Crazy Adventures & Raising Brave Kids

This week on DADHOOD, Thomas McMinn and Frankie Corrigan swap stories about some of their wildest adventures—and how those moments shaped the way they think about raising their kids.

From unpredictable experiences to straight-up chaotic situations, the conversation dives into the kind of life moments that stick with you. More importantly, Thomas and Frankie reflect on why they hope their kids grow up willing to take chances, explore the unknown, and fully embrace everything life has to offer.

In this episode:

•  🌍 Crazy personal adventures and what they taught us 
•  🤯 The unpredictable side of life (and parenting) 
•  👶 Why letting kids explore matters 
•  💡 Raising kids to be brave, curious, and open to opportunity 

At the end of the day, this episode is about more than just stories—it’s about perspective, growth, and encouraging the next generation to live boldly.

If you're a dad (or about to be one), this one will hit home.

👉 Follow, share, and send this to a dad who needs the reminder to let their kids explore a little more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, ready?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey, how are ya?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Good, man. Welcome to the Dad Hood.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Yes, we're doing it uh kind of a quick check-in, but we're doing it from spring break in Boise. Boise. Boise. Idaho. Yes. Literally looking at downtown Boise from where we uh rented this Airbnb. So your family, my family, we decided this is our third spring break. Yeah, it is. That we've done in a row together.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

It's so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

It's been a blast.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

And you guys suggested this because we've never been to Boise, Idaho. Yeah. I've I've passed through in the freeway, and this is a pretty cool little town. We've always heard that it's like a mini, like a miniature version of Salt Lake.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

And that's what it feels like, right? It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I like it.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

The downtown has a cool vibe, man. When we were walking around yesterday, I was like, this is this is nice.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

And you know, we were talking about that. Like if you're like obviously if you're listening to this, most likely you live in Salt Lake or have some ties to Salt Lake. But it's very s I think that they're they're taking from what Boise has done, parts of Salt Lake are kind of they're heading in that direction.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

And they need to. Yeah. You know, more of that communal feel, like you can just get out. I mean, how nice was that when we were just walking down that strip, and it's like cars aren't going there. Yeah. Restaurants on all the sides, you know, shops. It's very big city. It is very big city.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

And and and that European flavor, too, like because it's very walkable. Yeah. So I I'm digging it. But yeah, we've been here for a couple days, and we're gonna be here for another day, and just figured we'd do a little quick check-in.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

I know it's nice. Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah, and this has been really fun. The kids just letting them all play and connect, and they're out there living their best life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Doing the scooters, scooters, football, what else are they doing? They're doing all kinds of stuff. Yeah, ping pong in there. Yeah, ping pong, and they got a video game in the garage. It's a pretty cool Airbnb. It is. The walls are a little are a little thin.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Paper thin.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

They're really thin. To the point where Jackson was in the one of the like in the bathroom off the foyer when you come in through the garage near the front door, and somebody next door was like tapping. Yeah, they were Morris coding back and forth. So they're sitting there doing their business. Jackson's doing his business and they're not gonna. But yeah, they're I mean, they're beautiful. This is a beautiful place, but they're it it's a little thin, like as far as the construction goes.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Well, and we were watching that one because we we've been skating ourselves. Yeah, we've been out there skateboarding around, and and you saw one of them being thrown up. And when I say that, I mean they're throwing these things up. It didn't look like much. No, it's if if we're in the little pigs, yeah, this thing is coming down. This one's yeah, he's up and above and blowing this place down.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

But it's uh but yeah, it's a cool vibe. And this is uh we were just talking about this before we hit record. So I guess this is the Peace Valley. That's the name of the this valley, Peace Valley.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Feels super peaceful, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Really does. So how many times have you guys been here?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

This is the second time. Yeah, we came a few years ago uh with the boys and we stayed downtown and walked all that, and it was just you know, when we were talking about where do we want to go for spring break, do our thing, and it's like somewhere where you could just drive, right? Just kind of get away for a little bit and flights are like through the roof, man. Yeah. And we figured, yeah, it's just some some place that's well and then we have our cars so we can cruise around. We're hopefully go check out that skate park, even though that looks legit. That looks like a pro-level skate park, not like it's really cool where they placed it though.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

