No.1: 2023 - Our Favorite Things

Ben and John kick off a brand new podcast with a discussion of their favorite things from 2023, and what may be in store for 2024.

Also, just what exactly are we doing here? Hard to tell, but we promise a good time.

The Rank Amateur Podcast is brought to you by Hop Passport the company that believes that you should always drink local, and local is wherever you are.

SHOW INDEX:

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This is the rank amateur podcast. Number one. Well, as the man said, this is the rank amateur podcast. And if you've got questions about what exactly we're doing here. Well, we do too, but let's start with the basics. My name is John and my cohost is Ben. And later on in the show, we're both going to talk about 20, 23 and our favorite discoveries and are on our keenest recommendations from 2023. But I guess we should start this inaugural episode by trying to explain what exactly it is that we're doing here. So Ben, what podcast? Well, that's a great question, John. I think what we've discovered is. Yeah. You know, we like to do a lot of things we like to do take a lot of adventures and really it's not easy and learning how that works and what to do. And it's been a journey and we think it's pretty interesting. And we're a couple of schmucks that need help and we want to share it. I think the key word there is schmucks because the rank amateur podcast by design is a celebration. Dilettante ism and amateurism. It is not a demand that we have to be experts at any of these things. In fact, rather than being good about anything that we're going to talk about, these hobbies, these adventures, these places that we all have that we have been in the places that we want to go, it's really more about discovering those things, figuring them out, figuring out how. Passionate. You really are about them. How often you're going to do it. How often are you going to return to it? It's a podcast about discovery, activity, gaining skills, travel gear. And yeah, is all of that kind of nebulous, I guess it has to be. And look, if you go ask someone to give you advice about how to start a podcast, they're going to tell you not to do what we're about to do. They're going to tell you to be specific. They're going to tell you to be surgical. We're the opposite of all of those things. And nevertheless, here we are. That's right. We're doing the opposite of targeting the niche and that could be to our detriment, but really we think it's, or at least I do. I know you share the same sentiment, but we think it's interesting understanding, you know, the levels of commitment required to actually enjoy some of the activities, the hobbies, the adventures you want to go on. And I think without that understanding we, a lot of times we often go for things, we try things and we may not have the best experience and, we could have used a little bit of additional insight. All of that's true, but here's the flip side of that. And I think this is what makes this podcast possible is that all of these things are probably far more accessible than they might seem at first glance. And a lot of that's a function of the fact that the world's a lot smaller place than it used to be. It's technology, it's YouTube, the rest of all that business, but trying something new is as easy as going down a rabbit hole for a while, committing to it, and then going and doing the thing. Right. You know, we're going to talk about a lot of different things. And again, this is not a specific podcast. Basically, if something's interesting to us, we're going to research it. We're going to try it. And we're going to talk about it on our podcast. We're going to talk about everything from scuba to golf, mountaineering. I don't know what else. You name it, right? Travel various forms of adventure, right? Overlanding and we've been dabbling in off roading. So there's just a lot of things that we're dipping our toes in. We find it interesting. We'd like to share. That's right. And we don't demand that. Of ourselves, that we be an expert at any of this. However, now we have a podcast. And so therefore we might call a few experts in and get their take on these various activities. That's right. All right. So look, I've explained this the best I can. And the truth is you can't explain it very well. We just hope there's some sort of audience or community that finds us and sticks with us long enough to enjoy these things as much as we do. I don't know. Do you want to get started? Yeah, I'd say let's go ahead and get into it. All right. So let's just start. Let's introduce each other a bit. Ben, what's new with you? Yeah. 2023 is over moving into 2024. Recently got a promotion in my corporate role and looking forward to a real busy year full of both travel for work and for play and looking forward to 2024 and trying to get my head around, A full calendar. Congratulations, man. I know you've worked hard for it. I know that you and I have both examined what our calendars may look like in 2024. They're getting crowded really quickly. But the good news is that some of that busyness involves having fun and doing things that we're going to talk about here podcast. That's right. As for me I'm in planning mode as well. I've got, I don't know, four or five actually fairly big projects going on at work. Those are going to keep me busy for a while. But the good news is we're already thinking about the ways we're going to enjoy the year, enjoy the various seasons. We've got things on tap. A lot of that we'll get into in future episodes, but I think, you know, we can say right now you and I both have committed. We're going to to France in about a month. Yes. That's going to be one hell of an adventure. I've been over to Europe a couple of times as your friend, Your first time hopping the pond. Is that right? First time leaving the country. All right. So we're going to see a few things, but mostly we're going to go to the Alps and we're just going to exist in the Alps for a while and play in the snow and do the French Alps things. Right. All right. Well, let's move on to what we think is going to be a fairly regular segment here. Ben, what have we learned? If I were to pick one, I think based on our recent excursion, off roading, the understanding to, to know how to recover is now important, right? Recover the vehicle. Or performer recovery. So I've been digging in a little bit to training courses for outdoor or overland recovery. And I've gotten down the rabbit hole a bit. So I have, you and I have shared our interest and we can acknowledge our interest has been peaked in some overlanding stuff. We now have the vehicles for it. But I know nothing about the recovery game and I don't know. I, you seem to think it's important. Yeah, I'd say I'd say being able to get on the trail and then most importantly, off the trail is important. I think it's often overlooked as with most things and really understanding what you're doing, how to do it, apparently it can be extremely dangerous as I've been researching, so knowing what you're doing is important. Yeah I'm sure it is, you know, just a few days ago, we found ourselves on a pretty gnarly mountain