0:01

I've always been fascinated with

0:03

the idea of human endurance.

0:06

What are we actually capable of

0:08

doing? And it's almost

0:10

always a lot more than we think. At

0:16

some point, I want to do a long

0:18

distance bike ride. So

0:20

far, the longest I've biked in a day

0:22

is about 50 or 60 miles, and that

0:24

was right here in this area, so afterward

0:26

I went home and slept in my own

0:28

bed. But I'd

0:30

really like to bike from here in

0:32

the Tampa Bay area across to the

0:34

other side of Florida, the east coast.

0:37

It would probably take me like three days.

0:41

I love the idea of that kind of adventure. But

0:45

my guest today, Daniel, had a

0:47

much bigger idea. His

0:49

plan was to ride his bike

0:51

across the entire U.S. from

0:54

San Francisco all the way to New

0:56

York City. And

0:59

he started this ride without carrying

1:01

any money or any food. He

1:04

was going to depend on the kindness of

1:06

strangers all along the way. And

1:10

that's exactly what he did. But

1:12

that's not all. He recorded video

1:14

all along the way, and

1:17

he turned that into a documentary that's

1:19

won a ton of awards. So

1:22

we get to see him struggling to bike

1:24

up mountains and across long

1:26

stretches where he saw no one, and

1:29

through some scary neighborhoods. But

1:32

my favorite part, and what made

1:34

Daniel's journey so magical, are

1:37

the people he encountered along the way.

1:44

Real people in

1:46

unreal situations. I'm

2:00

Scott Johnson, and this is What Was That Like.

2:32

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comfortable, ahh. Do

4:01

you remember a specific moment when you came up

4:03

with this idea or how

4:06

did it come about? I think if

4:08

anything, it kind of starts from my childhood,

4:10

honestly. I think that so

4:12

growing up, my mother, she

4:14

really struggled with alcohol abuse

4:17

and drug addiction. I

4:19

didn't have much of a connection with her. She

4:22

ended up dying at a young age and

4:25

it never really gave me the opportunity to get to

4:27

know who she was as a person and I felt

4:29

that lack of connection with her. That

4:32

was kind of instilled at me at a young age and then

4:35

my father ended up passing away at a young

4:37

age as well. After those

4:39

two things happened with me, I really started to question

4:41

life and just what I wanted to do with my

4:43

own life and again, just that lack

4:45

of human connection that I felt with my parents

4:48

being gone. Around

4:50

the time that my father passed away, somebody gave me

4:52

a book called The Kindness

4:54

of Strangers and it was about a

4:56

guy who hitchhiked across America with

4:58

no food and no money and he

5:00

wrote a book about all the people that he met along

5:03

the way. After

5:05

reading that book, I felt so inspired

5:08

and I thought, man, I would love to kind

5:11

of recreate something like that. After

5:14

my father passed, I just felt like this sense

5:16

of recklessness in me. I really wanted

5:18

to do something because I felt like, well, shoot, I

5:20

thought he was going to live to be a lot

5:23

longer. Same with my mom and I realized who knows

5:25

how long I'll be around for. Yeah, that

5:27

book inspired me and I thought instead

5:30

of hitchhiking across America, what if I

5:32

were to try to ride my bike across

5:34

it? I think that when you ride your bike,

5:36

you really connect with the communities that you're riding

5:38

through. You get to know the land

5:40

very well. When you're climbing over

5:42

the Rocky Mountains on a bicycle, you really

5:44

feel the Rocky Mountains and you smell the

5:46

areas that you're going through. Being

5:49

on a bicycle, it attracts curiosity from

5:51

people. They see that you

5:53

have your bags and they think, where's this guy

5:55

coming from? Where's his story? I thought that would

5:58

give me an advantage if I was making a...

6:00

documentary because I figured, you know,

6:02

I would have this unique opportunity to connect with

6:04

the people that I met because of the curiosity

6:06

that they have. And so I

6:09

kind of combined that recklessness that I was feeling and

6:11

also that sense. I wanted to really push it because

6:13

who knows how long I'll be around for. And

6:16

that's pretty much what inspired the journey.

6:20

You mentioned your documentary and I watched

6:23

it. Actually, I've watched it twice and

6:25

it's amazing. We're

6:28

going to have a link to that so people can watch it. But

6:30

some of the questions that I have are, it's

6:33

kind of divided into two groups. One

6:35

is the social aspect of it. Who

6:37

you met, who did you

6:39

encounter and how did that all work? But

6:41

also, I'm really interested in

6:43

the logistics of how you

6:46

do this, this cross-country

6:48

trip and make

6:50

a documentary at the same time. So

6:53

man, I just got all kinds of questions. Let's

6:56

talk about what was the original

6:58

plan? You're in San Francisco and

7:01

you were planning to go from there to

7:03

New York City. Was it the round trip

7:05

part of the plan or how did that

7:07

come into formation? The original plan

7:09

was to try to get to New York

7:11

City with no food or money. And I

7:13

had a sign that said, biking across country,

7:16

ran out of food, anything helps.

7:18

And then I was panhandling, right?

7:22

I decided to use hidden camera glasses because I

7:24

didn't want the people to know

7:26

that I was making a documentary in the

7:28

moment because I was trying to capture the

7:30

real genuine interactions that I had with people.

7:33

If I was fortunate to receive help from somebody, I'd say,

7:35

hey, do you have a story about when somebody helped you

7:37

and you really needed it? And I

7:39

started collecting stories about people's hardships and

7:42

compassion that they'd experienced in their own

7:44

lives. And I was trying to figure

7:46

out why are these people helping? What

7:48

makes them want to help? And so,

7:50

yeah, my goal was to get all the way

7:52

to New York City from San Francisco. And I

7:54

remember standing at the Golden Gate Bridge when

7:57

I left San Francisco and I was staring at it

7:59

and thinking, Oh my God, I

8:01

have so far to go and I felt this

8:03

sense of like panic for a second because I

8:05

thought how far the Brooklyn Bridge is like 3600

8:08

miles away from here and it was really

8:10

intimidating but what I found was as

8:13

soon as I started pedaling, I immediately felt

8:15

better because I realized just just take it

8:17

one day at a time. But

8:19

that was the goal was just to get to New York City and I

8:22

got there and I felt like well, I think

8:24

that I think I want to keep going.

8:27

How far in advance did you plan

8:29

this? How long did it take you

8:31

to put it all together? I'd say

8:33

about a year in advance. I really

8:35

started looking at different routes, etc. And

8:37

again, going back to the recklessness in

8:40

me, I wanted to choose the most challenging route

8:42

that I can find because I really want to

8:44

push myself. And again, it was kind of like

8:46

a moment of just I

8:48

didn't care what happened really because I was

8:50

feeling so reckless but I feel like I

8:52

channeled that in a way that was positive

8:54

because I wanted to make something about compassion

8:56

and adventure, etc. And so

8:59

that's why I chose a route over

9:01

the mountains and through the deserts. How

9:04

long did you think it would take? I

9:06

thought that I would get to New York in

9:08

about two and a half months but I quickly

9:11

realized that I mean just the time that I

9:13

would spend panhandling every couple of

9:15

days, I would spend like eight hours out there.

9:18

And also I realized that sometimes I would have

9:20

a connection with somebody in a town

9:22

and I would sit there for three hours and

9:24

just hang out. So that kind of changed

9:27

my schedule as well because you know sometimes I'd meet

9:29

somebody and they'd say, hey, do you need a place

9:31

to stay for the night? And then I'd end up

9:33

in a stranger's home having dinner with them which is

9:35

really beautiful. Right. Yeah, I love

9:37

that part of it. You just said,

9:40

okay, I'm going to meet somebody. I'm going to hang out with

9:42

them for a while. And you

9:44

met some really interesting people. Can

9:48

you summarize your inventory

9:50

of stuff that you brought with you

9:52

when you started? What did you have?

9:55

I had my surly long haul chakra

9:57

bicycle, which is a touring bike. able

10:00

to hold a lot of weight and gear. I had

10:03

about 60 pounds of gear. I had my

10:05

hidden camera glasses. I brought a drone with

10:07

me to capture the landscape shots. To program

10:09

the drone, I would use my phone and

10:11

use the GPS on it and I would

10:13

program it to where it would follow me.

10:15

So it gave you some really cool landscape

10:17

shots and it seemed like I had a

10:20

film crew with me. And then I brought

10:22

a GoPro camera that I strapped to my

10:24

chest when I was riding to give that

10:26

first person view to make the viewer feel

10:28

like they were there on the bike with

10:30

me. And then I brought a

10:32

tent, a sleeping bag. I

10:35

brought some cooking gear, a

10:37

water purifier and

10:41

yeah, a lot of, not a lot, but I had

10:43

some change of clothes. That's pretty

10:45

much it. The camera gear is what weighed the

10:47

most out of anything. Did you

10:49

forget anything? You're going to think

10:51

this is absolutely ridiculous, but I left and I

10:54

forgot my jacket. So

10:58

I had my brother meet me in Santa Cruz and

11:00

he brought the day that I left and he brought

11:02

the jacket for me. Yeah, because you

11:04

did run into some cold weather for parts of

11:06

this trip. You definitely wanted a jacket, I'm sure.

11:09

Yeah, definitely. And the

11:12

one thing with my gear is because

11:14

I wasn't planning on being on the road for

11:16

too long, I only brought summer gear with me.

