Cj is one of the most fascinating and adventurous men I know. He always has a wonderful story to tell of truth, insight, and experiences he’s had. He is humble and down to earth, an artist, and the worlds best collector of things, he deems them ‘oddities’. He is currently starting a company with a friend, called Rugged Material (leather goods with a lifetime guarantee.) Look for the kickstarter campaign in the near future, and in the mean time, check out their website, and get to know CJ. He’s truly one of a kind and a pure delight.

some of Cj’s “Oddities”

Who is the most interesting person you’ve ever met?

I would have to say The Goat Man. I have met many interesting people in my life but The Goat Man was the most interesting. Some friends and I went on a canoeing trip down the Colorado river, below the Hoover dam. At one of our campsites beside the river we shook hands with The Goat man, yes hand not hoof. His real name is Brian, but he preferred to be called The Goat Man.

He told us he had a goat skin and some horns and that he would dress up as The Goat Man. He loved climbing on the cliffs along the river and scarring tourists. He looked as though he had began there, like a crusty chunk of crumbling rock, weathered and wearied with time. His skin was as tan and twisted as a leather hat, forgotten in the sun. He had a far off look in his eye but when his wide eyes did meet yours they seemed to look through you. His voice sounded as though it had never tasted the refreshing blessing that is water. It also had a twang of accent that was unplaceable. He lived in the canyon and was happy there, yes he belonged there.

A few of my favorite quotes from The Goat Man are as follows.

“You know Michel Jackson? Well I taught him how to do the sideways Moon Walk.”

“Once I was stranded on an island… and I ate a Palm Tree.”

I wonder if The Goat Man is still living?…..

What in life gives you the most satisfaction?

I love people. Everyone has a story to tell. It doesn’t matter where they are from, what they do, how much money they have or even if the world recognizes them. I am drawn to the down trodden, the weary, the worker, the plain, the vagabond. The people who have been wrung out by the world, worn down and shaped by its winds. They are real, they are true. They have character and grit. My soul is most satisfied after interacting with one of these lost coins. Every coin has worth no matter how small or tarnished.

What is one experience you’ve had that you often share with others?

I call this story, My Right Hand Vagabond

One summer morning when the sky was its bluest and the sun at peak yellow. I said to myself, self lets go fly fishing. I drove to Cedar mountain, to a place the locals have dubbed Right Hand Canyon. I had heard there were fish in there some place but had never given it a try. I was tying on a nice caddis dry fly when my peace was shattered by a shout. “You expect to catch a fish in that river!!?” To my surprise over the crest of a hill stumbled a crusty vagabond. I said “Well I’m sure going to try.” He said “If you catch a fish out of there you bring it to me and I’ll eat it!” I replied, “Well that sounds like a pretty good deal for you.” He shifted from one leg to the other and then said “Well I’m going to go take a bath in the waterfall.” I smiled and watched him wander away.

Thanks to a high and dry, fly and a smooth drift I landed a small Rainbow trout. I carried it on a string to my right hand vagabond’s camp. I guess he was still enjoying his waterfall bath because his beer and bean cans were left lonely on the dirt. I had to think quick, a dead trout doesn’t care for air and sun. I found a water jug in the back seat of my car and cut a hole in it and slipped in the fish. I looked around his camp, I ripped a piece of cardboard off that was lying around and took a coal from his fire pit. I wrote a note to him that read, here is the fish I promised you!

I can picture him now, enjoying his fresh trout cooked upon fresh coals, a wide incomplete smile spread across his bearded face, sitting underneath the pale light of a rising summer moon.

THE END

Where is your favorite place to go for solace?

Anywhere that is wild. My favorite thing in this world next to people is nature. That seems strange and perhaps it is. Because in true wilderness there is an absence of people. But oh how my soul loves nature! I am made up of two balanced half’s, people and nature. I find solace in mountains and woods as well as deserts and cactus. I can go alone for hours into the wilderness. I stand in Awe at the grand peaks of mountains and towering pines and admire with the same zeal the orange lichen and the smallest banded gecko.

There is a Holiness in nature that refreshes and a livens even the driest soul. To sit alone beside a high mountain stream is to commune with God. I am ever in Awe and grateful to Him for creating such goodness and beauty.

What is the coolest shape you’ve seen in a cloud?

Once while I was a guide at a wilderness treatment program in Southern Utah, I looked up and beheld a Luck Dragon! It was Falcor the flying Dragon Dog! He was making his way toward Arizona. I guess Luck Dragons have a fair amount of business in that state. I wouldn’t really know, I had never previously had the luck to luck out and see a Luck Dragon, let alone ask one his business.

Live the Adventure!

Sea. Jay.