When 27 year old Canadian Jake Scervino hits the road alone in an old car to travel Route 66, he discovers that the best part of the journey isn’t always the destination…it’s the people you meet along the way. Hear about Jake’s unforgettable Route 66 adventure, the kindness of strangers, and the especially memorable experiences he had in Pulaski County, Missouri. Jake’s story reminds us all, sometimes you just have to get out there, meet people and look for the good.
The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For information on guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com.
This episode has been brought to you by Nexthome Team Ellis, Security Bank of Pulaski County, TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, and Sugarcreek Farms.
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**Intro Continued**
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. So, there’s only two episodes left in this season. I’m actually really sad about that. I have so many guests and so many interesting people that I’ve met recently that I want to highlight. But I do this podcast in seasons.
So here we are with a guest that, gosh, Jake, I don’t know how long it’s been since I randomly messaged you and was like, hey, I know you don’t know me, but would you do this podcast? And you have been so sweet. We’ve had to reschedule several times because of my family members’ health and different things. And I just appreciate you so much. We are doing this podcast over the phone because my guest, Jake Scervino, is very, very far away. Where are you located, Jake?
Jake: Tracy, thanks for having me. Um, I know we’ve been trying to find a time to do it. I’m glad we finally can. I am in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Tracy: I don’t know how many miles that is from Pulaski County, Missouri, do you know?
Jake: No, it’s pretty far.
Tracy: It’s a long way, isn’t it?
Jake: Yeah, it’s pretty far.
Tracy: So listeners are probably thinking, okay, why is she interviewing someone from Canada on the podcast? And here’s why. So, October of last year…
Jake: Okay.
Tracy: …Tanya Ryan, her and her husband Mike, uh, were owners of the Bow and Barrel Sportsman Center. And I think it’s okay to announce now because her going away party was this past weekend, that they have since retired and I’m so sad about it, just moved to Florida. But in her time here in Pulaski County, Tanya would often host Airbnb guests at her house. And she would always tell me about this person and that person and how she met the most interesting people. But she started telling me about a guy named Jake and would not stop talking about him. He is so cute, he is so sweet, he is so nice. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. He’s one of my favorite guests. You should have him on the podcast. So, one day I said, well, Tanya, I mean, you know, I tell the stories of the people and places of Pulaski County. So what am I going to ask him if I have him on the podcast? And she says, you need to ask him about his experience traveling the United States and also his time in Pulaski County. And the more she told me about you, Jake, the more I thought, you really would make an interesting guest.
I do a blog on, on the FLW podcast website, and one of the things that I talked about in the blog was how sometimes we don’t see the forest for the trees in the area that we live in. And there are people that travel from all over, thousands of miles to experience the thing that many of us, no matter where we live in the United States or Canada for that matter, we experience it all the time, right? There’s a lot of people that travel to where you live to see the beauty and all the things that you see on a regular basis. So, with all that said, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to you, to kind of find out about your travels and your experiences not just in the US, but here in Pulaski County. So, Jake, I usually start the show out just asking people where they’re from. So tell me about where you got your start in life, where you’re from.
Jake: Oh, first of all, I don’t think I’m that interesting, but again, I appreciate it.
Tracy: Well, we’ll find out, we’ll find out.
Jake: Okay. Yeah, I was born in, uh, Grimsby, Grimsby, Ontario. Parents separated, moved to, uh, St. Catharines. My mom and my dad moved to Niagara Falls. Yeah, I grew up here all my life pretty much. Late in my teen years, I kind of really was interested in cars. I I kind of found that I really enjoy working on cars. But at the time, and I guess still now, I didn’t really know how to make money doing it. So I kind of just kept it as a hobby. It still is, I was a mechanic for about half a year. I worked in a shop. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t really like it because it was very rushed. Like I felt like I couldn’t take my time working on cars that I like, so anyways, that didn’t last long. I’m now a real estate agent. And, uh, St. Catharines.
Tracy: I was just going to ask you if you like being a real estate agent and what you like about it.
