All of the previous shows (as well as their comments) are available on the new website and all future shows will only appear on the new site. The first episodes to appear on the new website only are:

• Erk Pod 206
• Erk FM 24
• Blast From The Past 23
• Echo 45

This version of the site will now remain as it is now. To visit the new site, please go to http://www.channelerk.com

Release schedule, show content, show feeds etc remain unchanged.

ENJOY!

Many topics were raised in relation to podcasting, writing, social media and a lot more. Extended interviews with several of the guests will be recorded once Erk returns to Australia. As this was a working Convention, time was very limited so you have many shorter interviews which were a lot of fun to do. While I was familiar with the work of some of the guests, there were some people who were introduced to me and I was interviewing them a couple of minutes later.

Part 1

[Download episode 203 - 65 minutes]

In this part Erk Pod & part Echo Romeo Kilo episode, Erk speaks with the following people:

• Tyler Waldman, host of the RangerCast
• PROMO: 7th Son by JC Hutchins
• Dave Slusher, ground floor podcaster & host of the Reality Break podcast
• PROMO: Murder at Avedon Hill by PG Holyfield
• Tee Morris, podcaster and author and future vistor to New Zealand
• Ninjas V Zombies
• PROMO: RangerCast
• PROMO: Evo at 11
• PROMO: Noctural by Scott Sigler
• PROMO: Heaven season 5 (War) by Mur Lafferty
• Christiana Ellis, podcaster & author of Nina Kimberley the Merciless
• PROMO: Personal Effects: Dark Art by JC Hutchins

PART 2

[Download episode - 135 minutes]

Part 2 is a long episode but it completely full of interviews and not Erk walking around the Con. Interviewees, promos & songs are:

• R Allen Leider, author of Wicca Girl
• PROMO: I Should Be Writing podcast by Mur Lafferty
• Peter Prellwitz, creator of the Shards Universe
• PROMO: Nina Kimberly the Merciless by Christiana Ellis,
• Richard White, media tie-in author
• FLASHBACK: Highlights of the Double Trouble interview last year on Erk Pod Round Table 7 with Erk, Drue the co-host, Orange Tim, Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine
• Scott Sigler, author & podcaster of various books including Infected, Contagious, Noctural & The Rookie
• PROMO: Personal Effects: Dark Art by JC Hutchins
• Devo Spice from The FuMP (Funny Music Project)
• SONG: Why Are You Friending Me On Facebook? – Devo Spice/The FuMP
• Mur Lafferty, author & podcaster including I Should Be Writing, Playing For Keeps & the Heaven series 
• PROMO: The Uber Nemesis part 1
• Evo Terra, co-founder of Podiobooks.com, co-writer of Podcasting For Dummies and host of the Evo at 11 podcast.
• PROMO: Blast From The Past podcast with Erk & Erk;s mum Judy.
• JR Blackwell – author, podcaster & photographer. And yes folks, that is her on the front cover of Pitcher’s Pendant by Tee Morris!
• PROMO: The Uber Nemesis part 2
• Tee Morris, author, podcaster and Uber Nemesis of all podcast authors.
• JC Hutchins, author & podcaster of the 7th Son series as well as his new book Personal Effects: Dark Arts.
• PG Holyfield, podcaster & author of Avedon Hill which was nicknamed “the podcast novel that never ends.”

Then I spent the next 3 and a half days at Balticon. During this time, I was going to various podcasting and new media sessions to meet people, learn more as well as offer some of my experiences. I did learn a lot, I didn’t sleep a lot and I was inspired even more than usual and am uber excited about podcasting (again, more than usual).

Needless to say, this has meant that meant that over the past week, there have been no travel entries and (until tonight) no new Flickr photos. But when you hear the line up of people I interviewed to appear on Erk Pod during “The Balticon Special That Never Ends”, you’ll know why I am excited.

Even though the aim was for short interviews, there are many of them. Regular Erk Pod/Channel Erk listeners will know that my interviews are usually longer and fun to do but Balticon wasn’t the place for long, fun interviews. So instead, Balticon was a juggling act. It was fun to try to be in the same spot as another person in a suitable location. It was fun having people refer other people to me who I didn’t know of before hand.

