Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link Tries To Crash A Wedding | Ear Biscuits Ep. 356

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

It wouldn’t be a weekend getaway without broken down cars, messed up reservations and family feuds! In this episode, Rhett and Link talk about their most recent trips. While the McLaughlins were off at college Family Weekend in Florida, the Neals spent the weekend at Big Sur trying to crash a wedding. Plus, find out how Rhett spent his 45th birthday! Want to hear your voice on Ear Biscuits? Call 1-888-EAR-POD1 and we might just play your call on an upcoming episode! 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. Bacardi. Do what moves you. Live passionately. Drink responsibly. Copyright 2024. Bacardi, its trade dress and the bat device are trademarks of Bacardi and Company Limited. Rum 40% alcohol pay volume. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting, we are catching up with one another and with you about our recent trips that we took. I went to Florida for parents weekend to visit my freshman in college son, Locke.

This was your first visit since you dropped him off at college. So that's a big deal. That's a milestone moment. You, Jesse and Shepard, you all went. Yeah, we decided to not leave our 14 year old alone and to bring him with us, which ended up being an interesting choice.

We would have never not done that, but I just have a POV on what it's like. That normal choice became very interesting. Well, just have a POV on what it's like. That normal choice became very interesting? Well, I have a POV on what it's like to hang out with a 14 year old. I would hope you do. That you might find interesting. And you had a little bit more pleasurable trip, I assume.

Oh yeah, definitely. Christy and I had a getaway to Big Sur about this time last year, I believe is when we went to Big Sur. So I'm not gonna rehash. There was a decent amount of overlap. Last time there was a lot of rain on the tin roof of the cabin.

None of that this time, but still a bunch of beautiful trees. But there were a couple of things that happened. A person that I met that I could not have predicted that I would meet deep in the forest. Okay. And an encounter, an intimate encounter with unlike any I've ever had

that did not really involve Christy. Oh my. How's that for a teaser? I'm excited. You actually look kind of tired. You don't look excited. Well, I am tired. I mean, that's the thing. We work hard, man. You know, I saw a few comments,

I can't remember where it was. I tend to not read comments and I find out why whenever I do. But back when you took a vacation and then I took a vacation and we talked about them on Ear Biscuits and you know, because we are YouTubers and because we'd like to be sensational

about the way we title things and the way we describe things because it's called entertainment, we said, we called it worst vacation ever, right? And then there were a few people who were like, I don't wanna hear two rich guys complain about their vacation that they can afford to go on. Which I appreciate, I appreciate that perspective,

but I just wanna remind you that we talk about these things for your entertainment. If you're not entertained, there's many other options on the internet. Don't send a packet, man. Please don't go. Please don't go. What I'm saying is that- Please don't go.

Please like us. What I'm saying is we work very hard for your entertainment and also for the lifestyle that we would like to live. And that involves doing things like going and visiting your children when they go off to college or taking your wife on a nice little trip away. We're not going to apologize about those choices.

And when we do them, we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk about them on this podcast. Oh shit. You have the privilege and the freedom to comment about how you feel like we're two privileged rich dudes who complain about things because we are two privileged rich dudes who do complain about things for your entertainment.

And we're going to continue to do that. We'll complain about the things that bug us and we'll celebrate the things that please us. And you're welcome to come along for the ride. But we're gonna do what we wanna do. That's one take. I think the other take is, you know, I'm like, ooh, I'm cringing inside.

Cause like, I'm very self-conscious about like, okay, you know, having money, you know, it's a hang up of mine. Like I really- I wasn't planning on talking about this, but you talked about how I look tired and the reason I look tired is because I'm a middle-aged man who works his ass off running a company

and making entertainment. And then you feel like you have to apologize for complaining about your vacation, which you only did for entertainment purposes. Right. Right. I get that, I totally get it. I am not disagreeing. There is something about the evolving relationship that we have with Mythical Beast, casual fans,

I'm making a list now, just interloping commenters, you know? And sometimes, so there's like different categories of people that we can get feedback from. Sometimes you don't know what, like how to weight that feedback. So on one hand, I don't wanna be like, well, I don't listen to any feedback. And I'm not saying that.

But like I was telling you, I was listening to- I think we demonstrated that we listened to quite a lot of feedback. Yeah. And take that into account. If anything, a healthy exercise for us, and I think this is maybe what you're kind of embodying at this point is that since our tendency is to be

so sensitive isn't the right word, but there's a high fidelity to the give and take between us and the vocal mythical beast, the feedback that we get. It is very important, it's very valuable. If anything, we need to guard against over weighting that and not going with our gut sometimes or not being ourselves or saying,

I'm doing this for entertainment value or I'm doing this to reach somebody but it can be misunderstood. You know? I agree with that. I was just telling you that I was, I don't really listen to Joe Rogan, but Rick Rubin was a guest and like, I listen to everything that Rick Rubin shows up on.

Like I just, like that guy is so inspiring to me. So on the way in, they were at a point in their conversation where he was, Rick was asking Rogan about like what kept him grounded and what, you know, despite experiencing success and fame, what keeps him sane? I think it was less of grounded and more of like sane, you know, because they were talking about, there's a lot that goes along with being in the public eye,

being successful, being subject to so much scrutiny. And again, I'm not saying anything about Joe Rogan's point of view or stance on anything here, but his response was, he works out, he does his cold plunge stuff, which I know you're getting into that too. And like, so I thought this would really resonate with you. And then he said,

I don't read what people say or think about me at all. Yep. At all. Yep, that's a privilege. That is a wild privilege. You can do that as a really famous music producer, you cannot do that as an internet person. Well no, this is Joe Rogan talking, not Rick Rubin. Oh, okay.

So Joe doesn't listen to what anybody says about him. And it shows. Yeah, and it shows. We're different people than him, so I think- We approach things in a different way. But also, if we didn't listen to anything, I'd like to think we're true enough to ourselves and what we're putting out into the world

that that's what mythical beasts are connecting with, so that even if we didn't listen to any feedback, we would still be in this safe zone of we're still us, you're still you, we still have this connection. But, and I actually don't know what the but is. Well, I- I don't know what my point is.

So you tell me where I'm going with this. I think that there is a difference between accountability and like cowering in fear, right? About being yourself. So for instance, and also we have a very, we have a big team and they do read all the comments and they know exactly what people are saying. So it's not, the team is listening and then telling us.

So recent example, we did an episode of GMM where it was our, can we follow directions in a different language? And we decided to, we wanted to feature American Sign Language on that episode. And we had a deaf person lined up to be the person to do sign language because again, representation is important to us.

And we were like, we wanna get a deaf person to actually do this. They unfortunately- And our team, and by the way, our team knew that. It's not something we needed to tell them. Like the GMM team already knew that. So that's what they were working on. Of course.

It's not something we had to like, well, make sure you do it this way. Yeah, and so- They were going about it in a way that I feel good about. That person was unable to make it. And of course, our production schedule is crazy and very tight. And so Matt Carney's friend was in town,

who, you know, you saw the guy who was on the episode and his brother was deaf and he had to learn, the whole family had to learn sign language in order to communicate with the brother. So we were like, oh, that's a cool story. And it's not exactly what we wanted, which was a deaf person, but we made a decision to still move forward

with to be able to have ASL featured on the show. And of course we got immediate feedback from a number of people about how this was not inclusive to the deaf community. And you know what? We totally understand that. And we listened to that feedback. And I think that, you know,

I think moving forward, it'd be like, okay, even though we know the backstory, which is we had somebody who was ready to go, who was deaf, and then we ended up using a non-deaf person or a hearing person, because that's a difficult thing to explain and contextualize, and we did run the risk of making the deaf community feel excluded,

maybe we should have taken a different tack. And this is great feedback, and we'll take it into account moving forward. And we commented to the people on Twitter who said it. We commented on a TikTok video. That's accountability and that is something that we listen to. But me being a person of privilege and wealth

because of all the success that we have garnered for reasons that are a lot, we're just very fortunate and very lucky and right timing and things have gone right. And we do live an unusual lifestyle, but that is the life that we live. That is the life that we have found ourselves in is being the CEOs of this big company that's doing well

and having figured out this internet game and having the ability to work really, really hard all the time, but then take much needed breaks and then come on this podcast and talk about them. I understand that if you are not in a situation where you can afford a vacation or you don't have a job that pays well, you don't have a job that you even enjoy,

that it may be difficult to listen to us say that we do enjoy our job and we do make a lot of money and we do go on vacation. And again, what I'm saying is you have the right, if that's like, if that's triggering for you to not listen, but I'm not going to not talk about my life because my life might be triggering to you. And I just think that there's a place

where you have to draw the line. I wanna be sensitive to it. And I don't wanna make this podcast all about two rich guys talking about all the rich guy stuff that they do, because that would be stupid. But if you- And we don't do that, I don't think, but the podcast is about our lives. I mean, that is it.

This is what you signed up for. This is us being ourselves. And so I'm not gonna apologize for being myself, but if we say something, but we are two middle-aged dudes from rural North Carolina who have changed a whole hell of a lot over the course of the past 20 years. And there's still things that we're learning

and there's things that we don't know. And so when our more informed, more sensitive audience lets us know where we've missed the mark, we do listen. But I don't think that two guys talking about their vacation and if I had a bad vacation complaining about that vacation, that's a place where I'm not gonna let people bully me into not talking about it. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

I was thinking the same thing this morning when I was brushing my teeth with ground up diamonds. I'm brushing my teeth with ground up diamonds. You know, I've found that like the abrasive properties of the most expensive diamonds really do a great job cleaning my teeth. Yeah, I found that as well, Link. Right. Of course you're using my leftover diamonds.

Yeah, because I'm a cheapskate. Because I get them first. Right, I buy them off of you because- I put them in my mouth first. I don't pay retail. I mean, I- My children use them. I am still a cheapskate. So this is how we started this podcast.

Yeah, well- Should we just keep going? Should the whole podcast be about like- No, because you know why it shouldn't be? Shitting on your feedback. You know why it shouldn't be? Because there's a lot of people, and I see you, and I respect you, who are like, "'Guys, you don't even have to talk about this.

"'We don't care.' I understand that, and I appreciate you "'that you don't feel the need to comment, "'but I'm just, you know, "'I wasn't planning on talking about this. "'I was gonna give you guys a bear update, "'which I'll move on to now.'" on talking about this. I was going to give you guys a bear update, which I'll move on to now.

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 I recently talked about my trip, me and my trips, where Jesse and I went with friends, Lance and Lacey, to a cabin for the weekend, and there was a bear that ended up getting into my car. Apparently, there is a bare network. They are communicating with one another and at least one of them listens to this podcast. Oh. This is my theory. What?

This is my theory because you will not believe. So far it sounds like a sound theory. What happened to me. As you know, we live in Los Angeles and we live in relative close proximity to mountains that contain wildlife. You've had encounters with bears. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I've never had an encounter with a bear. At my trash can. In fact. In fact. In the dark, I had a face off with a bear. On my way back from the dark, I had a face off with a bear. On my way back from the airport, the Uber driver was saying, as he came up into the neighborhood was like, "'You guys ever see bears up here?'

As I was coming back from my trip to see Lot. And I was like, nah, I mean, our good friends who live about a mile away or so, like they've seen them, but we've never seen bears. And I was like, as a matter of fact, I've never seen a bear outside of the zoo. Cause even the bear that I had an encounter with, I didn't see.

You just saw. Lance and Lacey saw the bear. And then I saw the evidence of the bear in the car and on the porch. They put the sanitation people can give you a special trash can that is bear proof. That's how pervasive bears can be at certain times of the year in our neighborhood.

Well, interestingly- Yeah, so I kind of assumed that you'd seen a bear too. Your house, like the back of your house is like, you know, more wild. Touches a wildlife area where a bear could be at home. I'm more in a like a insulated neighborhood with like rows of houses around me. So- Right, which is why

I'm better than you. Right, and so I always thought to myself, when my trash can gets knocked over, I was just picturing like three raccoons standing on top of each other or something. They can do it. They're so smart. And cute.

And vicious. My trash can has been knocked over a few times and then the trash has been rummaged through. But I was just like, this is like a real smart raccoon because I've seen a bunch of raccoons. Well, Jessie and I are coming back from a birthday dinner that she had for me, which I will tell you about later the other night and-

Oh, is this the tortilla picture that was tweeted? I've got way more pictures than that. Oh yes. And we're pulling up to our driveway and there's a little space in between our driveway and our neighbor's driveway. Their house is currently under renovation and the driveway has got all kinds of crap in it,

like just from stuff they tore away from the house and stuff. And walking down the road in front of my house is a giant bear. And I don't mean like, the one you told me about was like a juvenile bear, and I don't mean like, the one you told me about was like a juvenile bear, right? This was a fat, giant bear. Like I don't know how to estimate bear size, but 500 pounds, like it was massive.

Yeah, I have not seen a bear that big. And so I immediately, and he walked up. What time of night was this, 10 o'clock? 9.30 maybe. Wow. And he walks up- What time of night was this, 10 o'clock? 9.30 maybe. Wow. And he walks up the neighbor's driveway and I immediately of course get out the phone. I actually wanted to get out of the car,

but Jessie didn't let me. But this is the video that I captured and prepare to be disappointed because, you know, I pulled up as far as I could in the driveway and then got this. Oh, it's like a, it's carnage in their driveway. Oh my gosh.

What? Are you getting him? Yeah. He's huge. He's real big. He's real big. He's real big. He is real big.

She's from Buquay. I'm gonna tell you right now, that is a big freaking bear, dude. Yeah, it's hard to tell. That was just his head peeking over. That was just his head. Yeah, I would say he's a third bigger than the bear that I had a face off with in my backyard one time.

So now the only animal that I haven't seen that I know is in the neighborhood is mountain lion. I haven't seen a mountain lion. Seen a lot of, I've seen a good amount of long legged bobcats and a whole lot of long legged coyotes. Seen a bobcat at the creative house. Yeah.

Seen deer all the time. I love seeing a bobcat. That's cool. That was the first bobcat I've ever seen. First and only. Mountain lion, isn't that crazy though? I mean, my neighbor's seen some of those. So anyway.

So now you got a bear, you think that they're talking to each other. Well, all I can say is I have not seen a bear up until this point. I talk about bears publicly on the internet and bear shows up and he had been, you know what I mean, I'm not a detective, but I believe he had been up to my trash to inspect it.

And we hadn't put anything in the trash yet. It was like, he's not following along. He's not following the schedule very well. We had been up to my trash to inspect it. And we hadn't put anything in the trash yet. He's not following along. He's not following the schedule very well. We had been out of town. I always forget when to put the trash out too. I have a reminder. And that is a reminder to then tell my son. Yeah, that's what I need.

That's his job. I just look at when all my neighbors put out their trash cans while I'm driving in. So leaving for the trip, sometimes the most important part of a trip is going. And sometimes that's really difficult to do. I think back to that RV trip we had where like getting out of my driveway

was literally a test of will and human ingenuity. You remember that? a test of will and human ingenuity. You remember that? Mm-hmm. I'm a big fan of filling up with gas the night before. Last thing you wanna do is like pack up, get really excited to get on the road, and then you start getting on the road and you realize, oh, we gotta stop for gas before we get on the road.

There's something like- It's like a stutter. Is it a dad energy? Is it a man thing? Is it, I don't know what it is about like, I don't, I wanna get on the road. I wanna get going. Like, let's get going.

There's a lot of standing around the house like, you ready? You ready? I packed everything last night. I packed it in my brain the night before, you know, kind of a thing. But this is just you and your wife. It's just me and Christy, so.

