I ATTENDED GART 4 UNDER DURESS AND THIS IS WHAT I LEARNED...

FOUR DAYS OF AMAZING CHANGES AND FEARS OVERCOME.

THE PLOT

It all started in January when Brian told me he was attending the Great American Restoration Tour in Dallas in April.

Brian has been attending, even participating in numerous conventions and events over the years so this was no surprise to me, I’d even watched the first Threadfest remotely as well as one of the previous GARTs.

(THUNDERDOME is reader supported! To receive new posts and to support my writing, please consider becoming a paid subscriber!)

His activities increased considerably after moving to Lakeland, Florida as his star continued to rise online and in social media thanks to his amazing Substack RISE OF THE NEW MEDIA.

Yes, he would say the usual, “I’d like you to attend, it’s being held in Dallas which is rather close to you, everyone wants to see you and are always asking about you, when are you going to attend,” etc.

I gave my usual excuses expecting Brian to grumble a bit, then drop it as he has many times before.

He didn’t drop it.

BOY, did he “he didn’t drop it.”

One by one he stripped away all of my usual excuses. “We’ll see, I’ll tell you later, I can’t afford that…”

“I’m going to fly down to Corpus, rent a car and drive you up there to attend.” he said.

“It’s time you took this next step, actually far past time…”

My brain froze.

Excuses not accepted? What to do now? Is he serious?

I decided to ask leading questions that would then be used to reinforce reticence until I could change the subject or he dropped it.

I asked how much a ticket cost.

$450 I was told!

PERFECT!

“I can’t afford…” I started whereupon he immediately said “I’ll pay for everything.”

FUCK!

As my panic rose Brian messaged “You need to meet people and start participating to grow your digital footprint.”

Making connections with like minded people at these events is a vital part of that.

I’d heard all of this before as I was ducking, dodging and weaving my way to staying put and happily isolated.

But this time Brian wasn’t cooperating.

He was doggedly persistent, insisting I needed this and that was that.

I had two choices.

Be the absolute Bastard & crush this trip when it would be too late for him to respond, or surrender politely having had all of my excuses and bluffs called.

I politely admitted defeat and agreed to go.

People should understand just how dismal my physical condition was/is. I was 360+ pounds in January when I began the Carnivore Diet. My physical activity was worse than dismal. HOW was I going to manage this?

Then on March 14th I had a MASSIVE nosebleed.

Scratch that, I have a blood vessel in my nose burst.

After driving myself to a nearby Emergency Center the ER Doctor told me I was lucky to be alive.

My blood pressure had spiked overnight to such a degree, that if that blood vessel hadn’t failed I almost certainly would have had a fatal stroke or heart attack.

I spent the next month recuperating and rebuilding my health as I moved to One Meal a Day (OMAD) to reduce weight and had some success.

---

THUNDERDOME is a READER-SUPPORTED PUBLICATION!

That means every single paying subscriber to THUNDERDOME is one of my Patrons!

I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you because it is your regular support that allows me to do this column.

If you see value in my writing and would like to become a Patron, you can do that for as little as $5/monthly or $60/yearly. And I thank you for your support.!

You can also make a donation of any size here:

DuaneCates’ CashApp Account

Or buy This old Greybeard a coffee! BuyMeaCoffee.com

KIDNAPPED

When Brian arrived at my door on April 16th I had managed to drop to 340 thanks to that change in diet but my cardio capability was still a flat ZERO.

I pictured myself falling over & dying in front of a crowd of stunned onlookers at GART as all of my bad health decisions caught up with me in a final, humiliating dramatic exit.

My mind was racing on pure negativity and fears of how I would appear and be responded to by all of the Badlanders present.

Would I be a profound disappointment to my audience?

Would I inadvertently do or say the wrong thing?

Brian became something of a lifeline of pure confident sanity throughout as we packed for Dallas.

I had already fully committed, so all of my concerns were about screwing this up by being unable to walk from HERE to THERE or by disappointing those present with my ineptitude.

I loaded into Brian’s rented Nissan Rogue with a sense of both curiosity, road trip fever and doomed foreboding.

“What will happen WILL happen.” I told myself sternly.

It’s up to me to handle whatever happens with grace.

So I banished all dark thoughts and began to enjoy the scenery.

I remember posting “HALP! I BEEN KIDNAPPED!” On my X Account. Sort of true.

ARRIVAL

We arrived in the afternoon and checked in at Candlewood Suites, then we drove to the Southlake Hilton for the VIP Dinner to begin at 7 PM.

I waddled into the Hilton Lobby focused on not embarrassing myself overmuch and avoiding a medical episode.

Whenever possible, I sat down in a nearby chair to recover my breath, which was rapid and shallow.

As I’d feared, I was the fattest, most unhealthy Spud in attendance.

And it didn’t matter.

No one, and I mean NO ONE treated me like the big, ungainly lump I felt like.

Every single person I saw or interacted with was kind and considerate and was genuinely glad to see me.

I met five people who were fans of my THUNDERDOME livestreams and Chill flights who introduced themselves by their Rumble or Twitch handles and also had the odd sensation of about 20 people saying “Hi Duane!” with a smile as they passed me in the hall.

AMAZEMENT

I was completely overwhelmed by the close of Friday night’s screening of the fantastic documentary A TIME OF DECEIT.

Not only was everyone there kind to one another, not just me, there was an invigorating energy in the room of purpose and belonging.

Of a coming together to heal ourselves mentally and spiritually from the overwhelmingly dark forces we are contending with as we focused on how we are going to assist Donald Trump and his allies in recovering and restoring our American Dream.

Saturday, for me, was even brighter than Friday as the full day’s panel discussions sparked thoughts and emotions on many topics and occurrences near and dear to me.

The biggest delight of the event for me was to meet Air Force Lt. General Steve Kwast (Retired) and his lovely wife Joni.

They went out of their way to introduce themselves and were especially happy to see me there.

I had only heard of General Kwast in passing over the years as one of Trump’s chief reasons for creating Space Force and Steve filled me in on his current work with the company he co-founded and is current CEO of, SPACEBILT. (Formerly SkyCorp)

His vision for America’s future is in space and he’s determined SPACEBILT will be the logistics cutting edge of that effort in making that happen.

I have full confidence he’s going to succeed and exceed expectations in that regard.

I knew at that moment, as GART ended for the day that I was going to return home and hurl myself back into the digital fray with renewed vigor backed up by vision, a vision provided me by this amazing group of Badlanders moving unafraid towards the worthiest of goals, the restoration of what it means to be and live as an American should.

And I guess that was the whole point of GART, for everyone involved.

To renew and rekindle our energies as the fight continues forward with ever increasing intensity.

Because we must win this Psychic War.

No other outcome can be countenanced.

This is a struggle to the bitter, BITTER END with these Jackals & their Ghoulish Masters.

It will be ALL or NOTHING.

So the enemies of humanity are going to reap NOTHING.

Their lot and richly deserved due.

In this #SoulWAR.

(THUNDERDOME is reader supported! To receive new posts and to support my writing, please consider becoming a paid subscriber!)