Leroy Hite of Cutting Edge firewood is revolutionizing the way people experience a firepit and also how to use premium firewood to change the taste of your food. Leroy started in the firewood business and had started like most "FIRWUD4SALE" - After that venture ended, he did a stint in the corporate world until he got the SIGN to start again with a new twist on firewood delivery and experience. The premium service he has started and grown has become an excellent story of ideas to operations to scaling. Give it a listen around the fire! Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
-----
GOLD NUGGETS:
(11:36) - Entrepreneurship and Firewood Innovation
(30:45) - From Corporate Job to Firewood Business
(36:42) - Entrepreneurial Journey in the Firewood Industry
(47:37) - Revolutionizing the Firewood Industry
-----
Leroy’s Links:
Website | www.cuttingedgefirewood.com
-----
Book Mentioned: Good To Great
-----
Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Dale Cardwell, Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!
-----
If You Loved This Episode Try These!
• Lessons for Business from Hiking the Appalachian Trail | Jerry Travers
• Turning 23 Years of McDonald's Franchise Ownership to an Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
• Attracting High-Value Clients with Irresistible Marketing Messages | Daniel Den
-----
Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!
Leroy Hite of Cutting Edge firewood is revolutionizing the way people experience a firepit and also how to use premium firewood to change the taste of your food. Leroy started in the firewood business and had started like most "FIRWUD4SALE" - After that venture ended, he did a stint in the corporate world until he got the SIGN to start again with a new twist on firewood delivery and experience. The premium service he has started and grown has become an excellent story of ideas to operations to scaling. Give it a listen around the fire! Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
-----
GOLD NUGGETS:
(11:36) - Entrepreneurship and Firewood Innovation
(30:45) - From Corporate Job to Firewood Business
(36:42) - Entrepreneurial Journey in the Firewood Industry
(47:37) - Revolutionizing the Firewood Industry
-----
Leroy’s Links:
Website | www.cuttingedgefirewood.com
-----
Book Mentioned: Good To Great
-----
Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Dale Cardwell, Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!
-----
If You Loved This Episode Try These!
• Lessons for Business from Hiking the Appalachian Trail | Jerry Travers
• Turning 23 Years of McDonald's Franchise Ownership to an Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
• Attracting High-Value Clients with Irresistible Marketing Messages | Daniel Den
-----
Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!
Why don't you just give us that story of running into a bear?
Speaker 2:It was in Pennsylvania Rock, sylvania, and it was a long day, it was a 30 mile day, and I fell behind the group by quite a ways but she kept. My daughter, tandem, kept texting me telling me where they were and they had gotten on the road and gotten into a hotel and I said, okay, I'll meet you there in a couple hours. So I heads down, started hiking in the dark with my headlamp on and I heard.
Speaker 1:I hear a bear ahead of me coming at me on the trail welcome to the small business saf where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in adventure team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. Is it another week? Is it another podcast? Are you in your car? Are you feeling a little down? You're like you know what man life's got me down a little bit. Things just aren't going my way, just not really feeling it.
Speaker 1:Hopefully we're going to pick you up, because today's episode is going to be one of those. Pick me up, get through those mountains, get you through the mountaintop of success in a whole different way, in a whole different background. But before we do it, One more pun. You know a little tease from chris. You know it's the radio tease, because you know I am, uh, now on a radio. Yeah, you are. You've mentioned that once or twice, yeah. So now uh, you know uh famous uh atlanta-based radio personality. I think I am now uh 465 on the charts in terms of most well-known radio person for a second.
Speaker 3:There the tire talk talking about your weight whoa oh hang on there, big dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, we have got to uh talk. So, but before, but before we get to this. You know the trails of adventures are numerous, alan, and I think what's very awesome is that we have two accomplished trail masters here at the table today for the podcast. We have one who went on the Bourbon Trail and one who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.
Speaker 3:Which one did Alan do?
Speaker 1:Hmm, which one do you think took more effort and more practice and more preparation?
Speaker 3:I did practice a lot just over that weekend, attaboy yeah.
Speaker 1:There it is. The teeth has been done. Let's get into this. Guys, this is a little bit different. We have Jerry Travers here who hiked the Appalachian Trail. That's 2,150 plus miles. That's 2,150 plus miles from Georgia to Maine, and he did it with his older daughter and it was an amazing adventure and a great thing. And what we're going to talk about is kind of just sit back right, we're riding around, maybe you're picking us up on a walk, maybe you're checking us out when you're in your office for a minute. This is one where you're going to pick up some inspo, because what this guy did and how he did it was pretty amazing, because he just don't strap on the backpack and say you know what? I'm ready to go, I got my Nikes on and we're just going to start ripping through the Appalachian Trail.
Speaker 3:You know, I think when people say, oh, I climbed Mount Everest, we all know that we can't do it. But then you mentioned Ike and the AT and I'll bet you most of the bubba's out there are like you know, it's long, but I bet I could do it, and I'm like no, you can't. I mean you're starting in the winter, you're ending in the winter. You know you turn an ankle sick, all the things that are going to happen besides being out in the middle of nowhere. For what is it? Six months, yes, it's about six months to do the 2,200 miles. So I look at you as somebody who climbed Mount Everest. I am so impressed, I'm so excited today, I can't even begin to tell you.
Speaker 2:In little pieces.
Speaker 1:Ah, you still did it All right Before we do that, though. Ah, you still did it All right. Before we do that, though. Jerry, just a quick background for everybody. Now you went to. Is it the most famous institution in Georgia or the second most famous college and institution in Georgia? I'll let you buzz boys figure it out. So Alan has always been partial to the Jackets. He's got a son there and I know, jerry, you went there, I had two that went to Georgia.
Speaker 3:You seem to discount that. Well, you didn't wear the Jackets. Oh, there we go.
Speaker 1:Go bus. So, Jerry, you went to school. What did you get your degree in? What did you jump in to do? Give us a little background on your work and your life a little bit before the AT stories.
Speaker 2:I started at Tech in Mechanical Engineering and couldn't quite manage it. So I ended up graduating in Industrial Management with a minor in Computer Science, and then I joined IBM when they first released their first personal computer in 1984.
Speaker 3:Was that like the size of my car?
Speaker 2:No, it was a desktop, but it had two floppy disks in it. Five and a quarter inch floppy disks.
Speaker 3:Have you been to the Computer Museum of America or something like that that happens to be in Roswell, Georgia.
