Episode 64 The Serendipitous Jen hand feeds Bison along the way (day 3)

The Serendipitous Jen and Carlos got started on the road a little later than anticipated today to embark on their journey from Zion to Bryce Canyon... so they did NOT record this until the end of the day when they were both exhausted. They learned about Bison, kind humans & the biggest Ace Hardware store that Jen has ever seen!! Enjoy and stay tuned for day 4 tomorrow.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh hey, it's Jen with the serendipitous Jen. Carlos is looking for a chair. Yeah, let me pull it out. It's right here. Um we are in Bryce Canyon National Park. We didn't record this morning because our day was well, it was a good day, but just strange. We got a later start than anticipated, even though we meant to head out at like 8 30. We ran into another awesome couple with their sprinter van.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Yeah, they were really nice. Brian and Jane. Jane. Yeah, they were from Older couple. Which turns out they're from Rancho Cucamonga.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Yeah, and they were on their way home from Yellowstone, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Yes, Yellowstone.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah, anyway, um, she's a mess though. I uh she's got some family stuff going on with a grown daughter and some grandkids, and uh anyway, we had a really nice chat. It's just amazing what the universe will seriously bring your way, or you don't know who you'll be touching at the same time as the lives that like people touch me all the time. You know what I mean? Like, and they have no idea. So it was cool to chat with them. What ideas did they give you?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Um suspension. Gave me some cool pointers uh on the halogen lamps because uh or on LEDs.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

LED headlamps, yeah. The lights.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Those the lights that the sprinters come with, the headlights, they're really they're they're not good.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

They're dim.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah, they're not they're just not bright. You can't really see the road. So you told me that how to uh put LEDs in the uh headlights, and it's really easy, and you showed me um some some little uh these little um I don't even know what you call them.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Hydraulics.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah, kind of I mean I guess you can call them well, these little hydraulic little cylinders to hold the to hold the uh the hood up. The engine hood. The engine hood, because it's really heavy. So I thought that was pretty cool. And then we talked about uh the cord, which we'll get to, that's another part of our story.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

That's a great story.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Uh told us what kind of cord that we need, and we were just picking each other's brains and stuff, talked about suspension and putting in a bigger gas tank uh for more longer range. So yeah, it was just really cool to pick his brain and stuff. But they were they were really nice and uh community. On this trip that we started a few days ago, just yeah, you know, another reason another confirmation of uh you know the higher power looking out for us. And uh I'll let Jen tell the the next story after we left the KOA looking for a cord.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Yeah, well we we ended up buying one last night at Walmart for 90 bucks. Yeah, so we had to leave. When we left the KOA, we were going back to Walmart to return that cord, but that was fine, that was easy. And then we hit up a tractor supply, and I ran into a stranger there and I was like, Hey, this is what we're looking for. Are you local here? And he's like, Yeah, and so he was like, Oh, try this trailer mart. But it's like eight miles down the other way, and we're like, Oh, we didn't want to backtrack. And then another lady chimed in, a nice lady, she's like, Hey, try the automotive store. And we were like, Okay, thanks, you know. So we were just we were all just puzzled by this silly contraption that we're looking for, and it should have been, like I said, 90, at least 90 bucks.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, I mean, it was it's it's a cordy can find usually somewhere, but it just seemed for whatever reason we couldn't find the right um configuration.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Right, that's a perfect way to put it. Because it has to go. My understanding is it had to plug into the van and then plug into power shore shore power, you know, like the little stand. But we have an awkward one, it's not your usual one like Walmart sold.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Right, yeah, it was a three-pronged twist log.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Right. Anywho, so we're riding along. We see an Ace Hardware store, the world's biggest ace hardware store.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yeah, they had popcorn free from the store. Free popcorn when you walk in.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Ice cream in there, yeah, like a little thrifties like setup, like thrifties back in the day, like where they scooped, then you pay at the pay at the register.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, that's massive.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

