Podcasts about Whitewater

Full episodes and more available at Patreon.com/SlopQuest Ryan’s brain is mush and Andy recounts a harrowing soup kitchen story where church ladies go nuts to some sweet ragtime jams. Then the boys try to rewrite the character of Oscar The Grouch in a more realistic manner. Ryan gets worried that his bad signing is a sign of a bad life and Andy tries to reassure him. Ryan and Ari play with a war hero’s medals and then use an old car to play Driving Miss Daisy then Andy tries to dissect what these ding dongs are getting out of this vacation role play. Andy recounts the joys of “Civil War Day” at his elementary school and the ridiculous outfits kids wore. O’Neill tries to understand the South’s obsession with the Confederacy. Then the boys dive into some Epstein talk and they talk about his aliens tricked humans into thinking gold was valuable.

How can we raise boys who love adventure?Here are a few simple ways to encourage boys to not always play it safe but develop their God-given spirit of bravery:Encourage outdoor family activities that involve a healthy level of risk.  Whitewater rafting, tubing on rivers, and waterfall hiking are a few.  Selectively allow children to oversee their own projects.  It's messy and not “perfect,” but they can own it.Enjoy adventurous yard toys like zip-lines and trampolines.  We can't always play it safe!Plan vacations to new places.  Try different cities, restaurants, and entertainment.  As God shapes the lives of our children, He can use the raw material of learning to take risks and mold them into people who change their worlds!For information about raising your son into a godly man, visit Trail Life USA or RaisingGodlyBoys.com.

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…Back to School Time! Audrey is starting her first year teaching Kindergarten! And Sydney reflects on her time as a teacher before she became a full-time flower farmer and flower shop owner!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Trisha Hess returns to the show to get us PUMPED UP for Whitewater River Fest in Elba on August 1st and 2nd!

In episode 523 of the Outdoor Adventure Lifestyle Podcast, I'm talking with Haley Stuart, filmmaker, environmentalist, and whitewater instructor. Haley joins us to discuss her work protecting rivers, collaborating with communities across the Americas, and raising awareness about mega hydroelectric impacts. Her journey inspires meaningful action for lasting environmental change. Show Notes What if I told you that rivers could teach us more about life than a self-help book ever could? What Happened: When Haley Stuart first dipped her paddle into a river, she wasn't chasing adrenaline—she was running headfirst into her fears. Growing up in suburban New York, she didn't even know kayaking was a sport. It wasn't until she attended a kayaking-focused high school (yes, those exist!) that she realized rivers weren't just a setting for adventures—they were life itself, rushing and relentless, filled with twists, turns, and lessons. At first, the sport terrified her. But over time, the pull of the water and the tight-knit community of paddlers won her over. What started as a hesitant curiosity turned into an unshakable passion. Traveling the world, Haley discovered the hard truth: many of the rivers she loved were under threat—from dams, mining, and neglect. She couldn't sit by and watch them disappear. That's when everything changed. She met indigenous communities who lived alongside these rivers, fighting daily battles to protect what had sustained them for generations. Haley realized something profound: saving rivers wasn't just about ecology—it was about people, too. And through her work, she's helping amplify their voices, blending storytelling, conservation, and sheer grit to make an impact. Principle: The heart of Haley's story? Real change starts when we listen. Listen to the rivers, the people who live near them, and the truth about what's really happening in the world's wildest places. Many of us dream of adventure, but few think about what happens when those landscapes are lost. It's not enough to explore the outdoors—we need to protect it. Transition: Too often, we underestimate the power of our choices—what we support, what we fight for, or even where we decide to paddle. We think, "Someone else will handle it," or "What difference can I make?" But here's the truth: you matter more than you think. Haley's work reminds us that our adventures and the decisions we make along the way can transform the fate of entire ecosystems and the communities they sustain. That's Why: That's why this week's episode of the Outdoor Adventure Lifestyle Podcast is a must-listen. Haley's journey from nervous kayaker to river conservationist will inspire you to think differently about the waterways we all rely on—and how you can play a role in preserving them. Call to Action: Are you ready to discover the adventure, responsibility, and heart that comes with loving rivers? Tune in to hear Haley's story. Don't just explore the outdoors—help protect it for the next generation. Amazonian Rivers Initiative Rios to Rivers Tuichi River Paddle Tribal Waters & Kayakimün

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…The weddings we had the privilege of flowering in the 2025 Spring Wedding Season! What we loved, what was challenging, and trends we are seeing in the wedding we have been flowering lately!We are booking 2026 and 2027 Weddings across Colorado!! Book a FREE consultation with Sydney so we can make all your wedding floral dreams come true!https://calendly.com/garveysgardens/wedding-floral-consultation?month=2025-06Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

What happens when the student becomes the teacher — and your kid starts paddling harder than you ever did? In this heartfelt and often hilarious conversation, I sit down with Ken and Cashion Porter-Shirley, a father-son duo whose relationship has evolved from early river days full of coaching and “peer pressure” to deep mutual respect and role reversal. Together, we dive into:

My friend and co-author Peter B. Vaill told us in his 1989 book, Managing as a Performing Art, to be ready to practice in permanent white water. David Silk kayaks daily in white waters raging in rivers around the globe. His practice has him racing among the top kayakers, exploring rivers around the world that have never been kayaked before, and teaching practitioners who are firmly committed to this challenging sport. In all ways, David is a whitewater professional.  

 The first time I realized the outdoors could be more than just a place, it could be a calling, was somewhere between a nervous 11-year-old with a skinned knee and a whitewater rapid called Satan's Cesspool. Facebook   Twitter   Instagram Love the show? Subscribe,  rate, review, and share! Sign up for my Newsletter  HERE I'd love to hear your feedback about the show! You can contact me here:  rick@ricksaez.com Show Notes I didn't plan on building a life around the outdoors. Then it happened. A shy kid — the kind who barely muttered a word for two days — tugged my sleeve and asked if I could show him how to identify tracks on the trail. We knelt in the dirt like two mini wildlife detectives, tracking a raccoon through pine needles like it was a national treasure. The look on his face when he figured it out? Lit. Up. That moment rewired something in me. Suddenly, the outdoors wasn't just a place. It was a pulse. A calling. That same summer I found myself guiding rafts down the Kern River, soaking up adrenaline and humility in equal measure — because rivers don't care if you think you're cool. They'll throw you out of the raft just to prove a point. I went from teaching ghost stories around the campfire to cooking steaks by river eddies and sleeping under a galaxy-thick sky that made me feel both tiny and infinite. Principle: Sometimes your calling doesn't shout — it whispers through pine needles, screams from a rapid, or nudges you with a quiet “Hey, can you show me how?” Transition: A lot of people wait for some grand sign to show them what to do next. But what if the answer is already in motion — just disguised as curiosity, community, or one unforgettable outdoor moment? That's why: That's why I shared this story on the latest episode — not to tell you how to find your purpose, but to show you that it might already be hiding in the things that light you up when no one's watching. Call to Action: If you've been feeling stuck or unsure about what's next, don't wait for clarity to knock — go listen to this episode. It might just reconnect you with the spark you didn't know you lost.

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…We are talking about our to-do list this July on our Flower Farm!

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen  Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,

Lucien Scott on DTB! We talked life - family - whitewater - farming - and did I mention....WHITEWATER! Why he does the crazy things he does! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Nutrition World: https://nutritionw.com/ Vascular Institute of Chattanooga: https://www.vascularinstituteofchattanooga.com/ The Barn Nursery: https://www.barnnursery.com/ Optimize U Chattanooga: https://optimizeunow.com/chattanooga/ Guardian Investment Advisors: https://giaplantoday.com/ Alchemy Medspa and Wellness Center: http://www.alchemychattanooga.com/ Our House Studio: https://ourhousestudiosinc.com/ ALL THINGS JEFF STYLES: www.thejeffstyles.com PART OF THE NOOGA PODCAST NETWORK: www.noogapodcasts.com Please consider leaving us a review on Apple and giving us a share to your friends! This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…Small Business Ownership!! Sydney explains the steps to starting your own legit small business and the basic things you'll need to keep an eye on each week once your business is up and running - Money, Management, and Marketing! Small Business, Small Town, Business Owner, Business Ownership, Female Business OwnerFollow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Sintonía: "Tee Nah Nah" - Tuts Washington"Sleepy Eyed John/Tom and Jerry de Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum y "Whitewater" de Bela Fleck, extraídas del CD 2 de "Hand-Picked: Twenty-Five Years Of Rounder Records" (Rounder, 1995)"Three Keys" de James Booker y "Hold To God´s Unchanging Hand" de Irma Thomas, extraídas del "City Disc" de "Lousiana Spice: 25 years of Louisiana Music On Rounder Records" (Rounder, 1995)"J´ai vu le loup, le renard et la belette" - The Balfa Brothers; "Chere toute-toute" - Jimmy C. Newman; "Bayou Pon Pon" - Le Trio Cadien (Eddie LeJeune, D.L. Menard & Ken Smith); "Wildwood Flower" - D.L. Menard; "Les flammes d´enfer" - Beausoleil; "Laissez faire (Let It Be)" - Bruce Daigrepont; "T´en as eu" - David Doucet; "Give Him Cornbread" - Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers; "La Danse de Mardi Gras" - Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys; "Snap Bean" - Li´l Brian and the Zydeco Travelers. Músicas extraídas del "Country Disc" de "Louisiana Spice: 25 years of Louisiana Music On Rounder Records" (Rounder, 1995) Escuchar audio

