life – One for the Road

The Foreman 400 Rides Again

This month is already flying by and as I take my morning and evening walks between editing film I have noticed the coolness in the breeze and the smell of Fall in the air. The annual Halloween Party is just a few weeks away and more importantly it is camping season. My favorite time of the year. Now, to get you caught up the ATV had an issue and would not start. Mostly this could be because of me working in Dallas for a year and she was not run nearly at all. And this is a ’98 Honda Foreman 400. The same ATV my father bought brand new when I was a kid. I have so many awesome memories on this thing. I can recall a time back in the day when we were still in Alabama and we were riding this trail called “Powerline” the trail that follows the powerlines that ran for miles. Me and my little Suzuki 160 and my dad on his brand new Foreman 400. I can vividly remember this trail that started off pretty wide and slowly became narrow and more narrow until you reached a spot that your four wheeler could barely squeeze through. Once you were able to get through that though there was this big creek, nearly a river. It was beautiful, something out of a Bob Ross painting. We drove through this river and pushed through to the other side on the Foreman. At that moment I felt like we had crossed an ocean and me and my dad were explorers in an undiscovered forest. I was just a little kid then and the Foreman was a massive beast to me. Fast Forward twenty eight years later and I am upgrading it.

I had cranked it once since I had been back but the editing work was taking all day and I started getting in the hole of staying in my room working all day. I went out to move it and she wouldn’t crank and my heart sank. I could feel how bad she wanted to run in the woods and the fact that she couldn’t even crank made me feel so guilty. It was my fault. If I really cared I would have come out and cranked it everyday and I would have done a test drive every weekend and just keep her clean and beautiful but I hadn’t. My priorities had gone astray so to speak. The first shop I called gave me a long winded speech about how because the Foreman was from 1998 that they could not get any new parts. Then he dropped the fact that if I didn’t drop a deposit that they would not even look at it to tell me what is wrong with it. So that shop wouldn’t work, which was disappointing because I had used this place before, but alas never again. Then I found a place near me and immediately he told me to bring it down and guaranteed he could fix it. A few days later he did and then I pulled the trigger on updates and most importantly the winch I had gotten a year ago. We had used Adam’s and it made me want mine installed even more. That and a laundry list of issues that the previously mentioned shop never caught, or more likely never looked or even cared. This ATV is going to be like brand new. I am already planning the trip to Croom and I am praying that I get a call soon telling me to just come pick it up.

Some people may think that this is an overreaction to something trifle, or perhaps a huge waste of money, and though I did still pay less than I would have for a brand new four wheeler I can still understand why some people may feel this way. The fact is that you may not be wrong but you are also not entirely right. This petrol powered toy doesn’t really serve a huge purpose beyond just making me happy. I do use it to clean up my yard and during hurricanes it is a huge help, but these are tiny moments in my life. Realistically this ATVs main purpose is to bring me joy, make camping films, and bring happiness to my life. With that being said it is hard for me to say how important it truly is to me. Life is very short and often takes more than it gives so it is important to truly live happy and to be alive and present in life. I am blessed that a lot of gear and my ATV have a special story and that they were loved long before they were under my care, leaving them beautiful for me to enjoy. This writer thinks this could be the true secret to a long and healthy life and if not it is a sure good spot to start looking. Thank you so much for reading, God bless y’all and don’t forget to go outside.

Pneumonia, Nassau, and the Sea

These last months have been quite a wild ride. It started about a month ago or so when I swore I had some kind of ear infection. Well, it’s a very good thing I am not a doctor because the symptoms got much worse before I decided to go see one only twenty four hours after speaking to a doctor on Teledoc. Which, the doctor on there only heard what I told him so there’s no way he would have known how bad I actually was so I am not trying to throw any shade towards them, not at all. But, I had gotten in pretty bad shape. After several tests and an X-Ray later it was determined I had Bronchopneumonia. Apparently a much tougher, bigger pain in the lungs, than your average bronchitis or pneumonia, like all the fun of both in one convenient package.

So, for about a month I had the most intense pain in my entire chest. From my muscles burning because of the constant coughing and hacking. The first couple weeks were the most painful. It was like an asthma attack but it wouldn’t end and nothing would help. I couldn’t sleep except by sitting nearly straight up and if I did pass out the hacking and chest pain from not being able to really breathe woke me up. Another issue I am still dealing with, how much that reversed my sleep schedule. Even now, I am writing this at 12:45 at night. Another reason I had to be well was because I was taking a cruise over to Nassau and Coco Cay with Leonor for some important family stuff. So, I needed the Fat Man and Little Boy of antibiotics dropped on my immune system and burn this sickness out of me as quickly as possible. It took me a month before I could even talk without losing my breathe and I am still running out of breathe after a mile hiking in the bush so when the time came to set sail I was still pretty rough but no longer sick or on meds.

When we set sail it was on the Utopia of the Seas with the Royal Caribbean. I have to say that every single time I take a cruise with Royal Caribbean I always have the time of my life. I get onboard the ship and make my way to our stateroom, Leonor and I. We were in an interior cabin this time, so no balcony. But, honestly it gave me a great reason to spend a lot more time exploring the ship and spending time on deck. After dropping off the luggage we headed to the deck and I had my signature, get into cruise mode, double of Irish whiskey and a coke. I may have had two. Of course I had just gotten over being sick so I got pretty buzzed fairly quick. So, what is a man to do when he gets a little buzzed on deck. Why, he makes his way to the free ice cream of course and has a nice cold vanilla, chocolate, or a swirl of both while you decide what you are in the mood to eat. Personally, I had a vanilla cone and then followed it up with a brat sausage, something Leonor knows I love. A tasty brat and some mustard and ketchup. Across the water you could see Cape Canaveral and the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building as well as the launch towers. I remember watching the last shuttle launch from there. It didn’t take long to lose sight of land as we made our way into the Atlantic with Nassau as our first port of call, a location that would leave some definite memories.

As the sky went from a bright blue to a dark black matched only by the black of the sea that was impossible to differentiate between. It is a darkness that is impossible to really explain unless you have seen it. So intensely dark, it is almost ominous. But, there was no ominous feeling on the deck that was alive with laughs of children and adults enjoying the beauty of the sea and relishing the distance from the world’s troubles. When eight thirty rolled around it was dinner time. We all made our way to the main dining hall and were seated immediately. I had a delicious meal. A perfectly cooked crab cake for a starter, fried chicken which was amazing with mashed potatoes and biscuits with honey. Finally ending the meal with a Key Lime Pie. That was awesome. We then made our way around the ship enjoying the stars and I enjoying a coffee before we headed down to the casino. Leonor’s parents were there already warming up the poker tables and doing very well. Something about gambling at sea always makes them lucky. I don’t gamble so I enjoy playing a slot or two before having another coffee and disappearing on deck to enjoy the view of the deep darkness trying to find where the dark sky met the black sea.

Arriving in Nassau I was excited to visit a new territory outside the U.S. The last country I got to enjoy exploring was England. I did just finish field work in Dallas and a long drive from Texas to Vicksburg, Mississippi and then through Alabama and then on to Florida. I have been to a few countries: England, France, Belgium, Venezuela, and Gary, Indiana by way of Chicago, which, if you are from South Florida is definitely a different country. The first thing that really strikes you are the amount of vendors the moment you leave what most people call the resort area, but I will refer to this as the Green Zone. Walking out of the Green Zone I am almost immediately attacked by vendors and salesman. It is kinda like those videos of Egypt with the vendors following you except a bit worse. After graciously saying no to the thousandth person I was beginning to hear someone scream that I was a racist because I would not rent an ATV. I immediately found a taxi and went to another Green Zone in a cab. That other Green Zone: The Atlantis Casino and Resort, a very beautiful and very expensive resort right on the water with million as well as billion dollar yachts hanging out in the private marina the Leonor’s Dad led us through. The ships that were there reminded me of movie stars and Bond villains. Then relaxing in the casino I posted up at the bar where I was given the most amazing service, as well as, the most well made coconut rum mixed drinks I have ever had in my entire life. A local coconut rum with pineapple juice and grenadine and as a garnish a dried out pineapple dried out to look like a flower dropped on top, AMAZING! After winning a buzz at the bar and Leonor’s parents winning at the tables we all made our way back to the ship where we would be on our way to Coco Cay but my next port of call would be enjoying the on-ship bars, restaurants, and even winning at some trivia with Leonor, all because of her TV sitcom knowledge, and enjoying the no cell phone coverage and private interior stateroom.

I have said it before and I will probably continue to say it, because it is a quote I love and feel deeply. It’s by Khalil Gibran and he said “There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea.”. I love the sea, and for me there is something very calming and centering in my soul that comes from the sea. I come from a family of mariners from Tipperary, then Norwich, and now, finally, in Tampa, so I suppose it makes sense that I love to look out into the vastness of the Atlantic and almost feel as if I am seeing an old friend. If you haven’t taken a trip lately whether it is at sea or your local state park I encourage you to go, explore somewhere new, and let the worries of the what the world tells you to think fade and blow away in the strongest wind cooling your brow. Thank you so much for reading, until the next adventure my friends, take care and God bless you.

