Tag Archives: Josh Gates

Feast or Famine

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My Life is Either Feast or Famine

All or nothing, Feast or Famine, that’s the best way, the only way to describe my life. It’s crazy really. I go years, years , I say, without a chance in ____(well you know) of ever meeting any of my idols and then BAM! 3 at once. How am I supposed to swing that?

The Top 5

Remember that post a couple of weeks ago when I told you to pick 5 people -living or dead- that you would like to spend an evening with? I shared my top 5 choices choices at that time.

  1. Dr. Greg Skomal
  2. Neil Degrasse-Tyson
  3. Seth Shostak
  4. Dr. Michio Kaku
  5. Josh Gates

I met Dr. Skomal on  Thursday September 26 at his appearance on Cape Cod. I figured that was it for the year. I mean really are personal appearances in the area for any of these gentlemen common? I think not but I was in for a surprise.

Neil Degrasse- Tyson

I was still walking on air from seeing Dr. Skomel when I heard that Neil Degrasse -Tyson was making an appearance in Medford MA on Monday Oct, 21.  He’ll be speaking at the Chevalier Theater. I checked his tour schedule and that’s the only Massachusetts stop in his whole tour!  So now I have a decision to make. I have a vacation on the books and will be spending money for that.  Who knows when  or if he’ll be back in the area! Do I spring for a ticket? Decisions, decisions!

 Josh Gates

Josh Gates is a Massachusetts native son but does he do appearances here? Nope , never so what were the odds that he’d have his first ever Massachusetts appearance on Sunday October 20? That’s the day before the Neil Degrasse- Tyson appearance! That’s also the last day of my vacation. My plan is to be on a plane coming back to Massachusetts. How am I supposed to be in 2 places at once? Like I said, feast or famine. Now I just need to find out that Seth Shostak and Dr Kaku have appearances too to really push me over the top!

What Would You Do?

Everybody has been really quiet lately but I’m sure you have ideas about this dilemma. Faced with a chance to see appearances by any of your top 5 what would you do? Would you spend the money for the tickets even though its one right after the other or would you cross your fingers and hope they’ll come back to Massachusetts again in your lifetime? Please share your thoughts.

 

Happy 2019

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Welcome 2019

Hi folks. I know I’ve been MIA but I have to say that the tail end of 2017 and most of 2018 were tough times for me and my family. We lost our Mom. The family is having challenges with the Big C and my hip finally hit end of life. I had a total hip replacement in December. We also added to the family with the birth of a new nephew so it wasn’t all bad. But it did put a damper on my posts. It was hard to write cheery. upbeat entries when everything seemed to be going wrong. I have even been considering giving up my time share and hanging up my traveling shoes. which brings me to my thought for today

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Time to Channel my Inner Josh Gates

I may have mentioned before that my travel inspiration is Josh Gates, host of Destination Truth, Destination Unknown and Legendary Destinations. He’s always getting into “iffy” situations but he does it with humor and aplomb! When I had issues on the Road to Hana in Maui I held onto my composure by asking “What would Josh do?” Josh’s hero is Indiana Jones. I like that character too but since he’s fictional I’ll stick with Josh as my trail blazer.

Destination Truth, Memoirs of a Monster Hunter

I’m reading a book by Josh (Destination Truth, Memoirs of a Monster Hunter) and I was hit by a comment he made. He talks about how the more you travel the more you want, even need, to travel. That’s what I felt while I was jetting around the US but then my hip slowed me down. Follow that up with a DVT after a flight to Hawaii and I felt like I’d been grounded. At first I had withdrawal. I was so depressed that I couldn’t just take off and go but  the longer I had to put travel on hold the less I wanted to get back into that craziness again. I just wanted to curl up at home with a good book.

Re-thinking the Future

Reading Josh’s book made me realize the travel bug is still there. It’s just hibernating. It’s waiting for my body to recover enough to be able to enjoy my trips again. I’m still in recovery mode from my hip surgery but as soon as I’m cleared to snorkel with Manta Rays again or swim with sea turtles I’ll be back on the plane to adventure. Even the Bears of Katmai National Park are calling!

3 bears out for a stroll

Destination What?

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I’m going to talk nonsense for now. I don’t mean to have this sound like a plug for a TV program so apologies up front if it does.

 Have any of you seen the Travel Channel’s program called Expedition Unknown? Do you watch it?

The host , Josh Gates, is a Massachusetts native raised in Manchester- by the Sea, a little town on the north shore.

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You may have heard of it. It’s also the name of a movie starring Casey Affleck, but I digress. I haven’t seen the movie even though it got great reviews.

Back to Expedition Unknown and Josh Gates. I first came across Josh Gates when he was the host of a paranormal, monster chasing adventure, reality show on Syfy called Destination Truth.

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Of course they never found any of the monsters or ghosts but the stories were great and the locales exotic. I loved the way Josh delivered his lines too. I was hooked.  That show ran for 5 seasons. Who knew there were so many cryptids to investigate?

I was disappointed to learn that my favorite globe trotter was done with monster hunting but that didn’t last for long. Josh was back with a new program on the Travel Channel called Expedition Unknown.

On the "Expedition Unknown" series premiere, Josh Gates utilizes a bili-bili bamboo raft in order to get to a remote village on the island ot Viti Levu in Fiji/photo courtesy of The Travel Channel

On the “Expedition Unknown” series premiere, Josh Gates utilizes a bili-bili bamboo raft in order to get to a remote village on the island ot Viti Levu in Fiji/photo courtesy of The Travel Channel

The cryptids like Bigfoot are minimized ( although not completely gone) while real life mysteries are explored. The premier was an investigation into Amelia Earhart. Since then there have been investigations into King Arthur, Cloning the Woolly Mammoth and a visit to Everest Base Camp in search of the Yeti. (I told you the cryptids weren’t completely gone)

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Along the way he even hooked up with one of my favorite Naturalists, Casey Anderson.

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So why am I going on and on about Josh Gates and his adventures? ( Or should I say Exploits?) It’s because  at the moment I’m stuck working for a living and won’t be able to go exploring for another couple of months so I’m living vicariously through his show. If I were younger (read that as in better shape)  I’d love to be chasing around the world like he does, riding horses, climbing mountains, scuba diving undersea ruins, etc.

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I’d even settle for running around the US. I don’t need to travel the world but I do need to be out looking for new and exciting things to do.

I missed out on the Powerball. It was up to  4M before somebody in Indiana won. Oh the places I’d go !

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Well, if you’d like a firsthand glimpse of what I would aspire to be, take a spin by the Travel Channel and check out Expedition Unknown. Then when I say something like “I had to take a moment to channel my inner Josh Gates” you’ll know I just had an OMG moment!

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