Ep. 72 - Me Lovey Midwestey: Our Ode To The Midwest!

Endless cornfields glowing gold at sunset. Fog lifting off quiet lakes at dawn. Gravel roads that lead to trailheads you almost missed. In our newest episode, “Our Ode to the Midwest,” we slow down and say thank you to the places that raised us — and the wild spaces that keep calling us back.
From the hardwood forests and kettle lakes of Indiana and Michigan to the prairies of Illinois and the rolling hills of Ohio, this episode is a love letter to the overlooked beauty of the Midwest. We’re talking bird songs at sunrise, rolling thunder in spring, rockhounding surprises, and quiet kayaking mornings!
It’s not flashy. It’s not crowded. It’s home.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Hello, welcome to Busted Knees and Pretty Trees, a show about the outdo. Thanks for tuning in. Much appreciated, as always. You're gonna have to strap in and trust us because we're firing up the busted pretty RV.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Is that an alarm? No, it's a vintage orange.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Oh god. Well, we're taking that bad boy for a little road trip, as us Midwesterners like to do.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Unfortunately, we can't bring Miss Frizzle. Valerie, as we call her. But this show is gonna be magical. It's true, Brad. Anyway. Wait, that's what the RV's called? No, that's Magic School Bus. Miss Frizzle. Miss Frizzle. Yep. It's gonna be Midwest magical, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Damn, you brought that up. I'm brought back, baby. We would have invited Professor DeTillo from last week's show, but I'm not sure he'd want to be stuck on a bus with our goofy asses. Either way, it was a great conversation. We had some good laughs and we finally got to talk rocks for once. Sorry, birders. Thank you again, Dr. DeTillo. Yeah, thanks, Dr.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

DeTillo. That was fun. He was awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

I can't, I he said we were decent. So we might be able to get him on again. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I'll take decent from him. I feel like that's a bit he doesn't hand out compliments all that much. Yeah. And decent, I'm riding with it. I felt real good about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

But I uh I believe we're gonna take a little detour before we take our main tour. Uh so I'm looking forward to that. And uh so let's get to it. The tires are properly inflated, the engine is roaring, the mini fridge is loaded with fun, and I'll be there for you is booming out the speakers. Let's get this thing rolling. I'll be there for you. Oh, I couldn't think of the song. It's a friends reference. The Rembrandt. Yeah. The Rembrandt's. I am Travis White. He is Patty Richardson. Hello. He is Bradley Greer. Hello. We are the pilots of this here busted pretty RV. And now that I'm imagining how badass that RV would look, I want to see what you guys would include in that RV. But first, I want to mention if you like the cut of our jib, follow us on Apple or Spotify and take a gander at our nifty website, uh bustedpretty.com. Yeah. Patty, what's our socials?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Uh busted pretty at Blue Sky and Busted Pretty uh Busted. Instagram. Insta goddamn it. You'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yeah. So if we're what's in our what's our RV look like?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Well, I just I do have a comment because I would want to make I would want to have either like antlers of some kind. I imagine big old longhorns on the front of there. Okay. But deer antlers work or any sort of jack-alope ant like the antlers. Anything would work, but I'd want those to be somehow fashioned to the hood of that RV. Just get out of our ways.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

There's a longhorn uh ranch uh on the south side of Allen County here. Really? Yeah. I drive by it on my way to my parents. Do they sell longhorns? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Like, I'm not talking about I don't want to strap a cow to it. I want just the antlers.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Yeah, I'm sure they probably die sometimes. Maybe you could get one of those.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

That's what I'm screaming, dude. That's that's on my RV. That's that's the only thing I really care about, other than that, like a good booming stereo system, because we're gonna be jamming.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

I know I want on the side of it, Travis to paint a mural. Oh and uh and the where's that money coming from in the spirit of Patty's episode pictures, but like a conan, the barbarian theme each like warriors, like oh, and like a dude. What was that? And then our goofy head, our faces on top. Dodgeball? Um the painting video by the horns.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Ben Phillips that is awesome. Wow, that's what I want on this idea. Great idea. That with longhorns on the front. I'm telling you, we'd be riding in style.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I mean, we can commission somebody to do it too, if you don't feel if you're not up to it. What are you trying to say?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Well, you're not up to it. Yeah. Loser. Yeah, that's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Well, I guess we could we could quote unquote commission you too.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah, we could commission you. Brad could. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

You're just trying to get me off this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Like, you got art to do. Do the art, we'll do the recording.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Oh no, that's on top of the recording.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Oh, we we should have a recording booth. Uh what? Recording booth in the studio. In the RV. We could go to events, we'll make sure it's and we could record a podcast inside.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Bros. Bros, we don't have an RV yet, but I'm legit. This is sparking some interest in me. I know.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Love and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Please keep on coming. I know Walt already uh roared, but was so is that your one thing? Uh like being able to record inside the RV? Or do you have something?

SPEAKER_03 5:46

I'm not sure what my I was just like a working toilet would be nice.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

A working toilet would be nice. A hitch to pull the donkey trailer on. Oh, network donkeys, dude. Because what are we gonna do when we get it?

SPEAKER_03 5:57

They'd be in the RV with us, dude.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Dude, I I saw the link to this news panther earlier today, and I messaged Brad at like 9 a.m. that I was I saw it, and I wanted to click on the link like five times throughout the day because it is like uh I think it's gonna be kicking.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Yeah, so Brad's taking the wheel of the busted pretty RV. Yeah, he is. The busted pretty RV. So where are you taking us, Brad?

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Yeah, take us somewhere. Well, just a small detour. This is a magical RV, and we're gonna take this thing all the way to the Korean peninsula.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Ah that's where everyone wants to go. That would have been my first thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Well, you know, it's just our mode of transportation because it's what we got. Specifically, we're going to the 38th parallel, also known as the DMZ.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Ah, that's exactly why I was interested in that.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

I believe both of you gentlemen are familiar with the 38th parallel. See, senior. So just uh in case somebody doesn't know, and there are some fun facts in here that you guys may not know. The region of the peninsula is a barrier that separates the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, aka North Korea, from the Republic of Korea, aka South Korea.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

It came out of the coast called the Republic of Korea.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah. And the yeah. It is funny that it's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as North Korea.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Well, that's probably like Western North Korea, South Korea. Well, I guess that's also because it's in I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

He just named his daughter as the his heir. I know that. Uh Kim Jong. He's very um progressive. I suppose. I heard she's a strong proponent of Weba Drake. I heard everybody's like, ah, she's worse. Anyways, uh it came out of the Korean Armistice Agreement and this year I I must I had to have typoed this. I have 1983, but I think it was 1953. That was an agreement between North Korea, China, and the UN command. Yep. Which was basically like who was fighting, quote unquote, for South Korea. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

I have a question. Is that line the was that where the front line ended up, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:35

I think it's where the previous boundary was. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Yeah. And it just so happened. That would have been a real nice, tidy front line, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Well, and it doesn't actually run along the 36th parallel. Like I think it starts above it and finishes below it, but it crosses it, so that's why they call it the 36th parallel.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

38th parallel, right? Um38th parallel. 38th, okay. Good call, Patty.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Thanks, dude. Uh the DMZ is 250 kilometers long or 160 miles, and is about four kilometers wide or two and a half miles. Wow. While the zone itself is dem demilitarized, both sides are some of the most heavily militarized borders in the world.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Like it's insane. Is it like each side has their own defense walls and seawire and towers and everything?

SPEAKER_02 9:38

And as we'll get into at least South Korea has a five-mile buffer outside of that. Of like from where their two mile boundary ends or like the the technically the zone of the DMZ ends, they have a five-mile buffer beyond that. What's the acreage on that DMZ? Oh well, we'll get into some something close to the acreage in there, but I didn't get that info. Because think it's it's big. 160 miles. Like how wide is it?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Two and a half miles wide.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

That's the math.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

We'll not attempt.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

But um so you may ask though, like, why is the busted pretty RV going to the DMZ? I'm wondering. Hey, that's the best. It makes me laugh every time. Well, since this stretch of land has gone 70 years without humans being on it, it's created this crazy sanctuary for wildlife and plants. I knew this was gonna be a good story. Yes. Uh, it's become one of the most biodiverse areas in the region with like soup, it just has like crazy wide long wetlands, and then a lot of the area is mountainous as well. So forest-covered mountains, and they think like there's over 6,200 wildlife species within the DMZ. Holy jabroni! And of that 6200, according to the National Institute of Ecology in South Korea, 38% of South Korea's endangered species live in the DMZ. There's 267 total endangered species in South Korea, and 38% of those live in the DMZ. Damn, that's insane! Yeah, it's wild. And think like they can't go there and study it. Like they can't enter the DMZ and get any they can't. That's right. They're only looking for a good way to get a shot. Yeah. And I'm just out here trying to look at these salamanders. You gotta get rocks around here. So some of the unique species that live there. And if you guys have the notes pulled up, I have photos of these animals in the notes and we'll post them online. Right? There are species like the Siberian musk deer, which has these crazy, like it looks like a deer, but it has crazy fangs that stick out of its mouth and go down. It's it's wild.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

So what's I'm sorry, but what are those fangs for?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

I don't know. Sucking blood, dude, like all fangs. It's dir.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

We have the name of it, so we'll have to look it up. The Siberian deer. There's the leopard cat, which you've probably seen. It's the cutest little house-sized cat that looks like a leopard. I feel like I know what you're talking about. Like, I've there's been photos, there's I've seen photos of this online. Um yeah, it's it's it's but it's native to the whole southeast region. And it's actually that's like of least concern, at least as a species worldwide, but it is under pressure from like hunting and loss of habitat and stuff. Uh, there's the Asiatic black bear, which has like a cool brownish-white necklace around it, yeah. It has huge ears.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I know that animal too.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

There's the Korean gorel, which is an ungulate. It's like a mix between a deer and a mountain lion. Like it has little horns. But it kind of looks like a deer. This is these are all like majestic creatures. Well, and last but not least, there's seven of the 15 crane species in the world can be found there. Seven of the 15 yeah, seven of the fifteen species worldwide can be found in this one. I think we only have like two or three in the US.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Get it. Yeah. Is that like one of the least populated pieces of land? Oh like dude, best pieces in the world? It's the oh.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

No, I mean, there's probably like stretches of Mongolia or West Africa, the Sahara.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

But one like one reason they think a lot of the animals are coming to this area is from loss of habitat from Japan and China, which neighbor um the Korean peninsula. So they think like if as they're losing habitat, they're finding this space to be like their new home, nesting ground, migrating grounds, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Can I rephrase that question? Yeah. The biggest piece of like livable land. Like that like fruit fruitful land?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Like people would be on it if well that we'll get to that in a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Trevor, you're always so good with your questions, dude.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Like, even though this is one of the most heavily restricted spaces in the world to get to, there's several Korean organizations that are involved in conservation and preservation of like what's going on in the DMZ and the inhabit like the new all these all these wildlife species that are there now. So Dasum Lee, who is the director of ecosystem conservation team of Green Korea United, or they go by GKU for short. For the past 30 years, GKU has conducted ext can has conducted extensive on-the-ground surveys across the civilian control zone, which is they have these little cutouts like within that five-mile buffer where they have a town, and it's almost like a sign of um like goodwill. Like we both had they North Korea has a cassity within the DMZ, and South Korea has a city. They're not like in the DMZ, but they're really close to it. But like North Korea's is they think it's just these really tall concrete poured towers that are empty, and they have like lights on timers that turn on and off to make it look like people live there, but nobody actually lives there. They think like I mean, we're pretty sure pretty sure.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

I figured I think it would be be pretty easy to find that out.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Yeah. I mean, everything I saw online says like that is what's going on. That's funny. And like the only people you see are maintenance workers like keeping it clean, like sweeping dust off the streets and stuff. Um so they have these towns like that are close. It's like one of the closest places a tourist or like these these scientists from the GKU can get to investigate what's going on in the DMZ, as far as from like a wildlife perspective.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

So they're doing it from the outside of the border, from those towns because there's nobody walking around there in there.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Well, in these, in these, they're called CCVs, civilian control zones. They actually have South Korea has like a village there, and there's farmers and they grow rice, they have like rice patties, and it but it's a super simple life. And if you live in that zone, you're exempt from military service, taxes, like there's some perks to living there, but it's like a super simple life, and coming and going is very, very difficult, like especially an outsider going into the village, and then just getting stuff, like they're disconnected almost from the rest of the world. So, but that led to their farming practices being super simple and like kind of old school. So their their rice patties are like full of weeds, and the waterways have like big hedgerows along them. So it's like prime habitat for these endangered species. Wow. So they kind of get this dichotomy of what happens when you have a very like modern uh fertilized like rice patty versus an old school like rice patty kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. So they can see how much like what's caught what's eating, like what's stuff eating in that rice patty that's not in the other one, stuff like that. But then they're also able to monitor the DMZ from that spot. Because one of the tourism things that you can go there and do is like it's kind of the thing is is like that's where you can go to look into the DMZ. It's like one of the few spots you can get into.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

That would be interesting.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Yeah. But the reason the the Busted Pretty RV is going there, because guess what people go there to do now? Bird, birding, uh-uh. Yeah, for real. Like it's a supposedly a really cool birding spot. And it's for them for the local area. I mean, it's like a political thing because it's like, look, relations are getting better. We have people coming here. It's they call it ecotourism because it's not just birding, it's like seeing all the wildlife that's there. Uh, and then it just brings money to the region as well. Yeah because you have to hire like a local tour guide to take you on the bird tours. There's like 11 different hiking routes you can take, but it seemed like they don't let you hike too much just because they don't want to disturb the area. So they drive you, like you can take bus tours around the area.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Do you have to interact with military?

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah, like a lot of the time you have a military escort with you. Because I think there's like nothing, I could be wrong about this. Like, I don't think this area has like walls and stuff in between those two towns. Like it's one spot where you like Oh, there's no like if you just went fucking going you can just run across the border, probably get shot, but like you can make a run for it. Wow. So I think you always have a military escort.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

I imagine that since there's a opening there, it's the there's more soldiers than Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah, it's a very heavily and like of course, like before you can even get in there, like you're getting like your whole life is being investigated. Like they're doing background checks like crazy.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

I would so love to go there.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Okay, so here is like the big paradox about this whole situation is improving or like the improved relations between the two countries can lead to increased development pressure on this whole DMZ area. Like you were talking about, it's the longest like people could be living here doing whatever. There could be cities, it could be farming, they could be whatever, mining. And so if these two if this like conflict's resolved, there's a very good chance that area is gonna kind of be the stroke. Developed. Yeah, like it won't become natural habitat. So it's like this crazy paradox of like these scientists talk about. Uh Lee said we face a geological paradox. When inter-Korean relations improve, development pressure intensifies, and our greatest difficulty is the political reality where environment environmental con con where environmental conservation is rarely treated as a top-tier priority, regardless of the situation. So now they're also watchdogs on any development activities that are going on in the area to see what they're doing and like how far because I guess it's always like a political. That's one of their like whatever the common ones in the US are, one of theirs is we're gonna fix relations with North Korea and we're gonna develop the DMZ or the So yeah, you know, you know there'll be developers in there in a blip of a moment.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Why can't they just do one wall and just chill a little bit? What do you mean, one wall?

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Instead of two walls with a big gap, just like just have put the Berlin wall up. Yeah. I don't understand. Well, they did, and like you also asked about some of the acreage stuff. So this group GKU has been able to protect 173,000 acres, which is like I think like the size of Smoky Mountain National Park. Like it's a pretty big area. And so they at least have that protected.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Oh, it is protected by both sides.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Well, it's on I think it's mainly on the South Korea side. That's and I don't know if it's like a cont like where. They buy the land and it's in a trust or whatever, but they said they have the land protected.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

What do you guys what do you Wow, this is probably terrible.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Yeah, that land is well protected.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

I feel like that begs the question of what side do you sit on? Keep keep letting North Korea be North Korea and South Korea be South Korea with a DMZ or natural habit.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

There are so many people suffering in North Korea.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Well, North Korea's got a a big brother that's kind of an asshole.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah, a real boob. Yeah. I agree. There, I mean, okay. See, that's why I figured it'd be a bad question. But I mean, I can't help it. As soon as you say it, it's like, well, geez, now you gotta now you do have to ask yourself the question.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

And it may not even ever be like a nice area. It could just be linking everything together, then all the transportation and traffic going through there or farm. Like they air like uh what do they like tile the fields and drain all the marshes and farm it? Yeah. Interesting. Imagine working together. Yeah. Wouldn't that be something like that summit? Well, but that would be sweet. Like as a like as a if this if they if it were to happen. Okay, here we go. This is I hope they're listening. Kim Jong, yeah. Listen up. Please, Kim, listen. When this becomes a thing where North Korea and South Korea come to peace, the war ends, the immersus is over. That's like central, like that's their central park. Turn the whole thing into a national park. That everyone from both sides. You could probably do a couple ski resorts and that's the best answer to my question.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

We could have NBA games. Right there. Right there.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Right there. Wait, what? In the national park? He's a huge NBA fan. So that when we would. Jim Young Moon is? Oh, I do know the Rodman thing. Yeah. So we could build at like a stadium. Okay. Like and like a shitty part of it.

