The Wild Courage Podcast
Real stories of redemption from men & women who have the Courage to be vulnerable and tell their stories of hope
The Wild Courage Podcast
Danny Sharp, Bulls, Broncs, and his journey to freedom.
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The Wild Courage podcast episode takes listeners on a journey through the vibrant, and sometimes chaotic, lives of two long-time friends. From their first meeting during a knee surgery visit to a mutual connection through friends, the hosts relive their early days filled with wild parties and memorable escapades. As the narrative unfolds, they touch upon their experiences in North Dakota's oil industry, where harsh conditions further solidified their friendship. United by camaraderie and faith, they reflect on their transition from spirited adventures to spiritual journeys, emphasizing the transformative power of brotherhood and shared challenges.
www.thewildcourage.org
Hey guys, welcome back to the Wild Courage podcast. I am today in Weatherford, Texas ish. That's where we're at, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I think this is Garner.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Anyway, West Tech not West Texas, Texas. Um, with my old, old pal Danny Sharp. Thank you so much for coming over here and doing this with me this morning, brother.
SPEAKER_03Man, I'm excited to do it. I'm glad you gave me a holler, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was thinking as I was driving across Texas, which take gives you plenty of time to think. Um, I was thinking about our friendship and when we first met, and I love, I love, I love, I love, I love how my recollection of meeting Danny Sharp is, and it it's fun because of where we're at now in life, but I was telling Tyler yesterday, I'm like, I was in living in Tinsleep, Wyoming, and I needed knee surgery, so I flew down to Phoenix, and we have a bunch of mutual friends. And um, because he was like, How'd you guys meet? I'm like, Well, I had a pocket full of Percocasset and Del and Danny had a pocket full of money. Yep. And our friendship started because I didn't have any money, but I had Percocet, and you didn't have any Percocasset, and you had money. Yep. And I remember that night we were weren't we at a horseshoe tournament? Yeah. Yeah, the hor the big horseshoe tournament. They used to have uh who put that on Arnold. Arnold, the Arnold Arnolds at the old Peoria house or whatever. Yep, that was a party.
SPEAKER_03Oh man.
SPEAKER_01But after that, I don't know. I ended up riding home with you. Yeah, that's when you spit over my brand new truck. Oh, sorry about that. Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_03I don't Danny, I don't remember that. That doesn't even sound like me. Had a big old Coben hanging in. The window was up on my little Chevy truck that I just bought. You were sitting there jamming out, talking, and you just turned to spit out the window. The dangum window was up. I don't think I could roll it down because I just had the windows turned.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we wound up in Cape Creek that night. Dude, I don't know. We went on a little run, you and I after that. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, and then I went, you know, I left. I went back to Tin Sleep, and then a few years later I moved to Prescott. Yeah. And then I think that's where we ran into each other again, was probably at the rodeo up there or something. Because again, we have all these mutual friends. Our circles kind of were we had the same circle of friends. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out where that where it picked back up. You were hanging out with Wacy. Yeah. Yeah. Jeter. Yeah. Jeter. And they were my old pards from back in the day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Went to a couple of your ropins up there. Oh, yeah. At the place. Took my wife's crazy barrel horse. Didn't I ride that horse off for you? Oh no, that was another crazy one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I remember riding a horse for your wife for That was for her dad, actually. Yeah. Her dad, that's right. So we kind of knew each other socially, but mostly partying and stuff. And then yeah, you came up and roped with us a few times, and those were parties also. I mean, we roped, but it was a sh it was more about the shindig than the roping.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01For sure. Um and then I was already in North Dakota working in the oil patch, and you got my number. Well, you had my number because we we were we were our we had our own friendship at that point. Yeah. From when I moved back to Prescott. Um and you're like, hey man, is there work up there? Because you were like looking for work and something different. And I'm like, heck yeah, come on up. And then we lived together in the oil patch. Yay. And that was we don't even need to talk about that. Other than we had fun. Oh, yeah. It was living together. It was fun because it was me and you and Luke and Willem. Willem and Hal and Doc. Man, what a blessing. That was a huge blessing part of my life for sure. Yeah, we all kind of grew that. I had just gotten sober. I mean, that's 15 years ago, dude. I've been sober 15 years last fall. I know it's amazing. I love it. So I was like my first couple years into sobriety and like really walking with God in a way that I had never done in my life really before. Um and so yeah, that really bonded us in those times because it was extreme circumstances that we were all together and hard. You know, it was hard. We were all away from our homes and from our families and missing things, but we were together doing it. Yeah. And it was it was our people, you know. Like you said, it was Willem and Luke and Doc and Hal, and I mean, we had a thing for sure. Yeah, it was it was a pretty pretty tight little circle.
SPEAKER_02It was weird because uh we just everybody's from different places.
SPEAKER_03The melting pot. When we got there, like even Samuel, you know, like you can't leave Sam out of the mix. Like, what a great guy, you know, and there's friendships there that I will never um take for granted.
SPEAKER_01For sure. No, and I I won't use the analogy of like war of what those guys go through, but the brotherhood and the bond is the same. Yeah. Because we were not, you know, in in the in war, but we were up against a lot of things, and there's something about going through super hard times, and you have to count on guys to have your back in the industry that we were in because it it is dangerous, mostly just all the crazy people that are driving up there. Remember, it was hundred dollar oil, so it was in the middle of the oil boom when North Dakota first fired off, and they couldn't get enough truck drivers, so they were higher hiring all these truck drivers from Texas and Alabama, Indiana, Florida, that and you know, didn't know how to drive, so it was uh it was that was nuts. But we lived together there and we made the best of it. You were our cook, and I did the dishes a lot, and you if Danny Sharp was around and you were washing dishes, you had to tie your sweatpants as tight as possible because you like to de-pants everyone that was standing there doing all the time, man. So we had our fun little rituals, and that's where we all kind of started going to church together, which was kind of cool. Yeah. That a lot, not a lot of that was happening in the oil field back then. Um but yeah, it was I look back, you know, at the time it was hard because we were working like crazy 18-hour days. We worked 30 days in it straight, and then we'd go home for a couple couple weeks, and extreme weather. It's freaking hot in the summer and 50 below in the winter and the wind blowing, and we were out and outside working a lot. Yeah. So that kind of I think bonded that group of guys together in a in a different way than than it's but it's kind of like cowboy cruise, you know, because you work together, you live together, you eat together, you do everything together. Um and then when Doc and I started regen, after a while you had you came to work for us, and I I got to live with you in Ohio too. We had a house out there for a while, and that was fun. That was fun too. Yeah. But enough about us. That's our story. Good good backstory though. Yeah, that's how we know each other. We've known each other for a long time. 2000. So 20. I was 25 years, 26 years, dude. Was it 2000? 2001, when I had my knee surgery and came to Phoenix. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it would have been. And then you're crazy. Then you gotta show up with that beard and make me look like a little junior beard grower over here.
SPEAKER_03Gosh dang. Man, I thought I saw some pictures of you while back. I thought yours is pretty strong. I was like, man, he's gonna make fun of me. I just got a starter kit now. You're the real deal, man. I love that beard. Uh I wouldn't know what to do without it, man. It's I haven't had non-facial hair except for very few times in my life. Well, in the oil field, there's times we had to that suck. Well, and I pulled back like an old barn sour meal on that deal, too. To the last minute.
