Celebrating their 20th anniversary, Ian and Jenny share their unique travel experience taking a train from Denver to San Francisco. They discuss the joys and quirks of train travel, including a charming breakdown of their rented 1974 BMW 2002 T.I.I. on a scenic drive. The couple navigates mechanical challenges with humor and camaraderie, revealing insights into their relationship along the way. With engaging anecdotes and a lighthearted tone, this episode highlights the adventures that come with vintage cars and the unexpected moments that make travel memorable.
This week Ian and Jenny tell us all about their 20th anniversary vacation! You'll hear all about he highs and lows of vintage car rental, how to fix a train cabin with a USB cable and more! Congrats on 20 years! We love you!
"...that black sedan that I had, the LS460, that had the quietest turn signals in the universe."
The Lexus LS460 is a high-end car that is very comfortable and quiet. It's designed for people who enjoy a smooth and peaceful ride.
The Lexus LS460 is a luxury sedan known for its comfort and quiet ride. It features advanced technology and a smooth driving experience, appealing to those who prioritize a serene driving environment.
"I found a 1974 BMW 2002. T.I.I. Yeah, which I have wanted."
The BMW 2002 T.I.I. is a small, sporty car from the 1970s that many car lovers admire for its fun driving experience and classic design.
The BMW 2002 T.I.I. is a classic compact car that was produced in the early 1970s. It is known for its sporty handling and performance, making it a favorite among enthusiasts.
"So like he's got a five speed, you know, limited slip differential."
A limited-slip differential helps both wheels on an axle to turn at different speeds while still providing power to both. This is useful for better grip when driving, especially in corners.
A limited-slip differential is a type of differential that allows for some wheel slippage while still providing power to both wheels. This is beneficial for improved traction and handling, especially in performance driving or off-road situations.
"...my first impressions were and the brakes were like fine."
Brakes are the parts of a car that help it stop. They are very important for safety, and how well they work can change how the car drives.
Brakes are crucial components of a vehicle that allow it to slow down or stop. They can vary in type, including disc and drum brakes, and their performance can significantly affect driving safety and experience.
The Mini Cooper is a small, stylish car that is fun to drive. It's known for its unique look and has been popular for many years.
The Mini Cooper is a small car known for its distinctive design and sporty handling. It has a rich motorsport heritage and is popular among enthusiasts for its fun driving experience.
The Chevrolet Cobalt is a small car made by Chevrolet, which is part of General Motors. It was sold from 2004 to 2010 and came in different styles, like a four-door sedan and a two-door coupe.
The Chevrolet Cobalt is a compact car produced by General Motors from 2004 to 2010. It was designed to replace the Chevrolet Cavalier and was available in both sedan and coupe variants.
"California and Ian rented a Corvette. Ian rented a Corvette. Did you tell me about this?"
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car from America. It's known for being fast and having a unique look, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a high-performance sports car known for its powerful engines and distinctive design. It has been an iconic American sports car since its introduction in 1953.
"It's like 180 horsepower or something like that for something that barely weighs anything. Yeah, weighs like 2000 pounds."
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster the car can go and the better it can accelerate.
Horsepower is a unit of measurement for power, commonly used to quantify the power output of engines. In automotive terms, it indicates how much work an engine can perform over time, influencing a vehicle's acceleration and overall performance.
"...that barely weighs anything. Yeah, weighs like 2000 pounds. Yeah. So it felt it feels fast, actually."
A lightweight car is one that doesn't weigh much. Lighter cars can go faster and handle better because they are easier to move around.
In automotive terms, a lightweight vehicle is one that has a lower mass, which can enhance performance, fuel efficiency, and handling. A lighter car can accelerate faster and handle better due to reduced inertia.
"...nny, like Ian doesn't like it when I go down this rabbit hole. But like he, Ian has this superpower where..."
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that's fun to drive and easy to park. It's a good choice for people who want a compact vehicle that still feels sporty and has enough space for everyday use.
The Volkswagen Rabbit, known as the Golf in many markets, is a compact car that gained popularity for its fun driving dynamics and practicality. It represents a blend of efficiency and performance, making it a favorite among those looking for a small car with a sporty feel.
"... press events, like we've gotten out of Mercedes land cruisers, you know, just like budget cars. He looks at ho..."
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road adventures. It's also comfortable and has nice features, which is why many people like to use it for family trips or exploring the outdoors.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a full-size SUV known for its off-road capability, durability, and luxury features. It has a long-standing reputation as a reliable vehicle for both rugged terrain and comfortable family travel, making it a popular choice among adventurers and those seeking a premium SUV experience.
