Treasures of our Town
Embark on an exhilarating voyage through the heart of America's captivating towns and cities with the enthralling travel podcast, "Treasures of our Town." Join your experienced hosts, Craig (Seemyshell) and Joshua (Geocaching Vlogger), as they unveil the hidden gems and extraordinary treasures that lie beyond the surface.
Delve into a world of cultural exploration as our hosts guide you through historical sites, natural splendours, and extraordinary local experiences. All their travels are guided by their love of outdoor games like Geocaching and Munzee. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or a curious beginner, our captivating city tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations will ignite your wanderlust and leave you inspired.
Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Tune in now and prepare to immerse yourself in the allure of "Treasures of our Town." Let us ignite your curiosity, fuel your desire for exploration, and set your spirit free as we unravel the secrets that make each town a true treasure trove.
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Website - www.treasuresofourtown.buzzsprout.com
Email - treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com
Treasures of our Town
Traveling Alone Together / Solo Travel Tips
Have you ever wondered how stepping out of your comfort zone on a solo journey could reshape your life? Join us on "Treasures of Our Town" as we uncover the empowering transformation that comes with solo travel. By sharing our personal stories and adventures, we reveal how embracing solitude can lead to unexpected human connections and enrich personal growth. You'll hear insights into the delicate dance of communicating with partners about solo adventures and how these journeys can infuse relationships with newfound energy and perspective.
Prepare to be enchanted by Thomas Dambo's giant trolls, crafted from recycled materials and scattered throughout scenic locations like Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. These whimsical installations are not just art—they're part of a thrilling geocaching adventure, thanks to an exciting collaboration with Geocaching HQ. We share the magic of these trolls, the joy of exploring geocaching hotspots in Seattle and Detroit Lakes, and the vibrant experience of solo exploration in places like Rome, Georgia. Our anecdotes highlight the significance of local tips and the charm of discovering hidden gems.
From the court to the road, we celebrate the Minnesota Lynx's journey in the WNBA and savor the simple pleasures of life. Whether it's logging new beers on Untappd or indulging in caramel apples, our passion for sports and travel shines through. We reflect on the joys of self-care, the liberation of solo travel, and the unexpected adventures that arise when spontaneity meets exploration. Join us for an episode brimming with inspiration, where the beauty of human connection meets the thrill of the open road.
Do you know where that's from, Josh? Do you know where that's from you? Always say that to our guests.
Speaker 2:Hey, can I just say something about?
Speaker 1:that.
Speaker 2:Always. I have a question. Yes, I have a question for our listeners. Oh, okay, I'll be quiet. Do you love to travel? Do you love road trips? Do you love road trips? Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.
Speaker 1:And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town.
Speaker 2:It's the podcast that explores unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States, guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching, join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way.
Speaker 1:So on today's episode. Josh, you went one direction, I went the other direction. We kind of traveled together but apart. That's the feeling that I got.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were all by ourselves. Don't want to be all by myself, or do we want to be all by ourselves?
Speaker 1:That's the question, and that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. We're going to talk about different subjects that come up when you're on the road. I'll be honest, josh, I get a lot of these questions a lot of the time because of my recent travels by myself, oh yeah, and so I want your opinion on the topic as well, because you've done some solo travel and I want I'm gonna ask you the questions that I get asked all the time as well. So the great and spoiler alert I enjoy some solo travel.
Speaker 1:Not all the time, no, no, no, but maybe half the time yeah, yeah, exactly exactly before we get started, as always, yes, delays, yes, upgrades. What do you want to start with? And, uh, how do you think I will start?
Speaker 2:yes, I will start with my upgrade okay, okay and totally not traveling related, unless you travel to minneapolis, minnesota but I'm just really excited for our wnba basketball team, the minnesota links. Yeah, and let me just tell you my journey of women's basketball. I am an iowa hawkeye fan and, as you know, I love caitlin clark. If you're listening to this and you don't know who caitlin clark is, I'm like what the heck? Even craig remember when we were traveling together I think it was the Gulf Shores and I was like we have to watch this game.
Speaker 1:Yes, we we missed out on almost missed out on an event because we had to watch the game, and at a local bar.
Speaker 2:It was nice it was worth it. So Caitlin Clark she's in the WNBA now and she plays for the Indiana Fever, and so I've been watching almost every Indiana Fever game. But as I've been watching the Indiana F, you get to know these other teams right and, uh, I really have a new appreciation for the WNBA women's basketball. It's very entertaining, and so the Minnesota links tonight, as we're recording this, are in the WNBA finals, which they haven't done since 2016. So, and I went to the game I went to the game that sent them to the final the playoffs or to the finals, not playoffs.
Speaker 1:Now, that was a lot of fun and I got to go with reester bunny not many people know this about you, josh, and I'm going to spill some of your little uh habits right now for everyone listening to. There's only a select few of us that are close to you, like tim minnesota boy, myself, etc. And a few others as well that know that know your passion for sports, whether it be uh yeah, for you in football you do with basketball. People don't understand this. They think josh he's such a nice, calm, relaxed sort of guy. He's a, he's a professional speaker in front of you, know kids, so he's got a lot of patience, but not when it comes to the sporting things you watch you've got it.
Speaker 2:It's intense. You've got a den downstairs you've got a den downstairs oh you're gonna.
Speaker 1:I know where you're going with this yeah, exactly right, you know exactly where I'm going. So people are listening. You close your eyes and picture this josh himself is down in his den as soon as he gets in his den, little goliath, yes, cute, sweet, innocent goliath take off the dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he takes off upstairs, he goes up the high room, he hides in the sheets under the sheets in josh's bed waiting for this game whatever he's watching to be finished, because he knows that dad is going to get loud. Dad jumps, dad claps, dad points. Dad does all this with no one else in the room. You do it by yourself. So if you people people watch joshua, your videos and you think they think you've got high energy in your videos, they haven't seen you watch a game. That's all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2:So you're next level my next level and it's so funny because goliath is now tuned in. As soon as he hears like the roar of the crowd, he knows this is a game, I'm out I'm out, I'm done like like I don't even need to, I don't even need to start, I'm not even starting like yelling or screaming or clapping.
Speaker 2:He just hears the crowd and he's like I'm not. And here's the thing goliath is like an attachment dog. You've seen craig? Yeah, he is by my side at all times. He's literally, he's literally at my feet right now. Yeah, he's like dad, when are we gonna do something? Yep, this is the only time. If I want to, if I want to have some me time away from goliath, I just put on a game jeez.
Speaker 1:So so I'm really, I'm really. I'm feeling a bit upset now because here he is right now laying at your feet, thinking to himself you know, okay, dad's doing the podcast, so I sit now and relax and wait until he finishes the podcast and we're going to do something fun, when in actual fact, he doesn't realize that there's a game on straight after this podcast and then he's going to run upstairs by himself I know poor little guy, poor little guy it's so funny.