Speaker 1:As a matter of fact I have been to that Really. I went to a networking event there and it is pretty phenomenal. Now you know again, computers can age the hell out of all of us because it just went so fast. But raise your hand if you remember floppy disks yeah, hands in the room right now, yep, so so I love it.
Speaker 1:So you went to work. Uh, 84 ibm, that is the. That is the big blue ibm years. That's where you had to have the white shirt, blue tie every day, yep. And uh, you know what? On tuesdays, you got to have the white shirt, blue tie Every day, yep. And you know what? On Tuesdays, you got to wear a white shirt and blue tie.
Speaker 1:And the casual Fridays white shirt, blue tie. So you got into computers that way. Obviously, that's the forefront when it really started to get going. So what was that career arc like for you?
Speaker 2:It was excellent. I learned so much more than I'd learned at Georgia Tech hands-on because I got inside the boxes. I learned about circuitry. In fact, I learned the hardware very well, to the point where I was then a systems engineer with IBM and I was following the marketing guys around putting the box down and selling it to the customers, while the salesman told them the price and signed the contracts.
Speaker 3:It was probably super effective, because salesmen I don't know if you've ever noticed this can kind of stretch the truth a little bit, defy physics, promise things that don't exist, and then you get somebody like Jerry who's like well, here's exactly how it works.
Speaker 1:Well, you're not talking about the trusted toolbox. That's $5 billion worldwide, are you? I mean, and we've serviced over 55 million customers.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't, is that?
Speaker 1:much, of course not.
Speaker 3:You're a man of integrity.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't stretch the truth. As a guy who got a mechanical engineering degree, I can stretch the hell out of the truth, all right. So back to Jerry and the IBM, can we? All right? So, ibm, you're on the path, sticking with Big Blue. Where were you?
Speaker 2:I was in downtown Atlanta. Oh okay, In fact, my last office with IBM was the IBM Tower on 14th Street.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it didn't stay with IBM your whole career, which again, at that time that was really clear. But when you joined you probably said, yep, I'm getting the gold watch, I'm going to retire my blue tie, I'm getting out of there. That's because that's what everybody did in 1984, because that's what everybody had been doing with IBM, right?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly, but changes that happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Changes happened because I learned the software that was running on the boxes as well. That was running on the boxes as well, and at the time it was OS2, which a lot of people don't recall, but it competed with Windows NT. So I attended a lot of context and showed off the OS2 versus Microsoft next to us which was showing NT, Windows NT. And once Bank of America heard that we had a team that knew OS2, could service OS2, and program to OS2, they hired us away from IBM because all the financial centers at Bank of America were running OS2. So in the mid-90s we all jumped ship and went over for a lot more money to Bank of America and started supporting their financial centers.
Speaker 3:Did you have to move to Charlotte for that?
Speaker 2:Nope, it was Mitchell Street downtown.
Speaker 1:I know where that is and I know what he did.
Speaker 3:That's an amazing career already, without having to leave a couple of blocks.
Speaker 1:Let me paint that picture. So you're on the big ship IBM, think like the quick, the qe2, right and you can see jerry and his band of pirates with patches over their eye, jumping ship, getting in their little dinghies and going over and grabbing the pirate ship, going army babies.
Speaker 3:that's not how it went exactly, yeah I really didn't understand it until you explained it that way. Thank you all right see now see.
Speaker 1:See now see, that's, I do it I bring it together. All right, okay, can we go back? Sure, all right, yeah. So all right, software OS2. Wildly enough, back my first Anderson consulting job. I learned that they were all running off OS2. So pretty wild. So, all right, so you're on that team. Yeah, running the os2 for bank of america. Yes, now did you end with bank of america? I did. How about that? Yeah, two companies, yeah, that's um actually three companies.
Speaker 2:Oh, we were a contracting company at first with bank of america for about six years, from 97 to 2003, doing doing all the programming, setting up all their machines, updating everything. And then we were allowed to become associates with Bank of America. After that we had to prove our worth.
Speaker 3:We were allowed, oh they granted you the privilege.
Speaker 1:I feel like I helped enable that because I was on the nation's bank merger team and we came through and just ripped through the entire event back to the band of married misfits led by Hugh McCall. I just happened to be in the group. But, yeah, so 2003,. By then we had already I had actually moved on. By then I had joined SunTrust. Yeah, because I worked with B of A well Nations 98 to 2001.
Speaker 2:That's true. It was Nations Bank then too for us.
Speaker 3:Can we get to the trail and the bears now? All right, here we go.
Speaker 1:So well before we do that. So that was his work life, personal life. How many kids did you have? We had three, three. So one boy, one boy in the middle, in the middle and three girls, two girls, two In the middle and three girls, two girls, two girls I'm sorry I'm not doing the math right, I was getting so excited. So one boy, all right. One of the things that you did and you're a big volunteer and I know you've done a lot in our community here in Atlanta but one of the things you did is you were a Boy Scout leader. Yes, I was a Scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop. Out of All Saints in Dun.
Speaker 2:Um out of uh all saints in dunwoody. On all saints.
Speaker 1:Catholic church in dunwoody see, I did my homework great memory. Yeah, so, uh. So you did that with one boy and two girls, said to that again.
Speaker 3:You know, I thought I could leave you alone with the math up to five or ten. Yeah, I can't, I can't. The fingers were off because I don't actually you know what happens my pen got stuck.
Speaker 1:Are you counting your pen? That's what happened. It got in the way I counted, I counted the wrong. So how many years were you, the scout master?
Speaker 2:I was a scout master for 26 years, from 1986 until 2012.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, alan, I don't like kids that much. I don't either. I'm not. I mean, I love my kids. Uh, I just don't know if I like yours actually. I like your kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like most people's kids, so I like your kids, but, but I wouldn't know if I like yours Actually, I like your kids. Yeah, I don't like most people's kids, so I like your kids, but I wouldn't be a scout?
Speaker 1:No, definitely not for 26 years. Holy cow, I'd have been a lot of pills. What a great service.
Speaker 2:It was the outings, it was the hiking. We would do an outing once a month. In fact, all of my fellow scout leaders were single like I was, so we would, for every month we'd go hiking the at. We'd go camping out at a campsite in somewhere in georgia and we had a great time. We take the kids to summer camp for a week at burt adams out in covington, so it was very fulfilling. I like being out to wars.
Speaker 1:So not only did it do it because maybe his kid got into it and got dragged into it, like we all do. Like, let me tell you about my T-ball coaching years, yeah, yeah, as I got dragged into it and then they drafted my team for me the next year because I could make the draft. Guess who got the worst team ever. But don't worry, you're not bitter about that best serve because I won next year.
