Episode 2 - Larry Roberts
Episode 2 is an interview with Alone contestant Larry Roberts. Larry participated in seasons 2 and 5 of Alone.
Larry opens up about his childhood, stresses in his life prior to his first season on the show, and the physical and emotional struggles after the show.
To listen to short clips, visit The Alone Podcast on YouTube by clicking here!
Transcript:
Sam 0:14
Hello, and welcome to episode two of the alone Podcast. Today is another exciting episode, we have our guest Larry Roberts with us. Larry is and alone veteran have two different seasons Season Two and Season Five on Vancouver Island for season two, Larry 164 days. And then in Mongolia for season five, he went 41 days. So obviously Larry has a lot of experience and has learned a lot about himself and a lot about life. And, Larry, I'm very excited to have you on the show today. So thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down and chat for a little while.
Larry Roberts 0:53
You bet. Thank you for having me.
Sam 0:56
Yeah, for sure. I guess my first question for you. I started off with a with an easy question for Justin. So my first question for you, just to get things started on a light note is are there any mice alive within about a mile of your house? Have you gotten them all taken care of?
Larry Roberts 1:14
No. I live in the country. And I have about 46 acres where I live I live in central Minnesota which is about an hour north of Minneapolis. But anyway, I live out in the country and their cycles with the mice starting to get fall in my area still really nice out well as bald and everybody's area, but it's starting to get it's still really nice in my area. But once it starts to get cold, the mice really try to find ways into a warmer environment. So once fall hits, then I'm going to have to be on my game and start setting stuff up. Believe me, I am very aware of how many mice are within, like you said about a square mile radius.
Sam 1:59
Yeah, you know, we so I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah. So where we're starting to cool down quite a bit as well. And we were asleep the other night or trying to sleep the other night and I heard a little mouse scurrying through the ceiling and and I think we've gotten two in the house so far. So tis tis the season, right?
Larry Roberts 2:18
There's the season and there's always at least two but usually more.
Sam 2:24
Yeah, that's that's what we're afraid of. So well. So you said you're you're from Minnesota, or is that where you're from from or is that just where you landed? Can you kind of kind of go back here?
Larry Roberts 2:36
Yeah. That's just where I landed. I was born in Oregon, raised mostly on the West Coast. Oregon, California, Arizona. I've been I live for a summer in Salt Lake City. So I've been all over the West Coast. And then I met my wife in Phoenix in high school. I went in high school I went to four different high schools in three different states. I think I was in Oregon, my freshman year, Idaho for sophomore, and then Arizona for both junior and senior years, but different cities. But anyway, I met my wife about halfway through my senior year at the callback High School in Phoenix. And we ran away together and went to California. She had already joined the Navy, she was in the delayed entry program. So she went off to boot camp, and she's from Minnesota. And anyway after years of being together, you know, starting to raise our kids and stuff. She had a chance to move back to Minnesota we were in California, northern and southern California. And towards the end we were in Southern California in Oceanside, which is about an hour north of San Diego. And I did not enjoy California. It just was not a fit for me. The particular area I was in there certainly beautiful parts California but the southern part where I was at I just did not enjoy the weather. A lot of people like sunny and 70 all the time, but I like changes. But anyway, she had a chance to move back to Minnesota which is where she is from. And once the kid started getting into kindergarten and stuff. We both made the decision that probably best and that's I followed current events pretty quick closely and I you know the the stuff in Afghanistan was going on so we kind of made the decision that it would be best for our family if she got out of the military. And we liked it here. We stayed in this in a suburb of Minneapolis until I started my apprenticeship for an electrician as well all the way through my apprenticeship as an electrician but then once I became a journeyman electrician, then we decided to move out and and actually that had been a dream of ours. Always since we were You know, we met when we were 17. And always to have a hobby farm was always our dream. So we looked for approximately a year before we found the place that we're at, and we've lived here for about 20 years and we had a hobby farm for a while until the kids grew up until about 10 years ago or not even No, not 10 years, maybe five years ago, we kind of stopped hobby farming but then during the hobby farming years, we never had to buy meat for from the grocery store ever. We raised everything here, but I got to ramble and what was your
Sam 5:37
know that that's, that's perfect. You You just kind of took one through five off the list. See, Minnesota is where you're at? Sounds like you've been been all over at least the western United States. I have to ask I spent some time in Arizona. So you were in Phoenix. And where else in Arizona? Did
Larry Roberts 5:56
you live? Mesa? Okay, cool.
Sam 5:59
So I lived further south, I was in Tucson and and south from there. So it's a beautiful state, but it's very hot. And if you like change, you don't get a whole awful lot of that.
Larry Roberts 6:14
Yeah, but I did enjoy Arizona for me personally better than I liked. Arizona. I liked Arizona better than I liked California. And actually the experiences I had I so it also so I was really young. So it also depended on the people that were there. And I remember I had moved from Oregon, which was a very, I mean, I love I love Oregon. It's a beautiful, beautiful state, but in small towns, and it's small towns everywhere. But it was, you know, we were kind of nomads, my parents, you know, I was never stationary. So I never really had roots. So kids kind of look at you funny, Oregon was okay. Idaho was not very good at all. And then I moved to Arizona. And I remember the very first thing, I drove up, my parents took me to the school and the very, that was the very first time I'd ever seen a carrot top haircut. And but anyway, I'm going to a bigger school and the kids were really nice and really just not so clicky as some of the small towns and some of the other places I had gone. And Mesa was good. Phoenix was good. And but it's hot. But then also, one of the few courses that I kind of think was really cool that they made us take in Arizona was and before he could graduate was an Arizona history class and it was normally a freshman class, but I had it when I was a junior. And actually Arizona has a lot of different bio regions that are very interesting. I mean, you can go clear to Flagstaff or it's still a drive piney forest but it's still you can have a coniferous forest up there. Or you can go to you know, the very southern part you know, where it's just absolute desert and then there's different desert parts where you know, as you get closer to Mexico and stuff, it's not just all sand there's a lot of environment there. And with just I mean then if you go in the right time of year all those cactuses and stuff are blooming and I don't know I really liked your resort. It is hotter than hell. But I'll give you that but it's a it's a beautiful place.
Sam 8:25
Yeah, that's one of those one of the secrets of Arizona is is really what that place looks like during the monsoon and and it's an incredibly beautiful state. If you're listening don't go there. I don't want to anchor my Arizona friends by getting him to bid getting him to to crowded but no, it's it's a fantastic place and and definitely has a place in my heart for sure. You mentioned your parents are kind of nomads was that due to career or, you know, what can I ask what took all the moves and the bounce around?
Larry Roberts 8:56
My dad was a felon and was not a very big, he wasn't able to hold a job for very long. So we move to a lot of different places. My dad actually, when I was a kid used to gamble in Las Vegas for a living before they started installing security cameras and stuff. He used to mark cards, and he would gamble to make a living. And then as the cameras started getting install, he had to find a different way of making a living and being a felon. He it was hard for him to find a job. So after the money dried up in Vegas, we had to move around to different places. Just chasing work. Jason work and doing whatever he did. I haven't. My I haven't talked to my dad for quite some time. So my early childhood wasn't the greatest.
Sam 9:47
As if I can ask you a question that is a child Did you understand or know what was happening or were you kind of oblivious to the
Larry Roberts 9:57
situation? They told me everything That was part of the problem. I didn't need to know all what he was doing.
Sam 10:07
Well, that mean that sounds like it sounds like there's a book or a whole conversation in there somewhere. But well, we'll leave that one alone unless you've got anything else you want to share? No, I'm good. Okay. So you mentioned as well, you were a hobby farmer for a while, and something that you and your wife wanted to do sounds like from from the beginning, and then you just kind of close that shop down, what were you, what were you guys focusing on in your farming efforts and what led you to stop,
Larry Roberts 10:39
we were mainly focusing on raising animals because and not burning animals on the farm. Once you start breeding animals, it starts getting quite complicated. But I mean, you could buy a young calf steer, raise it for, you know, a year or so. And at, it's going to provide a lot of meat for you. And it's a lot cheaper than buying it in the store. And you know, what's in it, there's no hormones, or Well, unless you put your hormones, but we never did anything like that. But anyway. I mean, it was just a peaceful, kind of, you know, hobby farming experience thing that we had always wanted to enjoy. And our particular areas not for gardening. In Oregon, we had a huge garden. And so I know how to garden quite well, but this particular area is part of the St. Croix Valley. So there's rocks and you know, it's just brutal, but we can raise animals quite well. And then I wanted to have activities for my kids, of course, and they were very into sports, but then also, so I have a son and a daughter, and my son was more into sports, my daughter was into sports a little bit. But then also, they both did for each. And, you know, they showed pigs and they showed chickens at four h and stuff like that was just a good way of showing them where the meat is from. And, you know, you know, we would take them to the cities and stuff like that when they're with their sporting events, or whatever, my daughter's gone to the state fair with their dog and my son went to the state fair with a electrical project that he did. So we experienced some of that, but it's just good to expose them to the country life and things like that, and just have real good food. And so that was our reasoning a little bit with that. And then you know, it's just enjoyable. But then, as I got older, the kids started growing up and started leaving the house and they're not so interested in doing chores anymore. I'm talking after they graduated high school, you know, my daughter went to college, my son went off to the Air Force. So that left my farmhands left to make our story short. So that's why we kind of gave it up, we still do a little bit of gardening, we have dogs and stuff like that. But then we kind of changed our goals in life to now that the kids are gone, we do a lot more traveling. And it's a lot harder to have animals. When you travel. It's just not, it's not fair. You're you know, everybody that you have to ask to take care of them. Because there's a lot of work involved.
Sam 13:22
Yeah, for sure. You, you mentioned it was part of it was having that connection for your kids. And I think that is so important. So important in a time when you can go to the store, you can go to wherever and get whatever you want. And you don't realize what it is or where it came from. I had the opportunity to shoot a deer a few years ago, for example, and my daughter was, I think, three at the time the oldest was three when that happened. And so she came out into the garage and got to watch me processing this deer and break it down into food. And you know, she for the longest time and still to this day loves to ask what she's eating and learn about where it came from just because she had that one moment of seeing you know, a full animal get broken down and then you know that night be eating some of the for dinner. And even at the age of three and now six, it seems like it's still had an impact on her.
Larry Roberts 14:19
Absolutely. My, my daughter had a little bit of an epiphany of Epiphany type moment when she was off to college. So my daughter went to college for animal sciences. And she had wanted to manage like a farm of some sort. That's not what she does. Now. She changed kind of what's going on. But anyway, I think she was like in her second year. And she called me and kind of out of the blue or whatever. And she started telling me about this class that she was in and a video that she had to watch. And it was about processing farm animals. And she's and my daughter has helped me, just like you said, got deer skin deer process, do your she's helped me, you know, fish, she's done all sorts of stuff we went for my 50th birthday, we went fast Aponte. And you know, she can shoot a gun, just find anything. But she watched that video. And she called me she's like data. I've never been nauseous, ever, when anybody's ever processed an animal, and I had to walk out of that video. And she said, Dad, they don't, they don't treat those animals like you do. They don't. They're not, you know, respectful. But then also just, you know, take the time. And then also also, you know, these big farms, they don't necessarily, ethically dispatch the animal, if that makes sense. And a lot of people who give hunting a bad rap, at no idea how their animals are treated, that hamburger that you're buying in the store, that animals lived in a cage, whether it's a cow, or a chicken, or whatever, it's lived in a cage, its whole life. It's never, you know, it's just bad. So anyway, that was kind of, just like you're saying about how your daughter's always remembered that deer processing for whole life, my daughter remembers the fact of the same thing, just years of going out respecting the animal and processing the animal and knowing where it comes from. And knowing where your food comes from, and stuff like that, and treating it with respect, as opposed to just, you know, buy, buy at the grocery store.
