Episode 48 (Mom)

Jack sits this episode out, but it's okay because Robert has another guest in store-- His mom. Robert and his mom talk about the walk's inception and how it impacted the family. They also discuss walking through central Florida and sleeping at home.

Episode Transcript

(00:21):
Hey, everyone, Welcome to AcrossAmerica. I'm going to be host today.
This is Robert and with me isnot Jack. Jack is not here
for another episode. He is missingthis one. But I have a special
guest today which is going to bevery interesting. It is my mom,

(00:42):
Gene Lamb is here to talk aboutmy walk. This is gonna be um.
I don't think for you. It'syour first podcast, so it's going
to be like weird, I think, But for me it's going to be
embarrassing, probably because I'm gonna tellthe truth. We have a I mean,
I've been telling the truth. It'snot like you're gonna be like he

(01:03):
never walked across the country. Thatwas a lie the whole time. No,
I just don't want to. Idon't know, because you're my mom,
So it's just supposed to be embarrassing. And I love you because you're
my son. Yeah that's that's whatI thought you would say. So anyways,
Uh, yeah, I just wantedto have you on because me and

(01:25):
Jack have been talking about the walkthe whole time. We're almost done.
I'm in Florida right now. Ithink I left off where I just left
Tampa. But before I went anyfurther because Jack's gonna rejoin me later.
I wanted to do kind of ashort episode with you and just talk about
how you felt about the walk becauseI mentioned both you and Dad. Basically,

(01:52):
you were very sad and Dad wasvery angry. So you're my baby,
You're leaving. You can get killedon this truth trip? How did
you think I was going to feel? But I could get killed walking to
the market, I know, ordriving you can get in a car accident.
You can't compare that. You cannotcompare that. This is you're on

(02:12):
the road, You're places you've neverbeen before. You're running into people that
you have no idea who they are. Cycles are out there. I mean,
it just was very, very scary. I got more gray hair on
this since you took this trip,I am totally gray. I don't think
that's true. But you you dieyour hair, right, Yes, that's

(02:36):
part of it either. But butwhen I first told you I wanted to
walk across the country, I thinkyou were just like okay, Like no,
no, you didn't really believe itat first. No, I was
not okay. I was not okay. I didn't want you to go.
But the thing is, you saidif you don't support me, I'm going

(02:57):
anyway. So I so I hadno choice if I still wanted to continue
with my son to help you andsomething that you truly, truly wanted to
do. Since you or a littlekid, you always talked about walking across
the United States. Not only straightacross. You wanted to go diagonal.
You have to be different, y'all. And so you went the furthest most

(03:21):
north west, the most southern.I know, you're crazy, man,
And so yeah, I had nightmares, you know, when you were up
in Washington. I didn't hear fromyou from three days. And that's because
now that I know, there wasno towers and all I pictured, and
I would dream that you got attackedby a bear. I mean it was

(03:45):
terrible. I would My mom alwaysthinks of the worst thing. No,
yeah, that's like a meme onFacebook is like whenever you don't answer your
mom right away, she thinks you'relaying in a ditch like car overturned on
fire. But that's not You alsowere kind of okay with it because I
mentioned that I was going to begoing with your friends of mine. YEA

(04:06):
made you feel a little bit safer. But then but then when I told
you about Montana and then me andTony split up in the Indian Reservation.
Also that they said that they hatedwhite people. That wasn't it. That's
well, I'm just saying they toldyou not to take that route, and
what do you do? It wasthe shortest distance, so you took that

(04:28):
route and went on that highway rightnext to the reservation. I went south.
I didn't go that way. Thelady who was walking across the country,
who I was a day behind,she went towards Chicago, but I
went south towards or into Wyoming.So I'm just saying that, yes,
there a lot of bad things couldhave happened, but nothing did I know.

(04:50):
You were worried though, and Istill tried to keep in contact throughout
when you could. That's right.But then when I didn't hear from you,
then what am I I supposed tobelieve? What happened? I'm walking
through the desert. There's no uh, there's there's no signal. So you
just gotta so grin and Barrett,Yeah, nightmare Scalore. Just wait.

