Life Out There

This Thing Called Life Comes With A Lot Of Rules... Maybe It's Time To Break A Few

A dog, a cat, and their human chuck the mainstream and hit the road in a 30 year old RV! Focused on exploring America...one small town at a time. I wonder what the next town will teach us? Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig Logo's designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Episode content provided by Bing Copilot. Read by Dougie, Billie and Craig. lifeoutthere.substack.com

  1. Day 804. July 18, 2021. We Almost Made It

    16 FEB

    Day 804. July 18, 2021. We Almost Made It

    It’s Day 804. It’s also July 18th 2021. Well.... we almost made it... Back to that beautiful Saturday morning... Cruisin up the freeway... windows cracked... enjoying the scenery along 1-15 north with Salt Lake City in our sites. It was all so ... familiar.... Vacilando moving us forward... just like he had all over the country.... and then... he didn’t. And everything changed… Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠https://LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Billie and Craig. Full Transcripts available on our YT channel and our Substack Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Music featured in this episode: Intro/Outro music created and provided by Coma-Media via Pixabay. Used with permission and acknowledgment. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e JBL Tune Flex 2 Wireless Earbuds: https://amzn.to/4soMBmI We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing: DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    10 min
  2. Day 800. July 14, 2021. Saratoga Springs Utah

    9 FEB

    Day 800. July 14, 2021. Saratoga Springs Utah

    Movin again... and it feels good. It feels familiar. That sense of wonder… exhilaration even... that comes over me when the road opens up in front of us... with few signs of civilization. If ya strip out the power lines ticking by alongside us... and those reflective centerlines rolling up underneath... and then out behind us.... any other traces of civilization are rare. And that’s when it’s the best... If your headed west... out of Rangely... your options are few... if your relegated to asphalt, which sadly... we are.... Which explains why we’d become so familiar with Dinosaur Colorado... And Vernal Utah. This would mark our 5th pass through the area in just the last two years... including the familiar stop at the Walmart in Vernal to gas up... and stock up on supplies. But this time... Vernal... is where the familiarity would end. We’d gone north from here... we’d gone west from here... so this time... we’d head southwest... and into a landscape we hadn’t seen before. Over the next couple hundred miles... the scenery would shift. We’d put those rugged, wide open Mountains of Colorado’s high desert... and oil fields in the rearview... and back into Utah’s Uinta Mountains... initially things felt the same. But then... a shift. We began a slow climb into Provo Canyon... and around nearly every bend... mother nature continues the shape shifting. The peaks of the mountains got sharper.... higher.... before we knew it the browns... and reds of the Uinta basin had transformed into sudden bursts of green. As the road began to narrow... squeezed in between mountains that felt straight out of the Pacific Northwest... The air cools just enough to notice. Trees start showing up where they weren’t invited before. Cottonwoods first. Then evergreens. The kind of green you don’t see in desert places... as if the land was coming back to life.... Suddenly there’s water everywhere. The Provo River runs alongside the road, cutting its way down out of the Wasatch Mountains. You can hear it before you really see it, rushing and tumbling, a constant reminder that this place is shaped by flow, not force. Snowmelt turned into movement. Then...as if mother nature needed to put a big ‘ol exclamation point on it all...we’d come upon Bridal Veil Falls. Water spilling straight off limestone cliffs, fed by the Provo River system, breaking into mist before it ever reaches the canyon floor. It’s not subtle. It doesn’t hide. It just announces itself. After hundreds of miles of dry ground and muted color, that burst of white water and deep green feels almost unreal. As if the landscape just decided to...show off a bit. That canyon feels like a threshold. On one side, the wide, hard worked basin. On the other, a world shaped by water and elevation. As you come out of the canyon and into Utah Valley, the river widens, slows, and eventually feeds into Utah Lake. The same water that came screaming down the canyon spreads out and settles. Utah Lake itself is broad and shallow, fed by the Provo River along with the Spanish Fork River and American Fork River. In July, it sits heavy and reflective under the sun, surrounded by farmland, development, and that constant Wasatch backdrop. The contrast was striking... Had to pull off for a closer look... and some lunch... We pulled off into a State Park along Utah Lake... looked like tons of RV parking available... Had a quick lunch in the parking lot... and was actually contemplating a night or two alongside the lake ... when I popped open one of those gig apps on my phone... and was surprised to learn of another Walmart Remodel underway just a few miles up the Road in a place called Saratoga Springs. Cool... I thought.... just like that one we worked a few months back in Spirit Lake Iowa... all the folks I had met from all over the country... the stuff I’d learn about how a store ... in sections... gets taken apart... rearranged a bit... and put back together...every night... so the store could open for business again the next morning. So it was off to Saratoga Springs… Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠https://LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Billie and Craig. Full Transcripts available on our YT channel and our Substack Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Music featured in this episode: Intro/Outro music created and provided by Coma-Media via Pixabay. Used with permission and acknowledgment. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e JBL Tune Flex 2 Wireless Earbuds: https://amzn.to/4soMBmI We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing: DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    17 min
  3. 26 GEN

    Day 787. July 01, 2021. Time Marches On...