Sam 16:34
Yeah, and you know, even when it comes to beef, for example, this is kind of a funny, funny path to be going down. But we've had the opportunity every year to get a little bit of meat from one or two different ranches where we know the rancher and you know, spend time on their land and everything. And even though the work isn't mine, and I'm not the one, you know, getting up at three or four in the morning, and staying out till eight or nine at night, and I'm not calving, and I'm not, you know, going to rounding up on the range. It's still just different when you know, the person who does that. And there's a face and an understanding of what they go through to provide that for us. And I think it's unfortunate that it's so easy for us to lose sight of everything that goes into our lives, that makes it just a little bit too comfortable.
Larry Roberts 17:24
For sure that I think it's when you get your meat from a local farmer, you're, you know, just like you said, you're not you're not the one actually raising that. But you know, he did it. And you know, that those animals, you know, have a good life for, you know what I mean?
Sam 17:43
Now, and it's, it's, that's important to me, at least it sounds like it's important, right? You so I guess I'll ask you this, have you been cured of the of the farming bug? Or is that going to come back? Maybe someday or is travels just too comfortable?
Larry Roberts 18:00
Um, we have kind of bounced around a little bit the ideas of having just something that something easy. Pigs are easy. Chickens are easy. There's a few things that are easy. But the travel bug is still pretty prevalent. So I mean, it may be in the future. But for right now, I don't see it. We're, we're, I mean, I'm getting a little bit older now. I'm getting tired. I've I've worked really hard in my life, and I enjoy my downtime.
Sam 18:32
For sure. Well, you mentioned travel and and something I wanted to talk about, it seems like you and your family are are gone quite a bit going all over the place. What about travel? Is it that you enjoy? And where do you guys like to go?
Larry Roberts 18:48
I like to travel because I like to just plain old see new places. And then also experience different cultures. So overseas travel for me is you know, it's a pain getting there and everything. But I mean, just to see other cultures and to just broaden your horizons. And just to to, you know, meet new people outside of your comfort zone is really exciting to me. I have older friends who kind of brag about the fact that they've never left the county or a couple of counties over whatever. We live pretty close to Canada. They've never been to Canada. I don't know for me. And I'll have to credit my wife for this because when I was younger, I was really not interested in overseas travel. I was like we live in the United States. I've barely seen it. You know, I've seen a lot of the West but I mean, I've never been to the Grand Canyon even though I lived in Arizona. So I wanted to see a lot of the United States, but my wife has always been absolutely fascinated with England. And we had an opportunity when we were writing Young with our young kids to travel to England for for quite a while actually England and Scotland for at least about three weeks. And that really opened my eyes to overseas travel, the, the, the amount of history. And the time that you know, the history that is overseas is just amazing. And I also love to travel the United States, I recently had a trip, I think it was just last week, or maybe we can half ago where we have some very dear friends who live in Virginia. And we're driving through and I'm there driving and and we're writing in the car, and I'm just looking at the street signs for or no street signs, but highway signs or whatever for like your town and Richmond and things like that. I'm like, wow, you know, I didn't really, you know, I mean, obviously, I've heard of Richmond and I just didn't put two and two together that all all sudden, I'm right there. And just, we saw a replicates replica of the I believe it's the Santa Maria, which I believe was the name of the ship that Christopher Columbus came over on, we took a tour of that and just, you know, the the craftsmanship of the ship, I mean, you're gonna see a craftsmanship of a ship in Minnesota, maybe if you go to the Great Lakes or something like that. But I mean, just just being able to experience, all that stuff is, is really appealing to us, we definitely love the country, and we definitely love the outdoors. But you can, I mean, you can also enjoy the cities, but then also the different bio regions of different areas. You know, I don't know, it's just everything, I just love it just getting out and finding new areas. I just, it's like, like, when I was a kid, we would go for drives, whatever, in Oregon, or where wherever. And I even remember, as a kid, we pass a dirt road and be like, Man, I wonder what's down that dirt road? You know, just always wondering what's down that road? Or what's down that road? And my wife is the same way?
Sam 22:10
Yeah, it's a that's kind of an illness. You know, I, I look at it as an illness. Right? And I'm sure well, my wife does as well. Yeah. You know, we'll be we'll be doing something and you know, whether it's driving through the mountains or whatever, even on a hike, you know, there's just, there's always something amazing around that next corner, there's always something, you know, untouched down that road or something that you just have to go check out.
Larry Roberts 22:40
I think that makes you a better person. I think it makes you a more well rounded person. And it makes it makes you more tolerable of others. Because if you just stick in your own little circle, then you're going to be a certain way. But if you trap and meet other people, it broadens your horizons and enhances your understanding of other viewpoints. In my opinion.