Speaker 3:The next year I won a championship. Don't go in, but I'm not a little compelian. Oh now, did you grow up camping and is that where you fell in love with it, or I did?
Speaker 2:okay, I was a scout myself and I got my eagle scout in 77. What was your project? It was branding bicycles for dekab county so that they, if they were stolen, they could be easily found to return to owners.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to ask how many actually came back, but I think today is a good idea. I think they get parted out pretty quick now, right, all right.
Speaker 1:So now I think we hit that youthful enthusiasm right. Hey, he changed it. He got an Eagle Scout deal, man, I know. And that's a big darn deal, man, it is a huge deal, it is Well, well done. So that started the foundation for what eventually became the AT hike. So when did this idea come that? You know what? I'm going to take some time off and you know what I'm just going to start whipping through the wilderness and head up to Maine.
Speaker 2:Well, in 2011, I did start to burn out a little bit. I just awarded my 43rd Eagle to my own son and the parents that were in the troop asked me to stay on for one more year so that I could award in person the Eagle Scout to their sons when they got it. So I rode 2012 out to the end of the year and I retired at the christmas party and said called it quits after 26 years. And it was right then when I decided I wanted to through hike the appalachian trail all right.
Speaker 1:So the preparation? Um steve been hiking all your life. This is easy for you. So you say you don't, I'm just gonna strap on the pack and off we go.
Speaker 2:Nope no, what's the most amount of nights you'd ever been out on a hike uh, philmont out in northern new mexico has 12 day itineraries, so you that's the longest I've been continuously on a trail wow, how many days did you stay out on the bourbon trail, alan?
Speaker 1:three, three, okay, ooh, that must have been torture.
Speaker 3:I really could have probably gone one more if I'd applied myself, you know what Next time?
Speaker 1:Okay, this is just the practice run. You and I are hitting the Bourbon Trail eventually, all right. So you had this idea and you told your wife hey look, kids are out of school. Life's looking good. I'm going to take off for a year.
Speaker 2:Not just a year, but let's call it nine months. Kids were still in high school and college when I got this wild hair.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And my daughter Bennett was a senior or junior becoming a senior at UGA, and she found that she was going to graduate a semester early because she's such a smart girl, and so she, with the December 2023 or 2013, 13, um graduation date, I said, do you want to hike the eight 80 with me? And she said, sure, I would love to do that and not go look for a job. So we at that point spent six months evaluating backpacks, weighing everything, reading books, and she was really studious on it and actually talked me into a much lighter sleeping bag and pad. So by the time we left I had a 12-pound base weight. That's without food or water.
Speaker 3:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:My backpack with my laptop every day going back and forth to work is over 12 pounds.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, you and I carry 12 pounds of a lot of things that we shouldn't be carrying. I got well, I got much more than 12, so, uh, normally you leave what march? Something like that, and that's when we left.
Speaker 2:That's when you left the following year right, you roll the dice on the winter weather in march and we ended up with two snowy and icy days, one in North Georgia and another at elevation in the Smokies.
Speaker 3:So when you are planning to go 2,200 odd miles, you're looking at how many a day average.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to be a book and tell you. You start the first week with seven to eight miles per day until you get your trail legs, and then, when you get your trail legs, you can probably approach 15 to 20. So we usually hiked 18 to 20 each day.
Speaker 1:So that's the part that I felt was important. And again, what did he do before he started this adventure? He read, he evaluated, he figured out how to be best equipped to start something. Hmm, sounds like starting a business. Obviously, you didn't talk about the physical part of this, but you guys had to have been going out doing day hikes and doing other things and other things to strengthen your body and your core right.
Speaker 2:We did probably a half dozen shakedown hikes, one of which was the approach trail up to up springer mountain and back down again what does shakedown hike mean?
Speaker 2:a shakedown. Hike is really a shakedown of your physical ability as well as a shakedown of the gear you're carrying. So when you set up at night, when you set up at night, you find that a pad may not be the right thickness for you. Maybe that's not enough air for your sore back, maybe the tent is too narrow for you or too short for your six foot four height. So you shake down everything and try it out.
Speaker 3:I can see the mind of the engineer here. You know, I don't think most people think this hard about it.
Speaker 1:Well, and this is why I mean, before we start hiking and talking about all this stuff on the hike and how that went, the preparation here cannot be overlooked. This exactly the engineer. I want the right pad, I want the right, I mean this. This is the kind of stuff you need to do before you start a businessman.
Speaker 3:This is huge and the more you think about it. So the question I'm dying to ask is you know most of the time you hear people say the first time they do something like that within a couple of days they're just dumping stuff, all this useless, you know things that they went to rei and thought, oh, that would be great. But my guess is is, maybe you thought through it so much that you really didn't jettison much yes, I ended up only jettisoning cold weather clothing when it warmed up.
Speaker 3:That's it, star pupil, I guess you know a boy scout, eagle scout, eagle scout, a little higher, yeah, a little higher, a little more prepared, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. Okay, this is amazing, but that's the other thing. You asked the great leading question because the and I'll get to this in a second he, he said what's your average? It's not an average. He's taking you to school, right, you have to get your sea legs and then, once you get warmed up, you can get to 15 to 20 miles a day and you're this isn't just walking around the street no, it's not going around the track, it's up, up, it's down, it's through and down, and over and around.
Speaker 3:I've heard there's some stretches up north that it's like roots and rocks and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Pennsylvania, yeah, roxylvania.
Speaker 3:Roxylvania. I don't want to see that one again, I take it All right.
Speaker 1:So for many of us who have not done the AT and there's so many, that would be all of us except for a handful, a handful. So you guys attempted the through hike, and that's what your goal was was the through hike. So you had a vision and mission. Your goal was to get through there and come out alive. And then it was go all the way through on a through hike. So through hike, the definition is how do they know you're a through hiker?
Speaker 2:The definition of a through hiker by the smell, I would think Is the smell yeah as well and um.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly. Thank you, Alan. This is a podcast. I should have let him answer that they can't smell through the radio. Hey, good news is he did the AT a long time ago. He's smelling just fine, all right.
Speaker 3:Many showers since yeah no, he smells great, just so everybody knows right now.
Speaker 2:The definition of a through hike is when you do it in one contiguous year. One contiguous year, so it can be, or it can be over a year, but as long as you don't leave the trail for longer than say a day or two, and keep hiking.