unknown 24:07

I think that is.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

There's gotta be a shitty part of it. Yeah, there's gotta be a shitty.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Like, what better piece offering is we both give up our mileage of that land and we make it a national park where we can come together and frolic through the woods. Frolic. Saunter. No guns. No guns. No guns.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Do you frolic through the woods or frolic through a field or meadow? You could do you could frolic wherever the hell you want.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

I frolic through this damn studio right now.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

Frolic through that pile of clothes you got out there.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Listeners, if he does frolic, I'm gonna try taking a video. Hey, there he is again. Dude, I knew that was gonna be interesting. I swear to God, I was sitting at work at 9 a.m., pulled up my stuff, and he sent he added in the notes, and I was like, oh man. Because I I mean, I I I have been a bit of a Korean War kind of uh fanatic, I suppose, uh recently.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

The Forgotten War.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah, it was my grandfather fought in it, and I always feel bad for the Korean War guys because surely, like if you're for the you know, when we were kids, you saw an old timer, you'd just be like, World War II. Yeah, like that's guaranteed. And then you just had the Korean War prior to that, and it's like, no, mother trucker, I'm Korean War.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

Kind of that that first loss after a big big win.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Big jalopy, dude. Yeah. Well, it wasn't a loss. We just didn't do it. We just nothing happened. Ties is a tie is a loss. A tie is a loss. It's not a win. That was a great story, dude. We have kind of a different but fun episode tonight, dude.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Yeah, well, Brad's gotta turn us around here and take us back.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Uh in the bus, dude.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

How many times we can play bad what episode?

SPEAKER_03 26:03

But I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

I'm excited for tonight because this is something that's been on my mind for a long time since we got together, since prior to us three getting together. Just it like how we're from Indiana, we're from the Midwest. And one of the things I hear a lot about the outdoors around here is oh, I really like Indiana, I like the people, but there's just nothing to do outside, you know? And I think what we've discovered together, and then prior to that, of course, is that there is, in fact, plenty of things to do in the outdoors in the Midwest.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Teenager in the Midwest, you're just like, This place, there's nothing here for me. Yeah, and maybe I gotta get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Maybe this is my old timer brain starting to kick in and be like, no, just pretty.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Yeah, you know, we've had some time and we've discovered some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

I thought we could spend a little bit of time tonight just talking about the Midwest, the where the place we grew up, the things we've enjoyed, the things we might not have enjoyed so much, and the things that ended up making the people we are today, uh, especially when it comes to this podcast. So, what do you say we get started? Get rolling? Yes, sir. And uh let's uh write a little love letter to the Midwest. Let's do it. All right. Brad, fire the RV up. All right, Brad. Get out of the driver's seat of this RV. Old Patty wants to take a turn driving, and I'm bringing us straight back to the Midwest, straight back to our neck of the woods here in Indiana.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

This isn't a Subaru. RVR careful.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

How much ground clearance does an RV have compared to the 9.8 inches of a 2018 Subaru? 11.6. Really? Holy crap. That is uh I have no idea. Well, I oh, okay. That was that was drive-by science. Clack, clack, clack.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

Is that a RV company? Yeah, a coach. Is it? Yeah. 11.8 or whatever you want to say.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Winnebago?

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Winnebago.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Winnebago. Airstream Winnebago. I feel like those are the ones that need bullhorns on the front of them. Anyway, we're back in Indiana, gents. I'm happy to have you with me. The first thing I want to talk about when it comes to the Midwest, specifically our area, is the state parks. This is something that we've kind of alluded to along since we've started this, but I the more I get out, the more I venture away from Fort Wayne, I realize just how many state parks we do have. And each one of those state parks is kind of different. Chaino Lakes, that's uh kind of I think it's seven different lakes that are all attached by a chain. Yeah. Uh a little creek or something along those lines. Isn't it actually called channel lakes? I thought it was Chaino Lakes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

I think it's channel.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

I think it's Chaino. All right. Look it up. With it's with an apostrophe after the O, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

Apostrophe.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Oh, it's only one apostrophe. Oh, is it two? Oh, you guys can't even agree on that. Well, I mean, we're still kind of on the same team here.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Oh, yeah, it is. It's chain, capital O apostrophe lakes.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Nice. Well, I just so that's that's one cool one. Uh Brad took me to Poe Kagan the other year, last year to do this. It was the cutest day, Travis. Dude, it was the cutest. And Po Kagan is fucking so cool. Right up there on the Michigan border. It is, dude. Have you been there? Uh, when I was like super young. Bro, Nino, I'm telling you. Like, I spent my whole life being like, I'm not going toboggaining. I'm not going to Pokagan State Park.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Debbie and I were thinking about going this year.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

It's stunning.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Do you know? Uh, was it Roosevelt that built the interstates? Like across America? Yeah. What? I don't know. I think it was. And so he wanted to make recreational areas uh along the interstate system with like a like a hotel, like a roadside hotel that you should have to. So when '69 was built, the interstate that goes through Fort Wayne, Pokagan was like one of the first, like one of the recreation areas that were built by man, and they had a name, and there was a sign there that talked about this. I kind of remember that. And it's like they had a name like this. Was it like a government program? Yeah, it was like Army Corps Engineers, I think, were part of it. And they built the park, and they built there used to be a motel right off 69, and now it's the big grass field. Oh, that is yeah, isn't there still a mo a hotel up there? No, it's just a big like grass field now. What am I thinking of? And and like they built a dam, and yeah, so that was how that park started. That is fascinating. Because it's all glacial carved landscape.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Dude, it it it's you could be in the marsh, you could be a little bit of a swampy area, and then you go up and I think coming down from it was my favorite part when we were hitting uh it was Devil's Peak because it was all well, maybe it because it was all the uh tall pines. Yo, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my god. When we were walking through, I felt, you know, you feel like you're you're out there. Yeah. It was so cool. Have you do you guys ever venture into Ohio to some of their state parks, specifically Hawking Hills?

