Episodes
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Jerod Foster and I rode adventure motorcycles 3,500 miles from Presidio, Texas on the Mexico border to the North Dakota/Canada line. We lived off our Honda Africa Twins and slept in tents for 15 days. We rode gravel, dirt, and the occasional asphalt backroad up the middle of America. We were followed by a crew of Texas Tech students led by directors Simon Parmley, and Madison Walker, filming a docu-series for Texas Tech PBS.
This episode was recorded the morning of day eight at Watts Coffee in downtown Council Grove, Kansas. You can hear the fatigue in our voices. We recap our travels through Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The scenery has been stunning, the gravel chunky, the sand challenging, and the people, infinitely interesting. We relive a few tumbles and highlight which pieces of gear we’re loving at the moment.
Check out thegreatplainsproject.com for daily dispatches featuring my words and Jerod’s photos. It’s like a coffee table book for your computer.
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The Great Plains Project - Before The Journey
Jerod Foster and I rode adventure motorcycles 3,500 miles from Presidio, Texas on the Mexico border to the North Dakota/Canada line. We lived off our Honda Africa Twins and slept in tents for 15 days. We rode gravel, dirt, and the occasional asphalt backroad up the middle of America. We were followed by a crew of Texas Tech students led by directors Simon Parmley, and Madison Walker, filming a docuseries for Texas Tech PBS.
This episode was recorded two weeks before we departed. Jerod and I talk about his motivation for this project and why we’re doing it on motorcycles. We meet some of the student filmmakers in a Q & A session, and our director Simon Parmley chimes in to ask me about my relationship to the motorcycle. My relationship to the machine is more about my time with my granddad. I get a little choked up.
The days were long and the work continued well into the night. This trip pushed the entire crew to the limit as we documented our exotic expedition across The Great Plains and had thoughtful conversations with folks that call it home. It is not flat. The land is beautiful. The people are amazing. Over the next six weeks, I’ll release Great Plains Project episodes. One was recorded from the road in Council Grove, Kansas halfway through the trip. The rest will be with crew members from the production. This is The Great Plains Project.
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Missing episodes?
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Lane Willson is our final guest for - Anatomy of A Mountain Town - Salida, Colorado
Lane and Monty Willson started Oveja Negra Adventure Cycling Gear and Bike Bags in 2012, and the world has never been the same. Founded in Leadville, Colorado and later moved to Salida, Oveja Negra is the most dynamic company in the outdoor industry. Nobody runs a brand like Lane Willson because there is no one in the multiverse like Lane Willson. She is a hard working rainbow, unicorn, lioness, and logistics master.
We sat down in the Oveja Negra factory where all those amazing bags - I love - are made. In the YouTube video, you’ll see the team working in the background. You’ll hear the sewing machines running as Lane and I talk about, “surrendering to the flow,” working hard, playing harder, and profit in passion. Lane and I conversate about our dream vehicles, Van Halen, Phish, and the Oveja Negra rap video. Lane closes the show with a very special story about Jason Shelman at Subculture Cyclery, solid dude, amazing Salida bike shop.
Don’t do your best, do Lane’s best and you’ll achieve Full Zen Ahead!
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I am honored, inspired, and stoked to have Brinkley Messick on Part Five - Anatomy of A Mountain Town - the folks that make Salida, Colorado ebb and flow. Brinkley is an artist (painter), trail builder, and one of the most thoughtful humans I’ve had the opportunity to interview. When I ask Brinkley a question, I can see the brushes working in his head. He thinks, ruminates, and then answers. My brain works the same way. As a result, these two creative minds meander from subject to subject.
We instantly connect over Ronnie James Dio, the greatest voice in metal and the namesake of one of Brinkley’s dogs. We talk about cassette tapes, trails, Salida brick, mules, bathroom art, and finding your creative path.
