 During the warmer months, he climbed rocks, and became a class V kayaker before working as a rafting guide in Montana and its Gallatin River, West Virginia and its Gauley River, and rivers around North Carolina.He returned to Greenville, North Carolina in 1999, making enough money selling Christmas trees to embark on a three-month surfing trip to Costa Rica.Unfortunately, when he returned home and tried to make a living selling hammocks, he ended up in huge debt.