Speaker 1:So and you, uh, you have to sign a book, right, or some somebody has. You have to sign in to say I started here at amalekalola falls state park. Okay, do you know how many people have ever uh completed the at from south to north, or is there, I'm sure?
Speaker 3:there's stat, I'm sure there's an average per year and then the average that make it I know the average per year is only about 10 to 15 percent.
Speaker 2:That start that make it that make it to katahdin in maine sounds like starting a business.
Speaker 1:I'm going back to it again right, one out of ten make it, yeah, right, so obviously a pretty lofty goal. But you guys, uh, you and your daughter, which is another amazing, uh dynamic that we'll have to we'll talk about that um, there's no way in hell I could walk with my daughter, for even it's just in a way I need to left you for dead in the bushes. Well, I said I wouldn't walk with her. No, yeah, I'd be gone.
Speaker 1:In fact, those bears yeah, take a look over this precipice. And she, she'd be on the. She'd be on. I swear, I swear on my life. She would have been in front of the camera. I don't know where he is. I think the pears got him and if they would have rolled video they would have found that she got, she stuck me, bled me and then she left me for dead for him.
Speaker 3:Just a little nudge over the cliff. Yeah, I love my daughter. All right, all right.
Speaker 2:What kept us hiking was the fact that my 55-year-old body would wake up early, like at 5 am, before all the millennials that were camped around me and I would just quietly pack up, grab a snack bar and hike, and I'd be five miles ahead of them by the time they woke up and, but then they eventually they'd patch up with me for lunch, usually at a shelter that I'd be sitting there dangling my feet off of.
Speaker 2:We'd have lunch and then they would take off and I would catch up with them at the end of the day I can.
Speaker 3:I can only imagine so I I have, uh, started there at springer mountain, and never with no intention, it's just some buddies and we did a couple of nights and that first section is just a sea of humanity and people with radios playing and stuff like that. And then by the first night and the next day all of a sudden it's some people who may be going for a week or a few days, but then you start it's just starts weeding out and then you see the through hikers and they're a completely different breed. You get the trail name, the stories. I can only imagine you know 10 days in the kinds of people that you're running across so that's why people through hike the appalachian trail.
Speaker 2:It's the friendships, long-term friendships, that you create with the true hikers that are with you day in and day out for a month or two and then sometimes you separate, but it's a closed kit community and everybody's friendly and everybody's looking out for each other and supporting each other with food if you're out, toilet paper if you're out, and things like that.
Speaker 1:Big one for Chris. Did you expect that, or was that an unexpected uh uh outcome?
Speaker 2:I. It was unexpected for me because I'd always been a solo hiker, even in my scouting days with the troop. I would hike with the scouts, but never I supported them. I pushed them as they hiked, but we weren't. I couldn't be buddies with them like we were as adults right on the at I guess that that that was the uh bigger surprise for me.
Speaker 1:I just didn't think that you'd get that community. It makes sense, as you say it, just like if you're a car enthusiast or if you're a bourbon drinker who goes on the bourbon trail without his friend. I'm sure he's got lots of friends now. Oh, I got lots of really good friends. I bet you do, buddy. Anyway, we'll talk about that one later. Let's get back to this. All right, so, uh, the the night, that the tight-knit stuff it happens later on in the trail or as it goes. And alan brought up something that I don't think a lot of people know uh, your name is jerry travers, but on the trail your name was buzz and your daughter low-hanging fruit right there yes, it was did.
Speaker 1:It was that self, uh, self-made semi-self.
Speaker 2:I did brag about the self, the fact that I was from georgia tech to a lot of hikers, so they knew the mascot and agreed that I should be buzz nice.
Speaker 1:So we got anointed buzz. Was it like a lord of the flies ceremony, where they have the players going down on a knee and what was your daughter's uh trail name?
Speaker 2:my daughter got her trail name at fontana state fontana dam, and a friend of hers that we've been with for a while said that we looked like a tandem bicycle going down the trail when we hiked together, so she was trail named tandem how cool is that?
Speaker 3:I thought he was gonna say damn it, it wasn Buzz and Tandem.
Speaker 1:Damn it. Damn it. That's Bill Caspi. Jesus Christ, buzz and Tandem. What a great trail name group, right, yeah, I mean that's super cool, yeah.
Speaker 2:And there weren't many parent-child pairings on the AT. We were very unique.
Speaker 3:One. No, no, no. So just the couple of few days that I was out there we ran across his family father, mother, son, daughter. The son was like 10. He'd already hiked across England. He'd. I mean, it was just a big time outdoorsy family the. The father and the daughter were going to go for a week and then they were going to go back so she could go to school and work. The mother was going to through hike with this. I can't remember. I think his name was Roadkill and I mean I felt like I was looking at a young Ernest Hemingway. I mean it's just like he was wise beyond his years. But they were going to homeschool on the.
Speaker 3:Appalachian Trail. Can you imagine that?
Speaker 1:Wow. So how did he play football? Why do you say that? I mean he's on the Appalachian Trail with a homeschool.
Speaker 3:There's no football team. What that wasn't?
Speaker 1:what high school was about? Big stretch, all right, trying All right back to the, the trail. So you guys are hiking. You got going, you started going through it. Let's talk about the first obstacle. The first time you went, bang, I got a big problem and I got a problem. Solve something, not just walking, that's this. What was the biggest first thing you guys ran into?
Speaker 2:the bird. The biggest hurdle that we hit had to have been the heavy snow just before the Smoky Mountains, which was even heavier in the Smokies, but we were right at the Smoky. We had climbed to the Smokies level and we got hit with a storm and it dropped about a foot of snow on us. My daughter was in a hammock and I was in a tent. That's how we traveled's how we traveled, and we were covered in snow overnight, and that just set us back for a few hours as we dried out, wrung out, warmed up and then got going again and you can.
Speaker 3:I mean, I know it's marked, but still, if you've got a foot of snow on the ground, it seems like it'd be pretty easy to get off that trail or twist a leg on a rock yeah, or that yes, oh, oh, yeah, oh, no, no, and I I mean there had to have been stretches where it rained for a week straight I just all right, we had. We had a five-day rain at one point I mean, can you imagine not being dry for five days?
Speaker 3:chris I mean and I don't mean you know alcohol wise I'm talking about yeah just neither.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in fact, both of them's gotta be shaking right now, but I was going, so they don't plow the trail. No, I'm happy to add a drink. You to spit up, I got him. Thank you okay, I have to get, I get a point for that. All right. So snow, but not undeterred. This is not not deterring.
