Slow Baja - Filmmaker Eric Ebner On Making "The Bull"

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

“A secret spot in Baja California, hundreds of miles from civilization. An old milk van converted into the perfect surfing mobile. A 67-year-old man, at the peak of his physical fitness and in line with Mother Nature every step of the way. “The Bull” is the award-winning story of San Diego surfing legend Glen Horn and his journey to an unconventional lifestyle."On today’s Slow Baja, we’re in conversation with Documentary Filmmaker Eric Ebner, as he discusses his path to becoming a filmmaker and making "The Bull" his film on surfer Glen Horn. The tale picks up as Ebner and a friend quit their jobs, divested themselves of their worldly possessions, packed up a 1992 Toyota 4Runner with their surfboards, camp gear, guitar, and headed south for what they knew would be an epic, life-changing surf trip.After a disastrous first day that saw their trusty 4Runner broken down on the side of the road two hours south of Ensenada, a transformative experience followed, opening Ebner’s eyes to the beautiful culture of kindness among the rural people of Baja.Humbled and uplifted, Ebner continued his quest for waves, eventually settling into a surf camp in Baja Sur where he met 67-year-old Glen Horn. Horn was the camp “OG” and lived for months at a time, off-grid, in his bright red vintage camper-made from a converted bread van. A fascination with Horn’s unconventional but harmonious life led Ebner to begin following and filming the surfer-steward-in-residence of this remote surf break.Ebner’s film, The Bull, was the result of that endeavor. It went on to stack up awards in scores of film festivals, including: Winner- “Best Picture” Short Film Category- Carolina Surf Film Festival Winner- “Best Documentary” Short Film Category- Florida Surf Film FestivalWinner- “Audience Award”- Portuguese Surf Film FestivalWinner- “Filmmaker Award, Audience Appreciation” - Save the Waves Film Festival TourEbner has gone on to a career in filmmaking and has made several films. Learn more about him and his work here:https://ericebner.com/Subscribe to Eric Ebner’s YouTube channel here.Need Baja Bound Insurance? Get a quote here.Support the Slow Baja Podcast here.Join a Slow Baja Adventure here.Watch my Slow Baja Conversation with Glen Horn here.

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning in to the slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches and hands down, my favorite tequila. Well, if you've been listening to me for a while, you know I'm an absolute minimalist when it comes to Baja travel. But the one thing I never leave home without is a good old paper map. and my favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by benchmark maps.

It's an oversized 72-page book, jam-packed with details, and now you can get it from me at slowbaha.com. That's right. You can get it in the Slow Baja shop, and in fact, you better get two, one for your trip planning at home, and one for your Baja rig. And if you love maps and you can't get enough of them like me, let me tell me. tell you about two sites I am absolutely obsessed with. Eastview MapLink and Longitude Maps.com, whatever you're looking for in Maps, it's there. From the entire benchmark collection to Baja wall maps to custom maps, you'll find it all at LongitudeMaps.com or EVMapLink.com. You know I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. Well, if you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja with me, you got to check out the Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com.

All my trips are there from my famed fall vintage extravaganza to my winter and summer expeditions, which are open to trucks of any age. You know, on a Slow Baja expedition, your meals are always included, which really does take the sting out of camping. And when we get off the trail, let me tell you, we have the happiest of happy hours. If good dirt roads, private campsites, ranch stays, great food, and great people sounds like you're kind of fun, well, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at slowbaha.com. But don't delay. These trips are small, they're highly immersive, and they will sell out. And folks, just so you know, I am always here for you for your Baja trip planning questions. One question, 100 questions, the easy way to get me is Slowbaha.com slash contact.

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My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to off-road motorsports Hall of Famer. Journalist Chris Collard for the amazing, amazing story he produced in Haggerty's Drivers Club magazine. The summer issue has a huge story on the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition. Yeah, that was the 2025 trip with Sal Fish being featured, being commemorated for the 50th anniversary of Sal Mark and his first Baja 1000. Chris really did an amazing story and I can't say thank you enough to him and to the good folks at Haggerty for giving him that space. If you're not a Haggerty member, if you're not one of the two million people who subscribe to that magazine, you can find it on eBay. I bought a few copies

to send to friends and it's there. It's the summer issue. It's got a out of focus Porsche in the corner and a beautiful road unfurling in front of that Porsche. Check it out the summer issue. buy yours now i got a few of them on ebay all right well today's show is with eric ebner eric is an amazing filmmaker and we tell the story about uh as eric was just getting started making films and he was on a surf trip and he and his buddy were going to be the subject of that trip and then they ran into this dude this amazing amazing presence this amazing human glen horn a serious surfer He lives in Baja in an old bread van up to nine months a year down in a spot that we don't talk about. But he surfs every day.

He spearfishes for his food. He exercises like a maniac. And again, Glenn is an amazing human. And I've told his story. I've interviewed Glenn on the Slow Baja podcast. But today, we get to talk to Eric about how that whole thing came together. So without further ado, it's Eric Ebner today. slow Baja.

Eric, I kind of feel like if we don't start this thing, it's going to be a problem. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. My God. Hey, I'm really delighted. I don't get to do too many podcasts living in Chicago talking about Baja. I don't get to do too many podcasts and I'm super stoked to be sitting here with you at your family place on what lake are we in here?