Jake: I do, I love it. I mean, I meet a lot of interesting people. Another big thing is I get to drive my old cars around during the summer and show houses. So, it’s kind of perfect.
Tracy: Yeah.
Jake: Yeah, I mean, if I could do something with cars full-time, I’d rather do that. Maybe one day I could, but in the meantime, that’s what I’m doing here. So, yeah, my life’s not too interesting, but…
Tracy: I bet it’s more interesting than you think. Okay, so you have old cars and I want to ask you in just a moment about the one that you were traveling through the US with when you met Tanya Ryan, who originally told me about you. I want to talk about that car. One of the reasons that you and Tanya spent so much time together is because you were having some mechanical issues with it. So we’ll talk about that in a minute. But tell me about all of your, how many cars do you have and what do you have?
Jake: Okay. Well, I mean, I have too many cars. Uh, my mom’s not too happy about it. I still live at home right now. So, uh, the driveway is pretty full. I have a 78 Continental Mark V. I also have a 1995 Mercedes SL500. A 1992, uh, Mercedes S-class. That thing caught on fire. I’m working on rewiring that.
Tracy: Wow.
Jake: I have two motorcycles as well. A classic, uh, Goldwing, 1975 Honda Goldwing.
Tracy: Oh, wow.
Jake: Um, and a newer Honda Shadow. Yeah, yeah. So I have a lot of vehicles.
Tracy: It’s my understanding that you were traveling Route 66, which is what brought you through Pulaski County here in Missouri. Was this the first trip that you had done or have you traveled…
Jake: First trip.
Tracy: …to travel Route 66?
Jake: I have traveled the United States. No, I’ve never done Route 66. I’ve I’ve gone to the, you know, United States before with my family and stuff, Florida, whatever, a couple times, stuff like that. But I kind of wanted to do this trip. It’s always been like a an interest of mine. Like Florida’s nice, but I wanted to kind of see like Old America, like real, rural America, right? Um, so that really interests me and I wanted to do this trip. And I and I was kind of postponing it for, uh, you know, a while, a couple years. Um, you know, the modern day, uh, political climate and stuff isn’t the greatest. So I was kind of, I guess not nervous, more just like uneasy, right? Like you hear a lot of stuff on the news and on social media and stuff. I remember I was researching like, oh, is it safe, what areas should I avoid, like all this stuff. And I remember one comment I read and it kind of stuck with me and just made me want to do it. And basically, the guy just said, put down the phone and go out and meet real Americans. And I kind of read that, I’m like, you know what? This guy’s this guy’s right. And so that’s what I did. I I kind of just ignored my fears and got in my car and and just started driving. And yeah, that’s how it started.
Tracy: Oh my gosh. I have so… And you don’t think that’s interesting? I have so many questions. First of all, how old are you?
Jake: Uh, 27.
Tracy: You’re 27. Did you do this trip solo?
Jake: Solo. That, just just me.
Tracy: Wow. So what did your parents, did you say, hey, I’m going to go travel the US and I know that when you get on social media and you turn the news on, it looks like it’s just a big chaotic mess, but here I go. What did they say?
Jake: Yeah, I mean, my mom’s pretty, you know, she’s always a little bit, uh, she wants me to be safe and stuff, but she she trusts me and she knows that I’m, I have a good head on my shoulders, I guess. So, she was pretty supportive. She was glad I was doing it and getting out and seeing the world, right? So…
Tracy: What was…
Jake: That’s what I did.
Tracy: What was it about Route 66 that, I mean, was it, you said you wanted to travel Old America. Is that kind of why you chose Route 66 so that you could really be in the heart of things?
Jake: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, you know, I just again, it kind of has a relation to older vehicles and stuff like that. Like it was one of the main highways to travel across the US, right, for so many years. So that really interests me and that’s why I wanted to do Route 66 in my old car and really put my mechanical skills to the test and see if I could make it across the United States. And let me tell you, it definitely, definitely did.