"The throttle cable is still connected. OK. I can I can it's carbureted."
The throttle cable is a wire that connects the gas pedal to the part of the engine that controls how much air goes in. If it's broken, the car might not speed up when you press the pedal.
The throttle cable connects the accelerator pedal to the throttle body, controlling the engine's air intake and, consequently, its power output. If it's malfunctioning, the engine may not respond correctly to acceleration inputs.
"I can I can it's carbureted. I can smell gas, you know, like when we when you when you open the throttle."
If a car is carbureted, it means it has a device that mixes air and gas together before it goes into the engine. This was common in older cars, but most new cars use a different system called fuel injection.
Carbureted refers to an engine that uses a carburetor to mix air and fuel for combustion, as opposed to modern fuel-injected engines. Carburetors are less common in newer vehicles but were widely used in older models.
"And I'm looking around and I'm looking around and I see there's a wire that has come off of the coil. Oh, right. Spark to the distributor."
The coil is a part of the car's ignition system that helps create the spark needed to start the engine. If it’s not working, the car might not start or run well.
The ignition coil is a crucial component that transforms the battery's low voltage into the high voltage needed to create a spark at the spark plugs, igniting the fuel-air mixture in the engine. A faulty coil can lead to starting issues or poor engine performance.
The distributor is a part that helps send electricity from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the engine. It makes sure the engine gets the spark it needs to run properly.
The distributor is a component in older ignition systems that directs high voltage from the ignition coil to the correct cylinder's spark plug at the right time. It plays a key role in ensuring the engine runs smoothly and efficiently.
"Yeah, like a spade connector. Is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. OK."
A spade connector is a flat piece of metal that connects wires together. It easily slides onto another piece to make a connection.
A spade connector is a type of electrical connector that has a flat, blade-like terminal. It is designed to slide onto a corresponding terminal, making it easy to connect and disconnect electrical circuits.
"...find another rental car. Yeah. Nissan Altima. All day. I was like, well, it's done."
The Nissan Altima is a car that many people use for everyday driving. It's known for being comfortable and good on gas, making it a popular choice for families.
The Nissan Altima is a mid-size sedan known for its comfort, fuel efficiency, and advanced technology features. It's a popular choice for families and commuters alike.
"But it was a brand new starter. Like I could see it. It's like super tiny in there."
A starter is a small motor that helps turn the engine on when you start your car. It gets the engine moving so it can start running by itself.
A starter is an electric motor that initiates the engine's operation by turning it over. It engages the engine's flywheel to start the combustion process.
"So Frank and Jenny pushed the car and I pop started it. OK. I told the I told the owner I was going to do that."
Pop starting is when you push the car to make it go fast and then let the engine start by itself. It's a way to start a car without using the battery.
Pop starting, or push starting, is a method of starting a car with a manual transmission by pushing it to gain speed and then engaging the clutch to start the engine. This technique is often used when the battery is dead or the starter is malfunctioning.
"...the car they gave us was a fucking Nissan Rogue."
The Nissan Rogue is a type of SUV that is good for families and everyday driving. It has a lot of space inside and comes with many features to make driving easier and more comfortable.
The Nissan Rogue is a compact crossover SUV known for its practicality and comfort. It offers a spacious interior and a range of modern features, making it a popular choice for families and daily commuters.
"So there's, you know, it's a carburetor car. It's easy to do. Yeah."
A carburetor helps engines get the right mix of air and fuel to run. It's an older technology that many cars used before newer systems took over.
A carburetor is a device in internal combustion engines that mixes air with a fine spray of liquid fuel. It was commonly used before fuel injection systems became the standard in modern vehicles.
"And he had put a valve into that onto that line, which is a genius mod to do. So I texted him and I was like, it's not starting."
A valve is a part that helps control how much fuel or air goes into the engine. It can be adjusted to make the engine run better.
In automotive terms, a valve controls the flow of fluids or gases in various systems, including fuel delivery. In this context, it regulates the amount of fuel entering the carburetor.
"And the worst car. At least it wasn't a dodged journey, man. Like that's true. Yeah, that would be the ..."
The Dodge Journey is a family-sized SUV that has a lot of room for passengers and cargo. However, some people say it doesn't drive very well and has some issues with fuel use, which is why it might not be the best choice for everyone.
The Dodge Journey is a mid-size crossover SUV that was produced from 2008 to 2020, known for its spacious interior and family-friendly features. Despite its practicality, it has received mixed reviews regarding its performance and reliability, often being criticized for its outdated technology and fuel efficiency.
