Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 270: Our Father-Son Death Valley Trip | Ear Biscuits Ep.270

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

From rolling down sand dunes to an unforgettable night hike, a few unexpected occurrences force their camping trip to take a sharp turn towards trouble. Listen to R&L recount the happenings of their recent outing to Death Valley with their sons on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link.

This week at the round table of dim lighting, we're ringing in the new year, happy 2021. We're not recording this in 2021. I'm just, you know, full transparency. We can still celebrate it. I still believe that it's happy 2021. Yeah, we're gonna make it to 2021. And for you, listener, you know, full transparency. We can still celebrate it. I still believe that it's a happy 2021. Yeah, we're gonna make it to 2021. And for you, listener, you're certainly in 2021 or later.

It could be years later. Like an archive? People are going, yeah, it's nice to know that this is as permanent as- Are you saying you think this is gonna be the Smithsonian? No. That's a little pompous of you. I agree, because that's what I was saying.

What does that even really mean anymore though, to be at the Smithsonian? And that's what we're tackling today. New year, new issues. What does that really mean? To be at the Smithsonian Institution Museum. I like the Smithsonian. Shout out to all of the mythical beasts who work at the Smithsonian or the National Archive

and all that type of stuff. Yeah, right. But today, we gotta tell you about our expedition with our boys. Yeah, the camping trip. When we went to Death Valley. As you might have remembered and at my top 10 moments of the year, this was one of my top, I don't remember what number it was,

but it was up there, it was in the top 10. My favorite things that happened was our trip that we took with the boys, me and my boys. I think it was number four. Maybe, me and my boys, Lock and Shepherd, you and your boys, what are their names? Lincoln and Lando. I think their names are Lincoln and Lando.

And to Death Valley. And so we said we would not talk about it at all on that podcast because a number of stories were generated during our short trip that we will now share. I'm so glad that we did it. You know, I gotta say it was my idea. I don't know if that's true, but I'm gonna say it. It was my idea.

It's like, let's take the boys on a camping trip. I don't recall, so I'll give you credit. I was definitely looking for another opportunity to rent a Sprinter van and dabble once again in that hashtag van life. So, I mean, that's been on my mind a lot. And you know, Chris and I went, highlight of 2020. But yeah, I wanted to give it like a kid mode test.

And I'd only use my, you know, they call it my rig, is that what you would call it? My FJ Cruiser. My FJ Cruiser, which I recently invested, you know, in some work being done on it. I got the rooftop tent, that was all for my solo trip. But the thing that I learned on my solo trip is that I needed a more efficient way to store things,

especially if I was gonna take any other beings with me on a camping trip. And I don't know if you noticed how proud I was of my drawer. I did notice how proud you were of your drawer. Yeah, I got a drawer and you might think, what do you mean you got a drawer? I got a drawer, like a metal drawer that, you know, if you look at an SUV, the back of an SUV,

you've got the part behind the back seats. What would you call that? The boot is what Christy and her family call it. But I always called the boot the thing wherey and her family call it. But I always called the boot the thing where your boots would go, like where your feet go in the front of the car. But I think I'm wrong actually. That doesn't make any sense.

They call a trunk a boot. Well, it's not, I mean, it's not a trunk because it's just, you know, the back of an SUV. The back end. There's a drawer that has been made, a metal drawer to fit the entire thing. And so basically it raises the level of the floor up so you still have all that space,

but then there's like a foot deep drawer that covers that whole thing. It's not cheap. It's not cheap. Are you prepared to say how much you paid for one drawer to go in the back of your truck? No, I'm not. It's a very expensive drawer.

Less than $1,000. Okay, oh, okay. Okay, so it's not. I actually thought it was more than $1,000. No. So, and by the way, I'm sniffing because of allergy. I waited too long to take my pill today. It's just, you know. I waited too long to take my pill today. It's just, you know.

I waited too long to take my pill today. I hate when I bring allergies to ear biscuits, but every once in a while I do. So anyway. If it makes your eyes water, it can look like you're getting emotional. This drawer really is, I was excited about time with my sons,

but I was most excited about the drawer. But like pulling it out. Over and over again. Then pushing it back in. So smooth. But it's funny how just one drawer properly spaced can change everything. I mean, I could have taken. Really though?

Really. You didn't see how inefficiently I had packed everything on my solo trip because I didn't have to worry about it. Cause you gotta unpack the stuff to get to the stuff behind the stuff and't have to worry about it too much. Because you gotta unpack the stuff to get to the stuff behind the stuff and you have to repack it to move. I mean, is your drawer, even right now at this moment, still full of stuff?

I could go camping tonight. You have a bug out vehicle now. I have everything except food. Okay. Food and water. But like equipment and like- Each store, it's stored there permanently. Lights and ways to start fire and tools

and all that stuff. That's cool. All the camping stuff, the cooking stuff, it's all in there. See, if I owned a van- You'd be ready to go. I'd have one of those too. And I'd also have a shower, a toilet, a sink, a burner, and a bed inside of a vehicle.

But would you have a drawer? But I'd have a lot of drawers. But no drawers as big as my drawer. No big ass back metal drawer. I don't think a lot of little drawers can add up to one big drawer. I don't know how drawer math works, but no. The van was incredible.

I will say I was envious of the van. I rented a different van. It was very big. From a different set of people. It's very tall, like too tall for a drive-through. Yeah. Like you can't get drive-through food in this van. Could you stand up inside of the van?

Do you know- I really didn't invite you in. Do you know the only time I got into your van the entire time? There's one specific time, do you remember this? When you did number two in my van? No, I did not, I was not one of the people who did number two in my van.

You could tell that I wasn't really chomping at the bit for you to do number two in my van. I didn't do number two in your van. The one time I got in your van was when it was on the way to Death Valley when we stopped at that gas station in the middle of nowhere. Basically it's like a,

it's the only, it's one of the only things on 395 like you're going up towards Mammoth and it was that gas station that had the subway and we ended up eating at Subway and it was the first time we had eaten at Subway in a while. Yeah. And we're sitting there in the parking lot eating. Shout out to the Mythical Beast who worked at that subway. Oh yeah, yeah. And then he came outside and got a picture. Yeah. And we're sitting there in the parking lot eating. Shout out to the Mythical Beast who worked at that subway.

Oh yeah, yeah. And then he came outside and got a picture with us. Yeah, he did. We didn't take our masks off. No, we didn't. That'd be a good example. A woman came up and started asking questions about your van.

And she was like, That's right. Can you stand up in there? And I was like, well, let me see. Oh, that's the, you literally never went in. Never other than that one moment. I kind of feel bad that like you never went in the van. I didn't have a need to.