SPEAKER_01The last time I was clean shaven, Mike Fallon and I were in a job in Louisiana, and I had a beard. It wasn't quite as big as now, but it was four or five years into it. And we go to this job at this fertilizer plant, and we get to the security shack, and she's like, You gotta be clean shaven. And I'm like, We're not fit tests. We're she's like, You can't, I can't let you on this property. So Mike and I go back to Walmart, go to our motel room, freaking shave. We got, you know, we bought cheap razors or whatever, clippers, and we had little toilet paper stuck all over our faces from cutting ourselves because he had a beard too. So the guys that we're working for, they come down to the gate and escort us back to where we're gonna working, and we show up. Everybody has beards. Like, what the hell, man? And he's like, if you're working back here, we're like off property, but you had to go through the gate to get to the back part where we're working. They were all like, You don't have to shave. I was pissed, dude. That's the old uh get the new guy trick, I guess. Yeah, yeah, that sucked. But I know parts of your story, but this is this is always fun because it's like, how well do we really know people that we know? Again, 26 years we've been friends. 25 years. Yeah. And I'll I'll guarantee you I'll learn stuff about you today that I don't know. It's like, how well do we really know people? It's crazy getting to sit down and be intentional with story and what you learn about anyone. So I know again, bits and pieces of of your life and your story, but you're from California, right? Yeah, originally from California.
SPEAKER_03Uh born uh in what is it? Melpedis, California, I guess. Grew up in Fremont. Um yeah. Grandfather farmed his whole life down in Fresno, Clovis, down there in that area. But we were pretty much kind of the Fremont area until we moved to Arizona. How old were you when you moved? 14, something like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so you definitely remember California.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And mom and dad what did what?
SPEAKER_03Um dad was in the military. In the Air Force? Navy. Navy. Navy. And then my mom, she worked for oh she was kind of in the techie kind of world for the longest time. She worked for uh Apple Computers. Um she managed like a Radio Shacks for quite some time too. So was your dad active duty? Yeah. So was he gone? Yes. Yeah, because so he was on the USS Carl Benson CVN 70, which is a big aircraft carrier. And he'd be gone for six months at a time. Your whole life growing up. Yeah, well in the early years. Earlier years, yeah. The latter part of the years he was he was over the the ship stuff and was stationed at Moffat Field.
SPEAKER_01So he was around. So that's all you knew is like dad was home and then he was gone. Like your earliest memories was Yeah. Absolutely. And siblings, brother and sister. Where are you at in the p in that order? The youngest. That makes a lot of sense, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. The youngest, the outlaw. Um, it's I mean, it technically he's my stepdad. My real dad died when I was like three years old in the military. Um, but technically he's my stepdad. I call him my father because he raised me. He took on me and my sister at a young age, so he's a great man.
SPEAKER_02Um but uh I don't know where that came from. Stepbrother moved in with us when uh I don't know. He'd have been probably thirteen years old, I would say.
SPEAKER_03He was a little bit older than uh he was I think he's three or four years older than my sister. My sister's three or three years older than me.
SPEAKER_02So um yeah. Stepbrother.
SPEAKER_03He's he's my brother. I don't I don't the step thing, I don't even like saying it. It's just yeah, it's not part of my vocabulary. That's one big thing that really bugs me with people and oh well, this is my stepchild or my stepkid. It's like, no, either you love them or you don't. Like but yeah.
SPEAKER_01So But you don't you have no memory of your dad. None. Zero three, it's like Yeah, zero. Maybe if you were five.
SPEAKER_03Tons of pictures. Him and I like it look exactly like it's crazy. Did he do you mind talking about him? No, not at all. Did he die in active duty? Yes, in a plane crash. P3 Orion over in Pago Pago uh American Samoya. In conflict or was it like No, they were at a um like a um uh like air show basically. They were doing an air show and there was a big tram line that ran across these two big valleys of a mountain and they hit the wire knocked out that top stabilizing bar wing, and it just kind of did a roll right into uh into a hotel. Like clipped the hotel kind of deal. Uh I think it was called the Rainmaker Hotel.
SPEAKER_02Dang.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Pretty crazy. Killed everybody on on the plane. Um Yeah, so I didn't really like I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01How how old were you when your mom got remarried?
SPEAKER_03Oh. It was it was probably pretty quick, probably within two years, I bet.
SPEAKER_01So he's been your dad.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01So your earliest memories are him as dad. Absolutely. Like about the plane crash?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no. Yeah, about about him being your stepdad. No. Like I just I just always I I just always remembered him as my dad.
SPEAKER_01Like I never So there was never like you were 18 and she's like, he's actually not your biological dad. No, no. She was transparent about you knew.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I knew at a young age that, you know, my my blood father had died in a plane crash.
SPEAKER_01And your mom like gave you pictures of him and shit. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03And, you know, with my dad's side of the family, like we were always connected and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you stayed connected.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So like your grandma and grandpa and stuff. Yep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So that's cool. Yeah, they um matter of fact, my cousin from that side of the family just moved to Texas probably about a year ago.
SPEAKER_01So it's good to have him around. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. So were you what was life like in California that you remember? Um You were probably on the honor roll and no, not at all. What?
SPEAKER_03Not at all. Uh always had trouble in school. Like just didn't get along with it. I didn't like it. Um I was real sick when I was young. I was actually a uh a make-a-wish child. So I mean, like, I can recollect probably for the first part of my young childhood up into my you know 12, 13, I guess, before we moved to Arizona. Um I was in the hospital.
SPEAKER_02With what? Asthma. Severe asthma.
SPEAKER_03I was in the hospital probably at least a week out of the month, three to five days out of the month, on and off. Like it was just a normal thing. Like I it was it was so weird because it got to be so normal. Yeah. It was just part of life. It's like, uh, I gotta go to the hospital, mom. All right, mom, dad, take me to the hospital. It was like routine. They'd stay with me the first night, go home, be all fine, you know. It was like usually the third night. It was always I I very vividly remember this.
SPEAKER_02Like the third night was always a tough night. But the third night was always the toughest in the hospital.
SPEAKER_03What it is for that.
SPEAKER_02It was like, you know, they come and go 'cause they had jobs and had to do things and that night it was like react like that. There's something to it. Yeah, so in and out of the hospital. Um parents were always good, like they were there, you know. It's just it was weird. It was it was a weird time.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, so and we always say, you know, we had horses and stuff when we lived in California. Kept them at uh ranch, you know, different people's ranches and whatnot.
SPEAKER_02Always into the Western culture for sure.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, childhood childhood was was interesting because I was and I was the kid that like was at school half the time but not there. You never felt like you fit in really the jock guys because I didn't play no sports, and I didn't fit in with the the gangster guys because I didn't do that stuff, and then you know, here I am wearing wranglers and boots and pearl snap shirts to school and and um I I did my deals where I tried to fit in with those guys and you know, run with the rougher crowd a little bit and even at a young age, like when I was in elementary school and stuff, I mean it was it was there, like the tough part of it, uh the gang things like that and Yeah, it was uh it was interesting. California was a crazy place at at that time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I
SPEAKER_01Gre I you know, I grew up there a little bit too and sixth and part of seventh grade, I lived in just outside the Bay Area in uh Dublin.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I went to school and we were right on the county line, so I had to go to school in Castro Valley, which was like the suburbs of Oakland. Yeah. And dude, tough talk about Wranglers and Boots and getting there was definitely gang activity in that junior high school, and people were trying to sell you weed and pills and stuff, and I was like this terrified ranch kid from Idaho living in that environment. Dude, I hated school so bad. It sucked. Yeah. I did not fit in there at all. But what took you to Arizona when you were um what'd you say? You were 14? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Maybe 15, 14 or 15, 14. So high school. Yeah, high school. So I went to high school my freshman year in California. So my first year in high school in Arizona is my sophomore year. We moved the summer of my freshman year. Actually, what had what had brought us there was um my illness. I was just so sick. And the doctors, like, you know, honestly, from what I recollect, you know, they were like needs to get to a better environment. You're like Doc Holiday, dude. Yeah, really.
