 --> 00:47:04,699
So it's a really unique way to experience

1372
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:05,660
Japan.

1373
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:08,599
So you because you have the spiritual piece,

1374
00:47:08,599 --> 00:47:11,025
you have the historic piece, you have the

1375
00:47:11,085 --> 00:47:14,284
beautiful scenery, you have this incredible food that,

1376
00:47:14,284 --> 00:47:15,744
you know, that's there. It's,

1377
00:47:16,525 --> 00:47:18,605
you know, the all the pretty much every

1378
00:47:18,605 --> 00:47:19,905
experience that we do

1379
00:47:20,909 --> 00:47:22,289
is more around experience

1380
00:47:22,670 --> 00:47:23,489
than collecting

1381
00:47:23,869 --> 00:47:25,250
a view of some place.

1382
00:47:25,630 --> 00:47:27,230
You know, everything we do, we try to

1383
00:47:27,230 --> 00:47:28,210
immerse people,

1384
00:47:29,074 --> 00:47:31,494
into some deeper way of experiencing

1385
00:47:31,795 --> 00:47:34,434
that place with the people or in some

1386
00:47:34,434 --> 00:47:35,414
way. So

1387
00:47:35,849 --> 00:47:38,890
it's a very, very interesting country, much different

1388
00:47:38,890 --> 00:47:39,550
than ours.

1389
00:47:39,929 --> 00:47:43,050
It's incredibly clean, incredibly safe, and the people

1390
00:47:43,050 --> 00:47:46,375
are extremely respectful and very kind and gentle.

1391
00:47:46,994 --> 00:47:48,994
Really lovely people in Japan. We have a

1392
00:47:48,994 --> 00:47:52,055
lot to learn from their gentleness and respect.

1393
00:47:52,789 --> 00:47:54,409
Of all the places you've been,

1394
00:47:54,789 --> 00:47:55,849
do you have favorites,

1395
00:47:56,150 --> 00:47:58,489
or do you love all your children equally?

1396
00:47:59,510 --> 00:48:00,949
You know, when people ask me that and

1397
00:48:00,949 --> 00:48:02,554
they're on a trip, I always go, the

1398
00:48:02,554 --> 00:48:04,414
one that you're on with me right now.

1399
00:48:04,875 --> 00:48:07,135
I said, that's my standard answer. Oh,

1400
00:48:07,515 --> 00:48:09,914
yeah. I mean, there's Antarctica and there's the

1401
00:48:09,914 --> 00:48:11,355
rest of the world so you can't really

1402
00:48:11,355 --> 00:48:13,739
compare that. So I tend to like wild

1403
00:48:13,739 --> 00:48:15,440
places, extreme places,

1404
00:48:15,819 --> 00:48:18,219
so obviously Antarctica. Outside of that, I'm more

1405
00:48:18,219 --> 00:48:19,980
of a cooler place, because I so I

1406
00:48:19,980 --> 00:48:20,719
like mountains.

1407
00:48:21,494 --> 00:48:24,554
So I either like really really wild mountains,

1408
00:48:24,614 --> 00:48:25,514
like the arctic,

1409
00:48:26,295 --> 00:48:27,894
like way up in the arctic, you know,

1410
00:48:27,894 --> 00:48:29,574
bush plane drop off and they'll be around

1411
00:48:29,574 --> 00:48:32,599
for 400 miles. Really extreme places like that

1412
00:48:32,599 --> 00:48:34,780
or places like the Andes or the Himalayas

1413
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:36,059
where you have a mix of

1414
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:39,260
amazing mountains but you also have really interesting

1415
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:39,820
culture.

1416
00:48:40,545 --> 00:48:42,324
So, yeah, the Himalayas, the Andes,

1417
00:48:42,625 --> 00:48:43,364
or Greenland,

1418
00:48:43,744 --> 00:48:45,985
you know, because Greenland's so extreme too and

1419
00:48:45,985 --> 00:48:48,465
remote. Yeah, those kind of places are my

1420
00:48:48,465 --> 00:48:48,965
favorites.

