Ep. 172: An On Location Adventure with Sterling Fiock

[00:00:00] What's brewing at Mall of America this week? A little Halloween mischief, a movie night, and one last chance to get your fall fun in. Mall-o-ween takes over the rotunda Saturday, October 31st. Costume photos and a DJ start at noon, then trick-or-treating at participating stores begins at 4pm for kids 12 and under. Bring a treat bag!

[00:00:21] On Friday, October 30th, catch the rescheduled Hocus Pocus screening in the North Lot. Doors open at 530 and the movie starts at 7. Previously purchased tickets will be honored. It's the final weekend for Twin Cities Fear Fest ending Sunday, November 1. Find it on Level 2 South and reserve your tickets online. And Sunday is also the last day of Taste of Fall. MOA insiders can earn double points when they upload qualifying receipts from participating locations. So save those receipts.

[00:00:50] And check out mallofamerica.com for questions on all these events and more. Now sit back and enjoy this week's episode of So Much More. Mall of America. It's home to world-class shopping, great dining, and amazing attractions and events. And these are our stories. Presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism. Welcome to this episode of So Much More. I am your host, Daniel Jasper. I'm excited about today's conversation.

[00:01:14] I've had the opportunity to spend some time earlier today with our guest, who's awesome, by the way. So today we are joined by Wilderness Adventurer and on-location show host, Sterling Flock. Originally aired on Discovery, Sterling takes viewers along for adventures ranging from hiking and camping to motorsports, off-roading, and wilderness survival. He visited Mall of America today to film a behind-the-scenes adventure and explore our destination and getting insider access.

[00:01:44] And he even checked out Sea Life Aquarium, which is an awesome place to go. So today we're going to talk a little bit about Sterling's background, what his show is all about, why you should watch his show, and what he experienced today at Mall of America. So Sterling, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me, Dan. I appreciate it. Well, we had so much fun earlier today, but before we start anything else, I'd love for you to describe to our viewers what your show is about and where they can find it.

[00:02:10] All right. My show is about outdoor adventures. Anything from putting shoes on, getting some shoelaces, getting them wet and going outside with your pet, your mom, whatever, to full send, send it, slay it, supercars repelling off waterfalls that are frozen.

[00:02:27] It's a lot easier that way. But we also go to butterfly enclosures. We just do all kinds of adventures to help introduce you to something you might want to go do, live vicariously through me, get your toes wet and go like, this is cool.

[00:02:41] And when we're there, we try to meet with subject matter experts. So it's not just me. I've done a lot of things. But so also when you go there, get that subject matter expert so you get that best experience. So you don't miss something on your left because you're looking right at the pretty sunset, which is beautiful. But you miss the pink dolphin jumping on the left side because that's where it lives and the guide knows.

[00:03:05] You know, I love that because I've watched many of your episodes now of your show in preparation for today. Very entertaining, by the way. You need to watch his show. And you do always interact with the experts, which is a great tip because I think a lot of us, when we go on our own little adventures, we're afraid to do that. We think we should either just look at the sign or try to do a little research ahead of time. But there are people oftentimes that are willing to help you, right? Right. You go there and there's the guide that you can pay.

[00:03:35] There's also people you can meet kind of like we met you at Mall of America, a 22-year veteran here. Who knows the ins and outs. So we got to go places that we probably won't get to go. If you watch the show, we got into the only remaining Titan II missile base with an employee who worked there when he was 19 as his first job. So we got to go access points that you'd never get to see otherwise.

[00:03:59] And oftentimes, if you go on a solo tour with your family, you might become a solo statistic of how you get towed out, how you got stuck. You find a new and exciting place to get things stuck. And so just avoid that drama. Enjoy the trip. Unless the trip is getting stuck and that's what your goal is. And that could be a very fun trip. And I think some people go that route.

[00:04:22] But I actually saw the episode, the silo episode of the old warhead that was in there. That was one of the many episodes that I watched of years. I found it mesmerizing. First of all, the guy was awesome to listen to. So lucky to get him. He had so much experience. And then much like here, we got a green light to go into places that if you go, sorry, you probably won't get a go. And so we're asking him, he's like, well, where do you guys want to go?