11:18

But because I ended up spending seven months on

11:21

the road, I definitely wasn't prepared

11:23

for winter. And when winter came and I

11:25

was in Montana, I mean, I

11:27

was trying to use my summer gear to

11:29

stay warm and that really wasn't helping too

11:31

well. Okay, but when you

11:33

started out, you left San Francisco, you literally

11:36

had no food with you and you had

11:38

no money in your pocket? Yeah,

11:40

there was no food or money and I

11:42

just had my sign that said bike in

11:45

a cross country, ran out of food, anything

11:47

helps. But one thing Scott, I will mention

11:49

is I read a book by

11:51

an environmental activist named Rob Greenfield. He

11:53

rode his bike across America and he

11:55

was dumpster diving a lot of

11:57

the way. And so I knew he was going

12:00

behind grocery stores to find food that was

12:02

being thrown away. I knew that

12:04

was an option. That was always going to be a

12:06

backup option if I needed it, which gave

12:08

me more confidence. In watching

12:10

the documentary, it seems like in a lot of

12:12

cases, that was plan A, right? Because

12:15

you hit a lot of dumpsters. Yeah,

12:17

yeah. Scott, it was really

12:19

interesting. I had no idea that there was

12:21

that much food being thrown away. It was

12:24

insane. There was actually at times where I

12:26

would prefer, especially as time went on, sometimes

12:29

the panhandling could just be so mentally

12:31

exhausting. I didn't want to stand out in

12:33

public for eight hours. So, it

12:36

was a lot easier to go behind a

12:38

grocery store and just grab some food that

12:41

was in the dumpster and then I would

12:43

just keep going on my bike. Yeah, you're

12:45

still self-sustaining, so to speak. But

12:48

eight hours is a long time. When

12:51

you started this, did you plan on

12:53

spending that much time at each place

12:56

just to get food or money? No,

12:58

no. I thought it was going to be a

13:00

lot less, honestly, but I would stop every three

13:02

days though as well. So, I wouldn't stop for

13:04

eight hours. So, it was eight hours would

13:06

give me the opportunity to give me enough food or

13:09

money for about three days or so.

13:11

Obviously, it depended, but that usually I felt like,

13:13

okay, I have enough to where I can keep

13:15

going. And it also gave me

13:17

a chance to rest in some ways, rest my legs, so

13:19

it was like a day off from riding the bike. So,

13:22

you started on the California coast

13:25

and is that where you live? Yeah, yeah.

13:27

I live in Monterey, California. Was

13:30

there any publicity? How many people knew you were

13:32

doing this? What's really

13:34

funny is I actually hardly told anybody I

13:36

was doing it besides my close friends and

13:38

family because there was this level that I

13:40

wanted to be anonymous on the road and

13:43

I didn't want people to know what I

13:45

was doing. For example, there'd be

13:47

times I would meet other people on bike tours who

13:49

were going across the country and they would say, hey,

13:51

do you want to ride with us for the day?

13:53

But I'd actually declined because I felt like it was

13:55

going to get in the way of my documentary

13:58

and my story. So

14:00

there was this level of anonymity that I

14:02

tried to maintain the whole time. From

14:05

the time you started, how long before

14:07

you stopped to ask for donations? The

14:11

first time I stopped was about 45 miles. Yeah,

14:15

I rode 45 miles the first day and

14:17

then I met a man in Santa Cruz.

14:19

It was really interesting. He kind of

14:21

foreshadowed. It was amazing. He told me, he said, I

14:25

asked him, what made you want to help me, man? He

14:27

said, you know, there's this quote that I learned at a

14:29

young age because I went through some struggles myself. And he

14:31

said, you know, I don't give because

14:33

I have a lot. He said, I give because

14:35

I know what it's like to have absolutely nothing.

14:38

And it was really fascinating because he was the

14:40

first person that I met and he pretty

14:42

much foreshadowed the whole journey for me because

14:44

that's what I started to witness as time

14:46

went on. I know you didn't

14:49

put every person that you

14:51

encountered in the documentary, but I

14:53

remember seeing that guy. Yeah. When

14:56

you stopped that first time, how nervous

14:58

were you to start standing there holding

15:00

that sign? Oh, man,

15:02

I can't. Yeah, it's hard to explain. I

15:05

felt so self-conscious. I had no idea about

15:07

just how much shame and guilt I would

15:09

feel by holding a sign that was pretty

15:12

much asking for help. And it hit me

15:14

immediately. I mean, the funny thing with

15:16

this journey is like I really didn't have much of a

15:18

plan at all. I just figured, okay, I'm

15:20

going to go ride my bike and just really just see what

15:22

happens. And so when I finally received help from someone, the first

15:25

thing that came to mind was like, hey,

15:27

man, do you have a story about when somebody helped

15:29

you? And that was like spur of the moment. I

15:31

just thought that about and then I just ended up

15:33

sticking with that question the whole time. That

15:36

is such an amazing question. I can't believe it

15:38

was just right off the top of your

15:40

head, you just decided to ask him. So

15:42

you weren't planning to ask him anything? Not

15:45

really, no. I didn't really know what

15:47

to say. That's the funny thing about this

15:49

is, again, in some ways, I think that

15:51

I wanted to keep some serendipity with this whole

15:53

experience. And that's why there wasn't so much

15:55

planning as far as the route

15:57

goes or even, you know, every night I didn't know where

16:00

I was going to sleep or what town

16:02

I was going to stop into. And that

16:04

created a level, it kind of increased the

16:06

adventure and it just felt more authentic. I

16:08

kind of felt like I was evolving with just

16:11

the flow of the journey, if that makes sense. Yeah.

16:15

Yeah. Where did you camp on the first night? Yeah,

16:18

the very first night, I didn't know where I

16:20

was going to sleep and I slept behind a

16:22

baseball field. And

16:24

that's another thing that's just, again, kind of

16:26

funny. I came across the baseball field. I

16:29

thought, oh, this will be, this seems like kind

16:31

of a safe place to sleep. And then as

16:33

time went on, that was always kind of my

16:35

go-to option if I couldn't find like a place

16:38

off the side of the road or in the

16:40

woods, especially in these more like condensed cities, the

16:42

baseball field, I would hide out in the dugout

16:45

and it gave me some safety and it kept me

16:47

from the rain. And the other funny thing too is,

16:49

I mean, I was always trying to find a place

16:51

to bathe, and sometimes I

16:53

would jump in a river to bathe.

16:56

And other times in baseball fields, once it

16:58

got dark, I would just strip butt naked

17:00

and just use their hose and just be

17:03

showering in the middle of the baseball field.

17:05

You know, this random bike rider who's naked

17:07

showering and that, you know. I

17:09

would be thinking, okay, I'm out

17:11

miles from home. I'm naked

17:14

in a baseball field. What

17:17

am I doing with my life? Yeah, you know, that's

17:19

so funny. And there was also, it's kind

17:21

of liberating in some ways because I just

17:23

really wanted to get into like the, almost

17:26

like the primal aspect of it. I also, I

17:28

hardly wore a shirt the whole time when I

17:30

was riding my bike because I felt like, you

17:32

know, when I grew a beard and it just,

17:34

I really wanted to be in the lifestyle and

17:37

just, it's kind of exciting where you

17:39

just, while you're riding across, you

17:41

know, different states and different areas, you're

17:43

always kind of looking for resources. What

17:45

can I use to kind of help

17:47

me, help guide me along this, whether

17:49

it's using the dumpster, right?

17:51

Or if you're, you know, you're using the

17:54

baseball field, you're jumping in a river or

17:56

you're sleeping in weird places, you know. Yeah.

17:59

What were some of the more unusual. places you slept.

18:01

I know one of them was a graveyard,

18:03

right? Yeah, yeah. That one

18:05

was in Pennsylvania. I was

18:08

riding near the Appalachian Mountains and it was

18:10

just like rural area and it was getting

18:12

dark and I came across next to an

18:14

abandoned house there was this small graveyard of

18:16

maybe like 15 graves and

18:18

I thought, well, this is the only place that's

18:20

flat around here that's like had decent grass. So

18:23

I just I set up my tent there and

18:25

that was a pretty memorable night.

18:27

And you know, there was

18:29

a kind of a funny one. I was when I

18:31

was in Colorado, there were a lot of wildfires happening.

18:33

For a couple days, I was

18:36

trying to outrun these wildfires because of all the

18:38

smoke, you know, and eventually they the

18:40

smoke caught up to me and I was for a couple

18:42

days, I was breathing in that smoke and it was really

18:44

starting to hurt my lungs, especially eight hours

18:46

sleeping in a tent. I came

18:48

across this old football equipment shed behind this

18:51

high school. And I thought, you know,

18:53

it's it's summertime. So it's totally fine if I

18:55

just sleep in this football equipment shed and there

18:57

was soft pads I put on the ground and

18:59

I I really got a good night's sleep there

19:01

and it kept me from the smoke. And then

19:03

the next morning I wake up at

19:05

like 8am and I load my bike

19:07

up with all my gear and I walk out of the

19:10

football shed and there's this football

19:12

team like 40 players that

19:14

are practicing I guess summer practice and they

19:16

let everybody literally was like a movie

19:18

they stopped the practice and everybody's just staring

19:20

at me thinking, what the hell is

19:23

this guy doing coming out of the shed at eight in

19:25

the morning like with you sleeping in there? Yeah,

19:27

yeah, I bet they were talking about that for a

19:29

while. Definitely, definitely. And

19:32

did you sleep on a high school

19:34

roof? Yeah, that was

19:36

actually the third night. So basically,

19:39

I was near Davis,

19:41

California, and I set

19:43

up my tent in this baseball field at

19:45

first but there was cockroaches every I woke

19:48

up in the middle of night and there

19:50

was cockroaches everywhere on my tent and also

19:52

they got in my tent. It

19:54

was so disgusting like and there was no way

19:57

I could fall back asleep just like knowing they're

19:59

crawling all over. So, I didn't know

20:01

what to do. Again, I woke up at like maybe two in

20:03

the morning and so I just like grabbed

20:05

my stuff and I hopped on top of this fence

20:08

and I threw my gear

20:10

on top of this roof at

20:12

this high school and I slept up there and

20:14

it was a very, very strange place but also

20:16

a memorable place. It was kind of cool to

20:18

watch the sunrise being on top of the roof

20:20

there. And then there was

20:22

another time you slept inside a tree. That

20:26

was probably literally the best night's sleep

20:28

I got in the whole seven month

20:30

journey. I was riding through Northern California

20:33

through the redwoods and it started to rain in the

20:35

late afternoon and so I thought, okay, I got to

20:37

find a place that will keep me dry. And

20:40

I came across this redwood grove and I'm talking

20:43

huge redwoods that are like 1500 years old

20:46

and one of them, the bottom of

20:48

it was hollowed out and so

20:50

I set up my tent inside the

20:52

tree. It was such a huge

20:54

tree. I stand up with no problem inside the tree

20:56

and in some ways, I

20:58

mean, it kept me dry from the rain

21:00

and it also kept warm. I

21:03

know that kind of sound a little hippie-ish but like

21:05

in some ways, I felt like the 1500 year

21:08

old tree was nurturing me in some

21:11

ways and I slept so good that

21:13

night. You do have a little

21:15

bit of a hippie streak in you, right? I

21:17

mean, that's what it sounds like anyway. That's

21:19

definitely in me for sure, yeah. Okay,

21:22

so you're going on and you

21:24

were like three days in and

21:26

you had your first bike repair

21:29

issue. Something went wrong with the bike

21:31

and you had to hitchhike. Had

21:33

you ever done that before? No, no, that

21:35

was my first time hitchhiking and again, I didn't

21:38

know what I was doing. I

21:40

just didn't know how long it would take or whatever and

21:42

the crazy thing about that is I

21:44

set my stuff down, right? Because

21:46

my seat broke and I can't ride a bike

21:48

with a broken seat and I thought, okay,

21:51

let's see what happens. I

21:53

walked to the side of the road, two

21:55

cars passed by and the third car. So

21:58

literally it was 15 seconds. third

22:00

car picked me up. It was unbelievable.

22:02

That was the guy in the little van,

22:04

right? Yeah. He was in

22:06

a Westfalia van and he said, it'll

22:09

break your heart if you're hitchhiking in a

22:11

Westfalia van, passes you by and doesn't pick

22:13

you up. That

22:15

guy was hilarious too. I guess you

22:17

guys are going up a hill or something. He

22:20

had it all the way to the floor

22:22

and it just wasn't making any progress hardly.

22:24

He's swearing at the people honking at him.

22:27

Yeah. He was such a funny

22:29

guy. He was in his mid 80s and

22:31

this Sicilian guy, and that's how we bonded.

22:33

I'm Sicilian. He was Sicilian. His

22:36

old van, it was so old and beaten

22:39

up and he was driving so slow

22:41

to where there's a huge line of traffic

22:43

going. He was talking to me

22:45

and then a bunch of people are honking

22:47

and he stops his conversation and

22:49

he goes, fuck you, asshole. And

22:52

then he just goes right back into the

22:54

conversation like nothing happened. He's

22:56

used to it probably, right? Sounds

22:58

like it. Carson

23:00

Pass in Eastern California

23:03

was over 8,000 feet elevation and

23:05

you were really struggling.

23:08

Did you train for that kind of elevation?

23:12

Yeah. That's one thing where I did. I worked

23:14

with a physical therapist for six months before I

23:16

left and she was really trying to get my

23:19

body nice and strong for that mountain pass. That

23:21

was the big test for me. That was the

23:23

first really big mountain pass that I faced. It

23:26

was a struggle and I had to take a lot of

23:28

breaks while I was riding up the pass, but eventually I

23:31

got up to the top of the pass and it was

23:33

so beautiful because I got up there. It

23:36

just felt it was up into the snow and

23:38

then just as soon as you descend that pass,

23:41

you cross the border and then you're

23:43

in Nevada. It was amazing. 20

23:46

minutes earlier at the top of the pass, there was

23:48

snow and pine trees and then after 20 minutes of

23:50

riding, all of a sudden I look around and there

23:52

was cactuses and you're in the desert. Go

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savings are waiting. There's

27:33

nothing quite like the feeling that you get when

27:35

you're you know you've been working five hours climbing

27:38

up a mountain pass and you have all that

27:40

gear and you're sweating you know and you just

27:42

want to get to the top and then you're

27:44

rewarded with this wonderful feeling of just adrenaline rush

27:46

as you're just bombing down the mountain and that's

27:49

when I feel the most alive when I'm riding

27:51

my bike is just going fast down a mountain

27:53

pass and in some ways You know

27:55

you look at the mountains and there's just there's this challenge.

27:57

There's this obstacle in front of you and it's you think?

28:00

Yeah, I do this. Can. I ride over you

28:02

know, and I like the kind of. Make. A

28:04

game out of in some ways and look at

28:06

our as this this obstacle that's in my way

28:08

and can I in some ways conquer the mountain

28:10

if that makes sense when you get over the

28:12

top of the and it just feels like it's

28:14

it's it's a moment. Celebration.

28:17

To just feel that the wind in your face

28:19

and just give your your your legs a break

28:21

in just Also it's usually when he gets the

28:23

top of the now and you have a wonderful

28:25

view and it it reveals where am I going

28:28

next and after crossing Carson Pass and being in

28:30

the know the pine trees I realized oh and

28:32

I'm heading down into the desert now. I.

28:35

Am cross the of the Great Basin

28:37

Desert in Nevada in a called the

28:39

Loneliest Road in America. And

28:42

this particular road is about a four

28:44

hundred mile stretch with only four towns.

28:46

There. Was eighteen mountain pass the try to

28:49

climb and. It. Was super intimidating

28:51

going through there. Before I wrote the desert

28:53

this man told me. he said you better

28:55

be aware the scorpions. Use. It as

28:57

lot of scorpions if you me camp and out

28:59

there he said watch out for the coyotes to

29:02

and he warned me about are running out of

29:04

water. And saw was still pretty intimidated.

29:06

Before. Writing into the desert you know there

29:08

was one particular a particular day that really stood

29:11

out to me. There is a and eighty four

29:13

mile a day. With that. Three. Mountain

29:15

Pass Decline know services and and I

29:17

think the most intense bar was there

29:19

was no shade. And so I

29:21

I woke up with a certain kind of intensity that

29:23

day and ah, okay, bike. Respect.

29:26

The desert to this is no joke. You know your

29:28

long way to go, especially carrying like sixty pounds a

29:30

year. After couple mountain passes I

29:32

had thirty five miles left to go in

29:34

and I ran out of water is is

29:36

this hellish headwind hit me of is really

29:38

slowing my pace down and. When. I

29:40

ran a water I got low nervous to the has

29:42

to add thirty five miles and. And. Am I

29:45

know ago I got so dehydrated that my know

29:47

started to bleed. And that's when I got really

29:49

concerned because I thought okay now and now I'm

29:51

losing a lot of electrolytes. And

29:53

that's get me super dehydrated and he knows

29:55

I started kept riding I. i

29:58

started feeling had the flu felt super sick

30:00

and what made it even worse was, you

30:02

know, being out in

30:05

the desert just along the side of the

30:07

road, there was just tons of like carcasses

30:09

from dead animals that just like dead cows

30:11

that wandered off and just died of thirst,

30:14

dead horses. And so that definitely didn't, you

30:16

know, increase my

30:19

confidence as I'm, you know, out of water seeing

30:21

all these dead animals. And, you know,

30:23

eventually I was able to make it over the third

30:26

mountain pass and, you know, and get

30:28

out of the desert. But that was a super

30:30

intense part of the ride and one that I'll

30:32

never forget. Talking

30:34

about where you were

30:36

planning to go, I assume you used your

30:39

phone for GPS the whole time to track

30:41

your route. So I

30:43

used, I purchased these maps

30:45

by Adventure Cycling Association for the first about

30:47

half of the trip for the western part

30:49

of the country. And they were kind of

30:52

like more cycle friendly roads, if that makes

30:54

sense, they would take you, it was

30:56

a longer route, if that makes sense, but it

30:58

would keep you away from traffic for the most

31:00

part. And so I use those maps up until

31:02

I got to St. Louis. And then when I

31:04

got St. Louis, I started using

31:07

my phone for GPS. And again, I just

31:09

knew, okay, I'm heading towards New York

31:11

City, so it's just going a general direction. But

31:13

there was also a lot of times where I

31:15

would ask people when I was panhandling, hey, are

31:17

there any cool roads that you'd recommend just going

31:20

east? And that was a cool way to kind

31:22

of get the, you know, the locals would fill

31:24

you in on certain roads that you know, the

31:26

GPS wouldn't normally pick up on. How

31:28

did you keep all this equipment charged?

31:30

Did you use solar? Yeah, great

31:32

question. So I have I had a solar panel on

31:34

the back of my sleeping bag. So on the back

31:37

of my rack, I would strap down my tent and

31:39

my sleeping bag. And then when it was sunny out,

31:41

I would just strap the solar panel

31:43

on there to charge some stuff. And then

31:45

also every couple of days, I would

31:48

stop in the local library, and I would charge

31:50

my stuff that way. And that was always cool,

31:52

because I just like the vibe of different libraries.

31:54

And like I got to know a

31:57

lot of different Libraries going across the country.

31:59

And It's just. This is a really good feeling

32:01

going into a local. Library. Especially in

32:03

these small towns. Made a couple hundred people and

32:05

it's just. You. Get the chance to

32:07

connect with, you know, the people who work

32:09

there and there. and I just really special.

32:11

Yeah yeah, Libraries are amazing. They. Do

32:13

so much. You. Met new

32:16

people, Pretty. Much every

32:18

day. But. Did you

32:20

ever experienced loneliness on this trip?

32:22

For yourself? Yeah. Yeah,

32:24

there was loneliness. I think that it was

32:27

because of just on. You know, I grew

32:29

a beard on purpose because I wanted to

32:31

see if that would change the way that

32:33

people treated me. And without a doubt it

32:35

was. Yeah. Very obvious and

32:37

it was Wayne. It's treated a have way more

32:39

effective than I thought it would when I was

32:41

more a clean cut you know I was. I

32:44

felt like I was more approachable but as my

32:46

appearance was changing the I know is that people

32:48

were stopped. they wouldn't make eye contact with me

32:50

as much. I was receiving much less help and

32:52

even when I would ask the question is you

32:55

have a story that when somebody helps you you

32:57

know in the beginning people were opening and receptive

32:59

to that. but as I as I had a

33:01

long beard. People. It's like years.

33:03

five dollars but kind of. don't talk to me,

33:06

you know how many do much good deed And

33:08

and that was it. And so I deftly started

33:10

to feel lonely and in a kind of like

33:12

as I was standing out there with my sign

33:14

i'm in some ways I started to feel invisible

33:16

in A and it really made me think about.

33:19

Just people. Who. Live that lifestyle

33:21

every day! How how how lonely that could

33:23

be? Did you see any

33:25

other people holding signs like that like

33:27

blink actual people that are homeless and

33:30

I'm wondering if they would say he

33:32

uses my territory? You know, Yeah.

33:35

Really interesting point that you bring up

33:37

his you know on the west coast.

33:39

I definitely saw a lot more like

33:42

homeless people who are holding signs and

33:44

I learned that there's there's some kind

33:46

territorial thing going on in you could

33:48

feel it. Like. Some time of the

33:50

holding my sign and I'd see somebody else I

33:52

was holding a sign. Who. Was actually homeless

33:54

and I would get a look and I

33:56

knew like. I need to leave here. For.

33:59

Numerous read. The first of all, you know

34:01

when to be respectful. That's that's their real life

34:03

and I'm just choosing to do this. So.

34:06

And then also the is it did feel

34:08

dangerous at times because it did feel like

34:10

this is like the guy was saying. In

34:12

some ways this is my territory like you're

34:14

taken away from me eating your me getting

34:16

some money so so they're definitely stop threatening

34:19

at times and so I I deftly salsa.

34:21

Yeah. That tension. Would. Kind of

34:23

food did you find in dumpsters? Man.

34:26

I couldn't believe the amount of fresh strawberries

34:28

and bananas and apples. I mean, that was

34:31

just a staple for me, especially in the

34:33

summer time. I mean, and uncertain fresh, like

34:35

there's nothing wrong with these, You know, in

34:37

that they weren't even in the in the

34:39

compost, been there in the dumpster, But.

34:42

A huge staple for me was on bagels.

34:44

There was always bag was being thrown out

34:46

in like you know you get a lot

34:48

of carbohydrates from the bread. there. you know

34:50

I eat a ton of peanut butter and

34:52

jelly in the bagels are always a good

34:54

option. I came across steaks. I came across

34:56

Tons of yogurt. do you believe cooking steaks?

34:59

I did Yeah on the back on the top

35:01

of my arm my cooking pot. you could flip

35:03

it over and you could use it as a

35:05

though frying pans that was proved pretty See that

35:08

was amazing And in the eggs no eggs state

35:10

Vegas based a good for so long and so

35:12

I would just. Hard Boiled. You know, I'd

35:14

I come across the continent. Cool like a guide. Had

35:16

a dozen eggs. Here are just hardball. these and I

35:18

can be snacking on these for the next couple of

35:21

days. I would think you must have

35:23

been conflicted at some point because you know

35:25

when you see you look in a dumpster

35:27

and you see a dozen bunches of bananas?

35:29

I mean you can always so many at

35:32

one time but yet you don't want to

35:34

bring all of them with you for tomorrow

35:36

and the next day cause you that it's

35:38

more weight and plus are going to go

35:40

bad. Yeah. That's so funny. You

35:42

mention that because I definitely felt those moments the

35:45

first time I started dumpster diving. I just loaded

35:47

like as much as I could, but I realized

35:49

the two things you mentioned. First of all, my

35:51

bike felt super heavy. After that and

35:53

then I realize I just can't I just can't

35:55

carry this much, food is none of room and

35:57

it in also. yeah just. It felt like.

36:00

There's too much. So. And I'm

36:02

talking literal. I can't stress enough. Like. I'm

36:05

talking dumpsters that were full of

36:07

food. It was unbelievable and in

36:09

shocking. The. First time when

36:11

you shouldn't You pointed the camera

36:13

in there and all those bins

36:15

of strawberries. And and they're

36:18

all just fine. I just it's amazing

36:20

what we throw away. Yeah.

36:22

Yeah, I think that are I think our country were

36:24

afraid of. You know, the grocery stores are afraid of

36:26

getting sued so they don't want to take any chances

36:28

at all. And. So they just throw away the

36:31

food. I. Want to talk

36:33

about one of the people that you met?

36:35

I think one of the earliest will maybe

36:37

not when the earliest ones, but the one

36:39

that really struck me? this woman named Fabiola.

36:42

And we're we're we're see. Where does she live?

36:45

Thousand. Kansas City, Missouri? Okay

36:47

or it. And she actually

36:49

invited you into her home. And.

36:52

I mean my listeners know that

36:54

one of the things that I

36:57

really love is talking to people

36:59

and having have a really hard

37:01

shoulder deep conversation and. You.

37:04

Had that was her that night. Demos of an

37:06

amazing. Yeah. You know, start.

37:08

There were certain moments along this journey that

37:10

like it's felt like it was safe to

37:12

meet some of these people if that makes

37:14

sense Because with Fabiola what happened was I

37:17

was writing to Kansas City. I

37:19

had my shoe was on the front of my

37:22

bike strapped down and I dropped a shoe so

37:24

I turned her and I realized after a couple

37:26

may so I turned around rode my bike it

37:28

was at a stoplight and stuff like this woman

37:30

named Fabio this has oh my gosh you are

37:32

You want to bite or where you're coming from.

37:34

I'm so excited to see you and just really

37:37

quickly I said i'm Daniel come from San Cisco

37:39

and then the light turned green and then she

37:41

sped off. And. Then I went

37:43

to go Panhandle and a different part

37:45

of Kansas City. Five hours later, And.

37:48

Eccentricities A big city right in make

37:50

it was probably ten miles away from

37:52

where I met her. And then

37:54

I ran into her again. And

37:56

I thought oh my gosh, you know in so

37:58

see, I'm. We. Had a chair the

38:00

park and Fabiola said you know do need a

38:02

place to stay for the night and I thought

38:04

oh my gosh like absolutely like how incredible is

38:07

it to be welcomed you know especially I've been

38:09

sleeping outside the tend to the last couple of

38:11

months and kinda I had dinner with her and

38:13

her family is she was from Nicaragua they could.

38:16

Nice Nicaraguan food and you'll have to dinner.

38:18

I sat at the dinner table with their

38:20

and I said for the older what. What?

38:23

Made you want to stop in, Just start talking to me

38:25

and you know invite me in your house And she said.

38:28

You. Know I saw you on your bike tour and

38:30

it it made me think about my husband. She said.

38:33

My. Husband's dream was was to right across

38:35

the country. He. Didn't get a

38:37

chance to do that because he died of cancer when

38:39

he was fourteen and. She said that

38:41

I saw you and it made I wanted

38:44

to celebrate my my husband spirits so I

38:46

felt like I wanted to do something kind

38:48

for you. In. Honor of my husband.

38:50

So that's why I welcome you into my

38:52

house. In it was it was really beautiful

38:54

because. When. I first met. She

38:56

was talking about growing up in Nicaragua,

38:59

er, in your odyssey eating Spanish and

39:01

at grown up poor and you know

39:03

I didn't drop. The. Either those things,

39:05

I was fortunate I wasn't poor throughout my life,

39:07

and I've been pretty privileged you know, grown up

39:09

in California and on. But it made me realize

39:12

he knows when she started talking about her. Her.

39:15

Husband you pass from cancer and she started telling

39:17

stories about what it was like. You know those

39:19

couple of years that he was struggling? You

39:21

know my father passed from cancer and I

39:24

member. As you describe any stories I started

39:26

think oh my gosh like I have the

39:28

same emotions. I went through the same human

39:30

experiences that you did in the In. It

39:32

made me realize that. Yeah. We

39:34

we grew up differently in these different cultures, but

39:36

we also we shared this. Common. Human

39:38

experiences, grief over losing a loved

39:40

one is in. That was just

39:42

so beautiful because I instantly as.way

39:44

more connected to her that way.

39:47

You. Know the perfect ending to this story

39:49

would be you and for viola are no

39:52

married. I know

39:54

right until, but I didn't have

39:56

enough. Have you had any contact

39:58

with her senses? Absolutely

40:00

yeah. The really cool thing is like throughout

40:02

this whole process with putting out the documentary

40:04

any time he was in a film festival,

40:06

upset or I am showing for different places

40:08

I'd always recharge the people that are in

40:10

the film and health me because you know

40:12

he wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't

40:14

for these These. These. Super special

40:16

people you know they they helped create the

40:18

story and so anytime. I. Have the

40:20

chance to connected them. I do. And and the really

40:22

cool thing is. I've stayed in contact with

40:24

almost every single person who you see in the

40:27

film. Which. Is super special. There's a

40:29

couple of i'm you know, homeless people who I wasn't

40:31

able to keep in contact with just because they lived

40:33

in a kind of. That. Transient

40:35

lifestyle, but most people I still

40:37

talk. Is so

40:39

cool! You know, really?

40:41

I loved watching all the interactions between you.

40:44

And. The people who wanted to help you. And

40:46

so many people said hey, I've been through

40:49

tough times and people helped me Was it

40:51

kind of a common theme. Yeah.

40:53

Yeah and that kind of goes back to

40:55

where we we are talking about the very

40:57

first person who I met you said i

40:59

don't give because I have a lot I

41:01

give cause I know a by to have

41:03

absolutely nothing. I really started to see that

41:05

going to impoverished neighborhoods you know for for

41:07

example is Ryan through through Dayton Ohio know

41:09

in this. This. Guy comes up to me.

41:11

his name is Jordi. right? In sure

41:13

he says hey hey kiss his a couple dollars

41:15

you I said thanks man as a young story

41:17

with when somebody help you and you need it

41:19

in short he goes will shoot man he said

41:22

know right now I'm I'm going to have a

41:24

tough time he said. No. And will

41:26

have a job mom, homeless, And.

41:28

I said but by God got me. He.

41:31

Said it's it's not to our understanding but is

41:33

a bigger plan for your life he said. Sometimes.

41:36

You gotta go with it he said. Ups

41:38

and downs. Gotta keep on smiling. He said

41:40

yeah to help another brother out his way.

41:42

told me so inspiring because it made me

41:44

look at my own life and made me

41:46

realize how much I actually do have. You.

41:49

know witnessing this this homeless man who is

41:51

literally doesn't have a job in a sleepy

41:53

on the streets but he still willing to

41:55

help somebody was really beautiful you know he

41:57

wasn't he wasn't the only homeless person i

41:59

met who ended up helping me. Obviously,

42:01

as you see in the film, there was

42:04

numerous homeless people, and it was really beautiful to be

42:06

able to witness that. I

42:08

think it would have been different

42:11

if you were not a white man. Yeah,

42:14

I think it would have been tremendously different. The

42:16

reason I say that is because I mean within

42:19

the first week when I was riding through the

42:21

Sierra Nevadas, this very nice man, as

42:23

I ran past his house, said, you need to place the

42:25

camp. I said, yeah, that sounds great. He

42:28

said, you can camp in my yard, man. Thank

42:30

you, man. That's super kind of you. So

42:33

I stayed there for the night. And then the next day,

42:35

he said, you want to go on a hike? And I

42:37

thought, oh, for sure, this is great. I get to see

42:39

the area a little bit. And

42:41

he's showing up on this hike, and I'm

42:43

feeling very welcomed. And then pretty

42:46

much out of nowhere, he just starts going on this

42:48

rant about how he hates black people. That

42:50

was just very eye-opening thing. Whoa, like,

42:52

okay, so he was

42:54

being super kind to me. But if I was

42:56

like a black man riding through this area, then

42:58

it could have been totally different. And

43:00

it wasn't just that. I mean, there was other situations

43:03

I witnessed as well. I mean, you

43:05

know, riding through a lot of areas of the country

43:07

and just seeing the northern parts,

43:09

it wasn't like the south either. It was

43:12

northern parts and even California, seeing Confederate flags,

43:14

a lot of different places. And there

43:17

was a man I met when I was

43:19

riding from New York back to California. And

43:21

he was a black man. We were

43:23

sharing stories. And he said, where

43:25

you been camping at most nights? And I said,

43:27

Oh, you know, man, like most nights, I just

43:29

I just sleep in baseball fields. He

43:32

said, cops don't bother you. And I said,

43:34

Yeah, well, you know, sometimes they

43:36

come, but they usually just tell me to leave early in the

43:38

morning. And this man said, he looked at

43:40

me, he said, Oh, my gosh, man, he said, last

43:43

week, I was staying in a campground

43:45

where I was supposed to be staying.

43:47

And someone still called the cops on me, you

43:50

know, and then there was something, you know, there was,

43:52

there was a moment I had in Idaho as well,

43:54

where I was in a

43:56

rural area in Idaho, and this guy, this

43:58

big truck pulls over. And he says,

44:01

where are you going? And I said, oh, I'm

44:03

just going to the next town. I'm riding my bike. And

44:05

at this part, I had a long beard, and I was

44:07

looking a little different than when I first started. And he

44:10

says, where are you from? So I'm

44:12

from California. And he said, you

44:14

shouldn't admit that to people around here. I

44:17

said, OK. And then he goes, no, we're

44:20

all carrying guns around here, right? And

44:22

then he just stares at me and slowly drives

44:25

off. That is creepy. Yeah,

44:27

for sure. And that was an area where there was

44:29

Confederate flags and things like that. When

44:32

you were setting up some of the shots

44:34

while you were riding,

44:38

there's a still shot of

44:40

you. The camera's in one place,

44:42

and you're just biking past. Now,

44:45

I know the typical viewer might just look at

44:47

that and think, yep, he's riding by. But

44:50

I look at that, and I think you had

44:53

to stop and set up the camera in that

44:55

spot and then backtrack like 50

44:57

yards or so, and

44:59

then bike past it for the shot, and

45:02

then go back and retrieve the camera and go on

45:04

your way. So making

45:06

this documentary, it

45:08

really added to the difficulty. You're not just riding

45:10

across the country. You had lots of other things

45:13

to think about along the way. Was that always

45:15

going through your mind, what the end product is

45:17

going to be like? Yeah,

45:19

that was most confusing at times, because in

45:21

some ways, I'm trying to stay super engaged

45:24

and present as far as just riding my

45:26

bike and witnessing these things. At

45:28

the same time, I'm thinking, oh, this could

45:31

be a good shot here. So I'd stop, stop

45:34

the moment, set up my camera. Sometimes

45:37

I would set it up on a rock or something.

45:39

Just use, again, be resourceful and try to use what

45:41

you can. And there'd be other times

45:43

where I would stop and set up my drone and program

45:46

my drone to follow me. But I definitely, it

45:49

was a blessing and a curse at the same

45:51

time. Because in some ways, I mean, when

45:53

days were boring, it kind of gave me something to

45:55

look forward to. It's like, as far as just if

45:57

I was having a day where just It

46:00

wasn't for changing very much or whatever. Else.

46:02

I would always be on the lookout for kind of

46:04

a cool shot and I break up my drawing that

46:06

we can give me a little energy for the same

46:08

time. There were moments when I was just really present

46:11

in having a great time and just having to stop.

46:13

And feel like I need to film this shot it can.

46:15

It took me out of the moment a little bit. And

46:18

you are a one man cruise not like you

46:20

were bringing a film crew with you that could

46:22

do sit up the shots and and look at

46:24

the dailies at the end of the day to

46:26

see you know, see how it all wounds. Yeah.

46:29

Yeah, I really tried to. I really wanted

46:31

to to. To. Prove to myself that I

46:33

didn't need a film crew. I mean, you live.

46:35

Before we started the podcast we were talking about,

46:37

that did something very empowering about knowing that you

46:40

can do it all by yourself, you know, and

46:42

when we live in a time right now, which

46:44

is pretty cool to where you know one person

46:46

can literally just make their own movie. It's

46:48

it's really special and dumb. Also, again,

46:50

I wanted it to be raw in

46:53

Rio and in in Yet the idea

46:55

of bringing the crew with me would

46:57

totally not be of a true experience.

47:05

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49:25

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list and I hope to see you

49:58

in the premium feed soon. I

50:04

was riding through Paterson, New Jersey. Normally,

50:08

I wouldn't stay in big cities, especially

50:10

big cities with a lot of crime

50:12

because obviously it was dangerous, but I

50:14

met this wonderful woman named Elizabeth and

50:17

she was from Columbia. I met her in front of

50:19

a grocery store when I was panhandling and she was

50:21

concerned about me and she said,

50:23

I'm concerned about you riding through this area, you can

50:25

stay with me. And I thought, oh my

50:27

God, this is such a beautiful opportunity. Of course, I'm going to

50:29

take her up on it. And

50:31

so Elizabeth, she cooked me dinner and she

50:33

lived in this very small apartment in a

50:36

rough area of Paterson, New Jersey. And

50:39

she was sharing all these beautiful stories with

50:42

me about growing up in extreme poverty

50:44

to where there'd be days where they didn't even have

50:46

the money to buy her rice. I

50:49

was capturing that moment with having dinner

50:51

with her and I was

50:53

feeling so inspired about having this beautiful

50:56

connection with this stranger. And

50:58

also just being able to be fortunate to receive

51:01

so much kindness from someone was

51:03

so amazing and just uplifting. And

51:06

I'm about to go to sleep at midnight, her

51:09

daughter and her boyfriend come home. Her

51:11

boyfriend instantly is just grilling me

51:13

with questions like, what are you doing here?

51:15

Who are you, et cetera. And then he starts telling

51:17

me about how dangerous this

51:19

neighborhood is because of all the gangs

51:22

activity that's happening. He

51:24

doesn't trust me. Elizabeth was saying, no, please,

51:26

like he's fine. Let him stay, leave him

51:28

alone. But this person gets into my face

51:31

and then he shoves me and he says, if you

51:33

don't leave now that we're going to have a serious

51:35

problem. And he takes my stuff

51:37

and he literally just throws it out into the

51:39

street. And so at that point, I

51:41

have no choice. I just got to get out of there. And

51:43

it was really sad because Elizabeth was

51:46

crying. She did this really fine

51:48

act for somebody and the boyfriend

51:50

definitely didn't trust me and want me there

51:52

and said, okay, I'll leave. And

51:54

so it's one in the morning and I'm

51:56

riding through Paterson, New Jersey, literally gang neighborhoods

51:58

to where there's people. on the street corners,

52:01

gang members. And I have my

52:04

bike, I'm wearing bright green, I'm obviously not

52:06

from there. I have all this gear on

52:08

my bike. One thing in this

52:10

picture that doesn't belong, right? Exactly,

52:14

exactly, right? And so my first

52:16

thought is initially I was like,

52:18

I wanna ride to the next town and get out

52:20

of here. But then once I was on the street

52:22

and seeing all the gang members, I thought I need

52:24

to get off of the street within seconds

52:26

because I'm gonna get robbed or killed or

52:28

who knows what's gonna happen. And

52:31

so I find this old abandoned

52:33

warehouse and I ride my bike back there

52:35

and there's all these abandoned

52:38

semi trucks and I have a really bad

52:40

vibe about sleeping back there, but I thought,

52:42

well, it just gets me off the streets.

52:44

So I'm just gonna have to

52:46

make with it. So I set

52:49

up my tent in the corner of this warehouse or

52:51

behind this warehouse and I

52:54

get woken up at 3 a.m. I

52:56

hear this big truck and

52:59

at first I can just hear the engine kind of

53:01

idling close to my tent. And so I wake up

53:03

and I think, what the hell is going on? Like

53:05

I have no idea. And then

53:07

I hear the truck start driving towards me slowly

53:11

and my heart rate is just pounding. And

53:14

again, I can't see what's going on.

