Overcoming Blindness with a Crazy Sense of Adventure and a Humble Heart: The Story of Lonnie Bedwell

I set up laughing and said, hey, adaptive 101.

How about the blind guy when he gets to the top?

SPEAKER_02: So many people think that my story is inspiring.

How I became blind at just 17 years of age.

SPEAKER_01: They always want to know how I've done it and how I've kept smiling all along the way.

Well, I've just chosen to focus my attention on seeing the positive side of it.

And on the podcast, that's what I want to do for you.

Because no matter what you may be going through in mind, I hope to inspire you to focus on the positive.

And you know what?

I hope that I can also be a source of inspiration for you to just be on smile.

Hey there, welcome back to the Lowdown with Kevin Lowe.

SPEAKER_02: My name is Kevin Lowe, of course, and I'm the host here on the podcast.

And today you're joining me for episode number 77, presented by Freedom Nutrition Coaching.

If you're interested in getting in shape, maybe losing a little bit of weight, be sure to check out the episode show notes where you can find a link to learn more.

So today I'm giving you a double dose of some blind views on life.

What I mean, well, normally it's me who's the only blind person in the studio.

But today, my guest, Lonnie Bedwell, he's also completely blind.

Lonnie, he is probably one of the craziest, funniest, yet most sincere people I've ever met.

Super country guy, crazy sense of adventure, but with a really deep thought on life.

You're gonna hear how Lonnie became blind.

And I must say it's a pretty traumatic event.

But Lonnie, he figured out a way to keep going in life.

And when I say keep going, I mean craziness in the way he's kept going.

Like kayaking the Grand Canyon, he's done that alone with a team and then did it again with Eric Weinmeyer, another uh blind guest who I've had on the podcast before.

But Lonnie didn't stop with that.

Like he's kayaked in rivers where he's had to worry about crocodiles and hippos.

And, you know, the guy's just all over the place doing such cool stuff.

And yet he's just this down-to-earth, super awesome guy.

And it's just a true pleasure that I got a chance to meet Lonnie and have him here on my podcast today.

Before I get to that interview, I do want to tell you about something new I have going on.

And that is that in addition to being the host here on the podcast, I have also entered the realm of life coaching.

So when I went blind back in 2003, I finally came to a point when I realized that what happened to me happened for a reason.

And as I often say, that I believe that all things in life happen for a reason and a good reason that.

And for myself, I believe that God knew I would serve a greater purpose in this world, having gone through what I did than if I hadn't.

And that's partly why I've been doing this podcast, hoping to inspire, empower people to get out there and take on life, no matter what obstacles or barriers stand in your way.

Well, I'm taking that a step further by entering the realm of life coaching, as I'm choosing to work with people who have endured a life-changing disability or medical diagnosis or illness, something that has totally just changed their life, stolen their life.

And well, I can relate because I was there.

And I want to use my own experience of the road I have already traveled down to now help people who are going down that same path in life.

And so, anyways, maybe that's you, or maybe it's a family member, or maybe just somebody you know who suffered, like I said, a life-changing disability or a medical diagnosis illness, something that has changed their life and they're just struggling to figure out how to keep going in life.

So if you know that person, or if you are that person, please be sure to check out the episode show notes where you'll find a link to a page on my website where you can find out more, and go ahead and sign up for a free 15-minute coaching session with me.

Anyways, I just wanted to tell you about that, something new I have going, in case it could be a help to you or somebody you know and love.

With that being said, I think it's time for me to introduce you to the man of the hour, Mr.

Lonnie Bedwell.

I actually first met you inside of a book, inside of a book by Eric Weinair about his journey kayaking the Grand Canyon, and that's that's really the first time that I even heard your name.

So I've uh I'm super excited that all of a sudden this character has come to life.

SPEAKER_05: Well, yeah, that's uh it's probably a better character in the book than it is in real life.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I was gonna say I really loved Lonnie Bedwell, the character of the book.

So we we shall see, I guess.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02: Well, awesome.

Well, well, Lonnie, I would love to get, you know, a little bit of your backstory and and kind of give everybody a little picture into you know who you are, where you're from, and and you know, and we'll we'll kind of go from there.

So so what where in the country do you live?

I guess we'll start with that.

SPEAKER_05: I live in a little town of Duggar, Indiana.

That's my address now.

It's uh population of about 900 to 1,000, something like that.

And the little town that I was actually raised in is called Pleasantville.

It's uh I truly do live between Pleasantville and Duggar.

And uh Pleasantville's got about 120 people if you count the dogs and chickens.

SPEAKER_02: So well that that sounds very pleasant.

Yeah.

For sure.

Yes.

SPEAKER_05: And that's after graduating high school, uh, you know, I I think I graduated high school.

I uh went to college for two years down at Vincent University for robotics.

Then I decided to join the military and enlisted in the Navy in the nuclear power program and did nine years.

I volunteered for submarine service and was selected for that.

And I spent nine years on active duty in the Navy, got off of active duty, spent three years in the uh in the guards, and uh that's when I had my accident.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

Well, that's pretty amazing.

Pretty amazing.

Being in a submarine, I I mean, right off the bat, I'm like, either that Lonnie's really awesome or half crazy because the idea of being stuck in a submarine just sounds almost torturous to me.

SPEAKER_05: Well, I know what my opinion would be, but I would say most everyone else's would be the latter of those two.

SPEAKER_02: So I gotcha, I gotcha.

So leading up, you you you made mention there at the end about your accident.

So tell me what happened that you know made you lose your eyesight.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was uh like I said, three years to the day I got off of active duty.

I was involved in a hunting accident, literally a mile from my house uh where I'm sitting at right now.

A good friend of mine, we were turkey hunting together, and he uh accidentally shot me.

I received a full shotgun blast to the face, I think, at about nine steps.

And uh I didn't see him any more than he saw me.

And we had separated for me to just call.

I didn't even have a uh gun on me.

I didn't have anything on me.

I was just calling and kind of working our way back together, and it was so thick and dense in there.

I I don't know that either one of us really know what happened, but I can remember it's so weird though, because I can remember before the shot went off, I felt this aura around me, like I was completely enveloped and surrounded by this, and everything went dead silent.