He didn't have a need to. I mean, while it's very big in some senses. It's still. It's really like, well, there's the bed in the back taking up most of the room. And then there's the bathroom and the sink. And then there's seats and I wasn't riding in it. I was driving my own car so I didn't feel left out.

And to answer your question, as a six foot seven man with shoes on, meaning a man who was six foot seven with shoes on because I'm like six, six and a half. Oh. I could not stand up exactly straight in your van. I had to hunch a little bit, which is not a problem for me, I'm used to it.

A lifetime of hunching has made me used to it. So I think it's probably six foot five, six foot six clearance. This is a different van than the one I got before, but it's basically the same model. It was one year newer. It's a 2021 model. Mercedes.

Yeah, for real. It's like the fresh off the lot kind of a thing. They may, you know, the couple gave me like a thorough tour, but I was like, I've already, you know, I've already done this, I've been to Utah. Well, because you rented it from an individual. Yeah, you rented it. Like a private person.

Private people put their vans on, there's a website called Outdoorsy. Yeah. There's probably others too, but anyway, they gave me the tour and yeah, I got the impression that they probably had rented out just a couple of times. It was very new and very fresh kind of for them. Yeah, it was a very nice van.

Yeah, very detailed tour, a little too detailed. I mean, a 45 minute tour of a van, but I get it. You got this like really expensive van, you're letting some stranger use it. I mean, you're charging them and they got insurance and all this stuff that you have to get for it and stuff, but still it might be a little nerve wracking to rent out your Mercedes baby.

But anyway, we went to Death Valley because at that time of year, I mean, it was, let's see, it was the hottest, it broke the record for the hottest place where? Not on Earth. On Earth? It might be the hottest place on Earth this year. It was 131, or maybe 134 degrees, I don't know.

Fahrenheit. Yeah, yeah. Thank goodness. Yeah, yeah. Thank goodness. Yeah, but when we went. Mid 70s during the day. The weekend before Thanksgiving, yeah, it was like. Perfect weather.

It's the perfect time to be there. And let's see, so what's the first story? We drive in and we're taking some good photos, taking some group photos. I got one photo of the boys and it looks like a band photo. None of them are looking at the camera and they're all equally spaced.

We've got some really, really good photos that we'll give to Kiko. For the video version of this. Because there's like some, that's right, there's a video version of this on YouTube if you happen to be listening. And really great photos. That's right, there's a video version of this on YouTube if you happen to be listening. And really great photos. I took some 360 photos, at least.

I haven't seen those yet. Well, I think I took it of the first night's campsite and I did not take any more, which you will learn why. I didn't take any of the second and third night's campsites. And I got some drone footage. Oh, snap. I got some drone footage of you driving through that canyon, through Titus Canyon.

Oh, is it nice? Haven't looked at it yet. Okay. I'm sure it's nice, nice enough. I mean, we get there, it's like, this time of year, and especially in that valley, the sun sets quick. It's like 430 and all of a30 and the sun goes over the mountain ridge and it gets really dark really quick.

Yeah. But we had kind of beat the sunset to get to the first thing we wanted to see, which was some sand dunes in the middle. It's just like sand dunes. I don't know how else to describe it. There's like a really tall sand dune at the Northern end, but we're like right in the middle coming in through stovepipe wells or.

Yeah. And these are the sand dunes that are easy to get to and it shows there was a lot of people on these sand dunes. So it's like you're in the middle of the desert in this giant valley. And we're talking sand dunes that are 150, 200 feet high, maybe some of the biggest ones. There's definitely bigger in other places.

You can go to other places. The Yuriko dunes are like 700 feet tall is what I've heard. Crazy. Can you imagine that? Because these are giant. And it really is that kind of thing that I've only seen in movies where, you know, somebody will be in the Sahara

and it's just like, they're walking up the ridge of one of those giant sand dunes, like through the desert. Yeah. Well, there's that, that exists here and like, you know. And the boys loved it. That was a really good call to like go there first because we were walking out on these sand dunes and like, it's really exhausting walking up these sand dunes

but like everybody had a ball and you know, you really don't know how happy they're, you know, I feel like it was my mission for my kids to have a good experience, you know? It's like I'm building a case for van life or at least being an outdoorsy person. And I will say that both of our teenagers expressed some teenageness about going before the trip.

Before the trip. Thinking that I am going to the desert, I don't really understand why you want me to do this. And it's really gonna be fun. But you know what, to their credit, they brought positive attitudes. They had a great attitude right from the beginning. And then when we got on those dunes,

it's like, before we know it, Shepherd, we get to the highest dune that we realistically could walk to and walk up, which is one of the highest ones in that set of dunes. And before I know it, I look over there and Shepherd is like halfway down the dune doing like a log roll and just like plumes of dust just like coming up.

I knew this was gonna happen because I know Shepherd. What I didn't know was that it would inspire Lando to ultimately try the same thing. Cause you know, that's not really, he's not a roll down first, figure out if it was, if it's a good idea second kind of a person. Right. And I guess he observed Shepherd and,

but you know, it warms your heart as a dad seeing your kids barrel rolling and all four of them were doing it down this sandy slope. But not the dads. Not the dads. Not the dads. Not the two dads. I'm thinking about my shoulders. This broad shouldered man could just like crumple up

in an instant. I just took photos and videos. I was a cinematographer. I did not, I was not a roller. It was a cool start. And then, you know, once we were like alarmed with how quickly it was getting really dark, we found the first place that was,

that felt, it felt like it could be like an almost off road, you need kind of a high clearance vehicle to get to a place where it would feel isolated and we could find a campsite. Actually not a campsite, but just a spot. Once you get out- Dispersed camping. Dispersed camping, once you get out

like a mile off the main roads, you're allowed to camp anywhere you want in designated swaths of land. And I mean, there's a beauty to the desert that you, there's a mindset to the desert that you, there's a mindset to kind of appreciating it, but as we were driving out there and I had the youngest boys in the van with me and I'm just like,

this is what this van was made to do, boys. We're like kind of rollicking over some rocks and like going through these washes with like sheer walls on either side. I mean, there was some slot canyons. Yeah, and we were going through that and I was like, this is, when I think about what I wanted this trip to be,

this is it, we're gonna find a good spot. Death Valley, which now me and you have been to three times, Death Valley has it all. You know, it is an incredible- Well, it doesn't have trees. It doesn't have water. It doesn't have shade.

It has everything that you would expect in Death Valley. But just so you understand, if you've never been to Death Valley National Park, if you are just picturing a giant empty desert, well, yes, that is part of it. But along the sides of the desert, there are so many different geological formations and canyons and just really like the kids

were immediately into how cool the geography was, right? When you're driving through this canyon, yeah. I mean, it definitely, it feels like something off of a movie set, like you're on a foreign world. And if you just have a regular old car, a sedan or whatever, you can experience a lot of this. But if you really wanna get away from

the sort of touristy spots, you kinda need a vehicle that can get there. Now we had been a couple of times before and actually we chronicled at least one of those trips with our friend Nick and the other people that he does overlanding with and off-roading with. That's when we took the showers naked in the- Hot springs. Hot springs.

