Burgers, Bacon, and Byways

In this episode of Middle School Miles, Sharlotte and Stephen embark on an unforgettable journey with Uncle Roy. From savoring In-N-Out burgers in Las Vegas to hiking the breathtaking landscapes of Zion and Canyonlands, they share stories and laughs from their epic road trip. Tune in to hear about their culinary adventures, close calls on cliff edges, and how they manage schoolwork on the road—all while enjoying the beauty of America's vast national parks. Join us for a fun-filled exploration with lots of surprises along the way!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, my name is Shirley.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

And I'm Uncle Turtle or Aunt Steve.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

And this is Middle School Miles.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

So we've done a lot since our last episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Yes, we have.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Like what?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

We had a family member join us. Uncle Roy Uncle Roy on our trip.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

And then we met Uncle Roy in Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Yeah. And then we had In N Out Burger.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Finally.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

We finally had In and Out Burger. But there is an In and Out Burger place here.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

So we picked up Uncle Roy. We spent 10 days together. What did we do? What was the first thing that we did?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

First thing we went to do is we went to In and How.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

And then we went to the Valley of Fire? What'd you think of that?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Oh, it's cool.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

What was cool about it? What did you see there?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Rocks.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Of all sorts of different formations.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

And we saw writing on the walls from older people.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Ancient petroglyphs.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Went on a hike.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Do you like hiking?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Do you enjoy the things that you see when you're hiking, at least?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

There's a smirk which tells me that there must have been some teen boy on one of the hikes.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Uh I I had a picture of it because I sent it to Okay, so we did the Valley of Fire. And then I did like Zion.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

That was cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

That was cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

What did we do in Zion that was really neat? I think my favorite part. In Zion, we had the Jeep. We put the roof down on the Jeep, then we went up the steep incline.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

And we did the couple of the trails.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

That thing. Oh, is that the one that I forgot to pack lunch?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, we forgot to pack lunch. And we didn't have a cooler, but thankfully Uncle Roy bought us a cooler.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, no, it'll cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

We have a cooler so we can pack lunch. It happens. That's why I set reminders. I have to set reminders for everything.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

I have to set reminders to remind me to do my reminders.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

That sounds rememberable.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I have like 20 reminders, and I have like another 20 reminders to remind me about my reminders.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

There's probably room for efficiency there.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I'm not gonna make it.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

We did Zion. What would how would you describe it like to be there in the canyon and to look up and see these mountains that are like taller than skyscrapers? How would you describe that? Like how did it make you feel?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Cool looking.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Did it make you feel like you're small on the earth? What else do we do after Zion?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Arches.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

What was your favorite part of arches? And we got to see some cool stuff. Did you take any pictures? No?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

No, I don't think I did.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And you and Elgorai went back the day or two after?

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

And you what did you do?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Hiking. Lots of walking.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Were they good trails, rough trails, tough trails?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I only remember one or two of them. But I don't think there were four arches. But like there were like a lot of sand and your shoes have mesh in them. So the sand gets you in a shoe. I took a lot of sand. I could probably make a mini sandbox.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

And Uncle Roy cooked dinner for us too. Yeah. Which was nice. We got tacos.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

We got tacos. Oh yeah, I got tacos. I got a chicken salad, but you guys got tacos.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Oh yeah, I got tacos.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

You got tacos.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

What was the other part near arches that we went to?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Candyland.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Canyon.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

That's what I said.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

You said Candyland, like the game.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

I wish it was C.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Little Sweetie.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

It was Canyon Ant.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Canyon land. And you have me nervous.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Oh, because there was like the edge?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

He was like, stand five feet away from that. Do not go over there. I don't care if Uncle Roy's going over there. You're not going over there. You could fall and die. Who's gonna be responsible? Me.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Because we were at the top of the cliffs.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

It wasn't that bad. But it was a hundred or two hundred feet. Uncle Roy climbed a rock thingy as high as that. And we were standing where the edge was.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

But did you die?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Nah.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

That's one of the stickers we gave Uncle Roy. But did you die? But did you die? So Canyon lands, and then how did you did you do schoolwork while we were doing those days of exploring?

SPEAKER_01 5:10

I did one class for the whole week because you told me to do two classes. So I only did two classes.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

But it was kind of like your spring break, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

I started to do work. Because you told me that I started to do handwriting and reading. I only did two days of handwriting and reading.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

We've got a confession here. Shh.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Make sure you do it every day. But then you're like, okay, you're gonna go with Uncle Roy and do this hike. And then you would forget about it, and then I would forget about it. I was like, oh, I should probably do that. And then when I started doing it, you're like, okay, we can go do this, and I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

So there was one more thing that we got to do when we were in Moab.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Oh, the Hummer Rad? Okay, so it's not even that bad. You guys are just chickens, because literally, it wasn't like a roller coaster, but it kind of was. Okay, here we are. It was like being on a golf course. Like a lunatic. Not a lunatic because I wouldn't call him a lunatic because I respect him. But my friend's dad drives a golf cart very crazy, and it was kinda like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

But with hills.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

But you gotta understand that we have a lot of ditches in Florida.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

So like What'd you call me?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

It's kind of being like on a crazy golf course, right? Or like being on a four-wheeler. Except you're Except you're like high up, which you're not even that high up. You were jumping at it.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

We've got a picture of you where it looks like you're hanging off a cliff.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

I'm not terrified. It was the picture as a rock, you can hang off of it, but behind you, there's a little step.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

And then if you slip the wrong way, it probably falls, but you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

It was an optical illusion.

unknown 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

You were just dramatic. Because Uncle was sitting in the middle, that's why I don't want scared. I was like, okay, bet I'm gonna go sit on the edge. And then I started sitting on the edge, and he was like, How are you not scared?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Because you could look down off the side.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

It wasn't that far.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Far enough. No, it's fair if you landed. If you landed, like you're gonna take flight.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

If you landed, right.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Then we brought Uncle Roy to the airport.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah. It was a small airport. That thing was like mini-bands.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

It looked like a tiny house.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Probably was a tiny house at one point.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

And then we continued our drive. We had a less than desirable harvest hosts experience. They were great communicators and they were very hospitable hosts.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

But they had 5,000 cats.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

They had cats running around outside, and the yard looked like a collection of half-finished projects.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

And kids leaving out toys.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Lots of old children's toys and playground stuff just sitting around. Yeah, it wasn't great. So we cut that visit short. We only did one night there.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

And now we are where are we?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

We're in Provo. Utah. With the Mormons.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

And in our burger. And we're on a lake.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

It's pretty.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

It's like mid.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

The mountains in the background are snow tapped. The lake is beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Oh, you think everything is pretty? You find beauty in everything.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I think that makes me a better person. Don't you think? Because if all you see is the bad stuff and the negative stuff and the shit show, your life is gonna suck. We know people that complain about everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

It's gonna suck to be like I'd rather look at the good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

What was one of the first things that we did here at Bravo?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

The first thing we did was we parked the bus, we attached everything, and then you took a nap, and I played a video game, and then I took a nap.

unknown 9:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

And then I played a video game.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

So let's fast forward from then.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

And then the next day.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

To what did we do?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yesterday?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

What did we do yesterday?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

We got a lot of expensive meat from a meat shop.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

So for people that haven't had kalanchis, how would you describe them? I describe them like being a sweet bread with filling. There are sweet fillings and they're a savory filling.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Medicine for depression.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Food. Food. Eat my feelings.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

My feelings.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

So you got a bunch of berry palanches.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

No, he keeps on trying to dutch them. I gave him one, and then he was like, I'm gonna have another one the next day.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

So you get the sweet ones. I'm gonna savory.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

I don't like the it has like egg and sausage.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

The sausage, egg, and cheese stuffed inside a sweet bun and served warm. No delicious. And I got ones with jalapeno too. Oh so good. And then we went to the Mositas Market, which when I first came here to Provo, they were operating out of a tiny house that had a couple freezers in it. And it was fresh meats brought over from their ranch across the lake. But now they have like a whole burger shop, a whole butcher counter.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah, they're like a whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

It was packed with people. So we went and picked up a bunch of steaks and some things to roast.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Like the garlic bump. I'm scared.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Garlic-flavored stuffed meat wrapped in bacon that you roast in the up.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

It's wrapped in bacon.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Bacon fed chips in the back.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

PTSD with bacon.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

PTSD with bacon, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yes, because you like to wrap bacon over everything. I swear you would probably wrap it over a piece of bread and call that bacon wrapped bread.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I would wrap bad bunny in bacon.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Oh my god, keep that to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Too soon?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Too soon.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Okay, too soon. They roast up nicely. You know what's funny? It's like I'm not like a breakfast bacon person.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

But you can eat bacon for every other meal. Bacon wrapped on pancake and eat it.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

With a little maple syrup.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Does anybody I'm giving him like I'm not trying to get out of here?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

You're giving me ideas.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah, you just go to crackerbell, get you a pancake, come back home, make bacon, wrap it in bacon, and then you're good like I'm glad you brought up cracker barrel. No.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Because we have not gone to a cracker barrel yet.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

I hate crackerbell.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I love their pancakes.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

No. I went to Cracker Bell too many times.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

I love their pancakes. We're gonna go to one.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

No, we're not. No. No.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

What do we have to look forward to next week? You've got school this week, which you're doing pretty well in school. I'm really proud of you. I get to help you with Matt.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

No, because yesterday you did help me. You looked at me and you were like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

You got it. You were doing a good job.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

I wasn't gonna interfere with progress. You got a hundred percent of the quiz.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

That no 93%. So I had to watch the video again, and she was like, Are you taking notes? And like, I already took notes. Like, good.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Today we'll do math together. No, we'll take notes together. So we have school this week, and then we're going to the national forest next week.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

That means no Wi-Fi.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Except we have Starlink, so we have Wi-Fi everywhere we go. Sorry, and then we'll do the National Forest, and then we'll make our way up to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. So, but we have high-speed internet access anywhere we are, unless we're under a tree.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Please bring us under a tree. I don't have to do math the map.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

People are often interested in how we get Wi-Fi access. We have the Starlink mounted to the roof.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And you don't work, we have my hotspot, which is rather than yours.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

We have hotspots, and we have a Verizon hotspot.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Which you like never use.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Which I rarely use, but I keep I'm really excited. I'm really glad we got to spend time with Uncle Roy. And then you get to know him a little bit better. I'm looking forward to the next adventure. So what are you looking forward to in the next couple weeks?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Wait, wait.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

We're trying to figure out summer camp. So you're looking forward to summer and summer break and summer camp.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

No, I don't get summer break because you're not getting summer break.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Hopefully that's when we can get it.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Is it like a week or like six weeks? How long?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Let's not get carried away. You're on the wait list for a sleepaway camp.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Hopefully, we'll find out soon. This has been Middle School Miles.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

This has been Middle School Miles.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

I'm Steve.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I'm Charlotte.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

We hope you stay tuned for the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yes, yes, yes. Alright.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Peace out.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah.