Cracks in the Concrete: A Motorcycle Odyssey Through Modern America

I met a lot of interesting people during my time at camp in North Carolina this summer - too many to write about in fact. While I'd love to share a bit about everyone I met, I ain't got the time to type up all those profiles, and you don't got the time to read them. That said, here's a sampling of the people I met and some of the big things going on in their lives.  Darr almost always is accompanied by his guitar Darr: Camp's king of Wim Hof breathing exercises and resident Russian literature enthusiast hails from Louisiana but recently finished up school at Alabama. While he's felt some societal pressure to go to med school/pursue a career in clinical psychology, his true passion is music. There are a lot of talented musicians on camp staff and all agreed he was among the most talented guitarists they’ve seen. Darr started a band a few years ago (their most recent single was one of my favorite songs of the summer. I'd link to it, but they didn't pay the...

TLC's 1995 classic may be sound advice for love, but it's not great advice for outdoor exploration, or life in general for that matter. Last week in Idaho, I saw a few small waterfalls that reminded me that chasing waterfalls was one of the best things I did at camp. Waterfalls Trip 1 Most campers spend two weeks at camp, but a handful of brave and experienced campers sign up for what is called Main Camp (4 weeks, or essentially the entire month of July). As only this small group of main campers are around between sessions 2 & 3 on the second Saturday of July, we take them on some pretty epic trips. While I normally would have had that Saturday off, being one of the few staff members above age 21, I got tabbed to be a driver for the waterfalls trip.  Me and my co-pilot, Gordon, and 13 adventurous campers set out after breakfast Saturday morning with the goal of seeing 6-7 waterfalls and swimming in as many of them as possible.  Gordon (tall one in the back) and the Waterfa...

Greetings from the Denver airport! Camp wrapped up about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just getting back to the blog as it's been a busy 2 weeks with a big wedding (don't worry, not my own) and a weeklong trip to Idaho (story for another blog post and the reason I am currently in the Denver airport). After camp ended, I made my way back north to the place where it all began: the tropical paradise and thriving metropolis of Cleveland, Ohio. Why did I head back to Cleveland you ask - aren't I supposed to be visiting new states? Well, first, there was an important wedding to attend (as previously mentioned) and secondly, if you haven't been to Cleveland in the summer, you're really missing out (some have gone so far as to say it has coastal summer town vibes). Rest assured though, I won't be in Cleveland long - I plan to spend a few days recovering from Idaho before tackling the Great Lakes and the Dakotas in  I've got a bunch to share from my time at camp (I've...