SPEAKER_03 31:32

That's the one Debbie's been talking about. Yeah. And she said she's been there and she said it was amazing. It is amazing. And it's not too far from home.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

No, it's I think it's within like a two, two and a half, three hour drive, something like that. Two, two and a half, three, three and a half. That's our mileage system.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

We're Midwestern.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

That's right. It was Eisenhower. Oh. Not Roosevelt, yeah. He would. Anyways, I had to I had to close that loop. Yeah, that's fine. My dad would have been very disappointed if I won toboggan.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Hey, he got him. That's my wife and Sebastian go up there and do the tobogganing all the time. Or in the winter.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

If it's nice and snowy and picturesque.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

I actually saw it when we were up there to the the like the big tower that you go up to and then you toboggan down.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah, when I was there last time, I all you could hear is people going, we really at the time of their winter?

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Yeah. You went hiking? Yeah. Nice, dude. It's beautiful. It is beautiful. Yeah. What other state parking?

SPEAKER_02 32:34

And you got the Pottawatomie in there.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Because you can stay. Yeah. I just went to Brown County. Oh, that's another one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Hooser State Forest.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Yeah. Oh, yeah. There we go. Really? I like that a lot more because Brown County. I've never actually been to Brown County. That uh it's more of a touristy kind of thing. Yep. Like even when we stopped in for a little bit to do one of those small trails that they had there that goes around a big at the time. I'm not making it sound very good because it was a season like the bugs, it was kind of swampy. Yeah. But I'm sure it's, you know, beautiful at certain times of year. But um there was a wedding going on then. No, yeah. There was a bunch of vehicles and stuff. So yeah, it's a little if you want to get away, that's probably not uh where you want to go. But um just we took a van, uh camper van out into Hoosier National Forest and just found an empty lot. They'll have empty lots on these dirt dirt roads swinging and you just pull up in it and there's a little fire ring there. Can you tank camp on those lots too? I would uh no, I think they're vehicle only, yeah. Cause but you can take your vehicle. You're not gonna it's so deep. That's all right. I can't imagine how far we drove. It was insane. I was just like, this is the roads just started going from paved with lines to no lines to kind of paved. Fun.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

What's the acreage down there, brother?

SPEAKER_03 34:16

What you trying to say?

SPEAKER_01 34:17

What's the acreage down there?

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Well, the forest?

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Yeah. Oh gosh. Is it like you're way out there? Like 160.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

We're going until there's dirt, babe. Ah, yeah, babe. Well 104,000 acres. Shoot, dude. That's a lot of acres.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

But it was surprising, just outside of the forest, there's I mean, it's just rural as hell. And you gotta drive so far to get anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

But it was it was cool to have that experience. Yeah. Just be feel like you really are helping.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Yeah. You really felt like you were rubbing out there. Oh, I didn't say ruffin.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Turn on the AC.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

This coffee is too hot.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

That was my first. Trust me.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

I really appreciated that little memory foam. Yeah, little AC unit blowing over. You gotta treat your treat yourself every now and then. I get my miles in. I get my leg miles in.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

All right. I can't really think much more by way of state parks, but I'm telling you, I mean, just the those are some of the few that are directly like around us, probably within that two, three hour drive.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

And that's not to mention Indiana Dunes State Park. Yeah. And then all of the parks uh just across the Michigan border, um, like uh uh Warren Dunes. Oh, Warren Dunes, yeah. Like there's a because the the Great Lakes themselves are there's all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Well, let's get into that. Let's get into some other geological things that I just absolutely enjoy. The Great Lakes is one of them. Within like a two-hour drive from where we are, that's for sure. But like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, this all of this area has the most fucking freshwater ever. Yeah, it is awesome. Yeah. The ri I I we like the kayak, I like the kayak, you jumped on this year, but those freshwater rivers that travel all the way across Michigan, all the way across Indiana, all the way to the Mississippi, that that is that is not, it's not everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

I didn't realize how easy it was to access water with a kayak. Sop on in, brother. Yeah. Nobody gives a shit. Like you gotta do the it's crazy. You can go anywhere, but then you you'll have to do the what's it called? Portage portage. Yeah. If you hit a dam or something, yeah. That's I mean, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

And that's sometimes, but that's part of the suck. Well, and that's what is part of the suck, yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

I actually threw it out the paddy that one of the national parks that are close by the Isle Royal, instead of backpacking it, what if we kayaked around that son of a bitch?

SPEAKER_01 37:09

How how would that be 53 miles? Around about it because it's way more 53 miles long. So you'd think it would be about 106 miles.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

Yeah. But that's but there's so many campsites that you can only get to by kayak. Yeah. And and even if it's like you have to portage a little bit of land to get to like a lake that's inside, and you kayak across that, and then like there's campsites all around it, and then there's islands that only that have campsites that you can only get to by kayak. Holy fuck, man. But you're really hoping the weather, because that shit can get real pretty quick.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, but you wouldn't be so far. I mean, how far off of an island? How off the I don't think you'd have to go very far. Yeah, you'd be like maybe a half military.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

I just don't know what kind of waves crash into that island.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Boy, you remember when we popped off that Lake Ear or Lake uh Euron?

SPEAKER_02 38:02

And I'm that was there was a five-pound brick rolling around my kayak after that.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

That's the funniest way I've heard it explained, but man, I do have to say, when I turned that corner, I won't whoa boy.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

It was when Logan turned the corner and I saw his face. That's when I was like, oh, we're because we couldn't, there's no going back. Like we couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

And that wasn't even like a shitty day. Yeah. That and that it was still piping up. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

We were getting like ra waves rolling over our kayak, like on top of our kayaks. You were surfing though, yeah. We well, you had to get turned around though. We were 180 the wrong direction.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Oh, it you were surfing. You pedaled every now and again.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

And they were coming in at an angle too, but then they'd come over the back of your kayak.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Yeah, I was so it was crazy. That was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

It was wild.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Man, so freshwater Great Lakes. What other geologic the dunes we mentioned all the way up north, sleeping bear dunes is here? The UP has a lot to offer. Dude, the UP does have a lot to offer.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Pictured rocks national lakeshore. All those little just one thing out there balls.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

Another there that you're looking at. Just beautiful landmarks.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Because even the drive there to Pictured Rocks is amazing. Once you hit like Grand Rapids Lansing area, the rest of Michigan is just wilderness. It's super cool to drive through.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

And then once you cross the the Mackinac? Yeah. Is there a proper way? Is it yeah, Mackinac? That's the way it's uh and then you're just you're really into it. I heard people I hear people call Mackinac. Is that a different place? Yeah. I think they're just being Mackinac and Mackinac. People.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Well, dude, absolutely stunning, though. I'm trying to think of more like geological features that I I enjoy. When I thought of this, I was more just like Great Lakes, that and freshwater. That's where I was kind of going with it when my life was like.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

The thing is with growing up where Brad and I did, it's just the the flattest part of Indiana. Yeah. Period. Yeah. And uh you go a little bit north up towards Angola, it starts getting hillier, and then you go down south southern Indiana and it do it gets woodier and hillier, and it's so everything was kind of a a marvel to us anytime you'd go outside of the freaking.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Well, I I have to say too, in terms of like geology or geo ge geography? Geographic geography. In terms of geography, I I in my older age, I've come to like enjoy the flat land. It's one of the things I was going to get to more about my personal feelings, but dude, when you're driving down a country road or down 69 all the way to Indy, there's like a moment where if you just do find a way to enjoy it, the the flat Midwest, it's it's I mean wide open skies, three and a half miles of view, little farms everything sprinkled in there. That's a pretty cool feature.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Hot summer night, windows down, a little humid. You can hear it and tire popping the popping the target.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

We used to did you used to ride your when you ride your bike down the country road, try to pop your pop those with your bike tires. Like you'd be aiming for them, trying to pop the little rocks.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Aim for them, man. It was like a machine gun.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Oh Patty got to see the family gravesite.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

I did the graveyard. Oh, yeah. Speaking of driving through the country, man, it was just way out there. And there's something cool about it.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Straight roads. Like me and me and Patty were driving back from oh, we went burning down at Limberloss. Yep. And coming back, like your GPS took us a random spot, and I was like, I think we're getting close to Travis's family farm. Yeah. And we come to a stop sign, and I look to the left, and like there's Travis's family farm. And I see and I see your dad's red track out there, and I was like, oh damn, there's Travis's farm. That was cool. Stepped in.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Brad said I should get a photo with all of your family. Yeah. I was like, I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

They would have loved it.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Oh, you mean in the graveyard? Yeah, where we go, burden. Why, what, what, what was uh limber loss, but um what was the other place? Um you know it? Oh man. It had a cool name. I can't think of it.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Anyway, they're right next to each other.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

We went down there, burden and hiking, obviously. That that place is gonna be cool. They did a controlled burn like probably over the winter. So a lot of it was down, but I'll tell you too, it was quite eerie. Yeah, the trees were burnt like six feet up, but not gone.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Like as far as you see, you see scattered like clusters of trees, and the bottom handful of feet was just black. Yeah, it was quite eerie, it was pretty crazy looking, and they adjusted the burn.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

But yeah, it was a it was a cool little area outside of their nature preserve, so they're doing it right, man. It was neat.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Well, and that's where the thing for me is like finding places like that, because it reminded me of Eagle Marshall Ops. Oh, yeah. And we've talked about before how we keep like we keep trying to book backpacking trips on the west coast, like at uh, say like North Cascade National Park or Sequoia Kings Canyon. Yep. And it's so like you basically have to win the lottery to get to get everything to line up just right to where you can do a backpacking trip. Our fallbacks are always ones in the Midwest or in the Appalachian Mountains, which are like a five hour drive.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Pop we can hop in the RV and uh head down to the the AT in the uh Blue Ridge Mountains, Smokey Mountains, Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Red River Gorge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

But then, like the areas around here, there's so many of these little parcels of land that are enough to be able to not even. Walk the whole thing in one day, and I never see anybody out there, and they kind of become like my own little spot. Yeah, like I'm just always out there, and I never see anybody. Yeah. And the only other people I see are people like me. Yeah. I'll stop and they'll tell me what kind of birds they saw.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

I wish uh they did that to me last night. Mary Gray was closer to four. That would be awesome. Because that's just a cool in the middle of no. And we're members, bro.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

I'll be going there quite a few times, especially for the hummingbird migration. Let's go, dude. Survive the swarm. I want to go again. Oh, that'd be so cool, man. And we found fossils that but dude, too, with those state parks, I think what what what what I'm catching, what your vibe is, is it's also like there's a lot to do for nothing. Like it doesn't take a lot of planning, it doesn't take a lot of money, it doesn't take a lot of time like to get everybody out there. And it's just in miles and miles of really cool property.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

Yeah, like within a 10-minute drive to my place, I have like five or six spots that I can go spend a day at.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Yeah, exactly. It's neat, and Eagle Marsh is sweet. I I do a lot of Lindenwood here in Fort Wayne, and I dig that shout out Lindenwood Nature Preserve.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

That'd be a nice one to be close to.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Well, not really nice ones, yeah. But you know, in a proper outfit. And just head on out. Just for an hour. It ain't gonna take you long.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Away from state parks, uh Sebastian and I have gone to Cuyahoga National Park, which is about three and a half hours from here. We have the Indiana Dunes, uh National Lakeshore. Yeah, we have uh Sleeping Bear Dunes up north. We have Red River Gorge, which is the National Daniel Boone National Forest. We have Hoosier State National Forest. Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave, dude. Have you been there? Uh-uh. Oh MG, man. It is awesome. Anybody listening right now that's been to Mammoth Cave, I mean it's fucking Mammoth Caves. Yeah, I'm I'm definitely gonna be going. Oh, it is, are you you're not a you're not a heights guy, are you?

