From Istanbul to Ireland with Rick Steeves


I can’t say that I have spent enough time in a bike saddle to consider the merits of cycle touring.  In fact, until I met my next guest, I really didn’t understand cycle touring at all.  Rick Steeves has it down to a science, though.  What started as a time-filler during a gap year in college eventually turned in to a life long pursuit of adventure on two wheels.

Rick is a veteran of cycle touring, cycling through 35 countries on almost 18 different trips since 1989.  In fact, he retired from his IT job in 2015 to put wheels down on a 6000km journey from Istanbul to Ireland (and yes, there is a ferry involved).  We discuss many details of this epic trip, but also spend a lot of time talking about the dozens of other trips he has done around the world, mostly in Europe but also the US and New Zealand.  But he keeps being pulled back to Europe to fill in the gaps on his trekking map. 

Rick is a wealth of knowledge and experience, and gives freely of what he knows.  You can find him, his blog and his book at his website irelandbybicycle.com.  His website has a ton of information about how you can see the world from a different vantage point. Check it out!

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Chasing squirrels with Mike Perkins


Love these podcast conversations, but this one came home a little closer.  This conversation is with my friend and business partner, Mike Perkins.  Mike knows everyone.  He has lived his life wide open, and has lots of stories about lots of different people because of it.  He also has a huge heart.  So the combo of being outgoing and a bleeding heart, it is obvious why people love to be around him. 

Adventure looks different for everyone.  For Mike, it has been leaning in to whatever the next challenge was whether it be music, soccer, drafted in to the military or starting his own CPA firm.  He marches to the beat of his own drum, but that is what makes his stories and his adventures so unique. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mike Perkins.

 

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Paying twice with Thom Asta


It is a treat to be surprised to learn something amazing and interesting about someone you have known for a long time.  My hour or so conversation with Thom Asta fits this description perfectly.  I have known Thom for going on 20 years but the things we discussed blew me away and gave me a new level of respect for a man that I had a ton for already. 

This podcast is about how and why the Everyday Explorer continues to find, and then expand, his or her limits.  But it is not just about the adrenaline story.  I want to know what they learn through the challenge of adventure, and how it changes them moving forward.  Thom points out that sometimes this exploration is intentional, but sometimes it is not.  And these surprise challenges usually are the most difficult, most dangerous and full of ‘gold’ if one should make it through. 

Be sure to stick with this to the end as his story reaches a peak event that he never saw coming, and the gratitude and vibrancy for life that was the gift he received on the other side.  I was on the edge of my seat and left searching for words by the end.  I know you are going to love Thom Asta!

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Exploring the world with curiousity through caves with Dr. Ken Walsh


Not many of us have spent near as much time below the Earth’s surface as Dr. Ken Walsh has.  Ken is a Senior Environmental Engineer at Leidos Inc., but that is not who he is.  Ken is an Everyday Explorer at hear.  He started his love of exploration under ground early in his life, and it has taken him deeper and deeper in to exploring the beauty that exists above and below ground.  It also has been a mode for him to explore the reaches of his own limits.

We weave our way through a wide ranging conversation that will expose Ken’s intelligence, creativity and natural curiosity, all of which are used by him to find wonder and awe no matter where he finds himself. 

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