Day 30: I'm Finally Saying This Out Loud | The Dream That's Beginning to Take Shape

For today's episode, I'm finally saying something out loud that's been quietly growing in the back of my mind.

What started as a simple Route 66 dream is beginning to take on a life of its own.

What if, for a special series, this podcast hit the road? What if I traveled Route 66, stopped in small towns, highlighted local businesses, shared their stories, and invited you along for the adventure? It's still just an idea—but sometimes the best dreams begin by simply saying them out loud.

I also read another beautiful letter from my dear friend Rebecca Conklin Kleibomer as part of her 60-episode sponsorship series, reflecting on her love for the Toledo Opera and the impact one person can have on a community.

This episode is about dreaming big, celebrating small businesses, believing in rural America, and having the courage to share an idea before you know exactly how it's going to happen.

Maybe this is the beginning of something really special.

Transcript

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Good morning everyone. Welcome to another edition of 10 Unedited Minutes with Marlena. It is Tuesday, July 28th. And it is just after 12 o'clock, so I should have said good afternoon. But anyway, let's get into it. Today's episode is brought to you by my dear friend Rebecca Conklin Kleibomer. Rebecca has agreed to sponsor two months worth of my episodes. And she did that because she believes in what I'm doing. She loves this work that I'm doing. And um just like I mentioned in my podcast yesterday, she agrees that it is serving a purpose. And I came to that realization over the weekend, and sometimes people um see that before I do. But anyway, so to honor Rebecca, I decided I was going to spend the next 60 episodes um just honoring her, loving on her. We would spend the first couple minutes of each episode just sharing maybe a fond memory that her and I have had in our friendship. And then I intentionally uh saved the last 28 episodes of her sponsorship to read love letters that Rebecca wrote. Back in February of 2017, Rebecca decided to dedicate each day in the month of February to someone that held a special place in her heart, and she was going, she wrote them a love letter. So today, her love letter uh was written on February 12th, and she wrote it to the Toledo Opera, and it says, Dear Toledo Opera, holy Toledo, your production of Mozart Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro this weekend was spectacular. As are all of the operas you stage, of course. We in this city and all of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan are so fortunate to have this truly amazing opera company in our midst. It is a shining jewel in our crown of not just the arts, but of all that we have to offer. That's one of the things that I love most about Toledo Opera, that it's just as enjoyable to attend an opera here as it is a Toledo walleye hockey game or Toledo Mudhens baseball game, to go boating on the Maumee River or strolling through the Toledo Museum of Art. The accompaniment of the magnificent Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a winning double indeed. I love how you featured both Reno I'm sorry, I love how you featured both renowned and emerging talent, how I can say about singers performing in the major metropolitan companies around the world that I encountered them first in Toledo. Shout out to Sean Cooper and Jennifer Goad Cooper. I love how committed you are to opera education. Tuesday talks are some of the most informative lectures on any subject, and they are available free to the public. The Opera on Wheels program is pure delight in the schools, and I encourage everyone to support this venture that explores not just music, but also creative writing for our area youth. I have met some really great people through the Toledo Opera Guild, volunteers committed to raising funds so that you can raise the curtain. It was an extra treat to see Joel and Claire Smith Gorsky on the stage today announcing the infusion of $1 million in matching funds to the endowment and memory of his parents and their love and commitment to opera. Every $1 counts too. And we've had a lot of fun throwing these fundraisers and raising awareness of this incredible art form right here in Toledo. Sitting in the Valentine Theater is like being nestled inside a red velvety jewelry box, an intimate theater where every seat in the house is a good one. The new orchestra pit is perfect. The hard work of the technical crew is evident in the seamless scene changes and lighting, and the ushers and opera staff are ever so helpful. But all of that just melts away at the first note, and I'm transported to Seaville, Lamermoor, Nagasaki, even New Hope Valley, Tennessee. There are harmonies that the cast strikes so perfectly, so exquisitely, that I have been moved to tears. I laughed right out loud this afternoon at some of the antics going on in the castle of Count Almaviva. You'd think it would be easier for those people to declare their feelings to the right folks. I love you, Toledo Opera. Always Rebecca. Rebecca, I just want to say how inspiring it is to uh see how much time, commitment, and dedication that you have given to the Toledo Opera. Um, it is obviously a great organization, and even all these years later, uh it comes up in our conversations how you continue to fundraise for that organization, and kudos to you. It's amazing. All those years of commitment, and you're still doing it. So very good. So today, what are we gonna get into today? Um first I have to I have to give a little side note. If you are watching me on YouTube or you see uh this video on TikTok, um, you see this little spar here. This is a come as you are podcast, people. Like I am not dressing up, getting fancy for this because first of all, I'm sitting behind a microphone, and second of all, it doesn't matter to me. So this morning, before I came on here and recorded, my lovely daddy came down here and helped me. Don't laugh, he helped me uh re-grease the wheel bearings on the wheels of my RV. And it is but it is something that needs to be done every single year, apparently. And this is only the second time we've done it for this camper, and we've had this camper for probably three or four years now. But anyway, the wheels were just fine, everything was fine, and it I'm just I am so lucky to be able to have a dad that can come down here and show me how to do these things because I mean I'm willing to do it if you show me how to do it. It's just figuring out how to do it sometimes. So, anyway, that's why I look the way I do. I might have some beads of sweat on my forehead, some stain, I might even have some grease. I don't even know. It was red grease, but anyway. Um, let's get back into this. Uh, this letter that Rebecca wrote kind of uh makes me think of a little project that I am working on, and this is something that I'm kind of planning for in the far future, and I've made just a small mention of it on here, but we're gonna talk about it today. Um, so a couple weeks ago we were actually camping, and um somebody had mentioned something about Route 66 and how it's this um highway that travels from Chicago all the way to Santa Monica, California. And there are all these little quirky little uh touristy things and small towns, small businesses um along the way, and some people make a vacation out of traveling this um Route 66, and I think it's so cool. Like I went on this map and I started looking at some of the places along the way, and what I noticed is there are a lot of small businesses in the heart of rural America is like right on this route, and I just think it'd be really cool to travel it and just see what it's all about. And so I started thinking about this pretty hard, and I haven't quit thinking about it, but I think it'd be cool to take you guys along on my podcast and um record as I'm on the road, maybe find some small business owners that I can talk to and uh record on here or interview on here, or even just talk to them and then you know talk about them the next day in my podcast. I don't quite have all those details worked out, but I don't have hardly any details worked out on this yet, but I just know it's something that I want to do. And I also think it would be really cool to maybe get some sponsors to help fund this trip. You know, we could have a sponsor maybe for, you know, uh travel expenses, a sponsor for food expenses, you know, because every trip is about the food. Um, and maybe a sponsor for lodging, and maybe a sponsor for fun. Who knows? Who knows? I don't have all the fine details worked out, but I just want to put this out in the universe for anybody to hear. And if anybody is remotely interested in being a sponsor for this journey, I would love, love, love to talk to you. Love it. Uh so yeah, I'm still working out the details, but and it's probably going to be like this thing where I plan it for a year, maybe even, you know, plan it for a year and then travel it or to plan it for two years. I don't know because I feel like I really want to build this podcast too. I want to have, you know, a good solid listening base because, you know, for somebody who wants to sponsor me, I want to be able to, you know, make it worth their while. And how cool would that be just to take you with me and to talk about all these little rural communities along Route 66 from Chicago all the way to California and just traveling it alone, I think, would be really cool. So I love to travel. I and anytime I can find any excuse to travel, I will take it. So anyway, again, I'm just putting this out there. But if somebody wants to sponsor my podcast, just in general, I am looking for another sponsor. Um, Rebecca's sponsorship is starting to dwindle down here a little bit. And I need another one, guys. I need another one. I think it'd be really cool to have a small business that I can promote on here every single day. Or um, you know, if one of my other friends, you know, you want to Venmo me. It's 25 bucks a month right now, and that's just a minimal investment, and it just covers my Buzz Sprout subscription. And BuzzSprout is the platform that I use to push this podcast out to Apple Podcast and Spotify and Prime Music, all those other places. And then um I also publish to YouTube, and I have been creating reels, so you've you've kind of been seeing those, which are little highlight reels of the podcasts, and I publish those to all the social media platforms. So if you sponsor me, you get mentioned in the podcast, you get mentioned before and after, and then on any uh social media post that I put, you get mentioned there as well. And I've had people who send me, you know, 25 bucks and say, Here, I love you. You don't have to say my name. I'd rather you not say my name. And you know, we can do it do it that way too. I am so flexible here, whatever. So, anyway, that's our 10 minutes for the day. Um, we're off to a good start this week. Tuesday, we're off to a good start. So I hope you guys are enjoying these podcasts. I hope you are loving what I talk about. And I just feel like we are just having, you know, sitting at my dining room table, having a cup of coffee, or sipping on some Diet Mountain Dew and just having a chat. That's what these podcasts are about. And um, if they inspire somebody along the way, then that warms my heart. So, you guys have the best day. I love you. Pray for me. I pray for you every single day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye.