Clay Watson's Journey Through Business and Life

When Clay Watson's helicopter plummeted 1,500 feet after losing its tail rotor above a Hawaiian lava field, he had just enough time to begin the Lord's Prayer before impact. That harrowing moment in June 2022 forever changed how the third-generation leader of Mountain View Auto Group approaches both business and life.

Whether you're fascinated by family business dynamics, the resilience required to weather economic storms, or seeking inspiration to live more intentionally, Clay's journey offers valuable wisdom earned through both triumph and near-tragedy.

For more information, visit our website www.spectruss.com

Episode Transcript

Clay Watson (00:00):
About 30 minutes into our helicopter ride we
ended up.
The entire tail rotor of thehelicopter broke off.
Yes, we sell cars and trucksand SUVs and motorcycles and
bicycles, but we're in thepeople business.
We have to take care of ourpeople.
We have to do a better job ontaking care of our customers,

(00:23):
which I think we've done a goodjob.

Sam Silvey (00:24):
I mean, we've been in business for you know what 44
years and counting and growing,so this is something it's like
a lifestyle piece withmotorcycles Totally Everything
from the tire you're wearing,you know the helmets you're
picking out, the bike you rideand usually a lot of even loyal
to the brand.
You know diehard Ducati ordiehard BMW or whatever it is.
Brand, you know die hard Ducatior die hard BMW or whatever it
is.

Clay Watson (00:43):
Hey life is short.
The good Lord gave me a secondchance at this thing called life
.
I'm not going to approach it orlive it the same way I lived it
prior to that crash.
Our main goal was to,especially through COVID, which
is the most recent you knowhurdle we had.
You know we really tried tokeep our employees in work,

(01:08):
whether it was every other dayor every couple of days, but
still employed in our stores.
You know we might have takensome pay cuts, we might have,
you know, figured it out how to,how to, you know, financially
take care of everyone.
But we kept everybody there.

Sam Silvey (01:22):
But kept everybody there.
Clay Watson, welcome toSpectruss Speakeasy.
Thank you, and Chattanooganative, Mountain View Auto Group
outdoor enthusiast and justtell me about Dallas going to
school there, yeah, SMU.

Clay Watson (01:42):
Yeah, yeah.
I graduated in 96 and got tosee the golden days of the
Dallas Cowboys while I was thereand saw Dallas grow and in the
meantime got a college degreeand came back here and started
working in the dealerships.
At the time, the dealership,just one dealership, yeah, until

(02:04):
you had two at the time, butwe've had some growth since then
, yeah.

Sam Silvey (02:09):
I'd say so.
And those started in 1981,right First one Ford store was
1981.
So dive right into it.
I've got so many questions.
I did a little bit of researchand looked up.
Of course we had beers and talk.
I picked your brain aboutthings.
But you know, one had beers andtalk.
I picked your brain aboutthings.
But one of the articles I wasreading I kind of get ideas of
questions.
I want to ask and just find outthe unique things about every

(02:31):
business and challenges.
This article kind of blew mymind because I broke it down
between basically sinceautomobiles started to modern
day and about every couple ofdecades it would kind of have a
title explaining that decade,what was unique about it.
And almost everyone hadsomething negative about how
automobiles were like, whetherit was oil prices or wars or
American automobiles beingcrushed by Japanese or whatever

(02:53):
it was like.
Every one of them, like man,this is a volatile industry.
But and even 81, like that wasa tough year, right, really
tough.
And you guys have grown nowhave what 10 dealerships total.
So I'm so curious to hear aboutthat because you made housing
market crash.
You had Pandemic, pandemic.

Clay Watson (03:12):
High interest rates .
I mean people think today'srate's high, you know, or
yesterday's rate was high, butback in the early 80s they were
incredibly high.
You know, car dealers are afunny bunch.
You know, for us, we're familyoriented, we work with our

(03:32):
family, we play with our familyand we've always had a good work
ethic.
And we're taught that from ayoung age and I think we've
learned how to overcomeadversity, whether it's globally
or locally or whatever.

(03:53):
We figured out how to survive,you know, and I think we talked
about this a couple weeks agoover a couple of beers.
I mean, our main goal was to,especially through COVID, which
is the most recent, you knowhurdle we had.
You know we really tried tokeep our employees in work,

(04:13):
whether it was every other dayor every couple of days, but
still employed in our stores.
You know we might have takensome pay cuts.
We might have, you know,figured it out how to, how to,
you know, financially, take careof everyone, but we kept
everybody there.
And you know, my point is is wefind a way to be successful and
success during those timesmight look different than

(04:34):
success today, you know, and youknow tough times is whether you
can keep the lights on andyou're people fed and employed.
You know that's success to us.
You know, and I think when youbecome good at that, when the
good times are, you know, infront of you, then you can
really take advantage of thosegood times and kind of make hay
while the sun's shining.

Sam Silvey (04:55):
Yeah, one of the articles I was reading.
I mean, during the housingmarket crash 08-09, you guys
were building was that?
A Nissan dealership at the timeand that hit.
I mean, what was that like?
It's?

Clay Watson (05:06):
very scary.
I mean it's funny, we alwaystalk about it.
We're either somebody's buyinga house, we're building a
dealership or something.
There's a huge financialcommitment looming out there
when something bad goes wrong.
We're actually getting ready tobuild a new Ford store, so I'm
expecting something bad tohappen, unfortunately.

(05:26):
So everybody get ready for that, because history, you know,
sides with something going wrongwhen we start something big.

Sam Silvey (05:35):
Right, Can you talk about this new Ford store?
Is it here locally?
Oh yeah, no it's here locally.

Clay Watson (05:39):
I mean our Ford store, which is our flagship
store.
We've had it since 1981.
It's been remodeled severaltimes.
Our last remodel was 2001.

Sam Silvey (05:50):
Okay.

Clay Watson (05:50):
So you know, 25, 24 , 25 years later it needs a
major remodel, and so we'reembarking on that endeavor, Kind
of we're in the design phaseright now.

Sam Silvey (06:03):
What does that look like?
I mean, it's going to be in thesame lot, I imagine.

Clay Watson (06:05):
Right, oh same property, you know, right down
the street here on East 20th.
We're just trying to decidewhether to keep it on two sides
of the street or combine it andbuild a bigger one on one side
of the street.
We don't know what we're goingto do yet, so we're excited

(06:32):
about it, so it's gonna bemainly showroom.

Sam Silvey (06:34):
You're gonna do like the, the mechanic shop and
everything as well, or dependson.

Clay Watson (06:38):
You know, if we decide to remodel, if we decide
to, you know, build a whole newground up facility don't know
that quite yet.
Um, either way, it'll contain anice showroom but really
elevate the customer experiencewhich, in all honesty, we
haven't done a good job with inour current facility and it
shows, and we're in need of amuch-needed facelift, major one.

Sam Silvey (07:02):
Gotcha.
Well, that would be awesomedown there.
Yeah, you guys got me bothsides of the street there
because we do Chevy, Ford andFord on both sides.