SPEAKER_01Get to Arizona, that dry climate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. And uh so my mom and I flew out and hung out with my aunt and my cousins and stuff for like we had like a week time to check out places. Excuse me, and uh I wound up getting really, really sick, and I really wanted to see my cousin. So I kind of just milked it along for like a day or so. And I I mean at this time I was pretty professional at getting by when I knew I was in trouble with my medical stuff and like not being able to breathe. Like I could just roll on through it. But uh so I remember the night we got to go see my cousin. I hadn't seen him in forever. Got to go see my cousin, we had dinner or whatever, and then right after that we left left the place and then we went straight to the hospital. In Arizona? In Arizona. My aunt took us to um, we actually went to the I don't know, I think it was a children's hospital.
SPEAKER_02And she just she got to the to the parking lot, was like, she's always had this kind of feelings she gets, you know.
SPEAKER_03I don't know how to explain it, but yeah. And she's like, We're not supposed to be here. So we literally left, and I mean, I'm like blue in the face, can't breathe. We left that place and then drove to Luke Air Force Base in the military hospital, because I was my dad was in the military, so I everything was my history's in the military records. So we went straight to Luke, and like after that it just got real foggy. I don't really remember much. They uh I had a collapsed lung. Dang. And from from pretty much what I gathered, like they told my mom to call my dad, my sister, and put him on a plane.
SPEAKER_02Like that might be it. Yeah. So next morning, I wake up, my dad, my sister's there, and I'm like, Like's going on. Like, why are you guys here, you know?
SPEAKER_03So, but made it through that. Was in uh, you know, intensive care for a couple days or whatever, and I think we wound up staying for about another week, I guess, and we flew back home. And then mom and dad put pencil to paper and we found a place in Arizona and that was it. We moved.
SPEAKER_01What high school did you go to down there? Barrie Goldwater. Where at we're at in Phoenix. Like, where would I know? So it's it's north.
SPEAKER_03It at that time it was the last, like it would be Deer Valley Road. Oh, yeah. Way back. That was the last exit before you were in Flagstaff.
SPEAKER_01Anthem wasn't Anthem, yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, Anthem was a Tees Ranch. Yeah. Dwight's place.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah. Um Yeah, so then we moved to Arizona. And then that's when life just got different.
SPEAKER_03In what way? Every way. Like I I never experienced that type of people. I never experienced the Western culture. I never experienced I mean, we lived out where there was nobody. Like my whole life, I grew up where there's people on the fence next door to you, you know. So it was it was relieving. Like it was like, oh wow, you know, all this freedom and and stuff like that. So it was good though.
SPEAKER_02Arizona was I love Arizona. I think it's a great place. But um, yeah.
SPEAKER_01How is that fitting into a new school? Because oftentimes, like, I look back at like me have you know, moving schools every year and a half or so year. Um, and you kind of gotta be a chameleon subconsciously, right, to try to like fit in with somebody. Did the hindsight you have now looking back at it, did you what kind of crowd did you social structure structure did you fall into at this new school in Arizona?
SPEAKER_03Well, my first day at lunchtime, I almost got in a fight with about five different guys. Were you bit were you tall back then? Yeah. So that was actually my sophomore year. Like I grew between my freshman and sophomore year.
SPEAKER_01So when you got to Arizona, you were already six foot tall, probably.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And um, yeah, so it was almost a fight. It was more like uh, you know, it was the it was the you throw the horses in the pasture and it's it's a pecking order, right? They're gonna find out where you stand. So it I mean it wasn't nothing bad, wasn't no pushing and shoving, just you know, some guys posturing and whatnot. And those guys actually wound up becoming like really good friends of mine. So um, yeah, I mean, it was definitely different. School there was different for sure. It was uh, you know, I mean, at that time, like you weren't supposed to, but there'd be, you know, guys that have shotguns in their truck, you know, and stuff like that. And Wild West. Yeah. I mean, it was it was cool. It was fun. Was there high school rodeo at that school? Yes, there was. I did not high school rodeo there though. I did not um first of all, I never had the grades to. I couldn't I couldn't even play Batman if they wanted me to, because I didn't go to class, like thank goodness for my wife at the time, or my wife now, but my she was my kids. You guys met in high school? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I met her the first time I saw her was on the school bus ride my first day of school. The first time I ever met her.
SPEAKER_01Like, hey, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was like that, no kidding. And then we wound up going, like I I wound up kind of hanging out with this other gal that lived down the road. Very small town. Everybody knew each other, but she brought me to church at at one point to, you know, youth group stuff. And then my now wife was there. And I saw her and I was like, oh boy, who is this dime, you know? And uh yeah, I mean, I had told her that night. Never met her before, never talked to her, never said two words to her. I stole a frisbee from her. She'll tell you the stories a little different, but I stole a frisbee from her. She was playing with another friend of ours, Daniel, and uh she was like, ah, give me that back, you know. I just looked at her and said, I'm gonna marry you someday. And then she was just like, ah, oh, whatever, you know, you got a girlfriend, da-da-da-da.
SPEAKER_01And then yeah, so that was that. You wore her down eventually. Yep. Um, so not good grades, didn't like school. Uh when was that was there a party scene at that school? Oh, definitely, definitely desert. Yeah, all the time. And were your parents lenient? Like, could you kind of you could do what you wanted, basically? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Especially in our little town, like we had like the parents, like, but the parents were good too, in the manner of like if my buddies come over to mom and dad's house, she knows their their parents know they're there, and then she takes the keys or dad takes the keys. Y'all ain't going nowhere. Sit out by the campfire, drink all the beer you want. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. But you're not going anywhere. So dang. And it was, you know, vice versa, you know, other parents' house or whatever. We always know whose place to go to and whatnot. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02But it was pretty pretty chill. And I think back at it, like with my folks particularly, I think a lot of it was like me not being sick anymore.
SPEAKER_03So maybe it was kind of making up for me not when I was younger. You know what I mean? Does that kind of make sense? Yeah, yeah. Kind of letting the rains go low.
SPEAKER_01That move, that dry climate changed your Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03I don't think I think the whole time I lived in Arizona, I may have been hospitalized for asthma like three times.
SPEAKER_02So it drastically changed it. Drastically changed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So school wasn't gonna be your jam, like college. No. No. So what what what were you like my son's 17, about to graduate this spring, so I'm kind of in the middle of like going back, thinking back to being his age again, because he's like trying to figure out what he's gonna do because he's not gonna probably go to college either. Um, which I'm fine with because I have a lot of thoughts about college, but um it's like a big deal. It wasn't as much for me because I kind of knew by the end of my senior year what I wanted to do. But did do you remember back to being 17 a senior, like what am I gonna do with the rest of my life?
SPEAKER_03Well, that's where the story is a little different for me, because I was supposed to graduate in 96. And I just dropped out, flat out dropped out of school.
SPEAKER_02Your senior year? Um. Yeah, it would have been probably my senior year.
SPEAKER_03And I did this, you know, homeschool stuff or whatever, but I wound up even not even doing that. So I kind of just took time off from school, really, and then I went back to a like a continuation school in Arizona, and I graduated in '98. So I graduated two years later. But in the interim there, like I would do just enough work or whatever to say I'm in school, so I got high school rodeo. Because rodeo was the big thing. Like I met some really great guys when I first moved like Cody Custer and all those guys. Like, I used to take care of their bulls out Cave Creek because it was right down the road from where I lived, and and you know, that's where I wanted to do. I started that the first time I ever got on in a actual rodeo was a junior rodeo in Livermore, California. So I got a little bit of experience of it there, but not the caliber of experience that I got in Arizona. And that's what I wanted to do. Because all the guys at at at high school, that's all they did. Most of the guys, well, they're, you know, your football guys, your baseball guys, your rodeo guys. It was very more prominent. Horse people, things like that. And then that's what I was always interested in. So move on with the rodeo. That was gonna be it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna win gold buckles and go to the NFR and be a world champ. And so terrible at everything I did. Terrible. I just hung on.