Speaker 2:I don't know if we've talked about this podcast. He like memorizes, I think, the outro. Oh yeah to this podcast. So when I start singing the outro to the podcast, he comes over from the couch and he goes, comes back by me because he's like it's almost over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's a smart dude, he really is he really is, and that's the time I get to actually wave at goliath and see him on camera too is when he, when we finish the podcast, yeah, we say the the outro itself itself, and here he comes running up and that's it. So he's a very good dog too, josh. He doesn't really bark too much as soon as you're on a podcast. He's pretty good like that. He's pretty clever like that, unless someone comes in and torments him, of course.
Speaker 2:So there you go, there you go. All right, let's turn into dog talk. What's your upgrade?
Speaker 1:My upgrade is that I just got back to New Jersey from going caching.
Speaker 2:Now, if you don't know what, this is so. Let me just say this Are we talking about this now or are we going to talk about it later?
Speaker 1:A bit of both. Okay, a bit of both. I'd never been before, and so all I say for the time being is that I really enjoyed myself, and I'll explain the reasons why throughout today's episode. How does that sound? Did you like that? It's a great teaser. It's a great teaser.
Speaker 2:It is a great geocaching event and you know what, if you're not a geocacher and you're listening to this which I'm not sure how many there are out there just know that you'll probably talk a lot about rome, georgia in itself itself as a city, and why people should visit Rome, georgia, exactly.
Speaker 1:All right, we have to go to our delays, okay, do you want me to go first, or you go first this time for the delays. Mine is a genuine delay again.
Speaker 2:Mine is sort of connected to one of my, like a good thing. So I was planning a trip with our friend minnesota boy, minnesota boy, minnesota boy, tim larson, and we were heading up to. We were going to go back to gilby, oh, we're going to go to. Going to go to detroit lakes, which I'll talk about later. Yeah, that's my that's your trip and it was fine he had to. He had to cancel on me, oh so I was kind of looking forward to hanging out with him for a weekend last weekend but it didn't happen.
Speaker 1:But, I wasn't afraid to go by yourself Exactly, and then this episode was born.
Speaker 2:You see, yes, this episode was perfect, it was all planned. Thanks, minnesota boy.
Speaker 1:Thanks Tim. Thanks, tim for not going with Josh. That's so bad. Well, my delay, um, as it's been a delay of mine for several episodes, and that is I'm having car issues once again, so get rid of it am I?
Speaker 2:I think you have so much in it, though it's so hard.
Speaker 1:That's the thing I get rid of it yeah, I do have a lot of cash in it as such. So, including the purchase price, the new engine, all the new bits and pieces, the bells and whistles and the build out as well, I'm about 28k into this car, yikes. So I think it's time, though, to to bite the bullet. Uh, cut the cord really yeah, yeah, I think I'm.
Speaker 2:What issues are you having now?
Speaker 1:same same issues as before. Oh, we just we gave him, we gave him, we gave him Josh, we're leaving that in. We're leaving that in for the listeners because we gave him credit. But, oh, he's such a good boy, he's such a good boy. Then, bam, there he comes in, because, just let everyone know who's listening, someone walked in the door. No, it's the same issues as it's as it's been for the whole time before um, it's a high rev engine noise issue.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, it's, it's, it's. It's starting to stall now as well at lights. Oh no, yeah, yeah. On the way home, like my last day here, I was around the corner of my house and it's just gone and just stalled, totally stalled. So I've got a new battery in it too, from the other week, you know.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I'm sorry, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Things happen for a reason, Josh. That's all I'll say.
Speaker 2:You've put a lot of miles on it. I mean you've put a lot of miles on it but not as many miles as you hoped. Exactly, exactly right, you really hoped this would have lasted a lot longer, but unfortunately that's life and that is a delay. Yeah, that is that's what you know highs and lows. That's what it's about Exactly right Solo travel, Josh. That's what this episode is about Sounds like fun.
Speaker 1:Yes and no, because some people are scared of solo travel, and if you're one of those people, then we're here to help you and guide you through. Yeah, to take that journey, take that step, take that leap of faith in yourself because that's what we're talking about is you have to rely upon one and only person, which is yourself?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's a really interesting topic and I think there's like you're right, there's a lot of like psychology behind it.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of like happening internally with people that maybe have a fear of traveling alone or they just never even considered it. I was having a conversation with somebody, um, at work, and this kind of falls into the same sort of bucket, and I was talking about, like I said, I'm not afraid to go to movies by myself. Yep, I'm not afraid to go to concerts by myself. It's something I really want to do. And this particular coworker was like I don't know if I could ever do that and I just said, hey, just go for it. Like, this is your life, don't let anybody else stop you from living the life that you want to live. And I was so proud of her and she came up to my, into my office one day and she's like josh, I did it.
Speaker 2:I went to a concert that I I nobody really could go with me. Nothing, it didn't really work out and it's like you know what, I'm not gonna let that stop me. And she did it and when she got over, it's just like getting over that hump. I think, yep, to realize like, hey, I can, I can really enjoy the attention or the um, the company of myself. Yes, and they don't need other people, and we'll talk about it more. I think it opens up opportunities, that of of human connection, that you might not have otherwise, because when you're traveling with a companion, you're you're very like reliant on each other this is the people I'm hanging out with.
Speaker 2:It kind of opens you up with your with solo travel and that, like oh gosh, I I might have a conversation with somebody at a bar that I would never have because I would so be so reliant on the people that I'm traveling with that's exactly exactly what I've experienced in the last few years itself.
Speaker 1:I was very much, very similar, um, when I was married in australia, young family, etc. There was, no, was no way I would ever even go to the movies by myself. You know what I mean. Whereas things happen, we get older, we get wiser, and now the amount of times I've been to the movies alone I've lost count. You know what I mean. Because I wanted to see that movie, or I had time and no one else had time to go with me, I went. You know what? I'm just going to go and do it by myself as well. Think about this, people If you want to go and watch that movie because you want to enjoy the movie, that's good. But if you want to go and watch that movie so you're allowed to get a big popcorn and your partner doesn't know that, you're going to get a huge, humongous bucket of popcorn and devour it with all that butter on it as well. See, they're the joys, josh, that's exactly the highs and you just don't.
Speaker 2:You don't have to talk about how much butter and popcorn you ate, yeah you can have as much butter as you want exactly and much salt as you want there you go.
Speaker 2:So there's one, and you know, some people might be listening to this too and thinking I have, I have a partner and you know, I would maybe consider, you know, doing something on my own, but I don't know how that would fly with my yes, with my partner. And I think it's really important, like, if that's something that's important to you, have the conversation and if there's this element of there's this give and take is like, hey, this is something I want to do. Um, I know you don't want to do that or I don't. I know you don't necessarily want to go to this place, but, um, but I want you to know, like, you have the freedom. If there's something that you want to do that I don't want to do, like that's totally cool and we can. So I just think, I think a lot of people kind of get stuck in this like, well, the only people that can travel alone would be somebody that either doesn't have a partner, exactly, exactly single people, and that's just definitely not the case.
Speaker 1:Think about it as a positive, and that is like if you go to the movies, for instance, and you're by yourself and your partner's, that goes to work, for instance, and then you come home over dinner that night, you're sitting down for dinner that night, they're talking about their work day and you can actually talk about the movie that you watched, you know, and your day, you know. I mean. So it's two different things. So it's a talking point, because you're not doing everything together either, you see.
Speaker 2:So you know it gives you something to talk about, exactly, exactly. It strengthens your relationship and you know what distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Speaker 1:You know they always say that exactly, exactly, very, very true, very true, mate. Uh, so do you want to dive in then and tell us, uh, your location, where you went, and we'll go from there so I was planning on going.
Speaker 2:I was planning a trip to again to gilby, the disneyland of geocaching. Yeah, yeah, if you don't know gilby, we've talked, we've had an episode on. Go to that episode. But there's just so many amazing geocaches there and they just recently launched a geotour, so I have found most of the caches in Gilby, but as a part of this geotour, the man that hid it, tricascius Chad.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:He hides all these amazing, amazing geocaches, and I'm talking about some of the best geocaches in the world. And as a part of this GeoTour, which is again a series of geocaches, if you find them all, you sometimes get a coin and you sometimes get a digital. You do get a digital souvenir on your geocaching profile. Well, many of the caches in this GeoTour I have found already Great, except for the five new ones. A tour I found already great, except for the five new ones, oh five. So I was like I gotta make it. I gotta make a trip up to gilby to get these five brand new geocaches, because and check the boxes, yep, get my coin. And, as you, as we all know.
Speaker 1:Let's say our geocachings.
Speaker 2:Yes, souvenirs are important to me. I I think I'm number four, I'm the fourth, I have the fourth most souvenirs in our state of minnesota. That's like the only stat I even care about and keep track of. So any chance I get to get these digital pieces and it's basically these souvenirs are like a digital piece of artwork, basically, and it and it's, it's, it's something that you don't have to dust, it's a souvenir you don't have to dust. It's a souvenir you don't have to dust. Yes, exactly right. So I wanted to get up there, but all all summer I have been wanting to go to detroit lakes, minnesota, which is on the way to gilby.
Speaker 1:It's kind of three hours from here and at this location, greg you and I have experienced this before were the thomas dambo trolls.
Speaker 2:Oh, do you remember the thomas dambo trolls we saw within kentucky? Yes, yes so this summer thomas dambo came to minnesota and he he created five brand new trolls in this detroit lakes and and this is some special an evil- golden bunny.
Speaker 1:Oh oh yeah, josh, for people out there who don't know about these trolls et cetera.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:What are they? Give us an example and try and picture them on mind for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you haven't seen these trolls, first of all you should just Google Thomas Dambo trolls. There's hundreds of them, I think there's over 100 of them all over the world. Yeah, and this is a man, I believe he's, uh, danish, danish artist. He goes to an area and he creates these whimsical giant. They're giants, these giant trolls out of recycled wood, and every single one is different. They all have, they all have like a similar look, right, they all kind of look like they're in the same, like species of troll, right, but they're all different. So, craig, the ones we saw, remember, we saw a child one, we saw a pregnant one, a lady.
Speaker 2:A pregnant troll and this is just huge and so it was really exciting. Detroit Lakes there was a group called Project 412 in the city of Detroit Lakes and to describe Detroit Lakes, it's basically cabin country, so it's three hours north of Minneapolis-St Paul and this is the place where people go to vacation and sit by the lake and have a cabin or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's just kind of a quaint city that, yes, is considered cabin country. So Thomas Dambo descended upon this place with and it takes. These things are huge, so it takes a volunteer. He's the artist, but it takes volunteers. I'm sure he's just like pointing okay, yeah, you, yeah, you know that piece there that, piece there, that piece. Yeah, piece there, piece there exactly hammered in, screwed in, so he's getting help with these right right. And so, yes, he created five brand new trolls and.
Speaker 2:Craig and this is what makes it really cool is that in Seattle he also has these trolls that were created recently as well, and because Seattle is HQ is where geoc hq is, yeah, they hopped on board with this. Oh, and they said, wow, thomas dambo, and thomas dambo is very much like story driven, like treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, minded. Yeah, and when I explain what I experienced in detroit lakes, you'll understand this. Um, so I, I believe geocaching hq reached out to thomas dambo and said hey, this is geocaching and we would love to make these official geocaches. So there's in seattle the, the trolls that are there.
Speaker 2:They are virtual geocaches, okay, okay this is where it gets really nerdy yeah, it's really is that within geocaches. Geocaches have different attributes, so example would be like when you go to a geocache page, it's like one of an attribute. You'd be like be like poisonous plants yeah, snakes present. Yeah, bathroom nearby yeah, um short hike, like.
Speaker 1:So when you hide, you can choose wheelchair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wheelchair, exactly yeah, but there is a rare this is so nerdy, yeah, apologizing people that aren't geocachers is it? Let's be honest, there's probably not that many are you gonna say?
Speaker 1:are you gonna say what I think you're gonna say?
Speaker 2:yeah, so this one has a rare because they hq worked directly with with thomas dambo in this project yep, there's a rare partnership attribute. Wow, yes, yes, so partnership attribute, and before this that, uh, I had found maybe one. I personally had found two partnership caches and one in minnesota, really, yeah, okay, like the one I found was um they. They partnered with pbs on the show dinosaur train oh yeah, this is longer.
Speaker 1:This is like over 10 years ago. Same one I did 10 years ago, yeah exactly 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:They partnered with genus or train, and so I had just two of these geocache. I mean I found I found over 8 000 geocaches. You had, I mean you had one over 10 000 geocaches 12 000, yeah, 12 000. I have over 8 000. I've only found two. Yeah, all these trolls in seattle had that partnership attribute okay, so that's so.
Speaker 1:It's just seattle, they're not all the others as well no, oh sorry.
Speaker 2:So it was just Seattle until our friend Gia Gia Caches, who works for HQ, her home area. She grew up close to Detroit Lakes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so she worked with Thomas Dambo once again. And now these trolls. This is a really long explanation. These trolls are also geocaches, they're all geocaches and they're all partnership geocaches and they're also Adventure Lab stages. So by completing all six stages you got like 11 to 12 finds.
Speaker 1:See, because, as people don't know, if you don't already know, people are thinking to themselves Josh, how can you get two finds for one thing? Well, this is the thing with geocaching at the moment, this is the road in which it's gone down, that is, you can put a virtual geocache, which is the old type style geocache, where nothing's hidden, but you have to go there for a particular location and a reason. And they've also announced these adventure labs, but the adventure labs are not reviewed. So therefore, announce these, these adventure labs, but the adventure labs are not reviewed. So therefore, anyone can put an adventure lab anywhere for any reason, for for no, you know, on top of each other as well, and sometimes they do.
Speaker 2:sometimes they do so right and so these adventure labs were fun, because they just answered a question that you could only answer if you were there and they're location-based. Yeah, um, but the cool thing about these virtuals these virtuals are owned by hq.
Speaker 1:These are hqs yeah, which is really kind of cool. That's kind of like that is really cool. That is really cool very unique.
Speaker 2:So I decided, I decided I was like I'm gonna take half of my trip. So instead of a full weekend of going to gilby yeah, because gilby is two and a half hours still away from detroit lakes, it's like. So I was like you know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna take friday. I took last friday off, I left early in the morning, drove the three hours there, that six hours in detroit lakes, finding the trolls, having a little dinner and beer and I'll talk about that in a minute yeah and then I drove three hours back.
Speaker 1:So six hours driving so you didn't even stay overnight. You didn't stay overnight. I did it.
Speaker 2:No, I did it and you know I debated I really did this idea of solo travel. I debated like, oh, should I even go by myself? I even asked reese. I was like reese, do you want to go with me? She didn't feel well and so I was like, and I was like you know what I got the day off. I'm gonna really regret like I'm not gonna like you know what I got the day off, I'm going to really regret Like I'm not going to regret going.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. I'm not going to regret going. You're going to regret not going If you were to sit on the couch and watch television or whatever else you'd regret not going Exactly Exactly, yeah, exactly so I decided to do it.
Speaker 2:Got up early in the morning and I I don't have to describe it. I mean you can search. Actually, here we go, Craig, On my TikTok and on my Instagram. By the time this is posted, it'll probably also be on YouTube. I have a full video that I will be producing probably in several weeks on.
Speaker 2:YouTube. However, I got a one-minute version on TikTok, instagram and YouTube and you can really just get a sense of what these trolls are. You get a sense of feel for my day, the one thing about that's special about these trolls, craig, is that um thomas dambo I told you that he's created hundreds of these, but, but this is the first um first time, first of all, that he created something, I think, other than a troll. This bunny, like remember that all the trolls are made of wood this bunny was evil bunny. He looks evil and it's huge. He's a fat. You gotta look at the pictures. He's a fat evil bunny, but it looks different because it's not made out of wood. It's made out of recycled, recycled storage containers oh you know, like totes yeah yellow totes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they ripped apart these totes and they made them out of this yellow plastic, so they're not like wood, like the trolls. The trolls are like made out of wood, this and so so that's something unique, and the cool thing is was that it was completely story driven. So you arrive at the first troll this was, I think, I think, when we went to the one in kentucky. There was a story, but there wasn't like a story that would lead you to something. So it was designed like a scavenger hunt, where you go to the first troll and you get to the first role and there was a book in front of it and you read, you get the clues from the book, and the clues in the book tell you how to find the golden bunny in the city.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so separate it's not, not in the same location it's. You don't know all and see them all yes, all six of them, I think.
Speaker 2:I think you can easily find the trolls yeah but you have to find. So basically, you have to find each of the trolls to get a secret word. Each troll has a has like a letter on it and you unscramble the letters and then that will guide you to the golden bunny. So that's just a little. I think that's just very unique to I don't think thomas dambo has done anything like that. So, yeah, that was just really cool. Another thing is is, uh, thomas dambo created the tallest troll that he's ever created.
Speaker 2:Oh, his name is long leaf and if you'll see the video he's 36 feet tall. 36 feet, wow, that's insane. He's just like. He's just like straight up and down.
Speaker 1:You know, like a lot of the trolls, how does it keep him standing like that? I mean you talk about it. I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2:If you look at it like I am dwarfed I sent you the picture, craig I am dwarfed. Compared to inside, it's 36 feet of me. Basically, yeah and yeah. So that was really cool. It's the tallest one he's ever created.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, not much else Just had a great day. It was a beautiful day and let's be real people Like this is my opinion it's the most wonderful time of the year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Up here especially, the weather is beautiful. The trees are changing colors, it's beautiful. It's my birthday in a couple weeks. Let's yeah I'm excited. Uh, I love this time and this is the perfect better than summer, I'd say to visit these trolls, because, yeah, a little hot, a little hot in the summer, um. But I'll say one thing more craig found all the trolls and then I was like, went to the google, I was like what's the best brewery?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, where we go. Where can I check in? Where can I check?
Speaker 2:in on untapped we've talked about it before and so went to this great brewery, had also food. I had some chicken. Have you ever had chicken?
Speaker 1:and wild rice soup.
Speaker 2:No chicken and wild rice oh, it's so good, not at all it's so good, craig, you would love it. It's a it's kind of a creamy soup. Wild rice is not actually it's rice, but it's actually um harvested from, from lakes. So the bottom of lakes, they they get that. So it's a rice that they get, that grows inside lakes, like in swampy areas yeah, yeah and then um, and then there's of course chicken in there.
Speaker 2:It's really good, so I had that. But then I had to have the most unique beer I could find, and there was a caramel apple sour that's right beer.
Speaker 1:I sent you a picture. You sent me a photo and I'm thinking to myself what the heck? So explain this. I mean, I'm a beer lover. I'm a beer connoisseur um, you know, self-proclaimed, and so a lot of our other friends as well. Uh, rob vardeman, he's one of them. He's got his own youtube channel about beer as well. Tim loves a beer. We all love different types of beer.
Speaker 1:So if people, if you haven't heard about us before on the, on this podcast or another episode, I enjoy the ipa sort of style, the deep, harsh sort of beers. Rob enjoys the sours and josh, you're very much a light miller, highlife usually sort of fan. So it's late when you sent me that photo. That shocked me a little bit. So, people, this photo, just you know, describe it a little bit. It was. It was a darkish sort of hazy colored beer itself in a beautiful, beautiful pint glass, uh, and then around the top, it I thought it was fake at first, josh, but it's actually it. It was the, the lip, the rim that was dipped in like a caramel sauce, is that?
Speaker 2:true caramel, caramel, caramel, caramel, however you say it. Caramel, yeah, it was a very sour. It was a sour, it was. It had apple flavor, yep, and it was very sour, so to have have it rimmed with caramel, it tasted like a caramel apple.
Speaker 2:It's a sweet and that would go yeah and it kind of like yeah it it was so sour that it like it the sweetness of the caramel really, I don't know. It really just like made it. It kind of toned back the sour. Yeah, but it was cool. I mean, caramel apples are a big deal up here in the fall, so I I could have craig.
Speaker 2:I was debating, it was like do I just get the light? You know the light? Yeah, you know, and that's what I was going for. And then I saw the caramel apple and I was like rimmed with caramel, oh my gosh, I gotta try that. It was very, very good.
Speaker 1:Well, as I said, josh, I saw the photo and the first thing I thought about was you know, I'm proud of you, josh. I'm very, very proud of you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and that's a rare thing these days.
Speaker 1:There you go. I got in before you did, no, yeah, and the perfect time of a year for that as well being the autumn slash fall, with the, the uh, you know pumpkin spice things that are out at the moment now, octoberfest beers, that sort of thing as well. Now another question is did you log it on your untapped, and was it on, of course?
Speaker 2:if you didn't log it on untapped, did you really even drink?
Speaker 1:it exactly right. Again, people, if you don't know, there's an app called untapped u-n-t-a-p-p-d, and it is basically a beer drinking app where you can log your beers again. You get digital badges and souvenirs the ones you don't have to dust, you know? Um, so yeah, just just don't. Just don't befriend your partner with it, because they can then see how much you actually do drink yeah, and it is.
Speaker 2:I mean, it fits with this podcast. It is a location-based sort of app, right? Because you log in. You not only log the beer, but you log in the brewery, so you get badges if you, you know, if you get the beer from what they call the source the source you got it from the source drinking from the source exactly so and it's so. It's so funny because I'm not I'm not a big beer drinker, right, but untap actually motivates me to order beer. Yes, yes, like I'm drinking wine right now, right yeah uh.
Speaker 2:But but I'm kind of like hey, this means if I drink beer, that means I can log it, and if I get a, if I get a flight, I can log four beers at one time yes, exactly you're right, we're a broken record. We talk about the same things over and over again, but it's anyway to round this up.
Speaker 1:Yeah to round this up?
Speaker 2:yeah, it was. It was a great solo trip and it wasn't. You know I intentionally decided. You know I thought about sleeping overnight but I was just like, hey, you know what I got. You know, I got some sports to watch this weekend, as you said before, this is true and so, um, I have no problem, I actually enjoy the road, I love joy driving.
Speaker 2:It's very peaceful, it's better meditative for me and, and, um, that's maybe another advantage to solo travel is like you can really just kind of get in your own head, yeah, which, I don't know, for some people might be a scary place, but, um, but to really just do thinking, uh, the, the travel, the road travel, driving alone, I mean, I'm not afraid of a long road trip by myself. I love listening to podcasts, I love you know so um, yeah, that was me. That was just last.
Speaker 1:That was one day, so that's a day trip, that's a day, yeah you don't have to, you know, you don't have to like.
Speaker 2:Go to, like you know, italy by yourself. No, don't start there, start slow, go to venice and germany, and you know you should do that.
Speaker 1:You should do that, but the thing is, you start slow. This is what we talk about all the time, too, josh, and that is get outside. You know what I mean, even if it's in your own sort of backyard area, playing games like geocaching etc as well, takes you to locations that you probably have never seen before as a possibility as well. Um, so you don't have to travel far. You don't have to spend a lot of money either to do it, but getting outside, getting fresh air, sunshine, you know it's, it's probably the best thing to it. And, josh, we you and I spoke quickly off air before we started the podcast and you said something very point as well. You said to be a solo traveler, you don't have to rely upon anyone. You make your own decisions, and sometimes it can be very selfish, and we both but we did, we both agreed that. You know what selfish is a good thing sometimes, when it doesn't affect anyone else, but you, if that makes sense, you put yourself first, because no one else is gonna do it for you.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you just need to give yourself what you need exactly right, exactly like what do you need. It's like self-awareness, it's it's it's self-care, it's mental, it's mental health. So it's okay to be quote, unquote, selfish sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And that's probably the number one thing that I love about solo travel is that you can do whatever you want to do. You can go wherever you want to go. You can eat what you want to eat. You can go to sleep when you want to sleep. No, it's true, and so there's real joy in it. Just in that you can do what you enjoy.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Well, I'll say this as well, and that is, I'm the same type of thing as you, josh, and that is that I'll be cashing away. You know what I mean, and I think to myself. You know what I don't feel like another cash at the moment. Now, I'm going to stop and get something to eat, I'm going to stop and get something to drink, and so that's the good side to it, but but there is a negative aspect to it. The negative aspect is.
Speaker 2:There are some negatives.
Speaker 1:This is the most negative aspect for me and I'll give you a perfect, perfect example. And you're going to go aha straight away, alabama, for bamarama. You, myself and tim, we'd gone to bucky's and we'd had the brisket brisket on the board, the sandwich, delicious stuff, right. We'd been all day out cashing out, socializing out and around, out and about. I'm telling you now, if I was by myself after that, I would have gone straight back to the room and gone straight to sleep and I wouldn't have known and it'd been none the wiser. But this is what happens when you travel.
Speaker 2:We were tired. We were tired. I was debating like we should, you were even debating.
Speaker 1:But this is what happens when you travel with other people. And that is josh. You saw this, we spoke about on the podcast as well. You saw this guy was playing at the, the, the local, um, a bar area, I don't can't remember what it's called now but but you said yourself, you said we'll go for just one song. That was it. And I was like okay, one song.
Speaker 1:And we got there and I'm telling you now I think I had the night of my time there in Alabama at that night watching this guy puff away at his vape, playing his keyboard away and just literally an old dude but just literally rocking it out at this dingy dive bar location. I was just like man. At the end of that I thought to myself I'm so glad that I'm here. If I had been by myself and, as I said, it's positive and negative If I had been by myself, I wouldn't have known what I missed out on, if that makes sense yes, and and having travelers totally, and having travelers with you, it's like can push you to do things, maybe that you wouldn't think about or consider um another example, that same trip remember when we were like we saw the go-karts and we're like we should do that.
Speaker 2:We were like, we were like in geocaching mode and we saw these go-karts and we had like, let's be real, like thank you, thank you, um, um gulf coast, um golf coast shores, because they gave us a pass to do the go-karts. And we're like, I got this pass and we have. They gave us like a lot, of, a lot of credits and we're like, and we just had so, and you just I remember you're just laughing your butt off as we do the slick track, as I like wiped out every time, like I've never seen you were giggling, like you were like a child and it was just. There's a video of that, please put it in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like just the joy of you, um you watching me completely crash like several times, several times, right in front of me. Yeah, I thought I I wouldn't have done that by myself, probably no, but I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1:And that is perfect. Example mario kart. So you're mario and I was bowser behind you, like I'm the bigger guy of the two of us, so I'm the browser behind you and you're just spinning out in front of me. I felt like I was chucking you the uh, the banana peels as you go past, totally. So it brought back, I think, childhood memories a little bit too so, and I look back on the video. Though josh and I look back, I'm like we're not going that slow, surely, like it felt so much quicker because you're very low to the ground. And here I was, yes, yeah, thinking that I was like, oh yeah, I'm the fastest thing on the on here these these kids.
Speaker 1:These kids haven't seen someone so fast and so in control. You know, because of my, my driving experience with my, my police work and stuff and but yeah, I look, I look back at the video, I go that's actually pretty slow craig like yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:But when you're so low to the ground it feels like you're going super fast.
Speaker 1:But in saying that, as you said, that's a, that's one of the positive aspects of, you know, being with friends and traveling with friends. But we'll get back to solo travel again now. So, yes, yes, my recent trip. Um, what did I spend? I spent a total of four, four and a half weeks on the road.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that went so fast.
Speaker 1:Craig, yeah, I mean, I knew you were out there for a while, but you were that's a long time yeah, and I did a circle trip as well, because I don't like to go over the road, the same roads, twice. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So I do a circle trip.
Speaker 1:I will say that security-wise, because I get asked that a lot about security. I'm a male, maybe that's different for me as well. However, I do know the places where I can stay and the places where I shouldn't stay, and I have before pulled into places where I was going to stay. I've pulled in and I just do a look, I just do like a little look around, make sure everything's fine. You have that. And if you get a feeling, if you get a stomach feeling, a feeling in your stomach that it's not right, just go, just trust that gut feeling, because that gut feeling is always right, it's instinct, it's that sort of instinct style. And it happened to me once on this trip whereby I stopped and I was in a Cracker Barrel and you know how much I love Cracker Barrels because they're so accommodating.
Speaker 1:They are very, very accommodating to all travellers of all kinds, whether you're camping in your car, sleeping in your car, for instance, not even with a bed, bed or if you're in a fully decked out rv bus, you know, I mean, they're very, very accommodating. But yeah, there was one crack barrel location where I went to and I don't know, I just didn't feel right. It had like chain link fences and there was like a little dingy um motel hotel next door and I went, oh, maybe that's not right, and so I I got back in the car and I drove off, and, and as I drove off, I had a look over and sure enough, there was, like you know, it was, an open carry state.
Speaker 1:So, there was guys there with that and I thought to myself that motel may be a little pimp house to the style of thing, like some ladies of the night work there. So I was like, yeah, no, I'm out of here. So so that's what I'm saying is just be self-aware and aware of your surroundings when it comes to safety, sure, and you should not have an issue at all.
Speaker 2:So for sure, and you know what? Let's, let's acknowledge like, yes, like you've said it before, like as a male, you know, yeah, yeah, traveling around it's different and it would be really interesting, craig, at some point we should seek out maybe a female van lifer and just talk about what? What the reality of, or even not van lifer, just um traveling, travel solo as a female and what, what that looks like and and things that that um they encounter. Um in that moment it's an everybody thing, but it's I think it's different for women.
Speaker 1:It would be so very different for for women, um, and it's. It's sad that that's the case, but you know it, it is what it is. The other thing I will say, and that is um, when it comes to security, hide your footprint. Now, what I mean by hide your footprint is don't advertise the fact that you're staying in your vehicle at that location. So, if you, how do you do that? Craig, if you've got blackout windows, put the blackout windows and curtains up. I have, I have. So for me personally, I've got the total blackout windows on the side, uh, the back, the back, two windows, back two doors, and also the, the rear, the total rear door itself as well. Then I've got these blackout curtains between the front part of the cabin and then the rear as well, so I slide those across. Um, so, yeah, I can, I can have. I have it quite dimly dark in inside when I'm in there too, because all I'm doing is I'm watching a netflix, I'm watching a tv show of some sort, and so that looks so cozy.
Speaker 2:I see your pictures, I see your picture on be real and it just looks like your little, your little cave your little cave.
Speaker 1:It looks cozy. Yeah, your nest, that's right, your nest, my nest. You kind of just like look forward.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know you work all day. You drive, you drive and then you work. You know you find a panera bread. That's another maybe tip is like you get the yeah, the unlimited drinks or whatever at panera club yep um, but yeah, at the end of the day you just look so cozy in your nest some of the pictures it's like look forward to your nest and and I think that's another thing the feeling you get when you close off from the rest of the world and it's just you and you're watching your tv show that you enjoy.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, I've now got my fridge, etc. Next to me as well, so I've got cold drinks on hand. I've got like a little shelf thing so I can sit up at the back and I I got my little shelf with my armrest and stuff going up too. So, yeah, it really is. If you build out your vehicle the way you want it to be, if that's what you're going to do, then yeah, you can be very, very, very comfortable and yet not looks like no one's even. It looks like a parked vehicle.
Speaker 1:That's it, and I think that's that's going to be the main thing, for security reasons or security purposes. But in saying that as well and that is you said before, josh, about um, if you're a solo traveler, one of the best things about solo travel is you can meet other people, make friends or even just, you know, just chat and socialize with other people. Yes, the amount of times I did that is insane. I mean, look again again. Yes, I have a different accent to a lot of other people a lot of other Americans.
Speaker 2:You're very in, you're very interesting when people are like probably they listen to you talk and they're like you.
Speaker 1:You were, you're from somewhere else yeah, and because I was in I was in the southern states this time and I'm like, yes, I'm more southern than you, and then that gets a laugh. You know what I mean. Some of them, yeah, but most of them, got a laugh out of it as well. But, um, yeah, a lot of the times for me personally, people who said to me you know, oh, I can just listen to you talk all day long, all night long, um, or they turn around, they go, what brings you to this town? Whatever?
Speaker 2:town I'm in.
Speaker 1:They're curious they're curious, you know, and it always, and that's the thing I love about traveling in amer America, specifically because we don't have this in Australia and that is the bars. Here, literally, you can go in a restaurant and there's a big bar that just people who are there by themselves sit at. We don't have that in Australia. We don't have the bars. Oh really, yeah, no, we don't.
Speaker 2:That's a real advantage for solo dining too right Because a lot of bars and bars in the us, it feels kind of it does feel kind of weird to be sitting at a table by yourself, yeah, but it's totally normal. Normal to sit at a bar, yeah, and have a drink and have your meal at a bar yeah, by yourself, that's exactly. It's like nobody bats an eye sometimes when they see you. You know, if at a table they're like whoa, wow, yeah, what's wrong with that guy? That's a lonely guy.
Speaker 1:Or they think, oh, this poor guy is getting stood up from a date or something.
Speaker 2:Exactly but yeah, so in Australia they don't have like bars. No, I'm confused. What?
Speaker 1:So we have pubs. We have pubs in Australia, okay, and there's a bar around the pub. We have pubs. We have pubs in Australia, okay, and there's a bar around the pub, but that bar you normally walk up to the bar, order your beverage, pay for your beverage, walk away and go and we have stand-up tables, sit-down tables, all that sort of thing, and then you stand or sit away from the bar itself.
Speaker 2:So you, don't sit at the bar. No, you don't sit at the bar. There's no seats at the bar. Yeah, exactly, we get. Yeah, well, that's a great tip for solo travel city. If you hey, if you feel weird, go to a place. That's what I did when I did detroit lakes. I was like it's gonna be weird for me to sit at a table. I'm gonna sit at the bar.
Speaker 1:Sit at the bar and I'm gonna have my food have my drink, yeah and nobody's gonna bat an eye.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you're worried about what people think, and I'm not really worried about that, but some people are.
Speaker 1:Well, I've been here for what? Three years now, um, full-time three years now. And you know my wife, she travels a lot for her work etc as well. Yes, um, if I'm at home and I don't feel like cooking, I'll go out by myself here and actually sit at the bar and have a meal. Yes, it's very normal. I think you get better service here from from the bar, like in terms of faster for meals and faster for drinks. You don't have the, the waiter waitress walking up and down and you know asking you is everything okay? Okay, so it's, it's very, very quick.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah well, yeah, that that person working the bar, they're very attentive, attentive to you, they're like they know a part of the bar experience is yep, hey, I'm gonna give you your drinks, I'm gonna give you the food if you want, and then also I'm gonna talk you up a little bit. Like that's a part of that's part of the skill of a good bartender exactly is to have that, have some conversations with people and have that like, especially if you're alone. So exactly that's a great tip.
Speaker 1:Finding our leading on from another, from that to another great tip, and this happened in Rome, georgia, and that is you know, we're walking down, or I was walking down by myself. I mean, yes, rome Georgia, we had a big geocaching event etc. At Rome, georgia. There was lots of geocaches around, lots of people that knew of me and and you and I and you got asked about, um, but overnight I'd be walking down the main street, the center of town, and people were going into different locations and stuff as well, and there was a couple of nice-looking, really nice-looking bars there. And then I saw this one like a dive bar-ish sort of style, and it looked like there was no tables at the front or whatever. And then all I did was I peeked through the window as I was going past. The bar was full, except for one seat, and I went that's my seat, that's your seat.
Speaker 1:I went in. It's like it's one of those local places where all the locals go, not the tourists. And so I walked in and everyone turned their head around whatever, of course, I said straight away is this seat free? And everyone looked at me then because of my accent and so, yeah, I had a couple of beers there, I had some chicken wings there and I had a great time there talking amongst the locals and again, they're very intrigued what brought you to our town? You know, what are you doing with yourself? How are you traveling? Blah, blah, blah. And so all the questions come up and all of a sudden, here I am. I was being alone the entire day, for instance, and then I go into a bar situation and I'm having like an hour, two-hour long conversation with random people. But it's that human connection you know what I mean that I've missed for the last sort of few hours or few days even.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's the thing. It's really interesting, this idea of human connection because let's be real, like Craig thing. It's really interesting, this idea of human connection because, let's be real, like craig, I think I would say you're like, you really get energized by you're a people, person, like when you go to a geocaching event. It's all it's about the social, it's about it is connecting with people. Yeah, people don't believe me when I say this because they see my, see my persona on video. Just because I'm excited about geocaching on video and I'm talking to a camera does not mean I'm an extrovert. You know like I have very introverted tendencies. I much rather can have a. You know, I love people, I love spending time with them, but I also love hanging out with people, letting down with people. I know well right so you tim like having.
Speaker 2:I'm really more about deeper, deeper friendships than about having like then, like going to like. It stresses me out sometimes to go like to a in the situation you're describing, where like I have to like engage a bunch of like strangers, basically strangers, yeah, um at the same time, I've had situations where I've been traveling alone for a week and I don't care who you are, I don't care if you're an introvert. Every single human being needs human connection. I don't care who you are.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if you've ever found yourself doing this. But you realize there's a couple solo trips I had that were like a week long and I realized that I hadn't really talked to anybody for a long time. And then all as an introvert, you're just like I normally don't do this, but I know that I know my need for human connection where I'm just like chatting up the the gas station person. You know what I mean. I'm like I don't do this in my everyday life.
Speaker 2:But I know like, oh my god, I need some kind of human connection because I'm, I'm really, I want to have a conversation with this gas station attendant.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's exactly right, and I'm similar to you too, josh. People don't think that as well. People think that I'm an extrovert. But people don't understand. The difference between an introvert and extrovert isn't how loud you are in a group of people. It's about where you develop your energy, where you build that energy from?
Speaker 2:Yeah, where you get energy?
Speaker 1:And it's about where you develop your energy, where you build that energy from. And I'm the same as you and that is, I get energy alone and that's why I'm a solo traveler at heart as well, because I build that energy by myself alone. And I do the same thing. I listen to the podcast. I listen to this podcast. I listen to several other different podcasts as well Joe Rogan podcast great podcast because his is like two and a half hours long, so I can really do some, uh, do some traveling in that period of time too.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, and you just literally you energize yourself by yourself and then, and that's yes, and that's the appeal, because you get the most best of both worlds, because if you're an extrovert, you're constantly meeting strangers. Yeah, right, exactly. So you have so many opportunities to meet like new people all the time. But if you want to like, go into your, into your nest yes, yes and refuel that energy.
Speaker 1:You can, yeah exactly what's your favorite tv show at the time. You know that you downloaded on your ipad and that's now a tv screen inside your car like yeah yeah absolutely, absolutely. So there you go, josh. We didn't really get into my going caching uh experience.
Speaker 2:We touched on yes however, yeah, I just recently listened to the geocaching podcast this is true which you are a host of. You are a co-host, yes, I am, and and so I would say, craig, if they if they're curious about going caching more, I would suggest that they go listen to the recent, most recent version of of the geocaching podcast, which you attended and also chad attended as well, if you want to deep dive into the into the geocaching world of going caching, which is just a great event and it's uh, the geocaching podcast, the only call in.
Speaker 2:Call in geocaching. Yeah, you can actually call in. Yeah, it's a lot at 8, 30, 8, 30 central time on wednesdays. Do your math for wherever you live. Yep, and you can actually talk to craig yourself yeah, I'm the.
Speaker 1:I'm a call in person now they, they. I pick them up first when they when they call.
Speaker 2:So there you go but let's, but are there any from a travels perspective, now that you've visited rome, georgia, I've, I've also visited rome, georgia is there any like high level like, um, interesting things that people should know about it, that wow, that that was really cool about rural Georgia, or that was a unique experience or a great place to eat? Yeah, you were there for like four or five days, right, six days, six, wow.
Speaker 1:I was only supposed to be there for four or five, but again, this is the other good thing about solo travel, josh, and that is, you are your own itinerary, and it can be very flexible, as when we spoke to Magplan at that time. In that episode as well, you must be flexible with your timeframes, and so I'd gotten in early to a particular location. That was a beautiful, a beautiful little campsite, free campsite, and I was going to stay there the night. However, zero connection for phone signals, zero.
Speaker 1:So I had my lunch, lunch, I cooked my lunch there, I enjoyed it for lunch, and then I said you know what? I've got plenty of time on my hands. It's only an hour's drive to rome. So then I jump back in the car and drove for an hour back to to rome, so that's why I spent the extra time. Again, though, be flexible with your travels now. Well, we'll say this, and that is if you're looking at places to eat, places to drink, then Google and Google Maps is your best feature. So, if you're there for dinner dinner near me If you want a brewery, brewery near me and then just look at either Yelp reviews and or the Google Star reviews as well yes, the Google reviews.
Speaker 2:And I've been to Rome, georgia. Their whole downtown situation is really nice, it's really nice. It has a lot to offer. It's a small town but it's not a tiny town, exactly, and there was just a ton of places to eat, a ton of places to drink. I remember a cool candy store. The downtown Rome area is really nice.
Speaker 1:And me getting there early as well, I managed to find myself the one and only brewery in town that's there. There's only one actual brewery in town itself. I found myself there at that brewery. I was talking to the head brewer, who was the barman at the time, behind the bar, with another local next to me as well, chatting about things. They give me tips about my next travels, where are you going next? And then they point me in different directions and different locations where I can find other breweries, et cetera as well. I also found Josh.
Speaker 1:I found this. I didn't know what it was until I actually got there. I went around the back and I even spoke to you on the phone, on FaceTime, when I was at this location, if you remember, riley, and you got stung by a bee yep, that's the one and you go. It's. You go like in this back door and it's called the beer garden and it does serve the local beers, but also other beers as well, and it's also a craft beer place, so it has all these different cans of craft beer. You name it. They've got it pretty much, but it's in this, these two shipping containers on top of each other, and so you walk up one of the stairs and you get there's the bar straight away and you can, you know, buy your beer, buy your drink and then walk back in the beer garden and talk to you, talk to your mate on on the phone and get stung by a bee.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so, but yeah. So. That's what I mean. They're the places that I found before anyone else turned up for geocaching and I felt. I felt very relaxed, very comfortable. I knew the the lay of the land then, so it didn't worry me after that. I wasn't missing anything by actually going around geocaching with everyone else. So there you go. One more thing I will say. If you are a geocacher listening to this and you're thinking, oh, I'm not going to go back to rome again because they're not having going caching anymore, which is sad, but it's understandable you need to go back for one reason, and one reason only, and you do too, josh and that is that the geocaching headquarters, along with Rome Tourism, have put out a very new virtual cache, which is an actual bronze plaque in dedication to the organizers of going cashing over the past 12, 14 years, and that is going to be proudly displayed in the park. That's where the main event has always been oh wow On a big bronze plaque. So that's really cool.
Speaker 1:That is really cool. There was lots of tears on the Sunday when they announced it.
Speaker 2:So that is, jim and Andyy have been organizing that event for years, yes, and you know, for several years, brought people to so many people to rome, probably brought so many thousands of dollars exactly to that city and the reason they wanted to bring people to that town is because they're proud of their town, and that's a damn rare thing these days you still have to do it.
Speaker 1:Do you know where that's from josh? Do you know where that's from you?
Speaker 2:always say that to our guests. Hey, can I just say something about?
Speaker 1:that always.
Speaker 2:I have a question. Yes, I have a question for our listeners. Oh, okay, I'll be quiet. If we created a t-shirt, a treasures of our town t-shirt, that said on the front they're proud of their town, and then on the back it said that's a rare thing these days, and then treasures of our town podcast, would you buy it? Oh?
Speaker 1:oh, like we don't have craig, we don't have any merch?
Speaker 2:well, I think it might be time, if the holidays are coming yeah I might have to go to the spread shirt store and I might need to create the treasures are town podcast. We got, we got some. We got some fans out there. We know we have fans, we know we have, we have patrons. If we go, they would love. I think they would love something like that. So reach out to us. Reach out to us. If that's something that you think would you would buy or be interested in, let us know and and if you're a patron, we'll figure out how to make it cheaper for you oh easy, we just.
Speaker 1:We don't make any money on patrons, that's it. That's, the patrons get it at cost price.
Speaker 2:That's because that's the same as gcpc do the same thing.
Speaker 1:Everything's at cost price of patrons, so there you go yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, spreadshirt has a thing where I could create a code to make it yeah wholesale, exactly right.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a great idea. How can people actually reach us? If they want to reach us, what's the email address?
Speaker 2:there you go yes, you can reach out to us at treasures of our town podcast at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:and here's the thing um, we got a message on buzzsprout on our website so if you search treasure of our town in google, you'll go to buzzsprout, which is like our official web page. Yeah, and you can like contact us through that. I think you can even contact us through a button on itunes, for example. It's so funny, craig, somebody did that this week. I just recently got it. It goes right to my email and all it was. We can tell where it's from. It was from rome, georgia.
Speaker 1:Oh, was it you? No, it wasn't me. I didn't even see that I'm looking right now.
Speaker 2:It's from rome, georgia, and all the message was was hello. They said hello, so so whoever you are, yeah, someone didn't reach out to me.
Speaker 1:Someone must have seen me as such and went well. I know him from Treasures of Our Town. So I'll message on that, sorry.
Speaker 2:Sorry if you wrote that. All he said was hello. So whoever you are, hi, hello, see, we're responding to you right now, live.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, and you know, let us know. Do you want shirts? Yes, treasure, you know. Do you want to solo travel? I don't know. So anyway, um, but I want to do say our patrons, our patrons are our, our uh supporters. They enjoy, uh, this podcast, they support it. We don't have any commercials on this, nope, and so we keep it free. So please join us at patreoncom backslash treasures of our town. We have several different levels there. We provide what we call golden nuggets. Yes, and this is extra content just for you. So please, if you're listening to this and enjoying it, please consider supporting it. It keeps everything going. It helps us pay the bills.
Speaker 1:And how else can people find us, Josh, other than that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, feel free to reach out to us at treasuresovertownpodcastgmailcom. I said that before. Or you can follow us on Facebook, instagram, x and YouTube.
Speaker 1:So that's it for our show today. So please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcasting app and, as always, Josh.
Speaker 2:May your travels always lead you to the most unexpected and amazing hidden gems around the world, even if you're by yourself, solo, solo. See you next time, everybody. Thanks, bye, bye-bye, bye-bye.