1421
00:48:50,059 --> 00:48:51,659
Eric the Viking would be happy to hear

1422
00:48:51,659 --> 00:48:54,219
that, I'm sure. Exactly. But I like being

1423
00:48:54,219 --> 00:48:55,739
home too. I live in a really gorgeous

1424
00:48:55,739 --> 00:48:57,724
place. I'm I'm quite content to be home

1425
00:48:57,724 --> 00:48:58,945
too. It's really beautiful

1426
00:48:59,485 --> 00:49:01,324
where I live right now. Yeah. Have you

1427
00:49:01,324 --> 00:49:02,625
ever been on one of these

1428
00:49:03,085 --> 00:49:06,140
excursions and thought, oh, this is it. I'm

1429
00:49:06,199 --> 00:49:07,340
no more on the planet?

1430
00:49:08,199 --> 00:49:11,260
I suppose, but you really don't allow yourself

1431
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,159
to go there. That's not really a healthy

1432
00:49:13,159 --> 00:49:14,059
way of thinking.

1433
00:49:14,585 --> 00:49:16,284
So it's not really an option

1434
00:49:16,744 --> 00:49:17,644
in your brain.

1435
00:49:18,264 --> 00:49:18,764
Yeah.

1436
00:49:19,304 --> 00:49:21,304
You know, I'm you just keep coming up

1437
00:49:21,304 --> 00:49:22,364
with more solutions.

1438
00:49:23,059 --> 00:49:25,059
Yeah. You don't really go to that place

1439
00:49:25,059 --> 00:49:26,900
even if it gets dicey. You don't think

1440
00:49:26,900 --> 00:49:27,400
that.

1441
00:49:27,779 --> 00:49:30,679
I mean, I suppose in passing maybe, but

1442
00:49:30,835 --> 00:49:32,835
if that thought starts to come, you just

1443
00:49:32,835 --> 00:49:34,755
don't go there. You just come up with

1444
00:49:34,755 --> 00:49:35,734
another possibility,

1445
00:49:36,434 --> 00:49:39,174
another way to stretch supplies, another way to

1446
00:49:39,460 --> 00:49:42,199
stay warm, another way to get dry, whatever.

1447
00:49:42,900 --> 00:49:44,980
You know? Another way to keep people safe.

1448
00:49:44,980 --> 00:49:46,360
So not really.

1449
00:49:46,900 --> 00:49:48,360
Not too much. Yeah.

1450
00:49:49,315 --> 00:49:51,394
You're you're an interesting guy. Can't wait to

1451
00:49:51,394 --> 00:49:52,295
read your book.

1452
00:49:52,914 --> 00:49:55,155
I'm not writing a book. That's way too

1453
00:49:55,155 --> 00:49:56,994
much work. And there's a lot of things

1454
00:49:56,994 --> 00:49:59,380
to do besides write a book. Now there's

1455
00:49:59,380 --> 00:50:01,559
a lot of things to experience yet and,

1456
00:50:01,780 --> 00:50:03,460
you know, a lot of other just not

1457
00:50:03,460 --> 00:50:04,440
my skill set.

1458
00:50:05,539 --> 00:50:07,105
I get it. I get it. Tell people

1459
00:50:07,105 --> 00:50:08,864
how they might find you and maybe go

1460
00:50:08,864 --> 00:50:11,265
on an adventure with you. Well, that's pretty

1461
00:50:11,265 --> 00:50:12,945
easy. You could just type in the company

1462
00:50:12,945 --> 00:50:15,389
name, pack paddle ski. But packpalski.com.

1463
00:50:16,809 --> 00:50:17,869
Just type in packpalski.com

1464
00:50:18,569 --> 00:50:20,409
will come up. You can do it on

1465
00:50:20,409 --> 00:50:22,250
Facebook. You can do it. You can type

1466
00:50:22,250 --> 00:50:24,010
in Rick French on Facebook. You can type

1467
00:50:24,010 --> 00:50:26,344
in Pac Palski on Facebook. You can take

1468
00:50:26,344 --> 00:50:29,065
Pac Palski. The website comes up. That's pretty

1469
00:50:29,065 --> 00:50:31,465
easy to find me. Yeah. I mean, people

1470
00:50:31,465 --> 00:50:33,065
in Kinesis where I live don't know me,

1471
00:50:33,065 --> 00:50:35,389
but, you know, other people know me. I

1472
00:50:35,389 --> 00:50:36,829
don't know if people in Kinesis know where

1473
00:50:36,829 --> 00:50:38,690
to find me, but that's where I live.