And we're gonna, yeah, like you said, hit that up today, but it's under this Vidock, it's like under the freeway.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

So it's what a what a really cool, unique use of space. Yes, like dead space that you couldn't put anything there, it'd be uh other than like dirt or cement.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

So I mean, why not make it into a really hip skate park?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

And it looks cool, man. It's really neat. Yeah, some of those ramps looking.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

They're like six at least six foot drop-ins with some of those little half pipes and maybe eight foot. I don't know, maybe even more than that.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

It was a distance where we saw it from and you know when we were walking around.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

And it looked legit from there.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

And it looked like it was pretty busy, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

So we're hoping to get a hike in, maybe if we can squeeze one of those in today. Or maybe not, but hopefully we do. Yeah. But what brought you guys here the first time? Was it just a random let's change the scenery kind of thing?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

It's the same thing. People have been saying that for years, like, oh, Boise's just a cool place. And I I even remember I think it was during COVID. Remember, they started like ranking all the cities by like which one. I mean, I'm sure they'd been doing it way before there, but it was really big because people were moving out of some of these larger cities. Yeah. I remember like Idaho was getting a lot of people were moving here, and they kept saying they're moving to Boise, and it's just a cool vibe. I think that's what like originally brought us up here. Just wanted to check it out. And it's what five, five, five hours away, four and a half, five hours. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

If you have kids, it's more like six, yeah. It's more six and a half, but yeah, it's you know, you're stopping. Yeah, somebody's got to pee at any at any given time.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

What's really cool is stopping at Twin Falls, which we did. Um, I mean, we went and had lunch, but we didn't stop by that bridge. That bridge is legit. And did you see the two people on the side? Were they getting ready to jump? They were getting ready to jump.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Oh, I knew okay, because that's because I was talking to uh our buddy Nate from the Lifetime store, and he they they have like a location up here, so like in the NAMP of at some somewhere near here. And he was telling me about that bridge because I was asking him, because they come up here quite a bit. Yeah. He said that yeah, it's like one of the few bridges in the country that you can just jump off it and base jump. Yeah. And people do. Yeah. And some people, I mean, there have been, I think there was a story not too long ago where something happened where the chute didn't open. That's a trip. I kind of figured as we were crossing, I'm like, I think this is the bridge that they were talking about.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

They totally had the the parachutes like that. Oh, wow. That was their backs. That's a trip. Yeah, and they just climb over the fence and like I've seen it last time when we came up, we came up with the boys. Oh, that was that trip when we came up to Boise. We stopped there and had lunch, but we drove into the parking lot on the side of the bridge to watch people. Yeah, and we were watching. There was people doing it, dude. Yep, dude. Just jumping. It's like, holy crap.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Have you ever parachute?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

I've skydived. Yeah, I went skydiving, yeah. Really? Yeah. How many times? Just once just once. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

So tandem then or yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Uh it was amazing. We went down to Vegas. Okay. Took Katie for her birthday, actually. Nice. Yeah, I think it was her maybe it was her 21st birthday. We went down there. I didn't tell her what we were doing.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

And was she down or was she?

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah, she she was like nice excited, but it was it was a trip. Yeah. In the whole drive out to the airport. So they pick us up on the strip and all like the drive out is more towards the dam.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Does she know at this point where she's going or no? Oh, yeah. I mean, they're talking about it and they're like signing.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

I didn't know if it was one of those, like, but it was just repeated over and over again. You're signing this in case you die. You know, and er and it was like, Can we can we maybe like exclude that? I mean, we all know there's a risk factor. Do you have to just keep reminding us on the way out? But no, it was really cool, man. Um I was a little bummed because I love that stomach rush feeling. And it wasn't at all, it was almost the opposite. It was so relaxing, wow, peaceful. Yeah, very peaceful, which maybe is creepy because oh boy. It was really cool, man. You uh 15,000 feet went up and just yeah, right out the side. It was a cool, cool extra.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

