The Wonderfully Fantastic and Sometimes Curious Life of John Patrick Rausch

 Wow! Have I been busy. I've got some short articles in the works on my favorite beer bread recipe, how much progress I've made on the banjo, and of course the full story of my month long road trip in July. Stay tuned! 

       I’m gearing up for a big car camping trip across the west right now and thought I’d break this one up into a few updates since the trip will be roughly three weeks give or take. The plan is to hit glacier, visit some family and friends in Washington and LA, then the national parks in Utah. Roughly. I consider this my first “legit trip” because I actually built a bed, a little kitchen, and a shower into my Odyssey.      Well everything was going swimmingly until I encountered the single handed most frustrating thing that can happen before big trips: sickness or injury. Some of my biggest adventures have been foiled or nearly foiled by this. Last summer my first two racing blocks got off to a rough start when I unexpectedly lost about 15 pounds (165 down to 150) right before I left. This oddity resulted in a…bad time…till it got squared away later in the race season. It just so happened to strike again though. A handful of days before my proposed ...

       Sharply at 3:30 am I was awoken by a whirlwind blasting sand into the tent and covering me from head to toe in the course and fine abrasive I so hated. Little did I know the impending storm would be much worse….      This is the story of how I came to decide that kayaking 300 miles on the Missouri River, solo, and inexperienced, would be a good way to celebrate my graduation from college. It is also the story of how many people tried to talk me out of it. Lastly, it’s the story of an epic adventure that I’ll never forget and probably repeat pretty soon.      Sometime in early April I sat down to figure out my summer plans.  I knew that I had two weeks before Blueberry season home on the farm that I could utilize for roving. The original idea was to actually spend that time portaging and floating the Boundary Waters, but that proved to be too much planning and specific gear needs to meet my two week time frame. So after a brie...

      I was chatting with my good friend Claire the other night and she suggested I write about my bucket list. There are some pretty crazy and odd things on it. Of course there are adventures and accomplishments, but supplementing it are just odd things I want to experience some day. So take a look, comment on what I should maybe add or subtract. Or tell me your top bucket list items. Thanks!  Hike the Camino Hike the whole AT Hike the whole PCT Visit all the National Parks Race in a Category 1 bike race Learn to sail a boat Go scuba diving Hug a woman that is taller than me (not weird, I've just already hugged guys taller than me) Meet someone with different colored eyes Go to the Vatican Explore the world Sing Irish music in an Irish bar Learn to play the Banjo Visit a monastery and hangout with some monks Write a book Learn to make Kombucha  Write and sing a song Skydiving (duh) Go on an extended floating trip (portaging or source to sea kinda dealio) B...

       I was getting coffee with my old buddy Jared this morning and as we are both about to graduate in a little over a month, we started to reminisce and share about our feelings of melancholy. This kind of interaction has been happening between other graduating seniors and myself for a little while now so I thought I would compose my thoughts on this and share a little bit about what it's like to be on the "precipice looking over the edge" between what we culturally consider the defining point of college student and full blown adult.  Freshman year, after getting in a debate with the Chief Engineer for Clif Bars at the Chancellors house for dinner      One of the topics we discussed over coffee this morning was the comparison of how time seems to work. Recalling freshman year, in hind sight, everything seemed new. A new place, new friends, new experiences, new lifestyles, new habits, new freedoms, etc. This in turn creates a place in our memory...

       I thought I would take a quick second to write about something very near and dear to my heart: going on adventures. If you know me, then you know I've got a lot of crazy stories and odds are pretty decent that you'll never hear all of them. From absolutely ludicrous camping trips to epic feats of athleticism to well executed itineraries to 11 hour drives with no plan at all; I've had my fair share of adventures that went great...and not so great. Here is some advice I've picked up along the way. I hope that it can help you turn the TV off, get up, and get after it.  Sunrise on a trip last year 1. When it comes to planning, its optional.       When someone thinks about adventure and how cool it would be to do XYZ or go to XYZ they can sometimes get caught up in trying to plan every detail or fretting over packing each day with pre-planned activities. Now, I'm not trying to bash researching what you're doing ahead of time, its a great id...

       What happens when a well trained and highly motivated engineering student gets snowed in at school? Well sometimes they decide to cut loose, throw caution to the wind, crack open a computer, and let the scientific juices flow.       In just this scenario, I was trapped by an ice storm yesterday and instead of doing the responsible thing, like studying the second law of thermodynamics, I chose to check off a bucket list item. Create a robot to draw pictures, write essays, and pretty much do whatever I want (with a writing utensil and paper of course.) Now, at any given moment I've probably got enough spare parts laying around to build a spaceship or change the balance of power in the world. A curse and a blessing tis' having a fully stocked workshop in my bedroom.       I started off by working with my bread and butter; CAD modeling. For the uninitiated, this is an acronym standing for Computer Aided Drafting. Drafting is...

     I arose this morning sharply at 4:00 a.m. Magnificently thankful for yesterday's John going to bed on time, I hopped out of bed and folded my blankets. As the morning was slowly coming to me I too slowly started to wake up. Eventually I sauntered into my closet, donned my hiking clothes and pulled out my Osprey.       As the morning wore on I bustled about the apartment grabbing this thing and that thing and forgetting to grab that other thing...maybe twice... and around about 5:00am I was finally ready to go. Almost. The one thing I was missing was pancake mix. Fortunately, my friend Claire was awake so I zoomed over and borrowed some flower, salt, sugar, and baking powder. After topping off the gas tank I hit the pitch black road.       I exited the highway and pulled into the parking lot at Spring Creek Recreation Area after a short 20 minute drive north. After switching my Barefoots for hiking boots, gloving (yes, that is a...

      I will lay my cards on the table. Swing dancing attracted me because I am interested in a girl that knows how to swing dance and what better excuse to literally get closer to her than by dancing together. This is my story of how I deep dove into the world of swing dancing and my first thoughts after a week of lessons (probably about 5 hours in total.)       It all started when my buddy Evan came over to play some ping pong at my apartment one Saturday. He soon found out that one of my roommates, Karleigh, is a swing dance instructor and they busted out some really impressive dances. I was so impressed I asked on the spot for them to teach me how to dance. A few hours later and I had the basics of East Coast swing dancing down; Ladies turn, Gentleman's turn, Open to Close, Pretzel, and Bowtie. The next day just so happened to be Sunday which is when the local swing dance club has their free classes. My roommate Ian is also learning so we went...

“Priests; say your mass like it’s your first one, last one, only one. People, live your days like it’s your first one, last one, only one.” - Canon Dumain       Up until this week, the most interaction I’ve had with the government on any level was voting in a few elections, going to a school board meeting, and being in the back of a car that got pulled over because my brother was speeding. Now I’ve taken a bus halfway across the country to rally for the pro-life cause in Washington DC.        All this came about when my rambunctious colleague Devin texted me and asked if I wanted to go. Immediately I said yes, then learned I would have to skip the first week of classes for senior year’s last semester and doubled down! As I prepared to go, I was advised by some friends that it might be wise to notify my professors of my absence. I sent out the emails and inside of 5 minutes got the following response from my aging and oddly energetic English profes...