From Tragedy to Trailblazing: Darren Dorn’s Outdoor Mission

In this episode of Fast Lane Living, we talk with Darren Dorn, President of Disabled Outdoorsman Minnesota, about his journey of resilience and his mission to empower individuals with disabilities through outdoor adventures. Darren shares how a life-changing accident led him to rediscover his passion for hunting and fishing—and how he's now helping others do the same with adaptive equipment like track chairs.

We dive into the emotional and practical challenges of accessibility in the outdoors, the importance of perspective and gratitude, and Darren’s upcoming Sporting Clays fundraising event. This is a powerful story of perseverance, purpose, and the joy of living life to the fullest—no matter the obstacles.

Support Disabled Outdoorsmen MN and their sponsors:

https://www.disabledoutdoorsmenmn.net

https://sandpinepheasants.com

https://actiontrackchair.com

https://ampedoutdoors.com

https://worryfreemobility.com

https://wingsnorth.org

Transcript

Fast-Lane-Living (00:02.575)
Hey, everybody. Welcome to episode three of Fast Lane Living. Welcome. Heck yeah. This week, we've brought on our first guest and our guest is a friend of mine. His name is Darren Dorn. And Darren is the president of Disabled Outdoorsman Minnesota. And he does a lot of great things for disabled, not even just veterans, but just people in general. Disabled folks get some out in the woods, get some out hunting, get some fishing.

All kinds of fun stuff that they do throughout the whole year. They do all kinds of events throughout the year. so we brought on Darren and wanted to kind of brag about our friend Darren a little bit. And then what we're going to do is, you know, he's going to tell you about disabled outdoorsmen a little bit. then Darren's kind enough to kind of explain what happened to him and what got him into a wheelchair and kind of his story there.

Darren (00:33.485)
you

Darren (00:53.965)
Okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (00:57.059)
And then we're going to end the episode with letting you know about a little event that Darren's got coming up here that we're trying to get as many people to head over to as possible. So with that, here's Darren Dorn. He's going to tell you a little bit about Disabled Outdoorsmen.

Darren (01:13.816)
How's it going? So, Disabled Outdoorsman Minnesota, it was founded in 2022 is when it actually became a legit organization with the state and whatnot. We were running under

to the Texas chapter when we very first started for just a couple months, but It's It was it's a passion of mine. I mean I've been disabled for 23 years coming on now just 2002 so yeah 23 years this October, but I I Love the outdoors, so I like being able to get other fellow friends

family, new people that I've come across. I'm always, every time I see somebody, I always say, you like hunting and fishing? When I see a disabled person? And they say, yeah. And then I always tell them about what I do and what our board does to get people out. Cause it's something that all of us have a passion in. It's our main goal here is to deliver an unforgettable experience that was previously not possible.

Helping people take their minds off their daily struggles is what drives us to serve people and get people outdoors But we do different different hunting events different fishing events But it's all the type of stuff that you wouldn't normally be able to do on your own So we have people that help out we get people that sponsor us and donate to us to help pay for these kind of things but it's a

It puts a smile on my face every time I talk about it because I enjoy it. And when we can see some of our participants, when they smile and they go back and tell their friends and family about us, it just means that we succeeded at what we're trying to do with helping people out.

Fast-Lane-Living (03:23.258)
That's amazing, I love that, because I think it's, you said, it's something they probably thought they couldn't do anymore or ever. If it somebody who was born disabled, they probably thought they could never be involved in something like that. I would assume, to certain disabilities.

Darren (03:38.953)
That's funny.

Yep, and that's, I do get that quite a bit too, with people who say, I can't do that. Well, I've been in the chair for 23 years, let me show you you can, because that's one of my biggest pet peeves is I hear somebody say I can't. I mean, I'm there, I've done it, I can prove to you you can. You just have to have the mindset to tell you, yes, you can, and that's what Disabled Outdoorsmen Minnesota is.

Fast-Lane-Living (03:56.73)
Yeah. Right.

Darren (04:11.058)
here to do. mean, we're here to help people learn and know that they can do things that they always enjoyed prior to an accident or something that they previously didn't think they could do. But that's, and we have actually different chapters too is our headquarters, that's where it was actually disabled outdoorsman USA was created was down in Texas, San Antonio, Texas.

Fast-Lane-Living (04:25.571)
I love it, That's so awesome.

Darren (04:40.079)
Weston Jenkins is the founder of Disabled Outdoorsmen and now we have chapters in Minnesota, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, they're kinda together. And then also Utah. it's, they all, I mean, they all strive to do the same type of things. We do a Red Drum Fishing Trip in North Carolina. We sent a couple of participants too. We do, I mean, we do a...

Fast-Lane-Living (04:54.394)
I

Darren (05:07.546)
couple fishing outings. actually have one coming up here in May, end of May. We have our very first Mille Lacs launch of the year. Get about 25 people out fishing and you don't have to be disabled to be part of that. mean, a disabled person can take two, three family members if they want to come out. It's just a good time for people to get together and go fishing. I mean, everybody enjoys it.

Fast-Lane-Living (05:28.878)
Nice.

Darren (05:37.166)
Mille Lacs is even letting people keep some fish this time. people catch some walleyes in their time slot, they might be able to take some fish home.

Fast-Lane-Living (05:41.172)
Go for it!

Yeah. can have one half of a fish. Right. Must share.

Darren (05:48.454)
Yeah, exactly. It's kind of the way that it is, but it's, I mean, it's gotten better and it's, it's just something that everybody enjoys, whether we catch a lot of fish or catch no fish. I mean, people, they love it.

Fast-Lane-Living (06:01.114)
Right. Well, I'm sure there's some good camaraderie between everybody out there. know, I'm sure everybody meets some new friends when they're out there, especially like you bring family members.

Darren (06:09.727)
definitely. then, and then you mean sometimes you can even learn more about somebody's disability or even find out something, hey, why don't we try this type of event next time? just, I mean, it's nice to get a group of people together like that because you do, tend to learn things or teach something to somebody else. So it, I don't know, it's fun.

Fast-Lane-Living (06:17.187)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (06:32.812)
Yeah. All right. I can imagine on your daily life in your chair that maybe you learn something that makes your life a lot easier and you can share that, you know, or.

Darren (06:42.308)
100 % I mean there's different, cause you get different people. you mean just perfect example is Nate and I, he's one of my best friends, but he's also, he's in a chair is also our accidents were literally months apart in the same year, 2002 that both put us both in chairs. And he, always, whenever we shoot, I'm always like, why are you gonna shoot like that?

That's because his injury is a little bit higher than mine. So his balance is not as good as my balance. So it's, it's that, the little things like that, that somebody may not see. I mean, I didn't even know it for all these years and all said, and then it's like one day me and him were talking and it's like, wow, that little bit of a difference in your level of injury can make a huge difference in, in somebody.

Fast-Lane-Living (07:17.914)
Gotcha.

Fast-Lane-Living (07:35.45)
and what their mobility is. And if you're talking about stabilization. Right, right, and those finer muscles.

Darren (07:38.081)
Yup. Yeah. And then the one thing too is with us, we got a guy that, actually, mean, Brock, you know, his firsthand, Leon, the guy that had that, the track, that big track chair, the act, timber track. Yeah. The timber tracks. Yeah. That guy, Leon, he actually

Fast-Lane-Living (07:56.683)
yeah, that like diesel powered track here.

Darren (08:05.154)
He helps us with getting people set up with booms. For, and when I say booms, what I mean by that is it's an assisted and adaptive equipment that actually goes over the top of your chair and you can hold your gun on it. So you can still shoulder it, but it's weight, it's got a weighted in there to help balance it. But it literally, so for like people that have like quads and stuff that can't physically hold it themselves.

