Tales From An Airport Bar
Tales From An Airport Bar
Ep 20: Wheels Up
Hey, welcome back, everybody. All you weary travelers. Episode 20 of Tales from an Airport Bar. Thanks for all the T Fab support, you guys. Um, let's just jump right in. I I wanted to say from the last episode, um called my buddy Joe Luna out uh for not getting on the show soon enough, and some things have transpired, and we will not be able to have Joe come on as a guest for quite some time. Um, so my apologies, Joe. Whatever. Um, and as always, I'm Chris, and I do have my beautiful, beautiful man of a co-host, Blake, with me. We're here, baby.
SPEAKER_03:As always, what's up, guys? Blake, how was your Halloween, man? It was good. I gotta spend it with my uh my little baby nephew from Oklahoma. He was a tornado that his mom made him. It was freaking awesome. I saw that. Everybody was talking about it, everybody was excited about it when he was out trick-or-treating. But uh also, shout out to him. Just his birthday too. Had some birthday cake. Oh no. Custom birthday cake.
SPEAKER_02:So is his birthday on Halloween?
SPEAKER_03:Uh it's in uh the end of September, but it was just the last time I saw him. He lives up in Edmund, up in Oklahoma. Yeah. Boomer. Going to Hawaii with that little guy and uh the family next week. So spend some more time with him. It'll be freaking awesome. Yeah, you leave the day after I do. I leave Saturday now, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Since uh we're gonna be closed anyways. Yes. Let's shut it down the same weekend as we did last year for the third time to get the floors redone so nobody tears another ACL.
SPEAKER_03:And uh we'll do it again in six months.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I think they're gonna get third time's a charm, right? I hope so.
SPEAKER_03:I hope so. Yes, if you I'm tired of these emergency restaurant shutdowns.
SPEAKER_02:All of our regulars that will be coming in this week, uh, look forward to us not being there because Blake and I are out of town. But on top of that, uh the restaurant will be shut down. Yeah, so sorry guys, it's Sunday. You are on your own. Yeah. Our apologies. Good luck, y'all. Um, I don't give a shit. I'll be in Seattle. Um, I'm sure they can find taco somewhere. They'll find something, yeah. Um, okay. Let's talk about the airport because we always do. Um you know, we usually have a slow period that starts in September for us, as far as you know uh the the volume of the travelers that come through. Really start to slow down after you know school starts back up, and that really hasn't happened for us. It did it for like maybe a week.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so but it's normally for like months.
SPEAKER_02:I know it was that first week after the kids went back to school, like one or two weeks there, and that was it, yeah. So we've had another week like that this last week, and I'm wondering, and I'm 90% sure it's this government shutdown crap with the air traffic controllers, because okay, I was working with AT last night and it's been dead as shit the last couple of days, and uh AT was telling me that like uh part of the uh like I don't know if it was Terminal E or what it was, but like there was a bunch of flights canceled and a bunch of shit going on at the airport. Uh they couldn't get any planes out because we lost some air traffic controllers, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Well, they I I know that they've got less of them. I think some quit with the shutdown. And then I think overtime and stuff just because the shortage, like they can't go into overtime and stuff just because the like the pilots, because you have to have enough rest in these roles. Yeah. Because they're very obviously important in air traffic controller. It's the most important thing in the whole airport. But I know I read something about them going to overtime, and again, these guys have to rest. You have to have a certain amount of time to sleep in between ships. You just go get them a room at the hype. Um and then, you know, well, American always has issues. We've had storms recently. We had storms leading into the week, bad storms leading into the week of uh Halloween. Yeah. So I think a lot of people didn't a lot of people didn't get home for three or four days. I know it monsooned here, and they were like that Saturday before. I didn't I didn't have anybody get on a plane before I left at two.
SPEAKER_02:All day. Um with that being said, um I just want to give a special shout out to um some guests that have come in this week. Uh, there was a young man uh named Justin. You left on Sunday because it was slow, yeah, and uh I stayed enclosed and uh had this kid come in towards the end of the night, um, same age as my son Caden, 24. Of course, he's Air Force, just like my kid. Got the same stupid porn mustache.