SPEAKER_02 46:15

No.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Okay, because there are some some parts in that where you're like on a steel grate stairwell thing. Oh and you if you you can see through it, and it is just black. It just goes down forever. You just can't see anything. You hear water trickling, and then you try to hear it hit, and you just it's just a void. I don't know, and it is terrifying. But the rest of it is awesome. Damn, that sounds awesome. That's uh that's on the list. You guys got to get to Mammoth Cave, and you can camp all it's a national park, so the caves are there, but all around that is hiking trails and all kinds of sweet stuff. Is that near Kentucky? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

I think it's it's in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

Yeah, it's in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

It's in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah, like right on the Cincinnati-Kentucky border, right close to that.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

You know, I didn't realize that Voyagers National Park is on the Canadian border. Yeah, way up there. That's 13 hours from us. I know is that the Midwest? Uh it's that's getting right on the right on the edge. Of the north. Yeah. North country. It's I gotta that's where the Starks rule. Oh, that is.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

They're defending the north. That's the that would be the wall, dude. Yeah. In Game of Thrones. Uh what other national parks, dude? Uh Indiana Dunes. Here, I think. Which i I love it. I love that it's here.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

I don't think it's a national lakeshore. I think it's a national park.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Is it?

SPEAKER_02 47:44

Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Oh. Yeah. I got a sticker for it and everything. Let's go. And there's not a sticker for uh Pictured Ocks National Lakeshore.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Oh. Do you guys want to know what is considered the Midwest? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Well, it is one of four major geographic regions defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes. It consists of twelve states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Golly.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

I always forget about Iowa.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

Yes. Uh they can be subdued divided into East, East, North, Central. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West, Indiana, the other ones. But uh culturally, the a lot of people believe that the core Midwest um often excludes the plain states and a little bit of Missouri and Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

So it'd be like it'd be like Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

That makes that's the that's the Midwest that I think of. When it comes to people in Midwest, I always think we have not to shit on anybody else anywhere because love all of you loyal listeners. But I always felt like throughout my travels and living in other places that the Midwest person they if they like you, they raz you. And that's how they know you like ya. But if they don't like you, they just stay away from you. So there's like this, it's to me, it's like the perfect thing. Because there's no impressing, there's no being somebody else, it's just this is it, and then we go forward. There it's a great personality uh in the Midwest.

SPEAKER_03 49:30

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Would you have any more stats for us? Because that was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 49:34

Well, we uh our food is pretty much comfort food. Yeah. Uh tenderloin dude. We tend to be very loyal sports fans uh in the Midwest, I guess. I don't know if that's because we have like some of the older teams or we are.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

I mean Cubs, White Sox, Tigers.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

Yeah, it is a weird thing. Reds because there's so many teams around us.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Yeah, that's a there there's a deep sports tradition in the Midwest, that's for sure. Detroit. Detroit. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 50:09

Uh we're resilient from harsh seasons.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

I got more.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

As I said, about we're very loyal in a mix of traditional rural life with urban diversity, with uh we got our big city, Chicago, right? Smack dab in the center.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

And uh and Cincy's like a pretty big Columbus. Yeah, Cincy too.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

Well, I do, I will say with the the the seasons, like I do enjoy a short winter, but like a but a strong winter. But a s a short but strong. Yeah. With a warm snow. Because there's there's nothing about there's nothing better than a fresh couple inches, yeah, and you're out just anywhere. And it's so quiet and beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

I like six, fresh six. Yo. Oh yeah, feet in the morning. I want blizzards, dude. On a set on a Saturday morning. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Those days where you actually get your loadout, like your clothes and everything just right to where you're not cold. Yeah. And like you can just be out there enjoying it and not freezing. That those are like that's my favorite kind of day. That's your favorite day. Oh man. Fresh snow, you're not cold. It's so hard to pick out a perfect kit, though.

SPEAKER_03 51:22

Because it does sound like, yeah, my fingers are cold though. This sucks. I'm going in.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

Oh, dude, I I have mine like pretty dialed in. I mean, Patty's wife saw me out. It was like negative 10 degrees. Yeah. And I was out taking photos. Yeah. It was perfectly fun.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

I think I'm a springfall guy. I love the spooky season. I'm all about just spooky movies and everything's gray. If I love that season, but the spring, like I love thunder and I love lightning. I love the threat of a storm, and everybody's batting down the hatches. And and that it's just especially in another thing with Indiana, dude, it's just those wide open skies because of all that farm field. So you can see that storm coming. You can hear the rolling thunder, dude. That is a gnarly thing that once again is not everywhere but the Midwest.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

And like Bob Ross said with spring and fall, well, he didn't say with that, but you have to have the darkness to appreciate the good. You can't have the sweet without the flower, man. So like if we didn't have winter, you wouldn't have like if you lived in Hawaii and it's 70 year round. All the time.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

I gotta say, dude.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

I'm not jealous. If you wouldn't have added that last part, we would have all been hugged. It's 70 all year round. Like, oh boy. Hold on a second here. I'm digging this. That would be horrible. That would be horrible. That was so good. Fucking Hawaii, dude. There's shit weather. Pineapple. Oh my God. That was really fucking funny. Since Brad and I have been into the burden, I do have to just make one more comment. And in that uh recently we've come into or in the past year now, we understood that one of the biggest migration corridors in America is right through the Midwest because of the Great Lakes, primarily. And to me, that is just another cool thing. I mean, not even if you're a birder, but just by way of like knowing that there's I mean, millions upon millions of birds flying in like over fucking night is a cool cool thing.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

You wouldn't even know they're here.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. It's so, it's so neat, man.