SPEAKER_01I got real lucky a lot, but I mean, it was fun, but I wasn't I've reflected on this podcast about my rodeo career and the reality of what it really was. Yeah, I was horrible at it. Yeah. But man, I I and I've said this before, but I was addicted to the shindig. Oh yeah. The brotherhood, the party that was involved with it, and all of it. I loved I loved it. Because I couldn't play any, I couldn't play guitar, so the closest thing to rock star I was ever gonna find, even though I wasn't good at it. On the back of a button. But still you got the you got to be you got to pay your fees and you got to go play rock star.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
SPEAKER_03It uh Radio's great, like I mean if you peel back the layers of it, like it teaches a lot of stuff mentally, physically, if you're around the right people spiritually, for sure. But it was funny, just a couple weeks ago I was at a Bronx school and um just helping out, and we had these guys that were kind of talking to these young kids in between about, you know, just giving their testimony and talking about Christ. And we got to talking after, and one of the crazy things is like I remember when I was younger and being in the rodeo thing, and then seeing like these guys that are, you know, all at these rodeo schools and stuff, or they're all this and that and praying and stuff, but then on the same hand, like the next morning when they show up to the school, they're reeking the booze and talking about all the women and stuff they'd hang out with last night, and and it gives you real cross signals. Yeah, the hypocrisy and it's yeah. So it was like, oh man, well, this guy, I mean, this guy's been to the NFR, this guy's you know, top 15 in the world. Like, I mean, if he can do it, I could do it, you know. He's doing good, so so it was it was a lot of cross signals for sure. For sure. Um And were you riding bulls? Didn't you ride Bronx? Yeah, I wrote bulls and bronx in high school? Uh bulls in high school, Bronx didn't come to 'em later. Later. So you're getting hurt too much riding bulls.
SPEAKER_01You're not really built to be a bull rider. No, no. Yeah, all those guys are like five five.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but as old me and Wacy used to say, we've taken more short guys' money than tall guys. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So No, it can be done. Yeah. It's just not optimal. No, not at all. So you had the road you got bit by the rodeo bug. 100%. And the culture and all that comes with it. So you you get graduate a couple years later, kind of get through that. Then then what are you like setting your sights on then? Like, were you gonna try to make a living rodeoing?
SPEAKER_03No, I was I mean, well, obviously, every young guy's dream is to, you know, get the yellow buck and shoots right. But I always had a job. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've always had a lot of people. Is you're a freaking hard worker.
SPEAKER_03And that's just like because you know you're not gonna it's not gonna always go one way or the other, you know, but I always worked. I always had a good job. I remember when I was 16 years old living in my mom and dad's house, I was framing houses, and we had probably four or five rodeo vagrants living in my mom's dad's backyard in a trailer, and they were all good, you know, pretty good hands. And uh I'd work all day, come home, they'd go buy beer, but with my money. Of course, and then I'd go to the bull riding with them, and I thought everything was just good because I was hanging out with the good guys and they were teaching me how to do stuff, you know, how to ride bulls, you know. So it uh it uh work is always you gotta have a job. You gotta have a job. I was never I never I mean, I guess I wanted to, but I never I guess deep down inside I knew it was not good enough just to quit a job in rodeo.
SPEAKER_01So you always had money. Yeah. And with that comes you always have friends if you got money.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't know if I've always had money, but I mean yeah, had I guess is the key word there.
SPEAKER_01What was at that point when you like got out of high school, was it just like casual regular like beer drinking, hanging out with the boys?
SPEAKER_03Oh, absolutely not. It was whiskey and pills and drugs every night.
SPEAKER_01That's what I think's crazy how that s slipped into not just the rodeo culture as we know, but the cowboy culture too. Yeah. Like when I found out a few years ago, like even in Nevada, like all these guys are on meth. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01Like, I thought it was still there was some purity to it. Like, yeah, you go out on the wagon and then when you come home once a month, you go to town and let off steam and play pool and dance, and and and kind of like in the rodeo world too. The first time I saw drugs, I was like, wait, because I'd never been around it, other than somebody trying to sell me weed in California in seventh grade. Yeah. That freaked me out. But it's so rampant, especially I think in those cities, you know, like it's just part of the the deal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there was there was a uh a kid when when I was in high school, very, very talented. And I mean he had a he had a uh a meth problem in in high, you know, he was a couple years older than me, so he'd have been a senior, I think, when I was a sophomore. Um and yeah, he had uh an addiction problem in high school. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's just so much access, especially in Arizona.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then you you just kind of fast forward a little bit into my twenties, I guess. That's when the whole opioid deal was, I mean, it was it was so easy. Oh, I bumped my finger. You go in there and you get 60 pills. You know, and then I enjoyed eating the pills, but then I also was like a little bit of an entrepreneur with it, too. Like I could sell a lot of pills for some good money, and then I could have entry fees to go, and it wouldn't take out of my work money. So, like, there's some wheels are cranking with that stuff too. But you know, it's I was eating as many as I was selling.
SPEAKER_01Well, the the crazy thing about those pills is you can kind of work too. Oh, absolutely. You can go do your day job and you don't smell like booze. Yeah. And if you become a scientist about it, like I did with everything I did, it was like I know when to back off, I know when to eat, I know when I know, ooh, okay, that's I need to go sit in the porta potty for a minute to regulate and eat something. Yeah. And then, okay, that's I'm through that. Now I can do a half a pill, you know. Yeah. Oh, I need I'm ready for a full one, or now I'm ready for two, and then it just were you a scientist like me?
SPEAKER_03Um, I wouldn't exactly say at work, because my work I was always like, you know, with the cranes and heavy haul and big trucks and Yeah, that's the risk was the risk level was way too high, I think, for me. You know, uh don't get me wrong, maybe on some off days while we were at work, like in the yard, you know, hey, I would take a pill for lunch or something like that. But getting out of control with it at work, something like that, I don't I don't think it was but I guarantee him would to you, as soon as I hit that pickup truck, we Figured out what was going down the old gullet. Either some whiskey or some pills or or whatever, you know, who had what, or where were we going that night.
SPEAKER_01That's the other thing that blew me away about Arizona, Phoenix, Cape Creek, all that. When I moved down there that first year of living in rural America my whole entire life was where's it quarter beer night? Yeah. Like it's every night down there. Yeah. There was the bar, Mr. Lucky's on this night, Denim and Diamond's on this night. Like there was a circuit and you knew where to be, and it was like the same crowd. And Monday nights you went here, Tuesday nights you went here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was six days a week. And then Sunday was Sunday fun day of the barbecue of the lake. So pretty much seven days a week.
SPEAKER_02It was it was it's crazy.
SPEAKER_03The amount of um I don't know, just carelessness really, you know. But I know this is kind of cliche to say, but it was so much different times then.
SPEAKER_02Like things were so much different. Crazy. Crazy thinking about that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, the nineties in Phoenix were wild.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I'm sure they're wild still differently, but man, they they had this bar in Phoenix called Mr. Lucky's. Mm-hmm. And they built a small arena in the parking lot, hauled in sand and fences, and what they had four chutes, I think. Yep. Four. And they bucked bulls on Fridays and Saturday nights. Wednesday night practice. Yep. And I was 19, 20.
SPEAKER_02And I would go to the bull riding.
SPEAKER_01And then if you did it at the right time, right after the bull riding, when everybody was going back into the bar, I would hop those white gates.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01Sneak right on the fence and get in with the crowd in the middle, and then I could get into the bar. Yep. Because they were they had check, they would ID it pretty quick back then by where there's a will, there's a way. And man, those that was a crazy time. Yes.
SPEAKER_03I remember I I mean, so I was 16 years old going to that bar and they were drinking, hooting it up, you know. I always hung with the older crowd. And um I remember on my 21st birthday. Or it was like the week of because actually on my 21st birthday, I did nothing. I went to dinner with my mom and dad, and I had one beer, and then went home, went to bed. Um, but uh I went in there and, you know, sh there was some gal at the at the some newer gal at the deal. And there was a lady that worked there for years. She was behind the desk. They asked for the ID, and then she's like, Oh, yeah, ID uh, he's been coming here for years, you know. And it's like years? He just turned 21 like three days ago. She's like, let me see that thing, you know. She's like, You gotta be kidding me. I'm not gonna let you in tonight. I'm like, oh come on. Yeah, it's my birthday. It was, you know, way I mean, that's when we had our our IDs were an actual picture in between a piece of laminate and a piece of paper in them. Like, so they were, you know, I I think I actually had my cousin's ID, and he was like, he's like, he's gonna hate me for saying this. He's like, I don't know, 5'6, 5'4, something like that. You know, I'm 6'4, so yeah, they didn't check real hard.
SPEAKER_01They wanted that money.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So that kind of followed you through.
SPEAKER_01When did you quit, Rodeo? And was there a was there a moment that you got whacked and you're like, alright, I'm done. Man, there were so many of those times. Well, I mean the time you're smart enough to actually be like, uh, this is it.
SPEAKER_03I think the last time So I I pretty much quit because I m my work career was going good. And I'd pretty much quit. And then I think I was maybe 31, 32 years old. Maybe 30. 30 or 31. I don't know. Anyways, 30s, early 30s, and uh a friend of mine that we grew up with was a bullfighter, and he got hurt real bad, and they had this big Um charity deal for him, you know. So I was like, break out the old gear bag, we're getting on, you know, it'd probably been two years. So I'd say 27, 28, I guess, been the last time I'd really, really got on. And it was just getting to the point where I've had so many head traumas, been knocked out so many times. I just fall off the ground and and land on my butt and I get knocked out, you know. So it was um it just wasn't conductive for anything good. So audios. And then you got on one more. We got on one more. And then really knew it was over. Well, actually, you know, I did really good then. I almost I if I'd have stayed on, you know, that's what they all say for half a more seconds, you know, I'd I'd have won that whole deal. Um and I didn't I wanted to win it because I wanted to give him the money.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's the only reason. I didn't I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to give him the money, you know, do the right thing. But um Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That was that was it.
SPEAKER_01Did did did you I just remember Lucky's in that era of all the guys that quit and still hung out and we all kind of made fun of? Oh yeah. How did that transition land with you of now you're that guy? Because you're still hanging out with the same people. Right. And they're still a lot of them are because Wacy rode way too long. Way long. You know what I mean? Yeah, Wacy was good though. Wait, Wacy, you know, yeah, Wacy rode too long. But you know what I mean? Like, so now you're not intern anymore, yeah, but you're still hanging out with the same people, still going to the rodeos with the guys and stuff like that. Yeah, did that did that ever bother you?
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah. I mean, well, I tell you, I don't know, it's kind of weird because when I stepped away from it, I stepped away from it. Like I was full-on work. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to make tons of money, you know. I bought a house and was into Harleys. I was into that cool kind of bike scene for quite a while. Um So I mean, I just you know, I meet up with them at rodeos or something, or didn't really necessarily travel with them or anything like that. Of course, Lucky's is always Lucky's, you know. You always that's just the honky tonk. You go there and you drink beer and you dance and watch Little Bull Ride and have fun. But I wasn't the the hardcore hangaround guy. And I think you've got a little bit of a grace period too. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, as long as your buckle or your jacket, the last jacket you won, as long as it's not like you start getting four years ago. Yeah. Yeah, it's time to hang that jacket up and maybe look in it. But you're right. There's a little I I made it to the Grand Canyon circuit finals.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I, man, having that jacket is like to do. Yeah, I felt like Hollywood Yates being in Phoenix with 112 degrees out, and he's wearing his NFR bullfight jacket. I hope he doesn't listen to this because that dude would kick my ass still to this day.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's funny.
SPEAKER_01But you don't want to be that guy, so there is a little gray spirit. You still got a little wiggle room there. But uh for me, man, I got on my last one, it was bad. I got drugged around, knocked out, ripped my shaps and my pants off my body, hung up to a horse, and I was like, I'm like, I over it, my identity needed to quickly morph into something else. And that's when I was like, okay, I want to be a rope, I want to rope and I want to be a better horseman. So I just jumped right out, like I wouldn't even go to a rodeo, dude. Yeah. Like there was something about it like I don't, I'm not that guy anymore. And I needed my identity, I needed to be, I had to replace it with something. Right. Because it went from sports in high school right into rodeo, right into horse training, and roping, and I needed to, I needed to have that, and it couldn't be just a job for me. Like I needed I and and by the way, I'm not saying this is good. I'm just saying, looking back now, I need my identity was so not what it needed to be. It was so steeped in what I did. So if I'm not a rodeo cowboy anymore, now what am I? I'm nothing. So I better figure this out pretty quickly. And so when I when I got on my last one, that's it. I wouldn't I wouldn't even go to rodeos for years. I was like, I'm done with that. Now I need to submerge myself into this next thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it it it's weird. It's so interesting when there's a lot of people that are like that. Like, you know, my wife used to run barrels. She was really good at it, she had some good horses, and like she doesn't even want to go to rodeos anymore. She doesn't, she doesn't enjoy it. She doesn't like she's beyond that. I mean, not you know, better than that, but I'm just she's she's over it. It's like she does not enjoy it. And there's a lot of guys that are oh bull riders or bronk riders or whatever. I'm done. I quit. That's it. I ain't going, I ain't going to another rodeo. I don't want to see it. I don't want to watch it on TV. I I just, I mean, like, I love the sport of rodeo. Yeah. I love the animals, like the animals that they have nowadays are crazy. It's just, it's insane. Like, and the young group of kids that we have coming up and the bronch riding and the bull riding, it's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I definitely have transitioned into being okay with being a fan of it. I also enjoy watching it and keeping up on it. And I'm always looking at the world standings, especially in the fall, to see who's, you know, just keeping up with it. But to me, it's like the cowhorse, like I'm so far removed from that world, and I'm okay with just being a fan of it. Yeah. Because it's not my identity. And and just like rodeo, I wasn't ever good at that either. Did I love doing it? Oh, did I learn a lot? Of course. Did I love the people I met? Yeah. And I still have a lot of friends that do cool stuff. Yeah. And it's okay that I'm not doing it. And just kind of like being at that point, like what you're saying, is like, no, I'm just a huge fan of the sport and all things about it. And I like being involved at some capacity. Yeah. And I think that's healthy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. I mean, and I'm fortunate enough I get to be involved in it. Um, you know, we working with the BFO and stuff like that. And and it's just enough of that itch I get to scratch, really. Once a month, once every other month, something like that.
SPEAKER_01Um So yeah, when I met you, you were a uh crane operator. So you went to school and got your certification. So and this is kind of jumping back to why like with my son and the whole college thing, it's like I don't think that you necessarily need to go to college to be successful if you struggle in school. I think if you put your mind to it, because they didn't just give you a certification to run a freaking crane. Right. I mean, that's a lot of schooling you had to do, but you had to apply yourself to it and pass a lot of tests, and I mean, safety is such a big thing in that industry, and you were highly successful at it, and that's about the time I met you, even though we were partying our brains out, but you had a good job and made a lot of money. Right. That first night you took me to your house, and I was like, How does this wild crazy dude frickin' have a house like this? Because I was like, You're dude, you were one of the wildest guys I've ever met. When you drank whiskey, it was like a frickin' never knew. You didn't know. I didn't know if we were gonna get in a fight, or I knew we were gonna have fun, but I was also a little bit scared. Yeah, it was but at the same time, you were a guy that it it didn't derail. No, because you had this work ethic or drive or something because you maintained this really good job that you you made good money and showed up, and that always kind of shocked me too that you were able to flip that switch. Because usually guys that were like you on the weekends they didn't have jobs.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I I can honestly tell you, I don't think I've ever called in sick to work from a heavy night. I've always been the functional person when it comes to substance.
SPEAKER_02Any kind of substance. Like and it's not a good thing by any means.
