Episode 214 features Brent Bradshaw, a self-proclaimed Simple Man

Brent Bradshaw is a master with many things, known for supporting the Samurai community as the hands behind TrailTough, he’s transitioned to a cancer-free simpler life. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

4:24 – my dad was real proud of the parts he was able to sneak home 

11:57 – my whole life, I would nail tricycle wheels or lawn mower wheels to 2x4s to make go-karts, whatever rolled, I loved.             

18:17 – in those days, I was allowed to get 3 pages of citations, now you get 3 tickets and you’re out. 

30:48 – in this neck of the woods, a 4WD vehicle that’s light, nible and small gets you in areas where other people don’t go. That was the key. 

37:42 – the builds were mostly to support the Samurai community, I never intended to start a full-on company called Trail Tough, it just blew up.

44:46 – we built the Crustacean, everything was perfect!

57:08 – the first event I won was Tucson, it was not a happy day for Tracy

1:02:56 – life changed when I got cancer. While I was having surgery, Linda was doing research. Cancer feeds on low oxygen, high acid, high sugar environment.

Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - 

Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview-style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the off-road industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors, men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call off-road. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active and off-road. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call off-road.

[00:00:46.530] - 

Whether you're crawling the Red Rocks of Moab or hauling your toys to the trail, Maxxis has the tires you can trust for performance and durability. Four wheels or two, Maxxis tires are the choice of champions because they know that whether for work or play, for fun or competition, Maxxis tires deliver. Choose Maxxis. Dread victoriously.

[00:01:13.030] - 

Have you seen 4Lowmagazine yet? 4low magazine is a high-quality, well-written, four-wheel drive-focused magazine for the enthusiast market. If you still love the idea of a printed magazine, something to save and read at any time, 4LOW is the magazine for you.  4LOW cannot be found in stores, but you can have it delivered to your home or place of business. Visit 4lOW magazine.com to order your subscription today.

[00:01:39.700] - Big Rich Klein

On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be talking to a man who has worn many hats, created successful business from a hobby, created an iconic car or two, won championships in rock crawling, and found a lifestyle to keep him healthy and alive. Hello, Brent Bradshaw. It's good to have you on this show, on the podcast, and I'm looking forward to this conversation.

[00:02:06.180] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, hi, Big Rich, and it sounds like it's going to be pretty fun.

[00:02:10.650] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. So let's jump right into it and Let everybody know where you were born and raised.

[00:02:19.690] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, I was born in Redlands, California. I actually grew up in Riverside, California, which was actually in the country at that time, believe it or not. I had dairy land behind my house, and at the end of the road, I had foothills that I rode my bike and shot rabbits and caught snakes and had fun doing it.

[00:02:51.170] - Big Rich Klein

Got to do all the things that country kids get to do.

[00:02:54.150] - Brent Bradshaw

I came home real dirty every day.

[00:02:57.470] - Big Rich Klein

I would imagine most people in Riverside nowadays are not out hunting rabbits?

[00:03:02.560] - Brent Bradshaw

No, I wouldn't imagine. I haven't been back there, and I don't think I want to.

[00:03:10.830] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So growing up in that area, Redlands and Riverside, like you said, you were able to ride your bike, go out in and hunt rabbits, and do all that stuff. What did What did you do as a family?

[00:03:33.060] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, I was born and raised in a dedicated, financially challenged, but dedicated Christian family. We were at church every Sunday and every Wednesday night and every Sunday night. That's pretty much how I grew up.

[00:03:55.440] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. That cut into probably family vacations then?

[00:04:00.680] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, the only family vacations I remember is coming up here to look for a new place to be in Oregon.

[00:04:10.920] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. What did your parents... I'm assuming your dad was the breadwinner. Did your mom work?

[00:04:19.420] - Brent Bradshaw

They both did. Okay. Yeah.

[00:04:21.980] - Big Rich Klein

What did your dad do?

[00:04:25.010] - Brent Bradshaw

My dad was a precision machinist. He worked for some of the Top secret aerospace. He was real proud of the parts he was able to sneak home and the explosive bolts that separated the sections of missiles and rockets and cool stuff like that. I mean, down to the point where everything had to be inspected, you couldn't have a pencil line on it.

[00:04:51.410] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Wow. Okay. And your mom?

[00:04:55.640] - Brent Bradshaw

My mom did various things. She was administrative secretary for hospital, or she worked for, I know, foreign industries. Of course, I moved from there when I was nine, so some of that was a little outside of my realm of .

[00:05:15.600] - Big Rich Klein

Knowledge. Right. You went from Riverside up to Oregon?

[00:05:20.850] - Brent Bradshaw

I did, yeah.

[00:05:22.150] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. What part of Oregon did you guys first move to?

[00:05:26.550] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, we first moved up to Salem. Okay. It was okay for a while, but that was climate shock for us. I was used to playing in 90, 100-degree weather, and it was wet all the time. It rains a lot up there.

[00:05:51.110] - Big Rich Klein

That's why it's the Oregon ducks.

[00:05:53.530] - Brent Bradshaw

I guess so, yeah.

[00:05:54.600] - Big Rich Klein

Or the beavers.

[00:05:56.330] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, either rust or get webbed fingers. There you go.

[00:06:00.360] - Big Rich Klein

And how long were you in Salem?

[00:06:02.530] - Brent Bradshaw

Only a couple of years.

[00:06:05.320] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:06:06.340] - Brent Bradshaw

And then we moved back down to my grandparents. They had a couple of houses there in Big Bear Lake.

[00:06:15.240] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So you were up in the mountains then?

[00:06:18.100] - Brent Bradshaw

Yes.

[00:06:18.540] - Big Rich Klein

And what was it like? Do you remember the transition from Southern California to Salem, and then back to Southern California? I know that myself, I stayed in the same neighborhood, basically from first grade until a senior in high school.

[00:06:42.400] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, back in that time, up here in Oregon, things were very much more conservative oriented, believe it or not. It's not what you hear on the news about Oregon, but it was that way. Then moving back down to Big Bear Lake, it was another culture shock. Middle school I went to there. I mean, the kids, I mean, talk back to the teachers and would curse them out. I wasn't used to that.

[00:07:23.730] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And did your dad stay as a machinist the whole time?

[00:07:29.570] - Brent Bradshaw

Oh, no, he did various things. I mean, he was talented in a lot of different things. I mean, whatever jobs were available, he worked for the city at one point. I know he worked at UCLA at one point doing maintenance. So, yeah, he did various things.

[00:07:52.710] - Big Rich Klein

And how long did you stay in the Big Bear Lake area?

[00:07:57.000] - Brent Bradshaw

Not that long. I think only about a year, if I remember right. And then we came back up here to Southern Oregon.

[00:08:05.860] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And which town did you move into then?

[00:08:10.960] - Brent Bradshaw

So we actually moved to Jacksonville, Oregon.

[00:08:14.840] - Big Rich Klein

I've never heard of that.

[00:08:17.470] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, it's a historic town from the 1800s.

[00:08:23.830] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:08:25.030] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, it's quite a little tourist attraction. It's about five miles west of Medford, Oregon.

[00:08:36.870] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And since then, you've pretty much stayed in that Southern Oregon area? Oh, no. Oh, no? Okay.

[00:08:44.180] - Brent Bradshaw

I mean, I finished out school here in Medford. I graduated from Medford Senior High School. And then that was '75, and those Those were interesting times. I was the person that didn't do a lot of things I should have done right and did everything I could do wrong, pretty much. Okay, I get it. At that age.

[00:09:19.520] - Big Rich Klein

You and I are just a year apart in graduation. I graduated in '76.

[00:09:24.690] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. So you know how those days were. There were lots of things to get into that you had to recover from.

[00:09:33.600] - Big Rich Klein

Yes.

[00:09:34.920] - Brent Bradshaw

So at any rate...

[00:09:39.200] - Big Rich Klein

What did you do school-wise, say, in the Medford? Did you participate in shop classes or any sports, or were you just like a rebel?

[00:09:53.020] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, they had a program that called the Early Bird Schedule for the kids that wanted to have jobs. Basically, what I would end up... I manipulated the system where I was really good in the shop classes. I had to take two main subjects projects, and then the rest could be electives. I manipulated it to where I took my wood shop, my auto shop, and my metal shop altogether. Once I got real well established and the shop teachers knew that I could Excel in those categories, I'd tell my woodshop teacher I was going to go work on a project at the metal shop, and the metal shop teacher, I'd go work on a project over at the auto shop, and I'd leave.

[00:10:51.060] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:10:52.450] - Brent Bradshaw

And walk about, oh, crud, about two miles to a body shop and go sand cars so that I could get my first car painted. I was trying to work towards a paint job.

[00:11:11.060] - Big Rich Klein

And what was that first car?

[00:11:15.280] - Brent Bradshaw

Oh, man, you wouldn't believe it. My first car was a '55 Chevy Nomad.

[00:11:19.840] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. A nomad.

[00:11:21.860] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. Wow. I got that when I was 14, actually.

[00:11:27.710] - Big Rich Klein

How did you score that?

[00:11:29.310] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, like I said, in my growing up days, we were very financially challenged. Anything I got, I had to earn or trade, borrow, whatever it took to get it. So I raced go-karts. I started racing go-karts early, like 12.

[00:11:56.360] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. Okay.

[00:11:57.780] - Brent Bradshaw

There was a go-kart track here. I mean, My whole life, I would nail tricycle wheels or lawn mower wheels to two by fours to make go-karts, whatever rolled I loved. Anyway, I was riding the bus every day up this one street. I could see across the field into these people's backyard, and I seen that car, and I knew what it was immediately. Every Every day I'd drive by it for over a year. Finally, I got my dad to take me and find a house in that neighborhood. I knocked on the door and asked him if they'd tell me that car. It turned out that his brother had come up from Southern California and left it there, and they wanted to get out of there. And all I could muster, I ended up selling my go-cart and my mini-bike, and all I could get together was $375, and he took it.

[00:13:11.390] - Big Rich Klein

Wow, that's pretty good. My first car was a 1954 Volkswagen Bug, and I bought it for $300 because that's all I could muster.

[00:13:21.640] - Brent Bradshaw

Right.

[00:13:26.320] - Big Rich Klein

So then what did besides Besides working for the body shop to get the car, the bodywork done and paint, what else did you do to the car when you... You got it at 14, you didn't start driving until 15 and a half, 16?

[00:13:43.980] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, that wouldn't be true either. Okay. Both my parents would go to work and I'd collect enough pop bottles that would gather up a couple of bucks worth of gas, and I'd drive out to the river every day and Coast all the way down Jacksonville Hill to try to make it back home. That was how I did that.

[00:14:11.190] - Big Rich Klein

What did you do while you were down at the river?

[00:14:17.630] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, it was a little waterfall swimming hole there. Of course, it was full of hippies because that was what was going on in those days. All right. So we'd hang out there. Partake? Yeah, pretty much. Okay.

[00:14:36.800] - Big Rich Klein

Yes. Oregon was known back then for some pretty good tabaki, you might say. Wacky tabaki.

[00:14:49.470] - Brent Bradshaw

And still is. You can't drive around here without the smell of...

[00:14:57.990] - Big Rich Klein

Mary Jane. Yes.

[00:14:59.280] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah I can remember one of the first albums that I memorized almost word for word was the Cheech and Chong, Big Bamboo.

[00:15:17.780] - Big Rich Klein

Howdy, friends. The neighbor is El Monte Slim, telling you to come on down here to Wide Track Wimbleton Dodge. Hello, Dave? Dave's not here. Exactly. I grew up Just south of San Francisco, San Bruno, California. So I was a hop, skip, and jump from ride the bus into Golden Gate Park and hate Asbury because my mom worked at UC Medical Center, which was right there on Parnassus, and what is it? Hayes, I guess. So it was just a few blocks from the Hayes Asbury. And Golden Gate Park. And that's where I hung out a kid from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, and even beyond that.

[00:16:07.910] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, it was amazing. I don't know something about this location. We had the Medford Army. It wasn't all that big, but all of the great bands would come here. So, man, I got to see incredible concerts.