SPEAKER_03:And uh hey, it's no sh it's it's mustache Movember, okay?
SPEAKER_02:So yes, yes, this is a month to have it. I you know, I got my own stupid mustache. Um, but no, he's a good kid, reminded me a lot of my son. Um ends up paying out at the end of the night, hands me a hundred in his credit card, and I was like, let me break this down for you. He goes, No, you throw that in a chip jar. Um, you know, special shout out to Justin, man. That made my whole day, man. I really appreciate you. Uh, I know you're a new listener too, so let's go, Justin. And then um, you know, uh just the other night uh Monday, yesterday, um uh uh we I had uh these really awesome guests that live here locally, and I want to shout out to them, Anthea, Nick. Um they had just gone to a rugby match in Chicago with some of their friends, one of them being Irish. Um Anthea comes out and she's rooting against what everybody uh everybody was going for, I think an Irish team. I don't know anything about rugby, yeah, but she comes out of the, she's telling me um, you know, she goes on this trip with all these people that are rooting for this Irish team or whatever in rugby. She's going the other way. She comes out of the hotel room dressed in all black, the other team's colors. So, but no, they were fun. Uh, Anthea, Nick, Kevin, and Kelly. Um, thanks for supporting the show. And um, you know, shouts out uh for from me and AT on the Grande tip. Um so Halloween, like I said, it was uh this last Friday, a couple days ago, and um have you seen anybody with their Christmas decorations up yet?
SPEAKER_03:I have here where I live. I've I saw them by the first.
SPEAKER_02:My neighbor, my neighbor before it was Halloween night, and they already put a Christmas wreath on their door. I was like, most of the time you gotta wait for November 1st, and then once that hits me I've always yeah, everybody I know does it the day after Thanksgiving. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But I mean, that's where like the the people that are way on it.
SPEAKER_02:But like, okay, I don't let's let's let's kick this out to the listeners. Um you guys give us some feedback. Let us know. Is it too early to start putting out Christmas decorations?
SPEAKER_03:I think it is, but I do too. Uh the diehards say, hey, the second that's the Halloween's over that next day, boom, you can do it.
SPEAKER_02:You know, my mom, uh my stepmom, um she puts up like, I don't know, there's like eight or nine different Christmas trees in my parents' house.
unknown:Jesus.
SPEAKER_02:So I don't know. I'm gonna have to weigh in on her and ask her when she starts putting up all these damn Christmas trees.
SPEAKER_03:Well, the amount of time that it takes to say if she has nine trees, then you've got nine of everything else, too. So that's a lot of work. Yeah, exactly. Oh, yeah, you should see. Well, you know, some people just love it and it's not working, it's just fun. Like they just love, you know, having a little magical winter wonderland.
SPEAKER_02:But see my dad trying to get all these ornaments and crap out of the attic, dude. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03:Anyways, but he loves it. I mean, he's like successful. He's like, put me to work. Oh, yeah, exactly. He's like, let's go. He's working all the days. Um he can't sit still, so I've been. I was just curious what your take was on that. To me, that's way too much.
SPEAKER_02:I mean I think it's way too early. I think, you know, it let's get to Thanksgiving and then let's celebrate.
SPEAKER_03:Get through Halloween at least, right?
SPEAKER_02:But I couldn't believe that they were putting their Christmas reef on the on Halloween night. I was like, really?
SPEAKER_03:Take your pumpkin and some people are all in on Christmas. I mean, I love Christmas, but yeah, that's too much. It's too much. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Um I also wanted to talk to you about something a little airport related, and we touched on it, but I wanted to hear again for our listeners' sakes. Um, what is your take on Brandon Williams uh getting busted with two ounces of pot? Um, like this is kind of unheard of. I mean, we've talked about it on the show before, and you know, they're looking for weapons, they're not really doing that. Yeah, it's weird. I mean that's really, really weird.
SPEAKER_03:Really? Either it was he left it super obvious. Which shout out to my guy Brandon Williams, uh reserve point guard for the Mavs. Yeah. Who's been bawling out. He's like a little mini Kyrie. Uh go Mavs. Which Mavs suck still.