And she's pretty on board with, I imagine that she packs well in advance. I'm dealing with my family, man, it's a war zone. You know me, I'm the least organized person in our duo, but I am by far the most organized person in my family. And so I like, I'm packed at 9 p.m. Christy and I are very, we're very much on the same page, but I will say she didn't fill up the gas

the day before we were taking her car. So had to pull over and fill it up at the bottom, like before we, like one mile into the trip. I'm like, let's just get it out of the way. Cause once we get going, I just want to be going. And thank goodness we did that because I don't have a little lever inside of the car that you pull to open the gas cap.

It's you just walk up to the gas cap on the outside and you push it, you push it in and then it opens, the flap opens. And there's no cap. And there actually is still a cap underneath. Oh, interesting. In our car. I pushed on the thing, nothing. Pushed on the thing, nothing. Pushed harder on the thing.

I couldn't get it open. Now we had half a tank of gas, but I wanted a full tank of gas. Well, and you want the ability to put gas in later. But more importantly, I want that ability. And I'm like, oh gosh, I'm glad we're still here. Across the street is the guy who uses our, who does our service on the car.

And Christy's like, well, take it over to him. Maybe he can pop it. We take it over there and like, he can't pop it. And he's like, well, just leave it with me. And I was like, well, we don't have another car. We're going on a trip. We don't have another car that we can take. And we start taking everything out of the back of the car

so that he can see if he can get access from the inside to the backside of the thing. This is crazy. And I'm like, yeah, it's just, and then I'm like, oh no, this can't, I'm looking so forward to this trip. I need this so bad. Like, I can't, this can't happen.

So like, while they're like rummaging through the inside, these two mechanics who are like stopping everything they're doing to help us, because you know, they know Christy because we get so much work done there. It's good to have a mechanic you can trust and they know your face, if not your name and your wallet. So I was like, I can't, I can't do this.

So then I just started like wedging my fingers in between like the door and the fuselage of the car. And I'm like, something has to be done. Like something has to- You're prying at this point. I'm prying and it's pulling hard. And I was like, pop.

Like I just ripped the outside of like the body part, Like I just ripped the outside of like the body part, the smooth body part of the gas cap thing. I just ripped that whole sucker off. Summer's here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered,

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Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. The door came off. The door came off in my hand, but it was just the facade of it. So then underneath there's like this apparatus that the thing that's actually broken that you have to push on.

And then at that point they could like take a flathead screwdriver and pop that open. And then at that point they could like take a flathead screwdriver and pop that open. And then he said, well, because there's a gas cap underneath it, don't push that thing all the way back in and you'll be fine. Just like drive with this thing, just kind of like flapping open a little bit.

So, but Christy and I both had a similar thought. We were like, okay, now we can get back on the road. We can get gas. We went back over and got gas. And we're both independently thinking the same thing, which is strange, because I don't like thinking this type of stuff, because I don't think I believe this way.

But I was like, is this a sign that we shouldn't go on this trip? Wow, okay. You know, it's like- How did that come up? We talked about it a little bit later. Like Christy was like, I kind of feel, well. We shouldn't go.

A bad omen. A bad omen. I was like, nope, I'm not believing in omens. This is not happening. I believe in going on this trip, nothing else. But I got a little nervous. And then it's a six hour drive to Big Sur. You know, we stopped for lunch.

We get back on the road. we're driving a little bit further. And then I'm like, you know what? Let's switch so you can drive. You can drive a little bit. We're about to hit the curvy stuff. She gets real car sick. So it's like driving should help. Right.

A pull over on the side of the road, basically in the middle of nowhere. Like we were about to lose cell service. Again, thank goodness I pulled over where we did because the moment I got out of the car to then switch sides, the car just died completely. Like all the power just died. Like didn't, car wouldn't crank. You didn't turn the car off, it just died. Like didn't car wouldn't crank.

You didn't turn the car off. It just died. I didn't turn the car off. It like knocked off. And in like a, I don't know, a 2018 Volkswagen Atlas, it's not supposed to knock off, you know? And so here we are on this, we're on the PCH, we're on Highway 1,

like just starting the scenic drive. Beautiful, beautiful. It's so beautiful. And we're like sitting there like, I don't know what to do. I feel very inadequate. But then everything that Christy's telling me doesn't make sense.

It's like, I do not, I feel like what you're telling me right now, like, can you like put it in park, make sure you've like, try to use my key. It doesn't see the key. It says that the battery's dead. Okay, I guess the battery's dead, but like, why all of a sudden would you just stop on the side of road

and the battery be dead? And like, so we start fighting. Like, Christine and I never, you know, we don't like raise our voices with each other. Like, we never yell at each other. But like, it quickly escalated on this side of the road where she's like, call AAA, we can get, go ahead and call AAA.

I'm like, I'm just gonna sit here and think, I need to think for a second, I need to gather my thoughts. She's like, well you can call AAA and then think. So that way we're waiting even less. And like, she's making good points at this point. And she's like, but then I ended up doing this thing where like, she was like, just, I'm trying to help. And I'm like, I'm trying to help!

I'm trying to help! It's like, this is how toddler I got. Like I was just so, it was just like feeling like, this is ruining our trip. I am totally inadequate to fix this. I am, I just felt, I don't know, it was just like, I felt like I was really in my head and this is all an excuse because there's no good reason.

And like half of it was, and I told Christy, like 10 minutes later, once everything was resolved, I was like, it was so funny how we were yelling at each other, I wanna let you know that I was like halfway joking. I thought it would be funny. You told her that you were joking? That I was halfway joking, because I was, I was like, I don't know what to do!

It's like, I was yelling like that, like literally. It wasn't like I was angry at her. And she was yelling too, and then she like just went to the back of the truck. Was she joke yelling? She was like joke yelling a little bit too. It was one of those things where it was just like, because it was just funny that we were on the side

of the road yelling and there was a- Christy texted us at this point. There was a part of us that knew that. So it wasn't like, that's why I'm not embarrassed to tell the story because it was so embarrassing at the time because it was just silly. Well, she texted- It didn't get that.

No one was about to cry. She just went, she was like, fine, I'll just go to the back of the SUV and I will just stand there. You know, if you think you got this, we called AAA and they came and they charged the battery. It was that simple. What did she text you at that point?

Cause she wasn't talking to me. Don't talk to me! Oh, well, the first text she sent was not to our, you know, our four way text. Cause she didn't want me to see what she was saying about me. So let's see what she said. It was probably just me and Christy and Jessie.

I don't know, I can't find the text, but it was essentially, you know, we're on the side of the road yelling at each other right now. Mm-mm. She didn't say joke yelling. I will say at the moment, she did not say that you were After the guy, joke yelling.

It was the type of thing that like, neither one of us had to apologize. Like it didn't get that real, you know? It was this kind of like ridiculous joke yelling type thing. It's like, leave me alone, you know? And the guy, Triple A showed up? Triple A showed up. Triple A showed up. Alternator.

Nope, the battery was completely dead and come to find out, like, we just needed a new battery. They could do that right on the spot. But they didn't, for some reason, they didn't do that. Didn't have your battery. No, they didn't say I need a new battery, but like, Christy has since taken it into the dealer.

And by the way, me ripping off the outside of that gas cap. Helped a lot. $300. Oh, okay. That was a $300. Yeah, cars, man. But. So they just jumped you at that point

and got you going. Because apparently the part that I ripped off, the manufacturer just ships you an unpainted one. So you have to install it. That could be cool. And then you have to get like a paint, a body shop to paint just that thing. Or you could leave it unpainted and call it a joke cover.

A joke gas hole. This. A joke gas hole. This is my joke gas hole. So we're adding this to like my gas hole stories. Like I've had some really embarrassing gas hole stories over the course of my career. You can look those up if you want to. You have had a lot of issues with that car though. Yeah, we gotta get rid of it.

I mean, it could be a lemon because I don't, I mean, I don't know anything about, I don't know much about cars or car brands or which one are reliable. I gotta get like of it. I mean, it could be a lemon because I don't, I mean, I don't know anything about, I don't know much about cars or car brands or which one are reliable. I gotta get like a Rolls. Yeah, the ones that run on diamonds? Yeah. Yeah. The diamond burning Rolls SUV.

