Eric Miller: Default to Yes

Eric Miller is an avid camper and traveler who loves traveling all around the globe. He's camping for an entire year in Boston and is doing a Harvard disaster medical fellowship. Eric has been a paramedic for almost 40 years, did ski patrolling in Colorado for 15-years, and spent several months in places like McMurdo, Antarctica, and Nathaniel Palmer icebreaker During his interview with Jackery, Eric shares his life stories as a camper and traveler.

1. Who are you, and what is your background? 

I'm Eric Miller, a critical care nurse and paramedic by trade who travels all over the world. I'm also in the US Air Force - Reserves as a nurse.

I have a “default to yes” philosophy with three main criteria. Number one: Do I find the idea interesting, remotely interesting, or something I've never considered? If it's interesting, I check it based on number two — it has to be a great story. My life is one story after another. My friends think I’m a real life Forrest Gump.

Then comes the third criterion: Does it create a new relationship, or does it deepen and strengthen an existing relationship? If it meets all the three criteria, my answer is always yes. And this has led me to an unbelievable lifestyle.

2. How did you use Jackery? 

I'm actually in a disaster medicine fellowship at BIDMC/Harvard. Currently, I'm living in a tent in Boston. Since I live in a campground area, there's no electric outlet or power supplies available.

I use the Jackery battery system to power my Dometic freezer, phone, CPAP, and other electronic devices. Prior to using Jackery in my tent, I used this solar power station and panels to keep my devices powered on five acres in Colorado that had no power supply.

I'm an entrepreneur, so company stories are big to me. I love Jackery's story, and that's what made me buy your solar power system. The Jackery system is phenomenal and keeps my devices, like the refrigerator, powered.

3. Do you use Jackery mainly for camping? 

I am currently camping for an entire year in Boston. I use Jackery for it. But I'm also doing a disaster medicine fellowship in which we tested utilizing Jackery battery technology and solar panels  in an improvised disaster zone. I believe there are humanitarian/disaster response uses for the system. Power is the central function of medication transport, food preservation, and a lot of different stuff. Jackery has very powerful products. It's more than just camping in the outdoors. You have products that can save lives in a way that other things can't. You have already brought solar energy accessible to everyone, which is quite awesome.

4. What is your crazy camping story? 

I worked in the backcountry in Yellowstone and spent 95% of my life there. I've been a paramedic for almost 38 to 40 years, did ski patrol for 15 years, and wrote 2 books on history in Colorado. I spent several months in McMurdo and Antarctica. I also worked on the most remote medical outpost on Earth, the Nathaniel Palmer. It's an icebreaker where one can actually be 18 days away from any kind of definitive medical care.

On our way back, we had some whiskey bottles. It was a dry ship, so we didn't drink any (wink), but we sealed the letters and bottles on January 20, 2019. We threw the bottle in the ocean and two Thanksgivings later, I got a message from a gal in Tasmania that she found the bottle. She sent me a video. Oceanographers who were on the same trip plotted the path the bottle took around the world.

5. Do you have any advice for someone looking to start a similar lifestyle? 

There's a great book — “The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter” — that reveals how comfortable we've become. Most people never go within about an eight-degree temperature variation in their lives anymore. We walk outside of our air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned house and air-conditioned business.

Many people have romanticism about van life, tent life, or other outdoor adventures. It's an inconvenient life, not a hard one. I know the places where you can see a truly hard, inconvenient, and uncomfortable life — I kind of like it. The current generation has never really experienced a need for true grit.

My generation has forgotten about the World War Two generation, and my father's generation is all dying off now, but they had grit. Jackery provides an opportunity for people to start to get their grit back. Jackery battery and solar systems provide them with conveniences by powering all devices.

The light on the Explorer 1500 is very clever. The different plugins are great as well. Jackery provides an opportunity for people to help exercise their grit muscles. The smaller systems are perfect for that. I also think people really resonate with American-based companies.

Jackery has a great story that should be told, and it's really cool when employees are great users of the product. And, of course, you highlight customers, thanks for letting me be one of them.

Eric shares more photos of his story with Jackery.