SPEAKER_00:Kyrie will be back in time.
SPEAKER_03:I can't get over it, but uh the Luca trade still feels still feels fake. Uh, but yeah, we gotta watch him score 40 points there. But yeah, I don't know. Just either he wasn't being smart or you know, sometimes people just wore it. Either it was just so obvious that they like couldn't, which you would think he wouldn't be stupid enough to be that obvious.
SPEAKER_02:Evidently, he was on his way to a funeral, he was distracted. Yeah, you know, I don't know. Um, just that's just sad. Yeah. Um obviously nothing came of it. He didn't even, I don't think he ended even up getting a ticket, he just got it confiscated. Whoopee-woo-woo.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know, um enough to make a headline, had to make a statement about it before. Yeah, had to apologize to the team for being a distraction. And he well, he got an excuse an excused absence from one game, and I think that's it was either one or two games, or that's probably what it was, like kind of a little disciplinary thing. But uh yeah. It's crazy in 2025, though, that we're still talking people get in trouble for weed. Ridiculous. Kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_02:You know, we do live in the Bible belt.
SPEAKER_03:I know, but you know, get your roadie and your brown paper bag and hit the road on in the car. But I love it. Only until drinks are legal now, you know. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Talking about people getting caught with gummies and stuff, it's funny.
SPEAKER_02:Which is ridiculous. Our neighbors to the north, where we're from, have or it's like the wild, wild west up there of weed. Yeah. Um in Oklahoma. It's ridiculous, yeah. They got it right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:They at least got that thing right. You know, and you're supposed to have your medical card.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:My and but that's a very simple medical card. A family member of mine that lives in Oklahoma City. If you tune into the show, you can figure out who that is, but I'm not gonna give any names away. Um has lost his or her, his um uh has not lost it, has let it expire his medical card in Oklahoma, and he was telling me my local dispensary doesn't even check anymore.
SPEAKER_03:Like we've seen you before. Yeah. Um supposedly everybody's like really keen on that there, but I'm sure there's places you can go. Yeah. I'm sure there's but the one time that I went with somebody from Oklahoma, uh, because it's an experience to go in a dispensary when you live in a state where you just don't ever get a seat. You're like, this is crazy. And so I went. My friend has a whole experience, but I remember at the front, you know, they check in, they made him scan his ID, just like you know, at clubs and bars they do. It's like okay. Same kind of thing. Yeah, it just makes a note, and you could go back again that day or whatever. But uh it was I was like, but I'm sure there's some places that are very lax, and oh no, our machine was down, or who knows? Who knows how regulated that at a certain point they're kind of just like, okay. Yeah, it's just weed. You're 21 and you're yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02:That's like I'm going to Seattle this week. Uh you just flash your ID and walk on in. That's it.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:They say walk into uh Willy Wonka's candy shop.
SPEAKER_02:It's not like uh what la this time last year. Um my uh oldest son, I went to go visit my oldest son out in Delaware, and we went all over the East Coast, and uh we're in Mel in uh Maryland, yeah, Maryland. And we went into this place, man, and it's just super bougie when you go in and um you have to give them your ID, they write down this information, they put it all up in their computer, blah blah blah. Then 10 minutes later, while you're like walking around, basically which would be like a head shop, pipe shop, whatever, with no weed in it at all. Well, in the front they can have that most of the time.
SPEAKER_00:The secret door slides open, and they're you you know put a hood over your head and take you into the back.
SPEAKER_02:And then it's just like it's like when Willy Wonka opens the door to the chocolate factory, man.