Speaker 2:No, the the biggest deterrence was achilles tendon. Um, my achilles started acting up and I actually had to get off trail for a couple of days and come back to atl Atlanta for a doctor to look at it. The rest did me wonders and I got back on the trail. In fact, I changed my shoes shortly after that, from boots above my ankles to Merrill Moabs, which rode right under my ankle. It supported me very well.
Speaker 3:How many pairs of boots, shoes did you go through on the?
Speaker 2:hike Two pairs of boots and three pairs of Merrell Moabs Wow.
Speaker 3:Five. Thank you. Good job. He put down the pen so it could count.
Speaker 1:Five, all right. So back to the true hike. You got off the trail. In what state did you get off the trail on?
Speaker 2:Right near Virginia Tech in Virginia.
Speaker 1:And then came back to Atlanta.
Speaker 2:Came back to Atlanta, then went back.
Speaker 1:Went right to the point you got off and started back. Same spot.
Speaker 3:Your daughter came back with the item.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, and she wasn't disappointed that we got off. It gave her a chance to get her haircut yeah, that too I mean that trail food.
Speaker 1:Well, we're getting to that part because, uh, so one of the things that I thought was cool so we might as well talk about it now is that you had a great support system at home. Yes, we did, and what was that support system called?
Speaker 2:home base karen.
Speaker 1:Oh karen, there she is so cherry's wife care. So, uh, one of the things that she did, uh and I hope it's still out there somewhere and if it's not, we got to talk to you everybody and get it out there, we want to get that in the show notes is that you would, uh, I think you would transcribe.
Speaker 2:You would just talk, you'd send her an audio of what that day went like like a journal, and she would transcribe it, put it in a blog and post it I would write it each night in my tent and on my phone and then text it to her when I had signal, and then she would correct all the misspellings and post it on our blog.
Speaker 3:So how are you charging your phone?
Speaker 2:I carried a big battery. That was a lot of weight.
Speaker 3:In the 12 pounds.
Speaker 2:In the 12 pounds.
Speaker 1:Wow, yep, oh boy, all right. So let's go back to the blog. Is it available online? It pounds Wow, yep, oh boy, all right. So let's go back to the blog. Is it available online?
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're going to get that link because when they were doing this, I was notified because I had met them when our kids went to high school together. And I saw this online on Facebook and I'm like, oh, I'm going to sign up, I'm in, and I used to wake up at 3.30 in the morning so that you could exercise or I could sit there and sweat my company out, or sit there and wonder am I going to make payroll again today? Oh gosh, you know what? I'm going to read something else. I want to hear somebody else going through some more heartache. Oh wow, he's having fun. Oh shit, oh shit, how come he's having fun? I'm over sweating my butt off. No, I used to love these stories because if there's one thing I'm not gonna do, um, it's through. Like the atl, I'll do a bourbon trail. I'll throw, like that, some good odds. You know, I'll kill that thing but I'm not gonna do this.
Speaker 3:It's not a small undertaking, chris, that's a big talk, right there I know, hey, I, I got it.
Speaker 1:This one I've been trained my whole life for, since I was seven. By the way, yes, that's the first time I have drank the bathtub wine.
Speaker 3:I know about that one.
Speaker 1:So the blogs were so interesting. I felt like I was there with you. So you talked about the story of running into a bear. Why don't you just give us that story of running into a bear?
Speaker 2:um, it was in pennsylvania, rocksylvania, and it was a long day, it was a 30 mile day, and I fell behind, uh, the group by quite a ways. But she kept. My daughter, tandem, kept texting me telling me where they were and they had gotten on the road and gotten into a hotel and I said, okay, I'll meet you there in a couple hours. So I, heads down, started hiking in the dark with my headlamp on and I heard I hear a bear ahead of me, coming at me on the trail. So he's going southbound, I'm going northbound. I knew exactly what to do. I raised my arms and screamed at him and, like a dog, he tilted his head and then he turned into the woods.
Speaker 3:Oh, then you changed your pants what would you do, alan?
Speaker 1:is it because were you trained as an eagle scout to know that?
Speaker 3:no, no, just curl up in a ball and let them bat you around is what I thought.
Speaker 1:My first thought was, after you said northbound, southbound, eastbound, down, I'm going down faster than you and climb better than you. That's the problem but that's, that's what you had to do. But I mean again calm, if you can't figure this out through the podcast, this guy, as I am as excitable, this guy is cool, calm and collected. He will not be going off like a busted hose like Chris can on a daily basis. So clearly he had the calm sense and wits about him to handle that bear.
Speaker 3:He was probably highly motivated to get to a motel. That too, yeah, how many nights.
Speaker 2:that too, yeah, how many nights, okay so if it's 180 days or whatever it is, how many nights are in a hotel on the hike? Probably a 20. Okay. Also, you have another 20 in hostels along the trail, some of which are right on the trail now let's get to my favorite part eating.
Speaker 1:So here's the part that I think is really cool is that he also used to do a really good job of documenting what he was eating and the whole time he was losing weight and this dude was chomping down some serious child.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they got massive calorie uh intake on those, those uh dehydrated meals right they do, yeah, yeah, right out of the bag so, uh, is that one of the things in your preparation?
Speaker 1:you knew you were going to be burning so many calories that you couldn't eat like you used to. You had to eat more than you're used to eating.
Speaker 2:Exactly, we had to take in at least 2,000 plus calories, because we'd be burning close to 2,000 each day.
Speaker 3:So 2,000 more than your normal? Is that what you're saying? Well, well, I don't know what my normal, your normal, probably is about 2,000, I think those I mean like that pack of macarons the got like the beef arena and that kind of. I mean they're loaded.
Speaker 1:It's like you're on a michael phelps diet yeah, that that's the one thing I took away. And then there's this, this other thing that people would actually support what you were doing and you'd come through in a parking lot and they would have their coolers open. And you guys had a phrase for that one, and it literally took me four blog readings to figure out what the hell it was.
Speaker 2:It's called trail magic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they kept talking about trail magic. I'm like seriously, dude, what is it?
Speaker 2:I was thinking the whole time. I'm like, what kind of hallucinogenic is this eagle scout on? I'm like what in the hell is going on here on the at? Well, like you mentioned, trail magic can be a person who's kind enough to set up at the road that the trail is going to cross and feed any hiker that comes by. Or it could be a cooler that a church has put into the woods on ice cokes and water far enough off the road so people that drive by can't see the cooler in the woods. Or it can just be someone who's thoughtful enough to hike into a shelter and put a box full of candy bars there.
Speaker 3:Wow yeah, that must have been fun to see.
