WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: Before We Kick the Bucket List

Episode Date: November 8, 2025

Join Nicole Sighiartau and Storm Drexler as they discuss some of their wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week they chat about their respective bucket lists and all the cool things they want to do and see before they kick the bucket. 

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. Hi-ho, it's me Storm Drexler. And I'm Nicole Siguritau, and we'll be your adventure buddies every week as we discuss some of our wildest stories from our outdoor endeavors. This week, we're going to be talking about some items on our bucket list. Why do they call it bucket list? Because you put all your little activities in the bucket.

Nope, it's things to do before you kick the bucket. This is the more than episode of Off the Trails. We might die any day. Next week's episode might not exist. It may not happen because... And so these are things we want to do before that inevitable... Before next week. We want to do all of these things.

That inevitable horrific outcome. Take a moment, listener. Ponder your unmortality. Write your own bucket list. And think about things that you want to do in this short, sweet, wonderful life we all get to have together. That's such a pleasant start. You got a trail marker for me?

I do have a trail marker, and it is a pleasant trail marker as well. We just experienced daylight savings here in Michigan or the whole United States, except for Arizona, right? They don't... Based Arizona. They don't recognize daylight savings. Okay, hold on. First of all, you stole mine, but I'll have something to add to this.

Okay, well, no, mine's great because it's a specific thing that I did. Oh, okay, okay. It's not just daylight savings. savings. But what did you want to add before I get into my little thing? Oh, no, no, you go first. I just have something to say about daylight savings. I'm very passionate about it. On Saturday evening, I went to bed, like relatively late, probably around midnight. And then the next morning, I woke up at 6.45, but it felt like seven hours and 45 minutes sleep because of daylight savings. And I woke up You could feel the individual minutes.

I woke up at 6.45 and I got myself outside and I went on a morning walk to watch the sunrise. That's how pumped I was. And it didn't rise because you were an hour? No. It rose within 15 minutes of me walking around, which is perfect because I wanted to get a little further away from campus to then watch it rise. And I am a morning person. Like I loved watching the sunrise early in the morning. When the sunrise is at 8 a.m., I'm like, this is too late.

The morning is basically over at 8 a.m. for me. Morning, in my opinion, is 6 to 8 a.m. That's peak morning time. I think the morning's over at around 2 p.m. for me. That's when I'm like, you know, it's afternoon. It's afternoon. Well, morning can be extended until like 9 to 10.30, but that doesn't mean you've taken your full, like, taken full advantage of your morning if you woke up at 8 a.m. To take full advantage of your morning, you have to be up by 630 or 6.45. No complaints here. I just won't be awake. Anyway, so I had a lovely walk. It was nice outside. The sun was out. It was shining. There was frost on the grass. So it was pretty and beautiful. I always try to stay. So here's my true marker. I always try to stay up and see the clock go from two to one or whatever, you know, whatever it does. Or from 159 to one. I think that's what it was this year. Yeah, that's what it is. Listen, daylight savings makes no sense. If you, it doesn't. If you ever have a supporter of daylight savings and you tell you, tell that to them their argument will always be think about it just think about it no i'm done

thinking about it listen here we spring forward we fall back we're doing the same thing we can just keep it on one of the two yeah or even better we can just keep falling back eliminate spring i think so eliminate spring forward also it's like oh well we want the sunrise and the sunset to be around the same time of day generally and it's like that's not even how it works ever like during the one section, whether it's in the spring forward era half of the year or in the fallback half of the year. The sunrise and the sunsets are drastically different in like March or in like June. Those are in the same, that's in the same section of falling back or whatever or that's after spring forward. So they're not accomplishing the main goal. Yeah. They're just making

us lose sleep in spring and then have one day in fall where we're like, oh, this is so nice. You know, I do agree for the most part because I'm not the biggest supporter. I'm not the biggest supporter. I will say, I am more of a fan of it here in Michigan. I bet it was Woodrow Wilson's fault. Okay. Didn't we establish daylight savings during World War I? Anyway. Anyway.

