Been There Doing That Podcast

We have been looking forward to our newest adventure for the past several months. The time finally arrived about 20 days earlier than planned. As of August 11, 2020, we have graduated into the adventure of grandparenthood. In this episode, we share how we dropped everything and pushed up our trip to Colorado to be with our daughter, son-in-law, and new grand baby by the time they arrived home from the hospital. We were already preparing for our trip, so we were partly packed. Our original plan was to depart from Missouri to head to Colorado on August 19. Then we got the call that the kids were headed to the hospital for an early delivery, we hopped in the car and were on our way. There were still trips to Creston, Iowa and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Listen how we split efforts and were able to get to all the places we needed to be.   Enjoy!   P.S. We won't be showing pics of our little grandson to preserve the privacy of the kids and their little nuclear family.

Lately, our travel has taken a different turn. Instead of RV or Jeep travel, we've turned to our bikes. Not motorcycles...good, old-fashioned bicycles. Over the last several weeks, our business has us glued to our computer monitors, working on various client projects. Our little get-aways have been hopping on our bikes for short rides around the neighborhood. We got a wild hair one weekend and decided to bike the entire Frisco Highline Trail. This 35-mile trail connects Springfield and Bolivar, Missouri.  Although we had seldom gotten on our bikes for at least 5 years, and our bodies weren't accustomed to such physical activity, somehow we thought riding our bikes for 35 miles would be a really good idea.  Get this...in our scheme of a weekend biking activity, we also thought it was a good idea to bike back! This would be a weekend of over 70 miles of our rears in the saddle. Could we do it? Well...in this episode, we share our little adventure. Wanna see the video? Here's the link.

What seems like ages ago, just before the announcement of stay-at-home policies, Robert and I had a little adventure with our teenage nephews. Henry and Max spent the weekend with us and Robert schooled them in leather bag making. We woke up extremely early on that Saturday morning and made our way to Concordia, MO for the Concordia Trade Fair. This was the first show that Robert had a table. All three boys had things they displayed for sale. What a wonderful day! Long...but wonderful. This episode was recorded in the car on the way home from the trade fair. You may hear some road noise...but it sure was fun to set up all four mics and share earbuds to document our time together. Enjoy!

Even though we're supposed to be staying home and practicing social distancing, we're still having little adventures, Been There Doing That style.  For the most part, we already keep to ourselves so the social distancing rule is pretty easy. But staying at home...no way. We can meander backroads just fine and remain socially distant. With all the events canceled, certainly, our travel plans had changed, no doubt about that. We still have a lot to do around the homestead. That's why time slipped away too quickly and we hadn't posted in a while.  We hope you enjoy the little quarantine post that we actually recorded a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Snowmageddon was coming so we thought it was time to take a little road trip. OK…snowmageddon is a made-up word, but goodness! The weather forecasters make it sound like a little snow will be the end of the world. Drama in the news…drama in the weather. In today’s episode, you’ll find us recording as we are driving down the road. We’re on our way to our RV after a few weeks of short trips packed full of events. Here’s a list of the highlights of all that has happened since our last show: Aurora Colorado for puppy delivery Golden, CO Lookout Mountain Buffalo Bill’s Gravesite The beginning of the busy music season, which means…band practice! Leatherwork trips Council Bluffs IA to visit Brandy and family Kearney, Nebraska 40th Annual United Nebraska Muzzleloaders Convention Manhattan KS 35th Annual Muzzleloading Association Convention & Trade Show Lake of the Ozarks, MO   We hope you enjoy the episode as we talk about our snow day in Council Bluff, Iowa and all the other events we enjoyed in just four short weeks. We also reveal something that we’re a bit disappointed about, but our disappointment is very much overshadowed by wonderfully joyful news. Also revealed…a new possible career for Robert. Join us for the ride.        

It has been a long time since we've published a podcast episode. Time just has a way of getting away from us...especially when we are on the go.  This episode isn't any different. We're on the go. Yes! We decided to record this episode while driving down the road. Not parked anywhere and recording in the car. Nope. Recording while actually driving down the road. That's a first for us. It probably won't be the last either! We got through the holidays and it's the start of a brand new year...a brand new DECADE! In this episode, we share what big changes are on the horizon for us. This year, 2020, is going to be our transition year. We start off the episode sharing our trips in the fall and into the holidays. We can't believe that we've spent 15 New Year's Eves together. Fifteen seems like a lot, but the time has gone so fast and we've had so many adventures. We're ready for more! We are shifting things with our businesses, traveling a bit differently, and changing our home. All this in preparation for a big trip toward the Pacific Northwest, into Canada, and up into Alaska. This epic trip has been on our 5-year goal list and we're already 2 years in...it's time to make drastic changes! And this is the year! We're concentrating on other creative endeavors for the year 2020. We've decided to pull back on the podcast and commit to publishing an episode once a month this year. Not to say there won't be some bonus episodes once in a while. Since we're doing more video, be sure to check out and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.  Additional Resources: Networking in Unlikely Places | Podcast Conner Prairie | Fishers, Indiana Ken Scott | American Frontier Artist | Pouches Eddie Rector | Can-tu-kee Hunting Pouches and Accoutrements Contemporary Longrifle Association Overland Expo Mountain West

If you caught episode #77, you heard all about the adventures Brian Driggs from The Gearhead Project had behind door number 2. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to know what was behind door #1.  Here ya go...this is what was behind door number 1. Enjoy ;)

One of the best things that came out of Overland Expo West this year was meeting Brian Driggs with The Gearhead Project. Brian wondered over to the Camel Trophy Area and saw Robert with a feather in his hat and they struck up a conversation. Our time as guests on The Gearhead Project Podcast was such a hoot, that we wanted you to meet Brian. Truth be told, we just enjoy talking with Brian and we wanted to learn more about him and his adventures, we decided to hit record. Have fun as we talk cars, sailing, and unusual vehicle travel. Adventure stories take us places from Hawaii, Germany, Australia, to even Mongolia. Brian becomes quite intrigued as we share our experience with testicle festivals. We hope you enjoy the episode as you get to know Brian, hear about great vehicle-based adventure and all about The Gearhead Project. Be sure to check out these links that were mentioned in the episode. Diego's Adventure with The Adventurists Lost in Germany en route to ElbeTreffen Shitbox Rally Gearbox Magazine | Interview with the founder of Shitbox Rally Consideration for Beta Tester for Forum TGP50: The Forum Opens Tomorrow Additional Resources: The Gearhead Project Website Brian Driggs Facebook Instagram LinkedIn   P.S. It took us a while to publish the episode. At the time of the recording, The Gearhead Project forum was still in the works. Now it’s LIVE! Congrats Brian!

Yep...he did it. Robert caused quite the uproar on Facebook.  Funny how a profile image change can cause so much controversy.  We hope you enjoy today's episode as we share how Robert caused so much havoc and upset on social media...all over a little thing.

It wasn’t our first trip to Franklin, Tennessee and we doubt it will be our last. This time was far from an overlanding trip. Instead, we rented a car and stayed in a hotel. Our mission was a business conference that was held in Franklin. We enjoyed an evening in downtown Nashville to see an old friend play in his band. Then discovered a little local festival when we returned to Franklin. Before returning home to Missouri, we decided to swing down to Pensacola to visit our daughter and her husband. We were already south. What're a few extra miles to say "hi," right? It was a whirlwind trip and a lot was accomplished. We did have the opportunity to take in a few new sites. We hope you enjoy the episode as we give you a rundown of our trip.   Links Mentioned: Natchez Trace Parkway The Factory | Franklin, TN Carnivore Meat Company | Our favorite – Hot Biltong Jeni’s Ice Cream Tennessee Antiquarian Book Fair Smoky Mountain Knife Works | Sevierville, TN National Naval Aviation Museum | Pensacola, FL Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures.   

How much activity can we cram into one day? Well, listen to this episode and find out. It was a hot, summer day and a day of contrast. We started out by going to Warrensburg to a Hamfest. While there, Robert had a long conversation with fellow hamvangelist Brooks all about their black powder guns. We left the Hamfest to play tourist and explore a part of Missouri we hadn’t been to yet. That led us to Higginsville to visit the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site. It a nice park with nice grounds. The only problem was…it was extremely HOT that day. Our tour didn’t last long. Hunger took over and we made our way to Marshall, MO for some BBQ. As we traveled, I occupied my time with some travel crochet. I started my sand dollar beach bag. Then we switched back into keeping with the hamvangelist theme by visiting our friends Jeff and Tracy while in Marshall. Robert and Jeff tucked themselves away in the ham shack talking about who knows what. All I know is that Robert came home with a new-to-him radio. We left Marshall and headed toward Lake of the Ozarks. Our day of contrasts ended as Robert played a gig with the Tri County Hair Club for Men Musical Ensemble (yes…that’s the name of the band. Follow them on Facebook). Contrasts…Amateur Radio, Black Powder & Civil War, BBQ, and Loud Music…a fun-filled day. Resources Mentioned: Warrensburg Hamfest Parker Pie Company | Vermont Irasburg, Vermont | 2012 #021 – Our Top 10 Food Places Confederate Memorial State Historical Site | Higginsville, MO The Brick BBQ | Marshall, MO Bagnal Dam | Lake of the Ozarks Tri County Hair Club for Men Musical Ensemble Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures. 

During our travels, we’ve had the wonderful opportunity to meet Tim and Kelsey Huber of Dirt Sunrise. We had been following them for a while before officially meeting them at 2018 Overland Expo West. That’s when Robert asked to take their portrait using his medium format film camera. Tim and Kelsey have been overlanding for quite some time, but it was a little over a year ago when they took the leap and set out on their big adventure to Mexico and South America. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Tim and Kelsey as they share some of their Dirt Sunrise adventures. From how they met to how they manage to afford to be on the road for such a long time, we’re sure you’ll be as inspired as we are. Be sure to see their adventures first hand and subscribe to the Dirt Sunrise YouTube channel. Resources Mentioned: Dirt Sunrise | Tim & Kelsey Huber Website Facebook Instagram YouTube

During our many overlanding trips, we've met some wonderful people. Adam and Autumn Raven are two of our favorite people we know. We've become friends through our travels. Mainly we "see" each other through social and occasionally talk on the phone. This time we thought we'd record our conversation and share with you their wonderful adventures. They've been full-time overlanders for the last three years. They tossed out their full-time work gigs and hit the road and are living their work from anywhere lifestyle dream.  We hope you enjoy!  Resources Mentioned: A Raven Designs | Autumn & Adam Raven Website Facebook Instagram Pinterest

We are hunkered down in Missouri with a full work schedule. We’ve decided to not go on our traditional fall overlanding trip to Overland Expo East and the realization of that fact is setting in and has got us a little down. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be publishing interviews with some fellow travelers who we’ve met along the way. We thought it would be fun to kick off the interview series by answering some of the same questions we asked our guests. For the next several weeks, we’ll be living vicariously through our friends who are actively on the road. We hope you enjoy the episode as we share a little bit more of why we do the things we do. You’ll hear our biggest “oh my gosh” moments and what our biggest challenges are.   Mentions: Conner Prairie Less Annoying CRM (referral link) Chesapeake Bay Bridge Experience Adventures at Buckeye Reservoir Dismal Swamp Memory Tri-County Hair Club Music Assemble Scrivener Solutions

Our overlanding journey had some interesting Jeep repair adventure for sure. And it wasn’t over. There was this little squeak. The squeak that was driving Robert NUTS! He just knew that something was just not right. It bothered him so much that he had do some roadside diagnosing. Join us in this week’s podcast as we share this little adventure. Robert pulled over because he couldn’t take the squeaking any longer. He had a pretty good idea where the source was. To my surprise, he took off what looked to me to be a pretty significant part. Could we even get home without that big hunk of metal attached? Listen and see. Enjoy.

