Like Whatever Gen-X
Remember the 1980s and 1990s and all things Gen-X. Take a stroll down memory lane, drink from a hose, and ride until the street lights come on. We discuss the past, present, and future of the forgotten generation. From music to movies and television, to the generational trauma we all experienced we talk about it all. Take a break from today and travel back to the long hot summer days of nostalgia. Come on slackers, fuck around and find out with us!
Like Whatever Gen-X
Living The Dragon's Dream
Step into the passenger seat of "Dragon's Dream," a 1971 GMC C10 van with shag carpet floors, fur-lined walls, and a mythical dragon painted boldly on its side. This isn't a modern #VanLife Instagram post—it's Heather's actual childhood, cruising the East Coast highways with her parents and dog as part of the "Midnight Riders" van club in the 1970s.
Before tiny house mobile luxury was a trend, there was the raw, authentic van movement of the 70s—a true counterculture response to conventional living. As we explore Heather's extraordinary upbringing, we uncover a world where CB radios connected travelers (her dad's handle was "Keebler"), music blasted from cassette decks (Pink Floyd, Eagles, and Steve Miller Band provided the soundtrack), and weekend gatherings called "Vanans" brought together hippies for frisbee competitions, bonfires, and community.
The stories range from hilarious to shocking—sleeping on the floor with dogs while adults partied, getting burned on side pipes with no medical care until the next day, being the only child among adults who called her "Rugrat," and learning CB lingo before playground games. It's a fascinating glimpse into how this unconventional childhood shaped Heather into someone who values independence, simplicity, and adaptability—qualities many modern van lifers aspire to but often miss beneath their curated Instagram posts and high-tech conversions.
Whether you're nostalgic for the 70s, curious about authentic van culture before it was commercialized, or simply love a good story about unconventional upbringings, this episode reveals how sometimes the most formative experiences are the ones society might raise eyebrows at. Connect with us on social media @LikeWhateverPod to see actual photos of Dragon's Dream and share your own unconventional childhood memories!
#genx #80s #90s https://youtube.com/@likewhateverpod?si=ChGIAEDqb7H2AN0J
https://www.tiktok.com/@likewhateverpod?_t=ZT-8v3hQFb73Wg&_r=1
We're never done as ever laughing and sharing our stories. Clever, we'll take you back. It's like whatever.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Like Whatever, a podcast for, by and about Gen X. I'm Nicole and this is my BFF, heather Hola, so let's see what's new nothing okay, zero things okay, we're, you're yep, we're still honoring that yep. Um, all right, so this was something that I did not mention to you before we started, because I wanted.
Speaker 3:I asked her. Look, I asked her what she wanted to talk about before and she was like nothing that you need to know about beforehand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and actually when I heard this news I almost texted her and then I said, no, save it for the podcast. Uh-oh, and you don't have Philly news, so I don't know that you know this Uh-oh Coming this Friday, the day this episode comes out, crozier Chester Hospital closes.
Speaker 3:I did know that. I almost told you that when we were talking about what we were talking about earlier. I almost told you that, yeah, I heard when I was at my aunt's house for Easter. Okay, they were talking about.
Speaker 2:Yep, so one of the hospitals in that, whatever group, yeah, closed down last friday and then I thought it was weird because they're like the biggest burn unit and they are also like. Some people are like 39 miles away from the closest they are now or something crazy that's like the worst part of the world too yeah, like a lot of chester is like downtown baghdad maybe not. My personal biggest concern is what am I supposed to say when I drive through that area?
Speaker 3:now, because I mean, you can say it, but but what if they tear it down?
Speaker 2:because for the past 30 plus years, every single time time I go to Philly, I have to point out to whoever's in the car with me that's where Heather was born.
Speaker 3:That's our thing. Whenever we would go past it, I would have to tell her that's where I was born Yep and now I in kind tell everyone I don't know that I'm with I. I don't know and I'm with. I can't imagine that they're going to, I would think, another hospital. I don't know, because there's a lot of abandoned hospitals.
Speaker 2:I think they would demolition it it's pretty old.
Speaker 3:Well, I was born there, and my mom and dad were born there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, and it just looks like a big cinder block. Yes, it does. It is all concrete, it all concrete. It's just crazy because I thought they were like the biggest burn unit and like they had like I don't know it had been. I mean, I listened to philly news, um, and it's for at least the past year it's been in the news that and they kept trying and trying to get bailouts or other options and it just didn't happen. That's crazy, I know, and it was sad. They were talking to some of the staff on the last day and they were like oh, it is closed.
Speaker 2:Closed now well, this was the one that closed this friday, uh, which is its sister hospital or whatever. Um, but yeah, the guy was like we're like a family here, like I've worked here 30 years now it's just gone, and up there like why are you closing hospitals before you have a replacement? Well, I mean they're, I mean even. Besides, how bad chester is the city's right there? Yeah so I mean a lot of people.
Speaker 3:There's a, a lot of hospitals in Philadelphia, that is true. So I guess that's probably what they're thinking. Plus, wilmington has a couple. I mean that is kind of in the middle of both, I don't know. Christiana has a. Did you hear about the Bob Evans in Rehoboth? Nope, they just came in the middle of the day and shut the whole place down, closed it. Evans did they closed it.
Speaker 2:People were eating and they just locked the door and sent everybody out. What, yeah, did the gm of that restaurant do to bob evans? To upset him, bob?
Speaker 3:evans is closing a bunch of their locations and they didn't want this was the story that was their locations and they didn't want this was the story that was floated around. They didn't want the staff to know and not show up, and not show up and not have the last. But it was the middle of the day. Why do it in the middle of the day? Why wouldn't you do it when they closed? Dramatic effect I got, I got. Apparently they came in, locked the doors and kicked everybody out.
Speaker 2:People were in the middle of eating. That's so ironic because yesterday I went and had dinner with my friend Amy and she was telling me she had went into Bob Evans the night before to get dinner. She was craving sausage, gravy and biscuits. She went at like 5.30, 6 o'clock on a Saturday night and she said there were literally five people in there.
Speaker 3:I think it's a dying chain. Well, most of the chains have all died.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is for the better because, well, there are new chains, but small business too.
Speaker 3:I have an issue with one of the chains that's down our way, that opens these restaurants under completely different names and it's all exactly the same restaurant. It's so dell, I'll just say it. It's so dull, so dull, so dull. What, oh? They have like fast food. No no uh, thompson's island, matt's fish camp oh yeah, they're all the same but I shouldn't say all the names, but they're all.
Speaker 2:There's probably like 10 of them in rehoboth, I know exactly what you're talking about because my daughter worked for one of those 10 restaurants.
Speaker 3:They throw them up and they put a different slap, a different name on it. It's basically the same menu at every single one of them, and then it makes it look like it's a small business and I went to one of them once.
Speaker 2:That's a big name and no, so I'm gonna be at the beach and get seafood. I'm not going to one of those.
Speaker 3:There's three of these groups, restaurant groups down there that own pretty much all of the restaurants down there. It's, it's, it's one of the three of them that has it's not small business. No but they then? That's what they do they throw them up and they throw a different name on it and people think they aren't going to a chain as a matter of fact, one of them.
Speaker 3:They closed it, put a new name on it and opened it back up didn't even shampoo the carpet, no, it was closed maybe three weeks, four weeks, long enough for them to put a new sign up, yeah, and it's a new concept, but that's it's. It's what they do down there and I think it's that's terrible. It is terrible and here's why I think it is terrible also because those chains, like a bob evans or something, or outback I know specifically are owned by a proprietor, so there's a single person that owns that or who started with one yeah, restaurant yes so yes, technically it is a chain, but one person owns that, as opposed to these groups, that the whole group owns it, right?
Speaker 3:So there's like 10 owners.
Speaker 2:And none of them probably know anything about restaurants.
Speaker 3:Well, so here's the thing about that one, Specifically one I mentioned. He was a chef and he opened the first one down where I live.
Speaker 2:I think that's the one I was talking about, that I went to yes.
Speaker 3:He opened it to. He was a former addict. Well, I guess he was an addict. He opened it and he employed addicts and people who had just gotten out of prison. So and they had to sign paperwork that as long as they stayed clean, they had jobs. So he in the beginning, yes was had good intentions. Yes, he was a chef and and then it just started and then money did what money does.
Speaker 3:And then he ended up dying in Colombia in a motorcycle accident. I remember that, or so they say, I remember that I know who you're talking about.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I thought.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyway, and now it's owned by the group and they just have thrown up.
Speaker 2:I mean, and where I live there's one, two, three, four, four of them in like two miles I'm just gonna stick with the shout out to purple parrot, because that is just my favorite and I know that one is independently owned yeah I hope.
Speaker 3:I don't know for sure, because they just sold oh, they did sell I don't know who they sold it to.
Speaker 2:I thought they sold to a couple, but that doesn't mean anything. It could be a couple in the group.
Speaker 3:It could be a couple of groups I don't know, but I do like the purple pear. Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I digress.
Speaker 2:Their food is amazing.
Speaker 3:As a former small business restaurant owner, it is very fucking frustrating, yes, that these places open and everybody is like, oh, support local businesses.
Speaker 2:Well, that's exactly what happened to your restaurant in Bethany. All those it's probably those groups you're talking about that came in and did that. Um, or was that that might have been the start of that, because all those restaurants were kind of the same.
Speaker 3:Next door was one of the uh, one of the other groups.
Speaker 2:It was like the one on the end of the other side of the street. Yeah, I feel like kind of the same feels.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm, yep, mm-hmm, yeah, anyway, fuck them, yeah, fuck them all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anyway, a couple other things. Have you ever seen Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son, rocco Ritchie? I have not recently. He's a beautiful man, I have no doubt. Yeah, so beautiful man, I have no doubt, yeah, so yeah, Guy Ritchie is my favorite director of all time and Madonna's one of your favorite probably your favorite pop star of all time I've seen her several times.
Speaker 2:Yes, but yeah, they have a son named Rocco, and I hadn't even really thought about it and he popped up on my feed one day, I don't know why, and I was like, oh okay, he's a very perfect combination of the two of them. Yeah, yeah, you have to look him up, I will. And then one last thing today that cracked me up at work. So I'm a counselor, so I have a caseload and I do case notes and case management, blah, blah, blah. So, anyway, I was closing out a case today, so I had to go back through all the old notes as I was closing the case out and like do a summary on it. Anyway, it was a case note from March 16th 2020.
Speaker 2:Wow, so like a week less than probably four or five days after the world shut down right um, and I had written in the case note that I had spoken to her this, this client, and we talked about x, y and z and we both decided we would just um reach out to each other soon, as soon as everything gets back to normal. That's like wow.
Speaker 3:If we only knew. I know it's funny because I play catch up on. I like I'll find a new podcast and then I'll catch up on it and it'll start. You'll start getting into like december of 2019, in january of 2020, and they're like, oh well, in the summer we're gonna do this and oh, in the summer we're gonna. I'm like, no, you're not. You're not doing any of that. You're not gonna do any of that.
Speaker 2:I know it's so funny. It's like time.
Speaker 3:It's like time traveling to go to this it really is.
Speaker 2:It feels like from march 2020 until 2022 just didn't exist. Yeah, like in my mind I'm like. When I think back into recent history, I'm like was I wearing a mask or wasn't I like?
Speaker 3:and that's how I judge around when it happened that whole time is a blur to me because I had just started at the post office.
Speaker 2:And it was I traveled to Disney that summer. Yeah. I think it was that summer, or was it the following summer, when it was still pretty rampant, but I don't remember. When they opened, my mom decided we were going so Smart and my niece and nephew were going, so I wanted to go and be with them and I came home and promptly got covid I never got covid.
Speaker 3:I've had it four times, never had it it. So I actually probably did have it at some point and I just thought it was probably. Well, you would know it's bad I'm, but I'm always having covid, like I'm always tired I'm always coughing. It's called depression, yes. Smoking yes to both. So I live with covid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, symptoms, that's fine no, that's fair, that's fair. Um, yeah, anytime I travel, I get covid um every time since COVID came around. But anyway, yeah, so I think that catches up. Oh, I did watch. Did you ever watch Righteous Gemstones?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:Season four just wrapped up. The last episode was Sunday night and we just watched it. I fucking love that show so much. It's so stupid. Like my husband didn't like this season. When it ended he said I'm so glad that's over. Like it was so dumb, it was stupid, it didn't make any sense and I'm like, yeah, it's not supposed to I mean it really, really like the storyline did spiral out of control this season.
Speaker 2:But the characters are so funny, like that goggins guy, william goggins, or he's in it. He's um uncle baby billy and he's in white lotus. Did you watch white lotus?
Speaker 2:no god damn it, I don't, I don't, I know I. It's okay, I was just hoping you knew him from somewhere, because I found out today he's only two years older than me and he looks really old. And I was like wait a minute, because I saw something. Oh, it was his senior yearbook picture popped up on my Facebook feed and it said his name senior picture, class of 1989. And I was like wait a minute, hold on. So I had to Google what year he was born and I was like wait.
Speaker 3:I do that all the time because now famous people are our age, like not just our age, but like everybody is our age, and I forget that I'm my age until somebody points it out to me.
Speaker 2:Yes, agreed, I mean, I get really sick of all the redundant memes, but the one that says that Gen X was born at the age of 30 and at the age of 50 is still 30. It's accurate.
Speaker 3:It's funny. Well, when we get into the sub, into today's thing, oh, oh yeah, we're gonna learn today why heather's so fucked up. Yeah today is gonna be all about heather, so let's fuck around and find out about van life oh my gosh, you guys have no idea what you're in for, okay. So here's the thing we were van people, so you know how it's popular today to be in these nice fancy vans, and we had just a van. With a two by four frame bed. And no seats in the back and no windows.
Speaker 3:No windows in the back. Oh, it did have two in the very back because it had curtains.
Speaker 2:Did they open? No, so you rode around in the back no matter what. The weather was. All right, I'm jumping ahead, go ahead. Yeah, my fault.
Speaker 3:Like really hot, you mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Because there was probably no air conditioning.
Speaker 2:In your cage? I don't know. Yeah, you, you definitely didn't have air conditioning, so the cage was a different car, I promise you, you didn't have air conditioning.
Speaker 3:The cage was a Vega oh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a Suzanne.
Speaker 3:Vega A Vega station wagon and they flipped over.
Speaker 2:Let me get a suit.
Speaker 3:Anyway.
Speaker 2:Oh, what I'll just. I was going to try to sing it out of key, but I'm lucky I even got close to being in key, so I'm just going to drop it.
Speaker 3:Stop right there. All right, my sources were my brain motorcitiesorg at classicaamericancom Nice and I got to send my dad a lot of stuff and he was so sad. Oh, because the reason I'm doing this now is my dad's birthday was the other day, so yeah, how old is he? I don't know. He was born in 51. You do that math 74., 74. My dad is 74. Wow, that's really old.
Speaker 2:Isn't that weird to think about. He doesn't look. 74.
Speaker 3:No, he does not. He doesn't look 74. No, he does not. He does not act 74. He definitely does not. So, yeah, let's find out why I am a weirdo.
Speaker 3:Since the 70s, van life has been an enduring symbol of freedom, adventure and nonconformity. What began as a rebellious movement among free spirits evolved into a widely accepted lifestyle embraced by a diverse range of individuals, from hippies and wanderers to digital entrepreneurs and minimalist travelers. The essence of van life has remained the same escaping societal constraints to explore the open road. However, the way people experience this lifestyle has changed drastically. Yes, and I see these new vans and I'm like. I'm like wow, yeah, wouldn't that have been cool? Yeah, no, I didn't have any of that.
Speaker 3:Um, in the 70s, van life was driven by countercultural ideals and a rejection of conventional living. See, when I was doing this and I was re and I was putting this all together, I was like okay, so when I was like a teenager, maybe even older, I might even been in my 20s when I was like, realized that the majority of people did not have this lifestyle that I lived like lived in a stationary house that had that didn't travel like all the time like I, just it was like neighborhood friends I didn't travel like all the time Like I, just it was like neighborhood friends I didn't and like Did you?
Speaker 3:have a bicycle.
Speaker 2:Probably not, I did.
Speaker 3:Did you? I did have a bicycle. Oh, because the house, okay the one house we lived in, had a really long driveway and I fell in it all the time. I fell on my bike all the time and one time this is terrible I on my bike all the time, and one time I have.
Speaker 2:This is terrible. I'm gonna today. I am ratting my parents out on everything. I love it. God, they don't wait to see them again.
Speaker 3:Thank god, neither one of them listen. They're getting ratted out.
Speaker 3:Well, your mom will just deny it all um, so I had, I had, we had this long driveway and I would ride my bike in the driveway and I fell all the time and my dad would sing. I don't know how many of you have been to Disney as many times as I've been to Disney, but in the Country Bear Jamboree the one sings puddles of blood on the floor. Every time I would fall, my dad would sing it. It super loud puddles of blood in the driveway and that is one reason why I'm weird.
Speaker 2:yeah you definitely get your weirdness from your dad my mom is like the most normal one of all super normal, yeah, yeah I don't know about super well no, compared to the rest of us.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're weird. The vans were decorated with shag carpets, hand-painted murals and cozy interiors designed for long-term travel. Today van life exists in a world influenced by social media, sustainability and remote work, where modern vans are equipped with solar panels, wi-fi and brand sponsorships. We did not have any of that, the cultural context of the 70s. The 70s was a time of cultural revolution. The Vietnam War, civil rights, the environmental activism led young people to seek alternative ways of living.
Speaker 3:Many rejected traditional careers and suburban lifestyles in favor of exploration and self-discovery yeah, that's what your parents said van life embodied this desire for freedom, allowing individuals to travel wherever they please without being tied to rent or mortgages the wrong. So I will die on this hill. My mother will not, but I know that on her deathbed she is going to say Deathbed confession. Yes, she is going to say I think Okay, so we did van life until I was five. We got my sister when I was five and she was ruined. Everything, ruined everything.
Speaker 3:My dad got his brother bought a restaurant, so we we all moved as a group down to where we live now, at least you stayed together as a unit through all of this that's true, and um, although you did lose your sister once, what do you mean?
Speaker 2:didn't your mom lose your sister?
Speaker 3:oh my, mom lost my sister many times. Oh okay, yeah, she was always missing, but we we lost her once in Vermont. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for like half a day, maybe even the whole day, I don't know, but we lost my sister a lot. But we stopped because A I started going to kindergarten and apparently I was repeating things in kindergarten that I should not have been repeating.
Speaker 2:You probably went to kindergarten reeking of something you should not have been reeking.
Speaker 3:So when we did the van, I was the only child. There was no other children. Everybody had dogs. So basically I was raised as a tiny adult with dogs. You were a puppy?
Speaker 2:I was a puppy yeah, um. I mogligli. I mean, that really is awesome though.
Speaker 3:It's just so crazy to me when I talk about it and it's just so matter of like, just because all my parents, friends, did like. That's all the people we knew.
Speaker 2:that's that's I I know I'm not gonna say this correctly, but when we were talking about this before this with my husband, um, and he was just like so shocked by everything, everything you said, I was like sounds right, it's just. I like it doesn't shock me that I mean, obviously I know some of these things about. I'm learning a lot too, though like I don't know all the details and ins and outs of all this. But yeah, it just, I totally see you doing that.
Speaker 3:It was just a group of hippies and we just all traveled as a group and we went to I'll talk about those later Vanans they called them Vanans.
Speaker 2:Did you go?
Speaker 3:to concerts. Well, that's the thing. These Vanans had concerts at them, okay. So like local talent, yeah, and probably big names too. I don't know. Here's the okay. So we're going to also wrap my parents out again. Okay, so we're going to also wrap my parents out again, because I was the only child. They would just put me in the van and then go like I would fall asleep in the van and then they would go and do whatever. It is that they would do so they probably did see conflict.
Speaker 2:You've always been very chill. You weren't going anywhere.
Speaker 3:I was a chill kid. You're a chill adult. I think that it's because I was high all the time.
Speaker 2:And you were raised by a pack of dogs.
Speaker 3:And I was raised by a pack of dogs, two in particular. Anyway, the rise of custom vans Because this is really what I want to get into Vans became an extension of personal identity. The 70s saw an explosion of creativity and vehicle customization. Drivers transformed their vans into mobile homes featuring shag carpets and velvet covered seats, wood paneling and built-in beds, mini fridges and cassette decks, murals depicting fantasy scenes or psychedelic artwork and transportation. Interest in vans was driven by the younger generation.
Speaker 3:Some vans of the era offered pinstriping with colorful, rainbow-colored graphics. Others reflected pop culture, including the movie Star Wars, one of the highest grossing films. If you look up the Star Wars van, it is pretty cool and I probably saw it at some point. Popular models included the Volkswagen buswagen bus, the dodds tradesman and the chevy g20 vehicles that were sturdy enough for cross-country adventure while offering space for customization. So ours was a, because I asked, I asked my dad was a 71 gmc c10 and it was called dragon's dream and it had a dragon on the side so cool and it had dragon's dream painted across the front.
Speaker 3:So in my mom and dad's van club there was a guy that did all of the artwork and he still works as an artist today. Um, he did some murals for my mom and dad in the restaurant. They had a really cool mural. Um, the restaurant was downstairs and the bar was upstairs and was the upper deck and it was, um, it was kind of grim reaper I don't think it was the actual grim reaper, but he was grim reaper-esque and he held a lantern up and so as you walked up the steps, the lantern would like shine up and it would be like crossing the river sticks. Is that where your obsession?
Speaker 2:with the grim reaper came.
Speaker 3:My dad is obsessed with the grim reaper. Oh yeah, his bike has the grim reaper painted on it oh, aren't y'all cute with their love of the grim reaper it's a weird thing to be anyway. Um, so my dad's best friend also had. He had the Chevy C10, which, okay, here's the thing my dad loves. A GMC my dad only bought because they make trucks, just trucks. It's exactly the same thing as a Chevy, but he won't buy a Chevy truck because GMC makes trucks, just trucks.
Speaker 3:So it was exactly the same van, but one had a Chevy logo and one of the gmc logo on it but he had the chevy c10 and his was named wildfire and his didn't have anything on the side but it did have wildfire on the on the back doors and then the front of it said had a stallion yeah, that was pretty yeah, um, they were best friends like that.
Speaker 3:They met. My dad at the time was working in factories as an electrician and he met I don't remember what his, his bff did, but it wasn't electric work. Um, anyway, they met and fell in love and they're actually. He is coming down next week to to stay with my mom and dad yeah they are still in love um totes adore we did everything with him and his ex-wife now, um, literally everything.
Speaker 3:Here's the saddest part of of that. So his best friend had children that wouldn't talk to him, so the only picture he had in his wallet was me and I had the biggest crush on him. I was gonna get married to him and I was gonna buy my dress at kmart oh and he was. He was my joey, like that was, and I did everything with him everywhere and he, he looks like br Springsteen actually oh gosh. Like a 70s Bruce Springsteen. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh my, he's very Italian, though When's the last time you saw him. A couple weeks ago. He comes down all the time now. Oh, because his wife died, oh okay, yeah, after. But that's good, you still get to see him.
Speaker 2:yeah, I see him all the time um, does he make your dad be nice to you?
Speaker 3:yes oh so they would also, um, I get to that. Um, okay, this one might be a long one, because I got a lot to say about this? I'm here for it okay, um, so, yeah, so the the inside of our van. I don't really remember the inside of his friend's van too much, probably because I wasn't in there very much, but ours had um shag carpet, um and fur ceiling and sides and um gray, um the van was gray and it had drag was it like rabbit fur?
Speaker 3:it was really long. No, it was like shag. It was like super long.
Speaker 2:No, it was like faux that yeah, weird long stringy the polyester fur, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you uh-huh, that was on the walls.
Speaker 3:And then he had built cabinets in there that held like snacks and stuff and our food. We didn't have a fridge, I don't know, because we didn't have any electric in it. We didn't have electric in it. And then the back. There was no seats.
Speaker 3:There was two seats up front, that was the only seats they were captain chair and then the rest of the van had a queen-size bed built up in the back and they had like storage underneath of it, I think. And then me and the dog slept on the floor and they slept in the bed and the the bed had fur, but it was shorter fur. It was like, um, like like a faux fur, like a black, like if you got a leather jacket from, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that was on the bed and fancy and then the inside had like twinkle lights.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that built in. They were built. I love that. So the dog and I slept on the floor, um, and the dog went every like it was the four of us that went every. The dog went everywhere with us. The dog was part of the like. My parent if you can know my parents they are the dog is part of the family. Oh yeah, um, like, my dad still talks about this dog too like I'm pretty sure he still talks about all your dogs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he, yeah yeah, so van life in the 70s wasn't just about travel. It was deeply intertwined with music culture. Rock festivals like woodstock and the rise of bands touring in vans contributed to the nomadic lifestyle. Road trips became musical journeys, with cassette tapes providing soundtracks to the scenic drive. So trips became musical journeys, with cassette tapes providing soundtracks to the scenic drive. So my dad's favorite band is pink floyd.