In this illuminating episode, Les McKeown shares how you can navigate the hidden stages within your business's growth arc to overcome chaos and scale effectively. If you're struggling to understand why complexity keeps derailing your growth, or if you feel overwhelmed by chaos despite early success, you won't want to miss it.You will discover:- Why small W Whitewater in Fun requires tweaks, not enterprise-wide systems- How to make sales repeatable in Fun to boost consistency and growth- What minimal systems in Early Struggle keep you afloat without overwhelmThis episode is ideal for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stages 3,4 of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quizLes McKeown, Founder of Predictable Success, has over 25 years of global business experience, including starting 42 companies in his own right. Before founding Predictable Success, Les established himself as a serial founder/owner, starting over 40 companies. He was the founding partner of an incubation consulting company that launched hundreds of businesses with thousands of employees. His expertise is helping organizations achieve scalable, sustainable growth, and his breakthrough strategies have been widely recognized and implemented.Want to learn more about Les McKeown's work at Predictable Success? Check out his website at https://www.predictablesuccess.com/To learn more about Scott, visit https://www.scattritzheimer.com.To get help scaling your own business or nonprofit, visit https://www.scalearchitects.comMentioned in this episode:Take the Founder's Evolution Quiz TodayIf you're a Founder, business owner, or CEO who feels overworked by the business you lead and underwhelmed by the results, you're doing it wrong. Succeeding as a founder all comes down to doing the right one or two things right now. Take the quiz today at foundersquiz.com, and in just ten questions, you can figure out what stage you are in, so you can focus on what is going to work and say goodbye to everything else.Founder's Quiz

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…What a day and a week looks like for a flower farmer in different seasons of the year and different seasons of life.Sydney explains what her weeks look like during peak flower season while owning a retail floral shop and wedding florals business. She also reflects on what her weeks looked like when she was doing farmers markets and floral subscriptions before she opened the flower shop.AND what her weeks looked like when she did all the above!! :)Get the inside peak on the life of a flower farmer in western Colorado in this week's episode - the second of four in our "week of the life" series!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Friday 6/13/25

The River Guide Seminar Series is a video series featuring conversations with seasoned river professionals, aimed at continuing education for professional working river guides. From whitewater safety and rigging tips to leadership, river history, and guiding philosophy, we dive into the knowledge that makes great guides even better. Whether you're gearing up for your first season or have decades on the water, these talks will keep your skills sharp and your stoke high. Links from Today's dicussionjkkjjhhhwith Chris Davis MD The article Chris mentioned can be found here A shorter summary can be found here The Seal Rite CPR mask

Matt Besser and Jon Gabrus put a hat on a hat on a hat doing medium-prov where standup meets longform inside the coolest live music venue in the South, the White Water Tavern, covering horny hats, Toad Sucks, max loads on elevators; foam to the dome; recycled urine; and snow days!Unlock the BONUS SCENE(S) at improv4humans.com and gain access to every episode of i4h, all ad-free, as well as TONS of exclusive new podcasts delving deeper into improv, the history of comedy, music and sci-fi.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…How we schedule a wedding week so everything and everyone is ready for go-time on the clients big day!!Week-of preparations, tips and tricks, and a schedule that just works after years of trial and error!Shout out to EveryStem and Hog and Hen GJ!If you are getting married in the next couple years - schedule a FREE consult with us on our website! https://www.flowersbygarveysgardens.com/weddingsFollow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…June on the Flower Farm! What we are up to this month - and tips for you in your garden this month too!!This episode is a repeat episode from 2024 - but has an updated intro for this year :) Thanks for listening Flower Friends!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Episode 156 - From White Water to The Silver Screen In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, Jaclyn interviews actor, writer, director, and stuntman Jesse Hutch. Highlighting his 24+ year career in network television, action-packed films, and heartfelt family stories, the discussion delves into Jesse's unexpected entry into the entertainment industry and his personal growth journey after surviving a near-death experience. Jesse shares insights into his multi-faceted career, his passion for storytelling, the importance of practical advice, and his transition towards writing, directing, and developing new projects. Highlights Include:Welcome and IntroductionCanadian Roots and Early LifeA Life-Changing ExperienceThe Breakthrough MomentMoving to the West CoastVenturing into Production and DirectingThe Magic of FilmmakingThe Global Impact of FilmUpcoming ProjectsBio:Jesse Hutch, born in the same province as the comic book character Wolverine, is an actor, director, and stuntman whose 24+ year career spans network television, action-packed films, and heartfelt family stories. Best known for his roles in Homestead as a Green Beret, Batwoman as the DC villain known as Menace, an upcoming feature film about Abraham Lincoln playing a navy officer, and multiple romantic comedy leads, Jesse brings grit, charm, and authenticity to every performance. Off-screen, he's a devoted husband, father of three, and advocate for faith, fitness, and personal growth. Whether he's performing stunts, directing behind the camera, or creating content rooted in values and adventure, Jesse's passion for storytelling is matched only by his commitment to inspiring others. He currently lives in Tennessee, balancing Hollywood and the kingdom of heaven.https://www.instagram.com/jesse_hutch/Imdb: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm1237948/Editing by Michael RothContent Christian Media Conference: https://www.christianmediaconference.com/FAFF July Filmmakers Bootcamp: https://www.faffassociation.com/filmmakers-bootcampScreenwriting Foundations Class: https://www.faffassociation.com/screenwriting-foundationsFAFF Association Online Meetups: https://faffassociation.com/#faff-meetingsScreenwriters Retreat - Mexico: https://www.faffassociation.com/writers-retreatJaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter's Observations of LIfe, Character, and God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9VVIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters,...

Katie Veteto is a river guide with quiet calculated confidence and a sharp eye for water. Within a few years she was navigating one of the most difficult crafts on the river—the massive sweep boat. NRS's new film Driving Sweep, directed by River Radius Contributing Host Greg Cairns, follows her journey of learning, doubt, and determination as she takes on a role historically dominated by men. Through her story, the film offers a powerful reflection on resilience, mentorship, and making space in wild places.GUESTSKatie VetetoKatie Veteto was born in Southern Utah, raised in the Missoula Valley, and now spends her time in Missoula, MT and Salmon, ID. She grew up seeing the rivers of the West through the joyful lens of community and recreation and continues to guide on rivers in Montana and Idaho. Katie is an elementary school teacher. During Katies time off, you'll find her romping in the woods with her dog Tuck, swing dancing, knitting hats, writing, or bumping around on a bike. In the Summer you'll find her somewhere on the Middle Fork of the Salmon.Greg CairnsContributing Host & Film Creator SPONSORSNRS@nrsweb Valley Nissan@valley_nissan WATCH THE FILMYouTube linkRead about the film GIVEAWAYEnter Here@riverradiuspodcast  THE RIVER RADIUSWebsiteRunoff signup (episode newsletter)InstagramFacebookApple PodcastSpotifyLink Tree

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…How we view a work-life balance - our perspective and our journey to finding a combination that works for each of us. How Sydney prefers and creates a work-life balance while owning a small business and working farm.How Audrey prefers and creates a work-life balance while finishing university and student teaching.Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

For over fifty years, Cisco has been piloting rafts down the Rio Grande and sharing captivating stories around New Mexico campfires. They call him a living legend. It all started with tree riding (yes, tree riding), tequila, and a $2/hour carpentry gig. Facebook   Twitter   Instagram Love the show? Subscribe,  rate, review, and share! Sign up for my Newsletter  HERE I'd love to hear your feedback about the show! You can contact me here:  rick@theoutdoorbizpodcast.com What Happened: I once thought success had to come from tech startups, corner offices, and polished résumés. But then I listened to Cisco's story—this guy who started out rafting New Mexico's Rio Grande for $25 a day, with a sombrero that flopped like a soggy tortilla every time it rained. One day, after winning a state dance contest (both kinds: country AND western), he walks into a hat shop and leaves with a five-inch bull rider felt hat. That hat wasn't just style—it was survival. When waves from the Taos Box smacked you in the face mid-rapid, that hat kept your eyes dry and your focus sharp. Cisco didn't just ride rapids. He rode the changing tides of culture, climate, and conservation, using his raft—and his stories—to teach generations about stewardship, resilience, and why you never, ever ride a pine tree like a bucking bronco (ask the guy with the fused spine). Principle: Success isn't always loud. Sometimes it's a black hat, a steady current, and the quiet consistency of showing up for 50 years. It's not about chasing trends—it's about choosing a life that aligns with your spirit, your landscape, and the legacy you want to leave behind. Transition: The truth is, a lot of us are paddling like mad trying to keep up—with tech, with trends, with whatever success is "supposed" to look like. But if you've ever felt like you're not made for that pace, if cubicles make your soul itch, or if you've ever dreamed of more meaning in your work… you're not alone. That's Why: That's why this episode with Cisco isn't just a nostalgia trip—it's a reminder that there's a different kind of success. One rooted in place, in culture, in connection. This episode shows how adventure, storytelling, and soulful business can intertwine in the most unexpected, enduring ways. Call to Action: If you've ever felt like your path doesn't fit the traditional mold, listen to this episode. It's time to stop chasing someone else's idea of success—and start crafting your own story. [Listen to the episode now.] Show Notes Cisco Guevara https://www.losriosriverrunners.com/ Storyteller.com New Mexico Tourism- Ride the Rio with Cisco Taos News: Cisco Guevara on why river guides make great storytellers

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…Systems that make our flower farm, flower shop, and wedding florals business THRIVE!!We are firm believers in having systems that WORK! That means trial and error and lots of adapting and altering! Listen to some of the systems we have tried through the years, and hear which ones have stuck - maybe a few will work for you too!Thanks for listening flower friend :)Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

In this episode of Safety First with Danger Tate, we dive into a conversation with Elisha McArthur, co-founder of Canyon River Instruction and Worldwide Women of Whitewater. Elisha shares how she's helping to reshape the river scene through education, empowerment, and connection as well as the story behind creating a global community for women in whitewater sports. In this episode, we cover: How Elisha's personal journey led her to co-found Canyon River Instruction Building inclusive communities in adventure sports Practical tips for getting started in whitewater Safety tips for private boaters The origins and mission of Worldwide Women of Whitewater The challenges and opportunities women face in paddlesports This is an inspiring listen for private and commercial boaters, instructors, outdoor enthusiasts, advocates for equity in sport, or anyone curious about the power of community in wild spaces. More Resources Elisha stars in a new short film called River Mamma that can be found here. It is a "tribute to motherhood—honoring the strength it takes to nurture others while staying true to your own passions."

