Coming Down

Another installment of our hypothetical series! Enjoy!

Though the uninitiated might assume that all psychedelics essentially do the same thing, anyone who has been there will tell you that each has their own distinct flavor. In fact, some are definitely better than others at producing certain desirable effects. This is why after doing cartwheels down the razor's edge of sanity on acid all through that first night (allegedly), Nathan and Rikki not only...

This podcast, henceforth referred to as Coming Down, is for entertainment purposes only. Any and all actions of persons mentioned, whether living or dead, may be exaggerated or fictional accounts. Any alleged illegal activities be they past, present, or future are hereby vigorously denied. With that in mind, here's part one of Nathan and Rikki's trip to Desert Days.

The first year of college is a heady time. Not only are you navigating a minefield of sex, drugs, and alcohol, you also have to show up for class and maintain a passing grade if you want to continue. Finding a familiar face in the crowd is a welcome respite from the constant churn of campus life. What does one do, then, when it is discovered that this familiar face is a facade for legitimate terro...

The Pacific Crest Trail is a scenic 2653 mile long hiking and equestrian trail that threads the spine of the Western US through the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges. Popular with thru-hikers, the journey is usually four to six months for full traversal. Our buddy Mark decided he was up for the challenge, and he gives us the scoop on how he managed uninterrupted footsteps through a summer rife wi...

Hello and welcome to our second annual Halloween Spooktacular! Unfortunately we don't have a Halloween story this year so we are starting a new tradition of airing holiday episodes on unrelated holidays. Enjoy this week's double 4th of July episode! SPOOKY. 🕷️👻🎃🕸️🦇💀

This week we are airing the seventh episode of what was our Patreon exclusive series: Hypotheticals. In this series we explore the manifold solutions to some of life's most difficult hypothetical conundrums. Enjoy!

At first glance, Gerlach Nevada looks like a wide spot in the road. A place so small that you might miss it if you were to blink while driving through at speed. But every August since 1990, the town becomes ground zero for a parade of seventy thousand freaks. They are all headed to the Black Rock Desert for what is arguably the world's weirdest festival: Burning Man. This week our return guest Jos...

Teenagers and parents rarely see eye to eye on anything. That goes double for anything that might alter consciousness. It follows that teens would then come up with a number of strategies for disguising their attempts at intoxication. Some strategies are clearly more viable than others. When discovered, the fallout can take many forms.

The Great American Road Trip: popularized by Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy in On the Road, the road trip has been a celebrated tradition of American youth for generations. Among the rural highways and less traveled back roads, we discover ourselves, and those experiences will define us in the years to follow. This week, Nathan and Rikki give us a back seat view of one of their best - three long ho...

In every human life there may come to pass a moment in which these mortal bonds cease to hold oneself. Those who are lucky enough to find their way back to the firmament often pay a very dear price. We can only hope that there are those around us who heed the call to help, and give thanks for each and everyone who offers aid to their fellow humans in time of need. In this episode, Matthew shares a...

This week's guest is Nathan's former bandmate and longtime friend, Scott. He wants to see as much of the world as he can, but preferably the roads less traveled. No sightseeing tours or tourist traps for this dude - he is looking for life at street level, the way the locals live. This mindset has led him into some truly bizarre adventures, and he gives us a couple of gems in this vein.

Hotel management is a dicey game under the best of circumstances. Throw downtown wingnuts and a concert venue into the mix and your hotel game gets weird to the point of absurdity. Shelby weathered the endless storm of next-level crazy long enough to have a dizzying array of preposterous stories, and she shares some of the more memorable moments with us.

Our friend Zach is from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. So small that certain government offices have been known to close early if their functionaries require sustenance or feel the need to do some afternoon shopping. Due to this strange circumstance, our friend finds himself traveling a rural highway at night. And he finds a surprise waiting for him in the dark.

At the end of all the BS with the courts from Episode 28, Nathan struggles with ongoing financial troubles. His money woes are compounded by a string of bad roommates in a cursed apartment, resulting in more minor legal trouble. Just when he is starting to get his head above water, a detective pays him a visit.    Bonus dangerous knife hits tutorial. 

After launching out of Flint, Michigan like a Saturn V rocket aimed at greatness in astrophysics, Tara takes on her next great challenge: internship at NASA. Though some of the things she worked on during her stay at Marshall Space Flight Center are classified, she shares pretty much everything that won't land her in the clink. Be sure to check the show notes for more!

Back in the summer of '96, Matthew and friends made the trek across the mountains from Bend to Eugene. They were introduced to the ways of the people there, including ganja food for breakfast, perpetual bong hits, basement funk, and mixing mushrooms with jungle juice. Not everyone in the group passed through these trials unscathed, but the lessons learned there galvanized them for what was to come...

There exists a type of phenomenon, even more mysterious than telepathy or precognition, which has puzzled man since the dawn of mythology: the seemingly accidental meeting of two unrelated causal chains in a coincidental event which appears both highly improbable and highly significant.    -Arthur Koestler

Like a long August sunset, Nathan's summer of love slowly draws to a close. Along the way he has acquired deep esoteric knowledge and a sense of purpose that will inform his endeavors for years to come. Though it has been rough in places and mistakes were undoubtedly made, our hero emerges anew, prepared to face his destiny.

Adventurecise: verb ad·​ven·t​ure·​cise | \ əd-ˈven-chər-ˌsīz Engage in hazardous and exciting physical activity to sustain or improve health and fitness while under the influence of psychedelics.    "for eight hours we adventurecised through the park and across town, narrowly avoiding arrest" 

In a sunlit glade outside of history's relentless arrow there is a timeless moment in which the golden warmth of revelry hangs effortlessly in the aether. Nathan interfaced with this eternal aeon several times over the course of one long summer. Like a skipping stone over the surface of a swirling psychedelic pool he dips in time after time, slowly sinking further into the spiraling shape that wou...

Our guest this week, Matt, made a choice as a teenager to take life on its own terms. He hit the freeway with his thumb out, looking for something better down the road. Things didn't exactly pan out the way he hoped, but at least he's still around to tell us all about it.

Happy Birthday 'Murica! We're going bite size again this week. In this festive 4th of July special, Matthew gets a free ride to bummer town courtesy of the PPB. He would like everyone to know that you should not leave your property while intoxicated, no matter what the police say to you.

One fine summer day in Central Oregon, Matthew and a very close friend take a late afternoon hike up to the summit of Black Butte. Their beautiful fungus-enhanced journey to the peak was transcendent and edifying. But the return trip was fraught with peril.

Coachella. Love it or hate it, you have almost certainly heard stories about this towering pile of bands that appears annually out in the California dust. Nathan made it his mission to get his ass out there - twice. The dude was on the front lines for the water shortages rebellion, and he can tell you firsthand that Paul Oakenfold is a total fucking joke.