SPEAKER_03It's just I don't know if it was a high tolerance level or or or um or what it was, but you know, I don't Yeah, I never missed work or a function because I was hungover.
SPEAKER_02I just it wasn't in the books. Yeah. So w uh how old were you when you guys got married?
SPEAKER_0130. I was 30 years old. So you went from Did you end up dating in high school?
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we dated all through high school and and um and then there was some crazy in the middle though. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, we weren't together the whole time, like she had other boyfriends, you know, and you had a crazy one crazy girlfriend, I vaguely remember.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um but did you were you in the same uh social circles? Did you see each other all the time? Yeah, absolutely. And it was cordial, even though you obviously dated in high school, yeah, then it didn't pan out because who what high school relationships do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, all the time. We always, you know, we always still remained a level of friendship. And um even though, like, you know, I had a girlfriend or she had a boyfriend, we never like crossed the lines with that, but we were still a leaning post in some way or a manner that if I was having problems, I could call her. She was having problems, she could call me.
SPEAKER_01A trusted friend.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I mean, why not make that person your wife? So how did that happen?
SPEAKER_01How did it be? Is it one of those things like in the movies where you're like, hey, if we're still single at 30, let's just get married?
SPEAKER_03No, it was nothing like that. The first time I threw a ring at her, literally threw it at her. I mean, you know, I was in my twenties or whatever, and we got into a piss and match, and I was I was had the whole deal planned out, and I was just gonna ask her to marry me, and she pissed me off, so I just threw the ring at her, you know. And she said no. Yeah, she said, not right now, kind of deal. I mean, she kept the ring though.
SPEAKER_02Um and then Oh, we moved in together. Um just started kind of living life.
SPEAKER_03Like, you know, my my son was born and um we just we just started living life, like I was slowly but surely picking away the um addiction problems and the and the party scene, and I and I mean very slowly, very, very slowly. Like I can rem I can recall times right before we were married that you know I didn't come home till five o'clock in the morning. Which is just terrible, like disrespectful, shouldn't have done it, you know. In my eye though, I'm like, oh you know, I'm with you. Um I I'm not a cheater guy, so I'm not it wasn't that right.
SPEAKER_01And d did you ever s find yourself saying things like if she was like, Where why are you what are you doing? We have a and you're like, what do you like Did you ever say like, I'm making money, I'm providing what's the thing. Yeah, all the things, yeah. What a what a jerk. Yeah. And I did the same stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, absolutely. And and it's and like I was like I didn't have the cheater mindset, so it didn't it to me that never crossed the plains. Um, you know, our circle of friends that was huge. It was, you know, all the time. And she seen it, I seen it. So, you know, birds of feather flock together, right? But I I just never did that deal. I wasn't that wasn't my thing. Um, but the you know, the drinking and going out with my buddies and stuff, and it's it's kind of like that old song, you know, out with the boys all night playing cards, you know, and slept in the hammock type deal. Like, yeah, I've I've slept in the horse trailer and you know, done that stuff, but um, yeah, so stupid things, you know, when I was younger, but thank goodness she stuck it out with me. So then at some point after Coop was born, you're like married.
SPEAKER_01You're like, oh, we might as well. Yeah. We're doing this family thing. For sure. For sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um I did did it the right way, you know.
SPEAKER_02I I went, talked to her dad again, and uh pretty much just said, Hey, I'm gonna marry your daughter, you know.
SPEAKER_03That's just how it's gonna be. Him and I didn't quite see eye to eye a lot, and uh I don't blame him. I don't blame him at all. You know, I was I was an asshole. I was I was I wouldn't want my daughter to marry a guy like that.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say that's where the perspective changes, right? As soon as you have a daughter, you're like. Yeah. Oh, he actually wasn't that bad big of a jerk. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So we got married and so fairy tale after that.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks, Danny, for coming on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Just kidding. Oh, wait, there's more? Oh, there's more. Yeah. So after that marriage, um the only marriage, still with her today. Thank God. Um, thank God she's still with me. She's such a blessing. But uh yeah, just kind of moving forward and going through the the troubles that you know people have. I was just young married couple and lived in the mountains for a while in Arizona. That was fun. Um, up there north of Payson and Strawberry.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I came to Coop's birthday. Coop's birthday up there. Yep. That was a beautiful spot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was amazing. It was a good time. We needed to get out of the valley because the valley had too many of um if I'd have stayed in the valley, I'd we I don't highly doubt that we'd still be married. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um but you know, God's plan is God's plan, so thank goodness it's working out so far.
SPEAKER_01Cause that's that's account of around the time that you came to North Dakota. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Because you were living in Strawberry when Yeah, we moved to Strawberry because I was I So it would have been like 2008 when the economy took a crap. We were living in the valley and I was with the crane company and walked in on Monday morning and they said, Give me the keys to your truck, we gotta let you go. I mean, after working for years with them and moving through the company and you know. Um, yeah. So it was that was a hard one. That was that was a hard one to digest, you know, and and the first thing you think is I'm the man of the house. Like, I got a kid, I got a wife, I got we got this and that, we got bills to pay, and like what am I gonna do? I actually went to uh it took me forever to find a job, but I I I started with a uh underground company that was doing uh fiber optic lines and I started with a shovel in my hand and in my twenties, like you know, or actually in my thirties. And yeah, it was uh it was crazy. But the job that I had wasn't quite cutting it and whatnot and another buddy of mine lived up north and he said hey man he's got this big custom log house he's gonna build and come up here and help him so I was I drag our horse trailer up there and plugged in on his property and um was living up there pretty much I'd come Amber and Coop would come up on the weekends sometimes sometimes they wouldn't you know so we were separated and my whole career though work career has always been separated from the family until we moved to the ranch. We'll get to that one later. But uh yeah so they liked it up there enough we finally just said hey let's get out of the valley and move up here north and it was a big step because you know all her family's still down the valley and mom and grandma and dad and brother and sisters and not like it was you know it's two hours away big deal.
SPEAKER_01Um but yeah so we moved up there and And then you started doing hitches in in North Dakota and then that whole thing came undone. Yeah that was a that was a tough day. That was a big mess. And then I want to go to that ranch job you had because that's a pivotal point in my life. Yeah and I I'll let you so you got this and the the interesting part to this is like what when our dreams come true what we think is when our dreams come true and you get that opportunity because I've had a couple of as you know I've had a couple of opportunities just like that one that you had similar um working for wealthy people and you kind of having the work ethic that you have taking it to that opportunity. That is exciting. Yeah let's not lie about it. Very exciting. And yeah we were all pumped for you and I mean I came and visited you there a couple times. So it was in uh outside of Durango.
SPEAKER_03Outside of Durango beautiful place. Uh the most still to this day I think probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. Didn't get to really enjoy it because of the of the lifestyle but it was it's still one of the most beautiful places.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and and and really it was like you couldn't have crafted a better position for you because you love to hunt yeah and you like cows. Yeah and it was the best of both worlds because they raised elk.
SPEAKER_03Yeah they'd bought the place and it come with a herd of elk yeah and um like a commercial herd of elk. Correct correct they didn't have any cattle in that place. They had I don't know how many amounts of land that needed to be fenced and stuff still but they had this big idea of running a cattle ranch and so on and so forth. So I'm actually I I put the first cow on that property.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And they they got into Wagyu right correct is that what you were crossbreeding yeah we did uh full blood wagu and then uh full blood angus and then the F1 crosses and they're they're they're doing great they're I talked to one of the brothers still to this day and he's he's a great guy.