I mean, uh, I didn't hear any birds, no wrestling of the of the leaves and the trees from the wind, no squirrels, nothing.

It was complete dead silent.

And I just like the hair went to stand up on the back of my neck.

I knew something was going to happen.

And I started to squat down and reach up to cover my face.

I was just gonna duck when uh the shot went off.

And the next thing I know, I uh I ended up on my belly.

It completely flipped me, and I'd say part of that was probably by reaction.

I don't know.

And uh yeah, I got up onto my knees, my head was ringing and pounding, and I reached up and wiped my eyes simply because I thought I had something covering my face.

When I still couldn't see, I took my gloves off and I reached up and I slowly wiped them again.

Only this time, you know, I could feel the blood and everything running down my hands.

I knew what happened.

And uh yeah, that's how I lost my eyesight.

SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow, wow, wow.

Now, so did you at that moment, I mean, did you immediately become blind?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, instantaneous.

Instantaneous darkness.

Yep.

All I see is total black.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Now what about other?

I mean, did you have to have other type of surgeries even for just all the pellets that I mean, I assume just hit all over your entire face?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I had uh, you know, I think the first little scan or x-ray or whatever they did.

I had eight some like 85 pellets up in there.

And they initially, the initial little surgery was kind of stopped the stuff in my throat.

And uh, so I had a little bit of uh surgery there to stop all that, and then they rebuilt the inside of my nose a little bit.

Uh cosmetically, they didn't do anything on the outside and uh, you know, got to where so I could breathe right and uh and survive, quite honestly.

I was very, very fortunate, you know.

The doctors told me because I went from uh a stretcher, they was carrying me across the stripper hills to a lake, got into a boat, they put me in a in a boat, the boat took me to a ambulance, the ambulance took me to the helicopter, and that's the last thing I remember before I woke up at the emergency room.

And uh I think they intubated me on the helicopter.

And uh I know the the surgeon come out, the doctor come out, and he told me, he said, I shouldn't have been here.

He said another 15 minutes I probably wouldn't have been here.

Uh so uh just meant to be, you know.

SPEAKER_02: So it's yeah.

No, life life has a life has a crazy way of doing things.

I can't help but wonder your friend who shot you.

Yes.

Tim's getting how how has he handled it?

Because that had to be horrible.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was uh initially for him, it was just tremendously horrible.

And uh, I have to say, one of the greatest blessings I was ever given in my life was the fact that I never was the slightest bit angry or bitter at him.

As a matter of fact, uh as soon as I got to work and talk again, I can remember telling him uh, you know, let it go.

Just just let it go.

It was an accident.

I, you know, we'd been raised together since we were three years old.

Well, probably before that, since we were born, and uh went all the way through school together.

And, you know, and I I just tried to encourage him to to not let it harbor.

And uh, you know, I and I can remember here a few years ago we did a documentary together, uh, and he was in it anyway.

And he said, you know, the accident that day, the memory, it's a scar now.

It's not an open wound, at least, and uh which is a lot better than where it was initially at with him.

And you know, I I I even personally wish the scar would go away because you know, I told him, I said, you know, it might have been your physical finger on that trigger, but someone else pulling it, someone that wanted to destroy us, and we can't let that happen.

And uh I'm so thankful he didn't.

We still hunt and fish together, still hang out together.

And uh, you know, sometimes it it goes through spells where we're hanging out more than others, but that's this life, you know, we all get busy and so yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, cool dudes.

Yeah, I'm really relieved to to hear that ending to that that little chapter uh, you know, of your story.

Because, you know, I think anybody listening, you know, you kind of wonder right off the bat is oh my gosh, what what happened there?

And and you know, and and I think it's amazing.

Really, I think it says a lot about to be quite honest, uh both of you, for the fact that you were able to to recognize the fact that it was an accident, you know, and then the fact that I think it's amazing of him and the fact that because because a lot of people when they're faced in a situation like that, the easy way is to then just kind of remove themselves from the situation, you know, and the fact that he didn't and the fact that you guys are still friends, I think just is a really amazing kind of uh example of what a true

friendship is.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I and I think it's awesome.

And I I can remember telling him, like I said, I can remember telling him, so buddy, you don't owe me a thing.

The only thing I ask is, you know, we've been friends our whole lives, you don't walk away.

Our whole families were our parents, our brothers, our children, and it's still good to know.

And and I honestly can tell you, I have told him numerous times that he is much better looking to me now than he used to be.

Yeah, yeah, and I've also told him that I probably wouldn't have gone hunting with him if it just told me it was related to Dick Cheney.

SPEAKER_03: So you are too much, man.

SPEAKER_02: You are too much.

That's hysterical.

Oh, wow.

So now how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_05: 24 years ago.

24, about 24 and a half now, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

Okay.

So now, so after the trauma of the accident, now I I did want to ask, did you become completely blind?

SPEAKER_05: Yes.

I'm totally, I I tell everybody that I am LOL.

You know, the they they they stole that off of me, LOL, you know, because what it really stands for is lights out Lani.

SPEAKER_02: I love it.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

I tell them I'm LOL cube now, though.

So I'm lights out Lonnie who likes to laugh out loud with lots of love.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love it.

I love it.

Well, that's cool because, you know, I think I think that's something that, you know, I know for myself that I didn't realize though, and when I asked you about, you know, if you're completely blind, because that's something that I didn't discover until I became blind, is that when people say they're they're blind, that actually kind of encompasses a pretty big spectrum.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of people still, you know, will be, you know, say that they're blind, but they'll see, you know, bits of light or they'll have, you know, different, different, you know, maybe shapes or shadows or, you know, different stuff.

And so that that's what I always, you know, tell people, you know, I'm in in in your kind of situation and the fact that, you know, I'm completely blind.

As I, as I always joke and tell everybody, I was like, you know, listen, you know, I just figured if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right and go all the way.

So, you know, skip over the visually impaired part and go straight to blind.

SPEAKER_03: There you go.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

Yes.

So now, how was life for you after the accident, kind of getting back to where I was going, was after after the drama, after all the medical stuff related to it, how was life for you kind of regaining life after after becoming blind?

SPEAKER_05: Well, you know, everything's a challenge.

I mean, I went literally from weighing like 181, 182 pounds to 129 pounds, drinking insurance shakes like they were candy.

