[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Mallory's Weird World Adventures, the podcast. I'm your host, Mallory, and I'm here to show you just how weird this world of ours really is.
And as I mentioned last week, we are all still recovering from ecad The Explorers Club annual dinner. And in lieu of that, and basically moving forward from ecad, I would like to do a series highlighting people in the Explorers Club and our experiences at ECAD because it's such an incredible experience every single year. And with that, I have my friend Trent Alice here with me. And Trent recently joined the Explorers Club and did his own expedition this year, was a part of an expedition this year. And before. Before I ask you all these wonderful questions, Trent, I have to say that last year for ecad, I met Trent and his friend Zach, and they were not members at the time.
And you were so eager and excited to be at the Explorers Club Annual dinner weekend. And it brought me so much joy because that was me a few years back. Right. Just this, the first time you're there. And I'm so excited to be here and look at all these incredible people and exploration and. And, you know, that goes a long way. And I'm so happy and, like, proud and excited to see that, you know, a year later, here you are in the club and you're. You're already moving things.
So welcome.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, it's been quite a whirlwind of the past couple of years.
Yeah.
I still can't even fathom that I'm a part of such a cool group of people.
The Explorers Club has been a group that I've known about for a good portion of my life. And up until a couple of years ago, it always kind of felt like this untangible thing, like I could never get inside there, you know, and whatever, and. And whatnot. And met.
Got a pretty lucky. And met a few. Few people that really wanted to show me the club and. And I got pretty lucky about that. So I'm very, very excited to be a part of it.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: So tell me about your first experience, I guess last year coming into ECAD Weekend and. And how you got invited. I think it was through Dakota Bailey, our. Our mutual friend, and kind of how that came to be, I guess.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah. So last year I have been attending.
There's a club in Los Angeles called the Adventurers Club, and I have been attending it. It's very similar to the Explorers Club. Every Thursday they have a dinner and they have somebody who is giving a lecture about their travels.
And one of the dinners. And this was, I want to say, later, March last year, I sat next to Dakota and this is the first time I've ever met her. And we got to talking and she's an Egyptologist, I'm an archaeologist. So we kind of have some, some crossroads there.
And she's like, have you, have you met Steve Elkins? And I have known who Steve Elkins is for quite some time. He is featured heavily in a book called the Lost City of the Monkey God, which was one of my favorite books growing up. It, it was one of my really big inspirations to get into archaeology as well as Indiana Jones. And I feel like that's kind of hard for the course for a lot of other archaeologists. But yeah, she was super awesome.
Was telling me all about the Explorers Club and then kind of forced me. She's like, you're going to go meet Steve Elkins. And she brought me over and got to talking with Steve and both Dakota and Steve had said, you should come out to New York in a couple of weeks for the Explorers Club annual dinner.
I was like, okay, okay, all right, I can be there. And I, that night bought a ticket. And I had asked my, my parents because I'm a broke college kid. I'm like, can you please help me out?
Like, I'm really trying to go out there. And I, I got somebody who lived, my mom's old co worker who lives in New Jersey. They let us stay at their place. So we went and it was such an awesome experience. And both Steve and Dakota were not really certain that I'd show up.
So when I pulled up at the club, they were, oh, you're here. Awesome. Great. Let's show you around. And from then on, it's, it's been, it's been great.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: I have to say that's. That's the mark. Someone has told me this in the past, and I think it might have been Steve Elkins. That that's the mark of a true explorer. The fact that you acted immediately and just, okay, I'm going to do it. I mean, there's a lot of people that would just be like, well, I can't go to New York in two weeks. Let's, you know. And most people would just dismiss it, but it was important enough to you. And also, you're obviously the kind of person that acts so. So that makes a good explorer. I. My first ecad. I definitely accidentally snuck into the VIP lunch at 1 of those big clubs and, you know, Steve found out and I'm like, oh, man. He's going to give me, you know, I'm going to get in trouble because Harriet Stevens found out that Mallory's in this VIP dinner, she's not supposed to be at her lunch. And he was like, I'm so proud of you. That's what Explorers do, they just walk indoors that they're not sure they're supposed to be in and go for it.
And it stuck with me. And I see that in you and I mean, that's just a perfect example right there that you just got up and did it.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Glad I did. I love New York. New York's a great place and the club really feels homey even though I've only been there for two years.
And I'm very, very glad I just decided to go for it.
I'm very impulsive and so that, that definitely shows that. And so I, I hope to continue to be able to, to do stuff like that. It's very awesome.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: But tell me about, I guess your journey into the club. So how, how from this point did you join the Explorers Club from?
[00:06:31] Speaker A: So for the first year I kind of went in very bright eyed. I'm still very bright eyed. I love just talking with everybody and anybody, even people that are not in archaeology. I think just hearing everybody's experiences in every field is such an awesome thing.