We had quite the adventure in our last episode leaving Buckeye Reservoir, but our adventures weren't over. We visited Naturalrita in search of a natural history museum that Robert was sure was nearby. He was mistaken.  The museum was really in Delta. Fort Uncompahgre was not what we expected, but it sure was a pleasant surprise. We share our tour experience of the little fort. Then we were off to find a place to camp. We made our way to Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area outside of town. And that's where our new adventure begins.  We hope you enjoy this episode where you'll learn all about our great brake debacle.  Enjoy!   Resources Mentioned: #68 - Adventures at Buck Eye Reservoir  Buckeye Reservoir Fort Uncompahgre Dominguez-Escalante

Our adventure begins when we chose our route from Moab, Utah to make our way to Colorado. We had our sights set on Buck Eye Reservoir to check out some free camping. We looked at our GPS and saw a number of possible routes. We decided on going through Geyser Pass, Utah to arrive in Colorado on some back roads. The further we went up the mountain, the more snow we encountered. After traveling several miles, we encountered a gate. The pass was still closed for the winter season. We had to turn around. We regrouped and chose a different route taking less remote roads until we made the turn onto X2 Road. Now that was a steep and rocky road. Did I mention steep and rocky? It took us about two hours to travel 14 miles. We finally arrived at Buck Eye Reservoir. The grounds were beautiful. Many free and paid camping. We have to say the cleanest and best smelling vaulted toilets that we’ve ever encountered on any of our travels so far. We enjoyed the evening’s camp thinking that our adventures were behind us. Little did we know, our biggest challenge was still to come. We hope you enjoy this episode as we share what happened as we were trying to leave Buck Eye Reservoir. We had some hair-raising-OMG-moments but thankfully, we’re here to record this episode. Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures.

It was time to pack up and leave Overland Expo West. It was cold and snowing. We had a great time at the Expo, but we were ready to be on the move again. We wanted to explore Utah more and hopefully find warmer and dryer weather. We went toward Sand Island Recreation Area as we thought that would be our campsite for the night. When we arrived, we drove around and discovered there was a $15 camping fee. The camping facilities had vaulted toilets and no water. If we were going to pay for a site, we wanted running water for a nice hot shower. We must be spoiled. We decided to move on. We made our way to Bluff, Utah because it was in the general direction of where we wanted to go. Besides, we knew if we parked just outside of the city library, we could hook up to their WiFi. This was quite handy in our search for the evening’s camping area and scoping out the weather. We ended up in Blane, Utah where we drove around checking out some campsites and working for a few hours. We even were parked at a site for three hours before we decided that the longer we were there, the more uncomfortable we felt. We headed up into the mountains to an abandoned ski lift. We didn’t get our warmer dryer weather. Instead, it was cold and snowing. We needed to put in some focused work time, so we headed toward Moab. There we stayed at campsites outside of town and worked used the library as our office for a few days. We hope you enjoy the episode as we share how we meandered from campsite to campsite. Links Mentioned: Overland Expo West Sand Island Recreation Area Bluff, Utah Moab Library Milts Stop and Eat   Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures. 

Although we were volunteering at Overland Expo West 2019, we had the opportunity to attend a few of the classes offered at the event. As volunteers, we could attend classes if the room wasn’t too full as the seats are reserved for Overland Experience guests. In this episode, we talk about the classes we did attend when we weren’t at our volunteer posts. Each class was fantastic, and we tip our hats to the instructors. Internet Connectivity While Overlanding | Thomas Cole When there is no 911. Fundamental Airway Management | Charly Aurelia Overlanding While Working Full-Time. Is it Possible? | Eric and Brittany Highland It's a Dog's Life. Tips to Travel with Companions of the Canine Variety | Maggie McDermut Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures. 

We love attending Overland Expo because we have made some wonderful friends. Each time we go, we enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones. This episode is all about who we hung out with at Overland Expo West 2019. We only scraped the surface of talking about all the wonderful people we met up with. Sorry if we forgot to mention to you. Enjoy the show and hope to see you soon. If we haven’t met yet…hopefully, our paths will cross soon.   Links Mentioned: Dean Shirley | East Coast Overland Adventures Zack & Rachel | Okienomads Melanie & Sebastian | Campulance Matt & Amy | The Traveling Together Journal Tim & Kelsey | Dirt Sunrise Maggie McDermut Henry Eakle Charly Aurelia Josh Jewel Dennis Garmin | Dennis Garmin Leather Jonathan & Roseanne Hanson | Overland Expo Travis Wolcott with his dog Jensen Overland Expo West Change Your World Fund   Subscribe to the Been There Doing That YouTube Channel for our latest videos of our adventures.