So here’s the plan……

Most likely, there will be 2 episodes of Balticon related content. They will be played in the order they were recorded. They will appear on the Erk Pod and the Channel Erk feeds. There will be some related music, too. Most likely, these will be episodes 203 & 204 to be released later this week.

For the people who were  interviewed or are fans of a particular person, the interviews will also be available separately but ONLY from the Erk Pod  website (www.erkpod.com.au) where they can be downloaded or played directly. The separated files WILL NOT be in the Channel Erk or Erk Pod feeds. After all, you’ll be listening to the full episodes, right? Any of the people who appear are more than welcome to place their interview or the entire episode onto their website and into their feeds.

So who is on the list? Man, what a list! It includes but is not limited to:

• Christiana Ellis
• PG Holyfield
• JC Hutchins
• Mur Lafferty
• Tee Morris
• Scott Sigler
• Dave Slusher
• Evo Terra
• Ninjas, Zombies, Batman and a lot of other fun stuff!

And better still, once I return home to Australia and everyone who went to Balticon gets some sleep, I plan to have extended interviews with people from “The Balticon Special That Never Ends”

[Download episode - 120 minutes]

Welcome to episode 192 of Erk Pod that was recorded as episode 84 of the Wasting Time podcast with host Richard Jeffries. Erk and Richard try Fosters and Vegemite, talk about Australian experiences, Erk’s US trip and a lot more. Sit back and relax and enjoy the episode. It was a lot of fun being in the studio with Richard, hanging out and also having fun.

Due to the length of the episode and the fact that many listeners of Erk Pod also listen to the Wasting Time podcast, this show will not feature in the Erk Pod or Channel Erk feeds but is available for download or to listen via this site.

BE WARNED – this episode does contain strong language that is normal for the Wasting Time podcast but not for Erk Pod.

[Download episode - 63 minutes]

Welcome to episode 191 of Erk Pod. Erk is flying solo again and is driving (again) down Interstate 90 heading towards Chicago. Hear what happens when Erk goes to the Erk Ranch, has a chance meeting at Mt Rushmore, runs foul of the law and a lot lot more.

The next episode of Erk Pod will be the episode recorded with Richard from the Wasting Time podcast. It will appear here on the website so you can play it here or download it. However, it will not appear on the feed. The show is 2 hours long and many Erk Pod/Channel Erk listeners also listen to the Wasting Time podcast.

[Download episode - 39 minutes]

Welcome to episode 190 of Erk Pod. In this on the road edition, the only voice that you will hear is Erk’s. You will find out what happens after leaves Portland OR after an excellent week with Cami Kaos & Dr Normal. 

So what happened when Erk tries to cross the border into Canadia? You’ll need to have the Horns of FAIL at the ready. Unknown to me at the time, there was some recording FAIL so unfortunately there is a bit of content that was missing  and did not make the episode!

As the afternoon turned into night, the weather got worse. There was horiztonal rain and at times I found myself driving at  20mph instead of the I-90 limit of 75mph. I couldn’t carry on in the end and found a motel in Gillette where I got the best sleep a man could get…..

It soon turned cold and there was a lot of snow around but not on the road. It was nice and warm in the car, though. I had some munchies with me so I only needed to stop for fuel and the occasional photo. 

Soon enough I would see signs directing me to US destinations. I looked at my map and thought that Grand Forks might be a good place to cross over. The afternoon was getting on though and I knew that not all of the border crossings were open 24/7. Grand Forks turned out to be one of them. 

I passed through the town of Osoyoos and saw another sign pointing me to the border. So I decided to drive there to see how far away the border crossing was. After driving for a few minutes, I reached the border and thought “oh well, I’m here now” and went across the border.

I got the usual border security questions and the border agent was surprised that we have trains in Australia because Australia is an island. After telling him that we indeed to have trains, I was cleared to enter the US again.

Back in the US, I had phone service again and I also had coverage with my Navman. I basically knew which way I had to go because of my atlas but I thought I’d turn the Navman on anyway. It is a good source of enroute info, especially food, drink and  accommodation.

I drove through Washington state and crossed over the Sherman Pass. There was lots of snow in the area and the access road to the Sherman Pass lookout was blocked by snow. 

It was a long drive but I sure did get some milage under my belt. I pushed on and drove through Washington and the upper section of Idaho before stopping for the night in Wallace. It would set me up nicely for another long day’s drive while enroute to the Erk Ranch.