And uh I just couldn't keep my weight on.

I and I think, you know, naturally just my body fighting whatever it was fighting.

But where I was so fortunate was uh my three daughters, actually, mainly thing.

But I literally two months after I lost my eyesight, and this is in the book that I wrote, I tell this story, and it took me forever to be able to tell it.

But literally two months after I lost my eyesight, I was laying on my couch in this living room that I'm sitting in right now.

I had my left foot on the floor, just thinking about my daughters, and I you know knew I had to get up and and go out and and stuff, and I'm kind of gonna cut this short.

So I didn't have any uh mobility training, but just took the broom out of my handle out of my broom and out the door I went and uh kind of went way across the yard, down the edge of the field, which was up to my chest, and hit my little barn.

And I just lowered my head, just fighting back these tears and and uh walked back across the the yard and ran into my little daughter, and she's like, What's wrong?

And and I said, Nothing, nothing bugging.

She said, Yeah, there is what's wrong.

I said, Well, I'm frustrated.

And she asked me why, and I said, Well, it's because I can't get into my barn without walking into chest high weeds, and I can't see to mow them.

Well, cutting this a little shorter, she she said, I'll help you.

And and she did.

She led me around the house.

We got on the ride in Lawnmore, she drove me out to that barn, and I had her get off, and I mowed three laps around that barn by putting my hand against the barn and then the broomstick against the barn.

And when I shut it off, I walked up to her, I could hear her just squilling.

She's jumped around and said, You did, Daddy, you did it, you know.

And I'm like, Yeah.

But now instead of fighting back tears, I had tears of hope flowing off my face.

And then my other daughters were all the same way.

They all engaged.

And, you know, all these adults were saying, no, no, no, you can't.

And all my daughters were saying, Go, go, go.

And, you know, they they basically said, get off your knees and stand up, get off your knees and step, get off your knees because you can.

And they changed my vision more than loss of my eyesight ever did.

And, you know, to say this in a fun way, they let me see light in that darkness.

And I'm so fortunate it happened that fast.

You know, so I know I had my struggles beyond that and after that too, but I personally know I didn't go into as deep a darkness as I know I would have if it wasn't for that.

And and them girls getting me up and going.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Lonnie, I think that's such an incredible story.

And there's so there's so many little pieces of of that relatively simple story, yet, oh my gosh, how powerful.

Even in the aspect that I that I look at that relationship of children and their parents, and and for your case, your daughter's their dad.

And the fact that maybe maybe you had become blind, but in their eyes, you're still their dad.

And you're, you know, you're the greatest thing there is, the you know, Superman, and that you can do it.

And and and and at the same point, the amazingness of a child's mind, of like you said, the adults, you know, telling you, no, no, no, don't do it.

And, you know, then the mind of a child, you know, who has this imagination that I feel like we can all kind of learn something from of so many times that, you know, kind of resort back to what that child instinct is.

And the fact is to give it a whirl.

And and I and I listened to that story and you setting off and mowing those laps around the barn.

And I mean, what what really, if you think about it, a pivotal moment even and just showing you, you know what, I can do something.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: You know, it was huge.

SPEAKER_05: It truly was absolutely huge in my life.

And you hit the nail on the head when you said uh you're still dad, because that was one of the things I was honestly thinking about lying on that couch was, you know, what do my girls think of me?

How am I gonna be dad?

How am I gonna be daddy?

You know, how am I gonna be do anything?

And uh, and I knew right then that, like you said, I was still daddy, which was enormous, an enormous emotional lift for me.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

No, well, I think that's amazing.

So how do we go from Lonnie, dad, who who encouragement of his daughter gets on the tractor, moves around the barn to who Lonnie is today, this blind kayaker who's doing crazy things that I'm like, oh my gosh, man, I don't know about all of that.

How did how did how did you how did you, and I guess even more so, how long was it between that point and when you started getting into kayaking?

And even I guess, you know, Lonnie, I mean, you can even, you know, go back even further if you want, like just starting to to truly live again and getting back out into the outdoors and stuff.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was four it was 14 years before I got into the adaptive sports scene, but it's like I said, my dog.

They, you know, I kept trying to do things and they kept finding a way, you know, to help.

Well, I mean, I tried to learn how to drive a nail.

And every time I swung that hammer, I hit a nail, but most of the time it was my thumbnail or my fingernail.

But but I got to where I learned to drive a nail.

And uh, you know, I got permission to tear down these old houses that the coal mine owned around here.

And it just started from there and and, you know, started push mowing around the house and around the outbuildings and the pond.

And that's one of my favorite stories I love to tell because I was I was out late one night, well after dark, mowing the bank in between the pond and the road, and uh heard a car pull up and honk its horn.

And I shut the mower off, and it's one of my neighbors, and she rolled her window down and said, Lonnie, said, Do you realize you're mowing in the dark?

Yeah.

And I was like, here's your sign.

SPEAKER_02: No, I've been I've been waiting on somebody to come out and bring me a flashlight.

SPEAKER_05: Someone come up, you're doing something, they they come up behind you and get turn the lights on or grab a flashlight and turn it on, and then they just shake their head and say, Man.

Yeah.

No, but but I went from that and I started, like I said, I got a chainsaw again.

My dad took my chainsaw after I lost my eyesight.

And my mom, actually, which floored me, took, took me and I bought another one and I started, you know, cutting firewood again and clearing fence rows and then going for walks and longer walks.

And like I said, me and my buddy, the very next year, the guy I was in the accident with, we went out uh turkey hunting again with him as my guide and I harvested my first turkey.

And I've been uh I've actually helped create a little nonprofit back here at home where we take other folks with other disabilities and children out, you know, hunting and fishing and stuff like that.

And uh, but so I kept doing that kind of stuff, and and I ended up as a single father raising my three girls, and I taught them how to drive.

And um out here in the back pasture behind the house, so four-wheel drive truck.

And then I got into actually building houses, which is something I didn't do before I lost my eyesight.

And so, you know, I do everything now from framing the sheeting, wiring, roofing, and I've helped build over third, probably 30 homes, garages, outbuildings, and you know, worked with this company for I don't know, probably 14 years or so.

