This is a new thing I’m doing. Or at least something I’m testing out a bit.
My goal here is to have short, informal conversations with various interesting people I’ve met over social media. Not formal interviews with internet-famous influencers, just authentic conversations with the folks that comprise the online communities I value.
So many of us enjoy interacting with others online, but we rarely get to have an actual verbal conversation—even if it’s just over skype. So I decided to change that.
For now, these will simply be occasional chats—maybe about a specific topic (like this one), or maybe recounting a funny travel story, or just talking about a recent trip—that might happen around a campfire. Generally speaking, it’s safe to expect a heavy dose of conversation around travel and outdoor adventures.
I have vague ideas of turning this into an ongoing audio podcast, but we’ll see how it goes.
The Conversation
A little background
I first met Tom Thrash via a weekly twitter chat called #ParkChat. We bonded over our love of travel quests, craft beer, and—as you’d expect—national parks.
Tom and I talked about our quests last year via videochat, but our paths haven’t crossed just yet. Luckily, we expect that to finally happen later this summer during a #parkchat meetup we’re both attending in Sequoia National Park.
I really like the quest he’s doing to get to all the ski runs in Vermont, even the podunk ones. Those smaller quests can be a lot of fun, and as he mentioned, can be a perfect little excuse to get out of the house. I’ve done something similar here in Phoenix around the city’s ‘Points of Pride’.
Here’s a recent update Tom posted on where he stands on a number of quests:
You can follow his travels on twitter or instagram, or over on his blog.
If you enjoyed this, please give this post a like or a thumbs up on youtube. If you have some feedback for me, shoot me a quick email. Oh, and sorry about the loud start there.
Oh, and a quick message for Tom…
Kudos on snagging a Heady Topper for the chat. It was hard to concentrate every time you raised your glass for a sip…
If I make it to DC when you’re there in the Spring, I’ll be sure to have a Heady or two with me… Great time chatting quests.
That’d be great!
If Tom was a real mensch he would’ve shipped you some Heady Topper to enjoy during the chat. I also appreciate the mult-tiered bucket list quests. It’s relatively easy to set a goal of visiting one place, but it’s more difficult and time consuming to visit a set of places to accomplish a goal.