When I was a 18 year old freshman in college, my dorm roommate and wrestling teammate asked, “What do you want to do with your life?” I think he was referring to a degree and career path but my answer was that I wanted to live in a van and fly fishing all over Montana. My plan was to move into a van and sweep fly shop floors for gas money between days on the rivers.
Fast forward an incredible 15 years later and I’m finally living in a van in Montana. In the last decade or so I lived in a Ford Ranger pickup with a basic shell in Colorado, a trailer behind a Colorado fly shop, a wall tent in Colorado, a 1988 beautiful blue Suburban all over the west, a cabin in remote Montana, a plywood shack in the Alaskan bush, a lodge and yacht in Patagonia-Chile, 5 or 6 random rental rooms and finally, a van in Montana.
I never lost sight of that original vision and through all the ups and downs life throws at us, I was luckily enough to land on that dream. It’s not the original VW Syncro I imagined or the all out Sprinter van conversions I see on the road everyday but it’s home. I picked up a 1994 GMC Safari van that was abandoned in a Missoula alley for 900 bucks. After the conversion, it looks about like a 900 dollar GMC Safari van that was abandoned in an alley.
After the 2018 summer and fall fishing and hunting season wraps up, I have every intention of taking this rig across a few international borders enroute to Patagonia. Obviously stopping to fish at every chance between Montana and the southern tip of South America.
The Busted Oarlock was spawned in part to share those experiences but it also hosts a valuable set of resources for fisherman, paddlers, hunters and general outdoor loving folks from around the world.
The River Guides section was created to consolidate critical information about river flows, weather and access while creating an easy to use public forum for sharing info about flows, obstacles, etc.
Additionally, the site has Hunting Regulation overviews for each state with the basic, must have information at your fingertips. Same goes for the Fishing Regulations in each state.
Outside of my personal dispatches and stories from the road, I’ll be interviewing and profiling interesting people. Artists, guides and folks I cross who cut beneath the surface level persona and show a deep passion for their craft and lifestyle will be featured under the interview section. I don’t have the capacity for a podcast at this time so words and photos will have to suffice.
Lastly, the gear reviews and how-to type of content will pop up when something warrants attention. The site is not built specifically to review and promote gear so it’ll be dangerously honest.
If you want to contribute or discuss a partnership, request a media kit for press or commercial interests, have any questions or simply care to drop a note, get in touch here and I’ll respond when I have a solid connection.