And then we can just make a whole podcast about your Rolls. Yeah, you see where I'm going. So at that point we're like, should we turn around? Should we turn around because if we get to the place where we drive three more hours, is the battery gonna die again? All he did was like charge it back up. And it had something-

That's what I'd be worried about. And I was like- Especially on that road, man. I was like, yeah, because there's no cell service for the next like two and a half hours. And then you finally get to the place you're going, it was like, we cannot stop the car.

We cannot get out. We cannot do anything until we get to the place we're going so that then somebody can jump us again in order to get back home. Yeah, you have to like basically slow the car down and then you get out of the car and Christy puts her hand on the wheel and moves over and then you go use the bathroom

and then she comes back and does the same thing. The car never stops. That's how you do that. We didn't, I just drove and neither one of us used the bathroom. Okay she comes back and does the same thing. The car never stops. That's how you do that. We didn't, I just drove and neither one of us used the bathroom. Okay, or used to pee in your pants. I held it, but it turned out not to be a bad omen because everything else was great

and even the battery was fine for the rest of the time. And now it's been completely fixed. So don't worry about me. I'm totally good. I'm not. So no bad omen, because we tested it. We went forward, we pressed on. Two signs that we should turn around. We thumbed our nose at it and it all worked out.

Yeah, I agree. I don't really believe in omens as well. It's just like, you know, you starting out on the, I started watching that 1883 on the plane, which I think you already started, you already watched. I watched it all, it gets better. Well, it starts great, so if it gets better, count me in, man.

Oh, good, yeah. I loved it right from the get. Yeah, Jessie will like it too. Yeah, I ended up watching all five episodes that they had on the plane without her. And I was like, you can catch up, but I'm all in for Tim and Faith, man. Anything they do, I'm in.

And it's so good. But- Sam Elliott. Oh, of course. You start on the Oregon Trail, you're gonna lose some people right at the, no, spoiler alert, some people are gonna die. I didn't realize it was the Oregon Trail until- They were on a trail to Oregon?

Seven episodes in. I was like, oh. Yeah, everything that happens in the video game is happening. That's why everybody's dying from dysentery. Right, exactly, yeah. But you can't just stop because it's gonna be hard, man. Can't just stop because it's gonna be hard. You gotta pop that gas hole.

Yep. I had an interesting car situation. I think last time I told you, last time we went to visit Locke, there was a issue with the rental car company. We had reserved a large SUV in order to house everything that we were moving him in with. Yeah.

Things that had been shipped down there and we're putting it all in. So we requested just a midsize SUV this time for me and Jesse and Shepard, and then Locke to be able to take him around. We show up at the rental car place, and just like last time, and I'm not gonna be one of those guys

that complains about a specific rental car company or an airline the way that some people with a Twitter following will do. I just, you know, I get it, but I'm not gonna do that. I have lodged, I found out that it is lodge a complaint. Mm-hmm, you stick it in the crevice. You cram it in there. I have lodged my complaint with this company

as I waited in line to find out that the reason that everyone was waiting in line instead of just immediately going and getting into their car like usual was that they didn't have enough cars. But what they did have was a whole lot of minivans. I mean, minivans for days. Embracing. Nobody wanted them.

Well, I go to the lot, he's like, sir, you're in spot J23 or whatever. And I go over there and that's when I realized that they've got no cars but 40 minivans. I don't know what they think everybody in Miami, Miami, that's where we were, wants minivans because it doesn't feel like a very minivan place. But.

Can't be beat. I gotta tell you. Cannot be beat. I'm just more and more appreciating the minivan. You know, and it's funny because I'm moving into this stage of my life where I don't really need one because the kids are leaving. But I think I might be, our first empty nest purchase

might be just a minivan for me and Jessie. I know that ain't true. There's so many ports. That is not true. There's so many ports. Oh, and you know what? They said, sir, we have either a convertible or a minivan. A convertible minivan?

The only choices they had, convertible or minivan. Well, because I have a, there's a family of four that I'm gonna be taking around in this thing. Okay, all right. Shepherd was not happy about this choice. He wanted the convertible. It was also, it was forecasting to be raining

like most of the time, most of the days it was gonna be raining at least part of the time. But when faced with a minivan or a convertible, I mean, those are the two ends of the spectrum when it comes to car choices. It should make it easy. I felt like I was- I think you made the right choice. In a dream. This is not the kind of thing that you should have to make a decision about at a to car choices. It should make it easy. I felt like I was- I think you made the right choice. In a dream.

This is not the kind of thing that you should have to make a decision about at a rental car place. Sir, we have the coolest vehicle and the most uncool vehicle. Which kind of person are you? Form or function? That's not a dream.

I'll tell you a dream. Okay. 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. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy your room upgrade.

Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Christy told me, we were on our trip and she was like, how'd you sleep last night? Because when you don't have kids around and you're just like drinking your coffee and enjoying each other, you can ask things like, how'd you sleep last night? And she's like, well, I had this weird dream that I had to pee.

And I actually, I was afraid, part of me was afraid I was gonna pee in the bed, but like I started peeing and then I realized I wasn't on a toilet. I was on a hamster cage. And- No problem there. Newspaper will suck it right up. No, she said I was peeing on a hamster.

Oh. And it drowned. She killed a hamster with her piss. And she said it had a napkin over it. After it died? No. She like slowly pulled a napkin over it. After it died? No. She like slowly pulled a napkin over it? Anybody see that? She said, I looked down and like,

it had a soppy wet napkin over it. I guess it was like snuggling in his bed. No, I don't believe in omens, but I do believe in dream interpretation. That's a dream, my friend. She killed a hamster by drowning it in her urine. That is some hard core. Like, I mean, I ain't yelling at her

on the side of the road anymore, you know what I'm saying? There's no joke yelling, you know. Are you the hamster? I mean, are you on a hamster wheel? You're just endlessly running and working and grinding yourself down to nothing. And she's like, the only way to stop this pattern is to pee on him.

We had no interpretation. We were just too baffled by it. That's a dream. Not convertible minivan, but all right. Well, here's the thing, when we picked up Locke, well actually Locke came over to the hotel that we were staying in, which was pretty close to campus. We got in pretty late and we were actually

just expecting to see him in the morning because that's what we had talked about, but once we, because it was like 10 o'clock when we got in, he said, I wanna see you guys. So he comes over and you know, it's been what, a month or so since he's been, since we dropped him off. Not long enough in my opinion. If the fall break comes,

the parents weekend comes real early. Too quick. But I think the whole idea of it is, I think there's, you know, this is multifaceted, but I think one thing is just like, we should get the parents in there pretty early so they can like check on these kids before they really derail themselves.

You know, they still got time to correct course before they've dug too big of a hole, which a freshmen can tend to do in that first semester. Well, yeah, it's like we moved, well, you know what, I'll keep this anonymous. I might've moved one of my kids into college for her second year and then like the next morning we went back to see her and like, she was like-

You talking about Lily? Don't come in our apartment because there's vomit all over the rug. All right, she's living that life. It wasn't hers. Okay. Yeah, but somebody threw up. And Christy was like, I brought that rug.

Just weeks ago. It was last night. Oh, just last night? Yeah, we moved her in. Oh wow, it was a fresh rug. Just testing it out. Oh my God. A little peeing on the hamster, if you will.

Oh man, I'm throwing my whole family on the floor seeing this episode. I'm throwing my whole family on our thoughts in this episode. I'm gonna get strong. Well, so the general report is Locke is doing great. He is enjoying himself, he's doing well in school, but he's still very much Locke, which is a guy who is filled with so many ideas that come at you in rapid succession.

That's your fault, genetically. It is, here's the mistake that I made, right? I was kind of gearing myself up, and I'm gonna say this by way of lesson learned and then maybe advice to other parents out there. We talk often about the goal being to maintain the relationship, right? Preserve the relationship, like that's paramount.

It's more important that you have the relationship than you have control, right? And there's an illusion of control. And even when your kid is at school, you still see them. And even because they're, even if they're 18, you still see them as your child that you have power and influence over and you care about them and you want the best for them.

And so when they come at you with a bunch of ideas that it wasn't that, it was just way he was seeing things and things that he was gonna thinking about doing and there's like a slow down and like, I immediately, he like triggered dad mode in a hard way and I wasn't expecting it because I wasn't even expecting to see him that night. I was going to see him the next day.

And we very quickly returned to a dynamic that often manifests itself in our family, which is Locke's talking a million miles a minute about all the things that he wants to do and all the things that he's thinking. And Jesse and I both go into mom and dad mode where you're like trying to like give advice and course correct.

And it ended up being not a great initial reunion. Now it ended well that night and we hugged, said I love you or whatever. We'll see you in the morning and gonna go eat somewhere. But the first thing I did when I sat down with him in the morning, I was like, I wanna apologize for how I was reactive to you last night when we talked. And I feel like we started the trip off on a bad foot.

And I don't want that to be the dynamic between us. I trust you, believe in you, love you, whatever. And actually, that was very helpful. Now, it's still the McLaughlins. And so everyone has an opinion and everyone is passionate about their opinion and everybody thinks that they're equally right. And Shepherd now, he's a whole thing in and of himself

as a 14 year old, which the best way I could describe a 14 year old boy, and at least the one that's in my house, is as if someone suddenly got, like they got turned on, like slow motion was turned on. It was like you're watching a YouTube video and then all of a sudden you put it on half speed and everything slows down and gets deeper. That's what's happened to Shepard.

He's been stretched from a boy to a man. I was watching the video where we took him out in the FJ and during one of the vlogs and kind of like let him drive and he's like, his voice is so high, he's sitting in my lap. At this point, Shepard is six feet tall. Like his voice sounds- He's my freaking height.

His voice sounds exactly like me. So much so that, so Shepard had his own room at the hotel and when we got there late, all the restaurants were closed and so we just got some food from the hotel. And he was like, dad, can I call and get some food from the hotel? I was like, yeah. So he calls and then I call from my room

to get me something to eat. And then the first thing the guy said was, didn't you just call? Ha! And I was like, no, that was my son. So our voices sound the same now. So that little boy that was on my lap just a couple of years ago is now this big man,

but still a boy, right? He's a boy man. Right. He's a boy. And he's moving in slow motion and he's entering into the conversation like this. It's like he's becoming an ant. And boy, getting him up, waking a 14 year old up. So we had to have a discussion,

a lengthy discussion about what sound he needed to pick for his phone to make in order to wake him up. Because he sleeps through multiple sounds. There was an alarm, there was me calling his hotel room phone, there was me going down there and banging, and then finally I was able to get him up and be like, dude, we gotta go eat.

But despite the fact that he has become a Moy and is moving in slow motion, he is still a McLaughlin, and that comes out when we sit down and somebody just, it's so funny, because this was not the dynamic of my family. Like the dynamic of my family was my dad would kind of say something

and everybody would just kind of agree with it. You know, that was sort of how my family worked. The dynamic of Jessie's family is that everybody has an opinion and everybody is very good at debating. And it's just like, hey guys, we're just talking about like what we're eating right now. Like that doesn't have to become a debate, but the way they actually show love to each other

is by entering into debate. And so Jesse kind of has that in her. And then I can adapt to either situation. I can be like, I'm along for the ride, or I also have an opinion and I can defend it. And so the dynamic that has emerged in our family is that we go out to eat like brunch, and we were in this restaurant and we realized

that we're talking very loud and everyone's talking very passionately about whatever they're saying. And now it's like, I feel like people are now like, like realizing how loud we're being and like, so. Definitely, definitely. But we actually, we had a chance to kind of like have the meta conversation about the way that we,

cause the funny thing that Locke said was, it's just amazing how quickly our dynamic returns. Yeah. This is the way that we interact and- Well, that's comforting. Well, he's like, it's a little bit frustrating, but also comforting at the same time. But we talked about our dynamic and then we were like,

we need to believe the best about each other. We don't need to, there's certain topics that we might bring up that we disagree about that there's just no reason for us to talk about those things. It's like, this is about connecting. This is about figuring out what you need at this juncture and us being there to be supportive or whatever.

And then we went to a football game. So I was excited about this because we just don't like, now that we're in California and we're so far away from NC State, if we still lived in the triangle, we'd probably be going to like NC State home games, not all of them maybe, but I definitely would be- I would be going when you asked me to go.

I'd have season tickets to the Wolfpack and I just, I love college athletics. I completely give myself over to the mania, to the completely inexplicable mania, especially that my only connection to this school now is my son's going there, I am giving them a lot of money. So I, and they were also playing Carolina. Ooh. In football. Gross. And so I was like, I, and they were also playing Carolina.

Oh. In football. Gross. And so I was like, am I gonna have to go and watch Carolina beat another team that I've now gotten dressed up for? Like we went to the student store, we got the clothes, we were like ready to go. I'm like, I'm completely embracing this.

And yeah, Carolina beat us. But I also was so into it that I lost my voice. I'm still like, that game was on. I noticed yesterday. Like Saturday. And you were real raspy. Well, what ended up happening was there was this crazy, it was one of those things where everybody started leaving

because it looked like it was over, but then they started coming back and then there was this crazy onside kick that they got, but it turns out when they watched the replay, the guy had gone out of bounds. But when he got, when they recovered the onside kick before we realized that there had been a violation, it was freaking nuts.

And that was the point in which a series of yells that I do not remember came out of me and caused me to like lose my voice for several, not lose it, but like be raspy. I'm still kind of there. Blew it out. So anyway, that was a really good moment. And Locke was like, I had so much fun.

I've never had that much fun at a sporting event. We ended up having a very, very sweet time as a family. And then when we were leaving, Locke was like, this is almost harder than when you guys dropped me off. Huh. Got to meet like his friends and the people he's connecting with, you know, in his dorm. There was lots of hugging and I love you's and it was good.

So I like, we did the thing, we did the parents weekend thing, checked in and I feel, and you know, Mission accomplished. We were already in very close contact, in very frequent contact, much more than we were even when he was here, when he was living with us. But that frequency has even picked up since then with multiple like texts a day.

I'm sure it'll die back down, it kind of dies back down a little bit. But the relationship, which again, if my goal is preserving the relationship, maintaining that relationship, then that mission accomplished. You wanna hear about the person I met in the wilderness? Yeah.

So we were staying at, the same place we stayed last year with had the cabins, Glen Oaks, shout out to Glen Oaks. It got cabins around the Big Sur River. So you don't, you're in the forest, you're not on the like the cliffs edge, seeing the ocean from this particular point and like the Big Sur Canyon, but it's absolutely amazing.

Redwoods everywhere. These cute little cabins. Last time we went, they had shut down part of it because there was a wedding. And so they do have weddings. We saw some people walking around in tuxes, like our first morning there, we had a full day there. And then, but we went down, we found the Adirondack chairs

and just hung out next to the river. And it was just, it's absolutely beautiful. I took my shirt off, get a little vitamin D, like very comfortable. How warm was it? And it was probably 70 degrees. It couldn't have been more perfect, which is chilly to take your shirt off if you're me,

but like the sun was just giving you that nice, giving it the D, man. And at certain points, I just, you know, I have this, I like to be to myself. I like to connect with Christy. And then at other points, I feel this need to want to connect with other people. Like I like, sometimes it's so out of character for me,

but sometimes I get to a point where it's like, I like having conversations with strangers. Like when we go to breakfast and I'm like, where are you guys from? I don't know. Is this out of character for you? Sometimes. Like when I go to breakfast and I'm like, oh, where are you guys from? I don't know. Is that a character for you? Sometimes. Like when I go on a retreat,

sometimes I don't wanna talk to anybody. But sometimes I'll get in that mode, it'll get in that mood. Like I saw a couple come down to the river below us and the guy was dressed up like he was going to a wedding, I guess, this wedding that was happening. And then he was taking a picture of his girlfriend and like I was sitting there shirtless

and I was just watching them and I was like, you know what, I kinda wanna go down there and be in the picture with her. I just think that, you know, I just think it would be funny. Well, yeah, funny is one word. Like funny for me. Ding, ding, ding. Like totally, you know how I am.