I told you about a guy that I worked with, right? That uh where he I didn't tell you this. This guy in Jacksonville that I worked with. Okay. He was a guy that worked, he was our afternoon guy. This is like the early 90s, and I'm trying to think when it happened. Okay, so I worked in Jacksonville at this radio station from 93 to 96, and I want to say when this accident happened, it was after 96, so after I'd left. But he had been jumping, like skydiving. I think he had 3,000 plus jumps under his belt. The story goes because I remember him telling me about his friend and his friend's wife. It was between Jacksonville and Orlando. There's a place that's like a a pretty big, common, popular place for people that jump.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

And his buddy and the wife, they were both instructors. So they had jumped like, I don't know, what 4,000, 5,000 jumps. I mean, they'd been doing it for years.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm butchering the number, but they'd been jumping a lot. And I remember him telling me the story. He was out there with both of them, and the husband jumped, and they were on the ground waiting for him to come down. But his main chute didn't open. The reserve chute came open, but it got like tangled or something, or it didn't open until it was too late. So he hit the ground, his friend, they said, I mean, it was well over a hundred miles an hour, and they said that he hit so hard that he actually bounced a little bit, which to me doesn't even make sense. He said he hit like it's crazy, right? You would think somebody just went boom. So he uh obviously died. And my friend saw this.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

He's like sitting there watching this.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

He watched it with the friend's wife.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

And that to me, I remember because I remember when he told me this story, you know, and I was just like in awe. And I'm like, So did you stop jumping? And he's like, No. So when I moved away, I had heard that he had the same thing happen. Luckily, his reserve chute sh uh opened, but it was at the last second. When he hit the ground, it was about they think 80 or 90 miles an hour. He shattered everything from the waist down. Everything from the waist down. So he was bedridden for over a year, and he did his radio show from his bed for like well over a year until he healed up. Crazy, crazy story.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

What a terrifying moment, too. Like your mane doesn't open, you're just like your reserve comes out, and it's all oh man. The one thing I've I've always wanted to try, like I say that, and at the same time I'm like, I don't know if I would, is bungee jumping.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

You know, there's something about that that I'm like, the elasticity of it, and it's like, who's calculating this? Right. That it's actually like going to stop me before I hit the ground. Right. Or the thing, does he hear some you know, these random stories where it's like, and they do those off at the big bridges and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

I remember with my ex-wife, we're trying to think, you we just it wasn't our honeymoon, but or it might have been our honeymoon. No, I think it was in the Bahamas. It was a mother and daughter, and they did the parasailing. Is that where they're behind the boat? Uh-huh where they go up in a big parachute and it broke. They drifted both of them and sailed away. They hit the side of a hotel and they ended up passing away. And this is like Wait, what? Yeah, like and that's the thing. Like when you're in these other countries, I mean you don't know what kind of regulation, if any, over some of like the equipment and yeah, the thing, just the cable broke and they just drifted, hit the side of a hotel. Oh my god. It's horrific. See, I've done that before. We did it too. That's why I like that sticks out because we both did did the whole thing and it was it was it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

It was really cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

We had heard, I think after the fact is when we heard that somebody had just died, like within the last couple of weeks or something that we were. Holy crap. Like that would have been information I would have liked before that.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah. You know? You and I had talked about some of those experiences that you're like, I'm glad I didn't really know. Yeah, yeah. Ignorance is bliss at that point. That reminds me, like, that was down in Cape Town in Africa, getting in the cage with the great whites. Ooh. Looking back at that, even in the moment, I thought, this doesn't look very safe. Like it was a rebar cage.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Again, it's one of those where tied on what kind of regulations go like probably nothing.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Oh, nothing, dude. It was literally tied to the boat with rope. The thing I didn't notice at the time or didn't understand at the time is great whites like shallow water. So the water, the depth that we were in this area, and he's like, Oh, it's probably only about like 30 feet to the bottom, which I know sounds that considered shallow for a yeah, I mean, dude, for the size of these things.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