I was no idea. I don't know exactly. But I am more of a fan of it here in Hillsdale, specifically because we were at the end of the time zone. And so our sunrises are super late. And like I said, I like an earlier sunrise. I don't notice anywhere. Yeah, it doesn't bother you because you sleep until like... But sunsets.

I'm always awake. for a sunset. I haven't missed a sunset in a long time. That's good. Yeah. But, but as I was saying, I do like that our sunsets or sorry, our sunrises are now earlier because if we were to continue going by the old time, the sun would be rising at 9 a.m. in January. Do you know how disgusting that is? Maybe then I'd be able to see it. Do you know how disgusting that is? The sun rising at 9 a.m. You're not thinking about, about you morning people aren't thinking about all the evening people and how we could wake up and maybe catch a sunrise for the first time in our life.

if we could abolish the silly rule. And again, part of it is because we're at the end of the time zone. So if we were, if we were at the end of my rope, at the end of your rope, if we, for example, we're, you know, in Maine or New York, the sun would rise earlier, but set later. Here, because we're at the end of the time zone, the way it works, like this sun is rising later for us. But then that means we get a later sunset, which is really nice in the summer. I will say, having the sunset at like 9.30 at night is fantastic.

All right. My first bucket list item, abolished daylight savings. All right. Let me know how that goes for you. Do you have a real bucket list item? Yes, but you go first. Okay. My first bucket list item, this is actually what inspired me to start my bucket list back in like 2020 because I heard about this thing. I was like, that's... Oh, we have a five-year running bucket list here. We do. You guys are in for a treat. Yeah. So the... Nicole adds one thing every year. No, I have a lot on there, actually. But I heard of this event. Never heard of it before, and because I was like, I don't want to forget it.

I was like, I should write it down and start a bucket list. So it's called Ragbri. It is a bicycle race across the entire state of Iowa, and it's over the course of like a week. So every day. You want to do this? Yeah, every day. Every day you bike. I think it's like, it can vary between 70 to 100 miles.

I'm going to be the first person in the history of ever to say, I want to go to Iowa. Well, I don't, I want to go to Iowa to bike across it. Because it's really cool, like so many people do it, and they close down the roads that you're biking on. So there's no cars. And Iowa is a fairly flat state. So just think about how nice it is. And it's also in the summertime. And so all the people in their homes...

Wouldn't you want a state that's entirely downhill? Maybe, but then that's more stressful because also your hands are going to start hurting if you're breaking the whole time. Yeah. So anyway, but the people who live alongside these roads will be sweet and, like, they'll hand you out lemonade. and snacks and whatnot as you bike by. And I just think it sounds. Pretty sure that's what they make in Iowa? Bread.

Isn't Iowa the bread producer, the main bread, wheat grain producer? I think it's corn. The bread basket of the year. Sorry. The bread basket of America. I think Iowa's an extremely boring thing. No, I think so too. But the only reason I want to go to it is to bike across it.

So that is the first item on my bucket list. Heck yeah. Yeah. What about you? Do you, wait, I have a question. Do you, like, what part of biking is your favorite? the scenery or like the, like, well, you get to go and like the trails and stuff or like the actual biking itself?

Before, I would say the scenery because I actually used to really hate biking. Now it's both. I really do like it when I'm feeling strong and I'm like standing up, going up a hill and I'm going really fast. That's fun. But then there's also days where it's like you go for a bike ride and everything hurts and it's just pain and hell and you don't want to be doing it. So then the scenery makes up for it.

But I will say I'm at a place where, like, they share equal weight. And sometimes even over here in Michigan, it's not that pretty. So I'm doing it more for the enjoyment of the biking aspect. Interesting. Yeah. I like hiking and biking in general. I'm always there more for, like, the things I see rather than like the activity itself. Yeah.

