June 10, 2025 • 59 mins
In this engaging conversation, Rick H hosts Dennis and Kim Zuck, who share their journey through the outdoor industry, their strong partnership, and the challenges and rewards of moving to a new city. They discuss the importance of independence, family dynamics, and the wisdom gained through life experiences.
The Zucks emphasize the value of trust in relationships and the need to embrace change and opportunities to live life to the fullest.
Rick engages with Dennis and Kim, exploring themes of cultural exploration, childhood freedom, and the essence of a good life. They reflect on their experiences growing up, the importance of local connections, and the adventures of childhood that shaped their lives. The discussion also delves into parenting, the challenges of modern childhood, and the value of creating lasting memories with family.
Ultimately, they define the good life as being comfortable in one's own skin and enjoying the present moment.
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Takeaways
- Dennis Zuck has a rich background in the outdoor industry, having worked with brands like Yeti and Sitka.
- The Zucks have been married for 30 years, showcasing a strong partnership built on support and commitment.
- Moving to Memphis was a significant change for the Zucks, but they embraced it as an opportunity for growth.
- Kim Zuck emphasizes the importance of independence and personal growth in their relationship.
- Family dynamics play a crucial role in their lives, especially with their children making their own choices.
- The Zucks believe in living life to the fullest and not being afraid to take risks.
- Wisdom comes from experiences, both good and bad, and is essential for personal growth.
- Trust is a foundational element in their relationship, built over years of commitment and understanding.
- They encourage others to embrace change and seek out new experiences.
- The Zucks highlight the importance of being open to opportunities that life presents. Cultural experiences enrich our understanding of life.
- Local connections provide deeper insights than tourist attractions.
- Childhood freedom is diminishing in today's society.
- Adventures in childhood foster creativity and resilience.
- The importance of community in raising children.
- Memories with family are more valuable than material gifts.
- Authenticity in relationships leads to a fulfilling life.
- Life lessons often come from hardships and challenges.
- Defining the good life involves being present and content.
- Creating memories is essential for personal growth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So if you think of something that you would say, because sometimes I say stupid things, soI know that.
All right, so, I must already hit it.
Yep, it's recording now, so I already did that.
All right, so, all right.
(00:20):
Get my, hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Today we have some guests.
that I've been working on getting them for a long time.
And I was trying to get Dennis Zuck on here for a while.
And then I got talking to him because I wanted to have his wife Kim on too.
So we are lucky enough today to have Kim and Dennis Zuck on and Dennis has worked withYeti.
(00:46):
He's worked with Sikka and now he's worked, he's the CEO of Shin.
You can, you can correct me if I say it wrong, but Shin ah outdoor clothing, correct?
Yeah, Shingir, you said it right.
Perfect, yeah.
And Kim is an RN and they have, you know, in this world, you have a team and this is oneof the teams I watch.
(01:10):
It is amazing.
I'm friends with them on social media and I'm lucky enough to have met you guys first atthe hunting expo and then last year again at tack and it was such a fun time.
Yeah, absolutely.
So anyway, I just want, let's talk a little bit about where you've been, Dennis, if youwould give us a little, like give our viewers or listeners uh a little background on you,
(01:39):
if you would.
Yeah, totally.
And I'll try to make it quick, you know, because I really like to get some other stuff.
uh gosh, I've been in the outdoor industry for quite a while.
You know, um I started I really started at Gore doing medical products, electricalengineering kind of stuff and uh found my way into the outdoor industry through Gore.
And uh and in that, you know, we ended up acquiring a small little brand, Sitka, kind ofon accident and
(02:06):
moved to Bozeman to try to help set that up.
And so I spent a lot of time kind of learning the ropes with Sitka and learning garmentsand apparel and making a lot of mistakes.
I, so moving forward, I met this gentleman, Bill Neff, who is just a great guy still atYeti today.
And he introduced me to some folks there and I went over and tried to learn how to be agood marketer.
(02:30):
I could be a good product guy willing to be a good marketer.
And I learned a little bit.
and got a call back from Jonathan Hart said, would you come back to Sica?
So I'm a boomerang.
kind of, I left the place, but it was always near and dear to me.
I appreciated the people there and what we accomplished.
So I went back, had a great time.
um But you know, I like creating new things.
(02:52):
I like creating new values and I met the owners of Shen and uh they felt a lot like thoseearly Sica days to me.
So I signed up for it with my loving wife.
to move from Bozeman, Montana to Memphis, Tennessee, which most people will say I was, weare absolutely crazy for doing.
(03:12):
But you meet the people here, you see the energy, you go to our film fest or anything, andyou really, it was worth it to us.
Well, that's, that's amazing.
You know, cause you get to keep on chasing your dreams and you have a supporter beside youright there.
(03:33):
And Kim, you're an RNN, correct?
eh Good.
And here's, here's, I'm going to, so we've got into that.
You've talked to, Dennis has talked to other people about Shin.
So I want to talk about, here's the first thing I noticed.
(03:54):
We were at the Western Hunna Expo.
was fun to watch you guys together.
We went out for supper and then we all kind of talked there, you know, and I got to knowyou.
But the interesting thing is you guys were moving to Memphis when I was up at BozemanTatt.
yeah.
And you and Kim and I had this discussion that Dennis really wanted to go shoot and Ineeded to talk him into go shooting.
(04:21):
And when you walked up to me to ask me that, talk him in to go shoot with us in themorning, that said something to me, cause you guys are moving.
There's probably a lot of stress and pressure getting ready to move to not just down thestreet, but States away.
And you, you were.
It was just struck me like this is a cool wife that's trying to help your husband have agood time.
(04:47):
And I appreciate that.
it's fun.
How do you guys, I'm trying to think of the word, but how long have you been a teamactually?
30, well we've been married 30 years.
We've been together 32 years.
(05:07):
I met him in high school.
We went to prom together, we went to homecoming together, we graduated together.
We grew up together, really.
Yeah, we've we've known each other longer than we've known anything else in our wholelives.
You know, mean, I have always, that would probably be in one of my dreams, but that didn'twork out for me.
(05:34):
So it's fun to watch a couple that has been together for so long and cheer each other on.
Like I love watching you guys together.
You know what I mean?
not been easy.
mean, everybody thinks, oh, it's going to be easy and stuff, but there's been times thathe's helped me through things.
(05:58):
There's been times I've helped him do things.
Yeah.
You know, it's a partnership.
It's a commitment.
It's a, he was in the military for a long time.
I raised kids practically by myself for a long time, but it was worth it.
And that is, here's one of the things I'm lucky about nowadays is I'm married to awonderful woman myself and I see, I like the independence that she has too.
(06:33):
And I see that in you, Kim, you know, like, here's what I see is a take no shit kind ofperson.
That's what I see, you uh
is a hard one, right?
But you know, but still, like I said, it's good to see, you know, when Dennis got theopportunity to go to Memphis, I assumed that was a discussion between both of you and you
(07:02):
have to change your occupation, but change your thought process, you know?
How does that go?
I think it all started, so we lived in the same town for 36 years.
We lived on the family farm.
um That's where our kids were.
And we didn't think we would ever move from that town.
(07:25):
And when he came to me and he's like, they want me to move to Montana.
I don't know why.
I said, let's do it.
And he's like,
You said yes.
I thought it'd be a harder sell.
Yeah.
Well, you had said to me other times, let's move.
And I was like, we can't do this.
I had a business.
(07:45):
Um, my parents are there.
His parents are there.
Our kids were in school.
And I said, let's do it.
I think that was the hardest move that we ever did.
But I think it was something that I thought it would be fun.
I didn't know it was going to be that hard.
(08:06):
But I think it was a very smart decision looking back.
So now since all the moves that we've done, you have one life.
Let's go have fun.
And when you get complacent in some of them, and some of the times that I've seen whenhe's kind of not having the best time and there's a spark in his eye when it's time for
(08:29):
him to move on and he's not doing what he should be doing in life.
It's time to let's go have fun and do something else.
So I think that's where he was in the move in Memphis.
I think that's what he was ready to do.
Yeah, Rick, it's funny too, because you talk about being a Western hunter.
(08:50):
That's actually where that is the weekend, literally the weekend that Kim looked at me andsaid, you're not doing what you should be doing.
You should, you need to go do, because I was, I was spending time with MKC and all thebrands I really enjoyed, all the France is trying to make a difference.
And, uh and she's like, you love that.
(09:11):
Well, you know, like, don't die, Russ, is to be the best you and chase your dreams andlive your best life.
And that's what I see you guys doing.
Then a lot of people don't.
mean, like for Kim to see that in you that like, I'm not saying there's a dull in youreyes, but there's not that sparkle that used to happen.
(09:32):
she wouldn't, of course, growing up with you, she would know that.
I mean, being together as long and do you have some...
to not get stuck in the comfortable, you may not be happy, but you're, you know, this is,we're making, you know, you're, have a living, but to be able to take chances and have
(09:54):
that person cheering you on to take those chances, that has to be amazing.
It's absolutely amazing.
Yeah, and she knows me better than I know me.
I kind of think I have that feeling.
She's like, no, no, you do.
You do have that feeling and you need to do something with that.
Yep.
Cause you know, it's kind of interesting.
(10:14):
I've been talking about that I was in this funk uh a while ago, but I've started going tothis functional doctor and I have, I've talked about this in other episodes in chemo
understand.
mean, you would too, but like I was taking like somewhere between 10 and 15 ibuprofenmaybe four or five times a week.
(10:39):
You know what I mean?
Four days a week, four or five days a weekend.
And I have two torn meniscus of arthritis in my knees.
And after a month of doing this now, I have not taken one ibuprofen and I just, just aboutclimbed Mount Peel last week, but it got too icy and I didn't have crampons and I'm not
(10:59):
going to die because it says don't die.
On the first part of don't die rusty.
I really didn't want to die and roll down the hill.
But the interesting part about that is what I'm saying is I didn't realize how I was beingsnarky and cranky when I wasn't feeling good.
And I'm putting that into like you saying, know what, Kim seeing in you that I need to,you need to go challenge yourself.
(11:27):
And this is what you like doing is getting companies and getting gear out there andbuilding something bigger than
And that's amazing, you know, like for Kim to see that in you and say, let's do it, youknow.
And like I said, I've seen it before at TAC, like, talked Dennis to go shoot and we did.
(11:49):
I'm not going to talk about shooting because we had to pull John Barclow's little pack outand put that and put your insert back in your arrow there, but that's super good in there.
all want to have a good day.
But that's the cool things.
(12:10):
You guys went to Maryland to school, didn't you?
So you're Terrapins.
See, I'm a big Florida State fan, but I was thinking about this.
I did not go to the same college.
I went to Towson.
Yeah.
Yeah.
so I just, I was thinking about this on the way home.
(12:32):
said, uh, when to come and do this episode was, uh, the only Florida state game I haveever went to, it was against Maryland.
Yeah.
So it is down in Tallahassee.
So that was pretty cool.
So it was, it was interesting, but so what do you, what do you guys foresee in yourfuture?
(12:53):
I mean,
Keep challenging yourself and keep on living the best life.
So we still have our house in Montana.
Mm-hmm.
Daughter, so when we moved to Bozeman the first time, this was also another very hardthing that we had to do.
(13:15):
We had two kids.
One son was um eighth grade-ish, and he was definitely going with us.
Our daughter, so nobody knew.
I did not tell anybody yet that we were moving, because I knew it was going to be veryhard on everybody, because that was our home.
(13:35):
Everybody lived within a five minute radius.
Our daughter came to us at 16 and said, I'm pregnant.
So we were like, do we make this move or do we not make this move?
And this was a choice that she had made.
This was, and we went, we battled back, fought.
(13:56):
heard.
mentally battle back or and You were like in five years her life because she was gonna getmarried This was a guy she was gonna marry.
This is she was having this baby and in five years She was gonna move on with her life andwhere were we gonna be?
And if we stayed, we would have been in the same exact spot and she would have moved onwith her life.
(14:22):
So still chose to go ahead and go.
We supported them.
Not financially, but we, all of that, we offer for them to come and stay with us.
door was always open.
Yeah.
The door was always open.
She graduated from high school.
(14:44):
She's married to this guy.
They've been married for 12 ish years now.
They have four beautiful kids.
They stayed in Maryland.
They stayed in Maryland.
um They were high school sweethearts at the same high school that we went to.
And um they moved to Montana two years ago.
(15:05):
And when he got offered this job, I'm like, I can't move from my grandkids.
my daughter when they moved out here.
They didn't necessarily move for us because we told them we move.
Like, his dad may move us.
They did it for the kids and their education because they were still back in Maryland.
So as of right now, and our son's still there.
(15:30):
So as of right now, we're having fun.
We are going and we're going to, I'm going to spend the summer back there.
We're doing the winter's here.
oh I'm not doing a whole lot of nursing right now.
I'm going to events with Dennis and helping with events and it's pretty fun.
(15:51):
I'm helping him set up new stores and I've never been able to do any of that stuff becauseI've been raising kids, I've been working and I actually have the opportunity right now to
help them do that stuff.
Well that, cause I saw you tearing up your shirts at the concert and having a good time.
(16:12):
But that's what I'm saying though.
That's you helping him out at the event.
And that was very cool.
That's where I really got saying, when I was going to talk to Dennis here and I waswatching your posts there and I thought, I hope I can get Kim on because that just says
(16:33):
something to me.
Mm-hmm.
And with you guys moving, like my stepson and his wife moved to Anchorage.
He's a paramedic firefighter up there.
And I thought it's interesting because all the in-laws are either in Wyoming or right herein Spearfish.
(16:55):
Cindy, you know, is here in Spearfish, but her parents are in Gillette.
But I said, you know, I think that is a good move because
You have to grow up and grow together and being away from both, all sides helps you grow.
It helps you grow as a person because you can't just go down the street and ask a questionor you can ask question on the phone, but you just don't have that, you're not close, so
(17:24):
you have to grow.
And I said, this is good.
it's getting more more exciting because Cindy's...
having her first grand, well, going to have her first grandchild and all the excitement ofthat is fun watching because I like, I love to see her with a glow in her eyes.
I don't have kids of myself, so uh I just love watching this part of her and theexcitement and I love watching her son wanting to become a dad.
(17:55):
But I also like the fact that they're learning to become a couple away from everybodyelse.
You know, and I think that's where we grow.
Like, I've lived away from...
talking about that last night.
We always look for a house that our kids can come to.
(18:15):
And I'm like, we have to stop doing that.
because we've raised our kids to start their own tradition and be their own person.
I do want our kids to come to our house, but they're going to have their own families andtheir own mates and it doesn't and their own work schedules and it can't always work out
in a perfect world you want it to, but it's not going to always happen.
(18:40):
And this year for Christmas and it's not going to be for Christmas, it's going be January.
Yeah.
We are going to, we're all going to go together and we're going on a vacation and we'retaking our son, our son-in-law, daughter and four grandkids that we have now.
But it's...
(19:01):
We are raised, has taught us to raise our kids and send them out.
And that's what they're supposed to do.
Doesn't mean they can't pick up the phone when they have a problem.
It doesn't mean, but they're there to make their own traditions.
And it's not for us to be selfish for them to make the traditions that we taught themthere to make their own.
And we can still be a part of it.
(19:23):
Yeah, but it is true.
It's that whole idea of independence, right?
Like in, in breaking your head on that, but.
You know, we always, one side, we always say home is where we are, right?
So we've really gotten comfortable just being anywhere.
this last one wasn't that hard of a move for us because I think we're just comfortable inour own skins and we know how to survive, right?
(19:45):
ah But our daughter moving out and making that change on one side, you feel terrible.
You're like, gosh, you know, we were so close to having that conventional family, thatdrive down the road and go see everybody.
ah
But I'll tell you the schools in Montana are way better for those kids.
The life experiences are way better for those kids.
(20:06):
The independence that they're learning is way better for them.
And, you know, yeah, you know, there's nothing wrong with, you know,
living in the same hometown and spending your whole life there, there's people that that'sthe right thing for them.
But there's a lot of people that, you know, they probably, you know, when we first said wewere going to Montana, they thought we were luckiest people, actually.
(20:31):
They didn't look at us and say we were crazy.
They didn't look at us and say we were making a mistake.
They looked at us and said, I wish I could, or I would, or that could happen to me, right?
And at the end of the day, it's better for everyone, but
We left our, like it sounds like we had a 16 year old daughter pregnant and we abandonedher.
That's not what happened, right?
(20:53):
But you know, on the other side, you know, you gotta keep living, right?
Like life's gotta keep going forward.
And when you start guessing what other people want and need and try to cater to that orpander to that.
You're not letting them be their best person either, right?
You know, and so it's just a it's a philosophy and it's a hard one, but it works for usOur last two houses that Dennis has bought I never saw He bought the one in Montana and he
(21:23):
the one in Memphis and I was like the house and I said it's just a house like Doesn'tmatter it's a good area.
This is the area I like
Mm-hmm.
It's just a house.
If I don't like it, we'll move another time.
Well, that is, I mean, I like that philosophy because here's, like I grew up in a littletown.
(21:47):
I grew up on a ranch and then the town closest to us had maybe at the most 70 people.
Okay.
And then I graduated from another town that I I think we had 35, 36 in our class, maybe afew more.
But here.
(22:07):
It's interesting, like you said, because I came out, I came to Black Hill State here inSuperior Fair, South Dakota, played football, didn't know what I wanted to do.
I thought I'd chase girls, party, and I didn't know you had to study.
That was one of my problems, you know?
And then I didn't know what I really wanted to do with life.
(22:29):
And now I wish I'd known then, but everybody wishes they'd known then.
then I...
I went back to the ranch and I saved up and I went to Australia by myself and worked overthere.
I, people said, how can, from around there, said, how did you do that?
Well, you know, I just, I saved up money and I went because you can be afraid to go.
(22:52):
And I think that's some of the best things in life that helped me because for me to findmyself, like I said, I would have done in Western Australia that so.
It's not a hop home or a skip home.
it's, you know what I mean?
And you have to grow up and answer your own questions.
And that's what I think helped me.
(23:13):
And that's what I think.
And now I have a wife that she says, you, you have taken me places where I never wouldhave went.
You know, and she surprised me last week.
She went to Alaska, her, uh, to see her son and her plane got back home, back in intoBillings at, roughly.
(23:34):
Midnight and she just went and slept in her car till morning.
She said, I'm not going to pay for a hotel because there's no need to go.
You know, by the time you get to the hotel and that's something I would do, but I thought,here's my question.
Like, will she be driving in when I'm waking up or will she uh really do it?
And she did it in that, you know, and she's, she's very independent and that made mehappy.
(23:58):
But that's what I'm saying is you guys are living your life and
Sometimes independence is that way.
can go, you guys can go see your kids, but, and they can come and see you, but you'reliving your life too.
And I see too many people that don't live their life.
And I don't, I personally don't want to get to the end of my life and say, I should have.
(24:26):
When, when you
know how short our life is.
It might be five years from now.
It might be a hundred years from now.
I don't want to be that 55 year old who is sitting in a wheelchair because we didn't dowhat we should have done and we're too sore to be able to still go to Montana and climb
that mountain.
(24:47):
Yeah.
Well, you know, and I guess I look at it too.
And I never in a million years would have thought I would be doing what I'm doing.
And it's, it's a little bit of a dream come true.
Kim certainly made that happen, but it's also a little bit of just taking opportunities asthey come and just letting, letting the world take you where it's going to take you.
Right.
(25:07):
And to do that, you have to be open to it too.
You have to say, there's an opportunity.
uh What can I make of that opportunity?
Right.
sure a million people you'll never know if you let it go by you and a lot of peopleprobably do because this is safe or that jobs I understand it I know it or you know
(25:28):
there's this there's a support system I have or whatever it may be right um you know youbut you'll spend that much time trying to figure out your major and just plan your life
like this right down to this big ambition you have when the when the truth is it's 70 % ofyour life you have no control over
A lot of people come to you and they're like, how do I get where you are?
(25:52):
And they want to always be to the top.
And that's not where it is.
They don't want the sacrifices that it takes to get to this spot.
you started in the military at the lowest rank that you can get and worked his way up.
it was, it's...
(26:12):
It's taken years to get to it.
It wasn't easy.
You know, there was a lot of nights, a lot of weekends, a lot of I didn't see him formonths.
Yeah.
You know, it wasn't what it is now.
Like people see like right now I'm not working.
I work there was holidays, weekends that I didn't get to go to my kids basketball gamesand baseball and lacrosse games.
(26:36):
You know, there was a lot of that stuff that I didn't get to do.
Yeah.
and you know, that's the things that I think maybe I'm wrong.
And I try not to be cynical, but I see a lot of kids these days that are starting tounderstand that.
But cause a lot of people think that they want to be up here before they even startedright here.
(27:01):
And like, they want this money or be in dude, started out 50 cents an hour, dude, youknow, kind of thing.
When I was 10 years old raking hay, you know, and I thought that was cool.
And it got me enough to get a red rider BB gun.
And I was happy about that stuff, you know, but, and they, they don't understand the hoursthat you put into or whatever.
(27:26):
Like you saying, you know, Dennis has gone military wise and you're staying home and doingyour stuff.
And, and you know, what's amazing to me though, and this is why I.
Like for you guys to do that though, there's trust.
There's you, there's hard times.
(27:47):
I'm not saying there's hard times.
I'm saying that, but the trust is the big thing.
And when you have peace of mind, that helps out a ton.
In the hard work isn't so bad when you have peace of mind, I think.
Cause like Cindy.
I there was a lot of business trips, was lot of, I mean there was things that...
(28:10):
A lot of time away.
Yeah, a lot of time away that we put, I mean we were just talking about the other day.
If you go, there's guys and girls, don't put yourself in a situation that could happen.
You don't go in a vehicle with another woman by yourself.
You don't go to dinner with another woman by yourself.
(28:33):
It's just a thing.
Well, but you said it to Rick, it's trust, right?
you know, you got to deposit in that bank account, right?
And you don't, you know, if you want to be trusted, you have to be respectful too.
And you have to be conscious of, you know, people's feelings and how it does or doesn'tmake them feel.
like you earn trust by not violating it, but you also earn it by being at leastconsiderate of it.
(28:59):
Right.
it's not that he did any of it.
It's because that was all that
my family and that's I knew.
I pick her that one a lot.
I needed to see this.
That's not how life was.
We got married and we lived apart for a year because I couldn't see him because I couldn'tget on base without being married.
(29:27):
Like it was different back then.
I couldn't get on base because of that.
And my dad wouldn't let me visit him because we couldn't afford to get a hotel room.
And I couldn't stay with him.
My dad, if I was still living in my dad's house, I couldn't stay with him in a place, in ahotel, if we weren't married.
(29:47):
So we got married in the middle of um when I was still in nursing school.
And then we lived apart for a whole year.
My holiday leave, right?
You found the time you could, and that's what you wanted to happen.
And back then in the military, you were living at the poverty level, maybe worse.
So, I mean, they're hard times, right?
(30:09):
This is not easy to figure out, right?
And it's, I don't know.
But going back to your trust thing and the time and the commitment, it's real and it's noteasy.
But it's so worth it.
that's like, I don't know, I think of wisdom, right?
So what is wisdom?
Wisdom is only as good as your worst and your best day, right?
(30:30):
And if you don't let yourself live, how do you ever become wise, right?
And you don't put yourself out there.
you take chances, all those things.
That's what wisdom is.
Wisdom is just a lot of data compiled up, which is data you've gathered over just being atit.
going, right?
(30:52):
Yeah, it is because I've made a lot of mistakes and I did a lot of good things, but I'velearned that's where my wisdom would come from.
it's, you know, what's interesting is, and I try to give wisdom to some of the youngpeople I know, but you know what?
There's no cliff notes that you can give anybody to learn that you got to learn wisdom.
(31:16):
I can say things and tell them what I've done, ever been through, but.
until you go, you got to go through the hardships to get the good stuff.
And then you really relish it.
it's what also makes a relationship 30 some years later.
Like, yeah, it's been up and down and everything, the best endearing things take work.
(31:41):
Right.
The things that last long took a long time.
Things that come to you quit, they go quick too.
Right.
And it's just, it's just, how do you want to live?
Yeah, because nothing's more rewarding than having to really work for it.
mean, if something came easy, you know, I mean, it's easy to throw away.
(32:01):
uh Really, and something easy is, I mean, yeah, it doesn't matter if it's material goodsor I've seen it in relationships too, you know, if something's easy to come by, it, you
know, I'm not saying that people don't fall in love, but I'm saying quick, but I'm justsaying it's just
(32:21):
if it's easy and you don't have to go through things, then it is easy to throw away.
So, yeah, no, this is, it's just one of those things.
I loved hearing about your lives.
It's like, because I was somewhat similar in the same way in, I mean, I have a goodCatholic mom and, know, you lived, she was,
(32:51):
very Catholic will say, know, and I'm, I'm a bad Catholic.
I'll just say that right now.
And, but I, but, you know, I mean, you learned a lot of stuff from those things.
And I was one of those guys that I called my mom every morning as I went to work.
Cause in the last two, three years of her life, because we never knew.
(33:14):
And like I said, and I think people should relish the fact that they, there is no rewindin life and you have to.
keep moving forward and, but, and we would talk five or two, five minutes to 10 minutes toa half hour to nothing, but you know, but it would, didn't matter.
But that was part of the family thing.
(33:34):
Cause she always cheered me on to go live these adventures that I would go on.
Cause she wasn't in the health to go do this stuff, but, that's kind of.
in the whole scheme of things, when social media started coming out, it was just easierfor me to start posting my adventures, because she, it was the most fun things for her to
(33:57):
say, there's where Rick is, that's what Rick's doing, you know, kind of thing.
And then we had something to talk about and those stories and life.
And she was the one I'd asked my questions to.
but she knew, as you said earlier, which is really funny, is,
(34:20):
I will never ever, ever live back where I grew up.
I just won't.
And that's just me, the Black Hills are my home.
But if Montana called, Montana could be my home too.
(34:43):
But I'm only, I'm a skip away from Montana anyway, but you know what I mean.
uh
There's, you don't, I just can't foresee myself going back there, but those people thatare there that are farming and that's their life and that's what all they've ever wanted
to do.
That was them.
Me, I want to go see what's over the next hill.
(35:04):
And then I get to the top of that hill.
I want to go see what's over the next hill.
And if it's a hard climb, then that's the way it is.
But you know, like I can't sit still.
I may have a home here, but I can't sit still.
that's, so I have four wheels and gasoline in the vehicle.
(35:27):
I can do a lot of stuff.
And I think people are afraid to go do things.
They're afraid to get outside that circle.
I know people that haven't left South Dakota.
And I'm going, and I think the internet has made it, and TV.
YouTube will say, or in other things, like they feel like they can go to those places, butthey never have to leave their house.
(35:55):
And there are things you know, as well as I know, you can go to, there's different smells,there's different people, there's different lives, there's different cultures, even in
America.
And if you don't go experience this stuff, I don't think...
(36:15):
For me personally, I don't put down other people if they don't but I don't feel like I'velived and I want to go experience everything from Waffle House to
And I didn't do much of that until when he told me we moving to Montana.
I had to kind of get a map to see.
(36:36):
I knew it was out west, but not really where it was.
Cause we had done, I had went, so we were in Maryland.
I had did Florida and West Virginia, but that's about it.
We didn't really travel.
that's, if you hear something snoring, our dog is beside us snoring.
He travels with you.
(36:58):
any places we really went and now it's like there's more out there.
Like what else is fun?
What else is you Yeah I've always been fascinated like I've been I've been really blessedin my life and I've gotten to you know working at Gore you know I worked a lot with Asian
(37:18):
cultures and German cultures and Italians and just you know people from around the worldand I
I always was really fascinated with that part of it.
Like I could go see that steeple or that site that everybody talked about, but I was moreinterested in going and hanging out with some locals or learning what they were into or
(37:42):
what they ate or how their grandfather used to do something, right?
Like I just, think that there's those parts of life that...
I don't know, not everybody's attuned to it.
It's not a net geo check the list kind of thing, right?
No, like you said, there isn't.
(38:05):
It's interesting that you've got to see those cultures because of gore or other productsthat you've been in.
You know, mean, clothing and stuff.
I'm gonna pause here.
You wanna scoot over just a little bit?
There.
(38:25):
Oh, I heard that.
You want us to figure out who it is?
No, I wanted him just to scoot over so he was in the picture.
No, there, now you're out of the picture.
just...
Okay.
Yes, literally, I don't know how many people are here besides us and it's still going.
(38:49):
I hope it's not your guy's car.
You seen the other cars up?
There's another car up there.
Something's...
Hold on right there, Craig.
Let me just...
we gotcha.
We got to make sure it's not the security system.
Sorry.
No, you're good.
(39:28):
hope you can edit this out.
Yes, I can.
That's why I said don't worry about anything.
Yeah, there's nobody else here.
There's the alarm going off outside.
You can edit.
(39:48):
We're good.
You
(40:30):
Baby I've been yelling their name.
I'm already yelling.
Hello?
It's off.
(40:50):
Sorry, Rick.
It's all, I never found them, but like somebody turned it off.
It's one of our guys, his truck's.
No, it's actually.
I heard the alarm, but you kept on going out of the picture.
I was like.
(41:13):
No, we're good.
We're way good.
no, so, you know, I mean, those are the adventures we go on.
Like horn honking.
At least it's not your car.
uh
We're in Memphis, you know, it's a little more.
It's not Bozeman, Montana.
Little hit or miss.
mean, something could really be braiding into a car out there.
uh
(41:34):
That's what I hear, you know, I mean, there's there's more than barbecue in Memphis,correct?
is.
This takes a from news a couple of times to realize that.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but you gotta watch your rear shoulder.
(41:54):
Yeah.
m
And that's where I, excuse me, that's where it's interesting when you say you're, well, Ijust had a drink of sparkling ice and it's starting to come back up on me here, sorry.
I'll edit that part out too.
(42:17):
anyway, we'll get back to the kids part here.
that also interests me that we talk about the cities and stuff like that and moving back.
your daughter moving your grandkids to Montana.
And I have to admit that I've talked, I talked about this with uh one of my friends theother day.
(42:39):
And I said, you know, I really truly miss that kids just don't get to run as much anymore.
Like we were up at my uncle's cabin up here in the middle of the woods and like I'm a
10, I, you know, I'm, they probably watched me a little more, but I'm eight, 10, 12 yearsold.
(43:04):
And you just took off running once you got to the cabin and it didn't matter.
You came back at dark and nobody knew where you were.
And you could have been way up in the black Hills.
Nobody knew, or even on the ranch, you took off and there's no, there is no internet.
There is nothing.
And you guys know that.
And you just went and.
(43:24):
found, used your imagination and I got in trouble a few times by using it too much andtrying to make a boat and I don't know how to swim and this and that.
I got, you know, I'm a bad dog paddler at best.
And my mom saw me out in the middle of the water with on a door with two 55 gallon drumsand said, what the heck are you doing?
(43:47):
Kind of thing.
But the adventures that you get to have.
I don't know if many kids get to do that anymore because they're of the world we live in.
Yeah.
Well, that's absolutely right.
mean, you know, I, my, my grandson, sometimes he'll be playing.
don't even understand this to be really honest.
He'll be, he'll be watching Minecraft.
(44:09):
guess that's a game he likes someone else playing Minecraft on YouTube and fascinated bythat.
I'm like, don't you just want to go outside?
Right.
And do, and you know, and because, you know, taking him hunting and he's done a lot ofthings.
At least he understands what that other opportunity is.
I fear for a kid that never has that or never ever seen those environments that that islife.
(44:33):
Like that's the best thing they understand is this virtual world between Instagram andsocial media and the gaming worlds.
It's like I grew up in plannin' cornfields and goin' to my neighbor's house and you know.
Nobody had called or checked in on you just got back before dark, right?
(44:54):
You know, it's just not like that now in most places.
Or in most places, it's not like.
No, it wasn't.
you know, like I lived three miles from Reehights, roughly three and a half, four milesfrom Reehights.
And if I wanted to go in, like we would round up.
(45:15):
It didn't matter from, as long as you could hit a softball and play, didn't matter ages.
We'd round, phone calls would go out.
I would ride my bike into town.
Cause you, from out in
the ranch there and you drive into town and it didn't matter boys or girls, we would justtry to round up as many.
So we'd have two teams and we could play.
(45:36):
and, but here's the other thing, like if I went into play with friends, we'll say, andthis is with dial up phones.
My mom would know she'd probably know quicker now than with then, than with a cell phonetoday, because everybody's watching you if you're in town, you know what I mean?
It's, and it wasn't like, it's not like, it's not like
(45:59):
it was like, you know, people watching you is like, if you were doing something stupid,your mom's going to get a call and it ain't your dad is going to get a call and it's not
good.
But it was like just the way it was, you know, everybody kind of, uh, watched everybodyelse and you still got to run free, you know, but it was just, you got to watch everybody
(46:20):
else.
And I missed if I had kids, that would be one of the things that I would really
want for them is to be able to run free.
Absolutely.
you so our daughter lives in Manhattan.
Have you been?
OK, so they still live in town.
(46:43):
They live on dirt road.
The kids can still play on the dirt road in their bikes, don't have to worry about it, andthey can still walk to school now.
Isn't that?
They're the older one can the younger ones can't yet, but they're how many places can youdo that?
It's not very few places that you can do that anymore.
(47:05):
Yeah.
Don't lock your door.
You know, other day in Montana, they're like, how do you get in your house?
like, just walk in and they're like, you don't have a key.
I'm like, no, like you don't have to hear.
And that's why I grew up too.
(47:25):
You didn't have to lock your doors.
didn't, you know, and it's also funny like going to high school.
I had, I would take guns to school because I was, I if I saw a coyote or if I sawsomething on the way, we had permission to shoot.
(47:46):
it's funny if people would know like in high school, in speech class, they wanted us to doa
demonstration and I said, well, can I bring in my rifle for safety, for a safety uhdemonstration?
And I said, nah, that you're going a little far there.
You know what I mean?
You can't bring the rifle in to do that.
said, well, but you know, it wasn't thought of, don't, didn't think of, I was like, mosteverybody had guns in their vehicle because we were all mostly ranch kids and then, you
(48:16):
know, that kind of stuff or whatever.
And it was just one of those things.
And now it's like,
I can't imagine not, but I can't imagine kids these days, you know, it's a differentthing.
It's just crazy.
And like I said, be, you know, to be free and live life, that's cool.
(48:38):
So, you lived, you guys lived close on a farm or something or when you grew up?
Yeah, well.
Where we grew up in Maryland.
Yeah.
I live a far, so we were about 15 minutes apart.
uh I grew up on a hundred acres.
(49:01):
I did not.
And I did not meet him until, so I went to a private school up until 10th-ish grade and Iwanted to go to VOTEC because I knew I wanted to be a nurse.
So to get into that Bo-Tech, had to switch and go to a public school.
(49:24):
And I met him, I actually didn't meet him in school.
I met him at Denny's because he was sitting with somebody in my homeroom.
That's how I met him.
It...
It is a
off work.
I got work, like I started working when was 14 years old, you know, so I was just gettingoff work at Dairy Queen.
(49:44):
eh
That would have been a bad place for me to work.
Cause I love ice cream.
oh And that's why our parents still live there.
His parents still live there.
When our daughter had her baby, she had lots of support.
(50:06):
Her in-laws live there.
family still there.
still go back there quite a bit.
We have a cabin there that we raised our kids.
We went on the weekends there.
ah sick as headquarters, gore who owns sick headquarters was and we would, we would go andstay in the cabin there two, three weeks at a time.
(50:29):
That's when we would see our daughter, see our parents, we'd spend time there.
So we still would go back there quite a bit.
My best friend has a cabin right next to it.
So then we can hang out.
That sounds like trouble.
Dennis isn't saying anything there.
(50:50):
Okay.
But that's good.
I mean, I go back and see my dad.
I hardly ever leave town, but I get to go do the eight o'clock coffee and solve theworld's problems.
And then between eight and three, probably more world problems come up.
(51:11):
So then three o'clock, they have to go have coffee again.
So if I go back with my dad, he's 81, but he walks two or three miles a day and then hegoes and makes the coffee.
I go in there and they get a new version of solving the world's problems when I go back.
those are the, that's a fun part of going back to where you grew up too.
(51:33):
I, like I said, I wouldn't live there probably, but I like going back to relive thememories.
you, it's funny how things get smaller.
Like, you know, as a kid, everything's so big and then like things get smaller, but it'sso.
I love the feeling of knowing where I grew up and like that, you meeting, you guys meetingat a Denny's and you know, I wish, like I said, it would be interesting to have those,
(52:09):
memories of meeting someone and growing old with them.
Cause that is, that's a story.
That's, that's the story I love to hear, you know, and, and that is.
I'm just trying to think of, you put me in a different place here and I get a littlesentimental like that's the stuff that's very, very cool.
(52:35):
Anyway, but anyway, so you went to college and you went into the military.
Yeah, I was, I grew up, you know, I pretty much, I left home at 17 and that was kind of, Inever looked back.
My parents never really had much and it was, it was, if you wanted to do things in thisworld, you were going to figure that out yourself.
(53:01):
Right.
And I remember I worked in a Marina, just kind of dockhand kind of thing.
And again, Kim pushing me, she's like, when are going to get a real job?
Right.
And I didn't know what a real job was.
So was like, I think I'm going to go in the military because I need to get it.
(53:21):
know, one of us had to get a loan.
So it was like, which one of us are going to go to college right now and get a loan?
So we chose for me to get a loan.
We were going to let the military pay for his college.
So that's why we did it that way.
So that's why I said, when are you going to get a real job?
Yeah.
(53:41):
And there was no baby on the way.
was straight up, you know, these kids.
I look back at that now and I can't even imagine.
I can't, you know, I think of 19 year olds, heck, my son's 24 and sometimes I'm like, oh,he's still a kid.
Like, he'll figure this out later.
I'm like, 24?
was like, I was out of active, into garden reserve, had kids, you know, but you know, Ilook back at that now and I can't imagine, you know.
(54:09):
my 19 year old daughter, son, boyfriend coming to me and saying, hey, I'm getting, youguys want, you care, can I marry your daughter?
And we're doing this big wedding and we're sitting planning our lives.
Like who's getting alone and driving, who's gonna drive the car alone?
Like we've been a team, we've been a team for as long as I can remember.
(54:35):
Well, for you to know that, like who's gonna get alone?
is, gosh, would, no.
look at it now and it's like, how did we even think that through?
Like, we wouldn't change anything.
Like, you wouldn't change anything, but.
It's kind of crazy at this point.
(54:56):
Looking back, it seems crazier.
Well, I just wish I would have had the foresight myself, like I'm saying.
I thought you went to college and played football, chased girls and partied.
And I thought life came at you and you got a job and things worked out.
I wasn't, I wish I would have been more focused, a little bit more focused.
(55:17):
And I hear this stuff and like I go back and say, hmm, you're kind of a dumb ass Ricksometimes, but you know, but like I said,
If you don't go through those hardships, where do you get your wisdom?
And it was, like you said, we got a lot of stuff hit in our face when we, so when wefinally moved together, because we had it planned.
(55:40):
I knew I wanted to have a baby before I started into my nursing career.
So the day I found out I graduated was the day I found out I was pregnant.
And, um,
us having a baby at so young and I was 20.
(56:00):
I was 20 when I had our first and then he comes to us.
We built a house at 21 and then then that was the, my parents gave us an acre on the farm.
That's what got us started and they helped us build the house and then he comes to me at23 and he's like, um, we're to have another baby now or never.
(56:23):
And I'm like,
Okay, we had no money.
We had we were house poor.
I remember going I tell people this all the time.
I remember going to McDonald's.
and buy, remember when they had like 29 cent cheeseburgers and 39 cents?
I would buy enough for the week, because we were living on military money.
(56:46):
I would buy enough for the week, throw them in the freezer and buy a tomato.
And I would pull two out a night for us, cut up the tomato.
And that's what we would have for the week.
If he went hunting and got deer, that was like smorgasbord for us.
That's what we ate.
Like, that's all we could afford.
Like that was...
Yeah.
(57:07):
But didn't stop us from deciding to start a family.
you know, there's everybody waits for that perfect time.
like, I don't know, everybody's got their own story.
We looked at it and all of our friends were partying.
I'm like, why aren't we partying?
Why are we home with babies?
We wouldn't have changed it.
We're glad we did it because we get to do this now.
(57:30):
And we have a lot of friends our age that have little ones.
Yeah.
Ooh, I can't imagine the little one.
Cause we're all roughly in that same age group.
I know that.
And so I can't, I could not imagine it.
Yeah.
Cause I know I have a coworker that just had a baby and it is amazing.
(57:54):
Like, I don't know how you could do that at this age.
Like this is time to live life.
Like I, I'm not, I just was in a bad, you know, I mean this not
It was just bad timing on my part.
And that's where I'll go.
But now I have step kids and I was always told, cause I always got into a, I talked tosome older people and I said, you know, what's your legacy?
(58:19):
Because I don't have any kids.
And they would say, you know, and I was talking to the people that didn't have kids andthey said, your legacy is what you left behind.
like I have friends kids and I, that I've done.
do stuff with and this and that.
So that's the legacy.
So, yeah.
(58:39):
that may be, whether it's through people, product, things, whatever, right?
And that's what you do with them.
And that's why we decided we're not doing gifts anymore with the kids and the grandkids.
We're taking them somewhere because we want to create memories with them.
They'll never, they'll forget the gifts.
They'll remember the memories.
(59:01):
So anyway, I love that part because I truly believe in that, that memories are whatcreates the best people.
that's, but anyway, I'll start winding this down here, but when we get to the last part ofthis thing, and I appreciate,
(59:25):
you taking the time to be with me both of you.
Cause I've, I got to learn a little bit more.
And like I said, I like watching you rip up the shirts last week or two weeks ago orwhenever that was, was awesome.
And to see you cheer on your husband and, for Dennis to cheer you on too.
(59:45):
That's cool, Kim, you know, and I, you inspire me even though we don't talk much.
I mean like,
I see what's going on here and there and that inspiration doesn't need to be said.
You know what I mean?
Like, and I just, I say, Cindy, look at this.
(01:00:07):
Isn't this cool?
This is where I believe that most people should be in cheering their spouses on.
And like I said, I cheer her on, go see your son in Alaska and go enjoy your grandkid.
Because...
You don't get to do that, you know, all the time.
(01:00:28):
And I'm not the one that needs to go hold a baby myself, but you know, you guys inspire meto be better.
And there's so many other questions that I would, we'll have to talk sometime that I havefor you guys.
But, uh, when we get to the end of the episode, we asked one final question.
(01:00:55):
And that is, what's the good life to Kim and Dennis?
Do you want to go first?
No, ahead.
To me, I don't know.
I think conventionally the good life is for most people it's about money or things youhave or whatever, ah I think it's being comfortable in your own skin.
(01:01:28):
enjoying what I have right now.
I like hearing that.
Yeah.
But a mega yacht and an offshore boat, no, that'd be nice too.
Why would say that?
Your good life is being with somebody you really love and they love you and you'recontent.
(01:01:52):
Yeah, that's what I mean.
That's per se.
Enjoying what I have right now.
I love hearing that.
Not looking in the future, not looking at the past, being happy right now.
Being present.
Yep.
Well, that is awesome.
I believe that too, because I think I'm living my best life right now.
(01:02:14):
Just a good life right now is my best life right now.
And ah that is awesome to see.
cause I, here's the deal.
I try to be authentic when you get Rick, when you see me, I'm not, and you've seen me inbeing Rick and I've seen you guys and
(01:02:38):
that's the coolest part is you're both so authentic and real that you know what I mean?
And that's the best part of knowing you guys.
means a lot.
knowing you too, right?
This is awesome.
It was fun meeting you.
(01:02:58):
A couple years ago, when who, Ashley, think introduced introduced me.
Yeah.
Yeah, she probably said this is my dumbass friend.
No.
No, because actually, we had, you know.
We do some stupid things, make those stupid videos together every once in a while, butthat's to get people laughing, you know?
(01:03:25):
So that's good.
So, but anyway, well, anyway, I'm going to say, well, thank you for being on the Don't DieRusty podcast.
So that is awesome.
so, Don't Die Rusty Nation, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you, and of course,don't die rusty.
Thanks.
So if you think of something that you would say, because sometimes I say stupid things, soI know that.
All right, so, I must already hit it.
Yep, it's recording now, so I already did that.
All right, so, all right.
(00:20):
Get my, hello, Don't Die Rusty Nation.
Today we have some guests.
that I've been working on getting them for a long time.
And I was trying to get Dennis Zuck on here for a while.
And then I got talking to him because I wanted to have his wife Kim on too.
So we are lucky enough today to have Kim and Dennis Zuck on and Dennis has worked withYeti.
(00:46):
He's worked with Sikka and now he's worked, he's the CEO of Shin.
You can, you can correct me if I say it wrong, but Shin ah outdoor clothing, correct?
Yeah, Shingir, you said it right.
Perfect, yeah.
And Kim is an RN and they have, you know, in this world, you have a team and this is oneof the teams I watch.
(01:10):
It is amazing.
I'm friends with them on social media and I'm lucky enough to have met you guys first atthe hunting expo and then last year again at tack and it was such a fun time.
Yeah, absolutely.
So anyway, I just want, let's talk a little bit about where you've been, Dennis, if youwould give us a little, like give our viewers or listeners uh a little background on you,
(01:39):
if you would.
Yeah, totally.
And I'll try to make it quick, you know, because I really like to get some other stuff.
uh gosh, I've been in the outdoor industry for quite a while.
You know, um I started I really started at Gore doing medical products, electricalengineering kind of stuff and uh found my way into the outdoor industry through Gore.
And uh and in that, you know, we ended up acquiring a small little brand, Sitka, kind ofon accident and
(02:06):
moved to Bozeman to try to help set that up.
And so I spent a lot of time kind of learning the ropes with Sitka and learning garmentsand apparel and making a lot of mistakes.
I, so moving forward, I met this gentleman, Bill Neff, who is just a great guy still atYeti today.
And he introduced me to some folks there and I went over and tried to learn how to be agood marketer.
(02:30):
I could be a good product guy willing to be a good marketer.
And I learned a little bit.
and got a call back from Jonathan Hart said, would you come back to Sica?
So I'm a boomerang.
kind of, I left the place, but it was always near and dear to me.
I appreciated the people there and what we accomplished.
So I went back, had a great time.
um But you know, I like creating new things.
(02:52):
I like creating new values and I met the owners of Shen and uh they felt a lot like thoseearly Sica days to me.
So I signed up for it with my loving wife.
to move from Bozeman, Montana to Memphis, Tennessee, which most people will say I was, weare absolutely crazy for doing.
(03:12):
But you meet the people here, you see the energy, you go to our film fest or anything, andyou really, it was worth it to us.
Well, that's, that's amazing.
You know, cause you get to keep on chasing your dreams and you have a supporter beside youright there.
(03:33):
And Kim, you're an RNN, correct?
eh Good.
And here's, here's, I'm going to, so we've got into that.
You've talked to, Dennis has talked to other people about Shin.
So I want to talk about, here's the first thing I noticed.
(03:54):
We were at the Western Hunna Expo.
was fun to watch you guys together.
We went out for supper and then we all kind of talked there, you know, and I got to knowyou.
But the interesting thing is you guys were moving to Memphis when I was up at BozemanTatt.
yeah.
And you and Kim and I had this discussion that Dennis really wanted to go shoot and Ineeded to talk him into go shooting.
(04:21):
And when you walked up to me to ask me that, talk him in to go shoot with us in themorning, that said something to me, cause you guys are moving.
There's probably a lot of stress and pressure getting ready to move to not just down thestreet, but States away.
And you, you were.
It was just struck me like this is a cool wife that's trying to help your husband have agood time.
(04:47):
And I appreciate that.
it's fun.
How do you guys, I'm trying to think of the word, but how long have you been a teamactually?
30, well we've been married 30 years.
We've been together 32 years.
(05:07):
I met him in high school.
We went to prom together, we went to homecoming together, we graduated together.
We grew up together, really.
Yeah, we've we've known each other longer than we've known anything else in our wholelives.
You know, mean, I have always, that would probably be in one of my dreams, but that didn'twork out for me.
(05:34):
So it's fun to watch a couple that has been together for so long and cheer each other on.
Like I love watching you guys together.
You know what I mean?
not been easy.
mean, everybody thinks, oh, it's going to be easy and stuff, but there's been times thathe's helped me through things.
(05:58):
There's been times I've helped him do things.
Yeah.
You know, it's a partnership.
It's a commitment.
It's a, he was in the military for a long time.
I raised kids practically by myself for a long time, but it was worth it.
And that is, here's one of the things I'm lucky about nowadays is I'm married to awonderful woman myself and I see, I like the independence that she has too.
(06:33):
And I see that in you, Kim, you know, like, here's what I see is a take no shit kind ofperson.
That's what I see, you uh
is a hard one, right?
But you know, but still, like I said, it's good to see, you know, when Dennis got theopportunity to go to Memphis, I assumed that was a discussion between both of you and you
(07:02):
have to change your occupation, but change your thought process, you know?
How does that go?
I think it all started, so we lived in the same town for 36 years.
We lived on the family farm.
um That's where our kids were.
And we didn't think we would ever move from that town.
(07:25):
And when he came to me and he's like, they want me to move to Montana.
I don't know why.
I said, let's do it.
And he's like,
You said yes.
I thought it'd be a harder sell.
Yeah.
Well, you had said to me other times, let's move.
And I was like, we can't do this.
I had a business.
(07:45):
Um, my parents are there.
His parents are there.
Our kids were in school.
And I said, let's do it.
I think that was the hardest move that we ever did.
But I think it was something that I thought it would be fun.
I didn't know it was going to be that hard.
(08:06):
But I think it was a very smart decision looking back.
So now since all the moves that we've done, you have one life.
Let's go have fun.
And when you get complacent in some of them, and some of the times that I've seen whenhe's kind of not having the best time and there's a spark in his eye when it's time for
(08:29):
him to move on and he's not doing what he should be doing in life.
It's time to let's go have fun and do something else.
So I think that's where he was in the move in Memphis.
I think that's what he was ready to do.
Yeah, Rick, it's funny too, because you talk about being a Western hunter.
(08:50):
That's actually where that is the weekend, literally the weekend that Kim looked at me andsaid, you're not doing what you should be doing.
You should, you need to go do, because I was, I was spending time with MKC and all thebrands I really enjoyed, all the France is trying to make a difference.
And, uh and she's like, you love that.
(09:11):
Well, you know, like, don't die, Russ, is to be the best you and chase your dreams andlive your best life.
And that's what I see you guys doing.
Then a lot of people don't.
mean, like for Kim to see that in you that like, I'm not saying there's a dull in youreyes, but there's not that sparkle that used to happen.
(09:32):
she wouldn't, of course, growing up with you, she would know that.
I mean, being together as long and do you have some...
to not get stuck in the comfortable, you may not be happy, but you're, you know, this is,we're making, you know, you're, have a living, but to be able to take chances and have
(09:54):
that person cheering you on to take those chances, that has to be amazing.
It's absolutely amazing.
Yeah, and she knows me better than I know me.
I kind of think I have that feeling.
She's like, no, no, you do.
You do have that feeling and you need to do something with that.
Yep.
Cause you know, it's kind of interesting.
(10:14):
I've been talking about that I was in this funk uh a while ago, but I've started going tothis functional doctor and I have, I've talked about this in other episodes in chemo
understand.
mean, you would too, but like I was taking like somewhere between 10 and 15 ibuprofenmaybe four or five times a week.
(10:39):
You know what I mean?
Four days a week, four or five days a weekend.
And I have two torn meniscus of arthritis in my knees.
And after a month of doing this now, I have not taken one ibuprofen and I just, just aboutclimbed Mount Peel last week, but it got too icy and I didn't have crampons and I'm not
(10:59):
going to die because it says don't die.
On the first part of don't die rusty.
I really didn't want to die and roll down the hill.
But the interesting part about that is what I'm saying is I didn't realize how I was beingsnarky and cranky when I wasn't feeling good.
And I'm putting that into like you saying, know what, Kim seeing in you that I need to,you need to go challenge yourself.
(11:27):
And this is what you like doing is getting companies and getting gear out there andbuilding something bigger than
And that's amazing, you know, like for Kim to see that in you and say, let's do it, youknow.
And like I said, I've seen it before at TAC, like, talked Dennis to go shoot and we did.
(11:49):
I'm not going to talk about shooting because we had to pull John Barclow's little pack outand put that and put your insert back in your arrow there, but that's super good in there.
all want to have a good day.
But that's the cool things.
(12:10):
You guys went to Maryland to school, didn't you?
So you're Terrapins.
See, I'm a big Florida State fan, but I was thinking about this.
I did not go to the same college.
I went to Towson.
Yeah.
Yeah.
so I just, I was thinking about this on the way home.
(12:32):
said, uh, when to come and do this episode was, uh, the only Florida state game I haveever went to, it was against Maryland.
Yeah.
So it is down in Tallahassee.
So that was pretty cool.
So it was, it was interesting, but so what do you, what do you guys foresee in yourfuture?
(12:53):
I mean,
Keep challenging yourself and keep on living the best life.
So we still have our house in Montana.
Mm-hmm.
Daughter, so when we moved to Bozeman the first time, this was also another very hardthing that we had to do.
(13:15):
We had two kids.
One son was um eighth grade-ish, and he was definitely going with us.
Our daughter, so nobody knew.
I did not tell anybody yet that we were moving, because I knew it was going to be veryhard on everybody, because that was our home.
(13:35):
Everybody lived within a five minute radius.
Our daughter came to us at 16 and said, I'm pregnant.
So we were like, do we make this move or do we not make this move?
And this was a choice that she had made.
This was, and we went, we battled back, fought.
(13:56):
heard.
mentally battle back or and You were like in five years her life because she was gonna getmarried This was a guy she was gonna marry.
This is she was having this baby and in five years She was gonna move on with her life andwhere were we gonna be?
And if we stayed, we would have been in the same exact spot and she would have moved onwith her life.
(14:22):
So still chose to go ahead and go.
We supported them.
Not financially, but we, all of that, we offer for them to come and stay with us.
door was always open.
Yeah.
The door was always open.
She graduated from high school.
(14:44):
She's married to this guy.
They've been married for 12 ish years now.
They have four beautiful kids.
They stayed in Maryland.
They stayed in Maryland.
um They were high school sweethearts at the same high school that we went to.
And um they moved to Montana two years ago.
(15:05):
And when he got offered this job, I'm like, I can't move from my grandkids.
my daughter when they moved out here.
They didn't necessarily move for us because we told them we move.
Like, his dad may move us.
They did it for the kids and their education because they were still back in Maryland.
So as of right now, and our son's still there.
(15:30):
So as of right now, we're having fun.
We are going and we're going to, I'm going to spend the summer back there.
We're doing the winter's here.
oh I'm not doing a whole lot of nursing right now.
I'm going to events with Dennis and helping with events and it's pretty fun.
(15:51):
I'm helping him set up new stores and I've never been able to do any of that stuff becauseI've been raising kids, I've been working and I actually have the opportunity right now to
help them do that stuff.
Well that, cause I saw you tearing up your shirts at the concert and having a good time.
(16:12):
But that's what I'm saying though.
That's you helping him out at the event.
And that was very cool.
That's where I really got saying, when I was going to talk to Dennis here and I waswatching your posts there and I thought, I hope I can get Kim on because that just says
(16:33):
something to me.
Mm-hmm.
And with you guys moving, like my stepson and his wife moved to Anchorage.
He's a paramedic firefighter up there.
And I thought it's interesting because all the in-laws are either in Wyoming or right herein Spearfish.
(16:55):
Cindy, you know, is here in Spearfish, but her parents are in Gillette.
But I said, you know, I think that is a good move because
You have to grow up and grow together and being away from both, all sides helps you grow.
It helps you grow as a person because you can't just go down the street and ask a questionor you can ask question on the phone, but you just don't have that, you're not close, so
(17:24):
you have to grow.
And I said, this is good.
it's getting more more exciting because Cindy's...
having her first grand, well, going to have her first grandchild and all the excitement ofthat is fun watching because I like, I love to see her with a glow in her eyes.
I don't have kids of myself, so uh I just love watching this part of her and theexcitement and I love watching her son wanting to become a dad.
(17:55):
But I also like the fact that they're learning to become a couple away from everybodyelse.
You know, and I think that's where we grow.
Like, I've lived away from...
talking about that last night.
We always look for a house that our kids can come to.
(18:15):
And I'm like, we have to stop doing that.
because we've raised our kids to start their own tradition and be their own person.
I do want our kids to come to our house, but they're going to have their own families andtheir own mates and it doesn't and their own work schedules and it can't always work out
in a perfect world you want it to, but it's not going to always happen.
(18:40):
And this year for Christmas and it's not going to be for Christmas, it's going be January.
Yeah.
We are going to, we're all going to go together and we're going on a vacation and we'retaking our son, our son-in-law, daughter and four grandkids that we have now.
But it's...
(19:01):
We are raised, has taught us to raise our kids and send them out.
And that's what they're supposed to do.
Doesn't mean they can't pick up the phone when they have a problem.
It doesn't mean, but they're there to make their own traditions.
And it's not for us to be selfish for them to make the traditions that we taught themthere to make their own.
And we can still be a part of it.
(19:23):
Yeah, but it is true.
It's that whole idea of independence, right?
Like in, in breaking your head on that, but.
You know, we always, one side, we always say home is where we are, right?
So we've really gotten comfortable just being anywhere.
this last one wasn't that hard of a move for us because I think we're just comfortable inour own skins and we know how to survive, right?
(19:45):
ah But our daughter moving out and making that change on one side, you feel terrible.
You're like, gosh, you know, we were so close to having that conventional family, thatdrive down the road and go see everybody.
ah
But I'll tell you the schools in Montana are way better for those kids.
The life experiences are way better for those kids.
(20:06):
The independence that they're learning is way better for them.
And, you know, yeah, you know, there's nothing wrong with, you know,
living in the same hometown and spending your whole life there, there's people that that'sthe right thing for them.
But there's a lot of people that, you know, they probably, you know, when we first said wewere going to Montana, they thought we were luckiest people, actually.
(20:31):
They didn't look at us and say we were crazy.
They didn't look at us and say we were making a mistake.
They looked at us and said, I wish I could, or I would, or that could happen to me, right?
And at the end of the day, it's better for everyone, but
We left our, like it sounds like we had a 16 year old daughter pregnant and we abandonedher.
That's not what happened, right?
(20:53):
But you know, on the other side, you know, you gotta keep living, right?
Like life's gotta keep going forward.
And when you start guessing what other people want and need and try to cater to that orpander to that.
You're not letting them be their best person either, right?
You know, and so it's just a it's a philosophy and it's a hard one, but it works for usOur last two houses that Dennis has bought I never saw He bought the one in Montana and he
(21:23):
the one in Memphis and I was like the house and I said it's just a house like Doesn'tmatter it's a good area.
This is the area I like
Mm-hmm.
It's just a house.
If I don't like it, we'll move another time.
Well, that is, I mean, I like that philosophy because here's, like I grew up in a littletown.
(21:47):
I grew up on a ranch and then the town closest to us had maybe at the most 70 people.
Okay.
And then I graduated from another town that I I think we had 35, 36 in our class, maybe afew more.
But here.
(22:07):
It's interesting, like you said, because I came out, I came to Black Hill State here inSuperior Fair, South Dakota, played football, didn't know what I wanted to do.
I thought I'd chase girls, party, and I didn't know you had to study.
That was one of my problems, you know?
And then I didn't know what I really wanted to do with life.
(22:29):
And now I wish I'd known then, but everybody wishes they'd known then.
then I...
I went back to the ranch and I saved up and I went to Australia by myself and worked overthere.
I, people said, how can, from around there, said, how did you do that?
Well, you know, I just, I saved up money and I went because you can be afraid to go.
(22:52):
And I think that's some of the best things in life that helped me because for me to findmyself, like I said, I would have done in Western Australia that so.
It's not a hop home or a skip home.
it's, you know what I mean?
And you have to grow up and answer your own questions.
And that's what I think helped me.
(23:13):
And that's what I think.
And now I have a wife that she says, you, you have taken me places where I never wouldhave went.
You know, and she surprised me last week.
She went to Alaska, her, uh, to see her son and her plane got back home, back in intoBillings at, roughly.
(23:34):
Midnight and she just went and slept in her car till morning.
She said, I'm not going to pay for a hotel because there's no need to go.
You know, by the time you get to the hotel and that's something I would do, but I thought,here's my question.
Like, will she be driving in when I'm waking up or will she uh really do it?
And she did it in that, you know, and she's, she's very independent and that made mehappy.
(23:58):
But that's what I'm saying is you guys are living your life and
Sometimes independence is that way.
can go, you guys can go see your kids, but, and they can come and see you, but you'reliving your life too.
And I see too many people that don't live their life.
And I don't, I personally don't want to get to the end of my life and say, I should have.
(24:26):
When, when you
know how short our life is.
It might be five years from now.
It might be a hundred years from now.
I don't want to be that 55 year old who is sitting in a wheelchair because we didn't dowhat we should have done and we're too sore to be able to still go to Montana and climb
that mountain.
(24:47):
Yeah.
Well, you know, and I guess I look at it too.
And I never in a million years would have thought I would be doing what I'm doing.
And it's, it's a little bit of a dream come true.
Kim certainly made that happen, but it's also a little bit of just taking opportunities asthey come and just letting, letting the world take you where it's going to take you.
Right.
(25:07):
And to do that, you have to be open to it too.
You have to say, there's an opportunity.
uh What can I make of that opportunity?
Right.
sure a million people you'll never know if you let it go by you and a lot of peopleprobably do because this is safe or that jobs I understand it I know it or you know
(25:28):
there's this there's a support system I have or whatever it may be right um you know youbut you'll spend that much time trying to figure out your major and just plan your life
like this right down to this big ambition you have when the when the truth is it's 70 % ofyour life you have no control over
A lot of people come to you and they're like, how do I get where you are?
(25:52):
And they want to always be to the top.
And that's not where it is.
They don't want the sacrifices that it takes to get to this spot.
you started in the military at the lowest rank that you can get and worked his way up.
it was, it's...
(26:12):
It's taken years to get to it.
It wasn't easy.
You know, there was a lot of nights, a lot of weekends, a lot of I didn't see him formonths.
Yeah.
You know, it wasn't what it is now.
Like people see like right now I'm not working.
I work there was holidays, weekends that I didn't get to go to my kids basketball gamesand baseball and lacrosse games.
(26:36):
You know, there was a lot of that stuff that I didn't get to do.
Yeah.
and you know, that's the things that I think maybe I'm wrong.
And I try not to be cynical, but I see a lot of kids these days that are starting tounderstand that.
But cause a lot of people think that they want to be up here before they even startedright here.
(27:01):
And like, they want this money or be in dude, started out 50 cents an hour, dude, youknow, kind of thing.
When I was 10 years old raking hay, you know, and I thought that was cool.
And it got me enough to get a red rider BB gun.
And I was happy about that stuff, you know, but, and they, they don't understand the hoursthat you put into or whatever.
(27:26):
Like you saying, you know, Dennis has gone military wise and you're staying home and doingyour stuff.
And, and you know, what's amazing to me though, and this is why I.
Like for you guys to do that though, there's trust.
There's you, there's hard times.
(27:47):
I'm not saying there's hard times.
I'm saying that, but the trust is the big thing.
And when you have peace of mind, that helps out a ton.
In the hard work isn't so bad when you have peace of mind, I think.
Cause like Cindy.
I there was a lot of business trips, was lot of, I mean there was things that...
(28:10):
A lot of time away.
Yeah, a lot of time away that we put, I mean we were just talking about the other day.
If you go, there's guys and girls, don't put yourself in a situation that could happen.
You don't go in a vehicle with another woman by yourself.
You don't go to dinner with another woman by yourself.
(28:33):
It's just a thing.
Well, but you said it to Rick, it's trust, right?
you know, you got to deposit in that bank account, right?
And you don't, you know, if you want to be trusted, you have to be respectful too.
And you have to be conscious of, you know, people's feelings and how it does or doesn'tmake them feel.
like you earn trust by not violating it, but you also earn it by being at leastconsiderate of it.
(28:59):
Right.
it's not that he did any of it.
It's because that was all that
my family and that's I knew.
I pick her that one a lot.
I needed to see this.
That's not how life was.
We got married and we lived apart for a year because I couldn't see him because I couldn'tget on base without being married.
(29:27):
Like it was different back then.
I couldn't get on base because of that.
And my dad wouldn't let me visit him because we couldn't afford to get a hotel room.
And I couldn't stay with him.
My dad, if I was still living in my dad's house, I couldn't stay with him in a place, in ahotel, if we weren't married.
(29:47):
So we got married in the middle of um when I was still in nursing school.
And then we lived apart for a whole year.
My holiday leave, right?
You found the time you could, and that's what you wanted to happen.
And back then in the military, you were living at the poverty level, maybe worse.
So, I mean, they're hard times, right?
(30:09):
This is not easy to figure out, right?
And it's, I don't know.
But going back to your trust thing and the time and the commitment, it's real and it's noteasy.
But it's so worth it.
that's like, I don't know, I think of wisdom, right?
So what is wisdom?
Wisdom is only as good as your worst and your best day, right?
(30:30):
And if you don't let yourself live, how do you ever become wise, right?
And you don't put yourself out there.
you take chances, all those things.
That's what wisdom is.
Wisdom is just a lot of data compiled up, which is data you've gathered over just being atit.
going, right?
(30:52):
Yeah, it is because I've made a lot of mistakes and I did a lot of good things, but I'velearned that's where my wisdom would come from.
it's, you know, what's interesting is, and I try to give wisdom to some of the youngpeople I know, but you know what?
There's no cliff notes that you can give anybody to learn that you got to learn wisdom.
(31:16):
I can say things and tell them what I've done, ever been through, but.
until you go, you got to go through the hardships to get the good stuff.
And then you really relish it.
it's what also makes a relationship 30 some years later.
Like, yeah, it's been up and down and everything, the best endearing things take work.
(31:41):
Right.
The things that last long took a long time.
Things that come to you quit, they go quick too.
Right.
And it's just, it's just, how do you want to live?
Yeah, because nothing's more rewarding than having to really work for it.
mean, if something came easy, you know, I mean, it's easy to throw away.
(32:01):
uh Really, and something easy is, I mean, yeah, it doesn't matter if it's material goodsor I've seen it in relationships too, you know, if something's easy to come by, it, you
know, I'm not saying that people don't fall in love, but I'm saying quick, but I'm justsaying it's just
(32:21):
if it's easy and you don't have to go through things, then it is easy to throw away.
So, yeah, no, this is, it's just one of those things.
I loved hearing about your lives.
It's like, because I was somewhat similar in the same way in, I mean, I have a goodCatholic mom and, know, you lived, she was,
(32:51):
very Catholic will say, know, and I'm, I'm a bad Catholic.
I'll just say that right now.
And, but I, but, you know, I mean, you learned a lot of stuff from those things.
And I was one of those guys that I called my mom every morning as I went to work.
Cause in the last two, three years of her life, because we never knew.
(33:14):
And like I said, and I think people should relish the fact that they, there is no rewindin life and you have to.
keep moving forward and, but, and we would talk five or two, five minutes to 10 minutes toa half hour to nothing, but you know, but it would, didn't matter.
But that was part of the family thing.
(33:34):
Cause she always cheered me on to go live these adventures that I would go on.
Cause she wasn't in the health to go do this stuff, but, that's kind of.
in the whole scheme of things, when social media started coming out, it was just easierfor me to start posting my adventures, because she, it was the most fun things for her to
(33:57):
say, there's where Rick is, that's what Rick's doing, you know, kind of thing.
And then we had something to talk about and those stories and life.
And she was the one I'd asked my questions to.
but she knew, as you said earlier, which is really funny, is,
(34:20):
I will never ever, ever live back where I grew up.
I just won't.
And that's just me, the Black Hills are my home.
But if Montana called, Montana could be my home too.
(34:43):
But I'm only, I'm a skip away from Montana anyway, but you know what I mean.
uh
There's, you don't, I just can't foresee myself going back there, but those people thatare there that are farming and that's their life and that's what all they've ever wanted
to do.
That was them.
Me, I want to go see what's over the next hill.
(35:04):
And then I get to the top of that hill.
I want to go see what's over the next hill.
And if it's a hard climb, then that's the way it is.
But you know, like I can't sit still.
I may have a home here, but I can't sit still.
that's, so I have four wheels and gasoline in the vehicle.
(35:27):
I can do a lot of stuff.
And I think people are afraid to go do things.
They're afraid to get outside that circle.
I know people that haven't left South Dakota.
And I'm going, and I think the internet has made it, and TV.
YouTube will say, or in other things, like they feel like they can go to those places, butthey never have to leave their house.
(35:55):
And there are things you know, as well as I know, you can go to, there's different smells,there's different people, there's different lives, there's different cultures, even in
America.
And if you don't go experience this stuff, I don't think...
(36:15):
For me personally, I don't put down other people if they don't but I don't feel like I'velived and I want to go experience everything from Waffle House to
And I didn't do much of that until when he told me we moving to Montana.
I had to kind of get a map to see.
(36:36):
I knew it was out west, but not really where it was.
Cause we had done, I had went, so we were in Maryland.
I had did Florida and West Virginia, but that's about it.
We didn't really travel.
that's, if you hear something snoring, our dog is beside us snoring.
He travels with you.
(36:58):
any places we really went and now it's like there's more out there.
Like what else is fun?
What else is you Yeah I've always been fascinated like I've been I've been really blessedin my life and I've gotten to you know working at Gore you know I worked a lot with Asian
(37:18):
cultures and German cultures and Italians and just you know people from around the worldand I
I always was really fascinated with that part of it.
Like I could go see that steeple or that site that everybody talked about, but I was moreinterested in going and hanging out with some locals or learning what they were into or
(37:42):
what they ate or how their grandfather used to do something, right?
Like I just, think that there's those parts of life that...
I don't know, not everybody's attuned to it.
It's not a net geo check the list kind of thing, right?
No, like you said, there isn't.
(38:05):
It's interesting that you've got to see those cultures because of gore or other productsthat you've been in.
You know, mean, clothing and stuff.
I'm gonna pause here.
You wanna scoot over just a little bit?
There.
(38:25):
Oh, I heard that.
You want us to figure out who it is?
No, I wanted him just to scoot over so he was in the picture.
No, there, now you're out of the picture.
just...
Okay.
Yes, literally, I don't know how many people are here besides us and it's still going.
(38:49):
I hope it's not your guy's car.
You seen the other cars up?
There's another car up there.
Something's...
Hold on right there, Craig.
Let me just...
we gotcha.
We got to make sure it's not the security system.
Sorry.
No, you're good.
(39:28):
hope you can edit this out.
Yes, I can.
That's why I said don't worry about anything.
Yeah, there's nobody else here.
There's the alarm going off outside.
You can edit.
(39:48):
We're good.
You
(40:30):
Baby I've been yelling their name.
I'm already yelling.
Hello?
It's off.
(40:50):
Sorry, Rick.
It's all, I never found them, but like somebody turned it off.
It's one of our guys, his truck's.
No, it's actually.
I heard the alarm, but you kept on going out of the picture.
I was like.
(41:13):
No, we're good.
We're way good.
no, so, you know, I mean, those are the adventures we go on.
Like horn honking.
At least it's not your car.
uh
We're in Memphis, you know, it's a little more.
It's not Bozeman, Montana.
Little hit or miss.
mean, something could really be braiding into a car out there.
uh
(41:34):
That's what I hear, you know, I mean, there's there's more than barbecue in Memphis,correct?
is.
This takes a from news a couple of times to realize that.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but you gotta watch your rear shoulder.
(41:54):
Yeah.
m
And that's where I, excuse me, that's where it's interesting when you say you're, well, Ijust had a drink of sparkling ice and it's starting to come back up on me here, sorry.
I'll edit that part out too.
(42:17):
anyway, we'll get back to the kids part here.
that also interests me that we talk about the cities and stuff like that and moving back.
your daughter moving your grandkids to Montana.
And I have to admit that I've talked, I talked about this with uh one of my friends theother day.
(42:39):
And I said, you know, I really truly miss that kids just don't get to run as much anymore.
Like we were up at my uncle's cabin up here in the middle of the woods and like I'm a
10, I, you know, I'm, they probably watched me a little more, but I'm eight, 10, 12 yearsold.
(43:04):
And you just took off running once you got to the cabin and it didn't matter.
You came back at dark and nobody knew where you were.
And you could have been way up in the black Hills.
Nobody knew, or even on the ranch, you took off and there's no, there is no internet.
There is nothing.
And you guys know that.
And you just went and.
(43:24):
found, used your imagination and I got in trouble a few times by using it too much andtrying to make a boat and I don't know how to swim and this and that.
I got, you know, I'm a bad dog paddler at best.
And my mom saw me out in the middle of the water with on a door with two 55 gallon drumsand said, what the heck are you doing?
(43:47):
Kind of thing.
But the adventures that you get to have.
I don't know if many kids get to do that anymore because they're of the world we live in.
Yeah.
Well, that's absolutely right.
mean, you know, I, my, my grandson, sometimes he'll be playing.
don't even understand this to be really honest.
He'll be, he'll be watching Minecraft.
(44:09):
guess that's a game he likes someone else playing Minecraft on YouTube and fascinated bythat.
I'm like, don't you just want to go outside?
Right.
And do, and you know, and because, you know, taking him hunting and he's done a lot ofthings.
At least he understands what that other opportunity is.
I fear for a kid that never has that or never ever seen those environments that that islife.
(44:33):
Like that's the best thing they understand is this virtual world between Instagram andsocial media and the gaming worlds.
It's like I grew up in plannin' cornfields and goin' to my neighbor's house and you know.
Nobody had called or checked in on you just got back before dark, right?
(44:54):
You know, it's just not like that now in most places.
Or in most places, it's not like.
No, it wasn't.
you know, like I lived three miles from Reehights, roughly three and a half, four milesfrom Reehights.
And if I wanted to go in, like we would round up.
(45:15):
It didn't matter from, as long as you could hit a softball and play, didn't matter ages.
We'd round, phone calls would go out.
I would ride my bike into town.
Cause you, from out in
the ranch there and you drive into town and it didn't matter boys or girls, we would justtry to round up as many.
So we'd have two teams and we could play.
(45:36):
and, but here's the other thing, like if I went into play with friends, we'll say, andthis is with dial up phones.
My mom would know she'd probably know quicker now than with then, than with a cell phonetoday, because everybody's watching you if you're in town, you know what I mean?
It's, and it wasn't like, it's not like, it's not like
(45:59):
it was like, you know, people watching you is like, if you were doing something stupid,your mom's going to get a call and it ain't your dad is going to get a call and it's not
good.
But it was like just the way it was, you know, everybody kind of, uh, watched everybodyelse and you still got to run free, you know, but it was just, you got to watch everybody
(46:20):
else.
And I missed if I had kids, that would be one of the things that I would really
want for them is to be able to run free.
Absolutely.
you so our daughter lives in Manhattan.
Have you been?
OK, so they still live in town.
(46:43):
They live on dirt road.
The kids can still play on the dirt road in their bikes, don't have to worry about it, andthey can still walk to school now.
Isn't that?
They're the older one can the younger ones can't yet, but they're how many places can youdo that?
It's not very few places that you can do that anymore.
(47:05):
Yeah.
Don't lock your door.
You know, other day in Montana, they're like, how do you get in your house?
like, just walk in and they're like, you don't have a key.
I'm like, no, like you don't have to hear.