trail mostly unplanned. It's something we just kind of did on a whim, had a great time. I. Did see the need for prioritizing safety and recovery and things like that. We never even find ourselves in any dangerous situations, but you know, the distance between where we are and a no shit moment was pretty small, I think. I believe so. And I think we even saw a glimpse of it with that side by side. That's exactly right. So we had one of our neighbors kind of showed up and unexpectedly he had a side by side. We were in our vehicles the Jeep and a Bronco. And so as we were, Basically crossing water up river. He got stuck and luckily it was a situation where we had it was my brother who, you know, had wet weather boots on that were tall enough and he could unstuck this guy relatively easily, but I mean, in any. Other universe that could have been a far hairier experience. Yeah. And the, you know, the water was a little high. The current was moderate to high and that guy wasn't going anywhere. And I think it, what was funny is we actually gave his wife a lift because she didn't want to ride that route. And when we were sitting there watching him, we were like, well, yes, we got to go now cause we got to use the winch. And you know, that, that's those types of moments, right? Having the kit to repair tires, having the kit to quickly take bolts off. The, I mean, these are the basics, right? When you're changing tires, oftentimes the jack that's in your vehicle that comes with your vehicle, it's not designed to give you enough clearance. On an uneven surface, so getting tires changed, that's just the basics, but getting vehicles unstuck, you know, apparently there's a lot more to that and I think it's worth investing the time into learning more. Yeah, but Ben, I bought a new Bronco. I don't need any of that stuff, right? That's correct, right? Just fresh off the lot, take it to the top, right? All the way up. All right. I think that's really. You know, and I'm speaking with little to no expertise, but I think that's what I'd like to get past. And if off roading overlanding is of interest, as we both agree, we need to make sure we're able to keep ourselves and our family safe. There you go. All right. For me I just want to highlight a couple of YouTube videos. I originally just had one. That I was going to share, but really these are, it's a really neat pair. They really kind of go together. So I've recently discovered the North Faces YouTube channel. This is the apparel company and they have absolutely stunning videos on their YouTube channel. So the first one I want to point to is called the North Face Presents. And this is a jaw dropping video of four women, four skiers that travel across Canada find themselves in these frozen fjords snowmobile five hours to the specific mountains so that they can climb these mountains. In full ski gear. Yep. Ski boots, full alpine gear, get to the top of these mountains to ski these colors that no one has ever touched. And let me tell you, it is one of the more impressive things I've ever seen for a lot of different reasons. First of all, the footage is beautiful. Sheer physical accomplishment is stunning. These are four badass chicks doing badass things, and it's just fun to watch. But also the general sort of almost nonchalantness with which they do it. They're just up there having a good time, engaging in some of the most intense physical activity that I could even imagine. So where are we talking about here? Where are they going? So this is this would be Northeast Canada, I believe, and don't make me quote the exact spot, but basically by plane and sled, it takes them two or three days just to get to their base camp. And I remember one of the skiers said I've been traveling for two days. We're not even there yet. And I'm from Canada, right? So it's a great moment, but it's a, it's an absolutely beautiful piece and the other video I want to point to is very similar. This is also a North face video, the lot C face. Featuring Hilary Nelson and Jim Morrison, and I should pause here and say there's a sad element to these videos because Hilary Nelson Died two years ago Doing exactly what these films document which was extreme skiing in Nepal But the video that highlights the lotsy face experience is where Hilary and her companion Jim they scale, the Lotsie face, which is the mountain that is directly adjacent to Mount Everest. So in order to access the Lotsie face, you have to climb about three quarters. Of Everest. Wow. And then you get to a certain point and instead of hanging a left and going up Everest, you hang a right and go up the Lhotse face. No one had ever skied this line before. And that was the point of the video. I'm fairly certain that the Lhotse face video was filmed by Jimmy Chin and his crew, which automatically tells you it's going to be stunning and it is absolutely stunning, but watch it for the footage, watch it. To just be in awe of the sheer physical accomplishment and watch it as a tribute to Hilary Nelson, who was a true a true pioneer and just a badass woman that approached life in a fearless way. And, you know, we could all probably learn a few things from her and her legacy. Benny, the next trip you're going on, where are you going, John? We're heading to the cheese state Wisconsin. You say that's right. Do you have your passport, John? It's in the us. I don't need it. I understand that, but what I'm asking is, do you have the HOP passport? Never heard of it. What? What is that? You're gonna need a Hop passport. The Hop passport is an app. It's also a physical book that gets you discounts at local breweries all over the country. Really? How does it work? It's easy. You go download the app, you show up at local breweries, you present the app with a book. And they give you discounts on beer. Okay, so it sounds a little too good to be true. How much does it cost, and is there a limit? It's 35, and by the time you've closed the tab at your 6th brewery, you'll have already broken even. And yeah, you can do this all year long. Okay. So this sounds pretty good. How do I go about getting it? Hot passport. com. Of course you can visit them in all the socials, Instagram and Facebook and the rest of it, but hot passport. com download the app. They'll send you a book, start traveling, start drinking. Hot passport is the company that believes that you should drink local and that local is wherever you are. Let's do the thing. Let's move to the main topic. So we wanted to, we're actually recording this a little bit late. We wanted to kick off the rank amateur podcast at the beginning of January, 2024, to some degree life kind of got in the way. But we wanted to talk about sort of. The things that we experienced in 2023 that left the biggest impression on us as we pivot and start looking forward to 2024. And so we're keeping the rules real fast and loose here. So all we've said is that it can be anything. It can be a product and experience a place. The only caveat is that it must be something that we can recommend to our listeners that they might experience maybe this year next. Right. Ben, you want to kick it off? Sure. I think if I had to look at one of the, one