Speaker 2:It was so much fun oh.
Speaker 1:Right, so those are. Like, those are the. Those are the chocolate chip cookies. Right, those were the fun things like amazing how much a milky way would just like lift your spirits, right, exactly exactly the little things.
Speaker 3:So when you had a scenario where, I don't know, weather knocked you down or you weren't feeling well, are you calculating how many more miles do I have to walk tomorrow to make up for this, or do you just did you have a week or two to play with, knowing that the later you go, the deeper the snow is in Maine.
Speaker 2:Well, my tandem and I always hike together. We woke up together. For the most part, though, I woke up earlier and we ended the day together. So we always would stick together, and she had a core of friends hiking friends that would stay with her. So, in fact, a few of them were my friends too. So we buddied up and if one of us was twisted ankle for the afternoon we'd all slow down and chill at a shelter, set up our camp, make dinner and just have a shorter day.
Speaker 2:We didn't feel like we had to make it up, like we had to make it up as long as we made it to katahdin before they closed it in october and it's a random day in october, depending on when the snow comes then we were fine so there was no anxiety about being falling behind or no not at all so.
Speaker 3:so when you mentioned a 30 mile day, which think about that?
Speaker 1:that's walking from here to Atlanta 21 from here, 21 miles from here to Atlanta right now. So maybe they're walking to the airport, so you're walking to the airport 30 miles.
Speaker 2:There weren't many 30 mile days.
Speaker 3:We're probably only two in memory, and you were just cruising or you knew that was going to be a 30 mile day. How does that come about?
Speaker 2:Yes, we were just cruising and we would look at each other and say this is easy, we can do some bumps ahead of us, but we can do 30 miles and we'll be in Damascus, virginia, before the end of the day.
Speaker 1:Then we'll grab a hostel and stay there or do something in damascus so were there any intermediate milestones you guys felt like you had to hit to know that you were there? Because you mentioned about how, uh, I'm cool man, hey, as long as I make it to kata and I'm thinking again trail magic, shit. Right, what the hell is he doing here with this stuff? But no, it's so, you're not getting anxious about what. But were there interim milestones that you guys felt like you had to hit, or places you wanted to be at a certain time?
Speaker 2:the only times that we did that, 2014 was a world cup year, so and we had a lot of guys around us that really wanted to see the soccer matches, so we would have to make it to certain bars that we knew had TVs along the trail to watch the soccer.
Speaker 1:So that was the most stress on the trail in terms of time and distance, exactly To make sure we hit the World Cup. How about that? And you thought the World Cup guys had it tough? Huh gosh, this is. This is stress. Hey, I gotta see that. Were all these people american?
Speaker 2:that were your buddies no, there were a couple of germans um and mostly Europeans.
Speaker 1:Wow, mostly Europeans. How about that? So obviously the World Cup was a huge thing.
Speaker 2:It was to them. So since you had your phone.
Speaker 3:I don't know how much of the 2,200 miles you actually had service. But I mean, you kind of go out there to totally unplug and it's obviously very nice because you can research things, you can stay in touch, if you have trouble you can get a hold of people. But did you still feel plugged in or did you just kind of not look at it very often?
Speaker 2:No, I felt totally plugged in. I took a lot of pictures. I listened to music while I was writing my blog entry each night. In fact, I was listening to music when I was approaching the bear on the trail at 9 pm so, uh, what music do you listen to on the trail?
Speaker 1:I'm guessing death metal 70s rock.
Speaker 2:Oh hey nice close.
Speaker 1:Yeah, death metal, I. I told somebody. I said you know I'm working out the gym. I said, do you ever wonder what everybody's got in their ears? I mean, are you looking at me going? Is this guy listening to like npr podcast or something? I mean, what are you looking at me, montevani, and you have fear of the pan flute? Yeah, no idea that. I've listened to it, just crazy. Uh, hard rock crap, yeah so, but 70s rock is my go-to. Well, cv raymond's my go-to, but but uh, 70s rock. So that's your trail, I like it that's.
Speaker 3:Was there any point where you went? What have I done? Or?
Speaker 2:I'm not 100 sure I can make this there were a couple of days when tandem and I had tough emotional separation.
Speaker 3:She didn't want to talk to me, she didn't want to see me, so I gave her her space and we didn't talk for like a day and a half that we were in proximity to each other I'm assuming you obviously had a very good relationship going in, but did you sort of set up some ground rules before you started, like communication, it's okay to tell me that you don't want to be around me or did you just sort of figure that out along the way? Yes, chris is making heart gestures, and then the middle finger.
Speaker 1:Would I give you this sign. That's the big bear sign. Yeah, that's right we do.
Speaker 2:We did have an agreement between us that we would um allow each other some space if we needed to. If we got in an argument, we'd work it out. So things happen between fathers and daughters.
Speaker 3:You think Kidding All right, sidney, which is why he's alive and I'm not so sure about you, oh there's no way I'd make that.
Speaker 1:In fact we wouldn't make it up the practice run. We actually live right off. We have a house off the AT up in North Carolina. The Bartram Trail leads up to it, up on Weyabald I think. Even the drive up to Weyabald we got in an argument, so going into it you had a relationship with your daughter, coming out of it better Same.
Speaker 2:Better, better than it's ever been. Amazing. We got to know each other so well. She gave up searching for a job, which is what every college graduate does when they step out and get their diploma, so that was constantly on her mind get their diploma.
Speaker 1:So that was constantly on her mind. Yeah, so a little bit about. We talked about this, but, um, your kids are all, uh, very successful. And um again, as older people, we like to bang on young people for not being motivated as we were didn't work out. They want to want it easier, but your kids weren't geared that way. So her doing this was was kind of a huh, and there's probably some anxiety around that right.
Speaker 2:There was fear of missing out, built-in anxiety, but I I did a good job, I feel, of keeping her mind off of it. I would carry on conversations with her. I would appeal to some of her desires to stop short and get a hitch into a town. One of my favorite pictures is her sitting in the back of a pickup truck with her ponytail blowing out this way and our packs in the back, as we're riding into some town along the AT.
Speaker 1:Cool Memories that you'll always have. I mean, just again, memories a lot of us will never have.
Speaker 3:No, or just sitting here with a grin on my face just imagining that that is so cool.
Speaker 1:I think you might have posted that picture. I don't know If you didn't. I have the mental image of it because you posted a number of pictures over the thing. Again, guys, this blog it is a story. It's a good story. I know people have written about their time in the AT. I have not read those stories. I have not read those stories. I actually read some of the highlights and I went nah, I've already read it.
