Add an adventurous spark with your romantic partner

From noodling to rock bouncing, stunt flying to paranormal investigating, Alicia and Lee DuCote think that adventure awaits anyone with a little imagination and some moxie.

They’ve even created a video series on Amazon Prime illustrating their how-to for a happy marriage. It’s called “Adventure and Romance,” and Alicia describes it as “a travel reality show where we’re going on these adventures.”

The couple said they were high school sweethearts who started the video series to promote Lee’s novels. He has six adventure and romance novels to his credit, and now he and Alicia have evolved the series from “look what he wrote” to “look what you can get yourself into,” bringing their unusual getaway ideas to a broader audience.

“The thing about the show is that we have a younger audience because we spent about 25 years in student ministries,” Lee explained.

He said they asked themselves how they could continue to have a positive message to share with their young friends, and the video series idea was born. “Our positive message is that relationships in marriages are forever.”

The premise is for married couples to get outside and be adventurous because that is key to what keeps a relationship together. Lee said it glues a couple together to get away from technology. “Our driving force with the show was to say get outside, be adventurous, find some romance,” he said.

What’s different about these getaway adventures is they are – well – slightly nuts. “My idea of a vacation is going to the beach and watching the ocean, maybe drinking a beer and reading a book. Alicia’s is going into the ocean, wrestling great whites and scuba diving the great depths of the ocean.”

“I was always the kid your parents warned you of,” Alicia admits. “You know the kid. ‘If they’re jumping off the bridge, are you going to follow them?’ I was that kid. I grew up showing horses and rodeoing. So, I think that I’ve always had that adrenaline junkie in me. I love it. I see a mountain top, and I say it’s there for me to climb. So, let’s go.”

Lee describes himself as laid back, being the spectator; but he said Alicia is more fastforward. “Where did you want to go?” he asked. “Oh, I want to do a lumberjacking thing. Cut down some trees,” she replied.

When they brainstorm ideas for the show, the couple sits down and talks about what other people would want to go do. So far, they’ve come up with sticking your arm in a hole underwater and catching what is in there, bouncing up a hill over boulders, exploring an abandoned sanitarium allegedly inhabited by the paranormal, and racing hotair balloons.

Alicia admits that not every girl is going to want to pull catfish from under submerged logs. “Yes, I get it. I am a little nuts, but, get out of your comfort zone a little bit. Because if you’re not a little uncomfortable, you’re not growing. A lot of couples get stagnant, and they get bored.” She said it’s the main reason she’s putting herself in these predicaments. “To hopefully encourage other women. Hey, it’s not that bad. It’s not what your grandma told you about yucky, slimy catfish. They’re kind of cool.”

They’ve traveled around to explore the romantic-cool allure of the South, after recently moving back to north Louisiana having spent 20 years away. Lee said this is a more central location for them and that it’s easier to fly from Shreveport than it was from the Ozarks, where they lived for 10 years.

“We really want to focus on some things in the South,” Alicia said. “We feel like the Midwest and the North gets a lot of exposure on travel shows, and we have such hidden gems here in the South, some great adventures and different things to offer.”

Apparently, this sort of daredevil dating is popular because Amazon Prime has renewed the couple for a second season. If you haven’t caught it yet, you’ve missed about four of the first season’s nine episodes, things like the Fouke Monster and cave exploration.

What’s up for next season? The couple will admit that there’s a four-part treasure hunting series coming up dealing with legendary land pirate John Murrell. The bandit allegedly led a large gang of outlaws and had two hideouts in western Louisiana. Treasure hunters believe the bandit had vast sums of treasure and booty hidden around the country, with the largest believed to be in the Kisatchie National Forest. By all official accounts, Murrell’s alleged treasure has never been found. So, what did the DuCote’s find? Stay tuned.