Welcome back to the Old School Noobs Podcast! After their second hiatus of the year, 2/3 of the crew are back to cram a month of stuff into one episode! Luke and Tyler catch up on WWE WrestleMania and Backlash. Then they read some fan emails and talk about the NHL and NBA playoffs as well as the NFL draft. Hit segment, Give a Guy a Movie to Watch returns again, will the hosts follow through on the promise of watching a movie? As always, random banter, including the Whitewater fishing trip, and golf and hockey tournaments, come up throughout the episode.   Follow us on Instagram and Twitter Email us at oldschoolnoobspod@gmail.com   Thanks for listening! Shoutout to Anthony, Garrett, and Marc!

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about… How Mother's Day went in our flower shop!Just a couple days post Mothers Day we talk about how AWESOME this year went in terms of organization, customers, deliveries, and sales!! Thank you everyone for your continued support! :)Thanks for listening Flower Friend :)Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

The 3A girls semifinals take center stage on the SDH Network tonight as we'll have both matches available with radio calls starting at 6pm. Whitewater hosts back-to-back state champions Oconee County in Fayetteville while Jefferson hosts Cherokee Bluff. Go to soccerdownhere.net and click Listen, then select your match or bounce back and forth.Welcome in for another edition of the Morning Espresso from the SDH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.PSG has made their second Champions League final, defeating Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate, 2-1 yesterday in Paris. Luis Enrique has been the best manager in the world this season and he has remade this team in his image and achieved incredible success. They have to go through the 3-time champions Inter to lift the trophy, and remarkably, it's the first time these teams have ever met in official competition.The goalkeepers have been stars in the semifinals. Yann Sommer made a couple of mind-blowing saves on Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, Gianluigi Donnarumma turned into Superman as soon as he saw the English flag again and also stood on his head to lead PSG. I disagree with Mikel Arteta when he says that Arsenal were the better team in the competition, but I do think he's getting unfairly dragged in the media. He took a team without a healthy #9 as far as he could this season. They have to get that position right to compete with the best in England and in Europe. He's one of the best managers in the world today, give him the right squad to truly give him a chance to win a major trophy, I don't think he's had that yet and has done as much as he could.MLS won 15 of the 16 Round of 32 matches in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup over the past two days. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds needed a stoppage time goal to upset NYCFC to keep it from being a clean sweep. Philadelphia needed penalties to get past Indy Eleven, multiple games needed extra time, Austin was 2-0 down at home to El Paso but stormed back to win 3-2. Good news on the business front for MLS as well, their sponsorship revenues are up double digits in 2025 compared to the same timeframe in 2024. 5 clubs were named in Sportico's Most Valuable Soccer Clubs in the World's Top 20, with 19 clubs making the Top 50, the most of any league in the world. While revenues aren't matching the top European clubs at the moment, security of the format along with top-notch infrastructure and ownership collaboration and cooperation have given MLS clubs a strong floor from which to grow their valuations. Arsene Wenger made the news yesterday, saying that his proposed change to the offside rule is imminent. Based on the way these rules have been altered in the past, that's not true. The trials of the new rule (essentially going from if any part of the body is offside then it's an infraction to if any part of the body is onside then it's good, giving the attacker a body length) have not been successful and more are needed to see if this gives the attack too much of an advantage. I do believe that the rule needs to be tweaked in light of video replay being used, but more testing is needed rather than something rash. Plenty more in the video and podcast editions of the Espresso, please check them out. More to come tomorrow morning on the SDH Network.

Presented by Kaiser PermanenteWe have your girls brackets for the semis plusMetter HC Corey James talks boys semis vs Atkinson CountyWhitewater Girls HC Sean Estep talks the season and preps for Oconee CountyJefferson Girls HC Molly McCarty talks about geometry and Cherokee Bluff

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…Our May Gardening Checklist! Plus what we are up to on our flower farm - and what we think you should be doing in your garden now so this growing season can be you best yet!!Tips and tricks from our years of flower farming to help you and your flowers thrive! :) Thanks for listening flower friend!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Join Jim and Greg for 3 Martini Lunch as they break down the surprising friction between House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a New Jersey Democrat's eyebrow-raising success in the stock market since arriving in Congress, and a disingenuous left-wing media attack on Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.Jim and Greg begin with new details surrounding National Security Adviser Mike Waltz's departure before thoroughly enjoying the growing divide between Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi. Jeffries is reportedly distancing himself and no longer seeking Pelosi's counsel. This story has many delicious layers, but it clearly highlights a Democratic party that's still not sure where it's going.Next, they dig into the Washington Free Beacon's investigation of New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill's improbable financial gains since joining Congress. Jim emphasizes how these stories deepen public distrust in government, while Greg notes the media's pattern of downplaying financial controversies involving Democrats, from Whitewater to campaign fundraising scandals.Finally, they tackle New York magazine's hit piece on Sen. John Fetterman, which raises questions about his health and personal life. Jim points out that these same outlets once claimed Fetterman was fit to serve shortly after suffering a major stroke and argues that the real reason for the shift is Fetterman's willingness to buck his party on a tiny number of issues.Please visit our great sponsors:It's free, online, and easy to start—no strings attached. Enroll in Understanding Capitalism with Hillsdale College. Visit https://Hillsdale.edu/MartiniFatty15 is on a mission to help you live healthier, longer.  Get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to https://Fatty15.com/3ML and use code 3ML at checkout.  If I needed to find a doctor quickly, Zocdoc is what I'd use. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and head to https://zocdoc.com/3ML to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…Our latest editorial shoot - with a 'Something Blue' theme - where Sydney did all the planning, the Garvey's Gardens team did all the florals, Audrey and her hubby Robert were the models, our past interview guest Amanda from Amanda Matilda Photography did all the amazing photographs, and so many other amazing wedding vendors that we get to introduce you to!We share our tips and tricks from doing styled shoots in the past and how this one was unique and fun in a new different way from before. See the list of these highly recommended vendors below:Photography: @amandamatildaphotos Planning & Floral Design: @garveysgardens @weddingsbygarveysgardensRentals & Linens: @lovelettereventscoMakeup: @kasaiskinDessert: @trail_cookieFood: @hillbillycateringBridal Accessories: @annelisebridalFolding Chairs: Signature Event Rentals GJRead Amanda Matilda's Blog on this magical shoot: https://amandamatildaphotography.com/something-blue-backyard-wedding-editorial/Follow our Wedding Instagram @WeddingsByGarveysGardensFollow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

WISCONSIN MUSIC PODCAST  WMP Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WI_Music_Podcast  AMPLIFYING WISCONSIN MUSIC  Episode 174 | The Greene House Live   Join us on the Wisconsin Music Podcast as we dive into the heart of Wisconsin's vibrant music scene with our special guests, Ethan and Jayanne, co-founders of The Greenhouse. Nestled in rural Whitewater, Wisconsin, The Greenhouse has transformed a rustic barn into a dynamic hub for live music and arts. Learn about their journey of turning a dilapidated structure into a cornerstone of the community, hosting events like the Strange La Grange Music Festival and featuring both local talents and national touring acts. Discover the challenges they've overcome, the passion driving their mission, and their vision for the future of Wisconsin's music scene. An inspiring episode for anyone passionate about music and community-building! 00:00 Introduction to the Wisconsin Music Podcast 00:13 Meet Ethan and Jayanne: Founders of The Greenhouse 03:05 Transforming a Barn into a Music Venue 05:53 The Origin of The Greenhouse Name 07:15 Memorable Events and Performances 10:24 Balancing Local Talent and Touring Bands 14:12 Curating the Lineup for Strange La Grange 16:40 Booking Bigger Acts: Rickshaw Billy's Burger Patrol 18:12 Introduction to the Event and Visual Artists 19:54 Getting Involved in the Events 20:53 Future Plans for Strange Lag Grange 22:16 Hosting and Capacity Details 23:02 Advice for Aspiring Event Organizers 25:16 Quick Fire Questions 27:04 Final Thoughts and Contact Information 29:06 Podcast Closing Remarks

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…April on our Flower Farm + for your own garden!What you should be doing this month to get your garden ready for a more successful and rewarding growing season!!Tips and Tricks from our Flower Farm and how to downsize the tips for your backyard garden!Happy seed starting and planting Flower Friends! :) Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

This week on Here's What We Know, we're sitting down with one of the most respected legal minds in the country—Stanley M. Brand. Stan is the former General Counsel to Speaker Tip O'Neill and has tackled some of the highest-profile political and public corruption cases, representing figures like George Stephanopoulos, Tony Coelho, and Dan Rostenkowski. Beyond the courtroom, he spent over 30 years as Vice president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, shaping the future of America's favorite pastime. Now, as a Distinguished Fellow at Penn State Dickinson Law, he's sharing all his knowledge with the next generation of lawyers. Tune in now for a conversation full of stories, wisdom, and a few surprises along the way!In This Episode:Defending the Powerful: Go behind the scenes of high-profile political trials and hear how Stan kept his cool under the weight of media scrutiny.From the Courtroom to the Classroom: Why did one of Washington's sharpest legal minds trade trials for teaching? Stan shares how he's shaping the next generation of lawyers with hands-on, experience-driven learning.FBI, DOJ & The Trust Gap: Stan offers bold insights on government overreach and why many Americans are skeptical of federal investigations today. Think you know how the system works? Think again.Baseball Meets the Law: 30+ years as VP of Minor League Baseball means Stan has stories—from antitrust showdowns to how economic shifts are reshaping the game.Old-School Wisdom Meets Today's Chaos: What Tip O'Neill taught him about bipartisan leadership—and why that kind of political wisdom is sorely missing in today's climate.A Real-Life Perry Mason Moment: You'll love the jaw-dropping story where Stan turns a trial on its head—live in court—with a single question.This episode is sponsored by: Mike Counsil Plumbing & Rooter (Use code “Gary” to get $89 off any service!)Bio:Stanley M. Brand supervises the Semester in Washington internship program. Professor Brand is senior counsel in Akin Gump's litigation practice in Washington, D.C., and has enjoyed success representing corporations, trade associations, labor unions, and individuals in major justice department, grand jury and independent counsel investigations and trial proceedings including Whitewater, HUD, the savings and loan crisis and the campaign finance task force investigations. Earlier in his career, Professor Brand served as general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and was the chief legal officer responsible for representing the House, its members, officers, and employees in connection with legal procedures and challenges to the conduct of their official activities. With over thirty years of experience, Professor Brand offers students a particularly sharp insight into federal regulatory and legislative practice in Washington, DC. In addition to his legal work, Professor Brand serves as the Vice-President of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-brand-3293501/Connect with Gary: Gary's Website Follow Gary on Instagram Gary's Tiktok Gary's Facebook Watch the episodes on YouTube Advertise on the Podcast Thank you for listening. Let us know what you think about this episode. Leave us a review!