(05:13):
And I tried, like I said, whenever I, you know, stayed
with somebody or went like where Ihad signal. I did contact you or
at least text you if I could, but like throughout like you sent me
care packages too. Oh yeah,to different places and stuff like different People't
that nice? I appreciate it.Yeah, beef joking and stuff. Yeah,

(05:35):
everything that you needed. Just sentit to the local post office.
A matter of fact, one ladyeven opened up on a Sunday for you
because she the pack which was there. No, no, she said she'd
meet you there. Who can't rememberwho, some small rinky dink town that
I sent it to, and sheopened up the post office on Sunday.

(05:59):
You were there Saturday, the packagewasn't there, and anyway, arrive late
and you picked it up on aSunday. I remember that. Maybe I
don't remember everything on the trip.I took notes, but I've been trying
to talk about all the stuff thathappened on this podcast. We got like
forty something. This is episode fortyeight. Jack's been on pretty much all

(06:19):
of them except for one he missed. But we've had some people on ask
questions, and we've taken some questions. But then most of the time I'm
just talking about the walk and goingthrough I think I probably have about two
episodes left, which will make itfifty episodes total. Did you talk about
the moose? Did you talk aboutthe wolves? Did you talk about first
I'll hold on, hold on.There was no moose and there was no

(06:43):
wolves. Coyotes. There's coyotes.They're not the same as wolves. Well,
I know, but I thought youwolves are dangerous. Coyotes aren't that
dangerous. There's coyotes in Wyoming.And it wasn't a moose. I don't
know what it was. It couldhave been a horror, it could have
been I think I think it wasa horse. Snorting outside your tent is

(07:04):
still a scary thing. He wasprobably trying to get your food in your
cart. But still I didn't havethe cart at that point, but I
mean even in the tent, butwe had the bare bags that you put
the food in any open food andstuff. But that was when I was
with Tony, Well, I wasby myself. Yeah, there's a lot
of scary noises at night that justyou just had to deal with hope that

(07:28):
they don't try to get in yourtent. And how about the police with
the train, Yeah, I alreadytalked about that, like recap everything,
but yeah, train. I alreadymentioned the train you caught and waken up
at two in the morning because thecops kicked me out, and I had
some run ins with police, andI mentioned all that stuff. But I

(07:48):
just wanted to get your take.I mean, obviously you were worried the
whole time. Yeah you hear ohmo, police woke me up last night
and I'm going what Yeah, butit was saying it was that bed.
I mean, they weren't nice,but most most of the cops that I
ran into were they were Okay.One brought you a tent. Yeah,
I mentioned him and a lot ofpeople who helped him bring water and food

(08:13):
and all that kind of stuff.But like I said, you were shipping
me. I mean you shipped menew shoes and Missouri. That's when I
switched out my shoes because I worethe same pair until Missouri. And then
you also bought me a new tentbecause the other one. I forget why
you bought me a new tent becauseit was in Missouri. I remember you

(08:33):
sent me the shoes, and thenit was that pop up tent and I
had to learn how to fold it, fold it, which was a pain
in the ass. Yeah, butit compacted really nice. Then it into
very small. Yeah, but itwas still it was like really hard.
You had to like fold it fourtimes and then like spin it. And
I don't know, I remember havingsome difficulties because I the first time I

(08:54):
got it, I think I wasin a motel room and I was trying
to set it up and I thinkI called you and we skiped or something,
and you were trying to show me. Yeah, that was another thing.
The whole reason I got this phoneis so we can skype. And
yes, I told you it looksterrible. Keeping I told you it looked
terrible because you were losing so muchweight from this walk. You look terrible.

(09:16):
And you said, if I tellyou that, you look terrible.
One more time, we were notallowed to skype. Yeah, but just
because I had a beard and myface was all red and stuff. I
didn't lose any weight. I stayedabout the same. I ate junk food,
though that look like crap. Iate junk food a lot. Yeah,

(09:37):
I'm walking thirty miles a day.Yeah. Well, and how do
your legs fail? Now? Youget ramps all the time? That?
Yeah, I know, I don'tknow. People ask me at work all
the time. They're like, uh, you're ever gonna do it again?
I was like, I like to, but my legs, I don't know
if i'd be able to. No, you ruined your feet and your legs.

