It typically starts in sub-zero temperatures, with boxes and baggage sprawled across an icy parking lot in western Montana, frozen hands working through a checklist and trying to make sense of what goes where. Reality sets in that the truck and trailer in front of you are the closest thing you’ll have to home for the next 25,000 miles through 20 different states. Along the way you’ll meet new friends, see some fishy places, and probably deal with a few road-trip curveballs—maybe a busted trailer axle or an interstate mule deer. As the last cases get loaded, nerves and excitement blend together and the road ahead starts to feel real. That’s when you know the train is leaving, and you’d better hop on.
Life on the road is a blur of long drives, late nights, and theaters full of people who love fly fishing and the community the F3T brings together. One night you’re rolling into a mountain town a couple hours before doors open, the next you’re swapping stories with locals over a beer after the show. It’s equal parts chaos and connection—hauling gear, dialing in the show, and then watching a room light up when the films hit the screen. It’s tiring in the best way, fueled by community, caffeine, and the shared energy of chasing fish and good stories wherever the road leads. What most people don’t see is all the work that goes into the F3T long before it ever rolls into your town. It’s countless zoom calls and emails with sponsors, fly shops, designers, and lodges, all trying to map out the next four months of chaos into something that actually works. It really does take an army to pull this off, and the road crew and I are incredibly lucky to have such an awesome team at AE. Toby, Taylor, Rachel, and Avah, just to name a few, make everything run way more smoothly than it probably should.
This will be my second year on the road with the F3T, and my first year stepping into the role of Road Crew Manager. Joining me again is Bourke—a familiar face from last year, a true jack of all trades, and one of my childhood best friends—basically the glue that keeps the crew, the truck, and the trailer all moving in one piece. New to the road this year is another familiar face from the Idaho Angler in Boise, Ben Maranda, who’s taking over as our road crew media coordinator. I couldn’t be more excited to take on the 20th Anniversary tour with two of my best friends by my side, all of us excited to make this year one of the best yet.
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