53:16

I just see some lights going into my

53:18

tent. And then I hear the

53:21

engine just revving, driving fast towards my

53:23

tent. And in that moment, I

53:25

literally thought like, I'm getting run over. Like

53:28

this is how I die. This

53:30

is it. And I've never had a moment like that ever in

53:32

my whole life and I could just, like my

53:34

hands were so sweaty, my heart was raising 100 miles per

53:36

hour. And then

53:38

I hear the truck stop right in front of my

53:40

tent. I hear the

53:43

door open and close. And

53:45

then I think, okay, so I'm not getting run

53:47

over, but I'm going to get murdered or robbed

53:50

or something's happening. And

53:52

then person yells, get the fuck

53:55

out. And at that point I

53:57

was so terrified. I've never been this.

54:00

terrified in my whole life because again, I

54:02

can't see what's going on and I just

54:04

felt stuck in my tent. There's

54:06

nowhere to go. There's nowhere to go. Right.

54:09

And I should mention this for anyone

54:11

listening. You recorded yourself

54:13

in this and it's in the

54:15

documentary and yeah, I mean the

54:17

fear in your voice and on

54:19

your face is just obvious. Yeah,

54:23

there's this moment where a

54:25

friend actually pointed out to me, you can

54:27

see the complete if you pause the

54:30

film, you can see just complete terror

54:32

in my face. I've never had that

54:34

expression before ever. So I

54:36

thought to myself, okay, like he told me to get

54:38

the fuck out. So I'm going

54:40

to try to sound as non-confrontational as

54:42

possible. And you did. You did that

54:44

really well. Thank you. Thank

54:47

you. And that was a survival tactic. It

54:50

literally like I thought like this is this is

54:52

what I need to do in this moment. Like

54:54

this is an instinctual move in some ways. So

54:57

I unzip the tent and I say, Hey, like,

54:59

you know, lighten up my voice. Hey, like, I'm

55:01

Daniel, like, how's it going? All

55:03

I see, I just see two headlights just beaming

55:05

into my face. And so I can't see the

55:08

person. So I don't know if the person where

55:10

they are. And I don't know most importantly, if

55:13

they're holding a gun towards me, they

55:15

might be pointing a gun at me. And

55:17

especially again, considering the fact that this is

55:19

a gang neighborhood in Patterson, New Jersey. He

55:22

says, what are you doing here? And I

55:24

just said, I'm again, I'm talking to these

55:26

headlights. And I'm trying to

55:28

call my voice. And I said, I'm just crashing for the

55:30

night. Absolutely terrifying

55:32

moment. And then the

55:34

guy says, well, I'm a security guard, you

55:37

can't be sleeping here. And just, I

55:39

felt like the way the world was just lifted

55:41

off of my shoulders at that moment. And I

55:43

realized, okay, this person, they're not here to kill

55:45

me. But they're just like a

55:47

person that's patrolling the area. But that

55:50

moment, just considering all those circumstances, that

55:52

was extremely traumatizing. And it definitely I

55:54

was not aim after, you know, I

55:57

had I still had to ride all

55:59

the way. back to California from New

56:01

Jersey. And after that, like sleeping

56:03

in all these strange places, it wasn't like

56:05

an adventure anymore. It just felt scary after

56:08

that. What

56:10

did you learn from this adventure? Man,

56:14

there's so much that comes to mind. I

56:16

mean, the first thing that

56:19

really stands out to me is there was

56:21

a lot of people who showed up into my

56:23

life in moments when I really needed it. Especially

56:26

as my appearance started to change,

56:29

one particular story really stands out that's tied

56:31

into your question is I

56:33

was in Oregon and after seven months

56:35

of panhandling and trying to find a safe

56:38

place to sleep and trying to find a

56:40

place to bathe and trying to get enough

56:42

food and money and being physically broken

56:45

down, just my body was really starting

56:47

to ache and I was getting

56:49

harassed more and that was really wearing on me

56:51

and I was just feeling so beaten up. And

56:54

I was standing on the side of the road just

56:56

stretching my body. And this was the closest I came

56:58

to quitting with these couple of

57:00

days. And I remember thinking like, I don't think

57:02

I wanna go on anymore. I'm just too exhausted.

57:04

And this person walks up to

57:06

me and his name was Gary and everybody else

57:08

is walking by. I don't have my sign out.

57:11

I'm not asking for anything. And Gary

57:13

picks up on the energy that I'm putting out. And

57:15

he says, hey, man, are you okay? I

57:17

said, yeah, man, I'm just kinda having a rough couple of

57:19

days. He says, hold on a second, man, just

57:22

stay here for a second. And he runs across the

57:24

street to a grocery store and

57:26

Gary comes back and he has a bag full

57:28

of groceries and he gives me a bag full

57:31

of groceries and I wasn't asking

57:33

for it. Again, my sign wasn't out, but Gary

57:35

picked up on the energy that I was putting

57:37

out. I said, thank you, man. And

57:39

I started asking him this story, where are you from,

57:41

man? Where do you live? What's your story? He

57:43

says, I live on the streets. I'm

57:46

homeless. And I said, what made

57:48

you wanna help me? He said, because

57:50

you look like you're going through a rough time. And

57:53

Gary, I truly believe that Gary, because he'd

57:55

faced a lot of hardships in his life,

57:58

he was able to pick up on the energy. everybody

58:00

else was passing by and he recognized and

58:02

he recognized the energy. And

58:04

the thing is, it wasn't about the food

58:06

or money, because I actually had some food

58:08

that day. It was the fact that he

58:10

saw that I needed he saw that I

58:12

was struggling. And he showed up for me. And

58:15

that's what I learned is, every

58:17

day, we all have this like super

58:19

incredible opportunity to show up for somebody.

58:22

And it doesn't have to be giving

58:24

food or money to someone who was homeless, it

58:26

could be someone you work with, if you can

58:28

tell their energies off, you know, just just checking

58:30

in with them. Because that moment for me, like

58:32

Gary changed my life, just showing me that.

58:35

And it's really cool because I think, holy

58:38

shit, we can all be

58:40

that person who shows up for somebody, and

58:42

we can change their life. And that's really

58:44

cool that like, there's so much

58:46

chaos in our world right now. But like, one

58:48

thing that we can always control that we actually

58:50

can control is how we

58:53

treat each other. And we can be we

58:55

can all be a Gary to somebody. Yeah.

58:57

And that was kind of the premise for

58:59

this whole thing, right? I mean, there's so

59:02

much chaos in the world, and everybody's fighting

59:04

each other. But there's still a lot of

59:06

good people in this world. That

59:08

encounter was proof of it. Yeah, I

59:11

totally agree with you, you know, and that's

59:13

what was that's another thing I learned from

59:15

this experience is, you know, like, you know,

59:17

watching the news and listening to politicians and

59:19

all the fear mongering that's happening with all

59:21

this, when you go out into

59:23

the communities, and you actually talk to people,

59:25

especially people who are different, you know, I

59:27

think it's really beneficial to learn, to give

59:30

them a chance to speak and listen to

59:32

them. And then you have a better understanding.

59:34

And I think that there's two things that happen

59:37

is, first of all, I think there's less

59:39

fear of those people who are different. And

59:41

then there's you realize, you know, we're actually

59:43

maybe we're not that different. That's another thing

59:45

I learned from this, because a lot of times I was

59:47

going in the neighborhoods that I normally wouldn't go into. And

59:50

I was speaking to people who had different

59:52

opinions, but it was so inspiring, because I

59:54

realized, no, we're actually not that different. Have

59:56

you ever thought about doing this again? I have

59:59

I I have, yeah. And I go back and forth

1:00:01

in it because, you know, it's

1:00:03

interesting, just yesterday, I was talking to this

1:00:06

homeless man. He was panhandling

1:00:08

on the street. Now when I see people,

1:00:10

I always just like, I wanna hear their

1:00:12

stories because living this lifestyle for

1:00:14

seven months, like it created so

1:00:16

many interesting, unique opportunities that's so

1:00:18

different than normal life. In

1:00:20

this end, he was 45 years old. He

1:00:24

said he'd been homeless since he was eight years

1:00:26

old because his mom used to beat him. And

1:00:29

he said that, I was like, well, how are you getting by

1:00:31

at eight? He's like, man, he was like, it was the eighties.

1:00:33

He said, I would go and I

1:00:35

would tell people I needed a quarter to call

1:00:37

my parents. And that's how

1:00:39

he would panhandle. He'd say, I need to use the pay phone.

1:00:42

He'd been homeless for 37 years. And

1:00:44

the amount of stories this person had

1:00:47

was unbelievable. And it was

1:00:49

interesting. I said, well, do you eventually wanna get

1:00:51

into housing? And he told me, he said, that

1:00:53

would be a waste of my life. He's like,

1:00:55

why would I go into housing now? He said,

1:00:58

this is what my life is meant to be.

1:01:00

I'm meant to be out here. That's his normal.

1:01:02

This is normal. And in some ways it's really

1:01:04

interesting because life is kind of how

1:01:06

you look at it. And I thought, he

1:01:08

brought the example. He's like, well, is working in an office,

1:01:10

that's a normal day job. He

1:01:13

said, but I'm living in a more instinctual

1:01:15

way. And I thought,

1:01:17

that's pretty interesting to think about. And

1:01:20

I'm tying that in because I have thought about

1:01:22

doing it again, just for the sake of, man,

1:01:25

so many unpredictable things happen. And there's this

1:01:27

crazy opportunity when you're really just going with

1:01:29

the flow and just letting kind of the

1:01:32

journey take its own route. It

1:01:34

leads you on a lot of really beautiful

1:01:36

experiences. And I think that it really gets

1:01:38

you connected and present in the moment. Yeah,

1:01:41

and you were thinking about after seven months,

1:01:43

you were worn out and tired and didn't

1:01:45

wanna keep going. But I mean, there's people

1:01:47

that that's their life. They don't have any

1:01:49

choice. Yeah, and I

1:01:51

can't even imagine how difficult it is for

1:01:53

those people who are living that life every

1:01:56

day. Can't even imagine, can't even imagine. For

1:01:59

people that wanna watch your. documentary and

1:02:01

your website, how can they find all that?