Like I love the funny for me humor. And I was like, and I'm telling Christy this, I'm like, I'll also take a picture of them together cause he's just taking pictures of her. He looks nice. And she's like, no, don't. You don't need to be social with them. Thank you, Christy.

And they were a little far away, but he did turn and look at me and I waved at him. Okay. And he did not wave back. Yeah, because it's a little strange. Which I took it to mean that Christy was right. And then she pointed the other direction and there's like a footbridge crossing the river and this is like 300 yards away.

You know, I know you're into football, so you know how far that is. You think it was three football fields away? 300 yards. Three football fields. Okay, fine, 200 yards away. Cause I mean, that's almost a thousand feet. That's, I mean, some people can't even see that far.

Okay, how far is far enough that you can see someone crossing a footbridge? Well, imagine yourself out, the way I think about this is- This is a diversion. I imagine myself out- 100 yards. A Harness Central High School. One football field.

And I'm looking across, I mean, you've played soccer, you know. They're one football field away. Yeah, that sounds a lot more reasonable. Okay. And there's like people in tuxes, there's like groomsmen crossing this footbridge. And then also- You found the wedding party. The bride, and I was like, oh, there's the bride.

And I'm telling Christy, I'm like, that's the one I wanna talk to. I wanna talk to the bride. And I know that this is putting Christy on edge and I'm just being, you know, it's just funny to me. And she's like rolling her eyes. And we're talking about the wedding and how it's like, it would be so beautiful to get married here and stuff like that.

We're almost talking ourselves into like renewing our vows, which I'm against. My vows are still very much intact. Okay. Even though they were very Jesus centric. In one sense, you can make an argument that we need some new vows, but like, I also feel like we're doing great.

There's nothing to renew. It's still, it's still going on. Isn't it just about the party? Well, we can have a party anyway. Okay. But then we're sitting there in the chairs, chilling out, and all of a sudden out of nowhere pops this guy in a tux, the groom, with a photographer behind him.

How close is he? How many football fields away is he? I would say he is five feet away from me. Okay, that's very close. I mean, popped out of nowhere. And then I saw behind the photographer, the bride. And I'm like, oh shit, it is on. It's time I get to meet this bride.

And like, the guy's like, why? He's like, would you mind if we kick you out? And it was like, okay, we're gonna take wedding photos. And I was like, oh yes, yes, yes. And I like, I was shirtless, felt a little weird. I'm like scrambling to put my shirt on and he's looking at me strange. And then I was like, well, I know I'm strange,

but he's like, don't I know you from the internet? And I was like, well, I know I'm strange, but he's like, don't I know you from the internet? And I was like, yeah. I was like, I'm getting out of here. I'm getting out of here. You guys take over. He was like, let's get a picture. So I get a picture with the guy. Shirt on, shirt off.

Shirt is on at this point. And I'm like, but I'm just, the bride's walking up. She's very quiet. She did not say anything. Cause she's probably concerned. And I'm like, you look beautiful, congratulations. And then like all of a sudden there was a teenager there and a baby and I'm like, all of a sudden I'm confused.

Is it Insta family? And I started thinking because it was on my brain that they were renewing their vows. And for some reason I came this close to asking him, are you guys renewing your vows? Like, wouldn't that be the stupidest thing to ask someone who's like getting married? Yeah, yeah.

I didn't say it because instead he said, I'm from naked and afraid. And I'm like, what? Okay, all right. I was like, well, we were already leaving. You're getting married. You don't have to drop the fact that you're in a reality competition show

where you're naked and surviving. But it's like, okay. But he knew you from the internet. So he knew me, so I guess he was trying to connect. What did he look like? He was a tall, strapping, bearded man, middle-aged. Okay, did he look anything like me? I mean, you said tall and strapping and bearded.

Yes. Because there's multiple people who have, I don't watch Naked and Afraid. Well, I don't want to spoil it because I think that the season's not out and I didn't ask him if he won or lost or whatever. Is he a recurring character or is he just, he hasn't been on yet?

What do you mean a recurring character? It's just like Survivor, I think. I think some people, the best of, like come back. Oh, I don't know. And people have said, You're dropped in the wilderness. Have thought that I was on it. You know people who think that just a tall bearded guy

is always me? I'm sure there's plenty of tall bearded guys on Naked and Afraid. Yeah, because I mean, if you're tall, you're gonna end up bearded because you're out there anyway. You start tall, you're gonna become bearded. Yeah, well more than one beard, you know? Right, yeah.

See, all the beards. That's really more of a mustache. So that's the guy that I met. And then I'm like, Did you ask any questions about the, did you talk to the bride? I just kinda, I said, you look beautiful. She was like, didn't wanna say anything,

so then we just kinda left. They got married. What did Christy say? She was just kind of like. She wasn't talking to them. She was shooing me out of there because she didn't want me to be too talkative. And yeah, it turns out they got married and then we're, Christy and I are hanging out for hours

in our cabin, having a grand old time. And then we both had to use the restroom at the same time. So I was like, I'll just go down to the, there's more of like a cabin that is like public restrooms. And I'm gonna walk out of our cabin and go there while you're using our bathroom. While she uses the hamster. Yeah, so then I, once I use the bathroom down there,

I was just wearing, at this point, I was just wearing a bathrobe and flip-flops. Like nothing else. Okay, that's odd. I mean, you are at a resort, but there is a wedding party wondering. Well, I- But they are from Naked and Afraid, so. So I kept, once I exited the bathroom,

instead of going back to the cabin, there was a path. And I'm like, I'm just gonna walk this path down through this beautiful forest. And I found myself just like having this contemplative time where I was just enjoying nature, walking around in my stark white robe and my flip-flops on this like little path, trying not to get poison ivy. And all of a sudden these two 14 year old boys

dart around the corner wearing tuxes. And they like, and they're, they stumble upon me and almost run me over. And I'm like, I gotcha. So I talked to these, it turns out that this boy, 14 year old boy, a moi, I guess you would call him. Was he moving in slow motion?

He was, his dad was naked and afraid dude. Okay. He just got married. Okay. So he had been in the photo shoot earlier. So I talked to him for a while. Did he recognize you? He did, but he was like, you're that guy. I was like, we're all just people.

How long have you known your friend here? We're all just people. Yeah, and he was like, three years. And I was like, that's a full third of your lives that you've known each other. Of course, that was not true. I realized that later. Almost a fifth. Right, but I was just trying to give them something,

like give them some perspective on life that, you know, it's something, like give them some perspective. Yeah, well. On life that, you know, it's like- You gave them some perspective. Cause like we've known each other for like- Almost a third of your nine years. Like 90% of our lives we've known each other. Maybe more than that. And then, you know,

so I was just trying to give them perspective. It's like, it's good to have a friend. Yeah, it's great to have a friend. Yeah, it's great to have a friend. But they were probably thinking, why is this naked dude in a robe talking to me about incorrect math? How did this conversation go? Like what did they say back to you?

They didn't wanna be as philosophical as I felt like I wanted to be. The forest tends to do these things. I was on a retreat and they're getting, I was like, they had already gotten married. They were taking pictures. I was like, you guys are running from pictures, aren't you? They're like, yeah, they wanna take a lot of pictures.

I was like, you just need to party. Don't worry about pictures. That's what I told him. They're gonna tell their friends about this interaction. Who knows what the hell they're gonna say. So then this is like 30 minutes. Who knows what you've done to the brand. Christy, when I walked back up to the cabin,

Christy was standing there in her robe, like with her hands like, what the hell? Where have you been? Like how long was it, you think? Half hour, 20 minutes. To use the bathroom. Yeah, and she was it, you think? Half hour, 20 minutes. To use the bathroom. Yeah, and she was like, I just knew that you were trying to crash the wedding.

