welcome to the botches solo pod yes today's a
solo with Gavin aka huckleberry and we are going
to do a little solo potting today so the boys
are out doing their friends giving in Missouri
and hanging out with Benji and I am all alone
because I am a broke bitch so we're gonna do
a little solo pod and I want to start off with
some good news There's a town called Kalkaska,
Michigan that has recently shut down the idea
of putting in a data center. They were proposing
to put it on some public land while state -owned
land in Kalkaska County. Man, they publicly flooded
that talk and pretty much shot most of all of
it down. So I'll read you the statement of what
he ended up saying after the meeting went out.
And he said, We sought public input because we
want to be partners with the community we live
and work in. And we heard you. That's why the
company and Kalkaska Go will end its pursuit
of a data center," said Matt Ryan with Rock Locker
LLC. We are grateful that we had the opportunity
to engage in public discourse. It is important
to work together as a community when making decisions
about the future, even when there is a disagreement.
So, that's great. So I'm ecstatic about that.
Kalkaska County, if you live in Michigan, has
got some of the richest and most beautiful trails
in Michigan. And it's got more than you could
count. You could spend months up there just taking
every little itty bitty trail that you find.
And they're all a little different. It's mostly
sand, two tracks. But some of my favorite camp
places in Michigan are down in Kalkaska along
along the Boardman River or Manistee, or not
Manistee. Gosh, I can't remember what river it
is now, of course. I want to say Manistee River,
and I think it is. But it's just a beautiful,
beautiful area and a lot of wild, a lot of good
driving. Nothing really hard, just beautiful,
right? Scenic. And they were looking to put these
massive data center on public land. So not only
would that have taken massive amounts of public
land out of the consumers, campers, hunters,
you know, off -roaders, people that like to hike.
And that was a well -known area, too, that they
wanted to put it in. And they, thankfully, they
listened, they backed off, but it would have
taken a lot out of it. And data centers do a
lot of harm to the environment anyway. I mean,
it's disputed. I would say look up anything else
for more than what I'm going to tell you, but
They need a massive, massive amount of cold water
to pour into these data centers to help with
cooling these AI cooling fins or whatever. So
they have to get that cold water from somewhere
and it has to go somewhere. Let's say cool, you
know, they're they're not putting it in anything
It's just going in through some pipes to filter
in and come out while they have to pull that
water from a river it takes a massive amount
of water which pulls it out of the river and
Then they have to either dump it back in or it
has to go somewhere else So if one if they're
not putting it back into the river, which I'd
imagine they would then that river The water
level is gonna drop quite a bit, but let's say
they do it's gonna be much hotter coming out
And anybody who fishes, anybody who knows, you
know, just basics about ecosystem knows that
a couple temperature differences in the water
constantly is going to change the ecosystem.
You know, you can't have fish going in through
there and, you know, it there's there's a chance
that it could damage the fishing, which is a
beautiful spot to do it over there. So they were
looking. on about 1 ,440 acres and it would include
a gigawatt scale facility, devoted natural gas
plant, as well as carbon capture and storage,
and a closed loop water cooling system. So that
closed loop probably means it wouldn't be in
feeding a whole lot. I'm not sure how that works.
That might negate the whole water issue, but
they still have to get that water. I doubt they're
going to have it just shipped in. I don't know
how that works though. But it looks like the
Department of Natural Resources in July rejected
Ryan's proposal to use the public land based
on opposition from conservation groups, missing
documentation, and misalignment with the agency's
mission. Three days before the Monday meeting,
State Rep Ken Borton from Gaylord posted a news
article on Facebook about the Kalkaska proposal
with the message, not on my watch. And the next
day, It was Senator Michelle Hoitenga. She said,
last week I met directly with the Department
of Natural Resources regarding this project and
received assurances that the public hands will
not be sold for data centers development. And
then she posted on Facebook, further the multitude
of reasons I stand with the voices of the people
in firm opposition to this project. I'm confident
that our northern Michigan communities can attract
businesses that not only bolster our local economics,
but also align more closely with our values,
prioritizing the preservation of our land and
way of life. So, great news. We're super happy
about that. And, you know, a lot, like I said,
and it even goes farther into this article that
says, you know, it impacts the environment such
as local cold water streams like Boardman River
that draw trout fishermen north each year. And...
Yeah, I'm just super happy about this a lot of
the times there's I mean And there's a few people
that say you know it's gonna happen cool Let
it happen, but let it happen somewhere where
nobody lives where there's no recreation at where
it is You know pretty unusable for most people
so I mean and I get that's not the point Because
they want it to be easy to use and stuff too,
but you know in my world I Couldn't care less
about AI. I really couldn't so I'd rather have
my public land. I'd rather have places to go
to get away from things like AI. So putting a
massive 1400 acre AI facility in the middle of
the woods where I typically go to camp is not
my idea of, you know, relocating it to, I don't
know, somewhere else that isn't commonly used
for this kind of thing. I mean, people drive
through that area. I mean, and you can hear it.
