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 366 days.
See where Amtrekker's been for the last 366 days.

  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


Gardening and Entering:

Hey Team,

It’s going to be at least another day or two before I can get this podcast cut together so I’ll spare you all the suspense and fill you in on the Vancouver portion of the trek. You all read about how I got there so you know things were kind of at low ebb.

Now picture this: You’ve been through a grueling twenty-four hours of travel to make it to one of only three hedge mazes in North America (according to VanDusen Botanical Gardens). Finally the low-grade frustration that accompanies a rough stretch of travel starts to give way to the excitement of crossing one more thing off your list.

You approach the main entrance of a large botanical garden eager to interview an employee and wander around a maze for a while getting lost. As you get closer to the ticket booth a sign begins to come into focus. A sign that says something like this:

The sign.
(GARDEN CLOSED DUE TO LABOUR DISRUPTION DO NOT ENTER)

I’ve had quite a few conversations with people over the years about what constitutes a “sign” or “omen” and personally I’m not a big believer. Sure, there are plenty of people out there that would shrug, announce to the world at large, “Oh well, it’s a sign (+2 for the pun)” and go on about their business, but I tend to take it as a personal attack.

I don’t know where this ridiculous stubbornness I have came from (Mom and Dad) but I am incapable of letting things lie. If there is ANYTHING I can do to change the outcome of a situation in my favor than I own it to myself to try. I don’t look at obstacles as “signs” I look at them as some crazy intangible bastard trying to stop me from doing what I want to do! Like hell I’m gonna let ANY someone, much less an intangible someone beat me.

The obvious route was to find the management team and explain to them my situation and the nature of Amtrekker. So, I did. Or tried. Turns out the management team was on strike too. Which, incidentally, left a GAPING hole in the “we exist to make sure no one sneaks into the botanical gardens” department.

I’m proud to say that after jumping SIX cyclone fences, #37 is officially crossed off the list!!! And if you ever find yourself with the opportunity to go wandering around a hedge maze I highly recommend it! I already have a terrible sense of direction so it was awesome so have an excuse for being lost.

Maze plaque

I really do have some cool footage to show you guys if I can find a couple more spare hours to sit tight and do some editing.

Which brings me to the all-important begging for feedback portion of today’s story. There’s no way I can keep up with this much writing AND put out a regular podcast, I only sleep every other day as it is. So, best guess, what kind of mix between writing and video do you guys think you’d like to see?

And just as importantly, if you like these posts feel free to…


Seriously, don’t let me stop you.


8 Comments »

  1. I prefer writing to video, as my computer won’t play your videos anyways. But don’t let me ruin it for all the people out there with properly functiong computers. I should also mention that I’m a fan of any video that I’m featured in… (i.e., this one).

    Comment by Erin — August 8, 2007 @ 7:55 am

  2. My computer won’t play your videos either. :(

    Comment by Kristy — August 8, 2007 @ 9:34 am

  3. WRITING!

    Comment by vintagepete — August 8, 2007 @ 10:50 am

  4. video! youtube it so the pc’s can watch.

    Comment by tom — August 8, 2007 @ 12:15 pm

  5. pussy… do both! what else do you have to all day, work? to quote a good friend, “sleep is for the weak.”

    Comment by TheNate — August 9, 2007 @ 6:38 pm

  6. I prefer writing too but maybe a video every once in a while?

    Comment by Jess — August 11, 2007 @ 11:48 am

  7. TheNate is an idiot.

    I’m Done

    Comment by svogel — August 15, 2007 @ 4:44 pm

  8. i say on average… 4:1 or 5:1 writing ratio. good, not overpowering, but very doable ratio. yes?

    Comment by ESC — August 17, 2007 @ 12:22 am

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