October 4, 2023 • 41 mins
Explore the stunning landscapes and natural wonders of the American Southwest with Max, our resident travel guide as he led European adventurers on an unforgettable journey through iconic national parks and scenic locations. Discover the beauty, culture, and hidden gems of the Southwest United States. Max offers insider tips, captivating stories, and expert insights to inspire your next travel adventure.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:14):
Welcome back, Globe Trotters. I'myour host, Jonathan Oldeto and I'm Maxim
Gonzalez, and you're listening to theGlobetrotters podcast, the show that brings you
off the beaten path, travel stories, ethical conversations regarding your next adventure,
and occasionally we'll dive into a traveltrend so you don't have to. If
you missed our last episode, Johnmet with Ali Case, a small business
(00:37):
owner and part time flight attendant fora major airline. If you've ever wondered
what it's like to work in thatindustry, including their amazing perks, give
that episode to listen. Yeah,Max, and I can't tell you how
many flights I've been on, eitherfor work or for pleasure. That wasn't
only an entertaining conversation, but it'sone that I learned a lot from.
It's fun to hear from her perspective, you know that of a flight attendant.
(01:00):
And to everyone out there listening,including U, Max, be nice
to the flight crew. But ontoday's episode, we're going to show a
little love to the United States.I make this comment. All the time
traveling across state lines in the USis and isn't comparable to traveling across countries
in Europe. While the language doesn'tchange depending on where you go into US
(01:23):
like the South, the landscapes,accents, and customs definitely do and we
want to talk a little bit moreabout that today. For the last three
weeks, Max has been guiding Europeansthrough a few southwestern states in the US.
Anyone that has ever backpacked Europe knowsyou can get through quite a lot
in twenty one days, specifically countries, right. But for Max and his
(01:46):
crew, in twenty one days,they saw a drum roll or of the
fifty states here. I'm very curiouswhat your packs thought about their trip.
Max, including some of the mosticonic locations in the U S and some
of lesser known stops that some ofour guests will probably hear about for the
first time. I know one ofthem for sure, I've never heard of.
(02:08):
So, Max, how was it? Where did you go? So
this tour was a twenty one daytour starting in San Francisco and ending in
San Francisco, So it was afull loop and I just want to,
you know, start this off withyou know, how was it? It
was amazing? And so the jobis a lot of fun. While it's
fun, it's also really stressful andit comes with a lot of responsibility.
(02:32):
Even though you know, showing ashowing passengers a good time, making sure
that people are seeing what they wantto see, doing the things they want
to do. There's a lot goingon in my head the whole time trying
to make sure that they have anadventure of a lifetime max. Without getting
into like the specifics of you know, what company you work for, anything
(02:53):
like that, what is the themeof this trip. It's technically labeled a
participatory camping adventure road trip. Andfor those listening, if you are outside
the US, I'm sure you've lookedat a map and IM sure you heard
the US is huge, right.Uh. You know you look on a
map and you're like, oh,yosebody's here, Death Valleys here, Las
(03:15):
Vegas is here. Oh they're farapart, but not that far apart.
When you actually have to do thedrive and put the logistics to it,
usually nine out of ten times they'rea little shocked at how long these drives
can take. Yeah, so it'smore than just a blip on a map.
So you, as the tour guide, what exactly are you responsible for
(03:37):
because you've already talked about, youknow, the driving aspect, but what
other logistical things do you need tobe in charge of? Safety is number
one? Right, So, andthat goes back to even just setting up
camp. I have to make surepeople know how to handle hammers, putting
in stakes, making sure their tensorsset for the rain, which we actually
encountered quite a lot of. Ineed to make sure that the passengers no
(04:01):
proper hiking etiquette, staying on thetrail, right I was saying, it
goes save a whale. Stay onthe trail makes no sense, but it
helps them remember that they need tostay on the trail. And So going
back to Yosemite, I mean,my first real question is for US Californians
and a lot of people that havebeen there that are American, I would
(04:21):
consider Yosemite as Krem della Kreme.It's one of the coolest spots that you
can go to in the US,and I really believe that it's it's scenic,
it's iconic. You get wildlife,maybe not when you went, but
for the most part, you'll beable to catch something you probably haven't seen
before. How did they feel aboutYosemite? You know, I think you
(04:43):
worded it perfectly. I've been toYosemite I don't know forty plus times,
every single time getting goosebumps, likethinking about El cap right now, just
that drive in you can see ita million times and no matter what,
seeing the largest slab of granite inthe world, it's always mind blowing.
And you think about, you know, people who climate, You think about
(05:04):
all the iconic photos, you knowenzel atoms, and you think about the
different viewpoints you have, tunnel view, which is just again, doesn't matter
how many times you see, it'sjust going to be amazing again time after
time. The weather was unlike anyother time that I've been there, Like
Monument Valley, there was a windstorm, rain going just so hard, and
(05:28):
with Yosembite it was it was stormingon us. And you know, I
luckily the people we get on thesetours, they are travelers, they've they've
traveled before. They understand that weatheris out of our control and you have
to just make the best out ofevery situation. So we went to Omstead
Point, which is one of themost iconic viewpoints. It's very unique.
(05:51):
It's a unique viewpoint in Yosembite whereyou're actually looking at half Dome from the
east to west, so you havel cap on the right, and it's
really unique. It's you can seedeep into the valley. Uh, there's
like a little short height that youcan do. And the entire drive up
there. I mean, I knewit wasn't going to be great. We
get there and you can't see tenfeet in front of you, and so
(06:13):
like, you know, we getthere and like I park and we all
have that moment where we're looking outthe window and you can just hear everyone's
kind of disappointment, you know,And I park and I kind of turned
everyone in the van and I'm like, this is where you guys go ooh
and ah, and like you know, everyone goes ooh ah and like last
and then I'm like, hey,do you want me to describe what should
be here that you should be ableto see? And they're like yes,
(06:35):
please, and you know, Igive them a description and I was like,
again, this is where you goooh and they're like ah, you
know, and they just kind ofroll with it. So while they didn't
probably get the ideal weather for Yosemite, they still got the experience. Right.
It's and that's what it's all about. I mean, as long as
there's smiles on faces, as longas you're there and you get something out
(06:57):
of it. Moments like that areill that just that significant and you talking
about that just how you relay thatinformation over to them kind of breaking the
ice of really what could be disappointmentfor a lot of people. Would you
consider yourself entertainer might be a stretch, but where it's kind of your responsibility
to make sure no one's spirit getstoo down during this trip. Do you
(07:23):
feel that responsibility one thousand percent?They even told me towards the end of
the trip. I mean, youknow, you get close with your passengers
and you kind of talk about things, and you know, part of some
of my job definitely get brought upwhere they're you know, they're asking like,
hey, at this point, wasthat on purpose? Or like,
hey, was this supposed to happen? Or how you know timing logistics?
(07:46):
They asked these questions. You basicallytold them you were doing the rain dance
right you want it to rain onYosemite. You know, we actually had
one passenger who was responsible for doinga sun dance every morning, and there
was one time where she didn't doit, and I called her out on
it, and we're approaching Monument Valleyand I was like, hey, you
didn't do your sun dance this morning, and she was like, I didn't.
(08:07):
You know. She was in thecar and she was like, I
can do it now. I'm like, it's too late. You miss your
opportunity. You curse the sall.Yeah. But actually again, Monument Valley
in the rain was phenomenal. Itwas so cool. I've yeah, I'm
I loved it. I've only beenthere and it's been, you know,
super hot and almost miserable to thatlevel. But us passing passing Yosemite.
(08:31):
You know, you guys go througha series of places like Mono Lake,
Bishop Death Valley, but you hada kind of an interesting experience in Death
Valley. You talked about it beingclosed due to flooding, which, by
the way of any two quick funfacts about that valley, at least in
the United States, maybe in theworld, correct me. It is the
(08:52):
lowest point in terms of sea levelwhere it's negative yeah, two hundred and
eighty two feet at Devil's Golf Course. Yeah. And that's negative two hundred
and eighty two feet yeah. Yeah, And The second thing is that it
tends to be the hottest place onthere with every single year where it's constantly
almost a record breaking year. Ithink this year it almost clocked one thirty
(09:15):
one thirty five somewhere around there.That's correct. Yeah, And so what
ended up happening and how did yourpassengers react and what did you have to
do as a guy to kind ofget out of there and find something new
to do. So the night beforewas in Bishop. Let me backtrack the
first day when I do my welcomebriefing in San Francisco. There are certain
(09:37):
things that I'm already aware of,and this is one of them. And
so in the welcome briefing, Igo over you know, expectations. I
let everyone introduce themselves because these aretravelers that are most of the time traveling
alone. There were a lot ofcouples, but you know, this isn't
one big family or friend group.They all are meeting each other for the
first time here, which is amazing. I love that about these tours.
