February 11, 2025 • 56 mins
In this episode of the Don't Die Rusty podcast, host Rick Hanson speaks with Matthew Fry about his family's decision to move from Minnesota to Cody, Wyoming. Matt shares his journey in the gun industry, the challenges and successes of relocating, and the joy of embracing outdoor adventures with his family. They discuss the sense of community in Cody, the importance of creating lasting memories with children, and the beauty of the Wyoming landscape.
The conversation highlights the transformative power of taking risks and pursuing one's dreams. In this conversation, Matt Fry shares his journey of moving from Minnesota to Wyoming, discussing the various factors that influenced his decision, the challenges he faced, and the joys of embracing a new lifestyle. He emphasizes the importance of taking risks, the value of community, and the beauty of nature in enhancing one's quality of life.
The discussion highlights the significance of pursuing dreams and living life to the fullest, encouraging listeners to step out of their comfort zones and explore new opportunities.
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Takeaways
- Matt Fry moved his family to Cody, Wyoming for a better lifestyle.
- The decision to move was influenced by a desire for change.
- Cody is known for its friendly community and outdoor activities.
- Family adventures are prioritized to create lasting memories.
- Experiencing nature has changed their perspective on life.
- The move has been a huge success for Matt's family.
- They enjoy exploring the beautiful landscapes of Wyoming.
- Matt emphasizes the importance of family experiences over material wealth.
- The drive to explore has increased since moving to Wyoming.
- Chasing dreams requires courage and willingness to embrace change. Politics in Minnesota sparked the conversation about moving.
- The decision to move was a buildup of various factors, not just one.
- Visiting potential new homes strengthened the desire to move.
- The move to Wyoming has been a positive experience, with no regrets.
- Community activities in Cody create a sense of belonging.
- Fishing in Wyoming offers a different experience than in Minnesota.
- People in Wyoming are friendly and accommodating, fostering a sense of camaraderie.
- Taking chances can lead to discovering passions and new adventures.
- Living in a vacation town brings a refreshing perspective on life.
- It's important to push yourself to experience the beauty of nature.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
This is Rick Hanson again, and we are having another fun and enjoyable episode of theDon't Die Rusty podcast.
And today I have a guest that has been a follow of ours on social media and other parts.
And I just wanted to chat with him because he's done the Don't Die Rusty thing by justdeciding that he's going to move his family and they moved to Cody, Wyoming.
(00:30):
And it's just a kind of a cool story.
So I'm going to introduce Matt Fry and, or do you want to be called Matthew?
Matt's usually what I go by.
All right, I'm, because I can go back and cut this up.
So I'm gonna introduce Matthew Fry and he is gonna tell a little bit about himself andwe're gonna have the conversation.
(00:55):
So here you go, Matthew.
Just tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I'm, you know, 40, almost 43 years old.
I'm married, have two kids, a nine-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.
Born and raised in Minnesota.
(01:15):
lived there for most of my life until just a few years ago.
Like a lot of people, we'll just say we were a little tired of the way the world was goingin 2020.
well, back up a little bit.
I've been in the gun industry for about 25 years, give or take a little.
(01:37):
Since starting college, I started selling guns at
Gander Mountain.
I worked for them for several years.
Bounced around every time I tried to find a career somewhere else.
I ended up back in sporting goods and guns and stuff like that.
So about 12, 13 years ago, I went to gunsmithing school, got my degree there, became agunsmith, still worked other side jobs as well.
(02:05):
So I had my own shop both at my house in North Branch, Minnesota for about 12 years.
I worked for
a lot of other smaller shops around.
kind of did the contractor gunsmith thing for a few years and worked at a sporting goodsshop in the day.
Then I'd work my own shop at night a lot.
(02:26):
My wife was never a big fan of our house.
We'll just say she wanted to do the house jump thing and move to a different one.
And I resisted because I was established.
My shop was there.
I hate moving.
So in 2020, we were kind of...
late 2020, early 2021.
She was on another one of her quests to get me to try to move.
(02:50):
And out of frustration, I just said, fine, I'll move.
But let's try somewhere other than Minnesota.
mean, Minnesota is not the most gun-friendly state and not the most business-friendlystate.
I said, off the cuff one day, I said, fine, let's leave Minnesota.
And she said, where?
(03:10):
And so we briefly looked at a couple other places, but I realized there's a lot of guncompanies that have moved west and mostly for political and business reasons too.
So I threw it out there.
What about Wyoming or Montana or someplace out west?
And she surprisingly bid on it and said, sure, let's go for it.
So before she had a chance to change her mind, we started to look at it and took some roadtrips and
(03:39):
Did some research and ended up settling on we were going back and forth between eitherSheridan, Wyoming or Cody and a couple interviews emails and phone calls and I had a job
waiting in Cody for better than was offered in Sheridan.
So we packed up and moved at the end of my wife's teacher.
(04:00):
So we packed up and moved at the end of that school year and came out to Cody in June of2022 and been here ever since.
and everybody loves it.
So that's the long story short on how we got here.
So and we said we love it here.
We love the outdoors.
(04:21):
I didn't realize just how much I would love the mountains and the big wide open spaces outhere as much as I do.
Well, I have to admit you live in one of our favorite towns in Wyoming.
I think I've told you this when we were talking a little bit before,
my wife and I drive over to Cody, at least for sure one time in the winter and a coupletimes in the summer, just because we love, it's something about going over the big horns
(04:55):
and then ended up in ending up in Cody and going up to North and South Fork, maybe getinto Yellowstone if it's a summer.
But I love taking pictures of the sheep over there in the North and the South Fork.
it's just one of those towns that
It's one of those towns that just have a piece of my heart.
You know, you can go up to sunlight and go down.
(05:17):
I mean, you have so many beautiful views that you can go to in those areas.
And then you have other outdoor activities too, you know, and I'll tell you, I'll tell youa story.
We were out there on the 4th of July.
can't, well, it was, I can't remember when it was, but that spring is when we heard thetourists picked up.
(05:39):
baby Buffalo Bison, and put it in the back of the car.
And we happened to be out, yeah, and we were there for the 4th of July parade.
And they made it funny, you know, it was just one of those funny deals they put in theparade.
And it's funny because I was getting ready for a hunt, and you can see this in SouthDakota probably too, but I was getting ready for a hunt.
(06:08):
And we stayed in the, what is it?
It's a campground right along by Dairy Queen.
can't even think of it right off the top of my head.
But anyway, Androsa.
And I got up and went for a run that morning before the parade started.
And I'm running back and here's a guy that was in the parade with a, he had an AR andhe's...
(06:34):
walking down the street and you just don't see those things in a lot of places but it'sit's just a fun town and it's real and it's the real people and that's I I love it there.
That's one thing that, you know, lot of this was, you know, the whole choice to move waskind of a big chance to, you know, to take.
(06:59):
And when we were kind of going back and forth on it, we hadn't committed to anything yet.
We were still, we were talking about the move.
I remember listening to a different podcast on my way to work.
I listened to lots of podcasts.
My job allows me to a lot of time, time where my hands are working, but my brain is, youknow, able to do other things too.
(07:23):
So I listened to a lot of podcasts.
I was driving to work and I am also don't even.
remember exactly what the subject matter was, but the host was talking and he saidsomething about taking chances and because he had tried a cross-country move and and he's
like, you know in his decision-making process on it, he said, know, what's the askyourself?
(07:48):
What's the worst that could happen?
You know, and in his case he was going to Maine and
It, he's like, well, I could end up cold for a few years.
and honestly, I went back and, looked it up and his, his move wasn't a rounding success.
He ended up back, you know, in the location that he had started.
But, but that got me thinking that, you know, I could try this and what's the worst thatcould happen.
(08:13):
You know, you find out you don't like the town, you don't like the people, you trysomething else.
But ours, ours, you know, it wasn't.
100 % smooth.
I mean, the house we got when we first moved here didn't turn out to be the house that weneeded to stay at.
So we had to move and but those things kind of are, you know, small problems in the grandscheme.
(08:38):
I mean, you have problems with life no matter where you're at.
Nothing is ever perfect.
But as a whole, I can say that the move has been a huge success.
My wife and kids are all very, very happy with the
where we're at now and just how beautiful everything is out here.
And it is a town full of real people.
(09:00):
It's not a huge town, but a lot of people come through in the summer.
it's full of a lot of people.
I would say the vast majority of people here didn't grow up here, start out here.
So they're here because they want to be here.
And that leads to just a
kind of a happier, more content group of people.
(09:22):
People aren't in a huge hurry most of the time.
They're not, they're very polite, they're very happy.
It just seems like you're on vacation all the time almost.
Everybody seems to be pretty nice, genuine and friendly.
And we've made a lot of good friends here just in the few years we've been here and it'sgoing very well.
We like it.
(09:44):
Well, and that's cool in the aspect that you can find that place that you will, I mean,that you can call home, I should say, you know, I I grew up in central South Dakota and
it's still home in the aspect that that's where you go visit my dad and that kind ofstuff.
(10:09):
But
When I come to, when I come back to the, and I see the black Hills, I'm coming on highway34.
don't know if you've been on it, but once you start seeing the black Hills, start seeing,bare Butte and I feel home then there's, there's that sense of peace that comes over and,
and, and I don't know if you feel that, but you know, it's, it's interesting when youdrive and you see the places that really make you feel at peace.
(10:38):
And then you really know that you're home.
It became home very quickly.
Even our first summer here.
The year we moved, did seven trips back and forth to Minnesota for various reasons.
I was a little traveled out after that.
I drove I-94 in North Dakota more times in that year than I really care to ever again.
(11:01):
But it quickly, I realized that home...
in Minnesota is very family as you get that but you know this has become home you feel Idid my last trip of having to move stuff last June I had some big equipment that had to
come out here and yeah I was I was never so happy to get back to Wyoming and cross back inand it's it's yeah it's your everything around you is so beautiful and peaceful and
(11:39):
Last summer, my wife decided, and hey, I support this too, that we need to do more stuffas a family.
We're in a place where we're a short drive from so much stuff that people will save theentire year to go on vacation to come to the place that's really in our backyard.
(12:01):
And we have so much stuff that we can go see within an hour or two.
So once a week in the summertime, because she's a teacher, the kids are off and I workfour day weeks.
So I have three day weekends and we try to go on some sort of adventure as a family.
go, you know, be it on a drive to see something we haven't seen before.
(12:24):
Hikes, we do a lot of hikes as a family.
I do it all year round, but the girls aren't as keen on getting out in the winter time asmy son and I are.
So, but we still try to get out and see stuff.
on a regular basis.
It's good for one's mental health and just to appreciate the beauty of everything aroundus.
(12:45):
I could start throwing out location names, but you've been to some of them, I'm sure.
But we've been here almost three years now and I can't even say I've hardly scratched thesurface on seeing everything out here.
No, and it's funny that you say that.
Cause yesterday my wife and I, I said, you know, there was a couple of things we wanted todo and in a few of the places we wanted to go, it was going to be 30, 40 mile an hour
(13:12):
winds.
And we said, well, you know what, let's just go to Custer state park, maybe see a sheep.
Got to see some sheep.
Of course you always see Buffalo.
And we actually went and looked.
at jewel cave, looking for some elk, found some elk and we had lunch and we were talkingand we said, you know what, there's still a lot of time in the day.
(13:37):
Let's go to the badlands.
But, and I always love going to the badlands to try to find some sheep, but never foundany yesterday.
We were chasing some sun sun sets, but, you know, don't like, I understand that stuffbecause I've lived in spearfish now.
I hate to date myself, but we're getting close to 25, 30 years.
(14:03):
And there are people that have never really experienced the hills that grew up here.
You know, I mean, they, they touch the, they scratch the surface, but they don't go anyfurther.
You know, I've, I've climbed Crow Peak in Spirit Fisher more times than a lot of people.
And some people that have lived here have never ever climbed a once.
(14:25):
And
And it's, it's interesting.
Here's the other interesting thing.
And I don't know.
I mean, just moving there, but Cindy comes out to the Hills.
I mean, she's we've been here, but when we find things to do, there's little things to dothat you would have never thought of.
And that's what you're getting into is what it sounds like you go for a hike here orthere, or just get to experience those things that.
(14:52):
That first of all, I think it's fun because.
Growing up in the plains, we'll just say, excuse me, in Minnesota, you never got toexperience the mountain stuff.
And now it's just new and it's exciting and you get to learn too.
Right.
(15:12):
No, I totally agree.
Until just a few years ago, I had never traveled west of the Missouri other than by plane.
it was for business conference.
I hadn't really been in the mountains, so to speak.
I was kind of like a child on that trip.
(15:33):
Everything was new.
Everything was exciting.
And so this is full of T.
have gotten the opportunity to move out here, was, you know, like a giant Christmaspresent.
and then to be here and have, have things work out, be able to stay here.
(15:55):
I work for, Cody's one of the most gun friendly towns in America.
I'm pretty sure, there's at least half a dozen gun manufacturers right here.
And the job that I interviewed for over the phone never had met the owner.
just talked to him a couple of times.
The job's worked out very well.
My wife obviously has been a teacher for pushing 20 years now.
(16:19):
She changed teaching positions from a normal classroom to more of a one-on-one scenariowith her new job, and she's loved it.
just to see somebody that wasn't an outdoors person when I met her and wasn't
an outdoors person for the majority of the time we've been married, just seeing hersuddenly excited to be outdoors.
(16:44):
She made me go buy a camper last summer because she's like, well, we can only go so far ifwe're doing this all on a day.
But if we go and have camper, we can stay there.
I just and my kids are at an age where they're still they still like to be around us.
They're still having fun at things.
So I thought, you know, we wanted to capitalize on that.
(17:07):
And some of earlier discussions, you know, I mentioned that your kids aren't going toremember necessarily unless you're, you know, phenomenally wealthy, which most of us
aren't.
They're not going to remember how much money you have, but they're going to remember thethings you took them to go do and the things you took them to see.
And, you know, this is almost like the way to be almost permanently on vacation.
(17:32):
know my parents have kind of mentioned that a few times when they're out here and whenthey
you know, talk to you.
They're like, do you ever have a boring weekend?
Yeah, we do.
There's, there's times when, you know, you don't get out, you know, due to weather orother obligations, know, kids are involved in stuff, kids are busy, but we try, we make,
(17:53):
we make a better effort to try than we did when we were just kind of in a place where wehad been for so many years.
Um, you, you almost feel like you'd seen everything in Minnesota, even though I probablyhadn't, but
there's Minnesota's very privately owned.
There's not very many big open spaces where you can just say, I want to go hike here todaybecause it's here.
(18:16):
You know, you gotta go find permission and you, it's all a lot smaller.
It seems like in here, I can go hiking and get lost for potentially ever if I make thewrong turn.
So, and it's kind of cliche, but
pictures don't do it justice.
It's huge and you take a picture to send it to somebody and then they say, well, that'sreally pretty, it doesn't, the picture does not capture how huge it is.
(18:46):
it really doesn't.
You have to see it in order to really experience it as you know.
And you do.
And it's really funny because the one thing I wanted to say is when you're talking aboutthe kids and the experiences that you're having.
And I read, I put it out there, I can't remember when I put it out there a long time agobecause I had some friends that I wanted to point out and it was more of a working
(19:15):
situation of that.
90 % of the time that you get to spend with your kids in your lifetime, I read, was beforethe age of 15.
Because once they get to 15, usually they got their friends and now they're thinking aboutslowly spreading their wings and 90 % of that time, and you get to enjoy that time with
(19:45):
your kids experiencing these adventures where you
they can go back and say, I remember when dad and I did this and our dad and mom and I didthis, that this was a great adventure.
And I think what you're getting at is, and I don't know if, but if this is where it'sgoing, but, and cause I know it would be with me as a kid, but, and I put a post out the
(20:11):
other day, you can't relive the moments that you've.
You can't go back and relive that moment and that feeling that you had, but you know what?
can, I can go back and say, do you remember and take kids or whoever else?
I don't have kids, but I go to the, these people to these places that my dad and my mom ormy wherever took me.
(20:35):
And, and I know that I enjoyed it.
Now, if they enjoy it, then they get to spread that, you know, I mean, it's one of thosedeals.
just think.
you just keep on sharing these things where it's important to see.
I'm not saying I want everybody to go to my hunting spots or anything like that, you know,but I'm just saying, but you get to enjoy the other experiences of life and adventure that
(21:04):
you experience.
So sometimes you get to experience it twice or sometimes you get to experience it throughthe eyes of others.
And I'm...
And you're getting to do that now in, in Wyoming and showing your kids these adventuresand who knows what's going to happen 25 years down the road.
we're experiencing the first time adventures together a lot, which is really cool.
(21:29):
mean, we're...
My wife said last summer, she's like, we need to go see and do more.
And so our family and sometimes a couple other families, she knows all the teachers,obviously.
So we'll get out and just pick a hiking trail.
(21:50):
We'd never been on it before.
And let's go explore this one today.
And we'll set a goal.
I want to make it this far.
And sometimes that's a little ambitious because elevation is a thing.
Yeah, it is a thing.
experiences you're going to remember.
It's things that you see that are in your memory forever.
(22:10):
And then obviously living in a place that a lot of people like to go on vacation, we havea fair amount of visitors that come through town and we get to go take them to the places
that we've seen and discovered.
show them an experience different.
I the first time I went through Yellowstone, I mean, I'm almost embarrassed to say howfast it was because I had point A and point B on my map for that day and that was what I
(22:32):
had to do.
So I had the hotel booked in the next town over.
to be able to go into a park like that time after time after time and see different stuffjust about every time.
But also at the same time, my kids will...
One of their favorite things to do in the park.
(22:54):
Is to just play at the shore of Yellowstone Lake.
You know, they'll sit and throw rocks there for hours if we would let them.
And you can get into a rush.
And I remember, I noticed it again this weekend.
I took my son to a father son camp over by the big parts for just for a night.
(23:15):
And I'm always wanting to go see more.
I push, push, push, push.
Let's keep going.
We have this goal to make and I want to see this stuff today.
You know, the kids just sometimes like to sit and play in nature and I totally encouragethat.
Not many kids are going to be able to say their parents took them to some of the placesthat we take them on a regular basis.
(23:38):
And I'm lucky and I get it.
And it's important to remember how lucky you are to be able to impart some of thoseexperiences to your kids and to watch them just enjoy nature and play.
Every kid loves
computer screens it seems like today, but to be able to put that down and say that whatyou're looking at out in nature and out in reality is far better than you're going to ever
(24:05):
see through a screen.
you know, engaging your brain with the beauty of everything around you and, you know, it'sbecome normal, but yet not all at the same time.
I get that I can.
I can go and drive and see more species of animals in an hour than most people can allyear long.
(24:26):
So, you know, where they all go during hunting season, I still haven't quite figured thatout yet.
So they're real good at disappearing, but it's still to some people save their entirelives to go on one Western hunting trip.
That was part of the thing that spurred me to do it in the first place was I wanted to godo all that stuff, but I
(24:47):
Probably was never going to have the finances to go and hunt everything I wanted to.
One way around that is to just become a resident of the state you want to go hunt.
So I get to go and hunt on a random Tuesday what some guy probably had saved 10 years togo do.
And I got to remember that, how lucky I am to see some of the things that I do when I'mout looking around.
(25:13):
Exactly, because I take that for granted too, because you get some people that I huntwith, that I invite hunting or whatever, and we see things like, because you never know
what kind of day it's going to be, some in the fall especially, like some of those days.
(25:34):
If you're on top of the mountain and the sun is shining, but below you is fog and ithasn't, it hasn't lifted and you get to see these, it feels like you could go walk across
those fluffy clouds and, and, and like you said, we take it for granted a little bit.
I, I've been seeing rainbows below me and you know, and those are the cool things that
(26:02):
Some people never get to see because they never get to, like you said, is interesting thatyou say that the, about this happened to save up and go on these trips and stuff.
Cause that's what, my wife and I were talking about too, is because we used to think thateven, I mean, we lived at, we only lived four hours away from the black Hills, but, or
(26:29):
roughly, you know,
in central South Dakota.
She lived in Pierre at one.
I lived in Rehites, but, it was a, it was a trip to go to these places.
And now, for me now, it's like, I'm, I'm a, I'm a skip to Utah hopped to Montana just tojump over to Wyoming, you know, are only 11 miles from Wyoming where I live.
(26:55):
And, and it's like, you know what, let's just go.
We went to.
Buffalo last week, we, and I said, we'll go to Cody.
go to Red Lodge and go over to the Mount, over the mountains there.
And just to see the beauty in the summer too.
and, and we, when you start realizing that it's only a long drive and the adventure isworth it.
(27:20):
that's when, that's when life starts taking a very sharp turn.