Fast-Lane-Living (08:35.15)
Right. They couldn't hold up the weight of it. Yeah.

Darren (08:35.5)
They have that type of adaptive equipment. So that's, and we actually have a couple of our members that are actually supposed to be getting fit for one for their chairs.

Fast-Lane-Living (08:40.014)
Wow.

Fast-Lane-Living (08:47.586)
Nice. And so he does he custom make them for these people?

Darren (08:50.933)
Yeah, he'll measure their chairs, measure them because you want to make sure you get the right height and that kind of stuff for each individual because everybody's different when it comes time to that stuff. You can't just hop into a chair and say, all this boom will work for me because it's not necessarily true. I mean, we got some guys that they can barely move their hands and other guys that can move their hands very well. So it's all case by case, which

Fast-Lane-Living (09:08.793)
Right?

Fast-Lane-Living (09:15.47)
Right.

Darren (09:18.548)
We're huge. That's what we strive for also is helping people with adaptive equipment.

Fast-Lane-Living (09:24.858)
That's awesome. Yeah, because... Was that the one we did a couple of years ago on your chair?

Darren (09:25.407)
Which you helped out with Brock, you helped me get that... Yup, that on my track chair for holding my crossbow and rifle and stuff.

Fast-Lane-Living (09:36.014)
Yeah, a little, what do call it? Like a swivel comes up, swivels out. That was a great deal.

Darren (09:42.676)
Yeah, can adjust the height and everything and it just worked out perfect.

Fast-Lane-Living (09:47.746)
Nice, I love being a part of stuff like that. Yeah.

Darren (09:50.643)
Yeah, no, and we appreciate it. I mean, it's a quick on and off the chair too, so it's not like it's permanently mounted on it. You can take it off at any time and put it back on as needed.

Fast-Lane-Living (10:00.163)
Right, yeah. think that was the full idea when we put that on there is that this thing would be able to be removed and then remounted easily in a good position. Same thing every time. And yeah, we nailed it. That was awesome. Although it is cool to have a turret, but you know, you don't maybe need one everywhere you go. You guys offer turrets.

Darren (10:17.631)
Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah. And it's, and then on the chair too is I'm going to bring it up as action track chair. They've been absolutely awesome to us. That's their, they're based down in Marshall. I mean, they're actually a sponsor of the organization. That's, the tables that we have, we actually have a table at our upcoming event here, but we've gotten a table every year from them for it. But this year is like off the charts the way that that table is.

Fast-Lane-Living (10:28.067)
Okay, yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (10:34.135)
Okay.

Awesome.

Darren (10:49.959)
It's a sweet color red with, excuse me, it's a matte black with a red camo on it and it is awesome. I am so excited for that one. But no, Action Track Chair, they've been nothing but awesome to us. They help us out with, I mean, Keith, actually, Keith Sand from Sandpines Pheasant Farm. He is actually the actual track chair dealer in Minnesota. So anytime we need service done on our chairs.

Fast-Lane-Living (10:57.626)
Nice.

Darren (11:18.182)
We'll take it up to Avon, go see him and he'll take care of us. I mean, he's awesome. He actually got a conversion kit. Sand Pines Pheasant Family Farm. It's in Avon, it's just north of St. Cloud. It's right off of 94.

Fast-Lane-Living (11:25.412)
What was this place called again, Darren?

Fast-Lane-Living (11:31.51)
Okay. Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (11:36.058)
And they service them there or they have a wholesale facility?

Darren (11:40.719)
He's well, he's that he's a dealer. So I mean, he'll have a call. He has a couple chairs on hand. And then a lot of the times chairs are custom built to that person for sizes. So you would you would order it to your specific body build and that kind of stuff. But he's the one. So you ordered it, you would get it from Keith and he'd get you set up. I mean, he's helped us out in numerous times. So.

Fast-Lane-Living (11:43.479)
Okay.

Right, okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (11:52.154)
I'm sure.

Fast-Lane-Living (12:10.778)
Yeah, and for those of you guys who've never heard of or know what we're talking about when we talk about a track chair is they've come up with these. And I don't know, Darren, have they been out for a long time? Or is this a newer kind of invention or, you know, a chair that they've come up with?

Darren (12:25.82)
I want.

I don't know exactly how long Action Track Share has been around. That's actually a really good question for me to look into because it would be good for, especially for people asking. No, don't even, right here. So the Action Track Share ST, which is their like base model, that's a very common model, that was actually introduced in 2009.

Fast-Lane-Living (12:36.538)
Yeah, just carry it. Yeah. The traction track chair is a wheelchair. Right. Yep. It's a wheelchair with tracks underneath this thing.

Fast-Lane-Living (12:56.566)
Okay, so relatively new. Yeah. Not too long ago. That's right.

Darren (12:57.574)
So now they have different models. Yeah, and they have different models. Now I have one that it's the STS model is what Nate and I have. And one of our other members, she just got.

They said that she would be getting a track chair too from an organization called Track to Wing. They are Nancy Ansfield. She's a super awesome person, but they get a little bored together and they get these donors and stuff that they pick out people throughout the whole country and not just specifically Minnesota, but it's through the whole country that they'll pick people after you fill out an application and stuff to

Fast-Lane-Living (13:19.33)
Okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (13:32.153)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (13:37.993)
wow.

Darren (13:42.904)
see if you're granted a track chair or not. So I thought that was pretty slick for that because this would be the fourth. So I got mine five, four years, four and a half years ago. Maybe more, I don't remember. It was probably four or five years ago. But I've gotten, helped Nate with his, wrote a letter of recommendation.

Fast-Lane-Living (13:45.748)
Awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (13:49.816)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (14:03.418)
Thanks.

Darren (14:13.348)
He helped the gal that just got granted one. And then we have another member, Brian, that got granted one also. So we have four members that have all been granted tractors now.

Fast-Lane-Living (14:24.974)
That's amazing. That's so cool. I love that. explain this track chair in a little more detail. Yeah. And what it does for you. Yeah.

Darren (14:33.91)
So, what it does is it makes you independent. For somebody who, I mean it really does. I mean, if I go out in my manual chair and I go rolling around, it's, I mean, I can get around pretty decent when it's normal hard grounds and stuff. When you start going up hills, down hills, cross country that you're not used to, it makes it tough.

Fast-Lane-Living (14:38.682)
Yeah, right? That's it. Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (14:53.689)
Right.

Darren (15:00.921)
And having these track chairs, it is a life changer. My very first time using it, I literally, went over to Twin Lakes, they have a park over there and they got hills and stuff. And I remember just looking at my dog's face, looking at Max's face when we were going up and down hills, he just looked at me like, this is so awesome. I've never seen you in, cause he's always used, yeah, he's always used to seeing me.

Fast-Lane-Living (15:23.962)
What are we doing, Dad? What are we doing? Yeah.

Darren (15:28.344)
out just on flat grounds and stuff where we're going up and down hills. He's running alongside of me. mean, don't get me wrong. I mean, they are very slow, but safety reasons, got to keep them slow. But I think it goes maybe 2.3 or 2.5 miles an hour, but they can, they can tune it up a little bit. Our chairs do have lithium batteries in it, amped outdoors lithium batteries, which Matt at

Fast-Lane-Living (15:41.345)
right.

Fast-Lane-Living (15:53.774)
Okay.

Darren (15:56.393)
Amped Outdoors is freaking awesome, just so you guys know. If you guys ever need lithium batteries from Amped Outdoors, check them out. They're right in Hudson, Wisconsin.