Tracy: You are so brave. You are so brave. So where did your trip begin as far as in the US, where did your trip begin?
Jake: It began, well, Niagara Falls. So I crossed the Niagara Falls border and then I drove to Chicago because I wanted to start at the actual start of Route 66 and then take the historic road, as much of the historic road as I could, which I did to the end, all the way to California. So I drove from Niagara Falls to Chicago. During that time, I already experienced my first problem after a few hours. I had a front end kind of shaking. I just rebuilt the entire front end myself in my driveway before I left and I got an alignment done. So I was kind of confused as why that was happening, and I assumed it was the tires, which it was. So I had to stop in, I think Elkhart. Yeah, I think it’s Indiana. Yeah. And right away, first Airbnb I stayed at, I first encounter with the nicest guy ever. He let me use his tools, offered to, you know, let me use his garage. I didn’t need to use his garage. I didn’t use his tools, but he he recommended some shops, and I had a bad experience bringing my cars to shops before. So I haven’t done so in years, but I was kind of, you know, tires is one thing you kind of need like special equipment to do. So I brought it there to the shop he recommended. Again, owner of the shop came out, I met with him. He allowed me to go in the back, meet all the mechanics there, and I kind of checked over my car on the hoist as he was pulling the tires off and it kind of showed me everything like what was going on with my tires. I went out, got pizza, and we all had pizza in the back of the shop with all these mechanics. It was so cool. The these these were all like the nicest guys ever. So that was the beginning of my trip.
Tracy: I love that you’re like, I want to see the US. I mean, I can’t imagine a better way to see the real, you know, one of the things I say about this podcast is the real people and places of Pulaski County. Well, it sounds like the way you conducted your trip, you met the real people and went to the real places of the US instead of just all the crap that you see online. You know, it’s all so, so negative. Yeah. I love that. I love that you…
Jake: 100%.
Tracy: Super negative. Yes, it really is. And it’s everywhere, you know, but I love that you were brave enough to do that and to see through all that. So you had your first kind of thing in Elkhart, Indiana, and then how did the rest of your trip go?
Jake: It went well. Well, I mean, it didn’t go too well. There was a lot of breakdowns. But yeah, I went through, I believe it was…
Tracy: Missouri’s not too far after Indiana, so I’m not sure how much you traveled or or how long it was before you got to your Airbnb here in Pulaski County, but it probably wasn’t too long after that.
Jake: No, it wasn’t too long after that, and I didn’t really have any problems during that time. My engine was just dieseling, so I had to figure that out, adjust the timing and stuff. So that was another kind of a major issue that I figured out. Oh, but the the biggest thing. Yeah, so I forgot a big important part. So when I was leaving Chicago, I just I made it, right? I made it to the beginning, the start of Route 66. And then right as I was leaving the inner city of Chicago, starting to head towards like rural roads, I lost my transmission. It just wouldn’t shift. I had to do a U-turn, kind of pull into a park, and I remember I was so upset. I was there for like an hour and I thought this was already the end of the trip. It was like day two. This was like after Elkhart, made it to Chicago, all that.
Tracy: Oh no.
Jake: Um, yeah. And so, I thought it was maybe the transmission fluid being over full, whatever. Turned out it was a vacuum line that came unplugged, and I was just about to call a tow truck and end the trip. I plugged it back in, bottom of the car, on the transmission, and it came back. So that was another big, uh, big moment in the trip. Yeah, after that, I I kept going, and then I made it to Missouri. Now, Missouri was cool. Like I stopped at the, I don’t know if you’re familiar with some of the stuff on Long Route 66. There was the old chain of rocks bridge.
Tracy: Mm-hmm, yeah.
Jake: Um, so I stopped there. That was a pretty cool landmark and I walked across it and back. Very cool stuff, made it to St. Robert.
Tracy: So your time in, you went through, you know, Chicago and St. Louis area. I know you had been nervous about that. How was your, your actual experience, well, on your, on your entire trip, not just those big cities, but compared to your expectation? Your your concerns? Were did you say, oh yeah, I was concerned about this and yep, that happened, or was it completely different than what you had anticipated?
