In Depth Interview and Professional Photographs

Posted on August 19th, 2008 by admin

OK…the title of today’s post is a total lie. Well, not a total lie…but darned close. This post will feature and interview and some photographs, neither of which are in-depth and/or professional. But that’s how we roll here on PLSF. Senseless and totally out of focus.

As you will recall, yesterday was the official end of the epic adventure that we’ve been referring to as, Man Trip ’08. If I was smart, I could probably figure out a way to put all of the Man Trip posts into one place and then give you a fancy little link to get to them. But I’m not that smart. Not yet. So if you do want to read them you can click on the handy little calendar over here————->

Click on August 12th and it will take you the first Man Trip ’08 post. You can figure the rest out from there. But I’m sure most of my fans have been reading from the beginning and you’ve already read all the juicy details about MT ’08. Right? RIGHT!

From what I can tell, T and Big A had a great time on their trip-but they did seem slightly happy to be ‘home.’ Big A isn’t officially home yet (he will return to Michigan on Thursday), but he’s back in his comfort zone which is filled with couch surfing and channel surfing. That seems to be everyones comfort zone. I’m pretty happy that I decided to record all the details about their trip. For posterity and all that crap. It will be nice for T and Big A to be able to go back and read all about their trip when their old and wrinkly. It will be like reliving it all over again. Except they’ll be wearing diapers and dentures.

I wanted to do a little interview with T and Big A about Man Trip ’08. I’m hoping for some insightful and interesting answers, but I’m expecting blank stares and grunts. Let’s see what they have to say…or not say!

1. What did you like most about Man Trip ’08?

T: Getting to see new parts of the country. The Grand Canyon is definitely a Natural Wonder of the World! The experience of being in a cave (Carlsbad Caverns) deep under ground was an experience I’ll never forget. Also, the KA (Cirque Du Soleil) show in LasVegas was amazing. (OK, that was four things-but we’ll roll with it)

Big A: The KA show. It was a sweet show and it’s amazing that anyone can do that kind of stuff.

2. At any time throughout the trip were you scared that you might possibly die? When/what was it?

T: The short cut mountain road from Grand Canyon West to Grand Canyon South. It was a dirt track road with no gaurdrails and no signs of civilization for 60 miles and no cell phone reception. And I think that “The Hills Have Eyes” was filmed there.

Big A: He said no, but then remembered several instances in which his death was a total possiblity. (Tree falling on tent during storm, trying to pet a Caribou, sitting on the edge of the Canyon, etc)

3. What was the most unexpected thing that you encountered on the trip?

T: It was very interesting to see the number of foreigners at each of the tourist locations that we visited. I was also surprised by how big the Carlsbad Caverns were. Very impressive.

Big A: The ‘water bed at the Grand Canyon. You’d think that the desert would soak up the water, but it doesn’t. It creates rivers.

4. How many times a day, on average, did you text message your girlfriend(s)? *This question was mainly geared towards Big A who is a texting addict.

T: None. T-Mobile blows chunks in the West.

Big A: Ten. (I called him a liar) (He’s texting as we do this little interview)

5. What was something that you had expected to do on the trip but didn’t end up doing?

T: Nothing. I planned our itinerary and we did everything to a T! We hit everything.

Big A: I though we would have had to stop to pee more often, but that wasn’t even an option with T. (He kept a strict itinerary)

6. Out of all of the main locations that you visited (Grand Canyon, Vegas, Carlsbad, Hoover Dam, etc.) which one was your favortie and why?

T: Las Vegas was my favorite place-so much to do! The caverns were my favorite natural thing and the Hoover Dam was my favorite man made structure. (He obviously had a lot of favorites…he just couldn’t choose one).

Big A: Vegas. There was so much to do in such a small place. But it was expensive!

7. Did you play air instruments at any time on the trip? Which instruments?

T: I rocked out to air guitar and air drums for sure. I also did some air zylophone at one time. I also did some singing, but it wasn’t air singing-that was real singing.

Big A: I played air guitar, air drums, and possibly an air synthesizer.

8. You purchased what you called Man Food to sustain yourselves during the trip. Do you feel as though you could have made healthier choices? What are some other foods that you would have chosen instead.

T: Yes, we could have made healthier choices. *Emphasis on the ‘could have’. I would have taken Mountain Dew instead of Coke Zero. Mountain Dew is much more manly.

Big A: Yes. Man Food makes you feel like crap. Anything with less sugar.

9. In 5 words or less describe your experience visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time.

T: It’s an amazingly grand canyon.

Big A: *Counting on fingers* It was really BIG!

10. What suggestions do you have for other people who are interested in planning their own Man Trip?

T: Do lots of research in the beginning so that you can spend all of your time enjoying your trip instead of trying to decide what to do. Make sure that you have some form of entertainment in case you’re unable to get any radio reception. (I think this was geared towards me and my stance against the renewal of Sirius).

Big A: Take a plane. Go to Vegas. You could have your entire Man Trip in Las Vegas.

11. What was your least favorite thing about MT ’08?

T: Driving. The 3,000 miles that we had to drive. And also the point where my skin was starting to melt at the Hoover Dam. And the $25 that I blew at the casinos.

Big A: Driving all day. West Texas and such.

12. Do you plan on going on another Man Trip in the future? Where would you like to go next?

T: Hopefully. White water rafting through the Grand Canyon. Something more manly and definitely would like to travel by plane.

Big A: Yes. I would like to go to the East Cost.

Thanks guys! You’re answers were exactly what I expected. Short and to the point. They aren’t much for elaborating.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post the guys took a TON of pictures. Some were better than others…but for the most part they did a great job of caputringthe real essence of Man Trip. And speaking of “essence,” I was alerted today to the fact that Big A forgot to take his deodorant with him and didn’t use any throughout the entirety of the trip. It just wouldn’t be a real Man Trip without some extreme body odor.

Ok…now for some pictures. Lots of pictures! I didn’t want to have a 38 mile long post so I uploaded them in this handy gallery form. If you’d like you look at any of them more closely, just click on the picture. If you have dial up…don’t even think about it. And for those of you who are my friends on Facebook, I will be uploading all of these pictures eventually in a FB album; which may be an easier way to view them. But for the blog…this will do just fine.

Thanks for going on this vicarious vacation with me. I hope you had a nice time. Maybe you laughed. Maybe you cried. Maybe you were hoping it would end soon. Either way, it was fun. I will resume my so called ‘normal’ posting tomorrow. It’s about time that we got back to talking about the most interesting thing in the world…ME! Have a great day yall!