And I'm not like a fat kid. I don't need to hike a lot. But like, whenever I go hiking, it's because I want the view or like, I don't know, I want to see like a cool waterfall. or something. That's usually always it for me. I agree. Hiking is not, I don't view hiking is like a form of exercise. Like, obviously it is, but I'm doing the hike to go see things. Yeah. But I'm not like, oh, I'm going hiking to get my workout in for the day. No. Which is like my outdoor bucket list is actually composed of like

things I want to go see rather than things I want to go do. My big one, and I, and I am determined to accomplish this before I kick the bucket, is see all seven wonders of the world. I'm two out of seven. Are you really? I'm working my way through them. Which two, because you went to Machu Picchu, right? Machu Picchu in Peru, extremely cool. I'll tell that story another time. I have a great story that I don't think we've talked about you. I don't think so.

We need to do that. We'll do an episode on that. But I also saw Chechnica in Mexico. Oh, nice. That's awesome. The step pyramid. So I'm working my way through. What are the other five?

I don't know them. I might add the ancient wonders. So there's actually 14. There's seven ancient wonders, seven modern wonders, but some of the ancient wonders are gone. Like you can't, you can go to where. they were, but the thing's not there anymore. Like the Colossus of Rhodes is just, it was a giant bronze statue that's no longer there. Yeah.

The hanging gardens of Babylon. The, I don't know, there's a couple of those ones. The Library of Alexandria, obviously is not there anymore. But I would like to go to those spots as well. But all the modern ones are here. You know, it'll be easier if I just look at it because I look for gore. You know, I remember looking this up as a kid and thinking that they were really cool. Yeah, they're super duper awesome, and I want to go to all them.

I want to see the Coliseum in Rome. The Coliseum is cool. Yeah. You're listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I also want to go to Egypt and see the Great Pyramid. That's a big bucket of the item for me. You ever take the Spanx, bro. It's a big old sand cat.

That's kind of cool, though. The pyramid, I mean, I think you get both if you go to Cairo. Yeah, you get to see both them from New Rotel, Lendo or something. So yeah, Coliseum, Great Wall of China. obviously, Taj Mahal. So those are the other ones I want to go see. Nice. It's cool.

So the Coliseum is one of the seven? The Coliseum is one of the seven modern wonders. Okay, then I've seen, I've seen that. So I've seen this Colossian, yeah. We went to Italy when I was seven or eight. There's also, like, the seven natural wonders. Like, I think this would be more up your alley. Like, it's the third set of seven, which is, like, the Grand Canyon.

And the only one I really want to do that natural wonders is the Great Barrier Reef. I really want to go see the Great Barrier Reef. I'm like super into aquatic like aquatic stuff and like natural things and I would kill to go scuba diving there that's kind of like my extended bucket list it's a lot more like travel really

than it is like oh my god go do this thing outdoors but like even getting to Machu Picchu and Chichiniza was like a whole track and adventure so I mean Machu Picchu is on my bucket list I don't really have much more to say about it except I've been obsessed with the idea since I was probably nine years old. You would love it.

So I really want to go to Machu Picchu. It's not even like the place itself, but the whole experience, like I highly encourage doing what I did, which is hiking the Incan trail. That sounds awesome. We will make an episode of this. I have like 10 stories from that. Well, why don't you share them? Listen, guys, every week I asked where I'm like, do you have a story to share? No, I don't have anything to talk about.

Okay, so I guess I'll just talk about my life. Write it down to your notes up. Next week, we're going to talk about Peru. Okay, sounds good. I don't need to write it down. I'll remember. I don't remember things. I need to write things down. Another thing on my bucket list is go to the Mount Everest Base Camp. Is that on yours? That's great. No, I could give or take it, but I would totally go. I would pick all the ones I already talked about before that.

Yeah. But I definitely want to see it at some point if I get the chance. Nepal is kind of out of the way. It is, but also it's just you have to go there. It's one of those places just calling to you. Yeah, but if I get to the base camp, I feel like the certain death of the climb would start to call to me. And then I would, yeah, and then it would be the bad.