SPEAKER_03:That's exactly how they are in California. I was like, what is that? Colorado too, yeah. Why are all the because they have to make sure that it's a real license? Like they're yeah, the states that are supposed to regulate them very strong. You can't, first of all, you know, whatever the age limit is. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. So in the non-medical state, you know, and though even though it's recreational, a lot of them, you don't just walk in, like it's okay, there's a little waiting room area where they can have like papers or like you know, like you said, a little head shop, and then there's some at the desk and they're just waiting. And then sometimes they can only have a certain amount of people back there at a time once because it's smaller. Now it's packed with stuff, like you said, wall to wall, you know. It's like you walk like too much. But some they don't want to have too many people because like I remember in California, the second I walked in, once I got through the secret door, like you said, you know, like into snuck into the speakeasy. Then boom, a guy comes up with an iPad because they're like trying to get you in there. He's like, Okay, what are you looking for? Blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_02:Like, so they kind of want it to be personal, something a lot of the I don't know, was it like that where like you had a shopper that personal dude with the iPad that walks you around the store and lets you pick out whatever and so I think they try and time that out too.
SPEAKER_03:So which it makes it a better experience, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It gets people in and out too. That it's not like that uh when I go out to Seattle.
SPEAKER_03:No, you just walk in. It's like it's like walking into a gas station. Yeah, exactly, like 7-Eleven. And you may have to ask them to get you the stuff, obviously.
SPEAKER_02:Well, they give you uh what they call a bud tender, and you know, you know, you talk to them and let them know what you like or whatever, and they tell you what they like or what they recommend. But you can kind of just wander around and see it all before that.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, you go up to the counter and then they're like when you're rated. Think about it, Peruse, but yeah. Some places do it, you know, states do it more like personal, and especially if it's a nicer place like that you said, like higher end than they want it to be like personal shopping, you know what I mean? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So um, you're leaving for Hawaii, I'm leaving for Seattle. Um I can't wait to not have to be behind that bar. I know.
SPEAKER_03:As much as we love it, man, you just you know, like anything else, you gotta take it. And you know.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's what I wanted to um segue into, and not very well, I might add, was um you want to tell the listeners about a couple weeks back where um you gave me what I thought was an edible that was some kind of concentrated pill.
SPEAKER_03:You want to elaborate on that? Uh well, you know, one of our amazing guests, Tyler, happened Colorado had, you know, maybe had some goodies on him that he shared with the class because he was a great guy. And uh and you know it, and ain't no fun unless we all get some. And uh, you know, he may have asked me if I wanted an edible, and I said, sure. And he went in his bag and he's like, I'm gonna pause you right there. This was not an edible, boys and girls. Well, I'll walk, but I'll let him finish his story. I'll walk you through it. And uh he's like, Well, do you want too? I said, Okay, cool. That way, you know, I could share. And uh, anyways, he said they were 10 milligrams, but they're tablets, which you know, without getting too nerdy or something, anyways, they just hit stronger. Your body, you know, just like taking a pill, it's absorbed pretty quickly when you take it. Uh, it's a lot faster and in some people's cases harder than a gummy or something, you know. Pills like that, boom, like when you take a Tylenar or whatever, you know, the kick in time and listen, it's very I don't know what the hell you gave me, but it was too much. And it was only 10 milligrams, and we were the opposite ends of the spectrum on shift. My dumbass. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:I do have to at least let the list shoot it like a piece of candy. Yeah. I ate it like it was an edible because I oh I thought it was inedible.
SPEAKER_03:And then he had blue teeth. I was like, Chris, go go rent your mouth out. Go drink some soda or something.
SPEAKER_02:It was an instant shit show, and then not even 10 minutes later, it was a shit show.
SPEAKER_03:It was fucking I was like, I was like, all of a sudden I hit like I'm just over there giggling and laughing and overdrive. I'm moving fast, like my brain's like firing on all cylinders, and then Chris is like drooling on himself.
SPEAKER_02:Like And this is what and this is what sparked my little break of me uh not uh smoking. Um I consulted with his team with some f yes, the A team. And um so and his management team. I uh you know, I don't drink, and so evidently I've been a little excessive with the THC, and it was high time I took a break after 16 years. Um so I've been on this little tea break for the last couple weeks, and um I think it's done some good. I think it's done some great, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Um, stuff like that, just kind of refresh mentally, and you know, just and I think detox a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:I uh I can't I gotta give credit where credit's due. Uh the late great Gallagher um once said um you what is it? Uh at some point you when you keep smoking and keep smoking, you don't get more high, you uh just get less weed. So uh very true. Yeah, so much needed. Um what about you, Blake? Uh what do you know about Hawaii? You uh you got any loving over there?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it's the third, my third trip there. I know. Um been there once myself. Um we're going to Honolulu, you know, the the main island of Hawaii, and uh I've been I've been I went there once, but I was only there for like two days on the way back from Australia, you know, just a little pop-in. Well, I mean two days. Oh yeah, Australia. Two days two days is still it's still freaking awesome. But uh and that was like, man, I was 19, so that was you know 18 years ago. So I'm like I remember I surfed for 30 minutes and got a sunburn. Got the worst sunburn of my life. We're waiting on the rooms to be ready. They're like, it'll be an hour. Like, we're just holding your bags here. We're like, let's go to the beach real quick. Which uh I stood up on my second wave somehow. I didn't realize I was gonna go as far as I did, and I ran over my friend. Because I was like, he was like 50 yards in front of me. I was like, I'm not even gonna stand up on this. And then the first one I fell off, and I was like, Yeah, I'm not gonna stand up on this. And the second one, somehow I got my balance and I timed it. And it wasn't like a crazy thing, you know. I'm just like a kid riding a wave in. I'm not hitting tunnels or anything, but but I went like 50 yards in, and yeah, I just ran over my friend, hit him like a speed bump, and then I obviously I fell off. That was the worst sunburn I've ever had in my life. 30 minutes. Uh I don't know, there's like a hole in the ozone layer or something, or it's thinner in Hawaii or something. I don't know. That sun just picked up no.
SPEAKER_01:I was a little uh little when I was I say young, I uh yeah, I was 24.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but yeah, we stayed on the back side of the island and yeah, good times.
SPEAKER_03:Badass. Yeah. And then I went to beautiful place, beautiful. The big island with I went there uh, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago. That that place is incredible. Uh you know, they say the big island, it's not gigantic, obviously, but uh man, they've got like every ecosystem on the planet Earth there. They've got like mountain ranges and uh rainforests, like they've got everything there. There's like a black sand beach, which I didn't even know was there's all sorts of stuff, but uh one of the place I'd like to get to. Yeah. Uh and one of my favorite breweries, Kona, if anybody's ever had big wave. Oh, yeah. Uh which the ones you have here in the state are shipped from San Diego, they're not actually made there.
SPEAKER_02:Uh that's what we uh that was our main thing when I uh was bartending at Lingon Louis. It's a great beer.
SPEAKER_03:It's like a uh I don't know, just some sort of ale. It's just like refreshing, but you'll see a blue tap with a wave on it. Yeah, but uh yeah, I went there on the big island. But uh yeah, we went uh to the top of the mountain range. There was a rainforest, so it had both of those, and we did this whole set of zip lines. Okay last one is a mile long, and you go over a rainforest and a waterfall, and you're so high up that you can see the curvature of the earth. Quit bullshitting. It's incredible, it's incredible. Like, I didn't even, you know, I'm looking and it's beautiful, and then they point that out. The lady's like, hey, now we're gonna go. Don't forget to look at the curve. You can see the curvature of the earth from here. You're like, holy shit. And then, yeah, the last one is a mile long, it lasts a minute. You're like 200 yards above a rainforest, just going on a zipline. There's like waterfalls and stuff, and it's like it was oh my gosh. And then we swam with the manta rays last time. You go out on this little you know fishing boat at night, you have to go at night, which makes it feel kind of sketchy. You go for like an hour and then you go in this cove and you hold on to these surfboards that they've uh got handles on the outside and they put holes in the middle for these LED flashlights, and they make like I think they're called phytoplankton or something, the little C things that you can barely light up in the black light. Yeah, uh, and they're attracted to that, so that brings all the mana rays, which they don't have stingers like the Stingrays. Yeah, R.I.P. Steve Irwin, my guy. Uh so that was I was like, okay, cool. I can't fuck with you. But they come up and do these big graceful backflips and basically like touch you, and you're just hanging on there with the snorkel. It's like the coolest thing I've ever seen. And one of them had like a hook in his fan, and the guy went down and took it out. Like it was I see I could see you doing that. I don't think I'm athletic enough to get away with it. Well, I didn't do that. The guy that I didn't know how to get a hook out of this thing, and uh and I'm so overwhelmed. There's there was like 30 of them there. They're like, this is the most we've ever seen. I was like, oh, okay. I was like, I don't know. But yeah, it was freaking cool. They had names for all of them. It was fucking awesome. But uh yeah, can't wait to go back to Hawaii. Yeah, I mean, I'd go anywhere, you know, to get away right now.
SPEAKER_02:I can't I can't wait to go back to Seattle. It is uh Courtney and I's fifth-year long distance relationship. That's great. That's freaking awesome. Special shout out to my girlfriend. Happy anniversary. I love you. I'm I'm awake. We love you, Courtney. Big fan, big fan of the show. Uh Blake, man.
SPEAKER_03:Let's wrap it up because I ain't got anything left. Uh usual. Only other thing I'm gonna give out a shout out to my Sooners again. Yes, boomer. We did not play, you know, our best game, but we won on the road at Neal and Stadium in Tennessee in front of 107,000 people.
SPEAKER_02:So nice win to springboard us back if we can handle our business.
SPEAKER_03:Any SEC win is a good one. It doesn't have to be a good one. But uh, we'll take it, man. But uh I just gotta give a shout-out to my Sooners. Our Mason Thomas Boomer Sooner. Uh finishing the touchdown with a torn hammy, stiff arming a hundred uh two hundred and seventy-five-pound tight end for like 20 yards until he finally knocked him off.
SPEAKER_02:Obviously, special love to Tate.
SPEAKER_03:God, Tate Sandell. I I hope you guys have seen the memes online about how short his shorts are. But uh so if you hit three 50-yard field goals in a game, two two from 55, you can wear whatever football you want. So he will continue to wear those pants, damn it.
SPEAKER_02:So uh after the game, my buddy Steve, who's also from Oklahoma, big Sooner fan. Shout out Steve. Um he sends me a meme of Tate in uh pair of underwear.
SPEAKER_03:At a certain point, they just kept sending them shorter and shorter, and then people said, screw it, we're just gonna put them in tidy whiteys. Oh, that was funny. What was the deal with that, anyways? Well, he wear his his shorts, uh, you know, football pants typically go past your knees. Yeah. But college anymore is like the pro. Like it used to be you had to have knee pads in your pants, and it used to be they had to be on your knee. But you know, it's the same with the jerseys and all that stuff has been, especially now that they're basically pros, they've kind of, you know, you have to have a a mouthpiece, but it could just be hanging from your thing. Like they don't even care about any of that anymore. So a lot of that stuff, like even when I was in high school, you had to have these things. Yeah, or they would be like, you're out. You don't have a you don't have a mouthpiece, you don't have your knee pads in. But anyways, so more and more, especially you'll see the receivers and skill guys too. But the kickers, he he's not getting hit by anybody. He just wants mobility for his legs. So I probably probably maybe maybe like jogging shorts, maybe a little bit longer than like you see the cross-country shorts. That's where his his knee pad part was, too. No knee pad, no thigh pad, just short shorts out there, just nails just kicking 55-yard field goals. Hell yeah. And then people on the internet ran with it and made them shorter and shorter and shorter. If you guys haven't seen those memes on Twitter yet, you've got to go check those out. Yeah, hilarious.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that does it for episode 20, you guys. Um, again, thank you for all the love and support. We can't do it without you. We're starting to really get some good downloads. Um it's only a matter of time before the uh YouTube channel gets up and going. We love you guys. Thank y'all for tuning in. It will be a few more weeks before you hear from us because we're going to be out of town and doing some things, but uh we will get back here as soon as possible.
SPEAKER_03:We'll be back. We'll have some vacation stories, hopefully, some more crazy stories from you guys if y'all keep coming in. All right, guys. We'll see y'all soon. All right, y'all. Peace. Peace.