SPEAKER_01So it's some family money from California right yeah yeah and the and one brother was kind of the rainmaker who had all the money and then the other brother was kind of uh involved with oversight of it. Yeah there was one two three there was four brothers and then the dad was the just like the tiebreaker type guy but yeah it was it was a it was a uh chain of command for sure but I've always said because I've been the first guy a couple of times twice in the dream job scenario yeah and about halfway through the first dream job I'm like I started recognizing that there were some very unrealistic expectations people expect that and it happens in the horse world to the the same degree I'm gonna spend all this money on a facility I'm gonna give you all the money that you need for equipment I'm gonna spend all the money you need to buy the right breeding stock or horses or whatever it is and then you get hired to come put it all together and build it and be a part of their vision and dream and then I was like two years into that job in 10 sleep and I'm like oh I think the third guy is gonna have this will be a good job for the third guy. Yeah because the of the unreal realistic expectations of what the ROI is going to be of the millions and millions of dollars that they spend and then that's that's very divorced from reality and ultimately I would say that's what you ran into right yeah yeah I would say so um yeah for sure the I don't I don't you know not I don't want to say certain things but there was um one of them one of the family members that they just didn't like us.
SPEAKER_03We weren't we weren't their type of people you know we were in lack of terms below them and I remember on Christmas day out there with the with the tractor mowing or clearing out snow and ice so they could get their cars in and out of, you know, to go to town or do their things and brushing off the steps to the big 10,000 square foot main house, you know, and so they don't slip on the ice and just being a butler for them, you know, and and they they just never liked us. Final never liked us. I mean but uh yeah the whole dynamic of it was pretty crazy. Um the one brother that I'm like I said I'd still talk to this day he he had the passion for it like he did. He he uh has a cool story himself but he had the passion for the cattle and and then the the land and and doing the right thing and stuff like that. He's actually really grown it there's they're selling stuff to some of the top um resorts and casinos in Vegas now they're meat so which is just awesome. But yeah it uh it was a really crazy interesting dynamic there. And there was a lot of animosity with that one brother towards us with the other brothers and then they would he would be barking in their ears so much they would have to do something to appease him but it would be at our cost so dirty pool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah really really it was it was dirty pool. I just remember talking to you sometimes in that season and I just remember thinking like this job's gonna kill you liter like literally kill you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah you had lost so much weight so much weight I have a picture in my phone I hate looking at such a tough time of my life I was like uh probably a hundred and fifty five pounds I got I I still got the shirt that's in that picture and I can't even get the top button around my neck now buttoned on that shirt and it's buttoned all the way up top all the way up top and you could probably stick two fingers in it all the way around that picture and I hate looking at it but I do look at it because it reminds me of where I was the amount of God's grace that I have on my life now and I'm just so so thankful for that so grateful I wake up every day every day and I'm just thankful for it I'm thankful that God loves me And I know he does no offense to anybody else or in breathing person or live fleshly person but if they don't love me that's okay my father loves me and that's you gotta go through those seasons you gotta go through those times you gotta get down and dirty and ugly and almost lose your family Yeah everything was on the line then everything everything was on the line my wife was getting ready to leave I didn't know because I was such an asshole to her and we'd had a daughter in the mix of this now when I'd worked my son so hard he hated me but uh it really there there was some I always kept in contact with you because you were someone I could be real with and you always had good I'm not gonna say advice but wisdom on things spiritual things godly things things that I didn't understand I thought I did. I mean hell I I got baptized when I was eighteen like I'm on the good train right I wasn't um so I'll never forget I we'd we'd already been probably a year into we'd been at this place for four years at the time I guess and we're a year into this terrible season at this place. Nothing going right always things wrong I'm working umpteen million hours a day you know we're trying to calve out every month out of the year while we're plowing eight feet of snow on one side of the ranch like it was it was just a it was just an ongoing like mind draining thing and we'd moved cows down to Farmington was hauling uh heifers down to Farmington to deal with the winter down there and I remember dropping them off at this place and I took a um a big six wire square bell and spread it out for all these cows to eat while we're down there and then I had to go to another place down in Farmington and gather more cows by myself gather more cows load them up in the trailer and take them back to the other feed place where I already fed that morning and in between that time while I'm doing this one of the one of the ranch owners' friend an older guy wouldn't he drive he's down there where that cow lot was and he's down there and he drove by and he said oh all the cows are bellering ain't no feed out there whatever so he had called the owner and the owner called me and the owner called me and when I answered the phone he let me have it and I was like what what what are you talking about? I don't I don't understand any of this I said I've fed a six wire bale there's only 20 head of cows out there right now there's no possible way they've ate that whole thing you know I said I'm almost there I'll be there in 30 45 minutes or whatnot and then I'll get to the bottom of the situation and I get there and I round the bin and stuff my cows are still on the trailer. I took a picture of the cows on the trailer still and I took a picture around the bin where there was hay laid out and the cows are laying on it. So they'd been fed. Their bellies were full they were happy they were just okay there were some calves bellering and whatnot and so I sent them those pictures didn't even respond to it. I was so mad I was so mad that somebody that didn't even know anything about cattle didn't even know what to feed a cow didn't even know how to take care of a cow didn't even probably know what side of it comes out of and then he's calling my boss telling me that I'm not doing my job that was a direct smack in my face I was I was beside myself I'd had it I unloved cows I get in the truck and I'm not even out the driveway and my phone rings and it's my buddy Jeremy and I am trying to keep my shit together I mean trying to keep my shit together I wanted to just drive off the bridge and my buddy Jeremy goes how you doing buddy I said I'm having a day and then we kind of hashed it out and you said well we've been blessed with a big job I need some help it's in Utah and I said all right we talked about it and you said plus we're gonna probably move on we're over in Texas and need someone to take over that area over there too I said well okay let me talk to my wife so went home that night unloaded trailers and whatnot got back to the house talked to my wife we prayed about it I think we called you the next day and that was it we were out of there we gave them two weeks I called those guys the next morning and they it happened to be all the brothers were in town I wanted to sit down with them like a man does and say hey I'm not gonna be here I'm not gonna send you a text I'm not gonna send you an email you hired me face to face I'm gonna you know let you know where I stand and they dodged my call they dodged my call all morning all morning and they finally oh we'll meet you in an hour and we'll meet you here we'll meet you this and I'm at all these meeting points and they never show up finally I call them it's like hey you know I'm here where you oh we're we're not gonna make you know we're down in water flow and da da da what do you need? I said well I need to talk to you face to face no no what do you need like just tell me I just told him I said I quit I said I quit my wife quit I quit you guys got us you beat us so we're out and the first words out of his mouth was you gonna be out of the house in two weeks I said it'll be sooner than that sir I hung the phone up and it was a rush it was a rush because right after that we had no place to go shit what are we gonna do they they they're the gatekeepers they got us where we live they got our I mean we had our own vehicle but you know one of our vehicles is a ranch truck and our horses our horses are in their barn our I had cows my cows were in their pasture um they had us you know and I made one phone call to a guy that I knew how to place up there where we were and uh but he lived in Arizona but he came up there in the summertime and I called him and I said hey Brian I said I'm in kind of a pickle I said is there any way you'd lease us your place up here you know for a month or so so we can get back on our feet or you know this didn't work out with this ranch job and he said oh man Danny says I'm so sorry he says we just tore that place up for remodeling it and I was like I mean literally I felt like the air just got lit out of me and then he says but hold on I got a friend of mine that's right down the road and uh said let me call him he's got a place I think and uh we got to meet with these people the greatest people in the world just so welcoming for our my my kids my wife um what she was actually a school teacher at the at the school but uh they said yeah come on we got this house it was it was his mother's house that she had passed away and been sitting empty for like a year we were like five miles back on this dirt road the last house the last anything to know to be around anybody and they said do what you want with your horses we hay here this that said Coop you got a job you're gonna help me irrigate and so on and so forth and take care of the field so Coop was happy he had a job and we packed up we called Luke Darnon's um mom and dad and they came over to the house and they were throwing shit in the stock trailer they helped us and we got out of there and went over there and that was it.
SPEAKER_02Like we were out of there we we left the ranch and never looked back they uh yeah but it was it was the first time that we could actually breathe together as a family um still I mean you know my son would have been probably I don't know eighth grade so twelve, thirteen years old I guess but you know we had a lot to work on still we still do he's 21 now but yeah to touch back on the identity thing and it's it's crazy how you can get sucked into something like that.
