Beef Short Rib, Midwest Goodbyes, And A Cyclone With Spiders

A single missed step on landing can snap a wing, and somehow that turns into our most chaotic catch-up yet. We start with the flying term “flare” and why it’s the difference between a smooth touchdown and a hard hit, then we’re right back in our natural habitat: swapping travel stories, roasting each other’s timing, and trying to remember how we ever lived without airport lounge snacks.

From Los Angeles and LAX gate roulette, we bounce through food truck cravings at Echo Spirits in Columbus, including birria tacos and birria ramen, plus the very real problem of loving ramen when a sesame allergy says no. Then we head straight into comfort food and Cajun cooking, breaking down what makes red beans and rice taste like home, how stock built from ham hocks and turkey neck changes everything, and why chasing the “mom version” of a recipe is basically a lifelong project. Along the way, we hit thermostat culture shock, Delta Sky Club highs and lows, Salt Lake City approach views, and the kind of plane-seat stories you only get when you’re stuck next to the bathroom.

And then the trip story takes a hard turn: Australia. We planned five weeks, cut it down, and still ended up with Brisbane malls that feel like 2001, Hungry Jack’s mysteries, and a cyclone that floods roads, traps us in a tiny town, and forces a last-ditch stay that comes with spiders and zero good food options. We stop right at the cliffhanger and promise Part B, plus we tease what’s next for the show: trucking industry legislation and the behind-the-scenes technology that runs Hyfield's fleet.

Subscribe so you don’t miss Part B, share this with a friend who loves travel chaos, and leave a review to help more drivers and travelers find us.

Email us: theouterbeltpodcast@gmail.com
Website: www.hyfieldtrucking.com
Interested in joining our team? Email us at info.hyfieldtrucking.com we have open trucks! You must be part of a team. No solo drivers.
Call us at 1-833-493-4353 Option 1
Facebook: The Outer Belt Podcast
Instagram: The_OuterBelt

Transcript

Flare Meaning And Crash Story

SPEAKER_07 0:00

You didn't know what flair was?

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Uh I d I knew it was an airline, mostly because of the you know, the thing you sent me was a picture of an airplane. Yes. So that was pretty much a dead giveaway. But um I didn't know they were Canadian, but it's funny that they are. Do you remember several uh months ago there was a plane that crashed in Montreal? It was a Delta jet. It came uh down to the ground very fast and hit the runway, and when it did, it snapped a wing off and it rolled over. Yes. Everyone lived, it was fine, but the the captain of the plane that was landing it uh hit the ground uh and and didn't flare. And so in my airplane like groups or whatever, they're all talking about like flare. That's what you you flare the airplane, and then what you do with your flare is you actually lift the nose up, and so you kind of build a cushion of air under the airplane, and that's that last little bit of like ah, that that transitions you into the ground, right?

SPEAKER_06 0:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

So she didn't flare, that's why she hit the hit the pavement and uh and all the drama happened. Uh what was really funny about that is there's one picture of the airplane, and there is a flare airplane in the background, and it's like if she'd have just paid attention to the her surroundings, she would remember flare.

SPEAKER_07 1:14

Oh, that's funny.

Back In Studio Names And Hiatus

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I know. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Outer Belt. I am Patrick, and you know my friends, Hans the woman, Franz, the other woman, and Jerry. Yay yay.

SPEAKER_07 1:39

I miss the music in my ears.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

You do?

SPEAKER_07 1:44

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Oh, it has been a while. It has been a while. What what's been going on? I know, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:51

It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_09 1:52

I'm glad we settled on this. Yeah, I'm glad we settled on this too. I remember the vote was very contentious, whether it was gonna be this or that other song.

SPEAKER_07 1:58

How many how many years ago was that vote?

SPEAKER_09 2:01

Oh Jerry?

SPEAKER_07 2:04

Four years?

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Four?

SPEAKER_07 2:05

Four years ago?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Yeah. How long have you been here?

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Well, this isn't my fourth year, so oh, so you graduate after this.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Mentor program's over. Uh okay, but real quick, seriously, uh I'm Patrick. I'm Chili.

SPEAKER_05 2:23

Buttermilk. Eric Zucchini Bread and Jerry.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Well, we knew you already. I guess they knew me too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:30

I love when people call on the recruiting line and I say it's Melissa, and they're they get all giddy. They're like, is this buttermilk?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_07 2:39

I'm like, it is.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 2:41

And then in my head, I'm like, you must watch The Outer Belt. I do. That's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I love like when I hear too from um similar from Delena with Expedite Chicks. She kind of says the same thing. Oh yeah. Or they reach out to me and they hear my voice and they're like, is this one of the chicks? And I'm like, no, wait a second. You know. Oh, fun times. But it has been a hot minute. We have not been together in this room since picture it. Sicily.

SPEAKER_08 3:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

1942. Uh no, it's been a hot minute because we actually banked a bunch of shows before we left. Um and schedules got kind of cray cray for a little bit. Uh, and uh we almost did it. I saw that. We almost did it. We had to put up one sorry we missed the show type uh the situation, but but we did pretty good uh outside of that. And um I thought it was so funny. I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that come up on a Saturday, and I'm like, wait a second. Oh yeah, no, we haven't had a chance to do anything yet. But uh we're back and uh we're happy. Uh most of y'all are wondering what happened. Why did we what was the scheduling conflict? And it was actually uh Buttermilk and Vince, y'all uh had to leave town. We did have to leave town.

SPEAKER_09 4:07

Yeah, the sheriff, the sheriff was after me. That's uh the sheriff of Nottingham, right? We had to leave town. The weather was atrocious. Yeah, weather was atrocious. How was the weather where you went? Good. It was beautiful. Yeah, warm. It was warm, it was tad warm, but I'll take that over. How how many over freezing cold? I was I was gonna use other words, but Jerry was giving me the eye. Like he knew he knew the words I was gonna use.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Don't add more work.

SPEAKER_09 4:35

Yeah.

Los Angeles Trip And Airport Codes

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Exactly it. Oh, hold on, let me get my uh wait, where is it? Uh I don't know where's that hold one second. Um, I'm so out of uh yeah, so it was warmer you went. Where did you go? Because I don't know where you went, and we certainly didn't run into each other.

SPEAKER_09 4:52

We did not run it to each other at the LA airport. Uh who knew they had an airport in lower Alabama? You write they do.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Why do they why what's the X for?

SPEAKER_09 5:01

X-ray.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Lower Alabama X-ray. Yeah. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_09 5:05

Well, the X actually comes into play because originally they didn't have three letter codes for airports. Oh. They had multiple letter codes for airports, and uh LA was just two. But when they started to have more airports, like Las Vegas is LAS. Yes. So they had multiple LAs, the X became just a uh Yeah, but it's under a placeholder.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, I get that, but it's understood like Los Angeles and Lower Alabama aren't even close to each other. So I mean it's not like you'd confuse the two. Right.

SPEAKER_09 5:33

But you know, yeah. So yeah, we went to LA, Los Angeles to uh visit uh mom and dad and my kids. How was it? It was it was a good trip, mostly. Mostly, yeah. Yeah, the heat was nice. Heat was very nice.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Was there any point where you're like, I'm over it? The heat, not the trip.

SPEAKER_09 5:52

No, no, I was I was fine with the heat. I wasn't fine with the LA traffic, but we didn't spend a whole lot of time in it. We kind of planned our stay, so we spent some time actually near LAX uh visiting my my kids, and then we went out to uh Riverside south of Ontario to visit my parents. They live out there.

SPEAKER_07 6:13

Good hour drive between the two.

SPEAKER_09 6:15

At least, and then you know, back on Monday morning to the airport was a nice just after rush hour.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I saw that freaking bira, you guys. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 6:25

The son-in-law did a great job finding that food truck.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

So much is better, that or uh Dina's.

SPEAKER_09 6:35

I don't think so, not even more. Dina's video was amazing. It was really good. Yeah, it's really good. I like either anytime.

SPEAKER_07 6:42

I want to try AJ's taco shop next to Echo.

SPEAKER_09 6:46

We should do that tonight. Echo after the recording. I'm gonna call down, let them know it missed Echo. It'd be fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:52

I'm excited to see what kind of food they're bringing from their food truck from like brick and mortar, because they still have their brick and mortar building, but what they're bringing out there.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So are they getting rid of their brick and mortar or no?

SPEAKER_07 7:02

I don't think so.

Echo Spirits Birria Ramen Plans

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Everyone out here is like, what are they talking about? So Echo Uh Spirits is a rum distiller in Columbus, Ohio. Um they now they make vodka, they make uh gin, they make um not gin, they make gin gin of it, which is the pretentious way of saying gin. Uh they make uh and they make some whiskey as well. They um it's a cool little place. It's it's tiny. It next door is literally like a tool shop. Yeah, a tool shop. They they sell like industrial tools. So if you need to buy a diamond drill bit for exactly uh what you I don't know what you'd use that for.

SPEAKER_09 7:34

Cutting, cutting cutting other diamonds.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yes, so if you are a diamond jeweler and you need uh diamond drill bits to drill other diamonds for your jewelry.

SPEAKER_09 7:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Did y'all follow that? Because that was rum. Okay, or concrete or still. Yeah, you could go there, buy that, then go next door and buy a bottle of rum. Right. So um, but no, that it's a really cute little place. We love supporting local businesses, and they're they're one of the comp because we like they have a little uh tasting area bar and um They make amazing cocktails too. They make really good cocktails, it's it's a nice place to go on the weekend.

SPEAKER_07 8:08

And their patio has enough place for a food cart.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 8:11

And for the years that we've been going, it's been ramen. It's been ramen, red rabbit ramen. Again, we're gonna do some shout-outs here.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

And my understanding is they're going to brick and mortar, right?

unknown 8:21

No.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Oh no.

SPEAKER_07 8:23

They moved with a brewery, but they're still outside.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

All right. I knew they were like moving somewhere and they there was talk of brick and mortar. Maybe that's like long-term plans.

SPEAKER_07 8:32

Possibly.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 8:33

So now there's a new food truck there, which is AJ Taco's, and they are known for their uh birria and their ramen biria.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

So Oh, they do ramen too? They do birry ramen?

SPEAKER_07 8:47

They do.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Nice. Ooh. So is it just in the uh the is it consume? What's it called?

SPEAKER_07 8:52

Yeah, noodles in the consume with the meat.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Oh, that sounds like a heart attack.

SPEAKER_07 8:57

So I'm excited because Eric should be able to eat that. Yes, yeah, uh, because it won't have sesame in it, like what Red Rabbit's ramen had.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

So Red Rabbit, uh, we love them. They're their food's great. Uh we we met the guy that owns the place multiple times, um, and then he ended up getting a job out on the uh West Coast, right? Yep, and uh franchised it. And uh the new owners uh came in and and and and they're the ones that have they've had it for a couple years now and they're the ones that have moved locations. Um but the food's unbelievably delicious. But in the early years, uh he was doing ramen um you get it with or without sesame seeds. Yes. And then over the years he changed his recipe where the sesame is already in it, and Eric having a sesame allergy, it killed him from being able to have any of that. Yeah. Um, so we always felt a little guilty, very minor, very minor guilty as we're there eating our uh ramen noodles, and Eric's just like staring at us, you know, drinking his glass of water.

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Um, you had him like a McDonald's burger or something to make up for it, right? No, we didn't know. No, we did not know.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

No, no, all the fast food in that area. It's like Wendy's. Wendy's is the one, right?

SPEAKER_09 10:16

Yep, there's a buffalo wild wings.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

There's a buffalo wild wings right there, and it's crazy busy.

SPEAKER_09 10:20

You can they'll deliver it to you. Yes. Echo.

Red Beans Rice And Cajun Fixations

SPEAKER_00 10:22

That's a cool thing about this place too. They don't have food. Well, except for the food truck. They don't have food. And so you if you roll up with your double cheeseburger and french fries, they don't care. They don't care. They're fine with it. Um, but yeah, I am excited about that uh taco truck.

SPEAKER_07 10:36

So back to LA. We did have some amazing brea. Uh Vince's mom asked what he wanted her to make, and he asked for red beans and rice. Let me tell you, that was that was tasty.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Did you record it? Or get the recipe?

SPEAKER_07 10:51

I watched. I could I could probably come close. Not moms, but close. I'll never be moms, but I'll be close.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Did anybody just hear the ding of the bell at the Okay, yeah. I was already thinking myself, like, uh I don't know. I need that song that bum bada bum bada bum bada bum.

SPEAKER_07 11:10

I said close, but not moms.

SPEAKER_09 11:12

The problem is your hands are different sizes. No. So when you sprinkle ingredients in your hand and measure and throw it in the pot, that's gonna be a little different measurement, I think.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I think two of the differences Melissa's gonna be like, well, if we just turn the heat up a little bit, it'll cook faster. Right.

SPEAKER_07 11:25

Like No, I watched all of how she did everything. Her rice measuring was a little weird for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

But it worked. I'm sitting across Well, it was by the uh centimeter.

SPEAKER_07 11:36

I know, she's got this island. She was counting and we were on opposite side of the island.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And I was watching her exactly a thousand thirty-seven pieces.

SPEAKER_07 11:44

And she had a saucepan, and she had a one cup measuring cup in the saucepan, and she measured the rice to one cup and then dumped it, and then she set it back in there, and she measured it to one cup and overflowing for quite some time.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_07 12:04

And then she dumped the measuring cup. And I'm like, time out.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

What that's the lane yet.

SPEAKER_07 12:08

I'm out. Right, Eric? What are you doing over there? I said, You how are we measuring this? Because I've always known rice to be like a two to one ratio kind of thing. And so we were talking, she's like, Well, this is how I measure. And I'm like, So why are we measuring with a measuring cup though? If you're just gonna free flow afterwards, like so, but she she I'm sure she's made rice in this saucepan many times before, and she knew what she was doing, but I'm just like I couldn't wrap my hand around why we have a measuring cup for one, two, three, four, five.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

So in the deep south in South Louisiana, it is called the Lanyap. It's a little something extra. So that's what she did. Like that's uh that's a that's an actual thing down south. That's I I haven't seen anybody do that in years. That's a great thing.

SPEAKER_07 12:57

That she did her ham hocks and her uh turkey neck in water with onions, and she boiled just that to make broth because she was fast tracking these beans.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Oh, so she was doing it fast.

SPEAKER_07 13:10

So then she boiled the beans, three bags of them, which uh surprised me. And then after she boiled them for like an hour, then she drained all of that water off. And then she put that pork water with the onions into the beans. So I didn't think that was interesting on a fast track how she did that. I appreciated it. So all in all, I'd say they probably were done in about two hours. Again, she from a dry bean. She fast tracked them.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

That was it from a dry dry bean or did she actually soak them overnight?

SPEAKER_07 13:42

Nope, nope. That's why she did the first boil and had her stock going.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:47

So it was pretty cool to watch.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

That's you know, I got my gembalaya. I'm starting to really dial it in. Y'all have had it a few times. It's I'm really starting to dial it in. I'm feeling more confident. I've kind of figured out what sausage to use. Um chicken's chicken, but I like I'm I'm kind of figuring the salt to seasoning balance out and what's a good generic so that you can then if you want a spice, you can add a little hot salt sauce to it or whatever. So my next thing is a touffey, crawfish touffe, which I've done once. And uh excellent. Buttermilk, you were here for my first go.

SPEAKER_07 14:18

Nope, that's not buttermilk.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

That's what I meant. Zucchini Bread, you were here for my you know, we really gotta start wearing name tags. I'm sure we're good. We should.

SPEAKER_09 14:26

I'm just gonna get mine embroidered on my shirt.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Well, uh chili though. I don't want yeah, okay. Um zucchini bread, you were here for that, and uh missing a couple ingredients, it still came out really nice.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

It was it was very good, and I'm not a crawfish fan. Yeah, it was and uh it was excellent.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, I I thought it was really good. I was really happy with it. Uh and I and I just know I can make it better, and I've seen a lot of different recipes, and uh Imra Legasi has one that's really, really famous. It's been around forever. Like he has been around forever. It's so funny. Have y'all seen side note, have you seen that once we'll get right back to it. Just calm down. Um have y'all seen those like in the 90s, like who are you in the nineties or whatever things on Facebook? Scrolling on Facebook. I've seen so many. I thought about uh putting some up with Highfield, but then I realized Eric and I were in elementary school and it would probably wouldn't go very well. So and I have to get those because those are actual photographs that have to go to dad's house, we'd have to get in the cedar chest, we'd have to dig up the photo albums, Polaroids, we'd have to you know it's just a it's too much. Uh so Emir Legossi did one, and it's him on Emir Legossi Live and all this stuff, and I'm like, oh, I remember the flood of memories being a southern Louisiana guy. Like he was such a pivotal part of my childhood and watching him cook and being all the shows because he did Emerald Legossi Live, he did Essence of Emerald on Food Network, so those are both Essence of Emerald. Those are both the Food Network ones, right? Yep. Uh I liked Essence of Emerald was good. He was that's where he's really like just dialing it in. Emerald Legossi Live Emerald Live was like he had the band play in in the background, he'd go over there and play drums on the break and stuff, and bam! You know, that's where that came from. That was the one that's more entertaining. I think you mentioned as a kid.

SPEAKER_06 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

That one I I I gravitated towards more. But I mean, just learning like good food, good appliances where I learned what Viking ranges were and sub-zero fridges were, you know, from his show, like just all that kind of stuff. But he has a uh uh a um crawfish to fet that's supposed to be amazing. He put out like in '92 or something.

SPEAKER_07 16:33

It's you get the recipe and do it.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

It's been available for free for years, and he's done two or three or four or ten uh examples of showing it.

SPEAKER_09 16:41

And so you know why he hasn't done it yet? No. Because in order to get the recipe like printed out with all the ingredients, you gotta send a self-address stamped envelope to the free.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

You do. And then comes with two tickets to the show.

SPEAKER_09 16:54

Yeah, exactly. That's phenomenal. Exactly. So he's the he's just he's just too lazy to send that self-address stamped envelope.

SPEAKER_07 16:59

He's the first person I ever heard put words to a smell makes everybody happy. He always talked about putting a ham hock or some smoked meat in his pocket and getting on the subway in New York. And he's like, and watch the people flock. You know, but just because it was like a comfort food, you know. Yeah, a cologne, however you want to say it. He's like, You want ladies to spoon over you, put that hammock in your pocket and get on the airplane or whatever it was that he was talking about. And I'm like, Oh, what a fun way to kind of put you know, food with a a love language kind of thing, and and that smell of smoked meat does that.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Absolutely, and I love his his story. Yeah. Being from Boston area, and a very he's Portuguese, being in Boston with a huge Portuguese uh uh population, and then going and learning French cuisine, not Cajun food, French cuisine, and then uh being in New Orleans and working at Commander's Palace, which he then becomes the executive chef of, and then going out and and starting his own establishment, and now you see his kids getting involved. It's just like I love that that American dream, work and bust your tail and make it happen.

SPEAKER_07 18:15

The legacy.

Thermostat Jokes And LAX Run-In

SPEAKER_00 18:16

And oh, by the way, he's also a really good chef. And I didn't really understand the Portuguese side of things until Eric and I went to Portugal. And and Jerry, you were there with us too. I forgot. Yeah, you and Don came. And I know you didn't really care for it, but I loved the Portuguese cuisine. A lot of pork, a lot of chicken, which is stuff that's huge in the south in Louisiana. Yeah. And um the sauces and the gravies and everything, and it's like, oh, I see now how this fusion with French and that Cajun thing, like really it works together. Like I understand that now. Like as a kid I didn't really get it, but when you actually kind of experience that, it's like, oh, okay, this makes sense. I see now how he gravitated to this. I've been to we've Eric and I've been to a couple of restaurants, really like it. And uh so, anyways, that's that's my next thing is the crawfish. I want to do his. And then after that, after that I'm coming after grandma, uh not grandma's, I'm coming after mom's red beans and rice.

SPEAKER_07 19:15

That was really good.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

I will learn mean evil red beans and rice.

SPEAKER_07 19:21

That was really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

If you say so.

SPEAKER_07 19:26

Not having to season.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

That being said, I'm going to LA for a month with your mom.

SPEAKER_07 19:31

So not having to season your food when it hits your plate, I always think is a good thing. Now, my salt level may not be your salt level, and I get that. And you may need to season. But the salt from the the ham hocks, but she also adds salt too, don't get me wrong. But just she makes those beans, she imparts such flavor in the bean and and the salt that you just you you don't need anything. Maybe some fresh raw onion if that's what you like, or some people maybe like cheese, I don't know, on red beans. I don't know. I don't know. People put on their beans. She did it all for sauce.

SPEAKER_09 20:10

Sometimes fried chicken, right? Sometimes fried chicken, maybe a little hot sauce. A little hot sauce.

SPEAKER_07 20:14

Cholula and Tabasco.

unknown 20:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 20:17

Yeah, I can see crystal. Or red rooster. Or or Tabasco.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Tabasco was good. Ah, for Louisiana, but yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:23

It was really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Tabasco is good. Salted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:26

It was very salted flavored. So anyway, that's all I gotta say about mom's fence's mom's red beans and rice. They were outstanding.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Sounds delicious. So we had the conversation uh while you were gone. I so I think about my um I guess grandparents are similar in age to your parents. Not closely, but they're of this similar generation. Okay. Um there might be a 10-15 year difference, but they're more close than they are partners. Sure. And uh so I asked, I said, you're going over there, you're gonna see it at their house. My grandmother, love you if you're watching it. Uh she's salt of the earth. I just yeah. I should be going down to Alabama actually uh fairly soon to uh see uh some aunts and uncles, and I'm planning on going on down to Birmingham to see her as well, and I can't wait for that trip. Um and I can't wait to show y'all what I'm bringing back, the reason I'm going. I gotta keep them all shut. I'm super excited. Anyways, um but um is a baby, it's not, but it's okay, but you're not far off the thought. Okay, you'll it'll make sense when you see it. So um my grandmother my grandmother uh when dad last time dad and I stayed with her, now dad's been multiple times since, but last time dad and I stayed with her, my grandmother turned the heat down because She knows we don't like it hot, she turned the heat down to eighty-two for us. Nice. Down to eighty-two. I think she keeps it at a nice ninety-eight point six. So she everybody doesn't have to burn calories. It just it just works. And so I asked, I said, okay, you're going uh to to to mother ch Mama Chili and and Daddy Chili's house. So how's the temperature going to be there? And you said you're gonna report back. And I am dying to know.

SPEAKER_07 22:28

I do believe I sent a screen picture of the thermostat the one day. Love her as well.

SPEAKER_09 22:34

Um However, however, you sent that before they got home. So we got to the house and they were out taking running errands. Correct. And you sent the screenshot before they came home. Because when my mom got home, she turned it up a couple notches. She did say it's warm in here, isn't it? She did. Oh, she did. Okay, I thought you were gonna say she said it was chilling in the house. She turned it down to like 72.

unknown 22:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Well, 72's not bad. It's not bad. It's not bad.

SPEAKER_07 22:58

Uh so it it ran sporadically while we were there. Um, in all fairness, it was goodness there was a ceiling fan.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

It was 107. It was 107. Yeah. So y'all were actually in Los Angeles. You weren't in uh lower Alabama. I don't think we were. We were in Los Angeles. Yeah. And uh and we were joking about the airport thing because we actually did run into them. Uh so I'll tell you a little bit about what Eric and I did uh shortly, but we did run into uh Mel and Vince at the uh airport and we got a group photo. This is it right here. Aren't we cute? And if you're wondering if you're wondering why the date is wrong behind us, that is the uh Olympics that are gonna be held in in Los Angeles. They're starting to get people excited about it already. Um they say they're gonna have this like quadruple billion dollar airport renovation done by them. I don't see it happening. Do you think it's not a chance? By like the next time they hold the Olympics, right? Maybe it'll be done. 80 years from now. Um but yeah, that was crazy. Because we originally talked and we shared times and it was we were just gonna meet each other. Right.

SPEAKER_07 24:02

We weren't gonna it no, yeah, it wasn't gonna happen.

SPEAKER_09 24:05

But no, we were landing while your airplane was boarding at the end of the day. Exactly, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah, by the time y'all are gonna land, we were gonna be on the plane already. And y'all caught a tailwind and y'all did like a three and a half hour flight in like two hours and forty-five minutes.

SPEAKER_09 24:19

Something like that. Oh and so I I was halfway through a movie when we landed.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Oh okay, check this out. Eric and I were in the lounge. You know, we fly a lot with Delta, so we do have the sky uh uh lounge uh privileges. So we're in the lounge, and and LA has is a really nice lounge. You can sit outside or inside. Uh Atlanta has one too. And uh I think New York does.

SPEAKER_09 24:43

Salt Lake City has an outside.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Uh Salt Lake City does as well. Uh some of y'all saw my uh feedback on Salt Lake City's lounge. Yeah. Anyways, um we'll let that we'll let that baby lie. 130 something comments so far. Anyways, so we're outside at LA's lounge, beautiful. I mean, gorgeous, right, Eric? Yeah, it's friggin' nice.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Nicely decorated. Yes. The service. Excellent. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Yeah, it was great. So we were at that lounge, and uh, you told us what gate you were supposed to be landing in. We didn't know you were running ahead of time. We were actually sitting directly above your gate. Like, I'm like looking out, I'm like, oh my gosh, I took a picture. I'm like, look right below us, and it's y'all's gate. Yep. And then not 10 minutes after you said that, and you're gonna be like, oh, we're landing in like 40 minutes or whatever, an airplane shows up and takes your gate, and I'm like, well, you're getting a different gate. Like, not a chance it's gonna happen. But yeah, so y'all didn't end up landing, and y'all, and y'all showed up early. Um and the gate that they reassigned you to, from what I understand, had a plane there that was running late. They were delayed, right?

SPEAKER_06 25:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

And so you ended up getting your gate back.

SPEAKER_09 25:56

Well, in all fairness, it was gate 31A was originally assigned to us, and I think they ended up going into 31B. Okay, sure. Or write something there together, right? It was like, come on.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah, yeah. So uh, but what was crazy, uh funny about that is because Eric and I just assumed y'all weren't gonna make it, he kind of planned his his uh getting food on when our departure was gonna leave. So, like ten minutes before you land, Eric's like, I think I'm gonna go get some food and order it and have it brought over or whatever. And I'm like, Well, they're about to land. We're actually gonna get a chance to see them. He's like, So do I have time to eat food? I'm like, No. So he had to go without food. Only over to Salt Lake City, though, right? Sorry, you didn't get to a chance to eat. Yeah, all the way to Salt Lake City.

SPEAKER_07 26:43

That's not very far.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

No, that's how I lost the two pounds on the trip.

SPEAKER_07 26:46

I was gonna say, that's how you lost, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

No, LA to Salt Lake's real close.

SPEAKER_07 26:51

Yeah, it's not very far. I didn't realize it's not any further than like Medford and Salt Lake.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

I think it's closer than Medford, honestly. I really do. Uh I was shocked at how close it was. And it's a beautiful flight. We were flying, y'all saw it was a beautiful day. Yeah, gorgeous day outside. So we're flying up, and we flew right along 15, basically, just took 15 the whole way up. Uh it's weird that Delta 737 just took ice. All the way up.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

But that's kind of what saved some fuel.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

You know, we were on the back of a Peterbilt. Um, but out the right window, which is where I was sitting conveniently, um, it's like uh Vegas. Uh but right like right before Vegas, you see like the end of uh not Lake Mead. It's a canyon there, but it's not the Grand Canyon, but it's it kind of is, but isn't the Grand Canyon? It's Colorado River, so there's canyons there. It's very pretty. It's all it's all desert, very pretty, and then it's Vegas. We flew right over Vegas. You can see all that. Lake Mead in the background. Lake Mead. Sad. It's uh they say it's gonna drop seven more feet this year. Seven feet. They'll find more bodies then. I was gonna say they're gonna finally find Hoffa. Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 28:09

The monsters are all worried.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

So they've already pulled out the 1970s cars. Now they're moving on the 1960s and 50s cars. There you go. There you go. Um it just looks sad. It looks like a pond. It's crazy. But in the distance, you could actually, it was clear enough you could see the Grand Canyon. Okay. And I'm like, that's really cool. Then you fly over Zion. Zion's gorgeous. Like, absolutely gorgeous. And then it's just that trail of mountains, yeah, the whole way, and then you're in Salt Lake.

SPEAKER_07 28:36

Like, I think I think Salt Lake's pretty uh approach.

Delta Lounge Drama Salt Lake Views

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Oh, it's gorgeous. Yeah, yeah. Mountains, because by then, because it's all desert, so even the mountains, right now most of the snow's gone. It wasn't a very wet summer, uh wasn't a very wet winter. On the west coast, at least. Yeah, on the west coast, correct. Uh so a lot of those mountains don't have snow on them. Right. So it's not literally until you get to Salt Lake that you start seeing snow caps again. So that was kind of cool to see. Uh, and then yeah, we went and did Salt Lake City, uh, our Salt Lakes Airport, and um again, if you saw my uh feedback on the Delta Lounge online Eric. That Salt Lake City's always been a great lounge, right? Yeah, by far the worst we've ever seen, alright? They were a little behind.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

It was a bad it was a bad day.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

It was a bad it was a bad day. And I didn't mean to start as much drama as I did.

SPEAKER_07 29:29

Huh? Boy, boy, who stirred the pot.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

I did not mean it.

SPEAKER_07 29:33

138 comments.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

It might be more than that now. It's we don't need to. I keep waiting, waking up in the morning, I see more people talking about it. Like, this was a week and a half ago. Why are y'all still talking about this?

SPEAKER_09 29:45

Did you tag Delta Airlines in that post? I did. So they were sponsoring you yet? Uh yeah, they sent someone to clean it.

SPEAKER_07 29:52

So uh four days later.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Two hours later.

SPEAKER_07 29:55

I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Two hours in, they finally anyway, it doesn't matter. So uh we left there and then on the way uh to Columbus, beef short rib nice on the plane. So that was nice. So the Eric finally got to eat. Yeah. Good deal.

SPEAKER_09 30:07

I had the cheese it's on the plane. Oh yeah, they were Oh chef's kiss, huh? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Was there any like uh soda?

SPEAKER_09 30:18

Coke. I mean it's a delta, they're based off of Atlanta, so there's Coke. Oh you said soda. Coca-Cola. Yeah, I had a Coke Zero on the plane. Ice. Yeah, there was ice.

SPEAKER_07 30:31

You have to ask for it. It's not well, at least I did.

SPEAKER_09 30:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

I didn't. Well but y'all had listen, I don't believe in a class system.

SPEAKER_07 30:41

We didn't sit together.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

We didn't sit in the same airplane category for some of it.

SPEAKER_09 30:48

It felt like this wrong airplanes. We really did. I mean, but when we when I got off the plane and saw the two of you, it was like a half hour later that she came off the plane. You guys almost had to leave to go get on your own. We did because she wasn't off the plane.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

We literally had the conversation of like, if she doesn't get off soon, when the pilots and the flight attendants got off, we were like she's still on the plane? I'm like, are you sure she made it? It was it was strange.