of my favorites from last year, it would be the stadium tour at Lambeau field. We recently got an opportunity, my wife and I and we spend a decent amount of time in Wisconsin, but we'd never been to Lambeau. So we got a chance to go to the Chiefs game and the following day we did the Lambeau tour. And I can tell you that is a. That is a history you want to learn. It's very interesting. Is that right? I know nothing about it. I have attended one pro football game in my life. That was in Atlanta. I can tell you that is going to be the polar opposite experience of seeing a game in Lambeau field. So tell me about it. What's, what gave you the biggest impression? Well, I think overall, right? It's the fans. It's the structure of the organization. I think it's It created an experience that's unique. It's almost college esque where you really rooted for your home team. And I think they're a unique, they're a unique organization. They're a publicly owned organization, which is very. Very, I don't know if there's another team that, that actually is publicly owned. So the fans have had ownership since the beginning. The tickets have been passed down since generations. Every, everybody in the town loves the team, right? They, you know, go pack, go right. And I think, I wish I could quote you more of some of the granular. Information that was shared on the tour. I was kind of busy, you know, window shopping and gawking around it, just being in some of some really cool places and even get a chance to go into the field, but we had access to the tour. It was about an hour and a half, two hours or so. And we had full access to the hall of fame, but it was kind of a quasi work day. So we didn't get a chance to really leverage that, but it was really interesting to see a team that, that is. For the people by the people and it was it was unique So if I'm kind of remembering my pro football history a bit Lambeau Field is An old school bowl stadium in the middle of Green Bay, Wisconsin and You know, if a town in Wisconsin, we're building a football stadium now, it would absolutely certainly be an indoor stadium, but green based kind of stubbornly clings to this outdoor frozen tundra thing that, you know, is a part as much a part of green Bay as the green uniform is right, right. Come up here and play them in the cold and they love it when it's snowing. Right. And that's. That's kind of, did you get snow for your, we did, you did, right? We did, it was great. It was in the high twenties, it was cold. We sat there for the whole game. It was a great game down to the end. It was. It was something to remember. And and that's why it's on my list. So enough about that, you know, we'll be here all day, John, what's your first one? Yeah, I'm going to kick it off with also an experience. I want to point to Acadia national park, and I want to be specific here. Look, Acadia national park is one of the most stunning places in the United States. And in fact, the world and anyone who's listening to this pod, there's a good chance that. A lot of folks have been there and if you haven't been there I can recommend going to Acadia National Park But I want to be a little more specific we did a hike and it was it was about a half day hike and basically what we hiked was Sergeant Mountain. Now when you go to Acadia, the sort of the mountain that you can see from Bar Harbor the most popular mountain is Cadillac Mountain and that's neat. The views up there are great, but you can take a tour bus up Cadillac Mountain. So this would be, would probably, I think, be the second tallest mountain in the park. And and we hiked it from essentially sea level all the way up. I actually looked up this hike on all trails and it is rated as hard. I am happy to confirm that it was a strenuous hike. It was all we wanted and more. And look, luckily Sarah and I are pretty healthy people. But by the time we had gotten. Back down the mountain and we were kind of in the home stretch in the last flat on the way to the car. We were both real good and done So when you said all you want and more, I mean, what are we talking about? How far did you hike? How what was the elevation? Tell me more. Yeah, well, let me pull up my Strava real quick. This is saying it was a 5. 3 mile hike, but I can tell you that the GPS didn't pick up on my watch for about a mile from the car. So let's call it six, maybe six and a half miles. We actually peaked. We saw the peaks of three different mountains before we got to the tallest one with Sargent Mountain. We carried our lunch up, we got to Sargent Mountain and had had sandwich and nuts and chips and some frescas and it was great. We were able to take some absolutely beautiful Pictures and photography that I will be happy to link to in the show index, but it really was one of those life experiences that, you know, you're never ever going to forget. It was absolutely brilliant. So I can highly recommend Acadia National Park, but, and look, there are countless ways to get off the beaten path at Acadia. You do not have to go to Cadillac Mountain to experience Acadia National Park. And there are. Numerous ways to sort of, do something a little less common, but I can recommend Sergeant Mountain, you know, if you've got it in you and you want six miles of yeah, pretty much straight up and straight down climbing That's the ticket. And the views are going to be spectacular. So you're going to get views that are going to be directly out onto the Atlantic Ocean, of course, but then if you look a little bit to the south, you're going to see some of those, some of the, those beautiful main fjords. So this is going to be inland water. That these glacial fjords that are just absolutely stunning. You can watch the clouds come and go off the water. You can watch the boats and the sailboats move around in the fjords and in, in the ocean. It is absolutely a special place that everyone needs to see. Nice. ben, your second. Yeah, so I guess I would say the second one would be. Securing that first buck in the deer woods, my friend. Congratulations. Yeah, man. It's been a long time coming. Yeah. Yeah. Tell the story. What happened? Well, after being lured into the hunting. Space last year getting out there and get kind of catching the bug, but being unsuccessful We got out there late season this year and on New Year's Eve We were I was able to secure my first deer Yeah, man, so I was there. It was a special moment. Congratulations Very cool. I don't know quick thoughts and impressions. Are you going back? Well, now that I've had the meat. Yes. Short answers. Yes. All right. It's time to tag out. All right. Well, as for me, you know, the wily white tail has foiled me yet again, and I'm still trying to decide how much I care. But but yeah, man, congratulations. that's really cool. Okay. So for my second, I am, I'm going to switch gears. Okay. I'm going to point to a restaurant. That's my wife and I discovered this year. That is really just absolutely a beautiful, brilliant restaurant. And this is a place called Black Sheep in Blue Ridge, Georgia. We're going to talk about Blue Ridge, Georgia more in, in the year to come. We have some. Plans to be there again in 