Friday, January 20, 2012

Beerocracy!



   

        I can't believe that it's been just over a year since I started blogging about my travels.  Since then, I've had 5,000 hits on my page.  Now, I know that's not the most bad ass thing in the world, but it feels good to know I'm finally getting my name out there.  I have been carefully considering self-publishing my book for the last three weeks now, and am looking forward to getting to that point.  I have been down in Florida visiting my brother and his wife and their dog Bandit for a little over a week now.  It is cold here, for Florida, and my dogs couldn't be more content with the cool nights we've had.
       I recently have talked to a school who is excited to have an Alaskan dog handler come visit their school, and I look forward to promoting the greatest sport on Earth.  I am lucky to have good public speaking skills, it seems that whatever I end up doing down the road, talking will be the backbone of it.  As for the near future, Erin and I plan on being in North Carolina next summer, and we're both on the job hunt to make that happen.  I have talked with a company that gives bus guided brewery tours in the Triangle area.  I'm hopeful that I can work with them to get both our ventures more exposure, and am excited to promote Carolina brews.  I have to say NC has some of the best beer on the east coast, and more and more breweries seem to pop up out of nowhere!  So the goal is to shoot out west for a couple months after I leave the eastern United States.  Brad is having his bachelor party sooner than we thought, which is awesome.  I'll be able to drive out there and hang for a while because Colorado is going to be as tough as Oregon to conquer.  The mountain towns all have breweries, and I'm going to give it my best shot to go to a bunch of 'em.  I haven't quite planned the exact route for the remaining states, but I do know that North Dakota is gonna come back to haunt me.  We drove through South Dakota in the fall, and after searching online for breweries, I couldn't find anything solid and true to what I'm writing about.  Maybe by the summer they'll have a little more in the microbrew department!
       One story a day is my new goal. If I write one a day, then I'll be well on my way to the finish line in April.  I'm hoping to have everything written and documented by then, so that I can start shaping the book and have it ready to sell by Christmas 2012.  We'll see how that goes!  I'm definitely going to need support  to help pay for the cost of the printing, and am always trying to figure out how to come up with the $15,000 needed to make that happen.  I want to try Kickstarter.com, or put on an event to help raise money.  Up to this point, I have spent money out of my pocket for everything. I have been blessed to have great friends and family help me along the way, but now is the time I need to start focusing on the big picture.  I will spend the remaining time in Florida working on what it's going to cost to print and release a copy of APWATW, and go from there.
       If anyone has any ideas on how to make publishing a reality, drop me a line. I want to learn as much as possible before I climb the mountain of beerocracy and become a part of the Author's circuit.  I have spent a few days fishing and it's the best time to come up with ideas while you wait for a bite.  SO I'll be fishing in Florida while you come up with a brilliant plan to get fifteen grand as I sink my toes into the sand!  Later y'all, and if you're in Florida, give me a call!

 

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Southern Stampede





Mile:17,120  
       Five or six days ago I left North Carolina to her visit her sister state, Tennessee, where erin's brother lives.  Music City, and a little bit of rain, the perfect excuse for us to eat dinner and check out some live music.  The band was rocking, two guys, harmony.  I held the tam"bear"ine for a couple songs, and then we talked to the percussionist and acoustic player.  Nashville is a musician mecca, and I was impressed with his "30 seconds or less" life story to catch my eye.  He was really nice, so you should check them out here.  After a killer burger at Loco Cocoa's, we walked through the honkey tonk on our way to the Flying Saucer.  This draught house is a franchise with maybe twenty locations nationwide.  It fits right in with what I'm doing.  I have learned to do more research, drinking, in search of where I want to go next.  It isn't common for most to follow their palate, but right now in life I have the opportunity to do just that.  We drank North Coast Red Seal Amber, and enjoyed Highlands Gaelic ale.  I'm happy I've been writing all this down, too.  I have every new beer I've drank recorded and the date I visited each brewery, so when I go to make a website, folks will be able to see all that info.  Back to Williams after the Irish Pub, then a good nights sleep!
        The dog park is always fun, I've posted before about how I love people watching there.  Judging, profiling, talking dogs, it has literally everything a dog socialite needs.  I met up with Blaire, who erin and I worked with on the glacier in Alaska in 2009 with.  She was with her boyfriend and Brutus, a retired sled dog from Matt Hayashida, Iditarod racer.  After the dog park, a chinese buffet to set the coma, and then I left Nashville!
       I drove down to Chattanooga, Tennessee and visited my good old friend Joe.  Him and his friend Shane are fresh off an AT hike.  They hiked the whole thing in just over five months, and had as many stories about it as I do dogsledding stories.  Needless to say, we had an absolute blast.  Him and his roommate Danny were so cool, they put me and the dogs up for three days.  Not that I won't camp in thunderstorms, it's just the whole roof over my head thing that kept me in the South.  We played darts, and drank some awesome beers.  We sampled Lazy Magnolia pecan Brown ale, LA 31 smoked wheat, Abita Turbo Dog, and a couple brews I brought down with me from NC.  After literally seventy games of darts, I helped Joe's neighbor make a website for her self bound books.  She had a bunch, but what caught my eye were the recycled six pack books, with a bunch of different breweries in the arsenal.  Her site can be found HERE, but it is not yet published, so you'll have to check back!  My payment was three beer bound books, broccoli greens, brussell greens, and rosemary.  A very hippy move, even for me!  The beers listed above were purchased at Beer World, right on the border in Georgia.  Dave was wicked, and helped me out a lot with my research, thanks a bunch man!  Onward I travel, south again.
       Right now I'm outside of Atlanta in Macon, and today I will make the trek to PJ and Jaime's in Florida.  I am hopeful that my florida readers will help me find a couple opportunities while I'm there.  I will be working with PJ at the Back Forty Urban Cafe, and I'm looking to do sled dog presentations while I'm there too!  If any of you know teacher's or principles, send them the link to my website above please!
       As for the book, I have finally met my New Year quota of fifty stories, half way there.  I want to work on  about 25 more while I'm in Florida, but as is the life of a writer, I must wait for the stars to align!  I have about 10 more states to cover, and am super excited to be in the home stretch, and am missing erin like crazy.
       Erin is up in Montana house sitting for a while, and I'm really happy she can be somewhere where she has access to creativity.  Though we both don't want to have a long distance relationship, it will only be temporary until we finalize our summer plans and I finish traveling for the book.  It's tough living like this, but the pay off is a million stories to tell my kids and grand kids when I get old.  Life has given me so much, and as I begin to put this book together, I know it will soon be time for me to give back as much as I can to the communities that have helped me get this far in life!

Here's the video of me posting the impossible!