After a walk downtown, I went for a ride on the Sky Train. Of course, this meant that I recorded an episode of Echo (episode 45). This system is special because it is fully automated. There is no one on the train AT ALL. I’d much rather be driving the train live rather than by computer in some control centre. Still, I got to pretend I was driving the train.

After my train trips, it was time for lunch and I found a Texas grill place. After lunch I went to the Vancouver Lookout where I saw some spectacular views. Indeed I spent over an hour up there enjoying the views. Then I had a massage.

I walked around downtown some more. It is a pretty place. Back to the hotel for some picture editing and then some KFC before getting a relatively early night.

I soon got onto I-5 and before too long, I’d crossed from Oregon into Washington State. I spent most of the day driving on I-5 through Washington state. It is very pretty up there, that’s for sure. I planned to check out Seattle on the way back so I kept going there. 

After a few hours of driving, I found myself at the last exit before the US/Canadia border. So I exited I-5 and headed to the Internationall Peace Arch. I could see that on my Navman, coverage stopped at the border.

I parked the car at the top of the hill and read about the Arch. Thinking that I was not going to walk through passport control, I left my passport in the car. I walked down the hill and saw and photographed the arch, various signs and both border checkpoints. I was probably in and around there for a good 40 minutes at least at this point.

I approached the border control for Canadia with the intention of getting a couple of shots of cars waiting to get into the country. Then a Canadian border agent saw me and called me over. It turns out that by passing the Arch, I’d actually entered Canadia at that point and not the border checkpoint. So according to this guy, I’d entered Canadia already. And my passport was in the car. And my car was in the United States. What to do?

I was then asked to come into the office past the boomgates. By this stage even by my defination, I was in Canadia. Mind  you, I’m no certainty of being admitted at this point. I got informally interviewed and at no stage was I manhandled or handcuffed, fingerprinted or photographed.

Then I was told by another agent that I had to take a form with me and walk back to the US. I asked if that would affect me getting back to either the US or Canadia and was told that I’d be ok. The form had all my details with country of birth and country of residence “unknown” even though I could (and did) produce my Australian Driver’s Licence.

The area between the US and Canadian border gates to me seemed like a no man’s land. According to Canadia, I was in their country illegally. So I walked back to the US, about 400 metres or so. I then  reported back to the US and had to  wait in line. I waited for a while and got interviewed again, even though the first border agent seemed to have no idea what I was doing there. Was he thinking that I was a peanut or was he thinking that the Canadians were the peanuts? Who knew?

I was handed over to another border agent and went through the story for the 4th time. Again, no man handling, no handcuffs, no photos, no prints. I had to go back to my car to get my passport. I had to leave my ID behind and I was allowed to head back to the car on my own. After walking to the car and back, I was cleared to return to the US.

Back to the car. Because of re-construction of the US border checkpoint, I couldn’t get back to the border checkpoint that I’d just been to. So I had a 3 km detour to get into Canadia via another checkpoint. I waited in the line and got asked the usual questions. Seemingly I failed because I got sent inside to see an officer. I answered the usual Border Security type questions and then was finally allowed to enter Canadia, some 2 hours after arriving at the Peace Arch.

As soon as I entered Canadia, everything went metric. So I could drive at 100kph, exit in 500 metres and petrol was 94.5 cents per litre. It was a nice drive to Vancouver but I had to wonder about flashing green traffic lights, hardly any dedicated left turn lanes and figure out where to sleep.

My Navman didn’t have Canadian maps so it was strange to be driving down the main highway to Vancouver and see the message “go to nearest road”. I did have my massive road atlas as backup that I brought before I brought my Navman.

I arrived in downtown Vancouver and drove around for a while before settling for some accommodation that had both free wifi and free parking. Then I had to drive around the block to enter the motel because I was in the wrong lane in traffic.

I settled into the motel, checked in with my mum and the interweb and then headed to get something to eat and some Canadian money. It took me 4 different ATM’s to find one that would work with my card. And unlike the US, the Canadians get the point when it comes to currency. And yes, $1 and $2 coins are called Toonies and Loonies!

So after a long day behind the wheel, it was time to say goodnight from Canadia.