So, you know, it's Even there was an old man
in the meeting. He says he's already forced to
endure the constant noise from DTE Energy's compressor
facility miles away from his home. He goes, this
is where we all live. In the middle of the night,
you can walk outside, you can hear that facility.
And we're probably about five miles away as the
crows fly from there. So my only concern is a
bunch of lip service. He said, you're an educated
man and you seem like a nice guy, but I don't
trust any of it. And you know what? It's, he's
not, I mean, he's not wrong. I mean, you, you,
there is no reason to trust any of it. Um, so
I'm, I'm cool with this. Um, very happy. Um,
and I'm just looking through the rest of it.
Yeah. Whitmer described the project as the largest,
largest one -time investment in state history,
singling her strong support. Um, and that project,
uh, let's see. That's pretty that's pretty crazy.
This is regarding something else, and I'll I'll
I'll comment on this too. In Washtaw County's
Saleen Township, the board of trustees in September
voted four to one against rezoning farmland to
make way for a five hundred and seventy five
acre data center proposed by Related Digital,
a subsidiary of a billion billionaire mega donor
Stefan Ross related companies. Two days later,
the township was hit with a lawsuit alleging
exclusionary zoning with a threat from related
digital to pursue monetary damages. The township's
attorney suggested a settlement offered the lesser
of two evils, and the township ultimately reversed
course with a deal that promised millions to
schools, fire services, and land preservation
and community projects. That project, which is
championed by the related digital VP, Ryan Fredericks,
husband of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Yes, so Tell me that ain't some crock of shit
right there they went ahead with it with one
of the largest deals in Michigan with the VP
Ryan Frederick's the husband of the Secretary
of State tell me there isn't something going
on right there It's now under review by three
member of Michigan Public Service Commission
appointed by Gretchen Whitmer Whitmer described
this as the largest one -time investment in state
history, signaling her strong support. Benson,
in the meanwhile, is running her own election
to replace Whitmer in 2026. from developers for
hyper skilled data centers currently under consideration
across the state, which may, uh, which many strongly
opposed by locals. Uh, you got to remember this
is a massive amount of water and that's why they
want to do it here. We have one of the biggest,
uh, fresh water supplies in the country and it's,
we have a great state for it. I can't lie when
I say that, but it's gonna, it's gonna fuck us
over, dude. We're going to lose all that land.
We're going to lose our fresh water. They could
say it's clean. They could say this and that.
But we all know how that goes. It's all just
like the one guy said earlier. It's all a bunch
of lip service. Just going to end up polluting
more. We're industrializing all the nature that
we fought so hard to keep. It's ridiculous. So
that's all I'm going to say about that. We really
need to fight for our land and we need to be
active and engaging in these public discussions.
And that public discussion was perfect example
of that, right? We had most of the Calcasca community
show up and express their opposition for this,
and they decided not to do it. I mean, everybody
was fighting against it. There are people that
say, you know, hey, I drive through that area.
I camp there. I fish on the Boardman River next
to where you want to put this. This is not, people
don't want it. We want Calcasca to stay wild,
you know? And no, I'm not a native resident of
Calcasca by any means, but I did live in that
area while I was in high school. So I'm pretty
familiar with Calcasca, Fife Lake, South Boardman,
Grand Travers area. And that's beautiful area.
And it should remain how it is. You know, yes,
you know, the towns like Calcasca, you know,
of course, they should be able to grow a little,
but uh these big projects here that are taking
out in the middle of nowhere just to uh bring
in money i mean i get it it's a business it's
a business plan it gives the people more money
but i'm not about it i would like i said i'd
much rather keep the land so we've already had
issues with the mining to reopen i think it was
reopened mines um in the up which is the upper
peninsula michigan for anybody uh uh who isn't
from michigan uh what is this see reopen mines
upper peninsula gonna find this out here let's
see when was this uh january 9 2025 michigan's
50 million dollar copper mine deal looks hard
to justify all right let's see michigan's economic
development agency last march announced its plan
to give 50 million dollars in taxpayer money
to the canadian company that might build a copper
mine in the Upper Peninsula. The subsidy to Toronto
-based Highland Copper came with promises of
$425 million in capital investment and 380 high
-wage, family -sustaining jobs in the Western
Upper Peninsula. Hey, a lot of these people in
Upper Peninsula already had this whole copper
mine, high -wage, family -sustaining jobs. They
already had this. You know, 100 years ago, you
know, Norwegian and Swedish and Finnish and,
you know, a lot of European settlers came over
just to do these mining jobs. They lived in these
mining towns. And then once the mines stripped
the fucking I'm sorry, once these companies stripped
the fucking mines out, they left all these fucking
families to see here and basically had nowhere
to go. Not saying that they wanted to leave.
But now we have massive, you know, European You
could drive up the middle of the UP, and while
it's gorgeous, you could see skeletons of towns.
especially up by Copper Harbor area. You drive
through intersections where you could see hundred
year old houses, old school houses, old churches.
These were all mining towns that were booming
in the mining days. And then in the 60s, when
they pulled everything out, you know, around
the 60s, when they pulled everything out, they
left these fucking towns high and dry and with
no source of income all alone. And it's ridiculous.