Salida’s historic downtown has been a “Certified Creative District,” since 2012. Its designation by Colorado’s Office of Economic Development was designed to foster a climate in which creatives and creative enterprises can prosper. When I cooked up this series, I knew an artist had to be featured. I think Brinkley is the perfect representative of mountain town art life. He creates art because he has to. I love it!
Give Brinkley a follow and check out his work at https://www.brinkleymessickart.com/
Art is the Path to Full Zen Ahead!
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P.T. Wood is a mountain man to his core. He moved to Salida, Colorado in the late 80s to be a raft guide on the Arkansas River. In the previous installment of, "Anatomy of A Mountain Town," pastry chef Sarah Gartzman was our guest and Tenderfoot Mountain with its prominent S was our backdrop. In this episode, P.T. Wood jokes, it's not an S but a five for the five jobs you have to live in Salida, and P.T. has worn a lot of hats: river guide, carpenter/builder, restaurant owner/ pizza maker, mayor, distillery owner/alchemist, and currently Chafee County commissioner. He is also the greatest ambassador of good vibes for all of Chaffee County.
We talk about life in Salida during the late 1980s. P.T. shares his passion for building (framing to finish), desert rivers, the Monarch Mountain Ski Area, and the magic of multi-day float trips. P.T Wood is cooler than cool! He's, "Ice Cold!" Folks, you're gonna dig this episode.
Full Zen Down River!!!
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Sarah Gartzman is a pastry chef and Salida restaurateur. Situated just below her knuckles the letters S-A-N-D-W-I-C-H are tattooed across her fingers. Her passion for her craft demands this bold statement, because Sarah makes the best damn sandwiches on this third rock from the sun. Everything Sarah touches is delicious: confectionary treats, fresh bread, cheese, arugula, caramelized onions, salsa verde, hollandaise sauce, thinly sliced ribeye…oh my!!!! In 2012 Sarah, and her husband Rob opened Sweeties Sandwich & Baked Excellence in downtown Salida. Sweetie’s has been a town favorite ever since. I had my first Don Draper (a loaded pastrami sandwich) from Sweetie’s in 2014, and I hold every sandwich I eat across this country to that Sweeties standard. They all fail.
We sat down on the roof top bar of Sarah and Rob’s flagship eatery. The Biker and The Baker where they serve wine, deserts and brunch. With S Mountain as our back drop, and the Salida breeze as our ambient music, Sarah and I dish on food, mountain town life, wall paper, working hard, chasing dreams you didn’t know you had, and Elvis’s favorite type of greens. I tell her how Bavarian cream chocolate pie paired with microbrewed stout beer changed my life and formed my palette. Sarah shares an amazing dining experience she had in Mexico city. If you love food and mountain town life, this is the show for you.
Do you wanna bake like Sarah at home? Well, you better up your spoon microphone dance routine (check out Sarah’s Instagram) and order a “Hey Sweetie!” baking kit and Get Jiggy With IT? Or shall I say get, “Sweetie With IT!”
This is a fun one folks!
Full Delicious Zen Ahead…
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Steph Perko is the nicest, most genuine person on the planet. I feel blessed to call her a friend. Steph is a co-owner at Salida, Colorado's very own Oveja Negra, the greatest bikepacking/outdoor brand in the galaxy. She is also an intrepid motorbike adventurer, ice fisher, dog mom, gardener and the most industrious mechanic/shade tree engineer I’ve ever met. Every bag she sews at Oveja Negra is packed with sunshine, rainbows, and some good old Pueblo, Colorado wisdom.
Steph and I hit the ground running in this part two of The Tinstreamer Series, “Anatomy of A Mountain Town.” We talk about our motorbike bond, and how speedboat may be the most perfect word since cellar door. We chat briefly about kangaroos, octopi and ghosts, and Steph recounts a hectic VW engine rebuild, followed by a Colorado road trip, that reminds me of a very special episode of “Happy Days.” This show has it all. We close out with Steph recounting life lessons with a John Deere master key and finishes the show with the buckle click of an Oveja Negra Portero bikepack. Music to my ears!
