Summer Ends

Good evening. Stanley, hello listeners. Welcome back.

It's the BS Car Guys podcast after a somewhat long summer hiatus.

Somewhat long, i.e., about 45, 30,

35, 40 days of build in the wilderness.

I can even speak out there, and he came back looking like Bill.

I thought he was going to come back with a beard, looking

like Grizzly Adams a little bit, none of them tattoos.

No, no, you don't have tattoos. Do you have tattoos?

Yes, you have tattoos. You know, no, no, no, nothing.

You just look like Bill. You're supposed to come back different.

Yeah, so I left on the trip way overdue for a haircut.

And no, you're not well. On the trip, we had one of our stops at the

Mall of America. Kendra and Anna finally put their feet down and said,

you're getting a haircut and we're going to build a bear.

So that's what happened. So that's why you look like Bill.

And then when we got back, I shaved, I trimmed my beard

down back to stubble. So yes, that's, I have returned to normal.

There must be pictures. Normal for me. My hair was looking pretty,

pretty rough at the beginning of the trip, for sure.

I don't think you're looking, you're a handsome young man. I don't think you

were looking rough. Yeah, it was getting a little unmanageable.

That's probably the better way to say it. For the record, only one of those

things is true. Handsome or young, not both are not true.

You can pick.

But anyway, yeah, like we were talking about, so we had a summer,

you know, during the summer we had to take high A. This is,

is that the word? Anyway, because, you know, we have families

and I got family stuff to do. Like I'm sure everybody else does.

And I want Bill and the family went on a trip across the country.

So, Bill, if you wouldn't mind telling us about the trip a little bit.

Let me in on all, well, we just talked about the animals with Anna,

the super guy star, Anna. Yeah.

Tell us the route again. Give us a little highlights on the route again.

How was it out there on the highways and byways of the great

United States of America? What happened, man?

Yeah. So, we had a great trip in the spirit of adversity. It started off with

its challenges, but it was a good trip all in all.

In the end, we were able to go to nine national parks in 23 days

and I drove the entire trip and I wound up

I wound up driving 6,645 miles in 23 days.

Wow. So, really not that bad. I mean, because we had

several days where we were, you know, in a park for multiple days in a row.

So, we didn't log a lot of miles on those days.

But yeah. So, we left North Carolina head north

on our way to our first destination, which was

Cahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. But we got about two and a half hours into

our trip and our 2018 F-150 began having some

shifting problems. It was behaving all shifty

or I should say it should have been more shifty than it was.

And so, we stopped to have that looked at and turned out our

transmission was toast. So, I was left with a little bit of a

dilemma. We could order parts and wait for the service

would be completed in about three to four weeks at a cost of 12 to $13,000.

Which essentially would have just been the end of the trip.

Instead, I just said, well, let's see what you got on the lot

and what do you give me for my truck? Granted, it needs a transmission.

And so, that's what we did to trade in a vehicle. Hey, you just identified

a $12,000 issue. Give me some money for it. Yes.

So, I remember a friend of mine, a guy who I used to work with, he had a Ford

Ford Focus and he had our horrible power shift

transmission in it. And it was doing all types of

weird things, but he knew it because he's a very frugal.

That's the nicest way to put it, Rob. If you're listening, you're not

frugal, you're just cheap.

Because he had like a quarter million dollars worth of count books in his

house. But he was driving a 2008 Ford

Focus with a horrible transmission. But he'd been driving it

long enough that he knew that if you got it warmed up,

it would sound like everything was all good.

So, he got it warmed up. It went on to the Kia dealership

and got him a K5. Nice. They didn't know. They test drove it. They didn't find

nothing wrong with the car. He got some money for it.

He got a K5. I think he ended up getting like

$8,000 for that car. Trust me, bro. It was nowhere close.

Yeah, there was no hiding this particular issue from the dealership

since they're the ones who diagnosed it. But anyway,

traded in the truck and got a, we test drove two different trucks.

Different is a light term. But we left in a 2025 Ford F-250 Lariat

with a 7.3 gas engine, not a diesel. You bought a gas powered truck.

Godzilla, yeah. Yep. You bought a gas powered truck.

Yep. And in all the build them, you are going against your nature.

I know. But hey, guess what? I don't have to mess with death fluid. So, that's really nice.

So, I got 6,000 miles to get accustomed to the truck. Here's some things that I learned

that I really like about the truck. 2025 F-250 gas engines. Yeah.

What was the other option? 2025 gas engine F-250 XLT trimmer

with cloth interior and a bench seat in the front?

You turned on a bench seated cloth interior trimmer.

With the off-road, but yeah, the trimmer package. Yeah. Yep. Because Kendra really liked the leather.

Oh, that's what I was going to say next.

She also liked that it had four cup holders in the middle and Anna wasn't going to be

sitting in the front with us squished between us for 6,000 miles and all the things.

But it was a save just a little bit of money. But hey, you know, whatever.

So, for all you people out there, that's how you stay married, right?

Find in common ground, which is to say, going with what the wife wants.

So anyway, so we bought a truck and continued on our way. And

new F-250s do not have auto start, stop as an option. So you don't have to worry about it trying

to turn off every time you stop at a stop sign or a stoplight or slow traffic, which is super nice.

I really like that a lot. It also doesn't have like an overly aggressive

everybody that turns in front of you is about to kill you auto braking feature,

which is also really nice to not have that. So there's just a few things on it that I really

like that it does have or doesn't have. It doesn't have adaptive cruise control.

That's so nice. This is dumbest thing ever. I disagree, but go ahead.

Well, there's nothing worse than having your crew set at 12 over like you should.

And then looking down and realizing you've been doing two over for 30 minutes because somebody,

a football field ahead of you is going two over. And then you've lost 20 minutes that you could have

been blasting on down the road at the normal 12 over. So anyway, that's my opinion. The normal 12 over.