And doing this again, it's just a bandaid. And
then they're going to take more natural resources.
They're going to have to dump all of this. Mining
is not a clean thing. We all know that. So it's
it's not great. I mean, the the project stalled
last month and this was done in January. So in
the face of immense pushback from environmental
groups and citizens, these concerns are likely
overblown. Mining is already heavily regulated
to minimize damage to the environment. A new
mine would pose no more than all the other mines
currently in operation. There's not a lot of
mines currently in operation up there. Sorry.
A lot of them now are up in the UP. A lot of
those mines now are just tourist attractions
to make some money for these small towns that
don't have anything. So I don't know. they tried
10 years ago they couldn't get it off the ground
and then copper prices they plunged out and you
know it's it looks like we're gonna lose it man
i i mean i i'm sad sad about it because that
right there i mean calcasca is beautiful but
it's even more um it's like a whole different
country up there dude it's gorgeous and i just
it's sad you know According to the report from
Limitless Media, the copper wood mine would yield
about 1 .5 % of usable copper from its operations,
leaving behind 98 .5 % of extracted material
as toxic waste. This would result in over 30
million tons of tailings, which is leftover materials
produced by during mining operations containing
arsenic, mercury, and selenium. stored in a massive
pond only two miles from Lake Superior, the world's
largest freshwater lake. Limitless Media also
reports that environmentalists are warning that
Michigan already understaffed Dam Safety Program
might not be equipped to ensure the safety of
such storage facility, especially during extreme
weather events with a tailings disposal facility
taller than the Statue of Liberty planned near
a sensitive ecosystems Opponents fear an environmental
disaster in the making. This is just ridiculous.
I mean, it's ridiculous. So, Protect the Porkies,
a group who's opposing the project, they point
out that most of the copper is unlikely to stay
in Michigan. And yeah, I mean, it's ridiculous,
man. We're destroying it. And I could tell you
right now, if they say there's a chance of it
happening, guess what? It's gonna happen. Eventually.
I mean, you imagine that much arsenic like that.
And, dude, if you've ever been up there before,
you've seen Gay Beach. That is a real beach.
It's a funny name, but there's a real beach called
Gay Beach. And it has all of that. What do they
call it? Shillings? What is that? I can't even
remember what they were calling it. Tailings.
So they have a whole beach made out of tailings.
And supposedly. They went through all of that
and sifted out all the toxic waste. That was
on the beach of Lake Superior. So they've already
sustained a pretty big hit there, I'm sure, with
arsenic. I mean, it's called arsenic beach. Gay
beach. I mean, it's all like this dark black
rock. It's all just mining throw away after they
do all the extraction. So all that material got
loaded up and thrown out there. So there's a
massive fucking beach. And I mean, like it's
a it's a whole beach shore just full of this
stuff and you could drive on it. It's I mean,
it's horrible. So like we need more of this shit.
And the fact that the tailings disposal facility
is going to be taller than the Statue of Liberty.
And that whole area up there is sensitive. It's
wild. It's sensitive. It's a massive tourist
attraction, too. It's just you're asking for
a disaster. The weather there is so unpredictable
and you get so much snow that some people can't
even, won't even be able to get to this place
in the winter. Probably guarantee, I mean, I
would probably guarantee it that there's gonna
be days where you're not even gonna be able to
get there. So who's gonna be maintaining this?
You know, they're gonna have to make a large
row, they're gonna have to keep it plowed. I
mean, it's just the money that they wanna throw
into this just for a little bit of copper. But
the amount of harm it's going to do to everyone
else is just ridiculous. We're not doing that.
I mean, we are probably. I mean, how many times
did the small guys actually get a win? That's
why I wanted to point out the Kalkaska thing,
because I don't know. I don't, I don't think
it's going to work. Supporters of the copper
mine. They tell the potential economic benefits
for a geobic county, including 380 jobs. Woo.
Paying 80 to $120 ,000 annually. That won't last
long. It'll last about 20 years, maybe. President
CEO of MEDC told reporters back in March that
the project was critical to emboldening Michigan's
supply chain and creating jobs across the state
while supplying copper material essential to
the mobility and clean tech industries. Blah,
blah. I don't, I don't believe it. It's just
more fucking lip smack. I really, I don't. I
mean, look, it says the state projections show
that the project could result in $15 million
in annual state and municipal tax revenue. Additionally,
the Lake Geovic area Chamber of Commerce is supportive
of the project with the president, Mary Beth
DiFiancio, saying we need something to come up
and build up our economy. I don't know why the
people that live in this area up by Eagle Mine,
they'd understand that. I mean, there's an eagle
mine in Marquette County. It employs fewer than
80 people. This is going to die out so quick
and leave that community so scarred. It's not
worth it, man. It's like throwing, you know,
pine wood on a fire. Anybody of my campers know
you throw pine on the fire. It's going to burn
real hot for about 20 minutes and then you're
out. You need something that's going to bring
slow, slow, steady heat like a hardwood. This
is pine. It's going to come in It's going to
come fast, it's going to burn really hot, give
you a lot of heat output for it, and it's not
going to last. And then when it's gone, you have
nothing there. When you burn all the pine around
you, you have nothing left. So it's just ridiculous.
