Episode #68 - Damien and Renee Tougas (The Von Trapp Family)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2018
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Damien and Renee Tougas have always made sure that their children were able to experience the outdoors. So it seemed a fairly natural fit to take the entire family on the Appalachian Trail in 2014. To help fund their adventure they produced a high-quality video series that followed their journey.
For each member of the family, it was harder than they had expected. Despite their hardships–compounded when Renee had to leave the trail for much of the last 500 miles–they eventually forced their way to Katahdin, summiting triumphantly together once more as a family.
The children recognized their individual roles in the adventure, each having chores to attend to at the end of the day. Once Renee had left the team, she offered each child the option to quit but, to their credit, they battled on.
You can connect with the family in several of ways.
Renee's blog: http://renee.tougas.net/
Outsideways: https://outsideways.com/
Just click on the names to access their Outsideways profiles: Damien and Renee
Renee's Outsideways journal of their thru-hike (not yet complete):
https://outsideways.com/journals/beyond-our-boundaries/
Their excellent video series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDCqNxx6mOD_i08ETXNekSLwxIsrmc8T7
Dr Lynne shares a personal diabetes story and gives us signs to watch out for.
There is even an update from Jessa.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, |
| 0:16.0 | joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:26.0 | Hi guys and welcome back to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, sponsored by Trialopia. |
| 0:32.0 | We're on to episode number 68 and I'm really looking forward to sharing this conversation with you. |
| 0:37.3 | Last week, I told you that I didn't know who I guess were going to be, |
| 0:41.0 | though I've no idea why I said that because I'd already recorded this interview. |
| 0:45.2 | Our main interview today is with Damien and Renee Tuga, |
| 0:49.0 | better known on the AT in 2014, my year, as Toe Salad and Fimbi. Somewhat more recognisably, they were part of the |
| 0:57.7 | Von Track family with their children, Paduan, Otter and the sensationally named Tenacious |
| 1:04.2 | bling. Yep, they took on the Appalachian Trail as a family of five. I remember meeting them |
| 1:09.7 | and shaking my head at the very thought of it, |
| 1:11.8 | yet they seem so together and well disciplined in their approach. As we're going to hear, |
| 1:16.4 | it wasn't all plain sailing and I think you'll be really interested in their take on what happened |
| 1:20.5 | to them that spring, summer and fall. Damien and Renee will be on shortly. But first, |
| 1:26.9 | I'm feeling a little bit peckish, which is Brit speak for hungry. |
| 1:31.0 | When I was hiking, I'd wake up to my alarm, deflate my airpad and contemplate my blah breakfast. |
| 1:38.3 | Every morning I poured water into those different coloured paper bags, scrunch around the ingredients, |
| 1:43.5 | not one of which had any |
| 1:44.8 | association with fruit, and then eat that soulless gunk. I then find unhydrated powder and sugar |
| 1:51.7 | in the crevices of the bag. Trialopia's blueberry oatmeal is a bit of a novelty, because it actually |
| 1:57.5 | has real blueberries. Uda Thunk, no gunk. |
| 2:01.8 | It tastes great. |
... |
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