But first year I really went in being like, okay, I'm just going to make as many friends as possible. And I was fortunate enough to meet you and Dakota and got to meet a lot of friends.
And I got to talking with Steve and Steve had just offered, well, you know, you need to join the Explorers Club.
And I had no idea what that looked like. I thought that was really only for accomplished Explorers, people that have done stuff. And so I kind of hesitated and I was like, well, you know, I don't really have experience yet. I'm just a college kid.
But at some point I had just filled out the application and I really wrote a really good piece, I think, about what it means to be an explorer. And I had sent it over to Steve and Steve was really impressed with it, thank God, and he wrote such a nice recommendation letter. And soon enough I got in and I got in. I think it was November when they announced it. So not even done a full year yet, but student member.
So let's go.
Very awesome. But yeah, I just again, like you said, it was just one of those things that you just do.
I didn't even really think about it. I was just like, I want to get this and I'm gonna throw it out the wall and see if it sticks. And luckily enough, it did. It did stick.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: And you've already been on an expedition, too. Tell me about that.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. So again, Steve.
Oh, goodness. So I went on this expedition, and I'll get into that in a second. In end of September, early October last year, and about August of last year, I still remember this phone call. It was like 8 in the morning, and I was still sleeping, and I get a call from Steve Elkins. So, you know, wake up. Oh, goodness. What is he calling me for? Oh. Oh, goodness. Oh, goodness. Try to sound like I'm not still half asleep. And voice drops a little bit. Yes, hello. How are you? He goes, trent, I know you're in archeology, and I have this person I want you to meet and reach out to, because I think you'd have such an awesome experience. And that person was Trevor Wallace, who is also a member of the club. And he was the president or vice president of research and education. And I know we just got a new role now, and I think he's part of the FLAG members, but Trevor Wallace has a field school in Menorca, Spain, and it's a. The project's called the Menorca Shipwreck Project, and it is an underwater archaeology field school.
So Steve Elkins is telling me about this, and I'm like, I have to do it. Because underwater archaeology is such a niche.
There's not really a whole lot of opportunities that you can just Google or text and find out about. And I've been a scuba diver for, dang, 10 years now.
So a combination of one of my passions of diving and archeology was just a dream come true.
So I had applied for it, and within a week or two, Trevor had gotten my phone call or my phone number, and we had sat down for a meeting and discussed logistics, and I was well on my way to Spain.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: That's amazing.
What a great opportunity. And I. I give Steve a lot of credit, and I always say this, that he's the perfect person. He runs the SoCal chapter. He's the perfect person to do it because he's very good at knowing each of the members, remembering everyone, what they do, and then connecting people together. He's always been, you should meet this person. You should. You guys would have similar things to talk about. And he. He's. That's a skill, and most people don't have it, but he is the best person I know at just remembering, marking what people do and connecting people together. And, I mean, it changes people's lives and it's, I've always respected him for that.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, he, yeah. He's even admitted he goes, I just love connecting people.
And I find that a lot of people in the club love that too. And it's, it's really such a good trait that a lot of the members of the club have.
I, I never feel like there's, even in my short time that there's people that are gatekeeping, there are certain groups. It's just always like, here, come over here, let's have a drink, let's talk. Let's, let's, let's chat. And what do you like to do? And you need to meet this person. It's really awesome.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: 99% of people in the club are just so open to meeting people and connecting with people and are interested. And there's people like Joe Rody who are just legends, who are just excited and eager to talk to anyone. And it's, it's so refreshing to see that.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Which I actually got to.
Sorry for the podcast people that are listening, but I'm just going to show you. I got this print from Joe Rody.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: He had a talk a little bit ago.
It was about his travels in Mongolia and he was, was just painting and staying in Gertz and whatnot. And it's just such a cool, cool, cool talk. And it was, it started initially out as an art expedition. He just went out and wanted to just really paint the scenery out there. But it turned into as. As most a lot of stories do, turned into something else where he got wind of a lot of the farmers who were talking about snow leopards. And he had gotten.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: I will say while you're looking at that, my. The first time I met Joe Rody was at a, like, it was a, a Christmas dinner gathering, like a potluck we did at the Adventurers Club for the Explorers Club my first year in and I came out and we all had to stand and say a little bit about what we did. And, you know, I'm like the weird penguin girl. Like, well, I do, you know, anthropology, specializing in mythology, cult studies, weird stuff. And, and it resonates very well at the Explorers Club. I guess I say that and then Joe Rody just comes over like, we have to talk and is like, just so excited to talk to me about all this stuff. And I have no idea who he is. I'm like a bad anthropologist, I guess, because I don't know who he is. And I'm like, okay, yeah. And. And we have this great conversation and then fast forward to ecat the next year. And Dakota's like, I really want to meet Joe Rody. I'm just so excited, you know, he's here. And she's like fangirling about him and telling me all about him. And then when we see him in the clip, she's like, that's him. I'm like, oh, I talked to that guy at Christmas.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Yeah, Joe is a very interesting character in such a good way. Like, I love his art. I've had the pleasure of having a couple of conversations with him and both times he was very, very busy. And every single time he's taken. He's such a personable guy, you know, he's such a big, big figure in the club and a big figure just in the world of art and everything. And so seeing him really take the his time out of his own day to just have a conversation with some random kid was really awesome.
We got to talking about art and other just anthropological stuff, especially like in South America and whatnot. But he is just an awesome, awesome dude. Cool earrings too.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Oh, definitely.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: So you need to tell me about your expedition a little bit more too, if whatever you're allowed to talk about, I guess.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
I, I don't know what is published fully, so I will just give you like the rundown because I don't want to get in trouble.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Everybody, they can look it up later.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Yeah, but it is a, it was a two week expedition for me at least. They, they run the field school in intervals. I think there's three groups, so six weeks in total for the crew, but two weeks for the field school attendees.
But this year was different because they had a wonderful dive master and he's a retired Marine colonel. I believe I'm getting my journal real quick. Just also.
So, yeah, it was a, it was a two week expert excursion for, for me, six weeks for the crew. I believe, I believe they do it in three groups and it's just to like separate the field school for other people that want to attend.
But this year they had a gentleman. His name is Mark Langevin.
Awesome, awesome guy. He's a ex marine and he's also a padding instructor and he's been scuba diving for ever. He's made a career off of scuba diving and he even has a company in Hawaii and he actually made a padi course for the people who attend the field school. And you can also take it, I believe, outside of the field school, but I'm not too sure about that.
Don't quote me, but it is actually certification for underwater archaeology. It's exploration diver underwater archaeology.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: I think Josh posted something about that recently too.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. Awesome, awesome things. And I was the first class, a part of the first class to get certified with that Patti specialty course.
So really awesome experience.
One of our family friends has also been a master diver for, for years and years and years. So I got to flex to him that I had a certification that he does not have.
But the first couple of days we did Mark's course, we got certified and then it was off to excavating.
Now we were excavating on one of the Balearic Islands, it's called Menorca. And we were on Citadela. In the old port of Citadela there is just a ton, a ton. And I, I cannot specify how much archaeological pieces are in this port because the Balearic Islands have thousands of years of, of history of people who have controlled the island. And I mean you have the Romans, the French, the Spanish, of course, and it's just a melting pot of archaeological pieces.
So our job was to excavate a ship which was very, very cool. They initially believed it was 18th century and evidence shows that it could be a little earlier.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Don't want to tell you what year because I don't know if that's, that's published yet. But we found a lot of really cool pieces. A lot of amphora.
Amphora 20 I believe, Dressel 20.
And I, I found a bunch of. Not me, but a lot of us found a bunch of teeth from goats we believe.
And it was just such a cool experience being able. It's only about a meter and a half, maybe even more. I think 3 meters actually was the deepest.
So shallow dive, awesome visibility for.
Because apparently last year or two years ago, the first time they did it, it super stormy. So we got super lucky with great visibility.
But yeah, Trevor Wallace does such a good job of letting everybody know like even though it's a field school and I don't have experience and a lot of the people that join it too, to my understanding, don't have a lot of experience diving, they also actually certify people who are not scuba certified.
So it's a really hands on experience, which is awesome because I was kind of expecting doing a little bit of excavating but you know, let the professionals hand it handle it. But no, they, they throw you into it and they, they, they really let you get your money's worth. So that was awesome.
But Trevor is such a encyclopedia for A lot of, A lot of historical knowledge. And they have organized churadas or like lessons every night. So they have the crew who are all professionals in their own right who talk about everything pretty much. And it was such a good, good, good, good grasp of everything. I got a lot of, A lot of experience and knowledge from that, so.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: And you got certified in underwater archaeology.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: Yeah. That was awesome to see on my, my Patty.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Dashboard is seeing that one right there. And also being able to be the first class ever to be certified under that is super awesome.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: You'll have that badge forever. That's amazing.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: I swear to you. Josh Gates just posted that. I like, like the other day, it wasn't you because somebody posted it and I think it was Josh. And I was like, what a co to have. And now you said that. I'm like, wait a minute.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: Yeah, brand new shout out, shout out Mark arrangement.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: Awesome guy that you were in the first class to get certified in it.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I definitely. That's. That's one of the, the flexes that. Yeah, I hate flexing things. It's. It's definitely one of the things I'm very proud of.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: To be able to have that, to have that opportunity to do that was such an awesome thing. And actually one of the, the crew members who's another Explorers Club member, his name said called Buffalo Joe. Joe Watson.
There was a competition because Joe wanted to be the first one to get his card. So we all had some fun. Be like, no, Mark, give me the card first. Give me the card first.
But I think Joe got his card first.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: So Joe loudest about it. Yeah, that's how that works. I've learned that.
Yep.
Oh, man, that's. That's very, very cool. And congratulations.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: You're welcome. And now I want to transition over to talk about ecad this year, which I have to say it's the greatest event that I look forward to every single year. It's. Nothing ever compares to the Explorers Club annual dinner. And it always leaves me excited and inspired, but also feeling so down on myself because I have such imposter complex being around all these incredible people doing incredible things.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I feel the same way because, you know, very, very young in starting into my career, but I've always found it best to just go into a lot of conversations with a very open mind and be curious and. And don't be so, I guess just finite about a lot of things.
Don't masquerade certainty with knowledge, you know, don't confuse the two. And I've, I've never had a problem. You know, I've.
I'm just starting my junior year in college and I'm having conversations with people who are well accomplished doctors in their own field.
And I'm like, oh, my goodness, I'm learning so much. And this is such an awesome, awesome time. Like, I'm so glad they're talking to me, you know, because they obviously know so much more than I do.
But to me, that doesn't matter. I still, obviously, I still respect them. But we're all in the same club together for a reason. And even though, like, we're in different fields, there's still a mutual respect of going, oh, yeah, we, we're still in the same club together. And I, I really appreciate that from a lot of the people I've, I've had the pleasure of talking with.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: It's, it's such a crazy experience. And, you know, this, this year specifically, I met Nina Lanza.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: And she walked into our. So there, you know, I guess I should give the addendum of you always follow the Norwegians at Friday night party at headquarters because they have a quote unquote secret party. It's a, it's a not secret, secret party every year in, in the Teddy Roosevelt Room, right?
[00:24:17] Speaker A: I believe so. Because there's just a lot of Teddy Roosevelt stuff. Maybe that's why I. Yeah, but fun fact for all the listeners. The desk that's in the room is where the, like the, the, I believe the blueprints and like the plan for the Panama Canal was actually signed.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: That was the desk that they used. They, they signed it on so awesome things.
There's a bunch of like, random little Easter eggs throughout the club that you could have no idea of its significance. And then you'll just hear somebody talking about it and you kind of look at them like, wait a minute, what?
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I learned stuff every year. And it's a lot of if you don't ask, you'll never know. And we were in that room where the Norwegians have their party every year, and that's where they keep all the good stuff. But they're very welcoming. Strangers walk in to take some of their good stuff. They're just like, welcome to our party. And we wound up there and Nina also came in and we started talking and she is a total weirdo in the same way that I'm a total weirdo. And we just immediately connected like, we're gonna be besties. You are wonderful. And we. She Carries this. This, like, chicken around, like the little rubber chicken that they. They give out. So, like, there's three of them, so they can go on expeditions around the world with people and have fun pictures with the chicken. And she gave me one of her chickens, and I was so honored. She's like, you're the chicken person. Know, it was very. It's a very honoring experience, and we just. We just immediately hit it off. So she kind of became one of our, like, companions throughout the weekend. And she was like, I'm so glad I walked into your secret party. I'm like, well, it wasn't our secret party. We. We. We walked on someone else's secret party. And then you also came in, and there was. There was a point to this somewhere along the line, but I have lost it since.
But I met her this. This ecad weekend, and that was definitely a highlight because she is just wonderful. And I was actually going back through photos from last year's ecad just when I was like, you know, cleaning up my pictures, and she had photobombed a photo that me and Mike had taken with. With Josh and Candy. And she's just like, like, like making a ridiculous face on the ground. Like, she, like, jumped in and photobombed, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is you. You photobombed us last year.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Isn't it?
And I think by the end of the first night, it was you and I and Zach and Nina and Nina's friend Kirsten. And then we wound up hanging out with. With Josh Gates and his girlfriend Candy. And we're both just like, what. What is. What is. What is happening with our life today? Because we both. We both love Josh from, like, different shows back in the day. And like, what. What is. What is life at this moment? And this. All this stuff only happens at the Explorers Club, right, where you're.
You have to take a moment to just say, what. What is. What's happening with my life right now? This is great.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that was the funniest bit to come out of the weekend, was you and I like, bumping into each other and just be like, what is happening?
And then really just like kind of kind of geeking out together. Because Josh has. Is. Is such a.
What's the word?
A really somebody that we both look up to and somebody that he has, especially in his career and what he's accomplished. Somebody that we definitely fan over and.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah, but don't tell him that.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: Lock and key. He. He doesn't have to know.
But that. That is just such an awesome thing. You know, we're having dinner and we're looking at each other like, holy cow, this is cool.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: And then wind up in a karaoke bar.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And we end up at a karaoke bar. And Nina.