[00:04:50] Well, I'm like, you're the guide. You tell me. He's like, you guys can go anywhere. Well, exactly. Where should we go that other people don't get to go? Let's go under the rocket. Yeah. So we're under the rocket. We did a missile drill. He walked us through that, showed us the ladder where we'd get to escape if we wanted to. But you wouldn't really want to because they knew where all the silos were. Yes. And so close misses are going to be hyper radiated. Yeah. It was all bad. A couple of fun things from that episode that I loved, right? First of all, I love the drill where you both turn the keys at the same time.

[00:05:18] I got a little heart palpitations going right then, right? That was a scary moment. Well, good news. That missile that they have is the training one and it's never been an armed warhead. Yeah. Which is awesome. Thank you for clarifying that. But it was still fun to see that the computers and stuff look so ancient, which they are. They are. They're old. Yeah. Magnetic tapes. But the craziest thing I think, and I may get this a little bit wrong, was I want to say that they said they had 30 days of food and water and 20 days of air.

[00:05:48] And no electricity. And no electricity. You'll be in the dark. It was dark. They only had like, I want to say 43 minutes of electricity on their batteries because they expected the generator on top to be taken out. Yeah. And then you could choose to try to climb out then, which was maybe 200 foot or more because it depends how close the hit was. Right. If they could even get there to open the door. So very dark time. Yeah. For us and the world just with that much threat. And for that guy at 19 to have that have be his first job. Yeah.

[00:06:17] And the part where you had to be two by two in everything you did, I mean everything. Yeah. You never were alone because it was Cold War. No one trusted each other. So that's just one episode, which is why you need to watch his show. It's really interesting. It really is. But I want to go back for a minute, if that's all right. Where did your sense of adventure come from?

[00:06:37] From a very young age. I'm from a ranch and I thought everyone grew up like I did. I would wake up in the morning by myself because the family had already been at work and I'd be three and I'd get myself dressed and I'd trek a couple hundred yards to grandma's house, get some breakfast and then the day was mine. Yeah.

[00:06:54] And so the adventures of building forts or I watched Tarzan, so I didn't have any vines, but I could get that pine tree to swing far enough to launch me to the next one. My mom was super impressed with that skate. And I started driving when I was four because I could stand on the seat to turn the truck to go down the fields to pick up hay. Okay. I started welding when I was seven. I had my first car when I was nine. I've gone through many, many cars.

[00:07:21] And I know even beyond that, you went into scouting. Talk about that progression as well. I went into scouting and I did everything with scouting from Cub Scouts, Tiger Scouts, Weeblos, Boy Scouts, up through Eagle, Order of the Arrow, O Clusters, Worldwide Jamborees, Worldwide Champion for obstacle courses.

[00:07:42] I did some drag racing a little bit. Very little because, sorry guys, I did it one year, qualified for Grand National Championships and I was like, okay, that's all there is to it. I'm going to go do some other sport. Well, drag racing, you just go straight. I mean, come on, how hard is that? Oh, the timing is important. You're down to thousands of a second for determining who wins. Okay, so it's hard. It can be hard. Yeah. I mean, once you get really, really serious, but it's pretty straight up from the beginning.

[00:08:11] I did some land speed records in go-karts. I've driven circle track mud trucks. I've driven NASCAR cars just for giggles and stuff. Yeah. So on your show, you've driven race cars. I saw you spin out in a race car, actually, on a track. Yeah. Well, I spun out in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 750 horsepower race car. Okay, so it was powerful. A little bit.

[00:08:40] But it was fun watching you drive those cars, but you've gone down in caves and you've gone on railroad rides and I saw you pumping a railroad car down tracks and stuff. We pumped railroad cars. We pedaled railroad cars. Ghost towns. Ghost towns. We biked to ghost towns in multiple mountains. Ghost towns. Not all those episodes are out yet, and they're going to keep being more and more of those. Right. Because we're not stopping the adventures. We go to an area because we want to do a specific thing.

[00:09:06] Then we often spend one to two weeks in that area attaching other things that are close by. Nice. So we make our travel worth it. Yeah, and so people can get the most out of it. And if they go there, they know to get the most out of their visit as well. Yeah, and we're trying to do some more verticals where we're calling it everything you need to know or don't miss. Yeah. So if you're in this area and you're there for whatever reason you're there for, you can take an hour, three hours, and go do this other thing on the side.

[00:09:34] Fun. We're going to come back to that because I'm going to ask you later on everything you need to know about the mall. Okay, I'll try to pass. Is that all right? Yeah, but I want you to know that you're the instructor. I am the instructor, so I'll tell you everything you need to know about the mall. Of all your episodes, though, pick out one adventure that really stood out to you that you thought, wow, this one was awesome. I, well, not too surprisingly, really, really loved kiteboarding. Okay.

[00:10:00] You watch it. You see people out doing it. You'll see them on the river. You're like, they probably started when they were three years old. They were born into this. They have the core strength of an oak tree, and they have the coordination of a spider monkey. Yeah, you don't need that. Yeah. It is such a supportive sport. Okay. I mean, just the gear itself. Not the other people. Yeah. People come and go, but the gear supports you. It's kind of like your water skiing or skiing in general. Sure. While also being at the control of the boat, not just the throttle. Okay.

[00:10:30] You steer where the boat goes. Nice. You move how it makes you go. And we went to a place in Oregon, and it was just an amazing location. They were right on the ocean with about a hundred yard sandbar between them and the ocean on a freshwater lake, which averaged about four feet deep. Okay. So when you wrecked, which you're gonna, you just stand up. Yeah. Okay.

[00:10:53] And then you have ocean wind power. So what is that? That's like a 500 horsepower boat sitting at the end of your string. And it's right there whenever you want it. And if you watch people do this sport and see them just get wrecked. Yeah. Cause you can find those videos and it's pretty horrifying. You're like, I'm never doing that. Sure. If you do decide to do the sport, the number one tip when you don't feel safe is let go. Okay.

[00:11:19] That's all you have to do. It takes the kite, it flattens it, which takes its power band out and it sets you down. Gently and safely. Well, not if you're high feet up. Yeah, yeah. No, but if you're doing what you're supposed to do and you're waiting, you let go. Yeah. It just powers down. Nice. And slowly goes boop. Okay. Yeah. Normally you're doing something much sillier. You're taking it. Yeah. And you're turning it. You don't do that. You just pull on one side or the other and it moves the whole kite and it just powers you up.

[00:11:46] It's super rewarding. I did it for about seven, eight hours. I was just starting to stand and we're losing the sunlight. We could see like we only got like an hour left. So you can see in the video, we gave the cameras to the guides. Yep. And let them just go and do their thing. And that's when we established that our guides had been sandbagging all day. No. They were just hanging out with us goofing off. They were doing 50 foot flips, like 15 flips in the air. Wow.

[00:12:11] And then landing on each other. And they got a hydrofoil board. They were hydrofoiling, got on the board, hydrofoiled up, passed the jet ski at full throttle. Just zinging all over the place. And we got started talking to them at the end. We're like, guys. And this is an indie video. This is behind the scenes. We'd stop rolling, of course. And that's when they really opened up. And they really kind of sounded like the older brother sounded like Spicoli from that old trail. Yeah. So it was like, dude, dude, yeah. Yeah, we do okay, but I don't know. I'm like, what do you mean you do okay?

[00:12:39] Well, we never win. Never win what? Yeah. X Games. I'm third, and he's fifth. Oh, my gosh. In the world? Yeah. He's sponsored by Nike. I'm with somebody else. And I'm like, wow, guys, why didn't you tell us that earlier? Today's your day, bro. Yeah. I was like, that's an amazing attitude. And they're just such a pleasant family to be with. And I really think such a pleasant sport. I would love to try to do more of that. Love it. I just got to carve out the time.

[00:13:06] Right. What about an adventure you went on that something went wrong? Sure. That shocked you, right? We were in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and the guide there was extremely confident that everyone could do this. This is a shoestring adventure. Anyone. I can teach anyone. I'm such a fantastic guide. I got you. Yeah. Okay, great. Yeah, bring the dog. Yeah.

[00:13:29] Okay. Well, about four miles later, in hip, deep snow, I was no longer super sure this guy was leading us the right path, because I'm carrying poor little dogmatics. Yeah. He's just a ball of snow, because if you've seen their furnishings, just packed. We finally get to the top of the waterfall, and it's about a 200-foot waterfall. And we're like, well, dogmatics isn't coming down. We're going to repel him down first, because get him safe. Yeah.