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about…The logistics and deliveries side of Mother's Day in a flower shop. We have worked through lots of kinks through the years so you can learn from us! From team scheduling, to efficient and effective delivery systems, to sales systems, and more! Let us help you get prepared for Mother's Day at your flower shop! Here is the Link to our Mother's Day Prep Freebie!!https://garveysgardens.myflodesk.com/mothers-day-prepFollow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagram!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Our YouTube Channel!⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠⁠

Thirty years ago, C-SPAN showed the Senate Whitewater Committee hearings. The Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater Development Corporation and Related Matters was created in May 1995. Hearings ran for 300 hours over 60 sessions across 13 months. Did anything concrete come out of those hearings seen on C-SPAN? Well – at least one thing. A hit murder mystery now streaming on Netflix called "The Residence." How do you get from a 1996 Whitewater hearing about possible corruption in politics to a 2025 Netflix series – created by Shondaland -- about possible murder in the White House? Find out in the latest episode of C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" – directly from "The Residence" creator Paul William Davies. Other than the biggest murder mystery of all – whodunnit – what secrets of creating "The Residence" can political and White House history junkies learn from the show's creator? Hear directly from Paul William Davies in the latest episode of C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Sydney and Audrey Talk about...The creative side of Mother's Day prep in a flower shop! How we order flowers to get ready for a major floral holiday, how we choose what we want to make to sell, and how we plan ahead so we are ready for any creative changes that may have to be made last minute.Tune in to hear Sydney's tips, tricks, and advice after several Mothers Days in our flower shop!A Link to EveryStem - Our Fav! https://www.everystem.com/Follow our Instagram and send us a DM:⁠ ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠⁠Our Instagrams!⁠⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠

In this episode, Sydney and Audrey talk about... Sydney's recent trip to Washington DC to lobby with Certified American Grown Members for legislation in favor of American Flower Farms and Farmers! Sydney tells us all about who she met with, who she lobbied with, and why she is so passionate about certified American grown - and why you should be too!!Whether you are into politics or not, this episode is enlightening and interesting to hear about what happens behind the scenes in Washington DC to make things happen!!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM: ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Email us any questions, comments, or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in:We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠Our Instagram!⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠Our YouTube Channel! ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠

Original Air Date: December 20, 1951Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Challenge of the YukonPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• Paul Sutton (Sgt. Preston) Writer:• Fran Striker Producer:• George W. Trendle Director:• Fred Flowerday Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny https://bit.ly/3kTj0kK

Original Air Date: December 20, 1951Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Challenge of the YukonPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• Paul Sutton (Sgt. Preston) Writer:• Fran Striker Producer:• George W. Trendle Director:• Fred Flowerday Exit music from: Roundup on the Prairie by Aaron Kenny https://bit.ly/3kTj0kK

In this episode, Sydney and Audrey talk with Danae - our Wedding Pro at Garvey's Gardens!We deep dive into all things wedding florals - tips and tricks, dos and don'ts and all kinds of ideas to get you inspired! This episode is full of knowledge for anyone planning a wedding or curious about the wedding industry!Danae has been working with Sydney and Audrey for over 2 years at Garvey's Gardens and is a wealth of knowledge! If you want to book a consult with her, head to the wedding tab on our website and book an appointment through our Calendly! She would love to chat with you about your wedding floral dreams!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM: ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Email us any questions or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in! We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠Our Instagram!⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠Our YouTube Channel! ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠

In this episode, Sydney and Audrey talk about... Flower Pricing! How we price flowers in our retail flower shop that come from our farm vs from a wholesaler. The different tiers of flower pricing depending on who you are selling to. Plus how we take emotion out of equation with our favorite flower pricing and recipe program ~ EveryStem!Follow our Instagram and send us a DM: ⁠⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠⁠Email us any questions or episode ideas: podcast@garveysgardens.comA refresher on Garvey's Gardens for everyone new listening in! We have so many new listeners we wanted to make sure everyone knows a bit about us as people, and about our Flower Farm and Flower Shop! Sydney: Owner and Farmer-Florist; former teacher; Braves baseball fan; loves reading romcoms and baking in her time away from the shop and farm. Audrey: Shop Associate and Podcast Manager; Colorado Mesa Uni Student; Student Teacher; vintage VW Racer and Restorer; Newlywed; Grand Junction Native.Garvey's Gardens: Flower Farm and Floral Boutique in Western Colorado! We grow flowers in Palisade throughout the whole year, although most are grown May-October, and those flowers end up in our shop and in our wedding designs for our lucky couples! Our Floral Boutique in Grand Junction, right off of Main St on 5th, is open daily for everyday floral orders, deliveries, gifts, and more! ⁠Visit our website to place a seasonal fresh florals order⁠ in the Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma, Palisade, Clifton, or Whitewater areas!⁠Email List Signup on our Website (weekly emails)⁠⁠Our FREE Wedding Florals Checklist!⁠Our Instagram!⁠ @GarveysGardens⁠ ⁠@GarveysGardensPodcast⁠Our YouTube Channel! ⁠@GarveysGardens⁠

The Morris Pratt Institute was built to study the spirit world—but in Whitewater, some believe it opened doors that were never meant to be unlocked.IN THIS EPISODE: Whitewater legend says that the bizarre experiments conducted at the Morris Pratt Institute of Spiritualism in Wisconsin, to communicate with the dead, have left the town cursed by witches and haunted by restless spirits. It's no wonder it has garnered the nickname of “Second Salem.” (Whitewater: The Second Salem) *** The Wild West had many drifters with troubled pasts. One found himself at the heart of one of the most infamous crimes in American history. Ben Kuhl went from horse theft, to stagecoach robbery, to murder – from notoriety to infamy – all in pursuit of elusive riches. Finally arrested and convicted due to a bloody handprint (The Last Stagecoach Robbery) *** Fred West was just a regular boy, or so it seemed. But behind closed doors, in reality, he was becoming evil incarnate. And upon meeting his future wife Rose, it only expanded his predatory predilections. Fred and Rose descended from petty crimes to unspeakable horrors of rape and murder – even of the most young and innocent. From their "House of Horrors" the depths of their depravity was acted out — hidden from site. But as the walls closed in and the truth emerged, the true horror of their crimes was laid bare. (The Evils of Fred And Rose West) *** AND MORE!CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Disclaimer and Lead-In00:02:38.498 = Show Open00:04:51.531 = Whitewater: The Second Salem00:24:08.642 = The Evils of Fred And Rose West00:40:15.583 = The Last Stagecoach Robbery00:54:13.236 = Bygone Gluttons01:06:56.754 = Show Close, Verse, and Final Thought SOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…“Whitewater: The Second Salem” by Charlie Hintz for Wisconsin Frights: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9bktup“Bygone Gluttons” by Ben Gazur for ListVerse: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p99hjxj“The Evils of Fred and Rose West” from Biography: https://www.biography.com/crime/fred-west“The Last Stagecoach Robbery” from Creative History Stories: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bdh3h8h5=====Darkness Syndicate members get the ad-free version. https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateInfo on the next LIVE SCREAM event. https://weirddarkness.com/LiveScreamInfo on the next WEIRDO WATCH PARTY event. https://weirddarkness.com/TV=====(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: April 16, 2024EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/HauntedWhitewater

Baseball Author, Craig Calcaterra of Cup of Coffee visits the showPast interview on CBA & OhtaniPete Rose to be pardoned Jackie Robinson – What is the way forwardMLB, does what power wantsExample of Rob Manfred &  decision to pull the MLB All-Star game from Atlanta due to how the wind was blowing at the timeHow will the wind blow from Washington, DCWill teams cancel Pride Night & rework other promotions?Could Jackie Robinson Day be downplayed, Would Trump unretire Robinson's numberBuffalo Blue Jays & how will we see fandom react at the Atlanta / Toronto gameCanada is standing their ground Whitewater rafting – leaning into the wave – counter intuitive but successful strategyCanadian military general rule – don't talk politics in the war room.Mat feels the need to speak-up during these times & reflects on when growing up his family would discuss timely topics at the dinner table with perspectives from hippie-ish to the hard line right wing US folks find discussing politics tabooInformation Ecosystem has been hit with a perfect stormSocial Media can be poisonGoogle reflecting  -  'reinforces what it thinks you like or what it thinks you know.'Bluesky may be a small part of getting out of it. Reflections on The AthleticEducating people &  making them aware of what's actually going on, presenting facts in a logical way without being antagonisticCreate a trust that funds media outlet Small Local News outlets like Columbus Ohio, Matter News, can make a differenceCould Bluesky be shut down?Community – there are less places where people have to come togetherGOP Speaker instructs party members to not hold in-person town hallsHow Trump has impacted the separatist movement in QuebecOne country threatening another country's sovereigntyRepublicans bad behavior & talk veiled as a joke, only to later become a planned realityNo nation or combination of nations could face a Russia / USA allianceCraig's Pandemic Diary & MusicMLB Spring Training – Media Training for players on how to answer questions that could get you in troubleTommy PhamHumor as Self-Defense in serious situations - Laugh in the face of HorrorsAI Robotics & manual labor being replacedTim Hortons, Hot Dogs & Canadian Ash BatsWill laid off Federal Employees be able to afford to go to gameMar-a-Lago – Unfrosted Marjorie Post, Jerry Seinfeld & EF HuttonSponsorships across the border - Kubota, Molson Ky Bourbon & Crown Royal Eggs are less expensive in CanadaFreedom Fries – will Poutine be renamed Freedom KurdsAmericanos v Canadianos coffeethe 11th province Spring Training games feel like practiceColumbus Clippers & robo-ump – will it be in MLB by 2026The Human Element - Robo doesn't recognize Max ScherzerAI PoliticiansCraig Calcaterra's Cup of Coffee, newsletter is definitely a must readFollow Mat Germain on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/matgermain.bsky.social, Mark on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/baseballbizondeck.bsky.socialSpecial thanks to XTaKeRuX for the music “Rocking Forward

