No. 2: Sketching Out 2024

Ben and John jump into episode two pondering what's to come in 2024 with discussions about upcoming travel, learning opportunities, and of course, gear.

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.

Ben: 0:04

This is the Rank Amateur Podcast number two........

John: 0:12

Yes, this is the Rank Amateur Podcast and oh my God, we made it to episode two. My name is John. My co-hosts name is Ben. Ben, I have three questions for you. Where in this world are you dialing in from today? How's it going, and what have you been up to? Take those in any order that you wish.

Ben: 0:32

Sure. So today I'm coming from July. In Oshkosh, Wisconsin. So we're up here traveling for a little bit of work doing a little bit of sightseeing, taking in some of the local culture and just trying to enjoy ourselves and try to have some form of work life balance.

John: 0:50

is it?

Ben: 0:50

yourself?

John: 0:51

Is it freezing cold up there?

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 0:54

Not too bad. High twenties, low thirties, little bit of wind. Definitely a little colder than Tennessee.

Track 1: 1:00

Yeah, I don't know. It got a little chilly again. the weather's been weird here lately. A week ago or so, we had what was a, just an absolute ice event. Had a little snow and usually when we have snow around here, I. Two days later, warm air moves back through the region. It all melts and everyone goes back. To normal life. That was not the case this time. The cold settled in for about five days and we ended up with two inches of ice just everywhere you looked. And if the road hadn't been salted it was too late and we just had to wait for the weather to change and it got a little hairy there. We spent. Time at our cabin. So that was, we doubled down on the experience by being up in the mountain. And you were there for part of that there was not a lot of getting around for a couple days.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 1:51

No, it was hard to walk, Drive anywhere.

Track 1: 1:54

Yeah. I've done a few difficult things in my life including, walking up my driveway a couple Sundays ago.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 2:01

We're glad Sun came out and the weather's back to normal so we can move

Track 1: 2:05

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Alright, Ben, let's get right into it. What have you learned this week?

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 2:11

well in preparation for our upcoming Europe trip. I wanted to take my drone, so I started going down the rabbit hole and I can tell you there are. Some things to consider, and it's not just as easy as packing it and taking it. So trying to figure out what websites and where to go and how to be legal has been what I've learned recently that I need to do. How about yourself? What have you learned?

Track 1: 2:40

So let me ask you about the drone thing. How what is the difference between what you know we experience here in the US and what you may be experiencing in Europe? I.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 2:50

Sure. So in the US we operate under the FAA and once you register as a drone pilot recreationally, it's very simple very inexpensive, and it's an online process. You immediately get your appropriate serial numbers or operator numbers. I believe they call it maybe, and you're basically ready to go. And if you've got, if you're operating a drone under 250 grams oftentimes that's not even a requirement. So in Europe, however, to operate a drone over 500 grams requires not only a license in the eu, and depending on which country, it could be one of two different licenses that you need. It also requires a pilot training course, or at least a verification of a course completion. So it's an added, it's an added step. And after I looked into it, it's not just a simple click through it type test. There's some information, there's a little bit of study and there's a lot of courses. What I've. Chosen to do based on that research is purchase the DGI mini four, which is a 4K capable drone, but it's, it falls under that 250 gram threshold and therefore, in the eu, specifically France and Switzerland, where we're going. Un drones under 250 grams only need to be registered. You do not have to have that pilot certification. So it's a simple online process and you're capable of flying. Now there's some restrictions, but for the most part, you're good to go.

Track 1: 4:22

Did you ever do the part 1 0 7 course for the FAA here in the states?

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 4:27

Not yet. And you're stealing my thunder a bit because that's on the list for later, but not yet. And I think it's I think it's on the list for 2024.

Track 1: 4:35

As a couple of years ago I had a drone and I guess I subscribed to the, an online course that would take you through the Part 1 0 7. And I never got to that. Before I crashed, killed, and lost the drone. I never really returned to it for that reason. Perhaps I would've learned something in the class that would've kept that from happening. Not sure, but I do, I still have the, I paid the tuition for the course and, in such a time that I'm back in the drone business, I'll just click through that and go through that course. But yeah man. Good stuff.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 5:08

Yes. What about yourself? What have you learned here recently?