Zen and the Tao of Perko… Enjoy!
Next week’s guest is Salida, Colorado Pastry Chef & Restauranteur - Sarah Gartzman
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These are the folks that make Salida ebb and flow. Mike Harvey is a white water kayaker, river surfer, white water park designer and the co-founder of Badfish SUP and River Surfboards in Salida. In the 90s, the Arkansas River was already known for its world class white water - up river and down river from Salida, but as the Arkansas flowed through downtown Salida it was featureless and riddled with chunks of concrete, rebar, and utility poles. Drawn by the white water in the area, Mike moved to Salida in the mid 90s, and he had a vision to clean up and shape Salida’s downtown river corridor. In 1999, he and Fred Lowry, the owner of a local excavating company, started construction on a feature in the river for kayakers to play on. That sent ripples that changed Salida forever. Fast forward to today and the Arkansas River through downtown Salida is a gathering place for locals and tourists. Kid’s yip and holler as they float feet first down river, next to rafts, kayaks and stand up paddle boards. The river has become the gathering place - for everyone - that Mike had always dreamed of.
In 2007 Mike and longtime friend Zack Hughes started designing a board specifically designed to surf standing waves in mountain rivers. Badfish SUP and River Surfboards was born and a new way to experience water in the mountains was created.
Mike’s love for all things water really shines in the episode. He wanted to live in the mountains and chase his passion, so he built a world and created a business to not only sustain his family but enrich his community.
Full Zen Ahead
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Brandon and Allison sit down in a grove of aspens outside of Salida, Colorado to reveal the guests and episodes for this Tinstreamer Podcast series, "Anatomy of A Mountain Town," - six episodes with a few of the folks that have shaped Salida into the best - adventure, beach, mountian bike, bikepacking, paddle, sandwich, spirits, delectable, place-to-live and visit - mountain town in the universe. The first four guests are revealed in this short episode:
Mike Harvey - Badfish Paddleboards and River Surfboards
Steph Perko - Oveja Negra Bikepacking
Sarah Gartzman - Biker and The Baker & Sweetie's Sandwich Shop
P.T. Wood - Former Salida Mayor and current alchemist at Wood's High Mountain Distillery
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Brad Leland is a powerhouse of an actor. His most famous role was Buddy Garrity from the television series, “Friday Night Lights.” He played the same role as John Aubrey in the movie, “Friday Night Lights.” Brad was in Snyder, Texas (my hometown) to moderate, “An Evening With Barry Corbin.” I sat down with Brad on my high school stage, and we talked about his early days performing in theater productions at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, his childhood pet monkey, and his two most recent feature movies - “LaRoy” and “Accidental Texan”. I highly recommend both flicks.
Brad has more than 300 movie/TV show appearances, and he always commands the scene. His performance as Chief Royce Abbott, opposite Elizabeth Olsen, in HBO’s “Love & Death,” showcases Leland as an immersive actor who relies on exceptional listening skills to evoke action and reaction in every scene.
One of my favorite moments on stage with Brad was when we briefly discussed my former drama teacher. Jerry Worsham was a legend in Texas UIL One-Act Play competition, with 13 victories to his credit. Worsham was one of those special teachers that saw the best in his students and encouraged them to chase their dreams.
I really enjoyed this episode with Brad. He is gregarious, engaging, and very thoughtful about his craft.
Full Zen Ahead
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Barry Corbin is a legend on the big and small screen. He’s also the nicest human you’ll ever meet. If you’ve seen a movie, streamed a show, or watched a good old fashion network television series, in the last 48 years, you’ve seen Barry’s work. He is ubiquitous in the world of entertainment. Heck, he’s even been the voice of Harley Davidson. Barry’s first string of movies were Urban Cowboy, Stir Crazy and Any Which Way You Can. If you’re a movie buff, and you’re keeping score, that’s John Travolta, Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Sidney Poitier, and Clint Eastwood as the talent that Barry worked with at the beginning of his film career. If Barry Corbin had a pop culture game like the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” it would be the, “Three Degrees of Barry Corbin.” It doesn’t take long to list an actor connected to Barry. Better Call Saul, Modern Family, One Tree Hill, Tulsa King, Yellowstone, No Country For Old Men, Dallas, War Games, and Hart to Hart, are just a few of the shows and movies Barry has appeared in.