Yeah. Also, sir, you know, if, you know, some of us out here, we are okay with driving

at 6,000 miles and, you know, I'm sure there was a lot of child sing-along and

things going on in the backseat and questions being asked. And, you know, a little bit of

adaptive cruise control don't hurt every now and then. Anyway, but we know you're a caveman.

We know you're a caveman that wants full control of everything. So anyway, go ahead.

That's exactly right. So anyway, so we did wind up being about a day behind

because we had to spend the night in Virginia in order to go back in the morning and have a

bed cover installed so we could keep all of our camping stuff dry.

And then I had to figure out how to make it all for you. And then we hit the road,

we went to Ohio from Ohio. And let me just say, Cahoga Valley, really nice park. If you're a

avid cyclist or you have a family that likes to bicycle, I would really recommend a visit

to the park. We would likely want to go back at some point to spend a little more time there

since we lost a day that we could have been there. So anyway, so we wound up only camping

one night there. And then we left and went to Indiana Dunes. So we went due west across to

the bottom of the Great Lakes. You say Indiana Dunes? Yeah, Indiana Dunes.

Is that a real thing? Are there actual dunes in Indiana? I am ignorant to this.

Yes. So it's really close to the Illinois border. It's at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

And you can actually see Chicago skyline across the lake, which is kind of weird.

It's like you're at the ocean, but the water is not salty. And you can see a city out over

the water, which is also kind of odd. So we camp there, right? Yeah. So we camp there and swim in

the lake. You know, had a good time. There are some houses there inside the National Park that

were built for the 1933 World's Fair, 34 something World's Fair in the 30s. They have

what they thought houses in the future would look like. I mean, I got to say they were pretty close

on some of them. So we get to see those. And then we left there and we drove up and around the lakes

up to Isle Royal in Minnesota. So we went up the North Shore of Minnesota all the way up

close to the Canadian border. And we took a ferry ride out like it was about two hours, I think,

out to the island, which is the National Park is an island. And it's odd because you leave

Minnesota on a boat. You travel to the island that's north of the Canadian border, but belongs

to Michigan. So it's technically part of the UP of Michigan. And it's also a time zone back.

So you boat back an hour to that. It's just weird. So the other way to get to the island is by

seaplane. We did not choose that option just because of cost prohibitive. And then we bought a

truck. So I'm really glad we didn't spend that money. And then from there, we drove

to Mall of America in Minnesota. My sister and her friends, college friends took a trip out

to Minnesota just to go to the Mall of America. So I would say traveling with two women,

you would have to go there. Yeah. Yeah, and I had read a book about it in school last year.

So we started putting the trip together and realized that, you know, it was only,

realistically, it was only about two hours out of the way total. We were like, we got to

at least do it like a, you know, a couple of hours. So we went to Mall of America,

rode some roller coasters, Anna did her first upside down roller coaster. So that was fun.

And did she get off saying that? Did she get off shaking or did she get off and I want to do it

again? Well, she chose to ride it with her eyes closed. So I'm not so sure she knows anything

that happened. All right. So she doesn't, we don't know if she has her dad since an adventure

yet that likes to jump out of airplanes and do all the crazy things. Well, she was willing

to ride it and she enjoyed all the other rides. Just that one was like that pushed it a little

bit for her. So she opted to do eyes closed, which to me, I thought would have made it with

scarier. So, you know, whatever. So that was our first time. So we did Mall of America and then

from there we drove to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Let's see.

Actually, I guess I should say we spent the night at a hotel in Fargo.

That was an interesting experience. We got in there late. No, not so much that they spoke

funny is they were hosting a wrestling competition and a bunch of wrestlers that

got onto the one elevator in the hotel and overloaded it and broke it. And so we had to

the collective we had to carry all of our stuff up a flight of stairs to get to our hotel room.

Every husband in this who's listening this know what we means.

And so anyway, we stayed there tonight and then we traveled Theodore Roosevelt

in North Dakota. And that was one of our funnest times in a park. We were there two nights

camping and we saw a lot of bison and we hiked some trails. We saw petrified forest.

It was like 110 while we were hiking the petrified forest trails was really hot.

Anna and Kendra's first triple digit hike. I've been to Paris Island. So I know it wasn't my first,

but you know, not at all. Even if it wasn't triple digits in Paris Island, it was triple digits

because humidity and sand fleas. And so yeah, sand fleas, sand fleas at 10 degrees 10 degrees 100%.

Anyway, so we left there and we went to

we went to Glacier National Park in Montana. Sure, I think we stayed somewhere in route

to Glacier, but I think we just went straight there. So anyway, we went to Glacier. We were

there three nights and really enjoyed our time in Glacier. Drove the go into the sun road,

hiked some trails, saw some marmots. Did hear one scream at a mountain goat.

Because you know, that's kind of what they're known for is like their Yale.

So just just got it right. You went from 100 plus degree hike into snow.

100%. Yeah, we hiked across.

We got up. So the go into the sun road is a very popular drive. And there's a visitor center

on at Logan Pass, which is kind of the top of the road. And it's not a very big parking lot. So

it fills up. And so they limit the number of vehicles a day that can go on the road without

a pass unless you get in the park early in the morning. So we were in the park by

445 and drove up to the top of the mountain and got a parking spot. And we kind of hung out in

the car for a little bit. And it was probably 40 degrees. I mean, there were people hiking

in toboggans and gloves and scarves and, you know, so I put on my jacket and

I say that's prime weather right there. It was wonderful. I loved it so much. So

anyway, we hiked up to Hidden Lake, which is behind that visitor center. So kind of up the

mountain behind it and saw some mountain goats saw some bighorn sheep and walk hiked across some

snow and saw some giant mosquitoes and got bitten by them and didn't see any bears. But

saw, you know, a lot of signs telling us to steer clear of bears that were active in the area.

And then the next day we went to Jenny Lake or nope, sorry, wrong park. We went to

two medicine and went to Upper Two Medicine Lake, which is part of Glacier National Park.

That sounds like a horrible name, but two medicine. Yeah, there's some like different versions

of the story of how the name got its, the lake got its name. But anyway, something to do with

Native Americans and something about two different medicine women both claiming the

same area. And anyway, so anyway, so we did a boat ride at Two Medicine on the lake. That was

really cool. And height there saw moose left Glacier. And now this is where we made a change

in our plans. So we had originally planned that when we left Glacier, we were going to drive into

Canada and do like a just a quick in and out of Canada. And we had our passports with us.

But when the truck died and we had to buy a new truck, I got a little worried that we might lose

time dealing with the Canadian border either coming or going because we were from North Carolina,

but we were in a truck registered temporarily in Virginia and had all of our stuff piled in a bed

cover. And I don't want to have to unload the whole, I just made the call that, you know what,

it's not worth it for a two hour jaunt into Canada. We're just not doing it.

So we avoid complications. I mean, it's like the same when we travel internationally.

We tried to have the least amount of questions being asked to us. I mean, it's just better.

So yeah, I feel the same way. So we decided to scrap that. And then we left Glacier and we drove

south down to Yellowstone. We came in the north entrance of Yellowstone. So we came by the Roosevelt

Arch. And part of me planning the route, the direction we did was for that reason. I wanted

to approach Yellowstone from the north at the Roosevelt Arch as it was, you know, 100 plus

years ago, as opposed to coming in from the east or the south, which is where most people are coming

in from, they're coming from the East Coast. So anyway, so we came in that way. We spent

three nights, four days in Yellowstone. We did two nights of camping and one night in

Old Faithful Inn at Old Faithful. That was pretty cool. It's a very historic structure. It is

the world's largest wooden structure. Wow. Are we sure? Yeah, you can Google it. I mean,

I'm not saying you're lying, but it feels like...

I mean, I've been to, well, that's Stone. Anyway, I believe you. I believe you. Well,

you don't got to Google it. I believe you. Okay. It just feels like a larger wooden structure

would have been... Anyway, yes, world's largest wooden structure.

Currently. I don't know if they count what's left of the arch on Mount Ararat or not,

but anyway, that's what they say. So we, over there, three nights, four days,

we left Yellowstone into Grand Teton, which is just below it. They're basically connected via the

John D. Rockefeller Parkway. And so we drove down that down to Grand Teton. We camped there

two nights, two nights, I think two nights, and Anna and I swim in Genie Lake. It was like 50

degree water. It was really nice. Captain Kendra. Kendra did not choose to swim in the lake.

She got her feet wet. Not surprised. Not surprised because she's the same Southern lady.

It did take Anna a little coaxing to go under, but she eventually did. So she went under twice.

It was really nice. I probably would have spent a little more time there swimming,

but it was nice. We spent a good while there. It was hard getting a parking spot. That's what

I'll say about Grand Teton. It is beautiful and it's crowded. So we did drive some great roads,

and we left Grand Teton. And I guess between Glacier and Yellowstone, we stayed in White

Sulphur Springs, Montana. I didn't leave that out, but we spent a night there. And that was

kind of like almost like just past halfway. And so that was a good opportunity for us to do laundry.

We stayed at a hotel that had laundry, washer and dryer. So we did a whole bunch of laundry.

And then, which is important when you're on a big trip like this.

But anyway, so we left Grand Teton and made our way to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Don't act like that was your decision. That was your wife's decision.

Yeah, I actually had enough clothes packed. I didn't have to do laundry, but

I hadn't planned to do laundry. Kendra pointed out that it was a necessity.

So anyway, they have a nose for these things. Yeah, they do a nose for these things. Literally

good dad joke. So we went to Rocky Mountain. I had been there before, but Kendra and Anna

had not. So it was really fun. We stayed in a Conestoga wagon.

They had been converted to a little bedroom. So it was kind of like a tent, but a little nicer.

You know, I didn't have to put it up. Had bunk beds in it and a regular bed.

So we stayed there. Yeah, it's pretty big. It's like a king size bed and two bunk beds.

Yeah, it was like a 150 square foot Conestoga wagon.

It's probably bigger than that. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably

it's probably 20 feet long and eight feet wide, something like that. I don't know. Anyway,

so it's like 160 square feet. So it's 20 feet long. That's weird. All right. So,

slightly tour. You said maybe 20 feet long, eight feet wide. You know,

that's roughly the dimensions of an isocontainer or standard isocontainer. Yeah, that's about right.

They're that big? Yeah. I would have done that anyway.

So we stayed there two nights. And then from there, we made our way back to through Kansas

to St. Louis. And we stayed two nights in St. Louis where we went to Gateway National

Gateway Arch National Park. And that was our last national park. That's number nine.

And then we took in a Cardinals game where they lost to the Miami Marlins, five to nothing.

You went to a baseball game? Yeah. And a sports event. Yeah, it was like my third MLB game.

Bill went to a sporting event. I love sports in person. I just don't watch them on TV.

That didn't involve a motor revenue. You went to a sporting event.

Yeah. That is the most surprising thing that happened on this trip for me.

That's interesting. And then from there, we came home. So that was the whole trip,

6,645 miles. How many states?

12, I think. 12 states. That's awesome, man. I'm going on a cross-country trip,

I'm sure there are many of us out here that kind of have this thought in our head,

or this idea in our head, or just dreaming or whatever that we should do this.

But not everybody has the opportunity to actually do it, man. I was outstanding

that you and your family had the opportunity to do that.

I was very fortunate work-wise that I've got peers that were willing to work and cover

what I couldn't get to while I was gone. And of course, I still did some work while on the road,

phone calls, emails. Kendra was a big help, typed some emails for me. I still did some work from

hotels and even from the campground a couple of times when I had signal. But it's also nice to

just have some days where we didn't really have signal, so I could just enjoy nature and hiking

and just being out. It was definitely something I'd wanted to do since probably high school.

I'd always wanted to drive cross-country and see national parks. And while we didn't hit some of

the ones that everybody talks about going to, and honestly, some of the ones that I still want

to go to, Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon, some Utah parks, but also Yosemite, those are all

still on my list. One day I'd like to see those, but those are hard parks to drive to

and do these other parks. If you're going to go to Utah, there's so many things to do there,

that's pretty much its own trip. And if you're going to go to California, you're better off

to fly there and drive than to lose the days driving from North Carolina. So those will just

have to be different kinds of trips. But driving cross-country was everything I wanted it to be.

I never once did I think I hate this driving. I'm not having a good time driving. I loved every

minute of it. Honestly, the one place I thought we might suffer through rough traffic was Chicago,

as we were coming up past Chicago, leaving Indiana dunes. And we got an early enough

start trying to beat some rain that traffic wasn't bad. We cruise right past Chicago

much easier than I suspected we would be able to. So that was really nice. And outside of that,

I mean, aside from construction and toll road issues, we really had no problems. It was good.

Wait, wait a minute. You said you really had no problems. You killed a truck.

Yeah, I mean, that happened. That happened on day one. And that that's painful. And it's still,

I'm still a little hurt because I've loved my truck. I put a lot of work and effort into the truck

to have it look a certain way and function a certain way for the purpose of this trip.

But you know, they say something about the best laid plans, right?

And I think that's very true that sometimes you can plan and plan and plan. And

life just steps in and says, well, here's here's something you weren't expecting.

Now what are you going to do? And there was there was a moment

standing at the dealership. And it was just a moment where I thought,

well, do we pack it up and just call it a nice try,

limp the truck back dash bro, get it fixed and try this trip some other time. But

with work like it is and getting older and Anna's age getting older every day and,

you know, just life as it happens. Plus we had already paid for all these places

to stay and booked these horse rides and all the things that we were going to do.

I was like, it's just it was a lot of work. I'm not going to give up because of this one thing

that feels like it's, you know, a trip ender, but it doesn't have to be. And

well, also it probably helps that, you know, you have your wife who's

adventurous and likes to go out and do things and your daughter wants to do everything.

And, you know, you can't let them down. You can't let them see a crack. It's like,

we still got this. Absolutely. Yeah. If we're faking it sometimes.

Yeah, that's exactly right. So, so how did the new truck really do on the road?

Have you learned to love the new truck? I know we know it takes you a minute to,

you know, accept a vehicle and you don't like to accept new vehicles.

Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure on several occasions on this podcast, you know,

said I will never buy a new vehicle again, but see what God did. See what happened?

Yep. That's right. I have learned to love it. I do love it very much. It's a very good riding

truck. We did pick up a rock and crack our windshields. I got to get the windshield

replaced. You know, but I mean, 6,000 miles, you know, out west.

A rock hits my windshield once a week.

So, you know, I mean, yes, I learned to really enjoy the truck a lot.

It still feels bigger than I need, but I know that we'll, I mean, it'll pull a cow trailer

now. So, you know, I don't have to worry about that. It's just preparing the way.

And you know, the horse is coming. Well, yeah, she will have one.

Well, probably have a cow before we have a horse, but yeah.

The cows are already hers. I mean, you may have not paid for it, but they are hers.

Yeah, so I have learned to really like the truck. Oddly enough, you know, I had

the camper shell thing on the truck on the 150 and the bed rack and the awning and the roof rack on

the bed rack. I had all the stuff on the truck. And when I loaded everything on the truck, at least

for that two and a half hours driving to Virginia before the truck died, we were averaging about

14.6 miles to the gallon with all the weight that was in the truck. Yeah.

We averaged on the full 6000 miles that we did in the new truck. We averaged 15.7.

So the new truck being bigger and having a big V8 gas engine in it, so the V6 diesel actually

got better fuel economy loaded down. You know, it is a truck made for hauling stuff. So when you're

empty, it's a little bit of a rough, you know, stiffer ride. That's what I was going to say.

But on the trip with all our camping stuff in there was perfect. Like if it rode like no problem

at all. That's awesome, man. You said something there that made me think about this.

I'm surprised you never did the Appalachian Trail. I'm surprised you didn't do that.

I really considered it hard. In high school, I talked a lot about it in high school. I researched

it heavily. I even applied for some sponsorships with the intention of doing it between graduation

and going to boot camp. But my boot camp, my ship date got moved up. I was supposed to go to

boot camp in November and I wound up going in July. So that was my window where I was going

to be hiking and I was going to do as much as I could with whatever supplies I could get.

And it didn't happen. So I wound up going to boot camp instead, which is why because my boot camp

date got shipped forward or bumped forward. That's why I went to boot camp 17. I didn't turn 18 until

the day after we got our real drill instructors in boot camp. Wow. Wow. Wow. You went to boot

camp at the, I just thought about that. You, you, the person who does not like the heat,

does not like the weather in the South, even though you're a Southern gentleman.

You went to boot camp at Paris and Paris Island on South Carolina during the hottest and most

humid time of the year. Well, yep, that's right. I checked in on midnight on July 19th.

Wow. That is. And you didn't melt. You survived it. I did. But so, so, so in the recap,

Bill drove a lot and bought a new truck, the simple version. And he didn't hate the new truck,

but Bill sent me a picture and they sell two new things and two things that were relatively new

in a picture. So what about this other new thing that was in that picture? So

you need to explain yourself. So it's a 2024 Ford Bronco Outer Banks edition.

And for all of our, like, acute listeners that have been with us, either since the beginning

or on and off since the beginning, know that our very first episode, we talked about a reservation

for a Bronco. So it's probably worth noting that that Bronco that I just sent Stanley a picture

of belongs to our friend Sean, who has been a guest on the podcast and had recently had recently

purchased a Ford Maverick trimmer. He got a call yesterday from the Ford dealership where he purchased

his Maverick trimmer. And they said, Hey, we are all out of Maverick tremors. We have somebody

here who really wants one. And we know that when you were here, you mentioned that you would like

to have a Bronco. But at the time, you didn't think you could afford one. We have a 2024 Bronco.

It's the last one we have that's left over from 24. And we really want to move it.

We would be willing to make a really good deal for your trimmer to sell to this guy

and sell you the Bronco. And Sean said, make it make sense for me and I will come by there and look

at it. And so they did. And so his, you know, 2024 Maverick trimmer that he had already put 18,000

miles on traded it in yesterday for a 2024 Bronco Outer Banks, kind of the Burgundy

burnt orange, reddish orange color. And why is it in your driveway? Because he came by to show it to

me. I didn't even know he was doing the thing. He just brought it by. I was, I was really, I really

thought for a second there, it's like, Bill went and bought a Bronco. After all the things

that we have said about the Bronco, Bill went and bought a Bronco. Something happened.

If I sent you a picture of a Bronco in my driveway and it didn't have a Sasquatch package on it,

then you should know immediately that ain't Bill's Bronco.

Well, you saw me, you sent me a picture of a Bronco and a new F-250 in your driveway. And

the bill I know would not have nothing nowhere close to the age of those vehicles in his

driveway. So I know, I know, I know this whole new brand new car thing is,

it's tough, man. Kendra and I both were like, we're never buying another new car,

we're never having another car payment. And that's what you give or saying never because,

you know, stuff happens. Speaking of, speaking of new car fever, so evidently new car fever

is contagious. Oh, what'd you get? Can I tell my story, sir? Please? Yes. I'm a very frugal person.

I don't like spending money on things partly because I ain't got none.

But so we've discussed my daughter saving money for a car. So she has new car fever,

new to her car fever. And she finally saved enough of a down payment. She told me this this week,

if she just wouldn't listen to me, she would have had this like seven months ago, but, you know,

she wants to do 20 year old people stuff and not save her money. So we do need to do a

about a $10,000 car, $10,000, $15,000 car episode. Maybe we need to talk about it.

And then discuss what happened after the purchase, because, you know, she just got to this point.

So, hey, dad, let's go buy a car this weekend. I was like, hey, daughter, I already have plans

this weekend. Guess who got to wait? I've been waiting on you for seven months. You can wait

a weekend. So are y'all going this weekend or is it next week? No, we're going to go next

weekend. So we got time to, you got time to do some research and see what we,

it's ultimately again, it's her decision. It has to be something that she wants,

because she's going to be paying for most of it, not me, because that teaches people things

that when you just tell them to save money and just give them an opportunity to save all the

money that they have and they don't listen to you, then, you know, you got to learn lessons

in a different way. Does she want me to find her a Jeep Wrangler? Nope. She has off Jeep Wranglers

now. Look, does she want, does she want me to find her a Jetta? She would appreciate a good

deal on a vehicle that she can afford. And if you, if you were to send me some things,

I will tell her, Hey, this is what Uncle Bill said. You should consider some of these vehicles.

All right. Just, just know I won't send you a single Kia Soul. So Faith, if you're listening

and your dad shows you a Kia Soul, it ain't from Uncle Bill. For the record, she don't want one

of them either. I mean, she got hot on the Jetta for a minute. She got, she was there,

she would wanted a Nissan Central for a minute. She wanted, she's wanted everything. And to be

honest, I, I don't really care what she wants. I'm probably going to not like whatever she picks.

I just want her to learn the lesson that a, you need to learn how to manage money because

things cost money. And what you're not going to do is live off my money for the rest of your

life. Have you explained to her that there are some vehicles that are off limits for her,

right? She cannot buy a Nissan Altima.

You should type the list in the text message about lists, things that are not allowed.

Nissan Altima is not allowed. Yes. All right. So while my daughter was doing this around

about the same time that you bought a new truck, you passed, so Faith passed the fever to you.

That's right. And then you passed it back over here because Ms. Stanley wants a new vehicle.

What she want? All right. So I'm, I'm going to tell you the things that we, that we are down to

three. Okay. Before you, before you tell me the three, I have to tell you that my, my associate

producer, Anna, just came off camera here to just whisper to me that her do not buy a list for

Faith includes and is limited to no rolling dumpsters, which is what she, what she refers to

as a Tesla Cybertruck. Absolutely not. That's Anna's one, one caveat is she cannot buy a rolling

dumpster. Tell Anna, I will ensure that that does not happen. There you go. All right. Now you

can tell me. I cannot express to you how much my wife does not like that thing. Anna can't stand on.

I mean, if we see one going out of street, she like looks the other way. It's like,

it's like, there is a physical reaction from what she sees. Wow. I was like, you, you've been around

a bill way too long, way too long. But anyway, so mom, we are down to these three.

So she's always had the fondness for Lexus. So we go to the Lexus dealership. Understand that this

is not for me. This is not my vehicle. I don't, I get to kind of guide and suggest things. But like

all wives, she ain't listening to me about most of this. She was an RX 400. Yep. So we go to the,

we go to the, to the Lexus dealership and to look at it in X, right? So we're walking to the in X

and she walks past this other car and she's like, Oh, I like this. This is cute. What car does she

say is cute? Not the LC that we just walked by. Not any, not the RC that we walk by.

Not the defender that they have on inside the showroom of the Lexus dealership.

She walks up to a Lexus UX and falls in love. UX? I can't explain it. I didn't approve it.

I don't understand it. I was sure.

Google it. Just Google it. Just Google it. I don't even know what a Lexus UX is.

You know, I know you don't. I know you don't. My wife doesn't like station wagons. My wife doesn't

like hatchbacks. She don't like things that she don't like vehicles in that format,

but she likes SUV slash crossovers. She fell in love with this thing. Exactly. I'm looking at your

face. That was the face I had. I was in complete shock. Complete shock. Complete shock. She falls

in love with this little thing. And I'm like, what world just happened? So she drives that.

She drives that first. And she's like, Oh, I really, really, really like this. And I was

like, okay, I don't. Then she really, really likes that. Then she should go buy a RAV4,

which is what that is. No, no, it's not a RAV4, sir. No, no, it's not. It is a Toyota Prius

hatchback. Is it really? Yes. It's a Prius. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

She loved it. She absolutely loved it. I can't explain it. I'm still trying to make,

I'm still trying to square that circle. I don't, I don't get it. Wives do things that are

unexplainable to the husband all the time. This was one of them. So we drove that.

Then we drove the NX. And I was like, okay, cool. We're going to keep going around. She

drove the Audi Q5. We tried to drive the Cadillac, but their dealerships,

Baker Cadillac Buick, you shall never see a dollar for me because I don't understand why you

selling a vehicle and treating a potential customer and making potential customers walk

through a garbage. I'm trying to come to go to this dealership. You have to get to the front door

of the dealership. You have to walk through about 50 broken cars, wrecked and broken cars. I'm like,

how do you expect to sell a vehicle if all the potential customers is broken things?

And then you couldn't, the vehicle that we came to see, because we made appointments and told

us we were coming, we couldn't get this vehicle out to drive it if we wanted to. And by that time,

she was already upset and was like, no, take this off the list. So no Cadillacs. She drove

the Genesis GV70. She really, really, really, really liked it. So that made it over the list.

And the other oddball thing, because you know, we have weird ideas and we're driving around that

day. It's like, hey, how do you like this thing? It's like, oh, that's kind of cool. Let's go drive

that. So we went and drove a Nissan Murano. And guess what the number one car on her list

right now is not the Becky, we're going to the mall to month. She really, really, really likes the

Nissan Murano. Why? Because I don't I don't know. I've been trying to figure this woman out for 30 years.

She'd be better off in the overweight Prius.

Right now she's down to the the index, the index slash UX. And to be honest,

if they gave like some really, really crazy deal, I would sign off on the UX and beyond

in our reality, it all depends on what she wants. Because it's like her first vehicle that she's

had for herself, you know, minus kids. So please God, don't let her buy a Murano.

Look, how often do you tell your wife to not to do a thing? And that is successful

with car buying

in life. My wife would take my advice on car purchase.

If your wife wanted a particular car, would you be able to convince her otherwise?

Yes.

I'm glad you have that much confidence in yourself. I cannot. I've been at this for 30 years.

If she sets her mind that wanting nothing or doing nothing, there's nothing. I'm just looking

up for that, looking at making plans on how to deal with the what's going to happen next.

She she needs to understand that I can't emphasize this enough. She she will never

be happy with a Nissan Murano.

Let me say let me say this the right way.

Sometimes people make decisions and have to deal with it.

And to be honest, the new the new the new Dagger Murano was way nicer than I thought it was.

And let me tell you the really determining factor about the Murano, the color because, you know, wives.

And to be honest, if it makes her happy, I don't care. I don't care. I will drive her to whatever

destination she wants to in whatever car that she wants to be driven into because, you know,

she gave me four kids in 30 years and she stuck around for 30 years.

Are y'all are y'all considering? Is this a potential trade of the Mazda?

So that's the thing. So that's the thing. So I would consider I really I would prefer to get rid

of the Mazda for whatever this thing is. Therefore, I can go get a car that I actually want to buy

because remember, I didn't want the month. I didn't have one in the SUV crossover or

whatever we're going to call them today. I don't care. I didn't want one. I do like that.

Six five way more than I thought it would like it like it. But I get rid of it and then I go get me

Mazda three man. What a downgrade from a Mazda to a Murano.

To be honest, I think that's not even a sidestep.

That's a giant one small step for woman kind one giant leap off a flipping cliff.

I bet you if Kendra wanted a really, really, really wanted a Bronco, you have a Bronco.

Hey, she got excited when I Shawn pulled up and I called down to the house and I said,

hey, you and Anna might want to come out here and see Shawn's new Bronco. And Kendra said,

oh my goodness, he got a Bronco. I said, yes, she said a first gen and I said, no, like a 2024.

And she's like, oh, I'm good. But she really, really wanted a Bronco. You'd have a Bronco.

With a Sasquatch package. I didn't say it wouldn't be configured the way you want it,

but you have a Bronco. Well, yeah, but they're compromise in this thing, but that's a vehicle.

Yeah, but that's a that's a vehicle that's not out here driving around half the bumper hanging off.

I don't know. I still don't know what's going on in Carolina that y'all that y'all only can

have a physically. Have you not made Atlanta lately? Go to Atlanta.

Why would I go to Atlanta? There's way too many people. I don't like people that much.

There are only there are only two cars in Atlanta right now.

They're Nissan Ultimas that are partially present and

and they're Dodge Chargers that are also partially present. And those are the only two cars in

Atlanta right now. And and once one is issued to men, one is issued to women and both are damaged

and that's the only two cars that are allowed in the city limits of Atlanta currently.

Well, in the us in between the great state of Georgia and the great state of the

greater state of North Carolina, because it's the greatest state South Carolina,

and we don't allow all that.

All right, so let's talk about this Marano for a second. Is she looking at a platinum?

Absolutely.

Man, for that money, there are so many better cars.

This isn't my money, sir.

So many better cars.

The crazy thing is the crazy thing is because, you know, I did like it like riding in the back

because I didn't sit in the driver's seat of any of these cars. I made her drive the car.

I made I tried to get the salesman to sell. Speaking of which, show note,

dear salesman's salesmen and cars, I'm speaking to you while looking at a very, very, very, very

good salesman. If if a husband brings a wife into your car dealership and says, Hey,

I want you this. This is my wife. This car is going to be for her.

She is interested in it. Sell her this car. Give her your best pitch. And you proceed to look at me

and talk to me the entire time. You are probably not doing your job well.

Yeah, you're not wrong.

I we have had we've had that happen at three different dealerships because we drove more

things than what I said. Well, she drove more things than what I said. But I was like, look, man,

this car is for her. Explain everything to her. I can tell you more about this car than you can

tell me about this car. Explain this stuff to her. Treat her like she like you want her to

buy this car. And people just every dude wanted to turn to me and try to sell me the car.

I was like, brother, you are not doing a job. We had one guy that decided to show her every other car

besides the car that she wanted to go and look at. And I was like, dude, we came here to look at

one thing. One thing I called you before we got here and told you we was coming to look at this

one thing. You know what you haven't showed her the one thing that we came in almost cost

the one thing that we came in a look at and they did this stereotypical they see the black

couple walking up. I've seen other ethnic background that go salesmen that they send

the old black guy here to talk to me. I was like, bro, don't don't don't do that.

Don't don't don't don't don't stop my intelligence like that. Come on.

Especially when he refuses to talk to her. No, I'd rather take the kid that

is a porter and trying to sell his first car and he would listen more. Don't don't do that.

Yeah, he would definitely he would definitely listen more. Yeah, you you should have just

been all racist and been like, I only buy from white people.

I may try that. I may try that. But yeah,

I will admit I liked it when I was in the back seat of Marano. It was nicer than I expected it to

be. To be honest, I again, I did not expect her to like this car. She but she did. The UX,

I'm trying if trying to warm up to if that's what she wants. Let's let me ask you a question

because I feel like the UX and the Marano are these things do not match. I know

there are two different price points. There are two completely different sized vehicles

like

for Marano money, there are so many options out there that are so much better. She could get a

dang highlander. She don't like it. Why not? She don't like it exactly.

What about the RAV4? She don't like it exactly too. What about the Corolla Cross?

She didn't even consider it because I didn't think she would like that at all. But

you know what the crazy thing is? If I showed her that, she might like it. But we did.

What about the new 4Runner?

She looked at the Lexus version and she's like, that's too much.

No, which Lexus?

Not that was too much money. We don't need nothing like that.

Lexus doesn't have a version of the 4Runner.

A vehicle on the same chassis. They don't have a vehicle on the same chassis.

They don't have a vehicle on the same chassis as 4Runner.

Nope. They go from the Highlander and Grand Highlander with the TX

to the GX, which is the Land Cruiser. So they don't have a 4Runner.

You're right. I apologize. I stepped into the off-road world a little bit.

I was correct. You're correct.

I'd just like to gently guide you back on course.

But I'm saying for that money, a Highlander, a Grand Highlander, a base 4Runner SR5,

these are all things that could be in her price range.

Heck, she could get a base Toyota Crown. Does she not like the Crown?

If she's all into hybrids and electrics and stuff, does she don't like the Crown either?

She don't know what Ryder's they think. She just thinks it's cute.

Okay. So all right. So let's say that's the criteria.

I don't think Qt is the criteria. Instead, I think

she likes the the overall outside look of a car, the color options, and just kind of the way the

curb appeal of a car. That's what she's really into. She likes the way it looks in a parking lot.

Color. Color is a thing. Yeah. Color and how it looks in a parking lot. Right?

Uh-huh. Yep. Okay. So ask her if she really likes, when y'all go to the dealerships,

drive around to the service department and look in the service area and look for new cars that

are there for repairs, for warranty issues, and ask her if she likes the way those Moranos look

parked out behind the service area, because that's where she's going to see the Morano parked

most. I hear all the words that are coming out of your mouth.

I have had all these thoughts. I do very similar things in very different ways than you to my

friends. But tell her that I'm saying these things.

She will listen to you more and she will take two more minutes to disregard what you said.

Y'all have had that minivan.

Since 2012. Yeah. They unloaded it off the Mayflower. Okay. Yeah. Still going strong.

I'm surprised that she's willing to even consider getting rid of the Mazda already, but

No, that's the thing. Oh, so, oh, oh, I didn't get to that part. She doesn't want to get rid

of the Mazda. She wants me to continue to have the Mazda, even though we bought this.

She wants to get rid of your minivan. She kind of doesn't want to get rid of that either.

Oh, yeah, because y'all got so much room for parking.

Yeah, I know, right? And car jockeying for parking positions is not currently a problem in your

household. So not at all. Not at all. This is not an issue already. I didn't tell you any of this

made sense. And of all the podcasts that she's going to listen to a lot of talking,

this is definitely not going to be the one that she listened to. I will make sure that this doesn't

come up. No, man. It really comes down to, I mean, she really liked the Audi's and she wanted to

see a Q5. Did you know Audi has a Q, a 2025 Q5 and an all new 2025 Q5 that are completely

different vehicles? Did you know that? No. Me either. Until I got there. We have two different

same year. Yes. Same model. Yes. Go to the website. It's the 2025 Q5 and the all new 2025 Q5.

Hey, while we're talking about new cars, I do need to ask you about one new car.

Oh, go ahead. Let's see if you read my mind. Go ahead.

A new car to me, a new car that I knew nothing about just showed up in my brain space within the

last week. And I knew nothing about it. It just arrived to me. Well, we know. We know you have

blinders on sometimes. 100% I have blinders on sometimes. So when was it announced that I missed

something? When did Lucid decide they were going to build a minivan?

The Lucid gravity. Yes, because it's using all of the gravity.

Yeah. To be honest, they will never call it a minivan because, you know, people don't

like minivans. What do you mean they will call it a minivan? What do you mean?

They call it a 7-8 passenger SUV. No, it's a minivan. Are you serious?

Yes. No, it's a minivan, right? No, it's not a minivan. No, they think it's an SUV.

Look, look, we know the tricks that car companies play.

Wait, are you mad at me or are you being serious?

Superroom, yes. Superroom stopped calling the outback a wagon 10 years ago, bro.

No, they didn't. Are you serious? They don't think this is a minivan?

No, I didn't say they didn't think that was a minivan. I said they don't call it a minivan.

I mean, they're not marketing it as a minivan? No. It's not a minivan competitor.

No, no. Well, it's an 8-pacer SUV. So, you know, that's the new minivan.

I'm baffled right now. The rear seats even do stow and go like my van.

Well, that's a very innovative new feature for an electric car that's 200,000 dollars.

What? You're dead serious with me right now that this is not a minivan. They think it's an

SUV. They're saying it's an SUV. Yes.

Yes. And I'm serious about it. Superroom stopped calling the outback a wagon years ago, too.

They don't call the Crown Signia a wagon.

I'm dead serious. It was like we talked about this before. When we were kids, everybody had

Dagon station wagons and then everybody switched to minivans and nobody wanted station wagons.

And now, you know, SUVs came out. Now nobody wants minivans. Everybody wants a

Dago, a white Dago GMC Yukon. Because that's a minivan now. But we can't call it a minivan,

but it does everything that minivans did. It takes up the exact same market space.

I know a person right now who has four children with one on the way and he refuses to go get

a minivan. Good. He should. You don't have four. You didn't have more than one child. Let me tell

you how minivan saved the life of children every day. No. No. Landcruiser. It's like you need

the solution. There are only two. Look, there are two elemental foundational blocks in which

all cars exist based off of. And if you just skip backwards to the root of each car,

you get to like it's like the law of infinite regression. If you just go back far enough,

you get to one of these two cars. Are you by yourself or maybe sometimes have a companion

and do you like to do fun things and adventure? And do you want to be fast and nimble and fuel

efficient and commutable and sporty? You buy 9 11 this answer to everything. Or you say, I got

a bunch of kids and I need eight passenger seating and I need to be able to go places

and carry things and park in places. And then you buy Landcruiser. It's those are the root elements.

That's that's the two car periodic table of automobiles. It's it. You don't need the basic.

It's like DNA of all cars. If you start with those. So if you just go ahead and own those,

you have all your bases covered. So what you're saying is you're about to go buy

finally about to go by 9 11. No, I just bought a F 250 super duty. No, no, no. But you you're back on

it. The car periodic tree, you have to hold a 9 11.

I mean, you're doing it wrong if you don't have a 9 11 agree. Agreed. So I think you should

stop doing it wrong and finally do it right and go and get a 9 11. Be the example that

we all need. Be that shining light that is guiding us to to to the rightness of a 9 11.

The perfectness of a 9 11. You know what? Five year ago, five year ago. Yep.

We got to wait five years to get right. We're not promised tomorrow, sir. I just I just turned

45 five year goal by 50 9 11. Well, I turned 50 like next year. So you should do you shouldn't

you need to speed this up? I mean, it's attainable if I make it a five year goal.

Well, all I'm saying is you have seven cars currently in your driveway. If you're just

all I'm saying you have seven seven vehicles in your driveway for seven. All right.

All right. Four wheels and vehicles.

Well, then I have five and Anna has one.

All right. Anyway, I'm back on Giselle. All right. Atlas cross we need to wrap this up

because we're almost we're getting close to two hours. I think Atlas cross sport.

She actually likes that. She should buy that. She should buy that by that.

She actually likes that. We haven't driven it yet because we had we had to take a break because

we had to go to Orlando for a family reunion. If you want something, if she wants something

that's the size of the Q five by the Tiguan, if she wants something that looks a little better

by the Atlas cross sport, I will again, when we get back on that train of we're going to go

back out and drive vehicles again. That is already on the list. So I'll tell you what she decides

to make me pay for. Please don't let her buy Marano.

There are a few things that I she has not made a decision on a vehicle that she wanted

in 30 years. I'm going to get rid of this one. But but just not a Marano.

A Marano will not be in your driveway. I can guarantee that. I can't guarantee it won't

eventually be a mine. All right.

Um, um, at some point, quick thought, and then we're getting off of here.

Have you seen the six pack videos?

No, what's a six pack video?

Go to the go to. We're going to talk about the six pack at the beginning.

No, we're not. Is this a Dodge product?

Yes, it is. No, no.

We are. We're going to talk about a six pack. I'm going to make you talk about the six pack.

I'm going to make you talk about the six pack.

It looks like a recycled six pack. It looks like it's what.

All right. There's one bill. We got to have it appear so grumpy bill at some point in every

podcast. So yeah, that's him. That's how you're going to get it out of me. Marano's and six packs.

Absolutely. Are we still planning on having a guest in the near future?

Yeah. Now that we got this episode done because after our conversation yesterday and not

or the day before or whatever, and then this week getting all messed up.

Now that I know we're still kind of back to a rhythm,

I'll reach out and give him not next week, but the following week and then maybe give

him one more date and see if either one of those work.

Hey, give him a date and let's just try to see if we can adjust to him because you know.

Yeah. I think that'd be pretty good.

Yeah. So, hey, if you made it this far, we know you are insane just as insane as we are.

And thank you for listening to us talk about Marano's and Frips and Bill, you know,

adding to this collection of cars. Yeah, that's right. Thanks for that.

And subtracting. Hey, and subtracting. And subtracting, which is important. Otherwise,

you're just hoarding. Correct. We're not hoarders. And also Bill doesn't have a 9-11.

Hey, not yet.

And with that being said,

night, Bill. Nice to have you. Love you, too, bro. Night, y'all.

Hey, and I still go.

Summer Ends

About this episode

Ford F150

1500 Bighorn

Ford Bronco

Ford Maverick

Jeep Wrangler

Volkswagen Jetta

Kia Soul

Nissan Altima

Tesla Cybertruck

Lexus Ux

Toyota RAV4

Toyota Prius

Audi Q5

Genesis GV70

Nissan Murano

Toyota Corolla Cross

Toyota 4Runner

Toyota Grand Highlander

Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota Highlander

Toyota Crown

Lucid Gravity

Subaru Outback

GMC Yukon

Volkswagen Tiguan

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