(10:00):
During that welcome briefing, I goover things that are gonna lie ahead,
and one of the two things thatI had to bring up was Death Valley
being closed due to flooding. Again, a lot of disappointment, but they
understand, like, hey, I'mnot opting out of going to Death Valley.
I literally cannot go. The otherone is highway one is closed for
a large portion, including the portionthat has including the portion that has big
(10:24):
Sir, And so we couldn't gobecause of that. So the workgrounds here.
I'm in Bishop the night before andI give them updates every day.
I'm like, hey, still closed, still closed, you know, Bishop,
Hey guys, it's still closed,But don't worry. I'm gonna figure
something out. We're gonna it's gonnabe a long drive to Vegas, but
Vegas will be relaxing. You'll havea hotel room for the first time in
(10:46):
a while. People loved to beingable to People love being able to take
a shower after camping for a numberof days. You know. They it's
the little the little winds and theshowers are huge ones. So for Bishop,
the night before, I'm going throughmy maps. You know, I
have staff that are there to helpand they provide a lot of input and
a lot of support, and soyou know, they I'm talking to one
(11:09):
of my operation managers and we're comingup with you know, workarounds, and
so one of them was going fromBishop to Las Vegas. I have to
backtrack a bit to get on theninety five we stop in I believe it
was Goldfield. It's a really allof these towns are going to be gold
rush mining towns, right, sothey have that old Western timey feel to
(11:33):
them. There's you know, allthe buildings are made out of wood that
has clearly been worn down by theweather, and a lot of these excuse
me, in a lot of theseplaces, there's burrows just walking the streets
casually. It's it's really unique experienceand they're most of the time in the
middle of nowhere. So again onthe ninety five we stop in Goldfield.
They have this art, this artI don't want to say exhibit, but
(11:56):
art piece called the International Car Forest. You know, anything to break up
the trip and get them out ofthe van and allow them to stretch their
legs, use the restroom, justkind of be and not be in a
van are completely worth it. Whilesome of my passengers didn't really enjoy the
International Car Force, a handful did. But even the passengers who didn't enjoy
(12:16):
it like to just you know,have that moment to get up, stretch
and just like being able to lookat the sky. So this is actually
one of the places that I hadnever heard of when we were, you
know, kind of doing the outlinefor this episode. When I'm picturing the
International Car Force, I'm picturing maybelooking at a field, the desert field,
(12:37):
and seeing a bunch of abandoned cars. That's what I'm picturing. How
far am I? Yeah? Isthat it? Yes? So I don't
know why, but in the Southwestthere's a few places, like you might
have heard about a Cadillac ranch.People love to just dig holes and stick
like old classic cars in them andthen allow people to spray paint them.
(13:00):
So the International Car Force is literallya short trail off the main highway where
there's just a bunch of cars busesthat are just sticking out of the ground
covered in spray paint. And that'spretty much it did. Did you guys
get a chance to go and spraypaint these cars? Like? Can the
public go and spray paint? Yes? One percent. Our company does not
(13:24):
allow us to carry spray paint inthe van for these reasons. It's one
of those weird rules where clearly there'sbeen issues with spray paint probably going off
in a van, maybe because ofaltitude change or something in elevation. But
yeah, they didn't have a timeto actually go and spray paint it,
but they definitely got time to gowalk around and check it out. I
(13:45):
can see how that's hit or miss, depending on you know, you know,
if you compare that to go inthe Death Valley, where it's again
like such a very specific and iconicplace in the US, to maybe that
I can see the hit or miss. But then you got us Vegas,
and this is another place that Ithink I've seen a lot of Europeans get
(14:05):
excited about in like a very differentway where it's just Vegas is just kind
of this like made up city,almost like you know, going to Qatar
or that sort of thing, whereit's just like in the middle of this
desert, it's like just this giantoasis of buildings and lights. How was
this and was that an enjoyable experiencefor them? Did you guys gamble?
(14:30):
So this just definitely depends on thegroup. The tour that I mentioned previously
with the younger crowd, they lovedVegas, They had a great time.
They went out to the pool parties, they went out partying afterwards, like
you know, late at night.They really soaked it up. But this
older group that I had, theywere blown away by just the entire Las
(14:54):
Vegas culture. Right. You gothere and it's very unique compared to anywhere
else in the world. You know, you mentioned kind of these uh these
sprouted and artificial cities in the middleof deserts. I mean, this is
like the this is the royalty ofthose right. My passengers liked it,
they enjoyed it, they were happythat they went. I heard a number
(15:16):
of them say that they they're happythey got to experience it, and that
they are a okay with never experiencingit again. But yeah, I guess
this really comes down to like knowingyour audience. Because you said the twenty
ish crowd really enjoyed it, andI can see how that's very attractive.
But yeah, I could see alsohow the older crowd maybe wasn't for it.
So what was next? After LasVegas? We drove three three and
(15:39):
a half hours up to Zion NationalPark, which is one of my favorite
places in the world. Too.Yeah, and they, I mean,
they were blown away. They theyloved it. We did the Watchman trail
after we set up camp and kindof let the sun go down a bit.
We were camping right next to theVirgin River, so we like,
you know, I always advise,I'm like, hey, grab the chair,
(16:00):
go like, you know, kneedeep in the water and just like
set your chair up as long asyou're not breaking up the river walls or
anything like that. Just it's hot, you've had a long day in the
car, soak your feet for abit. But I mean Zion, Yeah,
Zion, Zion is just breathtaking.I mean, you know, for
our listeners out there, John andI when we first met back at cal
(16:22):
we went on a trip with oneof our other friends and went to Zion
and bright Yeah, Sean, man, that was just a trip of a
lifetime. There were just so manycool moments of that. And Yosemite is
my favorite National park of all time, and that trip made me question it
one percent. And every time Igo to Zion, I just I'm blown
away. And this is one ofthe parts where I'm very interested in hearing
(16:45):
your answer. How it differs goingfrom like, let's say me, you
and Sean back back in the dayswhen we went to now leading a group
that tends to be a little biton the older side, because are you
doing angels landing, Are you doingobservation tower or that point? Yeah?
That one, yeah, and youknow the narrows are those options? Well,
(17:07):
So a little update for everyone.I believe it was in the beginning
of twenty twenty three when Zion NationalPark actually made it. Uh made art.
Oh my god, I was gonnasay, Arches made Angels Landing a
lottery. Uh, yeah, itit is, man, I yeah,
it's it's very bittersweet. So forthose that don't know what the lottery system
(17:29):
is, it's just like half domein Yosemite. You have to apply for
it, and you have to applyalong like you know, a good chunk
of time in advance, or elseyou won't make it. And they do
this for a number of reasons.They do it so that the natural area
can you know, revive itself,it can hold it's the natural beauty and
form that it is in. Youknow, it just keeps it keeps it
(17:52):
from being trampled and uh, youknow, falling apart, right, especially
a trail like Angels Landing. Uh, you know, if you haven't seen
it before, stop what you're doing. Go on Google looking up. Uh,
it's you're you're walking along these narrowridges along like these just you know,
hundred foot drops. You have chainsto help yourself guide up some of
(18:14):
its scrambling. It's really narrow.And what John and I John Sean and
I did which was fantastic, andI've done this at least eight other times.
You take the first shuttle up,you get you get to the main
trail head at a shuttle stop sevenI believe it is at the grotto.
You run like the first like twoto three miles, get away from the
(18:36):
group, and then once you're inthe switchbacks, you're by yourself. You
get to the you get to Scott'sLanding Landing, you're by yourself and you
can actually do angels Landing with noone in front of you. Hopefully the
lottery system is kind of putting thatinto effect without having to do the running
portion. But yeah, man,that's a it's a beautiful hike and it's
just so well worth it. Yeah, so I didn't know that angels Landing
(18:59):
had become like a lottery system,but in general, or yeah, in
general, I'm for it, man, I feel the reasons that you already
outline that it helps, like youknow, just kind of the environment,
you know, regenerate hell itself.But also I found the most dangerous parts
of angels Landing to be not thetrail itself, but actually other people.
(19:22):
People that have no business being upthere, or people that have underestimated the
trail, so you have novices upthere and now it puts other people at
risk. And that for that reason, I'm for the lottery. Going back
to your original question, what mypassengers are doing, and I believe what
you're you're asking what it's like forme to go to go to Zion National
(19:45):
Park and travel with friends like youor leading a tour my passengers have.
I always advise them on a coupleoptions that they can take, and I
always have to read it in advance, like kind of tests there, you
know, standa mus see what they'rehiking, level is where they're at physically.
You know, I'm never going totell someone to do Scouts landing if
really all they need to do isemerald pools right the narrows. I mean,
(20:08):
I have to check on the flashflood warnings. Usually the water levels
are okay, They've been pretty strongas of late, so I don't necessarily
advise that for passengers. Like mylast tour, I usually say Emerald Pools
is a solid one. Emerald Poolsis a great trail for them to do
where you know, they can walkalong the Virgin River, they can you
(20:29):
know, have amazing views of thevalley, then tire way through and then
you get to Emerald Pools where it'sa nice little stop point, there's a
little loop water coming down. Imean, you really get like all of
the all the sential experiences of ZionNational Park if you do a trail like
that and then traveling, you knowwith my friends versus the tours, they're
(20:52):
completely different. I mean it's dayand night. Right when I'm doing these
tours, there's moments where I'm like, this is amazing. I am so
happy I'm here. I can't believethis is my office. You know,
I have all those moments I'm havingmy camera and I'm like fangirling around taking
photos, like thinking about my nextpost on the gram. But I always
explain it that it's the Swan effect. You know, I'm cool and collective
(21:17):
up top above water, but thenunderwater, I'm paddling like hell, trying
to make sure that everything's going smoothly. So as a tour leader traveling,
I'm thinking about thirty minutes from now, I'm thinking about an hour from now.
I'm thinking about, you know,five am the next morning when I
have to wake up and make coffeefor my group, put breakfast on the
table. I'm thinking about two days, like, hey, is that going
(21:38):
to work out? Are they goingto be prepared for that trail or this
trail. There's so many logistics thatI'm constantly going through in my head.
And so while I do have momentsof just you know, absorbing that,
those blissful moments of being there andexperiencing it for places that I've been before,
I really am just kind of relaxing, making sure that I'm on my
(22:02):
I'm on schedule, making sure thateveryone's doing what they need to be doing,
and that they are one having thetime of their lives, but most
importantly, that they are safe.You went to a few other cool spots
right after Zion. You went upBryce Canyon, Moab, Moab, Moab,
Moab and now you got me questioningit. Moab and Arches National Park,
(22:25):
And this is where we kind oftouched base, you know, as
you were doing your tour, andyou told me a few things about Arches
that stood out for you on thepersonal level. Yeah, so there isn't
one thing in particular, a littlejust to fill you guys in, I've
never been to Arches, and sosometimes I don't tell my passengers when we're
(22:45):
going somewhere that I've never been.If they ask, I'm going to tell
them I'm not ever gonna lie.They didn't ask, so I didn't say
anything until afterwards. And so there'stimes where, like you know, I
do my nightly briefing and I kindof go over the trails that we have
available, what the wake up timeis, when I'm going to have coffee
ready, when breakfast is going tobe set up, and then when our
(23:07):
departure time is. So I gothrough all of those in my briefing the
night before. And so with Arches, I mean, this is one of
those nights where we had a longday, a great day, but long
day. We have dinner. It'susually after dinner that we do the briefing
and I'm you know, going overall the I'm going over the itinerary for
Arches, and you know, Ialways get hit with questions and one of
(23:27):
my favorite responses whenever I get askedhow long will this trail be? How
or how long will this trail take? How much? You're a better person
than I am. I would getso annoyed if someone asked me how long
this trail is, but Doe putput a smile on and say it all
depends. And it got to apoint where like someone would ask me a
question and I'll just stare at it. By Dave fifteen, if someone asked
(23:48):
me a question like that, I'lljust stare at him and they go it
depends, and I'm like, itdoes depend and you know it does.
It depends on the passenger. Howlong will this trail take me? I
just said two to three hours?How fast of a high or are you?
You know, like I can't tellyou how fast you're going to hike?
And so there's all those moments whereyou know, people were like,
oh, like the trail said itwas one point eight miles, but it
(24:11):
was definitely two And I'm like,yeah, that's the National Park System for
you. You know, don't trustthe signs. Take them with a grain
of salt because they're probably going tobe off. By a little bit.
And that's why the timing. Ialways just give them a range. So
for Arches, you know, Iget I tell them, I'm like,
hey, this trail, this trail, we're going to try to get sunset
or sunrise here, you know,all these things. And they were hitting
(24:33):
me with all these questions and againswan effect. I don't know most of
the time they're asking. They're askingquestions that one I've either already answered and
they just weren't listening, or Isincerely just don't know. And so you
have to kind of play it byear tell them, Hey, it's an
adventure. We'll figure it out,you know, as long as it's nothing
too serious. But how long wouldthis trail take us? I don't know,
(24:55):
it depends. Let's let's do ittomorrow and we'll just go with it
through the day and we'll see whatwe have. You know, time left
over four and Arches was one ofthose national parks where it's I think fifteen
minutes outside of Moab where we werecamping. The entrance to the park.
Man it's you know, we're drivingit. It's like pitch black because it's
I think five thirty in the morning. Is that how typically you were starting
(25:18):
your day every single day like fiveish in the morning thirty. Yeah.
For those that haven't been to nationalparks or not many times, you will.
If you try to enter a nationalpark on a weekend after eight o'clock
in the morning, you're going tospend hours waiting just to get into the
national park. Having a commercial vehicle, it's definitely helpful because I can usually
(25:41):
take the additional parking that is throughoutnational parks. They always have spots for
buses and commercial parking, which is, honestly, it's amazing having twelve passengers
and being able to pull into aside lot, usually close to a shuttle.
I always tell people, I'm like, hey, if you guys want
everything I suggest is a suggestion,right, If you guys want to wake
(26:03):
up late and miss an included activitythat you paid for, I always tell
them like, hey, I've beento these places. Unlike Arches, I
actually haven't been Arches before, butyou know, I would tell them like,
hey, I've been to these places. If you guys want to sleep
in and we spend half the daytrying to enter the park, and then
as soon as we enter we haveto turn around and leave because that's what
we need to do. I mean, that's what we need to do.
(26:23):
Props, Props to your crew,or you can call it a pax,
right, pa X, that's correct, Yeah, just because I don't think
that everyone shares that outlook, Ihave met people on tours that they're like,
why do I need to get upthis early on my vacation, And
so props to your group for havingthat mentality that they want to take advantage
(26:47):
of as much of the today tosee as much as possible, and also
not to waste a certain time justwaiting in line. So I don't think
everyone shares that. But Max,I wanted to ask, like, at
this point in the journey, howhow many days or weeks are you into
the trip at Arches? Yeah?Mmm, let me give you an exact
(27:10):
response there. First day of Archesis day ten, and so day ten
and eleven. And the reason thatI'm asking this is because as a tour
guide, at what point do youstart feeling like you're bonding with the group?
Days six to eight, we're actuallybonding. They're actually awake, and
they're actually functional, and they're they'renow in the groove of what it's like
(27:33):
to be on this tour, right, you know, when you first get
there, everything's new. They havetheir luggage, They're trying to figure out
how to go about setting up camp, what their daily rituals are, how
to I don't want say, breakdown, how to how to decompress after the
day. Right when we get tocamp after a long day. What do
they like to do? They liketo have tea, they like to sit
and have a beer. You know, people all operate differently. When you
(27:56):
get into that camp and road tripvibe, you have to really figure out
your groove and your momentum with it, your flow of how to travel in
this environment. And so it takesa long time for us to really form
that bond. By the day.I want to say by day like you
know, twelve, I mean wehad inside jokes, were cracking jokes,
(28:17):
and you know, I have toflip the switch going from like, you
know, cracking jokes. Did theyask a question and I have to seriously,
you know, consider my response,make sure that I'm uh, you
know, giving them the proper informationthat they need, and then we go
right back to joking and having agood time. So there's that that fine
line but also being personable and beinguh, you know, allowing your character
(28:38):
to actually shine with theirs is veryimportant. And so it takes a while.
And I'm gonna go ahead and sayit right now, the ending,
saying goodbyes, that's like the worstpart of the tour. So yeah,
no, I can't imagine it.And you know, we will talk about
the goodbye at the end, butI'm going to save my question for that,
because you know, I want toget to so far. I would
(29:00):
say, up until this point inthe talk, outside of maybe the International
Car Show or car park, mostof these places, I think if you
live on the western side of theUnited States or just American in general,
you've probably heard of these places.But now I want to kind of,
you know, fast forward into GooseNext State Park because this is maybe a
(29:25):
lesser known place compared to the placeswe've talked about so far. What made
that one stand out? Yeah,So, Goose Next State Park was a
quick little stop that we did inTechnically it's not in, but it's very
close to Monument Valley, and sowhen we're going from Moab to Monument Valley,
there's a few places we can stopat, and I chose Goose Next
(29:48):
State Park, just because one,I've never been there and I wanted to
go, And then too, theviews looked amazing and they they were Goose
Next State Park is a little pooloff there's a little campground there right off
the San Juan River, and it'salmost like its own little horseshoe Bend,
but with two of them. Sowould you say that the primary reason that
(30:11):
you stop there is kind of likea break for your guests, and a
lot of places are just that Imentioned earlier that I'm driving for hours at
a time. My goal is tonot drive more than two or two and
a half hours without having some kindof stop, whether we pull into a
gas station, get gas ice,you know, drain the coolers of water,
(30:33):
let my passengers go to the bathroom, or literally pulling off on like
a viewpoint in the middle of nowhereand letting them have ten minutes. You
know. I always try to havethose breaks, and again two two and
a half hours, that's where I'mcomfortable with that. I feel like there's
always enough time in my tenerary toallow for those kind of stops. I
know you went through Monument Valley,the Grand Canyon, and Lake Havasu and
(30:56):
for time's sake, we won't reallyspend too much time talking about them,
but I do want to talk aboutRoot sixty six because you mentioned that there
were over one hundred hair point turnsto get to this place. Talk about
it. You know, with thatvalley being closed and Highway one being closed,
some of my passengers expressed that theywere really excited about those gold Rush
(31:19):
towns. And while Route sixty sixhas its own moment of history where you
know, it's big for pop culture, and it was the main highway for
people migrating from the East coast andMidwest all the way to the West coast.
Right that's where the history came from. And it just kind of took
on this really cool sixties fifties themeand it got stuck in time there,
(31:42):
which is really unique. But oneof my passengers really was he was just
so excited about this these gold Rushtime towns and was kind of bummed we
didn't spend more time there. SoI found this place called Oatman in Arizona.
Long story short, just it isstuck in time there. It's a
(32:05):
block block and a half long.There's burrows or donkeys walking around everywhere,
has like a couple of saloons.There's biker gangs that hang out there.
And the crazy part is when youare driving here. Keep in mind,
I'm in a Ford transit with aeight foot trailer full of passengers, all
of our camping gear, stove,luggage, water coolers, all of that.
(32:30):
When you drive this, you're onoriginal root sixty six, so it's
dirt your gravel. There's flood warningsigns every you know, thirty feet or
not thirty feet, maybe like amile and a half or so. And
you see the mountain range coming upas you're doing this, and I'm kind
of I've never been here before.I looked it up. It seemed cool.
(32:52):
When I started crossing over this mountainrange, I didn't realize it was
going to be this steep. Mostof the turns were, you know,
ten miles an hour recommended. Ihad to make sure that no one was
coming down another turn because I couldonly see about thirty feet in front of
me. In terms of like ifa car's coming again van and a trailer
(33:13):
swan effect I was. I wasdefinitely freaking out, but you know,
kept the music on. You know, people like there were a few moments
where people were talking to me,and I would have to kind of be
like, hey, give me amoment. You know, I'm working on
these turns, making sure that I'mdown shifting where I need to, and
like you said, a hundred,it was a hundred and one of the
(33:34):
bikers told me that we were chattingwith was I think it was one hundred
and eight hair point turns. SoI'm literally going down this insane road with
my passengers and my van and mytrailer and just to get to this like
really small town that is just sosecluded and so different, and it was
(33:58):
just amazing. I mean it wasit's classic Root sixty six without the pop
culture aspect of it. It wasa gold mining town in the mountains.
It was just so cool in themiddle of the desert. I just,
yeah, my feet and my handswere sweaty just thinking about that story.
So I can't imagine the stress ofactually driving it and kind of letting your
(34:20):
passengers, you know, fuel relaxedor at ease. Was anyone like nauseous
or you know, nervous about thedrive. No, not to toot my
own horn, but like I'm avery good driver, you know, I'm
a commercial drive, a license driver. Uh, you know, I drive
really safe already, and then withpassengers like I, I'm locked in.
(34:42):
I don't get distracted. I'm verycomfortable telling people to like you know,
uh, you know, I needtime to focus or I need to pay
attention here or whatever. I mypalms were sweaty, that whole red,
you know. To kind of bringit back home, you go to Lake
Havasu afterwards, then La, I'mgoing briefly stop here, and if you
could just give me the quick skinnybecause I'm from LA, I'm curious,
(35:05):
what if what did they think ofLa? Uh kind of Vegas vibes?
They were happy, they went,Uh, dude, okay. So here's
the thing. Mann, I alreadyhate driving in LA. I for those
that haven't already gotten intense of whowe are, dude, I know I
spoke highly of it. Again,I'm positive everywhere I go, I'm like,
hey, this is this is it. This is the experience you get,
(35:25):
you know. Uh. We droveinto Hollywood. Uh you know,
I park over there. Definitely notwhere I should be parking, but I
park dropped them off, give theman hour to check out the boulevard,
check out the stars, you know, get a view of the Hollywood Sign.
Then we hop back in. Wego to Rodeo Drive, so we're
driving down Sunset Boulevard. You know, they get to see the Beverly Hills
(35:50):
Hotel. I drop them off fora little bit at the shopping center on
Rodeo where, you know, someof the most expensive stores are all lined
up in one area. I believeit's a three block space of Yeah.
I think it's renowned as one ofthe renowned renowned as one of the most
expensive shopping sections in the world.I don't know. And then from there,
(36:13):
uh, you know, straight intola traffic, la traffic with no
potholes or changes in the roads atall. Not scary with a trailer that's
hitched onto your van. Yeah.Upset that they put it in the same
breath as Vegas, but to eachtheir round. So I'm assuming that at
(36:34):
this point you went up with theone, the one on one. Yeah,
So we went up the one toSan Simeon to check out the Elephant
Seals, which was really cool.They're just hanging out. We had lunch
there. Again. Weather was fantastic. For some reason. It was weird,
man. The desert was cold andrainy and the coast was sunny and
beautiful. It was as a Californian. It's strange. And you know,
(37:00):
at this point, you guys arekind of nearing the end of the trip.
Is there a sense of dread orexcitement from your passengers that this trip
is coming to an end? Fromthe tour guid's perspective, is it just
relief or are you sad to saybye to these people? It's always bitter
sweet. I've definitely had a tour, you know, back in twenty eighteen.
There was one tour where I droppedthem off and I was like,
(37:22):
all right, guys, see youa letter bye, you know, just
take off with this group. Imean it was I mean, I feel,
you know that you can't get alongwith everyone. That's just how that's
how life is. As long asyou are respectful, that's all. That's
all I aim to be. Andso with this tour in particular, I
(37:43):
mean that, you know, itwas definitely bitter sweet. Like they were
nice, we had inside jokes.I mean, they're all really good people.
I mean we all vibed on somany ways, Like their music taste
was great, Like we were alltalking about you know, like pop culture
and kind of going into all ofthat, and then we talk about nature,
and uh, you know, ifyou have a passion for nature,
you can for me at least,if you know you have two people who
(38:05):
have a strong passion for the environmentand nature in general, I feel like
you're going to get along. Yeah. I feel like those are two personality
traits that just you're gonna vibe.And so with this group, all of
them, I mean, they lovethe National parks. They again the rain
in Yosemite. The views were beautiful. Driving Tayoga Pass in the rain,
(38:27):
it was astonishing, and I couldtell that they were loving it, you
know, so it was a bittersweetfor them saying goodbye. It's always hard,
you know, with this group.I have a WhatsApp group chat and
we're still like, you know,I actually got a message earlier today from
them, like you know, they'llwe were sending pictures of our dogs and
cats. You know, we're doinglike an animal exchange kind of thing there,
(38:51):
and like, you know, acouple of them, actually a good
amount of them, we're all startingnew jobs and career paths were changing,
and so they're sending updates and everyoneand it's like, cool, you got
this, you're gonna kill it atthat role and uh not not in those
terms. I don't think Germans wouldsay that or Dutch would say that.
That's coming from me as a Californian. So Max, one last question before
we wrap up here. What isthe first thing you do once you've you
(39:15):
know, dropped off your equipment whateveryou're you're officially off the clock, what
is the first thing you do?Uh? Do I play with my dog?
I hang out, play with mydog, hang out with my partner.
Uh, you know, go getsome good food that I've been missing,
honestly, work out. I playedbasketball the last couple of days,
which has been fantastic. Don't getto do that on the road. It's
(39:39):
just all the little things. Also, going from living in a van to
coming back to my apartment, it'slike, Wow, I have so much
space. Honestly, Bro, Iwant to thank you for sharing because I
think number one, I think thismight be the most you've ever talked on
any podcast episode. And number two, I think I think it gave our
listeners the opportunity to hear you know, kind of that you are an expert
(40:01):
in your field, just the waythat you're talking about all these places and
like naming you know, routes,points, hiking trails, you know,
talking about topography and geology, youknow, all those things. I'm glad
that our listeners got to hear adifferent side of you than maybe what they're
used to to hearing on this pod. So yeah, I'm excited about that
(40:22):
too. It's always fun. Itry not to talk about myself too much,
but if I could share things withpeople, I mean, that's that's
what it's all about. So yeah, I'm excited and I am gonna talk
about us a little bit more.You can find us on Instagram at Globetrotters
Podcasts on Twitter at globetrot pod,which we're still not very superactive on so
(40:43):
we'd like to make that change relativelysoon. You can also comment, post
and write us on Facebook at facebookdot com, slash Globetrotters Podcasts, and
again, don't forget to drop usa review on the streaming platform of your
choice. Yeah, and if youwant to reach out to us, you
know, send us a little noteemail. You can reach us at hello
(41:04):
at GTS podcast dot com. Letus know what you think of our episodes,
you know, again, just dropa line, say hi, Editing
was done by our very own JonathanOtero until next time. Until next time,
Welcome back, Globe Trotters. I'myour host, Jonathan Oldeto and I'm Maxim
Gonzalez, and you're listening to theGlobetrotters podcast, the show that brings you
off the beaten path, travel stories, ethical conversations regarding your next adventure,
and occasionally we'll dive into a traveltrend so you don't have to. If
you missed our last episode, Johnmet with Ali Case, a small business
(00:37):
owner and part time flight attendant fora major airline. If you've ever wondered
what it's like to work in thatindustry, including their amazing perks, give
that episode to listen. Yeah,Max, and I can't tell you how
many flights I've been on, eitherfor work or for pleasure. That wasn't
only an entertaining conversation, but it'sone that I learned a lot from.