Sam 23:05
Yeah, no. And I think that's so important, right? I think we not to not to get too political or anything, but at least in today's day, it's so easy to be in your own echo chamber, right to, to hear your own thoughts and to hear your own beliefs. And, and even if you're not going to change, you're not looking to change, it is so important to just listen to other people and recognize that we're, we're all made of the same fiber. Right? It's a very powerful,
Larry Roberts 23:35
we're all made of the same fiber. And yet, there are other cultural differences that make certain priorities. More in the forefront than others. I mean, it doesn't have to get political, it can be just the way you live, like a lot of the Europeans. They don't have huge grocery stores. I mean, in the big cities, they do have some source and stuff like that, you know, decent sized ones, but they are more organic. They usually shop you know, at least if not once a day, every couple of days, and bring home fresh vegetables and fresh stuff. I'll never forget when I tapped from Vancouver Island. Being in in Canada there, the amount of fantastic produce that we were able to get. Even on Vancouver Island, like, like, fine ripened avocados. And I mean, you know, we can get avocados here I have to go to a Walmart it's 10 miles away or whatever, unless I want to travel 3040 miles and I can go to a probably an organic store but even you know, which would be quite expensive, but it just seemed like their produce was better than ours. You know, even just in Canada and Vancouver Island isn't that easy of a place to get to you know, just It's just different.
Sam 24:58
Yeah, that that's a That sounds good. That's interesting, I never would have expected that actually, if you were to tell me that the Vancouver Island is where you got some of your freshest food I would have, would have been surprised by that. So it's, it is interesting to understand the differences of different cultures. And I've got friends from Europe, and they've since gone back, and their biggest problem was the lack of sense of community, right? We we lived in a condo development, condominium development, and there was 150, probably condos in, in the development. And we were talking one night, and their biggest challenge was is they have all these people living around them, but they never get to see or talk to them. We're back home, you know, every night, the shops and everything would shut down at a certain time, all the stores would close. And everybody would just congregate in the streets and in the square and, and with their neighbors in their neighborhood and have a real strong sense of community, you know, at the expense of business, if you will. And it got to the point where they just couldn't do it anymore. And they had to get back to that feeling of belonging and that feeling of, of community. For sure. So we'll, we'll switch gears here a little bit and get into a little bit, I guess, of Alone. You know, one of the things you and I talked about is that you're one of the I don't want to say one of the few but but definitely not one of the majority, when it came to Alone of being more of a traditional person, right, that had a nine to five, or I think in your case, it's more of like four to four to whatever the works done. But you know, a job and a family and children, you've got your your property there. So what was that like? Not really for you, but for your family to have you gone for, you know, a total of over 100 days, but over a month. And one case over two months? What was that experience like for them?
Larry Roberts 27:01
Yeah, it was pretty tough for my wife. Yeah, actually. Actually, Vancouver Island, I was probably gone for closer to three months, because you have the orientation beforehand. And then the exit afterwards which orientation in season two wasn't super long. It was only maybe a week. But then they kept me for about a week afterwards. And I lasted 64 days. So that's two months right there. So it's got to be at least two and a half months. And Mongolia, they kept us there. So we went a bit earlier, we had more of a two week at least orientation. And then I had at least eight to 10 days after I tapped out. And so and now it's 40 some odd days. So that was about a month and a half. So it was quite difficult for my wife, I actually have a YouTube channel, just really tiny YouTube channel. But anyway, I did an interview with my wife from folks questions and stuff. But she we had no contact. She was living, you know, the kids were gone. My daughter was in college and my son was my son was back home, I think from the Air Force, if I remember correctly for Vancouver Island. But I mean, she had basically what they told her is no news is good news. So your husband isn't hurt. He hasn't whatever unless we contact you. But I was I was in a kind of a bad place. Mentally, when I left for Vancouver Island. My job was very stressful. And I really had kind of lost. So my kids left I was empty nester, and I'd kind of lost my sight or my purpose in life. And alone for me was going to be a chance to just maybe reflect on life, whatever I didn't, you know, whatever. And also provide better for my family. But like I said, I was in a dark place. And my wife still gives me crap about this. But I hugged her when I was leaving. And I said, you know, this is goodbye. I don't know if I'm coming back. And it sounds kind of dramatic. But that's the place I was at. And I only had season one to go off of. And they kind of made it sound like you know, the bears were pretty bad and, you know, whatever. And I just was not going to take any growth from a bear. And I figured I'd probably get eaten by a bear or starve to death. And then it turns out there was no bears on my site and I didn't my guts. I wasn't quite mentally as strong as I thought I was I wasn't able to completely starve to death. But telling my wife goodbye. She brings it up. Yeah, she doesn't bring it up quite as much as she used to But she's like you said about God. You were anyway. So it was tough on, it was really tough. And I want to go ahead, sorry. No, go ahead.
Sam 30:13
I would say i I can only imagine and you know, with the, with a departure like that, I'm surprised that you had the opportunity to go for season five.
Larry Roberts 30:24
Well, I, I made it up to her by taking her on a Viking river cruise. And I don't know if you are familiar with the Viking river cruise, but they're pretty extravagant. And she sort of Forgive me, forgive me for that. And of course, when I say I take her is both of our money. So it's not like I took her as the she's like you need, you know, not really you need to, but could you please do this for me? And I'm like, Heck, yeah, I can, you know, let's go, let's go be pampered and stuff. And but then, yeah, when I was able, so I was still in a bad place. After season two, because I came in second. And I was really hard on myself. Now, I realized that I did a pretty good job. And I did okay, and stuff. But at the time, I was quite hard on myself that I didn't win. And so still, and then plus, when you're, well, this is just me, this is just my opinion. But when you're out there for that long, alone and starving, it changes your psyche, it changes you mentally, and it changes you physically. And it took me a while to come back to society. And to come back to this life, which I have, which is really good with my wife and my kids. But after I tapped in Vancouver Island, I was ready to live under a bridge. I was ready to just disconnect from society. I thought, you know, how can I get out of this job? How can I get out of whatever. And just the society, the demands of society, whatever, just, and it doesn't really sound rational, probably, to most people who say, you know, well, you have to go to work, and you have to make a living thing. And that's just part of life. But when you have that type of an experience, to where you are stripped down to your basic level of am I going to eat today, am I going to have shelter today. And that's it. It strips you down a lot. And so it's hard to come back from that. And then in Mongolia, after. So I was really psyched. I thought I'd push myself harder, all the way up till launch day. And then that morning. It was different than Vancouver Island, they launched us one at a time they didn't have the funds. And plus we were way out in the middle of nowhere. So they only had one helicopter. And so they could only launch us one at a time. And some of the folks I didn't know real well, but some of them I did know. And I knew they had pushed themselves and I knew they were also dealing with mental trauma from their seasons. And to see them get picked up and launched and then crying and giving us all pugs. And so then I was last launch actually, I believe Sam was second to last and I was last launch. And I was just an absolute mess. As they were trying to interview me on the helicopter, I was crying. I knew what I was in for I remembered the pain. I mean, there's always keep I keep dwelling on the pain that obviously there was an immense amount of beautiful moments. But the pain, you know, is pretty real. And so I remember just crying like crazy. And as soon as I launched, I mean I I did what I was supposed to do, you know, built a shelter and grip grabbed all my camera gear and all that stuff. But I knew at that point, there was no way I was going to be able to last as long as they did on Vancouver Island. So I made a pact with myself that I would last at least 30 days because I figured if you can survive for 30 days out in the woods, I mean, I don't care who you are. You're doing pretty good. And so I knew I could last for 30 days. And I figured that if I just kept catching food, that food was my whole big deal. I mean, if I kept catching food, there's no way I was going to tap. But once the cold weather came in, and the fish turned off, I just decided that I'd last as long as I could until the food ran out. And then I was going to tap in Mongolia, but
my wife or well, so Mongolia was more of a healing experience for me. I realized that I had done good on Vancouver Island, I realized I didn't need to push myself as hard as I need as I did on Vancouver Island to for whatever ego reasons or whatever personal reasons that I you know, whatever had and I came back I think a better person for my wife, and I think that she realized I had healed in Mongolia. And then since then, I think I've done a lot better. And but yeah, it was extremely difficult on my wife. And there are very few people probably in this world, that would put up as much with as much crap, as my wife does. And actually, if you look at some of the folks that have come back from alone, they have ended the relationships, people that have been gone for a while, and for various reasons, but some of it has to do the psyche change that happens when you're out there by yourself.
Sam 35:41
It's interesting that you, you mentioned that about the relationships the we had when I was trying to learn more about you before we sat down to talk. You know, Google will kind of suggest a search keywords. Right. So you type Larry Roberts alone. And then the next word is divorce. Right? And I was like, I don't think that's right. But really, yeah, yeah. So it was it was one of like, the top handful, I'll see if I can get it to pull up again. But it was one of the top handful of suggestions when I you know, Larry Roberts alone, and then divorce. Right. And, you know, Justin, when I when I spoke to Justin a week or two ago, not relationally. But, you know, for him, it was kind of the same thing, you know, he when he came back from alone, and, and maybe by extension from other places he'd been in his life. You know, he said to him, he's like, the, the trauma isn't for him. It wasn't, you know, these scary, or these dangerous, or these, you know, difficult places that the trauma was, was coming back. Right. Right, is where that struggle was. And so that's interesting, that, you know, that's the same kind of experience for you. And I think that makes sense. But maybe it's maybe it's unexpected, you know, it's logical, but it's also unexpected.
Larry Roberts 37:08
Yeah, it's a it's a real deal. For sure.
Sam 37:15
So were you were you kind of, you know, you mentioned that season five was healing for you. And, and I'm glad you mentioned that, because I was going to ask that question was season five, were you healing before season five, or when you were in Mongolia is that when you started to be able to accept the sacrifice that you put in on Vancouver and, and those things.
Larry Roberts 37:40
It wasn't until I was in Mongolia wasn't until I was in Mongolia, and talked to some of the other participants, and they shared their stories, and I shared my story. And once I launched, because I was excited, I, I figured, I mean, I I realized who I was up against. And I realized that I probably, you know, wasn't going to win. But I figured I could do a better showing than even I did the first time I went out. But as soon as I launched, I mean that that whole launch day, from about mid day to when I launched was just this traumatic experience, seeing all my friends, going reliving their experiences. And like I said, it's not all bad by any stretch. But I mean, you remember those painful things. I mean, if you, if you touch a stove, when it's super hot, you don't remember every time that it made you a great cheeseburger, or steak or whatever, you remember the fact that thought that hurt, right? So you have a respect for it. So we had a respect for this particular experience. And we were all some some of the folks were eat. So I'd at least had a few years to kind of process what I had gone through. Some of the folks from season three and four did not have very long at all. And so their experiences were even more fresh than mine. And so, but anyway, after I launched, like I said, I realized I wasn't going to be able to last as long as I did. And so once I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do probably what I done before and that I wasn't going to win. And you know, I mean you have hours and hours to think about things. And so I kind of came to terms that it was okay if I just enjoyed this experience, and that's kind of what I said about the date 30. Look, man, if you last 30 days out in the woods, with little to no food than, you know, kudos to you. And that's kind of what I figured to me for myself. And I figured I'd enjoy the experience more. Look at this scenery more. And plus Mongolia was a lot more open. Kind of a more friendly environment. So I could take walks. And I can active fish. I it was a river. So I understand rivers more than I do oceans. So and I mean, the scenery was very similar to parts of out west. And I mean, I mean, it sounds stupid, but I mean, I would talk to the mountains, they would just, I really enjoyed my experience without pushing myself. I did push myself and I mean, don't get me wrong, I was hungry. And even one time I remember, it rained, the storms would come up like crazy, crazy fast. But anyway, one time it rained. And I did not want to get wet. I did not bring the proper, I thought it was going to snow. So I didn't really bring proper rain gear. So I stayed inside my shelter for three days. Three days, I didn't eat anything. Three days, all I left my shelter for was go to go to the bathroom. And I remember laying in bed with hunger pains, and thinking to myself, you remember this, you goofy sucker. This is painful. You don't want to do this. You want to go back to your family. It's okay. You did this before. Just remember. So for me, it's I know, it sounds weird and says this sadistic maybe. But pain helps me remember certain things. I mean, you remember things through pain. And even though it you know, it wasn't? I mean, I'm not sadomasochists or anything like that. But I forced myself to stay in that shelter. I wasn't going to get wet. And just remember the good things in life. And remember, just I don't know, it was just a big feeling experience. It's hard to explain.