SPEAKER_03I thought it was the dream job like I was gonna be a cowboy I was I'm branching like I helped build this entire beautiful place like the way I wanted it.
SPEAKER_01They said here's here's the deal you just make it and and I did so I had fal I I think my fault I had I had false thinkings that it was somewhat mine but none of it was mine none of it none of it so it was uh it's easy to get sucked into because I've I had that mentality a couple times in those jobs too of like because I got to it's clay I got to mold it build it end of the day it's not yours.
SPEAKER_02It's not mine.
SPEAKER_01None of it was yeah that was uh you were in a rough spot for sure I just remember thinking your wife this is gonna you're gonna lose your family over this and like I was worried about your health like yeah when I saw you when we did the how copia roping the last year yeah and you were so skinny I was like you're killing yourself for somebody that doesn't care about you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I I chewed Copenhagen and drank beer that's all I did um I can remember one time I was I had to go into Durango to the feed store And it was first thing in the morning I had a load of cows. I was going somewhere. I can't remember where I was going, but I remember specifically walking into the gas station filling up. I got a cup of coffee, a can of Copenhagen, and you know, on the cash registers right there, they always got like a box of jerky or something. I was like, oh, I pulled out one of those jerky sticks and slapped it on the deal. And I got to thinking, I was like, crap.
SPEAKER_02That's the first thing I've eaten in three days. Like, what the hell? You know, but coffee in Copenhagen, it'll it'll get you down the road. Just not forever. Not forever. Still drink coffee. I don't do Copenhagen anymore. You don't?
SPEAKER_03No. Matter of fact, I quit while um while we were up there. And then I I kind of got back back onto it about a year ago, but um about eight months, well, for about a year once we were in Texas, but um about eight months ago I gave it up again and doing good. I just gave it all to God. That's what it was. I was just trying to hold on to stuff too much. I just I told God I said I didn't tell God, I asked God. I said, just take it from me. I don't want it. Because I got I'm a 40-something year old grown-ass man, and I'm hiding chewing Copenhagen from my wife and my kids. Like, it how embarrassing is that? Like, I feel so small to do something like that. Like, what am I doing?
SPEAKER_02God, please just take it from me. Take it from me. Because my heart posture is in the right place for the first time.
SPEAKER_01That's why this conversation's just so redemptive from my perspective of just for both of us, bro. Like what we used to be about and what our conversations used to be about. How pointless they were. And what every time you and I talk on the phone, it's about only things that matter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And aiming higher and building a community. Now you're you're hosting a fire at your place. Yeah. Amazing. It's been awesome having a year in Texas. Couple in. Yep. And it's like I tell guys all the time, like, when I moved to Emmett, you know, because I was right when I was at B Big West, I saved all my money. And yeah, right when Doc and I started Regens, when I moved to Emmett, I didn't know one person. Yeah. And it's like, well, I don't know anybody. I don't know. Just stay on the path. You might have to do it alone for a while. But we attract healthy things when we're living a healthy lifestyle and doing the right things. And it's it's about the journey and about saying yes and going on it. And sometimes you have to go alone. Yeah. And then like now you're building yourself a community of like-minded brothers that want to have conversations about things that matter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Things at the heart. Things that truly matter. I mean, it's like I was so scared to do the wild courage deals.
SPEAKER_03Even when I met Tyler like over a year ago. It was before he had his first couple years ago. So it's been probably two years.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_03And I remember meeting him at I I was talking with you, and you said, Oh, you gotta meet my friend Tyler. He's right down the road. Perfect. I called him. We were on the way, I was on the way back from a job out in Jacksboro. We met and we sat and talked in his driveway for probably two hours. I mean, we've never seen each other, nothing. And I mean it was great. Like, and we were both talking about wanting to start fires, but we were both still pulling back on the reins, going, I don't know if I want to do it quite yet, you know. And then he jumped off the cliff and did it, and I went to went to a couple of his and I I I just truly, truly enjoy it. And it's been heavy on my heart to do it for a while. Like when I talk first seen Tyler, like I still wanted to do it then. But here within the last year, I would say, I've ran into so many occasions with guys that have A brought up the topic of like a wild courage deal somewhere else, or needing B needing something like that, or me bringing it up and going, oh wow, that sounds like a really cool idea. Where can I go to one of those deals?
SPEAKER_02You know?
SPEAKER_03Um I just wanted I want guys to experience, like, I look at my wild courage experience was kind of pre-wild courage. It was in the wilderness in Wyoming, and that was a mind-blowing, heart-churning, unloading experience I've never had in my life. I'm stuck in the woods in the wilderness with probably less than 20 guys that I've never met before, other than three or four of them. Matter of fact, I think that's the first time I met Rob actually. Physically met him, talked to him, physically met Rob.
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, and just what I experienced there of being able to let go of stuff and being in a trusted, safe environment with guys that I never met.
SPEAKER_03Like, I just want people to experience that. I have no I have no motive for what I'm doing these at all. Like zero. I can show you the list of guys I've invited. They just haven't come. Well, they haven't come because it's not their time. Like, I'm not gonna let that get to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's all just invitation.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And and then again, I've had the guy that come that come and said, Hey, at the end of the conversation last week, can I bring somebody else next time?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that's that's how I mean I say it all the time. We started with three of us, and some months that's all that showed up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I look back in those times and I'm like, that's when we got to know each other. Yeah. And then people started walking into an environment that was already set by the guys that fought for it at the beginning. Yeah. And then the next thing you know, you're doing it three times a month because there's 25 guys showing up every week. Yeah. So it's it's it's not about the numbers and it's not about a plan or an agenda. You're right. It's and it's pretty cool to see what's happening. I talked to Willem the other day. Yeah. Love him. And he's man, the stuff that's happening out of his fire is insane. Of course, I know we can't talk about any of it because it's his, you know, nothing leaves that space, but it's it's pretty cool to see what happens when we invite God into the mess of our normal life and just be sons and be open and honest and vulnerable about what's really going on in our lives. And there's something I think that is um confessional about it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01That he's like, okay, I can do something with that, instead of the shame of hiding it and storing it in and being in the secret, you know, of all the stuff. So it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02Um, I'm doing this new thing as we kind of land the plane here.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm gonna ask you a question, and it it could turn into another two-hour conversation. So it can't be that. It can be a paragraph or a sentence, but it's gotta be the shortest version that you can describe in this answer.
SPEAKER_02Are you ready? I'm ready. What is a man? What is a good man? The shortest version, huh? Yeah, it could be a sentence, it could be two words, it could be I think the foundation of being a man, being a good man has to be it comes with. You have to you have to want to follow after the father's heart. You have to come in with meekness with everything you do.
SPEAKER_03It's not about the bravado which I think we get caught up in so often nowadays, with oh, don't cry, grown men don't cry, tough guys don't cry.
SPEAKER_01So I think what I hear you're saying in that one, if I were to summarize all that into one word, that one word would be humility.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I like it. I agree. It also happens to be a core value at Wild Courage. Yeah. Danny.
SPEAKER_01We're peers, but so I don't say this from like somebody that thinks I'm above you because I'm not, but just from a place of um knowing you for a very long time and seeing all you've been through. I just want to say that I'm really proud of you. Thank you. Because you're doing the work, and I find you to be a man of humility, which by your own definition is a good man. And when I think about you, I think of a loyal, hardworking, humble husband and father who will always be there for a friend.
SPEAKER_02You're very loyal, and I'm very grateful for your friendship. And we've been through a lot together, some hard times.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And we're still here. Yes, sir. And yeah, I'm just really proud of you, and thank you for doing this. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity for sure. I love you, buddy.
SPEAKER_02Love you too, ma'am. Thanks, everybody. Adios.