[00:00:08] This is the Colonel Rad Alert. Civil Defense Information will be broadcast at 640. West of the Rockies, you're on the air. Hello. Y2K, how can we prepare? Stop a few of their machines and radios, throw them into darkness for a few hours. We are fighting for our lives. My family must survive. Over five years, a thousand gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration.
[00:00:34] Coming at you from the frozen tundra that is east-central Alberta, Canada. Streaming live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Rumble, and Odyssey. Welcome back to the workshop where we create community, find freedom, promote preparedness, and share success. I am Toolman Tim. Today is November the 19th, 2023. And this is episode 399 of Workshop Radio.
[00:01:01] Which means we're almost to a really cool benchmark. Thursday, it actually worked out really cool that it's going to be a Thursday episode. But we'll talk about that. In a minute, I've got a friend, a subject matter expert. Her name is Val. And Zena will be with her in the background anyway. But she's coming on in a minute to speak about traveling solo as a female and tips. This came from a conversation we had over dinner after Self-Reliance Festival.
[00:01:30] And I thought, hey, we got to get Val on. So hang in there, guys. We're going to bring her on in just a minute. I'll get the announcements out of the way and we'll be all set. All right. Number one, can't forget our sponsor. Sunday evening, can't forget Nate and Erin from Two Chicks Homestead. Homestead Ham Radio. Nate has an incredible business. He's just getting off the ground. So give them some support. Their link will be in the description tonight. Check them out. Add them on Facebook.
[00:01:56] And honestly, if you're looking for just a little homestead-y inspiration to add to the old ear holes, add them to the podcast feed and give them a listen. I love them. They're friends. And I believe in supporting Value for Value Exchange. And they most certainly bring value to the table. Number two, like I said, we have episode 400 coming up on Thursday. I'm kind of excited. I'm actually really excited. And it's going to be great. So we're going to... I don't exactly know what the topic is going to be yet.
[00:02:26] But a couple things. It's going to be Thanksgiving Thursday. I know. American Thanksgiving, of course. That fake Canadian Thanksgiving has already long passed. But I wanted to let you guys know ahead of time that I'm going to be announcing a special Black Friday promotion for the Patch of the Month Club. I'm rather excited. And if you didn't see, here's this month's patch. It says, must be nice. And that was... If you haven't heard my presentation from Self-Reliance Festival, well, give it a listen.
[00:02:54] And then you'll understand what that's all about. But these are the type that come out every single month. $10 a month, $100 a year. But hang on until Black Friday and you'll get a special promotion. And finally, I linked the Shopify shop in the notes today because I've been asked, hey, do you get any merch for Christmas? That kind of thing. And, well, the answer is yes. So check out the Shopify site. We got Batrix battery packs. We got back patches. We got whiskey on the rocks glass and a bunch of other things.
[00:03:21] But you can check it out because more than that, I've got somebody special waiting in the background here. Hang on just one minute. Hey, Val. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Not bad at all. We got a big crowd in here already. I guess people wanted to come and see you and hear what you had to say. How you been? I've been good. Enjoying this. I say strangely warm weather, but it really isn't strangely warm for Alabama. But it was almost 70 today. You know what? It wasn't that far off here either.
[00:03:51] It's been, I mean, probably closer to 60. But for us, it should be minus 20 Celsius. So, hey, we'll take whatever we can get now. Yeah. I enjoy it. It's beautiful. I greatly appreciate the warm weather. But I feel for our hunters because hunting season just started yesterday. And this isn't really the best kind of weather to be hunting in. It isn't here either. I mean, there's no tracks. There's no snow. It's way too warm to be processing animals. You know how it is. The timeline is so crunched that I feel warm.
[00:04:22] So you were on. This is your second appearance. I think it's been almost a year since you were on last time. I should have looked at the date. I think so. Yeah, it would have been. Yeah. Just post Self-Reliance Festival last year, I think, or somewhere in there. I think that sounds right. Everybody who said, oh, I remember. She's the rattlesnake girl or the trench foot lady. I really do need to get a small rattlesnake button. Not a small. I really need to get a big rattlesnake button to add to my pack.
[00:04:52] Because it needs to be a part of my pack. Well, I've told that story. I don't know how many times. And I said, it's not my story to tell. But Val shared it on my show. And so I will tell them about one foot in front of the other and never give up on a bad day. Those two things. Anyway, so tell us your story a little, Val. How did you get into? Where did you come from? You know, that kind of thing. So I'm from Alabama. I grew up here in Alabama.
[00:05:20] I've spent most of my life here. Other than the last 15-ish years, after joining the military, I've done a lot of traveling all over the world and all over the U.S. because of the military. But so that kind of, I spent most of my life here. And we grew up on a farm, a small farm and in the woods, just kind of doing that thing, which was awesome. It was the best way to grow up. And you, so what, three right before COVID, I think?
[00:05:50] Or somewhere in there, you decided to take a short little walk, did you? So right during COVID is when I decided to take a short little walk. Man, it was the best time because the trail was so not as crowded as especially it is now. I feel like there was that break and then everybody had this drive to go outdoors, which I think is awesome.
[00:06:12] Because the more people that get outside and want to be outside will help put money and time and effort into saving our outside. So I am all for it. But there's a lot of people that get on trail now. And we think, like, I didn't have to worry about food supply. I didn't have to worry about when I got in town, if I had a place to sleep. It was awesome. So it was perfect timing. But yeah, it was a nice short walk during COVID. So I missed the five peak months of COVID. I was in the woods. You didn't even worry about it?
[00:06:41] No, no, not at all. I was thinking about you a little bit. I've been listening to this book series, Locker Nine. And it's kind of, you know, post-apocalyptic. And the world kind of collapses. And it takes place in a town that is on the trail. So all these hikers are working their way through, expecting to get resupplied. And they're all just kind of... Anyway, they create a little army of their own. Oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah. I'll send you the name or I'll send you the link after.
[00:07:11] But it made me think of you for sure. So how did you decide that you wanted... Because I brought you on tonight to kind of talk about solo traveling and especially as a female, because I had to say, but I definitely don't have a whole lot of experience traveling solo as a female. So I thought I would bring you on. But how did you find out you kind of had an interest in traveling all by yourself?
[00:07:39] So I don't know if I would say that I really have an interest in traveling by myself. It's just kind of happenstance. That's just the way it always ended up working out. I don't... I love traveling, period. So my first... Like growing up, I was involved in scouts. So my dad was a scout leader and my mom's a scout leader. So we were always traveling with them, rafting, camping, backpacking all over the Southeast. And so that kind of got me into that going and seeing things bug.
[00:08:06] And then in high school, my stepbrother invited me. We had really didn't know each other super, super well. And so this was kind of a good trip for us to get to know each other. And so we drove from Alabama to Colorado. And so that was my first like long driving trip. And it was a lot. It was awesome. But like I had to like learning because his like the rule was when we saw it for gas, it's when you use the bathroom.
[00:08:34] And so like I remember being like, holy crap, my teeth are floating. We got to stop. And I'm in high school. So I'm like probably some bratty teenager knowing most high schoolers. I mean, I probably wasn't not the typical high schooler. And I was probably like, can we please stop? Please, please, please. And it... But that trip taught me to manage that and like learn how to manage those things and understanding like you're on a timeline. There's a time crunch. You can't just lollygag around. And that was awesome.
[00:09:02] Like and I got to see snow for the first time because we really never had... Like we had a blizzard in 93. I don't really remember it because I was pretty little. And so I got to experience like the western snow. I remember coming up and like going over a pass that was a white ground that we were driving on, which I was like, what is happening? Is this safe to drive on? I don't think we can do this. This is not like we should be doing this. Because I just didn't know. And that was just a great introduction to doing long distance driving,
[00:09:31] that it's a doable thing with two people. Because he did most of the driving. Like I really only drove a couple hours so he could take a nap. I did mostly riding. And I mean, it was just awesome. So it was a great introduction to that. And we did that for I feel like two or three years every winter. We would do the road trip out west. And it was awesome because I got to know my brother. I got to like we got to connect on like this super awesome level. I got to experience the outdoors. I learned how to snowboard. I'm not good at snowboarding though.
[00:10:00] Because I probably should never leave the bunny slopes. But that's okay. I got to do it. I got to experience. So that was awesome. And so that kind of that was my introduction into long traveling. And then, of course, being in the military, like I was all over the world traveling. And usually in the military, I had somebody that would go and do stuff with me. Because we would usually have the same off days. And so I got to go and do a lot of really cool stuff. But it didn't always work out that way.
[00:10:27] And so I had to kind of get used to it. Like I still wanted to go do stuff. And I would ask people, hey, you want to go do this? And people weren't interested. And I wasn't going to not go do it because I was by myself. And so I just learned to go do my thing. So I want to get in. You sent me a bunch of questions, which was so helpful. I love it. But I wanted to ask you on the trail, how much of that time did you spend solo? And how much did you kind of pick up? I learned a word from you last time. Trammily, right?
[00:10:57] Yeah. So I, oddly enough, went out there thinking I was going to be hiking and spending a lot of time by myself. I figured I would run into people at camp, but I really had no intentions of purposely like finding a tramily. But I, so there was never a night that I spent on trail without someone in camp with me. So I was never solo in camp. And that just kind of worked happenstance. It wasn't really planned. I didn't like purposely not have a night by myself. It just always worked out that way.