SPEAKER_03 53:44

It all happens under the cover of darkness.

SPEAKER_02 53:48

Yeah, most of it all is at nighttime. Dang. Yeah. That's why like there's all kinds of initiatives to turn the lights off at night and cities and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 53:58

I thought you were about to say like they turn on these World War II spotlights.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Like you just see like millions of birds fly and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

I have a whole I think I think you have to oftentimes wonder what that what the skies do look like. Yeah. I mean, or what what that because I'm you could probably get good camera pictures and figure it out that way in Fred. Did I show you the photo that my cousin Dennis, who was on uh a couple seasons ago, what he sent me the uh it was a big thing last year. Like the Doppler radar. Yeah, the Doppler radar was picking up the amount of birds. It looked like a storm.

SPEAKER_03 54:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

Yeah, how many like 11 million birds a night are picking up.

SPEAKER_03 54:38

My boy Greg Shapp was talking about. Greg Shapp, dude, nice. Shout out.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Shout out. But that's how many birds. And that's once again, does not happen everywhere. It's right here, and it just so happens to be like two hours from Fort Wayne in both directions. Yeah. And you're gonna hit it, dude. So that's cool, man. That is pretty cool. I was out at Eagle Marsh last night, and uh I I it I just thought, like, man, there it was like flocks of like hundreds of birds. I think a lot of them were uh red winged blackbirds, but just cool, dude. Birds nonetheless. Birds nonetheless.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Even the annoying ones we can appreciate. No, sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

I really get annoyed by the red wing blackbird. Anything else from you dudes?

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Uh I I kind of like that you mentioned uh my family farm. Yeah. Because I just like to go down there. Like it's still kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's not in the wilderness or anything, but uh we do have a patch of woods. We can do whatever we want, but it's just so it's quiet. You can hear the birds and it's you can hear the wind. And I just like being out there and just taking a break from the noise that never stops in the city.

SPEAKER_02 55:57

Yeah, because even a lot of places you go, you can still hear like an interstate or something. Yeah. But when you're like out there, there's nothing.

SPEAKER_03 56:04

Man, you should be able to hear Bearfield Speedway on an ice cream. Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. That's a local local racetrack.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

I've been there.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

My dad used to do some racing out there.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

You could hear that in Austin. That is cool. Yeah. I have a lot of good memories out on your farm riding four-wheelers through the fields when in the wintertime when it's covered in snow.

SPEAKER_01 56:29

Were you ever spooked out sleeping out there as a kid? Because I gotta tell you, like, definitely for some reason camping when I know I'm coming and I'm going. Yeah. That doesn't spook me out at all. But like the thought of living where it is just dead silent, and like when you shut off the lights at night, it's just like you're being seen and you can't see anything. It's when the insects go quiet. That's when you get scared. Is that it? Is that a real thing? Yeah, I think so. Is that drive-by-side?

SPEAKER_02 57:01

I mean, it usually means there's a predator close by.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

Something's like, everybody's like, all right, be quiet.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

That's the thing that holds me back. Oh, weird. Yeah, I don't.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

It never spooks you. Even the idea of like being able to have blinds open all the time because nobody's gonna see you is weird. That is weird.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

I leave my blinds closed at home. I don't like people looking in my eyes. I leave mine closed.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

Well, yeah, but like if you had a house back in one of the woods on your parents' farm.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Oh, definitely closed.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

Like you wouldn't have to have them closed, though.

SPEAKER_03 57:34

No, my mom leaves them all open. I'm just like, I don't not my bedroom, hell no. No, I got scared when the because the the house sits on, I don't know, a couple an acre or so, but it's just our farm fields behind it, and when it's just all corn. Oh man, that is so scary. Dude, that is scary. And it's just like you're looking into the darkness.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

I just picture something in that darkness staring right back at you, and you'll never know.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

And I want to corn. I want to take this moment to apologize to my sister when me and my brother drove her out into the middle of a cornfield. Oh my god. And uh got off, and then we both, me and my brother hopped back on the four-wheeler and drove off as fast as we could, and we could hear her screams.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 58:29

My mom wasn't too happy about that. I would have did you eventually go back out and get her?

SPEAKER_01 58:35

No.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

No.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

She knew her way back.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

That's that's that would be that being not from ever living anywhere close to the country. That is terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 58:47

Even if it was noon and there's so many spiders in a cornfield, too, that you run into.

SPEAKER_03 58:53

You worried about the spiders, dude. You worried about the things that your imagination's right. I would not care.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

I'm a not a spider fan, but no, the children of the corn, dude.

SPEAKER_03 59:04

Corn stalk. Those leaves are shocking. Have you seen the movie Children of the Corn?

SPEAKER_01 59:08

Because that's what I envisioned. It's terrifying. Yeah. I agree. Oh man. Well, that's what I had. I'm glad we got a chance to talk about this. To me, it's just felt like we've had to defend the Midwest for so long, and I just wanted to take a minute out of here because we tend to go outside of our borders and do a lot of exploring outside of this. But right here is where we cut our chops, and there's a lot of beauty and a lot of wonder and a lot of things. I want to leave us with just a quote, really quick, if you don't mind. What do you say?

SPEAKER_03 59:43

I was hoping you were gonna read that.

SPEAKER_01 59:45

Yeah. So I have a quote that I found online. I didn't find a person's name. It could be AI. Knowing my track record, it might be. But the quote is the Midwest doesn't try to impress you, it just waits for you to notice. Word. Oof. Okay. So let's get the fuck out of here. R.I.P.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

haters. Bye. You guys ready to get out of here?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

Alrighty. Thanks for listening, everybody. Keep on sounding. See ya.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Hello.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:27

And welcome to the Busted Knees and Freddy Trays. Yeah, Brad. Welcome. To the Busted Knees and Freddy Trays.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

Oh my God. You guys sound good, dude. You guys really do. You're missing you're late about a hundred years, but you do sound really good.