Jake: No, completely different. Like all throughout the trip, all these breakdowns that I’ve had, I was kind of surprised and I tell a lot of people and they they kind of don’t believe me, but when I go to the United States, like I find Americans a little bit nicer than Canadians sometimes.
Tracy: See, I there’s a whole, the whole phrase Canada Nice. That we, they don’t ever say America Nice, okay?
Jake: No. No, and I don’t know why, because in my experience, these people just jump to help. You know, I’d be in a parking lot making repairs and there’d be so many people coming over offering to help. It was amazing. I’ve had few people even like offer to pray for me. You know, and I I’ve never had that before, right? Like on my trip. It was just it was it was amazing. Yeah, yeah, it it completely, uh, exceeded my expectations of what I thought, uh, I would encounter on my trip for sure.
Tracy: Which one of your cars was it that you brought on this trip?
Jake: So it was the Mark V, it was a 78 Continental. Yeah.
Tracy: Okay, gotcha. What happened at your Airbnb here? I know you had some car trouble and Tanya and Mike pulled their cars out and had you pull your car into the garage. And I told Tanya, I said, because there was a storm coming and we were expecting hail and severe weather. And I told Tanya, I said, I’m surprised you did that. And she said, he has a cool old car. We can’t let hail hit it.
Jake: Yeah. No, you know what, they were unbelievable. So I was driving and it was getting dark, and I decided, you know, that I should stop soon. So I I just booked an Airbnb just as I was driving, like I wasn’t really paying too much attention, just kind of booked one randomly, and it turned out to be like one of the best experiences of my whole trip and a a blessing in disguise because these people were just the nicest people I’ve ever met. They made me feel so at home. They bent over backwards to to help me and accommodate me with my old car. So I stayed the the first night. I believe that was when the storm was coming the next day. So I had to do steering line, hydro boost line for my brakes, and that took much longer than expected. So I took a break and we sat down, me and Tanya, and we talked for a long time, just got to know each other, and she said, you know what, like there’s a big storm coming in. Maybe you should stay another night. And I didn’t want to, like I wanted to keep going because I only had a certain amount of time. I decided, okay, no problem. I’ll I’ll stay another night. Huge storm came through. I finished the hydro boost line repair. Again, like this was another blessing in disguise. When I was done the repair, I looked under my car, just kind of made sure everything was okay, and I noticed my steering coupler. Basically, it connects the steering wheel to the front end of the car, like the steering linkage. That was completely rotted away. Like it it was non-existent. I was shocked. Like I I didn’t realize how dangerous that was, how far I’d traveled already. Yeah. So, um, it was a blessing in disguise that that storm came in and she offered to let me stay another night, bring the car in the garage. It gave me time to really look it over because if I was just in a parking lot doing that, I wouldn’t have even taken the time to kind of check over everything. So I did that, and then I had to, uh, stay another few nights, and during that time, like they just made me feel like family. You know, we had dinner together, we had a game night. It was awesome. They they were just amazing people, and really changed my perspective on people that you don’t know, right? Like I didn’t know people could be so kind.
Tracy: Right. Yeah.
Jake: They don’t even know you, right?
Tracy: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, this is a good spot for a break. We’re going to take a quick break. When we come back, I want to find out how the rest of your trip went and if you’ve been in contact with Tanya and Mike, your Airbnb host since since you left. So we’ll be right back with Jake Scervino.
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**Interview Continued**
Back with the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast and guest Jake Scervino. Jake is Canadian and he totally exemplifies the phrase, Canada nice. He was traveling Route 66 in his old car and had to stop in Pulaski County. And it was not totally an unexpected stop. Thought he would just stay a night, ended up staying a few. And so I really love that you had such a great experience while you were here. And I think it’s a great reminder to all of us that the things that we take for granted and not seeing the forest for the trees and all that, um, which has kind of been a a theme of mine lately, something I’ve been noticing a lot. So that’s why I love hearing your perspective on this area.
