Podcasts about yukon territory

In this episode, we talk about our summer motorcycle ride around Canada.  On this trip we will meetup and ride with some of the beloved Patrons of Law Abiding Biker.  It will be an epic journey!  Almost 5,000 miles covering British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and Alberta.  We're even going to pop into Hyder, Alaska.  As part of the ride, we will be logging miles and checking in at Harley-Davidson dealer ships to collect engagements and key words for the Let's Ride Challenge Ride for Heroes. SUPPORT US AND SHOP IN THE OFFICIAL LAW ABIDING BIKER STORE The 2025 Harley-Davidson Let's Ride Challenge – Ride for Heroes is a nationwide initiative running from March 28 to October 31, 2025, inviting Harley-Davidson riders to log miles in support of military personnel, veterans, and first responders. Each mile ridden contributes to Harley-Davidson's goal of donating up to $1 million to organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project, Rolling Thunder, and the American Legion Riders. CHECK OUT OUR HUNDREDS OF FREE HELPFUL VIDEOS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE! Participants can register at authorized dealerships, where they validate their odometer readings and collect keywords to boost their “Rev Score,” enhancing their chances to win one of five new 2025 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, including models like the Nightster, Street Bob, Fat Boy, Street Glide, and CVO Road Glide . While open to all U.S. residents with a Harley-Davidson VIN, Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) members enjoy exclusive benefits, such as bonus points and additional rewards . This challenge not only offers riders the thrill of the open road but also the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the lives of American heroes. NEW FOR PURCHASE VIDEO RELEASED: Install A Harley Audio By Rockford Fosgate Stage 1 or 2 Amp & Speakers on a 23.5 & Newer Touring! Sponsor-Ciro 3D CLICK HERE! Innovative products for Harley-Davidson & Goldwing Affordable chrome, lighting, and comfort products Ciro 3D has a passion for design and innovation Sponsor-Butt Buffer CLICK HERE Want to ride longer? Tired of a sore and achy ass? Then fix it with a high-quality Butt Buffer seat cushion? If you appreciate the content we put out and want to make sure it keeps on coming your way then become a Patron too! There are benefits and there is no risk. Thanks to the following bikers for supporting us via a flat donation: John Allen of Linton, Indiana David Cruz of Hartford, Connecticut Robert Steen of Meridian, Idaho HELP SUPPORT US! JOIN THE BIKER REVOLUTION! #BikerRevolution #LawAbidingBiker #Bikaholics #RyanUrlacher

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with debut Toronto author Tim Welsh about his novel, Ley Lines, published by Guernica Editions, 2025.  Set in the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Ley Lines begins in the mythical boom town of Sawdust City, Yukon Territory. Luckless prospector Steve Ladle has accepted an unusual job offer: accompany a local con artist to the unconquered top of a nearby mountain. What he finds there briefly upends the town's fading fortunes, attracting a crowd of gawkers and acolytes, while inadvertently setting in motion a series of events that brings about the town's ruin. In the aftermath, a ragtag group of characters is sent reeling across the Klondike, struggling to come to grips with a world that has been suddenly and unpredictably upturned. As they attempt to carve out a place for themselves, our protagonists reckon with the various personal, historical and supernatural forces that have brought them to this moment. A wildly inventive, psychedelic odyssey, Ley Lines flips the frontier narrative on its ear, and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in Canadian fiction. About Tim Welsh: Tim Welsh was born in Ithaca, New York and raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he completed an MA in English Language and Literature at Carleton University. He now lives in Toronto. Ley Lines is his first novel. About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with debut Toronto author Tim Welsh about his novel, Ley Lines, published by Guernica Editions, 2025.  Set in the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Ley Lines begins in the mythical boom town of Sawdust City, Yukon Territory. Luckless prospector Steve Ladle has accepted an unusual job offer: accompany a local con artist to the unconquered top of a nearby mountain. What he finds there briefly upends the town's fading fortunes, attracting a crowd of gawkers and acolytes, while inadvertently setting in motion a series of events that brings about the town's ruin. In the aftermath, a ragtag group of characters is sent reeling across the Klondike, struggling to come to grips with a world that has been suddenly and unpredictably upturned. As they attempt to carve out a place for themselves, our protagonists reckon with the various personal, historical and supernatural forces that have brought them to this moment. A wildly inventive, psychedelic odyssey, Ley Lines flips the frontier narrative on its ear, and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in Canadian fiction. About Tim Welsh: Tim Welsh was born in Ithaca, New York and raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he completed an MA in English Language and Literature at Carleton University. He now lives in Toronto. Ley Lines is his first novel. About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with debut Toronto author Tim Welsh about his novel, Ley Lines, published by Guernica Editions, 2025.  Set in the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Ley Lines begins in the mythical boom town of Sawdust City, Yukon Territory. Luckless prospector Steve Ladle has accepted an unusual job offer: accompany a local con artist to the unconquered top of a nearby mountain. What he finds there briefly upends the town's fading fortunes, attracting a crowd of gawkers and acolytes, while inadvertently setting in motion a series of events that brings about the town's ruin. In the aftermath, a ragtag group of characters is sent reeling across the Klondike, struggling to come to grips with a world that has been suddenly and unpredictably upturned. As they attempt to carve out a place for themselves, our protagonists reckon with the various personal, historical and supernatural forces that have brought them to this moment. A wildly inventive, psychedelic odyssey, Ley Lines flips the frontier narrative on its ear, and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in Canadian fiction. About Tim Welsh: Tim Welsh was born in Ithaca, New York and raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he completed an MA in English Language and Literature at Carleton University. He now lives in Toronto. Ley Lines is his first novel. About Hollay Ghadery: Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children's book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League's BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/historical-fiction

A new week means new questions! Hope you have fun with these!To Build a Fire, a short story about an unnamed male protagonist who ventures out in the subzero boreal forest of the Yukon Territory, was written by which American author?Who became the first person to reach the south pole on December 14, 1911?A sculptural embellishment of an arch or a mark of acknowledgment or honor.Which second largest city in Egypt is also the largest city on the Mediterranean coast?Greek biographer Plutarch speculated that Alexander the Great was the son of the Greek princess Olympias and which god?Rasp, riffler, mallet, and chisel are some tools used in what art form?What navigational device shows the cardinal directions and helps with geographic orientation?In Japan it was called the Super Famicom. In South Korea it was called the Super Comboy. What was this gaming console called in America?Identify the object of the preposition in the following sentence: He is running from the dog.MusicHot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames, Ambush by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Don't forget to follow us on social media:Patreon – patreon.com/quizbang – Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support!Website – quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question!Facebook – @quizbangpodcast – we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Instagram – Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess.Twitter – @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia – stay for the trivia.Ko-Fi – ko-fi.com/quizbangpod – Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!

Scott Petsel, President of Metallic Minerals (TSX.V:MMG – OTCQB:MMNGF),  joins me for a comprehensive review of all the work to date at both the Keno Silver Project in the Yukon and the La Plata Copper Project in Colorado.  Then we take a deeper dive into the Australia Creek gold alluvial claims and how the current operator has now added a 2nd project to their 2025 work program, giving Metallic Minerals a 2nd paying and producing royalty for this year.   We lead off discussing all the prior year's drilling that has been completed at the Keno Silver project, which led into the inaugural NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate last year. This was a key milestone for this Project which defined 18.16 million ounces of silver equivalent (inferred), over 4 deposits (Formo, Fox, Caribou and Homestake). The board is currently evaluating next steps for the work programs at Keno Silver for later in the season.   Next we pivoted over to the developing exploration strategy, ongoing groundwork, and targeting for this year at the La Plata Copper-Silver Project, following up on the prior 4 drill holes over 4,530 meters in 2023, and the foundational field season in 2024 looking at a number of new porphyry target across their land package with their strategic partners at Newmont Corporation. Newmont has maintained their 9.5% strategic equity investment in Metallic Minerals due to their interest in the prospectivity for both copper and precious metals at the La Plata Project. Scott outlines that those 4500 meters drilled have not yet been added into the existing 1.21-billion-pound copper and 17.6-million-ounce silver inferred mineral resource, and that the upcoming resource update will also add in resource values from gold, platinum, and palladium for the first time; which have not previously been included.   Wrapping up Scott unpacks the announcement on April 15th highlighting the signing of a new production royalty agreement for a mile of alluvial gold claims at its Australia Creek property in the Klondike Gold District, Yukon Territory. This agreement builds on Metallic Minerals gold royalty business in 2025, with an experienced mining operator, who brings over 40 years of gold mining experience in the Yukon. This marks the second agreement at Australia Creek expanding the Company's leased ground to over two miles from the original one-mile lease in Australia Creek, which gives the company at least two gold mining operations on its Klondike Gold District claims for the 2025 season; with discussions underway with other potential operators on other properties. Scott points out that there could be up to 10 operators on all their alluvial claims in the Klondike and at Keno Hill.   If you have any follow up questions for Scott on Metallic Minerals,  then please email me at  Shad@kereport.com.   Click here to follow the latest news from Metallic Minerals

Canada Immigration LMIA-Exempt Work Permit figures for C12, (Intra-Company Transferees Airline personnel (station managers)) in 2022 for the province/territory of Yukon.  Good day ladies and gentlemen, this is IRC news, and I am Joy Stephen, an authorized Canadian Immigration practitioner bringing out this Canada Work Permit application data specific to LMIA work permits or employer driven work permits or LMIA exempt work permits for multiple years based on your country of Citizenship. I am coming to you from the Polinsys studios in Cambridge, Ontario  The Province or Territory of Yukon accepted 5 LMIA-Exempt Work Permits in 2022, under C12, (Intra-Company Transferees Airline personnel (station managers)). For a convenient way to check past news in Yukon Territory, just visit this link: https://myar.me/tag/ytShould you be interested in acquiring comprehensive insights into the Federal Caring for Children Program or other Canadian Federal or Provincial Immigration programs, or if you require guidance after selection, we extend a warm invitation to connect with us via https://myar.me/c.  We strongly encourage your participation in our complimentary Zoom resource meetings held every Thursday. We kindly ask you to carefully examine the available resources. In case you have any inquiries, our team of Canadian Authorized Representatives is readily available to address your concerns during the weekly AR's Q&A session conducted on Fridays. You can access details for both of these meetings at https://myar.me/zoom.  Our dedicated team is committed to providing professional assistance as you navigate the immigration process. Additionally, IRCNews offers valuable insights on selecting a qualified representative to advocate for you with the Canadian Federal or Provincial governments, available at https://ircnews.ca/consultant.  

Alex White's Great Great Grandfather used a sourdough starter when he ran a shop in the Yukon Territory more than 120 years ago. That same starter lives on in a Las Vegas pizzeria: Yukon Pizza, where they make sourdough crusts as well as some NYC slices.

Erik Wetterling, Founder and Editor of The Hedgeless Horseman website, joins me to discuss the attractive value proposition that he sees in 2 different junior gold and silver explorers that have some recent news out; which sets up future news releases to build upon their current work programs.   First up, we discuss West Point Gold Corp. (TSXV: WPG) (OTCQB: WPGCF), and how it came out of the business combination of 2 prior junior exploration companies.  The company has multiple projects in Nevada like the Tip Top, Jefferson Canyon, and Jefferson North projects, but the focus of the recent exploration work is at their Gold Chain Project in Arizona, nearby the producing Moss Mine.  The company recently released infill sampling on drill holes GC24-30, GC24-31 and GC24-32 demonstrating that mineralization at the Tyro Main Zone is wider and more continuous than previously thought.   Silver47 Exploration Corp. (TSXV: AGA) owns three silver and critical metals (polymetallic) exploration projects in Canada ‎and the US: the Flagship Red Mountain silver-gold-zinc-copper-lead VMS-SEDEX project in ‎southcentral Alaska; the Adams Plateau silver-zinc-copper-gold-lead SEDEX-VMS project in ‎southern British Columbia, and the Michelle silver-lead-zinc-gallium-antimony MVT-SEDEX ‎Project in Yukon Territory.‎  Erik highlights the potential for both optionality to rising metals prices and their ability to do some meaningful exploration with the capital already raised for this year's program.   * In full disclosure, the companies mentioned by Erik in this interview, are positions held in his personal portfolio, and also may be site sponsors of The Hedgeless Horseman website at the time of this recording.    Click here to visit Erik's site – The Hedgeless Horseman

Send us a textWelcome to a thrilling exploration of Yukon's wild frontier, where Kaleb Graham reveals his incredible journey from New Brunswick to a land teeming with wildlife and hunting opportunities. Discover how Kaleb transitioned from waterfowl hunting to mastering the art of tracking big game like caribou and bison in this untamed paradise. Tune in to hear about the innovative techniques he brought with him and how he's adapted to the harsh yet breathtaking Yukon environment.Our conversation also delves into the cultural facets of hunting in the Yukon, contrasting local subsistence hunting with trophy pursuits by outsiders. Kaleb shares personal anecdotes from a memorable caribou hunt along the Dempster Highway, illustrating the deep respect for nature that is ingrained in responsible hunting practices. We touch upon the challenges posed by climate change and its impact on traditional hunting methods, as well as the vital conservation strategies needed to protect Yukon's majestic wildlife.Venture with us into the rugged wilderness as Kaleb recounts his strategies and gear essential for surviving and thriving in Yukon's extreme conditions. From the fascinating behavior and migratory patterns of caribou to the tactical use of skidoos and the vital role of winter gear, this episode is packed with practical insights and thrilling tales. As Caleb shares the satisfaction of a successful hunt, we promise stories that will not only entertain but also deepen your appreciation for the wild beauty and rich cultural tapestry of the Yukon.Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!

This week I take a look at Bigfoot sightings in the Yukon! The Yukon Territory borders Alaska to the west and British Columbia to the south, and is the western-most territory in Canada. Sightings include a swaying sasquatch seen by a man and his mother, 2 teenage girls smoking in the woods spot a Bigfoot running away from them, and a teenage boy on a fishing trip hiding from a sasquatch that appears to be dancing and trying to climb a pine tree. I also discuss the tragic deaths of two Oregon men who died of exposure while out hunting for Bigfoot in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. #bigfoot #yukonterritory #cryptid 2:25 - Two Oregon men found dead while searching for Bigfoot 9:34 - Man recalls close encounter while on afternoon walk near Whitehorse 21:50 - Daytime sighting by teenagers on the edge of Carmacks 26:53 - Man recalls his daylight sighting as a young fisherman on the Yukon River Links! Follow us on Social media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddanduntold/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oddanduntold Website: https://www.oddanduntold.com Email me! : jason@oddanduntold.com Merch Store: https://oddanduntold.creator-spring.com Check out Riversend, the band behind "Moonlight," our awesome theme music! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1yIwfeu2cH1kDZaMYxKOUe?si=NIUijnmsQe6LNWOsfZ2jPw Riversend Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Riversendband Riversend Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riversendband/