Track 1: 5:13

Yeah. So my recommendation is, I'm gonna go a little off piece here a bit. I'm gonna recommend a new artist that I've discovered and her name's Ella Cordova. I discovered her through Questlove and his Instagram account. So whistle love reposts this funny video of this young lady who has developed this, who's written this skit that makes fun of type faces and fonts, and you just have to see it to get it. I'm not even gonna try and describe this short that she's produced, but suffice to say that it's pretty brilliant. It's hilarious. So I clicked through, I thought, I just think, who is this? And I keep thinking this is gonna be like a aspiring comedian YouTuber type. And while she certainly does that kind of work and puts out that kind of work, she's so much more, she's also a folk singer and a poet. And so I'll point you specifically to, to her work as a singer songwriter, which is. Equally brilliant. The songs are good, they're playful. She doesn't take herself too seriously. She's just an enormous talent. So Ella Cordova, she used to go by the stage name Rena del Sid. So it gets a little confusing when you try and find her in Spotify. You can find her under two different listings. But it's just really clever stuff. She's got a beautiful voice. Her YouTube channels are just rich in content. I. Cover songs, again, back to these funny skits that she does. Really just very clever stuff. I would love to see her live someday if she gets back out on the road or whenever she gets back out on the road. But yeah, what have I learned this week? Ella Cordova is one of the most talented young songwriters I've come across in a very long time.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 7:08

So now are we talking about somebody new here or has she been out on the scene? For a while. I'm, this is the first I'm hearing.

Track 1: 7:15

Yeah I don't know her whole history just in the cursory kind of research that I did. Seems like she's been active for 5, 6, 7 years or so. She's put out a lot of albums. I, let's call it three or four all, and I haven't listened to all of them front to back, but from what I have listened to. Excellent stuff. It's it's folky, I guess It's all very clever. Reminds me of the way John Prine never took himself too seriously, but he had a lot to say. Really reminds me of that far, be it from me to anoint someone, the new John Prine. But nevertheless, if there's an it, this young lady has it.

benjamin_1_01-31-2024_192720: 7:57

Oh that's bold. But we're have to take a look at that.