Clay Watson (07:09):
Nissan as well.

Sam Silvey (07:11):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (07:13):
Then go up to Cleveland and down all the way
to Dalton.

Sam Silvey (07:15):
Man, now I was curious any part of your
strategy you ever thought aboutgoing elsewhere?
Has it always just been localbecause of commuting or knowing
the area?

Clay Watson (07:30):
So about going elsewhere?
Has it always just been localbecause of commuting or knowing
the area?
So we have gone elsewhere.
We owned a Nissan store inGadsden or I should say outside
of Gadsden, alabama, roughlythree and a half hours away, and
did okay in it.
But we found that we likehaving family members in the
stores, just for accountabilityand in order to really grow
outside of the region, you haveto be willing to give up some of

(07:51):
that and we just feel thatwe're not quite ready for that
yet.
And not to mention I meandealerships are getting harder

(08:13):
and harder to acquire, withpublic companies coming in
buying.
You know the big conglomeratescoming in buying up stores.
You know other larger groupsbuying up stores.
It's just they're harder tofind and you know we don't
really feel like we can handle.
You know a store you have tohop on a plane for to go to
manage that.
So we're trying to keep it aslocal as we can.
Gotcha.

Sam Silvey (08:27):
Yeah, that is interesting to think about.
I mean, how many employees youhave right now, roughly, we're
knocking on 600.

Clay Watson (08:32):
Wow, yeah, that is amazing.
I mean we're in the peoplebusiness.
I mean whether it's a customeror an employee.
I mean, yes, we sell cars andtrucks and SUVs and motorcycles
and bicycles, but we're in thepeople business.
We have to take care of ourpeople.
We have to do a better job ontaking care of our customers,
which I think we've done a goodjob.

(08:52):
I mean, we've been in businessfor you know what, 44 years and
counting and growing, so thatsays something.
Yeah absolutely you know.
But yeah, we're definitely inthe people business.

Sam Silvey (09:03):
Have you ever thought about like other brands
you want to pick up and bringhere to Chattanooga or?

Clay Watson (09:17):
Well, chattanooga pretty much has.
You know, all the brands minusyou know some of the highline
cars, the exotics, which I don'tthink we have the market for.
I mean, it can handle a Porschestore, but anything above that
kind of hard to do.
So we pretty much have all thatcovered and you know, I think
we're pretty well satisfied withour current slate of offerings
right now.
You know, we just acquired theHonda store in Dalton and we're

(09:37):
four months into that and that'sbeen a great process and we're
really growing that.
That market and that's a northgeorgia is just a fantastic
market and they've been good tous and we want to be as good, or
better to them.

Sam Silvey (09:54):
I mean it's a perfect spot.
I mean I feel like now youdrive to atlanta it's hard to
tell the difference betweenchattanooga and hit dalton.
You're pretty much alpharetta.
I feel like you know it's allright together, you know?
Yeah, it seems like a good spotfor it.

Clay Watson (10:04):
Growth is coming.
It's heading north, yeah, youknow for sure.
I just hope it doesn't that itstops at some point, right, yeah
?

Sam Silvey (10:13):
Now, out of all the brands you've got Ford, chevy,
lincoln, gmc, dodge, jeep.

Clay Watson (10:21):
So no, gmc, Okay.
So, like Ford, lincoln, chevy,we have three Nissan stores
Hyundai, honda, chrysler, dodge,jeep, ram I don't think I've
left any out.
We have a standalone usedvehicle center and, like you
mentioned in the introduction,we're in the motorsports
business with Pandora's EuropeanMotorsports.

(10:42):
So pretty much most European,most European brands, you know,
on two wheels.
And then we're just opened upMountain Town Bicycles, so we're
excited about that as well.

Sam Silvey (10:53):
So you really kind of got it covered.
But I got to ask you out of allthose in the car line we'll get
to motorcycle, is there like afavorite that's coming out that
you're excited about from likeLike a new model?
Yeah, you know like excitedabout from like like a new model
?
Yeah, you know like, oh man,and it could be anything even
like for me, like that ford gthas always been my favorite of
all those.
That's, that's a unreal carheck of a vehicle.

Clay Watson (11:12):
I mean, that's one of the nicest, fastest cars ever
made.
Um, I don't know.
You know um.
We have a lot of really goodproduct out right now.
Our Ford F-150 just continuesto be our number one volume

(11:32):
vehicle, and it's that waynationally too.
And the new Ford Expedition'sgreat, the Chevy Suburban and
Tahoe we can't keep Tahoe's instock, it's a great product,
tahoe.
we can't keep Tahoe's in stock.
It's a great product.
We're learning more about theHonda product, which is a
phenomenal, quality-wise,economically-wise, great product

(11:57):
as well.
But we're excited to see kindof what comes down the pike with
them as well.
But we have our brands for areason.
I mean, we went after thosespecific brands and luckily
we've been successful with them.

Sam Silvey (12:12):
I hope that continues.
Yeah, I mean it seems like itwill.
What about in the motorcycleside?
Is there one that stands out?
I mean you kind of got thewho's who like what?
Ducati, BMW, Triumph, KTM, allthe Austrian brands, Gaspar,
yeah, GasGas, GasGas.

Clay Watson (12:27):
BMW.
Of course BMW.
I mean BMW is probably thegorilla in the room, you know,
for lack of better phrases, butI mean it's hard, you know, to
walk in that shop and not tojust be in awe of all that cool.
Yeah, all the colors, theorange and the KTM and the
yellow and blue of the Husqvarna.

(12:48):
I mean you know, triumphgetting into the motocross
business is a pretty big dealand that bike's a pretty cool
bike.
Ktm and Husqvarna are stilljust kind of the kings in that,
if you ask me.
Of course Honda does a good jobtoo.
We don't sell those, but it's agreat product as well.
But I mean the BMW.
I mean like your bike that youhave.

(13:10):
I mean that's just the.
I mean that's like the F-150 inthe car business.
I mean it's reliable, it can dopretty much anything.
You're going to drive it todinner one night and you're
going to take it across Coloradoand never hit pavement.
Yeah, you can do anything withthat bike and that's what makes
that GS so such a cool ride.

Sam Silvey (13:33):
I rode it here today .
That's why I got my hat on allbackwards.
I ride it towards as many daysas I can.
You know riding up and down themountain.

Clay Watson (13:39):
Good for you.

Sam Silvey (13:39):
Yeah, it's just a great way to finish the day burn
some stress off.

Clay Watson (13:42):
I agree.
I agree, I'm actually amotorcyclist.
Right now I don't have one,that's my personal bike.
I've had several over the yearsand I used to leave work and

(14:03):
drive out Chattanooga Valley andcome up the backside of lookout
.
Oh yeah, you know, get thatextra ride home.
You know, let the wind blowthrough your little hair, I have
, you know.
But yeah, it's a great, greatway to decompress.

