The Moth - The Moth Radio Hours: Thrill Seekers, Wanderlust, and an Italian Stallion

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

This week, stories about adventures and thrills. Hosted by Sarah Austin Jenness. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media. Hosted by: Sarah Austin Jenness Storytellers: Mack Dryden Janice Bartley Brian Gavagan Lex Jade Lucy Hayward

Attention Houston! You have listened to our podcast and our radio hour, but did you know the Moth has live storytelling events at Wearhouse Live? The Moth has opened Mike's storytelling competitions called Story Slams that are open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night's theme. Upcoming themes include love hurts, stakes, clean, and pride. GoodLamoth.org forward slash Houston to experience a live show near you. That's from Piorix. This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Sarah Austin-Geness. This is an episode all about thrill seekers and outdoor adventures.

It's about wanderlust and a search for something different. What happens when you get a little stir crazy? Now as my mom used to say, you put a little lipstick on and get out there. We have five stories for you today. Our first is Mac Dryden. Mac comes to us from our open-mic slam series in Louisville, where we partner with Public Radio Station WFPL. The night Mac told this story, the theme was firsts. So, live at the moth in Kentucky, here's Mac Dryden. I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is really marshy and like mud puddle flat.

And we used to play on this big 20-foot pile of dirt on a construction site. And until about the fifth grade, that was the highest point of land I had ever seen in my life. So when I was 12 and my brother was 10, and our parents took us on vacation to the Smoky Mountains, this was like a life-changing experience. We just were stunned. When we drove into the mountains, two little swamp rats in the backseat looking up,

and you could look into the sky a half a mile, and there were rocks and trees and stuff up there. It was just, we were dumb struck, we couldn't believe it. So we started begging my dad, please, please, pull over, let us climb up a mountain, please. Finally, he pulled over at a rest stop to the foot of a mountain. He said, be careful when we scrambled over there. There were kids, aren't there a bunch of kids, families there, and they were not climbing the mountain that was right there. I couldn't believe it, but anyway. So we got up about 60 feet,

and my mom called out and we looked down and she had this brownie camera, and we did a manly pose, and she took a picture, and so we can now prove to our swamp rat buddies back home that we'd been on a mountain. And so we went up far enough for my dad to say, okay, that's far enough boys, he yelled out. We turned around, it was just incredible. I mean, it had taken a while to get up, it was steep, it wasn't dangerous, but we had to hold on to trees and put our little P.F.

Flyers on rocks and bushes and actually climb the thing. So we were up there and we turned around and it was just magnificent. It was amazing. I mean, this was like being on Jupiter. We thought we were halfway to the Milky Way. It was so amazing. And I looked over and I saw a rock and I picked it up and I put it in my pocket to commemorate this event I had my souvenir rock. And then I saw this other rock that was kind of roundish and about the size of a small wash tub.

And I wondered if it might jiggle. So I put my back against a tree and I pushed with my legs and sure enough the thing gave a little bit. And I said to my brother, let's see if this rock will go all the way to the bottom of the hill. I know, but you have to understand that where we grew up to move something that big and that heavy anywhere took a lot of effort. Tools, machinery, big guys, you know, I was a skinny 12-year-old. What did I know?

I had, we had no concept of the physics involved in mountains. So my brother said, I don't think so. And he was never as impulsive as I, he turned out to be a prosecuting attorney, as a matter of fact, but anyway. He said, no, I said, come on, it'll be fun. Help me put, okay, I'll do it myself. Gosh, I strained and I rocked and sure enough that things started down the hill. And it became very apparent very quickly that this

thing was not only going to make it to the bottom of the hill this rock might make it to Gatlinburg you know. So I screamed daddy and my dad looked up my poor dad he looked up and he sees his 200 pound battering ram screaming down the mountain toward the rest area cars families kids He screaming get out of the way get out of the way get out of the way and he did he watched helplessly as this Missile comes flying through at 60 70 miles an hour missed the back of our car about 10 feet Bounce across the parking lot on the other side and into some woods After hitting nothing. It was

it was a minor miracle. It really was. I mean, this is the first mountain I have ever touched. So I didn't know. And I looked down and I saw my mom and she had her head in her hands. She was sobbing into her hands and my dad was holding onto the car because his legs would collapse out from under him. And I looked at my brother and he was looking at me with an expression that was real easy to read.