Barry performed his one man show, “An Evening With Barry Corbin,” at my hometown, Snyder, Texas on Saturday, July 13th. My good friend and fellow Tiger from Snyder High School (class of 1989) Melissa Hodges Rico had organized the event. Once she discovered, I’d been talking about Barry on The Tinstreamer Podcast since March, she reached out and said (on the subject of having Barry on my podcast), “I think I can make it happen.” So on the eve of Barry’s show, in the place I grew up, at my high school, and in the very auditorium where I realized that writing was my destiny, I had an hour-long conversation with one of my heroes. I hope you enjoy this chat as much as I did.
This was a convergence of where I came from, and where I am now. I’m blessed by a supportive wife and friends from my youth that continue to believe in me. Justin Rex drove in from Lubbock to photograph the episode. I’m incredibly fortunate to have new friends and colleagues like Justin in my current creative universe that keep me inspired and motivated to chase down my most ambitious and fulfilling endeavors. Thank you to Barry and Jo Corbin for saying yes. I am forever grateful. Full Zen is Now!
Upcoming Barry Corbin 2024 Events:
Go To BarryCorbin.com for details
Waxahachie, TX - August 10
Kanab, UT - August 22
Marble Falls, TX - August 31
Mingus, TX - September 7
Fort Worth, TX - September 21
Livingston, TN - October 3
Fort Worth, TX - October 18-19
Eureka, KS - November 2
Branson, MO - November 8
Arlington, TX Veterans Day Parade - November 11
Marble Falls, TX - December 14
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Part 2 with Madison Walker
We pick up with Producer Madi where we left off last week. In this episode, Madi and I have an impromptu staff meeting, and we discuss how to capture the show with moving images. That’s right, soon you’ll be able to watch The Tinstreamer Podcast on YouTube. It’s a deep dive into the world of cameras and editing software.
Madi talks about her transition into freelancing. We recount Madi, Justin Rex and Dylan Davidson's March 2020 bikepacking trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park after that year’s Texas Tech Adventure Media class was canceled due to covid. We talk about Emma Montgomery’s epic and inspiring PCT trek, and Madi reveals which episode of the podcast she finds most entertaining.
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Madison Walker Martin is a filmmaker and a seasoned adventurer. She spent three years as a producer for the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS Show where she showcased the grand landscapes and folks adventuring in the great state parks of Texas. She is a natural born leader and gifted storyteller. Earlier this year, Madi left the PBS show to focus on freelancing. Her vision and creative ethos will produce magic in the world of film and documentaries. I can’t wait to see what she shares with viewing audiences. She is a good friend, and I our beloved Producer Madi on The Tinstreamer Podcast.
Madi and I chatted for over two hours, so you get a two-part episode. In this first show, we take a deep dive into Rick Springfield’s song Jessie’s Girl. (I celebrate all of Rick’s catalog.) That conversation leads me to recount my history racing shifter karts on the Texas State Circuit. Madi tells us about a very special segment she did for the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS show on the Texas Gulf Coast. We tease our next big project coming this fall with Jerod Foster, Simon Parmley, Michael Ortiz, Justin Rex, and a Texas Tech University student film crew.
I share my thoughts on Quentin Tarantino being overrated, and Madi tells how her dad used Pulp Fiction to impart a very important life lesson. We close out this first part with a quick rundown of Tanner Fowler’s love of Disney Music on the 2019 Adventure Media trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park. We love you and that quarter Tanner.