Fast-Lane-Living (15:59.643)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (16:07.48)
Okay. Good to know all the thing parries. Y'all out there need any lichms?

Darren (16:09.464)
So, but yeah, 10 year warranty on a battery instead of a one year warranty on an AGM battery. So, and half the weight, sign me up.

Fast-Lane-Living (16:16.858)
Nice. Those batteries are a big deal, mean, they're not cheap. It's not like going to the store and buying some Duracells, some AA's, right? It's, you know.

Darren (16:28.204)
Correct. mean, they are, they're very expensive and you get about, it all depends on the terrain, but if like a flat terrain, you probably get seven to 10 miles on one charge on more, more stuff. You'd probably get, probably five to seven, but with these lithium batteries, you'll get double that. And I haven't even, I, we just put the batteries in back in.

Fast-Lane-Living (16:52.61)
Wow.

Darren (16:57.27)
February. So I haven't even put them to their full potential yet. So we'll find out how that goes now that it's nice outside.

Fast-Lane-Living (17:04.122)
That's awesome. Yeah. Right now that we can get outside, how do they do in the winter? Do they struggle a little more? Do they get a little slippy in the snow?

Darren (17:12.17)
They know, and actually being that we had an ice fishing event with clam out on East rush. And that was like one of very first times I used the batteries. And I literally felt like I was floating through the snow with those, with, with how the, just the weight difference between those AGMs and those lithiums. It's insane. But the cold, I the cold weather definitely affects the lithium battery more than.

Fast-Lane-Living (17:29.709)
Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (17:35.947)
I suppose. Yeah.

Darren (17:41.673)
like an AGM. you gotta, you can keep them at good operating temperature, they'll last forever. But if you, and when they're not, when they're not being used, it's always plugged in, because it's on like a tender type battery. So it's not, battery charger. So you're not overcharging the battery.

Fast-Lane-Living (17:51.225)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (18:04.154)
So explain the look of one of these chairs, because so far I've not heard these chairs are very unique in the way they look and what they do. And so far, think some listeners might be thinking that this is just like an electric wheelchair that somehow you're taking off road or maybe through the snow. like, explain the look of this thing.

Darren (18:23.988)
So the, well, here's a picture.

That's the axis. That one's their newest model, which is probably their fastest model, because that actually goes like four and a half miles an hour. But they have different models. mean, this is similar to the model that I have. But they're literally Bobcat tracks.

Fast-Lane-Living (18:42.722)
Ooh, okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (18:51.13)
So you're looking at a nice comfy chair with some tracks on each side of it. Kind of in a triangular fashion. And these things are able to go over anything.

Darren (18:57.811)
Bye!

Yeah, I think it's a joystick just like a normal chair, but I mean the tracks that go differently. So mean, if you turn, I mean one tracks going faster than the other and that kind of stuff. it. They're awesome. I mean, like I said, they're they're definitely a life changer for somebody that depends on a chair where you can't walk at all. It's they're definitely a life changer.

Fast-Lane-Living (19:11.034)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (19:22.648)
Yeah, I would agree with you. Yeah, I can't imagine what it was like trying to get out into especially like, you know, with hunting and fishing and they're like wooded areas and, know, gosh, ready, we have to want to get off the path for a minute. You know, it was just very difficult without that.

Darren (19:37.766)
Yep, exactly. that and like going up to my grandparents cabin up north, my stepdad and my uncle would always have to push me up the hill or pull me or bring me down the hill because it was so steep at the cabin. So was like always having to get a running start and push me up the hill or pull me down the hill. I mean that.

Fast-Lane-Living (19:52.033)
Fast-Lane-Living (19:55.682)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (20:03.908)
Yeah.

Darren (20:04.302)
one point they literally had me drive the vehicle down the hill, park, get out, be down by the lake and stuff and then get back in the vehicle and drive back up the hill.

Fast-Lane-Living (20:12.41)
Drive back up up the hill. Did ever just let you go right into the lake?

Darren (20:17.253)
He wanted, they wanted to a few times, but, you just didn't want to ever make them angry when they were pushing you or pulling you because then you're in their hands and you can't control it.

Fast-Lane-Living (20:28.506)
You were kind of at your worst. Right. Right. It's like, I ever tell you how great you are? All great things. Yeah, those tractors are amazing. I remember the first time I saw it, you know, I was like, that is incredible. You know, like just, you know, like you the independence that allows you to have versus a regular, you know, manual chair.

Darren (20:34.747)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (20:56.854)
Even a regular electric chair, think, right? You know, it still has a ton more independence.

Darren (21:00.368)
Well, yeah, mean, it's even electric chair, they still get around, but they still have their struggles in areas. I mean, this thing, when I can literally get out of the vehicle and go climb a pretty steep hill, I mean, it's pretty awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (21:17.818)
Yeah, right. That's really cool. That's awesome. We were all born to travel the woods, but forced to reset passwords. Exactly. That's all we do here for sure. So well, awesome there. Do you you know, would you mind sharing a little bit about, your story? You said you've been in the chair since 2002. And was it an accident or, you know, what what happened? If you don't mind.

Darren (21:26.394)
Yeah, no kidding.

Darren (21:46.767)
It was a single car accident, 2002, was October 28th. I was on the way home and I took about three miles away from home. I was actually right over by your guys' house. 22 and 13. Right by the railroad tracks, a deer head came out and I didn't want to ruin nice fancy pickup after high school. So what's your first instinct when you see a deer?

Fast-Lane-Living (22:02.744)
Darren (22:16.419)
You swerve. mean, everybody tells you just hit the brakes or hit it. It's always a lot easier said than done.

Fast-Lane-Living (22:24.064)
Yes. Yeah, guys like their trucks, man. Right? Yeah.

Darren (22:26.851)
Yup, but I, when I went into the dry, when I went down into the ditch, when I tried coming back out, I hit a driveway embankment and it actually flipped the truck, threw me out of it and severed my spinal cord at that time. And, I literally woke up in a hospital to a surgeon telling me I was never going to walk again. So it was, it wasn't the best of things to wake up to. I I woke up and I

Fast-Lane-Living (22:51.428)
Yeah.

Darren (22:55.629)
Obviously it's crying, mean, because you're upset because of what you just got told and you couldn't believe it. But I had a rough couple years where I was like, this really sucks. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know how I'm gonna live my life. And I mean, I had a lot of bad thoughts go through my head and then all of sudden it was like a switch went off one day and says, Darren, you can do whatever you want. You're just doing it on four wheels now.

Fast-Lane-Living (22:56.056)
You woke up, right? Right, yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (23:07.375)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (23:12.697)
Right.

Fast-Lane-Living (23:26.393)
Yeah.

Darren (23:26.532)
And ever since then, it's like, I try to share that story with as many people as I can because it's not easy. I still to this day, I have moments when it's tough, but we make do with what we got, that's for sure.

Darren (23:52.516)
I don't even, I kind of lost track of where I was going with that, but no, so I mean, and that's, mean, I always, yeah, and I did a lot of hunting and fishing. I mean, my dad brought me up with deer hunting, I did that, but my stepdad introduced me into waterfall hunting and then I...

Fast-Lane-Living (23:55.429)
Yeah. That's okay, buddy. That's a lot to wake up to,

Darren (24:18.783)
game over after he introduced me into that. That's my jam. I definitely, a big thank you to my stepdad Mike on that one because if it wasn't for him introducing it to me when I was young, I I may have never got to experience it, but.