(10:00):
Noah, that's fine. I understan'tgo jogging as much as I used
to. I mean I can't jogfor as far as I used to.
I used to be able to doalmost like four or five miles like when
I went jogging. Now I canbarely do two. That's just because old
age. It might be old age. You hit thirty, buddy, I
think because my legs like tighten upa lot, and I get shooting pains

(10:20):
in my legs every once in awhile, which are probably like the nerve
endings sciatic nerve. No, it'snot the sciatic, but it's like it's
just weird. And I'm always worriedI'm gonna like do that thing where you
wear out your knees, wear outthe what's it called, it's like in
the knee whatever. Yeah, butI'm always worried I'm gonna like mess that

(10:41):
up. So like I'm I'm like, should I really be jogging more?
Because I already put a lot ofstrain on my legs. But oh well,
well, last time you told meyou were going to bicycle from Maine
and go down to don't you darely that that would be less? That
would take less? No, no, no, that would though. I
don't care. I can't take myart can't and and I could probably hit

(11:05):
like a campground like every night.It's the guys that I met who are
biking across the country were doing uhthey said they were up to like almost
eighty miles a day. I wasdoing thirty miles on foot. So yeah,
you could probably double that on abike, if not triple it.
Please, please, Sun, Please, I'm not going to I'll wait till
you and dad have drop dead passedaway before I do something else. You'll

(11:28):
be too old and they married andhave kids, and your wife won't let
you go, not necessarily. I'llmake sure not. If I stay single,
I'm gonna put it in my will. You don't get anything from me
unless you promise not to. Yeah, but once I get it, that's
it. I don't know. Yeah, maybe I don't think they give your
X amount every two three years,and so your kid don't have enough money

(11:54):
to go. Nah, I'm notgonna do it just because already what I
do. I did, Yeah,but I miss it sometimes it was cool
go jog around the park. That'snot the same. I like seeing things.
I like doing stuff that's different.You only live once, mom,
Mean, they did tell them,did tell them where you're going, you'll
be seeing a lot of things.Well I thought we were. I was,

(12:16):
yeah, okay, we won't tell. No, we're going on a
trip, so vacation. Yeah,out of the country. Yeah, but
yeah, I like to see things. I like to travel, so I
do too. That's kind of traveling. Yeah, but I got to see
it real slow. Yeah, whenI got to Well that's also what I
want to talk about because this isgonna be a shorter episode. But I

(12:37):
wanted to talk about when I gotback to Florida. And I think I
talked about this in an earlier episode. Was I just got into Florida.
My friend Amanda drove up to comeget me because we were going to go
to Universal Studios Halloween Hornets. AndI was like, yeah, if you
come get me, like, I'llpay for your gas um and then I'll

(13:00):
see if my mom can take meback up or whatever. So that way
you know, because I didn't wantto cheat. So wherever I got picked
up, I had to be droppedoff. And yeah, she went,
she came picked me up, butI didn't tell you that she was coming
to pick me up. And thenshe drove me over here, but you
weren't here yet. And then Ithink I text you or something to see
where you were, and you saidsomething like, oh, I'm not at

(13:22):
the house yet, and I waslike, oh, well, I need
you to upload some photos for me. Yeah. I didn't even tell me
you were in town, right,So then you got home and then I
came out so excited I believe ofmy baby's home. But even though I
was home, I still had tofinish walking through Florida. So you helped
me, and you drove up,and you kind of took off like a

(13:45):
few days off of work, andwe just you helped drive me back up
to I forget what the small townwas, but where I stayed the night
night prior. And then we droveback and forth and I walked, he
walked, and I went and youwent to different places. Yeah, I
walked, but then you had togo back to work. And then I

(14:05):
walked through Tampa, met some friendsand stuff like that. Finally talked to
dad a little bit, and thenafter that you helped me a little bit
after Tampa, like probably like likeRuskin like right below Tampa. I think
it was a little bit soft becausethen I think you me and then your
friend Jane, like we all wentout to eat at Sunny's. And then

(14:28):
that's when you were like, allright, well, I can't keep following
you because I got to get backto work. And I was like,
yeah, I know, but itwas nice not having my cart with me
because I could just carry a backpackwith water rather than carrying all my stuff.
But I met you at Okeechobee RiverOcho Lake, Yes I did.