This episode we continue to follow the monk Xuanzang on his path along the silk road.  From Gaochang, he traveled through the Tarim Basin, up over the Tianshan Mountains, to the heart of the Western Gokturk Qaghanate.  From there, he traveled south, through the region of Transoxania to Bactria and the land of Tukhara.  He pushed on into the Hindu Kush, witnessing the stone Buddha statues of Bamiyan, and eventually made his way to the land of Kapisa, near modern Kabul, Afghanistan.  From there he would prepare to enter the Indian subcontinent: the home of the historical Buddha. For more discussion and some photos of the areas along this journey, check out our podcast blog at https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-121   Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 121: Journey to the West, Part 2   The cold winds blew through the travelers' doubled up clothing and thick furs.  Cold, wet ground meant that even two sets of boots were not necessarily enough after several days.  The frozen mist would often obscure everything except for the path immediately in front, hiding the peaks and making the sky a uniform white. In many places, the path would be blocked by rock, ice, or snow—the remnants of an avalanche, which could easily take an unsuspecting traveler.  And there was the elevation.  Hiking through the mountains, it was easy enough to reach heights of a mile or higher, and for those not accustomed to that elevation the thin air could take a surprising toll, especially if you were pushing yourself.  And the road was no less kind to the animals that would be hauling said travelers and their gear. And yet, this was the path that Xuanzang had agreed to.  He would continue to push through, despite the various deprivations that he would be subjected to.  No doubt he often wondered if it was worth it.  Then again, returning was just as dangerous a trip, so why not push on?   Last episode we introduced the monk Xuanzang, who traveled the Silk Road to India in the 7th century and returned to China.  He brought back numerous sutras to translate, and ended up founding a new school, known as the Faxian school—or the Hossou school in Japan.   As we mentioned last time, Xuanzang during his lifetime met with students from the archipelago when they visited the continent.  The records of his travels—including his biography and travelogue—are some of the best information we have on what life was like on the silk road around this time. In the last episode, we talked about Xuanzang: how he set out on his travels, his illegal departure from the Tang empire, and his perilous journey across the desert, ending up in Gaochang.  There, King Qu Wentai had tried to get him to stay, but he was determined to head out.  This episode we are going to cover his trip to Agni, Kucha, and Baluka—modern Aksu—and up to the Western Gokturk Qaghanate's capital of Suyab.  From there, we'll follow his footsteps through the Turkic controlled regions of Transoxania and into Tukhara, in modern Afghanistan.  Finally, we'll cover the last parts of his journey before he reached the start of his goal:  India. From Gaochang, Xuanzang continued on, through the towns he names as Wuban and Dujin, and into the country of Agni—known today as the area of Yanqi—which may also have been known as Wuqi.  The route was well-enough known, but it wasn't necessarily safe.  At one point, Xuanzang's caravan met with bandits, whom they were fortunately able to pay off.  The following night they encamped on a river bank with some merchants who also happened to be traveling the road.  The merchants, though, got up at midnight and headed out, hoping to get to the city early so that they could be the first ones to the market.  They only made it a few miles down the road, however, before they encountered more bandits, who slaughtered them and took their goods.  The following day, Xuanzang and his retinue came upon the merchants' remains lying in the road and saw the aftermath of the massacre. This was an unforgiving land, and the road was truly dangerous, even for those who traveled it regularly.  And yet Xuanzang was planning to travel its entire length until he reached India. So with little alternative, they carried on to the royal city of Agni. Agni, or Yanqi, sits on the southwestern edge of the basin, west of Bositeng lake, on the border between the Turfan basin and the larger Tarim Basin.  The name is thought to be a Tocharian—or Turfanian—name for the city, which is also known as Karashr. According to the biography by Huili, Xuanzang and his party didn't stay long in Agni.  Apparently Agni and Gaochang were not exactly on friendly terms, and even though the King of Agni and his ministers reportedly came out to greet Xuanzang and welcome him to their city, they refused to provide any horses.  They spent a single night and moved on. That said, Agni still made an impression on Xuanzang.  He noted how the capital was surrounded by hills on four sides, making it naturally defensible.  As for the people, he praises them as honest and straightforward.  They wore clothing of felt and hemp cloth, and cut their hair short, without hats or any kind of headwear.  Even the climate was pleasant, at least for the short time he was there.  He also notes that they used a script based on India—likely referring to the Brahmic script, which we find in the Tarim basin. However, as for the local lord, the King of Agni, he is a little less charitable.  Xuanzang claimed he was brave but “lacked resourcefulness” and he was a bit of a braggart.  Furthermore, the country had “no guiding principles or discipline and government orders are imperfect and not seriously implemented.”  He also mentioned the state of Buddhism in the country, noting that they were followers of Sarvastivada school, a Theravada sect popular along the Silk Road at the time.  Xuanzang was apparently not too pleased with the fact that they were not strict vegetarians, including the “three kinds of pure meat”.  From Agni, Xuanzang continued southwest, heading for the kingdom of Kucha.  He seems to have bypassed the nearby kingdom of Korla, south of Agni, and headed some 60 or 70 miles, climbing over a ridge and crossing two large rivers, and then proceeding another 200 miles or so to the land of Kucha. Kucha was a kingdom with over one hundred monasteries and five thousand monks following a form of Theravada Buddhism.  Here, Xuanzang was welcomed in by the king, Suvarnadeva, described as having red hair and blue eyes.  While Xuanzang was staying in Kucha, it is suspected that he probably visited the nearby Kizil grotto and the Buddhist caves, there, which include a painting of King Suvarnadeva's father, King Suvarnapuspa, and his three sons. You can still visit Kucha and the Kizil grottos today, although getting there is quite a trek, to be sure.  The ancient Kuchean capital is mostly ruins, but in the Kizil caves, protected from the outside elements, you can find vivid paintings ranging from roughly the 4th to the 8th century, when the site was abandoned.  Hundreds of caves were painted, and many still demonstrate vibrant colors.  The arid conditions protect them from mold and mildew, while the cave itself reduces the natural bleaching effect of sunlight.  The paintings are in numerous styles, and were commissioned by various individuals and groups over the years.  They also give us some inkling of how vibrant the city and similar structures must have been, back when the Kuchean kingdom was in its heyday. The people of Kucha are still something of a mystery.  We know that at least some of them spoke an Indo-European language, related to a language found in Agni, and both of these languages are often called Tocharian, which we discussed last episode.  Xuanzang himself noted that they used Indian writing, possibly referring to the Brahmi script, or perhaps the fact that they seem to have used Sanskrit for official purposes, such as the inscription on the cave painting at Kizil giving the name of King Suvarnapuspa.  The Kucheans also were clothed in ornamental garments of silk and embroidery.  They kept their hair cut, wearing a flowing covering over their heads—and we see some of that in the paintings. Xuanzang also notes that though we may think of this area as a desert, it was a place where rice and grains, as well as fruit like grapes, pomegranates, plums, pears, peaches, and almonds were grown.  Even today, modern Xinjiang grows some absolutely fantastic fruit, including grapes, which are often dried into raisins. Another point of interest for Xuanzang may have been that Kucha is known as the hometown of none other than Kumarajiva.  We first mentioned Kumarajiva back in episode 84.  Kumarajiva was one of the first people we know of who translated many of the sutras from India that were then more widely disseminated throughout the Yellow River and Yangzi river basins.  His father was from India and his mother was a Kuchean princess.  In the middle of the 4th century, when he was still quite young, he traveled to India and back with his mother on a Buddhist pilgrimage.  Later he would start a massive translation project in Chang'an.  His translations are credited with revolutionizing Chinese Buddhism. Xuanzang was initially welcomed by the king, his ministers, and the revered monk, Moksagupta.  They were accompanied by several thousand monks who set up tents outside the eastern gate, with portable Buddha images, which they worshipped, and then Xuanzang was taken to monastery after monastery until sunset.  At one of the monasteries, in the southeast of the city, there were several tens of monks who originally came from Gaochang, and since Xuanzang had come from there, they invited him to stay with them. The next day he met and feasted with the King, politely declining any meat, and then went to the monastery in the northwest to meet with the famous monk: Moksagupta.  Moksagupta himself had made the journey to India, and had spent 20 years there himself.  It seems like this would have been the perfect person for Xuanzang to talk to about his plans, but instead, the two butted heads.  Moksagupta seems to have seen Xuanzang's Mahayana faith as heretical.  He saw no reason for Xuanzang to travel all the way to India when he had all the sutras that anyone needed there in Kucha, along with Moksagupta himself.   Xuanzang's response seems to have been the Tang dynasty Buddhist version of “Okay, Boomer”, and then he went ahead and tore apart Moksagupta's understanding of his own sutras—or so Xuanzang relayed to his biographers.  We don't exactly have Moksagupta's side, and, let's face it, Xuanzang and his biographers are not necessarily reliable narrators.  After all, they followed Mahayana teachings, which they considered the “Greater Vehicle”, and they referred to the Theravada teachings as the “Hinayana” or “Lesser Vehicle”.  Meanwhile, Theravada Buddhists likely saw many of the Mahayana texts as extraneous, even heretical, not believing them to actually be the teachings of the Buddha. It must have been winter time, as the passes through the mountains on the road ahead were still closed, and so Xuanzang stayed in Kucha, spending his time sightseeing and meeting with various people.  He even went back to see Moksagupta, but the older monk shunned him, and would get up and exit the room rather than engaging with him, so they had no more conversations. Eventually, Xuanzang continued on his way west, following along the northern rim of the Tarim basin.  Two days out from Kucha, disaster struck.  Some two thousand or so Turkish bandits suddenly appeared—I doubt Xuanzang was counting, so it may have been more or less.  I imagine that memories of what had happened to the merchants near Agni must have gone through Xuanzang's mind.   Fortunately, for him, they were fighting over loot that they had pillaged from various travelers, and since they couldn't share it equally, they fell to fighting each other and eventually dispersed. He travelled for almost 200 miles after that, stopping only for a night at the Kingdom of Baluka, aka Gumo—the modern city of Aksu.  This was another Theravada Buddhist kingdom.  Xuanzang noted tens of Buddhist temples, and over 1000 Buddhist monks.  The country was not large—about 200 miles east to west and 100 miles north to south.  For reference that means it was probably comparable in size with Kyushu, in terms of overall area, or maybe the size of Denmark—excluding Greenland—or maybe the US state of Maryland.  Xuanzang described the country as similar to Kucha in just about every way, including the written language and law, but the spoken language was different, though we don't get many more details. From Baluka, he crossed northward through the Tianshan mountains, which are classified as an extension of the Pamirs known as the Ice Mountains.  Had he continued southwest, he would have hit Kashgar and crossed over between the Pamir and Tian Shan ranges into the Ferghana valley, but instead he turned north. We don't know exactly why he took this perilous option, but the route that may have been popular at the time as it was one of the most direct routes to the seat of the Western Gokturk Empire, which he was currently traveling through. The Tian Shan mountains were a dangerous journey.  Avalanches could block the road—or worse.  Xuanzang describes the permanent ice fields—indeed, it is the ice fields and glaciers of the Tian Shan that melt in the summer and provide the oasis towns of the Tarim Basin with water, even to this day.  In Xuanzang's day, those glaciers were likely even more prevalent than today, especially as they have been recorded as rapidly disappearing since 1961.  And where you weren't on snow and ice, the ground was probably wet and damp from the melt.  To keep warm, you would wear shoes over your shoes, along with heavy fur coats, all designed to reduce exposure. Xuanzang claims that 3 or 4 of every 10 people didn't survive the crossing—and that horses and oxen fared even worse.  Even if these numbers are an exaggeration, the message is clear:  This was a dangerous journey. After about seven days, Xuanzang came out of the mountains to the “Great Pure Lake”, the “Da Qing Hai”, also known as the Hot Sea or the Salt Sea, which likely refers to Issyk Kul.  The salt content, along with the great volume of water it possesses, means that the lake rarely freezes over, which is likely why it is seen as “hot” since it doesn't freeze when the fresh water nearby does.  This lake is the second largest mountain lake in the world, and the second deepest saltwater lake.  Traveling past the lake, he continued to Suyab, near modern Tokmok, in Kyrgyzstan, just west of the modern capital of Bishkek.  This was an old Sogdian settlement, and had since become the capital of the Western Gokturks.  Sogdians—like Xuanzang's guide, Vandak—were integral to the Gokturk kingdom. Their language was the lingua franca of the Silk Road, and at the time of the Gokturk Khaganate, it was also the official court language, and so when Xuanzang appeared at the court of the Great Khagan of the Western Gokturks, it was likely the language of diplomacy. When we think of Turkic people, many in the English speaking world think of Turkiye, and perhaps of the mighty Ottoman empire.  Some may think of Turkmenistan, Kazhakstan, Kyrgyzstan, or Uzbekistan, among others.  And of course, there are the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.  All of these people claim roots in the ancestral Turkic homeland in the Altai mountains, which sit largely in western Mongolia, north of China's Xinjiang region.  Much like the Xiongnu and the Mongols, they were pastoral nomads, moving their herds across the steppes, often covering great distances.  They would regularly move through different regions, perhaps returning each season, though sometimes not returning for years at a time.  They were often seen as barbarians by settled people living in cities, and yet their goods and horses were highly prized. Nomad and sedentary lifestyles would often collide.  Farmers would turn pastureland into fields, and when the nomadic people returned on their circuits, they would find walls and fences where there was once open land, and the people there would claim to “own” the land, a concept often foreign to people who were always on the move.  Nomadic people, such as the Gokturks, were not necessarily keeping vast libraries of records about themselves and their histories, and so much of what we get comes from external sources, which do not always have incredibly reliable narrators.  To many of the settled agriculturalists, groups like the Turks were marauders who raided their villages and farms.  They were a great bogeyman of the steppes, which required the firm hand of strong defenses to keep out—or so their opponents would want people to think. While they were known for their warfare, which incorporated their mobility, but they were keenly interested in trade, as well.  They understood the value of the trade routes and the various cities and states that they included in their empire.  Thus, the Sogdians and the Gokturks seem a natural fit: the Sogdians were more settled, but not entirely so, as demonstrated by their vast trade networks.  And the Sogdians also were part of the greater central Eurasian steppe culture, so the two cultures understood each other, to a degree.  They are even depicted similarly in art, with slight differences, such as long hair that was often associated with Turks over the Sogdians.  In some areas of the Gokturk empire, Sogdians would run the cities, while the Gokturks provided military aid and protection. Xuanzang's description of the people of Suyab, or the “City of Suye River”, doesn't pick out anyone in particular, and he even says that it was a place where traders of the Hu, or foreign, tribes from different countries mingle their abodes.  He mentions the people here as being called Suli, which is also the name given to the language—this may refer to “Sogdian” in general.  They write with an alphabet that is written vertically rather than horizontally—this may refer to a few scripts that were written this way, possibly based off Syriac or Aramaic alphabets that were adapted to Sogdian and other Iranian languages, but it isn't clear. We are told that the people dressed in felt and hemp clothing, with fur and “cotton” garments.  Their clothes fit tightly, and they kept their hair cut short, exposing the top of their heads—though sometimes they shaved it completely, tying a colored silk band around the forehead. He goes on to describe these people as greedy liars, possibly a reference to the mercantile nature of many of the people at the time. Something to note: The Turks of this time had not yet encountered Islam, which was just now starting to rise up in the Middle East.  The Prophet Muhammad is said to have been born around the end of the 6th century CE and was preaching in the early 7th century, though his teachings would begin to spread outward soon enough.  But that means that the Gokturks were not an Islamic empire.  Rather, their own traditions seem to have focused on the worship of Tengri, an Altaic personification of the universe, often simplified as a “sky god”.  Tengrism can be found amongst the Xiongnu, Mongols, and others, and it was the national religion of the Gokturks themselves, but there were many who also adopted other religions that they encountered, including Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Buddhism.  In fact, Xuanzang notes that the Turks he met in Suyab would not sleep or sit on beds made of wood because wood was thought to contain the spirit of fire, which he says they worshipped.  That sounds similar to Zoroastrian beliefs, where fire is associated with Ahura Mazda, who is also worshipped as a sky god.  These may have been beliefs inherited from their Eastern Iranian Sogdian partners. In Xuanzang's biography, we are given more details about his visit to Suyab.  Apparently, as he was headed to the city, he met a hunting party, which we are told was the retinue of Yehu Khan.  Hunting was an important part of life on the steppes, and it continued to be a favorite sport of the Gokturk nobility. Yehu Khan—possibly Yagbhu Khan, though that is up for some debate—is described as being dressed in a green silk robe, with his hair exposed, and wearing  a turban of white silk about ten feet long that wrapped his forehead and hung behind his back.  His “hunting” expedition wasn't just a couple of the guys.  It included about 200 officials, all with plaited hair and dressed in brocade robes—they weren't exactly out there roughing it.  He also had his soldiers, dressed in furs, felt, or fine woolen clothes, and there were so many cavalry that they stretched out of sight.  The Khan seemed pleased to meet Xuanzang, but his hunt was expected to last another couple of days, at least, so he sent an attendant named Dharmaja to take Xuanzang back to wait for the Khan to return. Three days later, Xuanzang was given an audience.  The khan was seated in a large yurt.  Xuanzang noted the seeming incongruity between the khan, sitting there in the tent, decorated with golden flowers, with the officials dressed in magnificent brocade garments sitting in two long rows in front of him and the armed guards behind him, compared to the simple felt walls of the tent. A ”yurt” is a common feature of nomadic life on the steppes.  It wasn't exactly a single person operation to haul them around, but they can be taken down and put up with relative ease.  And while yurts could be relatively simple, there are examples of much more elaborate structures.  There is little reason they couldn't be made larger, perhaps with some extra support.  In later centuries, there are examples of giant yurts that seem like real construction projects.  Use of tents, even in a city, where they had permanent palace buildings, was likely a means of retaining the nomadic steppe traditions, even while enjoying the benefits of city life. Whom exactly Xuanzang met with is a matter of debate.  His records seem to indicate that it was Tong Yabghu Qaghan of the Western Gokturk Khaganate, but other sources say that Tong Yabghu Qaghan died in 628, and the earliest Xuanzang could have been meeting with him was 630, two years later, so if that is the case, he must have met with Tong Yabghu's son, Si Yabghu Qaghan.  It is likely that Xuanzang, who was dictating his accounts years after, mentioned the Qaghan and then, when they looked up who it was, they simply made a mistake.  Remember, Xuanzang would have had everything translated through one or two languages.  He did know what he saw, however, and he recounted what he remembered. Tong Yabghu Qaghan oversaw the height of the Gokturk Qaghanate, and appears to have favored the Buddhist religion, though there were many different religions active in their territories at the time.  They oversaw an extremely cosmopolitan empire covering huge swaths of central Eurasia, including the lucrative silk road.  Xuanzang notes that at the court there were individuals from Gaochang and even a messenger from the Han—which is to say the Tang Empire.  One wonders if Xuanzang—or anyone at that time—realized just how tenuous the Khan'sposition was.  After Tong Yabghu's death, the Qaghanate would decline, and less than a decade later it would fall to the Tang dynasty, who took Suyab and made it their western outpost.  In fact, Suyab is thought to have been the birthplace, over a century later, of a young boy who would find a love of poetry.  That boy's name was Li Bai, or Ri Haku, in Japanese. He would become one of the most famous poets in Chinese history, and his poems were even known and studied in Japan.  And it was largely through Japanese study of Li Bai's poems that his works came to the English speaking world: first through Ernest Fenollosa, who had studied in Japan, and then by the celebrated Ezra Pound, who had used Ernest's notes to help with his own translations of the poems. This was, though, as I said, over a century after Xuanzang's journey.  At the time of our story, the Qaghan was throwing a feast, including Xuanzang and all of the foreign envoys.  Xuanzang comments on the food and drink—his hosts provided grape juice in lieu of wine, and cooked a special vegetarian feast just for him, while the other guests ate a feast of meat, such as veal, lamb, fish, and the like.  There was also the music of various regions along the Silk Road, which Xuanzang found to be catchy, but of course not as refined as the music he was used to, of course.  After dinner Xuanzang was asked to expound upon the Darma, largely about the basic principle that you should be kind to one another—I doubt he was getting into the deep mysteries of Buddhist philosophy. Xuanzang stuck around the court for three more days, during which time the Qaghan tried to get him to stay, but Xuanzang insisted that he had to make it to India.  And so the Qaghan relented.  He found men in his army who could translate for Xuanzang along his journey, and had letters of introduction written to at least as far as the state of Kapisa, in modern Afghanistan. And so, armed with the Qaghan's blessing and a fresh translator, Xuanzang struck out again.  They headed westward for over one hundred miles, eventually reaching Bingyul, aka the Thousand Springs.  This is the area where the Qaghan and his court would spend his summers, and the deer in the area were protected under his orders, so that they were not afraid of humans—which sounds similar to the situation with the deer in Nara.  Continuing on another fifty miles or so—the distances are approximate as Xuanzang's primary duty was not exactly to map all of this out—Xuanzang arrived at the city of Taras, in modern Kazakhstan, another place where the cultures of the Silk Road mixed and mingled.  Xuanzang didn't have much to say about Taraz, apparently, though it is one of the oldest cities in Transoxania, founded near the beginning of the Common Era.  A few miles south of there, Xuanzang reportedly found a village of re-settled ethnic Han that had been captured by the Gokturks and settled here.  They had adopted the dress and customs of the Turkic people, but continued to speak a version of Chinese. Southwest of that he reached the City of White Water, likely referring to Aksukent.  This is the same “Aksu” as the city in Xinjiang, both of which mean “White Water” in Turkic, but this one is in the south of Kazakhstan.  Xuanzang found the climate and products an improvement over what he had experienced in Taras.  Beyond that, he next arrived at the city of Gongyu, and then south again to Nujkend, and then traveling westward to the country of Chach, aka Tashkent.  Both Nujkend and Chach were large cities in nations of smaller, mostly autonomous city-states, which made up a lot of the political geography of Transoxania. I would note that Xuanzang's notes here are much more sparse than previously.  This may be because these were outside of the Tarim basin and therefore of less interest to individuals in the Tang empire.  Or perhaps he was just making his way more quickly and not stopping at every kingdom along the way. From Tashkent, he continued southeast to the Ferghana valley—the country of Feihan.  Oddly, this country doesn't appear in Xuanzang's biography, even though the Ferghana Valley seems to have been fairly well known back in the Tang Empire—it was known as the home of some of the best horses, which were one of its first major exports.  In fact, the Han dynasty even mounted a military expedition to travel to Ferghana just to obtain horses.  Xuanzang is oddly silent on this; however, he does talk about the fertile nature of the land.  He mentions that their language here is different from the lands he had been traveling through up to this point, and also points out that the people of the Ferghana valley were also visibly different from others in the area. From the Ferghana valley, Xuanzang headed west for about 300 miles or more to the land of Sutrushana—perhaps referring to the area of Ushrusana, with its capital of Bunjikat.  This country was also largely Sogdian, and described as similar to Tashkent.  From there, he traveled west through a great desert, passing skeletons, which were the only marker of the trail other than a view of the far off mountains.  Finally, they reached Samarkand, known as the country of “Kang” in Chinese, which was also the term used to mark Sogdians who claimed descent from the people of Samarkand. Samarkand is another of the ancient cities of Central Asia, and even today is the third largest city in modern Uzbekistan.  Human activity in the region goes back to the paleolithic era, and the city was probably founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.  Samarkand was conquered by Alexander the Great, and during the Achaemenid Empire it was the capital of Sogdiana.  During Xuanzang's visit, Samarkand was described as an impenetrable fortress with a large population. For all of his travel, Samarkand was the first place Xuanzang notes as specifically not a Buddhist land.  In fact, there were two monasteries, suggesting that there had been Buddhists, but if any monks tried to stay there then the locals would chase them out with fire.  Instead, they worshipped fire—likely meaning Ahura Mazda and Zoroastrianism.  This leads to a story that I have to wonder about, given the reliability of our narrators. It is said that Xuanzang was met by the King with arrogance, but after staying the night Xuanzang was able to tell the King about Buddhism and its merits.  