The BMW 750i is also a luxury car from BMW, but it has a slightly smaller engine than the 760i. It's designed for comfort and has many advanced features.
The BMW 750i is another luxury sedan from BMW's 7 Series, featuring a powerful V8 engine and a focus on performance and luxury. It offers many high-tech features and a comfortable ride.
The BMW 760i is a fancy car that is known for being very powerful and comfortable. It's part of BMW's luxury line of cars called the 7 Series.
The BMW 760i is a luxury sedan that features a powerful V12 engine, offering a blend of performance and comfort. It is part of BMW's 7 Series lineup, known for its advanced technology and high-end features.
"and then we have a Hyundai Santa Cruz that is parked very poorly."
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a small pickup truck that is designed to be both useful for carrying things and comfortable for driving around town.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a compact pickup truck that combines the utility of a truck with the comfort of an SUV. It features a modern design and a range of tech features.
"So Jenny, this BMW probably cost $140,000. Like it's insane."
MSRP is the price that the car maker suggests you should pay for a new car. It's like a starting point for how much a car should cost.
MSRP stands for Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, which is the price that the manufacturer recommends for the vehicle. It's often used as a baseline for pricing negotiations at dealerships.
"You're assuming that's the first owner. Assuming, yes."
The first owner is the person who bought the car new. Cars usually have a higher value if they are still owned by the first person who bought them.
The term 'first owner' refers to the original buyer of a vehicle, who purchased it new from a dealership. This status can affect the car's value and history.
"It's it has some heavy tint. OK. And it cover up the relevant."
Heavy tint means the windows of the car are covered with a dark film that makes it hard to see inside. It helps keep the car cooler and gives more privacy.
Heavy tint refers to a dark film applied to car windows to reduce visibility from the outside and block sunlight. It can enhance privacy and reduce heat inside the vehicle.
"So the model of that Rivian is the R1T. Oh, well, that's the that's ritzy then, right?"
The Rivian R1T is a new electric truck that can drive off-road and has cool technology. It's popular among people who like outdoor adventures and modern gadgets.
The Rivian R1T is an all-electric pickup truck known for its off-road capabilities and innovative features. It has gained attention for its unique design and technology, appealing to outdoor enthusiasts and tech-savvy consumers.
Rivian is a company that makes electric vehicles, like trucks and SUVs. They are known for being designed for outdoor adventures and have some unique features.
Rivian is an electric vehicle manufacturer known for its all-electric trucks and SUVs, such as the R1T and R1S. The brand focuses on adventure-oriented vehicles with innovative features.
Select text to request an explanation
Dave, Ian, Jenny, Jenny, he might give you a Jenny.
Yeah, you'll get Jenny for me.
Yeah.
What are you doing here other than being paraded into being here by me?
Right.
Being told at 8pm that I need to like put on some makeup to be on camera.
I just went, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Being told, wow, this show is taking a turd.
He didn't say anything like that.
Because what we think is...
I have not been married for 20 years by saying shit like that.
Exactly.
Yes.
Yeah, you celebrated your 20th wedding anniversary being married for 20 years.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And you're exactly right.
That is absolutely a survival tactic that like...
No, yeah.
Yeah.
That's an example of something that has never come out of my mouth.
Right?
Yeah.
I never will.
Yeah, it turns out it's not hard to be, you know, it's not hard to not be an asshole.
Is that what I'm trying to say?
Yeah, it's not being weird.
Yeah, exactly.
Right on.
Well, thank you for joining us on the show, Jenny.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So Jenny and I have a little story, but we're going to tell that later.
I want to start with something else.
Another family member of mine that's annoying me.
Not a father.
Wait, Jenny, what's the unspoken part of that sentence?
Right, yeah.
My father also is on my nerves right now because he ruins my Christmas gift to you.
Oh, no.
Sharing in my eyes.
It wasn't, to be clear, it wasn't something that I knew existed before he sent it to me,
but now I'm annoyed that I can't get it for you because I have to show it to you immediately.
OK, I might know what this is.
OK, so go ahead and go into the current show folder and he took two photographs.
Go LexisRx-1.
Oh, I have not seen this.
OK, OK, all right.
OK, we'll put them.
He sent me this picture of just a just a normal standard silver LexisRx.
OK, whatever.
Yes, didn't really think much of it.
And then go to the second picture.
OK, all right.
And outside the Swedish restaurant that he goes to for Sunday.
Yes, that looks familiar.
OK, next picture.
Old man edition.
You can get an old man edition badge.
Yes, yes.
OK, now I can't get that for you for Christmas, but now you know it exists.
I do.
I do. I did not know that this kind of thing exists.
I'm surprised like I just didn't like if I take off my shirt,
there just isn't one like on my chest.
It's shaved in your chest.
It shows up in the mail at a certain age that they're like,
you're going to need this now.
She's mottled in AARP.
Did when you turn 18, Ian, did you get a package from Gillette
congratulating you on your 18th birthday with a razor and shaving cream and stuff like that?
I actually know, but I became they knew what had happened.
And they heard like whispers about it and they they just made me a voting shareholder.
Because I legit got something from Gillette when I turned 18,
which I'm sure that wasn't the selective service thing that you were supposed to fill out.
I did get that as well, where they were like, not interested.
They flied me like you're incredibly high pitch voice will give away our enemy position.
We'll give away position to enemies where off your skin.
Yes. Yeah.
Well, thank you for the thought.
It's the thought that counts, right?
Is something that disappointed people say, right?
Well, I did not know the old man edition was a thing.
So what what else would you include in the old man edition package?
Let's say you were speccing this for your your Lexus.
What else would come with the old man edition?
I mean, obviously, just center console full of where there's originals, right?
And then just kind of like a weird smell that you can't quite can't quite identify.
Weird old man smell.
It's not bad, but it's there.
Yeah.
And it's just a bunch of coupons, right?
To like old country buffet. Yes.
What else? Cracker Barrel. Oh, Cracker Barrel.
Yeah. Yeah.
Play well. Yeah.
The GPS just takes you to Bingo.
And a dinner theater restaurant.
Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I think of old man cars.
I talk about this all the time.
The blinkers that are too soft.
Uh-huh. Yeah.
They don't want to scare you when they're when the sound is too loud, when it's like.
Yeah. No, that's like an actual blinker.
That black sedan that I had, the LS460,
that had the quietest turn signals in the universe.
And the demographic is 90 year old people.
Yeah, we'll leave the blinker on at all times.
Yeah. Yeah.
I can hear it.
Yeah.
It's like a blinker dimmer switch.
Yeah. I do like the syncopated tea drinking that both of you are bringing to the podcast.
We both have like our don't be sick tea.
No. Yeah. We were off last week.
We missed the show.
You were on your anniversary trip.
I was sick. We're all sick.
Yeah. Right now.
This is welcome to the holidays, everybody.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh.
So well, thank you for the old man addition.
I appreciate that.
Yes. You're welcome.
And thank you, Eric, for getting the pictures for us.
Yes. Yes. Thank you, Dan, for saying that.
He actually just sent that to me like minutes ago.
Oh, nice.
On all the presses.
Yeah. Don't give away the timing of when we record the show,
because then he'll just bomb you with pictures right before we record every time.
Jokes on him. It's different every time.
Nice. OK. All right.
Also, so the whole reason I wanted to come on was we went on a fairly big
adventure last week and wanted to tell the story about it.
So the whole thing was our 20th anniversary trip.
And we decided to take the train from
yeah, Denver to San Francisco, which was fantastic.
It was great. Yeah.
I will say so.
I would like to call attention to the fact
that we're getting an E and lean in to the to the microphone.
OK, go on.
I forgot to put a picture in the courage show folder,
but I have documentary evidence as to the caveat.
So talk about the great parts about it and I will put that in there.
Oh, what did you get to go over the fight?
OK, so the great part was there was one there was no Wi-Fi,
which meant that you had to just like look out the window, right?
So it's just me and my tinnitus buzzing away.
Really, like you you can read you have to read a book.
You have to talk to strangers because you got that,
which doesn't sound like a selling point, but right for dinners.
They're all like little four tops and we were just the two of us.
And so they tell you like you sit there and Ian and I tried to sit on opposite
sides of the table and they were like, no, no, you need to sit next to each other
because we're going to put other people.
And so you kind of just like chat with folks who are
also taking the train across the country.
Um, yeah, we played Cribbage.
We taught ourselves how to play.
I love Cribbage.
I yeah, I will peg the shit out of a board.
Yeah, it was so fun.
Yeah, it's a great game.
Much better at it than Ian.
I got destroyed every day.
Pretty great.
Yeah, every game.
Just absolutely.
I love Cribbage.
It's so great. Yeah.
But I think also I do a lot of air travel and like it's such a nice
respite from air travel where like you're it's so much more relaxed.
Right.
You know, like you don't have to line up immediately.
Well, I still did.
Yeah, but you don't have to.
If that's your thing, you can stand in a line.
And it was there are people lining up to get on this train.
I don't care if we have a sleeper car.
We need to get in that line.
You'll hear code.
At what point did you figure out if you were within kind of the Venn diagram
of train traveler demographics, like how much of you were in it?
How much of you weren't right?
Like how much how much in common do you think you had with like the average
train person or a couple taking the train across?
The average train person is Amish.
So not that much.
OK, were there just like a whole bunch of Pennsylvania Dutch on there?
Yes, OK, so many.
And like every time we've been on that track, that's when they guess.
No way, really?
Because they won't take I will they take buses?
They won't take buses, right?
No idea. Why trains?
Anyway, yeah, why are trains OK?
Were they just whittling furniture everywhere?
Yeah. Were they just whittling furniture and making candy left and right?
No, like no, but there's some there's some things they could have attended
to on the train probably right.
Yeah, yeah.
So it was the experience was really interesting.
It was OK, really relaxing.
I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.
I could see you digging that.
I did. I did.
And there are definitely some weirdos like when we were playing
Krivige, they're kept being people who would come and like stop and stare at us.
And you know when someone stares because they want you to make eye contact
so they can start having a conversation.
And you're like, but I don't want to do that.
Like we're just trying to like play a game.
I don't want to.
And so that kept happening a few like more than twice.
OK, it was it was enough that we stopped playing Krivige in the opposite.
Yeah, we just went back to our room.
Sure, sure. Yeah.
Yeah, you find out that they're nationally ranked on the Krivige like leaderboards,
right? And they were just trying to hustle you. Yeah.
Yeah, but the train also.
OK, so we've taken an overnight train in Europe before.
OK, and I can tell you that comparing those two luxury luxury levels.
Yeah, it's quite a bit different.
So I know nothing about either.
Yeah, give me the skinny in Europe.
Is it just amazing?
Is it like Rolls Royce versus like a Chevy here?
Little bit. I mean, it's not it's not that dramatic.
But I have a picture in the thing.
So OK, our and the sleeper cars are designed where there's like compartments
and then they're separated, kind of like a hotel room by a divider.
So they can be like opened up if you can get like you can book a double.
OK, family or something.
Sure. And then all of these cars are like the latest Amtrak car was built
in like the 80s. Yeah.
The Northeast Corridor, all the rest of them are like 30, 40 years old.
OK, but on the trip, remember, I read that the California Zephyr,
which is the train that we took and another one,
they're getting new cars that are nice.
But we did not have those.
So you were flying in an empty 80.
Yeah, yes, basically.
I had to like to get the bunk down for us to sleep.
I had to like basically get in there and like disassemble something
to get it to like Janky.
We were sitting there drinking our wine, getting ready to get ready for bed.
Yeah, yeah, it was pretty late.
We were just like listening to music, drinking wine, chatting
and start hearing this weird noise.
And then we hit a bump.
It was on a rough section of track and the whole
divider between our car, our compartment and the next compartment.
No, open. No.
There was a guy like opening his bathroom door like it was just like.
Yeah, yeah.
Cool. I'm glad you saw a stranger masturbating.
Yeah, yeah.
So if you load up the picture called quality,
OK, see how we fixed it.
Oh, duct tape.
Yeah, that is one of my USB cables.
Oh, yeah, I left on the train.
OK, but that is official Amtrak duct tape.
That was done by one of the attendants because it would not latch.
They couldn't get it to close.
Oh, my God.
So they were like and she came in, she was like,
well, this is what you do.
I mean, it clearly had never been the first time.
Right, right.
They had a protocol in place where they had to find out if you were
the couple that was down for it or not.
They're like, do you want to make a friend?
Uh huh. Yeah.
What kind of what kind of couple are you?
Yeah, I've not seen any pineapples here.
So I'm not getting any like revives.
So yeah, OK, OK, but just on the off chance.
Wow. Well, amazing fix with the tech.
This is the best kind of tech fix that involves no tech,
just tensile strength of cable.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Layer one.
Yes, layer one.
Wow, OK.
So so you just knew that this was like a
I don't know, like a like you lose privacy.
Like privacy is a veil anyway, like it's fake,
but like just the perception of privacy is kind of like reduced in this aspect.
Like, were you talking quite a little bit?
Yeah, there's a guy just like right over there.
Right. Well, you could hear him anyway.
The walls were very thin.
Well, no, they weren't thin.
It was there was a gap.
We could hear him less after.
