For months, literally months (probably 8+ months) we have been planning to have our southern friend from Mississippi Sean Rigby join us on the final San Clemente Island kayak mothership trip of the season. We met back on our Louisiana road trip and instantly took a liking to him. Let me explain why.

First… all jokes aside. A solid dude, I mean he is thicccck. No, for realsies… Sean is a great dude that made a big impression on the Fish Village team. The night we met, he was hammering away at a MirageDrive with the bottom of a bourbon bottle as if that was normal. See, he was legitimately trying to fix something and instead of looking around for a hammer, he just used the bottle. Joe and I were like… \’what in the hell did we get ourselves into?\’ Little did we know… we would be seeing each other again after our Louisiana adventure.

When I called Sean and invited him out on our 3.5 day San Clemente Island kayak mothership trip… he immediately jumped on it. We texted each other like little teenagers telling each other how excited we were… if read in the wrong context… one would be confused.

Well… fast forward to July 5th when Sylvia and I head to LAX to grab Sean and the shenanigans began. We tracked his flight so that we knew when to pick him… it worked out perfectly. We got there right as he was coming outside from a long walk between terminals (LAX is a hot mess, more than usual with billions in construction). I called him and said… \”I am at the terminal.\” He answers… \”I am outside.\”

I look at Sylvia and say… \”he says he is outside, but I don\’t see him.\” So I get out of the car and Sylvia stays parked while I walk to the baggage areas thinking he was closer to there. He can\’t find me and I can\’t find him. Now that Sean has had a cigarette again, he can think clearly and decides to drop me a \’pin\’ of his exact location. So I followed my GPS to the exact spot which was hilariously 10 ft from where we stopped the car originally. HE WAS UPSTAIRS in the departures area damn near on top of where we parked. He needed a pull from a cigarette so badly that he just exited out the first set of doors that lead to the outside. Welcome to California.

My favorite thing about Sean is that he never shuts up… just keeps going. That was true from the moment we picked him up to the moment we dropped him off. We got back to my place at about 1 AM and we just started hitting the beers (smashing beers) as Marty would say. His high energy makes it so easy to have a freaking blast and not even know what time it is. We got a few hours of sleep and then got up and started our journey south to San Diego.

We made one quick pit stop to see my Pops… he loves Sean. They met on our Louisiana adventure and just took a liking to each other. Sean asked to see him and the stars aligned as my Dad was home and able to sneak away for a quick lunch visit. It is fun to see my Dad connect with the people that we get to meet as a result of Fish Village… a super bonus for all of us!

Sean would introduce himself to just about everyone that made eye contact with him… \”Hi, I am Sean… I am from Mississippi\” If a boat went by… \”HEY, I AM SEAN… I AM FROM MISSISSIPPI!\” He was our stateroom bunkmate… Jesse (always), Sean and myself. Let\’s just say that we had a no farting rule simply for the sake of survival. That rule was only observed when we were conscious… all bets were off when we were sleeping.

My favorite quotes (cover your eyes if you don\’t like foul language):

• \”Hey Mike… can I put my finger in this fish\’s mouth?\”
• \”MIKE… what are we going to do now?\”
• \”I fucked up my first cast\”
• \”I want to fuck that sea lion\”
• \”Put this on his tab\”
• \”Hi… I am from Mississippi. We fuck everything.\”
• \”I am an extra-extrovert\”
• \”MIKE… what are we going to do now?\”
• \”Can you just do that anywhere in California?\”
• \”I think he threw up last night..\”
• \”Jesse… I can\’t see over here, will you open your mouth and shine those bright white teeth so I can see?\”
• \”Can this fish kill me?\”
• \”Everything you heard about Mississippi is true\”
• Texts me a picture a tall beer in the airport… \”I am going to get kicked off a flight\”
• \”Ya\’ll should come visit me in Mississippi… we\’ll BBQ a fucking zebra…we will do all the thangs!\”

Sean was the cherry on top of a kick ass kayak mothership season… we haven\’t laughed that hard in awhile. Thanks Sean for making the trip and helping create some super fun memories…. we are coming for that zebra!!!