1:02:05

Thank you for asking. So, yeah,

1:02:07

so my film, which is called We

1:02:09

Are All In This Together, it's

1:02:11

streaming on Amazon Prime, on

1:02:14

Apple TV, and Google Play. My

1:02:17

website is weareallinthestogethermovie.com.

1:02:21

And what I'd like to share is, in

1:02:23

a couple months, I'm going to be hitting the

1:02:25

road and I'm going to be going to different

1:02:27

cities across America and having live screenings of my

1:02:29

movie in different theaters. We're going

1:02:32

to be using the ticket sales from those

1:02:34

showings to raise money for the local homeless

1:02:36

shelters in the city that we're riding through.

1:02:39

And so, yeah, I'd love to encourage anybody to

1:02:41

check out the website. There'll be a list of

1:02:43

dates on there that talk about what

1:02:45

cities I'm going through and would love. You

1:02:48

know, it'd be really cool to meet a listener,

1:02:50

you know, maybe we can go for a bike

1:02:52

ride or go for a walk and share some

1:02:54

nice stories with each other and also talk about

1:02:56

the podcast, you know, talk about how we're both

1:02:58

fans of this podcast because, you

1:03:00

know, I've been listening to this podcast.

1:03:02

I actually came across this podcast when

1:03:05

I was traveling in Europe last year. Really? I

1:03:07

didn't know that. Okay. Yeah, that's pretty cool, man.

1:03:09

I've been a fan of the podcast and

1:03:11

it's a huge honor to be on here with

1:03:13

you. Well, it's an honor to have you

1:03:15

here. And, you know, you're going across the country.

1:03:18

I assume you're not biking across the country.

1:03:20

This is in a car or

1:03:22

something, right? Yeah, I was tempted

1:03:24

to do the bike ride, but I can hit

1:03:26

way more cities in the car. Yeah, for sure.

1:03:28

And I know you're coming to Florida and

1:03:31

wherever you're coming to Florida, I want to know about

1:03:33

it. I'm going to sign up and make sure I'm

1:03:35

aware of when you're here because, yeah, I definitely want

1:03:37

to meet up with you

1:03:39

and go to the screening and any

1:03:41

listeners that are here, that'll be fun.

1:03:43

Get together. Absolutely. Yeah, that's what

1:03:45

it's all about, connecting and supporting each other,

1:03:48

right? For sure. And, you

1:03:50

know, you and I are a lot alike in

1:03:52

that we both have a big heart for the

1:03:54

homeless population. I do a lot of work with

1:03:56

them here locally as well. What

1:03:58

a great thing to be able to... to

1:04:00

do that. Just go across the country, show

1:04:03

your movie to people, raise money,

1:04:05

help the homeless people. You

1:04:07

get the ideal life now, I think. Thank

1:04:10

you. Thank you. I can't say enough about just the

1:04:12

people that I met along the way. They helped create

1:04:14

this story. It goes in line

1:04:16

with, as far as the movie tour, when I left,

1:04:18

I didn't know what I was doing as far as

1:04:21

making a movie. I would love to share with the

1:04:23

listeners. I hardly had any film

1:04:25

experience at all. I didn't know what I was

1:04:27

doing. I was learning on the road. I think

1:04:29

that sometimes if you have

1:04:31

a creative idea, just go for it because you

1:04:33

never know what could happen. For me,

1:04:35

personally, sometimes I would have self-doubt

1:04:37

about certain things creatively because I

1:04:40

thought, I don't have any experience with that,

1:04:42

so I won't be any good. This bike

1:04:44

ride taught me that you don't have to

1:04:46

have experience. You just got to go for

1:04:48

it. Yeah. I was surprised when I went to

1:04:50

your website. The

1:04:52

number of awards this film has won. You

1:04:54

just keep scrolling and scrolling. It's really gotten

1:04:56

a lot of them. Thank

1:05:01

you so much. It's so incredible.

1:05:03

Just to be able to share

1:05:05

your art by itself is

1:05:07

amazing. The idea of winning, it's a

1:05:10

huge honor. That's why I can't say enough

1:05:12

about these people I

1:05:14

met. I'm so grateful because just

1:05:17

them sharing their stories, we all did it

1:05:19

together. We all did. It wasn't just

1:05:21

me. It was those people who decided to

1:05:24

be kind to me and to show up

1:05:26

into my life. Then all of a sudden,

1:05:28

this story is out there. In some ways,

1:05:30

I'm so happy because it gets to celebrate

1:05:32

them because they definitely deserve it. I

1:05:37

really enjoyed having that conversation

1:05:39

with Daniel. He's such a

1:05:41

genuine down-to-earth person. I'm hoping

1:05:43

to meet him in person

1:05:45

in the not too distant

1:05:48

future because one of the

1:05:50

cities he's planning to visit in his

1:05:52

movie tour is St. Pete, Florida. He

1:05:55

hasn't yet finalized all the dates and the

1:05:57

various cities he'll be visiting to screen the

1:05:59

movie. but you can check his

1:06:01

website for up-to-date information, and you

1:06:03

can also email him. I'll

1:06:05

have links to his website and

1:06:07

his email address in the episode

1:06:09

notes at whatwasthatlike.com slash 174. Hi

1:06:15

Scott, my name is Amy.

1:06:17

I'm listening to the re-release

1:06:19

of the episode, Justin

1:06:21

Found His Mother on Facebook. I

1:06:25

am tearing up listening to it because I

1:06:28

had the same exact experience a couple of

1:06:30

years ago. I

1:06:32

was adopted before I was even

1:06:34

born. My mother had decided

1:06:36

she couldn't keep me for the same reasons as

1:06:38

Justin's mother. She didn't have the resources to give

1:06:40

me the life that she wanted and

1:06:43

grew up with a family that was

1:06:45

very different than my personality. Very

1:06:48

awesome people, very kind, gave

1:06:50

me everything I needed to care for

1:06:52

me, but it never felt like

1:06:55

I had a mirror for who

1:06:57

I am and my personality and my

1:06:59

quirks and had never seen anyone that

1:07:02

looked like me. My

1:07:04

heart always yearned and ached to

1:07:06

know the biological family.

1:07:09

I finally had the courage to

1:07:11

try to find my... I

1:07:14

found my mother on Facebook a few years

1:07:16

before I even tried to contact her. I

1:07:19

had to work up the courage to send her a message. I

1:07:21

finally sent her a message. I

1:07:24

think the same thing happened where it went to that inbox

1:07:27

on Facebook when you're not friends with someone. My

1:07:31

mother's probably in her 50s and I

1:07:33

figured that out for a while. A year later,

1:07:35

on the day that I was graduating from massage

1:07:38

school, the very day that I was

1:07:40

graduating, I got home and

1:07:43

saw that she had replied. It

1:07:47

was just crazy. I relate

1:07:49

to everything that Justin is

1:07:51

saying, all of the feelings. It's

1:07:53

nice to hear someone else talk about it because I don't

1:07:56

know a lot of people that are adopted and don't

1:07:58

know a lot of people. that are adopted

1:08:01

who have had positive stories

1:08:03

reconnecting with their birth family.

1:08:06

And Justin reminds me of my own very

1:08:08

much. I finally met my birth mom a

1:08:11

couple of years ago. I flew out to the

1:08:13

Midwest from the East Coast to

1:08:16

meet my birth mom, my

1:08:19

half siblings, because she had a

1:08:21

couple of kids after me, my uncles,

1:08:24

my first grandfather, and my

1:08:26

first grandmother, cousins.

1:08:30

So cool. And they were all so kind

1:08:32

and just to be, finally

1:08:35

feel the resonance

1:08:38

of like people who not only

1:08:40

look like me and go

1:08:42

that big, but it's just

1:08:44

a certain feeling when you're around people

1:08:47

that you come from and

1:08:50

that you're related to. I realized

1:08:52

finally that it's actually very special to

1:08:54

be adopted because if you grow up

1:08:56

with your biological family, whoever you grow up with,

1:08:58

you have a tendency to get annoyed by and we

1:09:01

get under each other's skin and you see

1:09:03

the good and the bad and it

1:09:05

can be harder to sometimes appreciate those who

1:09:08

are close to us day in and day out. Not

1:09:11

that we don't love them, but you know what I mean. I

1:09:13

feel like I met my birth family.

1:09:16

Like we don't have that day in and

1:09:18

day out frustration with each other. We just

1:09:20

have this like blank slate to

1:09:23

build a positive relationship on.

1:09:27

And also it has made me appreciate

1:09:29

my birth family more. And

1:09:31

it's like, I have this, I have

1:09:33

two families that love me equally and

1:09:36

I love them equally. My

1:09:38

heart feels so full after a lifetime

1:09:40

of feeling really lonely and ununderstood

1:09:43

and lost and heard

1:09:46

and like I didn't know who I was and

1:09:48

I had no reference for my identity, which

1:09:51

was really, really hard. And I felt that way for

1:09:54

as long as I can remember. It's

1:09:56

like a reward after going through all of

1:09:58

that is that I now. know

1:10:00

who I am and I have

1:10:02

a new family, the

1:10:05

love. So I hope

1:10:07

that there's more people

1:10:09

out there who have had the same

1:10:11

experience and thank you so much for giving

1:10:14

to me and for sharing stories that you do.

1:10:17

God bless Justin and his birth

1:10:19

mom and newfound family.