    It's been weeks... The loss fades... and Time Marches on... As anyone that knows me will tell you... music... and song... have always been a big part of my life. No matter the mood... the situation... No matter where I find myself in life... I can fall into music... The first three notes of a song can take you back... to help stiffen your resolve... to remind you... That life is... good. I think it was the Irish in my grandfather that compelled him to remind me many times... That "Any day above ground is a good day"...so do something with it boy. Do something with what you've been given this very day. You woke up this morning didn't you?So... no surprise to me... That after over a year of loss.... the days turning into weeks... the weeks into months here on the Western Slope... a particular song played over and over in my head...."Time Marches On" Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠https://LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Full Transcripts available on YT channel and our Substack Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Music featured in this episode: “Time Marches On” – cover performed by Wray Walker (@EnshaMusic) Original song written by Bobby Braddock and originally performed by Tracy Lawrence.Cover performance used with permission from the artist.All rights to the original composition remain with the respective copyright holders. (For the full musical experience, including this song, watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.) Intro/Outro music created and provided by Coma-Media via Pixabay. Used with permission and acknowledgment. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e JBL Tune Flex 2 Wireless Earbuds: https://amzn.to/4soMBmI We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing: DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    22 min
  4. 19 GEN

    Day 712. April 17, 2021. A Walk Downriver

    Spring on the western slope doesn’t arrive with much fanfare...it doesn’t announce itself in a flurry of blooms and bursts of color... It just… loosens. The air gets softer. The mornings lighten a little earlier. The cold starts stepping back, one degree at a time. By April, we’d settled into a rhythm with Rangely. I knew which mornings belonged to the wind. I knew when the snowplows would rumble through town. I knew which patches of ice tried to trick me. And I knew the shape of each day walking with Dougie — what he liked, where he sniffed, where he pretended not to hear me when he wanted to stay just a little longer. But spring also carried a different weight. Quiet. Heavy. Familiar. I’d been trying not to look at it directly, but it was there. You can feel it long before you say it out loud. Dougie was slowing down. And I kept telling myself the same thing: He’ll tell you when it’s time. That voice had been with me for months. I just didn’t want to hear it yet. On April 17, the morning felt too good to ignore. Sunny. Sixty-five degrees. The kind of day that tricks you into thinking everything might be fine for a little while longer. So I loaded Dougie into V2, grabbed a couple waters, and pointed the truck downriver. Further than we had gone before. I wasn’t looking for anything specific. Just… a different place to hang out a bit. The road eventually narrowed until it ended at a private ranch. Left or right. Two choices. We turned left. We stepped out into air that was cool enough to wake you up but warm enough to make you stay still for a moment. The river moved steady beside us. Not rushing. Not crawling. Just doing what rivers do. I lifted Dougie down from the truck, and something in him shifted. Not physically. Not dramatically. Just… quietly. He looked around slower. He took in the air like he was trying to memorize it. And that’s when the voice came back. He’ll tell you when it’s time… Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠https://LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Full Transcripts available on YT channel and our Substack Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Intro/Outro music created and provided by Coma-Media via Pixabay. Used with permission and acknowledgment. Third party content shared with acknowledgment and credited in video. Shared under fair use published material. No copyright infringement intended. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing: DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    10 min
  5. Day 637. February 1, 2021. January Thaw

    12 GEN

    Day 637. February 1, 2021. January Thaw

    January in Rangely has a way of resetting you. Maybe it’s the cold. Maybe it’s the quiet. Maybe it’s the feeling that the rest of the world is spinning out somewhere far away while this little town just keeps doing...Rangely. I was still trying to make sense of everything that had happened over the past year… and then January 6th happened. The Capitol. The chaos. The insurrection... The shock that wasn’t really shock because of who we were dealing with. I had already recorded the episode about it, already tried to wrap my head around it… but my mind kept drifting back to it.... It felt strange. Surreal, honestly. Because while I was replaying the images in my head — the shouting, the broken glass, the absolute insanity of it all — Rangely didn’t even flinch. Some folks barely mentioned it. Some seemed like they hadn’t heard much about it at all. And others didn’t see it the same way I did. That was one of the first lessons this winter gave me… people live in the same world, at the same time… and still somehow live in different realities. And life just keeps goin... Doesn’t matter if the country is losing its mind. Doesn’t matter if you’re confused or upset or trying to figure out what the heck just happened. You still wake up. You still shovel snow. You still go to work. You still make coffee. I guess that’s how it works everywhere. Just felt louder here. Meanwhile, winter...and life.... wasn’t interested in waiting for me to get my head straight… Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Intro/Outro music created and provided by Coma-Media via Pixabay. Used with permission and acknowledgment. Third party content shared with acknowledgment and credited in video. Shared under fair use published material. No copyright infringement intended. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing. Currently no affiliate program. Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    12 min
  6. 5 GEN

    Day 611. January 6, 2021. My first Insurrection.