You were trying to crash the wedding. I was like, well, no, I wasn't. I was just taking a walk. But I would have. But we did get invited to the reception. So, and they really want us to go. And, cause I saw the naked and afraid guy when I was coming back and he was like,

we're going to the reception right now, you guys should come. I was like, well, if I can talk Christy into it, we'll be there. And I'm just in my robe. It's a big yes. I'm like, I like to party, but I'm not really dressed for the occasion.

And I made sure that my junk wasn't hanging out. That's good. Then Christy, when I told Christy, we've been invited to the wedding reception. Let's get dressed, let's go right now. And she's like, who invited you? I was like, naked and afraid guy and his son and his brother.

And she's like, did the bride invite you? And I was like, well, she was there. She was sitting in the car waiting to leave. But I kept talking to the naked and afraid guy. So they were kind of delayed, but she never invited me. And Chris is like, exactly. We can't go to their, we can't crash their wedding reception

and make this about you. Yeah. I'm like, you know what? I respect that. So we didn't go. I'm glad you have a wife. She's so great. She is my rock. If like you did these things alone.

She's my rock. She gives me freedom to just let loose. I know that she's there for me. I feel the same way about you a lot of times. Well, it's a lot of work. I mean, listen, I don't go on retreats with just you, but God bless your wife. She, I love her to death.

She's amazing. She needs a raise. She needs, oh, I gave her a raise. Oh, okay, I see what you mean. I love Big Sur, man. It just puts you in a- I would just love to hear that story from the perspective of any one of the people

that you talk to, but most especially the bride. Christy said, I knew you were naked and I was afraid. She's brilliant. And then she was like, you know what? That's what we should be for Halloween. Like you can be naked and I'll be afraid. That's pretty good, that's pretty good. She was like, I can just be my, you know, she's like,

you know, I tend to be more afraid about things and you tend to be prone to wanna be naked about things. I teased at the beginning that I would talk to you about the tortilla margarita that got posted on the internet. So Jessie took me out to a birthday dinner and we were going to this place in LA that Jesse completely nailed the description of it,

which is, it's a place that kind of embodies the thing that people think Los Angeles restaurants are, but actually aren't. Okay. Meaning everything is completely over the top and super showy. And it's sort of a, you do this one time and you probably won't come back.

This is how I feel about it. Gimmick? Gimmicky, but in a, let me just, I'll just take you through a little photo essay and I will describe these photos for those of you who are listening. So just the two of us, originally we were gonna take Shepherd,

but he was moving too slow. Basically he had become stationary. No, he had like a bunch of homework to do and he's like, sorry, dad, I've got too much homework. And we were kind of like, you know, this will just be a date between the two of us. Maybe even better, great. Have you said the name of the restaurant?

It's called Barton G. And you know, it's an experience. Like I said, the food was good, but it's not really about that, it's about the presentation. So it started off, and the waiter said this right up front. He was like, everything you order here is gonna kinda come with a little bit of a show.

I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I did. A little bit of a show. I did pick the, I mean, the first. Everything you order here is gonna have a tortilla on it. So this is a picture that my wife took of me and my drink, which it was just a margarita. You know, I'm obviously- There it is.

At this point, I'm very, very happy. I'm just content to be with my wonderful wife on my birthday. And there is a tortilla that is on top of the margarita. Like, actually- Looks like a, it looks like an adult version of a kid's sippy cup lid. Like you've popped through the tortilla with a straw.

Yeah, this was called the La Playa Rita. So you can't really see in the picture, but there's a picture frame below it and it's sand and a starfish. So like, oh, we're putting this margarita on the beach, on your, I mean, not too flashy, just sort of like, okay, it's on this frame and it's got a tortilla. Okay.

All right, I was like, I mean, it's odd. And I did eat, yes, the entire tortilla. How did, did you, were you supposed to? Why not? I mean, I believe it was edible. So then we got a- You ate it and you're still saying, I'm still open to the fact

that it might not have been edible, but I did eat it. And now things picked up a notch here when we ordered the Caesar salad, which was one of the best Caesar salads I've had. I will say that. I like a good Caesar salad, especially if it's real strong. And of course the Caesar salad came with a bust of Julius Caesar.

As you can see, I'm a little bit intimidated and perplexed. Is that made out of cement? It's rock hard, man. Oh. Yeah. And it is a little bit odd to eat a salad while Caesar is at your table. That's just so weird.

It's like, it's not even part of the salad. It's just a statue. You just wait, friend. Then we order the, I actually went kind of light on the number of things that we ordered because, you know. So we got that salad, then we got a highly recommended

appetizer, the lobster Pop-Tarts. That sounds good. And as you can see, they come in a toaster, right? Uh-huh. They were very tasty. But at this point- How much lobster was in there? Did they skimp? No, they actually went real hard on the lobster.

Oh, great. They didn't skimp at all. At this point, I told Jesse, at this point I said- That makes sense, in a toaster. This is A, something that the Mythical Kitchen would make for us on the show, and B, how they would present it to us. You know? Yeah.

And so I was like, I feel like I'm on my show now. Okay, but not in a good way. No, I was enjoying myself, but then things got a little bit crazy because I ordered, well, you know what? I'm gonna come back to that, because that's the kicker. I ordered something that was a little underwhelming.

It was the fish. Is that on your head or in front of you? Well, Jessie thought that this would be a cute way to take the picture. It's hanging, it's a fish. Is that on your head? Or in front of you? Well, Jessie thought that this would be a cute way to take the picture. It's hanging, it's a fish. On a rod? That's on like a rod hanging over a fish that you're eating. It's so.

So it's a little bit weird, right? A little bit weird. Fish was pretty good. But then they brought out the short rib and this was three full beef ribs. I actually have so much of this left over because we didn't put hardly a dent in it. But it came out on top of a lawnmower that took up the entire table. The entire table! Because it's grass-fed.

What? Uh-uh. So, and here's a video. So that is a push lawnmower. Yeah, here's a video. Complete with sound. Here's a video! It's making a push lawnmower. Yeah, here's a video, complete with sound. It's making a whole lot of noise. The lawnmower is taking the whole table. What? And it makes a scene, like it's loud.

It's a lawnmower. Now there's like a speaker inside of the lawnmower that's making all this noise. I don't know how to feel about this. It's so easy to poo poo it, but I don't wanna just go there. Let me just say, as somebody who eats weird shit on the internet for a living

and has people make weird things to bring it out in, even I was beginning to get a little embarrassed. And I don't like to draw attention to myself, but everyone at the restaurant is drawing attention to themselves over and over again, because that's the whole point of the restaurant. So this lawnmower is coming out multiple times. You've seen the lawnmower on other people's tables?

No, actually I saw it first for me, but then we got there a little early, I guess, but then I saw it at multiple people's tables. Actually, it wasn't that crowded. I think people in LA are maybe a little bit over this concept. we'll see. It was also a weeknight. How did they put it on the table?

Did it take two people? Yes, but here's what they did. They brought it out, they set it down, and then they come to you and they say, "'Did you get your pictures or whatever?' And then they take it away and they just bring you back the meat because you can't eat with that damn lawnmower.

It takes up the whole table." At this point, we needed dessert. And I told you, and Jessie was like, what do you want for dessert? I was like, I want the least embarrassing dessert. Wow, your spirit had been broken. Yeah, I was like, I mean, because I had seen a dessert that had a fork

that was like seven feet tall, it felt like. And also I looked and they had a pie. It was just like, this is a pie. The least embarrassing one. And I was like, what's the pie tonight? And they were like, it's peach pie with ice cream. I was like- Yeah, but what are you gonna do to me? That feels- Peaches, it might come out on a big ass. So this is that moment. I'm out on a big ass. So this is that moment. So they gave you a birthday candle? Yeah. What is that?

