The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Hale: Active travel tour guests absolutely do not want to pitch tents
“In the very beginning, I believe we felt like it was a good thing to have people participate. I think that could not have been more ill-founded personally, but so they did actually Pitch their tent. And anyway, it didn't take us very long to realize that they …”
Hale: Backroads remained family-owned without outside investors for 46 years
“Didn't have any investors, never, it's remained a hundred percent closely held family business for 46 years”
Backroads collects deposits 90 days early and pays hotels post-trip
“Our guests first of all are paying their deposit Maybe 90 days in advance or more on average. We are paying the hotel. Sometimes the balance due is paid after we have already finished the trip.”
Hale: Early international Backroads tours likely ignored local regulations
“My guess is they probably did have rules and we probably weren't adhering to them.”
Hale: Backroads customer acquisition is one-third repeat, referral, and new
“We have a very high repeat and referral rate That's also about one third, repeat, referral, and new business.”
Hale: Backroads suffered a 43% drop in business during the 2008 crisis
“We had a 43% drop in business that year.”
Hale: Backroads will operate more than 5,000 active travel trips this year
“We'll do about a little over 5000 trips this year.”
Hale: Starting an active travel company as a side hustle is unfeasible
“And people that start this as a hobby and keep their day job, I can't even imagine. Oh, good luck.”
Hale: Loving the outdoors does not translate to enjoying environmental planning
“I see so many kids Doing exactly what I did, which is I love the environment, ok? I always have. I've been running out in the woods all my life. I love the environment. Well, I love the environment, so why don't I do environmental planning? There was nothing a…”
Hale drafted an eight-page Backroads business plan at 2 a.m.
“Woke up about two in the morning, got out of bed, and took eight pages of notes on what it would take to do this.”
Hale: I rode a 5,000-mile western US solo loop to scout Backroads routes
“I thought the, you know, going around the loop in the western United States, I did about a 5000 mile loop. I started in San Francisco, took BART to the end of the line, and got out of BART, and rode down the coast, and Went counterclockwise around the country,…”
Hale worked night shifts chipping cheese from pots to fund early ads
“Well, they didn't cost very much, and I worked on the side at night at Fondue Fred on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. I chipped the cheese out of fondue pots.”
Hale: Trip leaders finished the summer season despite a vehicle rollover crash
“But they Bill and Kathy went on to lead the next two trips. I went back to get another van to meet them, and we finished it was a pretty rigorous, because we had to keep moving the seats in the van in and out, and they were heavy, and we had to move big, heavy…”