This was the first year I've met Nina. I got introduced to her by my mentor, Charlton Shackleton, who I'm also Shout Out Charlton. Greatly appreciative. I got paired with him through the club's mentorship program. Awesome guy.
Really took his time out of his own busy life to hear what I. I have to say and whatnot. He introduced me to Nina. Nina's awesome.
She was telling us all about manganese on Mars.
And I. I know nothing about space. I'm. I'm very out of my depth of space. But that was a lot of cool, cool things she got to tell. And I can't remember what song she sang at karaoke, but you, Kirsten, and Nina all just have such an angelic voice.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: Oh, thank you.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: I do not have any singing experience at all.
So I came to pick a. Pick a song. Yeah. I really. I was like, do I need to. Should I try hard and sing a song, or should I try to try to pick something? That's a little ironic. And I'm still surprised they had this as an option because you had to flip through a book. It wasn't like you could request any song. And they had Tequila by the Champs, so I knew that was the perfect song for me to sing.
And. Yes, you sang. You sang. You sang Popular.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: I did.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: From Wicked.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: Kirsten sang Adele. I believe I forgot.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Yes, he did. And I was. She was great. Everybody was great.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: It was amazing.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: And you guys. You guys set the bar way, way high. Oh, holy cow.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: I had to go first. And I was so nervous. And it's funny because Jan, who's Josh's, like, bestie, had told me, you know, you picked popular. And we were like, well, it's a tough song to sing, but you nailed it. And I was like, really? I feel like.
And maybe it's just written in my register. Like, for me, that is, like, my easy go to no stakes. This is my song. I can nail this. And maybe it's just because I have a tiny child voice like Kirsten. Kristin Chenoweth. Because Kristin Chenoweth, like, you know, is written for her or, you know, she was the first one to own that role, and we sound the same, so I'm like, maybe I just feel safe in that register. But it feels like a safe song to me. I don't know.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: That's a safe song to you.
That's crazy.
You have insane range. I. I sang a song that literally has.
It only says tequila.
That's a safe song for me. So, you know.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's tequila. And I think it was Michael when. When it started playing Goes. It's the Pee Wee Herman song.
[00:30:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: I was like, do you know this song is the Pee Wee Herman song?
[00:31:00] Speaker A: I. I'm sad I didn't do the dance. As soon as I got off the stage, I was like, I didn't even do the Pee Wee Herman dance. Like, the. The.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: Oh, man, that's good.
And this. This year for the gala. I guess so. So Friday night, you know, it always. It always ends. Oh, you know what? I'm gonna say this because everything worked out, and it was fine. Friday night at the Explorers Club headquarters is always insane. It's just. It's packed with people you meet, legends you're going through. And then it ended at tacos and karaoke. But when the night ended at the club U. Trent took the guy with the hats. Bullwhip.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Marcos. Yeah.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Marcos. Is that his name? Because we were talking about. Never known his name because he never tells us. He just goes by hat guy, and he has to.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Yeah. That's if any of you show up to the Explorers Club. He always has a red fedora and his name is Marcos. He's an awesome guy. He's in the treasure hunting, and he gives out tequila. He's an awesome, cool cat. He has very good style. But he had a bullet this year.
Yeah.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: And somebody wound up in 70th Avenue in the middle of the street cracking that bullet.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I.
Sorry, Kevin.
That is my fault. And Marcos, I had told him because I. I love bullets. I have two.
They're very, very fun to crack. And I had told Marcos, I'm like, hey, can I crack it? He's like, no, I don't wanna. I don't want to get in trouble. And I looked at him, I'm like, hey, I will take full responsibility if. If you get in trouble, I will you. I won't even drop your name. I'll say it's my bullwhip.
I just want to crack it. I'm like, let me get a couple of cracks. He's like, okay.
So I went out into the street, and Josh is there, and there's a couple other people. Next thing I know, there's like, at least 10 people that have their phones out Recorded.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: You were recorded by everyone there except for me. I need this video. Do you have the video?
[00:33:10] Speaker A: I did, yeah. I, I just got the video a couple days ago. I'll have to, to send it over.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: But yeah, I got two very solid cracks. It's, it's a, a little bit longer whip than I'm used to, so I had to kind of figure it out for a second. It's, I'm used to like an 8 to a 10 foot. That was a 12 foot. So I got two extra whip. Two extra feet of whip to, to figure out. But that was, that was a pretty cool experience, definitely. And yeah, again, apologies to Kevin.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: I always piss off.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: Won't happen again.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Just because I was there, you got in trouble.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: I, I very, very sorry. Won't happen again.