SPEAKER_07 31:13

I was literally the last for both both flights. But she said it was nice, right? It was very nice.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Bathrooms right there. I mean, so convenient.

SPEAKER_07 31:21

The small hop I got upgraded both times to Comfort Plus.

SPEAKER_09 31:25

She she's sitting back there, and people are going to the bathroom. She's like, Oh, you had curry for dinner. Oh, fried chicken. That's a little TMI. Did you have the cheesets? And I told her, I said, yes, dear, I did.

SPEAKER_06 31:43

Got me snorting over here.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Oh, fun times on Delta Airlines.

SPEAKER_09 31:48

Yeah. We booked at separate times. Yeah. So when she booked, it was the last row.

SPEAKER_07 31:52

Oh my goodness, the tween I sat next to all the way from Vegas to Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Oh, we were me and you were texting about that, weren't we?

SPEAKER_07 32:00

He was hilarious trying to get on the Wi-Fi. I don't know how long it he was on the just pushing buttons, every button on his iPad, trying to get the Wi-Fi to work. Finally, I was gracious enough to try to tell him you have to have a credit card or a certain account, it costs. Yeah. He's like, Oh. And then he was separated from his family. His family was in all three seats directly across from us. Okay. Mom sitting on the aisle.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Well, now you say separated.

SPEAKER_07 32:29

There was a stranger.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Oh.

SPEAKER_07 32:31

The kid and me.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_07 32:34

He was he had a stranger on either side of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Well, he was a middle seat?

SPEAKER_07 32:37

He was a middle seat. Well, then he's wanting snacks and his iPad and to talk to mom and more mom and more mom. And I don't know how many moms. And he's has no concept of personal space. He's pretty much laying on the man next to him's lap, touching his mom and getting the whole thing. Finally, he's simmered down when he got his iPad, but he's doing Snapchat, you know, which is on an iPad. That's a big face looking back at you. Um, he was touching the man's screen next to him, trying to help him rewind or start, or I don't know. There was a language barrier there. The whole thing was just really funny. Um from the time we landed until the time we pulled into the gate, um, I was no longer watching what I was watching on my cell phone, and I had to and have to. Uh I partook in a conversation for almost 15 minutes while we were taxiing with the kids.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Does he want to be a driver?

SPEAKER_07 33:36

No, no, no. No. Uh he was sweet. He was really sweet, but uh how old is the twin?

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Because you and I did text about him.

SPEAKER_07 33:46

He's an eighth grader, so and I said I thought he was about 14. Yeah. So he's probably 13, 14. Okay. So very he was very polite. Um, after snacks had been given and we had partaken in those, um, I said, I need to go to the bathroom, but I was cleaning up my stuff and putting my trade table up. And he immediately told the man next to him that I needed to go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:07

Before I even said anything. And I'm like, oh, he's pretty intuitive, or yeah, he's aware of his surroundings. And I I I thanked him for it. It was he was nice, but he was a little fidgety, and I'm glad I wasn't in the aisle seat between him and mom. That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

It just makes me so uh so my first flight, I was a tween. I was a tween. Yeah, and I can remember it. So like, do y'all have um things in your life that help you remember when something happened?

unknown 34:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

So like calendars.

SPEAKER_06 34:40

Yeah.

Comfort Plus Tales And Chatty Tween

SPEAKER_00 34:40

I don't have calendars. Oh, okay. Uh Marie calendars, but not calendars. So uh so I think of uh movies a lot of times when I think of where was I, well oh, this movie fill in the blank, and then it I can figure out the date. So I my first flight ever was Rumor of the Titans. Do you remember Rumor of the Titans? With Denzel Washington, great movie. So I uh flew Northwest Airlines, Memphis, from Batterns to Memphis, Memphis to Jacksonville, Florida, uh, with my dad, and uh he went out there for a work function, bought my ticket on airplane miles, and um his uh his sister, I was gonna say his aunt, but his sister, my aunt lived out there, so we ended up staying with her, and um while he was at work, me and her hung out and did things, or if he had like, you know, some of those were social meetings at night. So I'd had dinner with her while he was out doing the the socializing thing. Right. And um it was so cool. We landed in in Jacksonville and we end up going into uh it was my first time on a DC nine. Ooh. Well, first time flying, period, but still we got a DC nine big, nice, fancy airplane from 62. Um so so we get to Jacksonville, we go through the whole thing, go to the rental car place, right? I'm all excited. We get a freaking Monte Carlo. Oh big time big time.

SPEAKER_09 36:06

Like we got a Monte Carlo as a teenager as a preteen. Did you then button the top button and tighten your tie up so you look respectable? Of course. I mean, I wasn't wearing a button-up, but still. Um that wasn't, I guess that wasn't the age of flying for that.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

It wasn't the age of flying for that, no. No, no, no, no. Dad was dad looked nice, he was in slacks and everything, but I I just I wasn't. Yeah, that was an epic trip for me. So I remember that. Remember the Titans. And so my first trip was as a as a tween.

SPEAKER_06 36:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

But let me tell you what we didn't have on the airplanes. Wi-Fi.

SPEAKER_06 36:38

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Cell phones, yeah, uh, screens at the back of the TV. Yeah. Uh we all watched the same movie. Air conditioning. No, uh, we had air conditioning.

SPEAKER_05 36:47

Do you know what we uh had did they have smoking on the plane still?

SPEAKER_00 36:50

No. Well, the pilots, but not the not the uh waffle house.

SPEAKER_09 36:55

What about the stewardess? Yeah, they were stewardess back then. They were.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yeah, she was in a very nice uh full-length gown. Was she smoking? Uh huh. Yes, of course. Pomose, I believe. Yeah. No, well, Pomolls, what was it? It was um Calico Clips uh Oh, I know you know I'm talking about those good. Capri's. They were Capris, yeah. Yeah. And was Creed and Crazier? She had the like the extension. Right. You know, the little the straw. Uh no.

SPEAKER_07 37:29

Um so you didn't have any of that stuff to keep you entertained.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

No, we had the window, and who remembers the other thing we had? There were two things we had that they don't have in planes anymore.

SPEAKER_09 37:38

The sharp the skymall catalog. Sky mall catalog. It did.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

And uh Brookstone, which I don't know how that worked out. Yeah. I read, I could tell you, I could quote that thing after four hours, five hours of you didn't bring a book with you. What's a book?

SPEAKER_09 37:56

I brought a comic book, but you you read you burnt that project. Yeah. So I I remember the first flight I ever flew on. Um it was the movie, Steamboat Willy.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

It was the movie.

SPEAKER_09 38:08

They they didn't play it. No, it was the movie. Oh. They brought off the projector and set it up and dropped the screen down.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

And there was someone there turning the crank off. Whatever. Whatever.

SPEAKER_09 38:20

Yep. Uh it was it was he couldn't hear it because the propellers are so loud outside the window. And it was just it was just the silent steamboat Willie. Yeah. Uh it Emory's got a big thing.

SPEAKER_07 38:30

He he was a pleasant person to sit next to. I just he was funny to just people watch, I guess. So I wish I would have known it was only a second flight. I guess first flight was out to LA and this was the second one. Because on that bathroom break, because I timed it almost before landing, I would have I would have switched seats with him just so he could see his hometown.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Oh, yeah. I get that. I get that.

SPEAKER_07 38:53

Like like that that would have been really cool. And I just I I didn't know his story because we hadn't talked for three hours before landing. Yeah. So well he was busy helping the and by then now we're now we're approaching, so I'm like, well, we really can't ask everybody to get out of the aisle so we can flippy flop. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

So just decide who goes over and who goes under.

SPEAKER_07 39:13

Yeah, well, I didn't want it to seem weird because mom and dad were right there, so I was like, just leave it alone. But when the plane's here, little kid.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

I know.

SPEAKER_07 39:21

You know, I told him, Well, when the plane when the plane tips, I said you might be able to see, and he's like, the plane's gonna turn it.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

The plane tips?

SPEAKER_07 39:28

And I'm like, well, you know, I'm like, when we're turning, and and then it went to do a turn, but it did on their parents' side. Yeah. And I'm like, Can you see what's out there? Because I was telling him how many lakes you could see. There was tons of lakes. And um I'm like, Can you see cars moving? And the further we came down, he could see more, and so but I wish I would have switched.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 39:49

That would have been pretty cool for him.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah. I I I I that was, you know, obviously dad did that for me. He put me on the window seat and um for on all four flights. Yeah. And uh I got to see all that. That was pretty exciting. Yeah, and I got the whole gamut of jets on that one. I got the the little tiny regional jet with four engines. It was super good. Uh and then I got the big DC nines both ways from Jacksonville to Memphis. And then uh on the way home from Memphis to Col uh to Columbus, to Baton Rouge, I got the uh turboprop where you know they go out there and they like grab the grab the uh the propeller.

SPEAKER_07 40:24

If it fits 12 of you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Well they grab the propeller and they pull it really hard down fast and then they get out of the way of it, swinging blade. Yeah. Uh it was a sob. It was a sob. Ooh, they make cars, you know. They did. They did, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 40:36

Um they still make cars in Europe? Sob?

SPEAKER_00 40:39

No, not anymore. They quit. Are you sure? Yeah, GM balled them and ruined the brand. Oh, yeah. Shocking, right? Yeah. Uh General Motors destroy a brand, never. So uh Pontiac and also go. So, anyways, uh the uh but yeah, the because I remember like actually going out there, I really wanted to fly on a propeller plane, and and all we did were jets, and I'm like, oh, this is gonna run a propeller plane. And then we finally get one, and it's not only do you get to fly a propeller plane, but you actually had to, if you remember back in the day on those things, you had to actually like go and walk on the ramp.

SPEAKER_06 41:09

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Because they did the jet bridge wouldn't go to them. You had to actually walk on the concrete and you're like walking by the uh Well, there there are still airports where you you know big planes that way.

SPEAKER_09 41:19

Yeah, they're mostly in the Burbank, Grand Island, Lincoln.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

Well Alpina.

SPEAKER_05 41:26

Alpina Hastings.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

But they're mostly in Oscar.

SPEAKER_05 41:30

Go on!

SPEAKER_09 41:31

They're mostly in Europe, though. OSU. Yeah, OSU, there you go. See, I never walked out on the terminal. Ireland? Oh, that's Europe. Never mind.

First Flight Memories Before Wi-Fi

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Ireland. Did we do that in Ireland? We did. Oh, okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_07 41:41

I flew into Redmond, Oregon once, and I think it was you have to use the ladder or the you know. Did you use the ladder?

