About

Hey, Im Erik! Welcome to my Blog website Xpedition.blog

While I will use stock photos from time to time, I am the writer and photographer behind nearly all content on here. In this blog I’m excited to bring you content ranging in a variety of different hobbies. You see when I decided to start a blog site all my research yelled at me to pick a niche. While I understand the benefit of that, I simply could not do it. I became more anxious worrying about picking one specific topic than all the nuances that go into creating a blog. 

The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.-Chris McCandless

So I went against traditional advice and here I am. You see, I’m what one might call a dreamer. I have as many hobbies as I do Budweiser collectable mugs.(I have many).

 

I feel that there are so many people out there that feel the same way…right i can’t be the only one, Anyone?

 

In a way specializing in miscellaneous topics is a topic right?

Summit of Mt. Marcy, New York 2009

 

Very quickly you’ll be able to tell which areas are of more interest to me. I will cover things from Travel to Coin collecting. Metal

 detecting to models. Product review to film and finance, history, and opinion pieces. Not to mention so so so much more, Because 

learning is lifelong. So should be your passions. Life is a journey with many stops. I find it tremendously important that one enjoys the 

moments and lives the experience, not simply wander through life.

 That can be a struggle I understand. This is a about section after all, let me tell you why I’m here….

Mt. Fuji, Japan 2012

ABOUT

I grew up in rural upstate New York.  Single mother, Low income. I tell you this not for your pity but because it’s an essential detail to my character development. 

 

Back to the story. My mother was a tremendously hard working women. She worked nights as a nurse and slept during the day. If I was home she slept and I spent many hours learning self-independence. I watched a lot of history channel and animal planet of the 80s/90s.

 

First thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a camera/photographer crewman for animal planet. I dreamt of traversing snow mountain passes in search of the elusive snow leopard and such. My uncle was my role model. A trucker who drove all over the west. In the several times we visited him he brought me to places my young mind could not fully appreciate but as an impressionable young mind, I never forgot the impact that places like Glacier National Park or Yellowstone left on me.

Fast forward to 18. The September 11th attacks were still fresh in 

my mind so I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Did my 4 year hitch and  came home. Settled down and had children. That’s how life goes. 

Entered the rat race. Picking up where I left off I found a well paying job with benefits in security. As the bills got higher the hours got longer.

 I tried college and got a whole year’s worth of credits but work and family came first. That’s the beauty of life. I got older and some might say wiser too. I became obsessed with passive income.

  Spent a lot of time self educating myself in business and entrepreneurship. Tried multiple different approaches, some successfully some not. The big one that stuck was real estate. I did the whole investing thing but after tenants cost me 15k in damages I shifted into licensure. 

I have been a salesperson for several years now and I love every minute of it. I still hold my day job, rather I should say night job because I went to midnight shift just so I could spend my days working on real estate or this blog for example.

If that’s not enough I trade options in the stock market as well.  So if you still here and read this far it is my hope that this blog becomes the last piece of the puzzle. 

My w2 income has become such a mental and physical burn out working 40-80+ hours a week. I’ve missed so much of what truly matters to me. As my kids get older I’ve begun to reflect back on those dreams I once had.

I’m no fool to think this blog will be an instant success if it ever even becomes one.  

But I paid for a year in full for this site so darn it i’m gonna try it. Besides the benefits of becoming a famous blogger, I hope you believe me when I say that it brings me total joy, the ideal of sharing my experience with you, building a rapport and perhaps a community behind what I hope XPEDITION is to become. 

I hope you find joy or that the information here helps you in your own life journey.

About the Name

XPEDITION because spelled with an E is so original. But seriously one of my favorite pastimes is watching series on history, lore, travel and treasure hunting. 

Xpedition unknown is one of those shows. I love that Josh gates brings the audience with him on every adventure. (P.S. Josh if you’re reading this I will totally go with you on your next season of filming or an autograph would do fine too.) 

And thus Xpedition became a word that took on a style of its own that now means a lot to me.

Life’s Passions Almost Taunt us-Unknown

HOBBIES

So what are my hobbies, what are you likely to find on here?

Travel- Traveling may be one of my greatest passions in life (Shhh… Dont tell my wife:) I have traveled often and to many places. Not as many as some  but definitely more than my fairshare and hopefully with many adventures left under the old hood. I have been to japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines. From the Atlantic to the pacific. The Rockies, Yellowstone to Yosemitie and many more.

Coin collecting-A serious collector of and student of numismatic’s my most recent piece to my collection is a Greek Drachma from the era Of Alexander the Great.

Metal Detecting and relic recovery-this one is a tie and close second to coin collecting. I got my first detector at about 10 years old. Been digging since. My Friends call me the Coachman because for a while I was on a streak of finding horse drawn carriages and wagons.

Film and Television-Of Course, who doesn’t binge watch every episode of their favorite shows. Most recently (august 2023) I finished the first half of Outlander Season 7, Went and saw the new Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones The dial of destiny.

Gaming-Gaming honestly is one of my most important activities. Some people enjoy Golf or going for long walks to blow off steam, to escape reality and de-stress even if for an hour. My therapy is gaming. Assassins creed, BattleField, Hell let Loose are current plays for me.

More and More- As the title says this is a Nice of the Miscellaneous. Other topics will include but not limited to Recipes, Opinion, Lore and histories, Models and miniatures and so much more. 

Thanks for reading Seriously you made it, you are a rockstar and I thank you for taking the time. At the time of this writing this site is still a work in progress. My total web development experience is a total of 6 hours on youtube at this point. I hope you find what you’re looking for here and you can always join in the club by sharing or finding me on socials. I hope to have more items added to the site soon.

 

“I love the unknown, and any day that I get to experience someplace new is a good day.” -JOSH GATES