Sam Silvey (14:09):
I love it.
Now, whenever you guys boughtPandoras, was there a learning
curve, or is it the same thingas cars?

Clay Watson (14:14):
pretty much, Well, there was a learning curve
product-wise, because we startedout off being customers of
Pandora's and my cousin and Iwere good customers, we were
both BMW riders and theyapproached us about purchasing
the stores a father-sonoperation.
At that point they kind of hitsome, I guess, a roadblock in

(14:39):
their growth and we felt, whenthey approached us, we felt we
could come in and apply some ofthe automotive retail you know
techniques and processes andgrow that business.
And when we did, we did that.
It wasn't easy, it wasn't ascookie-cutter as you thought
it'd be.
I mean, the motorcycle buyer isa lot different than the

(15:04):
automotive buyer.
Motorcycles generally, you knowdisposable income, I mean it's
an afterthought, it's not amust-have like a vehicle to get
to work every day in the rain,snow or shine, whatever.
You know, it's a differentdecision.
So some of it worked, some ofit didn't, and so, yes, there

(15:24):
was a learning curve on how tomarket, how to sell, you know,
in any kind of volume, how to, Imean, make any kind of money
off of it.
I mean the margins on bikes arevery, very, very slim.

Sam Silvey (15:41):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (15:43):
But it's doable and it's not anything we're going
to retire on, but it's fun, welove it.
We love our customers and I'llsay this about the motorcycle
community they're super loyaland they love their shops and if
you take care of that customerthey're, they are going to come
back and they are going to telleverybody they know about it,
and the vice versa.

(16:03):
If you don't take care of them,they won't tell everybody they
know about it as well.
Um, but it's a, it's a greatbusiness to be in and and, as
you know, you're a customer ofours, so you, you know, when you
go into that shop, it's a coolplace to hang out.
I mean, it's just a cool vibeand that's what it should be.
And we have a great group offolks there that are enthusiasts

(16:27):
.
They all ride both pedal bikesand motorcycles.
It's just a cool world to be in, for sure.

Sam Silvey (16:35):
It's interesting how there is a difference between.
I haven't really thought aboutit until now, but it's like a
lifestyle piece with motorcycles, Totally Everything from the
tire you're wearing, the helmetsyou're picking out the bike you
ride and usually a lot of evenloyal to the brand you know,
diehard Ducati or diehard BMW orwhatever it is Totally, and a
dealership.
I mean, I'm sure of coursethere's always Ford versus Chevy
, that's going to exist forever,but it's not quite the same as

(16:58):
motorcycles.
It kind of runs in your veins alittle bit.

Clay Watson (17:01):
No, I agree with you and I think you can compare
the motorcycle business moretowards the highline or exotic
cars like Porsche, Ferrari,Lamborghini.
Usually those folks that getinto that line of cars, like a
Porsche guy I'm a Porsche guyusually stays.

(17:21):
They love the Porsches.
They kind of bleed Porsche.
Same thing with like a KTM.
They bleed that orange, yeah,and we see the same kind of
thing.

Sam Silvey (17:30):
Yeah, don't bring that up with the other Clay you
met earlier, a businessdeveloper.
He's a Yamaha rider.
Oh wow, he and I get into itevery day and it's pretty easy.
I'm like, all right, wheneveryou get an electric start, you
come talk to me.
He came out and rode with uslast week.
He rides, I mean, yamaha makesa great bike.
I get a great bike, especiallyon the track.

(17:52):
But it's so bizarre how I'llget into the weeds on.
Have like KTM and Husky havelike an electric start and a
larger stator for headlights andfans and they've kind of like
kind of made a motocross bikedecent in the woods but you
still got to kickstart and um,but it seems like they're
catching up.
I don't know if you follow hardenduro at all, but you know
Cody Webb they brought over toYamaha and he's kind of had a
hard time with it.

(18:12):
You know, I think maybe it willhelp the brand.
I'm curious to see if they comeout with like a 302 stroke in
the next few seasons.

Clay Watson (18:20):
I would imagine they will.
I mean, that's such a big niche, you know, or segment of the
motor I keep calling it motorbut the off-road biking,
motorcycle world that surelythey'll get into it and come up
to snuff with the KTMs, theHuskies and the Hondas of the
world.

Sam Silvey (18:40):
They had a buddy of mine who's an R&D at Yamaha.
He used to ride mountain bikesand dirt bikes with him quite a
bit down in the Atlanta area andhe randomly reached out and
said, hey, man, you mind if Ibring some Yamaha engineers up?
Just look at your garage andsee how you're setting up your
bike for Hard Enduro.
And I was like, yeah, come onup, he shows up with a van.
And there was like 10 guys Istill got a photo somewhere.

(19:00):
This is like two years ago andof the 10 guys I think two of
them spoke English, the restthey're straight from Japan.
They flew them over, wow.
And then I connected with acouple of my buddies that races

(19:22):
and figure out I think they'rereverse engineering like they
want to see what tools I uselike tire selection, suspension
setup and then, like you know,prep for a race.
So that was two years ago.
Then they hired cody webb forthis season, you know to to race
the yamaha.
So it's interesting be curiousto see what they do that tells
me that they care.

Clay Watson (19:35):
yeah, no, usually you don't go to that kind of
trouble if you don't really wantto know what's going on out
there in the real market.
I mean, the Cody Webbs of theworld are one thing, but Sam
Silvey's of the world areanother thing.
I mean amateur, very good,awesome rider.
They want to see what's goingon in your garage.
That's awesome, that's cool.

Sam Silvey (19:56):
Yeah, you think with Yamaha they could spin it up
real quick and I don't know whythey haven't done that.

Clay Watson (20:01):
You'd be surprised on you know, I know in the auto
industry.
You know how long it takes tobring something to market.
You know, not only just throughred tape and regulations, but
just to get it from concept tothe pavement.
It takes a lot of money and alot of time.
It's not as quick as you wouldthink it would be and I would

(20:24):
imagine it's a lot smaller scalein the motor sports world.
But I mean, I think it takesmore time than you think, and
Yamaha obviously is dealing witha lot of other things too
besides motorcycles.
Right, but they'll get on it.

Sam Silvey (20:42):
Yeah, I have confidence.
So I'm curious these 600employees, I mean, when you're
buying these companies, whatsort of management, or how did
you all learn them?
That's a lot of people tomanage.
I mean you have weekly meetings, monthly meetings, all of the
above daily meetings.
Well, that's.

Clay Watson (20:57):
You know it changed over time.
Before technology reallyexisted, you had to meet in
person and you met daily, youknow.
And then as technology, youknow, became more advanced, we
were able to meet, you know,once a week or over the phone
through conference calls, or youknow just a lot.