Sam 41:49
Yeah, I you know, that's, that's what I was just thinking is like, you know, this is, it's honestly a privilege for you to share this because, you know, as well as I know, but you being the person sharing it, you know that, you know, there's only there's been what? Call it 80 contestants 70 contestants on the show of alone. And of those, you know, really, there's an even smaller number that that make it to I can't judge the difficulty, right, but there's quite a few of them that are out pretty early. So there's really only a handful of people that have been able to successfully put themselves in the same situations and even understand. And so thank you for trying and attempting to share that because it's, you know, you're right, no one is going to understand that unless you've done it. Right. No, and you mentioned to and I'm glad that you that you kind of that you went here. So you mentioned in season two, you were in in a much different spot than you were maybe going into and especially coming out of, of season five, and you know, in the notes that I shared with you, you know, I just kind of mentioned that, uh, I don't know if it was the producers and the way that they decided to cut your video or cut your cut your film or, or what but, you know, season two, you know, there was, there was a lot of struggle and a lot of trial. But season two is the real reason why I was so excited to talk to you. You're one of the first people I wanted to speak to because I think that your experience with the show and the things that we were able to learn about you but about being a human is one of the most amazing things ever to come come out of alone. And obviously, you know, for you and others I'm just referencing towards the end of your stay on Vancouver when you you kind of had your your break down moment and, and it seemed like to me at least that from that point, you weren't really fighting so much as you were living. Can you talk about that and what that was like and maybe how those moments who continue to shape you today?
Larry Roberts 44:10
Well, I gave up after that point. So I had a really bad day on day 55 i The fish were turning off. I wasn't eating much. I mean, I was still eating. There was thank goodness there was chanterelle mushrooms everywhere but I was still eating but I was crazy hungry and that day 55 The best way I can describe it is when I was a kid I had like 104 temperature one time and I just remember my head the only way I can describe it as it just goes Zoo. Zoo Zoo. So there's just this thing going inside my head it's like a headache but only it's just this vibration almost this going through my head And the surface Palamon. Like crazy, which normally I enjoy, but I mean, sometimes I just enjoy just silence, right? So it was really, really bad. I was super, super hungry. My head was going nuts. Every time I tried to sleep. So this had been leading up to this point. But when you're that hungry, you dwell on food. And I was dreaming about food, I would, like start to dream about, you know, like when I come home and visiting with my wife, but then immediately it would be what, what are we going to have for dinner that night, and are we going to go to the grocery store, and blah, blah, blah, and I wake up about every hour, and I was using a sweater, a wool pullover type thing for a pillow, and I would have drool all over my pillow. And this went on like, like, in Vancouver Island, I was sleeping a lot. As soon as it got dark, I go to bed, and I wouldn't wake up until it was well, like so that was probably at least 14 hours of sleep inside my shelter, or at least staying inside my shoulder. And so for like 14 hours, my head was doing that surplus pound in my stomach was hurting just all this stuff. And I literally almost like what you see in the movies where, you know, the guy actor slaps the woman when she's freaking out, I slapped myself. And like, Dude, you need I thought it was going insane. I literally thought I was gonna, I didn't fear dying, I felt I feared going insane. So I thought I was going to go insane. And luckily, luckily, it started to rain, just pitter patter a little bit. And if you've ever spent any time on a tarp, under a tarp during the rain, you know, it makes a certain sound. And for me, that's a very comforting sound. So it comforted me. And I was able to get through the night, and I woke up, got out of bed kind of early, and decided that I would so I've been one of the items or you can take two items of emergency rations that I had not eaten any of my emergency rations, because it was only season two. And I was really hard on myself. And I figured that if you eat your emergency rations, it was like key. And so but after I'd had that horrible night, I figured I need to eat my emergency rations. And my fish for the fish weren't biting I there's so much work involved in an ocean, trying to set trot lines or gill net or whatever. I mean, it was brutal work. And I just kind of gave off and I'm like, You know what, I'll survive on my emergency rations for as long as I can. And then I'll give up and I was able to last another, we didn't have that much emergency rations. I mean, like, when I was leading up to day 55, when there was when the fish get turned off.
Well, after day 55, what I would do is I would if I caught a fish, I would eat it. And if I didn't catch a fish, then I would take some beef jerky, just a barely a handful, just barely enough to put in one poem. And I would put about a quart and a half of water, maybe two quarts of water. And I would boil that for quite some time. And then I would drink the broth. So I'd had about a quart and a half, maybe a quart of jerky broth. And that was my dinner for the ER that was the only meal I would eat for that entire day. And then the next day, I would fill it back up with water again. And then I would drink the broth and then eat the meat. And then by the third day, I usually had something that I had harvested, whether that be a fish or a mushroom, or whatever, because by that time, I had to be very careful of how many shellfish I harvested because I had harvested every single shellfish that was edible off of my little horseshoe Cove. So all that was leading. So day 55 I kind of broke. And I decided to go ahead and eat a little bit more jerky, like actually even not just a broth, but actually eat a tiny little handful of jerky. And I actually started gaining weight off of a tiny handful of jerky a day instead of just eating the broth. And then by day 64 or whatever, I couldn't handle it anymore. I was like, I'm done. I gotta eat some. And so I had I gave up on. I mean, I wasn't gonna leave if I still had food. But once I started rationing it and I could see the end in sight. That's when I broke down and started crying like crazy. And it's still very painful to this day.
Sam 49:57
Thinking about that experience.
Larry Roberts 49:59
Yeah, Thinking about that I had to give up. It's a hopelessness. When you don't have food. It's a hopelessness feeling. It's a hopeless feeling. And there's a lot of people on Facebook and stuff that say, why are you? Why are these people not eating? The like they given it Dave Nestea the crap a lot. And de sel is one of the toughest competitors and the nicest guys ever. And they're like, well, he had all that fish, and yet he was starving to death. I've talked. So they may, they have a small talk to a psychologist before we go in. And after we're done. And this psychologist has worked with other survival tech shows shows, so she knows the psyche of a person who is starving. And if you go back, even look at them look about, you know, the concentration camps or whatever not to even, you know, equate the two. Yep. But they always hoarded food. And we always hoarded food and every survival show, they all if you're really truly survived surviving, you hoard food, because you know, what it's like to not be without food, and to just that mental aspect of knowing that you have at least a bite for a morsel of food we're not, you know, I mean, when you say dinner, I mean, when I say dinner, I mean, you're talking like a little bit of flavored water. But that's better than not having anything, and that's for your psyche. That's good to know that you have that. And then once I realized, I didn't, I wasn't gonna have any backup. The fish weren't biting. I didn't know how to. I mean, I tried all different fishing techniques. But I mean, if the fish are biting, they're not biting. And yeah, once that, I mean, I killed all the mice on my place. I mean, that was Vancouver Island was no, Mongolia, I still had mice, you know, that I could have probably trapped, you know, but I mean, Vancouver Island, I harvested everything around my area. Everything. And that's a hopeless, hopeless feeling.
Sam 51:59
You is you're talking I mean, even it's terrifying to me to think of gaining weight on jerky broth, and a handful of jerky every other day. I mean, that's kind of a that's a terrifying thought. Right? To think that your body are doing?
Larry Roberts 52:17
It's hard to explain.
Sam 52:19
Yeah, no, I It's, that's a that's a terrifying thought. And so I guess with this, how is your How is your perspective on? On? I don't know how to maybe word this correctly. But how is your perspective on the survival world? And you know, all of that, how has that changed based on, on what you know, now?
Larry Roberts 52:43
Well, I'm afraid I've gotten, I don't, personally, in my mind, I'm afraid I've gotten a little area, I guess. But I don't never, you know, share that or post about it or anything like that. But you can definitely weed out. And this is just social media, and art, but also, well, not just social media, because I've attended and taught at several schools, and I teach my own classes sometimes, but the folks who say they know what they're doing, as opposed to what I've actually done, and the folks on the show have actually done, you know, there's a little bit of a difference. And, but then also, what it's done for me is it's given me absolute confidence in my abilities, not to say that I'm like, some sort of expert or, or that I know, all this stuff, or anything like that, but the knowledge base that I have, and, you know, anybody who knows, or starts to study about wilderness or anything, basically, if you're kind of enlightened, you realize that what you know, is just a fraction of what's out there. So I know that I only know just a fraction of what out there. But what, what's out there, but that fraction, I know, is valuable, and it's in it's valid. So that has given me an a credible amount of confidence to be able to take my family or whatever, into the outdoors, but then also just in life in general, because I I'm pretty. So I'm pretty intense, for the most part, and I get pretty stressed out with work and stuff like that. But this latest job that I'm on is a very stressful job. It's very complicated, but I can kind of see myself not getting as stressed as I used to because especially now it kind of helps that I'm a little bit older, a little bit more financially secure, but just in general in general life skills I can I know what I've survived, and I know what I can do. And if the world goes to crap or you know, whatever has happens, you know, whatever your mind wants to sit and envision? I know that I think you all do. Okay. You know, it gives you, I guess what I'm trying to say is it gives you a confidence that very few people, they may have it, but they don't really, really have it, you know, deep down. I mean, you know, a lot of people are skilled in the outdoors, survival community and stuff like that. But have you really, really tested it, like the folks on alone have done, and I kind of equate it to, I've said this 100 times about my kids, doing sports and practices and stuff, it'd be like, if you played a sport, but you only practice you only practice with your teammates, you only practice with a small group of people. And then we're thrown into until there's those people. But then there's a few of us that got to practice. And then we're thrown immediately into like, the Super Bowl. You know, you got to prove and figure I mean, you're in the big game. And you got to figure out how you did. And for me, I'll never forget the
Sam 56:13
I think the the last thing that anyone watch should call it is arrogance, right? And if, if someone does have have the feeling to call that arrogance, I think they need to stop and think for a little bit because whatever it is, it's earned. And it's earned in a very difficult manner. You kind of alluded to this, but has that feeling of, of confidence and security, maybe has that extended to other parts of your life that don't involve, you know, survival in the sense that alone? calls it survival?
Larry Roberts 56:53
Absolutely, it helped, it's helped with my work. For sure, you know, I mean, I, I take my work very seriously. I'm, I'm good. I'm okay at what I do. And I realize that everybody makes mistakes. And you can only do the best you can do. And if you do the best you can do. And yet something still goes wrong. It's not the end of the world, we can still handle it, we can still it gives me a little more perspective, in the overall life experience. I don't know if that makes sense.