It was attached with what? Another grocery store or something. Yeah, it was just insane. I mean, I've never been anything so nice before. It had toys, it had clothing, it had a gun section, it had the camping section, but no cord.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So we ended up getting ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Wait, did it have playing cards?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, it had all your specials. Had a mookie bats signed jersey. Uh they love LeBron James. They had a few of his stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Yeah, that Mookie Bats was cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, it was cool. All those jerseys were cool signed by other teams too. Yeah. They just had a hodgepodge of it was like a little mole. It was cool. Like a little mole in there. And I told the guy, and he goes, This isn't even the biggest one. There's one other big one in South Dakota.

unknown 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

He said it's like the new.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

He said, This is the biggest one this side of the Mississippi.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, this side of the Mississippi. Hey, did you hear the way the guy said the word creek the other day too? It's like the crick.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

The crick, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

It's so funny when people say things differently. I kind of chuckle inside. But anyway, back to my story. So then we're pulling out an Ace Hardware and we're cruising. I'm like, oh, do you want to stop there? No. Okay, well, there's a little RV park, and I'm like, I'm just gonna pull in there and and they're not gonna have it. That's what Cardiff said.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

As being bah humbug. Ba humbug.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

They're not gonna have it. And I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna pull in anyway. You wait and just go to the body.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

I think I was just getting so just like being it was frustrating disappointed with being disappointed or being let down or whatever. Like right. Then I'm and I'm and I told Jen, I'm like, this is why people go online because like you you run all over the place trying to find this and give money to local like businesses, and it's like no one had it.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

We tried again.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

I digress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah, I get that whole shopping online thing, but we also wanted it for this rest of this journey. Yeah, because just because we could charge faster.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah, and because we didn't know of what we're gonna we were gonna be at.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

So I roll into this cute little RV thing, and the the uh little like lobby, excuse me, the lobby area was so cute. It was all like a log cabin, all old school fixtures, and a really nice guy sitting behind the counter. He's like, Hey there, are you checking in? And I was like, Oh no, sorry to bother you, but um, this is a cord we're looking for, and I'm trying to describe it. I don't have any pictures because I have my I left my phone in the car with you. And then I was like, Well, it's this thing, and and you plug it into my van, then I can get powered. He goes, Oh, I don't have an RV or anything. Uh he goes, but um I do have some long cord that's been sitting on my desk for like two or three months. He's like, Let's give it a shot. He's like, hang on just a second. So he goes to the back, it's he he comes out a few minutes later and he's like, let's just see if this works. He's like, because literally some family just left it here, they were renting an RV. I tried to get a hold of him to come get it back, they didn't want it back. So he's like, if this fits, it's yours. And I'm like, oh my god, thanks. Yeah, it's worth a shot. So we walk out. You're still seeing the air conditioned van. You didn't even feel us feeling fiddling around back there. So we're in the back of the van, it fit like a glove. And I'm like, oh my gosh, he's like, it's yours. And I was like, no, please, can I please pay you for it? And he's like, No, he's like, it literally was left behind by another family. He's like, seriously, have it. And I was like, Oh my gosh, please, I you know, I want to give you something for it. Because I like I told you guys, it's at least a $90 court. And he doesn't know that he doesn't own an RV, and I'm not gonna say anything because I'm I'm just not gonna say anything. And then he goes, uh no, really, take it. It's it's off my desk. Like you're doing me a solid, you know, based on his attitude.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah, because he just got tired of looking at it.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, he wasn't gonna throw it away because he knew it was something. And so then he goes, How about you just make a donation to like my pizza fund? And I was like, All right. So Carlos pulls out money out of his wallet and hands it to the guy. The guy's like, right on, thanks. Took it happily and we're happy. And uh I just couldn't believe it, but I could believe it. Because then it's like, if I say I can't believe that happened, why? Why would I say that when I was manifesting the whole time that that if it was meant to be, we'd find it, it would find us, and it did, as always. Like it found us. And and I'm not saying I have some kind of magical powers or anything, but I listened to my intuition. Then um, we got cooking on the road to Bryce Canyon, and then Carlos is like, we went through this cool tunnel, and that drive is beautiful. The Zion to Bryce Canyon drive. Yeah, you go through the Zion Park and then you exit on your way to um Bryce Canyon. Anyway, um, so we're exiting along there. We'd just gotten off that road coming out of Zion, and Carlos is like, Look the buffalo! I'm like, no, wait, those are cows. He's like, No, those are like bison or something. So we pull over that cool place. It's like 900 acres of like beautiful green fields with bison roaming on them. And they have a cute little farm set up, a nice restaurant, farm to table style restaurant on the premises. Not very busy at all.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

No, no, we were actually no, it wasn't very busy at all.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, we kind of And then we walk in and I said, I said, What's the tractor for up front? And she's like, You can feed the bison. I'm like, What? I was like, I can feed the bison. She's like, Yeah, 30 bucks a person. Carlos like, all right, hands over his credit card. And we're like, what time does it leave? There, she's like, we could do it two o'clock, and it was like 1:30.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah, that lady's like, you guys got like little kid in the energy. But it was just on a whim, like we're cruising along and we're like, oh shit, there's also bison.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I I've never seen one up there.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

We were like, we're pulling over. I'm like, fuck it, let's pull over. And we're like, well, let's pull. We were gonna pull over on the side of the road.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, and I was cute little, yeah, and there's a cute little storp here.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, well, not out of road, but like we we ran past it, and like, oh, there's this place right here.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Like, yeah, I'm like, I'm just pulling in there.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah, so we pulled in there, and lo and behold, I saw the tractor pulling a cart and I knew it had to do something. That's the company that does all the bison feeding in that area. In that area. You could do a horseback riding, but we wanted to feed the bison.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, so we got to sit in the back of this open trailer.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Yeah, like an old school tractor, John Deere with this like wheelbarrow full of head. Open this open, long open trailer with seating and stuff. And we were the only two yeah, we were the only two there, so it's like it was almost like our own little personal uh like tour.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, so he drove us out there to the middle of the field, and then literally the female we learned come up to the trailer and fend for themselves. Like they really want us to hand feed them. Their tongues are super long and black. Yeah, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

They were just so cool. Yeah, a lot of female uh bison. They're short off gentle down the ones. One big guy came in. And um it's just crazy how like massive and how powerful these things are because they were they love scratching their necks and their heads on the tires of the tractor, and they were moving the tractor, they were like rubbing, and while they're rubbing, they're shaking this tractor. Yeah, and the tractor's attached to the trailer, so the trailer's shaking. I mean, not like super hard, but you know, it's it was moving, and I was like, man, it was cool. It was just such a cool experience. I mean, because I've never seen that. We were literally hand feeding these bison bison and uh and they love it, yeah. And we stayed out there for about an hour, yeah. You know, just feeding and sitting in the just a random, you know, just a little random little adventure, you know, let's go do this.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, then he's and then I asked the kid, I was like, hey, he's never tried a bison burger. And I'm like, do they sell them here at your restaurant? He's like, Oh yeah, they're good. He's like, sometimes they even do like a bison French dip type thing that's delicious. And so sure enough, I was like, Let me treat you to lunch here, and um, I really wanted to do that anyway. And then we were the only two in the restaurant. Really cute, old school log cabins theme again, old shovels hanging on the wall, Edison style light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah, it was just so so cool, like an antique style, very quaint old western theme.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah, you know, it was yeah, real nice helpers there, workers. Yeah, we had a Portobello mushroom burger fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

The two ladies that were in the office are traveling. Or traveling, so uh they were just working there for the summer, which was so they bounce around.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

So they're from Philadelphia. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

And they left the city travel the US, and you know, she's a teacher or she's a lot of people. Yeah, and she could teach art so she has skills to like she's employable and oh heck yeah. And she's doing she was doing a couple shows.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