(21:18):
You still met quite a bit, butit was different and a little
less frequent.
You know, today, I mean, we'retouching all of our stores,
somebody's touching the storeevery day and all of them are
managed by, you know, uppermanagement.
But you know we have platformmanagers that manage three to
four stores apiece and they getby there once or twice a week to

(21:42):
check in.
But you're also checking in viaZoom, phone calls, text,
facetime, whatever.
I mean you can do a lot ofthings just sitting at your desk
in one place.
Of course, nothing substitutesin person, but we're able to
touch those folks you know, moreoften, in different ways, and

(22:04):
stay on top of things.
I mean we're very analytical.
We look at a lot of numbers.
We look at numbers every day.
We forecast, we track.
You know we're on top ofproblems immediately.
You know, in the old days, youknow it used to take a couple of
days to really realize thatsomething was going wrong in a
certain department, and so ittook you by the time you

(22:25):
realized it and were able to fixit it might be a week or a week
.
You know that's a lot ofopportunity missed.
Now we know in minutes.
You know we can look, we canpull up reports, we can pull up
averages.
You know we can extrapolatethem out over you know the month
or the quarter, like that andget on top of an issue and
correct it.
You know and you know hopefullybenefit from it.

Sam Silvey (22:49):
Yeah, there's a lot going on.
I mean just thinking as a smallbusiness owner myself and
coming out of COVID and luckilywe we don't have any inventory
to worry about here, it's justlabor.
Of course we got hit hardbecause a lot of our accounts
couldn't stay open and firstthing, cuts marketing
advertising.
But you guys had, I mean,that's kind of an unforeseen
COVID.
Obviously it wasn't like arecession or a depression or a

(23:12):
crash.
All of a sudden COVID's here.
You've got inventory acrossmultiple dealerships and I mean,
what was that like?
That had to be pretty chaotic,you know.

Clay Watson (23:23):
Very chaotic.
We really, you know.
So I'm in the third generationof owners in the Mountain View
Auto Group.
So there was my grandfatherthat started and my father and
my two uncles that represent thesecond generation.
No one had ever seen anythinglike COVID.
You know, and that speaks truefor everywhere in the world, for

(23:45):
the most part, especially theUnited States.
So we really didn't know whatto expect.
So there were some scaryintense moments.
When you're sitting on, you know, ford store could have 19, 2020
million in inventory.
It did back then.
I mean we've gotten better atmanaging inventories as a result
of that.
But $19, $20 million ofinventory in one store.

(24:07):
Multiply that at that point Ithink we had eight stores.
I mean that's hundreds ofmillions of dollars that you're
paying interest on that.
We didn't know if we were goingto have to shut down millions
of dollars that you're payinginterest on that.
We didn't know if we were goingto have to shut down, put
yellow tape across the door andbe closed for six months.
I mean we did not know.
Yeah, nor did we.
Could we ever forecast the factthat covid barring the, the

(24:32):
awfulness of the, you know thedisease or the virus and the
people that suffered from it wasgoing to turn into an
unbelievable retail wave of justgreat sales.
The supply and demand wasobviously in the manufacturer
and the dealer, the seller'sfavor.
We had no idea that was evenremotely possible.

(24:57):
We had no idea that was evenremotely possible.
And that's kind of a lot ofpeople today that are selling
dealerships that are ready toget out.
Covid kind of made them stay inbecause all of a sudden business
got pretty good, they're makinga little bit more money, so
maybe we may give this anothershot for a couple more years.
Well, now they're figuring outthat it's reverting back to, or

(25:17):
has reverted back to, businessas usual.
And if you haven't changed yourways or gotten, you know, up to
speed with technology, you knowthey've decided they wanted to
sell.
They're using, like COVID,numbers for their valuations,
which you know really inflates,overinflates values, and you

(25:37):
kind of have to look at whatthey're doing pre-COVID and
figure that out.
I hope that answered yourquestion.
I forgot what it was.

Sam Silvey (25:46):
Yeah, no, I've been talking so much.
All of that's intriguing to me.
That's what I was curious about, because that was such a spike.
Then money got so cheap andloans got so easy to get and
everyone went on a spendingspree Homes and recreational
vehicles and cars, trucks,everything.
But then I've also seen theopposite, where friends that are
in like small bike shops andtheir stuff.

(26:06):
They had great numbers, butthey also had a challenge they
couldn't get inventory too.
Yeah, very much so Once itcaught up.
If they're a little late tothat demand and money is now
stocked with inventory,something like last year.
I don't know about you, but ifyou're driving around different
parts of the country like the RV, lots are just.

Clay Watson (26:22):
Oh packed.

Sam Silvey (26:23):
I'm like what are we going to do with that?
Because now everyone's tryingto get rid of them and that much
inventory is sitting therewhich I guess they're paying
interest on.
I mean, who finally has to?
I guess the dealership's on thehook for it, right, it's not
the manufacturer.

Clay Watson (26:35):
Well, the manufacturer will.
You're right, they're not onthe hook for it, but they have
to.
Those manufacturers make moneywhen they're producing vehicles.
So if their dealers have a glutof inventory on their lots that
aren't moving, themanufacturers help through
incentives to get rid of thatolder inventory, to help sell it

(27:00):
and retail out of it.
So the dealers will order morenew product that the
manufacturers can build and sellit on their lot.
So, yeah, they're notresponsible.
The manufacturers aren'tresponsible for it, but they do
help out.
They step in and not 100%, butthey do offer assistance in most
cases, gotcha, whether through,you know, direct to the

(27:24):
consumer or to the dealer canhappen both ways, gotcha.

Sam Silvey (27:28):
Okay, and with you saying like business kind of
getting back to usual, I mean,have like the tariffs affected
you all on certain like foreignbrands or we?

Clay Watson (27:35):
haven't seen it here.
You know, um again, ourmanufacturers have been able to
keep the prices steady.
I mean we always see priceincreases.
We and all of our products havea price increase, you know,
once a quarter and um, but wehaven't seen anything crazy to
where it's affected our pricingper se.

(27:56):
You know we've seen some parts,delays parts, and we're still
seeing some of that, believe itor not, from COVID.
I mean, you know it's harderand harder for some reason, to
get parts, you know, regardlessof what manufacturer you're in.
So that's been an issue andthat causes backups and service

(28:16):
and service departments wherethat's a great issue and that
causes backups and service andservice departments where that's
a great profit center for us.
You know, to fix, we fixpeople's vehicles and if you
don't have parts to fix it, it'skind of tough.

Sam Silvey (28:27):
Is that the main source of revenue?
Is it more on the service sideversus new sales or no?

Clay Watson (28:32):
no, it's it's it's fairly evenly split, you know,
between you know fixed ops, likeour parts and service used
vehicles, and then new, justdepending on which manufacturer
you're with.
I mean, we have some that youmay lose money on new.
Believe it or not, dealers dolose money.
I know people don't believethat but they do Right.

(28:52):
But they might make it up onother areas within the store and
so it just depends on what itis and where you are Gotcha.

Sam Silvey (29:04):
Whenever you're hiring those mechanics, I guess
their schools are going to liketwo actual schools to get
trained by the dealerships andthen okay.

Clay Watson (29:11):
So those are usually manufacturer-specific
schools.
Ford does a great job withtheir tech training program and
probably the best out of any ofthe franchises that we have.
One thing we have we face asFord dealers are other
manufacturer dealerships comingafter our techs because they
know they're trained so well andwe you know me as the dealer, I

(29:35):
mean I front that cost, youknow, to the technician and
their education and you knowwhether they go off to Atlanta,
kansas City, detroit, you know,and come back, you know
certified and they're required,you know, to maintain certain
levels of training as well.
You know we pride ourselves,especially at the Ford store as

(29:58):
well.
We pride ourselves especiallyat the Ford store.
We have several I don't knowthe exact number, but we have
one of the largest populationsof master mechanics of anywhere
and that takes a lot of time, alot of money, mainly on the
dealer's part.
But the work and the effort thatthe technician themselves have

(30:19):
to put in to obtain thatrecognition is huge.
It's usually they get paid moremoney, they can do jobs more
efficiently, but they're awealth of knowledge and to hold
on to that is key for dealers.
So technicians are a very hotcommodity.
I don't care what, whether inthe motorcycle business, the

(30:41):
bicycle business or the carbusiness, but especially the car
business.
I mean that's very hard toobtain advice when asked If the
business world or the officeworld is something you don't see

(31:02):
yourself in.
Go look at the mechanics.
It's not the grease monkey jobthat it used to be.
I mean these are smart kids,brilliant kids that have learned
technology, that have learnedhow to turn some wrenches.
They're not getting dirty likethey used to.
I mean it's a yeah, it's laborintensive.

(31:22):
I mean it's what you get paidto do for your labor, but it's a
great job and there are plentyof opportunities for people to
get work and to get paid verywell to do it.

Sam Silvey (31:35):
It seems like the demand is super high for all
jobs Super high.
And the supply is kind oflimited, very limited, yeah.
So I'm sure it's great salaries.
I mean, what's the averagestarting salary for someone who
goes to one of those schools andgets that?

Clay Watson (31:47):
I mean I don't know the numbers off the top of my
head, but I can tell you that wehave techs making well north of
$100.
Wow, you know.
But they've worked hard for itand I mean that requires also,
like a tool investment.
I mean, you know, in yourgarage, I mean I'm assuming you
have, you know, over the yearsand time you've built up your
tool collection.
I mean, some of these techshave tens of thousands of

(32:10):
dollars worth of tools.
Oh yeah.
And nowadays you have to haveall kinds of readers and
scanners and laptops, but it'sjust a tremendous opportunity
for a young person out there,and it doesn't matter male or
female, I mean, they are soughtafter.
We as dealers want hard workersand somebody that wants to

(32:34):
continue to learn and doesn'tmind to work and sweat a little
bit.
But I can literally speak forevery dealer in the country.
We all need technicians yeah,everybody.
It doesn't matter whatfranchise you're in.
I don't know one dealer thathas as many as they need.

Sam Silvey (32:54):
Got less marketing advertising degrees out there
and more technicians.
Probably a better place.

Clay Watson (32:59):
Yeah, for sure I mean it is, and there's a reason
why you're seeing you knowpoliticians kind of push the.
You know the community colleges, yeah, and just learning some
of that STEM, you know skills tohelp get these kids through
life, and I mean that's a butit's a great, great opportunity

(33:22):
for somebody.

Sam Silvey (33:23):
Yeah, I mean some of the quickest growing businesses
we're seeing across our clients.
Are this what everyone refersto as blue collar?
You know so?
Plumbers, electricians,mechanical vets they're crushing
it.
And welders yeah, I mean goodnight, just kill.
I mean people gutterinstallation, roofers yes, and
private equities catching on toit because they're bringing
their systems and operations.

(33:44):
They're starting to buy them upand consolidate them Like AFS,
our billion-dollar company, nowGroundworks Company.
It's crazy, it's AFS, so it'sdefinitely not going anywhere.
And all of those industries andthat labor side is
undersupplied.
And if there's a technicalaspect to it, especially if you
go to school and be certified,they're all making great money.
Yeah, no doubt If I was acriminal I would be following

(34:06):
those snap-on trucks around town.
So I'll tell you what thosethings have some money, that
happens.
But every time you notice I'msure you have they hop off the
truck.
They got the alarm system, theylock it Like they cannot leave
that thing unlocked for a second.

Clay Watson (34:18):
No, no, I would hate to mess with a Snap-on.
Yeah, you're going to eitherget a huge wrench upside the
head or a Glock in your temple.
You know.

Sam Silvey (34:28):
For those that are listening and don't know,
snap-on is some of the most.
I guess they are the mostexpensive tools.
Yeah, I'd say so.
I mean they are extremelyexpensive, like little random
ratchets.
It'll be like $150 for a littleratchet.
Yeah, what?
So with three generations ofyour family, I was blown away
when we were talking at ParkwayPoorhouse about like how well
you all work together and togrow this.

(34:49):
I mean, it seems like it's.
I'm sure it's not perfectlysmooth, but you all have built a
great family business.
I mean, were there times whereyou wish it was just you?
Or you've always been like withthis many stores?
Maybe it's easier havingmultiple family members be part
of it?

Clay Watson (35:05):
No, I mean, I never have wished it was just me.
I couldn't do what I do withoutthem, and I'd say they'd say
the same thing We've been taughtever since we've been young to
really about from ourgrandfather is to work hard and
play hard.
Well, we also took that toanother level.

(35:27):
We work together and we playtogether, so we're all friends
as well as family.
We all share a lot of the sameinterests outside of the
dealerships, which makes itgreat.
It's not all hunky-dory.
We do have our moments, but welearn to.
It's kind of a forgotten art inthe United States.

(35:49):
We can agree to disagree andthen move on.
We can debate it and walk awayfamily and friends, and we do
that, but I think that helps usto make better decisions in the
long run.
Um, and it may not be somethingyou know, we've, we necessarily
we're 100% agreeance on, butyou know, um, we've managed this

(36:14):
far.
I don't see that changinganytime soon.
Um, you know, like I said, wework hard together and we play
hard together, and that makesyou know our wives are friends
and kids are friends and it'sgreat.

Sam Silvey (36:28):
That's really cool to see.
It's not something you see allthe time.
Yeah, no it's not.

Clay Watson (36:32):
It's not, and I mean I have dealer peers and
friends across the country thatthat have failed miserably at at
um, at that, and it's sad tosee um, but I think it just
stems back to us being given anopportunity.

(36:52):
I mean, a lot of people look atwhat we have and like, oh well,
you were given everything, youjust walked into it.
And the people that really knowme and they know where I came
from know that that's far fromthe truth.
I think we were given anopportunity.
I see opportunity squanderedevery day.
I did not squander myopportunity.

(37:14):
I took advantage of it.
I worked hard, I rolled up mysleeves, so did my cousins, and
there are some of them are stilldoing it, working hard every
day, and I think that helps kindof.
Not only do you appreciate yourjob more, you appreciate each
other, and then your employeeswho didn't start off, your

(37:34):
employees.
You were one of the employeesat the time and now they may be
working for you as the dealerprincipal.
You gain respect from that too.
They know that I changed a tire.
They know that I had I walkedout of there, you know, covered
in oil, because you know an oilpan leaked, you know, while I
was under the car or whateveryou know, they know that I was,

(37:57):
you know, moving cars in one ofour annual flood, downtown
floods, you know.
And so annual flood, downtownfloods, you know, and so that
helps a lot.
But no, the family thingdynamics been great.
I don't think I could.
I know that I could not havedone it on my own.
Do people do it on their ownEvery day?
For the Watson family thathadn't been the case and we're

(38:19):
proud to, you know, call it atrue family business.

Sam Silvey (38:27):
Yeah, I think just my own opinion like the first
generation being a familybusiness, I could see that like
that's still challenging.
But then to make it threegenerations, you know, still a
family business and havemultiple people, and that's
really, you know, that'simpressive, Really awesome to
see.

Clay Watson (38:38):
It is.
I mean we're blessed for sure.
I mean I was.
My dad reminded me, you knowever since high school, that the
second generation or the thirdgeneration was the one that
always screwed it up.
So go to class, make goodgrades, get your degree and do
all this, do that.
And then he'd tell you thatagain and again and I'd get it.

(38:59):
But that's not happening on mywatch.

Sam Silvey (39:04):
Do you think that helped you keep from doing that?
Him saying that, or was itsomething else?

Clay Watson (39:07):
Oh, no doubt, yeah, I was motivated to prove him
otherwise.

Sam Silvey (39:10):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (39:11):
He was motivated to make me think more about it and
do a better job.
I knew why he was telling methat, but statistically that's
true.
It's just not true for us.
Yeah, so we did the opposite wegrew it, yeah.

Sam Silvey (39:24):
It's just not true for us.
So we did the opposite.
We grew it yeah, I mean 10dealerships now, yeah, and to
survive, covid and all that too,and come out stronger it seems
like we definitely came outstronger and better operators.

Clay Watson (39:34):
I mean I think I told you the other night I mean
barring like a nuclear war.
I think we can survive justabout anything.
Yeah, hopefully we don't everhave to face that, but we're
pretty resilient as a result ofbeing tested and COVID and the

(39:55):
mortgage crisis and all that9-11.
I didn't even talk about that.

Sam Silvey (39:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, but yeah lucky.
I mean you mentioned resilientand talking about family and all
that, and you told me thisstory the other night.
Actually, I told a friend ofmine the other day about it.
Do you mind talking about thatat all?
Was it Hawaii?
Oh yeah, I don't mind when doyou want me to start?
How do you want me to tell thestory?

(40:18):
You showed me the photos ormaybe Matt had it on his phone
or you had it on your phone ofthat fuselage that's just
completely crushed on lava rock.

Clay Watson (40:28):
And you guys survived that, yeah.
So what Sam is referring to isJune 8th, 2022,.
I took my twin daughters, whohad just graduated high school,
on a graduation trip to Hawaiiand we were on the Big Island.
It was our second day there andI had gotten us a sunset

(40:52):
helicopter ride around thesouthern tip of the island,
which is the most remote part ofthe Big Island and also where
the volcanoes are.
We were going to see thevolcano at dusk, which is, you
know, it really is brilliant,with the lava coming out of it.
It's really pretty and all thatstuff.
So we hopped on the helicopterand we were there.

(41:13):
We were on the helicopter withthe pilot and then a brother and
sister from Virginia, and about30 minutes into our helicopter
ride we ended up.
The entire tail rotor of thehelicopter broke off in
mid-flight and we were about1,500 feet above an ancient lava

(41:39):
field and we immediately turnedupside down.
And we immediately turnedupside down.
We, by the grace of God, weflipped back right ways and
started to you know, obviouslygo down very swiftly to the

(42:00):
ground.
You know, I pretty much at thetime knew it was over and you
know it was a very, very, verytough moment, no doubt about it,
when your life is about to end.
And we crashed in this lavafield.
I don't, nobody remembers thecrash, but by God's grace we

(42:22):
survived it.
We did.
One of my daughters was in theco-pilot seat.
She was partially thrown outand we did have to lift the
fuselage off of her to get herout and she suffered, you know,
a broken back.
And she suffered a broken back.

(42:44):
Her liver was lacerated,shattered ankles and some really
bad lacerations with that lavarocks like glass.
The pilot was basically thesame way.
We had to pull him out as well.
It took 35 minutes for thesearch and rescue to reach us.
We're in the most remote partof the big island of Hawaii, so

(43:05):
they came and got us.
We're in the most remote partof the big island of Hawaii, so
they came and got us.
They couldn't, they had to flyin to get us because they
couldn't reach it by foot or byvehicle or ATV.
But we all survived it.
We ended up spending a month inHawaii as my daughter was
recovering in the hospital there.
But no, it's one of those thingswhere you know you don't, you

(43:29):
take your life for granted untilit kind of almost ends in front
of you, you know.
And I came out of that with acouple of things.
One, you know, I always hadstrong faith, but something like
that, I mean, strengthens thatlike you can't imagine.

(43:50):
So I know it was a God thing.
I saw that that day for sure,and I saw it in the recovery of
my daughter.
The other thing I realized was,hey, life is short.
The good Lord gave me a secondchance at this thing called life
.
I'm not going to approach it orlive it the same way I lived it

(44:11):
prior to that crash, and so Ijust basically drew a line in
the sand.
I called my partners and I saidlook, hey, I'm still in it, I'm
still in the business, I'mstill going to make some
decisions, but I'm not comingback to work like I thought I
was beforehand, because I'mgoing to live this life, that

(44:31):
I've been given this secondchance.
So at the time I was divorcedand I was a single dad.
A couple months later I met mynow wife, who was a true
blessing.
My kids got to go to college orwent to college.

(44:52):
Kennedy went to college in awheelchair but did great and is
resilient and doing awesometoday, but I spend my time
playing hard because I've workedso hard for 30 years in the
business, Um.
So I travel a bunch.
Like you mentioned, I'm anoutdoor enthusiast.

(45:13):
I'm climbing mountains, I'mfishing, all around the world,
Um, um, just doing what I canoutside and taking in any moment
I can to have fun and enjoywhat the good Lord's put in
front of me.
And so I do that.
Whether it's a good meal, afine bottle of wine, a great
conversation, a summit attemptin the Grand Tetons or catching

(45:36):
GTs in the Seychelles, in theIndian Ocean, I'm doing it and
I'm not going to let go of that.
I'm going to keep doing it.

Sam Silvey (45:45):
Yeah, that's awesome .
I'm so curious on that.
I mean 1,500 feet to the deck.
I mean that's a little bit oftime, right?
I mean how quickly was that?
I mean more than five seconds,10 seconds, yeah.

Clay Watson (45:55):
So we were trying to figure that out through the
FAA and the NTSB.
We did multiple interviews withthem and the only thing I can
remember is, I started sayingthe Lord's Prayer and I did not
finish it.
So you know, for those that arelistening, you can look in the

(46:15):
mirror and say it, and I think Ican't remember where it stopped
, but it was pretty quick, yeah,but it was just so surreal.
And one of my my other daughter, Clayton was I was sitting with
my back to the pilot and I waslooking at her.
So she's looking at me like Dad, do something about this.

(46:36):
You're our dad, you know.
You're supposed to protect us.
You know, you know, becauseyou're Superman, you know.
Well, I mean, there's nothing Idid, there's nothing I could
have done.
You know, yeah, In that moment,when there was stuff that

(46:56):
happened when we hit the ground,that you know how we did that,
I don't know, but we foundstrength and courage to do it,
but it happened pretty quick.

Sam Silvey (47:07):
That had to be a wild feeling.

Clay Watson (47:10):
I mean you can't, it's hard to describe, not just
because of the emotions behindit, just because it's just a
hard.
I mean, if you're on anairplane and you lose a little
bit of altitude and you do itquick, it kind of takes your
stomach and puts it in yourthroat.

(47:30):
You're kind of like, oh, herewe go.
And you hear the people kind ofmaking the noise.
Well, imagine that times amillion, because that's pretty
much what it was.
I mean you just dropped all ofa sudden, and it wasn't like the
pilot was doing anything crazy.
I mean I remember, like it wasyesterday.
We were looking at ancient lavatubes that were formed thousands

(47:50):
and thousands of years ago.
Everybody was pretty muchlooking down and all of a sudden
you turn upside down in ahelicopter.
I mean, yeah, so it was amaintenance issue.
I mean the entire tail boombroke off.
Kennedy, who was in theco-pilot seat, remembers it
seeing it fly by her?

(48:11):
Wow, and at that point youdon't have a moment to ask
yourself why.
It's kind of like you're justpreparing yourself for what's
about to come.
You know which?
At the time we thought it wasdeath.
Yeah, you know, but it wasn'tand it was a new chance at life

(48:35):
and it was, you know, probablythe single worst thing that's
ever happened to me and, at thesame time, probably the best
thing that's ever happened to me, if that makes any sense at all
.
Sure, it's given me a muchdifferent outlook and
perspective on life, I think,different from most people.

Sam Silvey (48:55):
Yeah, there's a lot of studies behind the people
that have those near-deathexperiences and they'll follow
them for decades afterwards andthey typically live in these
studies happier, more fulfilledlives, more faith and everything
you know.
So it seems like that's theexact same thing.

Clay Watson (49:12):
I used to have a short fuse.
I used to, you know, get angryat the drop of a hat, and you
know, I just don't get botheredby that stuff anymore.
It's not worth it at all.
Do I still get frustrated attimes?
I mean, yeah, I'm learning howto play golf right now.
I get frustrated all the time,but I mean, I don't get worked

(49:33):
up on things, it's life.
You know, good Lord has a planfor me and I know that and I'm
okay with everything that he hasplanned for me.
So far it's been fantastic,yeah, and I love him for that.
So, no, it was an interestingexperience.

(49:54):
One reason I'm probably not.
I came home after that and soldall my fast motorcycles.
I wasn't into speed at the time.

Sam Silvey (50:02):
Yeah, makes sense.

Clay Watson (50:04):
So I'm kind of gradually getting back into that
.

Sam Silvey (50:07):
Yeah.
What about your daughters?
How are they doing?

Clay Watson (50:10):
now they're doing well.
They're seniors at TexasChristian University in Fort
Worth.
And Kennedy, who was severelyinjured she's had a couple more
surgeries, has another surgeryto go, but you would never know
it by looking at her at allother than some.
You know her um scarring fromthe lava rock, but even still

(50:32):
it's hard to see, but she's a.
Both of them are just awesomeyoung women.
They're resilient, um, they'rekind of the same way.
I mean they just um they justmade them better people.
They've been beautiful, great,good-hearted young women forever

(50:53):
, but I think they're better aswell.
But health-wise they're bothdoing great.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's truly amazing.
It wasn't easy for any of them.
I mean, they were treated.
We were all treated for PTSD.
I mean, you know we all still.
You know we're not slowing down, we're still traveling, but

(51:13):
flying's a much differentexperience than it was prior to
that.
So we have our moments when itcomes to that, but other than
that, we're still moving andshaking.

Sam Silvey (51:23):
I mean, I just thought of this, but they had to
put you in a helicopter rightafter the helicopter crash,
right to get you out of there.

Clay Watson (51:28):
Yeah.
So I had, clayton and I were onanother helicopter.
Everybody had to get evac wereevac'd by helicopter.
Kennedy was so bad that wedidn't know if she was going to
live or not.
To be honest with you, wedidn't know if she was going to
live or not, to be honest withyou.
So they evac'd her off thatinitial site to a, I guess, kind

(51:51):
of a little what would you callit, a triage site in a parking
lot several miles out of thelava field, the closest they
could get by car, determinedthat she was bad enough to where
they needed to evac her againin the helicopter to the Kona
Regional Medical Center, whichis a small hospital.
Got there, assessed her there,talked to a spinal, a spine
doctor in Honolulu.

(52:12):
He wanted her that night.
So she got on anotherhelicopter and did an hour and
45 minutes during the middle ofthe night from the Big Island to
Honolulu and they couldn't puther to sleep.

Sam Silvey (52:27):
Couldn't put her to sleep?

Clay Watson (52:28):
No, but they got her to, they made it there, but
she had three more helicopterrides after that crash.

Sam Silvey (52:37):
I mean I'm sure she was.
I mean, both of you wereprobably rattled, right.

Clay Watson (52:41):
Everybody was rattled.
Clayton and I I, I thinkfinally made it back to the
hotel room like at four o'clockin the morning and we had a
flight to Honolulu like at seventhat next morning and, um,
we're like the walking deadpretty much.
I mean um.
So that first flight, even onAloha air, you know, it was like

(53:04):
a 45-minute plane flight.
It was the scariest flight I'veever been on in my life because
I just got off a helicoptercrash.
I didn't trust anythingmechanical anymore in the air.
So any little bump or anythinglike that was pretty
nerve-wracking.
And I knew at some point wewere on an island so we had to
get to the mainland somehow.

(53:25):
So a month later we were flownback in a medical jet and, as
you can imagine, that was verynerve-wracking.
But again, we're still flying,we're still living life, we're
still traveling and seeing thesights.

Sam Silvey (53:41):
Man, I'm glad you guys survived that.
That was a hell of a story.