1474
00:50:38,750 --> 00:50:40,829
Yeah. Rick, thank you so much for your

1475
00:50:40,829 --> 00:50:41,329
time.

1476
00:50:41,954 --> 00:50:43,394
It was great to meet you. It'd be

1477
00:50:43,394 --> 00:50:45,155
more fun to do an adventure with you,

1478
00:50:45,155 --> 00:50:45,655
though.

1479
00:50:45,954 --> 00:50:48,675
Yeah. I mean, I who knows what it

1480
00:50:48,675 --> 00:50:49,574
might be?

1481
00:50:50,140 --> 00:50:52,219
Exactly. It was a delight. I I read

1482
00:50:52,219 --> 00:50:53,739
you, you know, I I looked at your

1483
00:50:53,739 --> 00:50:55,500
information, how you got into that. It's really

1484
00:50:55,579 --> 00:50:57,739
I love that you've that you've attempted to

1485
00:50:57,739 --> 00:50:58,320
do this.

1486
00:50:58,674 --> 00:51:00,275
Meaning more people who've tried to follow their

1487
00:51:00,275 --> 00:51:01,815
dreams like that because it's hard.

1488
00:51:02,114 --> 00:51:03,875
So I I really admire that you took

1489
00:51:03,875 --> 00:51:05,315
this on and, you know, what you're what

1490
00:51:05,315 --> 00:51:07,255
you're trying to do anymore of that.

1491
00:51:07,819 --> 00:51:09,659
Thank you. It's just great. When you do

1492
00:51:09,659 --> 00:51:11,599
this, you tend to connect with other people

1493
00:51:11,980 --> 00:51:13,579
who do and view the world in the

1494
00:51:13,579 --> 00:51:14,319
same way.

1495
00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:16,385
You're part of my bubble now.

1496
00:51:16,864 --> 00:51:17,364
Yay.

1497
00:51:18,385 --> 00:51:20,545
I love it. Well, one of my best

1498
00:51:20,545 --> 00:51:22,784
friends, she's a adventurer. She's been to so

1499
00:51:22,784 --> 00:51:24,164
many places, and

1500
00:51:24,639 --> 00:51:26,320
I'm sure she's gonna be excited to hear

1501
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,179
this episode. I don't know that she wants

1502
00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:30,340
to climb on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

1503
00:51:30,639 --> 00:51:32,784
I'm pretty sure that's a no. But but

1504
00:51:32,784 --> 00:51:34,784
some of this other stuff maybe, you know?

1505
00:51:34,784 --> 00:51:36,625
Yeah. We do other things that aren't quite

1506
00:51:36,625 --> 00:51:38,385
as rigorous as that. Like, Japan's not too

1507
00:51:38,385 --> 00:51:41,025
rigorous. Yeah. That one really that piqued my

1508
00:51:41,025 --> 00:51:43,030
interest. That's right up my alley.

1509
00:51:43,489 --> 00:51:44,929
You know, a bunch of things we do

1510
00:51:44,929 --> 00:51:46,150
aren't aren't that rigorous.

1511
00:51:46,530 --> 00:51:47,110
Yeah. They're

1512
00:51:47,489 --> 00:51:49,670
ski in Norway. Yeah. That kind of stuff.

1513
00:51:49,805 --> 00:51:51,565
Well, Rick, it's such a pleasure. Please stay

1514
00:51:51,565 --> 00:51:53,805
in touch. You're very cool. You have a

1515
00:51:53,805 --> 00:51:56,445
really nice day. Okay? You too. Alright. Take

1516
00:51:56,445 --> 00:51:58,545
care. Thanks for listening, everybody.

1517
00:51:59,340 --> 00:52:00,559
Bye. Bye bye.

1518
00:52:03,099 --> 00:52:05,500
Rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human Podcast

1519
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:08,125
on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

1520
00:52:08,425 --> 00:52:08,925
Thanks.

1521
00:52:09,224 --> 00:52:09,724
Bye.