So yeah, we've done like the extreme technical off-roading thing in the FJ, you and I both in that. So it was like, with the van and the kids and not a lot of confidence to be able to fix a problem in isolated locations, like any mechanical or technical issues. Like I didn't, I don't even like to think about something going wrong because I just wanna like be in a place where if something goes wrong,

I can just say, it's not up to us. Yeah. So that, you know, we didn't, and the van, the van and the rental agreement would certainly not allow us to do what we did before. And you wanna minimize, you're managing the expectations of children and teenagers. And they don't like to just stay in the car.

You don't wanna be in the car too long. They wanna get out and do stuff. But I will say, just because you don't like to think about something going really wrong, doesn't mean it won't because it did. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security.

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you know, the older boys had to camp in a tent and then me and Lando were gonna sleep in the van and then you and Shepard are gonna sleep on top of the FJ in that fancy rooftop tent. And you might ask yourself, well, why'd you make the older boys sleep in a tent? Well, technically, the rooftop tent that I got is a three-man tent, but if you are a experienced camper,

you know that three-person means two-person. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? A three-person tent three person means two person. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Three person tent is comfortable for two people. Don't fall for it. And when one of the persons is as big as my person, even if the other person is as small as Shepherd's person, it's still, I mean, Shepherd and I were basically right next to each other.

Could not have comfortably gotten another being in there with us anyway. And I mean, you technically could have gotten somebody into the van, but it would have required moving a bunch of stuff out. Yeah, it would be underneath the bed and like a bunk bed situation. And we also thought this was a good opportunity

for our teenage sons to like learn how to like set a fricking tent up and break it down. You know what, they did it. They did. They were, you know, I gotta give them credit, man. I mean, just positive attitudes and it just, if it was just me and my kids, it would have been a lot more challenging.

Yeah. And I have to think the same the other way, right? So it was nice that they had compadres. You're less likely to say and do embarrassing things and lose your cool both ways, both the kids and the parents when you are commingled. The thing that I learned the first night, it hit me like a ton of bricks and we talked about it,

is that my previous camping experience with Christy, the first time we had ever gone on a camping excursion, just the two of us, and of course you were alone. Both of those, which are different than each other, are still starkly different than going camping with multiple children because, the amount of time devoted to getting everything right that includes getting everything right for them.

I mean, just like we barely had time to sit down. I mean, we were scrambling to make dinner and like, you got me over here cooking burgers while you're cooking mac and cheese and other stuff on your setup. And cooking is a relative term. Yeah, I kinda got steaks and burgers confused. And I got in my mind that like,

I know that if I overcook the burgers, it's kinda like a steak. If you overcook the steak, they're gonna complain. You don't want it well done. But you do want ground beef. Yeah. Unless it's been pasteurized. It was kind of dark, but everyone did seem to notice

that the burgers weren't cooked all the way through. It was more of seared tartar. Oh gosh. Which I didn't mind. I couldn't finish it. Lando was horrified. Yeah. And so I was like, okay, I'm not,

but you know what, I'll play to my strengths. And when we were done eating, I said, you know, I'll focus on doing some dishes and cleaning up and like I'm back in my zone, you know, in the cleaning zone. There was a lot of cleaning going on. While the older boy, you were cleaning too, the older boys said, you know what, we're gonna, of course it's been dark for hours after we were done eating

and the older boys said, we're just gonna go off and like explore. I thought that was a good idea. So Locke and Lincoln went off, they just walked down the way that we came. And there is nothing, no one, no other civilization or no other sign of human activity within sight.

Really activity of any kind. Of any kind. Just maybe, there are some plants. Not many, but some. And so they walk off and then I'm doing the dishes and I'm trying to remember what happened. If you told me, yeah, I think. I knew as soon as they left what my plan was.

So I come out from finishing the dishes and the younger boys are sitting by the fire and of course they've got screens out. And I'm like, boys, put your screens away. And I was like, I'm gonna hang out with you guys because you said. I'm gonna go scare Locke and Lincoln. And, you know.

I'm gonna carry on the McLaughlin tradition of, you know, trying to give your fellow campers a heart attack. Shepherd and Lando's eyes got as big as saucers and you walked off into the darkness. And then I'm left, maybe I'll tell my perspective of the story and then you can tell yours. So I'm sitting there at the campfire

talking to Shepherd and Lando and I'm like, I ended up talking about, I don't know how we got on it, but I started talking to them about, I think it's because you're out camping and you're like, there's a level of, like a spirit of independence to camping. And when I started talking about, you know, our friend Ben and his, you know, his adventurous spirit

and the things that he would do in the woods and out in nature and how he fostered, the stuff that we've shared with you, you know, last year on the podcast, just, I was just kind of telling them stories of all the things that he would do and then inspire us to do out in the woods and on canoes and how his, you know, how his parents, when they were not much older than him,

would take him in his canoe and drive to Lillington and just drop him off. Not much older than Shepard and Lando at the time. Yeah. You said not much older than him, like his parents weren't that much older than him. No, I said not much older than Shepard and Lando at the time. Yeah. You said not much older than him, like his parents weren't that much older than him. No, I said not much older than them. Yeah.

Lando and Shepard. So I was like, can you imagine me and mom driving you guys with a canoe to the next town over and then you're just gonna canoe down the river and then half the day later, we're gonna pick you back up. And they're like super into it. And I'm like, yeah, this is what camping's all about. You got a fire, you got these kids

who are just like expanding their horizons and forgetting about their screens. And then all of a sudden, I just heard this blood curdling scream and kerfuffle in the way distance and I'm like, Shepard, that's your dad. I think he found the older boys.

And then we just waited for you to come back and hear the story of what had happened. Well, I think I've talked about this before. I mean, I have a thing for scaring people. It's one of my favorite things. And done it all my life and it's a family tradition. My dad did it to me. And so as soon as they left

and they had their headlamps on, right? And so, and there's basically, we're kind of in this wash. So it's essentially sort of like a shallow canyon. And there's only so many places, they can go this way or they can go that way. They can't, there's not that many places they can go. And you can see where they're at because it's so dark. And so I could see that they were a long distance away

because I could see their lights because it's so flat. And there was a little bit of moonlight. There was enough moonlight for me to walk out there without a light and my eyes kind of adjusted to the desert so I could kind of see where I was going without being in too much danger. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna walk down towards them and then I could see them in the distance.