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In episode 11, I'm on assignment with photographer Justin Rex. We are near the border town of Del Rio, Texas in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, one of the most significant archeological regions of Texas. Hidden in the desert caves and rock outcroppings are hundreds of ancient rock art panels with elaborate pictographs that tell stories experts are still trying to unravel. The site Justin and I venture to was donated to Texas Tech University in the 1980s and is one of the most important rock art sites in North America - if not the world. The canyon that protects this site is encased behind a locked gate and is only accessible by traversing a meandering and undulating hard scrabble road across private land. There is no easement, so permission must be obtained from the landowner to access Texas Tech’s property and the rock art panel.
This episode is broken into two parts. Justin and I chat in our Comstock Motel room the night before we journey to the site and talk about our expectations. We pick up the second half of the show the next evening, after our excursion into the backcountry of the Chihuahuan Desert, and talk about the canyon and the magnificent mural inside its walls. This is an experience where I my eyes were opened to a magical world in a place, I thought I knew. This is a more subdued episode, but we do find the time to talk a bit about Barry Corbin, and we review the only restaurant in Comstock, Texas - J&P Bar and Grill. It's the burger I've ever eaten. I don't make claims like that lightly.
Full Zen Ahead
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Allison Workman is a health coach, yoga teacher, personal trainer, and Tinstreamer’s newly appointed Chief Fitness Officer. She is also Mrs. Tinstreamer. If you’ve adventured with me, you’ve most likely experienced some of Allison’s yoga and functional movement. I’ve led numerous haphazard yoga flows on the Texas Tech Adventure Media bikepacking trips, and come sunrise at camp, you’ll find me stretching and moving before a long day on the bike. For those of you that have experienced Allison’s energy firsthand, then you know how dynamic she is. There is nothing like an Allison yoga class. It is fun (never too serious), funky, and flows like a rainbow powered unicorn galloping over the sun. Every movement Allison orchestrates – either in a personnel training session or yoga flow – tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end. You will be challenged and rejuvenated.
Allison is on the schedule for in person classes at The Rooted Soul in Hico, Texas for the month of June and will return this fall starting in September.
This summer (2024) you can find Allison subbing various classes at Yoga Olas in Salida, Colorado - July and August.
You can also join Allison for Zoom Yoga on Wednesdays at 6:00 pm central time. Message @bd_weaver or @allisonworkman_movehappy on Instagram and we'll email you a link. You can also message us at Tin Streamer on Facebook.
We recorded this episode in Aries or beloved Airstream. (I videoed the first 30 minutes of the podcast and we’ll release that next week.) We talk about the origins of Tinstreamer, my love – hate – and then love again of Airstream, and how a compact blood hound changed our lives forever. I ask Allison what guests, she’d like to see on the podcast, and I talk about future themes for upcoming series.
We recorded episode 10 on the day of our 12-year anniversary. We recount our wedding day and talk about all the recreational vehicles we’ve inhabited: vans, motorhomes, and trailers… oh my! It’s also the 10-year anniversary of when we hit the road in the spring of 2014 and lived in our Airstream for nearly three years. This was a fun episode, and I feel blessed that I can sit down with my partner for an engaging and entertaining podcast. I love Allison and know the rest of you will too after this episode. Thanks for listening!
Full Zen Ahead!
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It is graduation season, and on episode 9 of The Tinstreamer Podcast, we sit down with Emma Montgomery. Emma just graduated from Texas Tech University, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Emma is a writer, photographer, bikepacker, backpacker, and a lover of green chiles. I met Emma in 2023 at the Texas Tech University Adventure Media bikepacking trip over spring break. That year’s class bikepacked (camping and traveling by bicycle) for six days and five nights along the Monumental Loop in Southern New Mexico. I’ve written about and attended this groundbreaking program since 2019. To say Adventure Media changes lives is an understatement. It changed me as a writer, and it most definitely changed Emma’s life. Over the last four years (Covid canceled the 2020 class), I’ve had the opportunity to adventure with exceptional young people like Emma. I always walk away inspired and filled with immense hope about the next generation. Give this episode a listen and let Emma inspire you to be your best and chase that impossible dream.
