Who am I?
Family:
I am happily married to my best friend and in December of 2013 my wife gave birth to our first child, Dean. Our second child, Lila, was born August of 2016. We currently are renting a home in the Hilton Village section of Newport News, VA. I am originally from Casstown, Ohio and my parents and greater family live near Troy, Ohio.
My Hobbies:
Outside of family, my hobbies defines who I am and I have plenty of them. Below is just a sampling of some of the things that I do or find interesting.
Hot Rods:
I modified an S-10, my High School truck, by gutting it and installing a small block 350 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 engine. This was an incredible amount of work considering the sheet metal, paint, fabrication, plumbing and electrical.
I purchased a 1935 International Harvester C model 1/2 ton pick-up to restore or rat rod. After buying it I knew I wouldn't have the time to work on it or have funding for it right away so it's been parked ever since but it does run and is basically all there and original. Pretty rare truck and I can't wait to work on it.
One day at work I turned to the guy sitting next to me and bet him I could do 75 MPG on a single speed beach cruiser bicycle. He simply said no way, so the challenge began and I built this. I've done just over 60 MPH on it so far.
Below is a Toyota pickup that I mounted the back half of a Jeep Wrangler to.
Had a rail buggy for a while, Volkswagen.
More recently I have really begun to enjoy backpacking, particularly on the Appalachian Trail. Photo on left is McAfee Knob, photo on right is somewhere in Tennessee.
I love creating and anything to do with welding, such as this 17 foot wide gate (that will never sag) and my home built trailer.
Got in to road and mountain biking pretty heavily recently.
The Future:
In the future, as much as two children will allow, I very much look forward to owning land and a home and doing home improvement projects. I would like to build my own wooden kayak and someday kayak with our young family. I would like to get back in to off-road enduro riding and have my children enjoy the sport as well. I would like cross the Mackinac bridge and discover the Upper Peninsula of Michigan aboard a BMW motorcycle. I want to continue to hike sections of the Appalachian Trail and camp with our family. I want to continue to learn as much as possible and live to the fullest.