And you'd want to go up to the top is what you're saying? Yeah, probably last item on the bucket list because then you just go and then you die. Yeah. So I will say I have experienced this where we went to Mount Rainier National Park when I was 11. And we were just standing there looking at the mountain. And I was like, oh my gosh, I have to climb it. like it really you just have this feeling of like i have to be on there i have to be going up to the top so rainier is also on my bucket list for that reason but i do think with mount everest i

wouldn't i like still wouldn't want to actually go do it if i were there i think i'd look at it and be like wow that'd be amazing to stand on the top but just hearing about all the dead people up there is really disgusting like that's it grosses me out i don't do well with bodies and bodily fluids and like I know they're petrified but no they're all like frozen yeah I think that's where you'd find a Yeti too you could just go to Expedition Everest

the ride at Disney World it's pretty good that's not the same there's a Yeti and he goes raw have you heard that I heard that in this in physics the other day that Everest is... You take physics yeah you have to do this

I know that I just didn't know you were taking it right now it's my last stem credit, I will ever take in my life. Wow. I'm done with all my sciences and mass after this semester. Okay. We'll talk later because I need to know who you're taking and how bad it is. It's actually great. I can say, I can positively and

genuinely actually truthfully say on air. Dr. Dolch's physics class is so fun. Okay. I'll write that down. He's, he's great. The whole class is like, focused and centered around wonder. He knows that we're not like physics majors. So he's not going to make us do like crazy math to like determine gravitational forces and stuff. And instead he's

just like, let me give you a tour of the natural physical world and, like, show you really cool things. That's awesome. And then also, like, learn about, like, who discovered some certain aspects of this stuff. But anyway, to bring it back around, Everest is, uh, Dr. Dolt was talking about how Everest is almost as physically tall as a mountain can be on earth. Wow.

So the reason Everest is, is the height it is, is because if it was any taller, it would, like, collapse and it would, like, it would, like, gravity would pull it back down and the plates would, like, crack beneath it, and it would become, like, a cold air or something like it would it would totally lose its form. That's insane. I had no idea. It's like only a certain number of yards below the line where it like gets too high in the atmosphere and it cannot be sustained planetarily. And that was cool.

That's fascinating. So it's like the max height. It's like that's how high mountains can be on Earth. Wow. You know, that makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. Yeah. It's like why isn't there anything else taller? Yeah.

Well, that's as tall as it gets. There's a whole ass physical reason. Um, a bucket list item that's kind of close to Michigan is to swim in all of the great lakes. Oh. And I'm at three, I think. So I went in Lake Michigan for the first time. And it was my first one. And I went inside the lake.

And it was kind of underwhelming. Well, yeah. I mean, it's just a lake. Now, to be fair, I've touched more than three, but I think like fully submerged. Well, honestly, fully submerged only two now that I think about it. so I need to get cracking okay hold on so wait we are like equidistant basically from Lake Michigan and then what's the one over and the other place and the other direction what's Detroit next to Detroit is next to Lake Huron like Huron and then if you keep going up that way

it's like Erie over toward New York Lake Erie is more east of us south so it's south of Detroit so yeah Erie and then if you keep going east then you run into Ontario Ontario's the far East and then and then Superior is up. Superior is up into Northwest. Yeah. Because it's in between the Michigan's. Superior is huge.

That's the deepest, the largest one. Yeah. So that is on my bucket list. I've been in Lake Michigan fully and Lake Erie fully. Took a dip. We're getting there. Took a dip. So 2.5.

2 of 5, but you know, there's still a year and a half left of school. That's so random. Like you ever thought about people being like, you know, I need to like my physical form. to be drenched in the water of these different bodies of water. Yeah, that's kind of weird. You take a step back and you're like, why? But also, why not?

Why not do it? That's so true. They're there. I will be washed with the borders of Babylon. Okay. Another thing on my bucket list is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail, but this is the first one I'm not familiar with. This spans all the way from Southern California to northern Washington.

