A shout out from too long ago...

[Dominic Gill]

Dear friends and family

I have not used this email list for a long time, what with being between adventures that give me news that I think might interest you all. But now, in an attempt to prevent a mass exodus of people from my life, I have gathered launch codes from three briefcase carrying gentlemen and activated the Emergency email launch system. This is not a test.

Firstly, my apologies for not being in touch for so long, to nearly all of you, family included. I am currently in Los Angeles and have been since the beginning of January, beavering away on the visual results of the Dom and Ernie Project, in an edit bay deep in the Santa Monica Mountains (but not under an artificial lake that looks like the crater of a volcano). I am staying with my girlfriend Nadia in Santa Monica, 28 blocks from the beach, and only 20 minutes from the mountains, which, while never snowy, are beautiful and packed full of nice adventurous places. A recent weekend jaunt included searching for a new climbing spot and ending up rescuing an obese black labrador that had foolishly followed me into the irritating and prickly Californian brush. the dog didn't thank me and the climbing equipment never left my backpack - serves me right for not being satisfied with the wealth of climbing areas that are already established.

For those of you that didn't know or wondered what became of me since the first 'Take A Seat' in which I travelled on a tandem bicycled from Alaska to Argentina picking up random and very friendly strangers en-route, I arrived  at my destination in Ushuaia in August 2008, and after a year had produced the documentary of my travels. A year after that the book was published, then, in July 2010 I set off to cross the states from LA to NYC on another special tandem bike, the idea to take the aging cancer patient Ernie Greenwald on the from and document our travels. I had met Ernie on my first journey, but sadly, after a year of planning, he became too sick to travel with us and the plan was quickly changed in an attempt to try and keep his dream alive in some way.

On July 5th I set off and for 3 months, with the support of Nadia and Alonso a Chilean friend of mine driving a vehicle, I cycled across the states with ten different impaired individuals taking a seat on Huckleberry the bicycle. Ernie never took part in this journey with me and very sadly passed away near his home in California while my small troop was passing through Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Ernie had left a legacy that meant ten other people had an adventure in his place.

I am of course in the planning stages of a new adventure for a new documentary, but I hope to see lots of you before another complete cycle of doing and editing has been completed! I hope this finds you and your most probably expanding family (since I last saw you) in good health. Please do keep in touch and take care

Your friend

Dom

Dominic Gill

Take A Seat, the Book

FB group: Inclusive Adventure

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web: www.dominicgill.me