What lake are we in here? Lion Lake, Michigan. Lion Lake, Michigan. It's a small lake in southwest Michigan, very far from Baja. Yes, very far from Baja. But Baja is what brings us together. And I had her listener reach out to me to say, have you seen the film The Bull? This was a few years ago.

And I had not. And I got a chance to watch it on Vimeo, I believe. And I was just taken. And I was really taken by your work, and I was honestly taken by Glenn. I mean, what an amazing person that you found. So I think we just need to jump into, you're living in San Diego, you went to school in San Diego, and you're surfing Law Street. Tell me about how this whole thing came about where you're going to do this, you know,

transition. You're going to quit your job. You're going to basically remove yourself from being a beach bum and go on this epic, surf trip and then you're going to start the next chapter of your life, whatever that is, after this epic surf trip. Yep. Yeah, so I was living in San Diego above a couple blocks from the beach, a couple blocks from Law Street.

Had a corporate job, tried to surf four or five times a week, you know, going to the bars on the weekends with my buddies. And it was a really fun, it was a fun life. Great place to be young. Yeah, Pacific Beach, yeah. Great place to be young. I was doing the thing, you know. And it was great and it was fun.

But I think underneath all of that, I knew that I wanted more eventually, and I wanted to keep growing. And it was just getting a little bit stale after a few years. And my job, I was in a cubicle, you know, working on spreadsheets, literally. And so there was more that I wanted. And my best friend and I kind of felt the same way. And so we planned ahead and we saved up a bunch of money. And we quit our jobs together. We gave away all of our shit.

And it was shit. And we planned the surf trip down from L.A., basically, to Central America. And that's kind of where it all started. How many boards? Longboard, shortboards, one of each? Good question. One of each. Yep. So we both had a long board and both had a short board. I had a 9-6 long board and a way too short short board that I should have gotten a longer one. But it worked out.

And what gear did you have with you? You had a 92, as I recall correctly, you had 92 forerunner packed to the gills, I'm sure. But you had a tent. Did you share a tent? We did not share a tent, which is a great choice. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's just hard enough being in a car with somebody, living with somebody for that long. So you didn't share a tent. That's a good idea. But we shared everything else. You had a Coleman cook stove or something, you know.

Yeah. And Camp gear. Camp gear, Coleman cook stove. I mean, some solar lights, and that was pretty much it. Guitars, beach chairs, anything? Yeah, had a guitar and a beach chair. Yeah. Okay. Once we got stopped by the checkpoint and they were searching our car for weed or drugs or whatever.

And so I pulled out my guitar and made a lot of friends just plucking away and then they let us go eventually. But that was a good social lubricant, the guitar. Yeah. Well, okay. So you're deciding on this epic surf trip and your buddy buys a forerunner. Correct. So you're going to, you got the right rig. We got the rig.

You got the rig. And the day comes. Yeah. You too. You've quit your job. You've gotten rid of your places, done whatever you needed to do. You're going on this epic surf trip. Did it have a end date or was it open-ended? It was open-ended. Open-ended. Yes. To only be determined by your finances and your ability to get along with each other and whatever may come, right? Yes, which is what caused us to end, I guess. We got each other's nerves. Sorry, I saw this movie once in my life. I'm a little older than you. And we ran out. of money eventually.

Those are the things that happened. But day one, you're heading down, you know, the highway in Mexico, you're south of Ansonata, and already disaster strikes. So just pick it up. Just tell me about that, what happened and how you dealt with it and what are you ultimately what you learned from that? Yes. So we, within 24 hours of our start of our epic adventure, that's supposed to last months. We're just South Minsonada kind of scouting, driving around the coast, trying to find a good break.

And we left a little late, of course. And it's starting to get dark, of course, and we probably shouldn't be out there. And the forerunner that we thought was all tuned up and ready to go started making a noise. That just didn't sound good. One that gives you anxiety. And I'm just going to interject. I had the sense watching your behind the scenes on your, your trance. trip that neither one of your particularly car guys, you're not going to take a car part and fix

stuff. So you started with a super reliable vehicle for this sort of adventure, but stuff happens on old trucks and on day one stuff happened to you. So pick it up. Yeah, and we could have bought a 2020 four-runner, but we don't have the money for that. Exactly. Right. So you had a 92. 92-for-runner, which is still a great model. But yeah, so it's not sounding good and something is dragging in the back. It seems like the back wheels are dragging. Well, it turns out the rear differential blew out. And we were stranded probably two hours from Ensenada in this small little, I'm not sure if I would call it a town, but a village in bad shape, all pretty instantly. And we were able to kind of drive it to what was it, a cement factory. And we camped outside

the cement factory the first night, a security guard, let us have dinner. in the little common area of the cement factory. And we went into town the next day, just kind of desperate for help. And what ended up happening was a local mom saw us, like two gringoes, obviously, in need of help. And she kind of scooped us up and took us under her wing. And her husband was a mechanic, and him and his best friend worked on our car for a few days. And we camped to the cement factory every night. We came back to the house every day to work through this problem with the mechanics.