And she was a real school teacher, too.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah, so it was just cool to like just just dialogue.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

They've put a hundred thousand miles on their car since twenty twenty one. Yeah, just going back and forth across the United States, bouncing from job to job. So I guess those jobs are seasonal.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, absolutely. Uh you know, and they they probably got some kind of like get down where they know where where to go next. Yeah, or maybe someone talk to them because if you hit one seasonal spot, you'd be like, hey, do you know anyone? You know, and I'm sure people they network, right? Like, oh yeah, you know, I know this this guy, you know, he he owns a ranch out in Utah, seasonal if you want to hit him up, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

They were thinking about Southern California maybe for winter. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

So we did that.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

And then we made our way to Bryce Canyon, and Carlos did not fall asleep for long.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, he yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

About 20 minutes now. That was it.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Yeah, he ran over the center divided up.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

I didn't mean to. You're like, oh, you woke me up. And I was like, Oh, I didn't mean to. I was like, I'm not, I'm not meaning to do that.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Say it like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

I think you're groggy from being disrupted. You were out.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

I was so tired. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Anyway, then we made it to Bryce Canyon. Neither one of us had been here before.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

And then they had camping spots, which I was surprised. Because last time, usually you I don't get it. Like where we live, like we had to do six months in advance, and we barely got a spot. And this was at some small little you know, campsite on the beach, and then you're over here in in Utah at this, you know, world-renowned state park, and then we're like, I didn't think they were gonna have anything. We just like national park. Yeah, we're like, Do you have any? He's like, Oh yeah, we got some. We're like, oh my god. I know.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

So we're in here called Sunday. Yeah. So we got to our spot and um walked across the way, a short little walk to the rim of the canyon.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

I think I should uh we should have put our hiking boots on in hindsight.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Oh, we didn't know. He told me we were just walking over to see that was the plan. We just to go check it out, and then it's like 500 feet down and then 500 feet back up, and I was like, you know, if we go down, we have to come back up. And you're like, oh no. Like, okay, but because when we were leaving, I'm like, oh, we should probably put on our hiking shoes just in case.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

You're like, no, just our tennies.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

And I was like, okay, but I'm stupid at myself, like I get mad at myself because I'm like, I'm a grown-ass adult. I should have made my own decision and put on my hiking boots, even though he doesn't want to put on his. You know what I'm saying? So that's why I was mad. I was like, I need to listen to my higher power all the time, not just 99% of the time. Yeah, because I was really worried about slipping down those. It's pretty grovelly and treacherous going down.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

At first, we were gonna go look, oh, let's go see what the trail looks like. And then I looked at my watch, like, well, I got a couple hours.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

You're like, we have to be back to set up camp before the sun goes down, and I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah, because usually every time we set up camp, we're doing it in the dark and it's hard to see, and it's just but there's really nothing to set up now.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

No, no, and we're good. We can't have a fire up here. That's sad because it's so dry, and so fires have been banned, even though there's fire pits, so that's a bummer. But other than that, this canyon is gorgeous. It's the one with the like free form rocks that kind of balance and tip over and look like they're tipping over.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

It was majestic for sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, that's the only word I could use to describe it. It's like your ah moment, like when you walk up. And then to see it as the sun's setting and the colors are all changing from red to orange to darker, I don't know. It's beautiful up here.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Yeah, the drive too, the drive between Zion and Bryce was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

And then you go through a long tunnel.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

The UT9Es, I guess it was called. Yeah, you go through this massive like tunnel. You're driving for literally like two minutes.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

I had to take off my sunglasses.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

No lights in the tunnel, and it's just you're just driving. And our crappy headlights. Yeah, crappy headlights. They do have some brakes in the tunnel where you could like look out, look out and then let sunlight in, but like we did not. Yeah, you can't but you can't pull over, you just there's nowhere to pull over. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it was just amazing how like we were talking about like, man, you know, how much work that must have taken to like blow up and you know, blast away through a rock mountain and create a tunnel.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

And someone thought of that. Someone engineered that a whole team of humans.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

So yeah, that was that was our day in a nutshell. Yeah, and I'm beat.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

So that's why I'm just down a little down right now.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

I don't know what time it is. I don't know, maybe 8 30 over here.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Uh I'm just wiped after that last hike. Yeah, but um so yeah, but it was good to like talk about it. I'll throw this one out again today, tonight. Oh my god, the We did the Tarzan thing.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Oh yeah, you did the Tarzan thing in the city. So I have this little thing that I do that that um I do the Tarzan, like the old school. I don't know if you've ever seen the old school tarzan. I can't do it right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Yeah, do it. Do it so they can hear it just real quick.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

I'll try to do it low. So it's supposed to be quiet. So it goes, oh goodness. It's it's low. It's better than that. That's just like a little something. Anyways, but Matt, imagine that like 90 decibels, like top of your lungs.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

At the bottom of the ice can be ice canyon.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Just echoing, right? So we pass this guy. He's like walking, he's hiking in penny. I said do it, baby. Like this guy's hiking in pennies. He's like in his young 20s. And um, so Jen goes, yeah, do it, do it. So I was like, all right. And we just passed this guy, and he's like maybe like 50 yards away, right? So like 150 feet away. And so I'm like, all right, because we looked up at this, uh, it's called uh inspiration point. Yeah. And we could see these people, like, I wonder if they could hear that. Uh-huh. I was like, all right, so I belt out this loud, loud like a Tarzan call, right? And then and then right after I do it, like we hear the guy that we had just passed, like, hey, he's like, Hey, will you please do it again? Can you do that again?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

So I'm gonna be recording my dad does it all the time.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

He's gonna love this.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

He's gonna go nuts over this.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

So I was like, all right, so cute. So then belt out another one, and as I'm belting out that second one, this family with this dad and this wife, and like these three kids, two little kids, they come walking up there.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

That was awesome. I know.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

So that's like the third time I've done it. The first time I did it, we were in Hawaii because that's when you told me in the jungle. We were in the jungle right there where they were doing the Jurassic Park uh the that area that they filmed Jurassic Park. So I belted one out there, yeah, and then the second time was in Zion when we're hiking in these way back in the canyon. That one was funny because when I did that one, this little kid, like not even a second later, he's like, Oh yeah, he echoed it. He was like, So that's pretty cool, man.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

It's like you never know.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

You never know who's gonna like dig it. Like so far, everyone's dug it.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, like no one's said, no, Sedona was not the place to do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

We know we weren't gonna do Sedona. That was like more tranquil and spiritual.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Yeah, and you feel that there. For sure. You have to feel it when it's right to do it and when it's not.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

But if you want to see the Tarzan call, it's gonna be uploaded on Jen's Instagram. Yeah, I'm gonna post it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

The serendipitous gen.

unknown 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

So if you have if you want to see the Tarzan call, you guys look her up, follow them up. Check out the uploads because we're uploading our journey onto there.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

So yeah, especially Carlos at C Lose 805 or something.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, so underscores or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, something. I don't know. And then um, anyway, and then also our the ratings on these are is through the roof right now, like going nuts.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Um I don't know about all the ratings. I'm just like having fun doing this and sharing.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

That was my purpose of a podcast for myself. Was first of all, it was therapeutic for me. And second, if it could make one person chuckle on their drive to work or something, or just sitting in traffic, or you know, make them short and sweet, so maybe it's a commute to work, then that's what it's all about. Because sometimes I go through life like I need to hear something that's just kind of nuts or just not you know what I'm saying? Just brainless, mindless.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

That's why I do the Tarzan calls. Yeah, it's a good thing. Go check it out, go check it out on our Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Yeah, thanks you guys. So we'll be in touch tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

All right. Okay, bye.