Emma grew up on a cattle ranch in Pinon, New Mexico. We talk about how she found her way to Lubbock, Texas, and her decision to chase journalism as a major. “I don’t know why I came to Texas Tech, but I learned exactly why I stayed.” Towards the end of the podcast, we do a little improv acting scene - inspired by a couple of characters she and her good friend Hannah Hudgens conjured up during the 2024 semester of Adventure Media.
Go over to Emma’s website emmamontgomvery.me and peruse her writings and pictures. She is a fantastic journalist. My personal favorite is the “Dollar Store Dilemma,” for Planet Forward.
Corrections: I did not sing The Chicks, “Travelin’ Soldier” in episode 8, as I wrote in the description. It was this episode with Emma, that I attempted to sing the first verse of my favorite story telling song.
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“If you’re gonna’ be a bear, be a grizzly!” Lindsay Kennedy is our featured Tinstreamer in Episode Ocho. She is a Professor of Practice at Texas Tech University in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communications. If Lindsay is your professor, count your lucky stars because success is on the horizon. All YOU have to do is chase it with the same fervor Lindsay attacks each day. If, like me, you graduated sometime long ago, before Facebook existed, you’ll wish you had a teacher like Dr. Kennedy. Lindsay is an exceptional javelina caller, bikepacker, angler, and she packs up a tent faster than you can say… Omaha! She teaches photography, writing, and a magazine class and is the director for Texas Tech’s MILE Program which focuses on leadership and professional development for students. She is also the co-director for Tech’s Bridge Adventure Program, which removes barriers to the outdoors and facilitates adventure for everyone.
We sat down in the Texas Tech Ag Comm conference room, surrounded by Lindsay’s photos and talked like old friends. We define where West Texas begins and chat about the rugged and resourceful folks of the Llano Estacado. The conversation turns to Caitlin Clark and the exciting progression of women’s sports. Billy Strings, Powers Boothe, Barry Corbin and Codi Clark all get notable mentions in this episode. Lindsay and I take some time to gush over our bond by two great outdoor companies: Oveja Negra Bikepacking and Stio.
The show closes with me getting 90s country megastars, Tracy Byrd and Tracy Lawrence confused. I confess to Lindsay that in 1992 I rocked a mullet that put Billy Ray Cyrus to shame. (See picture in Instagram post.) This episode has something for everyone. It’s long, so you’ll probably want to split it up into two listens. It’s worth it. I promise. Lindsay will have you Carpe Diem-ing the heck out of your life.
Full Zen Ahead!
Special note: I make a few attempts to sing Time Marches On by Tracy Lawrence and Travelin’ Soldier by The Chicks in this lyrically challenged episode. My apologies.
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“Leave room for serendipity.” That’s how commercial and lifestyle photographer RJ Hinkle runs a photoshoot. His professional portfolio is vast: Walmart, Luchese Boots, The King Ranch, The Container Store (gosh I love that place), Evie Mae’s Pit BBQ (RJ is a BBQ fanatic.), Boomer Jack's - and the list goes on. His still images are never static. The subjects are vibrant with color and emotion. They are captured in a singular moment, time has stopped, but the story always plays out in his pictures. Even BBQ on butcher paper has a narrative in a RJ Hinkle photo.
Serendipity is a thread that runs through RJ’s life. The siren song of the shutter captured RJ’s attention early. He worked on the staff of his high school yearbook (or annual as we say in West Texas), and RJ never stopped working as a photographer. He pursued his passion and sometimes his passion pursued him, giving him nudges in the right direction as his career unfolded. Put yourself in the right place with a honed skill set and serendipity becomes opportunity.
RJ and I take a deep dive into the food stylist profession and talk about my nature trail photoshoot that happened just before the podcast. We chronicle - journeyman actor and Lamesa, Texas native - Barry Corbin’s acting career. I confess to RJ why I never realized my dream to be a helicopter pilot. RJ gives us his top five BBQ joints, and we close out the podcast with a very serendipitous movie reveal. It has nothing to do with the actual movie Serendipity.
