Welcome, my fellow nomads, to the FIRST Pirate Wanderer newsletter! And have we got a good one for ya today (he says in his best 1960s radio announcer voice).

Never Say “Yes” Before The Details?

The other day Nikki asked me if I wanted to go on an adventure. Naturally I said yes (without thinking). We’re going to be at Skooliepalooza in a week and a caravan of folks are heading out to another gathering immediately after it concludes. Did I want to join them? Again, I agreed. Sounded like fun.

Then I learned of the location.

We’re going to be driving down the length of Baja California … and let me help you with the geography, that’s the long and desolate Mexican desert running from Tijuana all the way down through cartel-infested territory to presumably my gory death.

Sounds like fun, huh? Driving out on the beach in a 20,000 pound bus where I’m sure to get stuck miles away from anyone who could possibly pull me out. In a school bus that looks perfect for smuggling. I think the Federalies are going to love us!

OK, I’m goofing it up a bit. Yea, it might be a tad more dangerous than traveling through Iowa, but we are so looking forward to this. The group we are joining has done this so many times they have spreadsheets and checklists for everything you could possibly imagine. (Which actually kinda takes away a little from the journey. LOL!) We are going to have about 10 days between the gatherings in Arizona and Mexico and we are indeed going to travel down there in a caravan. Not for safety, but for fun.

It’s going to be a little difficult to film anything because I have no idea what’s down there. Usually I have some notions before I whip out the ole camera, so whatever comes out of this trip video-wise is going to be as much of a surprise to me as it is to you. 😃 

Wish us luck!

PS: Skooliepalooza? Picture a few hundred converted school buses all parked in a single location for ten days. Very hippy-trippy. We’ll fit right in. LOL!

10 Hidden Treasures

On a recent video I collaborated with an old buddy, Nick Lituanio. We’ve been helping each other out YouTube-wise for years and so when I was going to be in his neck of the woods, we decided to go something together.

His channel is kinda … serious? Meaning, he’s into history and stunning cinematography, so his channel Hidden California isn’t very goofy. And fortunately, mine is. 😇 

The day prior to going out to film, we had a video call to plan everything out. Where we would shoot, how we would interact with each other, all that good stuff. The plan was for me to take the lead (it’s my channel after all!) and he would respond to my questions. Well …

It didn’t take Nick long to go from guest to diva. I left one part in the video where Nick barks at me “Come Here! Get Down!” to give you an idea. It was actually funny because here is this semi-stoic guy suddenly freed from filming duties and he went all Mommy Dearest on me.

“Rick … Film This!”
“Are You Rolling? No? Well … ROLL!”

I actually threw about half of our filming day on the cutting room floor, but rest assured we did have a great time. It’s so different making a video with another person. When you “YouTube”, it’s 99% just you doing everything. So thanks Nick, it was a grand day!

Working Title?

The image above is the working thumbnail for my next video. On our way down to Arizona for Skooliepalooza, we’re going to be crossing the Mexican border for a couple of days for … healthcare. Yea, you heard me right. Healthcare.

I don’t want to spoil the story, but this is something that we’ve been doing for a while now. And I wanted to explain our whys and our hows. Because there’s a good possibility you might want to join us.

This newsletter is a production of Mastering The Second Half LLC and supports the work we do on our YouTube Channel, our Podcast, and our Learning Academy. For more information, please visit rickhiggins.com.