2024, but we discovered it in 2023 And I have to say I was a little ashamed That I discovered it in 2023 because i've lived in this town that being chattanooga, tennessee for whatever 13 14 years now blue ridge, georgia is 90 minutes from my driveway and I had Never ventured that way. And that is you know, to my great shame because Blue Ridge is an absolutely beautiful place. And it's unspoiled. It's not a town that's overrun. This is not Gatlinburg. It's a small place. Yes, there are tourists, but it's out of the way. It's not overrun, but While we were there, we sampled, I don't know, three or four restaurants, but Black Sheep this is a restaurant that can hold its own, I would say, in any city in the United States. It's that good. In fact, the first time that we were there this year, Sarah and I ate there twice. We had lunch. And that made such an impression on us. The next night we had dinner there and it knocked it out of the park again. And then we were back in Blue Ridge, what, three or four months later. And you were actually on that trip and we had lunch at Black Sheep. Yes. And equally ashamed that I discovered it is late. Impressive is the is an accurate description. Yeah black sheep in blue ridge, georgia First of all get yourself to northeast georgia in those beautiful old that's beautiful old pristine wilderness Just experience that part of the world stop in blue ridge while you're there But if you find yourself in blue ridge Go have a meal and a beer at black sheep. You absolutely will not regret it. What do you have next Ben? Well, so I've shared two experiences. So let me shift to I guess it's kind of an experience, but it's more of a product. You know, Megan and I have Had our Jeep now for well since it was new right so since 2019 So we've recently as of this year went ahead and went for it, right? We got the lift. We got the tires we did the thing and You know, we went back and forth for quite some time and we just should have done it We should have done it earlier and we're not looking back. We're looking forward and I think if you're on the fence If you've considered it, if you can financially do it, and there's several solutions at several different levels, get yourself the clearance you're looking for and go to the places you want to take the vehicle. You only live once. Yeah I can only add two things. Number one your Jeep looks rad. So congratulations on the fact that, you know, when it's, you know, sitting in the driveway, it looks a whole lot cooler than it used to. And number two, we saw evidence of why you did the thing. What just what three or four days ago when we found ourselves on a snowy mountain trail it did everything you asked it to do, didn't it? Easier than I expected. Yeah. And you know, I know there's, you can always go bigger and more, but we went with a modest option. We went with the Tara flex option, two and a half inch lift, 35 inch BFG KO twos. And excuse me, I can tell you right now I'm riding better than factory on the interstate. What? Really? It's beautiful. we didn't get the basic kit, but we went with the Fox shocks. We, we did a couple of extras in there and I can tell you right now, she tracks at 85 down the interstate. It, it's soft enough to take a road trip in. It's firm enough to take a corner and it works on the trail. So we're not disappointed. Yeah. Cool. And it's something we want to share, right? Again, if you've been on the fence, go for it. And where'd you get that done? Actually, I got that done here locally in Chattanooga at Tom's four by four off road. And I'll tell you, there's something to be said about where you get this done. I actually got a quote and went in and I am no expert. So I wanted guidance, right? I needed a resource. I went into a couple of places, made a couple of phone calls. And when I went into Tom's you could tell. They knew their stuff, they knew what you needed, they knew what you didn't necessarily need, depending on what you were doing they knew how to get you dialed in, and I've been thoroughly impressed with what they've, you know, I purchased the equipment I got my tires from a different vendor, but purchased the lift and had it installed and it's been great. That's great, man. That really matters. Congratulations. Yeah, man. So real quick, you've been talking about you've been talking about doing some things with your vehicle. Before we change subjects, tell us more about what you're thinking. Well, I've been talking about a few different options. Okay. One of those options is actually just trading the vehicle, but let's not get down that rabbit hole because I'm always thinking about trading a vehicle. Look I have a Bronco that I love but with the configuration that I got, it's very easy to change from a 35 to a 37 inch tire. And so that I think would be the move if I want to make. Such a modification. Now, when you do that, it will, it quite likely will require a two inch lift based on the configuration that I have now. So a fairly modest modification, really two inches plus 30. Sevens. Now, the one thing that I have committed here is that I do want to burn through my first set of tires. I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna trade out fresh tires. right? Look, I've got a couple years to figure it out if I even own this vehicle in a couple years, which I think I probably will, but I'm, look Ben, I spent a lot of time on car configurators, and so look, it's just it's my vice. What can I say? So like, I do think I'm probably keeping the Bronco. I have been mostly pleased with that vehicle. That's probably a whole episode just talking about the Bronco or our respective off road vehicles, but Look it's a fun vehicle. It is, to be clear, a recreational vehicle, right? And it is squarely a recreational vehicle, and I'm not sure the Bronco really succeeds at being anything else, including a daily driver, just to be honest. Well, I think there's more to be said about that. Let's not get bogged down. What was your next topic? I thought three off there. Yeah, no, that's fine. So I think I'm going to go pure experience this time And i'm going to talk about a magical day. I had back in october at a place called the chill how we glide port. Now look If you spend any time in east tennessee, you might know exactly where this is, but 411 And it's a farm that is it's an airport and it's an The whole design is to fly gliders. So this is, you are towed into the air by a single engine aircraft. And then once you're at altitude you sever the toe and then it's your job to, enjoy the skies in a glider without the advantage of an engine and get yourself safely down. And in this instance, I stumbled upon this because I was actually next door at the on the Huasi River fly fishing that morning. Sarah was out of town. The dog and I went up to the river, had a nice little time, didn't catch a thing. Got back in the vehicle and on my way home. It was an absolutely stunning day. And I looked at the glide port, which I had seen, you know. Two or three hundred times in my life, but for the first time, I saw a lot of activity. The planes were moving around, they were putting the gliders into position. My intention was just