SPEAKER_00 41:47

No, it's a ladder. It was literally ladder on the bottom of the jet. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It was uh it was the McDuff uh flying roll agency.

SPEAKER_07 41:56

It wasn't it wasn't a jet bridge like they do now.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

UK is not Europe, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Well, no. No, it is it is Europe, it's not part of the European Union. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:06

It's someone yelling at us. No, so Ireland was Europe.

SPEAKER_09 42:09

So when it's a lot of people, I'm just part of the UK.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

Yes. Part of the EU.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

Oh yeah, that's it. They're good Catholics there. So, anyways, um we don't want to start any drama between them. The speaking of the gr of parking at the airport and getting out of the green lot and everything. Yeah. Um you were talking we were talking about that before the recording stopped. Yes. Um But uh so is Green Lot in Columbus, is is it used to be the best parking deal? Like six dollars a day. Five used to be five dollars a day. Best parking deal in the world. There were people that would park there that didn't use the airport. Yeah. They're just like this is cheaper than anything else in the city. Yeah. Right? So uh$5 a day parking. Now it's up to eight. Eight. I think it is nine, I think.

SPEAKER_05 42:54

Oh, then it's bumped up. It was eight last I checked.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Okay. Okay, so eight or nine dollars a day, but still, like, you know, it's a big increase from five. Oh it's a big increase from five, but what's it in LA? 30. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. You know, ATL, Lana, it's like uh$22 for the cheapest, and that's you gotta take a bus to a thing to a far to you. Like it's a to-do. Ours is it not to do at all. It's actually and they and it's it's actually gotten nicer. They put a huge fence up around it. Um they I feel like they're running the green shuttle more than they used to. For sure. The last few times I've run in like two or three of them. Yeah, the last few times I've used it, it's been a lot faster than it used to be.

SPEAKER_07 43:32

The wait didn't seem that long at midnight.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Yeah. No, not at all. Um which it used to be if you waited half an hour, it wasn't crazy, but you're like, we're paying so little for parking, who cares? Now it feels like ten minutes, maybe at the most. It's it's actually gotten really good. Um, so I'm really happy with what they're doing with it. Yeah. But it's still the best deal in parking. It's so cheap.

SPEAKER_07 43:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

It is. It's so cheap.

SPEAKER_07 43:54

We had pulled in when we were leaving, we had pulled in and he was coming down, just pulled in. In that busted just as we were setting up to back into our parking place.

SPEAKER_08 44:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:05

So by the time we had parked and were unbuckling, he was like now at our car. Yes. And he stopped and he waited for us. Obviously, we were not slow pokes. We hustled and got our goods and and he did, but he he parked right in front. We weren't anywhere near but he could see that we had just arrived and why not pick us up.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Same thing happened to us. So we pulled apart from you. We pulled into the green lot. Oh, you saw us?

SPEAKER_07 44:33

You were on the outside perimeter. We are we were like first time out.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

I never would park there because there was no fence. Now there's a fence there. I'm like, oh yeah, I'll park there. So we did the same thing. So obviously we flew somewhere. If we were into y'all to LAX, we obviously flew somewhere. So we uh came back into uh or we when we came into the airport to park because we we left before y'all we were going home when y'all were going out. Right. So when we we got to the airport, um I saw the bus, like when you make there's a right-hand turn you make, and then there's about a quarter mile. Yeah, about that. About a quarter mile before you turn into the in the parking lot. So I saw when I made that turn, I saw the bus a quarter mile ahead of us turn in, and I'm like, we gotta go. So it was like hammer jammer, and and and I drove down there and into the uh into the into the uh airport uh parking thing, got my ticket, and then uh go through and they only use two aisles, but there's like six or eight aisles of parking. Yeah, uh so we knew where they were gonna be, and I saw that it was a full bus, which means they have to let passengers out, right? So I'm like, cool. So I went the next aisle over, just you know, 40 miles an hour through the parking lot. Don't do that, it's not safe. Um but I'm gonna wait for the next bus. I didn't want to wait for the next bus, and I knew if I went down far enough that I could get ahead of him enough time for us to get our luggage out and everything. Well, apparently he had no customers, and uh he did stop at one at stop one. There's four stops at each row. He stopped at one, and then he drove all the way down to four. And I'm like, seriously? Nobody parked in two, three, or four? Like normally you they they stop each one, and this guy wasn't stopping anymore. I'm like, oh my gosh. So Eric and I are like running and we're carrying our thing, and he blows past four, and I'm like, dang it, we're gonna have to wait for the next one. And I don't know how long that'll be. It could be 10 minutes, it could be five minutes, could be 30. Who knows, right? And uh the guy did the same thing. He stopped at the end of the at the end of the row and waited for opened the doors and waited for us and let us get on right there. Like I was super happy and and and and gracious for that. So um it definitely, especially when you're starting your trip, that kind of thing really sets you off on the right foot. Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. Uh, and then of course we were there. Uh, you know, we were we heard wait times were getting ridiculous and all this stuff, so we get there and we two minutes were past security, and we're like, well, what do we do for the next hour and a half? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:05

Uh what was begun at this week, Monday, with spring break and stuff starting. They were like two hour, three hour waits to get through security.

SPEAKER_09 47:14

We got through LA with no delay at all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:18

I think you guys were just before I don't know if spring break was a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of coming back.

SPEAKER_09 47:24

Coming back.

SPEAKER_05 47:25

Monday.

Green Lot Parking And TSA Surprises

SPEAKER_09 47:26

Wh whenever we came back, yeah, Monday. Uh but I mean everywhere else was having these long delays. Yeah. And we we were concerned about us. I was looking at wait times on online, I'm like, these can't be right, 10, 11 minutes. And we literally had nobody in front of us going through the checkpoint.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

So this afternoon, uh Jimmy and Kelly. Jimmy runs our uh maintenance department. Kelly runs our uh she's fleet manager of of uh all the trucks, but she specifically focuses on the FedEx side. Um they are flying out to uh from Atlanta to Colorado, I think, for uh family uh wedding. And um they were Atlanta was like one of the like Atlanta and New Orleans were two of the hardest hit airports, the worst. So they were like preparing for four or five hour uh delays to get in, all this stuff. 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_06 48:15

So then they're on the other side for four or five hours.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Yeah, and I'm like, oh, we should have sent them a credit card that wasn't getting back lounge access. But I'm like, you know, hey, being on the other side is much better than waiting in those lines. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_07 48:29

Well, your stress, your anxiety, all of that is worth being on the other side and taking a nap or just whatever it is you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

And just not knowing, because I mean they were telling people get there three hours ahead of time, but for Monday and Tuesday of this week, the lines are four or five hours long. So can you imagine being three hours early? Because that's what they said to do. And still missing your plane. And being in line, not even through TSA watching uh your plane depart.

SPEAKER_07 48:55

No.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Eric and I have to do that. So, Eric, do you remember this, Eric, in New Orleans with mom and dad uh and Melissa? So the first time we went to New York City, this is pre-trucking, this is we're going way back in time. So um, all way back to 2011. Wow. Uh so uh I mean in all fairness, it's 15 years ago. Yeah. But uh when you were 12. Yeah, back we uh we flew U.S. Air, okay? They don't even exist anymore. So um we uh flew out we decided to do a family trip. We're gonna go to uh New York City. So I booked us U.S. Air, uh Columbus, Ohio. Uh I keep saying that. Batonridge, Louisiana. And I'm sorry, New Orleans, because it was so much cheaper. Batonridge is a very expensive airport to come out of. New Orleans is very cheap. So New Orleans on US Air to uh not the main uh LaGuardia? No, uh to FK? No, but to uh Washington, D.C. Oh, DC Dulles? It wasn't Dulles, it was the other one. Reagan? Reagan? Reagan, yeah. It's the one that had the plane crash last year. Okay, so Reagan. We flew to Reagan and then from Reagan on to LaGuardia. Okay. Uh another airport that had a plane crash. Uh it just seems like it's just everywhere, isn't it? Yeah, it does. We uh we flew to Heroic Pilots. Anyways, so we uh we flew to LaGuardia and uh but we sure enough we got in in in and crazy long lines in uh uh New Orleans. We were there two hours or so. That's back when they were saying like be here, you know, an hour, an hour and ten, we're there two hours ahead of time, and we still missed our flight. And uh we got to the door. You know, you ever been like you see the movies where they're like walking down, like running down the the thing, and they see their gate and the they visually watch the door being closed. That's what happened. Like, that's our plate. They were super cool, they were like, we know the the security is really bad, and they booked us on the next flight, it was no big deal. Got to uh Reagan, got to LaGordia, everything's fine. Uh but I but just for that few minutes of like, oh no, yeah, like what do you do? Yeah, yeah, oh, it was terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

When we were taking Tab to get to Europe.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Yeah, you remember Tab going to Europe. Oh, I remember that. Jerome. Were you guys to go Jerome to Pittsburgh or something?

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Yeah. That was a bad experience.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

That was a nice jury in, though. What did you say, Jerry? Do you remember? Yes, first so uh yeah, me, uh me, Don, Jerry, Eric, and uh It was an expensive trip.

unknown 51:45

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 51:47

That was a nightmare. I'll you know what I remember the most about that trip besides the delicious food in Portugal? Do you remember the like the like 12-mile-long walkway from the parking lot into the building at Pittsburgh? Like, it was all enclosed and it was the mobile, like the moving sidewalks, but it was literally like I I say 12 miles, maybe two miles of just like side continuous sidewalk. I forgot y'all wanted to go to Pittsburgh forever. From the parking lot all the way to the main terminal, it was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_07 52:28

Something did you miss the one here? Something happened.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

So uh Newger.

SPEAKER_07 52:32

And we all ended up going somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

Yeah, New York City had really bad weather, so our Delta flight got canceled out of Columbus. Delta rebooked us out of Columbus and then got canceled again while we're while we're at the airport. Yeah. Like we hadn't checked our luggage yet, but we were at the airport. And thank God we had our luggage. And so then they said, so I got on the diamond desk because um thank God I was a diamond medallion. And so I told them our tickets, and I told them Jerry's tickets and Don's tickets, and uh she was like, everything out of Columbus is gonna be canceled tonight.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

They had a really bad storm going through, and it was gonna get to it was New York.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Yeah, we were fine where we were at. There was no storm where we were at, but New York was under a bad storm. Yeah, everything was getting canceled. So she said Pittsburgh's flight's not gonna get canceled. I can put you on Pittsburgh's flight, and there's enough room for all four of you. And uh, but can you make can you make the flight? And she told us the Times, and we're like, sure. Yeah, we'll figure it out. And so it was high tail it back to the parking lot, got in the car, and and left, had to pay friggin' three dollars in parking. Yeah. Um and then we drove to like Pittsburgh, and I want to say we were probably like an hour outside of Pittsburgh. Jerry, you remember this when we got the notification that that flight had been canceled.

