Archive for the ‘hazardous to our health’ Category

The Birth of Cherokee Surfing

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

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cherokee surfing mexico olin patterson

Cherokee Surfing is the art of surfing on a Cherokee. Tropical Cherokee Surfing is the art of surfing on a Cherokee in the jungle. The birth of Cherokee Surfing as an extreme sport dates back to the day we produced this 14 second clip to record such a ground-breaking and memorable moment in sports history. Give us a desolate stretch of jungle canopies in southern mainland mexico, a video camera, and a flaming yellow Jeep… and greatness will suffice… If it wasn’t such a hands on sport, I’d have more footage to show.

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Some Shanking Anarchy Ensues

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

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grenada church, place of shanking
we came back the next day to snap a photo of the ‘brawl’ site.
pete eich, bicycle
i mentioned all my near death experiences have happened with pete eich.

One night in Nicaragua, I was with Pete Eich (a man I have grown quite comfortable facing death with) when we were approached on street by seven individuals. After proving to them, we had no money or anything of value to give them (we role pretty dirty- the way Thoreau taught us), they became hostile. What ensued was pure anarchy; seven against two, every man for themselves. Before I knew it, there were belts whipping, broken bottles jabbing, hair pulling, and basically all the elements that make for a good old fashioned brawl. Needless to say, I danced to the jabbing of one man’s broken coca-cola bottle; while Pete pulled some killer Ryu ‘Street Fighter’ moves he must have picked up in the early ’90s, off of the remaining six just to try to get out of there. We managed to break free from the pack and ran like crazy. Moral of the story: Pete is probably the best guy to have around in the event of a good and dirty street fight, and that you can never be too careful. In the end no one was hurt.

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Take That Syria!

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

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syria land mines
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olin patterson throws rocks at syrian land mines
I was determined to detonate something…
dan keyser hangs out in Syrian Trenches
Dan Keyser takes shelter in the trenches while we wait for detonation
duck the syrians are coming
Syrian Patrol, we had to duck when they came by.

Ok… So this is back on the ‘hazardous’ category (I’m trying to get these out of the way). While traveling through the Northern Part of the Golan Heights, Daniel (you will read about him in ‘the entourage’ category later… Total global Badass, actually the best.) and myself made a feeble attempt to make entry into Syria. We were denied under suspicion of being spies (of course…) and sent back immediately. Our scheme of Syrian Revenge was going to be swift… This is what happened: We hiked up along the ridge line (strategically the Golan holds a militaristic advantage) and found some perfectly good trenches (still being used I am sure, just not that day) to protect ourselves in. We then proceeded to find as many rocks as we could to throw down onto the land mine field (just on the other side of the trenches) when Syrian patrol wasn’t driving by. Our intent was that if we could detonate a couple land mines, the world would be a better place for it. Needless to say, we did not get proper Israeli/Syrian Revenge by ridding the world of a few more unnecessary land mines, but our work is never done (we got many good years ahead of us). Not to bring back my hatred for fences, but these (borders and land mines) fall in the same category. Fences cage humans in the worst of ways. In the United States they cage our imaginations and sense of creativity. In the middle East they cage people into condensed and desperate areas… I can’t help but think that these cages are the cause of desperate things like terrorism, blind faith, and violence.

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Oops, a Federal Offense

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

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olin patterson gets a federal offense
‘boy, that really escalated quickly.’ -ron burgundy