It's fun to hear from her perspective, you know that of a flight attendant.
(01:00):
And to everyone out there listening,including U, Max, be nice
to the flight crew. But ontoday's episode, we're going to show a
little love to the United States.I make this comment. All the time
traveling across state lines in the USis and isn't comparable to traveling across countries
in Europe. While the language doesn'tchange depending on where you go into US
(01:23):
like the South, the landscapes,accents, and customs definitely do and we
want to talk a little bit moreabout that today. For the last three
weeks, Max has been guiding Europeansthrough a few southwestern states in the US.
Anyone that has ever backpacked Europe knowsyou can get through quite a lot
in twenty one days, specifically countries, right. But for Max and his
(01:46):
crew, in twenty one days,they saw a drum roll or of the
fifty states here. I'm very curiouswhat your packs thought about their trip.
Max, including some of the mosticonic locations in the U S and some
of lesser known stops that some ofour guests will probably hear about for the
first time. I know one ofthem for sure, I've never heard of.
(02:08):
So, Max, how was it? Where did you go? So
this tour was a twenty one daytour starting in San Francisco and ending in
San Francisco, So it was afull loop and I just want to,
you know, start this off withyou know, how was it? It
was amazing? And so the jobis a lot of fun. While it's
fun, it's also really stressful andit comes with a lot of responsibility.
(02:32):
Even though you know, showing ashowing passengers a good time, making sure
that people are seeing what they wantto see, doing the things they want
to do. There's a lot goingon in my head the whole time trying
to make sure that they have anadventure of a lifetime max. Without getting
into like the specifics of you know, what company you work for, anything
(02:53):
like that, what is the themeof this trip. It's technically labeled a
participatory camping adventure road trip. Andfor those listening, if you are outside
the US, I'm sure you've lookedat a map and IM sure you heard
the US is huge, right.Uh. You know you look on a
map and you're like, oh,yosebody's here, Death Valleys here, Las
(03:15):
Vegas is here. Oh they're farapart, but not that far apart.
When you actually have to do thedrive and put the logistics to it,
usually nine out of ten times they'rea little shocked at how long these drives
can take. Yeah, so it'smore than just a blip on a map.
So you, as the tour guide, what exactly are you responsible for
(03:37):
because you've already talked about, youknow, the driving aspect, but what
other logistical things do you need tobe in charge of? Safety is number
one? Right, So, andthat goes back to even just setting up
camp. I have to make surepeople know how to handle hammers, putting
in stakes, making sure their tensorsset for the rain, which we actually
encountered quite a lot of. Ineed to make sure that the passengers no
(04:01):
proper hiking etiquette, staying on thetrail, right I was saying, it
goes save a whale. Stay onthe trail makes no sense, but it
helps them remember that they need tostay on the trail. And So going
back to Yosemite, I mean,my first real question is for US Californians
and a lot of people that havebeen there that are American, I would
(04:21):
consider Yosemite as Krem della Kreme.It's one of the coolest spots that you
can go to in the US,and I really believe that it's it's scenic,
it's iconic. You get wildlife,maybe not when you went, but
for the most part, you'll beable to catch something you probably haven't seen
before. How did they feel aboutYosemite? You know, I think you
(04:43):
worded it perfectly. I've been toYosemite I don't know forty plus times,
every single time getting goosebumps, likethinking about El cap right now, just
that drive in you can see ita million times and no matter what,
seeing the largest slab of granite inthe world, it's always mind blowing.
And you think about, you know, people who climate, You think about
(05:04):
all the iconic photos, you knowenzel atoms, and you think about the
different viewpoints you have, tunnel view, which is just again, doesn't matter
how many times you see, it'sjust going to be amazing again time after
time. The weather was unlike anyother time that I've been there, Like
Monument Valley, there was a windstorm, rain going just so hard, and
(05:28):
with Yosembite it was it was stormingon us. And you know, I
luckily the people we get on thesetours, they are travelers, they've they've
traveled before. They understand that weatheris out of our control and you have
to just make the best out ofevery situation. So we went to Omstead
Point, which is one of themost iconic viewpoints. It's very unique.
(05:51):
It's a unique viewpoint in Yosembite whereyou're actually looking at half Dome from the
east to west, so you havel cap on the right, and it's
really unique. It's you can seedeep into the valley. Uh, there's
like a little short height that youcan do. And the entire drive up
there. I mean, I knewit wasn't going to be great. We
get there and you can't see tenfeet in front of you, and so
(06:13):
like, you know, we getthere and like I park and we all
have that moment where we're looking outthe window and you can just hear everyone's
kind of disappointment, you know,And I park and I kind of turned
everyone in the van and I'm like, this is where you guys go ooh
and ah, and like you know, everyone goes ooh ah and like last
and then I'm like, hey,do you want me to describe what should
be here that you should be ableto see? And they're like yes,
(06:35):
please, and you know, Igive them a description and I was like,
again, this is where you goooh and they're like ah, you
know, and they just kind ofroll with it. So while they didn't
probably get the ideal weather for Yosemite, they still got the experience. Right.
It's and that's what it's all about. I mean, as long as
there's smiles on faces, as longas you're there and you get something out
(06:57):
of it. Moments like that areill that just that significant and you talking
about that just how you relay thatinformation over to them kind of breaking the
ice of really what could be disappointmentfor a lot of people. Would you
consider yourself entertainer might be a stretch, but where it's kind of your responsibility
to make sure no one's spirit getstoo down during this trip. Do you
(07:23):
feel that responsibility one thousand percent?They even told me towards the end of
the trip. I mean, youknow, you get close with your passengers
and you kind of talk about things, and you know, part of some
of my job definitely get brought upwhere they're you know, they're asking like,
hey, at this point, wasthat on purpose? Or like,
hey, was this supposed to happen? Or how you know timing logistics?
(07:46):
They asked these questions. You basicallytold them you were doing the rain dance
right you want it to rain onYosemite. You know, we actually had
one passenger who was responsible for doinga sun dance every morning, and there
was one time where she didn't doit, and I called her out on
it, and we're approaching Monument Valleyand I was like, hey, you
didn't do your sun dance this morning, and she was like, I didn't.
(08:07):
You know. She was in thecar and she was like, I
can do it now. I'm like, it's too late. You miss your
opportunity. You curse the sall.Yeah. But actually again, Monument Valley
in the rain was phenomenal. Itwas so cool. I've yeah, I'm
I loved it. I've only beenthere and it's been, you know,
super hot and almost miserable to thatlevel. But us passing passing Yosemite.
(08:31):
You know, you guys go througha series of places like Mono Lake,
Bishop Death Valley, but you hada kind of an interesting experience in Death
Valley. You talked about it beingclosed due to flooding, which, by
the way of any two quick funfacts about that valley, at least in
the United States, maybe in theworld, correct me. It is the
(08:52):
lowest point in terms of sea levelwhere it's negative yeah, two hundred and
eighty two feet at Devil's Golf Course. Yeah. And that's negative two hundred
and eighty two feet yeah. Yeah, And The second thing is that it
tends to be the hottest place onthere with every single year where it's constantly
almost a record breaking year. Ithink this year it almost clocked one thirty
(09:15):
one thirty five somewhere around there.That's correct. Yeah, And so what
ended up happening and how did yourpassengers react and what did you have to
do as a guy to kind ofget out of there and find something new
to do. So the night beforewas in Bishop. Let me backtrack the
first day when I do my welcomebriefing in San Francisco. There are certain
(09:37):
things that I'm already aware of,and this is one of them. And
so in the welcome briefing, Igo over you know, expectations. I
let everyone introduce themselves because these aretravelers that are most of the time traveling
alone. There were a lot ofcouples, but you know, this isn't
one big family or friend group.They all are meeting each other for the
first time here, which is amazing. I love that about these tours.
(10:00):
During that welcome briefing, I goover things that are gonna lie ahead,
and one of the two things thatI had to bring up was Death Valley
being closed due to flooding. Again, a lot of disappointment, but they
understand, like, hey, I'mnot opting out of going to Death Valley.
