Elements of Adventure

Tim Hoffman is a rare human being. Every time I talk to him, I feel like I experience personal growth and learn something new. Tim has an impressive background in outdoor adventure and leadership and has an incredibly unique outlook on life. We discuss strategies for mitigating hardship during an adventure, the concept of "adventure flow", and what life looks like when lived with a "backcountry mentality". I had a great time talking with Tim and hope that you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!

In his own words, Steven Thomas is an "okay person". He does not, however, consider himself to be an adventurer. We delve into "dirtbag credibility", equality in adventure, the headspace of getting it done on a long trip, and the qualifications for being an adventurer and why it may be best not to think of yourself as one.

I had the incredibly opportunity to get together with Ben and Tiff Timby, authors of the Wheeling Free blog, to talk about their world travels and perspective on how to encapsulate adventure in every single day. Ben and Tiff share tons of perspective and practical tips about travelling the world and sustaining themselves on long-term adventures. We discuss big ideas like how travel has changed their perspective on personal possessions and their relationship, and get into the nitty gritty on important subjects like the best travel food. There were some sporadic wi-fi issues that I'm working to get addressed so the call was dropped momentarily at a few points. If you're interested in following their adventures more (and I would highly encourage you to do so!) check out their blog at http://wheeling-free.com/index.php/blog/ or follow them on Instagram @bentimby and @tifftaffany. 

For this episode I talk to my good friend Drew Stevensen about how his perspective on adventure has changed over time and how he seeks to "bring the wonder into whatever". Drew works as a federal firefighter and has some unique perspective to share. Fair warning: This episode has a ton of bad audio in it. I did my best to clean it up but it wasn't all salvegable. Because of that, I am releasing it in the same week as another episode. If you would find audio issues to be annoying, this may be an episode that you want to skip. 

Jon Carman was the first person that I befriended at Berea College when we both pursued our education there and was the driving force behind me becoming more outdoorsy and adventurous. He's had a profound effect on my life and the lives of many others, and I was excited to be able to pick his brain on how he thinks about the very subject that he helped me to embrace. We talk about his views on how hunting is a sustainable and renewable resource and why he doesn't consider it to be a sport, why Americans eat the meats that we do, how caving is one of the final frontiers and what it's like to stand where no other human has set foot before, and how he beat Alex Honnold's fastest time to the top of El Capitan. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed creating it. Stick around at the end for ideas on how to support the podcast. Thanks! 

Allan Edwards shares his life experiences raising two kids to be adventurous. He'll share some great tips on getting outside with kids, some excellent book recommendations, and some pearls of wisdom about challenge and getting outside of your comfort zone. I learned a lot from my conversation with Allan and I hope that you do too!

A short promo and welcome from the host.