 Premier David Eby speaks on Donald Trump's tariff threats and Trudeau's resignation GUEST: Keith Baldrey, Global B.C Legislative Reporter Will B.C patients pay more for faster healthcare in Washington state? GUEST: Dr. Kevin McLeod, Internal Medicine specialist at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, and Whitehorse Hospital in the Yukon Territory. Donald Trump threatens ‘economic force' to make Canada the 51st state GUEST: Reggie Cecchini, Global News Washington Correspondent  Where does Justin Trudeau's resignation leave Canada? GUEST: Warren Kinsella, Toronto-based lawyer, author and consultant, former special assistant to Prime Minister Jean Chretien Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GUEST: Dr. Kevin McLeod, Internal Medicine specialist at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, and Whitehorse Hospital in the Yukon Territory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hoes and Bitches Need A Champion.Based on a post by FinalStand, in 13 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. ‘Once you go Black, you don't go back; unless you are an Amerindian, Arabic, Asian, Black, Indian, Latina, or White girl, or guy who has tried Black, then found sexual fulfillment with a non-Black person and created a blissful relationship with them'Introduction:Right off the bat, be warned that I'm using the 'N' words, nigger, niggah, my niggah, plus homie, thug, coon, buck, spook, spade and whatever other crude racial slurs that come to mind. This story plays to both Black and White stereotypes.Lastly, this story is rather flippant with the entire concept of sexual assault. Those who have red my previous tales know this is not my attitude at all. For the sake of this genre I had to grapple with the concept of forcing a woman and 'making them love that cock'Prelude:My tale begins as the Winter Man Saga 1300 years ago, about the year 700 AD. One small clan of my Swedish ancestors lost a brutal feud with their neighbors. Their farms were burned, animals slaughtered and their women and children taken as slaves. Only three young brother-warriors survived, wounded but unconquered. The victors chased them high into the mountains when a terrible winter storm struck.The three brothers were trudging across a glacier between the mountain peaks in Whiteout conditions. The lead brother stepped into a crevasse and slid to the bottom of the glacier. Not giving up on their last kinsman, the other two slid down into the darkness after him. At the roots of that glacier they found an ice cavern formed by snow that fell 100,000 years ago.They melted the ice for water with their body heat and in doing so, unleashed a demoness (virus) that no man had ever known and survived. The three men grew very sick, but their fierce desire for vengeance kept them from succumbing. When they emerged from their icy tomb, they discovered that several of their pursuers had frozen to death in the blizzard and the rest had returned to their stolen homes and purloined lands, thinking the three brothers were dead.In the dark of the long northern night, they snuck upon the Great Hall of their enemies. When one of the brothers saw his 'former' wife doing a slave's work, he revealed himself to her. She rejoiced at the return of her love; physically, then brought the three table scraps to survive on. In the process, they learned that their sisters were also alive and the sexual playthings of their male nemeses.Due to the depth of winter, stealing back their womenfolk wasn't possible. They'd all freeze to death if they didn't starve first. To repay their enemy's wickedness, one of the brother's snapped and raped one of the chief's daughters. He was possessed with an unearthly desire and held her in a stable for hours. Only when he was utterly spent did he fall asleep.She ran to her father and returned with many warriors. So the first of the brothers was taken. He was tortured and abused. For three long nights he suffered at the hands of his captors yet refused to admit any of his other brothers were still alive. After that third night, the chief's daughter sneaked past the sleeping guards of the chained man, and raped him.For the next five nights, while her father, brothers and husband slept, she raped and raped and raped that brother. On the fifth night, a sister-in-law caught her at it. The daughter pled for the other to spare her; that the man's sexual prowess had ensnared her. She even challenged her kinswoman to sample the 'fruit' before turning her in. Five women later, the brother cracked and told the women how to find his brothers.The night after the Spring Equinox Celebrations, the women of their enemy rose up and slaughtered all their adult menfolk at the behest of the three brothers, on the conditions that their youngest sons be spared and that the men continue to share their favors with all the womenfolk (who were not their kin).The Sammi ClanThe isolated region of the land of the Swedes kept my ancestors out of contact with the wider world for some time. Many generations later, a son of that clan came to lead a band of (female) Finns. His Swedish name is forgotten. The Finns called him Sami (the Exalted One, no shit). He and this band took to fur trading along the Eastern tributaries of the Volga.In time, this group became identified with the Varangian. The Sons of Sami intermarried with the Slavs, becoming Slavicized and the Sons of Sami became Samsonovs. They followed the Rus expansion into the eastern tributaries of the Volga reaching Nizhny Novgorod in the 10th century.Then came the Mongol Conquest, the Tartar Yoke, Rus reunification and the Russian drive across Siberia. The Samsonovs remained tightly clannish and uncomfortable in urban settings. That wanderlust led them across the Bering Straits into Alaska where their genetic abnormality, the gift of that ancient demoness (virus), slumbered in isolation and monogamy.After a thousand years, the tales of mass orgies with strange women and protective female war bands faded into obscurity. Then my Mom, the brilliant, driven eccentric came along. Once she became enraptured with her own Samsonov lover, she had to know the secret of Samsonov men's sexual prowess.With her burning intellect and educational background, she eventually figured it out. She was also amoral enough to keep the knowledge to herself and vengeful enough to plan to use our curse as a weapon.My Living Family·         Father, Nikolay 'Nik' Samsonov;·         Mother, Gayle Fonteneau Samsonov;·         The Triplets, Alexander 'Alex', Mikhail and Vladimir 'Vlad'; that's me.Sitting at the dinner table, I protested; ‘Mom, You actually expect me to believe my Father, Brothers and I have the genetic capability to addict every woman we have sex with to our schlongs? That's nuts!'Mom retorted; ‘As opposed to thinking the color, length and girth of a phallus makes any woman lose all sense of loyalty, morality and decorum so she can become a man's sex sleeve, whore, bitch, property? Yes, I do.'The lives of my family took an unexpected detour in the spring of this year. My great-aunt Matilda (Mattie) died and willed her estate to Mom. I had never met the woman while she was alive yet in death she would have a profound effect on all our lives. Mom's family was a mess; a crowded dingy with a madhouse of odd characters.Lionel was my eldest maternal uncle. He was a Big, Bulging Brain working as a Chief Technical Advisor for NASA; a solitary crusader for all Mankind. What was he a technical advisor for? If anything left terra firma for more than fifteen seconds, he knew every detail about it. That included volcanic eruptions too. When we were younger, he invited us to various volcanoes (both above and beneath the waves). Great guy.Cassius, my second uncle, was serving time in Indonesia for piracy. Mom said he was meaner than every saltwater crocodile that ever lived. The two times I'd met him, he'd been a lean, happy laconic kind of guy with a love for military history. Mom said he was a charismatic rebel who was possessed by an obsession to defy authority in all its forms.Dido was child number three; my Mom's older sister, married to an Evangelical Televangelist in Nebraska under an assumed name, Paula Richmond. She also had a MD in Psychiatry and a Master's in Public Communications (under her real name), which she kept secret from the fundamentalist congregation. The few times we met; she was the perfect mother. Secretly, we three sons wished she'd been our mother instead of our real mother. Mom said Aunt Dido was a master manipulator and wielded a cruel whip;Then there was Mom's twin, Uncle Theo, who never lived in one place, traveled all around the globe and had every law enforcement agency in the civilized world looking for him. We always receiving presents from him during all the normal holidays; like Michaelmas, Holy Week, the start of Lent, Martinmas (his favorite) and our birthdays; which arrived at random, unrelated times of the year and never from the same location.He was the only one we'd never met, but the one Mom loved the most. Dad suspected he was a narco-trafficker while Mom insisted he was too paranoid to be considered reliable for that line of work. Mom told us he'd spent his formative years killing people for Uncle Sam until one day he simply walked away from Fort Bragg and became an independent contractor.The Defense Department sent some fine, brave men from Joint Special Operation Command, to talk to Mom every few months. They made sure not to trip over the CIA and Homeland Security types who occasionally staked out our house. We boys guessed they came around every time Uncle Theo assassinated people. Mom taught us how to appreciate them in an elaborate ritual she called 'April Fool's, which became an 'any day of the year' activity.My Mom's father (I never met the guy) was a leader of a cult in Nevada. He went down, guns blazing during a DEA raid. Apparently his interests included both harems and marijuana production.Mom's mom? She left my Mother outside a dive bar in San Diego and was never seen again. She had doctorates in Biology and Physics as well as the reputation for being a certifiable Space Cadet. Mom insisted her mom hadn't abandoned her, she'd simply forgotten where she left her youngest daughter who was 15 at the time.After five days, Mom decided to join an Alternative Rock band instead of looking for the lady yet again. Seven years later, she was declared legally dead; though all her offspring believed she was still alive; somewhere; doing something.Then you had Dad's family. We had some characters on that side of the family, just not like Mom's. For starters, Samsonovs were bred for law enforcement. We'd been arresting bad guys since the 1500's. We'd been doing that in Alaska since the time of the tsars. When the Alaskan Territory was sold to the United States; well, my ancestors simply started writing their reports in English instead of Russian.Over the centuries, we had bagged serial killers, smugglers, poachers, drug dealers, domestic abusers and thieves. Mostly they arrested drunks and wackos. My Great Grandfather Petrov was a law enforcement legend in Alaska. Alone, he ran down a pack of murderous robbers in the dead of winter before they made it to 'safety' in the Yukon Territory.In the spring, they found them frozen solid, him leading five men, he recorded in his journal he'd killed the other three while apprehending the gang, back in chains. That pretty much defined the nature of my Father's family, no too many stellar geniuses, but always relentless past all norms of endurance and reason. The moment females were allowed in law enforcement, the womenfolk joined the profession.My Aunt Iliana was in the Coast Guard, that made her the 'Black sheep' in this clan. Taking the law out to the high seas was about as wild as Dad's family got. Dad was pretty much the standard issue for my kin. Big, Dad was 6' 5' and 290 lbs., and about as imaginative as a glacier. Why Mom married Dad had long been a mystery to his sons.Don't get me wrong. I loved my Dad, but the man used a grand total of twenty different sentences his entire life. The fewer words he had to speak, the happier he was. He was a nice guy, never drinking too much and I'd never seen him lose his temper. He smiled, was unerringly polite and had always been helpful and playful with us kids from our earliest memories.Grandpa, my great-aunts and -uncles, my aunts, uncles and cousins by blood were the exact same way. I mean that quite literally. We all pretty much looked alike as well. Those who married, married eccentrics. In our regular family get-togethers that translated over to the blood kin in one room saying and doing nothing (we were already cluing into some sort of primitive telepathy) and being very happy that way, while the married relations were in another room packing on the lunacy.There was no middle ground; you were either a silent, brooding peak in the Samsonov mountain range, or the aurora borealis. That left me and my brothers, we were triplets, in a precarious position. We looked like smaller versions of our Dad (we were still growing) yet were totally at the mercy of our Mother most of our young lives. Recall what I said about eccentrics and lunatic behavior. Mom was the Queen of the Asylum.Mom quickly fell in love with 'things' and she loved doing those things with family. Since Dad worked long hours, family meant my brothers and me. We could make passable pottery by age seven. Krav Maga? Screw this 'driving to some dojo in Anchorage' crap. Mom signed us up for a two week course in Israel and online lessons for a year. Archery, check. Rewiring our house and refitting all the plumbing, check.The three of us were SCA squires at age 12. Pleading to Dad was pointless. He'd smile, mess up our hair and remind us these excursions made our Mother happy aka he wasn't going to help us have normal lives. We had some ex-Green Beret guys teach us outdoor survival skills in Wyoming. We could pull wool, make thread and knit a set of pants and sweaters.I and my brothers had to memorize 1200 medically useful plants before we could get our Christmas presents when we were 14. We free-climbed mountains, ran 10Kms, kayaked, were proficient seamen on a sailing ship and learned how to navigate by the Sun, Moon and stars. Around the age of 15, we figured out that Mom had a ton of money squirreled away. There was no way Dad, with his civil servant's salary, could afford all this crazy shit.By the age of 18 we had such a crazy patchwork set of skills, we weren't sure what we would end up doing with our lives; though tracking down Uncle Theo and living a life on the run was looking more attractive every month. What we didn't have were great social lives. We all had girlfriends at one time, or another, but they never lasted.Right before any of us were about to get serious with any girl in high school, my Mom dragged us off; to things like a five day course on Renaissance artwork in Milan; that's Italy. We had to learn to speak Italian in three days, plus during the flight over. Mom made it easy for us. We could only speak Italian the entire time. Doing that at school was 'fun'. Dad? He smiled and said nothing for three days.Welcome to the Fonteneau House, Kingston, ArkansasAnyway, Mom's Great-aunt Mattie kicked the bucket and left her vast fortune in northwestern Arkansas to my Mom. The old bird hated the rest of the nutjobs in the clan, but adored my Mom (and Theo). Upon receiving the news, my brothers and I began thinking the same thing: banjo lessons, redneck stunts and girls in Daisy Dukes. By 'fortune' we were thinking a ramshackle Ozark shack sitting on a mountain top.Nope. Great-aunt Mattie was loaded. In fact, Mom's whole family had tons of money. They'd made a killing, quite literally, during the White expansion westward using various despicable means. They'd even been cursed by an entire Indian Tribe for bilking them off their land. Mom's family blamed that malediction for their bizarre behavior.That Arkansas home was actually the summer residence for the Fonteneau clan from a hundred years ago. Along with the palatial residence came thousands upon thousands of acres spread over a quarter of the state (and some land in Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma too).Tara, or the Biltmore estate, it was not, but it certainly had pretensions. It was a wide and roomy, rambling Victorian structure. The house proper (there were two barns, a stable, storage sheds, two garages, one attached and the other stand-alone, semi-attached servant quarters and four outlying hunting lodges) abutted the Kingston town limits.The place was big enough to require Mom to employ six staff;Phineas Cobb the third, an angry, sullen old White guy and his carbon-copy son, Phineas IV, were our two Wardens. That meant they took care of the outlying property which included hunting down poachers, interlopers and moonshiners (the competition, no doubt) and seeing to the upkeep of the various lodges, roads, trails and bridges around the place. Phineas the third and Mom; well, he cried and hugged Mom when he saw her, so we didn't know what to think of him and his son.Bebe Marston worked the stables and the twelve horses therein. She was a college dropout, White and 21; a woman at one of life's crossroads. Great Aunt Mattie brought her on a few months before she passed on. Bebe was a bit shy and distant around the menfolk. Mom treated Bebe like her long lost daughter; they got along fine.Thomas Freeman was the groundskeeper. Thomas seemed nice enough, a polite and somewhat deferential older Black man. I liked him. Mom fired him the moment the lawyer finished reading Maggie's Will. She believed the man was a back-biter, liar and a thief.Kamika Perry was the cook. She was a largish, plump Black woman with a large family in town. She was a tyrant in the kitchen but friendly and out-going everywhere else. She knew Mom from before; before what, we didn't know. She was close to Mom's age and was the niece of the former cook. She and Mom were cordial yet a tad formal.Nefertiti Cooke was the upstairs maid. She was a whip-tin attractive Black woman in her late-20s and joined Thomas heading out the door. Mom discharged her due to Nefertiti's sour attitude and general unwillingness to adhere to a work schedule.Anita Turner was our downstairs maid and overall manager of the other servants. Like Kamika, she knew Mom from her previous stay at the house, though Anita was already part of the staff back then. They acted like old friends though they understood the mistress-servant dynamics of their relationship.Mom solved our labor shortage by bringing in Mexicans (Hondurans actually). The two families divided up the nine rooms in the detached servants' quarters with Bebe, since Anita and Kamika lived in town and the Cobb's had their own cottage somewhere on the property.Hector Martinez became our new groundskeeper. He had a wife, Maria. Mom enrolled her in some online college courses so she could get a teaching license. They were both pretty young.Consuela Castro was our new upstairs maid. She was a single mother with a son, Gustavo (10), and a daughter, Isabo (6); they went to the local elementary school in town. Both families were very nice to us and seemed happy with their current circumstance. Since this job was their first go at being domestic servants, Mom told us to be patient and respectful while they learned the ropes from Anita and Mr. Cobb (only Mom could call him Phineas without pissing him off).My brothers and I, our Father, the Martinez's and the Castro's couldn't have predicted the shit-storm Mom was creating between our house and the dominant Black populace of Kingston along the great racial divide. The Hondurans had spent half their lives learning to keep their heads low when faced with discrimination. We didn't, nor did we know that Mom was acting with deliberate malice of forethought at that time.To help appreciate our understanding of the situation, we triplets had known a grand total of four Black people well enough to call them by their Christian names our entire lives. One was a crazy, older guy who had been a sniper at some point in his military career. By crazy, I meant he'd go off on tangents in mid conversation, or just stopping entirely. We all liked the guy.He and Granddad Samsonov were real tight. They'd served together in Vietnam and we boys suspected something bad had happened to them both, something which scarred and bound them together closer than brothers. He and Alexander went hunting all the time back in Alaska. All I knew was Morris (Grandpa's comrade-in-arms) was treated like family.That meant if Morris got in trouble, fifteen to twenty Samsonov's would show up to bail him out. That's what family meant. The other two were a retired Air Force couple, Parker and Mariana Carrington plus their infant William, that had moved in next door (that's 40 yards away in Alaska) when I was fourteen. They were in their early thirties and wanted to start a family. The woman had been pregnant with her second child when we left.My Mom and another neighbor trundled her off to a clinic during her first birth. Dad had driven fifty miles in a blizzard to get her husband, so he could witness his firstborn come into the world. The man worked as a fishing boat mechanic and had gotten stuck at work when his wife went into early labor. It was the Alaskan way to look after one another.I never much thought about minorities. There were nearly as many Native Alaskans attending my schools as White folk. The Natives knew my family going back eight generations. I had a few cousins who were 'First Peoples'. Minority? Majority? We were Alaskans and that was that.Again, I didn't think much about there being a social and economic racial crevasse when I showed up in Kingston, Arkansas. I probably would have been totally blind-sided about it if Dad hadn't done his due diligence and went to the Kingston Police Station and Davis County Sheriff's Office to report his status as an Alaskan State Trooper and register his firearms.Since we didn't know what to look for, we missed the obvious signs of trouble. The Black police officer that Dad talked to was; impolite. He informed Dad there would be no 'courtesy' given despite Dad's professionalism, i.e. he wasn't permitted to carry any of his licensed firearms. The Sheriff's department was very different.We met the Sheriff and the man got Dad to be about as verbose as I'd ever seen him. The Sheriff verified Dad's story, gave him a 90 Day permit for his sidearm and told him to make no never mind over the Town cops' hostility. He certainly seemed pleased Dad had three big, strong, strapping boys and gave Dad an application to join his department.That night, Dad informed us all at the dining room table he was considering the Sheriff's job offer. Mom was secretly pleased (like her sister, she IS an evil mastermind and master manipulator). Anita, Bebe and Kamika were eating with us as well, Mom insisted all the help do so (the Hondurans weren't with us yet), and I detected a hint of worry in their posture. I would have thought 'us' staying in the house, thus their continued employment, would be seen as a good thing.Welcome To Kingston.That night, over some late night cocoa, Mom gave the family the regional 4-1-1. Kingston was 75% Black, 20% White and 5% other. The rest of Davis County was 95% White and 5% Black and other. In Kingston, the Blacks ruled the town. All elected officials and police officers were Black. The Sheriff's department had a few Black officers, but was mostly White.It would have been all White except a combined lawsuit by Southern Poverty Law Center and N Double A CP, forced the County to 'integrate'. I asked the logical question: why hadn't the town been forced to integrate too? Mom told me that wasn't how things worked in the Lower 48. Here, Blacks couldn't discriminate; they could only be discriminated against.The Federal government said so. I was sensing shades of Uncle Theo in Mom's blanket assessment of things. My brothers and I were wrong. Mom was right. We were entering White Man's Hell aka Big Black Cock Country. Of course, Mom wasn't sadistic, or masochistic. She had a tidbit of knowledge no one this side of British Columbia was aware of, a Secret Weapon.Dad applied for and got the job of Senior Deputy, which riled some of the other (read: Black) deputies, but Dad's extensive experience and easy-going manner eased his entry into the unit. Mom remained Mom, an unconventional, beautiful, free-spirited kook. She made no effort to make friends. I was the boldest of the triplets so I asked her why.‘Do you know how your Father's family would rather hack of a hand than go back on their word?' she gazed at me intently. I nodded. When she said 'Father' instead of 'Dad', this was our cue that this was a Major Life lesson we had best memorize. ‘These people aren't like that. They will take that which is not theirs, break trusts, sully families and lie to your face.'‘These women are all bold-faced whores, cock-hungry tramps and sluts who get abortions because they don't know what color the daddy is. The males are either the kind of men who would sleep with those kinds of women, or gutless wonders who won't fight for their rights as boyfriends, brothers, fathers, fiancés and spouses.'‘This is a colored thing, right?' I guessed. I wanted to be wrong.‘Got it in one,' Mom patted me on the shoulder. ‘Most White men in town are spineless wimps, Black men jump on whatever cunt they can crack open and women of either color put up with it, even beg for it. I know because I was once like them.'‘You and Dad?' I worried. Mom gave a deep, hearty laugh.‘That is not going to be a problem, I promise you. The only man for me is your Father,' she smiled. ‘I had plenty of lovers before your Dad. Since one month after I met him, I've never been with another man, or woman, or even wanted one.' More than I wanted to know, but good news none the less.While we were moving in the small amount of belongs that had followed us from Arkansas, two Kingston cops stopped by to see what we were doing. I had spent my entire life around law enforcement who knew about me and my clan. They were always friends and people we could trust. Kingston PD was a rude awakening we weren't in Alaska anymore.They were brusque and intimidating. Their real purpose was to remind my family the house was part of the town, even if the back acreage was not. Mom snorted at their pale deception. She asked to see their warrant. They asked if there was some reason they might need one. Mom politely asked them to leave as they were trespassing.They basked in their defiance. What could Mom really do? If she went all redneck and produced a gun, they'd lock her up, pointing weapons at law enforcement was stupid. Sadly for the cops, familiarity breeds understanding too. Mom gave us the April Fools' signal. Alexander, our oldest triplet, moved the cargo truck so it blocked the officers' view of their patrol car.While Mom looked peeved, feeding the Black cops sense of empowerment, my youngest triplet Mikhail and I (Vladimir) stripped their car of all easily removable parts; the dash-cam went first. They wanted to loiter around on our property? We let them behave stupidly. We dumped the parts and our work gloves in a packing box and carried it right past them.We walked straight out the back too. There was a burning barrel which we made prompt use of, for the oily gloves and box. We had spares. Mikhail tended the fire as I picked up a broken cinder block, a heavy-duty trash bag and walked a few hundred yards to the bog near the creek that ran through our property, county land. The bag and contents went into the bog.I used a branch to make sure it sunk deep before returning. Cleaning off my boots with the outdoor hose completed my destruction of evidence. Ten minutes later a member of the Arkansas Highway Patrol stopped by to see what the problem was. Mom had called them before the sabotage had even begun. She didn't know these two personally, but she knew from earlier visits to her aunt that these two were going to give us 'attitude'.Calling the Sheriff's Department would only cause a standoff where the police had the upper hand, the whole town jurisdiction thing. By the time the HP arrived, Alexander had left with the truck so when the Highway Patrolman began expressing concern for my Mom's civil rights, the two buck butt-bandits made to leave. That didn't work out well for them.First came the circus of the discovery they were missing key parts of their vehicle and the lack of an explanation of how that had happened. Mom wouldn't let the town cops search her place. She happily let the Highway Patrolman (who happened to be Black too) look around. We'd used the hose and the burning barrel because moving was nasty, sweaty work, especially in the Arkansas summer heat.The two policemen blamed us, the triplets. Mom asked them when, in the cops thirty minute trespass, had her 'little angels' stolen the parts, why we would do such a criminal thing, and if they knew where the parts might be. The Highway patrolman was kind of curious about the length of their stay as well.The cops lied, Mom went inside and brought back the camcorder that had taken in the entire event. They were caught in the lie and all they could claim was the cargo truck had been strategically placed to block a visual to their car; as we unloaded our truck. Mom even got the Highway Patrolman to co-sign her complaint to the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigations department.Mom knew this one wouldn't go anywhere. She had lived with cops long enough to know the value of building up a case file. Alexander was off returning the truck in another county, so he was safe. Mom called him and Dad so they could hook up before Alexander came home. She counted on the cops to be petty and they were.Alexander was on a motorcycle. When he got pulled, the city cops pulled in front of him. Dad stopped as well. Despite their continuing pressure to make Dad leave, they had no legal grounds to do so, he was Alexander's father, who would be responsible for Alex's ride if they took him into custody. Being an off-duty sheriff's deputy wasn't good enough, yet Dad's point was telling.Cops always pull up behind a suspect, not ahead of them unless they want to ignore the dash-cam evidence. Dad had pulled up in his Sheriff's vehicle behind Alexander and his dash-cam was recording everything. They let Alexander off with a Warning Ticket and departed giving father and son dirty looks. School was five days off. We checked out the property for two days. The third morning my brothers and I, on motorcycles, decided to explore Kingston.Having never before confronted such blatant racism, we weren't afraid, we were furious. We hadn't done anything to anybody. We were from Alaskan-Russian stock and had never owned a person ever, as far as we knew. We certainly weren't invested in this whole 'Black slavery, White guilt' issue. Those who gave us attitude about 'White privilege' didn't care for our counter, that saying all White people were alike was equally racist.As Mom had warned us, Black people couldn't be racist; just ask them. Mind you, many of the town's Black residents were friendly and helpful. They just weren't friendly enough to defend us from the 'haters'. At the end of the first day, Mikhail nearly got in a fight with five members of the Black post-high school crowd who were fucking with, and sitting on, our bikes.Where we came from, that was rude in the extreme. When he appeared to be alone, they were boisterous enough. When Alexander and I stepped out of the pool hall (we'd been made unwelcome there), they backed off from their threatening rhetoric. They still wouldn't leave, or get off our bikes. The three versus five odds didn't deter us.It was the lack of faith in the local justice system that encouraged Alexander and me to hold Mikhail back. We had an answer to their intransience, crowding. It takes a great deal of cool to have three guys, all over six feet tall and 220 lbs. lean in on you while you are sitting down. When the current bastard was dealt with, we moved to the next. Before the group could figure a way to thwart us, we had retrieved our bikes and were headed home.The next day, we took Mom's 2012 Shelby V8 Mustang out for a drive. We found the three spots in town the 'White folk' hung out in. We had the Country Western Redneck posse' section of town, pseudo-riche Southerner clique downtown region, and the movie theater (theoretically neutral turf). The saner White middle class had departed for safer pastures, they had established their own municipality a few miles outside of town).The rednecks welcomed our physicality. We were attempting to fit in until they began talking about all those damn 'niggahs'. Alexander broke down after a bit and asked what a 'niggah' was. It was a 'coon'. Since that was of no help, we asked what a 'coon' was.The regulars found our naiveté amusing. It took us three minutes of running a verbal obstacle course to piece together that 'niggahs' was their inbred pronunciation of 'niggers' (a term we knew from TV and movies) which was idiot slang for a Black person. We were 'crackahs', idiot slang for crackers aka White people. Hispanics were 'beeners'; yeah, right.We also learned that the favorite activities for teenage rednecks was knocking over mailboxes as they sped down the road, beating up White girls who sucked Black cock and beating up 'niggahs' who touched White girls. My analysis was that these yahoos were long on talk and short on action.I wasn't a fashion icon yet I could tell these boys could use a bath and some fresh clothes. The girls who hung around this crowd looked about as loyal as salmon during spawning season. At 18, we were hardly experienced, but we weren't desperate virgins either. Girls we had just been introduced to, flirting with us and suggesting later sexual rendezvouses were a definite turn-off because God knows who else they'd been doing it with.That led us to the riche clique. Among the guys; half were snobbish closet gays who weren't our thing. The other half were rich straight guys pretending to be rednecks. Rich White girls pretended to be friends with the rich Black girls. They were used to being pampered by their rich White boyfriends while eyeing every Black stud that crossed their path.Until they realized Samsonov = Fonteneau, they were snide. After that, they tried to convince us we were all (distantly) related. Bloodlines and riches were not the basis for what we called friends so we politely postponed any celebrations.The Cineplex was a hunting ground for all ages. White women I was pretty sure were married to someone else engaged in sexual liaisons with Blacks; be they teens, business types, or lay-abouts. We had no idea if these were random hook-ups, or affairs and we didn't really care.Having wasted nine hours of our lives we definitely wanted back, we ended up rendezvousing with Mom and Dad at his boss's, the Sheriff's, place. Whatever else he was, Robert ‘Big Bob' Carson wasn't an underpaid county employee. His home was nice, expansive, relatively new and sitting on four wonderful acres of land, half woodland/half professionally maintained lawn and gardens. He had an expansive deck with a built-in grill, hot tub and pool out back.My brothers and I had been under the impression this would be an office outing. It ended up being our two families; the five of us, Big Bob and his daughter, Brandy Crystal Carson. There was no Mamma Carson in sight and a lack of family pictures was noticed by us and our Mom. Dad and Bob (it was tough to call him Big Bob when Dad was bigger than he was) were deep in conversation at the outdoor grill when I arrived.‘Vlad, come out here,' my Dad called to me in his easy going manner.‘Brandy!' Bob shouted. I promptly showed up. Dad wasn't a passionate disciplinarian. I didn't hustle out of fear. I hurried out because I wanted my Dad to look good in front of the Sheriff. ‘Hello Vlad,' Big Bob greeted me. ‘You are a strapping lad, big like your Daddy.'That was a bit odd. I had only heard one person call my Father 'Daddy'. That was my Mom when she was feeling frisky. Mom walked around the house naked when the mood struck her (even when we had guests over) and had few compunctions about hopping into Dad's lap when she wanted attention. That was a common enough occurrence that 'us' boys had learned to sneak out of the room quietly before we were ten.Only in the last two years had we figured out part of Mom's bizarre sexual behavior was caused by Dad being utterly clueless where women were concerned. He could spot a shoplifter at a glance, or an expired car registration at fifty feet on a moonless night. I had seen a car saleswoman hit on Dad when he was getting his newest pick-up. She did everything but flash her tits and do a striptease; it all went right over Dad's head.‘Brandy! Get your ass down here!' Bob bellowed. She must have been most of the way to us because she materialized five seconds later.‘Yes Daddy,' Brandy sounded bored. I was too busy gawking to see Big Bob's reaction to his daughter's insolence.Brandy was beyond gorgeous (according to my personal standards). She had pale-blonde hair in a ponytail that clearly went past her shoulder blades. Her caramel skin was the beneficiary of countless sessions with a tanning booth. Her eyes were the darkest blue I'd ever seen. Breasts, Jesus, they were large and firm. I could tell that because she had on a pink crop-top and no bra. I could almost see the bottoms of each orb.Her stomach was muscled with a thin layer of fatty tissue to give her real womanly curves and she had curves to spare. Her waist was narrow and her hips were wide, complimenting her breast size. She had on super-short, cut-off, 'faded-almost-to-White' denim jeans that accentuated her dark skin. Her ass was to die for. A bit big but well-muscled, each a perfect hemisphere.Her thighs and calves were the product of consistent exercise. Hot, hot, hot. She had on white tennis socks (no shoes) that finished off her delectable image.‘Brandy, this is Vladimir, Senior Deputy Samsonov's son. He's going to be your boyfriend this year,' Bob announced. I had a feeling this wasn't open for debate, in his mind.‘What!' Brandy squawked.‘What?' I looked to my Dad.‘What the fuck?' Brandy turned and glared at me. I would have enjoyed her breasts bouncing more if I hadn't been eyeballing my patriarch.‘Dad?' I kept my voice calm. Brandy was fantastic looking, but I didn't want anyone dictating my social life, period. I was eighteen. Besides, Brandy was turning out to have a far less appealing personality, Pretty Princess syndrome.‘Brandy, Vladimir's a nice boy. His father is 'good people',' Bob laid out his case.How did he know I was a good boy? He was taking a lot on faith.‘I don't want to date this loser,' Brandy shouted. 'Loser'? She didn't knew me either.‘If you don't keep Vlad as your boyfriend, then no cheerleading and no dance team,' Bob glared at his daughter. This clash of wills made no sense to me.‘No way!' Brandy glanced back at her Dad, protested loudly and stomped her foot on the wooden deck.‘Well then, you need to be home at 3:20 pm every school day,' Bob threatened. ‘And I'll make sure to check up on you.' Before I could wonder about Big Bob's abuse of power, I noted the state of the art security system, cyber-nanny.Brandy turned on me in a furor. Her face was screwed up with anger, her fists were clenched and I was working double-time to not ogle the cleave she enhanced by leaning forward. Man, she hated me for reasons I couldn't fathom. I disgusted her which I didn't get either. Plenty of non-relative women had called me good-looking and handsome.I had a healthy, well-defined physique, nice thick, blonde hair and the common sense to keep my body and clothes clean and casual. My only downside I'd ever been told about was my size, I was tall for my age and 'cut'. Brandy was 5' 4'. I was 6' 2'. I had stormy grey eyes, light blonde hair the color of wheat and skin spared the ravages of acne.‘Brandy, I am as uncomfortable and surprised about this as you are,' I tried to placate her. ‘Do you want to talk about it?' She forced herself to appear calm.‘Fine Victor,' she grumbled. Worse than getting my name wrong was the look of viciousness that glimmered in her eyes. ‘We'll make Daddy happy and be a cookie-cutter couple.'‘Dad?' I tried to exit this fiasco with some decorum.‘You'll do fine son,' he responded. That wasn't helpful.‘I'll see you Monday morning, Victor,' Brandy snidely mocked me before leaving. I turned to follow her thunderous retreat.Running after her would have felt pathetic so my sedate pursuit meant she put some distance between us. She ran right into Mom, who grabbed her arm.‘I'm warning you right now,' Mom hissed. ‘Don't have sex with any of my sons.'‘That won't be a problem,' Brandy snorted. I was filth in her mind

