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I had a great time with LT and hope to one day finally get the chance to meet him. After this interview, I just might have to drive out to Ohio so I can meet him. He is truly an outstanding guy and want to thank him for coming on the show.

LT met Dan Coppins working at a stair fabrication shop and discovered that they both had a unique love of the outdoors and knives in general.

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This is the second installment of the Living the Adventurous Life Seminar that I created, so i hope you enjoy this one. This is similar to "How Adventure Saved My Life" episode but this one is more thought out and is better developed.

This is my story of getting burned out and how I was able to recover from it and how nature, outdoors and adventure played their role in helping me recover. I offer five tips to recovering from burn-out but they can also be used to prevent burn-out as well. << MORE >>

This is the first part of the Adventurous Life Seminar that I have been working on the last couple of months and wanted to give you a taste of this project. I share with you how the outdoors can be used to provide a mental break from your work, family life, financial stresses or anything else causing stress in your life.

I am not promoting the outdoors as the end all solution to peoples problems, nor am I advocating the use of "Nature Therapy" in lieu of traditional therapies. However, people can receive some therapeutic benefits from the outdoors, nature and adventure. << MORE >>

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In this episode I share with you some tips and advice on the best way to prepare yourself for a canoe trip. The goal each time you hit the water is to have a safe, enjoyable canoeing experience that will leave you with lots of great memories.

You will learn the following:
1-How to dress properly for a canoe trip
2-What kind of hat is recommended for canoeing
3-What snacks are best to take along
4-How to keep your gear dry
5-What to do if you fall in the river

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The other day my wife made me really proud because she took the initiative to buy some new components for our first aid kit. She told me that she felt it was missing a few things that we might need while guiding our clients on the river. The area we canoe is a 7 mile long river valley that is totally uninhabited so once you get in your canoe, it will be a 3-4 hours before you get back to a man-made structure and since there is no cell phone coverage, it is important for us to be able to handle multiple types of injuries. I took this as a chance to go through our kit and to actually improve on it by making it better suited for our canoe guiding. << MORE >>

This past weekend was our first guided canoe trips, so I decided that I wanted to improve my fire kit and make it specific to the paddling sports. I have two requirements for this paddling fire kit--first it must be waterproof, and second it must float.

I looked at Dave Canterbury's 21st Century Longhunter Fire Kit in the Altoids can, but the problem is it is not waterproof. So I looked through my gear and found a 14 ounce Nalgene bottle and figured it was the perfect solution. << MORE >>

Alan Halcon stops by and shares why you need to add a Wilderness First Aid course to your outdoor skills. I had an awesome time talking with Alan and I know that you will enjoy this show as well. This is one of those topics that you will want to pass along to all of your outdoor buddies because it is chocked full of information.

In this show you will learn:
1-Why you need Wilderness First Aid
2-The difference between basic first aid and wilderness first aid
3-Must have items that you need to carry in your wilderness first aid kit
4-Alan also shares information about Dirttime

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Several months ago I purchased John McCann’s new book, Stay Alive—Survival Skills You Need and was fortunate enough to get him to come on the Outdoor Podcast and talk about it and his ideas about Wilderness Self-reliance and survival.   I used to be a voracious reader, but over the years my reading time has been almost non-existent, thanks to a busy work and family schedules.   When I first purchased the book, I read the first couple of chapters before I found it really hard to find time to finish it.   This book has been calling my name and fortunately, I found the time the last couple of weekends to finish it.

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I have to give you a warning about this episode because my emotions are very raw in this episode. I recorded this on Thursday which is the same day our first set of foster kids went to live with their biological family. It's been a tough week for us but I decided to record this episode to inspire you to maximize the time you have with your family and to get them in the outdoors to share the adventures and to build memories together.

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This is easily the most requested episode that I've done so far!  There are a lot of listeners who geocache and have requested that I do a show on this topic. So this show is for you guys!  In this episode I share the basics of geocaching and what you need to get started and why it is a great family friendly adventure. You will learn the following in this episode:

1-What equipment do you need to get started
2-Types of Geocaches
3-Where can I find geocaches
4-Why should I get involved in geocaching
5-What are the benefits of geocaching

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In this episode I share with you some great tips on getting started in chickens and why you should too and even how you can make money from your chickens.