Clay Watson (53:44):
I'm glad we survived too, yeah yeah.
It's pretty weird when the FAAand the NTSB both say like, hey,
we don't ever get to interviewsurvivors from helicopter
crashes ever, wow, especially inHawaii.
And all of you survived.
Pilots survived too, everybodysurvived, and the pilot and
Kennedy were, and they barelymade it.
I mean, they were very, very,very messed up and we I say we,

(54:18):
the other gentleman and I thatwere on the young man and I that
were on the helicopter evac'dthe wounded off there because it
got them away from the fuselagewe thought was going to blow up
at any time.
Oh yeah, so I actually thoughtit was going to blow up at any
time, you know?
Oh, yeah, you know, while myother daughter and the other
young lady were busy trying tocommunicate with emergency
services, you know, tocoordinate some sort of, you
know, rescue attempt.
So yeah, but everybody survived.

(54:42):
But everybody was.
They were both in very badshape.

Sam Silvey (54:48):
Extremely bad shape.
So that said you.
You got some more trips comingup, you got a flight.

Clay Watson (54:54):
Yeah, I'm flying out of here Saturday morning for
a business meeting.
Um and I flew we just got, tooka honeymoon this summer and
went to Europe for a coupleweeks and we flew there and back
.
I've flown all around the world.
Afterwards it's not the bestexperience for me but, again, if
I want to live my life and dothe things I love to do in this

(55:17):
world, I know I have to traveland it's just something I'm
dealing with, something I'mdealing with, you know.
You know I use music andmeditation, prayer to get me
through some of those flights,you know.

Sam Silvey (55:31):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (55:32):
But I'm still doing it.
I'm not going to let that holdme back.
The good Lord had a good chanceto take me.
He had a perfect opportunityand for some reason I'm still
here.

Sam Silvey (55:42):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (55:42):
You know, and I don't think that's how I'm going
to go out, and I have to keepreminding myself.
You know of that.

Sam Silvey (55:48):
Right, Right Now you mentioned earlier.
I'm curious on the you like tofish, talking about the outdoor
and things, this stuff.
And you've got one coming toArgentina, right, Correct?
You're going to Patagonia area.
Yeah, what kind of fishing arewe going for down there?

Clay Watson (56:02):
So we'll be trout fishing down there, just like we
do out west.
Here I mean brown trout andrainbow trout, fly fishing.
You know we're going down there, which you know.
Fishing in Patagonia is a lotlike fishing in the Rocky
Mountains in the American West.
It's beautiful.

Sam Silvey (56:17):
Yeah.

Clay Watson (56:19):
It's fantastic they have.
It's just super wild.
I mean, you see some coolmountains, some volcanoes, the
water is really crystal clearand clean.
You see flocks of parrotsflying around, you see wild
quail walking down the banks,and it's just a really special

(56:39):
place.
So we're going to head downthere, you know, in December,
when it's their summertime.
It's winter here, it's summerdown there.

Sam Silvey (56:46):
Yeah, That'd be awesome.
I look forward to seeing somephotos of that hopefully some
big fish too.

Clay Watson (56:52):
Hopefully you'll get to see some big fish photos.
That's the plan.

Sam Silvey (56:56):
I've heard some guys throwing on the fly rod little
fake mice getting some big fishon that down there.

Clay Watson (57:03):
Yeah, at the right time of year that can be really
productive and they do itpredominantly at night.
Oh, really the big browns comeout, okay, we'll eat those and
that can be a riot.
Yeah, I mean crazy.
Yeah, how big they get downthere.
I mean you can get.
I mean they have some if you godown to southern Argentina.

(57:25):
You know the sea rum browns,those things get into the 30 and
40 pound range, you know.
But the trout we're going to bein northern Patagonia, we're in
the mountains and you knowyou're going to catch a lot of
two, three pounders on average.
But you're going to have a shotat an eight, nine, possibly
10-pound fish on a fly rod,which is fantastic.

(57:48):
I mean that's a trophy,once-in-a-lifetime catch.
But look, we're going down toenjoy the locals, the local
cuisine and the area we're inand you know, catching a fish
will be a byproduct of that.
But I'm still hoping to catchsome big ones.

Sam Silvey (58:07):
So oh, yeah, yeah, are you taking multiple weight
rods?
You have a guide that hasmultiple, because I mean both.

Clay Watson (58:12):
I mean, we'll take, you know, we'll take um, you
know, five, six, seven weights,um, and then they'll have plenty
of gear for us there as well.
So those rods can handleanything those trout throw at us
.
Okay, yeah, so that'll be a funtrip.

(58:33):
We're looking forward to that.
I'll hit the Florida Keys priorto that doing some saltwater
fishing for permit, bonefish forpermit and bonefish Uh-huh,
that's kind of an annualpilgrimage.

Sam Silvey (58:48):
What time of year do you like in November, or when
do you?

Clay Watson (58:50):
I go down there in October, okay, and I go back in
March.
So tarpon fishing in March andthen in the fall it's more like
permit and bonefish.
Are you hitting like Alamoradafor?

Sam Silvey (59:01):
tarpon.
I'll be in Alamirada for tarpon.
Alamirada yeah, that's where Ikind of base out of.
I hear that's like the bestplace where I'm pushing through.

Clay Watson (59:05):
There it is um, you get them, you get shots on the
ocean side and they get shots onthe gulf side and there's just
a myriad of opportunities downthere and, in my opinion, the
best place on the planet to dothat kind of fishing.
And and I grew up fishing downthere and I've done it, you know
my.
I've done it for 35-something,35 years.

Sam Silvey (59:28):
And I love it.
I've never gotten a tarpon or apermit.
Plenty of bonefish on the flyrod, yep.
But I was down there.
I missed it this year.
I was down there for mybirthdays in April.
They were still stacked outthere, you know, on their skiffs
up on the ladder, oh yeah, butI've still never got a tarpon.
I've taken a couple of shots atthem in Belize but never had
anything hook.

Clay Watson (59:47):
It's like nothing you've ever caught before.
I can tell you that I'm lookingforward to it one day.
It costs, it takes a lot oftime, some funds.
It's actually taken somemarriages down it didn't take
mine down, but I mean my firstone down but it's addictive and

(01:00:08):
it's for the adrenaline junkiefor sure, but it's awesome.
Yeah, it's cool.

Sam Silvey (01:00:14):
Oh, that's cool.
Well, I look forward to seeingsome photos from Patagonia.

Clay Watson (01:00:18):
Yeah, definitely.

Sam Silvey (01:00:19):
Anything I missed, Anything else you want to say,
Not that I can think of.
I mean, I appreciate all thebusiness.
I'm always so curious to hearjust especially business that
you guys have sizable 10dealerships, 40-plus years, 44
years, and get to hear some insand outs.
So I appreciate you sharing allthat with me.

Clay Watson (01:00:38):
Thank you for letting me share it.
Hopefully the people that arelistening, you know, will pick
something up from it.

Sam Silvey (01:00:46):
You know, yeah, and keep listening yeah, absolutely
thank you yeah, thanks forcoming and chatting with me yeah
, anytime.