[00:13:54] And then I'm expendable. And we repel off a couple times. It's pretty good times. And then we start ice axe climbing with crampons. And it's fun. It's good. It's hard work, though, carrying on itself. And I was up a little bit, and I hit the waterfall, and a piece of ice about two feet across, maybe three feet long, and four more, some inches thick, just broke away right in front of me.

[00:14:16] And then I could see the clear ice on the inside, and see the water running past that. And I really wondered how much life insurance the production had on me, and what their plan was at that point. Right. Not enough. That's all I'm saying. Well, I made it, though. You did make it. And he just called out. He's like, how high am I? High enough. You good? Yeah. We're good. You're safe. But you brought up an interesting co-star. You're a dog lover, and you have a dog on the show, too. Yeah. Talk about that a little bit.

[00:14:46] We bring our little Scottish Terrier with us. Yeah. Currently, our main adventure buddy is Beatrix. Yeah. And she comes on the very tame, very safe places, because her filter's off. Yeah. I don't think she's felt pain in her life. Okay. So, no fear. Yeah. She saw a coyote in California. That coyote was super awesome, and she wanted to be friends. Oh, I love it. I think the coyote had different plans. And that coyote was interesting, because he did not run away when I arrived. And I was like, okay, yeah, you're definitely on the list of snacks.

[00:15:16] Yes. And I put her ability to know the commands. She knows them all. She'll look at you. She might even stop. Yeah. But she at least just continues doing whatever she's doing. Right. Right. They're a bit stubborn, but dogs are awesome. Are they not? Yeah. Yeah. We met some of yours earlier today, too. We did. And that's a great switch to our storyline today. You've spent the day exploring Mall of America. Talk a little bit about that adventure and why you chose to come to Mall to work on a new episode.

[00:15:43] Well, I thought the Mall originally, I was like, hmm, how's this going to fit? And the more I read, the more it just naturally fit. You guys call yourself, and I'm drawing a blank. The Great Indoors. The Great Indoors. Yes. And I was like, okay, that's cool, but why? And then I saw the power grid that you guys have, the 32,000 plants you have that help make your own oxygen. You don't heat the environment. You're kind of the environment that you're in. Right. Yes.

[00:16:11] And the closed ecosystem. That kind of made me feel, well, that's pretty close to an off-grid setup where you can do so much. And then the aquarium and how you can support it and its filters and its fish was just amazing. And yeah, I've spent all day here, but I spent a lot of time underground. And I would suggest coming here to spend multiple days. I have not seen a quarter of the 5 million square feet you guys have.

[00:18:37] That single day.

[00:19:08] Nickelodeon rides. Nickelodeon rides. I think you need to do the log chute for sure. Well, yeah, that's like outdoors. Right. It's like you're outdoors. You're in water. You're in a log, right? And it's important to do that ride specifically because there's two trees here that aren't real. Right. And so you might as well see the two things that aren't real because there's so much support in you that is. Yep. And they're up above the log chute, right? Right. So, but the rest of them are wonderful. Tell us again the name of your show, where we can find it, and then if you have any handles for social media.

[00:19:36] Okay. Well, the handle will help you find everything. Hashtag on location show, all one word. Yep. We are probably biggest on YouTube, though Instagram is trying its darndest to pass that. So if you like Instagram and they want to support Instagram and us, find us there. We do have more long forms on YouTube, I think, than everywhere else. So if you're like, I like this. This is cool. I want to learn some more, see some more, find out some more things about things I can do in areas, I think YouTube is where it's at.

[00:20:06] I do too. I want to thank you for taking the time today. First of all, thank you for letting me spend some time with you earlier today, showing you around Mall of America. We had fun. And I wish we could use a bunch of the outtakes that we were talking about because we had some fun stories going. But I appreciate your coming to visit Mall of America. Thank you so much.

[00:20:24] And for all of our viewers and all of our fans, please be sure to follow our show. But more importantly, you got to go check out his show. It is absolutely amazing. You're going to love the adventures that you see there and you will absolutely love it. I would suggest going to YouTube because I loved watching the shorts and the longer versions of the shows as well. So with that, thank you so much for watching this episode of So Much More and we will see you next week.

[00:20:52] Thanks for listening to So Much More, a Mall of America podcast. Subscribe wherever you find your favorite podcasts. This show is presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism.