Quite a year, eh, compadres?
It’s just all so exhausting.
So in spite of the world’s bullshit, it’s helpful to remember that there are good things and good people out there. The far flung bunch of good people that have contributed to O&E over the years have always been a good thing for me.
Remember when Rufant mailed us his All 4 Adventure DVDs from frickin’ Australia, and we successfully passed them around all over North America, and got them safely back to Adelaide a year later?
I think that’s a pretty good indication of the kinds of folks that make up this little community.
I’ve learned a lot from you guys. It was this group that inspired me and Julie to really, seriously take adventures that we only previously went on in our heads, and turn them into reality.
I honestly don’t think I would have had the confidence to drive a creaky old Land Rover across two-thirds of Africa without the knowledge and inspiration I sponged up from O&E. It didn’t hurt that the writing, photography, and video were always top-notch.
And look at us now! As a collective, we’ve done some pretty impressive shit out there - both in our backyards and in remote corners of the globe. But, I think we’ve done it without losing the plot, without forgetting why we do this, without becoming raging assholes online.
It’s pretty awesome, if you ask me.
So, I guess back to the exhausting part. I agree with Pat that we shouldn’t give up staying in touch, give up writing blogs, give up on sharing our adventures. I think maybe with some dim light emerging at the end of a very long and dark tunnel, and the possibility of getting back on the road again starting to feel like less of a pipe dream, we’ll all have more stories to share soon.
It feels exhausting to have to log on to yet another online platform, to start over when we’ve done so much here over the years, but I think it’s worth it, whether that’s DriveTribe, or some other solution. Maybe a change of scenery will actually inspire us to get on the content train again?
So, get on HHFP’s email list!
And, of course, feel free to reach out to me anytime - on the Instas, on our blog, the Twitters, or just an email. Even if it’s just to shoot the shit, a little human outreach does us all well in these times: anthromt aT g mail
This song leapt from the recesses of my brain last night as I was doing the dishes and thinking about the fate of O&E. Nothing like a little L.A./Irish post-punk ballad for moments like this. It is, admittedly, a little maudlin, but the sentiment is nice.
We will definitely “be here when it all gets weird.”
Good luck friends! I’ll leave you with a snowy shot of the Defender at our friends’ cabin on Ninemile Creek just outside of Huson, Montana. Dreaming up the next adventure, out there, and online.
- Steve
