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Aug. 21, 2024

Chaos and Camaraderie: An Unforgettable Day on Interstate 215

Chaos and Camaraderie: An Unforgettable Day on Interstate 215

A roadside breakdown to create a day filled with chaos and camaraderie? Picture this: our trusty camper, Old Red, breaks down on Interstate 95 just outside the Gardner exit, sending our plans into a tailspin. With smoke billowing from the engine, we faced a failed radiator hose and ensuing mayhem. Thankfully, our friends Kyle and Julia came to the rescue, underscoring the power of a solid support system during crises. Through this ordeal, we discuss finding strength in adversity and how unexpected challenges can foster growth and resilience.

Maintaining our caffeine fix while juggling preparations for the Windsor Fair presented its own set of hurdles. From bad iced coffees to the meticulous efforts required for successful event prep, we share the highs and lows of balancing personal commitments and business demands. Amidst these trials, a recent Cora Shriners event showcased our ability to manage multiple responsibilities simultaneously. We dive into the strategic planning and determination that kept us ahead of the game, despite the many obstacles thrown our way.

A rollercoaster of a day saw mechanical and technical setbacks, from a bus that wouldn’t start to a camper with a failing AC. Despite these challenges, we ended on a high note with successful sales and a hopeful outlook. We express profound gratitude for the unwavering support from friends and family, highlighting that true familial bonds go beyond blood relations. Join us as we navigate these unpredictable moments, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and quick problem-solving, while reflecting on the invaluable lessons learned from our unforgettable adventures.

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Chapters

00:02 - Sunday Struggles and Coffee Addiction

05:02 - Caffeine Addiction and Event Prep

11:26 - Weekend Event Success

25:48 - Interstate Emergency Rescue by Friends

32:20 - Harrowing Hillside Breakdown Chaos

36:38 - Camper Fuel Crisis Rescue

41:35 - Strength and Gratitude Amid Challenges

49:00 - Social Media Promotion and Thank You

Transcript
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00:00:02.567 --> 00:00:03.891
Baby mama's not impressed.

00:00:03.891 --> 00:00:05.163
We're coming to.

00:00:05.163 --> 00:00:12.728
You live from the side of 95, here, just outside the Gardner exit, exit 102, where my wife is about to kick me in the nuts.

00:00:12.728 --> 00:00:18.012
Good thing we already have a child in the oven, because I'm pretty confident after this adventure I wouldn't have a chance at a second.

00:00:18.012 --> 00:00:20.609
So just another day in the life and times.

00:00:20.609 --> 00:00:21.661
That's old Red.

00:00:21.661 --> 00:00:25.373
That's the camper here we are right there, side of 95.

00:00:25.373 --> 00:00:27.583
I'll be damned if we in to lose a radiator hose.

00:00:28.707 --> 00:00:35.468
You would have thought old glory over here was going up in a glory because it was, uh, like cheech and chong under the hood there.

00:00:35.468 --> 00:00:42.250
But uh, we were just talking about the fact we needed an idea for a podcast episode and here the fuck we are.

00:00:42.250 --> 00:00:44.683
We got an idea for a podcast.

00:00:44.683 --> 00:00:53.905
This podcast episode is going to be sponsored by underdog metal because kyle and julia are on their way to save our freaking ass, because they just happen to be shopping.

00:00:53.905 --> 00:00:56.093
Well, an hour down the road.

00:00:56.093 --> 00:00:58.762
But we didn't realize it was an hour down the road.

00:00:58.762 --> 00:01:00.246
We thought it was 20 minutes down the road.

00:01:00.246 --> 00:01:08.912
Kyle's getting supplies, he's on his way here and, lord willing, if the creek don't rise, this truck will come back alive and we'll be on our way to the Windsor Fair.

00:01:08.912 --> 00:01:13.043
So this feels expensive, so hopefully I see you out there at the fair.

00:01:18.635 --> 00:01:21.040
Let me tell you something Everybody struggles.

00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:26.552
The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it.

00:01:26.552 --> 00:01:28.968
The choice is completely yours.

00:01:28.968 --> 00:01:34.893
Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life.

00:01:34.893 --> 00:01:42.593
If you find strength in the struggle, then this podcast is for you.

00:01:44.965 --> 00:01:49.513
Do you have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable conversations?

00:01:49.513 --> 00:01:55.250
Uncomfortable conversations challenge you, humble you and they build you.

00:01:55.250 --> 00:02:00.281
When you sprinkle a little time and distance on it, it all makes sense.

00:02:00.281 --> 00:02:05.423
Most disagreements, they stem from our own insecurities.

00:02:05.423 --> 00:02:09.764
You are right where you need to be.

00:02:09.764 --> 00:02:25.372
I'm running behind you asking you to wait.

00:02:25.372 --> 00:02:28.033
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

00:02:28.033 --> 00:02:32.756
What it do, what it diddy-do, hot diggity.

00:02:32.756 --> 00:02:37.837
Damn, am I so excited to be back with you.

00:02:37.837 --> 00:02:43.521
Oh, it's true, it is damn true.

00:02:43.542 --> 00:02:51.312
Well, I don't know about you, but that little sneak peek, that B-roll, that little preview to open the show, that's how my Sunday went.

00:02:51.312 --> 00:02:53.776
That is how I spent my Sunday.

00:02:53.776 --> 00:03:00.631
We had a nice little day planned, but that's not the way it would all work out.

00:03:00.631 --> 00:03:02.419
Just putting that spoiler alert out there to start the show.

00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:03.705
We're going to get there today.

00:03:03.705 --> 00:03:04.598
That was my Sunday.

00:03:04.598 --> 00:03:05.015
We're going to get there today.

00:03:05.015 --> 00:03:05.328
That was my Sunday.

00:03:05.328 --> 00:03:12.682
We're going to end on that Sunday, but for your sake, I truly hope y'all had a better weekend than I did.

00:03:12.682 --> 00:03:18.040
Well, my weekend was good, but we just hit some bumps in the road, and that's what we're going to talk about today.

00:03:18.741 --> 00:03:27.188
Before we get into last weekend's little hoopla festivities little hoopla festivities I'm going to forecast the next few weeks activities for me.

00:03:27.188 --> 00:03:31.252
We are in a full on crunch season.

00:03:31.252 --> 00:03:33.174
This is go time.

00:03:33.174 --> 00:03:47.486
We've been leading up to this like 20 day window where we make or break the year for Loud, proud American and in between those 20 days we're going to pop out a beautiful angel named Paisley Rain and we're going to grow this family.

00:03:47.486 --> 00:04:00.531
So we are about to embark on the, let's say, craziest, busiest, most fulfilling, exciting whirlwind of a month that I could possibly imagine.

00:04:00.531 --> 00:04:03.750
And in the mix of all, that old boy here is going to turn 42.

00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:08.949
How do you freaking do Okay, working on a coffee here?

00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:17.622
Um, I hate to say it, man, but like I know, I don't have the willpower to quit coffee, but I really wish I could, because I mean, I did it once.

00:04:17.622 --> 00:04:24.305
I quit coffee once, but to quit coffee I used morphine, so I mean it was medically prescribed.

00:04:24.305 --> 00:04:25.288
Don't freak out, I was.

00:04:25.288 --> 00:04:30.925
I was in the hospital, um, this was years ago for a stomach surgery.

00:04:30.925 --> 00:04:33.490
I had some of my intestines ruptured.

00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:40.680
I cut out a you know freaking a few feet of the old intestines and I said this is a perfect opportunity to quit coffee.

00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:48.083
Because I was laying in a hospital bed and and at the time, um, my bank account had this accounting software in there.

00:04:48.083 --> 00:04:50.810
They had like a little pie chart and you could categorize things.

00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:55.860
And I put Duncan into a pie chart and I realized that my Duncan payment could have bought me a new pickup truck.

00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.103
So, um, I said, that's it.

00:04:58.103 --> 00:04:59.103
You know, I've got a.

00:04:59.103 --> 00:05:00.826
I've got a fricking morphine button here.

00:05:00.826 --> 00:05:02.007
I'm just going to click this fucker.

00:05:02.026 --> 00:05:06.831
Every time I get the old caffeine shivers and I quit.

00:05:06.831 --> 00:05:07.692
I quit caffeine.

00:05:07.692 --> 00:05:16.620
I stayed off of coffee for I mean a year or two years, unfortunately, back on that train, and it's a ridiculous habit because I spend so much money on the habit.

00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:25.262
Me and my mom are quite addicted and what's funny about the caffeine hook for me is number one.

00:05:25.262 --> 00:05:27.007
I feel like I'm at that point where I'm dependent.

00:05:27.026 --> 00:05:37.314
I need caffeine to function, but it also becomes part of a routine when you work from home and you don't commute to work every day, you don't have an office per se that you have to go to.

00:05:37.314 --> 00:05:42.050
There's something about that morning commute that makes you feel like you're going to work.

00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:48.845
So I jump in the car, go to Dunkin' and drive right back home and then I, instead of getting on the couch, I just go right into my office.

00:05:48.845 --> 00:05:50.783
So I feel like I've commuted to work.

00:05:50.783 --> 00:05:53.185
So it's part of this whole routine for me.

00:05:53.185 --> 00:06:09.322
But I've had two awful iced coffees in one day where I have to come home and remake them, and it's just getting bad, y'all it it's just getting bad, y'all it's getting bad.

00:06:09.322 --> 00:06:11.466
And I only say that because I just took a sip and I'm pissed about it, but I need the caffeine.

00:06:11.485 --> 00:06:16.913
So, this episode of the podcast will not be sponsored by Dunkin' Donuts, but it is indeed sponsored by Underdog Metal.

00:06:16.913 --> 00:06:18.675
We're going to get to that here shortly.

00:06:18.675 --> 00:06:22.372
But, as I was saying, this is crunch season.

00:06:22.372 --> 00:06:23.480
This is when we make shit happen.

00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:25.127
This is make it or break it season.

00:06:25.127 --> 00:06:28.927
I am gearing up in full effect for the Windsor Fair.

00:06:28.927 --> 00:06:30.271
It is crunch time.

00:06:30.271 --> 00:06:41.103
I have boxes and packages arriving multiple times a day and when things come in I just crush them and I'm finding things in my office that I am just crushing.

00:06:41.103 --> 00:06:51.168
We are just trying to prepare ourselves as best as we possibly can to maximize and make this event the best of the year so far.

00:06:51.168 --> 00:07:03.228
And then we're going to take that positive ball momentum and we're going to roll that sumbitch all the way into the Freiburg Fair, where we are going to capitalize on crush, seek and destroy 2024.

00:07:03.228 --> 00:07:03.992
You hear me?

00:07:03.992 --> 00:07:09.601
That's what I'm feeling.

00:07:09.601 --> 00:07:12.970
So it's been um, just all hands on deck between uh, like baby appointments, doctor's appointments.

00:07:12.970 --> 00:07:20.923
We're at that stage right now where it's one or two times a week that the wifey and uh, and then the baby to be there are having um appointments.

00:07:20.923 --> 00:07:30.108
So I'm getting there of doing those with her and um, you know, just getting all my other stuff in order, making things happen as as best we possibly can.

00:07:30.108 --> 00:07:47.245
I was shooting for having a couple of days to set up at the fair this year, but I think it's going to go right back to having one day to set up because, um, I'm just using every ounce of opportunity I have to continue to make as much product as I possibly can so I can maximize and make as much profit as I possibly can.

00:07:47.245 --> 00:07:50.892
So that's the old scenario for your boy here.

00:07:50.892 --> 00:07:54.906
That's how that's going, but that's what's to come.

00:07:55.107 --> 00:08:02.166
But what I want to share today is a little recap on the week that has been Okay.

00:08:02.166 --> 00:08:21.593
So last weekend we had been invited to a little event with some other friends of ours to support the Cora Shriners in their efforts to help actually raise money for the Shriners Hospital, and it was the Cora Shriners barbecue and motorcycle ATV ride all thrown into one.

00:08:21.593 --> 00:08:26.531
It was at the Osprey Valley Fairgrounds, a fair that you guys have heard me mention so many times.

00:08:26.531 --> 00:08:38.629
What was really cool about this fair is that we actually ended up having the exact same location for the fair as I did for this event, which was pretty cool, and their neighbors right next to us, walson Woodcraft.

00:08:38.629 --> 00:08:40.525
We did this all together.

00:08:40.525 --> 00:08:52.640
So me and Scott spent some time together this weekend making things happen, spent some time together this weekend making things happen, spent some time with the Pettengill family and I tried to cover, let's say, the first day and a half by myself.

00:08:54.063 --> 00:08:58.110
So how this whole plan went was on Wednesday of last week.

00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:02.349
We got up super early, the wife and I, and we hauled the camper.

00:09:02.349 --> 00:09:11.923
Actually, we went to an appointment for Paisley, first, had an appointment, a doctor's appointment, then we jumped in the truck and hauled the camper up to the fairgrounds, set that up.

00:09:11.923 --> 00:09:25.855
Then we came home, dropped the truck off, jumped in her car and then we drove out to the funeral service for Ali's and Nana and once we completed that, we came home and got back to work getting things ready.

00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:37.530
And then two days later, on Friday, I had loaded the bus up and I headed out to the fairgrounds and I wanted to give myself plenty of time because I was doing the setup by myself.

00:09:37.530 --> 00:09:46.682
I was running a touch smaller of a display and the festivities on Friday was just to start around 5 o'clock, only go to 8 o'clock.

00:09:46.682 --> 00:09:48.990
A nice little welcoming Szechuan, okay.

00:09:48.990 --> 00:09:52.009
So, campers already set up.

00:09:52.009 --> 00:09:55.188
I'm rolling up there with the bus, everything goes good, things are smooth.

00:09:55.188 --> 00:10:05.639
I get there, I get my old trusty spot, I start setting up and I'm crushing it, man, and I'm feeling good about being there and my setup's going nice and well, and I'm impressed by how fast I'm feeling good about being there and my setup's going nice and well and I'm impressed by how fast I'm moving.

00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.950
I'm looking at the clock and I'm like shoot man, I'm ahead of schedule.

00:10:09.580 --> 00:10:26.227
Before this place opens, I'm going to be in the camper with the AC on, maybe having a nice cold brewski, or maybe I'll record another podcast episode, because I brought all my gear with me because I knew that, hey, if time allows, I should go ahead and shoot a podcast episode here, because I got a lot of things coming my way.

00:10:26.227 --> 00:10:27.308
So let's get ahead of these things.

00:10:27.308 --> 00:10:28.889
So that was my plan.

00:10:28.889 --> 00:10:36.437
I get the tent walls up, I get everything staked in and tied down, I put all the grid wall in, I'm hauling everything out.

00:10:36.437 --> 00:10:53.496
I'm right to the point where I'm getting ready to take all the clothes off the racks and to hang them on the walls and I realize the hooks that you put on the grid wall that actually hold the hangers of clothes are not in your bus.

00:10:53.496 --> 00:10:54.578
No, not on the bus, Gus.

00:10:54.578 --> 00:10:59.629
I left the box of hooks at home in the freaking garage.

00:11:00.471 --> 00:11:04.822
So I text the wife, say, well, it's like I'm going to be heading home and I'm trying to map things out.

00:11:04.822 --> 00:11:15.936
So I'm like, well, let me get as much done here so then I can shoot home, grab those, get back and then get in here and, just you know, get enough set up so I can open the doors and try to make a few bucks.

00:11:15.936 --> 00:11:19.682
While I'm doing this, the wifey calls me and says start driving.

00:11:19.682 --> 00:11:21.163
I'll meet you halfway.

00:11:21.163 --> 00:11:26.647
I'm taking a long lunch break and you know my boss is going to let me do this for you.

00:11:26.687 --> 00:11:29.308
So, typical, true fashion.

00:11:29.308 --> 00:11:31.650
Here comes the wife to save the ever-loving day.

00:11:31.650 --> 00:11:41.378
Okay, but don't get me wrong, she's more than willing to save the day, but she's also more than willing to rub it in that she had to save the day Because I'm a freaking idiot.

00:11:41.378 --> 00:11:46.736
You're a stinking idiot, ren, but you know he forgets everything.

00:11:46.736 --> 00:11:52.010
She literally says to me you can't go to Cornish without forgetting a bunch of things.

00:11:52.010 --> 00:11:56.086
You think you're going to drive to Florida by yourself and remember things.

00:11:56.086 --> 00:11:57.990
Shots fired.

00:11:57.990 --> 00:12:03.764
God Jeez, I don't like a guy who feels special.

00:12:03.764 --> 00:12:06.149
Well, she saved the day.

00:12:06.149 --> 00:12:13.081
She even gave me some lunch when I met up with her, which is she's just a little sweetheart, right, she's a little sweetie, you know, guy.

00:12:13.081 --> 00:12:21.860
So get my stuff, get my hooks, and I'm like all right, here's the deal, heading back.

00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:22.984
We're going to make this happen.

00:12:22.984 --> 00:12:24.288
I'm totally ahead of schedule.

00:12:24.288 --> 00:12:25.270
I can still make this work.

00:12:25.980 --> 00:12:39.081
I pull into a gas station being a little thirsty Just was finishing the lunch that the wife gave me a little quesadilla, okay, and I'm like man, I'm a little thirsty and I know this gas station has the best lemonade ICs ever.

00:12:39.081 --> 00:12:49.866
Pull into the gas station, run inside, get me slippy icy and I come back out and the bus won't start.

00:12:49.866 --> 00:12:53.249
Nope, bus won't start.

00:12:53.249 --> 00:12:58.772
So I actually have a jump pack with me, thank the heavens right.

00:12:58.772 --> 00:13:05.296
But spoiler alert, she won't turn on the bus or the jump pack.

00:13:05.296 --> 00:13:08.658
So I wait for things to cool down.

00:13:08.658 --> 00:13:09.918
I'm having this issue.

00:13:09.918 --> 00:13:17.768
I don't know if it's the starter or the alternator or what, but after about a half an hour of driving sometimes she just gets too hot to restart herself.

00:13:17.768 --> 00:13:19.606
I tend to try not to turn the damn thing off.

00:13:19.606 --> 00:13:26.067
So, anyways, about 20 minutes or half hour later bus is cool enough, fire is up.

00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:27.522
I get to the spot.

00:13:27.522 --> 00:13:30.489
We set up Bada bing, bada, boom.

00:13:30.489 --> 00:13:32.634
Coolest guy in the room you know what I'm saying.

00:13:32.634 --> 00:13:47.448
But speaking of not coolest guy in the room, we're getting ready to open our doors and Scott and Paul were hanging out next door to me and I said, hey man, I'm going to run up to my camper because my computer and my cash and all that stuff's in the camper.

00:13:47.448 --> 00:13:48.250
I'm going to go get that.

00:13:48.250 --> 00:13:53.274
So do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

00:13:53.274 --> 00:13:55.096
That's a sound I make when I walk up a hill.

00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:02.261
So I get into the camper, open the door.

00:14:02.261 --> 00:14:02.783
It's a little hot in here.

00:14:02.783 --> 00:14:03.263
Let me turn the AC on.

00:14:03.263 --> 00:14:05.025
Okay, where's the fan?

00:14:05.025 --> 00:14:06.889
Huh, let's try that again.

00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:10.475
Nothing, nothing.

00:14:10.475 --> 00:14:14.605
Come on, give me some AC here.

00:14:14.605 --> 00:14:15.726
Nothing.

00:14:15.726 --> 00:14:17.811
I'm flipping breakers.

00:14:17.811 --> 00:14:22.349
I'm doing everything I possibly can here, folks, nothing.

00:14:22.349 --> 00:14:23.875
I'm not getting the ac to work.

00:14:23.875 --> 00:14:26.524
All the lights are on, everything else seems to be working.

00:14:26.524 --> 00:14:28.173
Air conditioner not working.

00:14:28.173 --> 00:14:29.017
I'm pouring sweat.

00:14:29.017 --> 00:14:30.041
I'm trying to figure it out.

00:14:30.041 --> 00:14:31.163
You know what?

00:14:31.163 --> 00:14:32.807
I gotta get down there and try to make some money.

00:14:32.807 --> 00:14:34.941
Old dr google will take it from here.

00:14:35.020 --> 00:14:42.764
So I'm at my tent, I'm desk googling things, I'm youtubing things and everything's telling me you're gonna want a training professional that has diagnosed this one.

00:14:42.764 --> 00:14:48.442
I reach out out to my buddy Lee over to Bentley Saloon and he's telling me what I got to do and it's completely above my pay grade.

00:14:48.442 --> 00:14:51.412
But in my head I'm thinking that can't be it.

00:14:51.412 --> 00:14:55.225
That can't be the reason for what's going on here, not the reason for the season.

00:14:55.225 --> 00:14:55.966
It doesn't add up.

00:14:55.966 --> 00:14:56.830
I'm going to figure this out.

00:14:57.539 --> 00:15:00.368
So, opening day what a pretty successful day.

00:15:00.368 --> 00:15:12.465
I was really encouraged by the amount of sales that I was able to capture in a short amount of time left me feeling rather encouraged for the next day, feeling like this event might be more successful than I actually imagined.

00:15:12.465 --> 00:15:16.332
So I took my sweet little ass back up the hill.

00:15:16.332 --> 00:15:20.086
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

00:15:20.086 --> 00:15:21.289
Into the camper.

00:15:21.289 --> 00:15:23.474
We go Try to work on the air conditioner.

00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:25.346
Again, same issues.

00:15:25.346 --> 00:15:27.748
I'm flipping every breaker I can.

00:15:27.748 --> 00:15:29.927
I'm outside swapping outlets.

00:15:29.927 --> 00:15:35.565
I'm taking our trailer plug and plugging it into different connections out there trying to find the right one.

00:15:35.565 --> 00:15:39.068
Maybe the outlet itself is blown.

00:15:39.068 --> 00:15:40.385
Nothing Can't figure it out.

00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:43.366
I go back inside and then I'm like you know what?

00:15:43.366 --> 00:15:44.431
This isn't going to work.

00:15:44.431 --> 00:15:52.123
I'm going to have to just turn the TV on, open the windows, figure it out, and to my pleasant surprise, the TV doesn't work.

00:15:52.123 --> 00:15:54.629
Okay, all right, I feel you.

00:15:54.629 --> 00:15:55.110
You just want to.

00:15:55.110 --> 00:15:56.092
You want to threaten me?

00:15:56.092 --> 00:15:57.081
Are you threatening me?

00:15:57.081 --> 00:16:00.091
Yeah, so no TV.

00:16:00.371 --> 00:16:02.759
Then I notice microwave lights not on.

00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:05.486
Then I noticed all outlets cease to exist.

00:16:05.486 --> 00:16:06.409
Nothing wants to work.

00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:12.253
This is telling my untrained eye that it's probably a GFI outlet that's causing this issue.

00:16:12.253 --> 00:16:14.027
So I go to the bathroom.

00:16:14.027 --> 00:16:19.493
That's traditionally where a GFI box would be in a camper, bathroom, kitchen, outdoors.

00:16:19.493 --> 00:16:21.065
Bathroom's not tripped.

00:16:21.065 --> 00:16:22.466
I can't find another outlet.

00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:30.261
I'm outside with my phone light on, trying to find another freaking breaker that I can flip GFI outlet.

00:16:30.261 --> 00:16:31.845
That's usually there next to water supplies.

00:16:31.845 --> 00:16:32.505
I'm looking everywhere.

00:16:32.505 --> 00:16:33.307
I can't find nothing.

00:16:33.307 --> 00:16:46.754
So I'm researching, I'm trying to figure everything out, I'm flipping breakers and then finally I'm saying to myself I said self, this can't be the camper, it's got to be the power supply that I'm connected to.

00:16:46.754 --> 00:16:54.480
So I go back outside and I look at like the small, like 110 outlets and I noticed that those are lit up green.

00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:58.811
So I get my adapter and I drop it down from the 30 amp service.

00:16:58.811 --> 00:17:02.145
I drop it down, I plug it in, everything starts to turn on.

00:17:02.145 --> 00:17:05.921
But you don't want to run an AC on that outlet, so I shut everything off.

00:17:05.921 --> 00:17:07.003
It trips my breaker.

00:17:07.065 --> 00:17:09.590
I go back in hoopity, hoopity, hoop, hoop, right.

00:17:09.590 --> 00:17:11.904
Jump through all the hoops I possibly can.

00:17:11.904 --> 00:17:17.423
Then I got to get brave enough to open the circuit panel for the campground and start flipping breakers.

00:17:17.423 --> 00:17:19.665
At this point it's pretty dark.

00:17:19.665 --> 00:17:27.468
I'm trying to guess what's going on here and I'm doing the best I can to not turn off my neighbor's power, okay, which you don't want to do that.

00:17:27.468 --> 00:17:39.986
So, by the good graces of God, I flip about six breakers and then I switch my plug to a new 30-amp plug and then we have power.

00:17:39.986 --> 00:17:42.752
America, we have power.

00:17:42.752 --> 00:17:44.663
Oh, it's a beautiful thing.

00:17:44.663 --> 00:17:46.188
It is a beautiful thing.

00:17:46.307 --> 00:17:49.243
So I fixed the air conditioner, I fixed the outlets.

00:17:49.243 --> 00:17:51.169
I'm feeling like a real man.

00:17:51.169 --> 00:17:53.942
Okay, I called the wife and I said you know what?

00:17:53.942 --> 00:17:57.951
I think my dad senses are starting to tingle, they're starting to kick in.

00:17:57.951 --> 00:18:03.536
Okay, I'm starting to flip the switch to dad mode, because here I am troubleshooting bullshit.

00:18:03.536 --> 00:18:06.407
It's not that I would have just freaked out on and kicked it.

00:18:06.407 --> 00:18:10.199
Okay, here I am troubleshooting and making things work.

00:18:10.199 --> 00:18:11.020
I was proud of myself.

00:18:11.020 --> 00:18:12.625
I was real proud of myself.

00:18:12.625 --> 00:18:21.472
Okay, you roll into Saturday and Saturday we had a nice little day and the wife showed up and spent the second half of the day with me.

00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:23.284
It was a successful event.

00:18:23.284 --> 00:18:26.412
Friday and Saturday were really good days.

00:18:26.412 --> 00:18:31.148
Saturday started off pretty great, then it slowed down and then it picked up.

00:18:31.148 --> 00:18:33.488
All in all, it was a successful event.

00:18:33.488 --> 00:18:37.926
More importantly, you feel like you're contributing to a good cause by being there.

00:18:37.926 --> 00:18:40.563
I mean, you're helping the Shriners, meeting some of the kids.

00:18:40.563 --> 00:18:48.547
It was special, it was a good time and the best thing about this event was that everybody was there, was excited to be there.

00:18:48.547 --> 00:18:55.084
There was a barbecue competition that had I remember it was 35 or 45 teams.

00:18:55.084 --> 00:19:03.029
They even had teams from Canada that showed up, teams from all over the country, and they come in for a barbecue contest.

00:19:03.029 --> 00:19:07.186
On Saturday they do a rib contest and then they auction off the ribs.

00:19:07.186 --> 00:19:14.748
There was a set of ribs that went for $501 at auction, so they raised a whole bunch of money for the Shriners.

00:19:14.748 --> 00:19:17.169
I'm actually I probably should have gone out and looked.

00:19:17.169 --> 00:19:23.246
I don't know if they've done a tally yet on what their actual total was for the weekend, but I'm excited to see how much money was raised.

00:19:23.246 --> 00:19:26.333
So, all in all, successful event.

00:19:26.333 --> 00:19:32.803
Get to spend some time with people that we really enjoy.

00:19:32.803 --> 00:19:36.490
After the event was over, we got to hang out with friends and relax and listen to music and hang out by the fire.

00:19:36.490 --> 00:19:38.621
All these good things, great times.

00:19:39.623 --> 00:19:47.535
Sunday we woke up and it was raining and I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the event and open up for a couple of hours.

00:19:47.535 --> 00:19:51.108
It told us that we didn't have to, but when I go somewhere I like to try to kind of stick it out.

00:19:51.108 --> 00:19:56.593
So Scott and the family over to Wollaston, woodcraft and ourselves, we stayed open.

00:19:56.593 --> 00:19:59.809
Scott had a real nice morning going for Wollaston.

00:19:59.809 --> 00:20:04.586
It was kind of slow for us, but everything was going good.

00:20:04.586 --> 00:20:12.355
Everything was perfect Until I pulled off one of the most embarrassing feats that I've had as a vendor.

00:20:12.355 --> 00:20:20.510
We know that we're only going to be open for a couple of hours, so I go on the bus and I start prepping things right.

00:20:20.510 --> 00:20:29.140
So I'm organizing stuff, I'm picking things up, I'm packing things, I'm getting ready to just get everything prepared for me to crush the tent.

00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:32.730
So I just want to make it as smooth of a pack-up process as possible.

00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:34.740
So I'm in there just getting things ready Now.

00:20:35.723 --> 00:20:48.653
I've had a few beers over the weekend, I've made some piss, poor food decisions and choices over the weekend, so let's just say I'm a little bloated, okay.

00:20:48.653 --> 00:20:56.232
Let's just say I'm a little overloaded, okay, and I might be running a little ragged, a little short on sleep.

00:20:56.232 --> 00:21:00.540
I bend over in the old bus and I let one squeak.

00:21:00.540 --> 00:21:01.501
Okay.

00:21:01.501 --> 00:21:06.368
What escaped me was enough to gag a maggot.

00:21:06.368 --> 00:21:09.773
All right, it was a blend.

00:21:09.773 --> 00:21:13.383
Okay, it was a tropical blend.

00:21:13.383 --> 00:21:27.291
The only thing tropical about it is the fact that I was drinking bush-like peach over the weekend which, spoiler alert, is delicious, but it smelled like maybe the Hawaiian Tropic Girls caught on fire, I don't know.

00:21:27.291 --> 00:21:28.586
It was awful.

00:21:28.586 --> 00:21:31.567
And I was like, oh my God, it's stinking here.

00:21:31.567 --> 00:21:32.766
And I hotboxed myself.

00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:36.570
At that moment I was going to yell out the bus to the wife.

00:21:36.570 --> 00:21:37.885
I think I shit myself.

00:21:37.885 --> 00:21:52.614
But at that moment I looked and I saw there was a lady in our tent shopping and I said oh good, save, old boy, good save, bravo, bravo, young man, because you almost embarrassed the hell out of yourself.

00:21:52.614 --> 00:21:57.709
No time passes, I don't see anybody else.

00:21:57.709 --> 00:22:03.990
I don't see anybody around and I'm working on the bus and, wouldn't you know, I let another one go.

00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:08.431
Okay, at that moment I said, hey, I'm starting to get the walking toots over here.

00:22:08.431 --> 00:22:12.111
I better get the heck out of this bus before I can't put anything in it.

00:22:12.111 --> 00:22:14.166
I got to get out of here before I got to fumigate it.

00:22:14.166 --> 00:22:14.749
You know what I'm saying.

00:22:14.749 --> 00:22:22.803
I don't want to put clothes in here.

00:22:22.803 --> 00:22:23.545
That's going to get contaminated.

00:22:23.545 --> 00:22:24.288
I got to get out of this thing.

00:22:24.288 --> 00:22:33.666
So I got out of the bus, wife standing there at the cash register, and I go walking in and I lean in next to the wife real quick and I say hey oh my God, just thinking about this moment.

00:22:34.367 --> 00:22:36.872
Yeah, here we go.

00:22:36.872 --> 00:22:42.730
I lean into the wife and I say god, god, I almost just shit myself on the fucking bus.

00:22:42.730 --> 00:22:44.220
I gotta run to the bathroom.

00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:58.808
When I said I almost shit myself, my wife's face, her eyeballs enlarge to a couple of Susan B Anthony's okay, we got a sack of Julia-sized eyeballs.

00:22:58.808 --> 00:23:12.827
Her face gets red, her jaw drops, her eyes get wide and she whacks me and points there's a lady, there is a lady right next to me, oh my God.

00:23:12.827 --> 00:23:19.448
The lady that I saw when I was in the bus that I said hey, don't say anything ridiculous.

00:23:19.448 --> 00:23:20.632
Right now you have a customer.

00:23:20.632 --> 00:23:25.047
I thought she left, she didn't and I didn't see her.

00:23:25.047 --> 00:23:27.507
She was blocked by a couple of zip-ups.

00:23:27.507 --> 00:23:28.249
Here I go.

00:23:28.249 --> 00:23:29.905
I better go to the bathroom.

00:23:29.905 --> 00:23:32.208
I almost just shit myself in the bus.

00:23:33.181 --> 00:23:40.007
Needless to say, she didn't buy anything and I embarrassed the.

00:23:40.007 --> 00:23:41.791
I don't even.

00:23:41.791 --> 00:23:43.424
I can't put a level of it on it.

00:23:43.424 --> 00:23:46.807
Whatever that level, that embarrassment meter is.

00:23:46.807 --> 00:23:49.769
If that meter goes to 10, my wife was at a 12.

00:23:49.769 --> 00:23:51.707
I embarrassed the crap out of her.

00:23:51.707 --> 00:23:54.905
No pun intended, honey, I'm sorry.

00:23:54.905 --> 00:24:03.747
I am so tragically sorry she had to stand there and deal with it right, I mean the scent of me.

00:24:03.747 --> 00:24:07.664
And then the embarrassment, oh my.

00:24:07.664 --> 00:24:09.548
And I said, do you think she heard it?

00:24:09.548 --> 00:24:11.144
And she's like, of course she heard it.

00:24:11.144 --> 00:24:12.740
I can't be trusted.

00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:14.240
I cannot be trusted.

00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:20.769
You know, the worst thing about this is that's probably the first and last impression that lady ever has about Loud Pr American.

00:24:20.769 --> 00:24:25.044
So from this day on, when she sees somebody wearing one of our shirts, she's going to go.

00:24:25.044 --> 00:24:28.412
I almost bought something, but the owner shit himself.

00:24:28.412 --> 00:24:34.308
That's romantic, putting that huge embarrassment behind us.

00:24:35.009 --> 00:24:36.292
We finish off the day great.

00:24:36.292 --> 00:24:39.558
We pack everything up super smooth, super quick.

00:24:39.558 --> 00:24:41.545
Wife goes up, gets the camper ready to rock and roll.

00:24:41.545 --> 00:24:45.622
I tear down the tent, we load up and get, get, get, get giddy up.

00:24:45.622 --> 00:24:47.507
You understand, we rock and roll.

00:24:47.507 --> 00:24:48.248
Here's our plan.

00:24:48.248 --> 00:24:51.281
We're going to get out of town, we're leaving this fair.

00:24:51.281 --> 00:24:54.186
We get the okay from the sweet people on the campground.

00:24:54.186 --> 00:25:01.527
Sue over to the Windsor Fairgrounds said said, y'all bring that camper on up here right now, okay, so that's gonna save us a bunch of time.

00:25:01.527 --> 00:25:03.090
I'm feeling proactive as can be.

00:25:03.772 --> 00:25:11.326
We leave the ospie valley fairgrounds headed for the windsor fairgrounds and right before we get on the interstate we're gonna do the old switcheroo.

00:25:11.326 --> 00:25:13.131
So I'm following the wife in the school bus.

00:25:13.131 --> 00:25:22.015
She's got old red, the old pick-me-up truck and and she's hauling the camper, and usually I'll tail her right, we'll cover each other.

00:25:22.015 --> 00:25:27.749
So I make sure, riding from the back, that everything's going good with the camper and I kind of block traffic, that whole type of scenario.

00:25:27.749 --> 00:25:34.403
So we decided this time around, what if we drop the bus off, jump in together, carpool up that way?

00:25:34.403 --> 00:25:40.808
That way we can shoot the shit the whole time, so that way we don't just get bored and then we have one vehicle coming home.

00:25:40.808 --> 00:25:42.980
We're going to save some gas, everything's going to be fine.

00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:47.432
We'll just pop off the interstate on the way home, pick up the bus, bada, bing, bada, boom.

00:25:47.432 --> 00:25:48.621
You know what I'm saying.

00:25:48.662 --> 00:25:57.413
So we drop off the bus, get in the truck, we started driving and then I feel this huge wave of heat coming out of the vents in the truck.

00:25:57.413 --> 00:25:59.076
I put my hand there and I'm like what the hell?

00:25:59.076 --> 00:26:00.585
And the wife says what did you do?

00:26:00.585 --> 00:26:03.167
I've been feeling the air conditioner the whole time.

00:26:03.167 --> 00:26:05.228
You get in the truck and you got the heat on.

00:26:05.228 --> 00:26:07.006
No, I don't have the heat on here, dear.

00:26:07.006 --> 00:26:12.482
So we're trying to figure it out Now I had a little mouse issue in Old Red in the wintertime.

00:26:13.482 --> 00:26:18.586
So I'm assuming there's some napkins or something behind the glove box up in the dash.

00:26:18.586 --> 00:26:24.811
It's maybe blocking the blower motor or something and I'm fearful that it's going to catch on fire.

00:26:24.811 --> 00:26:33.018
So I actually open the glove box and I keep putting my hand in there, kind of checking on the temperature, to make sure there's not going to be a fire.

00:26:33.018 --> 00:26:42.950
And then in the back of my mind I had this game plan as I start to come up with an action plan as to what's going to happen if this dash combusts in flames.

00:26:42.950 --> 00:26:54.707
It might eight month pregnant wife is driving and we have all of our products with us, like when I say products, I mean like computer, like laptop, ipad, cash bag, all that good stuff.

00:26:54.707 --> 00:26:56.912
And then we have a camper hooked to us, right.

00:26:56.912 --> 00:26:59.688
So you're you're running through this whole action plan in your mind.

00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:13.527
So we're checking things out and we get on the interstate and we're cruising along and the truck's not really coming up to speed like she normally does, and we don't know if it's just a windy day, because the camper's kind of all over the place.

00:27:13.527 --> 00:27:19.761
And at that moment I happen to look over and be like, oh my God, we are chewing through gas.

00:27:19.761 --> 00:27:26.465
So I asked the wife about it and she said that when she left the campground we had over a half a tank, which is plenty of fuel.

00:27:26.465 --> 00:27:33.442
So I'm now looking at it saying, man, we are chewing through gas, like the truck is working so freaking hard.

00:27:33.442 --> 00:27:35.786
And so both of us our senses.

00:27:35.786 --> 00:27:39.068
And so both of us our senses, right, we're on high alert.

00:27:39.108 --> 00:27:51.298
Right now, at this time, my good buddy, great friend of mine, kyle from Underdog Metal, gives me a call and we're shooting the shit and he's telling me, because he was considering doing this event, that I just did.

00:27:51.298 --> 00:27:54.710
And he was just kind of following up on how everything went and checking in with us.

00:27:54.710 --> 00:28:11.509
And he said he went and bought a new, uh, or a new to him box truck and on the way home with the box truck on saturday he was in the gardner area and he lost oil pressure in the truck and blew the engine out of his new to him vehicle.

00:28:11.509 --> 00:28:14.342
Now he has a box truck on the side of the road.

00:28:14.342 --> 00:28:16.067
Nobody wants to tow the damn thing.

00:28:16.067 --> 00:28:26.507
So he has to figure it out, getting it home himself, getting a trailer and a boom truck and shutting down lanes of traffic on the interstate by himself and so whole, whole dilemma, right.

00:28:26.507 --> 00:28:28.811
So I'm like, oh my god, man, this is awful.

00:28:29.232 --> 00:28:35.760
While I'm talking to him I see panic in my wife's eyes and I feel the temperature in the truck start to get really hot.

00:28:35.760 --> 00:28:40.452
I get off the phone and she says I think I might've just seen a big cloud of smoke and I'm looking around.

00:28:40.452 --> 00:28:41.896
I don't see anything.

00:28:41.896 --> 00:28:59.015
I no soon start to look and the wife says there it is again and all of a sudden bing dash lights come on, bells come on check gauges, lights on the truck starts freaking out and we just I'm like, get over, get over.

00:28:59.015 --> 00:29:05.971
The wife yards the truck over, I jump out of the truck and that hood is smoking like you can't imagine.

00:29:05.971 --> 00:29:09.368
Now the hood latch on my truck is broken.

00:29:09.368 --> 00:29:11.705
Okay, she's a real gem.

00:29:11.705 --> 00:29:21.165
So the wife's pulling the hood latch from the inside of the truck and I have a rope attached to the latch on the outside and I'm yarding on that sucker and I pop the hood up.

00:29:22.249 --> 00:29:27.202
In my mind I'm fully expecting to see flames coming from the dash area.

00:29:27.202 --> 00:29:33.173
So my whole plan is to identify if there's a fire that I can or can't put out.

00:29:33.173 --> 00:29:38.762
Getting my pregnant wife out of the truck, grabbing our money and unhooking the camper and then letting the truck burn, right.

00:29:38.762 --> 00:29:41.931
You know, all these things are are going through my mind.

00:29:41.931 --> 00:29:48.071
I get out there and I pop the hood and to my surprise thankfully I see antifreeze freaking everywhere.

00:29:48.071 --> 00:29:54.601
And then I look around and see the big radiator hoses off of the radiator and I'm thinking hopefully this is the issue.

00:29:54.601 --> 00:30:05.762
So I ever shut the truck off and I'm searching everywhere figuring things out and the meantime the truck had gotten so hot and it was working so hard that it just started smoking fuel.

00:30:05.762 --> 00:30:26.386
So now we're on the side of the interstate, the truck's got the fuel light on, which is telling me that I have about 10 miles left in the tank and I'm 15 miles from an exit ramp and the radiator hose is off of the truck and the actual radiator hose clamp combusted.

00:30:26.386 --> 00:30:33.045
So, um, I've got no antifreeze and the clamp is broken, the hose is off and we're out of gas.

00:30:33.045 --> 00:30:33.567
Just about.

00:30:34.789 --> 00:30:42.569
I called Kyle and I said dude, I think you jinxed us and I explained the situation to him and he's like you got to be kidding me, man, like this just happened to me yesterday.

00:30:42.569 --> 00:30:51.627
So in my mind, because I was on the phone with Kyle, I thought he was like about 20 minutes away from us because he actually found my bus.

00:30:51.627 --> 00:30:53.251
He called me and said hey, man, where are you?

00:30:53.251 --> 00:30:58.752
I thought your bus is right here, so I didn't realize how long we'd been on the interstate.

00:30:58.752 --> 00:31:01.269
So I asked Kyle to do me a solid if he could.

00:31:01.269 --> 00:31:09.900
And Kyle and Julia came through like freaking heroes okay, like straight up, just gangbusters.

00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:23.373
They get a can of fuel, they get multiple radiator hose, clamps, a couple gallons of antifreeze and they drive like 50 minutes out of their way to come up to us on the side of the road.

00:31:23.373 --> 00:31:29.972
So now imagine my eight-month pregnant wife sitting on the hill watching traffic go by.

00:31:29.972 --> 00:31:36.292
We have our camper and our truck on the side of the road with the hood popped, with a broomstick holding the damn hood open.

00:31:36.292 --> 00:31:39.930
It's about as beautiful of a redneck view you could possibly see.

00:31:39.930 --> 00:31:42.884
Okay, you want to romance the pants off your wife?

00:31:42.884 --> 00:31:44.161
This is how you do it Right here.

00:31:44.161 --> 00:31:46.386
This is how you do it.

00:31:46.386 --> 00:31:48.402
Kyle and Julia show up.

00:31:48.402 --> 00:31:52.723
Thank the heavens, thank the mighty heavens.

00:31:52.723 --> 00:31:56.482
So at this point let's just put it out there Today's a winning Wednesday.

00:31:56.482 --> 00:31:57.907
So let's just get it out there.

00:31:57.907 --> 00:32:12.055
This week's winning Wednesday weekly shout out goes to Kyle and Julia from Underdog Metal for sponsoring this show by saving our ass.

00:32:12.055 --> 00:32:18.953
Hallelujah, I freaking love you guys and I owe you so much.

00:32:20.461 --> 00:32:26.429
We get the fuel in, we get the radiator hose on Two gallons of antifreeze back in there, we fire it up.

00:32:26.429 --> 00:32:29.942
We're waiting on the side of the road letting this thing, you know, just give a little.

00:32:29.942 --> 00:32:32.028
All systems go big thumbs up.

00:32:32.028 --> 00:32:33.211
Things look good.

00:32:33.211 --> 00:32:35.181
We load back up and hit the road.

00:32:35.181 --> 00:32:36.582
We take off.

00:32:36.582 --> 00:32:38.282
Truck's running good, things are going good.

00:32:38.282 --> 00:32:40.144
We load back up and hit the road.

00:32:40.144 --> 00:32:40.585
We take off.

00:32:40.585 --> 00:32:41.885
Truck's running good, things are going good.

00:32:41.885 --> 00:32:44.508
And now our fuel says that we've got like 60 miles left in the tank.

00:32:44.508 --> 00:32:48.230
Now right, and we're not that far from where we need to go.

00:32:48.230 --> 00:32:52.772
So we're like we're going to get off the interstate and you know, then we'll get some gas.

00:32:52.772 --> 00:32:58.176
Or you know, if we're doing really well, then we'll just go drop the camper off and then we'll get gas after.

00:32:58.176 --> 00:32:59.698
Let's just get this over with.

00:33:07.846 --> 00:33:10.619
So we take a different exit, because the exit that we normally take goes down some windy, loopy roads.

00:33:10.619 --> 00:33:13.503
But I know there's a gas station on that exit.

00:33:13.503 --> 00:33:14.467
So maybe I should have just done that exit.

00:33:14.467 --> 00:33:21.630
But I didn't know if we wanted to take those winding roads, like winding roads as the truck stole, you know, in question, and they're kind of windy, narrow roads.

00:33:21.630 --> 00:33:25.689
So I didn't want to be like broken down on the side of one of those roads with a camper and a truck.

00:33:25.689 --> 00:33:28.480
So we're thinking let's take more of a major roads.

00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:31.549
We take this, this road that we thought we knew where we're going but it really didn't.

00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:49.148
So when we get out of town, when we get off the exit I'm not kidding y'all, these were some of the biggest hills that we've ever towed on okay, like when you come into a hill and you just see road climbing.

00:33:49.148 --> 00:34:00.130
When the road meets the skyline okay, when the pavement and the skyline meet and you feel like, oh wow, this thing just rides me into the clouds.

00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:01.644
Oh, how wonderful.

00:34:01.644 --> 00:34:08.590
That can be enjoyable, unless you have a truck that's been overheating, it's 20 plus years old, with a camper on the back of it.

00:34:08.590 --> 00:34:12.849
We were like there's no way, there's no way we're going to make this.

00:34:13.380 --> 00:34:18.632
Allie starts trying to climb the hill and then boom, check gauges, lights comes on.

00:34:18.632 --> 00:34:23.565
We're in this panic mode of if we can't pull over here.

00:34:23.565 --> 00:34:29.585
I mean, if we pull over here, we can't even we can't stop the truck In the middle of a hill.

00:34:29.585 --> 00:34:31.572
There's traffic lined up behind us.

00:34:31.572 --> 00:34:35.523
We're trying to climb this massive hill at 20 freaking miles an hour.

00:34:35.523 --> 00:34:38.250
Dude, you want to talk about anxiety?

00:34:38.250 --> 00:34:39.721
We are through the roof right.

00:34:39.721 --> 00:34:45.400
My pregnant wife, my beautiful, loving, pregnant wife, is about to have a freaking heart attack.

00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:51.476
She is just holding on and just pressing on like a little freaking trooper.

00:34:51.476 --> 00:34:57.313
Okay, we climb this hill, only to be rewarded with many, many more hills.

00:34:57.655 --> 00:35:02.530
One of the biggest hills we had to encounter had four speed bumps leading up to those hills.

00:35:02.530 --> 00:35:06.951
Why would you have four speed bumps leading into a damn hill?

00:35:06.951 --> 00:35:15.148
If you want speed bumps, they should be on the return side, like coming down the hill to slow people down so they don't go launching into traffic.

00:35:15.148 --> 00:35:18.030
Not when you're trying to gain speed to climb a hill.

00:35:18.030 --> 00:35:20.621
We couldn't go over 10 miles an hour.

00:35:20.621 --> 00:35:24.639
I felt like the camper was gonna pop off the back when you go over one of the speed bumps.

00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:32.902
You can't hit one of those bumps and then hammer down old, hammer it down on the old truck ski to make it up the hill.

00:35:32.902 --> 00:35:34.184
We were so screwed dude.

00:35:35.047 --> 00:35:37.773
So the wife says, hey, the truck's overheating again.

00:35:37.773 --> 00:35:44.269
But the interesting thing that we're realizing was that the temperature would drop when ali was in the throttle.

00:35:44.269 --> 00:35:48.344
So I said we must not have enough pressure in the radiator.

00:35:48.344 --> 00:35:49.085
It's got to be.

00:35:49.085 --> 00:35:53.945
Either, uh, there's an air bubble in there or we don't have enough antifreeze.

00:35:53.945 --> 00:35:59.327
So if we stay on the throttle a little bit, it's building up enough pressure to keep the temperature down.

00:35:59.327 --> 00:36:05.052
When you get off of that, it seems like the antifreeze kind of goes away and then we start to overheat.

00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:14.735
So as we're doing this, we accounted for the mileage remaining in our journey, minus climbing Mount freaking Kilimanjaro.

00:36:14.735 --> 00:36:22.061
Okay, we went like here's Kilimanjaro, here's Everest, here's Washington, here's go F yourself.

00:36:22.061 --> 00:36:24.344
Okay, we were just riding the Alps.

00:36:24.344 --> 00:36:28.853
At this point we now have a low fuel light on.

00:36:28.853 --> 00:36:35.072
We have been looking for a gas station but guess what, cinderella, there isn't one.

00:36:35.072 --> 00:36:38.485
We didn't pass one freaking gas station that we could pull into.

00:36:38.947 --> 00:36:43.384
So here we are, about to run out of gas, about to overheat.

00:36:43.384 --> 00:36:52.231
I'm looking at the GPS saying we got three miles to get to the campground and we've got like six miles in the tank.

00:36:52.231 --> 00:36:59.110
We go, pull into the campground, we park the camper with two miles left in the fuel tank.

00:36:59.110 --> 00:37:13.688
Right at this point we're like, hey, I might have to call matt over to ledgeway farm or, uh, or brother steve violet, see if somebody can bring us some gas again, which you never want to have to call for gas twice on one road trip, that just makes you feel like a complete moron.

00:37:13.688 --> 00:37:19.980
But our thought process is the fuel gauge estimation is off of us hauling the camper.

00:37:19.980 --> 00:37:32.568
So once we get the camper off and we start moving, we're going to pick up some fuel economy here, and once the truck cools down we're going to gain some more fuel economy as well, because she's reading off of a high stress situation.

00:37:32.608 --> 00:37:54.445
So we set the camper up and I then go over once it cools down a little bit and I crack the seal on the radiator and then you just hear all the air coming out, a little little bit of antifreeze kind of spew out, and then I recap it and you can hear all red just gloop, gloop, gloop, just suck in all that antifreeze and I'm like, hey, we might have a chance here.

00:37:54.445 --> 00:37:55.588
We fire the truck up.

00:37:55.588 --> 00:38:04.047
She says we're back to 10 miles worth of fuel and we got about three miles to go to a gas station that we are praying is open.

00:38:04.047 --> 00:38:09.286
We rolled into the gas station, topped her off, filled her all the way up.

00:38:09.286 --> 00:38:21.722
I grabbed three more jugs of antifreeze just in case, poured another gallon of antifreeze into the radiator, fired her up and Ol' Red ran like she was a freaking spring chicken.

00:38:21.722 --> 00:38:26.813
Oh man, she was peacocking around like she just got new feathers.

00:38:26.813 --> 00:38:29.583
That old girl was just putting the hammer down.

00:38:29.583 --> 00:38:31.186
Okay, she was feeling great.

00:38:32.248 --> 00:38:37.264
Man, every time we think she's just not going to make it, she comes out of it.

00:38:37.264 --> 00:38:42.733
I thought we were going to be cooking s'mores off of Old Red on the side of 95.

00:38:42.733 --> 00:38:43.835
But you know what?

00:38:43.835 --> 00:38:47.070
That old girl came back alive and brought us home safely.

00:38:47.070 --> 00:38:51.389
What an ever-loving journey we've been on.

00:38:51.880 --> 00:39:00.744
Everybody that sees us hauling with Old Red, they hear these stories of how many times she's almost left us on the side of the road or has left us.

00:39:00.744 --> 00:39:04.032
They say, dude, you got to get rid of that thing, like you got to get a new truck.

00:39:04.032 --> 00:39:05.282
Well, you know what?

00:39:05.282 --> 00:39:08.250
You're right, you are absolutely right.

00:39:08.250 --> 00:39:08.771
But you know what?

00:39:08.771 --> 00:39:13.327
You know what is wrong the fact that I don't have the money to get another truck.

00:39:13.327 --> 00:39:15.880
All right, we're doing the best we can.

00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:32.469
Every time we think old red's not going to do it, the old girl gets it done, so we're hoping she does a couple more trips in her and that we finish the season off strong enough to add something else to the stable that can, you know, make things happen.

00:39:32.469 --> 00:39:34.467
But oh boy.

00:39:34.699 --> 00:39:45.213
So we went from being early on Sunday thinking we were going to have a nice relaxing little Sunday to getting home after 10 o'clock at night on Sunday night.

00:39:45.213 --> 00:39:48.570
So what a well-rounded weekend.

00:39:48.570 --> 00:40:24.686
Right, it goes for me heading out on the road on Friday thinking I'm going to be early, but forgetting some of my supplies, my wife saving the day to the bus, dying at a gas station to getting there, making the best of the weekend feeling like you're going to have a productive early Sunday, to spending a half of your Sunday on the side of the road waiting for Kyle to save her ever-loving life, to then have the most white-knuckled, anxiety-fueled, stress-driven ride to the fairgrounds you could ever possibly imagine, coasting into a gas station.

00:40:24.686 --> 00:40:51.230
But in the end it all worked out and we're here to laugh it out, to talk it out and to remember it it forever, because it's now recorded and uploaded and posted and saved at wwwsharethestrugglepodcastcom and all other major podcasting platforms that are available.

00:40:52.672 --> 00:41:03.371
Some of the great things that I'm going to take from this first and foremost, the level of support that we have on our lives, right, the amount of friends that we have in our lives.

00:41:03.371 --> 00:41:10.793
Like it's one thing for people in your life to say, hey, man, I got you, I'll help you, you need something, you let me know.

00:41:10.793 --> 00:41:18.815
It's another thing to, um, pick up the phone, call somebody and be like dude, I'm really screwed right now and have them stop everything they're doing to come help you.

00:41:18.815 --> 00:41:30.563
Kyle had somebody heading to his house to possibly buy a dump truck that he had for sale and he put that opportunity off to come and save us.

00:41:30.563 --> 00:41:35.097
Like it's next level friendship, right.

00:41:35.619 --> 00:41:42.992
I was talking to Scott on text because he was asking me you know how things were going and I explained to him what had happened and he's like I have family right there.

00:41:42.992 --> 00:41:44.436
My dad's not too far from you.

00:41:44.436 --> 00:41:45.699
If you need me, I can get there.

00:41:45.699 --> 00:41:53.733
Like the fact that I have this level of support in my life makes me think that like we can overcome all things in life and I'm so grateful and I'm blessed for that.

00:41:53.733 --> 00:42:01.485
So I come out of this weekend just feeling that love and that support from that friendship that we have in our lives.

00:42:01.630 --> 00:42:06.181
We often have conversations on here about like family that no longer talks to me.

00:42:06.181 --> 00:42:10.521
I'm over those things because I've replaced those things with greater things.

00:42:10.521 --> 00:42:20.579
You understand, if you're out there listening and you have a piss bagbag, piss-poor, shitty little family scenario, you can always better that scenario because it doesn't take blood to be family.

00:42:20.579 --> 00:42:29.561
You understand, you can always better yourself and better your surroundings and I feel like Allie and myself and Little Paisley are so blessed by the people that are in our lives.

00:42:29.561 --> 00:42:30.583
That's first and foremost.

00:42:30.583 --> 00:42:32.677
I'm going to put that out there into the universe.

00:42:33.349 --> 00:42:37.701
Number two my dad-like abilities are starting to kick in.

00:42:37.701 --> 00:42:42.880
Okay, I had trouble shooted, shotted I don't know what the proper term is there.

00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:56.822
Clearly my dad vocabulary is still lacking, but I navigated through an electrical situation that is not my forte to resolve air conditioning and lights, power outlets, the whole nine right.

00:42:56.822 --> 00:43:00.896
The last thing you want on a camping excursion is your pregnant wife don't have an air conditioner.

00:43:00.896 --> 00:43:02.902
All right, we navigated that.

00:43:02.902 --> 00:43:08.882
Then, with that breakdown on the side of the road, you can test every ounce of a relationship.

00:43:08.882 --> 00:43:11.275
Right, I want you to think for a moment.

00:43:11.275 --> 00:43:14.000
My wife is eight months pregnant.

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.275
You think about the level of hormones that she's dealing with all the things going on in her world.

00:43:20.257 --> 00:43:21.081
We didn't yell at each other.

00:43:21.081 --> 00:43:25.369
We didn't fight with each other, we didn't blame each other, we didn't get angry with each other.

00:43:25.369 --> 00:43:28.398
We were calm and cool and collected like a saveless cucumber.

00:43:28.398 --> 00:43:32.835
Okay, we might have been full of anxiety by the time we pulled into the campground.

00:43:32.835 --> 00:43:37.791
I almost threw up Like I wanted to throw up.

00:43:37.791 --> 00:43:41.342
I drank water to prevent myself from throwing up because I was so worked up about everything that we had been through.

00:43:41.849 --> 00:43:48.777
But I'm so relieved, blessed and thankful for our relationship and the fact that I feel like we've been hardened by the fire we have.

00:43:48.777 --> 00:43:53.713
We have been um, I guess our relationship has been raised by trial and fire.

00:43:53.713 --> 00:43:56.842
Right, we've been raised by wolves when it comes to this relationship.

00:43:56.842 --> 00:44:01.170
We've gone through so many things in the 10 years we've been together.

00:44:01.170 --> 00:44:03.458
We have grown through more things imaginable.

00:44:03.458 --> 00:44:15.260
It's crazy to think about some of the stuff that we've gone through together in our lives over the course of 10 years, seeing all the growth that she has experienced, from the lows and the highs all along the way.

00:44:15.260 --> 00:44:34.097
For me, you know, earning my absolute, you know, best possible dream job scenario that I could possibly imagine to then having it all taken away from me, both of us being unemployed, building a house together, getting married, losing my father, like all these things that we've been through together.

00:44:34.097 --> 00:44:36.199
It's crazy.

00:44:36.199 --> 00:44:38.724
We have been like.

00:44:38.724 --> 00:44:39.885
We're like hardened steel.

00:44:39.885 --> 00:44:46.056
I'm a big football guy, I'm a sports guy and they always say iron sharpens iron and I feel like that's us.

00:44:46.630 --> 00:45:00.804
And I gained a perspective over the weekend about Little Paisley and all the things that we're going to encounter, the journey that we're about to embark on, to know the shit that we've been through, the things that we've already grown through.

00:45:00.804 --> 00:45:03.338
I'm prepared for what's about to come.

00:45:03.338 --> 00:45:04.079
You understand.

00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:07.139
I'm prepared for what is about to happen.

00:45:07.139 --> 00:45:15.840
I know there's always something that can be thrown at you that you're not prepared for, that you don't think you can handle, that you're not ready for.

00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:18.751
But there is a track record.

00:45:18.751 --> 00:45:26.800
There is a story that has already been written about the journey that we've been on and the lessons that we've learned and how much stronger we have become.

00:45:28.005 --> 00:45:34.931
On Sunday, what we went through six years ago we would have been on the side of the road yelling and screaming at each other, right?

00:45:34.931 --> 00:45:41.335
I mean, if you imagine eight years ago I'm just throwing numbers out there right, that might have ended our relationship.

00:45:41.335 --> 00:45:44.139
One of us could have been walking up 95.

00:45:44.139 --> 00:45:46.077
The other one could have been walking down 95.

00:45:46.077 --> 00:45:49.260
I don't freaking know Like we handled that.

00:45:49.260 --> 00:45:50.809
Like a breeze.

00:45:50.809 --> 00:45:55.061
I was making videos on the side of the road laughing at our situation.

00:45:55.061 --> 00:46:02.260
We have gotten to a level of dysfunction in our lives where you just have to accept it, laugh at it and move on.

00:46:02.260 --> 00:46:02.840
Like.

00:46:02.840 --> 00:46:11.978
There's many a times where, if this would have happened to me at another time in my life, I would have freaked the hell out, I would have panicked, I would not have even known what to do.

00:46:11.978 --> 00:46:22.302
So, first and foremost, my partner, my wife, my best best friend we stayed calm, cool and collective number two me, but my dad's skills starting to get sharpened.

00:46:22.302 --> 00:46:26.193
Here I navigated, troubleshooted and diagnosed the situation.

00:46:26.193 --> 00:46:31.050
I found a solution other than calling triple a other than trying to like.

00:46:31.070 --> 00:46:35.800
Your instant reaction is how do I haul a camper and a truck at the same time?

00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:37.603
How do I get this accomplished?

00:46:37.603 --> 00:46:49.132
How do I figure these things out, which the irony in this is last year, when we were going to the Windsor Fairgrounds, we hooked the camper up on the truck and we were headed to the fair and we lost the brakes in the truck.

00:46:49.132 --> 00:47:02.000
We had to turn around and my dad and my cousin redid the brakes, had to redo the master cylinder on the brakes in my driveway in the pouring rain so we could head out to the fair the next day and to make it happen.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:06.340
So on our way to the fair last year the truck almost died.

00:47:06.340 --> 00:47:09.871
On our way to the fair this year the truck died on the side of the road.

00:47:09.871 --> 00:47:22.940
Now, last year we were coming home from the fair on one of the days where my wife had to come home and I had to pick my mom up and we lost the fuel pump in the truck, had to get the truck towed and the tow company lost the truck.

00:47:23.110 --> 00:47:25.217
So let's not jinx ourselves.

00:47:25.217 --> 00:47:34.242
I'm going to knock on wood without my dogs barking and let's just say that hopefully this little scare, this little experience, gets that negativity out the way.

00:47:34.242 --> 00:47:43.585
But what I'm saying to y'all is I gained confidence, confidence in myself to diagnose, troubleshoot and resolve a situation.

00:47:43.585 --> 00:48:00.833
I gained confidence in our relationship, that what we're able to handle and get through together, sticking together, communicating together, and again had it proven over and over time again how blessed I am by the support that's in my life.

00:48:00.833 --> 00:48:09.519
When you look at all the troublesome times over the weekend, I can find many positives from the weekend, and those positives will always outweigh those negatives.

00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:13.835
I am blessed and I am thankful.

00:48:13.835 --> 00:48:25.536
Now, with all, all things considered, putting a little, pretty little bow on the weekend, it's time for me to get ready to crush the Windsor Fair.

00:48:25.536 --> 00:48:30.518
I'm excited, I'm fired up and I hope to see you there.

00:48:30.518 --> 00:48:34.898
But until then, thank you for supporting my American dream.

00:48:34.898 --> 00:48:39.362
Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.

00:48:39.362 --> 00:48:43.318
That's it and that's all, biggie Smalls.

00:49:00.449 --> 00:49:09.840
If you're a Loud Proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at Loud Proud American, or the Face page, as my mama calls it.

00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:17.021
If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, you want to find me on Instagram, or all the kids are tickety-talking on the TikTok.

00:49:17.021 --> 00:49:34.632
You can find me on both of those at loud underscore, proud underscore, american A big old.

00:49:34.632 --> 00:49:40.735
Thank you to the boys from the Gut Truckers for the background beats and the theme song for this year's podcast.

00:49:40.735 --> 00:49:45.398
If you are enjoying what you're hearing, you can track down the Gut Truckers on Facebook.

00:49:45.398 --> 00:49:46.976
Just search Gut Truckers.

00:49:46.976 --> 00:49:49.297
Give them, motherfuckers, a like too.

00:49:49.297 --> 00:49:56.317
I hate to say I told you so.

00:49:56.317 --> 00:49:57.083
Feel the pain, make it bleed.

00:49:57.083 --> 00:50:00.077
I hate to say I told you so.

00:50:00.077 --> 00:50:06.894
Feel the pain, make it bleed.

00:50:06.894 --> 00:50:09.659
I hate to say I told you so.

00:50:09.659 --> 00:50:12.503
I truly thank you for supporting my American dream.

00:50:12.503 --> 00:50:17.929
Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.