Shift 3 Difficulty Day was awesome. Cale and I drove about 4 hours to the Ozarks to go camping in the middle of Matt and Sara Keener’s property.

We had lunch with David and Tanya, and then Cale spent about an hour with each of them individually. Around 5pm, we set up our tent and went on a short hike to find a tree to cut down. Cale cut down the tree (much more difficult that he had anticipated). He then split firewood, started a fire, and cooked a couple of steaks for dinner over the fire. I gave him a customized hatchet after he was finished.

After dark, we laid in the tent and “listened” to the incredible silence. It was almost eerie how quiet it was out there. Anytime there was any noise at all, Cale would get a little nervous about what kind of animal was walking around outside of the tent. Around 4am, a big thunderstorm rolled through. Loud, rumbling thunder, bright lightning, and heavy rain for over an hour made for an interesting night. The tent held up well, and we stayed dry.

We enjoyed the drive home the following day, and had a couple of good talks about life, girls, etc.

One of the best things about these past 30 weeks has been the building anticipation for Mason. I know that he is seeing everything that Cale and I are doing together. I am really looking forward to starting this entire program over with Mason in the summer of 2026.