[00:16:27.860] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Yeah, we had Bill Graham I did a lot of... It was Philmore West and the Days on the Green when I was in high school, Oakland Coliseum. Then it concert's a candlestick. It was a winterland. It was pretty cool. You get through high school?

[00:16:57.860] - Brent Bradshaw

I did. I graduated. I actually made it.

[00:17:01.480] - Big Rich Klein

Congratulations. And you were just old enough to where you didn't have to worry about the draft?

[00:17:09.660] - Brent Bradshaw

Man, I was sweating it, too. I actually probably should have registered, but I got just under it. Yeah.

[00:17:24.320] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I remember those days, too. So have you watched the movie Dazed and Confused. With Matthew McConahey, it's the first movie that he did. It's about these kids that graduated in 1976, or I guess it's the beginning of Maybe it's the end of the school year of '75. But it's about teenagers growing up in the hot rods and drinking and partying, that thing. Have you ever seen that movie?

[00:18:04.420] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, not that I recall, actually. No.

[00:18:07.190] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, you got to watch it. You'll love it. You'll love it. Oh, yeah. I'll bet you can pick who you were out of the cast of characters?

[00:18:17.750] - Brent Bradshaw

More than likely, yeah. Bleach burn offs in the Bob's Big Boy parking lot, cruising town, racing from red light to red light. In those days, I was allowed to get three pages of citations. Now you get three tickets and you're out.

[00:18:37.180] - Big Rich Klein

Three pages. I was fortunate enough to run from the cops. The local police departments in South City, Daly City, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame, Redwood City. Somehow, I was able to get a number of times, and even the Highway Patrol once, and never got a ticket for that. I got a ticket for Exhibition of Speed, and they held us for four hours so that we would get home after 2:00 at night and thinking it was going to make a difference that we didn't get home in time, and it didn't.

[00:19:26.910] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, I did that. I was in a 60 Evan and Paula SS, and left a friend's house and lit them up like I always usually did. Next thing I look in the rear view where there's a stader behind coming my way. So me and my friend took off and ended up hiding in an orchard. They were on the radio, had a city and I cast him going slow. And then I seen him hook a Uwe behind me, all smoky. And we head out in our shirt. Well, the next day, the state cop pulled me over for excessive noise tires, which really was probably not just a good reason to pull me over. But he didn't run me. He just rode me for excessive noise tires. But I was already on my second driving while suspended. So He came to my work and delivered me another ticket for driving while suspended.

[00:20:39.560] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:20:41.220] - Brent Bradshaw

The next day. So, yeah, those were wild days. That's without question.

[00:20:49.230] - Big Rich Klein

So what did you do for work at that time, after high school?

[00:20:57.300] - Brent Bradshaw

My first real big job that was for gainful employment was I went to work for a local wrecking yard. I can't believe at that time I could look at a Dodge 343 Flywheel or Bellhouse, and I could tell you exactly what it was, no matter what it was. I was a pretty accomplished counterperson at the wrecking yard for about a year. Then I ended up with a girlfriend and decided to move to Carson City.

[00:21:42.450] - Big Rich Klein

To where? Carson City?

[00:21:44.190] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[00:21:44.920] - Big Rich Klein

Nevada?

[00:21:46.140] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[00:21:46.680] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. What made a move to Nevada happen?

[00:21:51.900] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, her mom lived there. She wanted to move down there, and that's what we did.

[00:22:03.690] - Big Rich Klein

How long were you in Carson City?

[00:22:07.810] - Brent Bradshaw

I was probably only there for probably less than a year. Then I moved to… I fixed boats while I was there. I worked on Carson Marine, fixing boats. Then I moved to Lake Tahoe.

[00:22:27.380] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:22:29.370] - Brent Bradshaw

I did a lot of different things. I was a waiter at Harris. I started out as a bus boy, and right away, they made me a waiter. I hated that. I was good at it.

[00:22:41.340] - Big Rich Klein

You weren't good at being a waiter?

[00:22:43.990] - Brent Bradshaw

Yes, I was a waiter at Harrahs & Tahoe.

[00:22:48.100] - Big Rich Klein

Why do you say you weren't good as a waiter?

[00:22:52.750] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, I've never really been a good communicator. Anyway, it just wasn't... First, I hate handling food, for one.

[00:23:16.390] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:23:17.800] - Brent Bradshaw

And I just really... They liked me, but I didn't like it. It wasn't my forte.

[00:23:26.500] - Big Rich Klein

What happened after that?

[00:23:29.110] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, I went to work I was fixing snowmobiles at the outdoor shop at the end of town.

[00:23:34.940] - Big Rich Klein

Which is a nice winter job.

[00:23:37.940] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. Okay. And then I ended up moving back here to Medford for a little bit, only a couple of months. I was waiting tables at a prominent restaurant here called the Sandpiper. That, once I didn't like it and it didn't work out. That was only a couple of months. Then I went down to a different girlfriend, down to Ventura, California.

[00:24:13.030] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Well, you bounced around a lot.

[00:24:18.730] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. Well, we ain't done yet.

[00:24:21.160] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Then Ventura.

[00:24:26.020] - Brent Bradshaw

So yeah, Ventura. Man, I Actually, it was a previous girlfriend from high school that I went down to see, ended up marrying her, went to work for one of her friends that had a detail shop. Of course, they went off to Tahoe for a vacation and evidently had too much fun and couldn't pay me when they got back. So I inherited a detail shop.

[00:25:07.250] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, interesting.

[00:25:08.120] - Brent Bradshaw

Which quite successful. I had a couple of guys working for me after it was all said and done, and I had all the four dealers Chevy dealership, Toyota dealership, but we were busy. So did that for a few years, actually. And then I ended up selling it and started fixing copy machines.

[00:25:35.830] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:25:36.820] - Brent Bradshaw

So that was real interesting. Copy machines are... People don't understand that a copy machine is one complex piece of equipment. There's a lot going on in there.

[00:25:49.210] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:25:50.500] - Brent Bradshaw

And so, yeah, they trained me. I went to work for a Saturn Corporation, and I was pretty good at that. The neat thing about copying machines is everybody's got to have one. I got to go see... My territories would change from time to time. But Vandenberg Air Force Base was one of them. I'd be escorted to the machine with a machine gun. Mps with no sense of humor at all. They have an actual space shuttle launching pad. A few people know about They have the MX-6 missile launching sites. I got to go underground. I got to fly out to the San Nicolas Island. All kinds of things. I mean, I be fixing a copy machine right next to a stiff. Super high security places. Got to see on a military basis, one hand really doesn't You get to know what the other hand is doing. But the machine guy, he gets to go to all of them. The control rooms, like you see on TV, just nothing but screens. Back in the day, computer stations and buildings out in the middle of nowhere where every sound is recorded. Got to see lots of cool stuff.

[00:27:29.900] - Brent Bradshaw

Anyway, then because I was real proficient in that, they made me a branch technical trainer for the Cerritos Southern California area. I taught people how to work on copy machines. Then I moved to, well, shorten it up a little bit. I just moved back to Oregon, mostly based on relationship issues.

[00:28:03.360] - Big Rich Klein

Right. With that first wife.

[00:28:05.810] - Brent Bradshaw

I was always a foolish sucker for the shiny wiggly things, which there's pleasure in that for a season, but then there are going to be consequences. Right. Okay. Anyway, I moved back to Oregon.

[00:28:28.520] - Big Rich Klein

I take it at that point, you were single?

[00:28:32.300] - Brent Bradshaw

Yes. Okay. Went for another copy or company here, and then I just started my own company, fixing copy machines. Okay. Copy or service company.

[00:28:50.220] - Big Rich Klein

So I got to ask the obvious question, so Samurais are like copy machines?

[00:28:59.730] - Brent Bradshaw

Okay, so let's just skip ahead a little bit. I manipulated the way of doing business. It was really cool. I bought all these great big $70,000 copier systems off lease, off government contract. I'd go through them with a fine-tooth comb, just completely refurbish them. I was able to buy the supplies, the toner and developer stuff off of government contracts. Super cheap. Local companies, hospitals, even county offices, churches, really wouldn't want to afford that level of a piece of equipment. Something that was rated to do 100,000 copies a month. Well, I was buying them for little to nothing, putting them Because they were only doing, say, 200,000 copies a year, I owned the equipment, but I put it in there on a cost per copy basis. They were really reliable, and every machine was a profit center. I always had to be available. That day, I had to be on a pager all the time. If somebody called, I had to go. But they were so reliable that because they were way over-equipped, that I had a lot of spare time on my hands.

[00:30:44.950] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, makes sense.

[00:30:48.610] - Brent Bradshaw

My hobby of… Basically, in this neck of the woods, a four-wheel drive vehicle that's light, nimble, and small is to get in areas where people don't go. That was the key. I had Originally, my first four-wheel drive I built was like 1982. I wanted something real small, and it was before the Samurai. I had found a doctor Dots and pickups. Well, in 1965, Dots and pickups were actually all fine-thread SAE bolts. It looked like a Hillman. I mean, I could just reach right over and roll up the other window. They're tiny. They made one that was a one-piece body like an El Camino, not a separate bed. They're cute little things. Anyway, I went and found a Ford Jeep.

[00:31:59.860] - Big Rich Klein

All right. An old MB, yeah.

[00:32:05.330] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, 1940 Ford Jeep. It was all scattered in a field, and I bought it. I don't remember how much, but I bought it and I used the old model 25 axles and put them underneath this docks and pickup and put a Mercury Capri V6 in it with a five-speed training. It was a pretty neat little truck. It was all painted up real pretty. The guy that got it from me actually had it in Peterson's afterward. I was out there welding it together with barbed wire and cutting torch, and that's what I had. But it came out pretty neat. Through its transition, it ended up with Dana 44 axles under it and whatnot. But that was what I'd first put together that was small that I could get up the deer trails and in the tight spots around here.

[00:33:13.890] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And that was your first four-wheel drive? Yeah.

[00:33:18.040] - Brent Bradshaw

Then the Samurai, it came out in the beginning, ultra light, e-ticket ride. That was the talk. A friend of mine bought one, and I lifted it for him, did a spring over on it, old-school trailer purchase and stretch out the break lines because there wasn't anything for him at that time. Then I ended up actually crashing my nice little truck. I laid it over and then I sold it and I got a Samurai. I had that for one day.

[00:34:06.670] - Big Rich Klein

One day?

[00:34:07.600] - Brent Bradshaw

I lifted it, put 31s on it. We were out, 4:00 in the morning, you could imagine. And there was a hill climb behind the people's house, and, Yeah, the way I can do that. And I flipped it over backwards and splat. And that was the end of that, Samurai.

[00:34:36.830] - Big Rich Klein

One day.

[00:34:38.030] - Brent Bradshaw

One day. So Then I went and ended up with another Samurai in a trade deal with a friend. And that started the whole deal. It actually was an SJ410, but I took all the parts from the… SJ410, to clarify, is a predecessor to the Samurai. Okay. The 84, 85 ones. Anyway, I took the axles. They're a little bit wider, and all the stuff from the one I flipped backwards and put it under the SJ410 and built a real pretty little new Samurai.

[00:35:29.590] - Big Rich Klein

And Did you have that longer than a day?

[00:35:32.530] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, I had that one for quite some time.

[00:35:36.370] - Big Rich Klein

Were you still doing the copiers at this point?

[00:35:39.850] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, I was. And basically I had I had made a deal with the company up north that had a whole wrecking yard full of samurais. I made a deal to go with them for 3,500 bucks to build a Samurai. My desire is I'd pay them 3,500 bucks for whatever I wanted out of the yard to build a Samurai. He said, Yeah, cool, but you got to do it here so everybody can see what's going on. So I picked every single bolt, every cherry green, zinc-coated, the perfect bolt, every bolt from frame up from the yard and built a white Samurai that actually you can probably still find on Truck World online. They did an article on it called the Rock Crawling Stump Jump Warrior. Anyway, that was... So I built the next Samurai, and I ended up going down and visiting with Tim Hardy and coming up with quarter elliptic suspension for it and did all kinds of interesting things, made my own Nerf bars and bumpers. I had all this time on my hands while I still had the copier company. It was just a hobby. I built a shop behind my house and I I started grinding gears in two and welding SJ4 10 gears to Samurai gears and building Nerf bars and bumpers and can racks.

