A man in uniform, Del Albright has worn them all. Join us for an insightful look into Del’s life and career on Episode 86. We’re talking band, military, firefighting, and land use in just a quick minute.
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3:32 – Leave it to Beaver incarnate
7:15 – we’d stop when we got to the Colorado River
16:38 – I needed some padding in the back of this 58 station wagon – to transport my musical instruments …
23:09 – I did everything combat the United States Army had to offer
28:46 – I’ve been in uniform forever
31:52 – I started getting into Jeeps and have been broke ever since
36:12 – they train me to be a coyote
41:06 – I met this astronaut from Apollo 13
45:05 – my master’s degree is prescribed burning for wildlife habitat
49:21 – I’m selective on how I pick on the changes the wackos have made
55:03 – it’s a desert wash, it changes every year
1:08:28 – my mission was to get people enough knowledge and tools to deal with the bureaucracy
1:17:49 – the 4 E’s of Enlightenment
1:24:10 – it’s a full-time job to keep people motivated
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:20.350] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich. We have none other than the infamous or famous Del Albright. Del has worked tirelessly for, especially the Rubicon, but also land use in general as an ambassador for Blue Ribbon Coalition. And he started the Friends of the RubiCon. Or was one of the founders of the Friends of the Rubicon. But we’ll get into all that with Del. Del, Thank you for coming on board and agreeing to have a conversation with us today.
[00:01:56.290] – Del Albright
You bet, Rich, it’s nice to be in touch again.
[00:01:59.740] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, it is.
[00:02:00.970] – Del Albright
I’m happy to be here.
[00:02:03.250] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. So I’m going to start with the question I start with everybody is, where were you born and raised?
[00:02:12.550] – Del Albright
Well, I was born in Oregon, but my dad only stayed there a couple of years because he found a job in LA. So we moved to Southern California when I was just a young kid, almost a baby still. But mostly Southern California is my what I call home. We spent several years in LA. Dad was a Machinist, and in those days, which is a long time ago.
[00:02:45.550] – Big Rich Klein
Was it stone and chisels?
[00:02:48.910] – Del Albright
Yeah, he was making square wheels, so he had no trouble finding work and he was quite talented. So we had a lot of job offers. We lasted six or seven years there in LA, and then we moved to San Diego. So most of my childhood best memories were the San Diego area place called El Cajon, went to school there all my best buddies. And that was my upbringing. And as you know, Southern California is full of great four wheeling and desert places to go exploring. So that’s a lot of what we did.
[00:03:32.170] – Del Albright
My dad pretty much two to three weekends a month would grab me. And later my little brother and sister and take us out to the desert, to the ocean, to the mountains. And we fished a lot. We had boats, and that was my upbringing was being outdoors with my dad and mom, I was really fortunate. My current wife, Stacey, says I’m like, leave it to Beaver. If you remember that TV show, The Perfect Family, a good Life. A good upbringing, didn’t have alcoholic parents, didn’t have a lot of money, but made the best of every nickel and spent our time outdoors.
[00:04:24.880] – Del Albright
And that’s really what set my goal in life was to be that kind of an outdoors person and enjoy that freedom that was driven into me. Maybe not on purpose as much as I think now, but my parents would emphasize how lucky we were that we lived someplace where we could go play in the desert and go fishing in the ocean, not be hampered by some other different country kind of rules. We had freedom, right? And that stuck in me like you can’t imagine. But you do know I live for it every day.
[00:05:13.830] – Del Albright
Right?
[00:05:14.450] – Big Rich Klein
Exactly. So in those early years, being outdoors with your parents, the hunting, the fishing, the exploring, driving around. What were the mode of transportation? What kind of vehicles did you guys run around in?
[00:05:34.750] – Del Albright
When you asked me to do this podcast, I mentioned that old news is good news. And, you know, I’m kind of an old guy, right?
[00:05:42.580] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah.
[00:05:44.050] – Del Albright
My dad and I, he built it. I held the light and tried to find the right tool, but we built a buggy, a brush buggy. Okay. Out of a 52 Studebaker. READ MORE