simply to drive into the facility, sit on the tailgate with the dog, and watch the planes come and go. But, as you do, you start having a lot of conversations, you find out that, you know, I could go up one of these gliders in a tandem. And I inquired, and I I paid, I think this was 125 bucks. I think really, yeah. 125 bucks. I laid my money down and about 20 minutes later I was getting towed up into the air and it was really an experience. The pilot that I was with was a Delta pilot and I have some. I have some hours training for my private pilot's license. I was able to take the controls pretty easily and fly the plane. I didn't do anything particularly advanced. I certainly didn't land the glider, which I can, if in a pinch, I'm probably one of those people that probably could land a plane. Well, it's not a competition. Yeah, okay But but anyway, my point is it was a brilliant experience So and you know, it helps that it was october in tennessee, which is the most beautiful place and season to be in it was This glide port is in the valley directly Next to the Blue Ridge mountains. And so you have the advantage of those updrafts and just the scenery. It was beautiful. I took video, I took photos and it's just one of those magical days where you got to experience something incredible. In a completely unplanned way, which really kind of heightens the experience. And man, you know, after that, after we landed and I got the dog back in the vehicle and I started back down the highway, headed back to Chattanooga. I just, I was on cloud nine the whole time. I just, it just uplifted my mood for days on end. It was just great. So I think you sent me that video fairly quickly. Yeah. So I guess my recommendation for listeners is this There are glide ports all over the country. There are ways to access gliders if you have the opportunity to go do it. It's a relatively safe thing to do. Don't think. You know, wings aircraft, but no engine equals dangerous. That's not the case. Certainly when you go as someone who's not trained, you're going to go with a trained pilot. It was all very easy. It was very peaceful and I felt at ease the entire time. It was really. Yeah, that sounds unique you know, real quick, before we move to the next one, give us a little idea. How long were you up there? What was the flight time? How high did you go? I want to say I was in the air for 40 minutes. Oh, okay. With no engine. Yeah, that's right. I mean, this, it's just simple aerodynamics. There are updrafts you can catch, especially near mountains. That's going to provide upwards lift. And the pilot who took me up described the day before when he was able to catch updrafts and. Went miles away from the glide port just by catching a stream and riding it. And you know, if you know what you're doing, you understand the aerodynamics of the aircraft, you can stay aloft for a real long time. And look, I just cannot recommend it enough. It is far less stressful and you feel far safer than you do actually in an airplane. Huh. I think that's one of those things. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm interested. Yeah, man, you should look just bite the bullet and try it one time. You'd make it go. Have a good time. You will be safe. You'll land softly. I promise. And then we'll all talk about how we want to do it again. And what was the name of this place? Yep. The Chilhowee Glideport. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'll move into my next one and I'll shift back to an experience and really an experience that it took numerous conversations from you and convincing and a little bit of research and boy, oh boy, am I glad I listened to you, you know, we get, you know, Megan and I got an opportunity this past year to go to Puerto Rico. It was our second time visiting Puerto Rico, but this time was special because we actually we, Tried scuba and I can tell you right now Do it try it. You don't like it. You don't like it, but try it we're hooked We're looking to get started when it's not single digits outside but we're in it's really a unique experience if you've never done it underwater what you see going on down there is majestic. It's quiet. It's calm. And what was interesting and we didn't go to the Great Barrier Reef where we weren't down more than 20 feet or so, right? This was a if I recall correctly kind of a partnership organization at the Kareem Hilton hotel in San Juan, but they take you out in the cove. It's a pretty safe environment, but What I noticed and correct me if I'm wrong with the fish don't care that you're down there They're going to they're going on about their business. Look, I mean, that's look first of all, what did I tell you? It's Scuba is amazing It's like they say you don't fully appreciate that There's a whole world down there until you really see it for yourself and it is It's absolutely breathtaking. And the main, to me, the most exciting part of all of that and seeing that experience it for the first time is the wildlife and you're right. They don't care that you're there. And you know, one, one day soon, Ben, you and Megan are going to find yourself, you know, in a current and, you know, swimming past a turtle. That's the size of a Volkswagen. And it's going to absolutely be you're not going to be able to pry the grounds off of your face. Yeah we're ready. And I think the experience that the class or the service that we utilized at the Kareem Hilton was discover scuba diving at the Kareem. I believe is what it was called. It's about a two hour course. You spend about 40 minutes or so in the water at first, getting acquainted with the gear, understanding how to move and. Hand signals and whatnot and they take you around for as long as your error last or about an hour roughly It's ends up being a little less but at the end of the day we got plenty we experienced it We want to do more. We want to go deeper. We want to see different things and I think It's something that is now An added adventure as we decide to go to this place or that place It's something else to do to experience a place in a different way that we really didn't understand before And now we know and now we're hooked. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it's it's it's what I call add it, right? You just you get to add this to your The possibilities for when you go somewhere, right. And, you know, and I'll share, first of all, I think we're going to talk a lot about scoop on this podcast. You are about to embark upon the process in 2024 and the certification process. I was asserted. Three years ago, but and dove a couple of times in that year, but haven't since. So I need a refresher and I just need to reorient myself to the processes. I definitely need a refresher on the safety basics. So this, the scuba thing is classic rank amateur podcast, I think, right? So we're going to go through this process. We're going to document it. We're going to talk about it on the podcast. There are elements of adventure. There are elements of travel here. There are elements of safety that we are always going to pay attention to. And there's elements of gaining skills with scuba. And it may be kind of the classic rank amateur conversation, certainly for 2024. So I'm thrilled that you guys got to experience that and sort of the light way that you did. And I'm really looking forward to watching you guys really sink your teeth into it. And getting that certification and then from there you start looking around the world and you think, where do I want to go underwater? It's amazing. And that's it. I think that's, you coined the phrase, it's an added and it's added. So looking forward to it. So I guess we're on number four. What do you got? Yeah, i'm gonna, i'm gonna move to a product this time. So in 2023 I began a pretty extensive search for my everyday carry bag. I had gone through all kinds of different attempts at a briefcase or a backpack, and they either didn't do the job as I had hoped, or they fell apart pretty quickly. And so I went down the everyday carry. I, so I decided I wanted to go the backpack route. And the reason for that is it's great for every day just at home, but also it's awfully handy in airports, right? So I wanted to go the backpack route I wanted something durable and I wanted something that was feature rich in all the ways that meant something to me. So I spent more than a month Researching and there are a lot of resources out there to help you make these decisions But where I landed was the Peak Design travel backpack 30 liter Now the Peak Design has a series of travel backpacks. This is the smaller one. This is the 30 liter. So it is it is compliant with is carry on compliant, right? So I can stick it under the seat in front of me. It's also clearly of superior construction. What? Tell me more about that. Well, just, you can just tell that the materials and the stitching is well designed, well thought through, this thing is durable. So I've been carrying it about a year now. And this doesn't have fray one. There's not a, there's not a single tooth on the zipper that's out of place. And what it's probably been on 20 flights at this point. Okay. Right. It goes to the office with me every single day. I've taken it into the woods. I've taken all the office stuff out and used it as my. As my hiking backpack, in fact, the Acadia National Park hike that we went on, I was carrying the peak design. Okay. It was just the right tool for the job, given what we had with us in Maine. look, I am not the first person to recommend Peak Design as a company. And I had now owned several of their products. Yeah. They're a camera company, right? Yeah. So camera accessories. Right. Right. So I own several of their products. This you know, in, in my closet is the flagship. Without question. So first of all, I'm going to recommend Peak Design. Everyone needs to know that company and understand it. But also this particular product, the travel backpack 30 L. The great news is if you need more capacity than that, they make a 45 L, they make a few other iterations of this model. It just happened to be for me that the 30 L was the sweet spot. And I, for I don't know how long this backpack is going to last me, but it wouldn't surprise me if it lasts me 10 years. It's a bold statement. It's bold, but, and I may be proven wrong, but if I'm use it as I have in the past year, which is essentially just everyday normal duty, I can't imagine what's going to make this thing start to fall apart. You mentioned you use it traveling you know, you've taken it into the woods. What. What are some of the features that allow it to be so versatile? Well, so it's a clamshell design. Okay. So it opens from the the opening that is nearest your back. Okay. Right. And so you can open it all the way up. And and so you have access to the full compartment within that compartment. There are several nooks and crannies and you know, net compartments and zippers where you can. Place things like chargers and other straps. And you can tuck those away really. Really efficiently. And then there's a front compartment that really is only as deep as say the top 15, 20 percent of the bag. This is where you're going to put your computer mouse and your pens and your notepads, business cards, things like that. Very comfortable shoulder straps that are not bulky. It has pull handles from essentially every surface of the bag. And these are not loose, right? So they're not getting snagged on anything. But basically no matter. Where I'm retrieving the bag from, whether it be an overhead compartment or the trunk of a car or whatever, all I have to do is just grab it and there's always going to be a handle facing me, right? That's important. It's cool. And there's also a compartment on the surface that touches your back. You can actually fold the shoulder straps away and tuck them away and hide them. And then it. It's essentially just turns into a briefcase at that point. Wow. Yeah. Yeah it's really been remarkable to go from, you know, I had been using bags that were like those kind of like, like corporate giveaway bags. Yeah. Yeah. And you're constantly snagging the zippers and the, you know, the seams are fraying and, we had them because we were, they were free. Sarah brings them home from conferences all the time. Right. I decided I wanted to invest in this. And I'm glad I did because I don't intend to be in the market for certainly an everyday carry backpack. But I don't know for the foreseeable future anyway Ben, your last one, what you got? So I've saved the best for last, right? And I think this is a product. It is a product. I believe every, it should be issued to every citizen if you can't tell a really big proponent of what I'm about to share. And that is a little product. Designed to help you communicate when the cell phones don't work. So John. What would be your plan when the cell phones don't work? Well, I guess I'm going to have to go out and buy whatever it is you're about to recommend. That's right. So what we've got as my top, I kind of did it in reverse order. Threw them all in different, but my top pick is the Garmin inReach Mini. The inReach Mini 2 is a satellite communication device that does a few different really cool things, right? Number one, it gives you the ability to communicate with other inReach devices with cell phones and through email all via satellite with no cell signal. I've tested this. Right. We've sent, my wife and I were able to communicate when I was on a plane at 30, 000 feet, worked flawlessly. And before I purchased this, I really didn't understand why someone would do this. You know, it's not the cheapest device on the market. I think it's important when you experience not being able to communicate and When you do that, you know how important a device like this is and so real quick, you know life story we had an event that occurred in Nashville a couple years ago where we were where a bomb was detonated near Cell phone provider infrastructure and it completely wiped out cell phones across the state at least the east side of the tip, Tennessee And my mother in law was visiting with a nephew of a four year old five year old nephew at the time And they were on their way back the cell phone wouldn't work. We couldn't get directions We could print off MapQuest, but you know, we still had internet, but we could print off MapQuest