We had our instruction booklet and we were trying to translate from English to Spanish for them. They diagnosed the problem and they were able to fix it. But, you know, there was a moment where I remember sitting in my tent being like, this is probably a mistake. Like, I shouldn't have quit my job. This is awful. It was worst case scenario for a few nights. And that only came in like day one, two, three. Day one, two or three.

Night one. So you're in a tent outside of a cement factory somewhere south of, of, of, and Now, again, I'm already racking in my brain. Where could you have been? I'm trying to pinpoint exactly where you are. But the thing that most people don't think about when they think about, I'm going to Mexico, and those people over there are out to get me. That's the natural narrative that we hear over and over and over and over again. What happened was totally the opposite of that. A, the guard who's guarding this. this, you know, vital infrastructure, this business that his livelihood has depended on keeping thugs like you guys out of out of there. He's invited you in to use their kitchen or something, right? Yep, which is definitely a breach of security. For sure. Think about that happening here. Sorry. Never. Never. And so you're camping out in front and a tent, yet you're exploring the village the next day. Local mom scoops you up. Her husband's a mechanic, of course.

Of course. Yeah. And through some some magic and Mexican technology and your translations, the differential gets repaired, and you're down the road in, what, three, four days? Three, four days, yep. But with a changed mindset, for sure, definitely humbled because we felt like, you know, pretty worthless. You know, we thought we had everything planned for. We did not.

And also just at the mercy of strangers, you know. And to remind me of what year this is. Is it 2017? Because I know that's when the doc came out, but was this 20? Probably. 2015, 2016, 2016 or 2017. Okay, so you had the internet. Yes.

You had the internet. You're young and educated. And you thought you had all the answers. Yeah, yeah. And feeling pretty proud of ourselves. We're taking this epic surf trip. Maybe a little arrogant too. Like, yeah, we're going to show the world a thing or two.

And be the star of your own film. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so part of me was thinking about maybe I could make this, make some sort of film about us or some sort of travel, vlog, or something. and but we got humbled pretty quick and it was really good for us and it might as a story that we laugh about to this day. I mean, it was the worst case scenario ever and it just gave us more almost even more confidence and more faith in humanity, really.

Yeah, so that's the part that always sticks with me. You were eating in their home. You're in the mechanics home eating. So pick it up from there. Tell me about some of those things and then let's get down the road and get back into the water. Well, yeah, it was, you know, we were very helpless and, you know, we could contribute financially, of course, or we could pay for meals and things like this, but we were at the mercy of strangers of these mechanics. And, you know, it just felt like the mom was doing what moms do, you know, and it was a really kind of uplifting feeling. and there's a lot of narrative at the time with politicians,

you know, about building a wall or keeping people outside of the U.S. And so it was just nice to see that, you know, that there's so many good people on everywhere. And frankly, maybe even better people on the other side of our walls, you know. Because I know if that would happen in my community, I probably wouldn't have picked that random person up and brought them into my house. Right. That feels like some sort of security violation.

or I was told not to talk to strangers, you know. And so to have their doors wide open to us was really, really heartwarming, too. And, like, we connected with them. And, you know, it was just a great experience. So you paid the bill, you left a tip and a bottle of fireball. Fireball. They loved the fireball. You didn't need that.

So that stayed. I think fireball is rare in Mexico. And it's rare in Southern California so much. We drink it up here in Michigan a lot because we're cold all the time. But so, yeah, we left. I mean, we still, it was still course cheap compared to mechanics in the U.S., but we paid for our services and we tried to leave a tip. And they sent us on our way.

We took a big group picture. And I think at that point, it was a fun experience for them, too. Yeah. Because they knew they were doing the right thing. Right, right. And so there was a sense of that. And it felt like a win when we left. And, you know, I remember that story much more than some of the waves I surfed.

Right. And that's the story I keep telling. And remember that where I have my land, and crews have worked on 200 an hour shop rate. Wow. Yeah. So ours was $300 for three days of work. Right, exactly.

Well, pick it up. So you drove off. You've got some new friends and you've picked up literally some wisdom. Yeah. Right out of the gate. Yeah. Yeah, it was a dramatic, humbling start. And I think we didn't even know how to talk about it at first because it was a bit of a failure in some part too.

but when you plan a surf trip and adventure, you kind of want the adventure aspect of it too. You don't want all winds and long. But so we kept heading south. So it started to turn to a real surf trip at this point. We're getting waves and the swells kicking in. We're meeting new people, travelers, surfers. And we come to the spot where we meet Glenn.

And I'd known about him, met him before, so I was excited to meet him again, but didn't really know what was coming in terms of this film. There's still an idea in my mind. I just didn't know what was going to happen with it. Because people know where surf is now and there are digital surf reports and whatnot,

how many surfers were in residence in this area when you guys were down there? Would it be 20 trucks, 50 trucks, 100 trucks? Oh, no, no. Less than 10 vehicles. Yeah. I would say 20 people were at the surf spot, less than 10 vehicles. Gotcha.

And very quickly, you meet everyone. Gotcha. Okay. And then Glenn's setup is sort of iconic. Yeah, for me it's iconic. Yeah, he's got a 1955 red van that's painted red with a huge set of bulls bull horns on the front and he's got a special dome top roof that he's built. And it's a thing. And he's got all the rocks around it and he's landscaped. And he's a seasonal resident. His gym is outside the truck right there. You wouldn't really feel comfortable parking at his spot. No way. Yeah. Shouldn't.

It's his spot. Yeah. And you can see it a mile away. Yeah. Yeah. So pick it up. So, you know, you meet everyone at this spot. It's just kind of a nature of surfing there and being there.

Someone has a bonfire. Usually everyone comes. It's a really great atmosphere. And talk to Glenn a little bit of bonfire and ask him a few questions about his story. And I just really connected with just the way he spoke, I guess. It just seemed like he was kind of a legend, but he didn't say it. But I guess he had this aura where everyone that had been there at the surf stop multiple times knew who he was. You kind of picked up on the vibe that he's been here for decades.

And he's kind of a steward of this surf spot. An OG. Yes. The original gangster. Yeah. Legend. Yeah. Authentic.

Yeah. and very nice and so open and I didn't feel intimidated at all. It was just someone I kind of wanted to, I just wanted to pick Sprain, really. And so I got up the courage. I was like, well, maybe I could make a little something about Glenn, you know, because it is, I was interested and it seemed like he had something that I could learn from. So I got up the courage to ask him if I could interview him and follow him around for a little bit, still not really grasping what was about to happen.

And he said, of course, absolutely, whenever you want. And so that was exciting for me. You know, meanwhile we're surfing, hanging out. And I interviewed him once in his van in the rig. And, you know, I'd written down some questions. And at this point, I'm thinking about documentary filmmaking and how to tell a story. And so I'd asked a few really deep questions. And this is new for you.

Very new. You don't have a history of this. You have a corporate job that you've left. You've cashed out and you've got a decrepit old forerunner. barely runs. Yep. Exactly. I used camera, two use lenses.

Nobody would have bought a 92 four runner. Come on. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah, so this is new for me. I'd made one, a few music videos and that was that. Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of a new journey for me.

And so I was nervous. But I asked him a few more difficult questions, like about what does his life represent? Or does he, you know, what does he stand for? Or how does he want to be remembered maybe once he's gone? And he really wasn't prepared for those questions. And he gave me good answers in general, but he kind of stumbled through a few of them, which makes sense. I mean, he just thought of just some random kid coming to ask a question. Yeah, I don't know how I'd answer those questions.

Some kid put a camera in my face and said, hey, you slow bow. Exactly. How do you want to be remembered? Yeah. Yeah. And so he stumbled through a few, but it was a nice conversation. I enjoyed it. And so I went home pretty happy.

And the next day he came and he kind of knocked on my tent. And he's like, you know, I've been thinking about those questions you asked. He said, can you come back tonight and can we do it again? and then I was like, okay, this might actually turn to something really special because he really cared. And he liked the questions. And so from then on it was... And wasn't afraid to open his soul, which is super rare too. Yeah, for sure. It's a vulnerable place to be.

And yeah, so after that, for a few days in a row, I think maybe five days, I kind of just followed him around and we interviewed him a handful of times, went surfing with them, spearfishing with them, did the tour of the bull. Talked about his history in San Diego. And it was a blast. And I didn't know exactly where it was going to lead, but I knew it was good stuff. And it was just I wanted to learn that stuff. So it was a good exercise for me, too, to just talk to someone that I was interested in, you know. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break right here for a word from Baja bound insurance.

We'll be right back with Eric Ebner talking about meeting the bowl. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. And when we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Hey, big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja baseball project. You know, we launched our gear deliveries on my winter expedition.

Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja. We're along for the ride, and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click, barbers for Baja.org, click the Baseball in Baja link, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport. Keep them on the field. Keep them out of trouble. Please check it out. Baseball in Bollinger. Baja link at barbers for Baja.org. Thank you. I want to tell you about these new

rocky, talky radios that I absolutely love. Heavy duty, beautifully made, easy to program, easy to use. We had 28 people, 15 trucks on the Slow Baja Winter Expedition. You can hand these radios to anybody from a 14-year-old kid to an 80-year-old, and they'll know how to use it. They are that well designed. One charge lasted the entire. entire week. We are never out of range. I happen to upgrade to the accessory whip antenna for my radio and for my sweeps radio, the Donovan Brothers. We were never out of contact. I can't say it strongly enough. Rocky Talky radios, rockytockey.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. Hey, we're back with Eric Ebner. We're talking about meeting the bull, Glenn Horn making this film.

Yep. So you've met the guy, you've asked some questions. He came back the next day and said, hey, let's do this again. I've got, I've been thinking about what you asked me. So he opened his whole heart, his whole soul. You took it in. Let's talk about that. Yeah. He, you know, looking back, the fact that he trusted me is kind of crazy to me. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I'm just a 27-year-old long hair. like kid you know really trying to keep your front tooth in as I recall yes yes and I was having front tooth problems yeah and yeah he trusted me and I asked him a lot of you know serious questions vulnerable questions and he was more than happy to to answer them and and I asked him about the spot too and it's it's a kind of a secret the spot and some of his history and so there could have been a lot of things that I could have done wrong or I could have betrayed that trust, I think. And one of the biggest compliments I honestly I've ever gotten was years later, I asked him, I'm like, you know, like when we had those talks at first, like, you never once told me that I had to keep the spot a secret. Like, you never once talked about me, like, I'm about to share this with the world. Like, weren't you worried that I was going to just expose the spot? And he's like, no, and I was never worried. I knew that you'd keep it a secret. And I was like, wow, that's amazing. A kid in a bar in San Francisco said,

hey, have you ever met this guy, Glenn Horn, he's in this red van, and he's in this, and he named the spot. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, I've heard of him. Yeah. But it's just, it's a generational thing that Glenn's generation, the generations before him,

never, ever exposed those thoughts. And, you know, of course, I grew up in an era where, you know, that you had 1,900 numbers to call about, surfing spots, so they were all named and you were calling to get information before you went driving to those spots. Really? That was early 90s, maybe, middle 90s. So, you know, when I first started surfing in the middle 80s, you just drove and you looked and you looked and you, you know, you saw weather report and you said, well, maybe it might be breaking there, much like anybody else.

But by the 90s, there was a 900 number you could call to see. A hotline. A hotline. You had to pay for it, you know. But you got that info before you drove there. And again, I think it's kind of interesting when all the information is on the internet now that somebody's still out there trying to keep a secret. And I like that Glenn is keeping that. He never mentioned the name.

He did mention it kind of half in passing to me. He said, you know where I am, don't you? I said, yeah, I think I've got a pretty good idea where you are. Yeah. Yeah, it's a cool surfer code that I think we see. still held on to at least 10 years ago in southern California at least, especially in Southern California. There's so many spots and it gets crowded quick. But yeah, that's part of the allure and the mystique is you have to find it yourself. And even then when we found it,

I had been able to find it just comments about it online, but not really the geographical location. I kind of knew where it was, but we still had to hunt for it, which is part of the fun. And did you have a paper map or anything? We did. Okay, so you were driving down dirt roads and going from a spot from the north or from the south? Or how did you, do you recall how you got there? I know you get off the main road and there's kind of a hidden, it's basically just a sign with a few too many stickers. Like that's the only sign.

There's no, it's not like surf this way. It's just a sign and there's like a few little surf wax stickers or something. And that's when you know. And it just seems like you're going forever. It's like, I don't know. This is kind of crazy. We're just in the desert. and then you see it and it's beautiful.

So talk about you've got this epic surf trip in mind. You've gotten over the first hurdle. The car's been repaired. You've had a few days driving, surfing, getting down to this spot that we're not naming, but there's some distance between the breakdown point and the surf point. And how long did you stay at with Glenn?

Did you have to tell your buddy like, dude, I'm on to something here and I'm not leaving until I feel like I've got it. No, because I want to say we were there maybe only a week, a week and a half. And I think we would have loved to have stayed longer, but it was so cold because it was after Thanksgiving and the Baja nights get cold and hailed on us one night. And we once again weren't prepared. We thought we weren't. Sure.

Um, so, um, we were ready to get out of there. And I think I spent about five days with Glenn and we were there maybe a week or a week and a half. And so, um, I knew I'd gotten all the interview things I needed. Um, it was already too much for me, honestly. I got way too much. I was like, I don't even know how I'm going to make this because I'd never made something like that before.

You were, you were overwhelmed, but you had it in the can. You felt confident. Yeah. And so we were ready to move on and a few of our friends needed a ride. And so we, they jumped in our four, four runner. and we headed south kept going i can't imagine there's any room being intimately familiar with that vehicle i can't imagine there was room for other passengers it was tight yeah yeah i've got a picture of it and that's my friend and his dog and they're just squeezed in the back with all of our stuff yeah

yeah yeah so where did the trip um progress from there and were you editing as you went how did that go were you were you just so um fired up about this find i think I think I was, so I had the idea of creating something during the surf trip, some sort of film, video, something. And I never knew what was going to be. And by the time I had left filming Glenn, I knew it was only going to be about Glenn. Like, it was just so good. And I think I understood, like, this is something really special. You got it. Yes. And so the rest of my dreams went out the window because I found something so much better, you know. I didn't care about filming myself. I didn't care about filling my buddies. Like, I found something so much deeper. And now it was. like my responsibility to take care of it, to see it through, which is exciting, but also really daunting because I'd never done anything like that before.

And you're still on a surf trip. And so you're still, you've still got a laptop, camera gear, all that stuff that you're leaving in a rig while you're surfing, which must have given you no end of anxiety. Yep, yep. And I remember editing in tents on the beach. I remember editing in coffee shops. And this was an era before there was. solar panels and Starlink and portable battery packs and all that stuff.

You were charging probably through the cigarette lighter and some other ways, right? Yeah. It was not a environment conducive to technology work for sure. No, not at all. But just kept kind of pushing through it. And I remember I finally, I was able to do a lot of editing on the ferry from Baja to mainland. And I remember I made a breakthrough with piecing together his interviews to music. And I felt like it finally, like, the story kind of came to me.

And I kind of knew the direction it was headed in. And I remember showing my buddy. And it was just music and his interview. And so he was like, I don't really understand how this is going to work. But it seems like you know exactly how it's going to work. Like, yeah, and it's really good. It's going to be really good. And I was really excited.

But, yeah, so we just headed down south. We went to the tip, all the way to Cabo, son Lucas, around the East Cape. East Cape, yep. And then came back up and took the ferry to mainland. Out of La Paz. Mm-hmm. Out of La Paz, yes. And I got my tooth replaced in La Paz.

My front tooth fell out. Big drama. Yeah. So for a few weeks, I was just stuffing it up with some dental glue that you'd find at the pharmacy, and I got to find the replaced in La Paz. It's a funny bit doing my research on you. There's funny bit where you're talking about sort of the pharmacy. behind the scenes of this. You've released a number of films that I encourage people to watch on

YouTube some shorts. And the one that had me spitting my coffee out this morning was losing your front tooth and seeing it skitter across your surfboard. And you were lucky enough to collect it and jam it back in your mouth. And I had no job. Yeah. You know, so I'd have money to buy a new one. And I was just just surfing on my board, going paddling out. And I don't know what happened. I remember visceral, a visceral memory of it, like bouncing across the surfboard. board in front of me and I kind of grabbed it and just like stuffed it back in there kept my mouth shut and just paddled in exactly so from la Paz you ended up where in mainland Mexico is that Mazzadlan? Mazzal and then you started driving down the coast and then headed south and there were

a few areas that we had wanted to avoid because of violence so we just so we just stay the night and then drive early in the morning as quick as we could maybe a few sections I think Mazatlan was one at the time. And just our routine, at this point we had dialed in this routine where we'd stay at a spot for a few days and we'd look at a map, try to scout out what a good location might be or something that we've heard about. We'd drive to the location and then talk to a local restaurant owner or shop owner to basically see if, you know, if we bought a meal there or if we bought breakfast there, we could stay there on the beach and camp there. And it was 99% success rate. They're always happy to have us surf at night and in the morning they would make breakfast for us. We'd pay them

and that was kind of our safety, you know. Yeah, but a stellar, stellar plan that's a plan I've always used. I've always paid to play, so to speak. Yeah, absolutely. I find it quite, quite a good way to work. It's worked for me for decades. Yeah. And you get to meet locals too. Exactly. They, you know, they're always happy to have us. They're always very curious because, you know, my friends probably 6'3 with dreadlocks and I had these bleach blonde hair. And so we were a funny couple. So they always had questions. So it was always fun.

Just talking, shooting the shit with people. Right, right. If there's a knock that I have, you know, as I go around to Overland Expos and whatnot, you see these people who've built these amazing overlanding rigs. But I always kind of joke that it's a joke. This is a sweeping generalization. So trigger warning here. Overlanding for introverts by introverts.

And I think the joy of the travel is the, you know, meeting that local with a little palapa or something and getting to be friendly with somebody from someplace else. That's why you're traveling. I mean, you're there for the waves, but you probably remember the people as much as the waves or maybe more so. Yeah. Yeah, I think the goal for us is something new. It's not to hang out with a bunch of Southern California, people from Southern California, you know. Right. It's to expose yourself to new things and push yourself and hopefully create new experiences.

And you can't do that if you're in the same, you know, a fancy rig, in my opinion. Right. So let's change gears a little bit and talk about how that trip wrapped up and you're starting to work on this film. At what point did you say, I got to get this to a film festival. How did that whole next chapter? unfold. Yes, so we did all, basically all of the West Coast of Mexico. And I had... Down to, down to Wohaca, that's where I went to Mexico City from Wahaca and then my friend kept going south. Okay. So you said I'm out. Yeah, we parted ways after about four months.

Long time to be in a tent, long time to be in a small car that's all packed with stuff. And you had something else on your mind the whole time now. Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah, but this is the back and I'm And I knew it was really special and it was really coming together, the edit. But I didn't really know how it worked, you know. And my goal was just to create something really special, something that I was really proud of. And I was learning this medium through this film. I was learning how to be a director, how to be an editor. And I didn't really know where it was going to take me, but I knew it was I liked it, which

really mattered. It was like, I loved this piece of work and I knew it was going to do Glenn Justice. So I was excited to show him. But I didn't know how the film world worked. I didn't know how anything worked. But I was like, well, you know, a great goal would be to get into one surf film festival. Like, just one. That's all I want.

And so actually, I wrote it down. I was on my mirror at home. I looked at it every day. It was just one. That would feel like such a huge win to me. And there was a platform at the time where you could submit to multiple at once, multiple surfing film festivals. And I submitted it, and it was just like a hope and a prayer.

And I don't know. And a few weeks later, Florida Surf Film Festival called me up. And they were like, we see that you didn't submit to us. And I was like, oh, like, I definitely wanted to. It must have been a mistake because I would have submitted to anywhere. And they're like, well, would you reconsider submitting? I was like, absolutely. Trying to pretend that like, oh, yeah, like, I guess I'd consider it.

Like, I would have taken anything. And so it got into the very first one it got into was Florida. And I went there in person, thinking, I had already hit the lottery kind of. It was already so happy. Got that won. Yeah. That was the dream.

And it won Best Documentary. Wow. Yeah. Wow. It's amazing. I remember us telling us. It was incredible. First Major League at Baddick, Clean Grand Slam over the center field wall.

It's crazy. Yeah. Pretty surreal. And then the next film festival, a smaller one, the Carolina Surf Film Festival, it won Best Picture. And it just kind of took off from there. And so it felt like I was on a rocket ship at that point. And everyone loved it. And it had a lot of success on the film festival circuit.