(14:48):
I followed you all the way downfrom there because I took another week off
that Okeechobee that was outside of Miami. You weren't at okeechobe because I walked
through there. I remember having mycar is passed that, and then I
also stayed at Sorry, I stayedat Fish Eating Creek, which I wasn't
going to talk about all this,but I saw it there and then you

(15:09):
came back. When I walked throughthe Keys, which was right above the
Keys. It was like near Miamibecause you thought about going through um or
you thought about seeing like Highlight andand make some places in Miami while I
walked. But yeah, so whenI left Tampa, though, that was
like the last time, and itkind of felt weird because I slept in
my own bed here but then hadto get back on the road to finish

(15:33):
up, and I probably still hadI know the Keys are about one hundred
and sixty miles, I think iswhen I looked it up, and then
and then another. I don't evenknow how many miles from Tampa to the
Keys, So I knew I wasgoing to have about another week of walking
before you came and visited in theKeys and stuff. And I didn't even

(15:54):
know how long you were going tostay. But I'll talk about that on
the next episode. But what doyou think like when I left after Tampa,
what did you want? I want? I wanted you. I wanted
you to quit. I said,why don't you quit? You're already here
in Florida, and you said,y'all made it this far, I'm not
quitting now, And it was whywould I stop there? Well, I

(16:17):
figured you're actually like keat West isnot that far. No, I walked
from Washington all the way to Tampa. You don't think I'm gonna go a
little bit further. Well, Iwas hoping that maybe you'd stay. Now,
that was why I didn't want toreally stay at the house though.
It was because I didn't want toget comfortable and not want to get up
and start walking again. Yeah,thing, I felt so bad. I

(16:40):
liked it? Do you before wewrap up? I remember you said how
did you word it? You saidthat you used to sit up at night
or like at least like just youwould be sitting there at night, like
before you went to bed, andyou would think, what did you do

(17:02):
wrong to make me make you feellike? I had to walk acroas that's
right? Why that doesn't make anysense to me? Oh my god?
What did I do? What didI do to make him possess this that
he had to I'm trying to thinkof the actual word that I need not
Biz. It's not like you werea raging alcoholic and that's why I kept

(17:26):
getting arrested when I was sixteen andgetting in trouble at school. Like it
wasn't like that kind of thing.It was just no, I wanted to
walk across the country It wasn't likeI went through some kind of child abuse
or neglect or anything like that.I thought maybe the divorce. I thought
maybe the divorce, you know,seven years ago and more than that,

(17:49):
I know, but still you wonderwhat went wrong that would make you want
to do something that this so farout left, so far outleft. I
mean, I don't, I don'tknow people do that stuff. I'm not
the only one who's walked across thecountry, and people have walked across the
other countries. Doesn't mean they hada bad upbringing. Wow, I'm just

(18:11):
saying nothing you did or nothing daddid, had anything to do or anything
my friends did anything to do withthe reason why I walked across the country.
I just want to do something differentbecause you only get one life,
and I want to do something.It's like a good talking point. Look,
I wouldn't have this podcast if Icouldn't. I couldn't do it.
Yeah, but most people do somethingvery bizarre for maybe a week or even
two or even a month. Youwere gone six months, three weeks,

(18:34):
isn't that what it was? Yeah, but people hiked the Appalachian Trail and
all that. I wanted you todo that too. Now. Yeah,
but the Appalachian. The Appalachians almostas long as what I did. It
goes from Georgia all the way upto Maine. It's like three thousand miles.
But they have stops all along theway. They have these little Honestly,
it would probably be harder to dothat and more physically challenging than what

(18:56):
I did. I had a cart, which you cannot take a car through
the appalation tree. But you hada store that you can buy things.
But I had a store. Ihad a store too. After Nebraska.
When I started getting like to likeTennessee, I would say Kentucky, or
I would say even Missouri after Nebraska, and I hit Missouri. From Missouri

