Beautiful Chattanooga, Tennessee - right on the Georgia border. That’s Lookout Mountain there in the background. A billion tourists all swarming around the top of it. Take the tourists away and the area is really beautiful. (I say this paradoxically, because I was there as a tourist.)
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While others are playing Robinson Crusoe in their backyards, I show you the realities involved with getting out there for real, and how to stay safe and have fun. It’s work, but it’s rewarding work.
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Going on a kayak adventure is one thing. Taking video is one thing. But figuring out how to outfit the kayak to capture it all in an appealing, narrative way that makes you feel like you’re there with me is another thing altogether.
The right power, the right angles, the right mounts (you’d be surprised how hard this has been) the right wiring, the right placements, the right water protection considerations, the right tethering so that nothing goes overboard and is lost forever…
…and knowing that none of this stuff is what is most important. The most important - even while documenting it all - is trying to completely forget about the cameras, breathe in the natural world, live fully in the moment, soak in the experience, and stay safe doing it.
I like this guy. He’s absolutely loonier than a chipmunk drunk on plums in the sun, but he reminds me of my uncles.
I agree that it can be real nice to have along friends for these sorts of things.
And believe me, I always try to invite a few to join me.
But let me tell you what has been my experience as l've gotten older (I'm in my early 50s): It gets harder, and harder, and harder to find people to join me.
When I was 30, I could find people to join me with the snap of my fingers.
Now, finding somebody to join me who will actually follow through is almost impossible. Everybody's set in their ways, they've got other things going on in their lives, nobody wants to give up their bathrooms and air conditioning or central heating. Other folks my age fear sleeping on the ground and getting dirty.
They don't know what they're missing out on. They don't understand that these experiences alone with God in the backcountry rejuvenate one's soul - hard ground or not.
I'll have to do a video where I talk about the realities of aging and how difficult it becomes to get other people to join you, just to see how many others ...
