My Background

I was born and raised in small town Nebraska. The population of my home town was just over 100 people. Today I believe its well under that. My family has always been into outdoor activities. Camping, hunting, fishing, or just grab-assing in the yard is where all my fondest memories of my childhood lie. I remember tearing around town and in the dirt until the sun went down and the street lights came on hating the idea of having to go into the house when they did. I was so hard on my jeans that my mom just used to keep putting patches on the knees. Do you remember the iron on patches? Hell… Maybe they still have them.

I’ve been hunting and fishing since I could hold a rifle or fishing pole. Some disagree with hunting. Some disagree with guns and the right to bare arms in general. I believe in my second amendment rights to their fullest. I was brought up to respect guns and their purpose. I can’t honestly remember a time when there wasn’t a gun in the corner of my parent’s closet or somewhere in the house that I couldn’t have grabbed and had my way with at any time. I knew better though and, although they interested me and I loved to shoot them, I never messed with them without my parent’s approval because I was aware of the inherent risks. My parents did well with me and my kid sister in that respect.

My family wasn’t too well off so college wasn’t really an option for me. My parents divorced when I was 9 or 10 so my mom raised my sister and I on her own. She’s my #1 hero in life with my grandfather (my mom’s father) being a close second in the hero category. Since college was out I opted to join the Marine Corps. I was in the Marine Corps for nearly 8 years. I got to see and do a lot of things and met some good people.

While in the service I met my first wife. It had its good times but the bad outweighed the good and it didn’t last. Shortly before rotating over seas the last time I met a real sweetheart. We made no promises to each other when I left but we both knew it was worth waiting for and four years to the day that we met we got married. We have been blessed with two lovely children. Our oldest is a boy and our youngest is a girl. All three of them are the world to me.

Outside of the outdoor adventures the military offers, I left all of the other stuff behind me when I left Nebraska behind and the Marines moved me to southern California. The hunting, fishing, camping, etc got put on the backburner. When my son was born I wanted to make sure he got a taste or was exposed to the outdoors like I was as a child. I needed a vehicle to get us to those places. That’s when I bought my FJ Cruiser. Slowly but surely I got into the off roading scene. I started setting my rig up to tackle all kinds of terrain and have the necessary gear on board to get me and my family out if something went wrong. Most vehicles have a nickname so I went with the “BugEater”. The Nebraska Cornhuskers original name was the “BugEaters”. My son loves to go out camping and off roading now. He refers to off roading as “bumps”. “Let’s go on bumps dadly.”

The idea of survival and communication when in areas where cell phone reception is zero became an issue. So I became acquainted with amateur radio (ham radio). I am now a certified Amateur Extra Class Operator. I also am a certified Volunteer Examiner which means I can administer tests to new amateur radio operator candidates.

In 2009 I got into hunting again when my good friend John offered to show where to go out here. I bagged my limit on dove opener day that year. I new I missed hunting but didn’t realize how much until that day.

My involvement in amateur radio and the outdoors inspired me to hook up with some people sharing like interests and we started a company called Outdoor Adventure USA. We are slowly but surely growing each day. It’s not my full time job but more of a hobby. The link to our website is on my home page. I also recently started backpacking. I have myself all geared up for extended trips and now I’m putting the gear together so my son can start joining me when he’s ready.

This blog is set up allow you to follow my adventures. I have a lot of past adventures to catch you up on and I will do my best to do so. It is geared toward family and friends that can’t be here to join me on my travels. I hope you enjoy it.