SPEAKER_03 53:58

I remember getting the notification of the Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_00 54:01

Yes. Oh, stab in the heart. Wow. But everything in and out of JFK was getting canceled. They were having a bad, bad, bad storm. Um, and tap Air Portugal, who we were flying out of. We were gonna fly out.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

We were hoping that they'd cancel their flight leaving New York because of the bad weather.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

I think we were supposed to leave at a like 10 or 11 o'clock at night out of New York City, and they ended up flying that flight at like 5 a.m.

SPEAKER_06 54:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

And because they flew it and we weren't there. Our fault. Our fault. So we did we had to eat the airfare. Oof. It was probably an empty plane in Portugal. It was crazy. So uh Delta stepped at the plate, they took care of everything, made everything happen, um, and we were able to get on a Delta flight the next day.

SPEAKER_07 54:48

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

But it was I forgot it was about weather. It was bad. It was for a few minutes there, it was like really frustrating. But we stay at this really nice jury in. Made it in time for the fast break. Didn't we have dinner there? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 55:03

Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

I remember too, we were talking about like maybe let's go into into Pittsburgh and let's see what it's about or go to the movies or something. And after we got done eating, we were all the anxiety, everything, we were all shot. We're like, nah, we're going to bed.

SPEAKER_03 55:17

It was my first time at Jury Inn and it was so stressful. I was drinking that night. So that gives you a little hair right there.

SPEAKER_07 55:26

Right, right. That's funny.

Weather Cancellations Portugal Reroute

SPEAKER_00 55:29

Yeah, it was, it was, it was rough. We still ended up uh had didn't we have time in New York City? We still like the next day we had like a full day in New York City and got to do the whole uh Patrick and Eric's New York City tour. I think y'all have been a part of that a couple times, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh that was fun.

SPEAKER_07 55:45

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:47

I love New York City.

SPEAKER_09 55:49

So uh Eric I love I'm a big fan of their salsa.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

Oh. A pace we county salsa? Oh. Not pace. You mean uh it was the uh New York City old pasta. Get a rope. Get a rope. What would you like on your tombstone? Oh, wait, that's a different pizza. A pizza pizza.

SPEAKER_07 56:10

Oh my goodness, y'all emerged in all these commercials.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

One love. So um where's the beef?

SPEAKER_05 56:19

I've fallen and I can't get up.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

Look at that chicken from Popeye!

SPEAKER_07 56:27

Oh my goodness, y'all haven't seen each other in a while. We have a meet.

SPEAKER_00 56:32

So that sounds like y'all had a ton of fun in lower Los Angeles. It was a good time.

SPEAKER_07 56:40

Oh, we squeezed and seeing my parents in San Diego.

SPEAKER_09 56:43

That was even lower.

SPEAKER_07 56:44

That was even lower.

SPEAKER_09 56:44

You went to San Diego?

SPEAKER_07 56:45

We did. Do you know what San Diego means? I do on Sunday. The Diego of San. Uh it we were an hour and 15 minutes from where my parents are. So uh my dad and stepmom, and so we we jaunted down and awesome.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Are these the RB down? Are these the RBRs?

SPEAKER_07 57:01

Oh, cool, cool, cool. But I'm glad that they were there at the campground. Uh so we hung out for maybe two hours.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

You were glad they were there. You didn't tell them we were coming?

SPEAKER_07 57:09

Not until that morning.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Oh, oh okay, okay. So okay. You didn't like knock on the door like surprise!

SPEAKER_07 57:16

No, no, oh no, because I wouldn't have known what no. Um so anyways, we we yeah, we jumped down there. Speaking of people who don't believe in air conditioning. Oh uh motor home. That's yeah, yeah, no. That's so and my dad wears long sleeve shirts. I'm not sure what's up with that. Uh t-shirts. You know, not not the Abses, but all the way down. He always has.

SPEAKER_00 57:35

I can't.

SPEAKER_07 57:35

But pulled up, so they're really three quarters.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

I have one long sleeve shirt, and it's because FedEx gave it to me.

SPEAKER_07 57:42

With no air conditioning. That's 87 degree weather. Yeah, it was warm. We enjoyed our time.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

I've owned many RVs over the years. You've known me to have several. Every single one of them. Every single one of them. I know. So much so that I don't even need electricity. I think they just gas in their diesel and we can No, there's no I that's not true. Because I do think you could adapt to it because we did by force.

SPEAKER_07 58:09

Remember that, Eric?

SPEAKER_00 58:10

When we were children? No. Three weeks ago.

SPEAKER_07 58:13

Oh, by force.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

So, Eric and I, uh I I'm sure you're asking well, how did where were you all coming from that you met each other in in Los Angeles? Yeah. And uh did we go down to see the Queen Mary? Perhaps. Probably not. Did we do a cruise down to Cabo and uh and uh Porto Vallarta? Yeah. Absolutely not. Not a chance. Uh Eric and I actually took a quick uh three and a half week trip to um Australia. Oh. Yes. We went down to the land Danunda.

SPEAKER_07 58:58

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 58:59

Yes. Uh we actually it was it was actually planned out to be a five-week trip. I know you're thinking that's ridiculous. You're not wrong. So um you're not wrong. Uh, but uh the first two weeks of it was gonna be a cruise. Um on uh the Carnival Luminosa. Luminosa. Yeah, right. I like that name.

SPEAKER_07 59:20

Luminosa.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Luminosa. It sounds like it should be a spell in Harry Potter. Luminosa. Yeah, so we we were gonna take a cruise out out of out of Brisbane. It was one the Carnival gave us uh from being loyal uh Carnival Casino uh followers. And um I was excited, Fiji and a bunch of other stuff. Um when we got closer and closer and closer to the time, um a few things happened. I ended up getting sick, and we had some other stuff happen. It was like, you know what? Let's cut the trip short. Let's cut the cruise off, let's just go down there and do uh the part that we're really looking forward to, which was a drive from Brisbane to Cannes. So Cannes is spelled C-A-I-R-N-E-L N-E-N-S. Karen's. Karen's. And I was taught you pronounce it can. And while we were down there, the local Australian people call it Cannes. And Cairns. And Kairens. You're gonna say it with the accent. I think that makes a difference. And cons.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:30

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

Depending on where you're at.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:32

They call it all of those.

Australia Road Trip And Cyclone Cliffhanger

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

So I I realize they don't have a clue what they're talking about. They're just making it up as they go with their brecky and everything else. Um, so we uh we did this. So is uh it's about 1200 miles from uh Brisbane to Cannes, and um there's a lot of there's a ton of road trips you can take to get there, and they go from everything from like a four-day road trip to like a uh a two-month-long road trip because there's enough to see. It's beautiful coastline. Eric, what would you describe it as?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:07

Driving from New York all the way to San Diego.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

But how would you describe the coastline?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

Oh, it's gorgeous. It mountains, rock, and I mean rock, it's like a thousand feet tall. And it's it's not a mountain, it's a freaking rock. Down to like flat um would marshland kind of reminds you of South Louisiana, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

Like this reminds me of when we are traveling on ITN, going from like Baton Rouge to like Lafayette, my hometown.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

Yeah, that swampy marshland to uh rainforest tropical Hawaii, Hawaii, yeah, Hawaii, like it's like it was in San Diego. Yes, it it was crazy how much diversity there is in that stretch.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

So I see why people do such a like a long trip. We obviously couldn't do that, but I see why people do such a long trip. Um and it it was just it was unbelievably gorgeous. Um, and I'm so glad we were able to do it. So uh we went, we flew to uh Brisbane, 13 and a half hours on a plane. Whoo fa. Uh second longest uh the trip to South Africa was longer, but this was uh you know it's funny with these long flights? Like the trip to South Africa was longer. By like three minutes. You know what I mean? Like every time a new world's longest flight pops up, it's by like a few minutes.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Right? It's ridiculous. If you have enough time to have dinner, watch a Harry Potter movie, go to sleep for eight hours, wake up, watch another two and a half hour Lord of the Rings special, and have breakfast. That's a long time to be on a plane.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:53

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:54

Um so that's what this was. It was that kind of situation. And it's nice. They Delta really does a really nice job of it. You know, I'm a big fan of theirs. I do like if you if you're not like so Eric and I travel a lot for work, and because of that, um, and we fly mostly Delta, we have a lot of Delta points or whatever, so we we try to fly Delta because of the loyalty thing. If you don't have that, fly an international carrier. So if you're going to Europe, fly Virgin, fly KLM, fly those foreign carriers because they do have a really cool product. But if you are loyal to someone, flying Delta, they they do a really nice job. It's it was really, really comfortable. I got the uh the meal out there, I got these meatballs out of a uh I sent you the the guy's name out of uh uh LA and you didn't know who he was. You said he might be newer since you were there, uh or since you left there. Uh but these meatballs were to die for. They were so good. Like they just they they really do a good job. It was it was a very comfortable flight, and um when we landed there, we were actually quite well rested. Um and we landed at 8 o'clock in the morning, and we had some time to kill, so we actually drove to a mall. And I love this mall because in Australia, Eric, I the way I describe it is it's like malls of like 1999, 2001, where it's like the place to be. It's the like in the 90s. Yes, like it's it's the place to be, it's the place where people go and hang out on the weekends and stuff. Um we went to Were we there on the weekend? We landed on Saturday. We left on Thursday, we landed on Saturday. Do that math. Uh but we have to skip a day. What uh do you know where the story we went to that I was like crazy? Like, oh my god, I can't believe we went here.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

There were a few of them. I don't know which one.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:52

Orange Julius. Not quite orange. It wasn't Target, it was the other one.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:01

Kmartco.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:03

What? Is it Kmart? Kmart. Yeah.

unknown 1:05:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:06

We went to Kmart. And I don't I don't mean like Kmart, like there's one left in South Florida that has 19 items left to buy. Yeah. Kmart at a mall. Kmart at a mall that was busy and there were people, and it was like elbow to elbow.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:23

They have their blue light special.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:25

They didn't. That's that's the only thing that made me mad. We walked all the way around that store because I was like, there's a blue light special in here. I know there is, I can feel it. And I was wrong.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:35