[00:11:27] But the majority of my hiking, I was by myself. Like we all, because most of the people in my tramily, we walked at very different paces. And then early on, I had a lot of minor injuries that I was trying to manage to not come off trail. And so I would take a lot of breaks. It would take me a lot of hours to walk, not a lot of miles because I was in, I was so slow. My pace was so slow. My muscles weren't built up. And so it just, I just spent a lot of time by myself.
[00:11:57] So like I, I hiked a lot alone and I hiked a lot with my, my trampling with other people and talking, but I never camped alone, which is, I mean, I kind of enjoy camping alone. Like I do it now a lot. And I, I would love to go out and do a more remote trail so that I could have a little bit more solitude in the camping aspect of it. Well, we were, it was kind of just happenstance. Becky and I decided after self-reliance festival that we were going to go out for dinner and
[00:12:25] we sit down and then you showed up and at least a couple other folks, which was great. I loved having, we, it was like, we got to extend self-reliance for like another hour or two. You know, you were telling me how you like to stay at loves truck stops and that sort of thing. And I got picking your brain cause that's what I do. And I'm thinking, well, how does a lady stay safe? How does anybody stay safe really at a truck stop, but especially, you know, those are the female persuasion. So where, where do you start?
[00:12:53] How do you, how do you keep yourself safe when you're doing this? So depending on where I'm traveling, it's kind of what really plans out how I do it. So a lot of the traveling I've done lately, cause I haven't been overseas since 2013, 14 is when I came back from when I was stationed overseas. So I really haven't done a lot of overseas traveling since then. So most of my, the most of the stuff I do now is here in the States because overseas is so different.
[00:13:22] Like your personal protection is very different. Their laws are very different. And it's just a different thing. So like when I was in Italy, one of the, not necessarily a safety thing, I guess it kind of could be a safety thing. I never went anywhere with a purse that didn't have a zipper. So to get in a main compartment of my purse, you had to unzip it so that I could feel a pickpocket unzipping my purse more than the flaps. Because one of my friends, we were at the Metro in Rome and the gypsies are great. Like the pickpockets are so good there.
[00:13:51] And she was borrowing one of my purses and they've reached in the purse cause they bump on one side and the other one comes in under slips in, grabs it and runs off the train or no on the train. So we were coming off the train. And so the door shut and you can't catch them. And I was like, this is why I don't, I have a zipper because I would feel them pulling on that zipper on me versus like just reaching in the flap. And so if I'm overseas traveling, I don't ever have any of my personal items and anything that doesn't have a zipper.
[00:14:18] And if it's a backpack, I put one of those little BTSA locks on it and I lock it. But so they can't, if they try to unzip it, it's going to unzip, like it's going to just keep zipping it back and forth or I'll lock it down into something so that I'll feel somebody like jerking on my backpack trying to mess with stuff. So what was that thing that you said? So it zips, it continuously zips your... So like a lot of backpacks have two zippers. So if you lock the two zippers together, it'll just keep moving the zippers back and forth.
[00:14:45] And a lot of times they'll have like a tab on, some backpacks have a tab where you can actually lock it into the tab. Those are great. But yeah, if you have two zippers, like locking the zippers together. That makes sense. That would really piss the pickpockets off, wouldn't it? Oh yeah. Because normally if you're paying attention and you're not completely oblivious with your head and your phone or whatever, not paying attention, like you're going to feel them pulling on the bag. You should feel them pulling on the bag and that should be, oh, what the heck's going on?
[00:15:11] And then you can catch them usually, or they'll kind of scurry off and stop trying. But so here in the States, so like this last trip that I took to Montana, when I was doing my planning, I went and looked up the US code that talks about interstate travel with personal firearms. So I looked up all the laws to make sure I knew the states I was going to be driving through, what were the laws that said what I could and couldn't have and how it needed to be placed in my vehicle.
[00:15:40] And which I'd looked, reminded myself, because I have a concealed carry permit. So which states recognize my concealed carry permit? So then I don't have to worry about locking my firearm into my glove box or whatever. So having that knowledge readily available, and I usually do, I'll do screenshots on my phone so that if I'm changing states, I'm going to and reviewing it. So it's in my head, hey, this is a state that is a constitutional carry state. So if I get pulled over by a police officer, I know the laws for that state.
[00:16:09] And I also try to look up the, so there's certain laws of certain states that you're supposed to notify law enforcement if you're pulled over that you have a firearm. And so I always, that stuff, especially with firearms, I always try to have the most current information cognizant in my brain. Because I don't, normally, it's, I spent a long time since I've been pulled over by the police, but you never know. Things can happen, telelights go out, like you just never know.
[00:16:34] And so I try to be as well informed as I can to know what I have a right to have and when I don't, and kind of working around those things. But so that's a big thing is having a firearm with me. Having Zena is one of the other best things because she's a great alert. And most, there's, it is amazing to me the amount of people in our country that are so terrified of dogs. And like, thankfully, they don't know how much of a not terror she really is yet.
[00:17:03] Because I haven't quite figured out how to switch that on and we're going to work on that. Um, but she, like just having her with me has been an amazing deterrent for people. So like when I get to a loves truck stop. So one of my reasons that I do now is, um, I usually try not to stop at truck stops unless it's, I'm doing a really, so I have like 18 hours or 20 hours that I'm driving. And I don't like, I'm just really hitting road.
[00:17:28] I'm like just pavement getting through and I'm literally pulling into a stop to sleep. So you probably get some food and then get up in the morning, fix my coffee and get back on the road. So I'm not really looking for a campsite, so to say, or I'm not trying to, if I'm on a time crunch and this is just kind of how it works out. So then I'll, I'll pick up. If I pick a loves truck stop, there's a couple of apps that I use that have the stops in them and they have reviews. So I'll go in and like, okay, this is so in about five hours, I know my body, I'm probably going to be getting tired.
[00:17:58] So this is the area that I'm looking for a good place to park. And there's places that are for like overlander vehicles, there's for 18 wheelers or for RVs because there's different places you can stop. It doesn't always have to be a truck stop, but I find something or I find a couple of things that are in that mileage range that I know that I'm probably going to be getting tired and it's not going to be safe for me to continue traveling. So I'll go ahead and I'll like plan out. I'll look at the reviews on the apps to see what do the reviews say? Do they say that it's a safe place?
[00:18:28] Does anybody have any issues? Are there people that wander around the parking lot? When is the last time a review was done on it? And then I'll go, and I'll usually have a handful of places and I'll like, I'll show up and look for red flags. Cause there's, to me, there's red flags on like, what's not a safe place for anybody to stay. Like a trucker maybe because they can leave their car running. Like they can lock up. And I feel like a lot of them just really may not be as cognizant of stuff like that because they're always on the road. They're always doing this thing.
[00:18:56] So I'll pull into like, there's a couple of truck stops I've pulled in and I'm like, there's some sketchy looking vehicles parked in the parking lot. This looks like a place that people come and meet up and probably are not doing the most legal things. This is probably not a good spot for me. And if I ever pull into a parking lot and I get that feeling, like I trust my gut more than anything. And I've learned that over time of not trusting it and being in a really terrible situation. And so I try to like go in, I look to see the vehicles that are there, how lit is the parking lot?
[00:19:26] How clean is the parking lot? Cause that tells you whether the attendants are actually coming out and the people that work there are actually coming out into the parking lot and paying attention. Um, and then I just like, I'll sit there if I, if I'm not super exhausted, like I'll park and just kind of decompress for a little bit and watch the people that are coming and going. I'll watch the 18 wheelers to kind of see how they're moving about. Is there a lot of movement, which means a lot of noises, which could keep me from sleeping. And so I would, a lot of times if there's a lot of noise, I'll go somewhere else because
[00:19:54] I mean, I can sleep through some noise, but if you're on the road, you really need to get the best rest that you can get. So then if I find a place that I really like, and it seems, okay, this looks like a pretty safe place. Um, I'll find a good parking spot. I try not to park directly under a light just because for sleeping, like I just don't, I don't wear a mask because I want to be able to open my, I don't wear earplugs and I don't wear a mask because I want to be able to open my eyes and hear and see what's going on around me at all times that I'm there.
[00:20:23] So I don't want to put myself in a place where I'm like, my eyes are all messed up because there's this really bright light right over, over the top of me. So I usually get in the light. Like I won't go find a dark area cause that's not smart either. Uh, so I'll get like a mid, if I can find a good parking spot, that's a mid lit area. Um, I really kind of actually is maybe this isn't the smartest thing. I like parking back by the 18 wheelers because there's usually not a lot of the riffraff that
[00:20:52] are coming and going all the time. Like the small cars back in that area. Of course, you've got like lot lizards and all those people that are always out there, but they're not, those are the people that are really not going to bother me. Right. It's the people that are coming, the, the smaller cars. I feel like I worry about more. And so I'll find my parking spot. I'll park. If I have my, if I have my trailer, I'm definitely trying to find back by the 18 wheelers. And then I get out and I kind of make a scene. Like I make it known that I have Xena.
[00:21:19] So I get out and I'm talking really loud and I try not to be disturbing. Of course, like if it's really late and I know there's truckers that are probably sleeping, like I'm not going to be that jerk. That's going to come and make a bunch of noise, but I try to make like people know, well known that I have a dog and I'm walking around with her. And depending on what state I'm in, I may be open carrying so that that's obvious that I have a weapon on me. I'm always looking around. I always have my keys on me, physically on me and my cell phone physically on me.
