Editor’s note: I found this blog written by Owen Gibson to be inspiring and hope you do too.

Don't Blink Trailer | The Great Wisconsin Adventure Story from Don't Blink on Vimeo.

In April of 2014 my best friend, Gregory, lost his Mom to cancer. She was just 51 years old and we were all devastated. It changed us, and we knew it would. But we didn’t realize how much it would, nor did we foresee the incredible journey that it would set us on.

We realized we weren’t guaranteed 80 years to live. And even if we did, my 80 year old Grandma can attest how time flies by. The four of us did not want to simply exist– we wanted to feel alive.

So Gregory showed all of us his mother’s dream board that she had created and left behind. On it was listed numerous items and activities that his Mom had wanted to complete before her time passed. Some items were checked off while many others were left untouched. We added some of our own ideas to the list, forming a bucket list and decided to complete it in his mother’s honor.

It began small, and we started locally. We didn’t have much money so we’d just hop in the truck and drive around the state of Wisconsin. We rode an elephant at the Baraboo Circus, milked a cow, sent a message in a bottle, explored the Cave of the Mounds, jumped off a bridge and much more.

We created a vlog to share our adventures and the response was incredible. In fact when a former PBS producer and Wisconsin filmmaker who worked for my Mom caught wind of what we were doing and our plans for next summer he thought we really had something. Over the following months we worked with him to shoot a trailer and develop a proposal for an 8-episode documentary series. We shared this with Wisconsin Public Television who not only loved it and wanted to be apart of it, but are interested in broadcasting the series.

The series will follow us as we chase our 14 biggest Wisconsin bucket list items. Yet it’s more than that. It’s a series that is not only fun, entertaining, and inspiring but it will challenge the viewers to get creative, to adventure, and to explore what is possible in this incredible state. Among our planned destinations for next summer are the scenic, rolling valleys of Driftless Wisconsin. In one of our episodes we will be rafting down the entire Wisconsin border of the Mississippi River stretching through the heart of the Driftless Wisconsin Area. Along the journey we hope to meet locals and immerse ourselves into the river culture as we go. We also plan to live with the Amish and dance in an Indian Pow Wow — both of which open our eyes to new experiences and people we may not ordinarily meet.

Yet, to make this happen, we need financial help. If you are interested in sponsoring or supporting this incredible show in anyway send us an email at [email protected] and we’d love to talk with you. Otherwise, we’d greatly appreciate it if you would share our story and our trailer.