Backpacking & thru-hiking legend Chris Townsend joins us on the podcast to talk about the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Yukon Territory, and hiking in his home country of Scotland. Chris has 30,000 miles of hiking experience, has written 30+ books on the subject, & is also an outdoor photographer (just take a look at his website!). This jam-packed episode is perfect for our Season 4 finale, and a great way to close out 2024! In this episode, you'll learn: 1. What it's like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in a high snow year (hello snowy passes and scary river crossings) 2. How the backpacking & thru-hiking scene has changed over time 3. What gear he can't live without - & so much more! Connect & follow along with Chris Townsend: Chris Townsend Outdoors Website Amazon Shop Great Outdoors Magazine Instagram Facebook Threads Did you love this episode? If so, please help fellow hikers find the show by following, rating, and reviewing the podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Connect With Us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join The Trail Family⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cheer's YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cheer's Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Episode Music: "Communicator" by Reed Mathis

Winter is the best time to visit the Yukon territory. Follow one writer as she travels by dog sled and snowmobile, dons snowshoes for a hike through Tombstone Territorial Park and witnesses the beauty of the northern lights and communal reclamation alongside locals. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, we follow the infamous “call of the wild” into the Canadian Yukon.  How To Plan a Winter Trip to the Yukon Territory In this episode you'll learn:  How to travel in Yukon Territory during the winter, from snowmobiles to dogsleds.  The tour groups that give you insider experiences of the Yukon's winter wonders.  Local landmarks that you have to visit in the winter.  See the Northern Lights with Local Guides Don't miss these memorable moments:  [04:35] Mushing: Crossing Tagish Lake on a dog sled.   [09:46] Seeing the aurora borealis from a local's backyard in West Dawson.  [18:25] “I'm reclaiming my land because of the gold rush…”  “Sourdoughs” and “Cheechakos”: Winter Life in the Yukon Writer, Debbie Olson, is a Métis Canadian local who has explored and visited every Canadian province and territory, including the Yukon. But the Yukon in winter? That's a legendary experience that deserves its own category.  Follow along as she is guided into the wonders of the Yukon in the winter through the wonder of winter by locals who call the Yukon home, including a professional dog sled driver (musher) and a member of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation who is reclaiming her land.  Resources:  Read Debbie's print story that inspired this episode.  Read the transcript of this episode.  Explore the tour operators that Debbie traveled with: the Klondike Experience, Tagish Lake Kennel Tours and Entreé Destinations.  Listen to this Travel Tales episode about polar bears in Canada and this episode about a tour guide's efforts to preserve a part of the Canadian coastline.  Check out Debbie's other work at Wander Woman Travel Magazine.  Be sure to subscribe to the show and to sign up for our podcast newsletter, Behind the Mic, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, Travel Tales, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us.

The UK has expressed hesitancy at following through with the ICC's arrest warrant for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, despite strong support to oblige from the majority of the European Union. Former British Health Minister Matt Hancock has revealed the country came extremely close to running out of PPE during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, as he gave evidence during its inquiry. The mayor-elect of Canadian town Dawson City, in Yukon Territory, has voiced his hesitancy at pledging allegiance to King Charles III. UK correspondent Gavin Grey joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will you enjoy the new crop of audio dramas debuting this fall on the Magnum Radio Network? The Gun Doctor! Chap Zero's House of Traps! Chick Quasar, Space Stevedore! Listen to find out!Debut Taunts, episode 116 of This Gun in My Hand, was doctored by Rob Northrup. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Little Heist in the Big Woods and Other Revisionist Atrocities. What's coming your way next fall? This Gun in My Hand!Show Notes:1. Listen to the Mystery Frequency podcast for a wide variety of old time radio dramas, like Dr. Sixgun and Captain Starr of Space.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mystery-frequency-audio-drama-radio/id16940416952. I want to say that toys advertising actual gold seems like something unique to our modern hellscape, but they've probably done it before, or equally ridiculous and borderline scammy promotions. For example, in 1955, Quaker Oats bought 19 acres of land in the Yukon Territory of Canada and printed 21 millions deeds, each deed for square inch of land, as a promotion for the Sergeant Preston of the Yukon TV show.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Big_Inch_Land_PromotionCredits:The opening and middle transitional music clips were from The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), and the closing music was from Killer Bait (1949), both films in the public domain. Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.“Gun Doctor” music and hoofbeats taken from the September 2, 1954 episode of the radio show Dr. Sixgun. License: Public Domainhttps://archive.org/details/otr_drsixgunOrgan music in “Chick Quasar” taken from the July 14, 1953 episode of the radio show Captain Starr of Space.License: Public Domainhttps://archive.org/details/CaptainStarrOfSpace1953/I hope the tiny excerpt of “Need to Know” by Incognito (Democracy Now theme song) counts as fair use after it was chopped, screwed and filtered.Music Title: Flight of the Carpenter BeeBy Steven Arntson License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0https://archive.org/details/Bildungsroman-7512Sound Effect Title: Mount Moganshan Insect ChorusBy: RTB45 License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0https://freesound.org/people/RTB45/sounds/325321/Insect chorus recorded one summer evening, Mount Moganshan, Zhejiang Provence, People's Republic of ChinaSound Effect Title: Car_motor_Sound.m4a License: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/Blizzard123/sounds/504633/#Sound Effect Title: barking dog 2License: public domainhttps://freesound.org/people/roman_cgr/sounds/415023/Sound Effect Title: Angry big dog barking - Close [d15].wavLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/v23/sounds/440866/Sound Effect Title: Dog Barking and Whining.wavLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/DaniloSFX/sounds/672733/Sound Effect Title: Doggo_Panting_1_Para.mp3 by Paradoxxxical License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0https://freesound.org/s/679219/ Sound Effect Title: R15-82-Men Laughing Heartily.wav License: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/s/480806/ Sound Effect Title: Real Colt 45 M1911 (shot)By CarmelomikeLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0https://freesound.org/people/Carmelomike/sounds/255216/Sound Effect Title: Kimmokkeita / RicochetsBy YleArkistoLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0https://freesound.org/people/YleArkisto/sounds/401921/Sound Effect Title: bustle in the pubLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/people/organicmanpl/sounds/403285/Music Title: spoons.wav (used in “Fight the Rascals”)by angienmLicense: Public Domainhttps://freesound.org/s/249709/ Music Title: Munniharppua.ogg (jaw harp used in “Fight the Rascals”)By ElectricToothpasteLicense: Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 via Wikimedia Commonshttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munniharppua.oggThe image accompanying this episode is a modified detail of the public domain comic book cover from Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Number 10, May-July 1954. Painting by Al McWilliams.

