Risk, Resilience, and the Churn: An Offbeat Ride with Wells Jones E212
When you listen to Wells Jones tell stories, you realize adventure isn’t just about extreme feats — it’s a way of being in the world.
This episode of Moped Outlaws takes us through a life that reads like an epic novel. Wells served on the Antarctic para-rescue team, parachuting into whiteouts and skydiving at the South Pole when temperatures plunged to minus 59 degrees. He trekked across the Middle East on camelback, retracing T.E. Lawrence’s path through deserts and conflict zones. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona, directed international events, and even stepped onto Broadway stages. Each of these adventures, in his words, was never about chasing risk for its own sake — but about listening for “the tap on the shoulder” and saying yes when life called.
What makes Wells’ storytelling powerful isn’t only the scale of his experiences, but the philosophy beneath them. He shares how resilience was forged not just in conflict zones but in childhood — like hammering together a barn door from bent nails his mother gave him, or watching his brother mow a peace sign into a Vermont hayfield. These odd, human moments sit alongside daring feats, reminding us that adventure lives as much in daily resilience as in grand exploits.
We also explore Wells’ metaphor of “the churn” — his way of describing the noise and manipulation of modern life. Social media, he says, is like a giant breadmaker kneading us endlessly, leaving us stuck on the surface of distraction. His call is for depth — to go beneath the churn, into soul, presence, and grace.
And now, Wells is carrying his spirit of adventure into the frontier of technology with Reflector.ai — a soul tech project that allows families to interact with the preserved voices, stories, and legacies of loved ones. It’s part innovation, part human longing: a way to ensure wisdom and presence endure beyond a single lifetime.
This conversation is more than an adventurous travelogue — it’s a reminder that risk is perspective, resilience is practice, and adventure is saying yes to the call of life.
In this episode of Moped Outlaws, we dive into:
- Wells recounts skydiving over the South Pole and his time on the Antarctic para-rescue team.
- His journeys span trekking across the Middle East on camelback, retracing T.E. Lawrence’s path, and running with the bulls in Pamplona.
- He reflects on risk as engagement, that what others call danger, he sees as simply following life’s call.
- His newest chapter: Reflector.ai soul tech that turns legacy and story into living interaction, merging adventure with innovation.
“Risk isn’t something out there in the world, it’s how you choose to see it. For me, adventure has always been about following the tap on the shoulder and saying yes.” Well Jones
🎧 Listen in as Wells reminds us that “There’s something about social grace that slows everything down, it lets you actually see who you’re talking to, instead of just surviving the churn.”.
Guest Links:
📖 Line in The Sand on Amazon
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:59 — 160.2MB) | Embed
Join The Gang Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pandora | iHeartRadio | JioSaavn | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | RSS | More