And but it was after my youngest daughter graduated high school.

Like I said, since I was a single father, I wouldn't go to a blind rehab center.

And when she graduated high school, I was like, okay, I need to go up here and I need to learn a little bit more of this technology stuff, which I stink at.

I'm trying to switch over from uh PC to a Mac.

And I was decent on the PC, but I uh yeah, I'm not good at the Mac yet.

But so I had to go, I wanted to go up there and learn some technology stuff.

And while I was up there, you know, there was these guys and gals coming back from overseas and from the wars that were kind of young and met some of them that lost their eyesight.

And the blind rehab center up there, the VA blind rehab center, asked me, they said, Hey, you know, we got these younger vets coming back, and and we know blind people snow ski, and we've never done it as a recreational outing, but we'd like to try it and see how it works.

They said, Will you be our guinea pig?

And I'm like, hey, yeah.

If they can do it, we can do it.

And uh twist my arm.

And so they took me up there to Little Bunny Hill in uh Wilmot, Wisconsin, and that's where it started.

And then one of those blind vets was also invited to another uh event, and uh he refused to go unless they brought me along.

He flat out told them, he said, Look, he's blind, you're not.

If he goes, I'll go.

If he doesn't go, I'm not coming.

And so they called and asked me if I would go.

And that was water skiing and cycling and sailing, and I said, I'll be there.

And then between that, all those events, it just blew up for me of opportunities and being asked to go.

I got into adaptive sport.

SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's so awesome.

I love it.

Wow, that's just that's really phenomenal.

Yeah.

So now for for everybody wondering, when you talked about the blind skiing and stuff, how does that work?

SPEAKER_05: Well, for me, you know, there's so many different ways they do that, you know, when it comes to skiing blind uh without eyesight, you know, they they might start out a lot of people with a um a pole, a long pole, and they'll put a person on each side of you, and you grab the pole and they'll ski down the hill, or they might put a tether on you and uh kind of ski behind you and give you voice commands and try to help keep you from falling or falling too much.

And and then the typical way to guide is you know, once they get going, is to guide with uh voice command, you know, and left turn and hold and hold and right turn and hold that kind of thing.

But for me, like I said, they just put me up there on the little bunny heel and uh told me, which is a funny story in itself, to start out with, they put me on the little bunny heel and told me to hold on this tow rope when I got to the top, let go.

Well, this tow rope goes around a pulley that's attached to the pole.

So my knees are wobbling back and forth.

I'm holding on the rope.

Next thing I know, I face plant that pole, end up on the ground.

I set up laughing.

I said, hey, hi, adaptive 101, how about telling the blind guy when he gets to the top?

You know, but uh but for me, you know, they didn't use the pole or the tether or nothing.

You know, I just they just kind of stepped me up there and said, okay, you know, ski to my voice and you know, do the do the pizza, do the railroad tracks, the pizza, which is where you, you know, put your ski tips inward at the front and out at the back.

That's kind of a wedge, if you will, and peach it and and stuff.

But but I ended up going out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado a few months after that.

And uh, fifth day I was ever on a set of skis, we went through a little process of of sounds and because I heard clicking noise out in front of me, and they told me what it was, which was ski poles.

So we tried the ski poles, then we went to a whistle, then a pipe and a bar, and the pipe and bar worked.

I could hear it and I followed it.

So then they went and they found a cowbell, and they was ringing a cowbell out in front of me.

And I literally went from skiing green slopes and bunny hills to skiing my very first blue slope, then black slope that day, that fifth day of ever been on a set of skis in my life.

Wow.

Yeah.

I've been clocked a little over 60 mile an hour on a set of skis now.

SPEAKER_02: That's so awesome.

But what what I think is cool about that is kind of what you're saying is the fact that it's not just like a one-size fits all.

It it's kind of finding what works for that individual person.

SPEAKER_05: Totally, totally.

I mean, people with low vision sometimes they can see, you know, uh contrast to collars out in front of them, and they'll they'll have people wear different colored bibs or outfits out in front of them and they can see to follow it, you know.

And and now uh most all your resorts have gone to uh headsets to where the guides not having to scream to give you any kind of a voice command.

They can literally just kind of talk through that.

And uh there's power packs on your sound packs on your bike.

I mean, there's just so, so many different things.

And that's the thing I love about adaptive stuff.

It's it's true, like like you just said, it they adapt to the person, their skills, their comfort level, and it's just awesome.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I think that's awesome.

And and what what I think is phenomenal about the evolution of adaptive sports and stuff is the fact that think of it from the aspect of like, you know, for you listening to me and me and Lonnie talking today, and and maybe you don't have any, you know, quote unquote disabilities and and maybe you enjoy getting out there and doing these adventurous sports and stuff and and you love it, you love the thrill of it.

Now think of yourself as uh somebody with uh a disability.

And it's so easy when we have uh whatever type of disability to kind of get put in this uh this hole and our life is limited by that disability in so many ways.

And I feel like when we kind of get out and do these adventurous activities, it kind of makes you forget that you're any different than anyone else.

You know, and I just think that's what's like so awesome about the adaptive sports and stuff is the fact that it gives somebody the opportunity to get out there and be basically just like everybody else and get to to, you know, forget about that disability, forget that anything's different, and just get to enjoy life and and you know, feel that adventure.

And I just uh I think it's so awesome.

SPEAKER_05: Well, the fact that you, you know, it is awesome.

And the fact of the matter is, is uh we are not different than any other anyone else in some ways, you know, if you will.

And uh we just need someone to give us a chance to believe in this.

And that's the thing to me is you kind of stated that disabled word or disability quite often there.

And you know, every person on the face of the earth could be considered disabled if you take the word literally, means not able.

We're all not able to do something because we don't have the gift, the talent, the ability to do it.

It's just not our gift.

We're not going to be professional singers, ball players, whatever the case may be.

But we can all do much more than we sometimes think we can, or then definitely that than what others think we can.

So if we will just, you know, work together, adapt, you know, we can it's just amazing what can be done.

And uh that's uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I just oh man, so awesome.

I love it.

So I can't help but think that when when you talked about explaining the way that the adaptive skiing works, I started to think, wow, that sounds very similar to the way that kayaking works for you.

It truly is.

SPEAKER_05: It truly is.

It's it's the way it all works from the from the rock climbing, the mountaineering, the the kayaking, it's all kind of along the same lines, you know, and and that's the snow skiing is what led me to kayaking.

Uh I was in an event where I was introduced to mountaineering and rock climbing and kayaking at a uh at an event out in Colorado, and uh it literally started the kayaking started in a swimming pool.

And I said, uh, you know, if you get in this kayak and you can do an Eskimo roll or a combat roll, which is where you flip upside down and then you use your paddle and the hip snap to flip back upright.

They said, if you can do uh an Eskimo roll or combat roll the first time in a pool, you know, we'll give you a t-shirt.

So I got out there and you know they started flipping us upside down and uh eventually I got it and I want a t-shirt, but it was uh it was pretty cool and not not that easy to actually learn to begin with, and it's awesome.

And go ahead.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I just started to say that that is something that to me, I feel like you've got to be really comfortable in the water because to me that sounds like you could so easily just panic immediately being being inside of this kayak flipped upside down.

Oh my gosh.

Like that it seems so scary to me.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

And uh, you know, I gotta say this because it cracks me up too.

I've had I've had people ask me several times, since you can't see, how can you tell you're upside down?

SPEAKER_02: I can't breathe.

Yes, I started to say, did you say, well, you know, I I don't know until I take a breath and fill with water, you know?

SPEAKER_05: Oh, just like, wow, you know, another one of those here's your sign moments.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05: No, the but the true, the true thing about that is uh it really is.

I think I do get asked that a lot.

As a matter of fact, I just got asked about um two weeks ago by a by a lady who was blind that started and she said, What's your best advice?

And I said, relax.

I said, absolutely relax and stay calm.

Because I said, that's when you're going to be able to respond and react to the best of your ability.

And you know, I and I tell people, I said, you know, to start out with, I said, sitting in a chair, just hold your breath and count to 10 or count to 15 and realize how long that you can hold your breath.

So I said just the same way when you flip upside down underwater.

So you've got time to, you know, roll back up once you learn how to do it, or hang in there and have someone kind of do what they call a bow rescue or a hand of God, you know, where they bring their kayak in against yours and you use you grab a hold of it and use your hands to flip up, or they just literally reach over and grab you and flip you over.

So uh it's just it's just that that aspect of trying to stay calm.

And and I truly do believe that the time I had in the military kind of helped prepare me for that kind of stuff.

You know, when chaos hits, you know, you you just slow down.

And uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Well, I was in there thinking, I mean, granted, granted the guy was in a submarine, but he spent a whole lot of time underwater, so no wonder he was pretty good at this.

Yeah, yeah.

So so I'm curious, so how did things then progress from from the swimming pool that day?

And uh obviously I'm assuming you got the t-shirt.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I got the t-shirt.

And uh I'm not sure what the t-shirt said, but it probably said dork or something like that.

But can't believe you've done it.

But no, but I since doing that, I was then invited to what they call an out-of-sight clinic where they took uh some of blind veterans up to the Yellowstone River up in Montana.

And we were introduced to our first whitewater over the course of a week.

You know, they started us out on a little flat water and in a pond trying to learn basic techniques.

And then we went out and got on just moving water on the river and then rippling water and ended up running some of our first class two, class three uh rapids by the end of the week.

And yeah, and that was uh that's just exciting.

And and it was then at the airport, leaving that clinic, that the executive director of Team River Runner, the organization that that took us, Joe Mornini is his name.

He uh we sit there and he said, Lonnie, how would you like to be the first blind veteran to kay the entire length of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in your own kayak?

And you know, I thought, wow, what a vision.

And uh in me, it just instilled a dream.

And I don't think either one of us thought it'd be as quickly as it was, but uh that's kind of how it started.

SPEAKER_02: Well, how how quick are we talking from that point?

Did that happen?

SPEAKER_05: Well, literally the next year, and I had uh I had 14 days of whitewater experience under my belt when I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

Now he didn't tell me, he did tell me that I had to learn to do, I had to do at least a thousand of those Eskimo rolls, combat rolls, before I could get the chance to go.

And uh he didn't know that I had all the equipment here at the house, uh a kayak and uh skirt and every everything I needed.

People had donated to me or let me borrow it.

He had no clue.

And when he asked me, when he called me up after that clinic, he called me up and asked me if I'd like to go on a raft.

And I said, No, I said, I don't want to do a raft.

I said, a raft will scare me.

I want to do it my own kayak.

So, but anyway, yeah, so he uh he said, Well, you got to do a thousand rolls before I'll let you do it in a kayak.

So I took all my gear, walked across my pasture, down to my pond here at the house, and I started trying to do these rolls.

I had someone that had been helped trying to help me learn.

And the next day after that phone call, I did 100 rolls in my pond.

And I told him that, and he's just like, Well, you got to get more experience because at this time I only had four days of whitewater experience.

So I uh I quit counting at over 1,500 rolls in the pond.

And like I said, I went and I got 10 more days of whitewater experience.

And it happened to be when I was doing that, uh, I was at the Charlotte Whitewater Center in uh in Charlotte, North Carolina.

And I ran into a guy that Joe had taught how to kayak.

And this gentleman, Pablo McCambus is his name.

He ended up being a Chilean Olympic paddler.

And he was watching me, and he I told him uh we got into a conversation.

I told him I was working up to see if I could get the skills to do the Grand Canyon, and he said, I think you can do it.

And in our conversation, you know, I told him about Joe, and he said, I know Joe.

Joe taught me, and you can do this.

So I said, Pablo, you gotta call Joe and tell him I can do it.

You gotta tell him I need a chance.

And he did, and so they give me a shot.

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

So now I'm curious all that time that which I mean, all that time, I'm acting like it was a ton, it really wasn't that, but you that you were preparing to go to the Grand Canyon and you started doing the white water.

Were you did you always work with the same guide?

SPEAKER_05: No.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

SPEAKER_05: As a matter of fact, the guides that led me down the Grand Canyon, I met them when I flew to Flagstaff to paddle the Grand Canyon.

Oh, wow.

Which was not a recommended thing to do by no means.