How big do you think it was?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Okay, so we're in um in a boat like decent size. I mean, not not as big as like now thinking like it should have been, right? And I went up to the observation deck and was like looking down because there was three of them and they were slowly swimming.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

They like and they're just chumming to get them that over there. Yeah, they're chumming.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

And I'm watching these three go round, and they are the length of the boat.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

That's terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

And they're like huge, they're wide, they're big. And so you get in the cage, this is the best part, and the water's freezing, dude. Like you you put on the dry suits, you know, and you you get in, and then they throw chum full fish heads and stuff. They're they're throwing them out, and then they pull them back towards the cage to get the sharks to come at the cage.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

To get your experience.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah. What what did it cost, by the way? Do you remember? I don't remember. To get you 250 bucks worth. So cheap. My buddy and Adam Adam and I, we like chartered a catamaran to like like a sunset cruise thing. And it was like 50 bucks. I was like, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Like that you just didn't like disappear. You know what I mean? Just wind up on like a random dateline at this point.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

We were totally like just drinking it up. I'm like, this is the most ridiculous thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

But it's like you look back and not knowing then and what you know now, you're like, oh my gosh, thank God we were okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

So I mean, when so the time I so we're in the cage, yeah, the guy chucks the thing out.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Just the two of you or one at a time?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

You can go four in at a time, and it's not wide. It's like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

And and you see footage all the time where they go and they get caught. So sometimes they get caught in there and then they freak out because they're caught, so they start thrashing and those things come up literally come apart.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, this thing would have like destroyed this cage.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Oh, yeah. And then have you seen some of the I'm sure you have. Like, I'm sure you either went down like the rabbit hole after the fact. I mean, you see like the divers that are they're they're literally swimming for their life, like to the surface, thinking, like, holy shit, I hope I don't get attacked.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah, and there was a few moments that I thought this is messed up, but I was like looking at the other three people in the cage with me, and I'm like, I just have to be able to hold my breath long enough to where I can try to get out of this situation. But then I'm like, there's also three of these gigantic sharks, and the water's murky. Uh-huh. So, like where you're at, I would barely be able to see you. That's not good. No, so it's like murky and dark, and it would look like just a semi going by. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

A lot of people get attacked when the water's murky. The thing is, if there's chum going around, that's upping your chances to get attacked.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

And the one came up because he pulled the head back, yeah, and it came up with its mouth open onto the cage. Oh my god. I'm looking into the shark. I have GoPro footage. I gotta find it. I would love to see it. Yeah, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Could have been the last footage, man.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Like, thank God you made it out. Right? But it was, I mean, really cool after thinking about it, but I'm like, that was stupid. Stupid.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah. So there's something that when you were talking about skydiving and then heading out there with Katie, yeah, and they kept saying over and over, you're signing this because you could die. Could you even die? Yeah, for sure. It reminded me of I was down in Florida because I like to do you know stuff down in the Everglades where I'm hiking and I'm taking photographs of gators and stuff like that. Yeah. And I like to go really kind of deep into the Everglades, and I've been doing that for years. I haven't done it in a minute, but I used to do it all the time. So one of the visits when I went down there, and I've done this before, I did it with a friend where we kayaked in the 10,000 islands outside of the Everglades. Depending on where you are down there in the Everglades, it's it's gators, and for the most part, they're pretty docile. But things can happen if it's a ma mama gator and you're close and then she's protecting a nest. I mean, they can, they've they've attacked kayaks before, they rush them, uh, or they go under, and you know that you know, when you're in the Everglades, it's all of two and a half, maybe three feet deep, maybe even more shallow than that. But you'll see like a big gator, you'll see it go down, and then you know that you're over the gator, and and you have to be calm because sometimes they can come up, and if they come up next to you, they might thrash. If that happens, just try not to fall in, right? You try to stay as calm as you can. So, in the meantime, when that kind of thing, like I've been in the situation where I'm like, okay, I'm and this was in a tour group. I went, it was like five of us, and it was this in the Everglades, and we all got kayaks, a separate kayak, you know, we're in individual kayaks. And I remember this is like a 12-footer, and we see it and it goes down. And our guide is like, Okay, so it's underneath us right now. And he told us that. Like, if it comes up, just make sure that you stay calm because it could thrash, because if it gets spooked when it comes to the surface, yeah. So that's in your head, and we have these, I think they're tarpon, big fish that are just they're just jumping out of the water. So this is happening when you're like on pins and needles going, where the hell is that gator? Because they can stay down there for like 10 minutes, yeah, 10, 12 minutes. Your heart's racing, and then like a big old fish would jump literally right by you and splash, and you're like, holy shit, thinking it's the gator coming up.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Do you ever feel like a bump? Like boom.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Never felt a bump. Um, when I went with my buddy Keith, we were on the cusp of the Everglades in the 10,000 Islands. So it's it's called brackish water. So that is fresh water and saltwater mixed. You've got gators, they'll swim in the in the brackish water, especially during mating season. So you've got gators out there, and it's very shallow, and you have bull sharks.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

