Joe T's Adventure Yarn

So this post is a little random. The images are all from the same trip where I was recently working with Levi’s in Northern California. We had all kinds of weather. It was hot and dusty and cold and rainy.

I took this first photograph about an hour north outside of Santa Barbara. This place was amazing. We were driving through the dunes and jumping them. I have video of it. I just have to figure out how to post it its unreal!

This next photo was taken in the same place. I really love these images because they look like they could have been taken any where in the world. I love that about California. Its scenery is so diverse.

Something can’t officially be considered an adventure unless I am almost getting hurt one way or another. I thankfully did not get hurt. Though I did wash sand out of all different parts of my body for over a month.

This shot is me doing some stand up drags at around 20 mph. That was a blast until that cool bright red jean jacket got ripped clear off my body going over a dune. Images of myself getting dragged through the dirt. A familiar feeling for me.

On our way back we stopped at this ranch. The photographer “Ryan McGinley” wanted to see the animals. He is like some sort of animal whisperer. It’s scary he gets so close to bears, horses, deer, coyotes, snakes…whatever. He is totally cool with them. So I snapped off a few images of him laying down with the horses. I got this bright idea that I was going to roll over an lay with them. Then the plan was to send a photo to my mom that night.

Yo as soon as I sat down Ryan was like “get closer come on get closer!” I was like sure. He took this one frame then he started busting out laughing. As you can see, the horse got up and tried to kill me. Everyone thought it was hilarious. I stayed away from the horses for the rest of my trip.

So we are North of San Francisco. And we come across this bridge with a rope swing. The water is freezing and it has been raining for basically four days straight. The water is raging. We wanted to put some girl on the swing. So Ryan was like “Joe, test it out see if the rope breaks.”

Eager as ever, I hop right on that thing. I start swinging around and having a blast. The embankment leading down the hill is super steep an covered in mud. We had one small generator down there a strobe and extension cord.

So I am swinging in an out and dragging my legs in the water having fun. I swing out one last time and on my way back in I jump off and land on the embankment. I slide down the hill — face first in the mud and into the river. Matt, my right hand man on set, thinks fast and unplugs the light and the generator. He lassos me with the extension cord an pulls me back in. Good save kid.

That’s Matt and yours truly just after his save. Hope you enjoyed the stories.