John: 8:02

Hey, Ben. You remember last week, we talked about Hop Passport? Yeah. I do. I do as a matter of fact. Alright. So I've downloaded the app to my phone, and I just wanna kinda go through how this works real quick. Now I'm recording from my house. So what I can tell is that right now, I have a lot of different options in the event that I wanted to go have a beer. So 3.43 miles from my house, we have Wandlinger Brewing, 3 and a half miles, Chattanooga Brewing. 3.58, Hutton and Smith. 3.66, Naked River. And not only that, but I can filter through all of these options by things that may be important to me. So Is the location does it have a kitchen? Does it have TVs? Patio or outdoor seating? Does it have a food truck? Nonalcoholic options? Gluten free options. Is it kid friendly? Does it do tours? Is it dog friendly? Is it a Harvest Host location? So I can filter by all those criteria so that I can make a choice about what sort of place may suit me best next. All of which is really great, But I'm at home, and I already knew all these places existed. Can you imagine traveling and having a resource like this to help you find your next great Beer location or great lunch spot or dinner spot? You're on the road right now, Ben. Yeah. You know what? That's a good point. And I downloaded the app as well. Let me Check this out. We're in Oshkosh, and we're heading to Milwaukee tomorrow. So let me pull this up here real quick. Okay. So I'm already seeing multiple options here in Lakefront Brewery, Third Space Brewing. So this is a brewery we were actually planning on going to anyway. So I can use this app, go in there, and get discounts on the beer I was gonna go get anyways. Is that what you're saying? That's exactly right. As a matter of fact, I don't know. I'm getting a little thirsty right now. I haven't ruled out having a beer today. But when I do, I'm gonna have 2, and I'm only gonna pay for 1 thanks to Hot Passport because Hot Passport is the company that believes that you should drink local, The local is wherever you are. Let's get into our main discussion. So Last week, we talked about 20 23. We looked back as a way to try and frame what this podcast is all about. And we so we thought that this time, we would look forward in 20 24 and what we're calling sketching out 20 24 and all the sort of rank amateur ideas and adventures that we have in mind, some of which are already planned, Some of which are in the discussion stage, some of which are probably gonna be booked pretty soon. But let's just sketch out 20 24. We've got 11 months left, And I think we've got some big ideas about the things that we wanna do, the ways we wanna have fun, and, of course, taking the podcast along with us. And I think If you'll agree, the best place to start is what's coming up next, which is that we have a trip booked, and we leave in about 3 and a half weeks For France and the French Alps to go skiing. Yep. And we are excited. This will be the first international travel I've done and Can't wait. Couldn't pick a better spot. Congratulations on that. You're gonna have the time of your life. I've been fortunate enough to travel over to Europe a couple times. I've spent several days in France. It's 1 of my favorite places in the whole world for a lot of different reasons. But Let's talk about this trip. We're going to the Alps. We're going skiing. And I should pause here and say, yep. It's a ski trip. Everybody's gonna have a big time skiing Except for me. I'm actually not skiing on this trip. I had a knee surgery, a partial knee replacement, to be specific, Back in November, and we were hoping that I would be completely rehabbed and ready for this trip. That has turned out not to be the case. And I've been in touch with my doctor. Everything's fine. It's just the rehab is just a little slower than we hoped it would be. I'm thinking about ways to spend my time on this trip other than skiing. But let's start by talking about the mountain, the slopes, and skiing, the snowboarding itself because I know that you've been doing a lot of research, and I know you're excited about these mountains. So What have you discovered, and what are you expecting to find when we get over to Morzine? Yeah. I think this is a unique experience because It's such a large skiing land surface area, and there's multiple resorts trails and runs that connect each 1, lifts and shuttles, and it's just a really unique opportunity to get out and Ski or snowboard a little differently than we're used to here on on the East Coast or at least in the southern East Coast area. Yeah. Look. The mountains and the resorts are smaller in our part of the world, and we have been lucky at various times to go to the Rockies and ski, and that's Incredible. It's world class. This is different, though. We're taking a plane across the pond, going all the way to the Alps. Iconic alpine skiing. It's really going to be unbelievable. I'm incredibly jealous that you guys get to experience it. But we should talk about why we chose this trip because you and I have been to Montana a couple times and but we're not doing that this year. And Let's just say it out loud. We did a price comparison, and this trip, all told, With everything, it's gonna cost a little over half of what we would expect to spend in big sky. And I love big Sky. I absolutely love everything about that place. But it just made sense to say, alright. Let's do something different. Let's do something that's frankly pretty epic and spend half the dollars. Yeah. I it makes perfect sense, especially when you lay it out like that. And I think getting to see other places and ski differently, Big Sky, the biggest skiing in the country or biggest Gein in America, I believe, is what they say. I think the more zine in that area has a unique experience. Even in between some of the epic runs, there's Basically, a highway that connects multiple resorts, and it's like a big, long green that that you can just enjoy. And it's really accessible for Any level of expertise and really just able to get out and do something that you're not used to doing. Look. I'm I'm sick with jealousy over it, but also very excited for you. But I'm not gonna I'm not gonna sit back At the Chilean Pout here. I would hope not. Yeah. I'm gonna have a good time. And so I've just taken it upon myself to plan the side trips. So every morning I'm gonna go do something. And sometimes it may just be driving to a nearby town, Having lunch coming back, but I also wanna do some adventurous things. So I've been researching that. And the idea is I'm gonna go do this, but if anybody's taking a rest day, you're well welcome to hop in and join. There are options. There's Dog sledding. There's some things like Olympic sports, like with luge and bobsledding and stuff that You can try at a very amateur level. I can tell you the 1 that has piqued my interest the most, and I'm pretty well committed to this and that's ice driving. Ice driving. Ice driving. So there's an there's a nearby ice driving course Wherein you get to you can bring your own vehicle. We're gonna have big SUVs or the biggest SUVs you can get in Europe anyway because We're taking a crowd with us, but so not gonna do that. I'm gonna spend a couple extra euros and Drive the Porsches around the course. Yeah. Hate that for you. Yeah. That's gonna be terrible. Obviously, this is the route I'm going. I'll put links to all this in the show the notes for the show. And as I continue to develop, exactly what it is we're gonna do, we'll continue to report that out. We'll put the links in, and I think we're probably gonna have some video evidence of What it whatever it is we got up to over in Europe at some point, we'll share that as well. But, yeah, this whole thing about going To the house was a place that I've dreamed of going to for a very long time. I'm just chomping at the bit to get over there. If no other reason than just to stand there and look at the scenery, all those very it's very just the sheer mountains and the just The snow peaked mountain tops is just I've been dreaming about it for a long time. Finally gonna check this off the list. But I have to go ahead and put you on the spot right now, Ben. You have to promise me, and I'm gonna let you speak for the group that's going. You have to promise me that in a year, you'll go back because I absolutely intend to ski those slopes. I just can't do it this year. I think I can make that promise. Good lord will in the creek don't rise. But, I'm really interested to check out this Couple of the popular longer circuits and give you some feedback and maybe give myself a reason to come back as well. Good man. Good man. Alright. So let's talk about some other things. Some stuff that we've talked about. We're pretty well committed to, don't quite have booked yet. And this and there's a lot of reasons for that we'll get into. But let's switch our focus to a different Season and part of the world. Let's talk about scuba diving. Once you give us just a quick rundown of where you are with scuba because you're precertification. Right? would be in the category of noob. I've only Been success or have I've had 1 dive, and I've had 1 snuba experience. For those that don't know, snuba, is a tank Separate from your body, hose coming to a regulator, and it floats about 20, 25 feet away. But I've been talked into it long enough by you, John, and I tried the scuba out in Puerto Rico last year for the first time, and now we're hooked. And to your point, we're looking to get certified. Just haven't quite booked it yet. That's great. And we've got a local dive center here in Chattanooga. I imagine that's who you're gonna go with. And, you'll have that knocked out in a couple weekends. It's a fun experience. So I got CERD 3 years ago, Dove a couple times that year and to my great shame haven't been back since. And that's just life Stuff. We didn't go to the beach or go to the coast at all last year. Just didn't work out. But so I'll need a refresher. And I think the way I'm going To go about that is I will go to the open water dive day that Quite likely, maybe even your class may I may join you during the open water portion and just get a couple dives in, get reacquainted with the gear And the mechanics and some of the safety concepts, all of which I remember, but it you know, you need that muscle memory to come back, and it comes back pretty quickly. So I'm gonna get a refresher. And then I think you and I are scouting locations for what we hope will be just A big scuba trip this year. Scuba focus. It doesn't have to be only scuba, but we're we wanna feature a lot of scuba by Picking a location. So let's go through some possibilities here. And this I'm just pulling from my research. Let's start with Belize. Okay. So Belize. What why Belize? So if you go down pretty much any list of the best Diving in the Caribbean, Belize is gonna pretty consistently be at the very top.

19:38

Yeah, so believes is of course going to be incredible. Should we choose that second on the list? Is.

John: 19:45

An island that is known for its diving called Bonaire. it's a real laid back island, And you're doing a lot of shore diving. And basically, you kinda can rent your tanks for the week, Get rent an old truck, and there are multiple locations around the island where you can self guide your diving. So as long as you've got a dive buddy, you can just, take your research and say, okay. We're gonna go to this beach, and we're going to Do a short dive from here and, we'll get our 40 45 minute 15 minute dive in And swim back to shore. You can do that a couple of times a day, stopping for lunch. And all in all, it seems like a pretty. Pretty dream scenario. So so you can actually just rent gear and go out unsupervised. I don't know if I'm at that level yet. What level of certification do I need to participate in this? You make a really good point here. So that might not be Your first dive trip. Sure. I do think that after some experience in getting a few dives under your belt, that Becomes a real possibility with your basic certification. I think you're fine. But you that's a really great point. Maybe a dive boat with a dive master and all the sort of Safety measures that come with that is maybe more appropriate for this first trip, and we should definitely take that into account when we're planning this trip. Because it may not be enough for your first dive just to have me as a dive buddy and For you to feel comfortable and safe enough in that scenario. Yeah. I think as I get more dives, I think that might change, but Yep. I think you hit the nail on the head. Yeah. Where's the where's the next spot we got? So I did some research on an island that's real out of the way called Saba. And, really, the feature here is just how damn remote it is. They're real they're limited accommodation options, But, you talk about getting off the beaten path, but also having access to diving, small dive resort there. It looks dreamy. And, again, we're gonna have links to all this in the notes. But man, it just seems really appealing to me to just To be completely off the beaten path on a small island that you can probably hike around, and have access to just great diving. Okay. And then the fourth, I just I put this in there because I know it has world class diving, and I've got a couple of friends that have spent some time down there. The Cayman Islands. That's, I that's a location that strikes me as a little more resort y than some of the others I've we've named before, But that also just tells you that the infrastructure is gonna be there. You're looking for safe diving. You're looking for dive masters. You're looking for experienced dive boats, And all that, the Cayman Islands seem to be just gonna have all of that in spades and just gonna be ready to host us if we'd rather go that direction. I do being hosted. I guess my question would be, if you had to choose, which 1 of these is known for the most Majestic scenery underwater. What's how would we rack and stack them in that order? I don't keep in mind, I'm not saying this from personal experience because I haven't been to these locations yet. But just looking at all the listicles that you can find on the Internet when you just type in Best scuba in Caribbean, Belize typically lands at the top. Okay. That may be the solution right there. Kind of, do everything at once. You have dive masters and dive boats and have the number 1 ranked Guba diving in the Caribbean. Maybe you just don't go wrong with going to Belize. We've got our passports, and Looks like we just need to pick out a month. I know we got some other things in the hopper, but I'm sold. Look. I think the season is long, for scuba in that part of the world and these tropical locations. So we've got some options there. It's starting to feel me like this is an early summer thing, But again, we've got options. So we move to the next? Yeah. Let's move on. What's what's the next Focus we wanna have here. I've got I've had it on my mind to do 1 great hike, And what's been on my mind is Grand Canyon rim to rim. Done a lot of research on this. I'm very interested in it. Now, again, I have to prioritize My knee health to make sure that this is a possibility. And on that note, there are 2 prime seasons for rim to rim hiking. There's May and there's October. So in order just to be really prudent and really make sure that my knee is in good shape for what is a pretty strenuous hike, Does seem like we need to go for that October window. But the Grand Canyon room to room could be Approaching in a couple different ways. 1, you can do the whole thing in a day. So you're looking at depending on the route, let's call it a 23 mile hike, Which is possible. I've done 23 miles in a day several times in my life. But it's strenuous. So you're going down The Grand Canyon. And it's it is a steep downhill, and you've gotta manage that descent. And then, you hike through the canyon bottom, stop typically, folks will stop at a place called Phantom Ranch for lunch. And you can buy lunch there. And then once that's done, you continue out the rest of the trail system And then hike back up out of the canyon on the other side. You can do this starting on the south rim or the north rim. You just Pick the 1 that makes sense for you, the 1 you're most interested in. So couple of things there. If you're gonna do it in 1 day, It is strenuous. So you have to make sure that everyone in your party is really down for 23 miles of focused hiking, keeping pace. Because what they say about the Grand Canyon is, going down is optional. Coming back out is required. You don't wanna find yourself in a tough spot where you got a disabled hiker, and so you have to make sure that everyone in your party is committed to that. And I think that's I think that I probably could commit to that. But the other disadvantage is that you have to leave before daylight. And so there's gonna be a major section of the canyon that you don't see in daylight. So that let's call it the first 90 minutes, 2 hours of your hike. You're hiking in the dark. That to me just seemed like a bummer. So Yeah. And I was gonna ask for a 26 mile hike and the elevation required. Long are we talking about here in terms of a time commitment? It's a full day and then some. So it's all the daylight hours plus plus an hour or so predaylight. So what is that? 12, 13 hours? Yep. Roughly. Yeah. That for that reason, the 1 day rim to rim Doesn't appeal to me as much. Now on the other side of that argument, There's something to be said for the accomplishment of saying I went rim to rim in the Grand Canyon in a single day. That's a matter of pride, and there's a lot to be said for that. But I don't think I'm gonna prioritize that part of it. Yeah. We're amateurs over here. Yeah. That's exactly right. So the alternative is you can hike down, Get a backpacking permit, camp overnight, have dinner, camp overnight, much more leisurely, Then get up the next morning and hike up the other side of the canyon. I think all told, for kind of all the reasons we've described, that tends to be what makes sense for us. The only downside of that is you're carrying more weight. But also imagine Camping, sleeping on the banks of the Colorado River in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, that's bucket list stuff, so I don't hate it. Yeah. I think that's I think that's gonna have to make the list this year. So good on that 1. That one's More to come on that 1 because there's gonna be a lot involved in getting ready for that. Lot of research making sure that we're up on all our gear requirements. Yeah. Definitely. This is a very rank amateur podcast subject, and definitely more to come in 20 24 I think it does take some time to plan it. And, again we're gonna plan it right here on the podcast and let it play out right here, and hopefully we succeed. But for now, 20 24, Hopefully, the year 4 just an opportunity to go rim to rim at the Grand Canyon. Nice. I think we're moving into the to 1 of the last segments we have here. So we just wanna give you an idea of Some of the other things that we're looking forward to in 20 24, and I want you to kick it off with a couple of short mentions. Yeah. Look. My first priority has To be my knee health this year. And hopefully, that doesn't temper my activity too much. It will in these early months of 20 24. But, hopefully, by as the weather starts to warm up, I start to feel good and limber and strong again, and I'm looking forward to that. 1 thing that I do have planned in late summer is I've signed up for Bill Oyster's bamboo fly rod making class. This is just 1 of the I just 1 of the great experiences, I think. So Oyster Bamboo is a fly rod making company out of Blue Ridge, Georgia. They make just world class Fly rods, but you can also sign up for a class. And it's 5 or 6 days, I think. And you get to go from, literally choosing the bamboo shoot that you're gonna start with and doing everything it can to treat that and Cure it and turn it into a world class functioning and very beautiful heirloom fly rod. So I'm really looking forward to that. That's around the I think it's gonna be around Labor Day. So again, it gives us an excuse to go back to Blue Ridge, but also just I just can't think of anything just more interesting than taking a class like that. Now when you say a class, you said it's 4 or 5 days long. How long per day we talking about? And, give us an idea of on the back end, what's the value of the rod you've got in your hand, and, why is this such a special thing? I've been into the shop, and you can see through the glass and see the classes as they're happening. So this is you know, every student gets a workbench, and so everybody's in there working away and sanding and whatever it is they're doing. But So it's a full day. You're there all day long, break for lunch, and then you go home at dinner time. And so And there's a lot of really neat videos about this on YouTube, folks that have gone through it, and there's some great summaries there. Now I will say, you can buy just retail, buy a bamboo fly rod from Bill Oyster, and it's gonna be a few thousand dollars. And they're functioning. This is not just something to mount on the wall. This is something that you should Go. You should go fishing with. The student gets to decide what weight rod he Wants to make length, everything else. I haven't made those decisions yet. I'm probably just gonna do a 4 or 5 weight rod And and you just get something as an all around purpose. The I will say, they have students that have been back Dozens and dozens of times. Really? Yeah. Just because, the class itself has become the hobby. And I think that's I think that's pretty fascinating, and it and I think that makes me optimistic for how rich of an experience this is gonna be. I'm hoping I get the opportunity to to talk to Bill on the podcast, but we got a few months to figure all that out. Nice. I guess my first short mention, you mentioned it earlier, it's gonna be that part 1 0 7 drone Pilot license. Just touching scratching the surface, starting to do a little bit of research, Starting to figure out which program I wanna use for studying and what course to use. But the direction we're trying to go and, for business and personal reasons, I like the ability to be able to monetize the content that I'm using or producing. And, oftentimes, there's just a lot of different scenarios where having that can be of benefit. That's what I've got on the string. Now the timeline is TBD, but we're gonna keep that Keep the updates in the podcast, and you'll follow along when we actually hit the execution mode. And that is the rule. You don't have to be licensed to pilot a drone in the United States. But if you there's any commercial application whatsoever, you do have to have this license. Is that correct? That is correct. There are some vague open gray areas. It centers around the intent. And if your intent was to go out recreationally and at a later time decided to commercialize it, it's a little gray in that area. Most of the advice I've been seeing online and in different forms just says go ahead and get the part 1 0 7. That way, There's no red tape maybe down the road if you decide that you do have some footage you wanna use commercially. So Yeah. And look kinda what got me in there. Yeah. As someone who has some experience piloting aircraft, look, you Don't wanna mess around with having equipment in the sky. You wanna know what you're doing, and you wanna make sure that you're not gonna hurt yourself, hurt your equipment, or most importantly, hurt others. There's a lot of ways to get people hurt when you're hurling things through the sky. Another thing, you don't wanna mess with the FAA. So just do it the right way. So I think you're absolutely doing the right thing. What else do you have on your mind? You touched on it a little bit, but I gotta get back into fishing. So more fishing. I wanna get into fly fishing. You've been Luring me towards the water, but I haven't had a sip yet. So I'm interested in getting at least a versatile kind of a universal setup that, Yeah. Maybe isn't the high end setup, but at least gets me in the game and start understanding that aspect of fishing, But also not forgetting about bass fishing. So still getting out there just in general, more fishing. And Hopefully, as we as we go down this journey, we'll share that on the pod and learn together. Yeah. Absolutely. Again, this is a great rank amateur discussion. Know, just helping walk you through your first pieces of kit for fly fishing. Look, we can get you a Entry level setup that's gonna do everything you needed to do and you're gonna be out there, with waiters in a mountain river sometime, and then you say, oh, I get it. I get it. I understand. Man, I'm really looking forward to experiencing that with you. I've just got a couple more real quick. You and I have done a lot of research and discussing late lately, excuse me, about overlanding. And that to me seems like something that we can probably say yes to pretty quickly. Look. We live in a beautiful part of the world that affords a lot of locations and options for us to take a bite of that apple. So I would like to do a weekend where we're semi car camping, and or camping, near our off road vehicles taking a fly pole going up some creeks and rivers, seeing if we can catch some trout. I'd really like to do that. And I also just I've resolved to try and play more golf. I travel less for work than I used to, and so I'm just gonna have more opportunities for that sort of afternoon 9 holes after work. I've just kinda resolved to do that. So yeah. Do you wanna finish finish out your last short honorable missions? Yeah. Just a couple more. So wanted to, relive that glorious moment of getting that first deer and just some of the preparation And the anguish to finally successfully harvest a deer this past season. And then, maybe what we're looking to do in terms of the property that you've got up there and what we're looking to do as far as land management, I think we'd like to touch on that. Maybe that can help those that are new and trying to get into the sport as well. And then last, just kinda, doing a pocket dump. Just how Our everyday carry evolves, what we have, what we're looking at, how we've rotated it. Just give us an idea of What do we think is important enough to have with us at all times and, kinda just open that discussion up? So those are The last couple items we're looking to at least I'm looking to chat about in 20 24 Yeah. It's in future episodes. Yeah. It's an ambitious plan. And I guess I sit here, I think about the discussion we just had and think, are we gonna be able to get all of this done? So to answer that, yeah, I think we're gonna be able to do most of these things. Again, it depends on our health and everything else, but barring any hiccups, we should be able to do this. But it does require some commitment. There's no doubt about that. But, again, this podcast is about this sort of balance between the commitment to making sure that you can Get to experience these wonderful and rich things in this life, but also realizing these are very accessible things. Very rarely are we going to recommend you buy the most expensive piece of gear or take the most expensive trip. These are things that with some planning and research, Most folks can say yes to, and that's really what this podcast is about. It's about saying yes to things without feeling the pressure or the need to be an expert. So I think 20 24 is it's gonna be fun. And like I said, hopefully, it plays out right here on the pod. Okay, man. Good discussion, but I think at the end of the day, we're just here for the gear. So do you have a gear recommendation for us this week? I do. I do. And we're gonna this week, we're gonna we're gonna look at Clothing. I've been searching for a pant that I can wear and really Just do everything in. I need pockets. I