So those things can go and swim in fresh water. They can survive in fresh water. I think it's for like a week, several days that they can do this. So I remember that guy telling us, because we took a speedboat with our kayaks and they jetted us all the way out in the 10,000 islands and then dropped us off, and then we just kayaked like all day. He said, just be really careful. Bull sharks are very aggressive. They've been known to bump surfers and kayakers, they're territorial. And I remember like we found this island and we pulled up on the island, and there were these dudes that were dropped off from another like fishing excursion, and they had just caught like a big old bull shark. And I just remember that being on our on our mind, like, holy shit, because it was so shallow, and these things can swim in like three feet of water, you know, they're able to swim in that.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Did you see any when you were out there?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

But you're always thinking like shit, man. Yeah. And knowing that they sometimes they'll target a a kayaker and just mess with them and bump their their kayak. It's a big shark. It's not great, white big, but it's big enough to eat you.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Gosh.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Uh, but the other thing though that I was talking about in the Everglades, I decided to to rent this kayak by myself. And the woman, so is it, is it just you? And I said, Yeah, just me. Uh, I'm gonna need your license just in case. And I was like, Oh, just in case. And she said, Yeah, just in case something happens to you. She's like, You do know that they're there are gators, and I said, Yeah, I know. And she said, Well, we need your license just in case. And so that was a little sobering, and I'd done it before, and I know for the most part they are. They're pretty they're pretty mellow. But I've also had some that, you know, sometimes you're close to them, and luckily when they thrash, you know, they they thrash the other way, or they might be on shore and they they come towards you, but they're not rushing you, they're just getting into the water because they get spooked.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

What's the closest you've ever been to one? From me to you? Like you could touch them?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Absolutely. Big ones. Big ones? Big ones.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Do they hiss or anything?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Oh, yeah, I've been hissed at. Oh yeah. I've been hissed at. Yeah. And that's it. Probably doesn't sound too smart. But I've I've I've been doing it long enough to know like kind of where to place myself, and I and I'm very respectful of them. I don't get, you know, I'm not messing with them, but I do get I've gotten some really incredible pictures. Or I've got really close, and in it, like I said, in a safe kind of position, knowing if it were to turn, and I've been next to some, I mean massive 12 footers easily. No way. One one, I remember I was on this trail, and I say trail, it was more of a logging trail, so it was like wider than an actual hiking trail, but it's still pretty tight, and there's water on both sides of this trail. I mean, this is way out in the Everglades. There's this massive, probably an 11-footer, and it looked old and it was big, just huge, and it was, I think, missing an eye, because sometimes they get in fights with each other and stuff like that. So it's missing this eye. Look like something out of fucking happy Gilmore, man. The one that took chubs. Uh, but yeah, so that was I had to get around it. How old are some of these ones? Like, could do they live a long time, don't they? Yeah, I I don't know. I think in the wild, I want to say a gator can l live for like 30 or 40 years, maybe more. Yeah, maybe more than that. But I think at least 30 years.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