And that's why I grew up too.
(47:25):
You didn't have to lock your doors.
didn't, you know, and it's also funny like going to high school.
I had, I would take guns to school because I was, I if I saw a coyote or if I sawsomething on the way, we had permission to shoot.
(47:46):
it's funny if people would know like in high school, in speech class, they wanted us to doa
demonstration and I said, well, can I bring in my rifle for safety, for a safety uhdemonstration?
And I said, nah, that you're going a little far there.
You know what I mean?
You can't bring the rifle in to do that.
said, well, but you know, it wasn't thought of, don't, didn't think of, I was like, mosteverybody had guns in their vehicle because we were all mostly ranch kids and then, you
(48:16):
know, that kind of stuff or whatever.
And it was just one of those things.
And now it's like,
I can't imagine not, but I can't imagine kids these days, you know, it's a differentthing.
It's just crazy.
And like I said, be, you know, to be free and live life, that's cool.
(48:38):
So, you lived, you guys lived close on a farm or something or when you grew up?
Yeah, well.
Where we grew up in Maryland.
Yeah.
I live a far, so we were about 15 minutes apart.
uh I grew up on a hundred acres.
(49:01):
I did not.
And I did not meet him until, so I went to a private school up until 10th-ish grade and Iwanted to go to VOTEC because I knew I wanted to be a nurse.
So to get into that Bo-Tech, had to switch and go to a public school.
(49:24):
And I met him, I actually didn't meet him in school.
I met him at Denny's because he was sitting with somebody in my homeroom.
That's how I met him.
It...
It is a
off work.
I got work, like I started working when was 14 years old, you know, so I was just gettingoff work at Dairy Queen.
(49:44):
eh
That would have been a bad place for me to work.
Cause I love ice cream.
oh And that's why our parents still live there.
His parents still live there.
When our daughter had her baby, she had lots of support.
(50:06):
Her in-laws live there.
family still there.
still go back there quite a bit.
We have a cabin there that we raised our kids.
We went on the weekends there.
ah sick as headquarters, gore who owns sick headquarters was and we would, we would go andstay in the cabin there two, three weeks at a time.
(50:29):
That's when we would see our daughter, see our parents, we'd spend time there.
So we still would go back there quite a bit.
My best friend has a cabin right next to it.
So then we can hang out.
That sounds like trouble.
Dennis isn't saying anything there.
(50:50):
Okay.
But that's good.
I mean, I go back and see my dad.
I hardly ever leave town, but I get to go do the eight o'clock coffee and solve theworld's problems.
And then between eight and three, probably more world problems come up.
(51:11):
So then three o'clock, they have to go have coffee again.
So if I go back with my dad, he's 81, but he walks two or three miles a day and then hegoes and makes the coffee.
I go in there and they get a new version of solving the world's problems when I go back.
those are the, that's a fun part of going back to where you grew up too.
(51:33):
I, like I said, I wouldn't live there probably, but I like going back to relive thememories.
you, it's funny how things get smaller.
Like, you know, as a kid, everything's so big and then like things get smaller, but it'sso.
I love the feeling of knowing where I grew up and like that, you meeting, you guys meetingat a Denny's and you know, I wish, like I said, it would be interesting to have those,
(52:09):
memories of meeting someone and growing old with them.
Cause that is, that's a story.
That's, that's the story I love to hear, you know, and, and that is.
I'm just trying to think of, you put me in a different place here and I get a littlesentimental like that's the stuff that's very, very cool.
(52:35):
Anyway, but anyway, so you went to college and you went into the military.
Yeah, I was, I grew up, you know, I pretty much, I left home at 17 and that was kind of, Inever looked back.
My parents never really had much and it was, it was, if you wanted to do things in thisworld, you were going to figure that out yourself.
(53:01):
Right.
And I remember I worked in a Marina, just kind of dockhand kind of thing.
And again, Kim pushing me, she's like, when are going to get a real job?
Right.
And I didn't know what a real job was.
So was like, I think I'm going to go in the military because I need to get it.
(53:21):
know, one of us had to get a loan.
So it was like, which one of us are going to go to college right now and get a loan?
So we chose for me to get a loan.
We were going to let the military pay for his college.
So that's why we did it that way.
So that's why I said, when are you going to get a real job?
Yeah.
(53:41):
And there was no baby on the way.
was straight up, you know, these kids.
I look back at that now and I can't even imagine.
I can't, you know, I think of 19 year olds, heck, my son's 24 and sometimes I'm like, oh,he's still a kid.
Like, he'll figure this out later.
I'm like, 24?
was like, I was out of active, into garden reserve, had kids, you know, but you know, Ilook back at that now and I can't imagine, you know.
(54:09):
my 19 year old daughter, son, boyfriend coming to me and saying, hey, I'm getting, youguys want, you care, can I marry your daughter?
And we're doing this big wedding and we're sitting planning our lives.
Like who's getting alone and driving, who's gonna drive the car alone?
Like we've been a team, we've been a team for as long as I can remember.
(54:35):
Well, for you to know that, like who's gonna get alone?
is, gosh, would, no.
look at it now and it's like, how did we even think that through?
Like, we wouldn't change anything.
Like, you wouldn't change anything, but.
It's kind of crazy at this point.
(54:56):
Looking back, it seems crazier.
Well, I just wish I would have had the foresight myself, like I'm saying.
I thought you went to college and played football, chased girls and partied.
And I thought life came at you and you got a job and things worked out.
I wasn't, I wish I would have been more focused, a little bit more focused.
(55:17):
And I hear this stuff and like I go back and say, hmm, you're kind of a dumb ass Ricksometimes, but you know, but like I said,
If you don't go through those hardships, where do you get your wisdom?
And it was, like you said, we got a lot of stuff hit in our face when we, so when wefinally moved together, because we had it planned.
(55:40):
I knew I wanted to have a baby before I started into my nursing career.
So the day I found out I graduated was the day I found out I was pregnant.
And, um,
us having a baby at so young and I was 20.
(56:00):
I was 20 when I had our first and then he comes to us.
We built a house at 21 and then then that was the, my parents gave us an acre on the farm.
That's what got us started and they helped us build the house and then he comes to me at23 and he's like, um, we're to have another baby now or never.
(56:23):
And I'm like,
Okay, we had no money.
We had we were house poor.
I remember going I tell people this all the time.
I remember going to McDonald's.
and buy, remember when they had like 29 cent cheeseburgers and 39 cents?
I would buy enough for the week, because we were living on military money.
(56:46):
I would buy enough for the week, throw them in the freezer and buy a tomato.
And I would pull two out a night for us, cut up the tomato.
And that's what we would have for the week.
If he went hunting and got deer, that was like smorgasbord for us.
That's what we ate.
Like, that's all we could afford.
Like that was...
Yeah.
(57:07):
But didn't stop us from deciding to start a family.
you know, there's everybody waits for that perfect time.
like, I don't know, everybody's got their own story.
We looked at it and all of our friends were partying.
I'm like, why aren't we partying?
Why are we home with babies?
We wouldn't have changed it.
We're glad we did it because we get to do this now.
(57:30):
And we have a lot of friends our age that have little ones.
Yeah.
Ooh, I can't imagine the little one.
Cause we're all roughly in that same age group.
I know that.
And so I can't, I could not imagine it.
Yeah.
Cause I know I have a coworker that just had a baby and it is amazing.
(57:54):
Like, I don't know how you could do that at this age.
Like this is time to live life.
Like I, I'm not, I just was in a bad, you know, I mean this not
It was just bad timing on my part.
And that's where I'll go.
But now I have step kids and I was always told, cause I always got into a, I talked tosome older people and I said, you know, what's your legacy?
(58:19):
Because I don't have any kids.
And they would say, you know, and I was talking to the people that didn't have kids andthey said, your legacy is what you left behind.
like I have friends kids and I, that I've done.
do stuff with and this and that.
So that's the legacy.
So, yeah.
(58:39):
that may be, whether it's through people, product, things, whatever, right?
And that's what you do with them.
And that's why we decided we're not doing gifts anymore with the kids and the grandkids.
We're taking them somewhere because we want to create memories with them.
They'll never, they'll forget the gifts.
They'll remember the memories.
(59:01):
So anyway, I love that part because I truly believe in that, that memories are whatcreates the best people.
that's, but anyway, I'll start winding this down here, but when we get to the last part ofthis thing, and I appreciate,
(59:25):
you taking the time to be with me both of you.
Cause I've, I got to learn a little bit more.
And like I said, I like watching you rip up the shirts last week or two weeks ago orwhenever that was, was awesome.
And to see you cheer on your husband and, for Dennis to cheer you on too.
(59:45):
That's cool, Kim, you know, and I, you inspire me even though we don't talk much.
I mean like,
I see what's going on here and there and that inspiration doesn't need to be said.
You know what I mean?
Like, and I just, I say, Cindy, look at this.
(01:00:07):
Isn't this cool?
This is where I believe that most people should be in cheering their spouses on.
And like I said, I cheer her on, go see your son in Alaska and go enjoy your grandkid.
Because...
You don't get to do that, you know, all the time.
(01:00:28):
And I'm not the one that needs to go hold a baby myself, but you know, you guys inspire meto be better.
And there's so many other questions that I would, we'll have to talk sometime that I havefor you guys.
But, uh, when we get to the end of the episode, we asked one final question.
(01:00:55):
And that is, what's the good life to Kim and Dennis?
Do you want to go first?
No, ahead.
To me, I don't know.
I think conventionally the good life is for most people it's about money or things youhave or whatever, ah I think it's being comfortable in your own skin.
(01:01:28):
enjoying what I have right now.
I like hearing that.
Yeah.
But a mega yacht and an offshore boat, no, that'd be nice too.
Why would say that?
Your good life is being with somebody you really love and they love you and you'recontent.
(01:01:52):
Yeah, that's what I mean.
That's per se.
Enjoying what I have right now.
I love hearing that.
Not looking in the future, not looking at the past, being happy right now.
Being present.
Yep.
Well, that is awesome.
I believe that too, because I think I'm living my best life right now.
(01:02:14):
Just a good life right now is my best life right now.
And ah that is awesome to see.
cause I, here's the deal.
I try to be authentic when you get Rick, when you see me, I'm not, and you've seen me inbeing Rick and I've seen you guys and
(01:02:38):
that's the coolest part is you're both so authentic and real that you know what I mean?
And that's the best part of knowing you guys.
means a lot.
knowing you too, right?
This is awesome.
It was fun meeting you.
(01:02:58):
A couple years ago, when who, Ashley, think introduced introduced me.
Yeah.
Yeah, she probably said this is my dumbass friend.
No.
No, because actually, we had, you know.
We do some stupid things, make those stupid videos together every once in a while, butthat's to get people laughing, you know?
(01:03:25):
So that's good.
So, but anyway, well, anyway, I'm going to say, well, thank you for being on the Don't DieRusty podcast.
So that is awesome.
so, Don't Die Rusty Nation, keep chasing your dreams, being the best you, and of course,don't die rusty.
Thanks.
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