Dead man walking. I knew what was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, so I took my time and gave my mom time enough to remind my dad that he had wanted children. And to give my dad time enough to count to 10,000. And he made very sure that there was one lesson in rock technology that I never, ever, ever, ever forgot. Thank you. That was Mac Dryden. Mac has been a stand-up comedian and a motivational speaker

for more than 30 years, so he's constantly traveling somewhere. To see a photo of Mack and his family on vacation in 1961, at the time of this inadvertent physics experiment, go to themawth.org. Janice Bartley is our next storyteller. She developed her story with the Moth Community Program in a workshop along with an organization called Self-Advocacy which is for people living with physical challenges. Janice was actually one of the very first people that I ever worked with when I started with the Moth and I'm

in love with her laugh. It is delightful. I can't wait for you to hear it. Janice told this story at the New York and Poets Cafe in New York's Alphabet City. And a note, this story might sound a little different since Janice is telling it with the help of her friend Alex, but I think you'll get the hang of it. Here's Janice Bartley, live at the moth. Hi. Mwah. Mwah.

Hi you. Mwah. Hi you. Mwah. Mwah. Hi. My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, she's gonna help me tell my story to you tonight. I want people to see me as a bright, intelligent, and of course a sexy woman. My good, my good, my, my bunk, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, My story is about my first real relationship. Mm-hmm. No! You're a... You're a girl, my... And you're a girl. It was in the summer in New Jersey.

I... I came... I... I came... At a camp called Camp O'Courst. I came... I came... You came... I came... At a camp called camp oakhurst. I used to go there to swim and do activities. Um, how am I? Um, what a game. I was hanging out with my friends in the dining hall. I was hanging out with my friends in the dining hall.

I was hanging out with my hair and a great smile. He was an Italian stallion. I love him. I was looking at him, he was looking at me. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out.

He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out.

He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. He was checking me out. a lot and we got to know each other. And yeah, and we had a good game. We laughed and we had a good time. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I We had our first kiss. And you and me, it was good. It was good. Let me tell you, it was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good.

It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good.

It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good.. It I knew I had a boyfriend. It made me feel good because I was 26 years old and I never had a boyfriend.

Yeah. It's gonna make me sad. We're going. I'm going to see it again. It also made me sad because I might not see him again. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. Mm. Mm. I'll be. made me sad because I might not see him again. I'll be, I'll be, I'll go home. I can't think of her for him. After I got home, I kept thinking about him. Yes, yes, yes. I'll be here. I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a...

I'm a... A week later, the phone ring. It was him. It was him. I was excited. I was excited. Happy. I was dancing.

I was dancing. Happy. Happy. I was dancing. I was dancing. After that we started dating. We were good movies. I came. He came out to eat. He'd come and pick me up in his car. Eh, who you park? And we'd park. Hey, hey. Um, um, we got a big cake. After a while, we got pretty serious. Oh, eh, eh.

It was good, it was good. It was really good. Um, finally, we started talking about sex. I thought it would never happen. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I, again, I'm okay. Because I want you, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

I thought, oh my God, because I was still living with my parents. Eh, me, me, me, me. And he was older than me. Yeah. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, me. So I wrote a letter I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... I'm a... And people were staying over. And then I would be sleeping on the couch. But I knew I wouldn't be sleeping on the couch. Okay, my mom. But I knew I wouldn't be sleeping on the couch. Okay, my mom, okay, it's good going.

My mom said, okay, you can go. My sister and my home attendant drove me to his house. Hey, I'm moving to your house. Are we enjoying? Having an idea. On the way to his house, I was excited, happy, and anxious. And my, my house, my girl, boom, boom, boom, boom. My heart was going, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. My heart was going boom, boom, boom, boom.

Because I know it would be my thing every game. Because I knew it was going to be my first everything. I know. I know my meaning. Yeah, I could be. And I was worried that I could please him. And that he could please me. Baby, when you arrive, his house was beautiful. Everything was in place.

His dining room was set up so amazing. Yeah, I bought you a ring. He had. I bought you a ring. I bought you a bottle of wine. Yeah. Hi. Hey baby. He will be a kid for me.

And he prepared seafood for me. My baby, a man, a man, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my Yiko and my homie King. Yeah, hey, King. And being the man that he is, he invited my sister and my home attendant to have dinner with us. And everything, my, my niepakan. And everything was Magnifico. I became a... I became a... I became a... We became a human... And I became a human...

And I became a human... After dinner, we moved to the living room and had conversation. It was nice. But my health... But my heart was still... Bum bum, boom, boom, boom, boom. I looked at him, and he yelled at me, I looked at him, and he looked at me, and I could read his mind. I looked at him, and I could read his mind. I looked at him, and, I'm a kid.

I'm a kid. Well, I, I, I, I. And after a while, my homotentant and my sister were out of there. Hmm. Hmm. Um, um, I was, I was going to get you things. I won't go in your ginkgoons. I won't go into details.

Man, I'll go in your ginkgoons. But I will tell you this. Am I a bake? N-N-N-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I-H-H-I-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H- I want people to know that even though I have a disability, I can still move. I can still move. I go, yeah. And I also realized that, can you please, please give me a

kbgwam, and I am, and I am, and I also realized someone could see me for the real woman that I am, and not just my disability. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. That was Janice Bartley. Janice is a public speaker for the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. And it's been over two decades since the events of this story happened. Janice told me that the Italian stallion paved the way for her relationship with her fiance, who she calls her boo baby, and she also says she identifies as a cougar since he's significantly younger. To see a photo of Janice and her boo baby, go to the mall.org.

After our break, a BMX rider takes his first flying lesson and gets much more than he paid for. When the maw friday hour continues. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and presented by PRX. This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Sarah Austin-Geness and we're featuring adventure stories in this hour, the wild rides that some people seek. Our next storyteller is Brian Gavigan. Brian lives in Denver, Colorado and he told this

story in a moth main stage in Boulder a few years ago. The theme of the night was high anxiety and it's a great story for the theme you'll see why. Here's Brian, live at the moth and Colorado. I've always been in a adrenaline junkie. I love driving fast in my car, I love zipping through the woods in my snowboard, my skis, and I really love back flipping my BMX bike. on my snowboard, my skis, and I really love backflipping my BMX bike. What I haven't really experienced was flight. It was something that I'd always been interested in, but I hadn't had a lot of experience with, and specifically helicopter flight.

I always thought that was the most awesome craft to pilot, being quick and light and nimble. and when I saw an ad in the westward paper announcing an introductory offer for 30 minutes of sightseeing and 30 minutes of instructional time, I felt like it was speaking directly to me. So, I called them up immediately and set my appointment, and for the next few days I was extremely excited for that day. So when the day came, I got to the office early.

I'm never early for anything. But I was early on this day, and I'm walking into the office, and I look over, and I see a motorcycle, and the shadows is really cool looking motorcycle. And I remember thinking, these are my people. So I go in, I sign my name, I go out with the pilot, we look at the helicopter, we get inside, butterflies are going, I am so pumped, it's time.

I'm going to fly this thing. I got my own set of controls, he has his own set of controls, we get our little lap belts on, get our headsets on. And then the pilot points over at this fire extinguisher. And he says, I need you to promise me something. And I'm going to promise you something too. If you are on fire, I promise I will put you out. You know me.

OK. So I say back to him, if you are on fire, I promise I'll put you out. He gives me a high five. We started up. The main rotor blade starts spinning and we just lift off the ground. He just takes us right up and it's got a glass floor. I'm looking at it and it's like jumping my bike but never coming down. We just continue to go up and up. And I am so stoked. We're flying around and you wouldn't believe

just out past the dirt roads. It is like an African savanna, a safari. You just see things that you would never see or realize are just out there past the city. We get up and I see this herd of deer and it's so beautiful. They're like running because they hear the helicopter and they're in a big pack and they're looking over their shoulders and we're flying above them And I'm just like how cool is this? Nobody would ever get to see this and so then he zips into this empty riverbed,

and then just starts gunning it through this riverbed, like 15, 20 feet above the ground. And I'm loving it, there's trees on either side of us and we're just zipping, winding through it. And I'm just like, this is so cool. I say to him, dude, you need to get an awesome stereo system in this thing, man. You can just rock out.

And he looks over at me, you know, like, yeah, yeah. This is good, right? And I'm just envisioning this. I'm having this whole fantasy in my head. I'm like, I'm going to get one of these someday. I'm going to have my own helicopter. I'm going to tint the windows. I'm going to paint it like a dragonfly.

I'm going to put a sweet stereo system in this thing. People are going to be looking up in the air like, hey, there's Brian, look at him. So I'm just in this fantasy world, just so stoked. We're just hauling ass around. I love it. And then he comes up out of there and he says, all right, play times over, business time, time for you to learn a little bit. Anybody that's going to be a real pilot needs to know this. It's an emergency drill. It's an auto rotation. Basically, I'm going to cut the power. It's like putting your car into neutral, going downhill.

Main rotor blade is going to keep spinning, but there's going to be a big drop in altitude at the beginning. You like elitches, rides, and roller coasters, that kind of stuff. You got a soft stomach, or are you pretty tough? I'm like, I'm good with that. I'm cool. It's okay, okay, cool. Because if you have a problem,

just let me know. I'll land and you can hurl. Okay, cool. Bases are covered. Let's do this. So sure enough, he kills the power. Woo, we get that like 30 foot drop, just instantly in altitude.

I feel the upward draft of the air and we just kind of come into like this soft slow drift and I'm getting to feel what he's saying. You can do if you have an emergency landing situation. And I start looking at him, he's fidgeting with stuff, he's turning things, he's got a stress look on his face. I'm just like, everything alright? He looks at me with wild eyes. Like, this is the real thing man! I can't believe it. I look out.

I look down. It's like a model railroad set. These tiny little trees and my first thought is, we're going to die. We are going to die. I signed up for this. I paid money to die. You've got to be kidding me. I'm just watching you. We're slowly starting to fall towards the earth. And I cannot believe this is happening. I'm just like, this is a bad joke, right?

Like when's the camera's gonna come out and he's gonna smile and say, just kidding, but he doesn't. He's just doing like, esterns and figure eights. And I'm just thinking, I didn't, I never expected that this would be my last day. And I start having these crazy thoughts.

Like, I put in some pictures to get developed. Who's gonna ever see those? Who's gonna get my car? Like, it's parked down there. And, you know, I'm just like, I can't believe that this is the day. We're gonna die. There's just no other way around it. This, you don't walk away from a helicopter crash.

And so he starts looking like he may be able to land this thing. We're coming down towards the ground. And now my mind starts to shift from we're going to die to we're going to get really worked. We're going to hit the ground and it's going to suck. I'm going to be laying there with a broken bag. Like, and it's just like, I wear more pads when I'm riding my bike.

I've got a helmet and knee pads and I've got a little lap belt and this little headset. We're in like a glass box. I'm just like, we're definitely gonna get worked. So admit it to yourself. The next hour is gonna really suck to really suck. And so here we go. We're coming in for a landing. We're coming in about a 10, 12 degree angle. He's doing good. He's got us going about 50 miles an hour straight towards the ground. And he

just seals to me. He's like, we're going to hit. And I just did the only thing I thought seemed right. I just shut my eyes. I took a deep breath. I put my arms out in front of my face. And sure enough, we hit the ground. And we just four by four across the prairie. Just like, you know, bouncing across the go for holes. And then the left skid digs into the ground. And it makes us stop instantly.

And we just jerk forward. And then the main rotor blade is just going super fast. It hits the ground and it makes a stop instantly. And we just jerk forward. Then the main rotor blade is just going super fast. It hits the ground and it just cartwheels the whole helicopter. And it smashes and breaks it right off behind our heads. And we come to a stop looking at the sky. And there's just smoke and I can smell jet fuel. And the flight manuals are all scattered around inside the cockpit and I just shoulder the door and jump out

and my feet touch the ground and I just can't believe it. I'm just like, yes! And I look up and I'm just like, oh my god, we're just up that high and now we're here and I have just like a tiny cut on my pinky. And I'm just astounded that this is just happened. And then I look at the pilot and he comes around the corner from his side and he's just like, I am so sorry. Dude, I am so sorry. And I'm just like, thank you. You did

it. You landed it. And he's like, I'm so sorry, Brian. And I'm like, thank you! And it goes on and on like this. And I'm just, I'm beside myself. I cannot believe it. I'm like, I'm fine. And then he just, he turns into a stress case. His hands are, his heads in his hands.

He's just like, oh my God, I am so dead. FAs didn't have to make a full investigation. There's a $9,000 deductible. We just rebuilt the thing. Oh, God. We got to go find help. Let's go. So off we go.