Fast-Lane-Living (24:20.595)
Yeah. Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (24:39.746)
Yeah, I think when it comes to any kind of hunting, it's usually somebody's introducing you to it and definitely be thankful for them. Right. Yeah. So did you how long was it? Kind of before you were like, hey, I can figure out how to hunt and fish again. Like, I don't have to just not do that anymore. Did it was that right away or was that something that took longer?

Darren (24:59.339)
It took a little while because, mean, obviously, like I said, I went through some rough times where it was tough. But then it was like, you know what? I can still do all the same stuff I used to do. I'm just doing it this way now. And then I joined an organization that I used to be a part of. that's why, I mean, that's why I'll

Fast-Lane-Living (25:04.024)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (25:09.263)
Right.

Darren (25:28.136)
Disabled Outdoorsmen started is because I wanted to do different stuff and I brought friends and other people that were part of the other organization. I brought them over with me and we created Disabled Outdoorsmen. But it's...

Fast-Lane-Living (25:43.118)
Yeah.

Darren (25:46.116)
little bit of help you can do whatever you want and I stand true to that to this day no matter what anytime anybody says anything about I can't or how did you do that well we're here we're gonna show you

Fast-Lane-Living (26:03.502)
Right, I love it. That's awesome. That's a great attitude. Because you're right, man. You can do anything you set your mind to.

Darren (26:07.049)
You have to because you definitely have bad times, so you have to have a positive attitude.

Fast-Lane-Living (26:14.714)
Right. Yeah. And I think, know, obviously, rightfully so, it's such a huge, dramatic change of your life, right? You have to all the plans you made are now changed. Changed everything. You know, everything that you kind of thought was changed in an instant, like you said, when you, you know, wake up to something like that. So rightfully so, it's you can't you can't expect anybody to just like jump out of bed, I think, and be like, yay, let's go get at this. Right. You know, that's

Darren (26:25.064)
Yup.

Darren (26:39.48)
Yep.

Fast-Lane-Living (26:41.698)
Everybody's got to take their time to kind of grieve that, I'm sure, and work through that.

Darren (26:45.126)
Well, yeah, and they had me, I was at Abbott Northwestern down in Duffa, Hiawatha. was actually, I was born at Mercy Hospital, was there for seven days when I was born. And then when I got in this accident, I was actually at Mercy Hospital for seven days. And then they transferred me down to Abbott Northwestern, and I was down there for about two months.

Fast-Lane-Living (26:53.656)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (27:05.21)
Right back to it, huh? Yeah.

Darren (27:14.519)
And that was learning the whole wheelchair life. Excuse me. And at that time, I mean, my dad had, we were both working at the lumber yard at that time, Rum River Lumber, and he had to convert the house. I mean, he had to change things in the house to make it accessible. So they had to put a ramp in, because it was a modified two-story. So it wasn't like it was easy to, I mean, I literally got.

Fast-Lane-Living (27:18.19)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (27:31.748)
Yeah.

Darren (27:41.198)
My bedroom was on the main floor right by the garage, so I didn't have any steps or anything to get into the house. He redid the bathroom so it was accessible for me. Put a ramp in the living room so I could at least get up into the kitchen and dining room area and then go out on the deck and that kind of stuff. he had to do all that conversion stuff and it's easy, but it's not easy.

Fast-Lane-Living (27:46.948)
Right?

Fast-Lane-Living (27:50.458)
Mm-hmm.

Fast-Lane-Living (28:07.77)
Right.

Darren (28:07.952)
Cause you have to follow codes and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it's, it's definitely a lot of work and we actually, if anybody ever needs work done on a house like that to be converted, mean, any kind of work, especially when it comes time to the wheelchair stuff is, or not even, even wheelchair stuff. mean, walkers, any kind of mobility needs, get a hold of, Ryan Teppo with, worry-free mobility is right in Ramsey.

Fast-Lane-Living (28:29.732)
Right, any kind of accessibility, yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (28:38.712)
Okay, awesome.

Darren (28:40.358)
He's actually one of our biggest sponsors for the organization. it's any kind of business we can send towards him. I know he'd appreciate it.

Fast-Lane-Living (28:50.906)
Yeah and we'll include all these links down in the comments for everybody so that they can you know grab these resources and stuff later too if they're out there and any kind of need for that. Yeah we're definitely all about referrals you know if somebody's got a good business they love we're happy to referral it and hear the referrals so definitely that's a great one.

Darren (28:56.057)
Perfect.

Fast-Lane-Living (29:11.482)
For sure. For sure. Because if something like that happens, right, you don't plan any of this stuff. Nobody plans it. accidents on the road, nobody plans any of this stuff and you got to deal with it, right? Well, all of a sudden...

Darren (29:12.133)
Yeah.

Darren (29:20.037)
No, you're 100 % correct on that. Another thing too is you gotta live life to the fullest because tomorrow's never promised. I used to be just, I mean, I was a little a-hole when I was 18 years old and then all of sudden things, one...

Fast-Lane-Living (29:33.102)
Right. Yeah. That's very important.

Darren (29:48.586)
major thing is taken away from you and it's like you really become very thankful of the things you have. it's like I always look at another thing I look at too is don't ever take anything for granted because you never know and that's that's kind of why I I am the way that I am now is because it's like I did you never know you just you never know.

Fast-Lane-Living (30:03.908)
Yeah, nothing's guaranteed.

Fast-Lane-Living (30:13.172)
I think it's important to just take a second and don't take everything for granted, right? Because we've got water, we've got heat, we've got AC, we've got plumbing, all this stuff, right? But take a second and realize, in just mobility, life, everything, all doesn't need to be there, but it's there. It's there, right. I'm definitely thankful for the way it is.

Yeah, I think it's easy to find things to complain about if you want to, right? You know, like I think, but it's a little, you have to actually kind of, I think you have to make a point to go, know what, I'm not gonna do that and I'm gonna be thankful for the simple things that we do take for granted every day. Like just waking up and doing those things. I know that I've always, you know.

Darren (31:00.432)
Correct.

Fast-Lane-Living (31:05.848)
that's always been something that's always been inspirational to me about you is you're all, every time I've ever been in a room or around you, you're always a positive person. No matter what the situation is, like even if something kinda, you know, is stressful or crazy, like, you're like, hey, it's cool, we'll deal with it. And I think that's a great and amazing quality, you know, and especially to see, you know, it sure is like, hey, there's no complaining coming out of my mall.

Right? You know, right? Which is great. I think that is amazing. That's perfect.

Darren (31:34.996)
And then in one I mean I got I got a great sidekick with me I mean

She'll be my wife one of these days, but Sarah, she's definitely my rock and keeps me positive. So she helps out a lot with that.

Fast-Lane-Living (31:43.81)
Yeah, fair enough.

Fast-Lane-Living (31:49.977)
Nice, your fiance. Yeah, Sarah's great. Yeah, Sarah's awesome. We like Sarah. You know, Darren, I've been to a few events with you and I always have a really good time being around you guys. It's easy to do. You guys keep the atmosphere light and chill and, yeah, it's just a good time. then to see you and Sarah interact together, you guys really complete each other. So it's nice. Yeah.

Darren (32:12.511)
I appreciate that. She's awesome, man.

Fast-Lane-Living (32:16.93)
Yep. She kind of whips you around, bud. I like it. She kind of takes control.

Darren (32:20.161)
It keeps me in check. I'm cool with it. She let she lets me go hunting and fishing when I want to and we obviously still do stuff together and that kind of stuff. I mean, she likes shooting. She's not a big fisherman, but when it's time, when it's time that she can go fishing, she'll go fishing with me. But she's I definitely got her to go shooting and she.