I would say you aren't.
You aren't settled in, aren't, you aren't just, just content.
We'll just say now I want to go see a lot more things.
And when you get that to those points, I'm saying so.
(27:41):
we got that initial hurdle of the 2200 mile road trip we took in 2021, you know, now mykids are good travelers now.
Yeah, there's still a maximum.
They're not 12 hour in a car people anymore.
We've done it, but we usually, that's a rough day, but we are so close to everything.
(28:04):
mean, once again, we'll go up, visit.
Red Lodge's Christmas Parade on a whim, know, because it's an hour and a half or less thanan hour and a half away.
And we'll go over.
We wanted to go through a tent sleep for Christmas when I have family in the Black Kills,little south of you, but we wanted to go.
(28:29):
And the snow decided that we were not going to cross the pass that day.
That's, you know, that's living in Wyoming.
But what constitutes a long drive changes a little bit out West.
mean, nothing is, you know, you're an hour and half from the nearest interstate where I'mat.
And there's no towns that I would say are
(28:50):
close.
Everything's pretty spread out.
even even high school sports, all my daughter's not in high school yet, but she's she's afigure skater.
So we do a few audit trip out of town trips.
And yeah, you're going three, four hours, five hours to go to this next competition.
And your perspective on what is a long drive changes or what is nothing is 20 minutes awayfrom you in this place.
(29:17):
But
The drive is pretty.
mean, even the even the drive that everybody hates from here to Casper's is really notthat bad compared to cornfields far as the eye could see for hour after hour after hour.
So the perspective of how far you can see changes out here.
(29:39):
It's it's not on a clear day.
If you get up high, as you know, 50 or 100 miles away, you can find a landmark and it's
It's huge.
It's all inspiring, yeah, it makes every, even something as simple car drive in thewintertime is more interesting because of the stuff you have to look at.
(30:03):
Well, that and it's cool because I don't know if it's when you were talking about drivingto Casper, I don't know if it's a drive to Casper, if it's Casper itself, because it's a
windiest place in Wyoming.
(30:26):
I'm just kidding there, but yeah, because it's because we're going to actually on theValentine's we're going over.
My stepdaughter has never, went through the elk refuge at Jackson.
So that's where we're going.
And we'll go to, you know, and I just love taking pictures of wildlife and whatever elsewe can see.
(30:46):
So that's a, that'll be a fun weekend to go.
We go to Thermopolis to sit in the springs and so there's, there's a lot of things to do.
but I just want to say, say, you know,
It takes a little bit for somebody to chase their dreams, somebody to be uncomfortable.
(31:14):
And for you to decide, I'm not just saying you, I'm saying the whole family, your wife andyou and mostly, but that takes a lot of guts that some people just do not have.
And I commend you for that.
You know, what, you told me a little bit earlier about what build up to it, but I mean,was there ever a deciding factor?
(31:40):
I mean, that one thing that said, you know what we need to move.
Not one deciding factor.
will say politics started the conversation.
Minnesota, as I said, not a business friendly, not a gun friendly state.
So I was kind of always in all my years of business there, concerned that I was a Senatevoter too, away from having a bad time with new laws, which after I left, they managed to
(32:10):
pass most of those laws.
started the conversation, but that by no means was, it wasn't one thing in particular.
It was a buildup of, I'll say that yes, there was a big risk.
Obviously, you don't know how it's going to turn out.
You don't know if it's going to colossally flop.
(32:33):
mean, when first year my wife and I were married, we tried to move that didn't last morethan a few months.
It turned out I am
not a fan of the self.
It's too hot and humid down there.
But you miss say, what's the saying?
You miss a hundred percent of shots you don't take.
(32:54):
So if you don't try it, you're never going to know.
So it wasn't one thing, but it was, it was a buildup.
then once I, you know, I've had lots of
lots of friends who will tell me after I moved and after we got settled in here, they'relike, man, I'm really jealous.
(33:17):
My wife would never agree to doing that.
So I realized, hey, I'm pretty lucky my wife agreed and what didn't just agree for amoment, she committed to it too.
And that's a huge factor in making this work.
But once we were talking about it and I said, all right, we're not going to
(33:40):
We're not going to move that far without at least visiting a few of these places.
So we took a, took a road trip and it didn't stifle any of that desire to move.
In fact, it made it way stronger.
And I would say our only, or our largest regret from doing this is probably should havedone it here sooner.
And, know, I think, you know, you made the right decision when that's, when that's your,your rear view mirror look is I wish it would have done sooner.
(34:08):
we've absolutely.
totally committed, loved the choice of doing it.
We just kind of wish we would have done it sooner.
Well, you know, and then also the don't die rusty chasing your dreams.
And it's amazing for me.
And I shouldn't, it just feels good to see people that chase their dreams and then theybecome successful in chasing their dreams.
(34:37):
And you're telling me that the job is good and you're telling me that the move is good.
So, you know, I mean, that's the best part about the whole thing is when you take thatchance and you make that step and then it works out well.
All right.
Housing would have been cheaper had we done it few years.
I would say that's the one stifling factor to moving to Cody.
(35:02):
It's not Jackson yet, but we'll just say it's not gotten cheaper since we initiallystarted to look versus when we actually made our move.
But if that's the worst of it, then I still call that as a success because...
You know, you're in a place where everybody else wants to be if the housing prices go up,right?
(35:23):
So, but it's, it's a play.
And I learned this after I moved here.
I said it earlier too.
It's a place that most people are here because they want to be here.
So you, you just have a measure of, you know, everybody's happy.
or not, not all the time.
(35:43):
Obviously none of that's, this is broad brush strokes when I'm painting this, but.
You you feel like you moved to a vacation town because it did, but you know, they have thetown is set up to take, the community together a lot.
There's a lot of community activities, even in the off season when, know, obviously 4th ofJuly is our biggest of the year, which initially scared me.
(36:11):
Funny small story.
I hate crowds.
why I moved to the least populated state in the nation on purpose.
So everybody said, oh, the 4th of July parade, that's the busiest time of the year inCody.
That's the busiest time in the town.
So I stayed away from it the first year we were here.
(36:32):
We came into town middle of the day after the parade was over.
My wife still has not forgiven me for not going or not letting her go to the parade where
ripped from Yellowstone was the MC and I stayed home.
So she said, but then you realize that busy for Cody and busy for a person from Minnesotasays our skills are different.
(36:59):
So, but it's not scary.
There's a lot of people in town for about an hour and then they all go away.
But, know, there's,
They down Main Street for Halloween for the kids to go trick-or-treating.
they shut down Main Street.
There's a Christmas parade where it almost feels like you've moved into a Hallmark town.
(37:23):
You feel like you've stepped back into a sense of Americana here that was being lost inthe rest of our country.
And it's hugely refreshing to see people that, you you almost feel like you moved back intime.
Not really, but kind of.
People have good attitudes.
Being patriotic is not something that people look down upon here.
(37:49):
Kids have values, kids have respect that we were losing in other parts of the country.
And it was a giant, refreshing reset to be able to move here and have it work out.
So we've enjoyed it a lot.
Cause I, I, the cool thing is we went over to take pictures of sheep and it was just afterChristmas and before we had a long weekend and we were going over.
(38:18):
can't remember if new years was on the Monday, Tuesday or whatever, but we, we went overand we're, we're driving into basin and they had the lights across the road.
Like you're coming in, like you'd see in some hallmark Christmas movie.
You know, I mean, you drive in and the lights are all across the road and to tell you thetruth and, uh, some of our listeners might laugh at Cindy and I had to do that twice
(38:47):
because it just felt like it, it just filled you up because it was cool.
You know, you don't see that a lot in places like the lights were all on and then we droveby, you know, you drive by the courthouse there and the
Nativity scene was all up and they had other lights on and then it was, mean this year,that year it was just cold.
(39:10):
And, and I went up and I got actually, that, that sheet picture right there.
I took up there that year and, I'm taking pictures and of course there's otherphotographers up there taking pictures too.
And, and we ended up, I ended up going to,
Rocky mountain in there looking around discount, know, the, the Rocky mountain store.
(39:36):
And I saw the photographer that was right beside, that was beside me taking pictures.
And we had a conversation about the, the, the, you know, photography and it's not like itwas a competition.
was like, we're taking in the beauty and the animals that are around there.
And like I said, there's no competition.
(39:57):
It's like what.
what F-stop were you in or, you know, whatever else, you know, and we talked about lensesand we talked about cameras and, and those are the things that when you talk about
camaraderie of a little, of a town in, like you were just talking earlier, those are thethings that makes it real cool.
(40:18):
Cause they did, I didn't know him from Adam.
He didn't know me from Adam, but
You know, if you bump into each other, you might say, I remember that face.
You might not remember my name.
I know I probably wouldn't unless I talk to you 10 times, but I know I talked to you andthat's the cool thing about going to these places and living in those places.
(40:40):
So.
growing up in the land of 10,000 lakes.
I liked to fish, but I'd kind of lost my, I hadn't done it enough in the last few years.
just cause I let my life get busy in Minnesota, working a full-time job, having a shop athome, always feeling like you're working.
And that was part of the, another, you know, box to check on moving is while my kids arestill young enough, I want to
(41:06):
I want to be known as the dad that was home and it was around, not the dad that was alwaysworking.
So we rearranged a few of the priorities when we moved out here.
So we could do stuff like that, but I got back into fishing a little more because fishingout west is different than fishing in Minnesota.
But I remember the things about fishing on a lake in Minnesota that would irritate me.
(41:31):
And one them is the fact that you feel like you're shoulder to shoulder with people allthe time.
10 times more people in Minnesota than there are here.
So you feel like the first time I encountered another person fishing on the river and theywere over 50 yards away from me and they came all the way over to ask me, do you mind if I
(41:54):
fish this pool right above you?
And I was kind of flabbergasted like, what?
Somebody is going to ask me if they can fish 50 yards?
I can't hit you with a cast.
You're not an animal.
But people are polite.
They don't do that.
I mean, they want to make sure it's okay before they are anywhere.
(42:15):
The politeness factor and the, we'll just say when you're hunting, you can kind of tellwhether the person that you encounter on the trail is from a Western state or is from an
Eastern state by how close they're willing to stand to you.
(42:35):
I've only ever really had one negative encounter so far hunting out here where I gotirritated and it got under my skin at first.
Buddy of mine and I were hunting, going up a mountain and I can see lights coming upbehind us.