We just go walk in across the prairie. And I'm just like, applying the sky. I just like, oh, wow. This is crazy. Wait till I tell my friends about this one. LAUGHTER And he's stressed the whole walk. And then we see a truck come rumbling down the dirt road.

We're like, hey! We wave down this truck. We hop over the fence. We flag these guys down. They've got a CB in their truck. They call the paramedics, the cops, literally within minutes, it's like every single emergency vehicle within a tri-state region is coming over the hill.

In ambulance, there's fire trucks, cops, four wheelers, everybody wants to see what's going on. A helicopter crash and people lived? What? So it's crazy. The paramedics insist that I'm in shock and I'm injured. I had to have gotten hurt. I'm just not feeling it yet.

Even though I've walked miles to get here, I'm like, I'm fine. I crash on a regular basis on my bike. I know what I'm hurt. But they insist on taking me to the hospital and checking me out and giving me an IV of saline. And so I'm laying there and I get interviewed by the news and my phone is blowing up and it's just an insane day. And I can't believe it.

I'm like, it's a dream. I just go home and I'm just like, what? And I'm laying in bed that night. And I just, I'm laying on my back, my heads on my pillow, and I shut my eyes. And I still feel like I'm falling. I still feel like I'm slowly drifting to the earth. And I'm like, you know, I think I'm going to still live boldly. I'm going to still go fast in my car. I'm going to still jump my bike and do crazy stuff. But I don't think I need to learn how to fly a helicopter.

Thank you. Thank you. Brian Gavigan calls himself a red dad in Denver. He paints, he travels, and he performs live-action BMX stunt shows. He said, the FAA did investigate this crash, and when I went back to the Centennial Airport a year after it happened, I was able to hold in my hands the engine component that failed. To see a photo of his crash from the Rocky Mountain newspaper in 1998, along with photos of what Brian calls his BMX cupades, go to the mall.org. And from Moth of Fish and Nautos, Brian's voice in his last name may sound familiar. He's many time Moth Storyteller Ed Gavigan's younger brother.

After our break, two short stories, one about taking a leap at a wilderness summer camp and the other about choosing quite literally the road not taken, when the Moth Radio hour continues. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and presented by the Public Radio Exchange, PRux.org. You're listening to The Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Sarah Austin-Geness. Our next storyteller is Lex Jade. They've told many stories with us as part of our high school program,

and they've lived in New York City for their whole life. The story you're about to hear is from a moth show with the theme, Growing Pains. Here's Lex Jade, live at the mouth in New York City. All right. I'm really short. OK. When I was younger, the word beautiful

was just an extension of the word pretty. I remember when I was seven, my birthday wish was to have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a change in my name to Christina. And I don't know why that would have made me feel good about myself, but I just, I guess I wanted a change who I was because appearance was something I was never very comfortable with. One day in 2014, it was the summer right before my freshman year of high school. We'd be year for me. And my mom, she signs me up for this farm and wilderness camp. It's called Indian Brook. And the only thing I knew about it was that it was fun because

that's when my mom promised me it would be. So you know, it's how moms are. But it's this all girls camp. So it's like pro women, it's like super cool, and I'm really excited. So I'm in the van going to camp, and I'm sitting in the back with a bunch of other girls. And I really want to start like making friends and finding my place. So I do what I've always done to make friends. I start complimenting everybody and I turn to the girl next to me. Like, you know, you're sure. Oh my god.

Like, your shirt is really cute. And she's like, thanks, but nobody talk. And I'm like, oh, right. What's that? And she tells me that it's just like policy at camp where when you compliment people you don't talk about their appearance what they look like. Any just anything in that aspect you only compliment them on their abilities and the cool stuff they can do. And that's something that's always really stuck with me. It's something I've always really loved. And it's always just kind of faded away from me in the society that I live in.