[00:37:42.020] - Brent Bradshaw

It was just mostly To support the local community. That was my intention. Never intended to start a full-on company called TrailTough. Well, it just blew up. It just blew up. Some guy online called and said, Hey, man, I'll host a web page for you for free. I'll design it. And I'm going, Okay. Well, what ended up happening was I had 14 Samurais behind my house in my little residential neighborhood that you would never know. It was all fenced, clean, tidy, no Riftraff, nothing. But the company up north didn't like me selling used Samurai parts without a records license.

[00:38:38.960] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah.

[00:38:40.470] - Brent Bradshaw

So one day, I got a knock on the door from Well, the city and the county and the DMV all got together and came to my door and said, We need to look in your backyard. I said, Okay. Well, there were 14 Samurais back there getting motor conversions and suspension lifts and whatnot. People came from all over, Washington, Calgary, everywhere. They go, You need to cease and desist immediately. I said, Well, okay. They go, How long is it going to take you to get this cleared out of here? I said, 45 days. He got 45 days. That's what he did. I had to either poop or get off the pot at that point. It was more of a spite than anything because it irritated me that they did that to me. So I ended up selling the copier company. I rented a little bitty building. It was a big stretch for me at that time. It was like, Oh, man, pay a lease on another building. Anyway, I took my chances and leased this building downtown. Next thing you know, I got 16 cars in line getting motor conversions. I'm on the phone, so blistering, busy, I can't even pay attention.

[00:40:18.760] - Brent Bradshaw

I grew out of that building in three months.

[00:40:24.070] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's a nice problem to have.

[00:40:28.310] - Brent Bradshaw

Then, yeah, so one of the customers He said, Well, we're moving out. It was a telecommunications company. We're moving out of a building. The owner of the building is really nice and he's really motivated to get someone in there. I talked to him and sure enough, he was a super good guy. He goes, I'll give you the first month, three months free. The lease was three times what I had been paying. But he said, That'll give you a chance to get all your fencing bill, get all set up. I I said, Well, how can I turn that away?

[00:41:03.690] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:41:05.610] - Brent Bradshaw

So there we went. We just went ballistic. It just went so crazy. It was almost... I It was hard to keep up with.

[00:41:18.300] - Big Rich Klein

And by that time, how many employees did you have?

[00:41:21.370] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, at that time, I probably had, just guessing, not counting me and Linda, we probably had three other people. At the end of it, we had nine other people.

[00:41:37.470] - Big Rich Klein

And what year did you start? What year would you say was the start of Trail Tough?

[00:41:45.220] - Brent Bradshaw

1991. '91, okay.

[00:41:51.010] - Big Rich Klein

So you were at that point, that was before the county, and city, and state came in and shut you down?

[00:42:02.380] - Brent Bradshaw

It didn't take long. I was only able to do that here for probably three months before they showed up at the door. I had to go full on, legitimate with business license. I ended up getting a records license right downtown. That's unheard of, but they gave it to me.

[00:42:22.830] - Big Rich Klein

Even after shutting you down?

[00:42:25.060] - Brent Bradshaw

Oh, yeah. No, they weren't mad at me.

[00:42:27.110] - Big Rich Klein

They just wanted your money.

[00:42:29.380] - Brent Bradshaw

Exactly Plus, the neighborhood wasn't the place to do it. I never expected it to be that way. I just got a little job shop behind my house.

[00:42:42.460] - Big Rich Klein

When did you meet Linda in all this?

[00:42:46.280] - Brent Bradshaw

I met Linda probably a year before this took place. Just guessing. She was the head of the meter readers at PP&L and was actually pretty high up in the Pacific power and light. They, right at the same time, wanted to restructure and wanted her to either move to Portland or Salt Lake City. She'd been there, I don't know, 14 years or something. She She didn't want to move. She took her severance package and took college courses and graduated, got her degree in Ministry. That all took place at the same time this Trail Tough program took off, which was nearly an accident.

[00:44:09.970] - Big Rich Klein

That became your livelihood then?

[00:44:15.560] - Brent Bradshaw

It did. We were front page of the newspaper, big full-color ad from rags to riches story. It was pretty cool.

[00:44:26.720] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. Yeah. When did you... I know when competitions, the rock crawling scene competitions with Arca and all that got started, but when did you start getting into competitions? Was it something local?

[00:44:46.140] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, I never had intended to do that. What really blew my skirt up was building the cars. I love designing the parts and designing the cars and trying to think outside the box, come up with something a little different that would work in a different way. I built this real pretty little car. Well, it wasn't just me. I had a real good fabricator, real good fabricator that worked for me at that point, just out of engineering school. Anyway, we, team effort, built the Crustacean . We didn't build cars fast. I mean, every Everything was done by hand, but everything fit like a Chinaman did it. Everything was just perfect. It took time. I mean, it took us a little over a year to build that car and still do business at the same time. The first thing I did with the car, I just wanted to go show it off, mostly. I went down to Moab Easter Jeep Safari, and oh, my gosh, I felt like Michael Jackson. Hordes of people. I couldn't go to a restaurant. I couldn't go anywhere and park that car without people coming in and finding me.

[00:46:18.920] - Big Rich Klein

Do you think it was the... I know the car was, I remember it was extremely pretty, but it was also, you had the double wheels.

[00:46:30.510] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, and four-wheel steer, and it was just... It was striking to look at, yeah. At that point in time, the whole rock crawling thing, I mean, Up here, you drive, you got wet ground and woods and there's a lot of finesse, a lot of throttle finesse and whatnot to get the job done. Big ruts and erosion and that thing. But at any rate, I just decided to go to that first donor event in 2002.

[00:47:17.280] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So that was the first one.

[00:47:20.220] - Brent Bradshaw

That was my first lick at rock crawling.

[00:47:27.030] - Big Rich Klein

That was off the hook event anyway.

[00:47:31.860] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, Welder boy and Tracy. It was pretty cool. Got to meet some people. I actually had a video clip that was pretty interesting. People were looking at the dualies going, Okay, whatever. We had that, I think it was an A3 climb that nobody was making the first day. It was a real tough line. Somebody was videoing and Welder boy was standing there. I ended up with a spotter strap and key on the key, Ignition, making that climb. I hear Welder boy going, Oh, maybe he's got something there.

[00:48:28.630] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, Bill Rowet Welder boy. Yeah.

[00:48:31.310] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. Bill Rowet. Well, that. So that's what got me hooked. That's what got me started. And it was cool because I think it was a four-wheel drive sport utility magazine, actually put that car on the cover, which was fun. Then they get a follow-up article after because I'd finish fourth in that event. First time out, I didn't... The car was...

[00:49:06.470] - Big Rich Klein

There was a lot to learn.

[00:49:10.940] - Brent Bradshaw

Rock crawling taught me a lot of things. It was real interesting.

[00:49:15.360] - Big Rich Klein

Patience?

[00:49:17.230] - Brent Bradshaw

More than that. Right. Way more than that. From racing go-karts all these years, I actually won the Championship in '81 in Oxnard I just showed up a nobody with a completely different set up when they were all running and set the track record and one, just, Who's this guy? That was cool. But it was all willpower and brawn. Going fast is one thing. That's good adrenaline. But from my perspective, it's like going from a two-dimensional world to a three-dimensional world. The adrenaline is far greater.

[00:50:16.970] - Big Rich Klein

Going slow?

[00:50:18.250] - Brent Bradshaw

Got a half a tire hanging off a- A cliff. 10, 12 foot drop or whatever. Yeah. That was Patience. You got to put your pride in your testosterone and keep it in your pocket. Basically, I just had to learn to be real concert. It took me a while to get good, but I was determined to rise of that challenge.

[00:51:02.410] - Big Rich Klein

How long did you compete in the Crustation?

[00:51:06.930] - Brent Bradshaw

Oh, goodness. I think for, it had to be two or three years, probably two or three years. Not remembering for sure, but at least two years.

[00:51:22.290] - Big Rich Klein

Then after the Crustation, is that when you went to... Was it a Campbell or a Or a scrapper chassis?

[00:51:32.170] - Brent Bradshaw

Neither. Neither?

[00:51:33.370] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:51:33.700] - Brent Bradshaw

In the middle, I took a year off and built another car. Okay. That was weird. And that was the Honda mid-engine car.

[00:51:42.540] - Big Rich Klein

That's right. Yeah, where you sat way over the front wheels.

[00:51:46.440] - Brent Bradshaw

Right.

[00:51:47.850] - Big Rich Klein

Which always freaked me out. Any big drop, you're looking, the first thing you see is your feet.

[00:51:56.320] - Brent Bradshaw

Exactly. When you're going up, you're up. Same thing going down.

[00:52:03.150] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:52:05.120] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[00:52:05.930] - Big Rich Klein

I forgot about that one because that was a transaxle buggy.

[00:52:09.720] - Brent Bradshaw

It was, yeah. With disconnects for front and rear drive shafts. So that was my... The transaxle was my transfer case. Because there was a differential in it as well as the transmission. I custom-machined a spool to get rid of the differential. But then I had disconnects that I designed and manufactured for the Samurai and Toyota to disconnect you the front or the rear drive.

[00:52:40.630] - Big Rich Klein

How did you feel that buggy did?

[00:52:45.680] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, actually, had I been more experienced in driving, I was consistently second and third. But I never did get first. Seldomely ever, I don't think I ever really got a fourth. I mean, I got all the trophies, but pretty much second and third most of the time. But it wasn't necessarily pretty.

[00:53:15.120] - Big Rich Klein

So after the Honda buggy and all those second and thirds, that's when you got into... Was it a Campbell or was it- What I did is I I bought Tracy's car. Okay. So it wasn't a Campbell car. That was the Nelson & Nelson building.

[00:53:41.140] - Brent Bradshaw

That was the original- Scrapper.

[00:53:43.320] - Big Rich Klein

Tiny.

[00:53:44.310] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, No, scrapper. Tiny was '02 thin' material. They had to build a new one every race. But so, yeah, that was the scrapper chassis. I was too proud allowed to continue to run that car. I actually sold it right away and built a whole new one just like it.

[00:54:06.210] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:54:08.090] - Brent Bradshaw

With the refinements that I thought it should have had. So I built a whole new one. But I used actually the running gear. I used the tranny and the motor and the Atlas from Scraper. And sold the rest. I can't remember the kid's name I sold it to. It was number 8. And I believe he put a Subaru motor in it.

[00:54:38.580] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:54:41.390] - Brent Bradshaw

His name's not coming to me at the moment.

[00:54:44.890] - Big Rich Klein

Was that Todd Young?

[00:54:47.590] - Brent Bradshaw

No. Todd took pictures. It was funny because Todd took pictures of my car, one after the other. And I just, I mean, he amazed me because he did an incredible job from photographs to mimic that car. But then he had a Toyota motor in that one. But he really did a nice job on that.

[00:55:10.500] - Big Rich Klein

There was a Todd, I think it's... I can't remember his last name now. A friend of Dean Bullock that put the Samurai motor on the rear axel or something like that. Was that that one?

[00:55:21.590] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, with the laid-down shocks and stuff. But yeah, that was not him either. Anyway, that was my my last best car that we ended up doing real well with that car.

[00:55:38.120] - Big Rich Klein

And that was with Chris Pablano spotting by then? Yes.

[00:55:41.670] - Brent Bradshaw

That was with Chris.

[00:55:43.950] - Big Rich Klein

When did Chris start spotting for you with the Honda car or with that scrapper car?

[00:55:51.230] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, right at the end of the Honda car, he called me and said, and I couldn't believe it, he called me and said, Hey, do you need a spotter? And I did. I hadn't really paid much attention to his ability, but I needed a spotter. Todd was my spotter for a little bit down at the National Zoom when we had it down in spring, Texas. But then he wanted to do his own car, and so I lost my spotter there. Chris just called me out of the blue and said, Hey, you need a spotter? I said, Sure. I wasn't too proud to just absolutely just wait and listen. I learned to listen to your spotter.

[00:56:43.680] - Big Rich Klein

If your spotter did well. Yeah, and he did.

[00:56:47.500] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, he was incredible. Between the maintenance of the car, my team at home, we just actually It became a pretty well-oiled machine at that time.

[00:57:04.540] - Big Rich Klein

Right. That was always those days battling Tracy.

[00:57:08.900] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, yeah, Tracy. The first event I won was down in Tucson.

[00:57:18.700] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:57:20.050] - Brent Bradshaw

The manmade course. Yeah. That was my first actual first-place finish. It It was controversial because there was a rear steer situation where the rear steer is supposed to be locked, but it drifted off arbitrarily or whatever. The fact was, it was beneficial to the course, and it was not a happy day for Tracy.

[00:57:49.660] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, I remember that day. Yes.

[00:57:54.240] - Brent Bradshaw

That was the end of that program for a while. Until Missouri.

[00:58:02.510] - Big Rich Klein

But you had... How many wins did you... You had a lot of wins in that car.

[00:58:13.490] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. I mean, after that, it was just like, I just kept... I just always pretty much mostly would win. In 2011, I did all the West Coast series. I did all of them. I won every single one in 2011, except one. Jesse outsmarded me on that one event with one of those bonus lines you shouldn't have did. I took second on that one event But the rest of them, of all of them, 14 events, 13 events for the season, I won every one. So that was a pretty spectacular year for me.

[00:59:12.160] - Big Rich Klein

That's like that run that John Bondrant did with Tiny, with Larry McRay spotting earlier. When they first did Tiny, that was like 2003 or 2004. And he had like 20 wins across all the different rock crawling Series.

[00:59:30.940] - Brent Bradshaw

Right. Well, unfortunately, the only ones that were available were the two California, Nevada, other ones than We Rock. And the You Rock one pretty much had dissipated at that point. Right. Yeah. And so that was the only games in town, and I did them all. So, yeah, that was pinnacle in 2011.

[01:00:06.690] - Big Rich Klein

2011. And did you ever want to, or did you, or did you ever want to race King of the Hammers?

[01:00:14.860] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, at that point, I was able to be on the pit crew for Jason Sher, the year he won, the first year he won. I've seen what all was involved in that. I just felt it was beyond my means and ability to dedicate that time to... I mean, I don't want to... I'm the person that doesn't want to do it just for the fun of it. I want to win. In order to win, you got to be all in. You got to be able to spend weeks down there at a time, and GPS and being able to establish 12 pit stops and crews. It was time. Once that transition took place, it just passed me up.

[01:01:20.440] - Big Rich Klein

No, it makes sense. I mean, it really did blow up and advance at a quick rate.

[01:01:29.480] - Brent Bradshaw

Yes. Well, I mean, what a cool race. I mean, talking about reeling it in and keeping your composure and not letting your throttle pedal rule you and being able to go across vast expanses of land at ultra height as fast as you can go and then reel it in and rock crawl and bring that adrenaline level back down. I mean, what a challenge. Right. And strategy. Rock crawling in itself, people don't, I don't think they understand the complexity really to do a good job. The self control and the ability to not worry about whether people don't like you using a spotter's track. You're going to just play it smart. And for the point, it's about the win. It's not about how cool you look doing it. Those are things I had to learn to overcome. It was a learning curve.

[01:02:46.300] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Yeah. The Trail Tough, are you still doing Trail Tough?

[01:02:56.870] - Brent Bradshaw

No. Okay. I'm not. So basically, life changed when I got cancer. So when you have life-threatening adversity, your priorities suddenly absolutely change. Your outlook on life, what life is all about, absolutely changes. It just does. And You start realizing there's consequences for the things that we thought were fun. Anyway, I ended up going and having... It was cancer surgery where they had to do it robotically. I had to go up to Oregon Health Sciences University and This doctor had invented this robotic camera system to go in and remove a tumor that was like, I don't know, inch by inch and a half. They couldn't be got to any other way. Basically, surrounded by pelvic bone. And in the meantime, I'm doing all this. Linda is doing all this research on things you can do to overcome cancer. I learned a lot about diet and what cancer feeds on, low oxygen, high acid, high sugar environment. That's what grows cancer, period. Basically, I had to muster a lot of discipline. I ate vegetables, mostly raw, some nuts, some seeds, and pretty much almost no fruit, just green apples, mostly. That's what I lived on for three years.

[01:05:16.490] - Brent Bradshaw

No meat, no corn, no wheat, nothing like that. Basically, I'd take doses of the food-grade hydrogen peroxide ride that would transition up to 50 drops a day in 5 ounces of water that's double the oxygen element. Anyway, one of the hardest things I had to do is go back Because the doctor told me, Okay, well, we need to do two more surgeries. Something called the Da Vinci method, where I want to take a section of my colon out and give me a stoma a bag. Then after what they took apart, heals, and they go put it back together. That was one of the hardest things. The doctor's telling me, Yeah, I need to do all this. I'm just sitting there with a smile on my face going, he goes, I can tell by the look on your face, you're not going to do it. I said, No, I'm not. He said, Well, if it comes back, I can't fix you. And I said, Well, I'm going to try it this way. So there's a thing called the Hallelujah Diet. Stage 4 patients have overcome cancer by maintaining discipline and doing this program. Anyway, it's been like six years now.

[01:06:57.960] - Brent Bradshaw

I had to go back every six months, and they X-ray me from the inside out.

[01:07:05.480] - Big Rich Klein

It's not come back.

[01:07:08.480] - Brent Bradshaw

You're all good. Yeah.

[01:07:10.980] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. So at that point, you sold or shut down?

[01:07:16.500] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, basically, it was blistering busy. You're dealing with five different or nine different people that every day there's something, and stress. I I wasn't good at stress. Everything had to be... If something didn't work out well, it really got to me. I wouldn't sleep. I just let it eat me up. So it was just... Yeah, that level of stress wasn't compatible with me. I just ended up selling it. They're still doing a great job. They're building some pretty cool cars. But yeah, I sold it.

[01:08:03.450] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, and when I texted you, you had a basket full of Morels. I did. Is that one of your hobbies now?

[01:08:13.100] - Brent Bradshaw

That's my wellness program.

[01:08:15.050] - Big Rich Klein

That's your wellness program. Okay.

[01:08:18.040] - Brent Bradshaw

I've always been an avid hunter, fisher, outdoors person, and foraging is just right up my alley. I'm covered miles up and down mountains, and that keeps me healthy. I mean, I'm 68 and I'm traveling with the young guys still, as far as that goes. Nice. It's not a big money maker or anything, but it pays for my existence. Right now, I just came down off the hill. I'm normally up there for between two and two and a half months, depending on... Every season is a little different. I'll pick Morels for almost that full-time, and then I'll transition into the king bolete mushrooms. I make a little extra. Subsidizes my social security. Anyway, it's peace and solitude. I'm out there with my and keeping my cardiovascular system up and my muscle strength good. Yeah, it's healthy for me.

[01:09:40.760] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent.

[01:09:42.110] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[01:09:44.270] - Big Rich Klein

You're on the horizon. What's your status quo? Keep it the same what you've been doing the last couple of years, staying cancer-free or you got any big plans?

[01:09:58.470] - Brent Bradshaw

I say these things, but as soon as I was done with TrailTough, I told myself, I'm all… And this is how I do. As you can see, I've done a whole bunch of different things. I don't usually look back. I just keep going to the next thing and trying to be good at that. But at this point, I got to act my age. You don't heal like you to. I'm a firm believer in just keeping it simple. I don't need all the stuff. My perspective, it's, well, I was going to say it's just wood, hay, and stuff, it was all going to burn. So it's my turn, my time to play it ahead and just keeping it simple. And so that's, I'm not stressed out and It's a nice way to be.

[01:11:16.450] - Big Rich Klein

And Linda, you and Linda are still together?

[01:11:19.080] - Brent Bradshaw

Oh, yeah.

[01:11:19.900] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, good. Absolutely.

[01:11:21.440] - Brent Bradshaw

She's out there right now. People coming picking up mushrooms.

[01:11:25.610] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. Yeah Linda was always such a fresh breath of air out there at the events.

[01:11:36.250] - Brent Bradshaw

She's just loved everywhere she goes. She's precious.

[01:11:47.940] - Big Rich Klein

You're the mushroom man then?

[01:11:53.130] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, it's seasonal. As soon as I get here at the end of Well, middle of July, beginning of August, I'll transition into huckleberries.

[01:12:08.240] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:12:09.430] - Brent Bradshaw

I'll go pick huckleberries. Then when that's over, the Matsutaki mushrooms will be growing, and they're pretty good money. They start out like 40 bucks a pound, and they're heavy big mushrooms. Then I got to take a break from that because it'll be bird season. Then I got to go fill the freezer full of grouse and quail. And then we transitioned into deer season, and we got a couple of deer tags to fill. And then we got elk season, which is only a week long. So it's time to stock up the meat supply because I'm growing out of my diet now.

[01:13:09.800] - Big Rich Klein

So you're adding the protein then from the red meats?

[01:13:16.490] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, red meats makes your system want to go acid, and you want it to be high alpha and low acid. So lemon water, cucumber, those all lower your PH. But meat raises it, especially venison. But as an outdoor hunter, fisher person, I don't like shooting anything that I don't eat. That's the one thing I've ever done. I don't just go do it for fun. It's to fill the freezer. Anyway, that's So any regrets? Well, I mean, there's a lot of things I could have did different in life. That's for doggone Right.

[01:14:15.700] - Big Rich Klein

But nothing that waged you down?

[01:14:19.280] - Brent Bradshaw

No. No. Good. It's all a learning process. I needed to learn to love my neighbor as myself. I need to learn that real bad. I needed to learn to love the Lord my God with all my heart and soul.

[01:14:44.360] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. That is a great segue. That ties the whole story back together.

[01:14:53.210] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, to me, that's what life's all about. We're here for a short time in the vast big picture of things. We're here to figure out if we're from the goo to the zoo to you or whether we have a divine creator.

[01:15:24.340] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:15:27.260] - Brent Bradshaw

Well, that's That's my take, and I'm now a committed follower of Jesus, and I'm not going back.

[01:15:41.900] - Big Rich Klein

There you go.

[01:15:44.630] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[01:15:45.090] - Big Rich Klein

Well, excellent. Mr. Bradshaw, Brent, I'm so glad that we had this conversation. It's refreshing. I knew that you had gotten sick, and I was hoping that that you had found a way to survive it all, and it looks like you have. So that's the priority.

[01:16:09.360] - Brent Bradshaw

I'm very thankful I didn't do what the doctor wanted me to do. I can't blame them because most people, I don't think, have the level of discipline it takes to only eat that food and nothing else. It's like People think, Well, I can eat this good food and this good food and my pizza. It's not like that. It's like a fly on the hood of your paint job. It wrecks the whole thing.

[01:16:45.530] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Well, there you go.

[01:16:50.050] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah.

[01:16:51.890] - Big Rich Klein

Brent, thank you so much for spending the time and making the time to have this conversation. I I really hope that I can get by someday and say hello. It would be really good to see you guys again.

[01:17:08.640] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah, that'd be awesome. That'd be great. I would enjoy that. All right. I hope so, too.

[01:17:15.660] - Big Rich Klein

Well, you take care and give your lovely wife a hug for me. I'll do that. Tell her that we've missed her. It's so good to have talked to you. I mean, it's good to find out the whole story.

[01:17:30.190] - Brent Bradshaw

Yeah. Well, I'm glad to be able to spread news.

[01:17:36.660] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent. All right. Well, you take care, and I'll let you know what's going to happen with this. If you're still on social media, I'll be tagging you, and hopefully you enjoy to listen to it.

[01:17:54.790] - Brent Bradshaw

I will do that.

[01:17:56.370] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Thank you, and have a great evening.

[01:17:59.480] - Brent Bradshaw

All right. Thanks, babe. Bye.

[01:18:02.260] - Big Rich Klein

Bye-bye. Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on, or send us an email or a text message or a Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have or if there's anybody that you have that you think would be a great guest, please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the gusto you can. Thank you.