Tony Reda, Founder, President, and CEO of Tectonic Metals Inc. (TSXV:TECT)(OTCQB:TETOF), joins me for a Company introduction and overview of their 2024 exploration program at various targets at their flagship Flat Gold Project, located in Alaska.  We start off discussing how the company came together, choosing to partner with one of Alaska's largest for-profit Native Regional Corporations, Doyon Ltd, and work across their large land package to identify key exploration targets focused on exploring for and delineating the next major bulk tonnage reduced intrusion gold system.   Next we discussed some of the historic work and prior company field work and surveying at the Chicken Mountain area where there has been a 100% drill success rate, with all 74 drill holes having returned gold mineralization.  This year's drill program is going to be following up on some of the prospective areas at Chicken Mountain, and also testing the area to the north at Golden Apex , along with where the Adit/Happy trend converges on the trend at Chicken Mountain.  We also discuss the Alpha Bowl area where placer gold from the rivers seems to be draining out of this area, making for some prospective drill targets. Their team has also been doing metallurgical testing recently, confirming the mineralization encountered has the right mix of metals and high recovery rates. When then shifted to getting more background on the team behind Tectonic Metals, which includes many of the same key executives who transformed Kaminak Gold from a $3 million venture into a $520 million success story. These leaders raised $165 million to fund the acquisition, discovery, and advancement of the Coffee Gold Project in the Yukon Territory, including the completion of a bankable feasibility study, before selling the multi-million-ounce gold project to Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont) for C$520 million in 2016.   The company is cashed up, having just raised C$3,657,459 in a private placement offering, to fund this next exploration work program.   If you have any questions for Tony regarding Tectonic Metals, then please email me at Shad@kereport.com.   Click here to follow the latest news from Tectonic Metals

The Hoes and Bitches Need A Champion.Based on a post by FinalStand, in 13 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.‘Once you go Black, you don’t go back; unless you are an Amerindian, Arabic, Asian, Black, Indian, Latina, or White girl, or guy who has tried Black, then found sexual fulfillment with a non-Black person and created a blissful relationship with them'Introduction:Right off the bat, be warned that I’m using the ‘N’ words, nigger, niggah, my niggah, plus homie, thug, coon, buck, spook, spade and whatever other crude racial slurs that come to mind. This story plays to both Black and White stereotypes.Lastly, this story is rather flippant with the entire concept of sexual assault. Those who have red my previous tales know this is not my attitude at all. For the sake of this genre I had to grapple with the concept of forcing a woman and 'making them love that cock’Prelude:My tale begins as the Winter Man Saga 1300 years ago, about the year 700 AD. One small clan of my Swedish ancestors lost a brutal feud with their neighbors. Their farms were burned, animals slaughtered and their women and children taken as slaves. Only three young brother-warriors survived, wounded but unconquered. The victors chased them high into the mountains when a terrible winter storm struck.The three brothers were trudging across a glacier between the mountain peaks in Whiteout conditions. The lead brother stepped into a crevasse and slid to the bottom of the glacier. Not giving up on their last kinsman, the other two slid down into the darkness after him. At the roots of that glacier they found an ice cavern formed by snow that fell 100,000 years ago.They melted the ice for water with their body heat and in doing so, unleashed a demoness (virus) that no man had ever known and survived. The three men grew very sick, but their fierce desire for vengeance kept them from succumbing. When they emerged from their icy tomb, they discovered that several of their pursuers had frozen to death in the blizzard and the rest had returned to their stolen homes and purloined lands, thinking the three brothers were dead.In the dark of the long northern night, they snuck upon the Great Hall of their enemies. When one of the brothers saw his 'former’ wife doing a slave’s work, he revealed himself to her. She rejoiced at the return of her love; physically, then brought the three table scraps to survive on. In the process, they learned that their sisters were also alive and the sexual playthings of their male nemeses.Due to the depth of winter, stealing back their womenfolk wasn’t possible. They’d all freeze to death if they didn’t starve first. To repay their enemy’s wickedness, one of the brother’s snapped and raped one of the chief’s daughters. He was possessed with an unearthly desire and held her in a stable for hours. Only when he was utterly spent did he fall asleep.She ran to her father and returned with many warriors. So the first of the brothers was taken. He was tortured and abused. For three long nights he suffered at the hands of his captors yet refused to admit any of his other brothers were still alive. After that third night, the chief’s daughter sneaked past the sleeping guards of the chained man, and raped him.For the next five nights, while her father, brothers and husband slept, she raped and raped and raped that brother. On the fifth night, a sister-in-law caught her at it. The daughter pled for the other to spare her; that the man’s sexual prowess had ensnared her. She even challenged her kinswoman to sample the 'fruit’ before turning her in. Five women later, the brother cracked and told the women how to find his brothers.The night after the Spring Equinox Celebrations, the women of their enemy rose up and slaughtered all their adult menfolk at the behest of the three brothers, on the conditions that their youngest sons be spared and that the men continue to share their favors with all the womenfolk (who were not their kin).The Sammi ClanThe isolated region of the land of the Swedes kept my ancestors out of contact with the wider world for some time. Many generations later, a son of that clan came to lead a band of (female) Finns. His Swedish name is forgotten. The Finns called him Sami (the Exalted One, no shit). He and this band took to fur trading along the Eastern tributaries of the Volga.In time, this group became identified with the Varangian. The Sons of Sami intermarried with the Slavs, becoming Slavicized and the Sons of Sami became Samsonovs. They followed the Rus expansion into the eastern tributaries of the Volga reaching Nizhny Novgorod in the 10th century.Then came the Mongol Conquest, the Tartar Yoke, Rus reunification and the Russian drive across Siberia. The Samsonovs remained tightly clannish and uncomfortable in urban settings. That wanderlust led them across the Bering Straits into Alaska where their genetic abnormality, the gift of that ancient demoness (virus), slumbered in isolation and monogamy.After a thousand years, the tales of mass orgies with strange women and protective female war bands faded into obscurity. Then my Mom, the brilliant, driven eccentric came along. Once she became enraptured with her own Samsonov lover, she had to know the secret of Samsonov men’s sexual prowess.With her burning intellect and educational background, she eventually figured it out. She was also amoral enough to keep the knowledge to herself and vengeful enough to plan to use our curse as a weapon.My Living Family·         Father, Nikolay 'Nik’ Samsonov;·         Mother, Gayle Fonteneau Samsonov;·         The Triplets, Alexander 'Alex’, Mikhail and Vladimir 'Vlad’; that's me.Sitting at the dinner table, I protested; ‘Mom, You actually expect me to believe my Father, Brothers and I have the genetic capability to addict every woman we have sex with to our schlongs? That’s nuts!'Mom retorted; ‘As opposed to thinking the color, length and girth of a phallus makes any woman lose all sense of loyalty, morality and decorum so she can become a man’s sex sleeve, whore, bitch, property? Yes, I do.'The lives of my family took an unexpected detour in the spring of this year. My great-aunt Matilda (Mattie) died and willed her estate to Mom. I had never met the woman while she was alive yet in death she would have a profound effect on all our lives. Mom’s family was a mess; a crowded dingy with a madhouse of odd characters.Lionel was my eldest maternal uncle. He was a Big, Bulging Brain working as a Chief Technical Advisor for NASA; a solitary crusader for all Mankind. What was he a technical advisor for? If anything left terra firma for more than fifteen seconds, he knew every detail about it. That included volcanic eruptions too. When we were younger, he invited us to various volcanoes (both above and beneath the waves). Great guy.Cassius, my second uncle, was serving time in Indonesia for piracy. Mom said he was meaner than every saltwater crocodile that ever lived. The two times I’d met him, he’d been a lean, happy laconic kind of guy with a love for military history. Mom said he was a charismatic rebel who was possessed by an obsession to defy authority in all its forms.Dido was child number three; my Mom’s older sister, married to an Evangelical Televangelist in Nebraska under an assumed name, Paula Richmond. She also had a MD in Psychiatry and a Master’s in Public Communications (under her real name), which she kept secret from the fundamentalist congregation. The few times we met; she was the perfect mother. Secretly, we three sons wished she’d been our mother instead of our real mother. Mom said Aunt Dido was a master manipulator and wielded a cruel whip;Then there was Mom’s twin, Uncle Theo, who never lived in one place, traveled all around the globe and had every law enforcement agency in the civilized world looking for him. We always receiving presents from him during all the normal holidays; like Michaelmas, Holy Week, the start of Lent, Martinmas (his favorite) and our birthdays; which arrived at random, unrelated times of the year and never from the same location.He was the only one we’d never met, but the one Mom loved the most. Dad suspected he was a narco-trafficker while Mom insisted he was too paranoid to be considered reliable for that line of work. Mom told us he’d spent his formative years killing people for Uncle Sam until one day he simply walked away from Fort Bragg and became an independent contractor.The Defense Department sent some fine, brave men from Joint Special Operation Command, to talk to Mom every few months. They made sure not to trip over the CIA and Homeland Security types who occasionally staked out our house. We boys guessed they came around every time Uncle Theo assassinated people. Mom taught us how to appreciate them in an elaborate ritual she called 'April Fool’s, which became an 'any day of the year’ activity.My Mom’s father (I never met the guy) was a leader of a cult in Nevada. He went down, guns blazing during a DEA raid. Apparently his interests included both harems and marijuana production.Mom’s mom? She left my Mother outside a dive bar in San Diego and was never seen again. She had doctorates in Biology and Physics as well as the reputation for being a certifiable Space Cadet. Mom insisted her mom hadn’t abandoned her, she’d simply forgotten where she left her youngest daughter who was 15 at the time.After five days, Mom decided to join an Alternative Rock band instead of looking for the lady yet again. Seven years later, she was declared legally dead; though all her offspring believed she was still alive; somewhere; doing something.Then you had Dad’s family. We had some characters on that side of the family, just not like Mom’s. For starters, Samsonovs were bred for law enforcement. We’d been arresting bad guys since the 1500’s. We’d been doing that in Alaska since the time of the tsars. When the Alaskan Territory was sold to the United States; well, my ancestors simply started writing their reports in English instead of Russian.Over the centuries, we had bagged serial killers, smugglers, poachers, drug dealers, domestic abusers and thieves. Mostly they arrested drunks and wackos. My Great Grandfather Petrov was a law enforcement legend in Alaska. Alone, he ran down a pack of murderous robbers in the dead of winter before they made it to 'safety’ in the Yukon Territory.In the spring, they found them frozen solid, him leading five men, he recorded in his journal he’d killed the other three while apprehending the gang, back in chains. That pretty much defined the nature of my Father’s family, no too many stellar geniuses, but always relentless past all norms of endurance and reason. The moment females were allowed in law enforcement, the womenfolk joined the profession.My Aunt Iliana was in the Coast Guard, that made her the 'Black sheep’ in this clan. Taking the law out to the high seas was about as wild as Dad’s family got. Dad was pretty much the standard issue for my kin. Big, Dad was 6’ 5' and 290 lbs., and about as imaginative as a glacier. Why Mom married Dad had long been a mystery to his sons.Don’t get me wrong. I loved my Dad, but the man used a grand total of twenty different sentences his entire life. The fewer words he had to speak, the happier he was. He was a nice guy, never drinking too much and I’d never seen him lose his temper. He smiled, was unerringly polite and had always been helpful and playful with us kids from our earliest memories.Grandpa, my great-aunts and -uncles, my aunts, uncles and cousins by blood were the exact same way. I mean that quite literally. We all pretty much looked alike as well. Those who married, married eccentrics. In our regular family get-togethers that translated over to the blood kin in one room saying and doing nothing (we were already cluing into some sort of primitive telepathy) and being very happy that way, while the married relations were in another room packing on the lunacy.There was no middle ground; you were either a silent, brooding peak in the Samsonov mountain range, or the aurora borealis. That left me and my brothers, we were triplets, in a precarious position. We looked like smaller versions of our Dad (we were still growing) yet were totally at the mercy of our Mother most of our young lives. Recall what I said about eccentrics and lunatic behavior. Mom was the Queen of the Asylum.Mom quickly fell in love with ’things’ and she loved doing those things with family. Since Dad worked long hours, family meant my brothers and me. We could make passable pottery by age seven. Krav Maga? Screw this ’driving to some dojo in Anchorage’ crap. Mom signed us up for a two week course in Israel and online lessons for a year. Archery, check. Rewiring our house and refitting all the plumbing, check.The three of us were SCA squires at age 12. Pleading to Dad was pointless. He’d smile, mess up our hair and remind us these excursions made our Mother happy aka he wasn’t going to help us have normal lives. We had some ex-Green Beret guys teach us outdoor survival skills in Wyoming. We could pull wool, make thread and knit a set of pants and sweaters.I and my brothers had to memorize 1200 medically useful plants before we could get our Christmas presents when we were 14. We free-climbed mountains, ran 10Kms, kayaked, were proficient seamen on a sailing ship and learned how to navigate by the Sun, Moon and stars. Around the age of 15, we figured out that Mom had a ton of money squirreled away. There was no way Dad, with his civil servant’s salary, could afford all this crazy shit.By the age of 18 we had such a crazy patchwork set of skills, we weren’t sure what we would end up doing with our lives; though tracking down Uncle Theo and living a life on the run was looking more attractive every month. What we didn’t have were great social lives. We all had girlfriends at one time, or another, but they never lasted.Right before any of us were about to get serious with any girl in high school, my Mom dragged us off; to things like a five day course on Renaissance artwork in Milan; that’s Italy. We had to learn to speak Italian in three days, plus during the flight over. Mom made it easy for us. We could only speak Italian the entire time. Doing that at school was 'fun’. Dad? He smiled and said nothing for three days.Welcome to the Fonteneau House, Kingston, ArkansasAnyway, Mom’s Great-aunt Mattie kicked the bucket and left her vast fortune in northwestern Arkansas to my Mom. The old bird hated the rest of the nutjobs in the clan, but adored my Mom (and Theo). Upon receiving the news, my brothers and I began thinking the same thing: banjo lessons, redneck stunts and girls in Daisy Dukes. By 'fortune’ we were thinking a ramshackle Ozark shack sitting on a mountain top.Nope. Great-aunt Mattie was loaded. In fact, Mom’s whole family had tons of money. They’d made a killing, quite literally, during the White expansion westward using various despicable means. They’d even been cursed by an entire Indian Tribe for bilking them off their land. Mom’s family blamed that malediction for their bizarre behavior.That Arkansas home was actually the summer residence for the Fonteneau clan from a hundred years ago. Along with the palatial residence came thousands upon thousands of acres spread over a quarter of the state (and some land in Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma too).Tara, or the Biltmore estate, it was not, but it certainly had pretensions. It was a wide and roomy, rambling Victorian structure. The house proper (there were two barns, a stable, storage sheds, two garages, one attached and the other stand-alone, semi-attached servant quarters and four outlying hunting lodges) abutted the Kingston town limits.The place was big enough to require Mom to employ six staff;Phineas Cobb the third, an angry, sullen old White guy and his carbon-copy son, Phineas IV, were our two Wardens. That meant they took care of the outlying property which included hunting down poachers, interlopers and moonshiners (the competition, no doubt) and seeing to the upkeep of the various lodges, roads, trails and bridges around the place. Phineas the third and Mom; well, he cried and hugged Mom when he saw her, so we didn’t know what to think of him and his son.Bebe Marston worked the stables and the twelve horses therein. She was a college dropout, White and 21; a woman at one of life’s crossroads. Great Aunt Mattie brought her on a few months before she passed on. Bebe was a bit shy and distant around the menfolk. Mom treated Bebe like her long lost daughter; they got along fine.Thomas Freeman was the groundskeeper. Thomas seemed nice enough, a polite and somewhat deferential older Black man. I liked him. Mom fired him the moment the lawyer finished reading Maggie’s Will. She believed the man was a back-biter, liar and a thief.Kamika Perry was the cook. She was a largish, plump Black woman with a large family in town. She was a tyrant in the kitchen but friendly and out-going everywhere else. She knew Mom from before; before what, we didn’t know. She was close to Mom’s age and was the niece of the former cook. She and Mom were cordial yet a tad formal.Nefertiti Cooke was the upstairs maid. She was a whip-tin attractive Black woman in her late-20s and joined Thomas heading out the door. Mom discharged her due to Nefertiti’s sour attitude and general unwillingness to adhere to a work schedule.Anita Turner was our downstairs maid and overall manager of the other servants. Like Kamika, she knew Mom from her previous stay at the house, though Anita was already part of the staff back then. They acted like old friends though they understood the mistress-servant dynamics of their relationship.Mom solved our labor shortage by bringing in Mexicans (Hondurans actually). The two families divided up the nine rooms in the detached servants’ quarters with Bebe, since Anita and Kamika lived in town and the Cobb’s had their own cottage somewhere on the property.Hector Martinez became our new groundskeeper. He had a wife, Maria. Mom enrolled her in some online college courses so she could get a teaching license. They were both pretty young.Consuela Castro was our new upstairs maid. She was a single mother with a son, Gustavo (10), and a daughter, Isabo (6); they went to the local elementary school in town. Both families were very nice to us and seemed happy with their current circumstance. Since this job was their first go at being domestic servants, Mom told us to be patient and respectful while they learned the ropes from Anita and Mr. Cobb (only Mom could call him Phineas without pissing him off).My brothers and I, our Father, the Martinez’s and the Castro’s couldn’t have predicted the shit-storm Mom was creating between our house and the dominant Black populace of Kingston along the great racial divide. The Hondurans had spent half their lives learning to keep their heads low when faced with discrimination. We didn’t, nor did we know that Mom was acting with deliberate malice of forethought at that time.To help appreciate our understanding of the situation, we triplets had known a grand total of four Black people well enough to call them by their Christian names our entire lives. On

JIM BRANT: Many of us dream of riding a motorcycle in scenic Alaska. Jim just did. He talks about the sites he saw and experiences he had on a guided group tour through Alaska and the Yukon Territory in Canada. Riding Into The Sunset is brought to you by the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America and hosted by journalist & author Ed Housewright. Reach us by email at podcast@bmwmoa.org.

August 16, 1896. George Carmack discovers gold in Canada's Yukon Territory, triggering the Klondike Gold Rush. This episode originally aired in 2023.Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

GUEST: Dr. Kevin McLeod, Internal Medicine specialist at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, and Whitehorse Hospital in the Yukon Territory. Recently made the switch to a solar powered home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rise of surge pricing - where could it strike next? GUEST: David Moscrop, Contributing Columnist with the Globe and Mail and the Washington Post, host of Open to Debate podcast, author, and researcher Why is B.C.'s program to provide affordable housing plagued with delays and high rents? GUEST: Tom Davidoff, Director of UBC's Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate Will British Columbians finally make the leap to solar powered homes? GUEST: Dr. Kevin McLeod, Internal Medicine specialist at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, and Whitehorse Hospital in the Yukon Territory. Recently made the switch to a solar powered home Are B.C Hydro's energy conservation programs worth it? GUEST: Barry Penner, Chair for the Energy Futures Initiative, former Attorney General and Environment Minister of B.C. Olympic Wrap-Up - How did Team Canada do? GUEST: Rob Fai, Weekends Mornings on CKNW host and longtime sportscaster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Brennan is a traditional bowhunter and trad tuning expert from Yukon Territory in Canada who has found more success with his trad gear than many compound hunters have had. Leigh and Adam talk technical trad setup and tuning, traditional bowhunting legends, and Adam's insane grizzly bear bowhunt with a recurve. To have your questions answered live on the show, write into theletoffpodcast@gmail.com The Let Off is proudly brought to you by Tooth of the Arrow Broadheads

Amon will be reading the first Chapter from White Fang by Jack London tonight. White Fang was first published in 1906. It follows the journey of a wild wolf-dog hybrid named White Fang, born in the harsh wilderness of the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush. It's one of Jack London's most famous works, alongside "The Call of the Wild." Both novels explore similar themes of survival and the struggle between civilization and the wild. So cozy up in your Quiet Corner and enjoy tonights story. Follow on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Quiet Corner Bedtime Stories (@thequietcornerbedtimestories) • Instagram photos and videos⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our website: https://thequietcornerbedt.wixsite.com/my-site-1 The Music in tonight's episode is from https://pixabay.com/id/music/meditasi-spiritual-sleep-music-vol2-172817/ Intro Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Just Relax | Royalty-Free Music - Pixabay If you like The Quiet Corner Bedtime Stories you can support the podcast by making a one time donation to support us at: https://ko-fi.com/thequietcornerbedtimestories You can also support the podcast by writing a review, or share with a friend so we can keep the show going and help others discover it, thank you all for your support, it is much appreciated.

Jim Shockey is an award-winning outdoor writer, wildlife photographer, filmmaker, naturalist, wilderness guide, TV host, and outfitter. He owns several exclusive outfitting territories in Canada's wildlands, including the renowned Pacific Rim Guide Territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the Rogue River Outfitting in the Yukon Territory. His television productions have won 15 Golden Moose Awards. He is a retired Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of 4 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group Canadian Armed Forces and is a Member International of the Explorer's Club in New York City. Jim recently lost his wife to cancer; as anyone would expect, he has had a hard time dealing with the loss, but his indomitable mindset carries him through and helps him embrace positivity. Tune in and learn how this hunting icon's mindset has forged him into iron. His latest book, Call Me Hunter, is available now! To learn more about Jim, follow him on Instagram at @jimshockeyofficial and check out jimshockey.com.

On episode 1 of Sériàlle, our new serialized series about Canadian McDonald's Pizza matters, a remote town in the territory of Yukon Territory begins to reveal its startling secrets.

As we look back upon Sauna Days 2024, walking from one sauna to the next, pretty much all of us were comfortably numb. About 200 guest converged for the fourth Sauna Days event at Larsmont Cottages, North of Duluth, Minnesota, this past weekend. Some came from near, and many came from far. All were able to enjoy the multitude of saunas, speakers, nature, and locally crafted food, beverages, and live entertainment. The recipe for a comfortably numb sauna gathering is much like a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. We don't need too many ingredients to make something scrumptious. The foundation for Sauna Days 2024 was 12 mobile saunas and one lämpömassa enriched brick and mortar sauna. Then, sprinkle in various food tents, strategically located hydration stations. Add a pinch of LMNT hydration packets (flavors of choice) and a curation of interesting speakers. Finally, as icing on the cake, infinity cold plunge access into the world's largest freshwater lake. Familiar faces A good number of the 200 plus Sauna Days 2024 attendees were repeat vendors and offenders. Familiar faces helped foster countless spontaneous re-connections either on the bench, by one of fire pits, at the bar, on the rocks, or in the lake. “So great to see you again!” And they meant it. “Is this your second or third Sauna Days?” The spontaneous gatherings were akin to traveling from stage to stage at an outdoor music festival. Then, bumping into familar faces from year's past. And, like attending a music festival with great bands and few yahoos, at Sauna Days, everyone knew the lyrics. Songs include: keep sandals outside the saunas, help fill up the löyly buckets, ask who is ready for steam before throwing water on the rocks, and by all means, close the sauna door. Far and wide As sauna becomes more popular, Sauna Days continues to draw people from places beyond the Great Lakes sauna belt region. I found myself on the bench with a couple who came all the way from the Yukon Territory. Other Canadians included Kyle Wilson, Homecraft Saunas, and his wife from Vancouver BC. We had guests from Salt Lake City, Oregon, Northern and Southern California, Florida. And yet none of these participants received the Furthest Traveled Award. That accolade was awarded to Jake Newport from Finnmark saunas. A close second went to Mika & Wendy from the British Sauna Society. The three represented the UK well, proucly wearing their signature British Blue robes as sauna uniforms. Speaker's corner The Brits added some great flavor to the Sauna Days speaker series. Jake Newport shared a slide of a map of Great Britain, showing 100 dots around the British coastline, representing the number of mobile sauna activations there. “Pretty much every beach around the coastline now has a public sauna.” We breathed along with Nick Fox, Learned about Sauna and Sobriety, gleaned insight into the future and scale of Therme Group's wellbeing oasis's (bigger than Yankee Stadium!) with President Robbie Hammond. The Steam Masters Many were quietly sharing that a highlight experience for Sauna Days 2024 was getting wacked around by one of the three Steam Masters. The three administered venik treatments in either the Steam Lodge or Deep Wave Sauna's Black Night sauna. We were blessed to have three steam masters lead rounds of venik treatments. Dan from The Banya House, California Alex, and B Alex from BSaunas in Buffalo, NY. In addition to Sauna Days being the first weekend of May, the Steam Masters introduced us to a sister event first weekend of October: Banya Fest at a stately church camp just outside Minneapolis/St. Paul. A highlight of the weekend was learning more about the ancient practice of Eastern European banya and venik treatments, documented as a Sauna Days presentation and a soon to be released Sauna Talk podcast. Sauna in nature As wonderful as it was to experience multiple saunas scattered throughout the grounds at Larsmont Cottages, once again, nature seems to provide us with the best amenity. Larsmont Cottages is set along the shores of Lake Superior. Sauna Days guests were treated to rosy red skyline sunsets, night skies bursting with stars, and even a Hawaii-esque rainbow, as we celebrated a passing shower in the later afternoon sun. Northern Minnesota sauna is always enjoyed in nature. Sauna in nature is bigger than all of us. And no bigger than within Sauna Days 2024 at Larsmont Cottages, Two Harbors, Minnesota.

We are back this time with our theme of Witch Hunts.  Mike discusses the Witch trails in Northern British Columbia and the Yukon Territory as well as a law prohibiting faking witchcraft in Canada.   Sources https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45983540https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/opinion/when-deadly-witch-hunts-stalked-northern-canada-100886707/https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/when-witch-hunts-stalked-canadahttps://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/from-witches-to-satanic-cults-british-columbia-has-a-secret-history-of-supernatural-activity-1.7031877https://nationalpost.com/opinion/when-deadly-witch-hunts-stalked-northern-canadahttps://www.google.com/search?q=whitch+hunts+in+british+columbia&rlz=1C1GEWG_enCA938CA938&oq=whitch+hunts+in+british+columbia&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCwgAEEUYChg5GKABMgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigAdIBCDc1NzVqMGo5qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1https://www.quora.com/Were-there-ever-any-witch-trails-in-Canada-especially-in-British-Columbiahttps://web.archive.org/web/20231014083448/https://niche-canada.org/2023/10/03/consultation-with-the-devil-witchcraft-and-stolen-land-in-the-quebecois-colonial-imaginary/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highwayhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/timmins-psychic-charges-dropped-1.5075925#:~:text=Tiffany%20%E2%80%9CNina%E2%80%9D%20Butch%20of%20Timmins,removed%20from%20the%20Criminal%20Code.https://www.lawtimesnews.com/news/general/accused-witch-arrested/258348https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/man-charged-with-witchcraft-pleads-guilty-to-one-count-of-fraud/article_be6ddc2b-b7a1-5448-b783-7b67e15d8833.htmlhttps://www.timminspress.com/news/local-news/crown-withdraws-charge-against-psychic-formerly-accused-of-witchcraft Podcast Promo Bitchen Boutique Brew CrimeWebsite, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Group, Youtube, patreon, Supporter

In today's briefing: Li-FT Power report summer 2023 results from Pontax & Rupert Projects, James Bay, Quebec; Patriot Battery Metals announced agreement to acquire claim blocks from Azimut Exploration to increase Corvette Property, also in Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec; Snowline Gold announced discovery of new targets at its Rogue and Cynthia Projects in the Yukon Territory, Canada; Talon Metals announced 2024 progress at Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project in central Minnesota; and, Treasury Metals and Blackwolf Copper and Gold announce definitive arrangement agreement to combine to advance the Goliath Gold Complex Project in Ontario. This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by...  Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport. Grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Vizsla Silver is focused on becoming one of the world's largest single-asset silver producers through the exploration and development of the 100% owned Panuco-Copala silver-gold district in Sinaloa, Mexico. The company consolidated this historic district in 2019 and has now completed over 325,000 meters of drilling. The company has the world's largest, undeveloped high-grade silver resource. Learn more at ⁠https://vizslasilvercorp.com/⁠ Victoria Gold operates the Eagle Gold Mine within the Dublin Gulch Property. Eagle is the largest gold mine in Yukon's long history of gold production. In addition to the long-life Eagle Gold Mine, the Dublin Gulch property has upsized exploration potential including priority targets Raven and Lynx among others. Follow all the gold production and exploration news at ⁠vgcx.com⁠.

PREVIEW: #PRC: Conversation with Colonel Grant Newsham, USMC (ret), author of "When China Attacks," re the political warfare launched by the PRC CCP agents against democracies, including the general elections of 2019 and 20211 in Canada, also decision-making in New Zealand and the US -- and what is to be done? Details tonight. 1900 Yukon Territory

It was so great to have Chad and Eileen back on the podcast to give us a very detailed overview of their six week trip to Alaska. Even better, they are planning on returning for an entire season so they let us know what they are doing differently to prepare for their next journey. Price It's no secret that Alaska is expensive. They share how even though they anticipated to spend a little more here, they still underestimated it. Internet If you want to have some sort of internet connection while you make the drive to Alaksa, Starlink is your best bet. They mentioned how they had very poor service, and even if they didn't need to use it, knowing they could fire up Starlink if they needed to gave them peace of mind. Things to Do From boat rides, plane rides, and hiking, they stayed very busy. They admit they didn't do a ton of excursions, but since Alaksa is such beautiful place to be, they really didn't need to. We discussed a few things they are looking forward to doing next time as well. 3, 2, 1 Countdown 3 Things to Bring to Alaska ·        Bug spray, fly swatter, bug net ·        Blackout curtains, eye mask ·        Binoculars 2 Things to Be Prepared For ·        Bugs and mosquitoes ·        Bears 1 Thing You Can't Leave Alaska Without Doing ·        The plane ride or jumping in a lake Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:00 How much time did you spend in Alaska and what did you cover? 02:00 How much time should someone spend in Alaska and when should they go? 04:00 How was it bringing your dog with you to Alaska? 07:15 Sightseeing plane ride in Alaska 09:30 How did you get to Alaska with your van? 13:00 Favorite camping spots? 14:45 How expensive is it in Alaska? 15:15 What activities did you do in Alaska? 18:30 What is there to do at night in Alaska? 20:15 How long did it take to adjust to it not getting dark? 23:30 How was the food scene in Alaska? 24:30 How are you preparing differently for your next trip to Alaska? 26:00 What are three things people should bring to Alaska? 27:45 What are two things people should prepare for before they visit Alaska? 30:15 How are the roads in Alaska? 32:00 What can't you leave Alaska with out doing? Chad and Eileen on Social: ·        Miles Van Life: https://www.instagram.com/themilesvanlife/ ·        Eileen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eileenrosemiles/ ·        Eileen's Website: https://www.eileenrose.me/ ·        Eileen's Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-inward-journey/id1666397129 ·        Chad's IG: https://www.instagram.com/chadmmiles/ ·        Chad's Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2228949/share Locations ·        Fairbanks: https://www.explorefairbanks.com/ ·        Denali National Park: https://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm ·        Hatche Pass: https://www.alaska.org/detail/hatcher-pass ·        Anchorage: https://www.anchorage.net/ ·        Kenai Peninsula: https://www.travelalaska.com/Destinations/Regions/Southcentral/Kenai-Peninsula ·        Whittier: https://www.alaska.org/destination/whittier ·        Hope: https://www.alaska.org/destination/hope   To Do: ·        Boat Trip to Juneau: https://alaskafjordlines.com/ ·        Plane Ride: https://www.katair.com/ ·        Katmai Bear Viewing Tours: https://katmaiair.com/   Restaurants ·        Karstens Public House: https://www.westmarkhotels.com/denali-food/ ·        Anchorage Breweries: https://www.anchorage.net/restaurants/breweries/   Camping ·        Dyea Flats: https://www.alaska.org/detail/dyea-campground   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/sky-toes/gently-comes-tomorrow License code: JNNG98EA42W634JP   *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.   Transcript Host: All right, Chad and Eileen, welcome back to the Travel Path Podcast.   Guest: Hi, we're happy to be back. So, in case you missed the first episode, we talked about all their van life adventures, and we took a pretty deep dive into some of the finances and a lot of the things that people don't think about with van life, including routines or lack of routines, getting kind of out of the routines you're used to living at home, and transitioning to van life. So, if you haven't listened, give it a listen. For part two, travel tips, we're talking about one destination. So, Chad and Eileen, what destination are we talking about today?   Guest: We're going to talk about Alaska.   Host: All right.   Guest: Our favorite place in the world for sure.   Host: So, I guess that's what made you decide to share about Alaska today, is just how much you love it?   Guest: Yeah, and I think last summer, we made our first trip up to Alaska, and we spent about six weeks there. And it was such an overwhelming experience trying to figure out and plan for all the things that we might need to go there, and so maybe we can make it a little bit simpler for people by sharing today.   Host: Awesome. How much time did you guys spend in Alaska, and what did you actually cover when you were there?   Guest: So, we spent a total of about six weeks in Alaska. That doesn't include the drive up or the drive back, but our six weeks in Alaska, we covered quite a bit. So, we went up the more northern route. We started in Fairbanks, and then we made our way south from there. So, we hit Denali National Park, we went to Hatcher Pass, we went to Anchorage, down to the Kenai Peninsula, and then on our way out of Alaska, we went down to Skagway and took a boat trip to Juneau as well. So, we covered quite a bit of it.   Host: Yeah, you certainly did. So, would you say for someone who is living this van life journey or taking a cross-country trip, how much do you think six weeks is a really good time for them to experience Alaska? Or would you say plan more or you could plan less?   Guest: We are going back for the entire summer, but I know that's not realistic for everyone, but you probably will fall in love with it as well and want to go back for longer. But we do feel anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks is enough time to get the most out of it and see, you know, the Denali National Park, which is our favorite place, and then the Kenai Peninsula for sure. So, four to six weeks would be good.   Host: Yeah, good. So obviously, you know, if you're going to really enjoy the national parks and probably have a great time, you want to go in the summertime when it's not the dead of winter. What are some of those seasonal highlights for you guys, at least when you were there?   Guest: Well, yes, you 100% need to see Alaska in the summer because in the winter, it is, I think, it's four or six hours of daylight, and the rest is all dark. And so in the summer, you get 20 hours of daylight. So, you have longer days in the summer. It's actually wild how long they are. We tried to see the Northern Lights, and it never got dark enough. So, that's what's great, though, about the summertime is the days are long, and you can start a hike at 4 p.m., for example. It's beautiful. There's a lot of fish out in the rivers that you can catch and enjoy fresh. There's beautiful flowers, and everything is just beautiful in the summer. So, there's lots of wildlife that are out in the summer. So, you're looking, if you're planning on going up to Alaska, your window to be there is about mid-June through September 1st. Outside of that, you're going to run into some colder temperatures. But when we were there, we were there mid-July through about September 1st, and I mean, it was beautiful, 60, 70-degree days. We had a lot of sunshine while we were there, so the weather is definitely a highlight if you're there in the summertime.   Host: Yeah, sure. And then you're traveling with Sadie, your dog. So, do you feel like she was able to go on all these hikes with you? Were there any restrictions that you kind of got snagged on?   Guest: She couldn't enjoy the Denali National Park hikes with us. But Hatcher Pass, for example, is a hidden gem south of Denali, is that right? Okay. And it's beautiful, and it honestly reminded me of Switzerland, even though I've never been to Switzerland. I've only seen photos, but it's just beautiful, stunning mountain ranges, super green, and she could hike with us there. So, we figured out a lot of places where she could adventure. And I mean, Alaska in itself is beautiful no matter where you go outside of the park. So, she could be everywhere with us. And they do say traveling with a dog or traveling in a pack does spook the bears away and animals away too. I don't know, we never had that encounter, thank goodness, with a bear. But it's good. They actually, it's good to travel with your pets and hike with them.   Host: So perfect, now diving just a little bit deeper into some of the things and places that you guys actually went to in Alaska. Do you have any highlights or spots that you think maybe you should spend a little more time or a little less time in that you went to?   Guest: I think the area that we'd like to spend more time in would be the Kenai Peninsula. It's an incredible place because you've got some beautiful mountains and you're right on the ocean, so you've got the mix of both. The climate's really interesting, and some of the little towns are fascinating. The little town of Whittier and the little town of Hope were these unbelievable places that it's hard to imagine exist. So, that area has got so much natural beauty, there's national parks down there, so the Kenai Peninsula is definitely an area that we spent a fair amount of time. We were there for maybe a week or so, but we definitely would like to go back and spend some more time. And Denali National Park is just an incredible place. You get to go see Mount Denali, which is an unbelievable sight, as long as you can see it, which you need to have a clear day in order to be able to see it. But that was an area—I actually have family in that area—so we hung around there for probably about two weeks and just really enjoyed it. And if you want a really unique experience while you're there, we would definitely recommend flying. So, we went for a flight in a small six-person plane, and it just gave you this incredible view of all the natural beauty that's out there and a really unique perspective.   Host: I remember seeing that Reel, it looked awesome.   Guest: It was, I still dream of it to this day. And when we go back, we're running to that small plane and going for another flight. I do want to say, though, I think, nothing against Fairbanks, but it's just another typical town. That's something that we wouldn't really recommend you don't need to go. We think that, yeah, spend more time down in Denali area, Hatcher Pass, Kenai Peninsula, and you'll be golden.   Host: Awesome. Now, speaking of that plane ride, because if anybody goes and looks at your Instagram and sees what that looks like, it's going to absolutely be on their bucket list. What do you remember, cost-wise, to do something like that? Like, what should someone prepare for?   Guest: So this is where it's not going to be very helpful because my cousin is a pilot, and so, shout out to Greg, he lives out there, and so he operates an air taxi service and operates a lodge within Denali National Park, so we got to fly for free. However, if you are looking to fly, you're looking to pay probably about $250 per person for like an hour sightseeing flight. So, it's not necessarily cheap, and it is absolutely worth it because the things that you will see are unbelievable. So, would still recommend, but I know that's not a super helpful answer. I will say, too, the Denali National Park, there's a road closure right now, and it will be closed for a couple more years. And so it's just the best way to see more of the park because, sadly, you can only drive in. It's still gorgeous, of course, but you can only drive in to a certain point, and then they make you turn around because it's not safe. The, I don't know how to explain it, but the road kind of just collapsed on itself, I guess. So, yeah, you definitely want to take that plane ride. And I'm someone who was really fearful of flying, and it was so peaceful once you just get distracted by how beautiful it is. And it's really, really beautiful, and you just can't think about how scared you are. So, it's worth it.   Host: Perfect. And you said Greg operates a company that'll actually take people out to do this, right?   Guest: Yeah, so his company is Kantishna Air Taxi, and so they offer private sightseeing flights, and he's a great pilot.   Host: Awesome. We'll put his information in the show notes, and then tell him Chad sent them.   Guest: That'd be great.   Host: So, as far as transportation to actually get there, obviously, you can fly in. There's tons of ways. But you guys are taking yourself converted van. So, what was that process like for you to actually drive into Alaska, and what did you need to prepare before?   Guest: So, there's two primary routes that you can take if you're going to drive to Alaska. One of them is the Alaskan Highway that starts in Dawson Creek, Alberta, and takes you through Northern Alberta into the Yukon Territory and then over into Alaska. That route is a little bit more commercialized. It's the most popular route to take. And so, there's just some more options for food or more options for lodging and more stops for gas along that route. We came that way back from Alaska down through Canada. The other route that you can take is the Cassiar Highway, which runs along the western part of Canada and takes you up through British Columbia. That route, in our opinion, is more naturally beautiful. It is also very remote. There was a period of three or four days as we were driving. This was during the work week, so we were driving maybe three to four hours per day, but there was a three to four day period where we did not have cell phone service one time. So, it is very remote. There's not a ton of options for lodging or for gas. So, you definitely would need to be in a van or an RV if you want to go that route so that you can find random spots to stay. And you need to have some pretty off-grid capable. But if that is the case, that was the route that we enjoyed the most. Going through the mountains of British Columbia was unbelievable. It was really, really nice, and that's probably the route that we will end up going back when we head back there this summer.     Host: Very good. I guess that's why in episode one that you guys did, you talked about getting the Starlink, and you're glad you had it going into Alaska, right?   Guest: 100%. Yeah, we talked to a couple of people that had gone to Alaska before, so that's a great tip too, you know? If you're thinking about going to Alaska, reach out to us for sure, and we can tell you all our tips and tricks. But someone said, "No, you for sure need a Starlink because there's just complete dead zones." And, yeah, anytime you pass a gas station, fill up no matter where you're at. And yeah, it's quite the adventure. As far as what else we'd recommend planning, I mean, if you have something like Starlink, then of course you can get access to the internet everywhere, and that gave us a little bit of peace of mind so that if something were to go wrong as we were traveling and we were in more remote places, you know that you could hop on the internet and you could get in contact with whoever you needed to. Otherwise, I would say just plan for the fact that gas is really expensive, especially in that part of Canada and in Canada in general. So, the cost of gas is going to be very high. That's something to plan for. And then as far as like your food and what you're bringing with you and some of your rations with water, you'll just want to be a little bit more intentional about some of those things because it is more sparse and it's more remote. And so, have a plan for food, pack a lot more dry food that you can have access to as you're traveling just in case you go longer spells without having access to a grocery store. But those are some of the things that I think would be a good idea to think about.   Host: Yeah, very good. Good tips. I like that. And then as far as once you got into Alaska, I assume you probably stayed the majority of the time in your van. Maybe you stayed with your family a little bit. But did you guys have any spots that were like these amazing spots you need to go find them to park your van at for the night? Or were there any campgrounds that you stayed at?   Guest: Oh, my goodness. There's so many spots that we loved. On our way up there, there's a spot in the Yukon that was really sketchy to drive down to, but we loved it. And the other thing, if you're going to caravan with people, definitely have walkie-talkies because that just makes it so much more fun when you see a black bear or see a moose. That's also something, definitely have walkie-talkies. And we used that when we were driving down this sketchy road to this beautiful spot in the Yukon. And then in Alaska itself, I mean, there's just... we... you can stay at Hatcher Pass, you can stay in... there's a place in Seward where we loved, and it's super flat, so there's a ton of different vans and Airstreams and all sorts of campers there too. We didn't stay in any campgrounds, though. I don't think we did. There's a spot called the Dyea Flats, which is if you go to Skagway, a really, really beautiful place, one of our maybe favorite camp spots that we had. So, we did a lot of... I mean, the nice thing about driving to Alaska is that there's tons of options of places to stay because you can stay pretty much anywhere. So, when you think of BLM or Forestry Service land out west as you're going through British Columbia and the Yukon and when you're in Alaska, that's a majority of what's out there. There's not many people, so you can just go to little pull-offs or if you find a place where you can fit your rig, for the most part, you can probably stay there. So, you can kind of get off the beaten path and find some really unique places to sleep and stay for a night or stay for a few days.   Host: Yeah, very cool. So it sounds like as far as finding a spot to sleep, you don't have to worry about shelling out a ton of money for that. Gas is a little bit expensive, but as far as other costs in Alaska, what do you guys feel like? Were you spending way more on food or do you feel like it was pretty comparable to other places you've been?   Guest: We were spending a lot more on food for sure. We went to this one small grocery store, I remember, and I felt like they had things shipped in from Costco but then jacked up the prices. So definitely, food is expensive because the grocery stores are really far away from each other. And those will definitely be the two biggest things to plan for: food and gas. Your typical food and gas budget for a month, I would multiply them by probably one and a half and expect that that's probably about what you'll pay for as you're traveling to Alaska and back. And then, of course, it's just kind of discretionary from there. But if you want to eat out, if you want to do activities, things are definitely a bit more expensive as you're going through those different areas. So those would be good things to plan for from a budgeting standpoint.   Host: Yeah, sure. Besides the plane, were there any other activities that you guys did indulge in while you were there?   Guest: No, yes, there wasn't. Frankly, we were on a budget on our trip last summer, and you know, some of that was because we didn't know or realize how expensive gas would be, how expensive food would be. So we didn't really necessarily plan for that, which meant we had less money to spend doing things. But there's tons of activities that you could do if you wanted to. Go whitewater rafting, or if you wanted to go on a boat ride, or if you wanted to go fishing, there are a lot of things that you could do up there. I was going to say, our boat ride, that's why I said no, yes. We did do a boat ride from Skagway to Juno through the Inside Passage. Oh my gosh, it was beautiful. And thanks to my mother-in-law, Chad's mom, that was our birthday gift, I believe, or Christmas... yeah, birthday gift. So yeah, we had some... we were definitely budgeting, and there was... we had a couple of friends that did the plane ride to Katmai, I think it's called, and we would love to do that this summer because that's a place where you can go fly another small plane, beautiful experience. And then there's tons of grizzly bears that are enjoying salmon right in the river, and it's all... there's electric fences, I believe, to just kind of keep you safe. I mean, the grizzlies are super focused on the fish, so everyone's pretty much safe, but it's a beautiful, really cool experience. And honestly, the only way I think I'd want to see a grizzly, but so yeah, there's that trip that people can look forward to. And then I would love to do the whitewater rafting, but so maybe this summer we'll be able to do that. But yeah, all we did last time was the plane ride and the boat trip. I highly recommend that.   Host: For sure, that's awesome. And I mean, you're in Alaska, so especially in the summer, like, put your hiking boots on and start walking.   Guest: Like, that's an adventure in itself. And I think that's the thing, is that you don't necessarily... all of those things are options. I'm sure we didn't get to do many of them, but they would be incredible experiences. And every day, you can just walk out of your van door or whatever your rig is, and there's just natural beauty all around you. And there's tons of free activities and places to explore, so we never found ourselves running out of things to do.   Host: Very cool. Now, obviously, you were there in the summer, so you have a little bit more sunlight than we might be used to, but what was there to do at night?   Guest: Stay outside, because it's light out. One of my favorite memories is we were in Alaska with DJ and Garen, and we were all sitting around a campfire, and Chad was basically falling asleep in his chair. He's like, "I'm ready to go to bed." And I said, "Why?" And it was because it was almost midnight, but it was super light out. So, I mean, at night, you just... you stay outside and hang out, or try to catch the Northern Lights. I mean, those are a huge thing up there, but it honestly didn't get dark enough where we were, so to the point where you could start a four-hour hike at 6 p.m. and you would still finish it with daylight, and you would be fine. So, the answer to what you can do at night is pretty much everything that you could do during the day, which is a very unique experience.   Host: I love that. Normally, we ask, where is a good sunrise or sunset spot? But I mean, those happen so quickly and all together. Probably that... did you even see a real sunrise or sunset when you were there?   Guest: That's a good point. I'm trying to think... I mean, we may... well, we may have seen a couple, but the thing about the daylight, so it is like 20 hours of daylight. So, technically, that means that for four hours, the sun has gone below the horizon. However, it doesn't ever get fully dark. So, I think, like Eileen might have mentioned at one point or maybe in the past episode, there was one night where we tried to see the Northern Lights. We stayed up till about 2:30 a.m. and went to bed realizing that it was never going to get dark enough that wasn't going to be possible. So, um, yeah, starting to get brighter.   Host: That's got to be a weird thing to get used to. How long did it take you to just get used to it being bright all the time? And at what point did it start getting dark?   Guest: It's a very weird thing to get used to. Your internal clock just gets very thrown off. So, I would say for the first probably two or three weeks, it took us a long time to acclimate to it. And your body doesn't feel tired. It'll be 10:00 and it's still very bright out. And so, your body's like, "Well, I don't think it's time to go to bed." So, back to trying to force yourself into some semblance of a routine, we found that that helped, trying to go to bed at 10:30 or 11 o'clock every night. We would definitely recommend having blackout curtains or magnetic shades that you can put on your van or your rig or using something like an eye mask or an eye pillow so that you need to create darkness because it won't be there like you're used to. It's weird.   Host: That's good tips, though, because I mean, everyone knows that in the summer, Alaska's bright, but actually hearing from someone who stayed there for an extended time, like, yeah, no, it really is bright, and you need to bring that eye mask or something. I think that's a really good tip and just something to be prepared for.   Guest: Yeah. And I remember even driving at 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m., right, and the sun was still in your eye. So, 100% bring sunglasses, um, because it's just wild. It's always out, which is beautiful, but it's really... it's weird, for sure. And so then what's kind of odd is, since there's such a huge swing going from 20 hours of daylight in the summer and then 20 hours of darkness in the winter, around late August and September, you start experiencing the difference, and it starts changing. And if you're from the lower 48, you're used to maybe the sunset changes two, three minutes per day, and up in Alaska, it was changing as much as like 8 to 9 minutes per day. So, all of a sudden, a week goes by and it's getting dark an hour earlier. So, when we left in September, I think it was getting dark by like 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. So, it is amazing how it starts to swing. But if you're going there in June, July, early August, it's still going to be pretty bright up.   Host: Wow, that's fascinating. Yeah, and I can't even imagine going there in the wintertime when it's the exact opposite. It would drive you crazy.   Guest: We did meet a couple of those people that can handle it. Actually, his cousin Greg who lives there, he leaves in the winter because yeah, it's just... it's too dark. And we talked to a couple of folks that do stay the whole year, and they say that they never go anywhere without their headlamp. And some of them try to convince us that it's beautiful, which I'm sure it is in its own way, but that would be so hard, I think.   Host: Yeah, yeah. I don't know how it could be beautiful if it's pitch black the whole time.   Guest: The moonlight's... well, the Northern Lights.   Host: Yeah, you can probably see the Northern Lights all day, right?   Guest: Basically. That's funny.   Host: So transitioning now into food, did you guys stop at grocery stores, cook in your van a lot? Just cost-wise, were there any spots that you stopped or found along the way that were great?   Guest: We definitely cooked in our van a lot. For periods of that trip, our meals in the van became very simple things like ramen or things like cereal or whatever it may be that didn't involve a lot of cooking or things that could stay fresh for a long period of time. So, we relied on a lot more boxed things or canned goods just because sometimes we didn't know when we were going to have availability to a grocery store. So, we did a lot of camping or a lot of cooking in our van. There was one restaurant in particular that was outside of Denali National Park called Carston's Public House that we really liked, and we recommend that people go check that out. And there's another brewery that we went to in Anchorage, but I'm drawing a blank on the name of it.   Host: So, Anchorage is actually home to quite a few breweries and distilleries, so if craft brews are your thing, you might want to check it out. I'll put a link in the show notes for more.   Host: I know we talked about quite a bit of things. Are there any things you're doing differently to prepare yourself for this next trip now that you've already been there for six weeks?   Guest: That's a good question. Relaxing, yes, relaxing. I was freaked out about the bear situation, truly. And it's not as bad as you would think. People say you have to be more afraid of moose. But I pictured in my mind that there would be bears everywhere you look, and there wasn't. So, relaxing, that's a good answer. Yeah, I mean, just relaxing from the standpoint of knowing that it's not going to be as intense or as extreme as we thought it was going to be. Relaxing and knowing that when you get there, a city like Anchorage is a very big city. It's going to have all of the big box stores that you're used to. It has all the things that you're used to in the lower 48. So, you're not traveling to like a third world country or something like that. You can find the things that you are used to. If you need to get packages or we navigated all of those things while we were in Alaska. And so, relaxing, I think we'll just approach the whole thing with a little more ease, and that'll feel really good. Awesome, that's a good point. Yeah, just kind of relaxing, taking it easy, and then also budgeting. You've been there once. You're preparing more to spend one and a half times what somebody might expect to have to pay if they hadn't gone before.   Host: So great, we can transition to the 3-2-1 Countdown, the final three questions of the podcast. We might have brought up a few things here, but what are three things people are bringing when they're going to Alaska?   Guest: Bug spray or bug protectant as a whole is what we want to recommend. So, bug spray, fly swatter, and bug nets. We're actually getting some of those soon because there are a lot of mosquitoes, and they're huge. Yeah, we'll say it again, the blackout curtains and eye mask. You've got to have some kind of plan for making your rig dark. So, whatever that's going to look like for you, you'll want to think about that, or else you're going to have a really difficult time sleeping, and that will be a challenge. And then, our last thing is binoculars, which the cool people in Alaska call them "binos." And that's so you can see hopefully some wildlife from afar and at a safe distance, right? So, binoculars for sure.   Host: Cool. Did you get to see it all your last time out? I mean, the big... the grizzly bears, the moose, the wolves?   Guest: Yeah, we did not see a grizzly bear in Alaska, which was disappointing. We did see one on our trip back, actually once we got back into the US, in Montana. But otherwise, we saw tons of black bears, we saw quite a bit of moose, we did see wolves. So, we saw a good mix of things but not a grizzly when we were in Alaska. So, hopefully this summer will be different. Really? I don't know, we don't have to hope, a grizzly, maybe from afar through the electric fence, right? Through the binos.   Host: What are two complaints or things people wish they had prepared more for when venturing to Alaska?   Guest: We probably talked about a few of them. Yeah, so we're going to go back to the bugs. That is something that you want to be aware of. They are everywhere. There's nowhere that you can go that you're going to be able to get away from them. The mosquitoes are huge, they are nasty, they are persistent. And so, having tons and tons of bug spray on you, having solutions to try to keep them out of the van is very helpful. But that's just, I think, one of the most common complaints. And if you go on any social media and just look up videos of the mosquitoes in Alaska, you'll see some pretty crazy stuff. But that is something that you are going to want to be aware of. It's worth it, though. I mean, and I think there were days or locations where they were worse or if it was windy, I feel like they weren't out as much. But I remember, I was cutting his hair in the middle of nowhere, and I was getting eaten alive, and thankfully, the haircut wasn't too bad, but the mosquitoes are really distracting and annoying. But bug spray does work, so definitely just bring a lot of that bug spray. And then the second thing is bears, again, for sure. Definitely just think about safety and peace of mind. So, having something like bear spray was something that we had with us at all times. Anytime, you know, if you're parked off the road somewhere and if you've got animals around or dogs, since you do have food in your van that you can't always keep airtight, you just want to always be bear-conscious and animal-conscious in general. So, that's something that I guess could be a sort of complaint or something that at least you'll want to think a lot about and be very conscious of. Hiking in groups is really great, and just talking a lot is good too. Those were some of the tips. So, we would always just say "hi bear" or talk or sing, and that was in the beginning when we were really anxious, I'm talking about myself, I just always talking. But just doing those things helps. And then having the bear spray just helps you feel a little more safe.   Host: How are the roads? I had heard people, they've said if you go to Alaska, have a spare tire, and if you have room, bring a second spare tire. But there's... you said there were two main roads to kind of get through. Were they rough or how did you maneuver that?   Guest: They're not great. So, a spare tire would definitely be a good idea. Also, plan for your windshield taking some pretty serious dents from rocks. We probably picked up ten different dents in our windshield of all different sizes, and one of them led to a pretty big crack in our windshield. So, yes, having a spare tire is a great idea. And not that there's a whole lot that you can do about your windshield, but that's something to just think about and probably going to be a reality as well. So, the roads are not great, especially... there are sections of them that are very, I'm going to call them bouncy. I mean, there's like really big hills. It's a roller coaster, to the point where there's moments where our van was like two wheels would go off the ground, and then you'd slam back down. So, yeah, the roads are not great, so that's something to just be aware of. You will need to at points drive slow, even though you're in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing around. But spare tires are definitely a good idea.   Host: Do you have 4x4?   Guest: No, we don't, and we were fine. I mean, you have to know some of your limitations with that, but there weren't any roads... the main roads getting to and from Alaska, you don't need four-wheel drive. After everything we just mentioned, it's like... you have to know that it's stunning, right? There are bears, there are mosquitoes, there's all this stuff, the roads are terrible. But it goes to show you how epic it is. So, it's worth it.   Host: Yeah, no, there's bears, mosquitoes, the roads, but yet not only did you guys do that, you're going back for another three, four months. Clearly, it's worth it. All right, guys, one last question: what is one thing you cannot leave Alaska without doing?   Guest: The plane ride, for sure. You have to get up in the air and see Denali National Park from a plane. It's stunning. You will not believe your eyes, and highly, highly recommend it. The other thing I'm going to say is go jump in a lake or a river. I think you've got to go out and just experience the nature, and I mean, those are some of the lakes and rivers are about as fresh as it gets up there. So, go jump in one. It's a great experience.   Host: Nice, awesome. And we'll have to have you guys back on after you guys do your six-month or your summer adventure up there, and we'll talk about what you guys did that time. So, yeah, well, great. Guys, thanks again for coming on. One last question, where can our audience find out more about you?   Guest: We are @TheMilesVanLife on Instagram, and I'm @EileenRoseMiles. That's my personal Instagram. And then I am ChadMMiles on Instagram, and I have a podcast that is called "A Level Deeper."   Host: All right, sweet. Everybody go check them out. Chad and Eileen, thanks again.   Guest: Thanks, guys.   Host: Thank you.   Guest: Appreciate you both.

Interview with Tara Christie, President & CEO of Banyan Gold Corp.Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/banyan-gold-tsxvbyn-advancing-62moz-yukon-gold-project-to-production-4752Recording date: 6th March 2024Banyan Gold Corp. (TSXV:BYN) presents a compelling opportunity for investors seeking exposure to a substantially de-risked gold development story in a top mining jurisdiction. The company's flagship asset is the 100%-owned AurMac Gold Project located in the prolific Yukon Territory of Canada. With a recently updated resource totaling 7 million ounces of gold beginning right at surface, AurMac boasts exceptional scale for an advanced-stage project.Importantly, AurMac benefits from significant existing infrastructure including roads, power lines, and proximity to two operating mines - Keno Hill's silver operation and Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine. This advantageous location has the potential to materially reduce initial capital costs in development.Preliminary metallurgical test work has delivered encouraging results at AurMac. Heap leach recoveries ranged from 60% to 72%, while tank-based leaching returned 84% recoveries. Notably, gravity recoverable gold content was very high at 53%, suggesting the potential for low processing costs. Banyan will look to further optimize these results and evaluate the economic trade-offs of various processing options as it advance the asset.From a financial perspective, Banyan is well-funded to continue advancing AurMac in a prudent, disciplined manner. The company has approximately $7 million in working capital which will support ongoing environmental baseline work, metallurgical testing, and a potential 6,000-meter drill campaign. Banyan has the operational flexibility to ramp up activities as warranted by market conditions, with ample existing infrastructure already in place.Underpinning the AurMac story is a highly favorable macro environment for gold. Persistent inflation concerns, recessionary fears, and broader economic uncertainty have driven a flight to safe haven assets, propelling gold to record highs in 2023. This backdrop has the potential to expand margins for gold producers and drive investment capital into the space, particularly among generalist investors making their first forays into the mining sector. AurMac's impressive scale, robust grades and substantial exploration upside position Banyan to disproportionately benefit from this rising tide.With a multi-million-ounce resource, strong infrastructure, and a clear path to value creation, Banyan Gold offers a compelling risk/reward proposition at current valuations. Leadership is acutely focused on delivering key de-risking milestones while maintaining a healthy treasury to navigate any market environment. View Banyan Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/banyan-gold-incSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

New Found Gold plans to drill a total of 650,000m at Queensway. Drill Results from DLP Resources and Carolina Rush. Giyani Metals receives key approval in Botswana. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Happy New Year! MSD returns in 2024 with this first morning briefing of the year. We have drill results to report from Li-FT Power, Ascot Resources, Snowline Gold and AMEX Exploration. District Metals also acquired the last remaining licenses on the Viken deposit to now control 100% of the project. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In our final installment of MSD for 2023, we air a long-form conversation with our friend, Tony Greer of TG Macro. Tony has been calling for a bull rally long before this week's pivot by the Federal Reserve. After the FOMC announced the conclusion of its hiking cycle and event going as far as assuming rate cuts in the new year, asset markets flew off the shelves like the hottest toy in America during the Christmas shopping season. Everything, from tech to precious metals, rallied on the news. We talk to Tony about this decision, his thoughts on equities moving forward, and why 2024 is setting up to be a stellar year for previous metals and miners. To wrap up the year, we also have a special reading dedicated to the geologists, miners and investors who focus on the junior resource sector. Trevor also has some special words to those who help make MSD possible. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

It was jubilation yesterday as the FOMC has pivoted. There are drill results to report this morning from i-80 Gold, Foran Mining and Seabridge Gold. Vista Gold does a deal with Wheaton. Enduro is financing. Mundoro is buying back shares. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Ivanhoe Mines opened a brokered private placement for half a billion dollars. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company announced metallurgical results from the Nuton Phase 1 column leach program. Drill updates from Reunion Gold, Brixton Metals and Barksdale Resources. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

There is a round of new drill results to report from Fortuna Silver, Li-FT Power and Tribeca Resources. American Pacific Mining reported assays from rock and grab samples at the Danny Boy claims. NextSource shared results from its Feasibility study on its Molo Graphite Mine. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Solaris Resources entered into an US$80M financing agreement with Orion Mine Finance for the advancement of the Warintza copper project in Ecuador. Collective Mining announced assay results from the first four directional drill holes into the Apollo porphyry system. Nevada Gold Mines received a Record of Decision from the US Bureau of Land Management for the plan of operations for its new Goldrush underground mine. Dundee Precious Metals published a maiden mineral resource estimate of close to 1.8 million ounces at its Čoka Rakita gold project in eastern Serbia. Heliostar Metals completed its warrant exercise incentive program. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Andy Home is the Senior Metals Columnist for Thomson Reuters. He's been covering the global metal markets for 30 years and call this unique era of de-globalization and geopolitical stand-offs as the most interesting time of his career. In fact, he nicknames this current moment in time the "Metallic Revolution." We connected with Andy in London to talk about the current dynamics of the metals trade, how the west is competing with the like of Chinese demand and Russian supply following the invasion of Ukraine. Is the West prepared to meet its own demand in the years to come? And what needs to be done to get there? First, we spend time profiling Andy's career, from independent metals newsletter writer to a long career at Reuters. There is a lot to take away from his insights and reporting for a better understanding of what is yet to come. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Arras Minerals announced it entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Teck Resources to focus on exploration in Kazakhstan. Western Alaska Minerals published a year end update. Drill results from Founders Metals, Moneta Gold and Kodiak Copper. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

More drill results to report from Snowline Gold this morning. Ridgeline hits lower CRD mineralization. Northisle Copper and Gold have a new discovery. Onyx Gold hits high grade. EnCore does a deal with Boss. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Gold put in a large whipsaw move yesterday. We have new drill results in the lithium space from Brunswick Exploration and Li-FT Power. In gold development, we have the latest from West Red Lake Gold and G2 Goldfields. Meridian Mining establishes the Santa Helena target area. Heliostar adds a COO. Western Copper and Gold have a quick update on Skagway redevelopment. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