[00:21:49] And then my wallet is normally hidden around. So if somebody walks up and wants to try to like, because it happens all the time, people jump in people's vehicles and steal them from gas stations. So I try, I mean, the military term that we always use was not being a soft target. And so I'm always thinking about don't be a soft target, be a hard target. Like don't be something that's easy for someone to walk up and approach me. And I probably have like this really terrible RBF all the time because people just don't approach me. And I think it's worked.
[00:22:19] And I think that it does work because I carry myself in a way that people, I'm not approachable. And I've been told that most of my life, I've been told that by many of my very dear friends, that you're really not an approachable person. And like when I was younger, it kind of hurt my feelings. But I feel like as I've gotten older, I'm okay with that because that means that I'm not going to have some random riffraff just approach me when I'm out and about traveling.
[00:22:43] They're really good at pegging the people who are going to hit you up for money or worse than that. They'll see you. I watch them in the parking lot sometimes and they'll watch and they'll be coming over and they'll head a different direction, you know, and they just look. You're right. Absolutely. I like that. And I like, so I've had a couple, I mean, I have people approach me because people, some people just approach people all the time at gas stations. And like, so if somebody's approaching me, I'm fully aware, like facing them, I'm making eye contact with them.
[00:23:12] And I'm like, Hey, what's going on? So that I can see them and they see me seeing them. And then I'm looking around to you because another thing that people do is you have the person coming towards you. That's the distraction. And then they're going to, you had, they have a friend that's going to come from behind you. And so I'll make contact with them. And then I'm usually like, all right, what's going on? And, and then I'm like, before they even get too close to me, like, no, man, I can't help you. I'm sorry. You need to go on somewhere else. And I'm like very stern, very straightforward and have a great day. And I'm, you know, I'm going to be nice. I'm Southern.
[00:23:41] I'm going to, you know, maybe tell them bless their heart if they really want to keep pushing it. But, um, I try to make, be very stern and, and purposeful about the way that I speak to people. And that helps a lot too. Um, like I like that. And like, I'm just always, I don't want to say that I'm paranoid, but I'm, um, my head is on a swivel at all times. And that probably does come from some of my military training. Like I'm always looking about, I'm always watching what's going on around me. I try to be cognizant of the people that are around me.
[00:24:10] How many people are around me? If there's somebody behind me, like I want to know there's somebody behind me. Um, and then like Xena's window, I usually keep her window cracked because she'll stick her head out the window and she's a pretty good deterrent. Like she was like, Oh, hi, what's going? She's probably doing the, come pet me, look at them. And they think that she's the, I'm going to come eat you, which I'm totally good with. Like they can believe that. That's cool. Yeah. I, yeah, a dog definitely would be a deterrent too. Hey. Yes. She is a great deterrent. Even though she has a sweet little heart, you know?
[00:24:40] I know she does. That's why like, she definitely is looking at people wanting to know. Although I feel like there are certain people like she'll growl and bark at people at gas stations. I think she's a good judge of character. And she, for the most part, she doesn't, but there's been a handful of times that she's like low growling. And that's a good alert for me where I'm like, all right, what, why is she growling? And that will, like, if I'm asleep, I'm up and I sleep with my weapon, like right there where I, and I put it in the same spot.
[00:25:07] Every time I keys my cell phone and my gun goes in the same spot every time when I'm sleeping in my car. So I have a muscle memory. Like if somebody catches me off guard, I know exactly when I open my eyes, where my hand goes to pick it up every time. Do you leave it out in the old, like, uh, in plain view or do you, do you conceal it slightly when you go to bed? Um, so it's a little concealed, but I have, so I use, um, blackout curtains on the windows. So people can't see in my vehicle. Like, so somebody walks up, they're not going to see that I'm sleeping in it.
[00:25:37] Cause there's no body's darn business. What is going on in my vehicle? And so I don't need somebody walking up and seeing that there's a female by herself, even with the dog sleeping, like it's not their business. So I keep like a sunshade on the front and then I use binder clips and they slide right in the seal of the top of my four runner. So then I can easily put those in and it gives me a nice little privacy curtain. It blocks out light and I can pop those down and roll it up and put it in a small bag.
[00:26:06] And it's, that's been awesome since I figured that out. Cause I had using, I think before, I don't remember what I was using before, but it was a pain, like fighting it to go up and stay up and to block it out. Cause they're blackout curtains. So it blocks out most of the light. Like I can easily like lift it up and look out and I keep the windows cracked. Just so we can get airflow. Cause Zena likes a pant and makes me really hot when we're sleeping in there. But yes, I keep it.
[00:26:32] So the gun is concealed ish, but I put it in the same spot every time because I need my, I'm always about muscle memory and remembering something because usually when something happens, you're going to, you want, you don't want to have to think, you just want to do it. So that was something I did early on was figuring out, okay, this is where these things are going to be. And I would look at it and I would study it like, this is where it's at. And I've done practicing of like, I'm laying there asleep and I'm reaching for it so that I'm reminding my brain when I reach this way, that's where my keys are.
[00:27:02] When I reach this way, that's where my phone is. And then this is where my gun is. I like that. Ah, see, I'm going to take a bunch of these two. Cause you know, I travel a ton by myself as well. So, which, you know, it is what it is, but there's lots of good tips there. Lots of consistencies and consistencies like the biggest thing because of the muscle memory, like your brain, when you go into, you're not thinking you're kind of lizard brain kicks in. You want your muscle memory to kick in at the same time. I like that. So how about, um, unexpected situations?
[00:27:31] What do you do for prepping gear and that kind of stuff on the road? What do you get your vehicle kitted out with? So I have a, um, halo jumper cable that I always keep with me and it's got a light. It's got the jumper cables and it's a charger. And then it has a wall charger that I can wall charge it if I need to, or a car charger. So I keep all of the stuff that comes with that. That's always in my car and I keep it always charged. So if I ever have to use it to jump my car, jump someone else's car, if I need the light,
[00:27:58] as soon as I use it, I recharge it and make sure that it's fully charged all the time. Um, and this summer I actually went to use it and I haven't used it in so long that I forgot. And I thought it was broke. And so something that I want to say consistent with is actually practicing using the jumpers so that if it's dark and I just need to jump off and get out or just get moving and not, it's just not smart to really be broke down anywhere for long periods. If you can avoid it. And like, I thought it was broke and I'm like, well, crap, I'm going to have to order another one. No, I just forgot how to use it.
[00:28:27] So that, and that was a reminder. Like, this is something that I need to remember to like, it's good to always go through and practice using the things that you have in your vehicle and making sure they're not wearing out that they do still work because heaven forbid you're on the side of the road and you go to get it and you haven't tested it in a year and it doesn't work. So, and that's just kind of, I mean, that's like, that's a prepper thing using the things you're, that you, you have and knowing how to use them. Um, I always have at least two external chargers.
[00:28:55] So like the anchor chargers, I have usually, I have at least two of those that stay with me. And then I have one that's a smaller charger that I keep in the vehicle. So I normally have about three chargers in the vehicle. I have all the cords that I need for all of my stuff. So I have a rechargeable headlamp. Headlamp always stays with me. Um, because when you like trying to use your phone light and you're like, you're trying to like do all this stuff with your phone, your hands are not free. And so I'll always keep a headlamp in mind so that if I've got to get out and do anything
[00:29:23] working on the car, checking things on the car, like I want my hands free or heaven forbid, I need to pull my weapon and I need a spotlight. Like I need my hands working. And so I'll always keep a headlamp. I like the rechargeable ones just because they're rechargeable. I don't have to deal with my batteries, just stop working. And I usually check that I use it all the time. So I know that it's always working and then I keep it recharged. Uh, always keep cash because you never know if like electricity goes down, you show up somewhere
[00:29:51] and they don't have power or they just don't take cards. Like if you're way out in the middle of podent nowhere, they don't always have cards because they don't want to pay the fees and I get it. So I always keep cash on me. I keep cash in my wallet and then I keep cash hidden in the vehicle so that I've always got cash because I'll spend what's in my wallet and I forget. And then I'm like, well, crap, I don't have any cash. So I always keep some hidden in my vehicle somewhere. Always keep a pen and paper because you never know, like your phone could go dead or you don't really want to, I don't, you're in an interaction with somebody and you don't want
[00:30:21] your phone out because you don't want them to be able to come and take it. Or I mean, for whatever reason, you just want pen and paper. You want to write something down and make it a note and hand it to somebody. So I always keep pen and paper with me. And then I have my get home bag, which is full of all kinds of crazy stuff that I really need to organize better. I know it's not organized the best way. Like I've got a tourniquet in it and I've got emergency stuff. A lot of the stuff that I have in that really and truly I've, the way that my process was
[00:30:48] if I'm on the road anywhere, traveling, not traveling, I'm just driving and I come up on an accident and it's a bad accident. I want, if nothing else, I have the supplies that I can either figure out how to use if it's something that I've never used before. Like I've never had to use a tourniquet. And I think, I hope that if something happens and it's emergency, I'm going to remember some of the training that I've done, but I haven't done it enough that I'm confident in my muscle memory to act in that moment. But I have the tool and that's half the battle.