When you were here, I know you spent a lot of time working on your car, were you able to get out and experience anything in the Pulaski County area?
Jake: Most of the time was I was worrying about the car, fixing it and stuff, but I did, uh, end up being able to go to church. I forget which church it was, um, in that area on Sunday. Yeah, it was really nice. Really nice, uh, small church, a lot of nice people. I also went, I believe it was probably the first night I was there, I went to the Neon Sign Park.
Tracy: Oh, that’s awesome.
Jake: Oh, yeah.
Tracy: Oh, yeah.
Jake: So I decided to just take the time to go see it, and it was actually very cool, very interesting. Really enjoyed that.
Tracy: I’m so glad you got to see that. There are people that are traveling here from all over to see that. I mean, even people coming from overseas to see that park. And you know, it’s just right here, we pass it every single day. And I think sometimes the people right here don’t even realize how many people are coming from far away to see it. So I’m so glad you got to experience that while you were in Pulaski County. What about the next leg of your trip? What happened next?
Jake: Yeah, I was just going to say, we take a lot of things for granted. And I live in Niagara Falls, right? And I never take the time to kind of stop and see it, but, uh…
Tracy: Yeah.
Jake: It it’s very beautiful, right? So I think wherever we live, we take things for granted, because it’s just part of everyday life, right?
Tracy: I agree. Yeah. We we sure do.
Jake: Yeah. So the next part of my trip, so when I had to fix the, uh, steering, uh, coupler on my car, I was just going to say another thing too, there was a a man at the part store, and he knew that this was my only vehicle. I didn’t have a car, and I needed a vice to kind of put it in a vice, and he was a grinder to, anyways, I won’t get into technical details, but basically woke up the next morning, he gave me his number. Woke up the next morning early before work to pick me up from Tanya and Mike’s, drive me to O’Reilly’s. That was the store, O’Reilly’s. Helped me grind off those rivets on my, uh, steering linkage, and drive me back. So talk about, uh, a stranger helping you out, right? Like this guy’s again, didn’t even know me, took took the time to wake up early in the morning to come give me a ride and help me, uh, with my car. So again, I had a very great impression of, uh, that stop there.
Tracy: Wow.
Jake: Um, yeah.
Tracy: Then your trip proceeded on and where’d you go next?
Jake: Next, I went to, I guess, Oklahoma, right? Yeah, so Oklahoma was cool. I met some cool people there as well. This one guy I met at a breakfast place. He had a an old motorcycle museum that he was kind of selling and closing down. But he offered to kind of show me inside. So we we went and we ended up talking for a good hour. He was giving me telling me stories and stuff. It was just super cool to meet, uh, again, meet another stranger and spend time and get to know them, right? Um, and then I kept going on my trip. This was the part where I had a problem with my, uh, drive shaft. When I was in Oklahoma, I was going, it’s very hilly, uh, I guess the section of Route 66 in Oklahoma, and I was noticing like a squealing noise under my car. Turned out to be the drive shaft. I had to stop again, stay the night, and next day I went to the store. I had to order U-joints for the drive shaft. And a guy overheard me asking one of the O’Reilly’s guys if I can use their parking lot. And he said, oh, I have a shop, uh, you know, right around the corner. Why don’t you bring your car there and you can use all my tools and do the repair.
Tracy: Wow.
Jake: So, um, I did. Yeah, so I did and and he helped me do the repair. Again, very grateful, and he also, uh, sent me off with a prayer as well. So it was just another very heartwarming, uh, encounter for sure.
Tracy: Wow.
Jake: Um, yeah.
Tracy: So from Oklahoma, what’s next?
Jake: Another major part was Texas. I was still having issues with the front end again. It was just tires, just bad tires, uh, really. So I wanted to get another alignment just to be 100% sure nothing was out. I took it to a shop and, yeah, like they had some younger kids working there and stuff. I kind of really requested an older guy to work on it, and he did, but then he had to leave. Yeah. So, anyways, towards the end, I noticed a little puddle on the ground. I’m like, oh, is that brake fluid? He’s like, no, no. I’m like, okay, no problem. So I kept driving through New Mexico. There was a storm coming. Right as I was coming off the highway, I lost my brakes.