(19:17):
all the way to Florida, Ihit a McDonald's or subway every day.
Yeah. And when you started,all I hear is you went from Cornfield
to Cornfield, Nebraska. But Istill had I had the cart, and
I could carry a six gallons ofwater and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah, and and nowhere to eator stop and get something, or even
to rest. And I never hadan issue where I thought, oh no,

(19:41):
I'm going to run out of food. And the only time is maybe
when me and Tony were walking throughthe mountains and we thought there was another
store, which I don't remember ifI mentioned this, but we're walking through
the North Cascades and we had foodand water already, but we were like,
oh, if we hit this,there's a store coming up. If
we hit the store, we'll beable to replenish our stuff there and then
get through the rest of the mountains. But when we got to that place,

(20:03):
the store was closed for the seasonis the seasonal thing. So we're
like great, So we're like,can we make it through? And we're
like, yeah, we have enoughfood for like four or five days,
and that's how long it was goingto take to get through there. So
we're like, I think we coulddo it as long as we don't get
stuck. And then when it snowed, we're like, oh, this is
gonna be yeah, with no wintercoat, no gloves, no boots,
nothing. They had their socks ontheir hands. They were so cold.

(20:27):
I mean, come on, yeahit did. But just sure worried your
mother. I'm telling you you didn'teven know because I didn't have signal.
Then No, I know. I'mjust saying it's it's over now. But
sometimes I think back, and Iam surprised that I did it. I
think back and think, how nutsyou are. Nah, you're crazy.

(20:51):
Nah, you're crazy, and you'remy son. What did I do?
What did I you're going with meas I go sharkage diving. Well,
but that's because I wanted you todo something, and you said you would
do the trip. I wanted ifI went swimming with the sharks, so
you don't have to go, butI wanted. Oh no, I already
paid, but I meant, Imeant, yeah, but you don't,
Well you don't know if you're goingto get in a cage. But I

(21:12):
paid for it. I'm getting Oh, you paid for it yourself. Yes
I did. I didn't know youpaid for two. I paid for two.
Yeah. Well, then we goshark cage diving with uh. But
they're great white sharks, so thatwould be fun. I'll give you an
idea where we're going. I couldbe a couple of places, but that's
all I'm saying it. So Ilike to do different stuff, and those

(21:33):
things are a little bit thrilling forme. I've been skydiving, and that's
another nutty thing. Nafinitely, theygo skydiving all the time. Yeah,
but you don't, it's not likeyou were trained. Yeah, but I
didn't go by myself. I wenttandem anyways. Um, anything else you

(21:55):
want to say it before we wrapit up? Um no, Um,
just well, yes, okay.I hope you'd never I hope you'd never
do it again. And I'm gladyou experienced. This was something of a
lifetime. I understand it. I'mglad you did it. I'm glad you
are safe. I did worry allthe time the whole trip. I worried.

(22:18):
I don't care where you were,even if you were in Tampa.
I worried. And actually Tampa wasone of the cities that I didn't think
it was gonna be that bad,and walking through it not the best city,
not the downtown area. When Iwalked through that, I was like,
Oh, this place is a lotcrazier than I I drive through there
all the time. Yeah. SoI'm glad it's over, and I do

(22:40):
want you to do new endeavors.I mean, that's fine, just not
as crazy as that. Of course, swimming with the sharks is just as
crazy, I guess, except it'sonly for a day or two. So
yeah, I don't think I wouldswim with sharks for six months. Please,
But you want to go that theisland? Yeah, but that's not

(23:02):
crazy. The crazy thing I dowant to I'll tell you when I want
to do that. I don't thinkI've told you. Um No, I
do want to go to Glap ofGhosts. But that's not that's not crazy.
Crazy thing I do want to dois I want to go um no
bungee jumping off of the damn atin um Switzerland. That's the exact same

(23:26):
damn that uh Pierce Brosnen or hisstunt double jumped off of in Golden Eye.
And there's a guy who wrote abook. He is like an app
creator, so he created apps forlike phones, like games and stuff,
and he said when he got enoughmoney, he went because he liked uh
James Bond and stuff, and helike went and jumped off of Do you
know how many of those break?Do you know how many of those break