    This wasn’t part of the plan. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Or was it? A few times in each generation… we get up… turn on the news… and everything changes. I have lived through one of these moments in history. September 11, 2001. Today would be my second. What have we become? And how did one man drag a nation this far? Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Intro/Outro music by Audio Jungle and used with permission and acknowledgment. Third party content shared with acknowledgment and credited in video. Shared under fair use published material. No copyright infringement intended. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing. Currently no affiliate program. Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    16 min
  7. Day 599. December 25, 2020. Rangely Colorado

    29/12/2025

    Day 599. December 25, 2020. Rangely Colorado

    We awoke to a 20 degree morning in Meeker... so things had actually warmed a bit since our arrival the night before. We took our time this morning...pulling out of Meeker mid day. Just 50 miles separated us from Rangely.... but with nothing but quarantine to greet us there... there was no hurry. We stopped along the way to check out the December scenery on the Western Slope. We’d pull into Rangely late afternoon. Snow... everywhere. Skies darkening...and temps dropping again....rapidly. The kind of cold that doesn’t bother introducing itself before it gets to work on your bones. It’s Christmas, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like another day in a long line of days that have all blurred together. That’s not unusual for us. Holidays never carried the magic...for me... everyone else seems to feel. Too much noise. Too much pressure. Too much pretending. But this Christmas… it’s different. Not because it’s special. Because it’s heavy. We backed into our spot at the RV park, tires crunching over all the fresh snow. I’m watching the temperature on the dash dip down to eight degrees, then seven, then five as night fell. There’s something about pulling into a place that cold... I mean... Really cold... It’s quiet... but it makes you pay attention. And for the first time on this adventure of ours... the first thing we’d have to do after plugging in... shovel our driveway! I can’t remember the last time I had to shovel snow... and I quickly remembered why I hadn’t missed it. I’m not really thinking about Christmas. I’m thinking about the reason we’re here… Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Intro/Outro music by Audio Jungle and used with permission and acknowledgment. Third party content shared with acknowledgment and credited in video. Shared under fair use published material. No copyright infringement intended. Affiliate Links: Equipment we use and trust. Helps support the channel if you purchase using one of our Amazon affiliate links. Remember to check for current pricing. Samsun Q2 USB Microphone: https://amzn.to/4pcoJ2T MSI Crosshair 18 HX AI A2XW Gaming Laptop: https://amzn.to/4pP7w0e We use DaVinci Resolve (Free Version) for video editing. Currently no affiliate program. Logitech Wireless Mouse: https://amzn.to/3YDmkTQ Mint Mobile: http://fbuy.me/vjNBe Audacity Audio Editing Software: https://www.audacityteam.org Auphonic: Pretty awesome audio postproduction software: https://auphonic.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    11 min
  8. 22/12/2025

    Day 599. December 25, 2020. Meeker Colorado

    Man... almost hard to believe we made it... over 450 miles from Burlington... to Meeker...i n the midst of a Colorado winter... and in one day! And when I say winter, I mean full-on, snow-everywhere, a 9-degree morning, no-question-about-it winter. The further we drove...it became more and more clear that winter had more than set in here.... but with a break in the weather.... felt like we had to make a break for it...at least get over those Rockies...and vail pass before looking for a spot to crash for the night. The plains out here are something else. Nothin but snow....as far as we can see...like someone had just dumped a huge bag of flour on everything! This being our first trek through this part of the country...I kept thinking about how different this must look in the summer—green fields, grazing cattle, wildflowers here and there. But right now, so quiet, so cold....all snow-covered, and honestly, it’s kind of mesmerizing. We kept driving, watching the scenery shift—rolling hills taking over, still blanketed in snow, of course. The trees are bare, their branches reaching up like they’re trying to grab some warmth out of the sky.... It’s like the world’s in some sort of hibernation mode out here. And then the Rockies show up, and wow. These mountains, covered in snow, are pretty jaw-dropping....the massiveness of it all... The little towns I pass through—Dillon, Frisco—they’re picture-perfect, with snow piled high on rooftops and icicles dangling everywhere. It’s like a postcard come to life. Yet once again...imagining the summer vibe here in contrast to what we are looking at.... hikers hitting the trails, families biking, and wildflowers carpeting the slopes. Today, though, it’s all about the snow. 450 Miles Into a Colorado Winter… and some more History Waiting for Us in Meeker. Connect with the podcast on our website… ⁠LifeOutThere.me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Logo’s designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Design assistance provided by Bing Copilot. Information sources referenced in podcast include Bing Copilot, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Intro/Outro music by Audio Jungle and used with permission and acknowledgment. Third party content shared with acknowledgment and credited in video. Shared under fair use published material. No copyright infringement intended. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

    16 min

Descrizione

A dog, a cat, and their human chuck the mainstream and hit the road in a 30 year old RV! Focused on exploring America...one small town at a time. I wonder what the next town will teach us? Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig Logo's designed and owned by Dougie, Billie, and Craig. Episode content provided by Bing Copilot. Read by Dougie, Billie and Craig. lifeoutthere.substack.com