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New Chicks Mean a New Coop

For the last 18 months, we have raised chickens for their eggs. We started with 8 hens and 4 roosters (all four were supposed to be hens) and have lost 6 to predation (dogs) and 1 to being pecked to death by the other hens. So we decided to purchase 8 day old chicks from Tractor Supply Company as a neat project for our foster kids. We have known for a few weeks that they will be leaving us on April 5th, so I thought this would make a great and memorable project for them in their last month. << MORE >>

After 3 days of curing your salami roll in the refrigerator, it is now time to move to Part 2 which is the actual smoking of the meat. Before we get started, I want to make sure you are aware that the recipe is based on a 1 pound meat roll, and I made two rolls of 3 pounds each. I simply tripled the recipe for each roll. The original recipe calls for cooking your salami roll for 3 hours 20 minutes at 200 F. << MORE >>

Today was a pretty rainy and stormy day in our neck of the woods, so I decided it was the perfect day to start working on my Venison Salami. I had grinded up about 10 pounds of meat back in December when I got my electric grinder for christmas. However, I've been forgetting to get the mustard seeds that are needed. We ran some errands this morning and while we were out and about, I finally remembered to get some mustard seeds at the local Mennonite Market. << MORE >>

In this episode I share some tips in choosing a 4WD vehicle and why its is important to the outdoorsman. I just bought a used Ford F150 as my adventure vehicle and thought I would share some tips that I have followed when purchasing 4WD vehicles.

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It's that time of year again, so get out your Grills & Smokers and clean them up and get'em ready for 2012 Grilling & Smoking Season.

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In this episode I talk about the incredible story of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who was a British South Polar Explorer. He attempted one of the greatest feats in the South Pole Exploration Era and while he failed miserably at achieving his goal,  he turned it into the greatest survival story ever.

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In this episode, I share with you what we have learned over the last two months since we got our Alpacas. It's been a learning experience for us and a very positive experience overall.

In this episode you will learn the following:
1-What to feed alpacas
2-Differences between Alpacas and Sheep
3-How to make money with Alpacas

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So today we dropped our foster kids off to spend the weekend with their biological family and afterwards we went to a local restaurant and ate some lunch. On the way home we decided to stop by my wife's parents house since we were in that part of the county. Her parents live in a wooded subdivision that was originally designed as a sort of hunting club. It is off the beaten path with all gravel/dirt roads, swimming lake with small beach, bass fishing pond, tennis courts and a redneck "clubhouse", pavilion. << MORE >>

Specializing in fly fishing northern Virginia and Washington D.C.'s urban and suburban fisheries. I am the D.C. metro area's only full time fly fishing guide.

 Rob is a fly fishing consultant.

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This week I felt a great need to relieve some stress by going into the outdoors. Since the January trout stocking has started, I figured I'd give it my best shot at trying to fly fish for one of these elusive creatures.

The Smoke Hole Canyon
It was really hard trying to figure out where I wanted to fish, but finally made the decision to go to the Smoke Hole Canyon. This is about 3 counties away and it took me about an 1 1/2 hours to drive there. << MORE >>

I cannot thank all of you enough for your amazing support over the last year!  I am super excited about what we have in store for this year at TOP. This is a special episode just giving thanks to everyone who has helped us be a huge success over the last year.

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Since I started fly fishing last summer, I've learned a lot about the sport of fly fishing and also the culture of fly fishing. One of the things I also discovered is the Fly Fishing Film Tour. You can go to YouTube and find homegrown videos about fly fishing just like you can for just about any other hobby;  however, most fly fishing videos set themselves apart from other videos that you may find on the internet. If you spend any amount of time on YouTube and if you enjoy fishing; I'm positive that you will enjoy many of the fly fishing videos. << MORE >>

This is a different podcast from usual, but I wanted to give a shoutout to all of my fellow podcasters and bloggers that I follow and listen to their content. Many of these people have mentioned TOP on their podcast or on their blog so I wanted to dedicate this episode to share with you the folks that I follow.



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I've been meaning to do a review of the Old Town Guide Canoe for some time so as a part of my grieving therapy of getting rid of our Old Town, i figured I would do this review.

Basic Specs
The Old Town Guide comes in two sizes 14'7" and 16'0" and in two colors: green and red. It is made with a Three Layer Polyethylene with a Shallow Arch Bottom and Moderate Rocker. It also has an Ash Yoke for carrying  The width is 38" and weighs 74 pounds with a carrying capacity of 850-900 pounds. << MORE >>

For the last 8 years my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed our Old Town Guide 147 canoe. We bought it new and have spent many miles traversing rivers in West Virginia and Virginia in it. We also created a lot of memories with the Old Town. I have canoed in two types of  Old Town Canoes and 1 Coleman Scanoe and I absolutely love Old Town Canoes. << MORE >>

If you've been listening to the podcast for a while you will know that I started fly fishing this past summer, so it is only natural that I start to tie my own flies. I actually bought a lot of the fly tying tools last summer but I never got around to actually using them or learning to tie. Between work and spending time in the outdoors, I just never got motivated to learning, so I figured that it was finally time to learn.

For $10 (each class) my "local" fly shop is offering fly tying classes over the next 6-8 weeks. << MORE >>