Tracy: Oh no.
Jake: Um, thankfully there was no cars in front of me, but sure enough, they did pop a brake line in the front when they were trying to fix my alignment. So I had to do that the next morning in a parking lot.
Tracy: Oh my gosh.
Jake: Um, then I drove through New Mexico. New Mexico is very cool. A lot of cool scenery. At that point, my water pump, uh, my motor went.
Tracy: Oh.
Jake: Yeah, this trip was full of repairs, but you know what? Now that I look back on it, it was very stressful in the moment, but that’s what made my trip, because I had the most memorable parts of the trip when I was experiencing issues in my car, ironically enough.
Tracy: Yeah, isn’t that kind of how life works? I mean, that’s the part that stands out to you. And and also that had to, I mean, I know that you know a lot about working on cars and you knew that you did. But that just kind of shows you, you can do this. You can accomplish anything because you took this huge trip and you made it even with all of those things popping up that went wrong, you were able to overcome each and every one of them.
Jake: Yeah, it it definitely had boosted my confidence after that. After this trip, I had some doubts about my mechanical ability, and after putting myself through that experience, yeah, I definitely, uh, have more confidence now. If I can fix my car on the side of a road, then I can I can do it in my driveway, right? So…
Tracy: Exactly, exactly.
Jake: Um, but so a nice part too is, uh, I had to do my water pump, well, not a nice part, that part of it. I had to do my water pump in the parking lot. So I had to wake up early the next morning, right when they opened. This was going to be a long job. Throughout the day, I was working on it and an older gentleman came up to me and we started talking. He was a Vietnam veteran. So he was had some very interesting stories about that. And he was also very religious, and he invited me to go to church with him the next day. I said, yeah, let’s do it. So we went to church together the next day and we spent, uh, some time together. He showed me his garage. He had an old, I think it was a late ’30s or early ’40s, uh, Ford. He had a also really nice classic car. That guy was very very kind. We’re still in contact today. We call and talk on the phone. He sent me, uh, a really nice Bible actually in the mail. So, um, I made a really nice friend there.
Tracy: Oh. You know what strikes me about this is for myself anyway, I tend to be almost, uh, say no person. Someone says, you know, do you want to go to church in the morning? My first thought is, uh, no, I don’t want to do that because I get anxious. And then when I think about it a little more, I might think, oh yeah, you know, actually that would be nice to do. But it seems like you’re just a yes. Just like Tanya saying, hey, it’s going to storm, you better stay. And you did, which was great, because then you could accomplish more and get your car fixed and you got to, you know, see the Neon Park. And you know, every one of these decisions that you made, these yes decisions, even the, even to actually do the trip in the first place, because you were a little bit anxious about it and you, you know, someone said, hey, just go see the real people of of the United States. And you said yes to that and you did that. Because of all those yeses, look at everything you experienced. So that’s just a great lesson for the rest of us that tend to say, uh, no, a little bit too fast because all your yeses look like they’ve led to a great great experiences for you and a great trip for you.
Jake: Yeah, I agree. You know, what’s funny to say that too, because that is a a really a strong takeaway from me doing the trip is I I tend to overthink a lot and, uh, talk myself out of things because I always think about, you know, worst-case scenario, what’s the worst thing that can happen? And I still did think like that during the trip, but every single time I was proven wrong and realized that there was no point in worrying because it wasn’t even close to happening what I thought would happen, and it turned out to be an amazing experience.
Tracy: I love that so much. So your trip ended in California and then did you, you had to drive back after that, any experiences after you got off of Route 66 and headed home?
Jake: Yeah, so I after that it was pretty okay. I didn’t really experience any other major issues. The last part was Arizona. I went through in Oatman’s Pass. That was very interesting. Uh, with a big car doing that. Like you’re are you familiar with Oatman’s Pass?
