Most of our podcasts are full of stories, but not many cover the globe from end to end. Patricia Upton and her husband, the late Loren Upton, have completed expeditions that most of us only dream about. Patricia is still adventuring. Listen closely, the trips have twists and turns in countries most of us have never heard of. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
SHOW NOTES
7:02 – I don’t remember being afraid of spiders until we were in Okinawa
15:42 – I was in Panama for 17 years. I got off the plane down there and said, okay, eternal summer, this is where I need to be.
25:06 – That’s when the spark for me to go full-time with the expedition with Loren
31:14 – Loren was away when he got word that Larry had been shot and killed.
41:45 – He wanted a romantic high adventure in the classical sense of an expedition
52:30 – Nowadays, you can’t get anywhere near to the plaque that says you’re at the furthest road south on the African continent
1:00:33 – that night, near the Nile, was the only night of the entire trip that we were faced with the reality that we got out butt someplace that could be pretty bad
1:17:14 – in 2000, we worked because we were desperately out of money
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:40.320] – Big Rich Klein
My guest this week has always been an adventurous soul, first with her family following her dad’s military career in Okinawa and then to Panama, then joining her future husband, Loren, on his roads end to roads end trip, and now preparing for the 2025 Rebelle Rally. This guest would be Patricia Upton. Good morning, Patricia Upton. So glad to have you on here. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to talk. I don’t know if you remember, but my wife and I came down and visited you and Loren in A-Z about possibly doing some ghost writing for you for the book. And we got to spend quite a few hours with you guys talking, and it’s good to get back in touch with you.
[00:02:30.140] – Patricia Upton
Yes, it’s good to talk with you, Rich.
[00:02:32.320] – Big Rich Klein
Let’s jump right into this crazy story of yours. We’ll touch on Lauren, too, but I want this story to be about Patricia. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:46.720] – Patricia Upton
I was born in New Jersey, Dover, New Jersey, in 1953. It was only by my grandmother, my maternal grandmother, insisting that my mother come home to New Jersey to have the baby because mom was out in Pendleton, California. Dad had been shipped off to… Well, he was in route to Korea, but things changed and they got way late in Japan. He was with the Marine Corps. My grandmother said, No, you’re not going to stay out there and have the baby by yourself. You’re coming back. So she flew out there. I don’t know how pregnant mom was with me, but everything was closed up in Pendleton, and mom went back to New Jersey, and that’s where I ended up being born. So I’ve always said I was before I was born.
[00:03:31.560] – Big Rich Klein
There you go. How long were you in New Jersey? The duration of the war?
[00:03:39.840] – Patricia Upton
No, I think… I’m trying to remember from stories. I believe I was nine months old, so maybe a year, so maybe a year and a half. We lived with my grandparents in New Jersey. Dad came back from Japan, and that was when I met my father. I mean, no recollection, of course. But yeah, I was a year old when I met my dad, and then he was stationed on the East Coast in Let me think. It was Quantico. There we go, Virginia. I got to think of the Marine Corps basis. We lived there for a few years, and then he was shipped back to Japan. Mom was pregnant with my sister, so she went back to New Jersey, and that’s where my sister was born. When dad came back from that tour of duty, we were transferred to North Carolina, Camp Lejeune. Okay. And live there.
[00:04:47.550] – Big Rich Klein
Is that the time that you more recollect?
[00:04:52.620] – Patricia Upton
Yeah, I can remember living in… Well, Tarala Terrace was the… We lived in Tarala Terrace, which is a base housing, and then we moved to another base housing called Cape Heart Housing. We lived there for four years, give or take, maybe three. I have to go by how old everybody was because I don’t remember date, their years. Then dad was transferred to Okinawa, and this was now during the Vietnam War. He worked with Marine Corps or naval intelligence. We were sent to Okinawa. He was the only Marine on the island with his family. All the other Marines were in route to and from either the theater or back to the US. We were the only Marine Corps family on the island. We lived off base, and our house became the refuge for some of these young Marine Corps guys to get away from the base and get more of a home environment. I can remember many a weekend when there’d be 15 or 20 young Marines flaked out in the yard, in the living room, everywhere, just to get into a home setting instead of in barracks. READ MORE