And my career kind of took off from there as far as doing film, documentaries, TV commercials, and things like that. Wow. Love it. Yeah, it's crazy. It felt like the universe was rewarding me for doing something. I took a chance. I kind of just did it for the sake of doing it for the art.

And it was almost like it was meant to happen because I was being rewarded seemingly so quickly. Although it took nine months to edit. It all happened so quick. And it was really gave me a lot of confidence and just faith and whatever path I'm on is the right path. And what professionals, who did you turn to if anyone, during that editing process to go from, you know, this is your first film.

You know you've got something. Obviously, we've already let the cat out of the bag that, you know, you won the first festival you entered. But at what point did you say, I've got to reach out to somebody who knows more about this than I do, or did you just say, you know what? I got it. I got it.

I got it. Yeah. And I've always wanted to be creative. And for a long time, I did creative things for other people or so other people would like them. And I think I reached a point where I was like, it's probably not going to change my life. So I need to be, I need to be happy with this. Like, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks because I'm the one that's putting hundreds of hours into this. Yeah.

So it's me and Glenn. That's all I really care about. And so I, not on purpose, but I was like, I'm just going to do this. Like, this is for me, kind of. Right. And at what point did Glenn get inserted, if at all, in this process, there's film festivals that people are watching his life. Yes. Good question.

And then he wins. You know, you win, but he wins, actually. You won, but he won. And so, you know, the, how did that whole thing play out? Yes. So one thing I will mention that his wife, Roberta, She wasn't there when we were filming. But through our friendship, I became acquainted with her.

I got her number and email. She's the one who handles all the correspondents. She's on top of these things. Glenn couldn't be bothered. Yeah, I'd probably talk to her 100% more than I talked to Glenn. Of course. And she was so instrumental in getting me all these old photos and old videos that they had to tell his story, especially the past in this old San Diego surfing pictures or old surf shaping videos. and so we were talking back and forth for months

and it was great. It was really fun and she was really excited about it. So she helped me out so much. It definitely wouldn't have been the same film without her. So they were part of the process, of course, but they didn't really know what I was doing and they thought it would be a cute video. They didn't really think much of it. So I went to San Diego and showed it to them.

This must have been before they went to the film festivals. And, you know, I'm kind of like kind of nervous. showing this film to them and very curious to see what they think. And if you watch the film, I really lay it all out there. Me as a filmmaker, I was really going for it and trying to be as impactful as I could with this story. So I was nervous to show them. And I showed them, and it was, you know, the credits wrapped and the song ends. And I'm kind of nervous to see their reaction.

And Roberta just starts crying. Yeah, for sure. like yes. For sure. Like, yes. And Glenn's just speechless. And I was like, whoa, okay. Awesome.

So you like it? You know? So they were stoked, obviously. And Glenn, you know, one of the thing he said that it was everything that he believed, but it was like he was saying it better than he could ever put it into words. And it's because I kind of used his words to spread his message. So he's like, yeah, that's me. But I'm shocked that I sound that great.

And it's so perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You made me look pretty good, kid. Nice work. Has there been any lasting effect on your life, your approach? Have you taken a little piece of Glenn and put it in your heart or in your pocket and carried it with you? I would say, yeah, I mean, yes, definitely.

It's kind of hard to quantify, but I think not only meeting him makes an impact, made an impact on me, but really looking through those interviews and editing for nine months, it kind of seeps into your personality. So I think editing it over and over again and having to have the knowledge to tell his story made me someone who are educated about what he believes and his type of lifestyle. And yeah, it definitely influenced me. And I think it was great to see someone succeed in an unconventional lifestyle and kind of just take. the bull by the horns, no pun intended, you know. And so to see someone that did it their way and doesn't really give a damn about whatever else

expects of you and then succeed and be like I'm in his own way, he's a success, right? In his own perspective, he's a success. And I think that's what I want for myself. Like I don't think, I don't want to live in Baja full time, but I do want an unconventional lifestyle that suits me. And so just the discipline behind that, too, was really attractive for me. As a young man, you know, seeing a more successful man, you know, and what it took for him, it's kind of, it's motivating for sure. A more successful man who lives in a van down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But more successful than a lot of people I know, yeah. I think that living in harmony is the part that he chose that life. He set himself up to be able to. to do that. Yeah. And then he has done it with a stunning level of grace. Yeah.

And success. And to see the film at 67, his level of fitness. Yeah. And his, I don't want to say purity, but just the beauty of his way that he looks at life. That's what stuck with me. Did Glenn ever come with you on any of these festivals? Was there a local one?

Did he ever get a moment in the spotlight? No, he did not. Did he ever want a moment in the spotlight? I don't think so. I don't think he does either. Yeah. I don't think he would necessarily like a moment in the spotlight, you know? Like this is enough.

I mean, this is a vulnerable enough place to be. But he's always in Baja. You'd rather be in Baja. So it's like, I don't need to go to a film festival, you know, like to dream about living the life that I'm already living here. Yeah, I had to talk with him today in the car out. And he said, you know, My guy, recently a guy reached out to me from Quebec.

He was in San Diego on vacation. And he just, you know, he'd seen the film and he just wanted to meet me. So I said, okay, come over. Cool. I think that's all the fame Glenn needs. Yeah. Guy from Quebec watched the film. It's in San Diego wants to meet him.

Okay. I think he loved the film. I know he does. I mean, it was an honor for him to be featured like that. But he's never asked for that attention. No. You know? No, he's just an authentic dude doing his authentic thing.

being who he is. And I think he could be really grumpy and people would like maybe give him a pass. For sure. He could be an asshole. But he's nice, so nice. He's always so nice to me. And I was just a young kid, you know,

and so I really appreciate it. Eric, we're going to leave it right there, man. Cool. What have you done since? Where can people find you? What's the best way tell people all about YouTube and such? Yeah, so since then, I work in video production full-time.

I make documentaries, TV commercials, online videos. I'm a photographer, and so I've kind of incorporated this creativity into my life, which is great. And I can be found on my website, Eric Ebner.com, or all my films are slowly being transitioned into YouTube. And so Eric Ebner on YouTube, you'll see all my films there. And, yeah, if anyone wants to reach out, just drop me a line. Can we talk about the algorithm epiphany here? I drove by on Grand. I looked over and I saw the Red Bull.

Now there's a new white bull that's being built out in the Chevy 2002 Chevy Schooley. The 55 is being retired. Spoiler, I didn't know that. Hopefully it ends up in some surf museum or something, you know, like Steinbeck's travels with Charlie truck. It ends up in a museum someplace and people can peek their head in and see this is where Glenn lived for nine months out of the year. for decades in Baja. But I happened to drive by and I thought, oh man, next trip to San Diego, I really need to stop by and see Glenn, give him a jingle, say hello, see how he's doing.

And then I'm sitting at the airport and the YouTube algorithm finds me and shows me that the bull, which I had paid for an own on Vimeo, is now on YouTube. And I look down and it's got 600,000 views. so people dig surf movies. They do, yes, and I did not expect that. Even deeply thoughtful movies that are more philosophical than about surfing. Yeah. Yeah, and so that had to have been an amazing eye-opener for you.

It was, yes, and it's not the type of film that YouTube would grab attention. It's very slow. It's very thoughtful. It's kind of pensive. It's not a YouTube video. It doesn't come out of the gate and bash you over the head, but coming out of the gate, there's a very thoughtful. There's a very profound opening sequence there of Glenn talking about his life, which is I encourage you all there'll be a link in the show notes, but I encourage you all to see The Bull on YouTube.

Agreed. You should watch it. It's good. Everybody should watch it. All right. Well, Eric, I really appreciate you making some time for Slow Baja, Lakeside here in Michigan. Worth the Drive, fun to get a chance to meet you. The last time we checked in with each other, you were living in. So I'm glad you're a little closer. Yeah, it worked out great. I'm glad you could come. All right, thanks. We did it. Well, I hope you like that conversation. Eric Ebner, a pretty amazing story of a guy who thought he was going to be the star of his own film

and then ran into Glenn Horn who was living this incredible, peaceful life down in Baja, fit, surfing every day, spearfishing for his food, living in an old bread van. Yeah, he just latched on to Glenn. and Glenn was receptive and let Eric in to make a film and launched Eric on his career. And again, that film is edging into a million views on YouTube these days. So check it out. There's a link in the show notes. You want to watch that.

And if you like what I'm doing, if you like me driving from my place in Chicago out to Eric's family's Lake Place in Michigan, three hours each way, bringing my dog Frank along, you know, that takes time. time is money so drop a taco in the tank you do that by going to slowbaha dot com slash donations you can slide a whole tray of tacos in there and i need them these days man gas prices are crazy pretty crazy to be trying to do this show with mostly in-person interviews man who thought that dumb idea up anyways i've got some good stuff in the slow bahaha shop a replan finally a replan 10 000 new three and a half inch round yellow stickers coming in from the best sticker maker in the whole dang world that's right i've got 10 000 stickers coming in so if you've been waiting for your yellow stickers they are going to be in stock very soon and i'll be sending them out and i've got some

trips coming up yeah you know a lot of stuff is on the slow baha adventures page these days i've got two vintage adventures in october i've got a only vans coming next uh winter only Volkswagen vans and then I've got my regular winter trip got summer camp slow Baja style that's a little bit slower we're going to do two nights at each ranch first first ranch ranch rancho Lopioota two nights two nights two nights at Rancho La Concepcion we've got a fifth night at another spot and then we're back in a hotel and getting all cleaned up there's a lot of stuff that's happening out of the car on that one horseback riding hiking going to do some food, learning how to cook some Mexican stuff with a chef. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Maybe you've been having a lot of fun in Baja, and you need to bring your wife on a trip. That slow Baja, summer camp, slow Baja style is probably the one for you. And it's going to be all in places that aren't too warm, high elevation, coastal, that sort of thing. So it's going to be pretty darn nice weather if you're thinking about, ooh, I don't want to go to Baja in summer. Okay, well, I'm going to tell you about Mary McGee. Mary McGee had a pal, Steve McQueen, that's right. And Steve, well, he loved Baja. He said, you know, Mary, Baja's life. Anything that happens before or after? It's just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to slow Baja?

Without a doubt, it's my Shielman seats. You know, Toby at Shieldman USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended a Vero F for me and a Vero F. XXL for my navigator, Ted. His Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right. The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving around Baja for over a year on these seats, I could not be happier.

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