Probably later in the day they would have it. Maybe probably were too early.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

Maybe. Yeah, it was one thing that was weird too.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:41

Popcorn too, didn't they? Popcorn and Slurpees. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:44

They had the food court, they had little Caesars Pizza. They didn't have a food court in the Kmart right group. But we so we had the Little Caesars Pizza in our Kmart.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:52

Did y'all have that? No. There was no little Caesar's Pizza Kmart. We did. Slurpee? No. We didn't it wasn't Slurpees, that's 7 Eleven. was a little puppy. Oh puppy thingy. The the the i the the s the slurpee type thing, the ice machine.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:06

Yeah well I think they had cotton candy too. We had we had uh titsy rolls yeah right sandwiches oh deli sandwiches deli sandwiches I don't remember food like that I just remember the snow macky stuff we didn't have and then there was a separate stand that had ice cream like out the the food area was inside it wasn't a sit down and eat it was take it and go take and go but they had the blue light special yeah yeah it wasn't slushies it wasn't slurpee's it was another brand of Slurpee another brand of slushy I forget okay it'll come to my last time at Kmart I was probably under the age of eight so I'm reaching way back in my memory bank just a few weeks ago in South Louisiana we had did you have because you're from like the south did you have Kmart?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:54

Yeah big part of your life yeah I I felt like Kmart I feel like the South uh really like Kmart Walmart Target like we really had like them sure those kind of stores uh so Kmart to me we had OG Kmart which was just Kmart I think later it was called big Kmart or Big K or something like that. But it but it was just the Kmart stores and I mean like from the 1970s they had like the concrete uh uh little porticos or something when you walk in right and you walk to the building and uh sheetrock not not sheetrock uh ceiling like the um oh what are they called the like the asbestos tiles or whatever like and uh when I got a little bit older everything was Joe Boxer branded stuff and Joe Boxer branded uh pillows and stuff so that's late 90s wow college kids going to school you know whatever um but that was the Kmart that I grew up with and uh in Baton Rouge they built a super Kmart so we actually got one that was rivaled you know the Super Walmarts when they first came out now they're just Walmart but they used to be Super Walmart. Right. Um and it was a huge Kmart that had a giant electronic section with flat screen TVs and all this stuff that we'd never seen like it was like oh my gosh this is crazy nice um a huge food food court and everything our our our our our shopping uh grocery store and then we had the the the food court for the uh Kmart which included a little Caesar's uh pizza nice did the one in Brisbane have that no they never they were like little little who no food court no I don't see a food court okay so when you first walked in off to the left they had the counter at an angle I think they had some foods on there. Oh did they okay so maybe they it was very small but anything like when we had when we were kids um what was the other store you were excited to see that was it oh no uh I think that was the main one everything else like there were a few like Australian specific brands that we were excited to see and we went and shopped some of those you know the whole shop local thing yeah so we did some of that um but just being in a mall with a ton of people like it it just because if you go to that's not really something that's happening right now if you go to like like in Columbus Tuttle Crossing is one of our malls it's a ghost town. Yeah if you go to Polaris during Christmas it's busy. Yeah outside of that it's still half empty with stores literally half empty stores yeah there wasn't a single no it was completely full it was completely full there wasn't a single ink empty spot in that store that mall you were literally if you wanted to put your business in there you had to get on the wait list. Wow it was crazy I thought you had Burger King but not no we that was Hungry Jack's sorry very similar very similar they had whoppers and uh kangaroo meat or anything or what are they serving you? No so we didn't have kangaroo meat the whole time we were there and it is a thing you can get but we didn't do it. Um so in Australia Burger King existed prior to Burger King coming from America to Australia so they had two options they could either pay this guy that owned Burger King millions of dollars or they could just name their company something else. And so they did they named it Hungry Jacks. Okay the only thing different is the word hungry jack the colors everything it was yeah the but the food the food inside they're not doing anything Australian forward Australian beef oh proudly proudly Australian beef that's cool yes flavorless but uh proudly Australian beef um McDonald's was the same way they were like proudly Australian beef the chicken tenders though those come from you know overseas you say that I'm kidding the best thing at both restaurants were the chicken I was kidding what was another one that's like is there a McDonald's there but it's not McDonald's no so McDonald's no most of them are uh the same way they had a outback steakhouse so we really wanted to go it's because outback steakhouse I know we've all been taught is a is like an Australian thing it's really not it's an American thing but they do have them in the major cities that's weird so we thought about going but we we never made the time to do it. That kind of feels like a slap in the face I mean but I guess it looks like going to Taco Bill in Mexico they've tried multiple times they keep getting kicked out if there was one there it would be like going there. I think we're saying it'd be like going to an In N Out burger in America.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:46

Yeah it would be I don't get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:48

Anyways so um no uh so we did uh McDonald's there was like maybe three nights in first first the first night might have been the first night actually I take it back I think it might have been the first night in Brisbane so we went to the mall the cool thing about the mall is they had like a nice cafe uh that had indoor outdoor seating and they also served beer so Eric and I when we first got there we were so early we couldn't check into our hotel so we go to the mall we're doing that whole thing and we ended up going to this cafe each got a beer sat on the back porch and there's a park directly across the street it was gorgeous and it's like our first memory of Australia and the wildlife immediately the birds are different the lizards are different the sounds you hear are different. People are driving on the wrong side of the road it's different immediately the plants are different like it's it's crazy we've been to some really crazy places we've really been lucky in our life to to go to some cool places but like when you're in Europe it feels like if you don't take the architecture into account it feels very like the US the same animals sure same everything it was dramatically different in Australia the wildlife the flora the fauna so seeing all that and just like we just survived this 13 hour flight it survives a strong word I know but like it's a hike and you know just being able to have a beer and and really like taking our surroundings and it was it was really nice. It was a cool cool welcome here. Yeah and then um got to our hotel they put us on a low floor so we were on 42 that's a low floor? Yeah there were 20 more floors above us wow um and we had like the most epic view of Brisbane it was freaking gorgeous. And I think that night we were just done you know that feeling of like you've been going and going and going and you're just like I don't care. Yeah I got through about 20 minutes ago. If you gave me a thousand dollars I wouldn't go out. You know what I mean? Like that kind of thing. So I did order Uber Eats because they have that everywhere. And uh we got the McDonald's Eric got the chicken I got the beef and um he won. The beef was flavorless. I don't know if they don't salt their meat or what like because Birkin was the same thing. But their beef is flavorless. Like it's so weird. They're they're like advertising proudly Australian but there was no flavor. It was very strange.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:26

Chicken fish great but the beef was not maybe their lean cows don't have a lot of fat to make flavor.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:33

I don't know because they have like the they have Australian Waigu, which is delicious. So I don't know that was very strange. Yeah. We spent a few days there we ended up going up the coast like I said uh we had all kinds of crazy adventures we stayed at some really nice hotels we ended up staying in a jail cell we uh it was very close I thought it was a closet it was a well it might as well have been so we did uh cyclone ended up hitting uh Australia I don't know if y'all pay attention probably don't and when that cyclone hit Australia it actually ended up float flooding Eric and I into like a city on the hill so city city a town on the hill that was a village a village on the hill and I mean every road was closed we tried one grocery store one restaurant the restaurant closed that night the grocery the it was closed that night at the grocery store that's very kind very kind of convenience store just as a hurricane is about to come through they didn't have peanut butter and jelly they had bread but didn't have peanut butter and jelly they have the veggie mite did they have barbecue sauce that is not the same and they don't treat it the same as peanut butter we ended up buying we bought a couple bags of chips some soda because we had some Jack Daniels um because when in Rome you buy American liquor exactly um and they had jerky jerky no they didn't have jerky cheese nothing nope nope no protein so the only thing they had that looked like their whole hot food counter and they had like two rolls that nobody's because everybody else in the town knew this cyclone was coming so they had already done so they don't they don't do so the restaurants closed on on Tuesday or whatever day we're there in and the the grocery store does hot food they had like a uh uh fried chicken and all stuff they don't do it on Tuesdays either because there's never anyone there so if we were there on Wednesday through Sunday we'd have been fine but we were there on Tuesday and there's no food to get they had banana bread and it looked delicious. It was thick slices come on zucchini bread you know I'm talking about thick slices you saw the walnuts in it you saw the the big old piece of banana on top so I got two of those brought them back to the uh place I'm like okay we're gonna have chips and banana bread it's not great but it'll get us through the night and then tomorrow we leave here hopefully the water will have receded because the rain did stop in the middle of the night we knew that it was going to stop in the middle of the night and so I I I'm from South Louisiana so I'm familiar with flooding and I'm like okay well when the rain subsides it's gonna take 10 12 hours and then the water so starts to go down. And um so we ended up getting that that was the most flavorless banana breader Oh my goodness they forgot um sugar yes and uh love and bananas oh no it's a big old piece of banana you can see it the banana was the only flavorful part they found walnuts that didn't have flavor they clearly didn't get them from uh Texas I'll tell you that no no not not by the pecans no it was it was it was nothing can replace love when you're making stuff like that it was not good but it's all we had to eat so we're eating this flavorless put a potato chip on it yeah well the potato chips are there are hit or missed I'm just thinking about this now they had a donation basket where you could put food for homeless or whatever they had more food in the donation basket than they had for us to buy that's right you should have you should have donated shouldn't you yourself we should have we should have put the banana bread in there and then got the spam out and just ate the spam no it was crazy uh an adventure for sure it was absolutely adventure so we we had it was a single bed uh so we had two rooms a single bed a fairly clean bathroom uh I'll say that a small bathroom sink and then a giant like you know those uh big um what utility sink is that what they're called yeah yeah but you'd have to have in a laundry room yeah is that where you took a shower no not one should I had a shower room they did and they had a uh air conditioner that was for like uh the cathedral in a uh a 10 foot by eight foot room so you were nice and cold so it was frigid um and uh what was the other thing they had uh spiders yeah tons and tons of spiders but they made to escape the the weather as well they did they did yeah yeah tons of spiders it was crazy like so I had my my cab or my sleep in the car at this point we thought about it so like I had I had my my little dorm Eric had his dorm so like I went put my stuff in my dorm and then it was weird they're the same building but the entrances were on total different sizes and they had like these um shrubs that kept you from getting to them. So we I literally had to drive around the building to Eric so we go to his dorm then he he takes all his stuff out and then we watched TV and hung out in his room or whatever before the nighttime and then I went back to mine but it uh like the first one of the first things we did because you think like okay if there's a bug or a roach or something it's not gonna get in the bed it'll be on the floor you squash it and it's no big deal right so where the bed's up against the wall a giant spider and I mean we're talking what inch and a half in diameter starts walking up between the bed and the wall and it's like Eric's like I'm pulling the bed out in the middle of the room as soon as we're done he's like that's not happening. So it was that kind of level crazy and and tons I mean like tons Eric of those tiny how would you describe them? They were almost the size of ants maybe spiders little like maybe two millimeters spiders everywhere. It was like they had just had a hatch yeah so the so the next morning we get up we check out the lady's like I hear some of the roads are uh are opening up so you all should be good because the lady that runs the place genuinely cared like genuinely cared she's the one that told us where to get food she's the one that was like tomorrow morning let me know where you're going we're gonna I I have all the social media stuff we're gonna be able to talk about how to get where you're going all this stuff and um so talking with her she's like okay I I hear this particular road's open you're good cool so check out we head out and we get past the previous day we knew some roads were closed and we found out what roads closed mean which is multiple feet of water. Yeah so we go back down the same road and the the water's gone. So we're like oh thank God so we keep going and then eventually the road turns into uh gravel gravel that's a warm and fuzzy feeling when the road ceases to exist.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:48

