EP23 - The Tate's Great Loop: Adventure on the High Seas to GigCityElixir in Tennessee

Episode Summary

This week on the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chats with Bruce and Maggie Tate with Grox.io and the GigCityElixir Conference. During the episode they will talk about their grand adventure, buying a boat and taking it on the Great Loop from the Tennessee River, to the Mississippi, out to the Atlantic Ocean, up the coast, through New York to the Great Lakes and back down the Mississippi to get home. This incredible, life changing 9 month boat trip resulted in a book and an epic talk at the 2023 Carolina Code Conference. All of this was done while working remote. We’ll also hear about GigCityElixir, how it started, how it’s going and what is coming up on May 9th - 11th in Chattanooga back to back with NervesConf! This one is epic.

“We named her Currently because we wanted to really pay attention to
the trip, kind of just be present.” - Maggie Tate

“More people climb Mount Everest than do the Great Loop and I understand why. It’s emotionally hard, it’s physically hard but it’s oh so tremendously rewarding too.”
- Bruce Tate

Episode Notes

Highlights from this week’s episode include:

• GigCityElixir helping out the Carolina Code Conference (1:56)

• What was the origin of this Great Loop boat trip? (3:19)

• Getting the boat and nearly wrecking it immediately (9:24)

• Pocket Trawler: A boat that can handle this trip (14:21)

• Lock Systems: Elevators on the water (17:13)

• Returning from sea through New York (21:50)

• 9 months on a boat, working remote the entire time with Peplink (25:57)

• Rough water, bad weather and communications planning (29:17)

• Bursts of travel, waiting out storms, planning your dock access (33:45)

• Currently - Naming the boat and writing the book (37:50)

• GigCityElixir: Nurturing Coding Communities (40:00)

• Starting conference invites with…bourbon? (44:00)

• What’s happening with GigCityElixir in 2024 (49:06)

Links

• LinkedIn - Bruce & Maggie

• GigCityElixir and NervesConf on May 9th - 11th

• Grox.io

• Bruce’s Talk from the 2023 Carolina Code Conference - Loop

• The Book: Currently Away on PragProg, Bookshop and Amazon

• Peplink Systems

Carolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.

Developed with assistance from Heard Media.