The king was intrigued, and asked to observe the Precepts, and treated Xuanzang with hospitality and respect.  So when two of Xuanzang's attendants went to the monasteries to worship, they were chased out with fire.  When the king heard about this, he had the people arrested and ordered their hands to be cut off.  Xuanzang could not bear to witness such suffering, however, and he intervened to have them spared.  So instead the king had them flogged and banished from the city.  Ever since then, all the people believed in Buddhism. Some parts of this strike true.  It was likely that the king would entertain this strange wanderer who had arrived with letters from the great Qaghan—that may have even explained why Xuanzang had been encouraged to make the dangerous journey to Suyab in the first place, so that he could obtain such permission.  And it would not be strange for the king to listen to his teachings.  If Xuanzang's attendants were attacked, that would have been a huge breach of hospitality, and however the King felt about it, he no doubt had to do something about it.  And so all of that sounds somewhat believable.  Does that mean everyone suddenly converted to Buddhism?  I don't know that I'm quite willing to go that far.  It is also likely that there were Buddhists there already, even if the majority religion was Zoroastrianism. From Samarkand, Xuanzang traveled farther southwest, to the country of Kasanna, which seems to have been the edge of what we might call Sogdiana.   According to his biographers, however, there was a little more to all of this.  Rather, he headed west to Kusanika.  Then he traveled to  Khargan, and further on to the country of Bukhara, and then to Vadi.  All of these were “An” in Chinese, which was the name element used for Sogdians from this region.  He then continued west to the country of Horismika, on the other side of the Amu Darya, aka the Oxus River of Transoxanian fame. From there he traveled further southwest, entering into the mountains.  The path here was often such that they had to travel single-file, and there was no food or water other than what you brought with you.  Eventually they came to a set of doors, known as the Iron Gate.  This was a Turkic fortress.  It was no doubt fortuitous that he had come from his meeting with the Qaghan, and likely had permission to pass through.  From there, they entered the country of Tukhara. As we noted in Episode 119, Tukhara was in the region of Bactria.  It was bordered by the Pamir range in the east, and the Persian empire in the west.  There were also the Great Snow Mountains in the south, likely referencing the Hindu Kush. Tukhara had been conquered by the Gokturks just within the past couple of decades, and Xuanzang notes that the country had been split into largely autonomous city-states as the local royalty had died without an heir many years before.  With the Gokturk conquest, it was now administered by Tardu Shad, the son of Tong Yabghu Qaghan.  “Shad” in this case was a local title. Here, Xuanzang's narrative gets a little dicey, especially between his biography and his records.  The records of the Western Regions denotes various countries in this area.  It is unclear if he traveled to all of them or is just recounting them from records he obtained.  He does give us at least an overview of the people and the region.  I would also note that this is one of the regions he visited, again, on his return trip, and so may have been more familiar with the region than those areas he had passed through from Suyab on down. For one thing, he notes that the language of the region was different from that of the “Suli”, which appears to refer to the Sogdians.  This was the old territory of the Kushan empire, and they largely spoke Bactrian.  Like Sogdian, it was another Eastern Iranian language, and they used an alphabet based largely on Greek, and written horizontally rather than vertically.  They also had their own coins. This region had plenty of Buddhist communities, and Xuanzang describes the cities and how many monasteries they had, though, again, it isn't clear if he actually visited all of them or not.  These are countries that Li Rongji translates as “Tirmidh”, “Sahaaniyan”, “Kharuun”, “Shuumaan”, etc. It does seem that Xuanzang made it to the capital city, the modern city Kunduz, Afghanistan. Xuanzang actually had something specific for the local Gokturk ruler, Tardu Shad.  Tardu Shad's wife was the younger sister of King Qu Wentai of Gaochang, whom we met last episode.  Qu Wentai had provided Xuanzang a letter for his younger sister and her husband.  Unfortunately, Xuanzang arrived to learn that the princess of Gaochang had passed away, and Tardu Shad's health was failing.  It does seem that Tardu Shad was aware of Xuanzang, however—a letter had already come from Qu Wentai to let them know that Xuanzang was on his way.  As I mentioned last episode, letters were an important part of how communities stayed tied together.  Of course, given the perils of the road, one assumes that multiple letters likely had to be sent just in case they didn't make it.  The US Postal Service this was not. Tardu Shad, though not feeling well, granted an interview with Xuanzang.  He suggested that Xuanzang should stick around.  Then, once the Shad had recovered from his illness, he would accompany Xuanzang personally on his trip to India.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  While Xuanzang was staying there, he was witness to deadly drama.  Tardu Shad was recovering, which was attributed to the recitations by an Indian monk who was also there.  This outcome was not exactly what some in the court had wanted.  One of the Shad's own sons, known as the Tagin prince, plotted with the Shad's current wife, the young Khatun, and she poisoned her husband.  With the Shad dead, the throne might have gone to the son of the Gaochang princess, but he was still too young.  As such, the Tagin Prince was able to usurp the throne himself, and he married his stepmother, the young Khatun.  The funeral services for the late Tardu Shad meant that Xuanzang was obliged to stay at Ghor for over a month. During that time, Xuanzang had a seemingly pleasant interaction with an Indian monk.  And when he finally got ready to go, he asked the new Shad for a guide and horses.  He agreed, but also made the suggestion that Xuanzang should then head to Balkh.  This may have meant a bit of backtracking, but the Shad suggested that it would be worth it, as Balkh had a flourishing Buddhist community. Fortunately, there was a group of Buddhist monks from Balkh who happened to be in Kunduz to express their condolences at the passing of Tardu Shad, and they agreed to accompany Xuanzang back to their hometown, lest he end up getting lost and taking the long way there. The city of Balkh is also known as “Baktra”, as in “Bactria”, another name of this region.  A settlement has been there since at least 500 BCE , and it was already an important city when it was captured by Alexander the Great.  It sits at the confluence of several major trade routes, which no doubt were a big part of its success.  Xuanzang's biography notes that it was a massive city, though it was relatively sparsely populated—probably due to the relatively recent conquest by the Gokturks, which had occurred in the last couple of decades.  That said, there were still thousands of monks residing at a hundred monasteries in and around the city.  They are all characterized as monks of Theravada schools.  Southwest of the city was a monastery known as Navasamgharama, aka Nava Vihara, or “New Monastery”.  Despite its name, the monastery may have actually been much older, going back to the Kushan emperor Kaniska, in the 2nd century CE.  Ruins identified as this “New Monastery” are still visible south of Balkh, today. The monastery is described as being beautifully decorated, and it seems that it had a relic—one of the Buddha's teeth.  There are also various utensils that the Buddha is said to have used, as well.  The objects would be displayed on festival days.  North of the monastery there was a stupa more than 200 feet in height.  South of the monastery was a hermitage.  Each monk who studied there and passed away would have a stupa erected for them, as well.  Xuanzang notes that there were at around 700 memorial stupas, such that they had to be crammed together, base to base. It was here that Xuanzang met a young monk named Prajnaakara, who was already somewhat famous in India, and well-studied.  When questioned about certain aspects of Buddhism, Xuanzang was impressed by the monk's answers, and so stayed there a month studying with the young monk. Eventually, Xuanzang was ready to continue on his journey.  He departed Balkh towards the south, accompanying the teacher Prajnakara, and together they entered the Great Snow Mountains, aka the Hindu Kush.  This path was even more dangerous than the trip through the Tian Shan mountains to Suyab.   They eventually left the territory of Tukhara and arrived at Bamiyan.  Bamiyan was a kingdom in the Hindu Kush, themselves an extension of the Himalayan Mountain range.  It Is largely based around valley, home to the modern city of Bamyan, Afghanistan, which sits along the divide between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.  Today it is a major center for individuals of the Hazara ethnic group, one of the main ethnic groups in Afghanistan, which is a multi-ethnic state that includes, today, the Pashtun, Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek people, along with a number of smaller ethnic groups.  Today they largely reside in the mountainous areas of the Hindu Kush. Bamiyan made an impact on our protagonist.   Their language was slightly different from that in Tukhara, but using the same—or similar enough—writing system.  Buddhism was thriving in the capital, and we are told of a rock statue of the standing Buddha, over a hundred feet in height, along with a copper statue of the standing Buddha nearby.    There was also another reclining Buddha a mile or two down the road.  There were multiple monasteries with thousands of monks, and the ruler of that kingdom received Xuanzang well. Xuanzang wasn't the first monk to travel to Bamiyan from the Middle Kingdom—in this he was, perhaps unwittingly, on the trail of the monk Faxian.  Faxian likely did not see these statues, though, as we believe they were built in the 6th and early 7th century—at least the stone Buddha statues.  They were a famous worship site until February 2001, when the Taliban gave an order to destroy all of the statues in Afghanistan.  Despite this, they were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Fortunately, we have images from before their destruction.  These statues were a blend of Greco-Buddhist and Gandharan art styles—appropriate as it stands between the Hellenistic area of Tukhara and the ancient region of Gandhara—including the modern city of Kandahar and into the Indus Valley region of Pakistan. Continuing east through the mountains, Xuanzang eventually came out at the kingdom of Kapisa.  This may have had its capital around modern-day Bagram, north of modern Kabul, but the country seems to have been quite large.  Kapisa over saw some tens of other countries, and it is thought that at one time its influence extended from Bamyan and Kandahar to the area of modern Jalalabad.  Their language was even more different than that of Tukhara, but they were still using the same writing system.  The king of Kapisa is said to have been of Suli ethnicity—which would seem to indicate that he was Sogdian, or at least descended from people of the Transoxanian region.    Xuanzang notes that the ruler, as rough and fiery as he is described—as a true warlord or similar—he nonetheless made a silver image of the Buddha, eighteen feet in height, every year.  He also gave charity to the poor and needy in an assembly that was called every five years.  There were over one hundred monasteries and some 6000 monks, per Xuanzang's recollection, and notably, they were largely following Mahayana teachings. For the most part the monks that Xuanzang had encountered on this journey were Theravada—Xuanzang refers to them as “Hinayana”, referring to the “Lesser Vehicle” in contrast to Xuanzang's own “Mahayana”, or “Greater Vehicle”.  “Theravada” refers to the “way of the elders” and while Mahayana Buddhism largely accepts the sutras of Theravada Buddhism, there are many Mahayana texts that Theravada Buddhists do not believe are canonical.  We discussed this back in Episode 84. There was apparently a story of another individual from the Yellow River being sent as a hostage to Kapisa when it was part of the Kushan Empire, under Kanishka or similar.  Xuanzang recounts various places that the hostage, described as a prince, lived or visited while in the region.  Xuanzang's arrival likely stirred the imagination of people who likely knew that the Tang were out there, but it was such a seemingly impossible distance for most people.  And yet here was someone who had traveled across all of that distance.  One of the monasteries that claimed to have been founded because of that ancient Han prince invited Xuanzang to stay with them.  Although it was a Theravada monastery, Xuanzang took them up on the offer, both because of the connection to someone who may have been his countryman, but also because of his traveling companion, Prajnakara, who was also a Theravada monk, and may not be comfortable staying at a Mahayana monastery. Xuanzang spends a good deal of ink on the stories of how various monasteries and other sites were founded in Kapisa and the surrounding areas.  He must have spent some time there to accumulate all of this information.  It is also one of the places where he seems to have hit at least twice—once on the way to India, and once during his return journey. The King of Kapisa is said to have been a devotee of Mahayana Buddhism.  He invited Xuanzang and Prajnakara to come to a Mahayana monastery to hold a Dharma gathering.  There they met with several leading figures in the monastery, and they discussed different theories.  This gathering lasted five days, and at the end, the king offered Xuanzang and the other monks five bolts of pure brocade and various other gifts.  Soon thereafter, the monk Prajnakara was invited back to Tukhara, and so he and Xuanzang parted ways. And it was about time for Xuanzang to continue onwards as well.  From Kapisa, he would travel across the “Black Range” and into Lampaka.  This may refer to the area of Laghman or Jalalabad.  Today, this is in modern Afghanistan, but for Xuanzang, this would have been the northwestern edge of India.  He was almost there. And so are we, but we'll save his trip into India for next episode. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