So basically it starts at, This is y'all's Appalachian Trail. Yeah, this is our Appalachian Trail. Appalachian, Appalachian, whatever. Okay. Yeah, so it starts down on the border of Southern California and Mexico, and it ends at the border of Washington and Canada. So it's like 1,000 something, 500 miles, I think.

How closely to the coastline does it follow? It's not very close at all. Okay. But it follows like the Sierra Nevada range, and then you get out of California into Oregon, you go through the Cascades. I think and then Washington or no are the Cascades in Washington this is embarrassing I don't really know probably both probably both we're going to Washington aren't that big yeah but it follows it follows the the mountain ranges through there and so okay okay it's a long trail but it sounds

like a lot of fun and I would love to do it I remember reading a book about it in fourth grade and that's kind of when I decided it was like that's something I want to do that's cool that sounds awesome yeah yeah blushing trail is not on my bucket list I think I would die. The thing also is, like, you get up in, like, deep Appalachia. Mm-hmm. That's, like, there's people up there that you probably don't want to run into, you know. But it would be cool to hike.

Ours actually, the Appalachian Trail starts in Canada and goes down through Canada, through Maine, and then falls the mountains all the way down to, like, southern, Georgia, southern Alabama, and ends, like, in, like, Birmingham almost. Okay. I thought it was more typical for people to go south to north. Like, obviously, you can go either direction. Oh, start south and go north. From what I've read about the Appalachian.

I mean, it's more common for the Pacific Christchial to go south to north. I've hiked a few miles of it. I've hiked a part of it, the part of it that's in my state. Okay. Yeah, it's done a little bit of the PCT. That's along Mount Whitney. But besides that, I haven't really touched it. I also want to do the Continental Divide Trail.

Very similar. It's in Colorado. A divide trail? Yeah. Oh, the one where all the water over here goes to the Pacific. and all the water over here, is that what that is? Maybe. Do you know what those things are?

And there's like continental lines in the United States where you're like, oh, if you're on this side of this line, all water flows to that ocean. All water flows into the Colorado River and then flows into the ocean. I mean, the continental divide, it's, you know, the Rocky Mountains, basically. My hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, is high enough in altitude from sea level

that one block from my house, I kid you not, is the continental line where water on one side flows to the Gulf of Mexico and another side to the Atlantic Ocean. That's crazy. Wow. Like literally I can walk there in two minutes from my house. That's really cool. I didn't know that. So maybe you're right. We're like 8,000 feet or something. Are you serious? Something like that. I think so, right?

8,000 feet in Georgia? Maybe not that much. You may want to fact check that. I think it's like higher than you'd think, though. Okay. Maybe like 4,000? What do you look up? Sea level height? You see level height? What is our elevation? No, we're 1,000 feet. Okay.

I knew it was like something a thousand. Okay. I have one more fun bucket list item before we wrap it up. I want to bike around Crater Lake. Crater Lake. Yep, crater lake. It's like there's a road 30-ish miles surrounding or like that goes in the circumference of the lake.

And one time a year they close off the road to all cars and it's open to biking and running. And you kind of have to get a permit for it, but it sounds really cool. and I've been a Critter Lake and I thought it's beautiful, so why not bike around it? Next, you'll be able to bike around the Hudson Bay. The Hudson Bay. Do you know what that is? Isn't that like far up north and it's huge? It's enormous.

Although on maps, it looks like it's as big as the Gulf of Mexico. But it's not that big. It's not because of, you know, stretching. Yeah, stretching. Oh, Greenland is as big as South America. Yeah. But still, it's extremely large. Yep.

Yeah. Biking around things be good. Mm-hmm. It is. It is. It is. It is. water.

Absolutely. Water is one of the best things ever. No way. It's almost like we drink it to survive. Speaking of which, I'm thirsty right now. You're thirsty right now? Well, it's a good thing this episode's over. Hippie!

Thank you for listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. We'll see you out there. Happy trails. If you don't hydrate, you won't finish your bucket list. Lockhead. Bye, guys. Thank you.

Thank you.