I kind of become detached from it in whatever this is. But one night, like maybe in the middle of camp, I hear all my friends talking about staff night. And I, again, don't know what that is. And my friend tells me that it's like this tradition for senior lodge on staff night basically. All of our counselors go up to the lodge and they have like this PTA type meeting about camp and like what's working, what's not, and they make all of these like executive decisions and changes

and they leave all of us at camp alone in our cabins. Yeah. So basically they go up to the lodge, were alone, and the village should like people from nearby. They just like, they walk around and they make sure we're good, you know, nobody's dead, no cabins are on fire, nothing like that, no contraband. But my friends are telling me about the tradition that senior lodge does, basically where we don't stay in our cabins. Now, we're not going to follow that rule. We're instead going to leave our cabin and run around camp and just be crazy. And I'm like, yeah, I can do that. That sounds fun. And I hear the rest of my bunk mates start talking more about it. They're like, yeah, are we

going to do that thing? This year, yeah, because we didn't do that last year. We should totally do that. And I'm like, hey, my turn to my friend, what are we doing? She says, we're going streaking. Now, mind you, I'm a 14-year-old girl. I'm already awkward enough as it is with clothes on. Now, I don't know what to think, and I go through my entire day at camp, just, I'm freaking

out about this, because I, like, what can I do? I don't know how to feel. I'm just, I'm scared. I'm just terrified. And it's all I can think about when I'm eating, like dining hall, Barnes and Gardens, like workshop, this only thing that's on my mind. It's all I can think about when I'm eating like dining hall Barnes and Gardens like workshop It's the only thing that's on my mind. I'm like holy crap, man like I'm gonna be naked later and

when it finally comes time to do the thing All my friends are just like counting down like on somebody's watch like the hour when we're gonna go out and I'm just kind of, I'm still terrified, freaking out. And when it gets to maybe around like eight-ish, all of my bunk mates jump out of their beds, rip off their clothes off, start screaming. They're like, yeah, for nipple men, it's just like, it's crazy, it is total chaos.

And I'm standing there in my broad underwear. I'm just like, oh my god. This is, oh, this is nuts. And I want to be a part of this. I want to do this thing. And I know that it's a very unconventional thing that I'm probably never going to get the chance to do again. So at the end of the day, I'm just like, you know what guys?

Fuck it. And I rip off my clothes too. I'm out here. You know, it's crazy. It's crazy. I'm naked with my shoes on. Like, who does that? It's wild. And we all run outside into the woods.

And we're making our way around camp. We're running in circles like crazy people screaming at the top of our lungs. We're weak and everybody up is wild. And we finally, we're making our way up to the lodge and it's dark and it had just rained and it's wet. And I'm freaking out about all these things. What if I get a tick?

What if I get mosquito bites? What if I fall down? But the only thing, the one thing I'm not worrying about at all is what I look like. And we finally make our way up to the lodge. I don't know who started it. Somebody starts singing, dancing, queen.

We all join in. Our counselors are cracking up at us through the windows because we're crazy, wild man, wild women to the woods tonight. And we're just jumping around, we're going crazy, we're singing together, and we at the end of it all, we just kind of like regroup, we go back to our cabins, we go to sleep, and that's kind of the end of it. And I mean, that's not to say that I am 100% body confident after this like spiritual experience, because you know, like, bodies are just like weird and like puberty is what? And teens are just like,

whoa, you know, like it's just a lot of, it's just a lot of confusion in that department. It's very strange. A lot of weird changes going on. But, um, on that night, to me, I was a dancing queen. I was a wild woman of the woods. I was a hardcore lady type. And beautiful was just a bunch of crazy screaming naked girls running around with mud on their legs being brave together. Thank you. That was Lex Jade in one of our high school grand slams. There are proud alumnus of the Moth Education Program and will be graduating from SUNY new paltz this fall with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Visual Art.

Storytellers find their way to the moth in all different ways. Lucy, our next storyteller, was driving down the street in St. Paul, Minnesota, and saw a sign for the moth story slam. And she thought, why not? So she parked her car, walked in, threw her name in the hat, and it led to an adventure. And that's exactly what this story is about. The theme of this night was wanderlust. And as you'll find out, that's the spirit that drives her.

And a note, Lucy is a senior citizen and a grandmother. She says, since she lives on her own, security is number one. So she asked that we not use her last name. Here's Lucy, live with the mall in Saint Paul. Thank you. I'm convinced that my lust for wonder is inherited from my father. It was after the Second World War that my father decided that Europe was not a place

for his eight children to grow up. And so he took us all to a land of which very little was known down under into Australia. I was born in Amsterdam. A city I still love very, very much. It must have taken an unbelievable amount of courage for him to take a wife and eight children under the age of 12 halfway around the world, not knowing what lay at the other end. And I'm convinced that I'm a bit the same way. Actually, I don't want to know what lies at the end of my journey.