So I knew there were going to be other, most of our areas up here that I hunt are nowheeled access.
(42:58):
So you either have horses or you're on foot.
And I can see these guys, they're coming up the trail behind us.
so I thought, and I looked at their license plates in the parking lot.
You always do.
They were from a nameless Midwestern state, but we, we, my buddy and I, camped on the, orparked ourselves on the rim looking down at a drainage and we're all, well, let's just let
(43:28):
these guys walk by us.
They'll go further up the trail and we'll have this drainage to ourselves to look at.
And, you know, much to my annoyance, they sat less than 200 yards away, decided to glassthe same drainage we were because you know,
something might be there, right?
I realized, you know, there's not a lot of public land space in most of those statesanymore.
(43:53):
So that was probably totally normal for them to be around other people while you'rehunting versus anyone who's from a Western state, a large Western state, will just, keep
on moving because there's millions of acres.
They don't need to step on your toes.
And I got annoyed at first, but later in the day I realized
(44:14):
They probably, you these guys were in their sixties.
They probably saved for many years to go on on a triple lifetime or maybe not.
I don't know.
But that was just a Tuesday for me in October to be able to do that.
I you know, I'm I'm lucky and I, can share that too.
So I moved off.
found another drainage to go hunt.
(44:34):
We went and chased deer somebody somewhere else.
That and the fact that the two grizzlies moved into that drainage made us decide it was
going to be somebody else's drainage for the day.
I'm never going to compete with the bear for hunting territory.
So I'm just going let them be.
you got to remind yourself that there's what is normal to me now is not normal for peopleto be able to see that stuff.
(45:03):
know, you'll find a lot of people out here are they're willing to give help.
They're willing to
give advice if you want it, you know, they'll tell you, hey, there's a huge buck downthere and I don't have a tag for it.
And why don't you go see if you can kill it or, you know, there's not even hunting, youknow, when you're hiking, when you're fishing, Hey, there's, just did really well on that,
(45:30):
that pool.
bet you there's more fish in there or, you know, there's a band of sheep over that hill.
If you want to go see them, they're just, people are real friendly and accommodating and
And I didn't think I'd figure it out this fast, but there's a difference.
You can tell local from tourist.
A lot of people are annoyed by tourists.
(45:52):
I remember I was a tourist once too.
So as long as you can remind yourself of that every now and then, might make that personstay by telling them, hey, there's 30 sheep over that hill.
I'm going to have to take a look at them.
They love that bit of advice or, there's something really cool if you take this trail uphere or, you know, there's a bear up there.
(46:15):
You probably don't want to take that trip up there, but it's it's not something you see ina lot of areas of the country.
And people are genuine.
And it it just makes you believe a little more in humanity.
The longer I'm here, it's it's still pretty cool to see.
(46:37):
So.
You I make the joke all summer long because you learn to license plate spot when you livein a vacation town.
It's just what you do.
So you realize that certain states, people are just always in a hurry.
If you visit that state, you probably understand why.
And, know, I came from one, everybody's in a hurry in Minnesota.
(47:00):
And I have made the joke for a while that, what are you, what are you late for vacation?
You know, and I.
Yeah.
It's kind of true, but I've done it too.
You set a schedule for yourself, not really realizing what's out there.
And if you just take that moment to slow down and let that guy pass you, you've driventhrough Yellowstone.
(47:22):
You know, there are those people that are just, they're pedaled down to get to the otherside and they're going to miss a lot by doing that.
But don't let it ruin your day too.
That's not always as easy as said and done, but.
It's a place that a lot of people want to check off the box that they've been there.
(47:43):
and you can be here for years and years and years and never see all of it.
so figure out what you want to see.
And I love taking this, you know, friends of ours that come through.
love telling them where to go or, showing them those places.
Sometimes I play tour guide all the time.
and a lot of them want to see the places that, you know, this is the tourist attraction.
(48:04):
It's cool.
Everybody wants to go to Grand Prismatic at least once and it's beautiful.
I'll tell you to do it too, but it's crowded.
But there's so many places that you can see that are off the beaten path that, you mightbe able to search it out on the internet if you're, if you're savvy, but a lot of people
just don't know where that's at.
And, you know, there's some amazing stuff that you won't see another soul at for a longtime.
(48:27):
If you, you know, if you're willing to, if you're willing to put the miles in on your feetanyways.
Exactly.
And I had a conversation that's coming out this week with Paul Lind and we were talkingabout like the national parks, but, he lives in, he lives in Idaho and we were talking
about, there's a lot of public land that is just about as beautiful as the national parksthat nobody ever really goes and sees because it's not on them.
(48:55):
It's not that spot on the map that everybody thinks they need to go see.
And, and, and we're lucky to be able to go see these places.
So, and how does it, to me, it just, like I said, it's inspiring that you've done, likewe've talked earlier, but it's inspiring to see that it feels like to me that you're
(49:20):
living your best life right now.
You know, you're just getting to chase these things and have success and have the closeknit family adventures.
And that is just...
interesting to me that some people, like I said, some people just get stuck in beingcontent and I'm so happy that you get to live your best life in that manner.
(49:44):
I'm, and I'm not knocking people that, that think they have to stay where they're at, butit's just one of those things I'm, I'm, I'm happy for you.
So, yeah.
it.
I'll just, know, bit of advice for anyone that wants to try something.
(50:05):
You go back to what that, you know, and like I said, that other guy, didn't work out forhim and it may not, but you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
Take a chance and maybe your thing isn't your risk isn't, you know, packing up and movingcross country.
You know, it was mine.
didn't realize until I drove out here, just how much I love the mountains and how much I'dlove to be out here.
(50:32):
Get out there, do something, be active.
Whatever your challenge is, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you push yourselfjust a little harder sometimes.
Making a cross country move was by no means a super easy or fun thing.
It was an adventure.
(50:52):
There were parts of it that were a giant adventure.
But if you don't step out and try it, then...
you'll never, you'll always wonder, hey, what would have happened had I tried that?
Would it have worked?
And there are other decisions I made in life that I can look back and think that, youknow, I nearly moved to Alaska when I was just getting out of college, but I hadn't
(51:19):
started dating my wife, but we were good friends and it was kind of heading in thatdirection.
And so I was abundantly happy I chose not to move to Alaska at that point in time in mylife because you know,
She's not an Alaska girl.
loves Wyoming, but Alaska is just a step above for winter time than she wants to put upwith.
(51:42):
It was a challenge.
It was a jump out.
It was uncomfortable at times.
Obviously moving away from where you know everybody to move into somebody or someplacewhere you really know nobody.
But it worked.
It can work for you too, if you want and give it a try, you know, see some country, go, godrive around, see some things.
(52:06):
Your life is too short to live it all in one place.
Even if it's not moving, even if it's taken that trip that you were thinking about or himand an on about it's you're not gonna, you know, you can't take it with you.
That's another, another cliche phrase.
You can't take it with you, but you can experience it while you're here.
(52:29):
and get out and do something.
I agree with you and there's two things that I agree with you with because you can takethat chance and that one move might be the wrong place at the wrong time and it just
doesn't fit.
(52:49):
But who knows if the next chance you take isn't the right fit.
And the other one is I have to agree with you.
It takes a while and it would take me
a while to get used, I just went up to Alaska.
My stepson lives in Alaska and was Silla and I was up there for Christmas.
(53:10):
And I will agree with you.
It would take a long time for me to get used to the winters there in the aspect of thesunlight.
Cause I was there, it was cloudy.
I think we had maybe a one partial day of sun that came through for the minimum hours thatwere there.
And I was tired all the time and I just.
(53:32):
I try to be upbeat and I try to find the things, but it was tough.
And, and we rode home on a, when we came back, when we flew out of Anchorage to come backto South Dakota, there's a girl that her, her, her husband was stationed up in the base up
(53:53):
there and they were moving now to Tennessee.
and she, she said, I've been up here three years and I,
every time the winter came, I just couldn't find the energy because of the darkness andthe weather.
And some people it's like that.
I mean, and I always thought like you, I'd wake up in the morning and have energy all thetime, but it just kind of starts dragging it out of you just a little bit with the
(54:21):
sunlight part.
So I would have to agree there.
So, well, I'm, I do too.
So, so anyway, I'm going to thank you for like, giving us like this tour of your life ofmoving and taking chances.
And because I do believe you're the don't die rusty person because you have chased yourdreams, your family, you take your, your, family out and go on adventures and you get to
(54:52):
live the best life and you get to share it with so many people.
And I just want to thank you because I thought, you know what?
You've commented on our stuff and we've kind of had a few conversations and then you,Ricky was, you know, you knew Ricky and it's kinda, it was just kinda interesting.
(55:13):
So I just wanna thank you, but I'm gonna, of course, you know what's coming up, you know,I'm gonna ask you that one last big question.
What's the good life to Matthew Fry?
Getting out there and seeing stuff and not dying rusty.
Well, I like to hear that too, cause I don't want, when we started Don't Die Rusty, waslike, you know, I thought about Don't Die Rusty and I thought about it and that's not,
(55:43):
it's not that, I just want to wear out.
I don't want to rust out and I want to live the best life I can.
And then if we can, if we can talk people into looking at it that way, then that would be,maybe we're doing something good for the world.
So I just want.
So I'm gonna say, like I said, I'm gonna say thank you again and this has been a fun time.
(56:10):
Unless you have anything else that you can give any advice to to anybody, I'll just letyou go.
I know it's a, I took an hour of your day on a Sunday and I thank you so much for that.
Thanks for the opportunity.
This was a fun conversation and I hope it helps somebody.
Take the chance.
(56:30):
Sometimes you're dragging yourself to get started.
I can't say that it's always the easiest conversation to drag children out on a hike whenthey would rather sit there and do nothing.
Or sometimes myself.
I don't feel like moving that day.
Yeah.
when you get out there and I mean, there was one specific quick story I'll finish up with.
(56:54):
last summer, my wife said on a Sunday afternoon, well, let's go hike, uh, ClarksportCanyon to bridleville falls.
Um, we had never done it.
She'd heard it was pretty.
She's like, man, I just don't know that I want to go out today.
And the kids were kind of, said, no, let's, let's push it.
Let's do it.
It was, you know, it was a little warm, but.
(57:16):
Clark's work kind of bakes in the sun in the summertime.
So, but let's do it.
And, and it's not the friendliest trail on foot.
It's a little hard on the knees and ankles and stuff, but we pushed it.
did it.
Despite her stepping on a snake, she did not die of a heart attack.
But when, when you climb up to the base of the falls and you turn around and you realizethat you are, you are a small insignificant part, but you
(57:45):
you feel alive.
And it was, we got back to the car dead tired after, after that one.
And, but everybody was so happy that they went and did it.
it was a, it was an absolutely gorgeous spot to sit and just take in that, you know, Godcreated this, and I'm a small part of it, but I get to be part of it.
(58:11):
And that was,
You come back feeling tired but refreshed all at the same time.
push yourself even when you don't feel like it.
Well, I like that feeling alive.
That is a don't die rusty thing there too, because we feel that's what it is.
(58:33):
It's about feeling alive within yourself and the world.
if we can make every, no, I can't say we can make everybody, but if we can make peoplefeel alive, maybe the world turns just a little bit better.
You know what I mean?
And so.
So thank you so much.
(58:53):
I loved the conversation and I'm gonna, I'll just let you go now.
So I'm gonna say, Don't Die Rusty Nation, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you andof course, Don't Die Rusty.
And thank you.
Thank you.
Hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
This is Rick Hanson again, and we are having another fun and enjoyable episode of theDon't Die Rusty podcast.
And today I have a guest that has been a follow of ours on social media and other parts.
And I just wanted to chat with him because he's done the Don't Die Rusty thing by justdeciding that he's going to move his family and they moved to Cody, Wyoming.
(00:30):
And it's just a kind of a cool story.
So I'm going to introduce Matt Fry and, or do you want to be called Matthew?
Matt's usually what I go by.
All right, I'm, because I can go back and cut this up.
So I'm gonna introduce Matthew Fry and he is gonna tell a little bit about himself andwe're gonna have the conversation.
(00:55):
So here you go, Matthew.
Just tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I'm, you know, 40, almost 43 years old.
I'm married, have two kids, a nine-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.
Born and raised in Minnesota.
(01:15):
lived there for most of my life until just a few years ago.
Like a lot of people, we'll just say we were a little tired of the way the world was goingin 2020.
well, back up a little bit.
I've been in the gun industry for about 25 years, give or take a little.
(01:37):
Since starting college, I started selling guns at
Gander Mountain.
I worked for them for several years.
Bounced around every time I tried to find a career somewhere else.
I ended up back in sporting goods and guns and stuff like that.
So about 12, 13 years ago, I went to gunsmithing school, got my degree there, became agunsmith, still worked other side jobs as well.
(02:05):
So I had my own shop both at my house in North Branch, Minnesota for about 12 years.
I worked for
a lot of other smaller shops around.
kind of did the contractor gunsmith thing for a few years and worked at a sporting goodsshop in the day.
Then I'd work my own shop at night a lot.
(02:26):
My wife was never a big fan of our house.
We'll just say she wanted to do the house jump thing and move to a different one.
And I resisted because I was established.
My shop was there.
I hate moving.
So in 2020, we were kind of...
late 2020, early 2021.
She was on another one of her quests to get me to try to move.
(02:50):
And out of frustration, I just said, fine, I'll move.
But let's try somewhere other than Minnesota.
mean, Minnesota is not the most gun-friendly state and not the most business-friendlystate.
I said, off the cuff one day, I said, fine, let's leave Minnesota.
And she said, where?
(03:10):
And so we briefly looked at a couple other places, but I realized there's a lot of guncompanies that have moved west and mostly for political and business reasons too.
So I threw it out there.
What about Wyoming or Montana or someplace out west?
And she surprisingly bid on it and said, sure, let's go for it.
So before she had a chance to change her mind, we started to look at it and took some roadtrips and
(03:39):
Did some research and ended up settling on we were going back and forth between eitherSheridan, Wyoming or Cody and a couple interviews emails and phone calls and I had a job
waiting in Cody for better than was offered in Sheridan.
So we packed up and moved at the end of my wife's teacher.
(04:00):
So we packed up and moved at the end of that school year and came out to Cody in June of2022 and been here ever since.
and everybody loves it.
So that's the long story short on how we got here.
So and we said we love it here.
We love the outdoors.
(04:21):
I didn't realize just how much I would love the mountains and the big wide open spaces outhere as much as I do.
Well, I have to admit you live in one of our favorite towns in Wyoming.
I think I've told you this when we were talking a little bit before,
my wife and I drive over to Cody, at least for sure one time in the winter and a coupletimes in the summer, just because we love, it's something about going over the big horns
(04:55):
and then ended up in ending up in Cody and going up to North and South Fork, maybe getinto Yellowstone if it's a summer.
But I love taking pictures of the sheep over there in the North and the South Fork.
it's just one of those towns that
It's one of those towns that just have a piece of my heart.
You know, you can go up to sunlight and go down.
(05:17):
I mean, you have so many beautiful views that you can go to in those areas.
And then you have other outdoor activities too, you know, and I'll tell you, I'll tell youa story.
We were out there on the 4th of July.
can't, well, it was, I can't remember when it was, but that spring is when we heard thetourists picked up.
(05:39):
baby Buffalo Bison, and put it in the back of the car.
And we happened to be out, yeah, and we were there for the 4th of July parade.
And they made it funny, you know, it was just one of those funny deals they put in theparade.
And it's funny because I was getting ready for a hunt, and you can see this in SouthDakota probably too, but I was getting ready for a hunt.
(06:08):
And we stayed in the, what is it?
It's a campground right along by Dairy Queen.
can't even think of it right off the top of my head.
But anyway, Androsa.
And I got up and went for a run that morning before the parade started.
And I'm running back and here's a guy that was in the parade with a, he had an AR andhe's...
(06:34):
walking down the street and you just don't see those things in a lot of places but it'sit's just a fun town and it's real and it's the real people and that's I I love it there.
That's one thing that, you know, lot of this was, you know, the whole choice to move waskind of a big chance to, you know, to take.
(06:59):
And when we were kind of going back and forth on it, we hadn't committed to anything yet.
We were still, we were talking about the move.
I remember listening to a different podcast on my way to work.
I listened to lots of podcasts.
My job allows me to a lot of time, time where my hands are working, but my brain is, youknow, able to do other things too.
(07:23):
So I listened to a lot of podcasts.
I was driving to work and I am also don't even.
remember exactly what the subject matter was, but the host was talking and he saidsomething about taking chances and because he had tried a cross-country move and and he's
like, you know in his decision-making process on it, he said, know, what's the askyourself?
(07:48):
What's the worst that could happen?
You know, and in his case he was going to Maine and
It, he's like, well, I could end up cold for a few years.
and honestly, I went back and, looked it up and his, his move wasn't a rounding success.
He ended up back, you know, in the location that he had started.
But, but that got me thinking that, you know, I could try this and what's the worst thatcould happen.
(08:13):
You know, you find out you don't like the town, you don't like the people, you trysomething else.
But ours, ours, you know, it wasn't.
100 % smooth.
I mean, the house we got when we first moved here didn't turn out to be the house that weneeded to stay at.
So we had to move and but those things kind of are, you know, small problems in the grandscheme.
(08:38):
I mean, you have problems with life no matter where you're at.
Nothing is ever perfect.
But as a whole, I can say that the move has been a huge success.
My wife and kids are all very, very happy with the
where we're at now and just how beautiful everything is out here.
And it is a town full of real people.
(09:00):
It's not a huge town, but a lot of people come through in the summer.
it's full of a lot of people.
I would say the vast majority of people here didn't grow up here, start out here.
So they're here because they want to be here.
And that leads to just a
kind of a happier, more content group of people.
(09:22):
People aren't in a huge hurry most of the time.
They're not, they're very polite, they're very happy.
It just seems like you're on vacation all the time almost.
Everybody seems to be pretty nice, genuine and friendly.
And we've made a lot of good friends here just in the few years we've been here and it'sgoing very well.
We like it.
(09:44):
Well, and that's cool in the aspect that you can find that place that you will, I mean,that you can call home, I should say, you know, I I grew up in central South Dakota and
it's still home in the aspect that that's where you go visit my dad and that kind ofstuff.
(10:09):
But
When I come to, when I come back to the, and I see the black Hills, I'm coming on highway34.
don't know if you've been on it, but once you start seeing the black Hills, start seeing,bare Butte and I feel home then there's, there's that sense of peace that comes over and,
and, and I don't know if you feel that, but you know, it's, it's interesting when youdrive and you see the places that really make you feel at peace.
(10:38):
And then you really know that you're home.
It became home very quickly.
Even our first summer here.
The year we moved, did seven trips back and forth to Minnesota for various reasons.
I was a little traveled out after that.
I drove I-94 in North Dakota more times in that year than I really care to ever again.
(11:01):
But it quickly, I realized that home...
in Minnesota is very family as you get that but you know this has become home you feel Idid my last trip of having to move stuff last June I had some big equipment that had to
come out here and yeah I was I was never so happy to get back to Wyoming and cross back inand it's it's yeah it's your everything around you is so beautiful and peaceful and
(11:39):
Last summer, my wife decided, and hey, I support this too, that we need to do more stuffas a family.
We're in a place where we're a short drive from so much stuff that people will save theentire year to go on vacation to come to the place that's really in our backyard.
(12:01):
And we have so much stuff that we can go see within an hour or two.
So once a week in the summertime, because she's a teacher, the kids are off and I workfour day weeks.
So I have three day weekends and we try to go on some sort of adventure as a family.
go, you know, be it on a drive to see something we haven't seen before.
(12:24):
Hikes, we do a lot of hikes as a family.
I do it all year round, but the girls aren't as keen on getting out in the winter time asmy son and I are.
So, but we still try to get out and see stuff.
on a regular basis.
It's good for one's mental health and just to appreciate the beauty of everything aroundus.
(12:45):
I could start throwing out location names, but you've been to some of them, I'm sure.
But we've been here almost three years now and I can't even say I've hardly scratched thesurface on seeing everything out here.
No, and it's funny that you say that.
Cause yesterday my wife and I, I said, you know, there was a couple of things we wanted todo and in a few of the places we wanted to go, it was going to be 30, 40 mile an hour
(13:12):
winds.
And we said, well, you know what, let's just go to Custer state park, maybe see a sheep.
Got to see some sheep.
Of course you always see Buffalo.
And we actually went and looked.
at jewel cave, looking for some elk, found some elk and we had lunch and we were talkingand we said, you know what, there's still a lot of time in the day.
(13:37):
Let's go to the badlands.
But, and I always love going to the badlands to try to find some sheep, but never foundany yesterday.
We were chasing some sun sun sets, but, you know, don't like, I understand that stuffbecause I've lived in spearfish now.
I hate to date myself, but we're getting close to 25, 30 years.
(14:03):
And there are people that have never really experienced the hills that grew up here.
You know, I mean, they, they touch the, they scratch the surface, but they don't go anyfurther.
You know, I've, I've climbed Crow Peak in Spirit Fisher more times than a lot of people.
And some people that have lived here have never ever climbed a once.
(14:25):
And
And it's, it's interesting.
Here's the other interesting thing.
And I don't know.
I mean, just moving there, but Cindy comes out to the Hills.
I mean, she's we've been here, but when we find things to do, there's little things to dothat you would have never thought of.
And that's what you're getting into is what it sounds like you go for a hike here orthere, or just get to experience those things that.
(14:52):
That first of all, I think it's fun because.
Growing up in the plains, we'll just say, excuse me, in Minnesota, you never got toexperience the mountain stuff.
And now it's just new and it's exciting and you get to learn too.
Right.
(15:12):
No, I totally agree.
Until just a few years ago, I had never traveled west of the Missouri other than by plane.
it was for business conference.
I hadn't really been in the mountains, so to speak.
I was kind of like a child on that trip.
(15:33):
Everything was new.
Everything was exciting.
And so this is full of T.
have gotten the opportunity to move out here, was, you know, like a giant Christmaspresent.
and then to be here and have, have things work out, be able to stay here.
(15:55):
I work for, Cody's one of the most gun friendly towns in America.
I'm pretty sure, there's at least half a dozen gun manufacturers right here.
And the job that I interviewed for over the phone never had met the owner.
just talked to him a couple of times.
The job's worked out very well.
My wife obviously has been a teacher for pushing 20 years now.
(16:19):
She changed teaching positions from a normal classroom to more of a one-on-one scenariowith her new job, and she's loved it.
just to see somebody that wasn't an outdoors person when I met her and wasn't
an outdoors person for the majority of the time we've been married, just seeing hersuddenly excited to be outdoors.
(16:44):
She made me go buy a camper last summer because she's like, well, we can only go so far ifwe're doing this all on a day.
But if we go and have camper, we can stay there.
I just and my kids are at an age where they're still they still like to be around us.
They're still having fun at things.
So I thought, you know, we wanted to capitalize on that.
(17:07):
And some of earlier discussions, you know, I mentioned that your kids aren't going toremember necessarily unless you're, you know, phenomenally wealthy, which most of us
aren't.
They're not going to remember how much money you have, but they're going to remember thethings you took them to go do and the things you took them to see.
And, you know, this is almost like the way to be almost permanently on vacation.
(17:32):
know my parents have kind of mentioned that a few times when they're out here and whenthey
you know, talk to you.
They're like, do you ever have a boring weekend?
Yeah, we do.
There's, there's times when, you know, you don't get out, you know, due to weather orother obligations, know, kids are involved in stuff, kids are busy, but we try, we make,
(17:53):
we make a better effort to try than we did when we were just kind of in a place where wehad been for so many years.
Um, you, you almost feel like you'd seen everything in Minnesota, even though I probablyhadn't, but
there's Minnesota's very privately owned.
There's not very many big open spaces where you can just say, I want to go hike here todaybecause it's here.
(18:16):
You know, you gotta go find permission and you, it's all a lot smaller.
It seems like in here, I can go hiking and get lost for potentially ever if I make thewrong turn.
So, and it's kind of cliche, but
pictures don't do it justice.
It's huge and you take a picture to send it to somebody and then they say, well, that'sreally pretty, it doesn't, the picture does not capture how huge it is.
(18:46):
it really doesn't.
You have to see it in order to really experience it as you know.
And you do.
And it's really funny because the one thing I wanted to say is when you're talking aboutthe kids and the experiences that you're having.
And I read, I put it out there, I can't remember when I put it out there a long time agobecause I had some friends that I wanted to point out and it was more of a working
(19:15):
situation of that.
90 % of the time that you get to spend with your kids in your lifetime, I read, was beforethe age of 15.
Because once they get to 15, usually they got their friends and now they're thinking aboutslowly spreading their wings and 90 % of that time, and you get to enjoy that time with
(19:45):
your kids experiencing these adventures where you
they can go back and say, I remember when dad and I did this and our dad and mom and I didthis, that this was a great adventure.
And I think what you're getting at is, and I don't know if, but if this is where it'sgoing, but, and cause I know it would be with me as a kid, but, and I put a post out the
(20:11):
other day, you can't relive the moments that you've.
You can't go back and relive that moment and that feeling that you had, but you know what?
can, I can go back and say, do you remember and take kids or whoever else?
I don't have kids, but I go to the, these people to these places that my dad and my mom ormy wherever took me.
(20:35):
And, and I know that I enjoyed it.
Now, if they enjoy it, then they get to spread that, you know, I mean, it's one of thosedeals.
just think.
you just keep on sharing these things where it's important to see.
I'm not saying I want everybody to go to my hunting spots or anything like that, you know,but I'm just saying, but you get to enjoy the other experiences of life and adventure that
(21:04):
you experience.
So sometimes you get to experience it twice or sometimes you get to experience it throughthe eyes of others.
And I'm...
And you're getting to do that now in, in Wyoming and showing your kids these adventuresand who knows what's going to happen 25 years down the road.
we're experiencing the first time adventures together a lot, which is really cool.
(21:29):
mean, we're...
My wife said last summer, she's like, we need to go see and do more.
And so our family and sometimes a couple other families, she knows all the teachers,obviously.
So we'll get out and just pick a hiking trail.
(21:50):
We'd never been on it before.
And let's go explore this one today.
And we'll set a goal.
I want to make it this far.
And sometimes that's a little ambitious because elevation is a thing.
Yeah, it is a thing.
experiences you're going to remember.
It's things that you see that are in your memory forever.
(22:10):
And then obviously living in a place that a lot of people like to go on vacation, we havea fair amount of visitors that come through town and we get to go take them to the places
that we've seen and discovered.
show them an experience different.
I the first time I went through Yellowstone, I mean, I'm almost embarrassed to say howfast it was because I had point A and point B on my map for that day and that was what I
(22:32):
had to do.
So I had the hotel booked in the next town over.
to be able to go into a park like that time after time after time and see different stuffjust about every time.
But also at the same time, my kids will...
One of their favorite things to do in the park.
(22:54):
Is to just play at the shore of Yellowstone Lake.
You know, they'll sit and throw rocks there for hours if we would let them.
And you can get into a rush.
And I remember, I noticed it again this weekend.
I took my son to a father son camp over by the big parts for just for a night.
(23:15):
And I'm always wanting to go see more.
I push, push, push, push.
Let's keep going.
We have this goal to make and I want to see this stuff today.
You know, the kids just sometimes like to sit and play in nature and I totally encouragethat.
Not many kids are going to be able to say their parents took them to some of the placesthat we take them on a regular basis.
(23:38):
And I'm lucky and I get it.
And it's important to remember how lucky you are to be able to impart some of thoseexperiences to your kids and to watch them just enjoy nature and play.
Every kid loves
computer screens it seems like today, but to be able to put that down and say that whatyou're looking at out in nature and out in reality is far better than you're going to ever
(24:05):
see through a screen.
you know, engaging your brain with the beauty of everything around you and, you know, it'sbecome normal, but yet not all at the same time.
I get that I can.
I can go and drive and see more species of animals in an hour than most people can allyear long.
(24:26):
So, you know, where they all go during hunting season, I still haven't quite figured thatout yet.
So they're real good at disappearing, but it's still to some people save their entirelives to go on one Western hunting trip.
That was part of the thing that spurred me to do it in the first place was I wanted to godo all that stuff, but I
(24:47):
Probably was never going to have the finances to go and hunt everything I wanted to.
One way around that is to just become a resident of the state you want to go hunt.
So I get to go and hunt on a random Tuesday what some guy probably had saved 10 years togo do.
And I got to remember that, how lucky I am to see some of the things that I do when I'mout looking around.
(25:13):
Exactly, because I take that for granted too, because you get some people that I huntwith, that I invite hunting or whatever, and we see things like, because you never know
what kind of day it's going to be, some in the fall especially, like some of those days.
(25:34):
If you're on top of the mountain and the sun is shining, but below you is fog and ithasn't, it hasn't lifted and you get to see these, it feels like you could go walk across
those fluffy clouds and, and, and like you said, we take it for granted a little bit.
I, I've been seeing rainbows below me and you know, and those are the cool things that
(26:02):
Some people never get to see because they never get to, like you said, is interesting thatyou say that the, about this happened to save up and go on these trips and stuff.
Cause that's what, my wife and I were talking about too, is because we used to think thateven, I mean, we lived at, we only lived four hours away from the black Hills, but, or
(26:29):
roughly, you know,
in central South Dakota.
She lived in Pierre at one.
I lived in Rehites, but, it was a, it was a trip to go to these places.
And now, for me now, it's like, I'm, I'm a, I'm a skip to Utah hopped to Montana just tojump over to Wyoming, you know, are only 11 miles from Wyoming where I live.
(26:55):
And, and it's like, you know what, let's just go.
We went to.
Buffalo last week, we, and I said, we'll go to Cody.
go to Red Lodge and go over to the Mount, over the mountains there.
And just to see the beauty in the summer too.
and, and we, when you start realizing that it's only a long drive and the adventure isworth it.
(27:20):
that's when, that's when life starts taking a very sharp turn.
I would say you aren't.
You aren't settled in, aren't, you aren't just, just content.
We'll just say now I want to go see a lot more things.
And when you get that to those points, I'm saying so.
(27:41):
we got that initial hurdle of the 2200 mile road trip we took in 2021, you know, now mykids are good travelers now.
Yeah, there's still a maximum.
They're not 12 hour in a car people anymore.
We've done it, but we usually, that's a rough day, but we are so close to everything.
(28:04):
mean, once again, we'll go up, visit.
Red Lodge's Christmas Parade on a whim, know, because it's an hour and a half or less thanan hour and a half away.
And we'll go over.
We wanted to go through a tent sleep for Christmas when I have family in the Black Kills,little south of you, but we wanted to go.
(28:29):
And the snow decided that we were not going to cross the pass that day.
That's, you know, that's living in Wyoming.
But what constitutes a long drive changes a little bit out West.
mean, nothing is, you know, you're an hour and half from the nearest interstate where I'mat.
And there's no towns that I would say are
(28:50):
close.
Everything's pretty spread out.
even even high school sports, all my daughter's not in high school yet, but she's she's afigure skater.
So we do a few audit trip out of town trips.
And yeah, you're going three, four hours, five hours to go to this next competition.
And your perspective on what is a long drive changes or what is nothing is 20 minutes awayfrom you in this place.
(29:17):
But
The drive is pretty.
mean, even the even the drive that everybody hates from here to Casper's is really notthat bad compared to cornfields far as the eye could see for hour after hour after hour.
So the perspective of how far you can see changes out here.
(29:39):
It's it's not on a clear day.
If you get up high, as you know, 50 or 100 miles away, you can find a landmark and it's
It's huge.
It's all inspiring, yeah, it makes every, even something as simple car drive in thewintertime is more interesting because of the stuff you have to look at.
(30:03):
Well, that and it's cool because I don't know if it's when you were talking about drivingto Casper, I don't know if it's a drive to Casper, if it's Casper itself, because it's a
windiest place in Wyoming.
(30:26):
I'm just kidding there, but yeah, because it's because we're going to actually on theValentine's we're going over.
My stepdaughter has never, went through the elk refuge at Jackson.
So that's where we're going.
And we'll go to, you know, and I just love taking pictures of wildlife and whatever elsewe can see.
(30:46):
So that's a, that'll be a fun weekend to go.
We go to Thermopolis to sit in the springs and so there's, there's a lot of things to do.
but I just want to say, say, you know,
It takes a little bit for somebody to chase their dreams, somebody to be uncomfortable.
(31:14):
And for you to decide, I'm not just saying you, I'm saying the whole family, your wife andyou and mostly, but that takes a lot of guts that some people just do not have.
And I commend you for that.
You know, what, you told me a little bit earlier about what build up to it, but I mean,was there ever a deciding factor?
(31:40):
I mean, that one thing that said, you know what we need to move.
Not one deciding factor.
will say politics started the conversation.
Minnesota, as I said, not a business friendly, not a gun friendly state.
So I was kind of always in all my years of business there, concerned that I was a Senatevoter too, away from having a bad time with new laws, which after I left, they managed to
(32:10):
pass most of those laws.
started the conversation, but that by no means was, it wasn't one thing in particular.
It was a buildup of, I'll say that yes, there was a big risk.
Obviously, you don't know how it's going to turn out.
You don't know if it's going to colossally flop.
(32:33):
mean, when first year my wife and I were married, we tried to move that didn't last morethan a few months.
It turned out I am
not a fan of the self.
It's too hot and humid down there.
But you miss say, what's the saying?
You miss a hundred percent of shots you don't take.
(32:54):
So if you don't try it, you're never going to know.
So it wasn't one thing, but it was, it was a buildup.
then once I, you know, I've had lots of
lots of friends who will tell me after I moved and after we got settled in here, they'relike, man, I'm really jealous.
(33:17):
My wife would never agree to doing that.
So I realized, hey, I'm pretty lucky my wife agreed and what didn't just agree for amoment, she committed to it too.
And that's a huge factor in making this work.
But once we were talking about it and I said, all right, we're not going to
(33:40):
We're not going to move that far without at least visiting a few of these places.
So we took a, took a road trip and it didn't stifle any of that desire to move.
In fact, it made it way stronger.
And I would say our only, or our largest regret from doing this is probably should havedone it here sooner.
And, know, I think, you know, you made the right decision when that's, when that's your,your rear view mirror look is I wish it would have done sooner.
(34:08):
we've absolutely.
totally committed, loved the choice of doing it.
We just kind of wish we would have done it sooner.
Well, you know, and then also the don't die rusty chasing your dreams.
And it's amazing for me.
And I shouldn't, it just feels good to see people that chase their dreams and then theybecome successful in chasing their dreams.
(34:37):
And you're telling me that the job is good and you're telling me that the move is good.
So, you know, I mean, that's the best part about the whole thing is when you take thatchance and you make that step and then it works out well.
All right.
Housing would have been cheaper had we done it few years.
I would say that's the one stifling factor to moving to Cody.
(35:02):
It's not Jackson yet, but we'll just say it's not gotten cheaper since we initiallystarted to look versus when we actually made our move.
But if that's the worst of it, then I still call that as a success because...
You know, you're in a place where everybody else wants to be if the housing prices go up,right?
(35:23):
So, but it's, it's a play.
And I learned this after I moved here.
I said it earlier too.
It's a place that most people are here because they want to be here.
So you, you just have a measure of, you know, everybody's happy.
or not, not all the time.
(35:43):
Obviously none of that's, this is broad brush strokes when I'm painting this, but.
You you feel like you moved to a vacation town because it did, but you know, they have thetown is set up to take, the community together a lot.
There's a lot of community activities, even in the off season when, know, obviously 4th ofJuly is our biggest of the year, which initially scared me.
(36:11):
Funny small story.
I hate crowds.
why I moved to the least populated state in the nation on purpose.
So everybody said, oh, the 4th of July parade, that's the busiest time of the year inCody.
That's the busiest time in the town.
So I stayed away from it the first year we were here.
(36:32):
We came into town middle of the day after the parade was over.
My wife still has not forgiven me for not going or not letting her go to the parade where
ripped from Yellowstone was the MC and I stayed home.
So she said, but then you realize that busy for Cody and busy for a person from Minnesotasays our skills are different.
(36:59):
So, but it's not scary.
There's a lot of people in town for about an hour and then they all go away.
But, know, there's,
They down Main Street for Halloween for the kids to go trick-or-treating.
they shut down Main Street.
There's a Christmas parade where it almost feels like you've moved into a Hallmark town.
(37:23):
You feel like you've stepped back into a sense of Americana here that was being lost inthe rest of our country.
And it's hugely refreshing to see people that, you you almost feel like you moved back intime.
Not really, but kind of.
People have good attitudes.
Being patriotic is not something that people look down upon here.
(37:49):
Kids have values, kids have respect that we were losing in other parts of the country.
And it was a giant, refreshing reset to be able to move here and have it work out.
So we've enjoyed it a lot.
Cause I, I, the cool thing is we went over to take pictures of sheep and it was just afterChristmas and before we had a long weekend and we were going over.
(38:18):
can't remember if new years was on the Monday, Tuesday or whatever, but we, we went overand we're, we're driving into basin and they had the lights across the road.
Like you're coming in, like you'd see in some hallmark Christmas movie.
You know, I mean, you drive in and the lights are all across the road and to tell you thetruth and, uh, some of our listeners might laugh at Cindy and I had to do that twice
(38:47):
because it just felt like it, it just filled you up because it was cool.
You know, you don't see that a lot in places like the lights were all on and then we droveby, you know, you drive by the courthouse there and the
Nativity scene was all up and they had other lights on and then it was, mean this year,that year it was just cold.
(39:10):
And, and I went up and I got actually, that, that sheet picture right there.
I took up there that year and, I'm taking pictures and of course there's otherphotographers up there taking pictures too.
And, and we ended up, I ended up going to,
Rocky mountain in there looking around discount, know, the, the Rocky mountain store.
(39:36):
And I saw the photographer that was right beside, that was beside me taking pictures.
And we had a conversation about the, the, the, you know, photography and it's not like itwas a competition.
was like, we're taking in the beauty and the animals that are around there.
And like I said, there's no competition.
(39:57):
It's like what.
what F-stop were you in or, you know, whatever else, you know, and we talked about lensesand we talked about cameras and, and those are the things that when you talk about
camaraderie of a little, of a town in, like you were just talking earlier, those are thethings that makes it real cool.
(40:18):
Cause they did, I didn't know him from Adam.
He didn't know me from Adam, but
You know, if you bump into each other, you might say, I remember that face.
You might not remember my name.
I know I probably wouldn't unless I talk to you 10 times, but I know I talked to you andthat's the cool thing about going to these places and living in those places.
(40:40):
So.
growing up in the land of 10,000 lakes.
I liked to fish, but I'd kind of lost my, I hadn't done it enough in the last few years.
just cause I let my life get busy in Minnesota, working a full-time job, having a shop athome, always feeling like you're working.
And that was part of the, another, you know, box to check on moving is while my kids arestill young enough, I want to
(41:06):
I want to be known as the dad that was home and it was around, not the dad that was alwaysworking.
So we rearranged a few of the priorities when we moved out here.
So we could do stuff like that, but I got back into fishing a little more because fishingout west is different than fishing in Minnesota.
But I remember the things about fishing on a lake in Minnesota that would irritate me.
(41:31):
And one them is the fact that you feel like you're shoulder to shoulder with people allthe time.
10 times more people in Minnesota than there are here.
So you feel like the first time I encountered another person fishing on the river and theywere over 50 yards away from me and they came all the way over to ask me, do you mind if I
(41:54):
fish this pool right above you?
And I was kind of flabbergasted like, what?
Somebody is going to ask me if they can fish 50 yards?
I can't hit you with a cast.
You're not an animal.
But people are polite.
They don't do that.
I mean, they want to make sure it's okay before they are anywhere.
(42:15):
The politeness factor and the, we'll just say when you're hunting, you can kind of tellwhether the person that you encounter on the trail is from a Western state or is from an
Eastern state by how close they're willing to stand to you.
(42:35):
I've only ever really had one negative encounter so far hunting out here where I gotirritated and it got under my skin at first.
Buddy of mine and I were hunting, going up a mountain and I can see lights coming upbehind us.
So I knew there were going to be other, most of our areas up here that I hunt are nowheeled access.
(42:58):
So you either have horses or you're on foot.
And I can see these guys, they're coming up the trail behind us.
so I thought, and I looked at their license plates in the parking lot.
You always do.
They were from a nameless Midwestern state, but we, we, my buddy and I, camped on the, orparked ourselves on the rim looking down at a drainage and we're all, well, let's just let
(43:28):
these guys walk by us.
They'll go further up the trail and we'll have this drainage to ourselves to look at.
And, you know, much to my annoyance, they sat less than 200 yards away, decided to glassthe same drainage we were because you know,
something might be there, right?
I realized, you know, there's not a lot of public land space in most of those statesanymore.
(43:53):
So that was probably totally normal for them to be around other people while you'rehunting versus anyone who's from a Western state, a large Western state, will just, keep
on moving because there's millions of acres.
They don't need to step on your toes.
And I got annoyed at first, but later in the day I realized
(44:14):
They probably, you these guys were in their sixties.
They probably saved for many years to go on on a triple lifetime or maybe not.
I don't know.
But that was just a Tuesday for me in October to be able to do that.
I you know, I'm I'm lucky and I, can share that too.
So I moved off.
found another drainage to go hunt.
(44:34):
We went and chased deer somebody somewhere else.
That and the fact that the two grizzlies moved into that drainage made us decide it was
going to be somebody else's drainage for the day.
I'm never going to compete with the bear for hunting territory.
So I'm just going let them be.
you got to remind yourself that there's what is normal to me now is not normal for peopleto be able to see that stuff.
(45:03):
know, you'll find a lot of people out here are they're willing to give help.
They're willing to
give advice if you want it, you know, they'll tell you, hey, there's a huge buck downthere and I don't have a tag for it.
And why don't you go see if you can kill it or, you know, there's not even hunting, youknow, when you're hiking, when you're fishing, Hey, there's, just did really well on that,
(45:30):
that pool.
bet you there's more fish in there or, you know, there's a band of sheep over that hill.
If you want to go see them, they're just, people are real friendly and accommodating and
And I didn't think I'd figure it out this fast, but there's a difference.
You can tell local from tourist.
A lot of people are annoyed by tourists.
(45:52):
I remember I was a tourist once too.
So as long as you can remind yourself of that every now and then, might make that personstay by telling them, hey, there's 30 sheep over that hill.
I'm going to have to take a look at them.
They love that bit of advice or, there's something really cool if you take this trail uphere or, you know, there's a bear up there.
(46:15):
You probably don't want to take that trip up there, but it's it's not something you see ina lot of areas of the country.
And people are genuine.
And it it just makes you believe a little more in humanity.
The longer I'm here, it's it's still pretty cool to see.
(46:37):
So.
You I make the joke all summer long because you learn to license plate spot when you livein a vacation town.
It's just what you do.
So you realize that certain states, people are just always in a hurry.
If you visit that state, you probably understand why.
And, know, I came from one, everybody's in a hurry in Minnesota.
(47:00):
And I have made the joke for a while that, what are you, what are you late for vacation?
You know, and I.
Yeah.
It's kind of true, but I've done it too.
You set a schedule for yourself, not really realizing what's out there.
And if you just take that moment to slow down and let that guy pass you, you've driventhrough Yellowstone.
(47:22):
You know, there are those people that are just, they're pedaled down to get to the otherside and they're going to miss a lot by doing that.
But don't let it ruin your day too.
That's not always as easy as said and done, but.
It's a place that a lot of people want to check off the box that they've been there.
(47:43):
and you can be here for years and years and years and never see all of it.
so figure out what you want to see.
And I love taking this, you know, friends of ours that come through.
love telling them where to go or, showing them those places.
Sometimes I play tour guide all the time.
and a lot of them want to see the places that, you know, this is the tourist attraction.
(48:04):
It's cool.
Everybody wants to go to Grand Prismatic at least once and it's beautiful.
I'll tell you to do it too, but it's crowded.
But there's so many places that you can see that are off the beaten path that, you mightbe able to search it out on the internet if you're, if you're savvy, but a lot of people
just don't know where that's at.
And, you know, there's some amazing stuff that you won't see another soul at for a longtime.
(48:27):
If you, you know, if you're willing to, if you're willing to put the miles in on your feetanyways.
Exactly.
And I had a conversation that's coming out this week with Paul Lind and we were talkingabout like the national parks, but, he lives in, he lives in Idaho and we were talking
about, there's a lot of public land that is just about as beautiful as the national parksthat nobody ever really goes and sees because it's not on them.
(48:55):
It's not that spot on the map that everybody thinks they need to go see.
And, and, and we're lucky to be able to go see these places.
So, and how does it, to me, it just, like I said, it's inspiring that you've done, likewe've talked earlier, but it's inspiring to see that it feels like to me that you're
(49:20):
living your best life right now.
You know, you're just getting to chase these things and have success and have the closeknit family adventures.
And that is just...
interesting to me that some people, like I said, some people just get stuck in beingcontent and I'm so happy that you get to live your best life in that manner.
(49:44):
I'm, and I'm not knocking people that, that think they have to stay where they're at, butit's just one of those things I'm, I'm, I'm happy for you.
So, yeah.
it.
I'll just, know, bit of advice for anyone that wants to try something.
(50:05):
You go back to what that, you know, and like I said, that other guy, didn't work out forhim and it may not, but you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
Take a chance and maybe your thing isn't your risk isn't, you know, packing up and movingcross country.
You know, it was mine.
didn't realize until I drove out here, just how much I love the mountains and how much I'dlove to be out here.
(50:32):
Get out there, do something, be active.
Whatever your challenge is, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you push yourselfjust a little harder sometimes.
Making a cross country move was by no means a super easy or fun thing.
It was an adventure.
(50:52):
There were parts of it that were a giant adventure.
But if you don't step out and try it, then...
you'll never, you'll always wonder, hey, what would have happened had I tried that?
Would it have worked?
And there are other decisions I made in life that I can look back and think that, youknow, I nearly moved to Alaska when I was just getting out of college, but I hadn't
(51:19):
started dating my wife, but we were good friends and it was kind of heading in thatdirection.
And so I was abundantly happy I chose not to move to Alaska at that point in time in mylife because you know,
She's not an Alaska girl.
loves Wyoming, but Alaska is just a step above for winter time than she wants to put upwith.
(51:42):
It was a challenge.
It was a jump out.
It was uncomfortable at times.
Obviously moving away from where you know everybody to move into somebody or someplacewhere you really know nobody.
But it worked.
It can work for you too, if you want and give it a try, you know, see some country, go, godrive around, see some things.
(52:06):
Your life is too short to live it all in one place.
Even if it's not moving, even if it's taken that trip that you were thinking about or himand an on about it's you're not gonna, you know, you can't take it with you.
That's another, another cliche phrase.
You can't take it with you, but you can experience it while you're here.
(52:29):
and get out and do something.
I agree with you and there's two things that I agree with you with because you can takethat chance and that one move might be the wrong place at the wrong time and it just
doesn't fit.
(52:49):
But who knows if the next chance you take isn't the right fit.
And the other one is I have to agree with you.
It takes a while and it would take me
a while to get used, I just went up to Alaska.
My stepson lives in Alaska and was Silla and I was up there for Christmas.
(53:10):
And I will agree with you.
It would take a long time for me to get used to the winters there in the aspect of thesunlight.
Cause I was there, it was cloudy.
I think we had maybe a one partial day of sun that came through for the minimum hours thatwere there.
And I was tired all the time and I just.
(53:32):
I try to be upbeat and I try to find the things, but it was tough.
And, and we rode home on a, when we came back, when we flew out of Anchorage to come backto South Dakota, there's a girl that her, her, her husband was stationed up in the base up
(53:53):
there and they were moving now to Tennessee.
and she, she said, I've been up here three years and I,
every time the winter came, I just couldn't find the energy because of the darkness andthe weather.
And some people it's like that.
I mean, and I always thought like you, I'd wake up in the morning and have energy all thetime, but it just kind of starts dragging it out of you just a little bit with the
(54:21):
sunlight part.
So I would have to agree there.
So, well, I'm, I do too.
So, so anyway, I'm going to thank you for like, giving us like this tour of your life ofmoving and taking chances.
And because I do believe you're the don't die rusty person because you have chased yourdreams, your family, you take your, your, family out and go on adventures and you get to
(54:52):
live the best life and you get to share it with so many people.
And I just want to thank you because I thought, you know what?
You've commented on our stuff and we've kind of had a few conversations and then you,Ricky was, you know, you knew Ricky and it's kinda, it was just kinda interesting.
(55:13):
So I just wanna thank you, but I'm gonna, of course, you know what's coming up, you know,I'm gonna ask you that one last big question.
What's the good life to Matthew Fry?
Getting out there and seeing stuff and not dying rusty.
Well, I like to hear that too, cause I don't want, when we started Don't Die Rusty, waslike, you know, I thought about Don't Die Rusty and I thought about it and that's not,
(55:43):
it's not that, I just want to wear out.
I don't want to rust out and I want to live the best life I can.
And then if we can, if we can talk people into looking at it that way, then that would be,maybe we're doing something good for the world.
So I just want.
So I'm gonna say, like I said, I'm gonna say thank you again and this has been a fun time.
(56:10):
Unless you have anything else that you can give any advice to to anybody, I'll just letyou go.
I know it's a, I took an hour of your day on a Sunday and I thank you so much for that.
Thanks for the opportunity.
This was a fun conversation and I hope it helps somebody.
Take the chance.
(56:30):
Sometimes you're dragging yourself to get started.
I can't say that it's always the easiest conversation to drag children out on a hike whenthey would rather sit there and do nothing.
Or sometimes myself.
I don't feel like moving that day.
Yeah.
when you get out there and I mean, there was one specific quick story I'll finish up with.
(56:54):
last summer, my wife said on a Sunday afternoon, well, let's go hike, uh, ClarksportCanyon to bridleville falls.
Um, we had never done it.
She'd heard it was pretty.
She's like, man, I just don't know that I want to go out today.
And the kids were kind of, said, no, let's, let's push it.
Let's do it.
It was, you know, it was a little warm, but.
(57:16):
Clark's work kind of bakes in the sun in the summertime.
So, but let's do it.
And, and it's not the friendliest trail on foot.
It's a little hard on the knees and ankles and stuff, but we pushed it.
did it.
Despite her stepping on a snake, she did not die of a heart attack.
But when, when you climb up to the base of the falls and you turn around and you realizethat you are, you are a small insignificant part, but you
(57:45):
you feel alive.
And it was, we got back to the car dead tired after, after that one.
And, but everybody was so happy that they went and did it.
it was a, it was an absolutely gorgeous spot to sit and just take in that, you know, Godcreated this, and I'm a small part of it, but I get to be part of it.
(58:11):
And that was,
You come back feeling tired but refreshed all at the same time.
push yourself even when you don't feel like it.
Well, I like that feeling alive.
That is a don't die rusty thing there too, because we feel that's what it is.
(58:33):
It's about feeling alive within yourself and the world.
if we can make every, no, I can't say we can make everybody, but if we can make peoplefeel alive, maybe the world turns just a little bit better.
You know what I mean?
And so.
So thank you so much.
(58:53):
I loved the conversation and I'm gonna, I'll just let you go now.
So I'm gonna say, Don't Die Rusty Nation, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you andof course, Don't Die Rusty.
And thank you.
Thank you.
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