So what's on your bucket list?

20 Feb 2017 So what’s on your bucket list?

Posted at 11:27 PMh in Features by 501 LIFE

501 LIFE recently asked its editorial board members and contributors to share the items on their bucket list – completed and those they hope to complete.

A bucket list represents those items – places to visit and special experiences – an individual would like to undertake before “kicking the bucket.”

“The responses were very creative and interesting,” said editor Sonja J. Keith. “While travel seemed to be a common item, it was intriguing to see how the individual’s hobbies or interests were reflected in those things they hope to accomplish at some point in their life.

“We thank our team members for sharing their bucket lists with our 501 LIFE readers.”

Glenn Crockett
Audience Solutions Director of Sales
Acxiom Corporation

Glenn Crockett of Conway has a bucket list item with 50 parts – to fish in every state in the United States. “I have always loved to fish and have to travel for work, so I thought I could combine the two,” he said.

The bucket list quest began about four years ago. “I had been fly fishing on the Little Red River with some friends and on the drive back someone mentioned their bucket list. They talked about traveling to different countries and things of interest to them and I started thinking about what I would like to accomplish. David Hambuchen and I discussed fishing in every state when we retire but I thought I would get a head start.”

While he doesn’t have a master plan for his bucket list, Glenn travels with his job so he uses that time and those opportunities to snag a few states. “So far, I have fished in North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Virginia, Nevada, Hawaii, California, Florida, Oregon and Louisiana,” he said. “I still have a long way to go.”

This year, he hopes to pick up a couple of close states, like Mississippi and Kentucky. “Since this is a bucket list, I guess my deadline is right before I take my last breath.”

There have been some memorable experiences along the way:

NEVADA

“My sales team won a trip to Las Vegas last year and since Lake Mead is fairly close, I rented a car and several of us drove over to see the Hoover Dam. I packed a travel fishing rod on the trip so we ran by a marina, where I got a fishing license. I walked over to a bank near the marina and made a few casts. The challenge is to fish in every state, not catch a fish in every state. Mission accomplished. We were told that because so much water is pulled out of the Colorado River upstream for irrigation, eventually Lake Mead will be dry.”

CALIFORNIA

“California was interesting. I was in Los Angeles on a business trip and the group I was with decided to have dinner near the Santa Monica Pier. After dinner, we walked out on the pier and I saw a guy fishing off of the end of the pier. I told him my quest to fish in every state and he offered to let me fish with one of his poles. He said that you didn’t need a license to fish off of the pier. I trusted him and made a few casts. I actually think I got a bite or two but didn’t catch anything. The guy went by the name of Smiley and he said he had a good friend who lived in Cabot. It is a small world. I was later told that it was a $1,200 fine to fish in California without a license, but after a quick Google search, I verified Smiley was telling the truth.”

VIRGINIA

“In Virginia, I am not sure I fished in an approved location. I had a meeting in Charlotte, N.C., and knowing Virginia was close, I decided to try to conquer another state. In this case, I had to buy a fishing pole, a lure or two and a license. I saw a river running through a small town but didn’t see how to access the water. I stopped by a convenience store to get some advice. The clerk said I could get to the water through a parking lot of a local automobile dealership. Sure enough, I found the parking lot and may or may not have fished on private property to get this state checked off of the list. A few quick casts and I was back on the road to Charlotte. I think this could make a good country music song.”

HAWAII

“What a blessing it was to fish in Hawaii. I did some research and the island of Kauai where we were staying is one of the few places in the world to have Peacock Bass. However, Kauai is not a very large island and the choices to fish for those bass are limited. We hired a guide who took us to a very small lake and we fished for several hours without catching a single bass. We were fortunate so see a small Peacock Bass and they are beautiful.”

Glenn said he has been fortunate to catch some fish while on his quest. “I have been very blessed to have many memorable, successful fishing trips in Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Minnesota and Montana,” he said. “Whether I catch fish or not, I get to enjoy God’s creation and often get to meet very interesting people.”

Shelli Crowell
Travel Care Administrator
Koontz Electric Co. Inc.

The top five on my bucket list:

Make more conversation between God and myself.

I turn 50 on Feb. 9 and I want to learn to love ME more!

Revamp my vintage camper!

Go to national parks all over the U.S. with my husband in our vintage camper.

Do more ancestry research while at campsites in the vintage camper and also collect more friends/family!

Lori Melton
Conway Market President and Commercial Loan Officer
First Service Bank

On the list:

“Tahiti or Fiji and stay in one of the huts over the water – my retirement present to myself.”

Her husband, Gerald, wants to attend the Kentucky Derby and hopes to cross that off his list in the next few years.

Stewart Nelson
Retired mayor of Morrilton

“My best experience was when I took my father on his bucket list trip to Alaska and my mother-in-law to hers, a University of Tennessee football game in Knoxville. Both of them could not walk over a few hundred feet at a time and they had heart conditions.

“My wife also took her mother to New York City to see stage plays on Broadway. The most enjoyable bucket list events are not what you do for yourself, but what you do for others, especially for your parents.”

Completed on the bucket list:

Shopping in a Kasbah in Casablanca, Morocco. “It was great fun but I don’t have to go back. Shooting with my GoPro was another adventure that I learned to do as a long-term photographer. Taking the video was as much fun as what I shot.

“Some things ended on my bucket list after I had been there, like visiting the Twin Towers in New York, taking my god child before 9/11.

“The most important thing on my bucket list that I only realized later was making my home in Morrilton. My daddy’s dream was that he could move to Arkansas and I get to live that dream for him.“

On the list:

“I am going to take the Christopher Columbus return trip from the New World back to the Old World under sail in a 150-person ship and play with my Ham Radio at sea from Barbados to Lisbon.”

Visit Ireland.

“Until the current problems, I wanted to walk where the Biblical Paul walked in Turkey. Paul ended up in jail but I don’t want to.”

Alicia Hugen
County Extension Agent – Staff Chair
Conway County

On the list:

Become a pilot (and win the lottery so I can purchase a P-51 Mustang or a Falcon Jet).

Become a scuba diver (see the Great Barrier Reef).

Hike the entire Appalachian trail.

Float the entire Buffalo River starting at Ponca into White River and Mississippi River, and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Make a difference in someone’s life (I want to be a rich little old lady who secretly pays off debts for strangers, leaves groceries on door steps, provides an entire Christmas for a family in need, etc.)

Deanna Ott
Director of Public Relations
Central Baptist College

Completed:

“I recently marked off going to New York at Christmas and ice skating in Rockefeller Center.”

On the list:

Attend an Olympic Games and the Masters Golf Tournament.

Travel to Hawaii.

Make a substantial gift to a charity

Total re-do of my kitchen (it seems there’s always something else that needs to be done first).

Mike Kemp
501 LIFE photographer
Owner Mike Kemp Photography

Completed bucket list:

Driven race cars/exotic cars.

Flown a plane under a pilot’s guidance.