but if they were on the road and had a medical emergency or a Or a vehicle related challenge, there'd be no way to communicate. So it ended up us having to drive as a chase vehicle, following them halfway from Chattanooga to Virginia. So I think we went to. I don't know, Sevierville or Gatlinburg. And then someone came down and met them just to make sure that, you know, we didn't have a 60 some odd year old lady and a four year old child on the side of the road with no help. Right. So once we saw that happen, we realized we needed solutions to communicate when the cell phones didn't work. That, that's what got us down the ham radio journey. That's what got us down. And led us to this solution right here. And there's a lot of solutions on the market. I believe I think there's a company called Zolo or Zolio that has a great solution. But this one seems to work well. It integrates with your, with the iPhone or Android, has an app where you can basically text from your phone and use this as your transmitting device. It syncs with our Garmin watches. You're able to get notifications if you're out in the woods, no cell coverage and you need to communicate. But the most important feature, I've buried the lead long enough. is an emergency rescue function. So it's got a little button that's covered. So you don't accidentally hit it, but you're able, if you were off the beaten path, whether you're hiking, exploring whatever you're doing and you have no cell coverage, even if you're something in a, such a situation, like you've just broken down on the side of the road and you've got, and you're in a dead spot, you hit this button, you're able to communicate with an international dispatch service and they will. They will coordinate the appropriate service response and they can communicate with you the entire time. The device also gives your GPS coordinates to the rescue team. It is a must have if you plan on adventuring. Now I've spoken enough. John, tell me why you don't have one. Look, man, it's just smart, I think, and look maybe this doesn't make sense for everyone, but you start thinking through scenarios like when you first found yourself in a pinch and without a communications device, you weren't in the woods, right? You weren't mountaineering. You weren't in the middle of the ocean, right? None of those things applied. We just had a terrorist attack in Nashville and you couldn't. You couldn't speak to your family for two days. That's right, right? So yeah, it might make sense to people who are inclined to climb mountains or go on big adventures or whatever, the world keeps turning and maybe something like this, since just maybe something like this just makes sense for everyone. I think so. And I think what's also nice, kind of an added bonus, they off, they offer an optional insurance a rescue insurance, if you will. And, you know, you don't have to take it, but if you think about it. If they've got to send service, it could be anything from triple A to a search and rescue helicopter. There may be a charge associated with that. And to have that as an added benefit, my wife and I both you know, have, you know, we opted in. So if we actually have to hit that button and they have to send the helicopter, we've got a pretty good cushion to not face financial hardship just because we wanted an adventure. Yeah, so my wife and I have talked and it seems like we need to find ourselves in one of these devices. Now, here's the only thing I'm really trying to decide right now is. Garmin now offers a Garmin inReach Messenger, and it is a subtle evolution of this device, and I am having a hard time deciding which of these make sense for us. in the middle of the rabbit hole there and so we'll report that out when we've made our decision and we have that device. But look, I'm with you. It just makes sense. We are going to find ourselves in the French and Swiss Alps very soon. I don't know the state of cell coverage over there. Now, look, we're not going to be, we're going to be in civilization. We're going to be in resorts. Let's be honest, but. We're also going to be doing a lot of driving. We're also going to be doing a lot of exploring and I don't know what the cell service situation looks like in that part of the world. And you'd better believe I'm going to have this device for something very similar in my pocket. Yeah. Megan and I just went to sugar mountain in North Carolina. We didn't have cell service anywhere on property, you know, simple things like being able to coordinate when to eat lunch. Become important. Right. So just simply being able to communicate, you can't cease to find applications for it. All right. Good recommendation. I'm in, I'm buying. So thanks. I've got one more, I guess, and I'm going to, I'm going to be, I'm going to recommend a television show. That I discovered at the very end of 2023, I guess I was a little late to discovering it because everyone else seems to agree that this show is brilliant. And I guess this may be old news to anyone that might hear this, but if you haven't seen it yet, I have to recommend the bear on Hulu and it's funny we're talking about that the bear this week because I guess it was what Monday or Tuesday night. I guess the show just won all of the Emmy awards. So I'm not alone in my adoration for this show, but I absolutely do adore it. It's Incredible. It is probably, as an ensemble, packs the most acting talent punch of maybe anything I've ever seen. Give us a little, I mean, what's the story? What's it about? In short, this is a show about a chef, a world renowned chef, that comes home to try and save his family's sandwich shop. And that is a journey that is fraught with a lot of emotion, a lot of trauma and a lot of just, you know, simple logistical challenges. You know, you have a hero that's on a hero's journey that's, you know, trying to get back home. And and a lot of people are there for the ride along the way. It is a very humorous show. And actually that brings me to a good point because I've read some articles this week. Debating about whether the bear is a comedy or a drama because it won all of its awards in the comedy category and a lot of folks are saying, Hey, wait a minute. This isn't a comedy. It's a drama that happens to have some funny moments. And actually, I agree with that. The bear is absolutely a drama. The bear is also hilarious. So I don't care what award you give it. You just got to give it all the awards because it is Simply brilliant. It is simply brilliant. So the bear has concluded two seasons now, as I understand it, season three is maybe filming now. I certainly hope that it is because I look forward to it and look, I hope it has a nice long run because I just love the idea of seeing many more episodes of the bear for the first time. Nice. Well, it's always nice to find a good show that tells a good story. More importantly, it's smart. It keeps, it's suspenseful and it also has that comedic value. You know, you've mentioned it to me before. I've seen a couple of episodes. I like it, but I haven't dove in and I think you may have sold me. Look, it's winter. It's a great time to be watching television, light a fire, pour a glass of wine, you know, and watch you about. Seven episodes of the bear and have a good time. Very well. All right. Look, good talk. I think we might be kind of settling into this podcast thing, but at the end of the day, Ben, we're just here for the gear. So what do you have for us? Well, today I'm going to share a. piece of kit that I put in service for a couple of reasons recently, both to go in the woods and on longer walks. It is the 5. 