But uh, the people that I had paddled, Joe was gonna try to, you know, Joe Mornini was gonna try to guide me, but in working up to do it, he ended up finding out that he had uh had to have open heart surgery.

So, you know, and uh he told me, he said uh that was the best thing that happened to me because he wouldn't let me run a lot of the rapids.

Yeah, it was uh it was kind of weird, you know.

We just met there at the canyon and uh we just started working on our skills as we went down.

And thank that's one good thing about the Grand Canyon.

It kind of starts with somewhat smaller rapids, if you will, and and builds up as you go along, you know, day five, day six.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: So Okay.

So I have to ask, what in the world were your three daughters thinking when you told them you were going to do this?

SPEAKER_05: Well, from oldest to youngest.

My oldest daughter was like, oh, what she is today.

She's like, okay, dad, but be really, really, really careful.

Are you sure?

You know, be really careful, but make sure you get a good life insurance policy.

My middle daughter was like, Yeah, yeah, go do it, dad.

But yeah, please, please, please be careful.

And my youngest daughter was like, go for it, dad.

SPEAKER_02: You know, so I love it.

Oh my goodness, that's so funny.

That is so funny.

So now, how long did this trip take down the Grand Canyon?

SPEAKER_05: It was 16 days, 226 miles.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Now, how many people like were were in your group traveling down the river?

SPEAKER_05: Oh, I'm gonna say in my in kayaks, I think there were six of us in kayaks, and I had three around me at all times, one in front of me, and uh two, one directly behind me, and one uh we called the old crap guy, you know, that uh stuck way back in case I really blew off to the side and I lost the other two that they could get to me.

And uh, and then the other two guys were just kind of paddling around.

And we had a paddle raft and uh some support rafts.

And I think there was like somewhere around 13 or 14 disabled veterans and uh four or five, about five or six support rafts and something like that.

And uh yeah, and I know I was told before I went, I said, you probably won't run all the rapids, and um, you'll have to either walk around or portage, ride a raft through some of them, but that's okay, you know, and uh that's the kind of mindset I had going in.

And and then uh I love this story though, what we got to a rapid called Crystal, one of the one of the biggies and uh probably the most dangerous ones on the on the river of the ones that are there.

And we ended up running it.

And after we ran it, my my primary guide Alex told me, he said, hey, he said, Joe told me under no circumstances was I supposed to guide you through this rapid.

And I said, Why did you?

And he said, because we could.

And uh, you know, I was like, Wow, you know, and uh I was like, so you know, when uh yeah, we just we just kept building and had no concept that we'd we would run them all, but we ran every rapid.

I I swam twice when my skirt imploded on both occasions, and it was just phenomenal, just phenomenal feeling, you know.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I now at any point on that trip on on any of the rapids, I mean, was there any moment when when something maybe didn't go as planned that that you were scared, like you got trapped or or or anything?

Or is your just your sense of crazy adventure just too much for you to get?

Scared.

SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, no, my anxiety level was definitely, definitely up, you know, even on some of the first rapids, you know, it's like, man, this is the biggest, pushiest water I was ever on, you know, and and you could you couldn't see those rapids, but you could definitely, definitely hear the water roar and fill it.

And uh, and uh, you know, it's uh, you know, but I can remember telling the guys, I'm not sure if I can roll in these rapids.

And the very first rapid we got to Badger, Badger Creek, uh, one of my guides, he said, he said, just flip upside down.

So you get halfway through it, flip upside down.

You know, and I'm like, I don't want to do that.

I'm gonna flip it up, flip it up, you know.

So you want to see if you can do it, do it now, because this is one of the smaller ones.

So uh they intentionally had me flip and they called it out, and I did, and I was able to roll up, and that gave us some some good curry, a little uh bit of kudos.

And then we went to a rapid called House Rock, where I got offline and I went through this hole and I got flipped and rolled and spun around, and but I was able to roll up and paddle on, and we just that kind of set the tone for the trip.

And uh, you know, it just it just worked.

And uh, but then there was a day there in the middle, about day seven, something like that, that uh uh I couldn't do anything right.

I mean, that day we seen a rattlesnake in the camp.

I got bit by fire ants, I didn't sleep well, and I thought, well, this is why I can't paddle.

I could I guess couldn't do anything right, and I couldn't get a roll, so they kept bow rescuing me and I couldn't figure it out.

And finally I realized my thigh brace, which is where my right thigh went up underneath.

I realized it was loose and the bolts come out, and the cockpit was cracked on both sides, and the thighs, and they they they it's like, oh man, so this is why you can't do this.

And so they took a thing, substance called hydrosil, and they put that thigh brace back in and put it on the two cracks in the cockpit, and and uh we got going a little bit again, but uh yeah, and then lava falls.

When I hit lava falls, man, I got jerked out of that kayak so violently that I literally thought it took my my legs off.

And uh I was spinning and flipping under the water, and they told me my kayak was 20 foot, 20, 30 foot near, spinning and flipping as well.

And and uh, but I was mad when I popped up.

I was mad.

SPEAKER_04: Like my skirt imploded, I didn't get a chance to roll.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Yeah.

So so now, like what class of rapid is like lava falls?

SPEAKER_05: Well, lava falls, if you take it from a raft standpoint, it's it's class four and a half, class five.

Kayaking in all honesty, it's probably uh three and a half to four.

At least that's what I say.

Some people, you know, it's just massive and it doesn't run, but you can literally kind of get through the line, you know, if if you can kind of see what you're doing.

You can get through the line pretty, pretty decent, but but there are some people with eyesight that won't run it, you know, because it's big.

It's a massive, big rapid.

And uh, you know, we had on on I've been down it four times now, like I said, then you was talking about Eric earlier.

That was my second trip down.

His first trip down all the way through was my second trip down.

And and I gotta I gotta admit, once I got through second trip on the second trip, I had a lot more fun.

I wasn't as scared.

Third trip, fourth trip.

I was, I was the anxiety level still goes up a little bit, but I was definitely playing a whole lot more than yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like I know I can do this.

Let's let's have fun, baby.

And I was telling them, don't dodge the hole, hit the hole, you know, hit the big rapids and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's so awesome.

And and one thing I wanted to ask you about kayaking that, you know, I've never been kayaking before.

I have been when I was, gosh, a little kid.

I I did go whitewater rafting, which was amazing.

I still I still can remember it, but I have to wonder, I know that when at least like when I went blind, it definitely losing that sense definitely I feel kind of enhances all of your other senses.

And I have to only imagine that, and and whether or not, you know, you sense it more than somebody sighted or not.

I I guess that's a whole nother story for discussion.

But I can only imagine that being in a kayak where you're basically, I mean, you're just sitting on the water, where I mean, do you can you feel the like the power of the river like under the kayak, like that kayak starting to move and wobble and starting to pick up speed and just kind of feel the flow?

Like, are you paying a lot of attention to that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, for sure.

I I definitely do.

And and uh there's times I can feel it really well, and then sometimes I can't tell at all.

And when it's kind of calm, we're just moving, I can't tell if I'm going upstream, downstream, wherever.

And and if I end up swimming in the river, I I can't tell until I go over something or hit something of what you know, where where that upstream downstream's at.

So if I end up swimming, I tell them to come and get me.

Come and get me because I don't know where I'm at or where I'm going, you know.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, you do kind of get to feel it more and more the more you do it.

And yeah, um, I just love it.

But I I gotta address this though.

You talk about your other senses improving, yes, you know, or getting enhanced.

I can honestly say I only have one of my senses that I truly believe has improved or gotten enhanced since I lost my eyesight.

And that is my nonsense.

SPEAKER_02: I I knew.

I started, I'm like, I don't know where he's going with this, but I don't think it's gonna be anything to do with smelling or touching or I'm like, I've already gotten to know Lonnie too well.

SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking, I don't know where he's about to go with this.

SPEAKER_05: My dad tells everybody, he does.

He tells everybody when I he said, Man, when you got shot, he said, when Lonnie got shot, he said the only thing it could have taken was his eyesight.

And they're like, why is that?

And he said, because he doesn't have anything else in between his ears.

SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.

That is so funny.

So funny.

So now, in terms of kayaking, I mean, we hear the Grand Canyon, and that sounds just incredible, amazing, but is that like the biggest, you know, best river in the world, or at least that you've ever kayed, or is there bigger, more powerful rivers out there?

SPEAKER_05: The Grand Canyon is it's an epic river, and I love it, you know, and you can only go so many like once a year, unless you're like a raft guide or something.

But there's numerous rivers out there that are, you know, much bigger, much more powerful, like you know, like the Congo, the Amazon, the Footulafoo, the Yangtze, uh, the Zambezi, and and different flow, you know, the auto, it depends on what the how much rain they've had and how much flow goes down.

You know, I mean, I was paddling the first trip down, it was probably, I think, around 22 to 2,500 or 25,000 CFS, and you know, the Congo at times or Amazon could flow over a million, you know.

So that and then, you know, you can get some of the smaller rivers that just the water just gets rushing down through them.

It's just treacherous.

I mean, it's narrow, it's skinny, there's rocks everywhere, there's it's highly technical.

It's the Grand Canyon, in all honesty, is is a deep, wide river.

So it in kayaking terms, it's truly a safe river in a lot of ways.

I don't think there's been a drowning on it in 10 years.

You know, people die from falling or or, you know, if they drown, they fall in from the bank or something without a life jacket or stuff like that.

But as far as actually paddling, and there's other rivers out there, you know, that people die on every year.

They try, they're class five, they're class six, you know, they're trying to think of the name of the one there.

The Green River, for example, in in uh Virginia, West Virginia, and that I think it's Virginia, you know, it's class five, just really, really treacherous.

And the biggest, most difficult I personally paddled is is the Potomac Gorge section of the Zambezi River in Africa.

And it was definitely had some class five for kayaks on it.

And I got very, very fortunate there in a couple of different instances.

SPEAKER_02: Well, okay, okay, real quick about that one, because you kind of just breezed over that whole thing about kayaking this river in Africa.

I think of rivers in Africa of nothing but like dangerous wildlife, like crocodiles and hippos, and did you encounter stuff like that?

SPEAKER_05: Well, there were the where I was at and in the in the gorge section, the hippos weren't there.

And and you know, if the crocodiles, you know, we we encountered a few small crocodiles, but if they got any size or something, you know, they most in the rapids are not around much.

But what cracked me up is they they told me, said if you see a crocodile, you know, I'm like, yeah, if I see a crocodile, but crocodile comes at you.

You know, as it comes at you, I guess, you know, you paddle straight at it.

And when it duck, it ducks to go under the water and then to come back up underneath you.

They said, once it ducks, you're supposed to turn 90 degrees and paddle away from it.

And I'm like, yeah, the only thing you guys are going to do is just try to out paddle the blind guys.

SPEAKER_00: That's right.

That's right.

That's right.

Gator, gator took the bait.

Let's go.

SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, they didn't tell you they tied a chicken behind you and you're gonna drag it in the water.

Oh gosh.

Oh gosh.

So now I'm curious because if anybody's listening to the podcast, you know that I did have, you know, we talked about Eric Weinmeyer, had Eric Weinmeyer on the podcast before.

And and we had him on, and I talked to him about, you know, his trip kayaking the Grand Canyon.

And I know from from Eric's book that he wrote about the experience that when he set out to do it, his plan was that, you know, he was going to be the first blind person to ever kayak the Grand Canyon until he found out about you.

And so I've I'm just curious about that experience.

Did you know who Eric Weimar was before being approached by him?

I I assume they reached out to you once they they found out that, wait, no, there's another guy who already did it.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and they did.

And and I had met Eric one time snow skiing in Breckenridge.

He was there telling, telling his story to some folks about climbing Everest.

And that was my experience in meeting Eric.

I mean, to for me to personally speak to him, I just said, hi, how you doing?

You know, nice to meet you.

And that was pretty much our conversation.

You know, then, like I said, he kind of told his story about a little bit about skiing and climbing Everest.

And then after I kayaked the canyon, you know, I got a phone call from Eric.

It was a few months down the road, and he's telling me, you know, congratulating me and then telling me about his trip coming up.

And he asked me, he's the one that asked me, he said, Will you join me on my trip down?

He said, You know, one person doing it is an anomaly.

Two people is a statement.

And I said, I'm in.

And uh, you know, our techniques were totally different.

He used a radio headset.

I just literally used human voice command, you know, just yelling over the rapids, and uh, which was cool to to kind of see that and uh just pretty neat.

And you know, kudos off to him.

And you know, I paddled it now with uh we took four other on my last trip down, we took four other folks who lost their eyesight and combat down.

And they paddled uh uh a lot of the rapids and uh one of them went through lava falls, and you know, just I I gotta I gotta admit, it takes uh takes a little bit of something about you to to go out there and do that and not you know not knowing what's coming and and everybody's aspect's different, you know, and what they what their comfort level, what they feel like doing, and what they don't.

And you know, I I just love it.

I truly do love it.

I know Eric stated in his book, it was the most terrifying thing that he's done.

And uh yeah, I love it.

I don't, I just love it.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

Well, I I think that's amazing.

So amazing.

I think Lonnie, you you're somebody who you you totally encompass this mindset that I try to strive for of redefining the meaning of vision.

And, you know, and I think so many of us we get so caught up in or people do of not understanding how how you can continue on with life if you can't see, because being able to see is such a vital part of of our life.

And and I even know, you know, for myself growing up, I mean, that's you know, everything I did revolved around the ability to see.

I didn't realize it at the time.

And and for myself, it's been this journey of uh of kind of re-rediscovering life again and realizing though that there's so much more to this life than than just what the eye can see.

And and I listened to you, Lonnie, and I I think, you know, not only is Lonnie just this like hysterical, crazy adventurous guy, but uh when you talk about making a statement, to me, you make a statement of the fact that losing your ability to see, that like you said, it doesn't make you disabled.

You just can't see.

Yeah.

And I don't know, Lonnie, I just find you, I find your your entire personality, your persona, your the adventures that you've done so encouraging, so uplifting and and motivating.

And I can only hope that anyone listening to our conversation today is coming away feeling the same way.

SPEAKER_05: Well, I I appreciate that and uh and I hope so.

You know, I I tell people all the time I'm there's nothing special about Lonnie Bedwell, about what I did or what I've done.

And I'm just I'm just Lonnie Bedwell, a little old country hick, you know, Poe Dunk got from Poe Dunk, Indiana.

But the one of the differences is I've got a support system that a lot of people don't have, and I'm so blessed.

And then I've also been blessed with people who give me opportunities, give me a chance.

And and that's like I said, that and that's where we are no different.

That's every one of us out there wants someone to believe in us, give us a chance to prove what we can do or to see what we can do.

And that's where I've just been so, so, so fortunate.

And uh I just try to pay it forward.

I truly do.

I can honestly say that I remember studying in camp the last night on the Grand Canyon on my very first trip, telling the entire group, you know, uh, hey guys, it's truly cool to say we were the first to ever do this.

But it's absolutely irrelevant and meaningless if we can't pay it forward.

And uh, you know, so that to me, that's I mean, I I remember my parents asking me, why do I have to go do this anyway?

Why do the Grand Canyon have all the things?

And I told them, you know, I said, I know I'm gonna be surrounded by these other disabled veterans.

I said, they give me their all.

Not just our country, but but me.

You know, they give our country, but me.

They give me their all.

So they deserve my all, my best.

I said, I have to.

There's it has to be done.

And uh, so now, you know, it's it's truly, I consider it my next duty assignment or mission, if you will, to push my boundaries sometimes where I'm a little outside my comfort level, but but then also to create, try my best to create opportunities for others out there, not just blind and visually impaired, but uh for anyone and everyone, and to hopefully let them, like I said, believe in themselves and and realize that they can do so much more.

And if we just help each other, and I'm sure you realize this too.

You know, I get asked all the time, if you know, if you could see tomorrow, would you?

Oh yeah.

In in a heartbeat, I'd I get my eyesight back.

But if I could go back 24 years and change it, not a chance.

I've been blessed with too many opportunities and to go back with what you're talking about vision.

Our true vision is in our heart, our mind, our soul, our spirit.

You know, eyesight is a function of that.

But our true vision is is within us.

And I think Helen Keller said it best the only thing worse than being blind is having eyesight with no vision.

And uh, you know, I I I truly do believe that.

SPEAKER_02: So amazing, amazing.

Lonnie, thank you so much for for your willingness to come on my podcast today, to share your story.

I think you're such an awesome guy.

And I um I truly, truly mean it when I say that I I feel as though my life has been better for the simple fact that I got to meet you today and to have this conversation with you.

And I just I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart how much I appreciate your time taking the time out of your day to be a guest on my podcast.

And uh, you know, I always always say that I I truly hope that that any podcast that I produce that it can hopefully, you know, positively impact somebody in the world who's listening.

And I can only hope and pray that today's conversation, you know, will will definitely do that and more for for so many.

SPEAKER_05: I I do too.

I I do as well.

And it's like I said, it's it's truly my pleasure and my privilege and honor to be asked to be on this and to and to do it, you know.

I mean, uh just like it said, you know, if it wasn't for folks like you doing these things, what I do wouldn't get out there.

And and I'm not saying it uh for my, I should say what we do wouldn't get out there because I couldn't do the things I've done alone.

It's taken the we's, it's taken all of us and to do these things.

And once again, you heard me say earlier, I've just been blessed with it.

Uh so, you know, to help our story and to help kind of put our mission out there to do exactly what you're saying, the same thing.

Try to make a positive impact in someone's life every day and to pay it forward every day.

We couldn't do it if you weren't doing what you're doing.

And so thank you.

It's it's truly been my blessing to meet you, to do this, and uh thank everybody out there who supports it, who listens, and who supports all these endeavors.

It's uh, you know, you guys change the world.

And don't you, you know, and thank you for that.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.

Well, well, Lonnie, thank you.

And uh for you listening today, I of course want to thank you.

This podcast is only made possible because of you, and you know, and I hope that today's episode again, I just I truly hope that it made you laugh, and you know, but more so just made you realize, you know, how much more we're all capable of.

And so, anyways, we'll go ahead and wrap up today's episode.

But again, thank you, and uh, we will uh see you again next week.

And that's the lowdown with Evan Lowell.

I hope today's episode inspired you, motivated you, and excited you to get out and enjoy life, no matter what obstacles may be standing in the way.