 In episode 493 of the Outdoor Adventure Lifestyle Podcast, I'm talking with Haley Stuart, filmmaker, environmentalist, and whitewater instructor. Haley joins us to discuss her work protecting rivers, collaborating with communities across the Americas, and raising awareness about mega hydroelectric impacts. Her journey inspires meaningful action for lasting environmental change. Show Notes What if I told you that rivers could teach us more about life than a self-help book ever could? What Happened: When Haley Stewart first dipped her paddle into a river, she wasn't chasing adrenaline—she was running headfirst into her fears. Growing up in suburban New York, she didn't even know kayaking was a sport. It wasn't until she attended a kayaking-focused high school (yes, those exist!) that she realized rivers weren't just a setting for adventures—they were life itself, rushing and relentless, filled with twists, turns, and lessons. At first, the sport terrified her. But over time, the pull of the water and the tight-knit community of paddlers won her over. What started as a hesitant curiosity turned into an unshakable passion. Traveling the world, Haley discovered the hard truth: many of the rivers she loved were under threat—from dams, mining, and neglect. She couldn't sit by and watch them disappear. That's when everything changed. She met indigenous communities who lived alongside these rivers, fighting daily battles to protect what had sustained them for generations. Haley realized something profound: saving rivers wasn't just about ecology—it was about people, too. And through her work, she's helping amplify their voices, blending storytelling, conservation, and sheer grit to make an impact. Principle: The heart of Haley's story? Real change starts when we listen. Listen to the rivers, the people who live near them, and the truth about what's really happening in the world's wildest places. Many of us dream of adventure, but few think about what happens when those landscapes are lost. It's not enough to explore the outdoors—we need to protect it. Transition: Too often, we underestimate the power of our choices—what we support, what we fight for, or even where we decide to paddle. We think, "Someone else will handle it," or "What difference can I make?" But here's the truth: you matter more than you think. Haley's work reminds us that our adventures and the decisions we make along the way can transform the fate of entire ecosystems and the communities they sustain. That's Why: That's why this week's episode of the Outdoor Adventure Lifestyle Podcast is a must-listen. Haley's journey from nervous kayaker to river conservationist will inspire you to think differently about the waterways we all rely on—and how you can play a role in preserving them. Call to Action: Are you ready to discover the adventure, responsibility, and heart that comes with loving rivers? Tune in to hear Haley's story. Don't just explore the outdoors—help protect it for the next generation. Amazonian Rivers Initiative Rios to Rivers Tuichi River Paddle Tribal Waters & Kayakimün