It is a pie eating contest trophy with the full pie. You get a whole pie and then they have multiple empty pie plates. The way that Jesse gives commentary on these videos is the- It's not her gift. It's the running headline. You buried the lead here that like, my wife will say some funny stuff.

Like she's like, it's a video. Do you want a photo? Oh gosh. It's a lawnmower. This is what our carne asada came out on. She does listen to this podcast. She's gonna have words with you. I have to give her shit about it. It's hilarious.

So it says fifth place on this photo and you get a trophy and you get these empty pie plates. And again, this is my dessert. It is a full pie for two people. So I definitely think if you wanna have fun, I think this is- What would Shepherd have been doing? Would he have been cringing?

He would have been more embarrassed than me. He's 14. Now, I think that this could be a good group outing. I do think it's worth going out as a group because again, the portions are huge. This is our profession though. That, the meat, the short rib, which tasted great, could have fed like five people.

And of course a whole pie. So I've got, I've eaten, we each ate a slice of that and I've got like a whole pie in my fridge now. We could go one or two directions. We can make fun of this or we could invest in it. You know, it's like, it's kind of like the minivan or the convertible. Well, you know what?'s like, it's kind of like the minivan or the convertible. Well, you know what?

One of the things Jesse and I talked about when we were eating there was, I was like, I don't think I would do this again because it's, you know, I get it. I saw how it is. I'm much more interested in just eating good food at a cool place. But it did make me think about some of the things

that we've talked about years ago, really pre-pandemic. We talked about like, and people, I mean, asked us about this a hundred times, like what would a mythical restaurant look like, right? You guys play so many games with food and you've got all these crazy ideas and what would it look like? And so we've concepted some different restaurant ideas

that are, you know, incorporate like playing with your food. But the thing that hit me is, I think I would go to a place like that and- It needs to be in a tourist trap. It doesn't need to be- Yeah, you gotta get people who are in the right mood to be like, I just don't wanna- It's gotta be on a pier.

I wanna have an experience right now. And so you got it, you're totally right. It's gotta be in the right mood to be like, I just don't want to eat. It's gotta be on a pier. I wanna have an experience right now. And so you got it, you're totally right. It's gotta be in a place where people are like, we're here to have fun. Cause when it's here, like I want a good thing to eat. People who are saying, what do we want for dinner? Well, been there, bubba gump that, what's next? You know what I'm saying?

Well, it's kind of like the Rainforest Cafe. Yeah. Which the food is not as gimmicky as the atmosphere. Which is very moldy. And it has definitely passed its prime. And the prime wasn't even that impressive. I don't ever order the prime. But I don't know, it made me think twice about that.

First of all, just opening a restaurant, this made me think twice about that. First of all, I just opened a restaurant, this feels like a fool's errand. Somebody don't wanna talk to somebody. I am not gonna share, I'm gonna save my story, given time, I'm gonna save my story of my intimate encounter, but I do wanna leave you. Oh, I thought, so the story of meeting naked and afraid wasn't the intimate encounter?

No. It got more intimate than that? Than being in a robe on a trail? Well, I mean, what are we talking about next week? What's on the docket? We can give a little teaser and maybe I can add this to it. Mythicon Live episode. Oh, the Mythicon Live episode comes out next.

All right, so what we just experienced in Mythicon is our next episode. What about after that? What are we planning on doing? Mythicon Recon. All right, maybe I can throw it in there. I don't know. Or maybe we can make it a car biscuit.

I don't know. We'll talk about, but I do wanna leave you with, first of all, I'll leave you with this picture of me. Christy took a picture of me in the sunset holding a glass of wine. She told me where to look. So I feel like this should be the cover of like AARP or something.

Like, you know what I look like? It does have that, it has a brochure-like quality to it. It has a brochure-like vibe, and I like, I just look like, I don't know. Now this is the same place that Jessie and I got all of our anniversary pictures taken. See, there's me looking at the sun setting. That's not good enough.

She said, look to my left. Then I become AARP material. And we went on, yeah, it's the same place that you guys went and we went on, yeah, it's the same place that you guys went, and we went on this amazing hike, and we go to this, you know, there's like all of this ocean fog coming in up the cliff, and then over the redwoods, and we're hiking in this meadow.

All of a sudden, we come out of the woods into this beautiful meadow. We walk around the meadow and then I look back and the sea fog or whatever it's called, I took this time lapse video. Look at that. That's just like something out of, you know, out of a Lord of the Rings spooky horse chase scene.

I mean, it's the most beautiful place I've ever been. Isn't that amazing? I mean- Big Sur's the most beautiful place I've ever been. Isn't that amazing? I mean- Big Sur is the most beautiful place I've ever been. I love it. I love it so much. So that's what I'm gonna leave you with. And I'll share that other story at another time.

Okay. We've packed so much into this episode and you made it. You've made it to the end. Unless we pissed you off at the beginning and you didn't. And you're not here anymore. And I'm, you know. Yeah. You don't know, you don't know we're talking about you.

I had fun. You know what, I'm grateful. Forever grateful, forever grateful. I'm forever grateful. I'm gonna give you a little rec. You probably have heard of this musician, but I've been recently introduced to her, Yola. Have you listened to Yola?

Yola? Yeah, Yola with an exclamation point? Uh-uh. Oh, she is incredible. What type of music is Yola? Well, as she says on her Twitter bio, she is musically genre fluid. Okay.

Six time Grammy nominee. I got introduced to her because people were talking about, and this is very humbling, some people were talking about her and me in the same sentence in terms of a kind of an approach to music, which I'll take it. Especially with my first track on my album, Believe Me, which has that kind of throwback.

She has this throwback meets soul meets country at times. And I think that's where the conversation crossed over with me. Okay. She's got some really good country songs. Oh, her new album is produced by Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys. And that's a great album.

My suggestion is that you start with her album "'Walk Through Fire' and just that first song, "'Far Away Look' is just immediately like, "'this woman is doing something very, very special. She is singing her ass off. I'm gonna check this out. And the production is just wonderful. So Yola, with an exclamation point.

Oh, she appeared on the High Women collaboration album and the Elvis. Yeah, yeah, she's in the High Women. Soundtrack. With Brandy. Oh,. She's in the High Women. Soundtrack. With Brandy. Oh, she's not in the High Women. It's for... Oh, well, she's in... High Women is for white women,

and she's a black woman. Well, but she's in that song. She appears. The High Women song. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got Amanda Shires and Maren Morris. Gotcha, gotcha.

Brandy Carlile. Who else is in that? I can't remember. Okay. All right, I'll check. Highly recommend. All right, so Walk Through Fire 2019. In the meantime, we will, hey, we'll be at Mythicon

next time you're hearing from us. Hope to see many of you there. Hope to have many of you join us for the live stream. No, that's already happened. Oh, yes. So forget that. Well, I'm just saying that in a retro future at this point. Thank you for those of you who joined us for the live stream and joined us at the time.

Hashtag your biscuits. 188 EarPod 1. Hi, this is Cassie. My fiance and I will be getting married in October 21st of 2023, a year from the day that I am calling. I would love to invite Renton Leak. They've never done this, so how about being the first one to my wedding? Hi, this is Paige from Michigan,

and I just wanted to say on behalf of all veterinary, medical, mythical beasts, we're so glad that you adopted a dog and that you didn't buy a puppy. So I hope that you and Sean and Barbara have a wonderful life. Just wanted to throw that out there and give you a little appreciation for that. Love ya. Bye.

Hey guys, I just want to say love you guys, love the podcast. My boyfriend and I want to say love you guys love the podcast my boyfriend and i listen to you all the time make sure we catch every single new episode however we also listen to you guys um gmm mythical kitchen and ear biscuits as background noise while we work from home so our dog i heard this uh similar caller had a similar thing um has really bad separation anxiety but when we leave him the only time he doesn't cry is when we put on an episode of Ear Biscuits. I think because he associates it with you guys being his friends and being home with us. I think he thinks of you guys as actual people in his life.

And it's super cute and it's something we've only recently discovered. But it's totally cured his separation anxiety. So thank you so much. All right, have a good one.