That is true. That is true.
Oh, you could hear him less after your fix.
Yeah, because it was like there were the gap and it wasn't sealing.
Yeah, that's why we can hear him so much.
So clearly that's true.
OK, you improved Amtrak, Ian.
Yeah, you're welcome. Amtrak.
OK, OK.
And I'm guessing the USB cable is like a pretty significant portion of their budget.
Like that.
I'm guessing this is not the kind of thing that would happen on the European train.
No, no, I'm pretty sure that this is the sort of thing
that we get a car taken out of commission.
Yeah, because I remember the one we boarded in London
for the overnight train to Edinburgh and you go into this beautiful little
like lounge car, right, where they were serving drinks
and they had on uniforms and the whole bit.
It's just it's pretty different.
It was pretty different, but it was also really cool to do.
I was excited to do it.
I would do it again in the US.
Definitely. I wish they would just put maybe a little bit more money toward it.
So more people would do it.
Yeah, because it was also like three times as much as flying, probably.
Well, but we were also it was also like a hotel room and it included a lot of meals.
Yeah, OK, sure.
It was more expensive than flying, but not
outrageously so if you factor in like another night in a hotel and OK.
Yeah, how long were you on the train
from when you boarded in Colorado to when you got off in California?
Yeah, 36 hours, 36 hours. OK.
And you didn't get off the train at any point.
We did for a fresh air stop and Ian wanted to like go take a walk.
That was like, no, we need to go to see this train
because the table in that whistle.
I'm not running fast enough to get back on the train.
So I was like, I will walk up and down the platform.
OK. And he was like ready to go walk into the neighborhood.
He was like, there's a coffee shop a block away.
And I was just like, it only lines up with your bullshit travel mentality
where like you want to hop on the plane right before the door closes.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that sends my blood pressure through the roof, just thinking about it.
Yeah. Are you the same, Jenny?
Like, yeah. OK. OK.
They tell you we cannot.
They were like, they came up with the thing.
They were like, we cannot leave this section of track
until this time because there's a freight train in the way.
So we will we will not leave before this time.
In manner. Right.
But like, I don't trust that.
And they don't.
There's a person telling me that and people make mistakes.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then you don't want to be like on those cruise ship videos where like
they're running and like people are mocking them, you know, yeah, from the ship.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
So where would you have been stuck?
Like Grand Junction or something?
It was no, it was in California.
It was not far from the end.
Yeah. Yeah. OK.
It was a small town, though.
OK. I love your whole idea, like coffee shop.
Let's do it. Yeah.
Oh, well, to make it better, it was just on the other side of the Donner Pass.
Donner Pass, yeah. OK.
So we could have recreated that.
Nice. Nice. OK.
All right. So 36 hours in a train with, well, the three of you,
you two and the stranger.
Yeah. But like I nearly finished a book.
Yeah. OK. You nearly finished a book.
Yeah. It was great.
You think you saw a mountain lion?
I did think I do think I saw a mountain lion.
I definitely saw it.
I saw a beaver in a river. Oh, sweet.
OK. It's so near, right?
And like eagles and. Yeah, I saw a bunch of eagles.
Yeah, it was really cool. OK.
So yes, train travel. Do it. OK.
Did you have a head?
Like, did you listen to a lot of music and stuff like that?
Yeah, we did. OK.
I made a whole list of.
That's right.
You made a 20th anniversary playlist.
I made a 2005 playlist.
All the other five music. OK.
And that was great.
We had like 140 songs.
So sweet. Nice, dude.
Yeah. OK.
Yeah. And we just like hung out.
It was great. Yeah.
So we got in in the like late afternoon.
Got on a train down to San Jose and to so we could pick up the rental car.
And thus now begins our fun story.
So I I think I talked about this on the show, right?
I booked it through Turro.
I booked this rental car through Turro.
I found a 1974 BMW 2002.
T.I.I. Yeah, which I have wanted.
There's pictures on the in the current show folder, if you want to show.
Yeah.
I have one of the drive 2002.
T.I.I. for credit, right?
It's yours.
Gorgeous. Yeah, I've always wanted to drive one as well.
They look and this and this one that you found on Turro was in immaculate shape.
It's beautiful.
Like the glass is all brand new.
I mean, excuse me.
The wheels all are all in great shape.
The bodywork is fantastic.
There's like one dent in the in the trunk scratch area.
OK, you have to have one.
Yeah. Yeah.
The interior was beautiful.
It had he had done like really tasteful upgrades.
So like he's got a five speed, you know, limited slip differential.
Oh, wow.
He has the the the Euro bumpers.
Uh-huh. Yes.
Although all that sort of stuff.
The engine bay is immaculate.
OK. Gorgeous.
I was I got to see that.
You did.
And and it drove beautifully.
Like it didn't drive.
It didn't have like a ton of play in the steering or anything like it drove
like a really well maintained older car.
OK. Like it still made weird noises.
Sure. Rattles and, you know, it was an old it's a 50 year old car.
And but my first impressions were and the brakes were like fine.
They were good.
They were great for 1974 sort of thing.
OK. Well, before we get to like your driving impressions,
I can we rewind just a little bit for the trip planning and you like pitching
this idea to Jenny or like how this how you both came to the same page
that this is what we're going to do.
As in where for you get for him getting the car?
Yeah. Yeah.
Because we did the same thing when we were in England.
Right. With the Mini Cooper.
With the Mini Cooper.
And this is just his thing, right?
Of course. He's going to want to find a cool old car.
I'm fine with that.
I mean, the Mini Cooper, I spent the whole time being
98 percent sure it was about to die.
Like every time he shifted gears, I was like, and that's it.
And good scene.
And it didn't last for the whole time.
So I was like, and those what he's doing, I trust that he's a good driver.
And so when he pitched that when he showed me the car, I was like, yeah.
On visuals alone, right?
Yeah, I was like, let's do it.
But then knowing your husband's car decision making
and the repercussions around it, I probably should have thought
about that a little bit more. Oh, OK, OK.
Thanks. I'm told by how pretty the car was.
And this, like, very like, oh, my God, we're going to be driving on, like,
you know, I do like scarf, like omelette, like scenes are happening in your head.
I can match every outfit.
Great. I had I had some.
Some like nervousness just about so everything I'd read about Northern
California in the winter is that it's really rainy.
And I was like, is this car going to be able to handle if we get like an absolute
deluge, right? Turned out we didn't get any rain the whole time.
Oh, OK. OK.
But yeah, I was more nervous about it, how it would handle the weather.
OK. OK.
I didn't think because I was like, if a guy's renting this car on Toro,
I bet it works pretty well.
Right. It worked well.
So I think we're fine.
OK. And this felt like a cool anniversary thing to do.
So absolutely. Like when he pitched this to me, I was like, this sounds great.
It's something that he's doing for this is like your way to celebrate the anniversary.
Yeah. Well, I'm like part of the adventure.
Yeah. Right.
Because I do a lot of the research on the other stuff that we do during the trip.
Right. And a lot of finding the hotels.
I also booked the train.
You did book the train, too.
So you did all the travels.
The train was my idea.
Yeah. But a lot of the other stuff is me.
Yeah. With like a giant Google spreadsheet.
Yeah. Yeah. Four thousand tabs open. Yes. OK.
So I was I was like into it.
I thought I was like, this is going to be super, super fun and feel special.
It's better than like, you know, I don't know,
driving a Chevy cobalt around. Oh, no. Yeah.
And I think that there's like in a relationship,
you recognize a moment when like your partner is passionate about a thing.
Yeah. And you're like, oh, this isn't like going to negatively impact us.
Like, let's just be there for it.
Let's like build on that energy and let's go with it. Right.
What was your initial thought about it when we picked it up?
Other than is our luggage going to fit?
Oh, well, yeah, because it's tiny, right?
The trunk is huge. Oh, OK.
At one time, I would say this is much better than one of the last times I went to
California and Ian rented a Corvette.
Ian rented a Corvette. Did you tell me about this?
I'm sure I must have.
And I had this picture trying to shove our luggage in
the trunk of this Corvette and just being like, it's not going to happen.
It was before we knew each other.
This was in like 2012.
Just before we had Niko.
Yes. Before we had Niko.
I was in San Jose.
It was in the Bay Area for work.
And Jenny came out and met me and then like took a couple of days
to go up to like San Francisco.
Importantly, because I wanted to go to the Winchester Mystery House,
which is in San Jose. Oh, yeah.
Uh-huh. Right.
Staircase is leading to nowhere and all that weird stuff.
Yeah. OK.
And we drove that around.
Well, yeah. So I went to a rental car place
and it was just like at the normal rental car place.
And I was like, well, do you have?
What do you have in the way of, you know, like fun?
Right. If I have new balances and cut off jean shorts
and I'm having a midlife crisis, what do you have for me?
Yeah, they were like, we've got a Corvette convertible.
And I was like, yes, please, let's do that.
I don't think you ever told me this.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was a C6.
It felt because we stayed.
Sorry. No, get into it.
Found us this beautiful, like artistic houseboat to stay at in Sausalito.
That's that same trip.
And then we show up in this effing Corvette.
Right. Plastic Van Halen.
Right. It felt so wrong.
Yeah. Yeah. So wrong.
Yeah. Oh, and then we drove it, like north out of San Francisco,
like through like the Mirwoods area and stuff like that.
OK. Why New Roads?
Like tiny, tiny, super tight roads, like.
Right. Like hairpins every 200 yards sort of thing.
And the Corvette felt so enormous on those roads.
It was not very fun.
Well, you were just kind of like embarrassed to be seen in it.
Like, I remember driving through San Francisco.
You speak yourself because I was having a grand old.
I wasn't when we were driving through San Francisco.
I was like, I don't want to be seen in this.
So I am like, I am too cool for this car.
I felt with this one.
I was like, oh, this is really cool.
Like we walked out of this kind of shitty hotel
because we just had to get a hotel for the night to pick up the car.
So we were like, what's closest to the train station, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah. Yeah.
But we walk out of this hotel and I was like, oh, this feels really special.
Like it's a whole vibe just presence wise. Yeah.
Yes. Yeah.
And then, you know, we're like dressed up to go to a winery and stuff.
So like it felt it was cool.
OK. That's the other picture.
The big head one was. Oh, yeah.
Our first stop was at this winery with all this art.
So that that sculpture is incredible.
Cool. And driving up to it is a bit of like a head.
Yeah. Just looking at the picture is weird.
Yeah. So it's like it's a very squished perspective of.
Yeah. So the head is like elongated.
Yeah. And there's those.
You know, like the tall skinny trees that they've looked very Italian.
Yeah, I am. Those were all flanking it. OK.
The driveway. Yeah.
Yeah. Like the driveway on the way up.
Gotcha. OK.
So like it looked, it felt really cool for the environment.
It looks really cool in the environment.
Yeah. That's a great picture, Ian.
Thank you.
How did it take great pictures?
How does it feel in the car?
Like, are you comfortable?
Yeah, I mean, you weren't sitting on a lawn chair or anything like that.
Like, yeah, I had upgraded seats.
He had seats like an 80s era, three series that he had like all
like recovered to match the interior.
Like it was beautiful inside.
You know, you had people like waving.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just because they see a cool car.
Yeah. It would have been a great way for me to pick up some dudes
on my 20th anniversary trip.
It would have been a lot of interest in the trade
in the car. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. OK.
And so we had it for several days.
So that other picture was our our our stop after this was our hotel
up in Mendocino. OK.
And then we we drove it around in like that area for a couple of days
without any incident whatsoever.
Well, so I did kind of like kick back on your first impression.
So would you mind going back to like your first driving impressions
unless you were heading in a direction that you wanted to?
No, no, no, I was just trying to say like it just felt well sorted.
Like everything felt great.
And also it lived up to my expectations completely of it was just
it was lovely to drive.
It felt very just, you know, when like it doesn't feel it wasn't slow at all.
Like it felt quick. OK.
It's like 180 horsepower or something like that for something
that barely weighs anything. Yeah, weighs like 2000 pounds.
Yeah. So it felt it feels fast, actually.
That's awesome. When you get into it. Yeah.
And it drove so nicely on the like twisty roads.
Like you could just feel how light it was. OK.
It's not like the most direct or, you know, powerful car or anything like that.
But it's so light that it doesn't matter that the that has drum brakes on the back.
And it's like, you know, they don't stop that great. Right.
But it's so light you just you can just hook it in and it'll just
go right around. It's super well balanced.
OK. Fantastic to drive quickly. OK.
Not for me. So I get motion sick pretty easy.
Yeah, that's right.
Cars I get carsick in this one.
I mean, he was you weren't.
I know you weren't going like flat out around corners and stuff
because I was in the car. Sure.
But like I wasn't get I didn't get motion sick.
OK. Yeah.
Which I think is a big deal, right?
Because you go to the ground and it didn't feel like it was a rolling.
That's what I've noticed is the thing for me. Yeah.
Yeah, I had a lot of fun in it as just a passenger.
That's awesome. That's fine.
Yeah, I was not pushing hard at all.
I was like, sure. No, I was in let's hustle it a little bit.
Yeah, like six, seven tenths.
So we're having a little bit of fun here.
Right. But lots of lots of margin.
And, you know, yeah, I did not want to bend this up.
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