(23:49):
right down here, right down here? And Treasure Island one broke. The
car accidents there already day I know, but you will have to drive a
car. You don't have to jumpoff a bridge. Yeah, but I'm
saying that jumping off like I'd liketo see what the percentage is of how
many people have died while bungee jumpingpercentage wise compared to people who have died
while driving cars or planes or whatever. Planes. Believe it or not,

(24:14):
planes is not that bad. I'mjust saying that. Yeah, but bungee
jumping is like the thrill of justlike jumping off and then like, so,
where did you come from? Youcouldn't. You can't be my child.
Though. I'm adventurous, but Idon't have a death wish. I
think that's yes, it is.I'm jumping. I'm bungee jumping with a
bungee cord. It's like the thrillof it. Wow, I don't know

(24:40):
when I'm dead. Go when I'mdead, Yeah, I'll do all of
it, all the fun stuff.Until then, I won't do anything fun.
Oh, come on, your wholelife was fun everything. Come on,
I did a lot with you.I'm just kidding. And your friends.
I took all your friends with metoo. We all appreciate um.

(25:00):
I know, and that's why Idid it. I know, I know.
I mean, who who would whoin their right mind would take eight
kids to to universal? I mean, I mean, that's what chaperones are
for, and that's what I was. I know. Anyways, I appreciate
it. I appreciate you sending megifts along the way, like beef jerky
and shoes and trail mix and allthe other stuff, and then also driving

(25:26):
with me through Florida, like andpicking me up, driving me to where
I start walking and picking me upto where I end, and then doing
that again a few times, likein North Florida and then again in South
Florida. But I'll talk more aboutthat on the next episode when Jack returns.
And uh, yeah, we're almostdone with this series. So your
mother back and fight your mother back. I think one and done. It's

(25:48):
pretty that hurts my feelings. I'mjust kidding. O. No, but
you'll have to listen to all thatepisode. Well, I don't know if
you want to listen to all ofthem. I'm still trying to get through
paralyzed. Yeah, but I'm yeah, but this is this is just me
and Jack like riffing a bunch andthen talking about my walk and back and

(26:08):
forth. Well, you know,I'm gonna listen. I listen to every
podcast you'd make, yes, butyou do not like cursing, No,
and I don't know podcasts have cursing. Hold on people, people listen.
He's not getting the cursing from mebecause I do not curse, so I
don't know where he gets it fromit. It has to be from his
friends, because that is terrible.And you all out there, I don't

(26:30):
care what you say or what youthink. You should not curse. There's
no there's no reason to curse.You do not need to curse. I'm
sorry. Yes, there's sentence enhancers. No, yes, SpongeBob taught me
that there's sentence enhancers. They makethe sentence. Uh, you know,
you can get your point across withoutswear and believe me. Yeah, but

(26:52):
sometimes just dropping an F bomb isjust like so satisfying. Oh you're killing
me. Don't worry. You'll bebunging jumping next week because I'll be dead
tomorrow. Yeah yeah, yeah,Well all right, Well just don't listen
to this series. Oh I'm gonnalisten to everything you do, so okay,
Well you're gonna be very fond ofme and Jack. Anyways, I'll

(27:14):
tell Jack what I think too,well, and you I tell you too,
I know, I know. Allright, Well that's it for this
episode of across America. UM,thanks for joining me. Mom till next
time, maybe you're joining again.If you guys want to check out our
other podcasts, you can go toseven lamb dot com. That's the number

(27:34):
seven lamb dot com. And ifyou want to help donate, you can
go to Patreon dot com slash sevenlamb the number seven again lamb. You
can donate as little as a dollara month and it all goes to helping
us create content such as this one. We only have a couple episodes left
of this uh so look forward tothat, I guess and Jack will be

(27:55):
back, so that'll be cool.We'll wrap up this whole series and any
emails out there. He's thirty twoyears old, single, but you have
to have a crazy personality just likehim. A death wish. Sorry,
and that's it. Take it easyeveryone, Bye, I love y'all.

(28:51):
This has been a seven Lamb production.