The Bucket List - Part One

Disclaimer: I think I’ve written this post three times now and deleted it twice.

July 13th I celebrated my 39th trip around the sun on this little blue planet. It got me thinking about this bucket list I refer to on occasion. For reference, I have a half sleeve tattoo of Easter Island on my right arm and people often ask me what it is and why I have it. My short answer is that Easter Island is on my bucket list of places to go, which is true but I don’t actually have a bucket list written down anywhere. Until now. This is definitely not a closed or final list so consider this a first draft. If I had written this ten years ago (before marriage and kids) it probably would have been a very different list. So here it is, in no particular order.

  1. Drive the Fairlane again
    In high school I got a 1968 Ford Fairlane and drove it for a few years. Once I moved to Dallas for college, it became pretty clear that it wasn’t a good car for commuting so I ended up trading with my dad for something a little more modern. After joining the Marines in ’02 I put it in storage and there it sat for almost ten years. Long story short, it’s in my garage now and my goal is to get it running again soon.

  2. Visit Zion National Park and hike the canyons.
    I’ve been eye-balling this place for some time and decided it needed to make the list.

  3. Go on an Elk archery hunt
    I’m learning archery marksmanship and I plan to hunt Whitetail in the fall, but it would be so epic to go to Colorado and hike to some ridge in the mountains and harvest an Elk to put in the freezer.

  4. Canoe or Kayak a major river Maybe the Colorado or the Rio Grande?

  5. Overland Trip in the Jeep
    There’s a guide called New Mexico Backroads that does a trip through the Gila Mountains via forest service roads. The trip looks challenging but it also looks like a lot of fun. The second option could be one of the Jeep Jamboree trips. I’m not sure my Jeep is ready for either of these but I’m getting close.

  6. Learn to Snowboard
    I've been once and I just did snow pushups for 3 days.

  7. Go to Havasupai Falls

  8. See the following bands before they’re gone…
    Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Willie Nelson

  9. Kayak the Devil’s River in south Texas
    So I came across this video on Youtube recently about a fly fishing guide in South Texas. I had no idea this river existed until I saw the video but it looks like an amazing place. Based on what I’ve read about it, a trip down this river would require some serious planning. It’s incredibly remote and most of it runs through private property so you can’t just get in and out as you please. There are a few entry and exit points and pickup requires some coordination.

  10. Hike in Big Bend

  11. Own land in Colorado (South Fork, Creede, etc.)
    We’ve been on summer vacation in South Fork for several years now and it’s probably one of my favorite places to be. It’s a pretty small town with not much more than a grocery store and a few shops but it’s everything I enjoy about living. The mountains, the river, the wildlife, a complete lack of traffic - everything about it.

  12. Go to Easter Island

  13. Hike the Appalachian Trail
    I doubt I would have the time to hike the entire trail but I would like to spend five days or so in the Virginias and Maryland area and see how far I could get.

Joshua Boyd