Fast-Lane-Living (32:24.472)
Yeah, I like it. I like it. For sure.

Fast-Lane-Living (32:33.658)
Right.

Fast-Lane-Living (32:44.537)
Yeah.

Darren (32:50.08)
I'm gonna say this because I mean it's even being recorded so I'm in trouble but she shot better than me at the Sporting Clay's event last year. So I just gave her that credit, you guys heard it, I gave her that credit, she shot better than me.

Fast-Lane-Living (33:00.026)
well, at least you get you get another year though. Right. I feel a rematch coming on. I do. I think I think there is a rematch. boy. Darren, I'll be honest with you. Trish out shoots me every time.

Darren (33:11.647)
That's...

Darren (33:18.463)
And honestly though, I it might be, I think it's a woman thing. They're like born to be able to shoot better than us. Because my mom is a great shooter too. I mean, she shoots awesome. Yeah, we all have our moments on where we have problems shooting, but she's, I mean, she's a pretty good shooter.

Fast-Lane-Living (33:23.194)
I think it is. But he's better in the bow. He's better at the bow.

Fast-Lane-Living (33:34.457)
Right.

Fast-Lane-Living (33:39.835)
Yeah, I don't know. don't know what the we had a guy once tell us that it's because What did he say? Women are just more they we tend to be more like stable like or more less like shaky or you know I don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but yeah women are usually more stable. Yeah, we're more stable. We're the

Darren (33:53.215)
Mm-hmm.

Fast-Lane-Living (34:03.418)
Don't say anything, Darren. Darren's like, I'm human, I'm all shut. You're trying to get married, right? Right. For sure. I'm not. No, you... Nice. Exactly, right? Four points of contact. Four points of contact. Hold on. There's two, gravity affects us a little.

Darren (34:04.553)
There is that.

Darren (34:10.335)
Yeah. What are you talking about? I'm more stable than all you guys. I'm on four wheels.

Fast-Lane-Living (34:23.45)
Right? Gravity makes me smash my face. It's Vaseline living, buddy. Right? For sure. You guys are great. It's good to know you guys, be friends with you guys. For sure. Definitely spend some time with you guys. I know you guys were over for a little car get together we had last year. And yeah, just all around. We really appreciate you guys. Right? And sort of my Disabled Outdoorsman shirt. So I like the shirt. It's the best. Yeah.

Darren (34:48.407)
I've seen that and I don't even have one on today.

Fast-Lane-Living (34:52.054)
That's all right. It's it kind of looks like it. You don't know. So so let me ask you this, Darren, when let's say you to take a group fishing, right? And you got a handful of people in chairs. How do you get the chair from the dock into the boat?

Darren (35:02.865)
Mm-hmm.

Darren (35:08.765)
Great questions. Um, yeah, that, uh, well that, I mean, that's the fastest way. Um, it's the fastest way. So, I mean, that's why we do the launches is because it's, they make it very easy. They got, um, these launches, they got sea legs. So they literally can lift up one side of the boat.

Fast-Lane-Living (35:10.094)
Like a running start? Running start, probably not. And then one of those throwables that kind of like just in case. And it's the fastest way. We got to get out there, they're biting.

Fast-Lane-Living (35:32.605)
stable.

Darren (35:36.636)
So it makes it level with the dock. And the guys up at Nitties, up at Hunter's Point on Mille Lacs, they have a piece of wood that they literally put on the boat and on, it sits on the dock, but it literally locks onto the boat. And then you just wheel across right onto it. And then whenever they get everybody on board, they raise the sea legs up so the boat's sitting normal. And then they latch the door and that kind of stuff.

Fast-Lane-Living (35:40.1)
Gotcha.

Darren (36:06.211)
And if it's going into a boat boats a little different because I mean obviously different people are different with their tall they transfer and that kind of stuff but perfect example is Mike my stepdad he made these two ramps that are even with the sidewalls of his the inside of his boats, he's got aluminum craft and he'll

Fast-Lane-Living (36:15.876)
Yep.

Fast-Lane-Living (36:31.418)
Okay.

Darren (36:34.308)
tie the boat off to each side of the, or on the front and the back, to hold it to the dock. And then, pop me into a wheelie and either my mom will sit in front or if somebody else is around, they'll sit up in front just to make sure I don't tip forward. But then it's more or less like a dolly going down the steps and you just roll up and roll right down the ramp, me in and he has one of the chairs missing and off we go.

Fast-Lane-Living (37:03.258)
Nice. Don't you think it'd be easier if you had one of those little kids slides and then you just like went up a ramp and he tipped you into the slide and then you just kind of like went around in a corkscrew fashion into the boat? Don't you think that'd be easier? It would be more entertaining, a little funner.

Darren (37:03.853)
And then it's just a reverse.

Darren (37:15.001)
Yeah, it would be. But they also, Minnesota is actually working on with the DNR. Some boat landings actually have a lift. And it is literally, you roll up to it and you will attach it to each side of your chair. And it's literally like an engine hoist where you can

Fast-Lane-Living (37:23.962)
Especially if there was a ball pit in your mode.

Fast-Lane-Living (37:34.606)
that's great.

Darren (37:44.141)
jack it up a little bit so you're swinging on it. They swing it out over the boat and drop you down into the boat. And it's, mean, that's probably one of the easiest ways. I did that up at Rainy River. We did, there was a landing there that had one of those there and it actually worked pretty slick.

Fast-Lane-Living (37:50.499)
Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (37:55.257)
Right.

Fast-Lane-Living (38:05.434)
Yeah, that seems pretty nice. That's that's kind of like the one that is in the like the pools at the hotel where I would let allow you to get into the pool like that.

Darren (38:11.436)
Yep, it's exactly like that, but this one actually, instead of you transferring onto it because you're going into like the water, it just has hooks on it and you literally just hook each side of the chair so it holds it and then you just hang onto the cables or the chain while it lifts you up and sets you down. And then once you're in the boat, you unhook it and off you go.

Fast-Lane-Living (38:32.538)
Nice.

So you've seen that in Minnesota or where have you seen that?

Darren (38:38.815)
Yeah, I, and I know that, Nate and Dean, and I say Nate and Dean, I mean, they're both guys that are obviously board members for disabled outdoorsmen, Minnesota, and also very close friends of mine. They have been working with the DNR and I, and I say they, because it's not me, it's those guys doing that work, which they do outstanding work with talking. They've met with the DNR, they meet with, US Fish and Wildlife to

make things more accessible for the physically disabled, whether it's a disabled veteran or just a civilian disabled. I we service all disabled people, physically disabled people.

Fast-Lane-Living (39:29.146)
No lines are drawn. Right, no lines are drawn. I like it. You guys do a good thing there, man. Yeah, it's a really cool, I think it's amazing. know when I first heard about it, I was like, you know, that is, it's a really cool thing. I just think, like, the whole idea of getting them out there when it's something that previously, likely something they weren't either gonna do on their own or think that they couldn't do it, and be able to have a resource to help them out to get out there is just super awesome.

Darren (39:56.543)
Yeah. Yeah. What's that?

Fast-Lane-Living (39:56.891)
So Darren, I got a question for you. Do you have a bucket list hunt that you want to complete?

Darren (40:05.511)
If I got one hunt that I... One hunt or can I tell you two hunts?

Fast-Lane-Living (40:11.744)
You can tell me to. You can tell me as many as you want, buddy.

Darren (40:16.223)
I mean, I would love to be able to go to like Alaska and go on a waterfall hunt. It'd be awesome to shoot a night or something like that out there. Or...

A giant frickin' elk, man. If I could get out on a big old elk hunt out west, those would be like prime hunts that I would forever be talking about. I'd probably talk about them forever.

Fast-Lane-Living (40:36.259)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (40:43.661)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (40:49.932)
Right.

Darren (40:51.497)
But no, I mean, there's all kinds of different types of hunts that would be fun. to me, going to Alaska, waterfall hunting would be absolutely freaking amazing. And then to go out west somewhere and shoot a big old bull elk would be awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (41:09.058)
Right, that would be pretty cool, man. El Contín seems pretty wild.

Darren (41:13.332)
Boy, I got a buddy that hit a fricking moose up in northern Minnesota with the thing literally came at the front end of his Suburban and he did everything he could to avoid it without crashing and it literally took out the side of the Suburban and then took out the whole side of his trailer where he had a side-by-side sitting.

Fast-Lane-Living (41:40.027)
man. Yeah, they're no joke. They're pretty, they can be pretty, especially the males can be pretty aggressive in those. Yeah, I've had my dad tell me that they would actually charge the semi. You would come to a stop on the road and then it would be up opposing you and it would start charging the semi and ram his horns right into the grill.

Darren (41:52.211)
I'm gonna say.

Darren (42:01.491)
Yeah, it, yep. And that's exactly what it did is it charged at the front end of the vehicle. So he's like, well, I got to like slam on the brakes and move over to the left, miss the left side of the lane. And it just did literally. I don't know what he did, but he, did something to. And then was going 65 miles an hour and this thing was charging right at the front end of the vehicle. So for him to be able to have the mind.

Fast-Lane-Living (42:16.992)
Wow. Just.

Fast-Lane-Living (42:30.03)
Did you tell him?

Darren (42:32.007)
Go ahead.

Fast-Lane-Living (42:33.262)
Did you tell him not to swerve?

Darren (42:35.795)
No, he will he says he didn't really do it like swerve swerve. He just moved over so it won't hit head-on

Fast-Lane-Living (42:42.554)
Right. Well, we a trailer too and it's like you're not doing big swerves. No.

Darren (42:48.019)
Go.

Fast-Lane-Living (42:50.362)
Yeah, they can be pretty nasty from time to time.

Darren (42:50.429)
We are not.

You got to keep the meat though.

Fast-Lane-Living (42:56.558)
He did. Nice. I bet you that's quite a bit. I would think so.

Darren (42:57.628)
Yeah, they let him keep it.

Darren (43:03.87)
yeah, he got quite a bit out of it.

Fast-Lane-Living (43:06.488)
Wow. So did it total his chuck out?

Darren (43:09.809)
No, that's the thing is it literally ripped off the mirror, dented up the passenger side door a little bit. And then I don't think it did anything else to the actual suburban. And then the trailer was one of those aluminum trailers for ATVs, UTVs. So it has the side, the side loading gate and then the rear loading gate. And it ripped off part of the side loading gate and then like

Fast-Lane-Living (43:29.87)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Darren (43:37.638)
the fender back on that one side of the trailer. Didn't do anything to the side by side or anything, so it was, but it killed it. And I was like, you got lucky, man. That could have been way worse.

Fast-Lane-Living (43:40.794)
Still usable. wow.

Fast-Lane-Living (43:49.755)
Way A head-on with that thing would have been the worst thing ever. Yeah, that would have been awful. Like it charging and hitting head-on. Oh, that's... For sure. That's awful. Would have been terrible. Yep. Well, those two sound like great ones. said... Yeah. You'd probably have a whole bunch more, but we're not going to make you keep listing them off, but they sound great. Man, Alaska sounds like it'd be great just to go up there for any reason. I know.

Darren (43:55.339)
yeah, that would have been terrifying.

Darren (44:13.777)
Right? Damn, I,

Fast-Lane-Living (44:15.042)
At first I thought you said a waterfall hunt. I'm like, yeah, I bet you they have some great waterfalls.

Darren (44:20.589)
My buddy Chad went to Kodiak Island two years ago with his brother to try to, they went deer hunting for a sitka deer is what it's called out there. he got to see a couple, he seen one big old grizzly bear that was just, it was literally walking through the water chasing after fish, trying to catch fish, trying to eat.

Fast-Lane-Living (44:35.193)
Yeah.

Darren (44:48.43)
Never bothered with him or anything, but he he showed me a video of it and that was pretty awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (44:48.814)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (44:54.724)
Do know how grizzlies catch fish?

Darren (44:58.35)
I don't I mean obviously with wall with their big old freaking mitts that they have

Fast-Lane-Living (45:04.474)
Trisha, how do grizzlies catch fish? With their bare hands. She was just waiting and you were trying to answer it. I was like, oh, she's got something for you. of my favorites.

Darren (45:08.96)
Darren (45:17.134)
I felt something coming up on that when she said that I was like, she's got some kind of a joke

Fast-Lane-Living (45:23.738)
So you have, well I shouldn't say you, but Disabled Outdoorsmen organization have a pretty cool event coming up here in, what is it now? Couple, three, four weeks?

Darren (45:38.254)
It's a two and a half weeks actually. It's May 17th. It's our third annual Sporting Clay's fundraising event. It's our yearly banquet. I mean, I asked a few different people. I've asked a few of our board members and they've asked people if we want to do just strictly a banquet or if we wanted to have it the way we have it to where we can make it fun also. Do shooting and have the banquet all mixed together.

Fast-Lane-Living (45:40.982)
One and half weeks. Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (46:05.487)
Yeah.

Darren (46:08.823)
So everybody always said that they liked shooting and having it that way. So we do it up at Wings North up in Pine City. It's Chad Hughes, the owner of Wings North. Hands down, probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet in your entire life. He would take the shirt off of his back for anybody. That's just the type of person he is. He's always a huge supporter of disabled outdoorsmen. But anytime you have any kind of, you want to go pheasant hunting, you want to go.

working with your dog for training, you want to go shoot Chuckers, any of that kind of stuff. Chuck out Wings Norts. I mean, you will not be disappointed with those guys. They got an awesome grill. You can do different type of shooting there. have pistol range. They got a rifle range. You can do trap shooting. You can do sporting clays, which that's what we're doing at our event is sporting clays.

And then they also have a thing called a European chute. For those that don't know what a European chute is, is a big giant circle. It's got a tower in the middle of it and you have stations around the whole big circle. And they release birds, pheasants, truckers, pigeons, however many birds that you pay for. They have you go to different stations and they literally rotate you through this whole thing until all the birds are gone.

Now me tell you, I've done a bunch of different types of shooting and that European shoot's freakin' awesome. Everybody always smiling. I I think there's a lot more shotgun shells that are shot than what need to be shot, but I think it's just because people are having fun. back, mean, any of your needs for that kind of stuff, mean, check out Chad with Wings North and he'll take care of you. But anyway, back to our event.

Fast-Lane-Living (47:46.682)
Yeah.

Darren (48:08.074)
It's, um, it's our third, third year doing this. We take on donations to help raise money. I mean, we're doing raffle items, silent auction. got, uh, I think we'll have five or six guns that we'll be raffling off there this year. A couple of pistols, rifle, shock, a couple of shotguns. Um, it is, it's $75 a person that includes a round of sporting clays and lunch. And then.

donation to the organization but if you don't want to shoot it's but you still want the lunch and still come that's thirty dollars registration can all be done online at our website and you guys you guys have the website so don't try to spell it all out because it is kind of long sometimes people are like what's that website again but

Fast-Lane-Living (49:00.566)
Yeah, we'll throw it up on the screen for everybody and then we'll also have it in the comments for everybody as well to be able to get get to it. Yeah, no problem

Darren (49:05.77)
Perfect.

And I mean, if there's anybody that I you can be a sponsor of the organization. have different tiers of sponsorship and what the different levels are. It's you got your bronze, which is two 50. that gets you into a drawing for a chance to win a gun at the event. I mean, our sponsors, we have a do, we do a special, drawing for sponsors for a gun. So what your

Fast-Lane-Living (49:37.434)
Nice.

Darren (49:38.376)
Bronze level gets you one chance. Silver gets you two chances. Gold will get you three. then silver is $500. Gold's $1,000 sponsor. And then you have your platinum, which is $2,500. And that gets you five chances at winning a shotgun. But it.

Fast-Lane-Living (49:58.043)
Do you still, are you still accepting sponsors for that up until the show?

Darren (50:02.118)
Yes, we'll take sponsorship and stuff right up until a couple days before. Because I have one of our sponsors, a Lager over in Arden Hills, they print our signs and make our sponsor signs for us.

Fast-Lane-Living (50:10.467)
material.

Fast-Lane-Living (50:18.924)
Excellent. Yeah. So you want to be able to get those signs out and stuff for him. So yeah.

Darren (50:22.888)
Or even if you just want to donate, say you...

Fast-Lane-Living (50:26.618)
Mm-hmm.

Darren (50:30.12)
Say you got a case of shells or something, or you got a blanket that you think would be good for a raffle or a silent auction item. mean, any kind of a donation that way helps out huge, because it helps us.

Fast-Lane-Living (50:37.817)
Yep.

Yep, I remember the Thailand auction was awesome last year. Yeah.

Darren (50:44.603)
Yep, and it's, I don't know if it, we're not gonna have as many items, but I know we're gonna have better quality items. We have, I mean, we got that table from Trackchair. It sounds like Fleet Farm actually just gave some, gave some gift cards to us. We got,

Fast-Lane-Living (50:52.463)
Gotcha.

Fast-Lane-Living (51:05.102)
Nice. Everybody loves Fleet Farm, right?

Darren (51:09.51)
Yeah, everybody loves Sweet Farm. But we got, uh, Rig'Em Right. They're one of our big sponsors. They're sending stuff to us. Um, Sitka Gear actually is our first year having them be a sponsor. They gave us something. We got, uh, shoot, a pheasant shoot from, I mean, I, I'm pretty sure Chad's given us one from, uh, Wings North, but we're getting a pheasant shoot from Sandpines. So we got, I mean, we got a handful of stuff for

Fast-Lane-Living (51:13.146)
you

Fast-Lane-Living (51:18.49)
Peace.

Fast-Lane-Living (51:35.098)
Peace.

Darren (51:38.519)
raffling off or silent auctioning off but it's big things obviously the guns and winning the prizes that kind of stuff but you got to check it out it's it helps us raise money for our mission and of getting people out because that's we like these hunting and fishing events because we make we like making these big memories for people

Fast-Lane-Living (51:45.902)
Yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (52:02.017)
Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about, like, for somebody who wants to come out, what's that day gonna look like for them? If they wanna come out and shoot and do the whole thing. Yep, especially someone that hasn't been there before.

Darren (52:14.149)
So it's a registration. I it's actually would say registration because it's everything's done beforehand. So you just go you get out there. It's check ins in between nine and 10 a.m. You just check in. You'll come up to the front entrance into because he's got a huge tent next to the actual building. But that's where you'll see the signs and that kind of stuff. But everybody will check in there. You can check out our raffle items and.

we'll have a 50-50 and that kind of stuff for people. But once you get checked in, there will be a safety speech at approximately, I think it's 1045. Chad, the owner of Wings North, will actually do a safety speech about safety of shooting, making sure you, that's huge, you make sure everybody's always safe, when you don't injuries or anything. You'll go around, you'll shoot your...

Fast-Lane-Living (52:59.894)
always.

Fast-Lane-Living (53:04.547)
Absolutely.

Darren (53:09.859)
50 rounds of clays, but it's 10 stations, five clays at each station for a total of 50 shells. Federal ammunition is a big time sponsor of us and we have a bunch of trap loads, 12 gauge only, they're there for anybody to use and it's a donation at will so it's not like we're saying, you have to buy them because it's just a donation.

Fast-Lane-Living (53:32.761)
Awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (53:38.17)
Sure. Okay.

Darren (53:39.907)
but, and then after we shoot, we eat lunch and then we'll do, do a little brief announcement. just pretty much thanking everybody, doing a little bit of prize stuff for shooters because they, I mean, top team, that kind of stuff. And then, we'll start doing drawings and that kind of stuff for people that, that bought raffle tickets or did silent auction. We'll list all that stuff off.

Fast-Lane-Living (53:59.215)
Yeah.

Darren (54:08.799)
Usually try to get people out of there about five o'clock, four or five o'clock. So it's, it's an all day type of thing, but it's, it's definitely worth it. And it is a great time.

Fast-Lane-Living (54:20.59)
Yeah, it is a ton of fun and you get food right? don't might have missed it food. Yep.

Darren (54:24.214)
Well, yeah, I'm not. I think we're going to do a burger bar this year. think that's what we did last year, but I think that's what it's just, it's easy and it's not, you don't have to. It's just, I mean, it's something that everybody, everybody likes a burger. So.

Fast-Lane-Living (54:33.262)
Yes.

Fast-Lane-Living (54:39.552)
Right. Yep. course. Absolutely. Yeah, it was such a we came out. know we, and I came out last year and volunteered and helped out and it was such a fun event. Even, you know, we didn't shoot. I know we were talking about maybe maybe trying to shoot this year. We'll see. But we'll definitely be out there no matter what. And yeah, it's just that it was such a fun event last year. And for the first time, I'm not experienced in shotgun at all. In fact, full disclosure, I've never actually fired a shotgun.

So we'll see what happens there. But so it was just a really cool new experience. And even for somebody that's never done it has no idea. Like it was super cool to be out there, see what it's all about, you know, check out the organization. Just amazing people to like it's such a cool crowd of people to be around. And, you know, it's a it's a great group that you guys got over there. So I really we always enjoy our time when we when we're with you guys for sure. Yep. Fully agreed. So, yeah.

Darren (55:08.417)
the

Darren (55:33.121)
Awesome.

Fast-Lane-Living (55:35.854)
pretty much you gotta bring yourself your own 12-gauge shotgun and sign up online ahead of time. Where was that registration at?

Darren (55:41.121)
The registration is at, I mean, it's at our website.

Fast-Lane-Living (55:47.372)
on their website. Will you just say it out loud and then we'll also include it down there?

Darren (55:50.367)
Yep. It's a disabled outdoorsman. M E N M N dot net is the website and that'll bring you, I mean, there's the spot on there. If you wanted to do the sponsorship, you could do the sponsorship. You can register for the clays and the lunch, or you can register for just a lunch. So it's either way it's, it's available online. And if you don't want to do it online that way, you're always welcome to do it via Venmo.

Fast-Lane-Living (56:04.867)
Perfect.

Fast-Lane-Living (56:14.34)
Sounds good.

Darren (56:19.676)
which is just you look up disabled outdoorsman Minnesota for Venmo and that's how you can pay that way also. But easiest way is just to go on the website.

Fast-Lane-Living (56:27.31)
Okay.

And if you were looking to be a sponsor, that would be on the website as well. Okay.

Darren (56:33.832)
Yep. Yeah. My phone number and stuff's on the website too, so you can get a hold of me. It's probably the easiest to just get a hold of me that way, and I can send anybody any information that they might be needing if they can't find it.