Sam 57:35
No, I that makes that makes perfect sense. And yeah, it's it's also fascinating. So thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And you know where I think we're going to start, start kind of wrapping up here and get you back to the rest of your day. A couple of things I want to just touch on, you mentioned that you've got a YouTube channel, is that something that's still up and running? Are you still, you know, active with that, or is it.
Larry Roberts 58:03
So it's kind of, it's a little bit in history, I haven't uploaded any videos for a long time. But if you want to see my progression through the bushcraft or survival type journey that I did, the reason I started my YouTube channel was personally for just for personal reasons, what I would do is I would learn about a bushcraft or survival type skill, whether that be through the internet, or through a survival book, which I have quite a few. But I would take that skill and I would practice in my backyard, because what I'm looking for are skills that transfer to many different environments. So if I can see a plant that has a particular property, I don't necessarily need to know that plants name. But if I can look at that plant and realize that it's good for cordage I can look at those properties in a different plant in a different region. And utilize that without even you know, knowing what it is. So if you want to see my progression through bushcraft is just I think it's back to basic search. I don't even remember just Google Larry Roberts alone and it should or not Google but YouTube and search Larry Roberts alone and it should pop up I've got some deer processing videos, fishing videos, bow drill type technique, learning type mostly skills learning type videos I don't I'm still check the comments and still answer the comments. But I don't I don't post too many videos anymore because I've I think I've got probably over 100 videos and then on Instagram. I'm pretty sure I'm back to basic 64 on Instagram and Twitter, something like that to Back to Basics or something like that, but I try to I try to share a little bit later. lately it's been more travel as opposed to bushcraft.
Sam 1:00:04
Well, you you've earned that as well. You know, it's funny whenever I'm sure you know, my wife and other people think I'm nuts when I watch a movie, is you use Jason Bourne for an example, right? When I watched some Jason Bourne movies or some movie where the characters gone through a whole awful lot, I always wish there'd be another edition in the series, that was a full length mill movie, of just that person sitting on the beach, enjoying some relaxation. So it's good to hear that you were getting your moment to sit on the beach and get some relaxation. So
Larry Roberts 1:00:42
we've got to change gears, man, I'm kind of a Yeah, we, it's a little more posh now that I don't sleep on logs off the snow anymore.
Sam 1:00:52
Well, I am glad to hear that. And that makes me very happy. And you You've definitely earned it. So what we'll do is, you know, look for your YouTube, and I'll get the full name of your channel. And we'll link and I'll do a little postscript here to just kind of mentioned where people can go and see all of that. You mentioned that you teach sometimes? And would that be something where someone? Do you post classes on your Facebook? Or if someone's interested? Is that something they can get a hold of you for? Or is that just, you know, friends and family? How does that work?
Larry Roberts 1:01:26
Oh, for sure, they can get a hold of me. As matter of fact, I'm having a class in October, a lady and the best way to get ahold of me is Facebook, I have a public plate page plus a private page. And usually I do one class a year a winter class, because Minnesota is kind of known for our cold. But I just had a lady contact me and so I'm going to do a private class for her and some of her family. If you're interested, go ahead and message me on Facebook. Like I said, either my public page or my private page, I do have a minimum, just because I mean, I do work for a living and I don't do this full time. And it's it's for me, it's not a money making type proposition. What it is for me is that my dream job, I would love to be able to quit my job and teach skills because it's amazing to watch people learn and, and to see their faces light up with, you know, being successful at a particular project. So I do it more. Well only basically for my enjoyment because I love it. But I mean, there is a minimum because I have to have there certain cost involved. But anyway, yeah, just messaged me. And I'm pretty sure it's reasonable costs if you checked into it, too. But anyway, yeah, just messaged me. But I'm more active on Facebook than basically any other social media outlet.
Sam 1:02:52
Hey, well, I will I'll get those LinkedIn there as well. So if anyone's interested, then they can go find those in the show notes. And, and look you up there. So I guess in wrapping up, is there anything, Larry that you feel like I've missed or that we've missed? That you would like to speak about or mention or any words of wisdom or anything you just want to share before we wrap up?
Larry Roberts 1:03:17
Well, I just hope that I didn't ramble too much. And I hope I answered all your questions. If you have any. Some I can. I'll try really quick to answer them really quick. But otherwise have if you're happy No, I'm I'm happy with it. It's it's I'm glad you're interested in the show. And I'm glad you're interested in the people's stories outside the show because I believe that show definitely brings out unique and diverse type of populace.
Sam 1:03:46
That's a that's a very good, very good way to put that. No, you know, I appreciate your your openness. And I don't I I asked you to come and ramble with me for an hour or so I think you have I think you've delivered wonderfully. So, Larry, thank you again, for your time, thank you for sharing your experiences and sharing some very personal things about yourself and about your life. I really appreciate it and I know that those listening will appreciate that as well. So again, thank you for your time and you have a great day. You're Batman, you too. Alright, take care. Yep, you too. Just want to take a minute and again, thank Larry for being so gracious and open with his time today taking away from his busy schedule and from his family. And from his travels to sit down with me for an hour today and really to share his experiences and his stories with all of us. I recognize that it can be difficult to open up about difficult things in your life and especially things that others really can't understand completely. I know there's a lot of different things that go into that but really just so grateful for Larry taking the time today to open up and to share this part of his life with us. As we mentioned, Larry has different places you can get a hold of him. He has a YouTube channel, which is just Larry Roberts. You can find that quite easily. He did mention that he still keeps up to speed with comments and responds to people there. The best way to get in touch with Larry is going to be through Facebook. You can find him there under Larry Roberts. And finally, he does have an Instagram account as well, which is Larry Roberts or back to the number two basics. 64. So Larry, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your wisdom and your knowledge. And thank you all for listening. Have a great day.