11 Tactical Utility Chest Pack, and it In order to understand what this is, imagine if you were able to take the size and constraint advantages of a fanny pack, but place it in the convenience of your chest and have access to things that are, you know, ready to go, frequently accessed, right there at, your fingertips. It also has a concealed carry aspect to it. So it's got places to store things that you need for, different various emergency situations. And it's just a good piece of kit that I think is often overlooked. Most people aren't running a chest pack. You don't see it too often, but I think when you pair that with a backpack or some other different carrying solutions, it gives you a unique way to move some gear around into some useful areas. And it doesn't break the bank. I think this is a piece of kit that costs around 60. So It's not something that, you know, has a huge barrier or cost to entry and it gives you the ability to, configure it in various ways. We used it skiing most recently, right? We were able to, we were able to have some of the camera equipment and some of the different, I had hot hands and different sorts of mountain stuff just ready to go. And, it was nice. Carried my radio. Most people aren't aware of a chest pack configuration. I would encourage you to look at five 11 solutions. There's a couple different options. They offer a utility chest pack and a a different version. I believe it's a survival chest pack, but I would recommend the utility chest pack and just give it a shot. It's a different way to carry gear and you might find that it's interesting. John, have you ever had any experience with one? No, I haven't. I have not go down the world of chest packs yet with one very limited exception. I have a Patagonia chest pack specifically for fly fishing, but this is a different thing. So this chest pack, wraps around your body. The one that I have is meant specifically to. A clip onto your waiters, right? So this is not going around my chest or over my shoulder at all. So yeah, I understand like having the quasi workstation right there at your chest. I get that. I've never tried this, but just looking at the link, it's, I mean, it's really handy. Headphones, phone, keys. knickknacks your GoPro or your action for your Osmo pocket three, everything just fits right there and you can grab and go. Yeah. Right. So something to think about if you haven't five 11, they got a lot of good options. All right, great. How about yourself? What kind of gear do you have here? Yeah. So I'm actually going to return back to peak design and recommend a product that I added on. Kind of as a result of the backpack the travel backpack that I recommend earlier in the show. So This is the Peak Design camera cube in Smedium so this Smedium is the As the name might suggest Is the size that they offer between small and medium, but it's simply a camera group and a cube that is infinitely configurable. So what I'm carrying in it currently is my Sony a seven three with lens, a multibattery charger. The Cords and cables that accompany the A7 III and then also the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. And so in all of its sort of carrying case, all fits inside of this camera cube. And it. Nest just right inside the backpack as if it were designed to do so because it obviously was designed to nest right inside of that backpack. Now, one note when I was researching this Peak Design claims that those camera cubes are only meant to fit in the 30 liter Travel backpack. If it is in its it's expanded setting, right? I have found that not to exactly be the case. So when that backpack is collapsed down to its 230 liter size, I can get this medium camera cube in there in addition to a laptop. Notebook and an iPad and usually one other item like say If I just had a pullover sweater, I'd still be able to get it into that backpack. So again, I'm returning to Peak Design I'm Recommending probably any product I ever come across from Peak Design But I kind of thought since I had recommend the travel backpack before this companion piece would also be a nice recommendation so if you are A photographer interested in photography. First of all, if you're a photographer, you know what peak design is, but this system, this travel backpack system that they've got with the accompanying accessories, particularly the camera cubes, the packing cubes, the tech cubes, the tech pouches, all of it works seamlessly together. It is a brilliant. Ecosystem of gear that I'm afraid to say I've only dipped my toe in the water off because I have a feeling more is to come. Well, that's it certainly sounds like a good piece of kit and it's a good piece of kit if you're already in the Peak Designs ecosystem. So I need to know more you know, you made some good points earlier about the 30L and. Now you've added another piece of kit from them. Yeah. And so I've got a few other accessories from them and I'm actually really keen on adding one of their travel tripods. I haven't bit the bullet on that quite yet. There are two options there. I believe that's one of the options is aluminum. One of them is carbon fiber. the carbon fiber gets a little spendy. I'm not sure I want to go down that, that path yet. But, look, I can. Browse the peak design website for a good long time. You learn a lot. And also I'll say this, let me give them some credit for this. their instructional videos about using their products are brilliant. They're fun. They don't take themselves seriously. They're well made. They articulate what it is you need to know efficiently. And I think that's just, speaks to the kind of company they are. They're not, they're innovative, they're high quality. They don't take themselves too seriously. It's fun to do business with them. So peak design, go to the website, pick something. And I have a feeling you'll be a customer for life. Well, you've made a good case, sir. All right. Well, look, man, I think that kind of wraps up episode one if that's what you call it I'm I hope this first goal wasn't to cringe. And look, I think apropos to the name of the show. We are absolutely rank amateurs of this podcast thing, but we're going to keep plugging away at it. I do think we're going to get better. I think we're also going to have a lot of fun and hopefully all of that will unfold right in front of our audience. My name is John Kearns and my co-host name is Ben Wyatt. And you've been listening to the rank amateur podcast. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach us@rankamateurpodatgmail.com. You can also find us on Instagram at you guessed it. Rank amateur pod. Till next time.

The Rank Amateur Podcast

No.1: 2023 - Our Favorite Things

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