Oh, they've turned back around and now they're walking back towards the campsite, but there's still many, many hundreds of yards away from the campsite. So I'm like, all right, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna kind of get on the side of this path behind this bush and wait for them to come by and scare the crap out of them.

But then I was like, man, the desert plants are so like sparse and small and I'm like, if they're shining their headlamp and they see me behind this very sparse like cactus bush kind of thing. The whole thing is ruined. So I was like, I'm gonna move further off of the road. Get down on my belly behind this little like embankment

and let them pass and then come up behind them. Because not only is that, you know, they can't see me, but it will scare them so much to have something come from behind them. The unknown. The unknown that they've just been in versus the campsite, oh, it makes sense that somebody that we know might be on that side.

So they come, they walk in, they walk by me, and then- Didn't you hear Locke say something? Well, here's the deal. I had to stand up and start kind of walking towards the road and as I stood up- After they passed? After they passed, as I stood up and started taking a couple of steps, they sort of heard something and then like,

later we find out Locke was like, "'Lincoln, did you hear something?' And he was like, "'No.'" And anyway- And Locke was like, Lincoln, did you hear something? And he was like, no. And anyway. And Locke's like, so Locke is paranoid. Locke was already scared. He had been scared the whole time. Locke is, he's kind of skittish in general.

Yeah, he's scared. He's like me. He's scared of the dark. And so. He's looking over his shoulder, not seeing anything. And then I gotta stop. And then I get, I walk out into the middle of this, basically this dirt road that they're walking down. And then I start taking more and more steps.

And then right before I really start running where they're gonna know, I probably get 10 feet behind them. And I was like, I'm gonna let out the lowest, most guttural sound that I can make that will sound as unhuman as possible. And I was just like, Okay. And Locke screamed.

I don't think Lincoln screamed. I didn't hear him scream. I heard Locke scream, but then- When they tell the story, what did they say that they each thought? Locke thought it might be Bigfoot, which is what I was hoping. And Lincoln said that his brain was saying,

he was super scared, but he was thinking, if that's not Rhett, I don't know what we're gonna do. Yeah, yeah. You know, he kind of had, he's more of a strategic thinker than me, you know? He knows how to play chess. Right. Yes, I was encouraged that like,

he didn't lose his cool completely, but I know he was scared because, you know, when they tell the story, when they came back up and the three of you walked back, like they just had this like sweaty, exasperated, wide-eyed, like heart rate still pumping kinda vibe and I could tell that Lincoln was legitimately scared along with Locke, which was obvious.

It's scary, I mean, it's not as scary as it was when I was out there by myself, like I told you on the solo trip, but being out there when there's just no point of reference, there's no other people, you just feel exposed and you don't know what mysteries lie in the dark. I think one of my favorite things was what happened next in that you came back and you told that story,

like all three of you told the story from your perspectives. And then we went on like all of us sitting around the fire, you and I started telling stories, kind of building on what I was doing with the stories I was already telling them, just telling the story about how we would go camping across the Cape Fear River. And the one time that you invested like over an hour

of disappearing from me and the rest of the friends that we brought camping and like fully committing to like long-term scaring the crap out of us by like laying in the water, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Only my eyes and nose were above the surface. Like a gator. And- For a long time.

You know, telling them that story, it was just cool to see our boys so into us telling the stories. And I think we ended up telling a few stories that we had written about in the Book of Mythicality. And I just realized, you know what? You can't just write stories in a book and expect your kids to read them.

These stories were still new to them. It was, yeah. Like the story of my brother's, which in the Book of Mythicality, it's like a comic strip. So I don't know how well it's conveyed, but it's the story of my brother and his middle school science fair project, which he called Birds, which did not have a hypothesis

or any sort of experiment. It just had a bunch of dismembered birds. It was just, well, I think it was one bird that he had shot and then taken apart and put on his poster board. And to just show you the body parts of the birds. It definitely seems like the kind of thing a serial killer would do as a middle school

science fair project, but my brother is not a serial killer. And they all knew him. It was a different time. Even my kids know Cole, so it's like, they got a kick out of that story. Well, they got a kick out of it. Lando in particular, that was the conversation in which I saw Lando kind of check out a little bit.

Yeah, you know, he's younger, he's such a sensitive soul and it turns out he loves birds. So, you know, when you're adjusting to camping, there were a number of moments when I kind of had to pull him to the side and say, hey, we're still having a good time. And he had a number of moments where he bounced back. He did well. And he was good.

And it was helpful that we had the security of the van where we could get snuggled in our blanket and kind of feel more secure. Yeah. But the, so the next morning, we had to drive out of, you know, out of the campsite back to the main area to go and explore and find our next campsite. And Locke, you know,

a lot of the kids these days and kids in California, I think especially, are on a slightly different schedule when it comes to getting their driver's permit and like license. I mean, me and you were like, as soon as we turned 15, we got our driver's permit. As soon as we turned 16 that day, I got my license. You know, things move a little bit slower

and obviously the pandemic has had an effect on this. So Locke basically just got his driver's permit right before we left. And he's not really driven a car. We haven't really done the thing where you just like let your kid drive when they're 14, like, oh, I'll let you drive around the neighborhood or something like that.

We just haven't done that. Don't really have that kind of neighborhood. So he just got his permit. So I'm like, this is the perfect opportunity for him to drive. You're in the desert, you're on a dirt road. There's not any other traffic. I mean, in the vlog where we went off-roading

with Jeopardy, you let him drive. Right, but I was in the driver's seat still. This is for real. This is giving them 100% control. But yeah, we're out there in the middle of nowhere and it's just like dirt roads leading back up to the main road. In fact, you told me you were gonna do that

and I'm like, well, I'm gonna go ahead far enough so that he won't be driving in my dust. So I go far ahead and I do not witness anything that is about to happen. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman.

I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel.

Okay, so this is a single lane dirt road that has, you know, they kind of come through there on a regular basis with some sort of- Scraper. Scraper that pushes the dirt to the side, almost like snow banks, right? So there's no shoulder that you can. They're dirt banks.

And there's big rocks in these dirt banks. And you know, one of the things that happens when you start driving is you don't know where your car is at on the road. You don't, you're on the left side and you kind of feel like you're in the middle, but no, you have a whole piece of car to your right that, so a lot of new drivers will hang it out to the right

a little too much. I remember doing it as a new driver and Locke was doing that almost immediately, right? So there's some like big rocks in this embankment. I'm like, Locke, you're too far to the right. You're too far to the right. Come back to the left. He's like, I don't think I am.

