Wool-Peddlers
Four buddies embarked on a cross-country journey with our rolling pop-up shop, the Wool Peddler. Starting in Brooklyn, New York and ending in Portland, Oregon, the guys visited sites across the country and took turns snapping some incredible pictures.
Photography and videography by Kyle McCarthy @thekylemccarthy
So you guys took the Wool Peddler cross country from Brooklyn to Portland? How'd that come together?
ZACH: Yes! it was an incredible experience getting to travel across the United States for Wool&Prince! Kyle had done some freelance work for Wool&Prince so he already had some form of relationship with the company. Then in the fall of 2015, Wool&Prince posted on their Instagram about the idea for the trip. Kyle saw the post and reached out seizing the opportunity and using his prior relationship with the company to establish some level of confidence that we could pull it off.
KYLE: It was an incredible opportunity. I’m always looking out for ways to combine my work and skill with opportunities for adventure and exploration. When Wool&Prince posted on Instagram asking someone to take the peddler from coast to coast, I wasn’t sure if or how it would work, but I found some friends to come with me and we made it happen. Honestly, I’m not sure what Mac (Wool&Prince Founder) was thinking when a few random guys from Arkansas showed up in Brooklyn with a decades old Jeep ready to see as much of America as possible; but we appreciate the trust.
How did the Wool Peddler cooperate? It's gotta weigh 200+ pounds, right?
ZACH: Considering how heavy it is, the Wool Peddler is fairly easy to maneuver, as long as it’s on flat surface. It quickly becomes terrifying and impossible to control on an incline. I would say that the biggest struggle was getting it on and off our trailer, luckily there were three of us on the trip so it was quite manageable.
How does the Wool Peddler crew know each other?
KYLE: We’ve known each other for several years through a number of settings and experiences. We all mostly met and established our friendships through our church in Northwest Arkansas that really focuses on community and developing meaningful relationships.
Tell us a bit about your church and how it plays a role in your community? Kyle works at the church?
KYLE: We are really fortunate to be a part of a church that is healthy (not perfect) and seeking to share the grace of Jesus with others in a personal way. Fellowship’s vision is to change the heart and soul of Northwest Arkansas and the world. It primarily seeks to do this through personal relationships in small groups studying the Bible and being real with each other (which is how a few of us met). And yes, I work at the Fellowship as director of media and communication. If you are interested, here's a link to our website: http://www.fellowshipnwa.org/
Back to the road trip. Did you guys have roles or responsibilities on the road trip?
ZACH: For the most part we all just did whatever we needed to do to get by. We worked well as a team and just watched out for what needed to be done, covering for each other where it was needed. Kyle was the primary photographer, videogragpher, and editor. I was the model for the most part and a secondary photographer.
KYLE: It was pretty well balanced and great to have drivers to rotate. The A/C did go out about ⅓ of the way through the trip and we drove most of the way with the windows down, which makes it harder to have conversation.
You saw a lot of national parks. Was there anyone in particular that was a unanimous favorite? Any off the beaten path spots that were a hit?
ZACH: We all had our own personal favorites, but Glacier was unanimously loved. We found it difficult to explore a whole lot since we were trying to maintain some sort of schedule and get the most out of the experience, but while we were still in New York we camped on top of a mountain that used to be a forest fire lookout station in the Catskill Mountains. If you ever get the chance, I would recommend checking out Mount Utsayantha.
KYLE: The badlands were the best surprise (maybe my expectations were too low), The Great Lakes are beautiful, Palouse falls, The Black Hills, The Oregon coast, any forest with birch trees, just driving across rolling hills and huge skies, and when you live in Arkansas, anytime you see the ocean is a bonus.
You had a close call with the car and trailer I understand. Tell us about that.
ZACH: Yep, so when we were in the Grand Teton National Park our car broke down and we had to be towed out for repairs, but since we had a trailer it would have cost an extra $150 to have the trailer towed as well. To avoid this cost we called the park and asked to leave it there for the next couple nights while we got the car fixed, they said it was fine. Long story short, it was not fine. We ditched the trailer we started with, rented a uHaul trailer, and lost three days of our trip. In the end we were just happy to be back on the road.
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Was there a song that became the road trip mantra?
KYLE: The spirit of the trip was really established when we listened to the Call of the Wild audiobook.Often on roadtrips I’ll try not to listen to the same song twice. I did fall in love with Aoife O’Donovan’s album “In The Magic Hour” (still currently topping my albums of the year) and remember a few hours of being the only one awake with The Appleseed Cast, Anderson .Paak, and Deafheaven. Here's our Spotify playlist.
How'd the Wool&Prince gear work out? You guys were decked out with every style we make, right!?
ZACH: Yes, we had a good mix of the of long sleeve and short sleeve shirts, as well as the underwear. The gear was arguably one of the best parts of the trip. When you are in a car with three to four guys, you have to pack light and you have to pack durable. Wool&Prince gear helped us achieve just that. We each only had a couple shirts and they all stayed clean and wrinkle free for the whole month we were on the road.
KYLE: The shirts are great. They are hardly marketed as travel clothes and they are the best I’ve come across. We were able to roll into New York City and not seem like we just camped in New Jersey; or maybe more importantly, roll into a Wool Peddler event in Portland and not look like we had camped in New Jersey 3 weeks ago and camped every night since.
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