Speaker 3:Did you set up the resupply for, like shipments that came to you in certain towns where you cross a road, or did you actually just stock up at, you know, local provisioners?
Speaker 2:For the first few weeks we had boxes shipped to us and we picked them up either at a post office or at a camping store that would take boxes. That's another thing that we'd have to get off trail to do, pick up the box and then get back on trail and keep going. But I really enjoyed the grocery shopping. We'd get a basket and Tandem and I would walk around and decide what we needed between us, and then we'd sit out in front like bums in front of stinking bums in front of the grocery store and repack our packs with stuff in Ziplocs and make sure the food wasn't good. The noodles were to not get smashed in the pack.
Speaker 3:So what was the indulgence? What were you looking forward to when you went into town and got something to eat? Honey buns. I was expecting a steak or a burger.
Speaker 2:A box of eight honey buns was my killer. And Snickers, the mini Snickers, because I could carry mini Snickers in my belt pockets and fish them out during the day and just treat myself to them.
Speaker 1:You got to have those little again. You have to have those little wins while you're going through this to make the thing enjoyable, to make, whatever you do, the journey. I mean really truly, I think, the AT. I again I don't know if it was a spiritual thing that you ended up getting out of this or you just got. You're just like. You know what. I did it, I made it. So what was the biggest? Like I mean, what was it? Was it the spiritual, was it the fulfillment or was it the journey?
Speaker 2:It was the spiritual part of it. I became a much more even keel personality person when I got off the trail I, I knew you before you went on there.
Speaker 1:Wow, well, you really must have been really quietly burning in there, man, because we were at softball games. I'm over there and I'm the announcer. I don't know if he probably doesn't remember. I'm the announcer and I had to mute myself a couple times and I had a priest over my shoulder and he was like yeah, yeah, sir, he'd say it's okay, he would actually grab my shoulders, it's okay.
Speaker 3:Do you ever get thrown out being an announcer? I did not, um I did not.
Speaker 1:But, uh, the closest I got was, uh, the girls had to come up with their own walk-up songs. I love this story. So they came with these walk-up songs. I had no idea what this is, because back to 70s rock, 80s rock I mean that was kind of my jam, right, that's the thing. And these kids were pulling all this stuff and it was what I thought was rap.
Speaker 1:And they got the music and the team mom was starting to play it and she gave it to me to play it for the walk-up songs or the guy next to me, we played one that, um, it's clearly vulgar. We didn't hit the vulgar part, but, um, the priest was coming down the hill and some guy came up and said you can't play that song again. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay, thank you all, right now batting number nine. So, no, I did not get kicked out. Yeah, yeah, but but I did. How about this? I had the priest say, um, why don't you uh give the uh prayer? I'm like you, you think I'm more qualified than you? Yeah, okay, well, we're gonna whirl this. Watch this, I'm gonna kick this out.
Speaker 3:He goes okay, I'm gonna win this prayer. Is that what you just no?
Speaker 1:I said, I said I'm gonna kick this out and, uh, he goes, all right, that's one way. No, he said he was okay. So you obviously the spiritual thing was with big became more, even keeled, more aware, I guess, of everything that was going on. You had a lot of alone time there, man I did.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of alone time, peace and quiet, listening to the birds um, looking at the sites and the even keel stuck like how many years ago was this 10 years ago?
Speaker 3:was this 10 years ago that?
Speaker 2:you did Exactly 10 years ago. We were on the trail at this time 10 years ago, wow.
Speaker 1:This is the 10-year anniversary, sweet.
Speaker 3:Cheers to that.
Speaker 1:You know I'll drink more to that bourbon trail. Hey, I did bring you.
Speaker 3:I brought you a very special one.
Speaker 1:You know what, and actually let's talk about that. Alan did bring me back something from his trail ride. His trail magic is Woodford Reserve, double Oaked, spring Selection 2024.
Speaker 3:There's only two barrels of that in existence. I love it. Max 500 bottles. This is the best four finger pour I've ever had. Keep going, baby Jeez, I want to talk about this.
Speaker 1:I'm towards the end, so let's start asking a lot of really good questions.
Speaker 3:I can't.
Speaker 1:No, you ask no.
Speaker 3:I want you to do, I want you to drain. I'm going to pontificate for a little bit. Oh, here we go no, I just I want to understand how you applied this even keel to life. I mean, what was it? Okay, yeah, you super relaxed, you achieved a massive goal, you bonded with your daughter, but how did you bring that back to be even keeled when you got back to work or regular life and traffic and people like Chris and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:He said the last one through him. He was actually. I had Chris work at my house. We don't want to talk about that.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest impact was coming back to work and just being with my fellow employees and understanding what they needed, listening to them better, and then the same for home. I just did a better job of listening to Karen and the needs of the family.
Speaker 3:And so by being sort of alone for that amount of time made you a better listener, because you're probably not just chatting for 2200 miles no, no, I was.
Speaker 2:I realized I had a long time to think and ponder talk to me about that.
Speaker 1:Last went up the last stretch.
Speaker 2:In Maine there's a famous section right before the end of the trail called the 100-mile wilderness. There's nothing commercial, there are no paved roads through it, there's no power lines, there's nothing.
Speaker 3:Last rest stop for 45 miles, this is 100. Yeah, wow nothing.
Speaker 2:Last rest drop for 45 miles. This is 100. Yeah, wow, um, there's a hostel that you pass right before you go in that will take your food order and split it half into a bucket and you put the other half in your pack. So you've got five. You got about four days in your pack and about four days in the bucket, and then they hide the buckets off of a dirt road that they can negotiate and they tell you where it's going to be. They have a little arrow on a tree and you walk over and get your bucket, put your trash in the bucket, which they'll carry off, and then load your pack for the last 50 miles out to the end of out to the road.
Speaker 3:You have to be able to control your fear. What if I'm not going to see the arrow? What if the bucket's not there? Those kinds of things probably have stuck with you to this day, Cause I mean that's why you hike as a group.
Speaker 2:You want to be together for things that but you can't start hiking as a group.
Speaker 3:You ended up you had to create a group as you hiked true, true all right. So anyway, back to the hundred miles and the hundred yards. I'm dying to know what your emotions were like when you got to the end the last.
Speaker 2:the road that comes out of 100 mile wilderness leads to baxter state park and then you hike another 10 miles in baxter state park but you have to stop there because the ranger will only let 12 of the through hikers go each day Because they don't want they stage toward Mount Katahdin. They don't want more than 12 climbing the mountain any day. It's just for safety reasons.
Speaker 3:Safety okay. Is it that precarious?
Speaker 2:The best way I can explain Mount Katahdin. It's a little bit of everything that I had experienced hiking the Appalachian Trail All of the last hundred yards, water crossings, there's bees nests, there's rock climbing, there are sections where you have to walk between a string up so you don't disturb the foliage on either side of the string. It was a little bit of everything. So those five miles to the top of Mount Katahdin are a relive of the entire hike.
Speaker 3:Save the best for last.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, yes. And it takes you it takes you an hour and a half to two hours for some, to climb up Mount Katahdin.
Speaker 3:And you get to the top, and what?
Speaker 2:And you rejoice, you take pictures, you pop the cork on the champagne. You snuck up there even though they said no alcohol was allowed. Let's go Now. We're talking my language.
Speaker 1:Chris. Finally, let's go. You know what Breaking the rules? Let's go I you know what Breaking the rules? Breaking the rules. I love that.
Speaker 2:And we had a great time on top. In fact, two of the guys that caught up with us purposely to be with us to hike Katahdin with us were musicians from Philmont in New Mexico that I mentioned earlier. One plays the violin and the other plays a guitar or a banjo, and they played music after we had all settled down and we were snacking on top of Mount Katahdin. It was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3:They brought an instrument.
Speaker 2:They brought their instruments to the top of the mountain.
Speaker 1:How cool is that dude?
Speaker 2:Well, they carried them all the way along the trail are you serious? Oh, they carried their instruments the entire hike wow, that's cool man.
Speaker 1:So, uh, do you feel like you could enjoy it? So here's the thing. Um, a lot of us, especially in business, uh, there is no exit strategy. There is no mount katahdin. We're not not at the end. For many of us, we won't be able to exit with grace and with name. That's the reality, guys. If you don't think that, listen back to somebody's podcast. Exit strategy starts from the very beginning, and when you get there, do you feel like you truly embraced it and enjoyed it for what it was and all that it was built up to be? Or do you feel like you know, looking back at 10 years from now, maybe could have taken a little bit more in? Or do you think you got it all in?
Speaker 2:I got it all in. Yeah, I got. I experienced everything you could possibly experience on the Appalachian trail. Hit every hostel. We wanted to ate everything. We wanted to ate wild mushrooms the whole nine yards trail magic trail magic oh sorry yes, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Again, it took me a couple blocks to figure out what that was. I'm like, yeah, I mean whatever. I mean hey, man, you're hiking that thing. I mean you do whatever you gotta do, but so you, you, the journey was as fulfilling spiritually as you thought. And looking back on it 10 years from now, it's, it's the life, it's life-lasting very worth it, even the expense.
Speaker 2:I mean it takes 5k to through, like the appalachian trail individually yeah, that's another thing, food and gear and so you.
Speaker 1:You took a leave of absence from your company to do that. That means you don't get paid while you're doing that.
Speaker 2:Right Bank of America, after you work for them for 10 years, will give you a six-month leave of absence with no pay and no health.
Speaker 3:So I Well. Who needs health when you're out in the middle of the wilderness with bears for six months?
Speaker 1:You don't? I mean you live off the berries and the mushrooms and Lyme disease and Nora disease and the mushrooms and lime disease it's norah disease and snake bite, hangnail cutting or hiking for five days in the rain. Oh yeah, oh, that's something I just look forward to doing putting the same wet clothes on again the next morning. Oh, no, all right, was that? What was? Was that the worst part? What was the worst part? Was it the lack of showers, or was it then?
Speaker 3:it was not the lack, well, the the pooping in the woods. I mean, do we the elephant in the room? Is that with your daughter I'm gonna go over this mountain to do my business, because your daughter's right there.
Speaker 2:She would hike ahead yeah, come on, she knew enough, it'll be gross.
Speaker 3:That's what communication is everybody listening wanted to know how that worked, that's true find a log, take some toilet paper, go do your business so that brings up the axiom right, if you crap in the woods, nobody's there, does it really happen?
Speaker 1:oh, that's that tree. I always mix those up. Four, five, two, three. You know bears woods, I don't know. So do Bears shit in the woods? I'm kidding. So again, life lessons on this stuff have been amazing. This has been an amazing episode, thank you. Looking back on it, I hope you enjoyed coming on here, because I know we really enjoyed getting to talk to you and pick your brain about how you did this as two guys who will never do it. No, I'm so impressed.
Speaker 3:There's so many I just I get. I know it's a stupid grin on my face listening to this right, we often talk about man.
Speaker 1:We bring in guys who have more hair whoops we did it again yeah, we did it better looking and have achieved a lot more than we ever have.
Speaker 1:Are you an eagle scout? Actually I know that I flunked out of boy scouts. I was at boy scouts out west and when I came back east they didn't do all those outings. I was like I'm not doing that. My dad said you have to go to this because he was a scout. He goes, you have to go to this knot tying thing, I'm like. So I went there purposely, screwed up.
Speaker 3:You probably keyed the headmaster's car on the way out.
Speaker 1:Actually, I went hey, you know what I'm saying? Huh, yeah, I know a guy. You don't have to worry about knots. You don't say I'm an italian scout, you know? Okay, all right, we're not in the woods here, buddy, sicilian necktie, I'll teach you that one. We're in the city, my friend. Huh, we got new scouts, we do. Okay, all right, thank you, capisce. So, no, jerry, uh, an amazing, uh, amazing career, uh, a lot of things in here where we're just not only are we enamored, but we're just thankful that you came in to talk to us and all and guys.
Speaker 1:If you didn't learn something, dude, that's on you, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put that link out there. You gotta go read this blog. It's great reading. I can't wait to read that. And I would tell you, um, I I no, no, kidding uh, 3, 30 in the morning. I would wake up and I would go look for it. And there were days it wasn't there and I I was like, all right, well, you know, and I go check. And then there are days, and it wasn't always three, 30 in the morning, but you know, in the morning I would go read it and I got jazzed up about my day because I was listening to what this guy was doing. I'm like God, I just love hearing about what he's doing, and now I can go out there and tackle my day, cause I'm out there solving problems that we call small business ownership.
Speaker 1:Making it happen, man. So you've got to keep rolling. Make it happen every day. You've got to go up and down. You're going to get hit in the face. You're going to get a foot of snow on you. You're going to have a bear in front of you. You've got to figure it out. Get big, get strong, get over that mountain, get to the top Mount.