I'm like, listen. And I actually said something like, all right, the only way that this is going to work is if you assume that when we are in the car together and we have a different view of driving, I will always be right. Okay? During this stage of the relationship,

that doesn't mean forever, but while you're the pupil and I'm the teacher, the only way we can do this is just assume that I, in my driving experience, know what I'm the teacher, the only way we can do this is just assume that I, in my driving experience, know what I'm talking about, right? And he actually was like, okay, that makes sense. So I was like, and here's how you can kind of tell where you're at on the road.

Anyway, so we're going along. He's doing great. He's doing fine. You know, I'm having to correct him a little bit and kind of get him to move to the center, but I'm trying to be calm. And then all of a sudden, I see another vehicle coming towards us.

Because again, this is a single lane. We're gonna have to sort of move to the side to let each other pass. I see that the guy has stopped to let, and moved to the side to let us go. He's in like a Subaru of some kind, not really super off road, but like enough to be out on this dirt road.

But Locke has seen the car and he has come to a stop. So that guy thinks that he's saying that he should go. Yeah. But by the time I say, oh, he's letting you go, Locke starts to go and so does the other guy. It's like what you would typically do on foot with someone. Yeah, you're walking down the sidewalk. We're both going right, we're both going left

and we're doing a dance. And so. You're playing chicken at this point. What ends up happening is there's a little bit of yelling from me, like, just go, no, stop, he wants you. I'm basically embodying the process vocally. I wasn't helping, I'm sure I wasn't helping. And Lincoln's in the backseat just kinda.

Smiling a little bit. Smiling. So we get to the point where it kinda just looks like we're both just gonna drive past each other. Oh. With like one wheel up on this dirt sort of embankment on the side. Now, you both stopped and started how many times at this point? Four to five.

Ah! That's awkward, man. That's okay, it's okay to have one tire up on this embankment when you're in an FJ Cruiser, right? Even though Locke was getting so far to the right that I thought he was gonna get high centered or whatever the trick, when basically you get stuck and both wheels are on the, you know.

And so I was like, stay left, you're getting too far to the right, you know. Slightly calmer than that. The other guy is doing the same thing and we eventually get past him and then Locke gets back in the middle and goes and I kind of, and then I turn around and look and I'm like, I think that guy got stuck.

Like he's in, he's not in a off-road vehicle and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And so I was like, Locke, I think that guy got stuck, stop. So Locke stops, and says, get out. I get in the driver's seat, I put it in reverse, and I back all the way up to this guy, and sure enough, he's stuck. But not only is he stuck, but three additional vehicles

in like a row, three guys who are on like an off-road trip have come out of the mountain. Same place you came from. Yeah, are now stopped and they're out talking to this guy. And then within like the time that I get out of my car, they start pushing him off and they get him off of the embankment and they help him. I get out of the car.

I'm sure that guy said some nice things about your vehicle. Well, I walked up to him, I was like, hey man, hey, listen, I got a, even though walked up to him, I was like, hey man, hey, listen, I got a, even though Locke is 16, I was like, hey, I got a 15 year old, new driver, he's driving for the first time, sorry about that. He's like, ah, no problem, they got me, it's great,

it's fine, whatever. So then I get back in the car, I drive a little bit, I'm like, well, we still have a lot of dirt road to go. And I'm like, I stopped and I was like, listen, okay, let's start over. You know, that was something you couldn't anticipate. You know. It was probably your fault. And that was a difficult thing to navigate

in your first driving experience. And I don't want you to be nervous and have like a bad taste in your mouth on your first driving experience. So listen, let's stop. Let me give you another bad experience. Let's recenter. I'm gonna calm down a little bit.

You calm down a little bit because we were both yelling at each other. We have very similar personalities. And let's switch. So. So. We switch, Locke gets in the driver's seat, I get in the passenger seat,

and the three guys who have helped the Subaru are now have come up behind us and stopped right behind us. So the lead car is right behind us. So Locke puts it into gear, presses the gas. Problem is the gear that he chose was reverse. How much gas did he press? Enough. Oh. Enough for me to yell again.

I'm telling you, man. The moment you, when you, I mean, anticipating going forward and finding yourself in reverse. And knowing there's the guy right behind us. Yeah. I was like, lock, lock, lock! I think I just said his name three times. And he ended up, I don't know if he put it,

if he just hit the brakes or he just moved it back into park. Either way, something, there was a grinding noise from our car. We did not ram direct, I mean, how awful would it have been? You didn't hit him. Several feet, which is close in a car, we did not ram direct, I mean, how awful would it have been? How close did you get? You didn't hit him. Several feet, which is close in a car, right? And how awful would it have been for his, again, his first driving experience to be like running this guy off the road and then backing into a guy who helped him, you know? But after that-

So at that point, what did you do? He said, dad, I don't want to drive anymore. But after that. So at that point, what did you do? He said, dad, I don't wanna drive anymore. You gotta, I'm sorry, I got a 13 year old driver here. He's getting younger by the, with every mistake. And I felt for him because, I mean, what I thought was gonna happen was the same thing

that happened as we drove in, which was no other cars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But on the way out, we have to run against this person coming at us. We got three guys behind us. So did you switch back at that point? Switched back and I drove out. Drove out. And he actually did not end up driving again.

That wasn't by design. That was more related to what ended up happening, which we'll talk about next. Yeah. But anyway. And I was waiting for you and I was like, why are they not here yet? He gave me permission to tell that story. And I was waiting for you and I was like, why are they not here yet? He gave me permission to tell that story.

And I was like, listen, and as we were driving out, we actually had a good conversation. I was like, listen, man, this kind of thing, this is why you do this, so you can have a story. I was like, this is- Or so your dad can have a story. This is why you go, now I was like- You get a podcast one day, you can have a story.

No, I was like, you've got your- Yeah, I was like, you've got your first driving story, right? And second. And yeah, first and second- Not all that two stories. All came two and for one. And you're safe, no one got hurt, we can have a laugh about it, you learn something, you move on, and we actually got to a good place.

You catch up with us, I hear the story. And then we ended up driving all the way out of the valley to Beatty to refuel and then we knew there was a ghost town there that we kinda dropped in on a second, we ate some lunch, then we went in, we came back into the canyon on Titus Canyon, which is one of the more popular drives, but again, that time of the year,

not that many people there. Great drive. The best drive. Like again, it's not technical, it's just a little, it's best to have high clearance, but no problem at all. We saw a guy in a Maxima. We did.

And it's a one way thing, so it's just- Do not recommend that. It's got a lot of washboarding, so this is like- But there was a Maxima. We did. And it's a one-way thing, so he, it's just. Do not recommend that. It's got a lot of washboarding, so this is like. But there was a Maxima there. When like your car is kind of shaking as you go, but. Also saw a guy on a bike doing the whole thing. That's nuts. There is this, and this is where I got the drone footage.