This one belongs in the ‘hazardous’ category but let me explain… We are on a road trip going through Idaho (absolutely incredible country!) and the United States Government puts up a fence between the road, and a wonderful little perch to admire the incredible visage of Mother Nature. Now, I feel the whole situation (in the words of Ron Burgundy) really escalated quickly: Federal Officers driving by happen to see a parked car on the side of a desolate rode and pull off to investigate. They see a happy-loving group of 6 spending a nice afternoon along some of the most gorgeous mountainous ridge lines and freak-out because we had to cross a perfectly mountable fence that said ‘restricted’ government property. Now in the interest of national security I completely respect and understand the reason for fences (hopefully larger ones) in places of need… However, I thought ones like this served more as a ‘guideline fence’ -just think: a beautifully deserted road side in the middle of the desolate north-west is nothing to get so worked up about. I feel sometimes our culture is really going to damage itself with this need to constantly crush the spirit of adventure. Need I remind you this country is so great because it stems from some of the most dynamic humans in all of history: those that risked their lives to come from over seas, those that rose up to escape persecution, those that tamed a wild and vast continent, and ALL with a strong spirit of adventure and will to live. I think we’d all feel much better if half the world’s fences disappeared tomorrow (including the ones we shoot at people desperate for money and a job are trying to cross (…oops did i say that aloud?)). …Just a thought… In the end, I plead guilty to the Federal Court for my decision (yes, I was completely in the wrong), but you gotta be bumping up against limits to know what you’re capable of… Danica Patrick taught me that.

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Sky Diving Perris Valley

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

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sky diving perris valley olin patterson tim cully melissa murphy jane hashimawari, pete eich, gus hamborg
the entire group, less one…. not sure where melissaamurphy.com was on this one..

olin patterson sky diving
most amazing experience
sky diving perris valley, sean cahill, jane hashimawari
most amazing friends


i promised my mother a shout out.

This is another ‘hazardous to our health’ entry… This day was the accumulation of a couple random conversations I had had with Pete Eich and some friends the week before. We spent the remainder of the week trying desperately to drum up support from various friends to take the skydive with us, all the while spooking each other with as many random ‘parachute failure’ youtube videos as we could handle. Leading up to the morning my nerves were frazzled… Pete’s constant assault of ‘skydiving death’ videos had me convinced I was going to my grave (at least it would be a quick painless death). With only a couple on the reservation list, we showed up at a party where many of our good friends were at… Through the night we celebrated as if it was our last, all the while not realizing the huge group of ‘supporters’ were slowly transforming into ‘team mates.’ That next morning we awoke with a full posse of sure-to-be derelict sky divers, jumped into a few cars and headed out to Perris Valley to make it happen. We had a reservation for five and showed up with twelve. I had the privilege of taking over an entire airplane with 11 of my friends and experiencing one of the most incredible thrills. For a brief moment I totally reconnected with that feeling of being a little kid again, where your nerves are so acute and that sense of dread mixed with adventure becomes so sensational. Go sky diving at least once in your life, and do it with all of your friends… you will realize how important they are and how much you love them.

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The Illegal Border Entry Stunt

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

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crocodile brazil argentina olin patterson
this should have deterred us… moments before the border entry scheme, we saw a couple crocodiles
olin patterson swimming
crossing the rio de piranhas into brazil (my partner in crime shall remain unnamed)
brazil
terra firma en brasil…

I have created a new category that I called ‘hazardous to our health.’ My intentions were never to be directly hazardous towards anyone, including myself… However, I must explain: I am fortunate to be surrounded by the most inspiring people on Planet Earth (I am convinced), they are all the most passionate, forward-thinking humans with incredible convictions and a great global consciousness. With them, I have debated ideas, read many books and together have pushed the limits on what we thought we were capable of. The problem I face though, when I am around them- is the outrageous synergy that suffices when we are all together. Case in point: Standing on the northern tip of Argentina looking over a swift sub-tropical Amazonian river into Brazil and getting a powerful Thoreaucratic belief in our head- “I am the monarch of all I survey, my right there is none to dispute….” Regardless: the six foot crocodiles, or the gun toting Paraguay/Argentine/Brazilian Patrolling Coast Guards should have swayed us not to cross (never mind the rivers name!)… But we did and can say we represent a select few who have willingly volunteered themselves on an illegal border crossing. Now, as a disclaimer, what we did may be deemed foolish; but in all honesty- that drive to expand ourselves, to push the boundary on what our axioms and dogmas have us believing is too strong to ignore. Our intent is never to harm… but to empower and expand our perspective on how the world can be made better for everyone. Also, I got a lot more great pics of situations I am thankful for (but have no desire to re-live) from time to time I’ll post them here and share some. Again, thanks for stopping by!

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