Pinky promise.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: And you know, Michael was coming in from Virginia on the train in that moment when that was happening. I think he had just arrived and he said, I saw a video of Trent cracking a whip that somebody posted. And you're like, giggling, you're cracking up in it. Like, apparently I'm in the video just cackling and egging you on. So I was, I can take a little responsibility for the fact that I was egging you on.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, I'm glad I did it, but, and I'm glad also, there was never a noise complaint filed because that would have been a whole other can of beans, can of worms, open up.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: But to be fair, the noise complaint should have been filed for everyone talking outside. So the bullet was really not that big of a deal, in my opinion.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And then also, I, but breaking the sound barrier at 1:30 in the morning also.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: 1:30. No, it wasn't that late.
It was like midnight. No, no, because the tacos closed. It was like 11:30. You were fine. It wasn't, it wasn't past midnight.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: It was a lot later.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: It wasn't that late. It was. You were fine. You were fine.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah, because I was just more concerned, like, the noise is fine because then it's just one of those, you hear the bang and then everybody's looking out.
I was just glad nobody walked in the street when I did it.
I was afraid that would have been a lot worse.
And I, I made sure I was, you know, I, I look both ways when I cross the street. A lot of people don't now, apparently. But yeah, I, I've, my, my parents had, had raised me and my sister with the philosophy of, when you're being stupid, be smart. When you're being Stupid.
So in other words, like, okay, if you're gonna crack the whip in the middle of the night on 70th, make sure there's no cars or there's people around you, right?
Yes, but.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Which. Which I did, so at least I can pat myself back for that one.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Oh, man.
Well, that was. That night ended great. And then ecad Night was just a whole adventure in itself too. I mean, they had lots of birds. Oh, it was so horrible to watch that. I. You know, I. I don't. I. I like the food and the things that get, like the crazy stuff. They didn't have spiders this year, and I was bummed. But, you know, they. They cut up a lizard. It was like an iguana.
And that was hard to watch.
It was dead. It was still just like, oh.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Oh, I did not see the lizard.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it was.
It was. But it was a wild experience.
Joe Manganiello. Is that how you say it? I don't. I don't. I don't know.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
Was he.
I can't remember. Was he the.
Because I didn't intend to. Is he the mc?
[00:36:52] Speaker B: Yeah, he was the mc. And, you know, it's. It's such a small world.
I know his girlfriend, and I didn't know that she was dating him, and I didn't even know she was there.
So after the fact, after we get all our portraits, I see Felix the photographer post his portrait with his girlfriend. I'm like, I know her. And then I'm like texting her like, you were there.
And she's like, yeah, I didn't. I didn't know you were there. So, like, talk about a small world.
That's what I love about the Explorers Club. I mean, there's just so many people. I didn't know you were here. I didn't. It just.
It always reminds me what a small world we live in. Just the connections and the people and the things that you find within the club.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: Like, speaking of which.
Of Small World things. Oh, no. Zach just text me. And he's talking about a Disney imagineer, one of his co workers. And I thought he had mentioned that it was Joe Rody, like one of his. His co workers. But it's another Disney imagineer.
But they had worked one of his co workers.
Their grandpa worked on the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Oh, the best ride.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: As you were talking about Small World things.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: That's so funny.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: That's funny.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: Psychic. I'm psychic over here.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: But also, I wanna.
Did you. No. You were not at Pre Cad the fire Party? Yes.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: Okay. I was invited. I.
I made the dumb choice. I shouldn't have done this. But I worked rather than going really early on Thursday. I normally go really early on Thursday, and rather than doing that, I stayed and worked and didn't get into, like, one in the morning. But I was texting with Greg Williams, who he's on the board with me for the D.C. chapter of the Explorers Club, and he was like, oh, you should come up here and go to this party. And he's inviting me to the party. And I had to, you know, I was like, well, if I can make it up in time, I will. And. And I knew I was going to regret it, and I didn't make it up in time. And then I get a text from him that just says, I just walked on fire.
I was like, yeah. Damn it. Are you kidding me? I missed this party and you're fire walking?
[00:39:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
I highly recommend going to that.
That was the first year I've ever heard of that and the first year I've gone to it.
But the. It's at Justin Furnell's place. And I also just met Justin this year.
He's a character. He's.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Was he the one in the alligator outfit?
[00:39:25] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: Okay. All right. Yes.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: He is a cool, cool dude with a. A very cool house as well.
I was not expecting ending up in Yonkers that evening, but there we were, and it's. I. I guess they're starting a new tradition, so they're calling it Pre cad.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: So, awesome, awesome time. But as we're. We're having a few drinks and talking with people, we start to hear, like, little chirps of. There's a firewalk gonna be starting, like a whisper and echo through the crowds of the people that are there. They're like, okay. And so there's a big fire pit, and Justin's out there tending the fire, and he's like, yeah, we're gonna do a firewalk.
He's like, I've never done it before, but we're gonna do it.
[00:40:15] Speaker B: So I guess no one here was trained in firewalking.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: I. I guess he had done a good amount of research beforehand, and he's like, you just need a. A solid, flat surface underneath the coals, and the. The coals need to have been basically turned into embers at that point.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:40:37] Speaker A: So you just. You spread them out. And he did it, and he was like.