24 Days Left in Dallas

So, we have finally arrived at the moment that felt so far away it was as if it was never going to arrive and now it’s here. When I first made the trip here back in October I never could have imagined how much this place was going to change me. I flew back and forth until November with the plan to drive to Dallas from Tampa right after New Years. Around 1,600 miles. I had my annual camping trip with Adam at Ocala National Forest and the moment I got home packed for a trip that I would be on for the next eight months. I was very anxious about leaving and I had no idea what to expect. This was going to be the largest project I had ever done and I was doing it solo. I did have Leonor with me and that made everything a lot easier and way better but she had her own job to do so all the filming was up to me. I was pretty nervous.

Upon arriving after a day and a half of driving I found that nothing was as advertised. None of the apartments had furniture, the beds were on the floor, no TV, and it was absolutely freezing with Dallas having a winter storm coming in. It was supposed to be severe with the possibility of power going out for a few days. Just what you want to hear after leaving Florida. I huddled up by my heater and worked on uploading the film from every days filming. Putting up the massive FIFA Broadcasting Hub in downtown Dallas. It was a massive project that I am so lucky God let me have that opportunity to film. There were moments I thought I was going to go crazy when we were grinding filming everyone work 15 hour shifts and then go home and be up all night downloading and tagging everything and then waking up to repeat everything. I thought, I am in over my head but It started to become habit and I slowly started to settle in to my temporary home in Texas.

The assembly of this massive worldwide broadcast hub from where they broadcast the World Cup started in late January and was finished in mid May. We had a massive party. Our bosses rented out a pub and gave us an open bar. I drank heavily and celebrated. Everyone was there patting each other on the back. Well deserved too. Lots of people said this was going to fail and a lot of people have come and gone from this project between October to now but I am so happy that I got to see the entire thing through. Now, we need to go through the film and make some beautiful stuff out of it and that is going to be really fun but a lot of work. A lot has happened to me in those moments in between behind the camera with my new friends. A few drunk nights to tell tales about, add a couple tattoos, and a new perspective on just life in general. How, up until now, how I felt like I have been doing it all wrong. At least not entirely how I should be looking at life anyway.

Before I came here I was really sure about what I thought and how I lived my life. Being here though, having so much time to myself to reflect and to meet people so different from me and hear about their views and beliefs made me realize how amazing and how awesome people can be. The soul of people is something extremely beautiful and in some people it makes your own soul light up. People like this should be protected and cared for. Being someone who did not meet a lot of people it blew my mind just how many great and genuine people are out there. I took the time to try and figure out what kind of person God wanted me to be and how to do it. I fall short a lot but I am at a point where I want to be better and I know that God will bless me if I put Him first and He will always be with me. He brought me here to show me that. I really wish I learned it sooner but I have a chance to take what I have learned here and let it change me and take that change home with me and build it into something legendary.

I came to Texas and I sometimes complained about it too. The roads, the confusing Dallas traffic, and the insane hours I pushed myself to endure. As I am here at the end of it looking back though, I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. This place has somehow made a place for itself in my heart and as I walk around my temporary home I know that somewhere within me I will always miss my apartment back in Dallas. My Farmers Market across the street, the empty gym upstairs, and the amazing people like my buddy Bogar, Luis, and Kennedy. They all have such intricate and beautiful lives and for a moment I got to be part of it and play a little role in it. In twenty four days though my pass as well as my filming will officially come to an end. The focus will then fall to packing up my apartment and making the drive back home to Florida before the apartment lease runs out September 1st.

As I write this I realize, I am really going to miss this place. I am really going to miss my little apartment across from my farmers market with the empty gym. I am going to miss my crazy friends that made me forget I am 40 and remind me life never runs out of adventures if you just keep chasing the horizon. I can’t help but wonder and daydream a lot lately about what will happen to all of us when we finally come to that day we all have say goodbye. I am sure we will all try to keep in touch as long as we can but life and time can be brutal with long distance friendships. I wonder what will happen to me and where I will go. I am sure wherever it is God will be with me and it will be awesome. I hope all of you reading this are well, God bless you, and until next time, see ya later.

Ghosts, Beignets, and Cafe Au Lait

Some things that you have to do when you are in New Orleans is getting drunk off of a special liquor slushy called a daiquiri, I suggest the Quad shot (four extra) if you want to live dangerously as I do. I was walking by the way do not visit Bourbon Street and plan to drive. And the other thing is a ghost tour. Now, if you are reading this and you need to find a tour I recommend a very cool chap who’s name I unfortunately cannot recall in a small red box pavilion and ask him about the New Orleans night walking ghost tour. It is awesome.

After you go book your tour you need to follow the Mississippi River to this outdoor/indoor cafe called the Cafe Du Monde. It may look a little hectic because it is a place where you go in and seat yourself and another heads up, it is cash only, but it has the most amazing beignets you will ever eat in your entire life. Now, it looked busy every time I had gone so you may have to rub a shoulder or two but try to get a look inside because every time I went inside it was easy to find a table compared to outside. I think people just grab the first empty they see which is outside which makes sitting inside pretty easy. So, in case you want to grab a little air conditioning its perfect. I had an order of beignets, which is three per order, which may not sound like a lot but these things can really fill you up. Start with a single order and get it with a small Cafe Au Lait, which is just coffee and milk, simple, but delicious. It’s hard to beat a classic. After you enjoy your coffee and beignets and enjoy the music from the street. The street performers while I was there was amazing. It really added to the experience.

When you leave, and do please tip your server, exit and go towards the Mississippi and you’ll cross some rail road tracks and find yourself at a beautiful side of the bank, seeing the crescent bend that New Orleans is famous for with the great bridge in the background. You will also see the paddlewheels working up and down the river, something I wonder if Mark Twain would recognize and find cool that we still enjoy them today. Standing there an older gentleman with a guitar began playing a very beautiful almost lo-fi jam that made the entire view surreal. As I stood there listening to the music the clouds released a misty haze soaking in the moment as the wind blew over this great river.

Later that night, we made our way back out for a walking ghost tour. Now, I love tours but i had never done a walking ghost tour. I love history and I lose the paranormal so I was really stoked but at the same time I was afraid of getting too excited and then leaving disappointed. It started off in a room that was decorated to look creepy where we met our tour guide. A very cool Irish dude named Orion. Now this dude is awesome and it is not because I am Irish and so is he or that I believe that the Irish are the best story tellers in the world, though they are absolutely are. I liked him because he allowed himself to get lost in the story, to become emotionally invested on a level. The stories were also pretty wild. I am not going to tell you what they were because, as Orion said, that is his product and I do not want to give it away, but I can tell you if you book a ghost tour in the French Quarter you are going to have an amazing time. We hit several very haunted locations, one in particular was the LaLaurie Mansion.

The LaLaurie Mansion was very creepy. We heard the story and we all were like “ahh that is scary” but this spot was really weird. First, the tour guide would not get close to it. He said we could walk under the balcony and get close to it but he had no interest in getting close. Now, it wasn’t weird at that moment for me. We went through the rest of the tour which was awesome but later on we got hit with a really hard rain walking back to the hotel room. We stopped at a pub called the Voodoo Tavern. I had a delicious po’ boy and Leonor had something else. I drank a Dr. Pepper… no alcohol… After I used the lavatory I came back and sat down and was talking about this place and felt a really strong poke on my shoulder. I though something had dripped on me so I started looking on my shirt. I asked Leonor if she saw anything I was so sure something had to be there. Nothing… now I know this sounds kinda silly but it was really weird. It felt like someone had poked me as if to say, “Hey, I heard you..” and this city is so charged with the paranormal that you can feel the history every where. That night, I had a weird feeling that something was on the couch at some point but I told myself I was tired and imagining things.

If you ever find yourself on the banks of the Mississippi River make sure you pop into Cafe Du Monde for a beignet and a Cafe Au Lait and relax to the saxophone player bringing life to the busy streets stretching through the Quarter. Every corner has its own story, has its own unique history, and its just waiting to be found and explored. This place has such an enchanting energy, it’s impossible not to be drawn in to the mysterious beauty of this place. If you ever have a chance I highly recommend coming here and really letting yourself get lost in the Quarter.

Editing Days in a Dallas Apartment

It has been nearly a week I believe since I have gone outside except for the occasional taco. We are getting very close to the end of this project and therefore coming to a conclusion in the filming which means I have to now start seeking an “ending”. Something to really sum up the film of this huge adventure, this David vs. Goliath of long odds.