I literally cannot go. The otherone is highway one is closed for
a large portion, including the portionthat has including the portion that has big
(10:24):
Sir, And so we couldn't gobecause of that. So the workgrounds here.
I'm in Bishop the night before andI give them updates every day.
I'm like, hey, still closed, still closed, you know, Bishop,
Hey guys, it's still closed,But don't worry. I'm gonna figure
something out. We're gonna it's gonnabe a long drive to Vegas, but
Vegas will be relaxing. You'll havea hotel room for the first time in
(10:46):
a while. People loved to beingable to People love being able to take
a shower after camping for a numberof days. You know. They it's
the little the little winds and theshowers are huge ones. So for Bishop,
the night before, I'm going throughmy maps. You know, I
have staff that are there to helpand they provide a lot of input and
a lot of support, and soyou know, they I'm talking to one
(11:09):
of my operation managers and we're comingup with you know, workarounds, and
so one of them was going fromBishop to Las Vegas. I have to
backtrack a bit to get on theninety five we stop in I believe it
was Goldfield. It's a really allof these towns are going to be gold
rush mining towns, right, sothey have that old Western timey feel to
(11:33):
them. There's you know, allthe buildings are made out of wood that
has clearly been worn down by theweather, and a lot of these excuse
me, in a lot of theseplaces, there's burrows just walking the streets
casually. It's it's really unique experienceand they're most of the time in the
middle of nowhere. So again onthe ninety five we stop in Goldfield.
They have this art, this artI don't want to say exhibit, but
(11:56):
art piece called the International Car Forest. You know, anything to break up
the trip and get them out ofthe van and allow them to stretch their
legs, use the restroom, justkind of be and not be in a
van are completely worth it. Whilesome of my passengers didn't really enjoy the
International Car Force, a handful did. But even the passengers who didn't enjoy
(12:16):
it like to just you know,have that moment to get up, stretch
and just like being able to lookat the sky. So this is actually
one of the places that I hadnever heard of when we were, you
know, kind of doing the outlinefor this episode. When I'm picturing the
International Car Force, I'm picturing maybelooking at a field, the desert field,
(12:37):
and seeing a bunch of abandoned cars. That's what I'm picturing. How
far am I? Yeah? Isthat it? Yes? So I don't
know why, but in the Southwestthere's a few places, like you might
have heard about a Cadillac ranch.People love to just dig holes and stick
like old classic cars in them andthen allow people to spray paint them.
(13:00):
So the International Car Force is literallya short trail off the main highway where
there's just a bunch of cars busesthat are just sticking out of the ground
covered in spray paint. And that'spretty much it did. Did you guys
get a chance to go and spraypaint these cars? Like? Can the
public go and spray paint? Yes? One percent. Our company does not
(13:24):
allow us to carry spray paint inthe van for these reasons. It's one
of those weird rules where clearly there'sbeen issues with spray paint probably going off
in a van, maybe because ofaltitude change or something in elevation. But
yeah, they didn't have a timeto actually go and spray paint it,
but they definitely got time to gowalk around and check it out. I
(13:45):
can see how that's hit or miss, depending on you know, you know,
if you compare that to go inthe Death Valley, where it's again
like such a very specific and iconicplace in the US, to maybe that
I can see the hit or miss. But then you got us Vegas,
and this is another place that Ithink I've seen a lot of Europeans get
(14:05):
excited about in like a very differentway where it's just Vegas is just kind
of this like made up city,almost like you know, going to Qatar
or that sort of thing, whereit's just like in the middle of this
desert, it's like just this giantoasis of buildings and lights. How was
this and was that an enjoyable experiencefor them? Did you guys gamble?
(14:30):
So this just definitely depends on thegroup. The tour that I mentioned previously
with the younger crowd, they lovedVegas, They had a great time.
They went out to the pool parties, they went out partying afterwards, like
you know, late at night.They really soaked it up. But this
older group that I had, theywere blown away by just the entire Las
(14:54):
Vegas culture. Right. You gothere and it's very unique compared to anywhere
else in the world. You know, you mentioned kind of these uh these
sprouted and artificial cities in the middleof deserts. I mean, this is
like the this is the royalty ofthose right. My passengers liked it,
they enjoyed it, they were happythat they went. I heard a number
(15:16):
of them say that they they're happythey got to experience it, and that
they are a okay with never experiencingit again. But yeah, I guess
this really comes down to like knowingyour audience. Because you said the twenty
ish crowd really enjoyed it, andI can see how that's very attractive.
But yeah, I could see alsohow the older crowd maybe wasn't for it.
So what was next? After LasVegas? We drove three three and
(15:39):
a half hours up to Zion NationalPark, which is one of my favorite
places in the world. Too.Yeah, and they, I mean,
they were blown away. They theyloved it. We did the Watchman trail
after we set up camp and kindof let the sun go down a bit.
We were camping right next to theVirgin River, so we like,
you know, I always advise,I'm like, hey, grab the chair,
(16:00):
go like, you know, kneedeep in the water and just like
set your chair up as long asyou're not breaking up the river walls or
anything like that. Just it's hot, you've had a long day in the
car, soak your feet for abit. But I mean Zion, Yeah,
Zion, Zion is just breathtaking.I mean, you know, for
our listeners out there, John andI when we first met back at cal
(16:22):
we went on a trip with oneof our other friends and went to Zion
and bright Yeah, Sean, man, that was just a trip of a
lifetime. There were just so manycool moments of that. And Yosemite is
my favorite National park of all time, and that trip made me question it
one percent. And every time Igo to Zion, I just I'm blown
away. And this is one ofthe parts where I'm very interested in hearing
(16:45):
your answer. How it differs goingfrom like, let's say me, you
and Sean back back in the dayswhen we went to now leading a group
that tends to be a little biton the older side, because are you
doing angels landing, Are you doingobservation tower or that point? Yeah?
That one, yeah, and youknow the narrows are those options? Well,
(17:07):
So a little update for everyone.I believe it was in the beginning
of twenty twenty three when Zion NationalPark actually made it. Uh made art.
Oh my god, I was gonnasay, Arches made Angels Landing a
lottery. Uh, yeah, itit is, man, I yeah,
it's it's very bittersweet. So forthose that don't know what the lottery system
(17:29):
is, it's just like half domein Yosemite. You have to apply for
it, and you have to applyalong like you know, a good chunk
of time in advance, or elseyou won't make it. And they do
this for a number of reasons.They do it so that the natural area
can you know, revive itself,it can hold it's the natural beauty and
form that it is in. Youknow, it just keeps it keeps it
(17:52):
from being trampled and uh, youknow, falling apart, right, especially
a trail like Angels Landing. Uh, you know, if you haven't seen
it before, stop what you're doing. Go on Google looking up. Uh,
it's you're you're walking along these narrowridges along like these just you know,
hundred foot drops. You have chainsto help yourself guide up some of
(18:14):
its scrambling. It's really narrow.And what John and I John Sean and
I did which was fantastic, andI've done this at least eight other times.
You take the first shuttle up,you get you get to the main
trail head at a shuttle stop sevenI believe it is at the grotto.
You run like the first like twoto three miles, get away from the
(18:36):
group, and then once you're inthe switchbacks, you're by yourself. You
get to the you get to Scott'sLanding Landing, you're by yourself and you
can actually do angels Landing with noone in front of you. Hopefully the
lottery system is kind of putting thatinto effect without having to do the running
portion. But yeah, man,that's a it's a beautiful hike and it's
just so well worth it. Yeah, so I didn't know that angels Landing
(18:59):
had become like a lottery system,but in general, or yeah, in
general, I'm for it, man, I feel the reasons that you already
outline that it helps, like youknow, just kind of the environment,
you know, regenerate hell itself.But also I found the most dangerous parts
of angels Landing to be not thetrail itself, but actually other people.
(19:22):
People that have no business being upthere, or people that have underestimated the
trail, so you have novices upthere and now it puts other people at
risk. And that for that reason, I'm for the lottery. Going back
to your original question, what mypassengers are doing, and I believe what
you're you're asking what it's like forme to go to go to Zion National
(19:45):
Park and travel with friends like youor leading a tour my passengers have.
I always advise them on a coupleoptions that they can take, and I
always have to read it in advance, like kind of tests there, you
know, standa mus see what they'rehiking, level is where they're at physically.