Um that's working and then you get to the point where the cows have decided to cross.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:52

Yes that's driving around the backfields in Nebraska then um after the the road doesn't exist and then the cows now occupy the space that might be a road um you go across one bridge and there's water but it's not deep so you can make it that's good and you're like reminiscent of the other day we're good keep going then you get to the one that everybody stopped on both sides.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:27

And I just want to point out here is the picture of our fearless leader Eric and so you see this photo of Eric and he is pushing with all his weight against it when I'm walking across so your leg is more if you think about the shape of your leg side to side it's got more surface area but front to back it's your bone yeah so as I'm walking across the water I'm keeping my feet and legs facing the current so it doesn't push my calf and knock me up because the water's that strong he gets out there he gets out there metal he's like doing this whole thing.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:07

Yeah he's like we're not going through this we're not going through this that was pretty risky I mean you could have been swept down the river.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:13

Well we'd already seen other people do it in other places so you're like I might as well do it. I'm an expert yeah we were the only two there at this point at this point we were the only two there. So he comes back and I mean this is if you floor it you can make it across uh not that one no we'd already so we'd already done that so the previous day we actually uh had passed up the little village on the hill and we were on a back road and about half an hour into the back road we got to a place uh where I'm sorry maybe more like tw 15 20 minutes got to a place where the bridge had a little bit of water going across it we waited watched another vehicle go across it because in Australia they have a lot of it's funny because the first time we were there uh the first time we were there we're there Eric's asking why are all these like plastic tubes coming off of these trucks these black plastic tubes and they face forward really what are they and I'm like well they're snorkels for the air intake so that you don't flood your truck and he's like what's that for those anywhere in the US yeah it's not a thing in America I'm like we have not a secret not every other vehicle like they have anything every other vehicle but oh my gosh we have groups that get together every week yeah but that's not the same thing as every other vehicle so we so we ended up uh getting to explain that so you see these trucks go through and you see them it's like okay that looks like three four inches of water I can get across it right so we go across the bridge and then we're and then we're in hills and it's fine everything's dry and it's good and then we come up to and there's like four cars two SUVs and there's another SUV on the other side of the dip and there's all this water going across and we're like oh this doesn't look good at all so finally someone does have the whatever it takes to I'm gonna drive through it. So they drive through it and they're jacked up big truck uh big SUV and everything and they get across it and they're way off the off the ground and the water is right up to the bottom of their car and we're like all right so we're turning around we're going over the bridge that we just came over so we turn around we go back and there's a a camry a Toyota Camry which I'm like they have cameras on offshore?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:31

Okay there's a Toyota Camry they're pulled aside and I'm like that's not good and then we keep going and sure enough we get to that bridge and I'm like oh they're just nervous about going to that bridge then we get closer to it and I'm like oh my god that bridge is no longer three four inches the first time well the first time we crossed that bridge the water was up to the base of it it's not on top of the road but there's no space between the bridge and the water they're touching each other on the way back the water had picked up to six to nine inches over the bridge in the matter of like two rivers.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:03

Yeah so now we're yes and Eric and I are like Eric's like what are we gonna do? So I'm gonna call them our heroes they pulled up next to us and they're like they were in a rail car all but they were in a bigger SUV and they were like this river's climbing we're gonna go through it if y'all want to follow us that's the best way because we're gonna make a path in the water and I'm like that doesn't make any sense because water fing rushes water rushes and um so but if you insist I'm I'm I'm doing it right what's your other option what's my other option sleep in the car either sleep in the car because there's nothing it is the middle of nowhere. So I'm like alright we're going for it. So we just go for it. I gun it behind him and I mean it's he said he did lose traction on the road oh there were multiple several not multiple a few times where it's like oh we don't we're not on the ground anymore. It was crazy but we got through it and we got through it and then people were like yeah and we're like yeah it's locked up whatever we can make the news or the Facebook page good huge accomplishment yes so we get through it and and all's fine and then we get and so we're like okay we're gonna go back the way we came into this town and try again.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:20

So like in the US you there's multiple ways to get places take this road it's can't take the next road or place after that the place that got us into town?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:28

Yeah roads closed they'd already put us in so I'm like there's another way out roads closed so I'm like alright we gotta stay here so we go to the hotel.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:40

Is it the only hotel?

Next Steps Tech Teasers And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 1:27:41

The only hotel no rooms there's no rooms in the inn I'm like this feels what do you do so uh she actually she recommended a campground that may have something and that's how we end up with those two dorm cabins. So we literally got the last two That's cool. Spaces in the town. So it was it was crazy. The rest of the trip is kind of similar, just massive ups, massive downs, you know, things were super great. We had a few really low bottoms. Um, but we have gone over our time. Adventure. So I'm going to uh say this is gonna be a part B.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:25

And we will leave Flooding Town and pick it up next week. How's that sound, Jerry?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:32

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:33

In the meantime, what have I missed?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:34

If you're interested in highfield trucking and all that we have to offer over here, check out highfieldtrucking.com. You can reach out to recruiting via an online chat. You can also call recruiting at 833-Highfield. That's 833-493-4353. Option one, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If you have any suggestions, comments about the show, send them over to the out of beltpodcast at gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. If you have any comments, leave them down below. We do read all of those. Don't forget to give us a thumbs up and hit that subscribe button. It really does help us out with the algorithm. And make sure you listen to us on all of your favorite streaming podcast platforms. Platforms, wherever you do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:20

Well, Rusty. Spin a little bit. I love how that at you, and you're like, oh, I forgot the script.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:29

I wondered how many times you like said this over and over to yourself to have it down that good.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:35

Well, we thank you all for joining us and being here with us. Yeah. We uh appreciate the time to get to hang out. It has been a while, so I know we're doing a little bit of catch-up. We do have some thoughts on some things that are happening in the trucking industry. It's very interesting situations that are going on right now. We just wanted to catch you up with what's been going on in our lives and why we missed last week. Um again, I'll finish up part B of the Australia Adventure Done Under. And um we will also talk about uh some legislation that's going through. Yeah. And um I also had a thought, Melissa. Tell me what you think about this. Vince, what do you think too? I like too. So I was thinking we have talked about trucks and all the parts and pieces of how we build those trucks and why we've done what we've done, and who we've done, who we've done. That last part probably was not appropriate. What do you think about talking a little bit about the technology behind High Field? I don't think we've really done that. We've not talked about the things we've done on the fleet side of things with the technology and how we've grown from literally Apple Notes to various platforms to get where we're at now. We have not talked about the um app that we now have. Yeah. We have not talked about the social media aspect of uh the various private groups we have, which uh are out there. We've not talked about a lot of that stuff. Yeah, I think that'd be interesting because we've talked in depth pretty good about the trucks. And if there's more that you want to hear, certainly let me know because I'd love to talk to you about them.

SPEAKER_08 1:31:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:18

Uh but there's these aspects about our company that are exciting and fun. And if you're if you're someone that's driving a high-filled truck, you you may know part of it. And if you are someone who's driving a high-filled truck, you may go, why do they do X, Y, or Z? Yeah. I think some of that would be fun to chat about, talk about, and we've got the knowledge and the know-how and the brains in this group. I feel like we should highlight some of that stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:41

I think that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:42

So I think that's the next couple episodes. I want to really focus on some of that stuff because it's really cool to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:49

Or the employee aspect or the the inner workings of behind the scenes. Behind the scenes. Behind the scenes who supports you, what supports out there.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:57

Absolutely. And like for me, like talking because it's gonna be kind of a combo of me and Jerry are gonna have to like work on this when it comes to the maintenance side of things, like how are we from uh Google uh Google, that's funny, Apple notes to Fleadio, you know, and how do we get there and and things like that. So that'd be cool. I absolutely think it'd be a fun thing to do. Yeah, and and and it's it's just something that I'm like that's something we've never talked about. It'd be it'd be cool to cool to kind of converse about the app thing, how it was a dream of mine years ago, and how it's how it's gone from iteration to iteration, iteration to what it is now, which is incredible. Yeah, so um I would like I think that's the next next things we should talk about. So if y'all have any other ideas or any other questions y'all have, things y'all want us to talk about, drop us a comment, shoot us an email, the outer beltpodcast at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:52

You can call us on the phone at 833 Highfield, 833-493-4353, option one.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:01

And uh share your your thoughts there.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:03

Uh real quick, speaking of fact checking in.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:05

It's been nine hours since we've quit.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:07

I know I see was the thing at Kmart. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:11

I think I'm not gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:12

I was gonna see I was gonna mention that.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:14

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:16

I see I see Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:18

Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see. That was what that's what uh Circle K had. Yes. Yes, yes, it's moved. Yes, they had Coke and they had cherry coke.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:31

And it was red and blue.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:33

Yes. No, they had coke and they had cherry. Yeah, made cherry coke.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:37

Yeah, it's like a Thanksgiver.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:40

All right. It was gonna drive us all crazy. Thank you, Don.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:43

We were gonna uh you just call me whatever you'd like. I mean, it's it's good. I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:48

It's D-A-W-N. So um well, we have been saying goodbye for about 35 minutes. Midwest goodbye. Uh anywho, until we meet again, stay safe and make good decisions. Don't leave money on the table.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:03

And keep those wheels a turn.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:06

Bye.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:07

Good night.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:09

Oh, that's not it. Hold on one second.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:12

Hold on. There we go.