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EP: 6 - “What are we passionate about?” They were on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands, and that is the question three friends pondered. Dogs, bikes and sailboats was the answer. Two were in Telecommunications and one was a heavy equipment (bull dozers and excavators) mechanic. In 2001, they opened Mad Duck Cyclery in Grapevine, Texas (just north of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex). Located in a former Wienerschnitzel building, the funking little bike boutique is one of the pre-eminent bike shops in the country. It’s the kind of place where – “everybody knows your name,” and the kind of bike you ride. Dogs are welcome and all levels of cyclist – from beginner to Cat 1 – are treated with same respect.
I sit down with one of the owners, Clarence Muller at Mad Duck Manor on the shores of Lake Grapevine. Listen to the birds chirp as we take a deep dive into running a bike shop, and the simple joys of pedaling your bike. Mad Duck is a fierce advocate for bike and pedestrian safety in their community. They are regulars at the Grapevine city council meetings, fighting for lower speed limits and pushing to build more bike paths. They care about their community and their customers safety. Mad Duck Cyclery is so much more than a bike shop. They know that bikes build community and get folks outside. You meet the nicest people on a pedal machine.
Clarence is a committed listener to The Tinstreamer Podcast. We talk about the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association and the amazing trail system they've created in North Texas. We briefly chat about Airwolf and Jonny Quest, which leads me to ask Clarence which cycling movie he prefers: Breaking Away or American Flyers? We talk a lot about bikes, technology, and our hair turning gray. This is a long one folks, but Clarence and Mad Duck really embody the Tinstreamer ethos, and the conversation flowed like a brand-new XTR drivetrain. Terry, Gary and Clarence started Mad Duck with no market research or social media. They simply wanted to follow their passion, build a community and hang with their dogs. They just happen to sell bikes too.
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Episode 5 finds us in far West Texas, driving into the late night/early morning - under the star filled sky of the expansive Chihuahuan Desert. My part time cohost Jerod Foster joins me along with producer Madison Walker Martin for this moving (literally) truck cast as the three of us ride in Madi’s Ford Ranger to pick up a re-supply vehicle we left in the desert.
The podcast opens with the hum of asphalt as we careen down the River Road (FM 170), between Lajitas and Presidio, Texas. Don’t get too comfortable with the siren song of asphalt. We turn down a gravel road en route to Big Bend Ranch State Park’s Sauceda Ranger Station, located near the center of the massive 311,000 acre state property. The washboard laden road undulates and serpentines through a spectacular desert scape. It’s 11:00 pm and all we see are what Madi’s headlights illuminate, but our senses are heightened and the conversation flows.
You can hear the stutter-bumps in the road (it shakes our voices) and the gravel crunch under the Ford Ranger’s tires as we recap the 2024 Texas Tech University Adventure Media Class taught by Jerod Foster and episode four’s Lindsay Kennedy. It is a bikepacking class that sees 16 students traversing – by mountain bike - the rugged interior of Big Bend Ranch State Park. We rode six days, 100 miles and camped five nights. The students record the trip through digital media and produce several short documentaries for their final class project. They live by bike and work by bike. The pedal powered machines are their home and production vehicles.
This is my fourth year covering the class and each time I walk away inspired, sun baked, and filled with an immense amount of joy and promise that this next generation is awesome-er than mine. They are ambitious, hard-working, smart, and fearless… Well - that’s not entirely true. There is fear and uncertainty, on this trip and in life. These intrepid students know that, but they face those fears head on and tackle all obstacles ahead. If Adventure Media had been around when I was in college during the 90s, I would have never had the guts to take it. These Red Raiders rock! It was an honor to ride, camp, and break bread with each and every one of them.
Movies referenced in this podcast are Tin Cup and Fandango, both starring Kevin Costner. Airwolf, the helicopter action show from my youth did not get a mention.
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