Tracy: No, I’m not.
Jake: So I guess it’s kind of like a big mountain area where you have to cross over to get to California if you’re doing, uh, historic Route 66. And it’s a lot of very tight winding roads, like very tight. And then there’s a cliff on your right.
Tracy: Oh my gosh. And you’re in this big old car.
Jake: I’m in this big car. Yeah.
Tracy: At least you got the brakes fixed before that.
Jake: 100%. 100% of it failed during that, it wouldn’t have been good.
Tracy: I don’t think we’d be having this conversation if that happened.
Jake: No. No, I don’t think so. But anyways, after that, I made it into California. I took some time. I got a nice picture at the end of Route 66, the real end, like I parked in the middle of the intersection. I had to do it.
Tracy: And…
Jake: And just took a quick picture. So I I was very, uh, very happy I made it, and then I met up with a another gentleman that kind of helped me throughout my trip. He was on the phone with me. I was asking a few questions and he told me he lived in California and to stop by and see him. And he actually had the same vehicle as mine, just one year newer.
Tracy: Oh, wow.
Jake: So we kind of met up and we I got to go for a ride in his car. His car was like show condition, show car condition. It was very cool to see. And he helped me, I think just check my timing again. And then that’s it. I went home. I did take the highway all the way home. Uh, I was noticing some…
Tracy: Oh, no.
Jake: Yeah, because, you know what? At that point, I was noticing a little bit of it looked like oil in my coolant, but later on after I got home, I did a block test and stuff and I don’t know what it was, but I thought I was going to have a major problem. So I kind of just said, you know what? I had fun on my trip, but I think it’s time to to get home.
Tracy: I love that. So I took the highway back. Yeah, yeah, that was it. Yeah. Any future trips back to the US planned?
Jake: Oh, for sure. For sure. Yeah. I definitely want to go back. I’d probably do it Route 66 again in probably another old car. And you take my mom and my brother. Yeah.
Tracy: You’re very brave.
Jake: It’s just part of the adventure, right? So I think I think the trip wouldn’t have been half as fun if I was just in a a modern car and no issues, right? Like again, like just having those problems led to so many great memories, right? So…
Tracy: Right. Yeah.
Jake: Definitely if I were to do it again, it would be an old car.
Tracy: Yeah, I mean, just imagine if you would have brought a new car or if you would have rented a car and you wouldn’t have had any of those experiences, who knows what you would have missed? That’s what I love about your story. And you said you’re not an interesting guy, but I think you’re a really interesting guy because I don’t know many people…
Jake: Yeah.
Tracy: …that would have done that trip, especially at a younger age. I mean, I know you’re not a kid, but you know, a younger age to have the confidence to do that and to do it alone. That’s what’s so cool. I just really appreciate you telling your story, Jake, and I love that you had that experience and I hope you’ll spread the word that not all Americans are as crazy as what some of them are online.
Jake: Definitely.
Tracy: Because you know, if you just pay attention to what you see online and not just the United States, but it’s just not real life. And it sounds like you were able to experience real life. So I really love that.
Jake: 100%. Yeah, I think I think too many people spend too much time worrying and then also a big factor is because of everything you see online and on the news, and I think that’s a terrible way to live. It’s simply not true. And I can tell you that first hand after my, uh, Route 66 experience.
Tracy: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview and I can’t believe we’ve been talking about this for almost a year, but we finally made it happen, and I appreciate you so much.
Jake: We finally made it happen.
Tracy: Well, if you ever come back through this way, I would love to have you in in person to tell your story of your, uh, your trip. So hopefully you’ll come back through our direction sometime.
Jake: Absolutely. Yeah, sure. Thank you so much for, uh, having me. I appreciate it.
**Outro**
This episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County. Next Home Team Ellis, TK’s Pizza in Saint Robert, and Sugar Creek Farms, your home for farm fresh pork products. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of O’Quinn Media, its hosts, affiliates, or sponsors. Content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Thank you for listening.