The arrival in Dallas came immediately after New Years. Driving the sixteen hundred plus miles from my hometown in South Florida to Dallas Texas was an awesome ride. Cruising past Pensacola, Through Mobile Bay, past Louisiana, and finally arriving in Dallas, Texas. After being taken in by the breathe taking skyline and being shown to the apartment that would be home for the next eight months I took in one immediate fact. That the roads in Dallas must have been drawn by someone who had taken too much Adderall. Winding through one way streets and immense hoards of the homeless wandering around downtown almost like something out of an old zombie movie. Though this place has begin to grow on me. The friends I have made here have been some of the most amazing people I have ever met.

It is hard to believe that we are already in May and going through that month faster than anyone could have expected. I have gone ahead and purchased tickets to go to Japan with Adam and Chris. The trip we have been talking about for a couple of years is actually on the way. This November eleventh this adventure will begin just as this current one comes to a close. As I sit here now working through all the footage I have filmed for the last 5 months it is dawning on me that I will have to say goodbye to Dallas soon as well and I believe that I had forgotten what it was like to love something or someplace and then let it go. For me, personally, that’s the hardest part, the letting go. I always wish I can bring all the awesome people I meet with me, but they have their own adventures to embark upon and thus we must enjoy our time on the trail together, we all have a different camping spot we are hiking to in life so be kind, love, care for, and enjoy the other people you find on the trail. God bless you my friends, until next time.

Evening Run to Vulcan

My nephews and I have created this tradition that every Thanksgiving I drive my family up to my old hometown in Alabama and after we have our big meal that is usually around twelve in the afternoon we go up to Oak Mountain and hike up to Peavine Falls. Oak Mountain is a huge State Park near Birmingham and is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Now, one thing I always do is, when I am at the top of Red Mountain I would always survey the neighboring mountain tops for Vulcan. Now, Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world and it too sits atop Red Mountain so I am surveying the tops of all the surrounding peaks but I can’t see him, I never do. Then I launch into my usual speech about how much I wish we could take a side quest to Vulcan before heading home but there is no way it would be open that late… or would it? I had equipped my phone now with the latest in AI technology that even James Bond would feel a twinge of jealousy about as I asked ChatGPT what Vulcan’s hours were. I was blown away when I saw it was open until ten. I immediately rounded up the children and made the twenty minute drive to Vulcan Park. It was a very short drive so it was not long before we were coming up the road taking us up the mountain when we saw him. Vulcan, the largest cast iron statue ever made in the world. The gray steel colour was outlined in the dark blue sky standing high on his pedestal reaching up towards the sky. It was nearly sunset. We first headed into the museum to get our tickets to go to the top of Vulcan but we were once struck with a kind providence as we were informed that their computer systems were down and therefore we would not be charged. We were given our official post it note and made our way over to the pedestal that Vulcan sat atop. The entire monument was being renovated so naturally the lifts were out but that was fine by me as I was interested in seeing the guts of the statues as we lumbered our way up. The pedestal was a stone mason style that felt like an old turn of the century design. Accurate since it was made in the early nineteen hundreds. The bottom of the stairs was a white marble room with the stairs starting on the right and wrapping around the wall going to the left. After going up the original stairs the marbles gives way to a dark stone. The original walls of the statue. Going up the only hint to how high you are is the thin windows. Approaching the top, the large steel doors open to an outside view of downtown Birmingham from almost two hundred feet above Red Mountain. I am actually slightly averted to heights but I can never say no to a breathtaking view and the thrill of filming it. As I stepped outside into the cold high altitude breeze I could see the lights of downtown lighting up and in the distance the sky was a deep red being washed out slowly by a black star dotted sky. I made my way slowly walking around the entire deck and seeing the entire three hundred and sixty degree view that Vulcan offered. There is something almost spiritual for me being in places like this. I had visited Vulcan years ago when I was a kid and it was an inside observation room and you couldn’t see Vulcan but just the surrounding view but now being outside in the wind looking up and seeing the great cast iron olympian and not only see the view but really feel. The grating was a little bit of a shock when I realized I could see all the way to the ground. After taking a moment to really take in the view I had been waiting to see for years I took my time climbing back down the stairs. I felt like I was leaving a friend’s house that I knew I wouldn’t be seeing again for a very long time and it was a little sad. Before leaving though we took a walk through the Museum at Vulcan Park, spoiler alert, there is a celebrity housed there, Bill for Capitol Hill, if you know you know. Making my way back to my ride I stopped and turned around and took a moment to really let the moment sink in, to really let it settle in my memory before heading back. If you are ever in Birmingham, Alabama I highly recommend a stop to enjoy it. Sunset, in my opinion, is the very best time. Until next time dear adventurers, God bless you, St. Brendan travel with you, and may you always find the right trail.