You know, I'm never going totell someone to do Scouts landing if
really all they need to do isemerald pools right the narrows. I mean,
(20:08):
I have to check on the flashflood warnings. Usually the water levels
are okay, They've been pretty strongas of late, so I don't necessarily
advise that for passengers. Like mylast tour, I usually say Emerald Pools
is a solid one. Emerald Poolsis a great trail for them to do
where you know, they can walkalong the Virgin River, they can you
(20:29):
know, have amazing views of thevalley, then tire way through and then
you get to Emerald Pools where it'sa nice little stop point, there's a
little loop water coming down. Imean, you really get like all of
the all the sential experiences of ZionNational Park if you do a trail like
that and then traveling, you knowwith my friends versus the tours, they're
(20:52):
completely different. I mean it's dayand night. Right when I'm doing these
tours, there's moments where I'm like, this is amazing. I am so
happy I'm here. I can't believethis is my office. You know,
I have all those moments I'm havingmy camera and I'm like fangirling around taking
photos, like thinking about my nextpost on the gram. But I always
explain it that it's the Swan effect. You know, I'm cool and collective
(21:17):
up top above water, but thenunderwater, I'm paddling like hell, trying
to make sure that everything's going smoothly. So as a tour leader traveling,
I'm thinking about thirty minutes from now, I'm thinking about an hour from now.
I'm thinking about, you know,five am the next morning when I
have to wake up and make coffeefor my group, put breakfast on the
table. I'm thinking about two days, like, hey, is that going
(21:38):
to work out? Are they goingto be prepared for that trail or this
trail. There's so many logistics thatI'm constantly going through in my head.
And so while I do have momentsof just you know, absorbing that,
those blissful moments of being there andexperiencing it for places that I've been before,
I really am just kind of relaxing, making sure that I'm on my
(22:02):
I'm on schedule, making sure thateveryone's doing what they need to be doing,
and that they are one having thetime of their lives, but most
importantly, that they are safe.You went to a few other cool spots
right after Zion. You went upBryce Canyon, Moab, Moab, Moab,
Moab and now you got me questioningit. Moab and Arches National Park,
(22:25):
And this is where we kind oftouched base, you know, as
you were doing your tour, andyou told me a few things about Arches
that stood out for you on thepersonal level. Yeah, so there isn't
one thing in particular, a littlejust to fill you guys in, I've
never been to Arches, and sosometimes I don't tell my passengers when we're
(22:45):
going somewhere that I've never been.If they ask, I'm going to tell
them I'm not ever gonna lie.They didn't ask, so I didn't say
anything until afterwards. And so there'stimes where, like you know, I
do my nightly briefing and I kindof go over the trails that we have
available, what the wake up timeis, when I'm going to have coffee
ready, when breakfast is going tobe set up, and then when our
(23:07):
departure time is. So I gothrough all of those in my briefing the
night before. And so with Arches, I mean, this is one of
those nights where we had a longday, a great day, but long
day. We have dinner. It'susually after dinner that we do the briefing
and I'm you know, going overall the I'm going over the itinerary for
Arches, and you know, Ialways get hit with questions and one of
(23:27):
my favorite responses whenever I get askedhow long will this trail be? How
or how long will this trail take? How much? You're a better person
than I am. I would getso annoyed if someone asked me how long
this trail is, but Doe putput a smile on and say it all
depends. And it got to apoint where like someone would ask me a
question and I'll just stare at it. By Dave fifteen, if someone asked
(23:48):
me a question like that, I'lljust stare at him and they go it
depends, and I'm like, itdoes depend and you know it does.
It depends on the passenger. Howlong will this trail take me? I
just said two to three hours?How fast of a high or are you?
You know, like I can't tellyou how fast you're going to hike?
And so there's all those moments whereyou know, people were like,
oh, like the trail said itwas one point eight miles, but it
(24:11):
was definitely two And I'm like,yeah, that's the National Park System for
you. You know, don't trustthe signs. Take them with a grain
of salt because they're probably going tobe off. By a little bit.
And that's why the timing. Ialways just give them a range. So
for Arches, you know, Iget I tell them, I'm like,
hey, this trail, this trail, we're going to try to get sunset
or sunrise here, you know,all these things. And they were hitting
(24:33):
me with all these questions and againswan effect. I don't know most of
the time they're asking. They're askingquestions that one I've either already answered and
they just weren't listening, or Isincerely just don't know. And so you
have to kind of play it byear tell them, Hey, it's an
adventure. We'll figure it out,you know, as long as it's nothing
too serious. But how long wouldthis trail take us? I don't know,
(24:55):
it depends. Let's let's do ittomorrow and we'll just go with it
through the day and we'll see whatwe have. You know, time left
over four and Arches was one ofthose national parks where it's I think fifteen
minutes outside of Moab where we werecamping. The entrance to the park.
Man it's you know, we're drivingit. It's like pitch black because it's
I think five thirty in the morning. Is that how typically you were starting
(25:18):
your day every single day like fiveish in the morning thirty. Yeah.
For those that haven't been to nationalparks or not many times, you will.
If you try to enter a nationalpark on a weekend after eight o'clock
in the morning, you're going tospend hours waiting just to get into the
national park. Having a commercial vehicle, it's definitely helpful because I can usually
(25:41):
take the additional parking that is throughoutnational parks. They always have spots for
buses and commercial parking, which is, honestly, it's amazing having twelve passengers
and being able to pull into aside lot, usually close to a shuttle.
I always tell people, I'm like, hey, if you guys want
everything I suggest is a suggestion,right, If you guys want to wake
(26:03):
up late and miss an included activitythat you paid for, I always tell
them like, hey, I've beento these places. Unlike Arches, I
actually haven't been Arches before, butyou know, I would tell them like,
hey, I've been to these places. If you guys want to sleep
in and we spend half the daytrying to enter the park, and then
as soon as we enter we haveto turn around and leave because that's what
we need to do. I mean, that's what we need to do.
(26:23):
Props, Props to your crew,or you can call it a pax,
right, pa X, that's correct, Yeah, just because I don't think
that everyone shares that outlook, Ihave met people on tours that they're like,
why do I need to get upthis early on my vacation, And
so props to your group for havingthat mentality that they want to take advantage
(26:47):
of as much of the today tosee as much as possible, and also
not to waste a certain time justwaiting in line. So I don't think
everyone shares that. But Max,I wanted to ask, like, at
this point in the journey, howhow many days or weeks are you into
the trip at Arches? Yeah?Mmm, let me give you an exact
(27:10):
response there. First day of Archesis day ten, and so day ten
and eleven. And the reason thatI'm asking this is because as a tour
guide, at what point do youstart feeling like you're bonding with the group?
Days six to eight, we're actuallybonding. They're actually awake, and
they're actually functional, and they're they'renow in the groove of what it's like
(27:33):
to be on this tour, right, you know, when you first get
there, everything's new. They havetheir luggage, They're trying to figure out
how to go about setting up camp, what their daily rituals are, how
to I don't want say, breakdown, how to how to decompress after the
day. Right when we get tocamp after a long day. What do
they like to do? They liketo have tea, they like to sit
and have a beer. You know, people all operate differently. When you
(27:56):
get into that camp and road tripvibe, you have to really figure out
your groove and your momentum with it, your flow of how to travel in
this environment. And so it takesa long time for us to really form
that bond. By the day.I want to say by day like you
know, twelve, I mean wehad inside jokes, were cracking jokes,
(28:17):
and you know, I have toflip the switch going from like, you
know, cracking jokes. Did theyask a question and I have to seriously,
you know, consider my response,make sure that I'm uh, you
know, giving them the proper informationthat they need, and then we go
right back to joking and having agood time. So there's that that fine
line but also being personable and beinguh, you know, allowing your character
(28:38):
to actually shine with theirs is veryimportant. And so it takes a while.
And I'm gonna go ahead and sayit right now, the ending,
saying goodbyes, that's like the worstpart of the tour. So yeah,
no, I can't imagine it.And you know, we will talk about
the goodbye at the end, butI'm going to save my question for that,
because you know, I want toget to so far. I would
(29:00):
say, up until this point inthe talk, outside of maybe the International
Car Show or car park, mostof these places, I think if you
live on the western side of theUnited States or just American in general,
you've probably heard of these places.But now I want to kind of,
you know, fast forward into GooseNext State Park because this is maybe a
(29:25):
lesser known place compared to the placeswe've talked about so far. What made
that one stand out? Yeah,So, Goose Next State Park was a
quick little stop that we did inTechnically it's not in, but it's very
close to Monument Valley, and sowhen we're going from Moab to Monument Valley,
there's a few places we can stopat, and I chose Goose Next
(29:48):
State Park, just because one,I've never been there and I wanted to
go, And then too, theviews looked amazing and they they were Goose
Next State Park is a little pooloff there's a little campground there right off
the San Juan River, and it'salmost like its own little horseshoe Bend,
but with two of them. Sowould you say that the primary reason that
(30:11):
you stop there is kind of likea break for your guests, and a
lot of places are just that Imentioned earlier that I'm driving for hours at
a time. My goal is tonot drive more than two or two and
a half hours without having some kindof stop, whether we pull into a
gas station, get gas ice,you know, drain the coolers of water,
(30:33):
let my passengers go to the bathroom, or literally pulling off on like
a viewpoint in the middle of nowhereand letting them have ten minutes. You
know. I always try to havethose breaks, and again two two and
a half hours, that's where I'mcomfortable with that. I feel like there's
always enough time in my tenerary toallow for those kind of stops. I
know you went through Monument Valley,the Grand Canyon, and Lake Havasu and
(30:56):
for time's sake, we won't reallyspend too much time talking about them,
but I do want to talk aboutRoot sixty six because you mentioned that there
were over one hundred hair point turnsto get to this place. Talk about
it. You know, with thatvalley being closed and Highway one being closed,
some of my passengers expressed that theywere really excited about those gold Rush
(31:19):
towns. And while Route sixty sixhas its own moment of history where you
know, it's big for pop culture, and it was the main highway for
people migrating from the East coast andMidwest all the way to the West coast.
Right that's where the history came from. And it just kind of took
on this really cool sixties fifties themeand it got stuck in time there,
(31:42):
which is really unique. But oneof my passengers really was he was just
so excited about this these gold Rushtime towns and was kind of bummed we
didn't spend more time there. SoI found this place called Oatman in Arizona.
Long story short, just it isstuck in time there. It's a
(32:05):
block block and a half long.There's burrows or donkeys walking around everywhere,
has like a couple of saloons.There's biker gangs that hang out there.
And the crazy part is when youare driving here. Keep in mind,
I'm in a Ford transit with aeight foot trailer full of passengers, all
of our camping gear, stove,luggage, water coolers, all of that.
(32:30):
When you drive this, you're onoriginal root sixty six, so it's
dirt your gravel. There's flood warningsigns every you know, thirty feet or
not thirty feet, maybe like amile and a half or so. And
you see the mountain range coming upas you're doing this, and I'm kind
of I've never been here before.I looked it up. It seemed cool.
(32:52):
When I started crossing over this mountainrange, I didn't realize it was
going to be this steep. Mostof the turns were, you know,
ten miles an hour recommended. Ihad to make sure that no one was
coming down another turn because I couldonly see about thirty feet in front of
me. In terms of like ifa car's coming again van and a trailer
(33:13):
swan effect I was. I wasdefinitely freaking out, but you know,
kept the music on. You know, people like there were a few moments
where people were talking to me,and I would have to kind of be
like, hey, give me amoment. You know, I'm working on
these turns, making sure that I'mdown shifting where I need to, and
like you said, a hundred,it was a hundred and one of the
(33:34):
bikers told me that we were chattingwith was I think it was one hundred
and eight hair point turns. SoI'm literally going down this insane road with
my passengers and my van and mytrailer and just to get to this like
really small town that is just sosecluded and so different, and it was
(33:58):
just amazing. I mean it wasit's classic Root sixty six without the pop
culture aspect of it. It wasa gold mining town in the mountains.
It was just so cool in themiddle of the desert. I just,
yeah, my feet and my handswere sweaty just thinking about that story.
So I can't imagine the stress ofactually driving it and kind of letting your
(34:20):
passengers, you know, fuel relaxedor at ease. Was anyone like nauseous
or you know, nervous about thedrive. No, not to toot my
own horn, but like I'm avery good driver, you know, I'm
a commercial drive, a license driver. Uh, you know, I drive
really safe already, and then withpassengers like I, I'm locked in.
(34:42):
I don't get distracted. I'm verycomfortable telling people to like you know,
uh, you know, I needtime to focus or I need to pay
attention here or whatever. I mypalms were sweaty, that whole red,
you know. To kind of bringit back home, you go to Lake
Havasu afterwards, then La, I'mgoing briefly stop here, and if you
could just give me the quick skinnybecause I'm from LA, I'm curious,
(35:05):
what if what did they think ofLa? Uh kind of Vegas vibes?
They were happy, they went,Uh, dude, okay. So here's
the thing. Mann, I alreadyhate driving in LA. I for those
that haven't already gotten intense of whowe are, dude, I know I
spoke highly of it. Again,I'm positive everywhere I go, I'm like,
hey, this is this is it. This is the experience you get,
(35:25):
you know. Uh. We droveinto Hollywood. Uh you know,
I park over there. Definitely notwhere I should be parking, but I
park dropped them off, give theman hour to check out the boulevard,
check out the stars, you know, get a view of the Hollywood Sign.
Then we hop back in. Wego to Rodeo Drive, so we're
driving down Sunset Boulevard. You know, they get to see the Beverly Hills
(35:50):
Hotel. I drop them off fora little bit at the shopping center on
Rodeo where, you know, someof the most expensive stores are all lined
up in one area. I believeit's a three block space of Yeah.
I think it's renowned as one ofthe renowned renowned as one of the most
expensive shopping sections in the world.I don't know. And then from there,
(36:13):
uh, you know, straight intola traffic, la traffic with no
potholes or changes in the roads atall. Not scary with a trailer that's
hitched onto your van. Yeah.Upset that they put it in the same
breath as Vegas, but to eachtheir round. So I'm assuming that at
(36:34):
this point you went up with theone, the one on one. Yeah,
So we went up the one toSan Simeon to check out the Elephant
Seals, which was really cool.They're just hanging out. We had lunch
there. Again. Weather was fantastic. For some reason. It was weird,
man. The desert was cold andrainy and the coast was sunny and
beautiful. It was as a Californian. It's strange. And you know,
(37:00):
at this point, you guys arekind of nearing the end of the trip.
Is there a sense of dread orexcitement from your passengers that this trip
is coming to an end? Fromthe tour guid's perspective, is it just
relief or are you sad to saybye to these people? It's always bitter
sweet. I've definitely had a tour, you know, back in twenty eighteen.
There was one tour where I droppedthem off and I was like,
(37:22):
all right, guys, see youa letter bye, you know, just
take off with this group. Imean it was I mean, I feel,
you know that you can't get alongwith everyone. That's just how that's
how life is. As long asyou are respectful, that's all. That's
all I aim to be. Andso with this tour in particular, I
(37:43):
mean that, you know, itwas definitely bitter sweet. Like they were
nice, we had inside jokes.I mean, they're all really good people.
I mean we all vibed on somany ways, Like their music taste
was great, Like we were alltalking about you know, like pop culture
and kind of going into all ofthat, and then we talk about nature,
and uh, you know, ifyou have a passion for nature,
you can for me at least,if you know you have two people who
(38:05):
have a strong passion for the environmentand nature in general, I feel like
you're going to get along. Yeah. I feel like those are two personality
traits that just you're gonna vibe.And so with this group, all of
them, I mean, they lovethe National parks. They again the rain
in Yosemite. The views were beautiful. Driving Tayoga Pass in the rain,
(38:27):
it was astonishing, and I couldtell that they were loving it, you
know, so it was a bittersweetfor them saying goodbye. It's always hard,
you know, with this group.I have a WhatsApp group chat and
we're still like, you know,I actually got a message earlier today from
them, like you know, they'llwe were sending pictures of our dogs and
cats. You know, we're doinglike an animal exchange kind of thing there,
(38:51):
and like, you know, acouple of them, actually a good
amount of them, we're all startingnew jobs and career paths were changing,
and so they're sending updates and everyoneand it's like, cool, you got
this, you're gonna kill it atthat role and uh not not in those
terms. I don't think Germans wouldsay that or Dutch would say that.
That's coming from me as a Californian. So Max, one last question before
we wrap up here. What isthe first thing you do once you've you
(39:15):
know, dropped off your equipment whateveryou're you're officially off the clock, what
is the first thing you do?Uh? Do I play with my dog?
I hang out, play with mydog, hang out with my partner.
Uh, you know, go getsome good food that I've been missing,
honestly, work out. I playedbasketball the last couple of days,
which has been fantastic. Don't getto do that on the road. It's
(39:39):
just all the little things. Also, going from living in a van to
coming back to my apartment, it'slike, Wow, I have so much
space. Honestly, Bro, Iwant to thank you for sharing because I
think number one, I think thismight be the most you've ever talked on
any podcast episode. And number two, I think I think it gave our
listeners the opportunity to hear you know, kind of that you are an expert
(40:01):
in your field, just the waythat you're talking about all these places and
like naming you know, routes,points, hiking trails, you know,
talking about topography and geology, youknow, all those things. I'm glad
that our listeners got to hear adifferent side of you than maybe what they're
used to to hearing on this pod. So yeah, I'm excited about that
(40:22):
too. It's always fun. Itry not to talk about myself too much,
but if I could share things withpeople, I mean, that's that's
what it's all about. So yeah, I'm excited and I am gonna talk
about us a little bit more.You can find us on Instagram at Globetrotters
Podcasts on Twitter at globetrot pod,which we're still not very superactive on so
(40:43):
we'd like to make that change relativelysoon. You can also comment, post
and write us on Facebook at facebookdot com, slash Globetrotters Podcasts, and
again, don't forget to drop usa review on the streaming platform of your
choice. Yeah, and if youwant to reach out to us, you
know, send us a little noteemail. You can reach us at hello
(41:04):
at GTS podcast dot com. Letus know what you think of our episodes,
you know, again, just dropa line, say hi, Editing
was done by our very own JonathanOtero until next time. Until next time,
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