It's been around for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

It's like, yeah. Yeah. I I saw one uh situation where I got caught in this lightning storm out in the Everglades. I was by myself. Like I it was just a dumb stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Bro, why do you go by yourself? Can I can I like Because nobody will go with me?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Because that's the that's the I mean there's probably a reasoning behind that.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Just like I just want to go so bad, I don't care. Like I'm gonna go by myself.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Well, here's the reason because when I moved from Detroit down to Fort Myers for radio, '92, when I moved away from from home, I mean it was an exhilarating time of my life. It was cool, it was fun, but I was also terrified moving that far away from home. And I did have a buddy that was down there, and he said you can move down here and until you get a gig, and that's exactly what I lived for with him for like a month or two and then got the gig and then moved up from Naples, Florida to Fort Myers, about 30 minutes away. Uh but in that time, you know, had some people that I knew and then eventually roommates, but I looked and connected with the Everglades because I grew grew up like just loving that kind of stuff, the creepy crawley, snakes. I had sure wasn't allowed to have snakes, but I had like iguanas and had the annoles and salamanders and you know, you name it, frogs. I had all that shit growing up. So I was always infatuated with that, always wanted to visit them. So when I moved down there, so it was very peaceful and tranquil and just felt very comforting to me.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

So I think that's why like and I've asked people, like, do you want to go? And and I actually took when I first met Tammy and I've taken Axel and it was very safe. It was a boardwalk, and it wasn't anything like where I where I would do by myself. Most people are just not really down with it. I'm really safe when I go in, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I've got a hunting knife just in case.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Just in case.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Would never ever, unless I had something latch on, and it's true, you know, like I have to do what I gotta do. But I'm actually more worried, and it's like this. I've talked about this, like when we go hiking in the mountains. I'm more worried about running into a Yahoo or some somebody, some nut job, or somebody doing something you know nefarious out in there, like dumping a body or drugs, and especially on the Everglades. I mean, you're close to Miami and shit like that. I mean, drug dealers are dumping bodies and stuff like that. So that's what I'm more concerned about. Yeah. Like being in the wrong place at the wrong time with that.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Which is so wild to think about that. You're more afraid of people of another person than these like predatory. Real animals that are out there.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

You just gotta watch where you're walking, they keep to themselves. You gotta be smart about it. Like I'll approach, and but I I'm doing it in way, it's way safe. Okay. It's way safe. But I did so I think I told you I I I so it got caught in that lightning storm. Yeah. And I really thought I was gonna die with that. I thought I was gonna get struck. And it's it's just all it's a full-on lightning storm. And I had at the time a scapula that my ma got me when I did move away from home. So I had had this for years, but it was a it's a little Catholic, like a little pendant. Okay. And she had it blessed, I think, by the nuns. Okay. And so she gave it to me with a chain when I left and said, you know, wear this to protect you. And so I had worn it for for years, and I actually had that around my neck, and I remember in this lightning storm, and I'm not religious. I was born and raised Catholic. Sure. I'm more spiritual than anything, but I pulled out my shoebox, God.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Okay, I need you right now. God, if you can hear me.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

It was horrible, but I mean I was truly like holding on to this scapula, just get me out of this. And I'm thinking this is either gonna save my life or it's metal. I'm gonna get struck and it's gonna kill me. But this is what my thought was. I'm not gonna get struck, it's gonna strike near me, lightning, and then it's gonna knock me out, and then I'm gonna get eaten by a gator. That's that was my like holy shit. This made it all worth it because as I'm coming up and over this like I say hill, it's this little thing where I can't see, and then I'm like, is that a gator? It was a gator and a python. They had just gotten into a fight, and sometimes the pythons win, and it was a big gator, and it was a huge python, but the gator won, and I just literally came up on it as it happened. It was done at that point, the fight.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

But I had I mean, I got video, kind of grainy video. This is so many years ago, so it wasn't like a good iPhone or anything, but really fucking cool.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Was he eating it? He was eating it. No way. So, like maybe 30 seconds earlier, if you would have come up on it, you would have seen a minute or two battle.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Yeah, it was within a couple minutes. Dang, easily, yeah. It was a wild couple of massive python.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

That was cool.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

I I know this is uh a weird like question, but a python of that size versus an Anaconda, like what's really the difference? I mean, anacondas are huge.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Are they just that much bigger even than uh that can easily take down a man?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Really? Easily, yeah. Do they have any of the is that only like Central America kind of thing? Or is did they have some of those in Florida like the Everglades?

SPEAKER_00 24:15

You hear these stories, and I don't know, with with that, that's the thing about the Everglades, that biome, it's so, you know, it's subtropical, so the things that are and you've got Miami close by, so you've got that that that black market kind of exotic pet trade.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

So people that are, you know, then there's the the the things that are legal, but there's so many ill illegal things coming through, like snakes, like really poisonous snakes. They get get either too big or they get out. And even with Hurricane Andrew, that's why all the pythons are there, because when Hurricane Andrew came through Homestead in Miami, it wiped out like these snake exhibits, I think even the zoo, and they basically just escaped. And they were able to reproduce from 1992 to now, and they said it's just exponentially getting more and more and more.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

There's a lot of them now.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

There's a ton of them. And because they don't have like a home range, yeah, so they don't stick around in one area, they just keep constantly going. So that's why they're they're like decimating the Everglades as far as throwing off the ecology of it. Wow. It's fascinating. And you hear stories, and I know like the hospital on the other side, because I remember like when I would go down in there, I knew like where I was at pretty much any given time, like if something did happen, yeah, how much time it would take me to get to either the Naples hospital or a hospital on the on the east coast. And the Naples hospital, I like when I was down there, they had I I think antivenon for like a lot of the exotic snakes because of that reason.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

So I think out of the country they had m more than anybody because it was so close to the Everglades.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

So that's where you were going. Yeah. You're like, this is where I'm heading. Yeah. See, and I just like know so little about snakes. Like to me, all of them are dangerous. It seems like, and I know that they're not.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

That's actually a good way to go into the just just treat them like it's until you know exactly what it is. It's not a bad way to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Frankie, what is this? Yeah. You know, what's in my backyard right now? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Well, and like where we live in in Utah, like the only thing we have to worry about is the rattlesnake. You got them all around you.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

There was one in the neighborhood. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

And the baby, you like you pass by a little baby on the side.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Well, one of the dogs in our neighborhood got struck by the rattlesnake and didn't make it. Oh. Yeah. It was on the sidewalk, and the dog went to chase it into the bush and then it struck it. Yeah, right on the nose. I think a week later or something, it just didn't make it. That sucks. It's crazy, dude. It is crazy. It is crazy. But the bull snakes, I mean, they look like them and they they mimic them. You mean the gopher snakes? Or the gopher snake. You don't even know. I mean, minus hearing them. Yeah. You just gotta look at the shape of the head. Shape of the head. Yeah. And then yeah, that's just they kind of have that viper look.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, they have a kind of a triangular. Yeah. If it's that in the eyes, then that's a viper and that's a rattlesnake.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I love them though. But yeah, that's that's my that's my equ the equivalent of jumping out of a fucking plane. Yeah. I can't get my head around the plane thing. Unless it's going down, unless it's crashings. Like if it's a perfectly good airplane, I don't think I want to jump out of it.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

It's so fascinating though, dude. The fact that you do it by yourself. The original like ice bath situation or like getting into the creek. I was doing the same thing until I was like, you know what? Doing this by myself, because it would be like October, November. So it's already cold out, and I'm running up the canyon, getting in by myself. Wow. And it's like, dude, it wouldn't take much. It's kind of the similar thing. I think it was actually Katie was like, you know, I don't mind you doing it, but can you go with someone just in case? Right. I'm like thinking in my mind, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

You know? I know that's where Tammy was years ago, and I'm sure she's even more so in that camp now. Like if I were to want to go to the Everglades, she would probably be like, Can you just take somebody with you this time? Yeah. We got the family and everything. Well, it's a little different. And you're dodging a bullet. Maybe just not chance it.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Yeah. I would love to go with you, dude, but I'm like, I'm gonna, I'll be the snack. I would now I got if we if we no, I would go. I would go with you.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

We wouldn't do anything crazy, but there are some still some places that I love to go with it that are definitely off the beaten path. That's where I saw that Panther take down the T deer. That was a trip. That was a scary, almost threw up, man. Oh really? Oh yeah. Because it at first I didn't know what I was looking at. It's like 6 p.m. uh summertime. It's getting later in the day, but there's plenty of daylight, and I hear like this thrashing in front of me. You know, it's probably at this point, I don't know, a couple, a few hundred feet away, and I can tell something is is being chased. And I as it's getting closer, I can kind of hear it on the on the ground, like then sticks are breaking, and all of a sudden it takes like this immediate left. Can see it, like something's being chased by something. And I'm like, oh gosh, it looks like a deer. And then all of a sudden I hear this this scream and a thump. And I knew exactly at that point, I'm like, okay, this thing just got attacked. Something grabbed its neck, and that was the scream of the deer that I heard. And that thump, you know, and at this point I'm still trying to figure out like what did I just see? And then I see this thing and I lock in on it, and it looks like a tail, and I follow this tail all the way up, and then boom, I lock eyes with it. The panther. And initially, I don't think I knew. I didn't. I didn't know that what I was looking at. I knew it was like a predator, and in my head, I'm like, this, that's not a bear, that's not a bobcat, because bobcats have stubby tails. So I'm like, it rack in my brain, I'm like, what the hell did it what it would? And then I'm like, holy shit, it's a panther. And then I didn't realize where I was and where I'd been going for the last two years, like all by myself in this area. I literally walked back to the car, backwards, talking out loud, thinking, holy shit, holy shit. And I'm talking to it, talking to myself.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Like did it move towards you at all?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Just stood there. And then I just like I almost that's when I almost threw up when I figured out what it was.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah, you're like Oh no, no, no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Because sometimes you hear these stories of like if you come across in the wild like a dead animal, like a big animal, something that was obviously killed.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

It's kill. It's kill, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

And so that was in my head, like, holy shit, holy shit. Sure. So as I'm getting closer to the car, I'm like, if I make it back, if I make it back and don't get, you know, at this point, as I get closer, I'm like, I think I'm okay, but I still don't, I'm not back at the car yet. So then I'm driving back to the hotel.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

And you're amped.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

And I'm amped. Get online. Okay, I'm gonna put in Panther, this preserve, it's the Faka Hatchie preserve, and this picture comes up. And it's three huge Panthers, the mom and two cubs, but they're just as big as she is. And somebody had taken that picture, the same damn place where I was and where I'd been going for two years, it was in National Geographic. And that's the reason it was in because they're so elusive. People, I mean, people have seen them, but it's rare. Yeah, dude. And I s what I what I saw, so I realized at that time, I'm like, as I'm looking at this picture, and I'm just at that, I'm even more amped. I'm like, this is awesome. I saw one of those three is the one that took that that deer down.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

And that was one that was was like, oh no, wrong place at the wrong time.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Yeah, that is cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

It was a trip, man.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Big in a trip. This has been a this is a fun trip, dude. Just another adventure. Like this is what it's all about. Life is an adventure. Get out, explore, do. I'm glad we're here with the kids. Me too. In the Valley of Peace. So easy. Peace Peace Valley, I think. Peace Valley.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

I like the Valley of Peace, dude. Valley of Peace.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Dude, we gotta plan a trip and go to the Everglades.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

I'm all about it.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

All right, man.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

All right, dude. Make sure you check out the Dadhood Podcast of dadhood.co. You can check out the nonprofit as well.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

And then we're on uh Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

We'll talk to you soon. All right, peace.