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:
![](https://i0.wp.com/rscottjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-06-at-9.48.09%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=571%2C372&ssl=1)
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…
![](https://i0.wp.com/rscottjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/well_played.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1)