I don’t want to say Val Douglas is a catastrophe because wherever she is, there’s a whole lot of fun going on. Listen in on some great stories from this off-road maven; and her connections to some of the biggest brands in off-road. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
7:17 – I would take my 88 t-bird and follow the guys, my dad loved me for that.
20:46 – I was shell-shocked, Grand Junction to Laramie to Atlanta; I was over it.
24:38 – go pack these bearings full of grease, then stick them in this tube, and don’t drop them on the floor!
37:55 – in Colorado, you have to stay on the trail; it’s not like an open OHV area, Colorado is a big stickler for that
45:21 – the start of the yard sale at Potato Salad Hill….{be sure to listen to this one}
1:04.35 – competing was a whole different ballgame
1:10:35 – queen of the Rubicon Rodeo; champion bull rider
1:19:59 – my giant black German Shepherd is a personal protection dog; he won’t bite you until I tell him to
1:31:54 – what is the sweep team?
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.420] – Big Rich Klein
This week’s guest on Conversations with Big Rich is an offroader, a media marketing rep, NORRA Sweep and volunteer gatherer, Colorado land use, rock crawler, and fun to be around gal. I’m talking about Val Douglas. Valerie, good to talk to you.
[00:01:57.080] – Val Douglas
I am excited to be here, Rich. This is an honor. Thank you.
[00:02:01.630] – Big Rich Klein
Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:03.570] – Val Douglas
I am actually born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado, which is actually where I’m at right now. I’m at my mom’s house. Nice. Getting ready to bring her to southern Utah for the winter. She’s a snowbird, so trying to escape the 50 degree weather for 70 degree weather.
[00:02:24.600] – Big Rich Klein
Right. But you guys still down there in Hurricane can get snow once in a while?
[00:02:29.160] – Val Douglas
We do, but it doesn’t stick around. That’s what I like about it. I’ve made the mistake, or not mistake, of living at 8,000 feet for about six years and realized that I don’t like snow that much, especially when I was the only one with a plow. So changed that to a course of action and ended up going further south.
[00:02:52.080] – Big Rich Klein
Perfect. Let’s talk about those early days in Grand Junction. That’s a great area for outdoor sports.
[00:03:02.350] – Val Douglas
Yes, it is.
[00:03:04.480] – Big Rich Klein
It’s incredible. I mean, the hiking, the wheeling, the horseback riding, hunting, fishing, whatever you want to do can all be done right there.
[00:03:14.350] – Val Douglas
And within a few minutes, it’s amazing. It’s in a valley surrounded by the Colorado National Monument, the Book Cliffs to the north, and then the Grand Mesa to the east. And you’ve got a little bit of everything. So the desert all the way to the mountains and the Grand Mesa is pretty cool because it’s got all kinds of stuff on it, from dirt roads to offroad trails, skiing. That’s where I learned to ski at, was up on the Grand Mesa. But yeah, it’s got a little bit of everything here. It was actually really fun to grow up here in Grand Junction. I was in the era where our parents kicked us out of the house, and we had to stay outside until the sun went down. Most of the time we were out adventuring around the house. We’d end up on the Colorado National Monument and walking and hiking all these trails that weren’t trails back then, but they are now, and creating our own adventures every single day, it seemed like.
[00:04:15.360] – Big Rich Klein
What about the mundane things like school?
[00:04:20.760] – Val Douglas
I never thought school was mundane. In fact, I was one of those few people that looked forward to going to school, but I think I had school a little bit different than most people. My mom was a school teacher. She became a school teacher when my brother and I both started in school. My brother was four years younger than me, so she waited until Chuck was in kindergarten. But it was nice because mom was always home when we get home. She’d have the whole summers off, so we’d go do things with my cousins and stuff like that. But the school around here was a lot of fun, at least I thought it was. I know other people would think otherwise, but we did a lot of stuff in school. Mom always wanted us to stay involved. So middle school and high school, I did basketball, track, and high school, well, and middle school, I was in band. Let’s see. I was in marching band in high school. In fact, I was drum major for three out of the.
[00:05:18.810] – Big Rich Klein
Four years. So that one time at band camp.
[00:05:22.030] – Val Douglas
Is absolutely 1,000 %. And can have so many meanings because I was in drumline. But yeah, school was great around here. I was pretty much a good kid for the most part. I say that with a little bit of, maybe I wasn’t a good kid all the time. I would come up with these amazingly bad ideas for adventures on the weekend, and my friends would all go, That sounds awesome. We should do it. We would get into so much trouble or have so much fun doing it. READ MORE
