04/01/2023
Ten years ago today, we left the Mexico border with four Texas A&M graduates, a dozen mustangs, two cameramen, and a dream…all equally wild…and embarked on an adventure through the rugged American West. Six months and 3,000 miles later, we reached the Canadian border, and two years later, the world got to join us on the ride of a lifetime when Unbranded premiered at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada. Last weekend, for the first time in ten years, all four riders, and four of the original mustangs, got together to celebrate the anniversary of this life-changing trip. I was fortunate enough to join them for the weekend in Texas filled with riding, fishing, swimming, and stories…from a trip and a film that set us all up for the decade just past and all it brought with it.
A lot has changed since Unbranded ended, and we all went our separate ways. Somehow the boys are now “men,” with wives, kids, and successful careers…still, though, making room for adventure! The stories around the fire flowed as fast as the cold beer. We shared many of the incredible memories and stupid s**t we did along the way. Any group spending six months together is going to have both high and low times. Many were discussed, and either celebrated or buried. It was clear when we parted ways that regardless of all the different paths our separate lives take us on, what we went through on the trail created a lifelong bond as brothers.
One important personality missing from the reunion was our mentor Val. Sadly, Val passed away in 2022. Val devoted his life to helping people and he made our dream possible. Val truly considered all of us his own sons. He was a cowboy of the past and a one-of-a-lifetime character to meet. He taught us many life lessons and left us with his list of sayings. Here is a few of them:
“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
“Things turn out best for those who make the best out of the way things turn out.”
“If ya think someone’s got ya by the short hairs, they probably do.”
Thanks to everyone that has supported us along the way and helped to make this happen. Until the our 20 year!
Phillip
