Amtrekker
Hey Team,
I’m an unemployed vagrant. All I have is a backpack full of technology, a shoestring budget and a very important list. When everything is crossed off my list I get to go home! Let me know if you want to trade one of those shoestrings for help. brett@amtrekker.com
See where Amtrekker's been for the last 465 days.
See where Amtrekker's been for the last 465 days.

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  1. Tube down a river
  2. Ride a horse through a covered bridge
  3. Sleep in a lighthouse
  4. Learn survival skills
  5. Enter a hot dog eating contest
  6. Walk to the top of the Empire State Building
  7. See a live taping of The Colbert Report
  8. See a game at Fenway Park
  9. Milk a cow on an Amish farm
  10. Wade through a cranberry bog
  11. Go into a coal mine
  12. Take part in a Civil War reenactment
  13. Race dirt bikes
  14. Make Moonshine
  15. Hitchhike
  16. Learn to Sail
  17. Try my hand at kiteboarding
  18. Pet a sloth
  19. Help out on a plantation
  20. Learn to run a 3 card monte game
  21. Tell Donald Trump "You're Fired."
  22. Be a guest on a talk show
  23. Hang gliding
  24. Be part of a stage illusion
  25. Be in a movie
  26. Experience Comic Con
  27. Go on a lobster boat
  28. Scuba dive in the Atlantic
  29. Drive a race car
  30. Go to an obscure small town festival
  31. River kayak
  32. Geocache in all 48 contiguous states
    Profile for Amtrekker
  33. Collect honey from a beehive
  34. Scale the lowest highest point in a state
  35. Arkansas Crater of diamonds state park and look for a diamond
  36. Ride the fastest roller coaster in the country
  37. Go through a hedge maze
  38. Catch a firefly
  39. Motorcycle Rally
  40. Ride a cow
  41. Sandboarding
  42. Ride an ostrich
  43. Create a crop circle
  44. Fly fishing
  45. Swamp boat ride with gators
  46. See a movie at the Alamo Draft House
  47. Tour the Crayola Factory
  48. Ben and Jerry's Flavor Graveyard
  49. See a Freak Show
  50. Hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon


Crater of Mud State Park:

Hey Team,

I’ve been stuck in the middle of nowhere without a signal for the last several days now, hence no updates. Lucky for you, now I’m stuck in the middle of somewhere. (Still stuck…but now I have a signal.)

Okay, on to the good stuff! Say goodbye to number 35 and hello to fame and fortune! (Minus both notoriety and wealth…don’t ask how that works.) But the important thing is that I spent the day exploring the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas (a.k.a. the giant mud pit). It was definitely lacking in “the pretty” that I’ve become accustomed to seeing in other state parks but I suppose it made up for that in the “potential to make you ridiculously wealthy” department.

In fact I found, amongst other treasures, a piece of polished glass, some quartz, mica, a piece of a shovel, two rusted nails and a chewed piece of gum! Not bad for a couple hours of scouring.

Treasure aside, the highlight of the day was meeting the regulars. One man I talked to, Denis, found a diamond EVERY SINGLE DAY during the month of October. Of course he has a pretty intricate set-up that he has built on a plot of land he rents from the state.

Two days ago he spent the entire day working the soil in the same hole to no avail. THEN, on the walk out of the park he stumbled across the biggest diamond he’s found to date! Weighing in at 3.48 carats it was just sitting there on the top of the soil after a heavy rain.

But since I walked away with nothing more impressive than some cool footage it seems that my fabled good luck isn’t capable of producing diamonds. I guess all it’s good for is keeping me alive despite the stupid situations I put myself into…but I guess that’s something.

In other news: The hitchhiking podcast is done but the “middle of somewhere” connection still isn’t fast enough to upload so you may have to wait another day or two for that one. I’ll try to fast track the Crater of Diamonds video to make up for this weeks lag in news. But for now…#35 is DONE! KA-KOW!

And so am I.

Brett.

If you liked this story you can make up for my lack of diamond finding and…


‘Tis the season to build karma.


This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 8:34 pm.

9 Comments »

  1. hey, brett! you, your mac, and your cardboard request for a ride to texas! has an arkadelphian been so kind as to help you out, yet? if you’ve had no luck by tomorrow morning, i can tell you that finals are ending for students at both universities right now (some are finished by tomorrow, a few by friday). so, you might have an abundance of rides to catch at either university… and there are tons of texans in school here!

    thanks for the inspiration your journey has brought to into my life tonight! and may many good things come to you on your journey.

    Comment by benice2others — December 11, 2007 @ 10:16 pm

  2. Brett- so great getting to meet you! Its cold and rainy, and I hope you stay warm until your train comes. I’ll be following your progress and wish you the best of luck.

    Comment by erose1110 — December 11, 2007 @ 10:50 pm

  3. Thank you both! You guys were so awesome! The train toward Texas is almost three hours late but getting aboard shouldn’t be a problem.

    Comment by Brett — December 12, 2007 @ 5:10 am

  4. 3.48 carats? you should just stay overnight and find enough diamonds to bankroll this whole trip - or at least to make you grill look like a superbowl ring.

    Comment by ilott the douchebag — December 12, 2007 @ 5:02 pm

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