I don't know, it probably won't be, I haven't looked at it, it probably won't be that impressive. But like as you come down out of the mountains and the canyon, you're on one of those ice road truckers sort of roads in which obviously there's no guardrail and there's just a sheer drop into a canyon on one side and it's one lane wide. And that's exciting, right?

I mean, we had a good time. And then at the end, you get into the slot canyon. Amazing. Where you're literally driving in a canyon. The width of the car. It's the width of a road. And with straight stone walls. The width of a single lane of a road.

Yeah, right. One way. And then you're, and it's not just straight. Winding back and forth. It winds back and forth. So like you can never see more than like, you know, 15 yards in front of you. And that's why it's one way because you couldn't.

That bottleneck. Yeah. So we go through that and you know, it was really cool to go with the boys and have these experiences like, for the first part of that trip, Lando actually was asleep in the back. I don't know how he did it. It was so bumpy.

Well, we were worried, you know? Yeah, because he. And like there was a couple places Well, we were worried, you know? Yeah, because he- And like, there was a couple places where Lot would be like, dad, dad, like, you sure about this? Because it freaks you out. Because you're like, well, if a rock falls, or if you don't-

Oh, if you reach down and change the radio station, if you got a radio station at that point, then you could careen off the side of the thing. All systems are online when you are doing this. And Lincoln was like, I don't know how Lando's doing. That's a good point. Well, he was sleeping. He was sleeping. That's the miracle of it all.

So I got Shep to sit in the front seat with me and I'm like, you like Steely Dan? Cause I know Shep, you know, you've been training him on what to listen to. He didn't know them by name, but like we're listening to some Dan. You know, it's like, I really feel like we had this kind of a uncle moment.

You know, it's like, it was cool for all of us to hang out. And you know, incidentally, Lincoln told me about sleeping over at the house with Locke subsequent to this trip. And I was like, everything he told me that he did, he was like, well, me and Locke and Rhett, we ate this. And then me and Locke and Rhett, we watched a movie. And me and Locke, I was like,

it sounds like you were hanging out with Locke and Rhett the whole time. I felt a little threatened. I was like, you know what, this is good uncle vibes. We watched just a heinous horror movie. He told me. Yeah. But it's, you know, I just,

I think that trip really fostered like an extended family type of connection and it was, you know, that's just the magic of camping is that you find yourself around a campfire and you can over glamorize it and trust me, there's a lot of stuff, the majority of time is not glamorized, but that you find yourself around a campfire and you can over glamorize it and trust me, there's a lot of stuff. The majority of time is not glamorized, but then you find those moments

that you can kind of hold on to, like the Steely Dan moment when it's like this amazing view and seeing you, I mean, you guys were way ahead of us. We kind of, and then you had the drone by the time we caught up. Well, and then you just stop at this, like a ghost town. There was a place called Leadfield, which is just a place that sprung up

when they thought they were gonna be mining lead. And it turns out that the place had a post office for like 11 months and 300 people lived there. And you see, and they've got the pictures out there of what it used to look like. And there's still like three buildings standing that you can kind of walk around and- And the mines are closed.

The mines are closed, but you can walk up to them and look in and they've got them kind of like super cool. Marked off. And the kids were really into this and like us talking about like, what would it have been like to be out here 120 years ago? Yeah, it's- Mining lead, you know? I mean, we come back and we're like telling

all these stories and Lily's like, I kind of wish I would have gone. And I was like, girl, you can go next time. But it was cool for her to say that out loud. You know, it's like- She was definitely not down. She did, yeah, she wasn't interested. And I mean, her and Christy were hanging out

and it was good for them. But so we leave Leadfield and like, again, it's like you go through that slot canyon at the end of that trip and then you're like, man, we're chasing daylight here. We gotta find a place to camp for the night. And again, we didn't wanna be in the middle of the valley where there are some pockets of civilization,

like a gas station and a campground and one hotel with a bunch of palm trees, which is super strange. I would say a resort. Yeah, a resort. It's super nice. The only one they let in there to develop or maybe the only people willing to do it or and to keep it up.

But anyway, we actually drive past that and you had found on the map, like if we go up this canyon called Echo Canyon, we start going up that on like that high clearance road. A lot of people camp in there and there was a truck in front of us that was going so slow and like he let us go by. And then I'm like, man, we've been driving all day.

My shoulders are sore. I am exhausted. I just feel like I can't steer this thing anymore. I'm feeling every bump in the road. It's like, I'm glad we're almost to find a campsite. And with every rock we hit and every turn we tried to make, I was like, man, this is, if I didn't know better, this feels like when I, my first pickup truck,

a 1987 Nissan pickup had no power steering. I was like, that's what this feels like. And then I was like, hold on. I think that might be what happened. But I- We're also, the thing we haven't talked about- And it's getting dark. We were talking on our walkie talkies.

Yeah. Which that was, having a walkie talkie. Oh yeah. Being able to, hey, big boy over. Yep, little boy over. Talking, yep, little boy over. Talking back and forth to each other. Like, that's the way to go on a off-road trip like that. There was lots of checking in

and also lots of walkie jokes. Walkie jokes, yeah. Walkie humor is like, If you'll look to your left right now, you'll see a big pair of boobies, you know, things like that. It's just rocks, but. Yeah, yeah, you gotta make those kinds of jokes

when the boys are around. Just squint a little bit. Yeah, right. So you were, I say that because you were on the walk and you were like, I'm having trouble steering. I'm tired. I think there might be something wrong with my power steering.

And I'll be honest with you, when you said that, I was like, I just think he just must be tired and he's like, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that brand new, super nice van. It's getting harder by the second to steer. It's getting darker by the second. And we're having to pass all these people camping and then we-

Go up in a slot canyon. We go in a slot canyon and we found this super cool campsite. And you hop out and I hop out and I'm like, man, I swear I've lost power steering. I'm losing power steering. And you look onto the front and it's like, if something's leaking, it's wet under there.

That's exactly what it is. And I'm like, it's a scary feeling when you're, cause we had gotten to the point where it's like, we felt that isolation. Cause that's where we like to camp. And it was just, there's a sinking feeling of this could get bad real quick, you know? Cause it's like, it'd be so hard to get a vehicle in here,

like a tow truck in here to get this thing out. And so I'm like, we can't camp here. We gotta, I gotta get it. We gotta get this thing back out of here right now. If it's leaking power steering before it's bone dry, which could potentially do damage to the vehicle, I gotta try to get this thing back out closer to civilization.

So we turn right back around and go all the way back out. And by the time we got back out, I'm like hanging a right onto the paved road. I'm like trying with all of my might to turn the wheel to get this thing back. Because this is not an 87 Nissan pickup truck. No, it's not. And- This is a big vehicle.