We had the pleasure to sit down with Ranj Pillai, Premier of Yukon. Since taking office, Ranj has been working on bringing exploration and mine development into the next stage. And one of the biggest tasks is to overhaul the power systems of the Territory. We spend quite a bit of time discussing the potential connection to British Columbia's hydropower grid. Not only would this benefit mining, but it would also benefit all of Yukoners. But the project comes at a large cost and demands systematic implementation if approved. We'd like to thank our sponsors: Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com. Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (ASCU:TSX) is focused on developing its brownfield copper project on private land in Arizona, a tier 1 location. The Cactus Mine Project is located less than an hour's drive from the Phoenix International airport via highway i-10, and with grid power and the Union Pacific Rail line situated at the base of the Cactus Project main road. With permitted water access, a streamlined permitting framework and infrastructure already in place, ASCU's Cactus Mine Project is a lower risk copper development project in the infrastructure-rich heartland of Arizona.For more information, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.arizonasonoran.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fireweedmetals.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Join our free Florida income properties webinar, tonight, Monday, November 27th for 5.75% mortgage rates at: GREwebinars.com Today's topics: Conventional financial advice is God-awful; tertiary real estate markets; I've got a solution to guilt tipping; whether or not the world is uncertain and unsafe. Conventional financial advice is so bad. I attack the practices of setting budget alerts and paying off your smallest debts first.  Don't roll a debt snowball; roll a cash flow snowball. In the past five years, tertiary markets are beginning to exhibit the rent stability of larger markets. Guilt tipping is out of control. Learn my elegant solution. You'll never pay a guilt tip again. It seems like the world is increasingly uncertain and unsafe. It isn't. I talk about why it only seems this way. Timestamps: The limitations of budgeting (00:02:43) Discussion on the drawbacks of using budgeting platforms and how they reinforce scarcity thinking. The debt snowball concept (00:05:09) Explanation of the debt snowball method of debt paydown and why it is not aligned with an abundance mindset. Investing in tertiary real estate markets (00:09:43) Exploration of the emerging bullish case for investing in smaller, tertiary real estate markets and their stability compared to larger markets. Tertiary Real Estate Markets (00:10:56) Discussion of the advantages and objections to investing in smaller tertiary real estate markets. Increasing Investor Appetite in Smaller Markets (00:12:02) Exploration of the growing interest and sales volumes in tertiary real estate markets. Guilt Tipping and a Solution (00:20:16) Explanation of guilt tipping and a proposed solution to avoid feeling pressured to leave a tip when making digital payments. Guilt Tipping and the Increasing Expectations (00:21:20) Discussion on the rise of tipping expectations and the use of digital payment prompts to ask for tips. The Problem with Guilt Tipping and the Inconvenience of Undoing Tips (00:23:45) Exploration of the annoyance of guilt tipping and the difficulty of undoing tips after poor service. The Solution: Paying Cash to Avoid Guilt Tipping (00:31:18) Suggestion to pay with cash as an elegant solution to circumvent guilt tipping and ignore electronic payment terminals. The Uncertainty of the World (00:32:25) Discusses how uncertainty has always existed and how waiting for complete clarity can hinder investment decisions. Disasters and Uncertainty (00:33:47) Lists various disasters and events that have occurred in the US, highlighting the constant presence of uncertainty and the relative sense of certainty and safety today. The Ultra Safety of American Society (00:36:13) Examines how society has become ultra safe, discussing the term "safetyism" and providing examples of excessive safety measures. Resources mentioned: Show Notes: GetRichEducation.com/477 Join our Florida properties webinar, free,  Nov. 27th at 8:30 PM ET at: www.GREwebinars.com For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  You get paid first: Text FAMILY to 66866 Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search “how to leave an Apple Podcasts review”  Top Properties & Providers: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREmarketplace.com/Coach Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Keith's personal Instagram: @keithweinhold   Complete Episode Transcript:   Keith Weinhold (00:00:01) - Welcome to I'm your host, Keith Weinhold, with a rant on how conventional financial advice is so terribly god awful an outlook for tertiary real estate markets, then? Are you getting worn down from guilt tipping? I've got a proven solution on how you'll never pay a guilt trip to a business again. And finally, how do you arrange your investing in personal finances in a world that's uncertain and unsafe? All today on get Rich education? When you want the best real estate and finance info, the modern internet experience limits your free articles access, and it's replete with paywalls. And you've got pop ups and push notifications and cookies. Disclaimers. Oh, at no other time in history has it been more vital to place nice, clean, free content into your hands that actually adds no hype value to your life? See, this is the golden age of quality newsletters, and I write every word of hours myself. It's got a dash of humor and it's to the point to get the letter. It couldn't be more simple text to six, 6866.   Keith Weinhold (00:01:15) - And when you start the free newsletter, you'll also get my one hour fast real estate course completely free. It's called the Don't Quit Your Day dream letter and it wires your mind for wealth. Make sure you read it, text GRE to 66866. Text  GRE to 66866.   Speaker 2 (00:01:40) - You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold (00:01:56) - Welcome from Los Angeles, California, to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Wayne holding. This is get rich education. When you pay for a low level service item like a Chipotle burrito, and another human is looking at you to see if you leave a 20% tip on a digital payment terminal, does that make you feel uncomfortable? Well, now you're being asked to. Guilt tip I've got a foolproof way on how to never get put in that situation again. That I'll share with you later here. You know, sometimes you just hear something that triggers a rant. I recently heard an ad for a digital platform that helps you manage your finances.   Keith Weinhold (00:02:43) - And what an awful, in scarcity minded way of thinking this reinforces. But this is actually what mainstream financial guidance looks like. All right, it was an ad for a digital platform trying to attract you there. And here's basically how it works. You set up your account. Then based on your income and expenses, you set up your budget. And as you know, that is a bad word around here, a budget. It's not how you want to live long term. All right. Then, when you're close to hitting your spending budget for the month or whatever, this platform triggers a budget alert. Are you kidding me? You get emailed a budget alert. How convenient. Oh, geez. So much for living an aspirational life by design. What a dreadful idea. Like someone that really wants more out of life would actually take effort to set up something like that. You would be building an architecture to establish life patterns that completely say, I think that money is a scarce resource. Now, in the short term, you've got to do what you've got to do, which might mean living below your means for a little while.   Keith Weinhold (00:03:55) - But in a world of abundance, delayed gratification should be a short term notion for you. I think that this type of platform that centered around stupid budget alerts is so limiting. Gosh, you've got to feel cheap just saying that out loud a budget alert. But anyway, that sounds conducive to this concept of scarcity based finance called a debt snowball that you can read about the debt snowball on Investopedia. But the debt snowball, that's basically how you pay off your debt with the smallest balance first, not the highest interest rate, but yes, the smallest principal balance it would have basically says is in the first step, what you're supposed to do is list your debts from smallest to largest, and that's regardless of interest rate, just smallest to largest based on the amount. And then the next step is that you make minimum payments on all of your debts except the smallest one, because you pay as much as possible on your smallest debt. And then the last step is you're supposed to just go ahead and repeat that until each debt is paid in full.   Keith Weinhold (00:05:09) - That's the debt snowball. So according to that, why do they say to disregard the interest rate, which is your cost of capital? Because they say that when you pay off the smallest debt super quick, that you're going to be jumping up and down with excitement, and that is going to motivate you to keep working hard to get debt free. They say that hope is more important than math. That's the school of thought. And along the way you should lower your expenses, cut spending, work hard and add a side hustle where you can. Oh my gosh, that is all congruent with this debt snowball concept that we sure do not endorse here at. I mean, that is 100% orthogonal to the world of abundance that we believe in. So often on your high interest rate debt. What you would do then is you'd make the minimum payments with this debt snowball, and then you focus it all on your smallest debt amount, regardless of interest rate. You've heard that right? And it even advocates that you stop investing and just focus on that smallest debt amount, even if it's a low interest rate.   Keith Weinhold (00:06:22) - That makes no sense. If you've decided that debt paydown is the best allocation of your first expendable dollar. All right, even if that were a yes, then in most cases you'd want to pay down the highest interest rate independent of the total principal balance on each of your debts. I mean, that's arbitrage, but they even bigger question for you, almost existential in nature is why is the best way to allocate your first expendable dollar on debt? Paydown. And. Any way it's or that. First, because one of the first places to look is how you can leverage that dollar 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 as long as you've controlled cash flows. Now, sometimes there are instances where you'd want to pay down debt before investing, certainly like a 20% Apr credit card debt, that could be one such place. So could retiring a debt to help your DTI, your debt to income ratio so that you can originate a new business loan or a new real estate loan first? All right, you might do thatrillionegardless of the interest rate on a loan.   Keith Weinhold (00:07:30) - But my gosh, if we want to stick with the snowball analogy, since we're a few days from December here, instead of trying to push a debt snowball up a hill to start rolling a cash flow snowball down a hill, when you buy an asset that pays you a monthly income stream to own it, that is constructive. Compounding your cash flows beats compounding your debt paid out. Instead of trying to push a debt snowball up a hill because you're cutting your one and only quality of life down. Instead, start rolling a cash flow snowball down a hill, and now you've got gravity working with you in the right way. That is the end of my rent. Hey, maybe I just feel like complaining a bit. My Jim was playing Phil Collins and Elton John all weekend, so maybe that's a kind of what in the world kind of mood that had generated in me, I don't know. And hey, nothing wrong with Phil Collins and Elton John. I mean, those guys are truly talented singers, 100%.   Keith Weinhold (00:08:28) - I just don't want to be working out to those guys. Michael Bolton, George Michael that's not motivating me to hit 20 burpees. Okay. Hey, well, I hope that you were set up for a great week. Be sure that part of it is that you are signed up for our live event tonight for 5.75% mortgage rates on Florida Income property@webinars.com. Now, whether you're looking at investment property in Florida or most any of the other 49 US states, there's a really nascent and interesting development that's been taking place for at least five years now. And that is what's happening in tertiary markets, smaller markets. I'll define tertiary a bit more shortly, but we're talking about metro statistical areas, MSAs that are probably not under 100,000 population, not that small. From a rent growth perspective. What's happened is that over the last five years, tertiary markets have had similar patterns to bigger markets. And historically, these smaller markets have been more erratic. But in rent growth terms, tertiary markets have stabilized. Now, a primary market is something like New York City or Chicago, a secondary market.   Keith Weinhold (00:09:43) - You might think of that as a little Rock, Arkansas, where it's under a million in size, and then a tertiary market that's going to be somewhat discretionary. But we're talking about a population of 100 K up to, say, 300 K. And what's noteworthy is that there are now more analysts and investors that are bullish on vibrant tertiary markets. So let's talk about why this is happening. I think there's an emerging bull case for overcoming some of the historical roadblocks to tertiary market investments in a diversified multifamily or single family rental portfolio. And one classical objection is that tertiary real estate markets are too volatile. Historically, we perceive smaller markets as more volatile. Yes, and some surely are. But over these last five years, markets outside the top 50 in size were regularly more consistent. Okay. They avoided rent cuts in 2020. They recorded sizable but less lawfully rent hikes in 2021 and 2022. And now they remain moderately positive in 2023, even as larger markets have kind of flattened out in the rent growth.   Keith Weinhold (00:10:56) - And of course, we're talking about a composite group of tertiary markets here. Some are more stable than others. You got to watch those local trends as always, of course. And you know, classically a second objection with these smaller markets is that, well, it's too easy to add a lot of supply. And yes, that is sometimes true and sometimes it's not. Indeed, there are a handful of small markets that are building like crazy, like Sioux Falls, South Dakota in Huntsville, Alabama. But as a group, the construction rate in what that is is the total units under construction divided by the total existing market, that is 5% in large markets versus the construction rate of just 4% in small markets. See, it can be harder to build in certain small markets due to NIMBYism or a lack of debt availability, especially if local banks aren't interested in the check size needed for construction loans. It can also be harder to build in certain small markets due to a lack. Of equity because it's a tougher sell to ask investors in a syndication to bet on a market that they don't have a lot of knowledge of.   Keith Weinhold (00:12:02) - Another objection to these tertiary markets is that small markets are not liquid. Since 2019, sales volumes in dollars going into tertiary markets has doubled. Investor appetite has definitely increased in smaller markets. And that's particularly true among these traditional regional investors that are looking for better yield as the larger cities got pricier. So good small markets, you know, a lot of them really are not secrets anymore. And there's only one more objection to these tertiary real estate markets and that it is harder to scale operations. And yes, there is always benefit in efficiency of scale. But, you know, it's certainly been getting easier with better technology today. Investors can always work with top local property managers. And for investment property owners or managers, they often target small markets adjacent to larger markets where they have a bigger presence. So some other considerations before you as an investor go deep in one of these smaller tertiary markets is you want to be choosy in your market and in your site selection. Look for small markets that have multiple drivers.   Keith Weinhold (00:13:13) - You don't just want these one trick ponies. You know, I've discussed with you before about how markets that are heavily focused on commodities or heavily focused on military, they are not favorable because those two sectors, for example, commodities and military, are just pretty volatile. Look for growth or steady markets, lots of small markets. They continue to grow at a pretty healthy clip. And you want to look for markets with an absence of new product. Now why don't I name a few tertiary markets so that you can get a better idea of this. So about 100 K to 300 K in population size. Not that these next ones are necessarily good or bad markets. It's just for size comparison. I'm thinking about Ocala, Florida and Shreveport, Louisiana. You know those two. They're almost getting too big. They're almost secondary markets Wilmington, North Carolina at 300 K. That's a tertiary market. So are Akron and Canton, Ohio Dayton. That's pretty tertiary, but it's also close to Cincinnati. So you got a little more safety in Dayton.   Keith Weinhold (00:14:20) - Toledo is secondary. Burlington, Vermont is tertiary. Bellingham, Washington is tertiary. Yuma and Flagstaff, Arizona are both tertiary. Yes. We're talking about the stability in rents in tertiary real estate markets. Conventionally. You know, in the past, I've said that MSAs of 500 K population or more, that's pretty much where you want to be. But anymore, with the rise of remote work after 2019, it's really making some of these smaller tertiary markets more palatable to real estate investors and something that you probably want to consider. So really, that's the takeaway for you here and say this is the kind of stuff that really plays into my interests as a geography guy. See, I'm a real estate guy, but I might be the most geography interested real estate guy out there. Geography is something that I really love, though I could I don't share too much geography here on a real estate show. Sometimes it's relevant because both geography and real estate are location, location, location, but sometimes it's less relevant.   Keith Weinhold (00:15:25) - For example, North America's longest river is not the Mississippi, it's the Missouri River. The New York City metro area is so populated that more than one in every 18 Americans live there. That's almost 6% of the entire American population. See, some of this is more trivial or of general interest than it is relevant to real estate. Although you could learn some geography from me. Do you know the closest US state to Africa? If you draw a straight line, the closest state to Africa is not Florida or North Carolina. It is Maine. Look on a globe. Part of the reason that Maine is the closest state is that Africa is primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, not the southern, contrary to popular belief, and to look at a different continent. The entirety of South America is east of Jacksonville, Florida. Here's one more piece of geography. Canada's beautiful and mountainous Yukon Territory is larger than California, yet California has more than 900 times the population of the entire Yukon. Yes, the giant Yukon has less than 45,000 people.   Keith Weinhold (00:16:39) - It is the practice of guilt tipping out of control. And how do you respond to our world that seems to be increasingly unsafe and uncertain. That's coming up next. They say, if you give a man a fish you have fed him for. Or a day. But if you teach them to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime. Well, here at gray, we do both. I'm not talking about both in terms of men and women, but we teach you how to fish and give you a fish. Get rich. Education is where we teach you how to fish. With this show, with our blog and newsletter and videos, we also give you a fish. That's it. Gray marketplace. It's one of the few places you'll find affordable, available properties that are good quality there at marketplace. They're all conducive to our strategy of real estate pays five ways I'm Keith Wild. You're listening to get Rich education. Jerry listeners can't stop talking about their service from Rich lending group and MLS. For 256.   Keith Weinhold (00:17:45) - They've provided our tribe with more loans than anyone. They're truly a top lender for beginners and veterans. It's where I go to get my own loans for single family rental property up to four plex. So start your pre-qualification and you can chat with President Charlie Ridge. Personally, though, even deliver your custom plan for growing your real estate portfolio. Start at Ridge Lending Group. You know, I'll just tell you, for the most passive part of my real estate investing, personally, I put my own dollars with Freedom Family Investments because their funds pay me a stream of regular cash flow in returns are better than a bank savings account up to 12%. Their minimums are as low as 25 K. You don't even need to be accredited for some of them. It's all backed by real estate, and I kind of love how the tax benefit of doing this can offset capital gains in your W-2 jobs income, and they've always given me exactly their stated return paid on time. So it's steady income, no surprises while I'm sleeping or just doing the things I love.   Keith Weinhold (00:18:55) - For a little insider tip, I've invested in their power fund to get going on that text family to 66866. Oh, and this isn't a solicitation. If you want to invest where I do, just go ahead and text family to 66866.   Speaker 3 (00:19:16) - This is real estate investment coach Naresh Vissa. Don't live below your means. Grow your needs. Listen to get rich education with Keith Weinhold.   Keith Weinhold (00:19:34) - Welcome back. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. There will only ever be one great podcast. Episode 477. And you're listening to it perhaps on one third of our episodes. Throughout the show's history, there is no guest. It's 100% me, a slack jawed monologue like it is today, and lots of great Jerry episodes coming up in the future, including Robert Helms other real estate guys here soon as he runs alongside me for an episode as we discuss goals. If you get value from and you don't want to miss any future episodes, be sure to hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform so that you're sure to hear from me again after today.   Keith Weinhold (00:20:16) - Is guilt tipping out of control? We have all felt it now. Does this happen to you today when you're about to pay the Starbucks barista or for the subway sandwich and they spin the digital payment terminal around toward you and say, it's just going to ask you a question before you pay. And then they stand there and they look at you in the face and they watch what you choose. All right. Does that right there give you a tinge of anxiety or even stress you out? Well, if you give in to that, that is called guilt tipping. And you know what? I've got a solution to guilt tipping. A simple and elegant way that I'm going to share with you so that you never have to see a payment terminal like this in your face again, that asks you for a tip when you're out shopping or dining and paying for something. Yes, I've got a proven solution for how you'll never even be asked to leave a guilt tip again because I tested it and mastered it. It works.   Keith Weinhold (00:21:20) - We even have an unverified report on Reddit of a self-serve digital kiosk now even asking you for a tip. What? I mean, how far will this go? Yes, like a self-checkout for your own groceries at a supermarket like Giant or Safeway? First, let's get some context about why this is so important to you in the first place and how bad it's getting. It might even be worse than what you're thinking here. All right, a new study from Pew Research. It found that 72% of people said that the long standing practice of tipping is now expected in more places than it was five years ago. My reaction to that stat is what? How is it not 100% of people saying that it's happening all over the place, and consumers like you and I are increasingly getting tired of it? The way it works is that today's digital payment prompts, they allow businesses to preset suggested tip levels, so it's easier than ever for them to ask for tips and companies that have not done so in the past. They are definitely doing it now rather than giving employees a raise.   Keith Weinhold (00:22:35) - Instead, they're asking you to supplement the employee wage by asking you for tips where they didn't before. Must you fight back like David Horowitz, if you're uninitiated on that? I learned about a popular show that apparently ran on prime time network television in the 1980s. The show was called Fight Back with David Horowitz, and it advocated for how consumers can fight back against unscrupulous business practices. In fact, let's listen into the cornball intro of this show, which your parents might remember. It's something about fight back. Don't let businesses push you around.   Speaker UU (00:23:20) - But don't let anyone push you around. Fine, but stand up and hold your ground. I got. Someone tries to you in. Five spot. Just.   Speaker 4 (00:23:44) - Oh, jeez. Yeah.   Keith Weinhold (00:23:45) - Fight back against guilt tipping, I suppose. See, a few years back, the reason that you began getting asked to leave a tip in places you hadn't before. That's because it was a way for you to provide a gratuity for service workers. Because you were supposed to have appreciated that they showed up during the health crisis when a lot of workers did not want to show up.   Keith Weinhold (00:24:09) - But now that the crisis appears largely over with, the tip requests have not gone away. They've gotten worse because by now companies see what they can get away with. Now, look, people don't want to feel like a jerk or a cheapskate. You don't. I don't, but businesses are taking advantage of that fact by making bigger than usual tips. The default option on these payment terminals. It really that's the crux of the annoyance. Say that you're given choices of 20, 25, or 30% on a payment terminal just for someone handing you a pre-made sandwich that's already wrapped in cellophane. I've had it happen to me, and then hoping that you will just go ahead and pay the extra amount, rather than hassling with clicking custom tip and entering a smaller number like 10% or zero. Understand something here. The business call it a sandwich shop. They're not the ones that always decide what tip options you're presented with. Did you know that because the companies that own the payment systems, they can earn a cut of your money from each transaction? Those payment system companies, they also have an incentive to increase those amounts as much as possible, not just the sandwich shop, but they are both complicit in this scheme together.   Keith Weinhold (00:25:37) - But now sometimes you get asked to leave a tip beforehand before you're even delivered any good or service. And see, that's getting awkward too. And see the fear of that you and I should have. Now is that in this case, as the customer, as the client, you are going to get punished if you leave a low tip before they deliver the service to you. See, that's another big problem here with guilt tipping. Now, traditionally, tips were thought of as a way to reward good service after you already received what you paid for, right? That's how it works. You pay your server after a meal, you pay your valet. After they bring you your car. You pay the tour guide after your volcano hike or snorkel tour. If you thought that they did a good job. Now, just the other day at a chain fast casual Mexican restaurant that you've certainly heard of, I was being rung up about $35 for two double steak burritos, and there's a lower service level there than a full sit down restaurant.   Keith Weinhold (00:26:44) - But I left a 10% tip at the counter on that day. I thought they put lots of steak on them. And then I walked my burritos to the tables and the tables were messy. I could not find a clean table anywhere, but I had already left the tip. It was too late, so I left the tip and then only later did I discover the poor service, the messy tables. Oh gosh, I wasn't going to go back and try to undo the tip, huh? Before I tell you about my elegant solution so that you can forever avoid guilt tipping. So let's understand just where are Americans tipping today? The situations when people add a gratuity. You know, this really offers some insight into the new tipping landscape. And again, this is according to Pew Research for dining at sit down restaurants, 92% of people are tipping there. And of note, a majority said that they would tip 15% or less for an average sit down meal. That kind of surprised me, because etiquette experts say the tipping 20% at a full service restaurant is standard now, and that's what I do.   Keith Weinhold (00:27:48) - Okay, getting a haircut 78% of people tip today. Having food delivered 76% for those using a taxi or rideshare service like Uber, 61% of people said that they would tip. I tip for all those things. Buying coffee. Only 25% of people leave tips and eating at fast casual restaurants only 12%. So look, people are upset because we've had years of high consumer price inflation and service inflation on top of that. And then a tip on top of that. Yeah. So it's tip relation on top of inflation. And then there is this preponderance of restaurants especially. It suggests that you tip the post-tax amount. Have you noticed that that means that you're also paying a tip on the tax that you pay? So just pay attention to that next time you're at a sit down, full service restaurant, or really most any other place that suggests a tip amount. And yeah, that's annoying. And I really doubt that that business sends that extra revenue to the IRS where you're paying a tip to the tax amount.   Keith Weinhold (00:29:00) - Gosh. But it all comes back to tip and the influx of automatic prompts at businesses like coffee shops, it gives you more chances to tip, and it'll just wear you down and then wear you out, creating this sense of exhaustion thinking what is all this for? It is just wild. If supermarkets are asking you to leave a tip for self checkout, your supermarket wants to outsource their checkout duties from clerks and cashiers to you, asking you to scan your own groceries. By the way, that is an example of service inflation. And then they ask you for a tip. On top of this food inflation and service inflation, you're doing it all yourself. What is next? You're going to have to unload the store's delivery of food from the 18 Wheeler truck in the back, onto a forklift, and onto the shelves yourself. I kind of doubt that. But if grocery stores are convenience stores, self-serve kiosks, if they're requesting tips, then it's more likely that soon enough, your human checkout clerk is going to start requesting tips.   Keith Weinhold (00:30:09) - When you're checking out at Whole Foods or Publix or Wegmans or Safeway, that human checkout clerk that's going to appear as some sort of small luxury comparatively. I mean, I would expect that to come to your town next. Expect to see it if you haven't already. There used to be this general understanding of what different tip amounts convey to servers and workers. Now, decades ago, it used to be a 10% tip meant, all right, well, hey, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. A 15% tip was normal and 20%. That meant that person did an excellent job. But now those amounts have all become expected and they've all been bumped up 5% or more. All right, well, here's my solution to avoid guilt tipping the way to no longer see a digital payment terminal spun around put in your face. Putting you on the spot to make a nice tip is just this two word solution pay cash. Yes, when you pay cash, you don't have to see an electronic payment terminal at all.   Keith Weinhold (00:31:18) - And it's far easier for you to ignore a physical tip jar that's sitting on the counter over to the side of you. The elegant and simple solution to guilt tipping is to pay cash. Now go ahead and leave a tip for good service if you want to. I'm not here to suggest that you stop all tipping. It's about how you can make an elegant circumvention of guilt tipping. If you have an eight second long exchange where you ask for a cup of coffee and they turn around and pour it from a spout and hand it to you. And that's all they did. Well, that tips discretionary. The bottom line is that you don't have to tip every time you're prompted. And now go ahead and hit up that ATM with cash. You will be armed and you can avoid guilt tipping completely. And hey, can we say that you will be fighting back like David Horowitz? Tipping is fine, but guilt tipping is out of control. And hey, if you want to see more on guilt tipping, I really brought it to life on a video recently where I really broke it down.   Keith Weinhold (00:32:25) - That is on our YouTube channel. We are consistently branded as they say. Our YouTube channel is called get Rich education. So you can watch me talk about guilt tipping and show you more over there. Do you feel like the world that you're living in is increasingly uncertain and unsafe? And is that adversely affecting your investment decisions? That happens to some people and you can't make gains when you stay on the sidelines. I think some people make too much of uncertainty, even though it has always existed. Just look at the last about four years. You know, someone could have said, I am just paralyzed with inaction because of the pandemic. Oh, that's uncertain then the recession fears uncertain, then rising interest rates where they rose fast, uncertain. And today it might be wars uncertain. And you know, the same people that get paralyzed with uncertainty. They will soon say something next year like, well, it's a presidential election year. So. I think uncertainty is going to sideline me again. If you wait for uncertainty to abate, such as you have complete clarity or even great clarity, you're going to be waiting your entire life.   Keith Weinhold (00:33:47) - Uncertainty and an absence of complete safety that's existed in the world every single day since the day that you and I were born and before you and I were born. And it will exist after we're gone, too. I mean, really, just look at some of these disasters that have taken place just this century, and we're still in the first quarter of this century. And let's look here at some just in the US, not foreign crises. I'm thinking about the Y2K bug, the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers in the Pentagon, the Iraq war, the invasion into Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, where 1800 people were killed, the GREAtrillionECESSION, the Arab Spring, the surprise of Donald Trump becoming our president in 2016. Remember, that was a real upset over Hillary Clinton. How about the jarring events of January 6th of the Capitol less than three years ago, the eviction moratorium, the slow creep of climate change, the riots and civil unrest with the George Floyd protests, the wildflowers from California to Maui.   Keith Weinhold (00:35:00) - I mean, I could go on and on about how winners just keep thriving despite a world that's constantly uncertain and unsafe. And I'm only talking about things that involve the United States here, and I'm keeping it confined to this century just a little more than two decades. I mean, before that, we had World wars. We had the Dust Bowl, Cuba's Bay of pigs invasion in the Cuban Missile Crisis that could have led to a nuclear apocalypse that completely destroyed the entire world. There is relative clarity today compared to all that. How about an assassination attempt of our President Reagan? I mean, things are substantially more certain today in a lot of ways. And today, American employment is strong, GDP is growing. Our currency is fairly stable despite our problems, which will always exist. Today, the US economy is outperforming everybody in the world. And in a world that some feel is uncertain and unsafe, just consider the relative sense of certainty and safety you have today. Well, we discuss wars today. As bad as they are when they do happen, they're never on US soil.   Keith Weinhold (00:36:13) - Can you imagine an attack on American soil? How would that sound? Like? The enemy has destroyed and taken control of Charleston in Savannah. And next they're moving inland to take down Atlanta. I mean, that's so unlikely that your mind isn't even conditioned to think that way. But the reason that it seems, seems like your world is getting less certain and less safe is because of media. Media is more fractured than it's ever been. It wants your attention. So with more competition with everything from YouTube videos to TikTok clips now competing with legacy media, you get introduced to more fear in order to get your attention. My gosh. I mean, is American life safer than ever? You can make the case that it's become too safe even. I've talked to you before about how things could very well be in safety overboard mode in real estate. Now here we talk about providing clean, safe, affordable and functional housing. But she should need GFCI outlets all over the place in your property, and carbon monoxide detectors and fire rated doors, even when their improvement to your safety is negligible.   Keith Weinhold (00:37:32) - American society at large is so ultra safe and in fact, there's even a term for this now it's called safety ism. Yeah, look it up. It's how excessive safety is becoming harmful to society. When you are on your last passenger plane flight at night and you just wanted to take a nice nap, or you wanted to get some sleep, did the pilot come on to the intercom system and wake you up, telling you to sit down and put your seatbelt on every time? Just a small amount of turbulence was being felt. Oh, there are endless instances like that where society's gotten so safe that it's just annoying. The last time that I was shopping at Lowe's, the home improvement store, a forklift driver was slowly driving the aisles really carefully. And besides just the forklift driver sitting on the seat, there was a second man, a flagger, that was out in front of him, walking, holding two little flags. So the shopping customers knew that a forklift. This coming. Like, that's such a wild hazard to human safety.   Keith Weinhold (00:38:37) - I mean, gosh, the gross inefficiency of that just to improve safety ever so slightly. Construction workers that have to wear hard hats outdoors in an open field. I mean, our society has become Uber safe. Now, don't get me wrong, some measure of safety is definitely a good thing, but I'm underscoring the fact that historically, this world that you're living in is ultra safe and ultra certain. And then within our investing world, take a look around what can be said to be certain and uncertain. Apple. They're the world's largest company by market cap at about $3 trillion. And their risk is that eventually they might fail to keep innovating. How about Bitcoin? Bitcoin could have government crackdowns or some other lack of certainties, their money in the bank and owning Treasury bonds. All right. That's fairly safe and certain. But you aren't getting any real yield there. And in a world that feels more uncertain and unsafe than it really is, bring it back to the positive attributes of being a real estate investor here.   Keith Weinhold (00:39:46) - You know, monetary inflation is a near certainty, and so is the fact that people will pay you rent if you put a roof over their heads. Certainty. It helps to be mindful that safety is the opposite of freedom, and that having security is the opposite of having opportunity. Hey, well, speaking of opportunity, join our investment coach Norris for Grizz Live event that is to night. You can join from the comfort of your own home. You get to select from one of the two options for Florida Income property. You can select either a 5.75% mortgage rate or the 224 program, which means two years of free property management. 2% of the purchase price. In closing cost credit to you and a generous $4,000 lease up fee credit. Sign up. It's free. It's our live event tonight, the 27th at 8:30 p.m. eastern, 530 Pacific. If you're a few days late, be sure to watch the replay soon. register@webinars.com to have a chance at putting some new Build Florida Income property in your portfolio.   Keith Weinhold (00:41:00) - Until next week, I'm your host, Keith Winfield. Don't quit your day dream.   Speaker 5 (00:41:08) - Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get Rich education LLC exclusively.   Keith Weinhold (00:41:36) - The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building. Get rich education.

Today's guest is Jim Shockey.  Jim is an award-winning writer, wildlife photographer, videographer, naturalist, wilderness guide, and outfitter. He is the host of Jim Shockey's Hunting Adventures, The Professionals, Uncharted, and Shock Therapy on the Outdoor Channel.   He owns several outfitting territories in Canada's wildlands, including the Pacific Rim Guide Territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Rogue River Outfitting in the Yukon Territory. His work documenting wildlife has been widely recognized, and his television productions have won 15 Golden Moose Awards. He's also an accomplished marksman, an official Member International of the Explorers Club in New York City, and a retired Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of 4 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (4CRPG) Canadian Armed Forces. In college, Jim was an all-American swimmer and member of the Canadian National Water Polo team.    A noted expert in ethnocentric arts of Western Canada, Jim opened the Hand of Man Museum of Cultural Arts and Conservation on Vancouver Island in 2019. His debut thriller, Call Me Hunter, is available now. You can follow him on Instagram @jimshockeyofficial / Facebook @JimShockey / Twitter @JimShockey_ and find out more at jimshockey.com  Since the recording of the podcast, Jim Shockey's wonderful wife, Louise, passed away. Our thoughts, prayers, and heartfelt condolences are with the entire Shockey family.  SPONSORS: Navy Federal Credit Union: Today's episode is presented by Navy Federal Credit Union. Learn more about them at navyfederal.org Black Rifle Coffee Company: Today's episode is also brought to you by Black Rifle. Purchase at http://www.blackriflecoffee.com/dangerclose and use code: dangerclose20 at checkout for 20% off your purchase and your first coffee club order! Danger Close Apparel: Check out the new Danger Close apparel.  8 Sleep: Go to eightsleep.com/dangerclose and save $150 on the Pod Cover by Eight Sleep Featured Gear SIG: Today's featured gear segment is sponsored by SIG Sauer. You can learn more about SIG here. Badass Workbench  Fort Knox Safe Masada by Israel Weapon Industries Allegiance Flag Supply  Origin Raptor Camo Shirt Petzl Headlamps Half Face Blades  Outdoorsmans.com  1st Phorm Protein Sticks