[00:31:16] And so I have a lot of that stuff in that bag that if I, because I feel like that's more likely what's going to happen is I'm going to come up on an accident or I'm going to be somewhere and somebody gets hurt and we need like an extensive first aid medical kit. So I have a pretty extensive first aid medical kit that I keep with me for really emergencies because like the grid down scenario, I need to get home. It's going to, I just don't, I'm, I try not to think that that's going to be why I use
[00:31:44] that bag, but I have it. Like I've got sutures in it. I've got staples in it. I've got splints in it. Like it's a pretty extensive kit. It's just not set up the best way that I would really like to have it set up to where like if I showed up on a, like if I saw a really bad accident and I needed to get myself out and get access to all of my things, it's not set up that way. And I, that's one of the things on my list is to do that, but I have it. So I have that and it's in a backpack and it's in a gray man backpack.
[00:32:12] So like if, if something happens and I'm broke down and that's how I'm getting, I'm traversing, like people are not going to know other than the really big hatchet that is like tied to the outside of it, that it probably is more than just a simple backpack. And that's kind of on purpose. So that people don't, if they look in my car, they don't see like this really cool tactical looking bag where they want to break in my car to steal my bag. Like it just looks like some cheap backpack. Hmm. And that's like my vehicle all the time. That never leaves my vehicle.
[00:32:42] If I, if I'm out traveling and I'm changing vehicles, that normally goes in the vehicle that I'm in because you just, I don't know. It's part of the being somewhat prepared that I try to be in my life. Like I want, cause I don't have my, all my backpacking gear with me all the time. And that has gear enough that I know how to use that. I could get to safety if I needed to. How much, do you know how much it weighs? Just curious.
[00:33:09] Oh, so if I don't have the hatchet, which is really heavy, it's probably 25, 30 pounds. Okay. It's pretty solid. Like, and it's, it's a small ish compact and everything's like shoved in there, which is why I'm like, I need to get a better bag or a better way to organize that bag so that I can pull stuff out. I feel like Chuck Peoples would be very disappointed if he saw that. He'd be like, you have some of the really good gear, but you're not really ready to deploy this very well.
[00:33:37] I was thinking in Chuck's voice as well, when you were telling me that. Oh my God. And I feel like that's a conversation that I want. I need to have with him at the next SRS, like take my pack over there and be like, Chuck, help me, please. Like, help me set this up. Like I have a lot of the stuff and I, I need to go through his class so that I can get another reiterance of this information. Cause I've done like the wilderness first day through the boy scouts, which was a great class. It was really cool. I learned a lot, but a lot of that stuff, like you need to use it.
[00:34:05] You need to practice it so that you get that muscle memory. And I just haven't, but I do, I always have that kit with me so that, and I have this really awesome, I have the doc Jones, doc bones book. A book he has. That book is in that bag. That's probably the heaviest thing in that bag. Cause I have that manual. So is it like, if something happens, I'm going to find out if it's not a, like a life threatening emergency, we're going to figure out how to do this. Well, that thing must weigh two or three pounds itself. Oh yeah.
[00:34:34] It takes up a lot of space in that pack, but I have it. It's there. What about specific challenges or fears? I guess I, you know, again, I, I try to come at it from, I can only come at it from the male perspective, but what about, you know, fears or challenges that you've had to overcome? Um, so just being scared of doing something that you've never done before. I mean, that's probably not necessarily just like a female thing, but I'm like, I acknowledge
[00:35:02] that there are challenges being a female that a lot of guys for the most part don't have to mentally overcome. Um, but I think that that's normal for everybody. So just overcoming those places where you're like, I've never done this before. I don't know if I can do this. This makes me really uncomfortable because I don't know if I can do this. But then I think that when you're out there by yourself, you have no one else to depend on.
[00:35:30] And so you have to like step up and do it. And I think that's helped build so much self-esteem for me is having to like, I don't have an option. Like it's me or it's not getting done. And it just, I think it's built a lot of really good habits. It's felt a lot of tenacity in myself and like confidence in myself and my abilities to do a lot of things because I know, like I've seen so many things that I never thought that I could do.
[00:35:57] And because I didn't have an option and I did it and I was like, well, okay, I've done all these other things. Like, why couldn't I do this? I'll figure it out. Like I'm, I'm kind of a, can be a smart person sometimes. Like just do it, just figure it out. And that's the great thing that I've loved about being solo is that I've had to figure things out to do things because I have two hands and there are lots of things where I'm like, it would be nice to have another set of hands to handle this really heavy thing
[00:36:27] that I'm trying to handle. Or someone like if I'm backing or like when I had a travel trailer and I was having to back it and I didn't have a backup camera, I'm like, well, this is probably gonna take me a hundred tries, but it did. And I learned a lot from it and learned how to handle that trailer. I mean, it would have been great to have a set of eyes behind me like, no, stop. You're going to hit something. But you just like, I don't know. You just learn to pivot and keep moving. I like that.
[00:36:57] I, uh, I've been saving. I got a bunch of comments and questions we can get to at the end, but I wanted to share this one. I thought you might. Christine says, uh, I still can't overcome camping overnight by myself. My imagination gets the best of me. Did, is that still an issue for you or was it? So I have to be really careful about a lot of the things that I allow myself to intake period, whether I'm traveling or at home, because there's so many things that I think
[00:37:26] Hollywood is great about implanting in our heads and it creates a storyline in our heads that we think is reality. And it's not. And so I have learned that I just filter out those things that are going to create that fear in me that is irrational because there's rational fear and then there's irrational fear. Like, yes, there is a chance of course that something bad could happen, but there's a chance that something bad could happen at any point, no matter whether I'm by myself or not.
[00:37:54] And so I try to, um, just be cognizant of those thoughts and those fears. I acknowledge them. Like, I hear you. I feel your fear. Like, I, okay, I feel it, but yes, it's real, but I don't think it's legit. Like, I don't think it's necessary. I'm good. I can handle this. I know that I can handle this thing. And if I can't like, then so be it. And that's just, I don't know.
[00:38:21] Maybe that's a crazy way to look at it, but I just, I'm like, I've, I've handled my life so far the way that I have, and I've done, I've been pretty successful in it. And I think that, I mean, I've just built self-confidence in myself that, so I have to do that self-talk. So I do still have those fears, but then I try to like, you can do this, Valerie. You're good. Like, yeah, this is scary, but you know what? Tomorrow morning, you're going to wake up and you're going to enjoy a beautiful day. And it's, you're just going to keep moving forward. And that's okay.
[00:38:50] And then I also like, I do deep breathing. I'll like, if I'm really just in, I don't know, a state of fear for something, either I listened to some podcasts and somebody was talking about something and it just like really stirred up some things in me, then I'll try to like do something positive that counteracts that stirring that will kind of settle me down. So I'll listen to some really good music that I like. I'll listen to some upbeat music that like really makes me feel upbeat and happy.
[00:39:20] And I'm like, all right, we're good. I can do this. Or if I have service, like I'll watch one of my favorite TV shows that makes me feel good as I'm laying down to like settle me down. And just like take steps to chill through that. And then once you've done it a couple of times, like do it. My biggest suggestion is like go out and do it somewhere that you know that you're safe and get a practice of overcoming those mindsets and get your habits of what works for you.
[00:39:47] And then just slowly like push your limits of, okay, I did this in, you know, I went to a campsite that's a national park campsite. So you have park rangers, you've got all these other people that are there. So if something happens, you can scream for help and somebody can come and help you, but you're by yourself. And so you're kind of, you're in a safe zone and do those practices and practice those things and over and then build self-confidence. Like I did it.
[00:40:12] I said by myself, I can do this again and just keep practicing and keep doing it and keep pushing your limits because that's the only way you're going to get better. It's to push your limits. Just going to share this while we're at it. Red Flyer Media, whom we've met at the events. She said, I met Helen Lloyd this summer. She rode a bicycle from Cape Town to North Africa. She decided that was boring. So she rode a bike across Siberia in the winter. I decided any fear I had was trivial.
[00:40:40] There are some epic people out there doing some epic adventures and there's a lot of females doing it and there's a lot of guys doing it too. Like there are people out there doing some, like I met this guy this summer that is very similar story. Like he's done some epic adventures in his life and it was, it was really cool to get to sit down and talk to him about it. I mean, people are facing their fears every day and that's just like, that's life.
[00:41:06] Like you have to just learn to face your fears and you're, you're going to make it. You're going to survive. You may be really uncomfortable, but sometimes like that uncomfortableness is what brings up resilience in us and allows us to face. Maybe there's something that's in your future that you don't know about and you facing that uncomfortableness and building that resilience preps you for that. What about communication tools or apps or anything? Do you have any, you'd mentioned apps earlier, but I didn't ask for specific names.
[00:41:36] What do you, what do you need to do? A whole bunch of apps. I can list them off. I wrote them down because there's a lot. And there's a lot that I really like. And there's like, I have a huge section on my phone that has like travel RV apps. Cause when I was doing full-time RV, those are a little different. But I do, I have like this list of apps that I, and I, when I'm looking for a place to either camp or say the night or just sleep off some tiredness and get up and keep driving.
[00:42:01] I have several apps that I go between just to kind of see who, cause some people use more apps more than others. Some have older data on them and some don't always have the greatest data. And so I use, I have a whole bunch of apps. So some of those are all stays is a great one for knowing gas stations. If you have gas tanks, so not propane gas. So they have where you can get propane gas filled.
[00:42:29] They've got a big grocery source, like Walmart, Costco, Sam's car, Sam's clubs are usually on there, all gas stations, camping. And I think the rest areas are on that one too. And that's called all stays and it's pretty awesome. And then free roam and camp pendium. Those are really good for, so free roam shows you free campsites and paid campsites, which is great. So if you're like, just on, if you're on a tight budget and you're like, man, I really
[00:42:57] don't have the money to like spend money on a campsite, but I really don't want to be at a gas station. Like I want to camp. I want to be in the woods. That one can show you that are either like BLM land that have a camp spots or national parks that don't charge you for camping. So that's kind of there. And they're all over. So it's all over the U S. I overlander. I just learned about this one when I was coming back from Montana. And that's how I found the camp spot that was free in the Bighorn National Forest, which I had no idea.
[00:43:27] It was, it's just this random road that you can pull off of. It's in the park. It's not camping. It's well, it's camping, but it's not camp set up as a campsite. But you just like people, I like overlanders can just park their vehicles, hang out. And then there's no time limit on how many nights there's not really any amenities there. So it was, it's really like a good come in, spend the night, set up camp and get up and go the next day. But that one had some really good ones that the other apps didn't have.
[00:43:54] So I liked I overlander to kind of bounce off between that and all stays in free roam to find camp spots. And then I love like find a spring and outly because I have a small obsession with water and it, when it's really warm or when it's not warm, like I love knowing places that I can go and jump in and refresh and taking a nice swim just to kind of like, I don't know.
[00:44:20] It's just, there's just something about swimming and open water and fresh water that I love. And so I'm always looking for like a good swimming hole while I'm on the drive. I'm like, I just need to take a break. I just want to take a lunch break and I want to go swimming. So that one has swimming holes and then spring. So if you wanted to refill your spring waters, you can look on the springs that are on there on your, on your route that you're going to refill waters. Okay. So those are like the big ones that I love. And of course, like the national park sites are great too for if you're going to stay
[00:44:49] in a national park to set up camping, because you have to go on like recreation.gov to make, to reserve a campsite on, I think all of the national parks now use rec recreation.gov, which is not through the government website. It's like, it's through a third party, which is really a pain. Loves has a really good app. I use it pretty steady and it shows you where each, cause I love, pardon the pun, but I love, loves gas stations. They're my favorite. I do too.
[00:45:18] I like them better than the other travel centers. They always seem to be cleaner. They always seem to me like they're set up better for getting in and out of if you have a trailer and they just seem to be in great locations. So whoever has done all of their planning has done a great job in laying their stuff out and being user friendly. And dog parks, they usually have a dog park or somewhere for the dogs to go. Yeah. And some of them even have RV sites now, which is great. Yeah.
[00:45:45] I've seen, I saw a couple of those out West and I thought they were, and they were back in sites. So they're definitely like, if you're not a, if you can only pull through that, you don't want to say in one of those, but it was great. Like it was awesome. It was really cool to see that, to be like, Oh, well, if I, you know, if I had my travel trailer still, this would be a great option for traveling on the road and not just sleeping in it. I think it saves me 15 cents a gallon as well, which I like. Oh yeah. I always do that too. That's why I use loves a lot too.
[00:46:13] What about comms like communication and that sort of thing? So I have my cell phone that's of course I always keep on me and I try to be cognizant of keeping it always charged. So that I always have a full charge if I get out of the vehicle. And then in my, I'm pretty sure I feel like I should double check this, but I'm pretty sure in my get home bag, I have a hand crank radio that I can, like, if I had to get radios for to try to get reception to see like if something happens and I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the world because I'm out of service or whatever. I have that.
[00:46:44] Those are my two things that I keep with me. My cell phone has never failed me. I just haven't been in a situation where it's failed me yet. So I haven't quite done the getting a Garmin or getting one of those, like the in reaches, a lot of backpackers use the Garmin in reach. And you can send like short messages with that. Like if you're out in the woods, I just haven't done it because I've always had cell phone service when I feel like I was in a situation where I would need to communicate.
[00:47:11] And if I didn't have service, I'm like, I'll be out of the woods in a couple of days. And if you don't hear from me, this is where I'm at. Come find me. I just haven't quite jumped off that, I guess, mountain to take on that communication device. I enjoyed that if I don't have cell service and I'm good with that. What about, I don't think you put this in the notes. What about navigation? Do you use GPS apps or anything on your phone? I predominantly use Google or Waze. Those are the two that I like to use.
[00:47:42] So like when I'm, if I know I'm driving, so I'm on a route to try to get to a destination, where I start, I always bring it up on Google and I zoom out because I am a very visual person. So I, and that's how I map out where I'm at, like my directional things is I think. So it's like, I'm sitting here in my mom's house and like, I can sit here and I will think, I like, I'll lift myself up out of the house and think what's this direction. Okay. So that's North, that's South.
[00:48:12] All right. And that's how, like, that's just how my brain works to orientate myself. And so what I'll do is I will get my route on Google. I'll zoom out and then I'll look at, okay, is there a big city that I'm going to go through? Is this a city that I really don't want to go through? Do I want to avoid it? What time am I probably going to go through the city? Am I going to hit traffic? Um, and then I also try to look at routes. Like, can I reroute myself around this? And if I lose service or for some reason my phone goes out, how to like in my head, I'm
[00:48:41] thinking, these are the roads that I need to take. These are the highways I need to stay on to make sure that I'm going in the right direction. Um, and then if I ever feel like I'm just really disoriented, I always have a paper map with me. I have a huge paper map book that I've had since 2020, I think that I always go through and I market. I like it. So when I'm road tripping, like when I drove to Montana, before I left my home base, I flagged all the states that I was going to drive through so that I could easily find them
[00:49:09] on them in the map book. And then, um, so then when I'm in that state, I try to open that map book. So I have it readily available that I can look at it and see it so that I'm not super distracted driving or if I'm had to pull over somewhere. I don't really, I'm not a huge fan. If I'm don't know where I'm, if I'm not purposely pulling over somewhere, like if I'm lost and I'm trying to figure out where I am and I don't know if I'm in a good or bad location of the city, I try not to be there very long. So I try to like prepare myself for if I need it, I have it in my passenger seat.
[00:49:39] So I have the map in the passenger seat that I can pull over. Okay. This is where I'm at. This is where I need to go. Um, if I don't have my cell phone, I've predominantly had my phone. I've had service and I've had Google maps to help me navigate. And that's been great, but I try to always be somewhat, try to be cognizant of my directions and the overall direction that I want to go. Like which way is North, which way is South? Am I going North, South, East or West? Okay.
[00:50:06] And then like just being cognizant of that all the time, whether I'm walking in a new city or I'm driving. How do you choose your next destination? Um, so that really depends if I, so like when I was coming back from Montana, I kind of had a, I, I knew the stops that I was going to make. So I was going to, I stopped at my, one of my new, really good friends in South Dakota. And then I knew I was going to Southern Missouri.
[00:50:33] And so knowing those points, I will look, okay, how many days is it or how long is it going to take me to get from where I am to the next location that I'm going to that I have planned? And are there any really cool parks? Is there somewhere that I haven't been or something that I haven't got to see? Is there a really cool hike that I want to do that's between that? And do I have time for it? And so that's kind of how I'll plan my route to go through, to get to the destinations that I already have planned.
[00:50:57] And, but most of my destinations are, um, friends or like, I have a reason for going there. And then I try to just connect it and keep the adventure going by keeping it exciting and getting to go and do stuff. Like I went to, uh, Bighorn National Forest or National Park because it was kind of on my way to get to South Dakota. I was like, well, this will be, it's going to add about an hour or two, but it's a lot more scenic. And then I've never been to Bighorn and this would be really cool to get to go and see it.
[00:51:27] And it was really awesome. And I would have not normally done that, but it was on the way kind of. And I was like, let's do it. I had the time. We do. Becky and I do that quite often. You know, we'll, we know where we need to be. We'll add a couple extra days in there. And then if there's something that we really would like to see, we just stop and we spend a half a day or whatever. You just, because yeah, there's adventure in that. I enjoy it. It is.
[00:51:52] And there's so much to see in the U S in like the little towns, like taking, like get off of the main interstate. I get it. Like if you're trying to make time and you're, you're just really trying to cover ground, then yes, use the interstate. But if you have the time to take those backside roads, those old roads before the interstates were installed, go down those roads, like check out those small towns. Those are, there's some really cool places and some really awesome history of art of the U S that are in those small towns.
[00:52:20] I'm going to ask you, I'm going to skip a couple, cause we've got so many good questions from the audience too, but this one I'd like to hear because this is something I'm going to try to do more of on my next trip. But what about, uh, how do you prioritize and manage your health while you're on the road? Cause man, gas station food. I have this thing for gas station hamburgers, which is no good. But anyway, Hmm. I don't think I've ever had a gas station hamburger. Don't worry. You don't, don't start. It's bad.
[00:52:46] So, um, so I always try to, so when I'm traveling, I usually have my Berkey filter. So I try to pre-filter a good couple of gallons of water. So I have lots of water. So staying hydrated is my number one priority. So it's funny. I told you about when I went with my brother out West, like we, the restroom and gas stops were the same stops and there, you don't, you don't make more than that. When I'm by myself, I'll stop as much as I want to. And as often as I want to.
[00:53:14] And so I don't change my intake of fluids because of that, because I like being hydrated is like the most important thing to me. It keeps me awake. It keeps me alert. Um, it helps curb a lot of the hunger too. And so that's my big thing is keeping water readily available and filtered. And then I really like having snacks in my front seat. So they're convenient for me to get to.
[00:53:40] It's not unsafe from like, if I don't want to stop, if I'm really trying to cover miles and I don't want to stop other than to get gas or use the restroom, then I prep and I put all my snacks in the front seat and I have like this snack table. Um, I do a lot of dried fruits and a lot of dried nuts because they don't go stale. And they're a little bit healthier. And then I've kind of been on this fasting path that I've done a lot. And so I'll fast a lot of the day.
[00:54:06] And so I drink a lot of water and then I have some snacks where I'm like, okay, I can feel that I'm getting tired just because I need food. And when I'm driving, then I'll have some snacks. But then I try to really not go in the gas stations if I can avoid them because they are a temptation. Like I have this thing about sour gummy things and like those are literally the crutch. They're like my Achilles heel. Like I love them so much and they're so bad for me.
[00:54:36] And so I try to eat a bunch of snacks before I have to stop and get gas. So that when I stop to get gas, if I have to run in, I'm like, okay, I'm going to go in and use the restroom and I'm getting back in the car and I'm getting back on the road, like not buying anything. And then I try to have coffee with me. So if I want coffee, then I try to, so then I can control the quality of the coffee that I'm getting. Cause a lot of the coffee that's in the gas stations, they're so watered down. It's just not that great of coffee. And so I keep instant with me and I always have, I almost always have my jet boil.
[00:55:06] So I have a stove to heat water. And then I try to, I'm now that I am soon to be proud owner of a freeze dryer, I will be making my own meals, but I did a lot of freeze dried meals because I knew somewhat of the ingredients that were in it. And I'm not out, like I'm not spending money on fast food. That's full of like grease and fat and sugars.
[00:55:30] So I try to control the food that I do eat by being like having stuff in my vehicle that I can prepare. And then I, like when I went to Montana, I had a cooler that had, it was a refrigerator and a freezer. So I had my own food with me and I just like, I had my stove and I would cook. So because I would fast most of the day, I would cook whenever I got set up somewhere, I would set up my stove and cook and I'd cook my dinner. Whether it was in the parking lot of a love truck stop or in the middle of, a national park.
[00:55:58] It's like, it's just, it's a way that I can save money too and be more frugal in choosing where I put my money. I'm, I'm excited. I just, we just three days ago set up our freeze dryer. So we're, oh yeah. I got hamburger. As soon as the defrost is done tonight, I'm putting a whole bunch of frozen ground beef in there. So that's exciting. I'm so, I'm so excited. Like I've been planning to get one of these for over a year and I am so stoked. I can't wait.
[00:56:26] You're going to have to fill me in on some things that you do because it's, it's, it's, it's almost like learning how to can again. It seems intimidating. But once you start, you're like, what was the big fuss? You know, it's not too bad. Yeah. And I, so I dehydrate a lot of stuff too. So I keep dehydrated stuff with me. Like I try to make my own jerky. So then I was, and I have store-bought processed jerky that like, cause I am kind of more of a keto bore diet. And so I, I, I am very strict or I try to be very, and on the road, it's really hard, especially if you don't plan ahead.
[00:56:55] And so I try to plan ahead and then having those things in my front seat. So if I'm in the gas station and I see something and I'm like, Oh, that looks so good. Cause I'm so hungry and I haven't, I didn't plan ahead. Oh my gosh. I'm like, wait, I have stuff in the front seat. Don't spend the money on this. Get out of the store and eat what's in your car. And yeah, yeah. The, I was just thinking you, you, you pretty much have to go in. Well, anyway, you have to go into the bathroom and go buy the snacks and order. Yeah. It sucks.
[00:57:25] There's psychology to how they have that set up. And I'm very aware of that. And I like to go at loves. I like going in the back where they have all the, the cool, I call it the prepping gear, but it's the stuff for the truckers. Oh my gosh. I have to stay away from that too, because it's so expensive. Like that's where they make their money. It's getting the people that want to go in there and they see it and think it's cool. Like go home and order it online. I love going and looking at it though. I'm like, Oh, look at that new full of gadgets. That looks really cool. I know. I know. I know. There's so many that like the, the, the tire thumping sticks.
[00:57:55] I'm like, man, that'd make a good weapon, you know? And you want to work through some of the questions that we have here and then, okay. And then we might pop back to a couple more there. What do we got? All right. Actually, this one's more a statement, I think, but Red Flyer media said, I have a zippered cross body bag that I use when in odd places. It was a game changer for me in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. Yes. The zipper makes it so much, because most people that are pickpocketing, they're looking for an easy target.
[00:58:25] And so having a zipper, like that's making you a hard target. Cause it's so much more for them to have to work for it. Cause that's, they just want something quick and easy that they can get away from. So do you travel mostly with a purse or do you travel with a shoulder bag or a backpack or what do you, or? It sort of varies. It depends on what I'm really doing that day and where I'm traveling. I like, I have a cross body bag that I really like because it just sits more comfortably on me.
[00:58:52] And it's, it's actually like an, it has like ammo pouches, which are great for my phone. Um, and it's like, it's meant to have, it's got a concealed carry little pouch in it. So depending on what I'm wearing, my gun may be in it. I don't, I would much rather my gun be on me. Cause I think that that's just the better way to carry it. But sometimes having it in my purse is just how it works. But so I love the cross body and it's got multiple zippers on it. Um, I have some just like over the shoulder if I'm in town and I don't, I don't, I'd want
[00:59:21] to be more gray man and not have like the tactical looking bag. Then I'll use it. And it's like, I call it my Mary Poppins bag. Cause I literally can put so much crap in that thing. And like, um, when I used to go to the movies and if I was sneaking dollar tree candy, when I ate dollar tree candy into the movies, which nobody does that, um, that was the purse that I was taking with me. Cause I could fit all the candy in the dollar tree in that purse. That's awesome. What about, um, this, yeah.
[00:59:51] You ever look into this RFID for personal info? Yeah. Blocking materials or anything? So I have, um, so all of my credit cards are in those little sleeves, like the paper sleeves. So then they can't, so that's, they're in paper sleeves. And then the purse that I, the wallet that I have is RFID, um, chips also. And so that I always keep my credit cards in that. And then when I use my, so if I'm using my phone and I use my Apple pay because I get another percent on my money back.
[01:00:18] So I use my Apple pay more, but like if I'm, so if I'm in a gas station, let's say Bucky's always takes Apple pay. So if I'm at Bucky's and I pull up and I'm like doing the tab to pay before I even open it, I'm looking around to make sure there's nobody standing there with a machine trying to get into my phone because they do that crap. They will sit at a gas, like they'll get a pump next to you and they'll wait for you to get close to it. And then they can pick up on your phone. So I always look around to make sure there's nobody at the pumps. I try to get away. I try not to stop at a pump. It's close to anybody.
[01:00:47] I try to be really far away from people. Um, I tap it and I'm like watching it. And as soon as it says authorized, I close the app on my phone. I don't just close my phone. Like I'm closing the app so that the people can't, if they got access, they can't access it. And then I put it back in my pocket. So yes, I do. And I try to like, and if I'm using my credit card and I'm doing the tap to pay with my card, I did the same thing. I look around to make sure nobody's close by that could have a device that could be trying to pick up on it and then I'll use it.
[01:01:14] But I, I really try not to use my card, the tap to pay on my cards if I can help it. That's good to know. I, yeah, I like that. And then I, you can use pin. We use pin quite a bit, but then they have the little skimmer sometimes too. You have to watch out for. So, and then like at a golf station with you, so if, um, if you're using your credit card and so if you're doing the insert and pull out, so most of them have the new locks on it, so it shows that it's a secure credit card thing. But one of the things that I learned is reach in and grab it and try to pull it out, like
[01:01:43] shake it and make sure it's actually secure because what they have now is they'll put this system that goes over the credit card reader. It looks just like a credit card reader. And so it's got a strip reader that as soon as you stick your strip and it reads it and it pulls your data, but it looks just like it. So you're still, you don't know that your card has been read twice because you have the gas station machine and then the machine that they set up. Um, and so a lot of times I'll look and I'll like hit it and like move it to make sure, because most of those things will come off. If you push it, it'll pop off.
[01:02:13] So I always look for that too at the gas stations. I know we talked a little bit about this, but I'll, I'll ask you, maybe you can clarify, but Christine asks, how do you find a place to park? So I look for any kind of like things that I, what I consider red flags. So I look for vehicles that are not looking broke down. It doesn't look like they've been parked there for several nights. So if I'm at a gas station and I'm looking for a spot, if there's a van, it looks like they've been posted up camping for a day or two.
[01:02:40] I try to stay away from them because they might actually pull in other riffraff and they may be there for doing business that I don't really want to be involved in. Um, I look for 18 wheelers that are owned by big companies, like the big, nice 18 wheelers and not a rundown 18 wheeler. I try to make sure like, I looked at the, the truck itself. And this is just what I do because I feel like if it's a driver that is working for a company that has a nice truck and a nice trailer, the driver is probably not some whatever.
[01:03:11] Yahoo. Yes. I'm like, I'm trying to be nice. I understand. We all know where you're at here. Yeah. And so I try to be cognizant of those things. And so I look at vehicles and what they look like. And I look for people. I looked like, is there somebody getting in a vehicle that looks really shady? Then I try to stay away from that vehicle. And if there's enough of those things going on in a parking lot, I go somewhere else. Like, I'm not going to stay there. If I have to, I'll go, like I've stayed in rest stops too. And rest stops are very sketchy.
[01:03:37] Like those are known to be terrible places to stay, but sometimes you don't have another option. And it's just try to find the best place that you can be in. Because a lot of those places have cameras. So park somewhere where you're in view of the camera. So if something happened, there's a camera that got footage of what happened of your vehicle. And that's, I mean, that's kind of always been a little bit of my backup that I don't depend on that. I liked your tip earlier, and I meant to mention it about parking in the 18 wheeler place.
[01:04:07] Because most times I've done this a lot too, because I feel more safe and secure because those lots tend to be one way in one way out. I'm not, you know, not multiple ways of egress. And as long as you're not parked like a dick and you're blocking somebody's parking pot, usually they'll leave you alone and nobody will say anything. Yeah. And a lot of times you can, like, I've gotten in like the shed. So I'm close to a light, but the truck's high enough that I can get in the shadow of the truck.
[01:04:32] So I'm still in light, but I don't have the light, like the street, like beaming down on top of my vehicle that's brightening my vehicle. And that's always like a nice little good pocket. And I also don't back in really, really far. So if it's nighttime and an 18 wheeler is trying to park, I don't want them backing in and hitting my vehicle because I didn't see it. It was in the back of the parking spot. So I try to like stay up and be cognizant because I understand, like they're really high up off the ground. I've driven big trucks. Like it's not easy to see stuff. And so I try to be cognizant of that.
[01:05:02] They can see me, but I'm parked there too. And when I'm parked back there with them, because I'm sure that they're not happy to see a vehicle back there taking up a parking spot. I'll quite often look for a corner or a curb that's close to the gas station. So it makes me open, you know, in scene, but I'm also not really taking an ideal spot. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm paranoid too, actually, about getting blocked in, for instance. They might just back in and might want to just, oh, look at that dummy and back, you know,
[01:05:32] back in until you can't leave. Right. So. Yes. Yeah. What about a comfortable day pack? Do you have one that you recommend? Oh, I'm trying to actually find one that fits that. So I like having a pack that has pockets on the shoulder straps and most day packs don't have those. Like it's just this really thin strap because they're assuming that you're not taking much gear. But the way that I like to
[01:05:58] carry my gear, if I'm on a day trip, I want to have anything with me that if the weather goes south really fast, which can happen at any moment in the mountains, or if I fall and get injured and I can't get back out, I want to have all the gear that I need to make it through a night or two, even if I'm planning on a day pack. And so I like having these, like the pockets that are on the shoulder straps that help take up some of the small gear that can get lost in your other pack or something you just want to be able to get to while you're walking throughout the day without having
[01:06:28] your whole pack off. And there's just, I haven't really found a good day pack that has that. That's not, see, SOE are heavy. I like light packs because SOE packs are meant to last, which is amazing. But I like, I, if I, I like my packs to be very lightweight because I want my gear to be what weighs me down, not my pack. I get that. And I, you talked about a over the shoulder or cross body bag. That's what I use. You know, they love to call it my man purse,
[01:06:55] but the thing is awesome for traveling with next to me. Everything goes in before I go into, you know, anything of value goes in it when I go into the gas station. Yeah. I mean, well, and they can't come up and snatch it off of you. Cause if you have it cross bodied, like if somebody wants to come and snatch your bag, like it's a lot harder to snatch it like over a head and shoulder versus it just being like draped over a shoulder. Chris Dixon wants to know, have you ever thought about replacing your hatchet in your
[01:07:22] get home bag with a saw for weight savings? So I have a saw also. So the hatchet is more of not necessarily for wood. Sure. Yeah. I have this really awesome silky saw, which is the best thing. Like everybody should have one of these. It's got these really awesome razor sharp teeth. It cuts through wood like butter. It will, I mean, in all reality, like if I got somewhere and I got
[01:07:49] an arm gnarled somewhere, I'm using that to cut my arm off. Cause that thing will rip through tendon and bone and get it done fast. And that's what you want. Like you don't want to sit there with an ax, like trying to like, I mean, I'm thinking like worst case scenario. And that's how I think when I think about my gear, I'm like, I want gear that if something happens and I get, I don't know, I get into a car wreck and my, my arm gets stuck in the door or get stuck somewhere. I got to get out of there. I want something that's going to get the job done really fast
[01:08:16] so that I can get out of it. And then I can fix the wound. And so I love that, that little silky. And it's literally is like this big, it's so awesome. And they make really big ones too. But like that, that little silky is that thing goes with me everywhere. When I day hike it's with me. And when I'm like, if I'm, I mean, it's always in my pack. So it's always with me when I'm on the road, but I definitely make sure I have it up in the front seat with me when I'm going down forest roads. Cause it's great for knocking limbs and little trees that have fallen across forest roads that you're trying to clear the road. That thing works great.
[01:08:45] I want to expand, expand this question a little bit, but Dallas Williams said, when in national forest parks, do you recommend tiger bomb as personal protection against bear? Now I also want to ask about snakes because I personally don't love snakes. Yeah. So, uh, so Dallas and I hiked the AT for a good month and a half together. So this is like kind of an inside joke. Um, yes, I do. I swear by tiger bomb to keep all rodents
[01:09:12] and things away from my food and it's worked. Like I, so I had this theory going on trail and I feel like I was kind of proof of it. And then my, one of the girls that I was hiking with. So when we were in the a hundred mile wilderness, which is the longest stretch of wilderness without an easy resupply, it's up in Maine. It's right before you get to Baxter to do the summit for Katahdin. And so we're at this, um, we're at this designated campsite
[01:09:38] and she had mice coming over the screen of her camp or of her tent. And she's like screaming like, I have mice on my tent. And I was like, you need the tiger bomb. And so I unsit my tent and I throw her the tiger bomb and she puts it, I don't know if she put it on her or she put it on the tent. The mice went away immediately. They don't like menthol because tiger bomb is very, very menthol-y. I mean, think about what it does to our nose when we smell it. You're like, Ooh, it's, you know, it kind of takes you back. Animals,
[01:10:06] I think have a more sensitive nose than we do. And so I swear by tiger bomb. Like I don't go hiking without it because I'm a terrible person and I sleep with my food in my tent. Don't tell anybody. Um, and like what kind of helps me keep the things out because a part of me thinks that what depends on where I am. So like when I'm in grizzly country, yes, I hang my bag and I do the
[01:10:32] proper thing 99% of the time, but like, I would rather try to fight a animal off from my food. Then it come like find it and steal it. And then I don't have food to get out. That's just my thought process. So I'm probably very good for it. And I'm sure a lot of people think that I'm an idiot for it, but I try to be smart. I mean, I don't try to do it where it's a place that I'm like, yeah, I'm probably gonna run into a bear. I probably shouldn't do this, but. I appreciate your candor because we don't all do, none of us are perfect preppers, are we? We all
[01:11:02] have things that we do. We're all planning. How about, do you hunt and fish along the way at all? I don't. Um, so I, I want to learn how to hunt. I've, I've been hunting. I've never actually, so I have killed a deer, but it wasn't hunting. Like I was horseback riding and we came up on a deer that a hunter, I think, um, shot an arrow and it broke the tendon in the back. And so his back end was broken. And so we came up on a hurt deer. Um, and I, I just won't, I won't put up with
[01:11:31] something, an animal suffering. Like I have no problem dispatching and processing an animal, but I, I don't like doing it unless I'm going to harvest it for my nourishment. And I cannot stand for an animal to suffer. And so that was not a fun situation to be in that the first deer that I had to kill was in pain and it was a buck. And so like trying to not get stabbed by the horns and trying to put it down because we were in a national park. So I didn't know I couldn't have, we couldn't shoot it. So I had to use a knife to take it down. That was interesting. Um, so, but I've never, I I've
[01:12:00] hunted, but I've never successfully killed a deer or a Turkey. And I would like to, like, that's on the plan of this fall season. Uh, and fishing, I like fishing, but I'm not a huge fisher person. Like I love fishing with my dad. Like that's the thing that my dad and I do together. Um, but I'm not, I don't know. Fishing is just, I don't do it to survive. I get it. I get it. Um, I wanted to, I'm going to bring this question up here. I'm just going to
[01:12:28] mention it or it's more of a comment than a question, but it says a hard way home homestead, Alaska. Hey Tim up here in Alaska, we have one of the highest missing persons. A lot are vacation adventures. You must be prepared for everything. Yes. Have you run into that before? Um, so I heard about that. I have, I've heard about people that are, that go, there's a lot of people on the
[01:12:52] AT that go out that are not really fully prepared. Um, there's a, like we lose people on Katahdin every year and I'm not really sure. I don't know. And there's people that get, they have to go in and be rescued up in the whites of New Hampshire too. I don't, I don't understand the thought process of people just not being prepared in environments that are such that can be so extreme out of nowhere
[01:13:18] like those. And that, so, and Alaska is one of those places. So it, it does kind of amaze me the amount of people that, um, don't understand the risks that they're taking and not being prepared for the, like having the proper weather gear. Like there was a guy that went up in the whites of New Hampshire that had jeans and a cotton t-shirt on in the winter. And I'm like, dude, you're literally like asking to freeze to death because you're at such a high altitude. The weather can
[01:13:46] change in a second. Like I saw it firsthand change in a second in the whites of New Hampshire. And this guy's in jeans and like tennis shoes, cotton socks and a cotton shirt. Like none of that is going to keep you warm when it gets wet, you are done. But people leave the trailhead and go on these long hikes with that. I don't, I just don't understand it. People, I don't know. Just let you know, your audio is coming through crystal clear, but your video froze, I think.
[01:14:12] And I don't know, it's not, it's not bothering, it's not causing any problems or anything, but I thought maybe if you shut your video off and turn it back on, it might. Nah, you're, that's okay. We can, we can, I got one more question for you anyway, if you want to answer it. Of course. All right. So this one is, um, how do you navigate the balance between, uh, independence or seeking independence and staying open to new connections during your travels? Because
[01:14:39] we talked about this a bit in the pre-show and how, you know, um, a person sometimes isn't open to meeting new people. Sometimes you are, but how do you, how do you do that? How do you balance your independence and traveling around and also being open to meet new people? Um, that's a great question. So I, I am like, I, when I'm by myself, I feel like I get to these moments
[01:15:04] where I just have this longing for some human connection. And I think when I get to those points, especially if I'm in a national park, um, I try to reach out or talk to the people that are around me. So like when I was in Yellowstone and I was watching, I was standing at this place and just in taking all of the amazing beauty that is Yellowstone and like having like this, this complete stranger was standing next to me. And I just looked over
[01:15:33] them and just like started a conversation, which is very much so not normal for me. Um, but it was like sharing that common experience of the, all of what we were witnessing. So we, we had like this common thing. Um, and that was really awesome. And that's usually the most part. That's where I kind of reach out and I'm more open to meeting people, um, is in those moments. A lot of times I just kind of, I really enjoy the solitude and I enjoy the
[01:16:03] ability that it gives me to really connect with nature and not be so distracted by so many things going on. Cause like, if you're with somebody, um, subconsciously, I believe that we are always trying to make sure that we're kind of like working in unison together and going and seeing stuff and not taking too much time. Like, do you, you know, are you bored? I'm sitting here looking at this beautiful thing. Is this boring to you? Do you need to move somewhere else? And there's other things that you have to consider when you're traveling with other people.
[01:16:32] And the, I think one of the things that I really have enjoyed being solo is that I like, I'm literally on my schedule. And so it has allowed me to have so many deeper connections with nature and with God and like have those moments that I think like, if I would have been with someone, I would have still had those moments, but they would have looked a little different. And I may have not had as many of them because I, I chose to be still for, I don't know, an hour in this place that people are coming
[01:17:00] and going because it's not like this really exciting place for a lot of people, but it was just a place that I just felt a calling to just sit and be still and enjoy the beauty that God gave us to look at, at that moment. And if I had somebody with me, like I would have felt the pressure to move on and keep walking or, you know, this wasn't exciting to them, but being solo, like that gave me that ability, which I have appreciated and liked. That's fair. Thank you. I like that. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. You can definitely be present in the
[01:17:30] moment without worrying, I suppose, about, yeah, what other people are thinking or doing. That's, that's good, Val. I like that. And I like, cause I'm, I definitely am a people pleaser. So if I'm traveling with someone, like I want them to be having a great time, I want, I'm always cognizant of them having a good time. And so I try to, it kind of can be a distraction for me. And so I, I, you know, yeah.
[01:17:56] There you are. You're good. What about, have you taken Xena on any of your backpacking trips yet? Yeah. So Xena and I did our first really long overnight when we were in Montana, we went and hiked to the, the Chinese wall. So I've been wanting to do this hike since I went out to Montana in 2021. I learned about this really awesome hike into the Bob Marshall. So the Bob Marshall wilderness is one of the most remote areas in the U S left untouched by man. Like it is this amazing wilderness area
[01:18:25] that's in Montana. And so it's very high in, uh, wildlife. And so there's a lot of grizzlies and they talk about the grizzlies out there. And so that was one of my biggest fears of doing that hike solo is that if I, like, I don't have a lot of experience with grizzlies. I don't like, like, I understand what needs to happen if you encounter one, but I don't have enough experience where I am confident to handle it. I would say. And so I was really like, Oh, I don't know. I'm
[01:18:53] really nervous about doing this. And I don't know how she was going to do if we saw a grizzly. Cause she's never seen a bear. And like, I was just really nervous. I was like, it was a huge hurdle for me to actually take that on by myself. The, um, the friend of mine that was out there was supposed to go with me and that just kind of fell through. And I was like, I'm doing this. Like I'm here, I'm going to do this thing. Like Zena and I will figure it out. If we have to run out the woods with a backpack on, cause the grizzlies chasing us, like we will run out the woods. But, and I'm like,
[01:19:20] I had my bear spray with me. I didn't take my gun because guns are heavy and really, and truly, they're not going to do a lot when you're backpacking and a grizzly comes up on you. Like bear spray is what's going to do something to hopefully deter it, to stop it from coming after charging you and going away. And so her and I did this, and it was epic. It was so awesome. Like it was very, uh, self-esteem building because I was so scared to go in there and like the fear of
[01:19:46] like the unknown. And so her and I got to do that. It was, we did, I was thinking it was going to take us four days, but it only took us three. And so it was really awesome to see, to push her and push her abilities and see her adapt and overcome. Like we went, there's this like really long section. It was hot and there was no water. And so it was just, it was just really awesome to see her manage her, um, herself in like finding shade to cool down. It seemed like she would run ahead, find shade,
[01:20:14] lay down the coolers up down, learn how to manage that. And like, that to me was like so moving to see, like, she really is like an amazing hiking partner because she learned how to manage it like I was. Um, and then like one of the things that I was kind of doing to help me be cognizant of her is like when she didn't have water, I didn't drink water. And so that long section, I'm like, if she doesn't have access to water, then I'm not drinking any of my water. And I have had water on me. So if like, I got to a place where she started showing signs of something like heat exhaustion or
[01:20:44] anything that we would stop and I would like, we would handle it. But I was like, I'm not going to drink water if she can't have water. So then I am cognizant of what she is kind of feeling like. And I think that just like made the experience even better. But yeah, she does awesome. Like she loves being in the mountains. She loves being in the woods. Like we saw a goat and she was like, she thought it was the coolest thing ever to see a mountain goat. Oh, well, thank you, Val. This has been, man, we, we, we killed an hour and a half just like that.
[01:21:11] So did you want to, is, um, Zena around to come and say hello to everybody before we finish up? He's behind me squeaking a squeaky toy. Come here. Oh, there she is. Say hi. Oh, she's a good girl. Thank you. She's such a good girl. She was good at supper that night too. She's great. I know. She's so good. So if anybody wants to follow up with you, Val, what's the easiest way that they can pick your brain or, you know, ask you questions?
[01:21:40] Um, so I have an Instagram. That's probably Instagram or Facebook is, are the two things that I kind of have going right now. Um, my Instagram is she walks 2020. So that's my, from when I did my hike, that was my tag for my hike. Um, so you can just send me a message on there and then I can, uh, we can definitely connect, especially if you have any questions about traveling and stuff that I've done, any of the, like, if you want to know a list of the apps that I use when I'm traveling, I am, I love sharing this information because I think the more
[01:22:09] people that have this information and they can travel and enjoy traveling, the more they're going to travel. And that's going to help. Um, like, just like I was saying about going outside, like the more people that get out and enjoy these things, the more likely they're going to put their money into these things to keep them there for the next generations. Cause I like, I think that that's so important to get to see just what our country has. Like there's so much history and there's so much
[01:22:34] to see in this country. And like, yes, there's stuff overseas and all over the world too, but man, there's so much here in this country that is economical to go and see it. And like, doesn't cost you more than really just the gas, like pack your, the lunch, pack your water, go and explore and see these things and see what America, the beautiful is and Canada too. I haven't been up to Canada much. I want to get up there, but like, I want to go to Waterton. I like, that's on my list to go up to Waterton.
[01:23:02] I think I've traveled more of the U S than I have of Canada. I mean, I've traveled Canada, but I've intentionally hit, I would say a bigger percentage of the States at this point. So there's something special in the interstate system, even though, you know, it, man, it's a good system. It is. It works. It works. Especially if you're on a time crunch and you really want to like utilize your time to go and see like big stuff, you can hit the interstates and kind of get between parks. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Val. Thanks for letting Xena make a quick cameo as well. I always love
[01:23:32] seeing her. So if you want to hang in the back for just a quick, a quick second, I'll close up here and I'll be right back with you. Thanks guys. I hope you appreciated that episode. I know Val's episode last year, when she talked about hiking on the Appalachian trail, I don't know how many comments or emails I got about that, but it was one of the most well-received
[01:23:56] episodes and we, we appreciate Val. She's a friend, Becky and I both consider her a friend. And anytime I get to talk to her, half the reason I do this podcast is it gives me an excuse to talk to my friends all across the world. And this was great. So Val, thank you guys. If you want to follow her adventures, go to she walks 2020 on Instagram. Her link is in the description tonight, but more than that,
[01:24:21] just send her a, a word of encouragement and a word of thanks for coming on here and sharing what she knows. So guys, I appreciate you. Don't forget Thursday night, episode 400 of Workshop Radio. It's been quite the ride so far and we're going to keep going. So as always stay healthy, stay happy and have a great week.