He was the guinea pig. He was like, at first, I'm gonna do it just to make sure that it is Possible. And nobody gets hurt.
So he did it and then he opened up the floor for anybody who wanted to do it.
And I did it and a lot of other people did it.
And we have a picture of our. The fire walking crew.
And it was a very fun thing to get a bunch of blisters at the very beginning of the weekend.
[00:41:12] Speaker B: I say, like, destroying your feet before ecad Weekend just seems like not the greatest idea. It should be like a Sunday night tradition.
[00:41:20] Speaker A: Oh, no. Yeah, it was. It was well worth it. It hurt genuinely for that first night. Just like stings. It wasn't unbearable.
But after. After a while, they. I kind of forgot about them. And I think everybody else was fine. I don't.
Hopefully I didn't. I didn't hear anybody else who had some. Some injuries. So I. It was all good stuff, but definitely still have some blisters that are still healing, but they're all right.
It was. It was well worth it to be able to say that. Yeah, I've walked on. I've done a firewalk now. I did it twice and a couple other people did it twice as well.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: Only at the Explorers Club are you, like, we're gonna have a pre party and we're gonna walk on fire. But no one's done it before. But it's probably fine. I mean, these are the kind of things that happen.
Wow. Again, you know, the people that just go for it. Right?
That's. That's very good. And I guess the power of Prosecco, We've talked about that. You know, the power of Prosecco, it's. You walk on fire. It's fine.
My.
My power of Prosecco moment, as we have discussed, was after. After ecad, when we were all went to some bar, like, nearby the Glass House, and we're just kind of, you know, decompressing after the evening. And my power of Prosecco was.
I was a little tipsy enough to kind of yell at Josh Gates for not following me on Instagram and kind of forcing him to follow me on Instagram.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: The power of Prosecco. Oh, you take you far.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Can't believe I did that.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: But, Melody, he's. He's gonna listen to this and then just be like, wait a minute, Josh.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: If you're listening, you're not that cool.
No, we love you. I. I like that Nina specifically is like, you know, he likes being pushed around a little bit. A lot of people just kiss his butt. But now, yeah, I gotta, like, put him in his place because she's wonderful.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:43:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: Nina's awesome.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, yes. But it was. It was that, you know, the thing, the things that wind up happening. I've had many of those moments where just. I can't believe that I'm here right now and I'm so. Just complete FOMO about the firewalk.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, there's always next year. I'm sure we were joking. We're like, okay, explorers like to turn up one up, not so much, but I guess raise the stakes.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: So we're joking. Next year. I'm like, okay, he's going to have a.
Let's. Let's think here. Is he going to have, like a piranha pit? Are you gonna have to, like, jump into it like Jeremy Wade?
You're gonna have to cross alligators or something, or.
We'll see.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: You know, we.
Poor Michael, he. He can't, like, he has a. He can't really take off a lot of time. And we. We tried to have him off ecad week so he could go like Wednesday night and be there for Thursday and be there for Friday.
And I reached out to headquarters. He has to put his time off so far in advance. I mean, like half a year in advance.
[00:44:40] Speaker A: Yeah. How so?
[00:44:41] Speaker B: It's a long time.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: So I had to reach out to. I reached out to headquarters and said, when are you. It was before they announced the dates for ecad. And I had to say, when are. What are the dates for ecad Next year? Because I think it was like December or November. I'm like, can you. I think they announced it in December, so I think it was like November, end of October, something around there. And I asked them when, like, when. When is it going to be so we can make sure we have the right time, you know, off. And like, well, we're not sure yet.
Like, what do you mean, you're not sure yet? Well, every year it's around this time. Do you think it's going to be this weekend? And they're like, yeah, I think it's going to be that weekend. And it's the weekend before it was. And I think so. But we can't quote. Don't quote us on it yet.
So he asked off for that weekend and it wound up being the weekend after, so he didn't have off for it. And I was so bummed because I'm like, man, you've never been to a Friday party, so next year, hopefully we'll get that right week off and then we'll. We'll have.
But he can come.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: You have a 50. 50 shot of guessing it correctly.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: I know.
But yeah, it's. It's the event of the year.
You know, if you like eating iguanas and pythons and tarantulas and scorpions and.
[00:45:59] Speaker A: I ate a bunch of grubs this year. I had a bowl of them. And, you know, not every day do you get to eat bugs or maybe you do. I don't know.
I don't know your diet, but yeah, it's.
The grubs were interesting. I had grubs and there was another bowl of stuff I think they were talking about.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: It was the black ones and then, like, the grubby wormy ones, right?
[00:46:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:46:25] Speaker B: They were on the turtle. Until they took the turtle away.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Because, my God, normally for a lot of those types of parties, you just expect, like a bowl of chips or something. But Explorer Club likes to do it differently. They. Instead of Doritos or nachos or anything, they use grubs. You're gonna eat some grubs?
[00:46:47] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: And you're gonna like it.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Yep. The. Whatever the black ones were. I had a handful of them like popcorn, and then was disturbed by the aftertaste. It was not a pleasant aftertaste, and I wasn't expecting it to be so bad.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: I. I'm like, oh, yeah, they were.
They definitely left a weird aftertaste. And never in my whole life would I ever thought of using liquor as a chaser.
I had a gin and tonic.
Normally, you know, you. You have, like, juice that you use as a chaser. But using liquor as a chaser for some bugs, like, oh, kind of. Kind of sat in my mouth for a little bit. I was like, ah.
[00:47:27] Speaker B: That was that point.
[00:47:28] Speaker A: But I kept coming back to them because I'm like, I want to like them.
[00:47:31] Speaker B: Yes, right. You want. You want to be like, this is great, but it's. And I. I guess again, that's another power of Prosecco, because I couldn't even eat the crickets in Mexico when I was there. But I did eat that grub.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:47:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
I gotta. I gotta start keeping track of all the bugs I eat and then rank them.
[00:47:55] Speaker B: My absolute worst, I can tell you, was not this year, but last year at ecad, they had these. It's like these big flat worms that were called moapi worms.
And Joe Rody came over to me in Dakota and was like, you have to try those with the hot sauce. It's really good.
And I think he was being genuine. And we were like, oh, yeah, well, Joe Roy says we, to try it, we have to try it. And we dipped it in hot sauce and ate it. And that was. It tasted like a moldy peanut. And the texture is as you would expect moldy peanut to be.
Ooh, it was horrible. I, like, I do the scorpion every year because I feel like that's kind of the easiest one to just go for.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Scorpion's good.
I used to have a pet scorpion, actually.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: No, really?
[00:48:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I, near where I live in Southern California. There's a lot of scorpions in Angeles National Forest.
And there's one that had, like, found its way into my house. And I, I, I captured him.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: But I, I fed him. Well, I, I end up releasing him after, like, a couple of months, but.
Yeah. So eating, eating scorpions is a little blasphemous for me. It'd be a no, no, but I still, I just. You just can't. You just can't tell my pet scorpion.
[00:49:19] Speaker B: Right?
[00:49:19] Speaker A: But, yeah, but funny enough, you, you mentioned the, the flatworms.
Reminds me of a story when I. The last day in Menorca, it's maybe like two or three feet of visibility.
So I'm like, I'm like, up close to what I'm working with, and I'm digging, have my big dive knife, and I'm, like, scraping a bunch of sediment out.
I see, like, this little pink thing kind of sticking out of the dirt.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
[00:49:58] Speaker A: And I have no idea what it is. I think initially I thought it was a piece of trash or something that just got swept underneath the dirt.
And so I go to grab it and I pick it up and I start pulling it out. And I realized, oh, it's bigger. Oh, my goodness. Oh. And I pull out like, a foot of this thing, and it starts moving. I'm like, what am I looking at?
And I put it really close to my face, and all of a sudden this, like, web shoots out of it and hits my mask.
And so immediately I put it back on the ground, and I have the chapona, the vacuum, in my left hand, and I suck it into the vacuum so it goes out back into the ocean.
That was a crazy experience. I pop out of the water and go, what the hell was that? I have no idea. So I did some research.
It's a proboscis worm. It's a ribbon worm.
Ribbon worms shoot this thing out of their mouth. It's their stomach, some species.
And it, it's like a spider man web.
It's this white thing that attaches to its prey. And it injects toxins into their prey, and so they slowly digest it through that.
But I had found one in about 15ft of water, and it was probably about a foot long. And that was really disturbing when I had found it. But it was such a cool thing. I'm like, what? Holy cow. And I had. It had attacked my mask. Like, whoa.
[00:51:43] Speaker B: You'll have nightmares forever.
[00:51:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
I.
In my journal for the trip, I, like, I drew a picture of it and I wrote, like, a whole page just talking about random facts about it.
[00:51:57] Speaker B: That's insane. Well, I'm going to leave everybody with that one.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: Thank you so much for joining me today, Trent. Please tell everyone where they can find you.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: You can find me in your walls. I'm kidding. You can. You can find me on
[email protected] A L V E S.
That's really all my socials for now, but, yeah, come check me out. I will be doing a whole lot more documenting as my career progresses. So you want to be a Day One fan? There you go.
[00:52:35] Speaker B: Yes.
He's going places. I have to say. He's going places. You make things happen, and that's a good thing.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: Well, thank you.
[00:52:43] Speaker B: You're welcome. Thank you again for joining me. And until next time, everybody stay weird.