Fast-Lane-Living (56:51.064)
Awesome. Sounds good. Would you have room for Wallaway and B-Rocks to sponsor you?

Darren (56:57.502)
We would definitely have room for that. I would just need a double logo sent to my email so I can get it on a board.

Fast-Lane-Living (57:00.122)
you

Fast-Lane-Living (57:05.818)
Yeah, of course. problem. We'll do that on the 16th. Just kidding. We'll do that too, We'll get that too, if somebody like me wanted to come out who had never shot before, at least a shotgun or even maybe nothing, I don't know, and they wanted to come out and give it a shot and they had, they were able to, you know, they got to supply their own weapon or their own shotgun, is this an appropriate event for them? Can they come out and get some instruction and have a good time?

Darren (57:11.134)
You would say that too.

Darren (57:35.389)
Oh, for sure. I mean, there's so many people out there that are... I mean, you get a lot of guys that are in sporting clay leagues that come out to these type of events. I mean, there's... There'll be plenty of people around to be like, hey, you should be holding the gun like this when you're shooting and make sure you're always pointing it this way. it's... There's more... There'll be more than enough people around to say, hey, this is what you should be doing.

Fast-Lane-Living (57:42.339)
Yeah.

Darren (58:03.74)
Or suggests doing to me obviously people have their own comfort levels of how they're shooting and that stuff and people that have never shot the shotgun before I mean it might be familiar nice to get familiar with Handling a shotgun prior to coming to the event because it is kind of fast-paced. It's not Like just hanging out plinking. I mean you're you're still plinking, but you're doing it with a 12-gauge shotgun

Fast-Lane-Living (58:06.338)
Help me out, yeah.

Fast-Lane-Living (58:18.787)
Yes.

Fast-Lane-Living (58:26.403)
Right.

And there's people waiting, you know, there's people going through there. Yeah, because you move through like, it's like stations, right? And then each person goes through how many about how many people are on a team?

Darren (58:40.248)
There was five people per team and you each shoot. So there's two, I mean there's, when you go up and shoot, you're doing it all five times. So your first shot will be a single and then the second two shots will be pairs. So you'll say pull, you'll shoot once, put two shotgun shells in your gun, say pull, you'll shoot the first target and as soon as you pull the trigger,

That second target's already coming out and then you'll have the other one to shoot. But that's the way that it works for the five rounds at each station. And then...

Fast-Lane-Living (59:12.442)
Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (59:18.682)
And that kind of describes sporting clays, right? Okay, because there's different types of, like, say, like clay pigeon type of shooting, right? There's sporting clays.

Darren (59:28.954)
Yeah, there's, you got sporting clays, got trap. Trap is just a trap house that comes out and it goes straight left or right. So mean, it's pretty straightforward on trap sporting clays. got all kinds of different stations. So I mean, it's, you may have a station that's thrown out clay like it's rolling, like a rabbit hopping around. You might have one that throws it way out. You might have one that comes right at your face. Um, but

Fast-Lane-Living (59:41.379)
Okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (59:50.63)
Darren (59:57.739)
There's different ways. it's similar to, shouldn't say similar because it's not. Skeets is fast paced. You gotta be quick with moving a gun for that. But that's, you're at different stations. Do you see different ways of shooting? But it's very consistent with the way that the skeet works.

But there's, mean, personally, I, sporting clothes is my favorite just because it's the most realistic when it comes time to bird hunting. Obviously it's not nearly the same as bird hunting because bird hunting is always going to be different than shooting an orange little target flying through the air.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:00:34.137)
Okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:00:41.39)
Mm-hmm.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:00:44.858)
Well, if you're gonna if you're gonna hunt ethically, you know, this is practice. Yeah, right

Darren (01:00:49.709)
Yeah, I mean for sure it's definitely helping with your shooting mobility or your shooting skills.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:00:53.752)
Right. Yep. And I remember last year when we were there, I didn't shoot, but I did do some walking around and kind of watching a little bit like when you were shooting and when Nate was. And what I noticed that it was kind of like the setting was kind of like as if you were in the woods and there was a walking path between stations. And so for a lot of it was kind of like the woods was the backdrop, right? So it wasn't like wide open field or anything like that. Maybe it was a station or two that was kind of like that. But yeah, it was just kind of like you're in the woods and you're

You know, they have all these little stations that they're tossing the pigeon, clay pigeons out of and yeah, it seemed like a good time. think you're definitely going to have to give it a try this year.

Darren (01:01:32.629)
yeah, I second that. It'd be nice to have you guys out there and try it.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:01:38.243)
Nice, I can show you how to do it. He's already talking smack. That's awesome. We're super excited for that event and what you guys do. you know, hopefully we can, you know, get some more people out there for you to help support a really cool organization that's, you know, changing lives for the better.

Darren (01:01:40.535)
Yeah, you know what that hat what that means that means you're not gonna shoot one

Fast-Lane-Living (01:02:05.952)
I really think some people might not think that...

you know, getting outdoors is a necessity, but I think that if you talk to anybody who is an outdoorsman or loves the outdoors, you'll quickly realize that, it actually is a necessity, right? You know, being able to experience those things is a lot of times something that they really need to be able to do and be out in the woods and be able to experience that. So it's pretty amazing that you guys are helping people still be able to experience that. And so, we'd love to be able to help you guys out and get some more people out there. So go sign up.

If you want to shoot go sign up if you just want to support and have some lunch you could do that too right for Discounted and you know as always you know go out to the website And there'll be you know spots for donations and things like that to help support these guys Because they're doing some pretty amazing things out here

Darren (01:02:42.871)
Bye, y'all.

Darren (01:02:53.635)
Yep, and I do want to throw in one more thing. Total Offense is where we get all of our guns from. They've been supporting us since day one. But they're right in Ramsey. They're a big time supporter of us and they...

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:03.82)
Excellent.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:07.929)
Nice.

Yeah.

Darren (01:03:13.919)
They're small business, anytime anybody can go support them, please do. I know they'd appreciate it. We like to support the local businesses around us is what we strive for. The Noca Legion riders, they do a bike ride for us, which they'll be doing here on the second Saturday in July. I think it's the 12th.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:20.308)
Nice.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:40.858)
Okay. Nice. Can we find a lot of this info like on your website or if we follow you on snowfills?

Darren (01:03:43.059)
That's when...

yeah, or even look us up on social media too on Facebook. Facebook is where a lot of stuff gets posted. So it's to me, it's disabled outdoorsman Minnesota. But that'll be, you'll be able to see anything on there for upcoming stuff. If we don't get it sent out via email to our members or sometimes it doesn't make it on the website, it will get it on social media. Because mean, social media spreads so fast.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:51.331)
Yeah.

Okay.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:03:58.52)
No problem.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:04:15.386)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, Darren, life tried to slow you down, but you're still living in the fast lane. So we love it. It's great to see. Keep it up. Heck, yeah. Yeah, we appreciate you and all that you're doing out there. And, you know, this really cool things that you guys keep pushing forward. Right. And so what it's all about just living the fast lane, making it happen. Yeah. So it'd be great to see some new faces out at the at the event on the 17th.

Darren (01:04:25.053)
Nope, I appreciate it guys.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:04:45.21)
Definitely go online and register and get out there. Even if you've never done it before, you're still welcome, right? Let's go do this. Let's have a good time. Let's get some of these other guys out in the woods and in the lakes and having a good time. And that's what it's all about. So, signing off. You guys stay in that fast lane. Thanks guys. See you next week.

Darren (01:05:06.035)
Thank you.

Fast-Lane-Living (01:05:10.17)
Alright, stay there Darren.