need durability. I need stretch. I need it to hold up to Maybe out on the town or out at the farm, and I can tell you that I found them. And that pant is by a company called Vertex. So it's v e r t x. They are known for making various tactical oriented solutions, bags, gear, different things like that. But it they are specifically the vertex delta stretch 2 point ones. And, in a nutshell, you're looking at a khaki style or esque looking pant, 4 way stretch. You can walk through the woods in them and not to worry about ripping them to shreds, and they have more pockets in more creative places. It's just it's just an intuitive design, and I've gotta highlight it if you're not familiar with it. That's Vertex Delta stretch 2 point ones. Yeah. A couple questions. So I'm I just I pulled them up. I'm looking at it right now. This is you wouldn't call this an Upland pant, though, would you? This is a reinforced Yeah. Not quite. Okay. Not quite an Upland pant. Think of Upland. Usually, Upland pants might have a multilayer not the Briar side. Right? And also add in some stretch. So a lot of times, Upland pants are a little rigid. Yep. Got it. And it looks like, there's a seam here at right about the knee, but does are these convertibles? No. So not a convertible. It's more of a gusset. It's you don't really notice it when you're wearing it, but when you go to bend down and they're an active pant. You can go chop wood in them, or you can walk around town in them. It's got a gusset there, and it's got a gusseted crotch. So they look a little different in the image, but they fit and feel pretty good on. Yeah. Good recommendation. Excellent. Yeah, man. What kind of gear you got this week? Yeah. I'm similar. I'm gonna go to clothing again and I'm gonna recommend poncho shirts. And I think this is a company that's gotten fairly popular in the last couple of years. This is a direct to consumer kind of Internet Instagram brand out of Austin, Texas. And, look, the advertising worked. I just kept they kept coming up on Instagram over and over. I finally caved, Bought the damn shirt, put it on, and was like, oh, okay. Yeah. This is good. So it's a nice slim fitting shirt. It's a it's Sport shirt, the SPF sort of moisture wicking kind of fabrics that have been become so popular in the last 10 years. But these work. I'm wearing 1 now it's a fishing shirt. So so I've got I bought 1 and liked it so much. I was in a this phase where I needed to buy some I need more shirts. So I bought 1. I liked it so much. I bought 4 more, And then added 1 of their flannel options for, when it's colder out. But Just generally speaking, poncho shirts. Just check out the brand. They make corduroy shirts. They make western style pearl snap shirts. That's not really my thing, but seems to be a great company, that's Putting out really good product. Check out their website. They can have a shirt at your front door in a couple days, and they just work. I've kinda gotten to a point in my career where I don't bother with dress shirts very much anymore. And so these sports shirts work just fine. So Like I said, they're great on the lake, great in the ocean. They're great in the office, for me. As long as you don't have to, dress up in a suit, then these are just great. So poncho shirts I'm a believer. Yeah. I've got them pulled up here. I'm a big fishing shirt kinda guy. This looks like a fishing shirt evolved. This looks like a more of an elegant solution, but you're telling me it's still made out of the performance materials, and it's the same it's a very similar experience for the when you're wearing it. Yeah. That's exactly right. So and they've also recently come out. So we're talking about the original, which is the fishing shirt. There's also got a new 1 called the ultralight, which I think is just the original in an in a even more ultralight fabric. I can't imagine how it gets any lighter than what I'm wearing. But just as a for instance, I'm just looking really quick. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. I see 16 or more colorways just in the original style right now. Mhmm. Just on a Quick and dirty count right now. So there's a lot of options. These things are good. And as long as they prove durable over the next 2 or 3 years, Yeah. I can't imagine why I'd move away from this. Now durability is something here. Now I'm seeing on their website that they have A lifetime guarantee. You can send it back and get another 1 to or can you speak to that? I can. I actually, you're You're teaching me. I didn't even know that was the case. yeah, that's great news. So durability less of a concern given that reality. I'll tell you what. You don't see a clothing company, much less a shirt company offering guaranteed for life no matter the problem. There's a system to swap out. So that's it's almost like you make the investment once, and you're gonna have a shirt for life 1 way or another. So I might need to see what colorways you've got because I'm about to make a purchase, and I don't wanna look like we're on a team. But yeah, might have to get that info from you. Now look, man. Get whatever color you want. Just text me in the morning and let me know what you're wearing Alright, man. We made it through episode 2. I can't believe we're still going, You've been listening to the Rank Amateur podcast. I'm John Kearns. My cohost is Ben Wyatt. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach us at rank amateur pod at g mail dot com. You can find photos related to these conversations on our Instagram account at rank amateur pod. Until next time.

The Rank Amateur Podcast

No. 2: Sketching Out 2024

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