I mean, we drove back down into the valley into a campground, which said it was totally full. Furnace Creek Campground. And- Because I want to give a shout out to the- The camp said it was totally full. Furnace Creek Campground. And. Because I want to give a shout out to the, the camp. The rangers. Yeah. The park rangers who were at the camp.

Because there were some mythical beasts. They were mythical beasts, yeah. But the night before we talked to like the guy who lives there permanently, older guy who was like, well, they didn't show up, you can stay in this reserve. Lyle. Lyle. Love you Lyle.

And then, so we're like, you know what? I can still camp in this thing for tonight. You know, I called the owners or texted the owners. I told them what was up. They were understanding and helped me problem solve in terms of like, what are we gonna do with this thing? They said, well, since you're situated, we have to find out the next morning

what the best course of action is in calling like the roadside assistance. And we get up the, so that night was, you know, we were actually, we were able to have an actual fire there with like not with the propane fire. I went to the fancy general store, which was like kind of at a little like outdoor mall resort

kind of situation in the middle of the desert to get this firewood that cost me $13 a bundle. And I got three bundles. We had a good- Some expensive wood. We had a good night that night. The next day we find out that, no, they can't come out and fix it.

This is such a new vehicle. They're gonna have to come tow it to the nearest place, which is Las Vegas. And can I say that we, you know, you talked about our non-prowess when it comes to diagnosing vehicular problems. But I say between the two of us- We were right about that.

We thought what had happened was, is that the hose to the pump had completely come loose based on the spray pattern- Oh, forensics. Of the power steering fluid. And it turns out that's exactly what had happened to the car. I'll fast forward to when I'm like,

well, so we arranged for the tow truck to come and then the owner said, we're just gonna get him to tow it all the way back to Los Angeles. How many, three and a half hours? From there it was four and a half hours. Four and a half hours. And the tow truck came from LA,

picked it up and then went the four and a half hours back. And it couldn't be fixed because the clamp is a proprietary clamp that you found out very soon after that Mercedes- People talk about it online. Had issued a recall. Well, that's what I found out weeks later. So just to close that loop, yeah, whenever I was returning stuff to the owner

that I'd taken out of the van, she was like, I just got the notice today, the recall, for them to fix that. So, you know, I know I didn't do anything inappropriate, but it made me feel she was like, I just got the notice today, the recall for them to fix that. So, I know I didn't do anything inappropriate, but it made me feel better that like, hey, this is a Mercedes problem, not a- A link problem. A link problem. But that took most of our day

because we had to drive all the way out to, you had to drive me out to the nearest place to rent a car all the way out of the nearest place to rent a car all the way out of the valley and rent a minivan, bring it all the way in. And so we kind of lost the day. Significant downgrade in how cool you seemed the rest of the trip. Yeah.

You went from having a van that was so big. Hashtag van life goes to hashtag minivan life. Yeah. Totally different life. The minivan life was not, you know, I didn't want to be in pictures with you to hashtag minivan life. Totally different life. The minivan life was not, you know, I didn't wanna be in pictures with you in your minivan anymore. I took a picture of the Sprinter being loaded up on the record.

I got that on video too. Oh cool, drone footage? No drone, but I got that on video. I wanna see that, that's cool. Last story, we gotta tell. We had enough time. We all hopped in the minivan as the sun was setting and we drove to this one canyon called,

it was called like Sunset Canyon or something like that. And we knew it was gonna get dark, but that didn't mean, that meant I grabbed a jacket, but it didn't mean that I grabbed flashlights or headlamps or anything, because we did not do that. Right, but as it was getting dark, it was clear, and me and Locke were actually, we kind of got up ahead of you guys,

and we were walking ahead of everybody. And again, it was this crazy canyon that's got this chalky white rock that's almost like dirt meets rock, like dirt that hasn't yet become rock. So sedimentary rock that is still very sedimenty, right? And a lot of people are walking out as we're walking in up into this, basically another slot canyon. But you could see that the moon was gonna be bright.

And actually as the sun was going down and the moon was coming up, you could already see your moon shadow. Pretty crazy. And I was like, oh, this is gonna be fine. Like we don't need lights, let's just keep going. I will say when it was all said and done, I'm like, Lando, what was your favorite thing?

He was like the night hike. Cause at a certain point we started calling this, all right guys, this is the night hike. Cause at a certain point we started calling this, all right guys, this is the night hike. We're doing it. And we went in a few miles, you get all the way to like, you get up against this like sheer mountain faces, they call it like the cathedral.

The red cathedral, cathedral, yeah. Yeah, this red rock wall. And you and Locke had gotten a lot further ahead. A matter of fact, I convinced myself that you guys were gonna try to scare the crap out of us. And I was not that happy about that. But when we got to the cathedral. You and Locke?

Yeah, so we got to the end of the line. And like there was a cave he had to walk through like to get to the final end of the trail. And we could hear, this is so weird. We could hear you guys talking to each other. Crisp. Like I could make out the words that you were saying. And so I wanted to make sure

that you were gonna come all the way and you weren't gonna turn around. And so I was like, and I yelled as loud as I could. Didn't hear anything. No response. But you could hear me like just talking normally. There was some acoustic issue where I couldn't get my voice to go to you.

And I think it might be because you were in this little cave thing and it was coming out of the cave, but I couldn't get my voice to go into the cave. No one will ever know. Acoustic. It's a mystery. It's an acoustic mystery. It's an acoustic mystery. That keeps me up.

That keeps you up. At night, you're thinking about it. But then you finally show up. And it's pretty cool because at this point, you go into the sheer wall of the cathedral and then you kind of double back and kind of go up this like pyramid of dirt to this ridge that then we started taking pictures of the kids.

I took a silhouette picture of the kids. Being backlit by the moonlight and it was super cool. And so I'm down below, you're up a little bit ahead of me taking a picture of all of the boys up there on the ridge. And then we take the pictures and we're like, all right, let's start heading back down. And just as we start heading back down, there's some sort of, there's a little bit of a kerfuffle.

Like there's something going on. There's like some shimmying happening and some grunting as people are coming down, start to come down. And the first thing that I hear said is, I could tell people were concerned and Lando says, please, nobody say any bad words. And so I'm like, oh, okay, what has happened? Well, apparently he had picked up on a pattern,

which is if things went wrong, there were bad words that were said. Please, nobody say any bad words. That upset him. I was like, what's happened? It turns out what had happened was Shepard, who, let me just go on record and say that Shepard is actually,

has a great track record with keeping up with his phone, not so much with my other son, but great track record of keeping up with his phone and not losing things. But Shepherd had dropped his relatively new phone that had proceeded to slide down this cliff side. That was probably, I mean, we're talking like a 45 degree angle that just kind of went down

into the lower part of the Red Cathedral. Which was a dark abyss, really. And we could not see anything. And even when we shined our phone lights onto the slope, we were like, there's no way that we're gonna find this. But it felt like the phone has gotta be right there. And so- Did you say any bad words?