And the fact that we're just giving away, we're
letting this happen. I mean, I'm not saying we
are, but it's just we know. Everybody who lives
in Michigan knows that it's not going to work.
It's so close to Lake Superior, too. And it's
right in between like a bunch of river systems.
There's like six rivers around this area. So
it's in between a series of three rivers on each
side of it that they want to put it in where
the mine is. And these three rivers on either
side of this mine go straight into Lake Superior.
So all of this mine runoff, all of like the arsenic,
the stuff that gets pulled out can potentially
get into the rivers and this ecosystem and go
right into Lake Superior. It's not only killing
the fish, it's killing everything else that comes
along the way of it. I just you could say, hey,
it's going to be clean. It's going to be controlled.
It never ends up turning clean and controlled.
There's always a loose end. There's always someone
trying to save money, cutting off people that
are supposed to be doing a certain job. we're
not paying them enough so they don't do it right
and then we have toxic waste going into our rivers
it's just leave it alone leave it alone we're
done we don't want it we don't the only people
that want it are the people making money off
of it easy you know like what else can we say
and guess who's whose uh voice doesn't count
they're everyone's saying well oh yeah yeah everybody
supports the idea of this nobody supports the
idea of it not native michigan you know homeowners
from that area I highly, highly doubt that most
of them, I would say 98 % of them say no. Maybe
the other 2 % say yes, just so they have a job,
because jobs are so scarce there. If you're not
working a trade in that area, and I don't know
if anybody who lives in the city that doesn't
understand this, in a small town, you have a
handful of jobs to pick. You can work oil, you
could be forestry, you can go out of town and
move. Sure, but in that town, you have that you
have the basics farming, mechanic, diner, grocery
store, gas station. You know, I'm sure I'm forgetting
a few, but construction and then road crews,
stuff like that. So you have like there's a handful
of jobs. You don't have factory jobs here and
there. Like a lot of these small towns don't
have factories. You know, they're 40 some minutes
away and you can't afford the gas, let alone
get their um, you know, easily in the winter,
it's just not worth the pay. And then let's say
you do travel a 45 minutes, you're getting paid
$15 an hour to go work your factory job up there.
It's not worth it. So, um, so like, yeah, you're
going to have a couple of those people that are
going to be like, yeah, cool. I don't have to
go anywhere. And then there's a mind that opens
up. It's going to give you who knows how much,
you know, they say they're high paying jobs.
I highly doubt that you're going to be making
$80 ,000 as a minor. Maybe, maybe higher up.
Yeah, sure. But I highly doubt it. I don't know.
What do I know about mining? I don't know. I,
you know, I don't know what the typical miner
makes, but I tell you what, if they're making
80 to 120 thousand dollars a year, I'll fucking
move up there myself and do it. But I trust that
about as much as I could trust to fucking throw
in a dozer over the back of my shoulder. I don't
believe it. I just don't. It's just not possible.
And to think that it's all going to be clean
and happy and they're not going to fucking completely
destroy the environment by dozing all of this
shit and making a All just one giant fucking
cement slab is ridiculous. I just I don't believe
it. So take what take what I say for a grain
a grain of salt, because I'm kind of ranting
on this because I feel very strongly about Michigan.
I love Michigan. I love the fresh water. Me,
my son, my wife. We travel it often. We camp
everywhere. And seeing that destroyed for a slab
of land and 20 years of mining, that's going
to leave that whole area fucking destroyed. and
then leave the residents after they leave even
worse off than they probably are now, it's just
not worth it. And it just irritates me that people
think they will. You know, like I said earlier
with the data centers, you know, this industry's
come and going. We have to grow with it, of course.
But if you're telling me that there's no other
place to do it than here, you're lying to yourself,
right? You don't have to put it. right here next
to all of our fresh water supply, all what makes
Michigan Michigan. It's ridiculous. Any, like,
lawmaker, anyone up big in Michigan who's always
worried about the numbers, that's exactly why
they shouldn't be in office because if they're
more worried about the numbers, which I get at
Michigan's business, but if they're more worried
about the numbers than they are what makes Michigan
Michigan, then they lost whatever, uh... sense
of community and patriotism for Michigan, I guess,
that they had a long time ago. I mean, that's
the issue is that politicians forget where they
come from, and they start looking at dollar bills
instead of the core of things, which is why we
get millions and millions in tourism per year.
snowmobiles in the winter. We get massive amounts
of tourism to the waterfalls, lighthouses, lakes,
public state land, all around. For camping, for
the off -roading, for the dirt bikes, for hiking.
We have one of the most beautiful hiking up here.
The shipwreck tours, Mackinac Island, you name
it. We have a massive tourism. That's what Michigan
is about. We want people to see that Michigan
is beautiful we want people to come in and enjoy
it and leave it without destroying it and Look,
we've all we all know that we've took in it,
you know taken a hit from Tourism in some ways,
you know people leave trash It's never never
clean and tourists are typically assholes, you
know, but they are a massive amount of money
and at the end of the day They're here because
they want to appreciate what we have. So I'm
OK with sharing that as long as we're responsible
and respectful of the land. But I'm not OK with
putting in giant data centers and giant mining,
you know, mining towns and and destroying all
this natural beauty that we use for tourism and
and that and I guess locals use for. Various
reasons as well, but I mean that's hunting land
that's you know fishing land. It's camping It's
our land that they want to sell off to the highest
bidder. It's a no -go It's an absolutely not
shut that shit down. We are not talking about
it. So 30 minutes in I'm ranting about those
two things The mind thing that's not new news.
We knew about it the data centers. There's like
eight data centers that want to be put in in
Michigan. We need to do our best to shut them
down. Michigan doesn't need the money. You want
money? Enhance our tourism budget. Let's work
on the tourism. Let's get more people in. Let's
clean these trails up. Let's work on that. Let's
focus on the tourism, on the gorgeous views that
we have. Let's work on that infrastructure. Let's
put some money into the towns to make them more
beautiful and to make them want it. I mean, there's
some of these towns are graveyards now. Let's
throw some money at them. Yeah, I know. I know.
But listen, like if we start rejuvenating some
of these old towns, make them little holes in
the wall, make them gorgeous, fix the roads,
put some jobs back in there, like like help fund
the tourism, make these towns the places to be.
There's so many little like you go up to Marquette
to Grand Marias. I forget what the one the colleges
add up there Houghton. Copper Harbor you go to
these towns are gorgeous and they're tourist
destinations, you know Houghton's you got a college
there So that's what it is and it's got some
mines but it's it's beautiful and it brings people
to them and you drive down the streets and you
see these giant old churches that are being worked
on and and You know you it retains all that natural
beauty from When they constructed them years
ago from the mining days and when they had all
that money It's gorgeous and it brings people
to them. I wanted to move there because I saw
how beautiful that town was. Houghton. These
are, you know, Houghton, Grand Marais, Marquette.
Those are all towns that I would move to in a
heartbeat if I could. Just beautiful. Antanagan
with the Lake of the Clouds. It's just, these
are all places I would move to in a heartbeat
if I could. And what brought me to those towns
were the, you know, the waterfalls and the things
next to them. But what would keep me in those
towns is the natural beauty that's there. We
need to invest more into that. We need to invest
more into the state beauty. We need to bring
more people in. And there's a lot of people like
maybe Alex and Mark might are going to probably
have a different opinion on this. Maybe they
don't want anybody around. You know, usually
when I have an opinion like this, they have the
opposite. So maybe maybe I'm sure they don't
support like the mining of the data centers and
stuff, but maybe they don't want the extra tourism
either. You know, maybe some of these towns want
to stay small and they want to stay quaint and
I'm okay with that. I'm just saying that we should
pour some money into them, give them a higher
budget so they can make their towns better, right?
So that local businesses aren't dropping like
flies around Michigan. We need to make, we need
to give them better tax breaks. We need to do
what we have to do to keep these businesses alive.
For instance, I went to Sault Ste. Marie and
there's a new business there. I think it was
opened up a little over a year ago, and it's
for making pasties. And they made the whole little
business like, like this really homemade feeling.
Like you go in there, it's like walking into
your grandma's house, you know, in the 80s, 90s.
It was absolutely gorgeous. And the food was
delicious. The atmosphere was great. The owners
talked to you straight there. and you know they
just blew up recently because a guy went in just
traveling around looking for beautiful places
in Michigan he traveled around and found that
place and talked about it on his YouTube and
said how beautiful it was and boom you know they
the chicken ones were sold out they only had
beef left and and honestly they said that they
were gonna be sold out pretty quick and we were
there on a Wednesday so that wasn't even close
to Friday yet and everything they had gotten
ready to pre -make had been sold out. We were
lucky enough to get a beef and a spicy beef and
then a triple berry, which was absolutely stellar.
And I think it's called the pasty company or
something like that in Sault Ste. Marie. It's
beautiful. It's homey. And like I said, the owners
were just like they were on YouTube and I saw
them from YouTube. So he's the one that brought
me to that place. And that's what we need is
we have all these travelers. All these people
online, influencers and stuff, they travel out
to these places. They get 50 million views and
they sold that company out. That company is probably
running pretty good right now. Positive. And
they're going to probably be sitting pretty good
in the winter, you know? So it's just one of
those things where it's like, like we need to
invest more into that because when we have those
people come in and they go, wow, this is gorgeous.
This place is beautiful. It's gonna bring more
and more and more people in and I want to share
my land You know, I don't want to give up some
of my favorite camp spots, but I want to share
the land that I think is beautiful I want other
people to see it. I want them to experience what
I experience and You know, I'd rather that than
a mine, you know, why don't we just invest more
money into that? How about we stop fixing the
roads fuck the roads for a couple years, you
know make them they're just already fucking potholes
anyway, like I've never seen our roads actually
look great unless they were just paved and it's
like a rural county road. So yeah, that's the
rant about that. So protect our environment,
protect our local interests. Let's bring tourism
back, back heavy. Dude, Christmas used to be
like the coolest town in the U .P. and now there's
nothing left. There's like a giant wooden Santa
and that's about all that's left there. Sad.
And that was within the last 20 years. because
i remember going there as a kid and it was a
lot cooler i mean it's just it's dying so quick
soon these towns won't be able to sustain themselves
everyone's gonna move away these towns are just
gonna turn into ghost towns there'll be nothing
there anymore except the old timers that talk
about how good it was back in the day that's
as you have is a lot of the old guys and stuff
that talk about the mining in the 60s and 70s
uh you know 60s when they pulled out or whatever
and then the 70s the struggle you know it is
what it is i'm just saying they uh I think we
should fight it. I think we should be changing
how we view Michigan. It's, I mean, you could
use Detroit as a massive industrial complex.
You can use Flint as a massive place for that,
but leave the rural parts of it to build and
beautify, extend tourism, throw money at it,
man. Fuck it. I don't care what the budget is.
Throw money at it. Our fucking Great Lakes need
to look the way they make us feel you know so
that's the fun you know that's the fun so you
know I maybe we bring back I don't know start
putting more reservations out for Native Americans
protect the land so they can't be taken I don't
know whatever we have to do to protect it if
that means I can't travel on it but it's protected
fine whatever I just want it protected. Yeah,
I'd love to travel on it. I love to use it. I
love to be on it and around it and blah, blah,
blah. But it's disappearing, man. And we're going
to lose it. It's just a matter of time. And we
need to slow it down a little. AI is already
crazy as it is, man. AI is nuts. So we're going
to move on from there. We're going to talk a
little bit about, I guess, my winter prep and
what I'm doing right now, what my plans are.
Personally for me, my winter prep has already
started. I've already taken out the big appliances
out of my truck. Anything that takes a battery
that charges, I have it pulled out so I'm not
draining or killing the battery. So the fridge
is out. Most of my headlamps and stuff are out.
I have my propane heater in there You know my
gloves my cold weather gears getting put in there
muck boots Aluminum shovel all that good stuff.
I you know I don't plan on needing it, but you
never plan on it until you do right so Got that
stuff on there We're getting ready. We're supposed
to get a storm here soon today is we're just
a couple days off from thanksgiving is the 24th
so december's coming quick so we're gonna start
getting some snow here and we gotta be ready
for it tires are great i'm running falcon wild
peak um 83 yeah 83s they're great in the snow
uh they're good on ice they're great and everything
else aired down they're even better of course
so I had them last year. This is my second winter
with them and pretty confident that they're gonna
do well. And yeah, I'm excited to do some snow
wheeling, man. I want powder. I did, I want like
three feet of powder to go snow wheeling through.
Oh, I'm excited. So once we get that, I can actually
do some trails and do some, I mean, every trail
is more fun when you got snow and stuff on it,
so. the only downside is you go through the trails
that you know had had like a shit ton of ruts
and stuff before and you want to make sure you
don't fall into those ruts when you get like
a massive amount of snowfall you can't tell where
those ruts are they you know everything looks
shallower than it is uh i did i did a trail out
in white cloud which is about 40 some minutes
away from me last year and there was a good amount
of snowfall. The trail didn't look too bad. Sienna's
sleeping in the passenger seat. Jasper's playing
in the back passenger, you know, in the back
seat in the, um, in his, you know, his little
baby seat or whatever. And I'm driving, she's
sleeping. I'm like, okay, you know, this doesn't
look bad. So I go into this side. I, it was big
and rutted, a whole fucking truck jumped down
into it. As soon as I realized what happened,
I hit the gas and Because I thought you know
I didn't want to get stuck there I didn't have
a winch at that time so I just gunned it got
out of it pretty easily, but You know it's not
not as deep as thankfully as it could have been
But it was deeper than I thought and it jarred
the truck around a good amount enough to wake
everyone up oh Boy, I was hearing about that.
You know and that's like the bad part of snow.
You know snow wheeling does hide Some of the
you know you get a nice fresh coat of ice and
in an area that's full of water and then it snows
on top of that ice, you can't necessarily see.
You have to pay attention to the sides of the
trail where it looks like it drops. So there
are certain parts of the trail where it looks
washed out. The sides of it, you could tell where
the natural part of the land is. And then where
it looks like it's been war away from heavy use.
You can kind of tell that parts of the trail.
You could see ruts leading up to the area, typically.
So you want to keep an eye out for that stuff
when you're snow wheeling. Uh, that's usually
a good indicator that there's something, there's
something going on and yeah, it sucks. I, I typically,
I will go in if I know that there's a hole there
and there's ice covering it, I'll go into it
slowly. I have a wench now. I can pull myself
out if I need to. I'm not bombing a hole that
some guy went into with, you know, forties, 42s
and you know, and just Launched it through it.
I'm not gonna take my truck through four inches
three inches of Snow then two inches of ice and
then you know a foot of water. It's just not
worth it for my truck That's not I want to keep
driving it. You know, it's unnecessary Shit to
put it through. So yeah, you gotta watch out
for that stuff and hopefully when you When you're
driving you can kind of get a feel for it But
if you if you're new to snow driving and driving
off -road in the snow it's very different you
know normal trails turn into hard trails um and
not hard hard but you know when you get everything
iced up and you're going down a steep decline
or incline um you know and the whole thing's
ice makes it a lot harder when you have snow
and it melted and you have like the slush can't
get traction that's a thing too i mean like the
best wheeling is powdered snow wheeling that's
great you know We never get typically enough
for you to sink your truck in just by driving,
although that would be fun. But a lot of it's
the slosh, the pits that you find. So it's good
to look for those indicators, like I said, and
to make sure that you're prepared. I mean, I
did get stuck last winter trying to save someone
in the Muskegon area. and I tried digging myself
out I didn't have a strong enough shovel for
it my plastic one broke that's why I moved up
to aluminum and I'll eventually move up to steel
but now I have a winch because I got a winch
shortly after that happened and I'm good now
you know if I get in that situation you know
I could just pull myself out I you know I know
what I'm doing so recovery is important watching
out for other idiots if you're recovering idiots
that have gone off into the ditch Be careful.
Look at risk management. If it's not worth it
and it looks sketchy to you, and you're not 100
% confident that you can get them out, don't.
I know it sucks. I know they probably think it
sucks too, but you know, I've heard a lot of
horror stories about, you know, damaging these
cars or damaging a bumper or something, these
people coming after you, and you're liable because
you pulled them out, you know, and you don't
have insurance, you don't have any of that for
that type of job, so... you're you're liable
for it. Thankfully I've never had that issue.
I've pulled a few people out, not a lot, but
you know it's it's one of those things that people
that do it frequently they they talk about the
fact that they just stopped doing it because
unless they really needed it or you know they
looked extremely safe as far as extremely safe
goes but like it looked safe to practice and
do it you know they don't even do it anymore.
a lot of the times sometimes even the off -roader
guys won't you know like the other off -roaders
because they're worried about damage on theirs
or the other people's vehicles a lot of the times
when we do like off -road rescues it's a very
you know it's unpaid we're just doing it to be
nice so and you know me and alex still do it
we went on a few last year and and it's coming
up again i'm sure we'll be hitting a few couple
this year and So looking forward to that. It's
just we got to make sure we minimize risk to
us, our vehicles and to their vehicles. And sometimes
it's just not worth it. If the car looks like
it's going to get damaged, if you can't get a
good point to mount your stuff on, like you got
the people that drive like challengers. If I
can't reach under your fucking car, I'm not going
to try pulling you out. You know, if you don't
have a very easy tow hook or point to. to latch
on for I'm not I'm not doing it man I'm not risking
you know getting sued for damaging your body
on your car and you could say oh I would never
do that never do that well wait till you get
home and you think about it a little bit we're
not chancing it right so I'm excited about that
if you drive a car I don't know why you're listening
to this but if you drive a car in a two -wheel
drive well you know have fun practice in the
parking lots you should always practice in a
parking lot find an old parking lot of a church
or something that isn't being used and do some
donuts in it when there's snow on the ground
when the ground is frozen learn how your car
handles learn what it feels like when your car
starts to go out of control and then practice
on making your car um get back into that control
you know there is there is a trick to doing it
you know you don't ever want to push on the gas
you never want to slam on the brakes you want
to keep that traction so slamming on the the
gas doesn't always help Sometimes it breaks whatever
traction you do have slamming on the brakes brakes
traction for what you do have and then you slide
so usually letting off the gas or Gently tapping
the brakes to kind of slow yourself down until
your tires catch And and then just keeping your
you know your wheel your tires pointed on the
area you want to go So a lot of people overcompensating
it Kind of leads them off the path But just like
if you're drifting or anything and you'll learn
that when you're in the parking lot You want
to steer your tire towards the area you want
to go? And you can use that to You know the counter
steer and to fix your issue. You never want to
just slam on the brakes And you know what a lot
of the times and I've been in this too where
You're following behind a car and you don't pick
a safe amount of distance to follow behind that
car They slam on their brakes you a lot of the
times I would have just went right into them
You know, that's why they make anti -lock brakes
and stuff too. But like, um, so, I mean, just
be prepared. You know, if you can't stop fast
enough and you know it, take the, take the better
path. Right. So a lot of the times that means
me going on the shoulder of the road. I've done
it a few times. You know, my truck's big. It's
heavy. Um, you know, in snow storms, you can't
see very well that I had one guy that was on
me in Newego, uh, the town that I lived near
and he was driving in front of me, had his, um,
his flashers on going 30 mile an hour i was like
okay cool you know i was following a little close
to him because i was planning on passing him
because it was not worth going 30 mile an hour
it was okay it was just heavy snow and he just
had shitty headlights and he had his flashers
on so you couldn't really necessarily tell when
he hit the brakes and when he finally did it's
pretty much too late for me and uh i swerved
around him thankfully i had enough time And I
didn't slam on my brakes. I just swerved onto
the shoulder of the road. I kept my tires on
the area that I wanted them to be and I went
around them. And you should practice that. Take
it into the parking lots. Practice it. Make sure
you have weight in your truck. If your trucks
really having the front really light in the back,
put some weight in it, man. A lot of people throw
like sandbags in there. They'll throw cat litter.
And a cool little trick you can use is not only
you can use that as weight, if you get stuck
somewhere where it's like just icy you know like
your driveway or something where it's just ice
and your tires are just kind of spinning you
can actually open those bags up and throw the
contents on the ground that's a lot of the times
people would use like coarse sand because you
can use that sand to throw down on the ice and
help you get traction to get out of there kitty
litter works the same way but um i would use
natural kitty litter but you know it's just one
of those tips and tricks and you know Alex and
mark they don't prep much for much of anything
really they keep a lot in their vehicles, but
they don't they're not like a You know survivalist
preppers. You know they don't you don't do that
Which is completely fine a lot of the times they
have the resources and stuff to get them out
of it I like to over prepare for everything I
like to keep a way to make fire to heat to cook
I like a way to you know I have like to have
a knife and stuff in there. I want to be able
to Survive on my own if I ever got into an issue
to where I couldn't get out where we're broke
down I have a couple of MREs like freeze -dried
meals in the car Water isn't gonna be an issue
if there's a shit ton of snow on the ground I
have all my warm weather stuff there fire starters
You know utensils and stuff to camp in So I mean
I have I have a good amount of stuff that is
already there you know propane tank for the stove
which is also for the heater so i like to be
prepared just in case you know i want i want
to be prepared just in case for someone else
too right so so i have you know the air compressor
the winch i have all my recovery gear in the
truck i have gloves and all that in the truck
i if it comes to me rescuing someone else or
pulling someone else out of the dish to make
sure they can actually get home I want to make
sure that I'm prepared for myself and other people.
That's why I have a bunch of extra tools too
for myself and other people. I can't tell you
how many times even this summer that you know
I ended up using my tools to help other people
because they didn't have the tool they needed
and I did so you know usually it's just sockets
or a grinder flat disc or you know something
like that but it helps you know. I have wire
connectors a bunch of different wires for electrical
so you know it's just good stuff to have it's
good to be prepared um sure you don't have to
a lot of the times you'll have service a lot
of times you can get help blah blah blah um but
you know i i want to be prepared just in case
i always want to be prepared for the worst that
happens and i'd love to just not need it a lot
of the times that's the case a lot of the times
you know i did break uh it's break down but My
alternator went out in the middle of winter once
and I was on the side of the road with nothing.
I had my jump starter on, attached that to the
truck, got it to a spot, had all my cold weather
gear in there, all my tools in there, pulled
the alternator out. My wife met me there, we
went to the auto shop, came back, put it on.
I got everything done right there. And I would
have had to go back and forth to the house to
do that, which was 40 minutes away. Thankfully,
you know, I had everything I needed right there
in the truck, so. Just one of those things, you
know. Good to be prepared. So on that note, we're
going to wrap it up. Thank you guys for sticking
through me. I guess no preparedness wasn't really
what I was going to go into, but just for snow
wheeling and fun anyway. And then, you know,
the environmental talks with the, you know, the
state of Michigan and my, my state that I love
and take pride in. So enjoy that rant. Hopefully
you guys keep an eye out for anything else that
happens. If you, if something pops up. It's a
big deal. You know, let me know let the botches
crew know You know, you could check my Instagram
out Huckleberry's outdoor adventures or the botches
Instagram send us a message Say hey, this is
happening. Let us talk about it Let us get it
out there and then you know We can talk to the
groups that were associated with we have multiple
groups in Michigan large off -road outdoor groups
that were associated with And then we're associated
with some of the bigger overlanders in the country
that talk about this stuff. Won't name names
because we're associated. We're not close friends.
We're associated. And we can pass this around.
It's something that needs to be brought into
the public eye. It's just one of those things
that we want to do our part and other people
feel the same way as us. So, yeah, I mean, send
us some messages, let us know. If you have a
request, if you want to be on and you want to
be interviewed and you want to talk and chit
chat with us, let us know. The winter's coming.
We want to be able to get some people on here.
We want to be able to chit chat with other people,
talk about the rigs, the future. You know, pretty
much all you have to have is a decent mic, a
quiet area to record. And yeah, and a decent
internet connection, of course, too. A rig helps,
but plans work, too. And just talk about it.
If you're a company and you want to talk about
an upcoming product or something you're excited
for and you want to bring it to our attention
and ask us how we feel, we can give you an honest
opinion. If you want to send a product to us
and have us test it and give you an honest opinion,
let us know. We all wheel pretty frequently,
you know, every other weekend, every weekend.
We do some kind of driving. We do put some kind
of uh you know work into it so so yeah man thanks
for joining me on this hour -long solo pod and
we'll see you next time