1:10:23

If you haven't heard that episode yet, it's episode 170

1:10:25

and it came out on March 15, 2024 and

1:10:30

it's titled Justin found his mother

1:10:33

on Facebook. And

1:10:36

we have a new raw audio

1:10:38

episode. Raw audio 40 just went

1:10:40

live. The raw audio

1:10:42

series are bonus exclusive episodes that

1:10:44

include actual 911 audio

1:10:47

and the stories that go with that

1:10:49

call. In this

1:10:51

episode, you'll hear a man calling because

1:10:53

his mother can't breathe and he calls

1:10:55

more than once. Sorry, say

1:10:58

that again. Tell me exactly

1:11:00

what's happened. And she's struggling

1:11:02

to breathe. Okay.

1:11:06

A husband and wife are surprised when

1:11:08

someone's trying to break into their home.

1:11:11

He can only see them if he comes in, right? And

1:11:14

a man calls to turn himself in and get

1:11:17

help for the elderly couple. He

1:11:19

was holding hostage. First

1:11:21

of all, I'm a piece of

1:11:23

shit. I need medical

1:11:25

assistance out here for the elderly couple. I'm

1:11:28

turning myself in. You can

1:11:30

binge all 40 episodes when you sign

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up to support the podcast. And not

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just that, you get to listen to

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to what was that like.com/plus to

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try it out. Graphics

1:11:54

for this episode were created by Bob

1:11:56

Brett's Full episode. Transcription

1:11:59

was created. The aided by James

1:12:01

Lie. And

1:12:03

it's time for the listener story. You're

1:12:05

going to hear the story because a

1:12:08

listener, just like you said hey, I

1:12:10

had something interesting happened to me one

1:12:12

on my record. that and a little

1:12:14

five or ten minutes story on my

1:12:17

phone. and Senator Scott. And

1:12:19

that's what they did. And that's what

1:12:21

you should do. Just records story of

1:12:23

something that happened to you An email

1:12:25

it to me at Scott at what

1:12:28

was that like.com. This.

1:12:30

Week Story is about a

1:12:32

scary encounter at the grocery

1:12:35

store. Stay.

1:12:37

Safe and I'll see you next time. April

1:12:43

Twenty third, Two thousand eight Pm started off

1:12:45

as a typical busy Monday morning for me.

1:12:49

The. Kids at school at eight. And I

1:12:51

was due to work at nine. My husband

1:12:53

was at home because he was working as

1:12:55

a truck driver and he was at a

1:12:57

town I was having my morning coffee and

1:12:59

getting ready to make the kids go on

1:13:01

says when I realized we were other than

1:13:04

sweet. As I oh

1:13:06

now I have to make their lunches and how

1:13:08

make it a do this. Because

1:13:10

I also realize we're out of milk

1:13:13

and they're going to want a serial.

1:13:15

So I thought to myself okay what?

1:13:17

Our Britain supermarket is just down the

1:13:20

street. I will go get dressed for

1:13:22

work, Run down there. Get it. Would

1:13:24

be best science m in getting dressed

1:13:27

which turned out to be a pretty

1:13:29

important in this story because it ended

1:13:31

up saving my life. I'm a dog

1:13:33

groomer at the time and with your

1:13:36

grooming dogs there is a lot of

1:13:38

hair and I really wanted to Were

1:13:40

met ladies. There

1:13:42

so comfy but. I.

1:13:44

Knew that they would just get So

1:13:47

Harrys because whenever I got than working

1:13:49

it was like a seem out of

1:13:51

a blizzard of hair. So I just

1:13:54

threw my jeans on and thought this

1:13:56

will do my son's just getting into

1:13:58

the shower and insulin. Hey your

1:14:00

little sister sleeping. I'm gonna

1:14:03

run down the of reasons to get milk

1:14:05

and lunch meat. I'll be right back. So

1:14:07

I had out to car. And

1:14:10

of I remember thinking oh my god

1:14:12

anonymous cellphone but that I thought well

1:14:14

that's fine because I'll be right back

1:14:17

it was still on the charger from.

1:14:19

The night before I pulled. Into

1:14:21

the parking lot and I was really happy there

1:14:23

weren't that many people there and I thought oh

1:14:25

good I can make it in and out. And

1:14:28

I can. Get on with my day.

1:14:31

I got the melts winter the lunch

1:14:33

aisles village me I'll and I'm like

1:14:36

okay. What's kind of make any get there

1:14:38

is so many different kinds. To

1:14:40

I went turkey Do I want him

1:14:42

next. Thing I know I looked down the

1:14:44

aisle in there is meant for me a much

1:14:46

older man and I thought to myself or to

1:14:49

move out of the way to as I could

1:14:51

tell he wanted. To go look at the

1:14:53

same place I was. He was looking

1:14:55

at lunch meat. And. I

1:14:57

was just standing there and he said

1:15:00

excuse me do you know what time

1:15:02

it is I said oh my gosh

1:15:04

sir I'm so sorry I don't how

1:15:06

my cellphone sets and as like I

1:15:08

do know it's. Probably about six

1:15:10

sixteen says the store just

1:15:12

opened and. Before I could even

1:15:14

said anything else out. He.

1:15:16

Like lunged at me. And. Hit

1:15:19

in the stomach. And

1:15:21

I'm like. It

1:15:23

was terrified. It's it was so traumatic

1:15:25

it was It hurt so bad it

1:15:27

was like a stinging. The stabbing. Pain

1:15:30

and bridge when you get punched like in

1:15:32

the got that kind of what it felt

1:15:34

like can I was like oh my god.

1:15:37

And I kind of looked up at him and

1:15:39

I started to cry. And a survivor to. Do

1:15:41

that forbids you Played You punish

1:15:43

me. And. He looks

1:15:46

at me and said and he held up

1:15:48

his hand and i saw nice and he

1:15:50

said. I just stands you and

1:15:52

everything. Oh My. God. Sammich running

1:15:54

because he's coming after me. He.

1:15:57

Is weak running after me up

1:15:59

and down? Then I was trying to

1:16:01

find somebody I'm screaming and sit nothing and

1:16:03

where is help and finally I get down

1:16:05

the end of one eye on. C A

1:16:08

worker whose the man that was worth in

1:16:10

the meta permits and I ran up to

1:16:12

him. Sir please oh my god please help

1:16:14

me. This man just hit

1:16:16

me and he's following me, his

1:16:19

chasing me and the meet men.

1:16:21

And women have is telling him she

1:16:23

turned and there's the crazy old man.

1:16:26

To sleep staring at us at the end of

1:16:28

the aisle. And he stepped in

1:16:31

front of me. The meet men det protect

1:16:33

me and he's of sir but as the

1:16:35

problem. In the memes that

1:16:37

I stabbed her and I would stab

1:16:39

you to. And I'm at

1:16:42

this point like going hysterical because I'm

1:16:44

is what is going on. The maggots

1:16:46

on his walkie talkies. Says something

1:16:48

next to you know to other

1:16:51

workers com. And the

1:16:53

man by this point is flailing the

1:16:55

knife run in the air. They knocked

1:16:57

a nice down in. Not him to the

1:16:59

ground. After that

1:17:01

the meat and turned to reach me and he

1:17:03

said. Miller, You. Know

1:17:07

know? say. This

1:17:10

crazy guy old man

1:17:12

just just punched me

1:17:15

and. And the guy said.

1:17:18

Sir, he didn't stop you. Know

1:17:21

and and as down and

1:17:23

there's blood. At. This point

1:17:25

I am for reaching out screaming

1:17:27

crying the man's grabbing towels to

1:17:30

help me I'm in and the

1:17:32

police com the question me the

1:17:34

question the time the guys still

1:17:36

yelling I stopped her and I

1:17:38

will stab you to like it

1:17:40

is his. See. Has.

1:17:44

Done the ambulance and they take

1:17:46

me to the hospital. Luckily the

1:17:48

nice only when in about an

1:17:50

inch and a house. The doctor

1:17:52

did tell me that would save

1:17:54

my life was that the we

1:17:56

stand of my teens to have

1:17:59

I warn. Don't. Waiting

1:18:01

sad day the nice would. Have been

1:18:03

all the way and. And

1:18:05

I mean I could have died and

1:18:07

Hips is still Sir Sauce into this

1:18:10

day. You know that. That happens

1:18:12

And of they did how to

1:18:14

do a lot of stitches. I

1:18:16

was happy that they said I'll

1:18:19

charge them me and with a

1:18:21

felony. Assault with a weapon. Turns

1:18:23

out he was seventy four. To.

1:18:27

About a week later, I

1:18:29

did find out the sense. Him. Dewormed Springs.

1:18:32

State Psychiatric Hospital here in

1:18:34

Montana. Because they did sign.

1:18:37

Him into the yes it is,

1:18:39

it's praising. The only thing

1:18:41

that I found really awkward. The police

1:18:43

questioned him of why he did this

1:18:45

and he said that he was homeless

1:18:47

and that he was very angry at

1:18:50

the V S I still did this

1:18:52

stage. You don't know what would push

1:18:54

somebody to go hurt somebody else because

1:18:56

of that. But it just

1:18:58

so grateful that I made it and

1:19:00

then I'm okay. The police did com

1:19:02

a sister so she was able to

1:19:04

come take care my kids for me

1:19:07

while I was going through everything. Very

1:19:09

traumatic. Lucky to

1:19:11

be of lies. Much. More

1:19:13

aware of my surroundings

1:19:15

lot to therapy. But.

1:19:18

I'm okay and that that's think the

1:19:20

main thing of this whole story is

1:19:22

this happened. But I'm okay even now

1:19:24

my coworkers. Every year we celebrate my

1:19:27

step of or three on April twenty

1:19:29

third the usually get it. it can

1:19:31

be a cake from the Albertsons. I

1:19:33

was stabbed at ease. will say something

1:19:35

like we're so. Glad you survived and

1:19:37

I'm a just take it is

1:19:39

that. I'm. Okay, And

1:19:42

I'm so thankful. Some

1:19:52

people just know it's easy to get

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