Middle School Miles
Middle School Miles follows an unforgettable road trip across the country—on a bus! For a school project, a middle schooler teams up with their uncle to explore new places, meet interesting people, and share what life on the road is really like. From long drives to big laughs, this podcast is all about learning, adventure, and making memories one mile at a time.
Middle School Miles
Road Trips, Rule-Breaking, and Really Good Donuts
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This week on Middle School Miles, Sharlotte and Aunt Steve recap their adventures through Little Rock and Tulsa—featuring a presidential photo fail, donuts that might beat Krispy Kreme, and a massive playground they almost missed. From art deco walking tours to food hall sushi and matcha debates, it’s a mix of travel, laughs, and real talk about life on the road (and online school).
I'm Charlie.
SPEAKER_01And I'm Aunt Steve, and this is Middle School Miles. Over the last week and a half or so, since our last episode, we visited Little Rock, Arkansas.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And Tulsa, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Let me remind you of what we did in Little.
SPEAKER_00What did we do?
SPEAKER_01We did the Bill Clinton Library.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we did go there.
SPEAKER_01So what'd you think of it?
SPEAKER_00The library was cool. There was this area where you got to sit in the presidential seat to get a photo. That was cool. And then you broke the rule because when we got into the Oval Office, is that what it's called? There was this lady and she was like, oh yeah, I can go and then photographer or whatever it's called is gonna be there in like a minute doing something. And Auntie was like, Oh, man. And then Rom was like, go sit down, go sit down, let me get a quick photo. And then the lady came and was just standing there with his phone, like all nonchalantly, and I was like, and you're like, we could have gotten a photo.
SPEAKER_01What stood out to you as the most interesting thing about Bill Clinton?
SPEAKER_00His wife. Like how she got like a Grammy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and she's smart too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and most of those things I kind of do that.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So while we were in Little Rock, we also made a visit to a local donut shop.
SPEAKER_00They didn't have any raspberry jam donuts.
SPEAKER_01But they did have fresh hot glazed donuts that were better than crispy cream.
SPEAKER_00They tasted like crispy cream.
SPEAKER_01But were they crispy?
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Well, they had just like a little bit more moist.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, fresh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, more effect.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So after Little Rock, we hauled butt and two.
SPEAKER_00What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01To say you haul butt means like you make haste. You're fast about it.
SPEAKER_00Sleep running?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like we ran fast. Like we moved fast to the next stop, which was Tulsa, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_00That was so cool. I liked Tulsa. But the only thing we didn't get to do was go to the playground because I was supposed to wake up at 7 o'clock. I woke up at 8 o'clock. The playground. It was a massive place. Yeah, it was mass.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever seen a playground that big?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, one time in Fort Lauderdale because I went with your neighbor. Oh, right, yeah, and there was like one that was like 20 minutes away, and it was as big as the one. But it was like a different theme. It was animal themed, and it was like tree house themed. So like those like different tree houses and slides. This one was medieval themed.
SPEAKER_01So we saw the gathering place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We went to a food hall.
SPEAKER_00That was really good. The sushi was really good.
SPEAKER_01And the ice cream there was pretty good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You like the ice cream there better than the ice cream at the other place?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Wait, was yeah, because ice cream at that place. It was lavender honeycomb, but it had honeycomb trucks, and it was so great. But the other one was grass, it was just honey.
SPEAKER_01And then they had like mini golf at the food hall and lots of children.
SPEAKER_00So many. There were so many kids. This one Dan was like, Do you want kids?
SPEAKER_01No, thank you.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01We did a fun. We went to a bakery and we met a friend.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And they had own cartest and I try and slice a cake. Because this one no no this really kicked me off. Because you mean you told me that if I had 20 minutes, I could go to the bakery the next day.
SPEAKER_01Extra minutes.
SPEAKER_0020 extra minutes. That's 40 minutes plus my 20 minutes. But he didn't tell me that we were already going to the bakery. And once we got there, he was like, okay, if you read another 20 minutes today, so that's 40 minutes again today, you can have a sliced cake, either for breakfast or whenever you want to. So it's like, okay, I got the sliced cake, it was not good. But I had avocado toast and it was really good. And a matcha. It was matcha with honey. It was the best matcha I've ever had. It was so good.
SPEAKER_01And we met Sarah.
SPEAKER_00And we met Sarah. She's really nice. And she's the one that mentioned the playground, which it worked out. It worked out because you still gotta see it, but there was no Pokemon.
SPEAKER_01So one other thing that we did in Tulsa, which was a little bit different because we haven't done this before, we went downtown and we took a walking tour.
SPEAKER_00That was a lot of walking.
SPEAKER_01It was a two-hour walking tour.
SPEAKER_00What did we learn about architecture?
SPEAKER_01And specifically buildings. Art deco?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And the tour guide was really nice, Jeffrey. He was very sweet. He knew a lot of stuff. There was a surprisingly a lot of Art Deco architecture in Tulsa.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we saw Route 66.
SPEAKER_00When?
SPEAKER_01The food hall was right off of Route 66. So after we left Tulsa, we drove a few hours, and today is our first official day here in Kansas City. And we are staying at a place called Worlds of Fun, which is a giant amusement park with an RV park next to it. The coaster park isn't open yet. Sorry to crush your dreams of going on more roller coasters.
SPEAKER_00I don't want to call any roller coasters.
SPEAKER_01Have you looked up yet what we're gonna do in Kansas City? Have you looked up any ideas?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01Here in Kansas City, we're gonna meet a friend or two of mine on Thursday, and we're gonna do our sightseeing on Thursday. So, what's something that you wish more people knew about your road trip? Or when it's like to do online school and to travel?
SPEAKER_00It's kind of easy, like doing online school, because I'm already I'm already done. I was done at like 9 o'clock this week. Like 9 30.
SPEAKER_01You weren't done quite that early.
SPEAKER_00I'd be 11. 10. 10.30.
SPEAKER_01Because you don't have all the distractions.
SPEAKER_00Well, I was done with half of my classes. I only had one class at like 9.30, and then it took me like a whole hour to do this one class because it's awful.
SPEAKER_01And then you have some reading to do and some handwriting practice to do.
SPEAKER_00I really did that. And then I have my name incursive.
SPEAKER_01Which is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00And I know how to write your name in cursive.
SPEAKER_01Which is terrifying. Which is terrifying. When I try to forge my name on your detention documents that you get from homeschool?
SPEAKER_00I don't get detention documents.
SPEAKER_01We can work on it.
SPEAKER_00What practice giving detention?
SPEAKER_01Did you detention? Yeah, you can get detention now.
SPEAKER_00I don't want detention.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's not good.
SPEAKER_00But if I ever get in trouble, if I go to high school and I'm gonna get in trouble, I can just signature your name.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, you're not that good at it. You're gonna practice first if a lot more. So maybe we'll get you another handwriting book.
SPEAKER_00No! I don't want another handwriting. I already finished the I have really bad handwriting, so I had to do like print handwriting. I finished that book. And after this book, I will only have to do reading, and then I'm done. I'm not doing another handwriting book.
SPEAKER_01Get another class to fill in.
SPEAKER_00P P.
unknownP.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna train for a five ten.
SPEAKER_00I could do Pilates. Actually did Pilates last night.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And yoga.
SPEAKER_00I don't want to do yoga.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we can do yoga.
SPEAKER_00Yoga. We can eat yoga, not do yoga.
SPEAKER_01There you go. All right, folks. I'm Steve.
SPEAKER_00I'm Charlotte. And this is Middle School Miles.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for listening.