I didn't say any bad words, because Lando said not to. I don't think that's true. Oh no, no, I said one. What did I say? I said- I think after looking for about 15 minutes and like crab walking down that 45 degree slope and kind of feeling like you don't know

what you could tumble into, you kind of started getting a little bit more grouchy. Well, here's the thing. And I'd walk down below because I was down at the bottom and you were up at the top and the phone was somewhere in the middle. As I was walking down this cliff side,

I was thinking to myself, am I going to die trying to find my kid's phone and he's never gonna forgive himself? Like, is he gonna watch his dad tumble off this cliff in the moonlight and be like, ah, my dad's dead because I dropped my phone. So that's when I started to joke with them about that. Yeah, again, Lando, you know.

Lando didn't like that. Cause I was like, all right, Shepard, here I am going to find your phone. This might be the last time we talk. You're twisted. Yeah, I'm a little twisted. Scaring the crap out of children. But I also felt like I wasn't gonna die.

And also, it wasn't- Dismembering birds? It wasn't- Who are you? That was my brother. And it wasn't like at the end of the cliff, it just dropped off to nothingness. It was just the trail. So I was like, at worst, I'll just be badly injured. Right.

You're not gonna fall into oblivion. You're gonna fall to the trail where I'm standing. But I will, as you know, I'm scared of heights. I was trying to overcome that and not let anybody know. But eventually I was like, I can't see this phone and I'm afraid that I can't, if I get to a place where I can't get back up, then we're gonna be like calling in the chopper,

you know, assuming there is one. And so come back up, we go around to the bottom and we get down there and Shepherd, of course, is already climbing up the cliff to try to get his phone. He might be addicted to screens. That might be what was driving him. He's way up there and I'm a little worried about him. And then I'm like, well, I gotta go up there too.

So I went up there and five minutes passed, I ended up finding the phone. I was able to spot it with my light and we got it. And we got out with only one, maybe two curse words said and no injuries. Yeah, Lando was cool with that. He still said, that's the end of that story. He still said, my favorite thing was the night hike.

So you didn't ruin it for him. Good. Completely. But yeah, that's the catchphrase now. If anything wrong happens, first thing you need to say is, okay, please, nobody say any bad words. No matter, I'm about to tell you something you're not gonna wanna hear, just don't say any bad words. It ended up being an incredible trip.

I'm so glad, we're saying that it was your idea. I'm so glad you had that idea. I wish we had already done it more, you know, now that the kids are the age that they are. But, and also- They'll wanna go next time. Here's the thing. That's the good news. Is that before we went on that trip,

I think in Locke's mind, it was like, I'm not gonna do this again. But by the end, he was talking about how good of a time he had had, how much he liked being out in nature. And then on the way back, you know, I drove Locke and Lincoln and I let them be my DJ. And boy, the musical journey that we went on

that started in sort of dad music territory, John Mayer, et cetera, slowly started kind of getting into some hip hop that I enjoy, then began to transition into maybe some modern hip hop a la 21 Savage. And I- Talk about bad words.

We made up for all the bad words that we had held back in the presence of Lando. We went well over the limit. If you include what the artist was saying. If you include what the artist said in the last hour Lando, we went well over the limit. If you include what the artist was saying. If you include what the artist said in the last hour of our trip. My van did not have the capability to connect to my phone. And most of the time I did not-

Oh, I was about to say that Mercedes, but I forgot. No, you were in a Dodge. I'm in a minivan at this point. It did not connect to my phone. And we hardly had any radio stations. So the only thing I listened to was how bad my kids and your kids' feet smelled. Yeah.

Like we had to pull over so they could get, you know, Shepherd was wearing shoes with no socks. And then I was like- Then he'll take his shoes off when he gets in the car. Yeah, and I'm like- You can't let him do that. I'm like, man, you gotta, we had to pull over so he could go up to your car, pull out that drawer

and get some socks out of it. It's like a biohazard. We had a great trip. It's our privilege to have shared it with you on this Ear Biscuit and a great way to kick off the year. You know, it's just a good thing to build on, you know, is that we can be outdoors. I still don't know what I wanna do about the van.

Like if there's a van in my future, I think I'm just gonna stay on the rental front cause this kind of scared me a little bit. Like something that drastic that required that much towing. Like I just, it was nice to rent it and not be responsible. I think the rental is the way to go for one of those. It's not that hard to load your stuff up. That's what I'm leaning towards at this point.

It was a good trip, man. And next week, we will talk about assuming, it seems like every time we go somewhere or there's a break, there's stories to tell. So we're gonna talk about the holiday break. Whatever came from that. Yeah, I'm assuming that we'll talk about that. But hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know if you wanna weigh in on any of this.

Oh, and I got a recommendation. First rec of 2021. New year, new rec. I found this series on HBO Max. Forgive me if you don't have HBO Max, but it's just another reason to get it. Calm is one of the apps that does meditations, but they have a series.

You know about this series on HBO? It's called A World of Calm. And let's see, there's a number of episodes, but it's basically, it's reminiscent of like the calming nature of watching primitive technology on YouTube. You're just watching somebody in a process. They have a more meditative, it's much more edited and produced version of that.

It's like a, it's the most calming documentary that you could watch, like intentionally calming documentary. I've only watched one episode. Give me an example. The episode I watched is called Living Among the Trees, narrated by Keanu Reeves. Oh. And it is a guy who takes one felled tree

and turns it into a canoe. So like a single tree hull canoe. And he doesn't talk, there's no interviews. It's just like calming music and footage of him narrated by Keanu of him making a canoe. How old, I mean, how long is this? This episode is 23 minutes long. So it's super cool to watch.

That's the only one I've watched. There's one about snowfall, The Bird's Journey narrated by Nicole Kidman. I mean, this sounds like I'm giving an ad, but it's just a really cool idea. HBO Max has been a sponsor. Yeah, that's right. The Coral City narrated by Lucy Liu, is episode one.

Glassmaker by Zoe Kravitz, narrated by. The Great Beyond, narrated by Idris Elba. This is a good idea. Yeah, this is super cool. Ooh, A Horse's Tail, like T-A-L-E. Who does that one? Kate Winslet. Oh my.

The Gift of Chocolate. Dang, so there's 10 episodes on this thing. World of Calm, check it out. Like it's nice to have, to be able to watch something that like kind of feeds your soul and gives you rest and doesn't just distract you, but it is a meditative experience. I need to watch that before I help my son drive.

There you go, man. Or maybe after. Or during. All right, we'll speak at you next week.