I just want to journey. I didn't get much opportunity while rearing my family, but when I found myself on my own again and had to find a job, I ended up driving taxis. And when my son, who had been working in Beijing, gave us 15 months notice for his wedding in St Paul. I had to travel halfway across the world on a 15 hour flight to get to the wedding and there was no way I was going to travel all that way and not see something of that damn place. Nine months leading up to my departure, I started asking every single passenger in my taxi,

when were you last in the States? And if it was within the last three years I'd say, right, where did you go, what did you do, how did you get around and all the rest of it? If it was a yank in my car, I would brainwashed, brain pick them even more. I wanted to know all about it. And at one time I did have a couple of CEOs from big companies that had come across and they were young and they encouraged me to drive when I was here. I was thinking of going by bus and going by train.

And they kept saying to me, Lucy, they don't use buses and trains in America, like they do here. In America, you drive. And one of my passengers alerted me to a system that used to be very popular here. I note that it's almost gone. And that is drive away, the relocation of cars for people who don't want to drive where it has to go. On my first two visits I relocated

about two dozen cars. Each time choosing a destination of which I had never heard. I figured if I only went to the places I knew and I knew very, very little, I didn't even know where the Grand Canyon was and I certainly had never heard of your cemetery or brisels, I had heard of Yellowstone but I didn't know where that was either. That first day I hopped in my first car. I started driving in Los Angeles on a first day afternoon. Not the best idea. I had planned to get the bishop because there was a hostile in bishop and I was on a very, very tight budget. I was going to hostile hop.

But when I got to reach crest, I could not face another minute of driving on the wrong side of the road. It was a nightmare. So I hopped into the first place I saw which was a motel six and I booked myself in and I went into the room and I sat on the bed and I cried. What the heck are you doing woman? What are you letting yourself in for? Do you have any sense at all?

Where is this leading? When I finished crying or at least wipe my face, I went out and got something to eat and came back and had a good night's sleep. Next morning I hopped in the car and that car had to be delivered to Boise and I hopped in that car day, and I thoroughly enjoyed the road. Today I'm in St Paul. I have been for the best part of the week. I have now driven some 130,000 miles north of the Mexican border up to the Arctic Ocean.

I have driven to Alaska three and back three times. I have driven the whole road up to Prudobai and back. I now have my own car. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it took me a decade to get round the law was in this country that prevent non-residents from buying a car in that own name, but I got around it. I now have my own car. It's parked right out there. At since spot number one in that car park, it's a conversion van, it has a bed, a fridge, some storage and a little camp stove. What more do you need on the road?

Tomorrow I will be heading out, maybe even tonight, I don't know because I never know where my destination is that night, but tomorrow I will probably head out again. I've got to be in Missouri in five days time so I can wonder wherever I go. And I will probably add another 10,000 miles or so to my destination, but this country is made for road tripping, this country is made for wandering and I trip just for the love of the road. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Lucy has a mailing address in Melbourne, Australia, but the open road is her home. I wrote to her to tell her this story would be on the air, and she said, I'm preparing for my ninth trip to the US, so I'll be adding to my already 200,000 miles in North America between the Mexican border and the Arctic Ocean.

I asked her for a photo related to these grand tours of hers and she said, I used to have a photo of me in a taxi which was taken when I was Miss April on the seniors calendar years ago. The calendar theme was seniors who have chosen to continue working, but she travels light and she doesn't have it with her, she thinks the photo is in storage somewhere. How freeing is that? So cheers to Lucy and all the seekers out there and thank you for listening. That's it for this episode of the Moth radio hour and we hope you'll join us next time.

Your host this hour was Sarah Austin Janess. Sarah also directed the stories in the show along with Meg Bowles, Jennifer Hickson, Michaela Blie, and Julie and Gold Hagen. The rest of the most directorial staff includes Katherine Burns and Sarah Haberman production support from Timothy Lew Lee. Most stories are true, as remembered and affirmed by the storytellers. Our theme music is by the Drift, other music in this hour from Rob Stenson, Ratatat, Krungben, Abba, and the Chandler Travis 3.0. You can find links to all the music we use at our website. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by me, Jay Allison, with Vicki Merrick, at Atlantic Public Media, and Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

This hour was produced with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Moth Radio Hour is presented by PRX. For more about our podcast, for information on pitching us your own story and everything else, go to our website, TheMawth.org.