Speaker 3:Okay they don't think I knew that, yeah, they have seen pink. I almost was gonna do pink floyd this week, but then I was like, no, I'd rather do vanic um, we listened to the eagles a lot. We listened to steve miller band fly like an eagle Eagle was my favorite because there was a part that I always said was the shoot and buy part. So this was the music I grew up on. And I actually saw Steve Miller a couple years ago Last year, the year before and it was fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:Really, oh yeah, still yeah, oh yeah, yeah, they're one of my favorites and it was fucking amazing, really.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, still yeah, oh yeah, yeah, they're one of my favorites. Yeah, he was. It was amazing, um, I saw it. I'm not a huge classic rock fan, but that's what I, but I never really. I don't think my dad likes led zeppelin, because I don't remember ever listening to led zeppelin, um, or the stones.
Speaker 3:We didn't really listen to the stones, but it was pink floyd all the time, every day, and we had a huge cassette deck in there and it blared music all the time because it got stolen and all his tapes got stolen and I was so upset because the steve miller tape was in there and I was so upset because the shooting by song was gone. Oh no, so if you listen to um fly like an eagle, you'll know which part is the shoot in my heart um remember when traumas were simple yeah my cassette tape's gone my favorite one.
Speaker 3:So anyway, back, my, my dad and his best friend worked in factories and then they would get late. One of them was um, there's a casino there now in philadelphia, it was all in philadelphia, it was in philadelphia and was domino sugar you just told me this, like a year ago, and this blew my mind yeah, and my dad worked at the.
Speaker 2:That's the sugar factory that's right on the water, right in philly and they made it into a casino yeah, and I've been to that casino yeah, um, they haven't.
Speaker 3:Him and his bff have not gone why I don't know why I think I've asked him Because they went to Atlantic City all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And he's like I don't.
Speaker 2:They don't want to. Does he not gamble anymore, oh?
Speaker 3:come on, actually, he hasn't been to Atlantic City in a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't gamble anywhere near as much as I used to Like. It's just it as it used to like. It's just it's because it's everywhere now I think it is and you literally never win. Yeah, like back in the day you could go in with 20 bucks and play for a little while anyway and get half hour hour because everything was five freaking dollars now every table minimum is like 10, 15, so it's not even worth it
Speaker 3:yep, um. So they've not been to that, but they worked at um. So they would work at factories and then they would get laid off and then we would go on these journeys all over the east coast. We never left the east coast. We always did from philadelphia, from somewhere in pennsylvania, down to florida. We would go um. Most of the time it was west virgin, because West Virginia would have these giant van ends that I will talk about in a minute, but that's where they would do music. I imagine they had music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's lots of wide open space in West Virginia, so you could probably be on somebody's property and have a whole weekend. Nobody even knew you were there.
Speaker 3:So they would have like these big groups would get to get all the different van clubs would get together and they would have like.
Speaker 2:My dad was big into playing frisbee and he would do frisbee competitions all the time.
Speaker 3:And what a dork I know. Did he hacky sack too? No, I've never seen my dad with a hacky sack. Um, so yeah that's.
Speaker 2:They would have like bonfires at night and their music was playing all the time, so I don't remember if it was live music or just people playing a lot of music yeah, it's hard to tell, yeah and it was basically just a bunch of hippies yeah, I'm sure there were a lot of musicians showing up and maybe hanging out and they probably sold stuff to each other, and you know like their wares or whatever, not just acid but you get all high and you just fucking jam out and here's the thing about that.
Speaker 3:Um, so I know I they had. My parents had to have dropped acid when they were on these things?
Speaker 2:what was the name of his van dragon's dream?
Speaker 3:okay, so I know his favorite band, I know, but they had to have been dropping acid when they had me All the time Like all the time.
Speaker 2:All the time, I promise you. That's why the dogs were raising you.
Speaker 3:And then I think about all this stuff as an adult now, because I know what happened to these things and I understand now and I think back and I'm like they don't. Literally no one gave a shit about me.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think back and I'm like, literally no one gave a shit about me. Well, they did, but they knew you were fine. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 3:It was a fucking field out in the middle of West Virginia.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but are all of your memories amazing? Yes, right, so what?
Speaker 3:So it wasn't conventional. I just think it's funny.
Speaker 2:I mean, so many people will be mortified and horrified and want to like throw your parents in prison and throw away the key. But you had an amazing childhood, my. I grew up in the church, living in one house, perfect attendance in school on a roll. In my childhood fucking suck.
Speaker 3:So true, yeah, it's just. It's again. It's just one of those things where it's like it was my experience for so long and it just I can't fathom that other people did not do this like this is not the way other people lived.
Speaker 2:It's like my uh first marriage. Well, everyone's not this miserable, just me okay and that's just that's kind of it. It's like yeah very few people, and especially that young like, yes, you don't know anything outside that. No, I at least was seeing other things, and be like I was literally not around other children.
Speaker 3:There was a girl that was very short that I could not, and then my mom and dad love to tell this story. I don't think she was a little person, but she was like in between little person and like she was like five foot tops.
Speaker 2:I mean, there are people that are like four.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she was like that's my yeah, and I kept telling my mom and dad that I could not understand why that little girl didn't want to play with me.
Speaker 2:Because she was tripping balls and my mom was like a little girl.
Speaker 3:So everybody in that group, they all I was known and this is another thing that's really weird because my dad, um, has reunited with this band club and like once a month or so, once every couple months, they all get together up in Newcastle and they all have a beer and whatever. That is the cutest thing. Yeah, um, there is a whole lot of people in this world that went on these that only know me as Rugrat because that was what everyone called me, that's what my dad called me, that's what.
Speaker 2:So there is a whole oh my god, I bet you were filthy all the time I was.
Speaker 3:Where did you bathe? Well, they had. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I guess they just hosed me off because I know earlier when we were talking, I was like, did you go to the bathroom outside? And you were like yeah, and I'm like right, that's cool. I've gone to the bathroom outside plenty of times. I actually enjoy it, but where'd you bathe? Like?
Speaker 3:you didn't have plumbing and we didn't stay in campgrounds. Right, it must have been like maybe truck stops or we go to campgrounds. I have no idea. I don't remember bathing at all. There's pictures of me brushing my teeth the little brush thing, squeegee thing, you clean your windshield? Maybe I don't know I'd have to ask you down when you got gas because I know when we went to disney they were so excited because the disney campgrounds had showers and their their bathrooms were super nice, like they still are.
Speaker 2:Um, their campground is super nice oh, it better be what they charge, not right?
Speaker 3:um, so I don't know about bathing.
Speaker 2:I'm sure we did somewhere I would say ask your mom, but she'll be like you took a shower every day.
Speaker 3:Because they hosed me off. It was probably what it was. Well, yeah, because I do remember a story, so we must have stayed. These Vanans, I don't think, were in campgrounds, so they might be separate, but we did stay in campgrounds, like when we would go to Florida and stuff.
Speaker 2:We'd spend time and back in the day campgrounds had solid like areas, bath houses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah because she tells the one story of how she'd take me. And we had gotten a shower and I was headed back to the vans and I said I screamed to dad and joe hey dad, I just got clean, I'm all clean and then I tripped and fell into a puddle, head first and was drenched in puddle water you probably felt a lot better after that, and then my mom and dad thought that was hilarious of course the story they tell oh yeah, you were running and you fell.
Speaker 2:We had just cleaned you. I bet she didn't take you back and read I.
Speaker 3:She would have probably had to, because they probably didn't want me in the van being gross.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:This dirty kid in the van the dog was already dirty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I'm sure they were so clean. Well, they didn't. Where were they bathing? Exactly that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3:Because now these vans have full bathrooms. We didn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you didn't even have bottled water back then. No, it's not like you could pour some in a rag and wipe yourself down.
Speaker 3:Well, they probably would get jugs Probably. I don't know, I don't remember that much. You should ask your dad or Joey. Maybe I will when I see him, don't ask your mom. He's coming this week Wednesday.
Speaker 2:All right, ask him.
Speaker 3:And he's staying the weekend because they have a car show or something, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Dorky old hippie stuff.
Speaker 3:So van life fostered a strong sense of community, where I was rug rat, where travelers met on the road, shared tips on repairs and formed lasting friendships. Like I said, this was 45 years later. They still have ones. That really is awesome, their band club was called the Midnight Riders and my mom still has a t-shirt somewhere of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 3:There's also a picture of me at Shenandoah and on the back of you can only see the front of the shirt. It's me and my mom at the Shenandoah sign and the back of the shirt had Midnight Riders. But the front of the shirt had my name written across it and I always joke with my mom that they had to do that so that they knew what my name was.
Speaker 2:You know what? That very possibly is true, because they did have you name, your sister. They didn't have a name for my sister and now and you named her. So somebody random probably named you and they kept forgetting well, no, my dad wanted.
Speaker 3:My dad wanted to name me snow storm mcgee and my mom said no my mom wanted to name me michelle after my grandfather and my dad said no, and I don't know where Heather came from. But here it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I remember that Michelle thing now because that ties into something else weird about it which hasn't happened to me in years.
Speaker 3:Really, but we'll talk about that another time. Okay, so the first van club, Associated Vans, was formed in Southern California in 1966 and hundreds would follow. As the culture developed. It spread to towns and cities across North America. The teen generation who loved hot rods and muscle cars but couldn't afford to play, found their four-wheel kicks in vans. It offered transport with benefits. The van could be a lair, a boudoir, a wet bar and a hot rod. With benefits, the van could be a lair, a boudoir, a wet bar and a hot rod. In 1973, it was a pivotal year, with the oil crisis effectively ending the muscle car era. The van was poised to step into the vacuum created by recession. A double nickel speed limit which I thought I had to put the double nickel in there because I thought that was funny.
Speaker 2:I never heard it called that.
Speaker 3:And a societal shift in free living, free loving and good times. The motoring press caught the vibe. Hot rod magazine editor terry cook joined forces with colorado van club and created the first national van event at tiger run. Colorado cb radio added to the mix, creating a community on wheels who could communicate in an age before mobile phones and Internet. So here's what I wanted to say about that. We had a CB. I know everything you can want and I know all the lingo. I know my dad's name was Keebler because my dad likes cookies.
Speaker 2:Yes, he does.
Speaker 3:And I don't remember what Joe's was. I'd have to really think about it. I should have asked my dad, but that's how they all everybody communicated. So my dad would get on the seat. If I was being bad, my dad would get on the CB and be like we're, she's bad like this, is it? And then everybody in there would be like, oh, rug, rat, don't. So you'd hear it all. And then one time we got to wherever we were going and joe went and we pulled over and joe went and got a chair and pulled the chair out and opened it up and said let the beatings commence. Oh no, and then I got.
Speaker 2:I got spanked yes, cbs were the shit man, my, uh, my dad. When my parents got divorced, my dad remarried my janet um and they are still together 40 some years later, um, but anyway, um, her parents lived it seemed very country in felton, but it was really only half a mile from route 13 right the main road that goes through um, and my stepbrother had a cb, or probably my pop-up had a cb, and, uh, my stepbrother would get it and we would play and we would go outside, like at night, while everybody else was inside getting hammered on whiskeys and ginger um and we would talk.
Speaker 2:You know, we'd just get on there, we'd pick up on a voice and we'd talk and they would know it was little kids and they would entertain us and stuff. But and it wasn't always very clear and it would last a hot minute as they were driving by, really.
Speaker 3:But it was so cool I had. My first car was a 1982 Lincoln Continental and it had a CB in it Because it was the height of the car. Yeah, I used it I don't remember that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I only rode in that car very little. You got the Cavalier very shortly after.
Speaker 3:I met you Because you went to UD and that thing would have never made it no. But here's the thing.
Speaker 2:It would have taken up two parking spots it.
Speaker 3:No, but here's the thing. So when it would have taken up two parking spots, yeah, my dad bought um a cb. After when we had a cb, we had a cb forever and then he had one and he would make my sister because when my sister was a teenager obviously she got away with a lot more than I did um, and anyway they would. My uncle had a condo in florida and my sister and her friends would go down every year I remember that and he would make her take the cb.
Speaker 2:So that, so we know, I know, I know I remember that, because didn't they used to talk to truckers on the way down?
Speaker 3:my dad would tell them talk to truckers so, and he would tell yes, I do remember, I know how to draft.
Speaker 3:I know how to talk to truckers and they would let, so the truckers would keep an eye on them my yep, yep. I remember that there was a couple of times where they would say you know because that my dad told them. But before you go to get gas, find out on the cb radio, on the cb, what's a good gas station blah blah where's it safe. And they would talk to the truckers and the truckers would be like I got you, little ladies, I see you coming so would they be like?
Speaker 2:my dad made me bring my cb in the cb can you? That is so cool, because that is total honor system. Shit like your dad would have no way of knowing if they no drove them somewhere and murdered them no, so so just be a kind human was and then they would be like I have daughters because it feels like everybody in the 70s was a serial killer so it's good to know there were actually good people, yeah well, this was the 90s.
Speaker 2:So oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, but social media still wasn't a big thing, so it was still pretty easy to get away with it. Near the end of the yeah, cameras near the end of the serial killing era?
Speaker 3:yeah, because it, but they could have. I mean, they could have died people were so easy back yeah I mean and, but yeah yeah, they would radio and say you know?
Speaker 3:and truckers would be like what are you in? And she had a sunburn at the time, yep. And they would say you know the little blue sunbird, and where, where, what mile marker are you? And they would say and then another trucker would come on and be like I'm at that mile marker, I see you, hop behind me, and they would draft that, because you have to let a trucker know that you're drafting. They have to know you're back there. And if they know that you're back there, then they will tell you whatever. I see you back there, blah, blah.
Speaker 3:And then they will tell you whatever's coming up in the road, so that you don't slam into the back because in order to draft, you have to get like right up on yeah, yeah, yeah so if they know you're there, they'll tell you that when they're what's happening up on the road and they will also tell you where the smokies are so that means there were a lot of really good people.
Speaker 2:Yes, because that's a predator's dream.
Speaker 3:So yes, I mean there were some fact that killed people.
Speaker 2:Yes, no, no no, no, I'm just saying whoever your sister encountered oh, yeah, just on her trips to florida, like that just goes to show that there are a lot more good people than bad. We just hear a lot more about the bad, the bad, yeah, just want to make that point, sorry.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's why we had cbs, and I know all the lingo of cbs and um yeah, we were obnoxious, we didn't know the real lingo we knew what we saw in the movies so smoky and the bandit? Yes right, they actually called them bears, that's why it's smoky. Oh, they would say, there's a bear in the woods.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yep, you're so smart, I know You're so smart, I know.
Speaker 3:I lived it. Yay, the Vanquish was in well, so they called it. They called them the boogie van Was the coolest van of all. No one can. They called them the boogie van was the coolest van of all. No one can say exactly when the boogie van was born. It was sometime after the big three introduced their range of small business vans in the 60s, socal surfers started to upgrade their old station wagons and jalopies. The vans met their needs, providing transport, a place to store their boards and a den to sleep in before the next set of waves. As young men came home from vietnam, many found returning to society difficult. A van and the open road gave them the space they needed.
Speaker 2:So my dad was a surfer I was gonna say, yes, it all makes sense. My dad was a big surfer.
Speaker 3:One of his friends had a hearse that was his surf wagon. That was always your dream yeah, I know, so the hearse, because it has the wheels. That was good for you. Taking your and flower flower vans is the same basically the same as a as a hearse. But yes, that's why my dad was a was a surfer yep, yep um flared arches, bubble windows, which our van had um above a window, wide wheels and side pipes were essential elements.
Speaker 3:So I was telling you this story because, my uncle van had side pipes and I was told I don't know 456 000 times do not put your leg down when you get out. But I was tiny, I was a little person.
Speaker 2:Was there a step or you just had to clear? No, you had to clear it.
Speaker 3:You had to like leap out. Okay, then no one cared about poor little Heather and her little tiny legs. I just was told do not lay your leg on that. They could have given you a board to put up and walk down. They could have done literally anything.
Speaker 2:Anyway, held your hand as you jumped out.
Speaker 3:I did put my leg down on him.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course you did.
Speaker 3:I burnt my leg and I didn't want to get in trouble. By no means were my parents abusive. No, I say that they beat me, they did spank me. I did get I did. I was spanked, but not very often because I was a good kid.
Speaker 2:You just didn't want to be a bother.
Speaker 3:No. So I burnt my leg and I didn't tell anybody because I didn't want to get in trouble and my mom could not figure out why. I was cranky all day and I was running up ahead of them. We were in a park and I was going to swing and this was several several hours later, like hours later.
Speaker 3:I was running up ahead of them to swing and my mom was like holy shit, what is that? And she came up to me and I had burnt the entire back of my leg and it was all bubbled. You poor thing. And I had a scar.
Speaker 3:I had to go to the doctor every day and they had to pull the skin off of it every day. Was that painful? Yeah, because they didn't give you painkillers or anything. They just peel it off. Bite on the stick. Here's some whiskey, heather, do this shot first. So yeah, and then they would put cream on it and then they would wrap it and then they would send me on my way. But I didn't tell anybody and my mom was like, oh my god, they didn't take me to the emergency room. They waited till the next day to take me to a doctor because they were probably high as kites, so another.
Speaker 3:I didn't tell you this, so we went to um like if we show up there like this they're gonna take child protectors so one time we were in a um, a park or, or we were camping somewhere and we, while they, set up camp or did whatever it is they did?
Speaker 3:they would send me and the dogs out to go get get away from us, basically so, because we just spent all this time in a van together. So the dog and I went and somehow rustled up a wasp nest and we came back and we had both been stung in the eye and my mom was like, oh fuck.
Speaker 2:So it's not funny.
Speaker 3:You get stung in the eye, but I picture you and the dog my mom and dad took, went, came, found a ranger and was like what are we supposed to do? Um, about the dog? Because the dog, yes, I, the look she just gave me, yes oh, my god the dog has her eye has been stung. Where can we take her? Where's a vet or whatever. And the, the ranger, was like the kid also has been stung. And they were like yeah your dad, she'll be fine.
Speaker 2:Your dad was like yeah, yeah, yeah, but the dog more importantly, has a swollen eye.
Speaker 3:The kid has a matching one, but she'll be fine because she's done this before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's fine, she can express how she feels the dog can't, so we need to know what to do about that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so I just wrote about I told you all the our van and what it looked like it did have panel the cabinets um did like wood paneling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the cabinets, I was picturing them white.
Speaker 3:I was going way too modern yeah, no wait, no white paneling, no, it was all wood paneling.
Speaker 2:I was actually picturing like press board with white no, no, full-on wood paneling.
Speaker 3:I was actually picturing like press board with white, no full-on wood paneling. Uh, so we talked about the bucket seats, the cb muscle car engines. I don't know that we had. I'm sure we did because my dad loves yeah that kind of shit. So I don't know pop top sun when we did have a sunroof um. Exterior sunlight. Oh, so you did get a little air.
Speaker 3:Spoilers, hood scoops we didn't have any of that. Sound systems were crucial. Tv was an option, not it. It was not. I never knew anybody that had a TV until like the 80s. That's ridiculous. The van was a blank canvas of sheet steel waiting for whatever your imagination or wallet could afford. So we're going to also. I have pictures of the van that I lived in that Nicole's going to put up on the socials and if you don't do the socials, I'll show you people at work.
Speaker 2:Oh shoot, I did forget to do it at the beginning.
Speaker 3:That's okay, we can do it at the end Great review.
Speaker 2:All the socials, yeah, okay that's because I didn't use the right script because, I can't find, I don't have a script I like, oh yeah, I like going commando when you do it she's raw dog in this episode I am an entire industry sprung up to service the customization scene, from accessories to paint and interior design.
Speaker 3:Jaring of Indiana was one of the earliest companies to offer a range of custom van builds, frequently changing its model lineup. Its Zodiac series featured different interior combinations, from basic lined and carpeted models to a full party pad.
Speaker 2:Was it based on the Zodiacs?
Speaker 3:Probably.
Speaker 2:Like marches, will be blue with fish Probably.
Speaker 3:Yes, talented painters were in high demand. Sharon Roberts of.
Speaker 2:Efti Boke. Luckily you had a talented painter. Travel with you. Yes, and can I say his first name, because it cracks me up? Yes, the artist's name was Artie, artie, artie, artie, artie.
Speaker 3:Artist Artie. Maybe that's not his real name, probably not. Maybe that's what my dad did.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's just all what they called Artie.
Speaker 3:So they? I don't know he did the artist.
Speaker 2:He still calls him Artie because he went with them all and he them all and he said already was there, and this was there, and that was there and your dad's name probably isn't really dave, it's not actually.
Speaker 3:Sharon roberts of ontario was known as lady. She was highly regarded for her custom artwork. She could charge two grand a mural in the 70s. God damn I know. Imagine what that is now. She was balling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so was arty probably yeah, yeah, yeah although he probably did a lot, I'll pay you.
Speaker 3:I'll gladly pay you tuesday for hamburger today sure clubs stretched all over north america, van fests, um. So the ones that I asked my dad about was expo in fisherville, virginia, and burnt chimney, virginia, and he said there was a holiday weekend one, but he didn't know where it was um. And then I do remember one time they did like a um at one of them and I don't know what, but they would pull boats in the mud behind vans and they would like, yeah, that was the thing that they did pull boats in the mud, like, like a like a mud hopping, like the vans would drive in the mud and pull a boat behind it and somebody in the snow.
Speaker 2:Yes, like if it was right here. Okay, okay, yeah, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 3:yeah, I do remember this. Like like, almost like, um, it almost like oh, what the fuck are those trucks called Like the monster truck? It was like a monster truck show Minus the monster trucks.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that sounds like fun.
Speaker 3:Corporations, from Coke to Yamaha, commissioned custom vans to promote their wares Late to the party. The manufacturers of the vans finally made their own special editions for 76. Ford launched the cruising van based on its new body, on frame, econoline. It came with a captain's chairs, a stripe package, porthole windows and choice of wheels. Chevy tardily provided the chevy van sport as its mild but good-looking custom van. It was Dodge that went all in creating a mini-industry segment. To cater for the craze, you could buy its YH3 code, dodge Street Van, based on the Dodge Tradesman. This purchased vehicle came with enrollment into Dodge's own club, the Van Clan. Dodge was astute enough to know most people would buy a used tradesman and accessorize it. They had the covered. They had that covered with a specific street van kit.
Speaker 2:You could add to it by purchasing custom parts, be it's mopar, direct connect catalog, offering all the accessories aftermarket companies were producing, but with dodge branding I love that you are and you got to experience like the real van life yes, Like oh gee, because right now you're talking 76 and all these vans, and that's where corporate America comes in and just fucks it up for everybody, because they make it too expensive and you know it's too fancy and that's not what it was about for you, and it's really neat that you got to experience that.
Speaker 3:It's just it is, and I got to go to a lot of places.
Speaker 2:And your parents are like trendsetters, you know, like so weird, isn't it? But they were definitely 100 hundred percent in that they.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we. It was a I know one other person my age that did it in a different part of the country.
Speaker 2:No, here, here, did they know? No, your parents, because they were little but she did. She only did it like every now, and then Like her dad had a van and they did van like travel, vanning and he had a custom van so they did like hardcore road trip kind of thing yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, whereas we lived the whole lifestyle. You literally lived in the van my dad was the president for a while of our van club.
Speaker 2:I love that because my dad was the mayor of felton for a long time and I feel like it's pretty equal and I'm really proud of him for that we had in between being homeless, because I, I'm, I'm sorry, I will, I don't care what they say.
Speaker 3:We had no home, we lived in a van that's what, um. That's the deathbed confession she will say yes, we were homeless. He'll be like I knew it, I knew it, but we stay. So we lived in this one place. Um, that was in the summer.
Speaker 3:It was a jewish day camp and my dad was the groundskeeper there's a great too much no there's a great picture of me at the day because I let me go to the day camp of me and a bunch of no, no, of little new york jewish kids were they in like dark shorts, white button down-downs no it wasn't Hasidic Jews no no, I don't necessarily mean Hasidic, I just mean they were dressed proper they weren't dressed like they were at camp, no, and you were a puppy, yes.
Speaker 2:So, yes, they probably didn't know what the fuck to make of you, right?
Speaker 3:they told that story for like five years, but also explain like a lot of my like confusion over religion, because, because they probably did, I mean they I'm yeah yeah yeah, my grandfather, both grandfathers of mine were catholic strict. Well, they weren't they both got excommunicated because they didn't marry catholic women. Oh and my, my mom's father was ital Catholic and his mother didn't even go to their wedding. She did go to my mom and dad's because she said it wasn't my mom's fault that she wasn't Catholic.
Speaker 2:Your dad's.
Speaker 3:Irish right, irish Catholic no, we don't have any Irish in it. Scottish and British Scottish Catholic Sure, I don't know. They're Catholic. My grandfather was Catholic.
Speaker 2:Your mom's Italian though.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:By her maiden name. Yes and well, your dad's Scottish by his last name and British.
Speaker 3:There's more British.
Speaker 2:You just hear Irish Catholic, so I guess that's. But your dad's not Catholic, right no?
Speaker 3:His dad was, but his dad was excommunicated from the church because he married Satan. Yes, okay, and she was not Catholic, so and my mom's Satan's, not Catholic.
Speaker 2:No, I thought I read that somewhere.
Speaker 3:My mom's mother also was not Catholic, but my mom's father asked for last rites before he died, even though he had been excommunicated from the church, and my uncle had to um threatened to sue the church until they came and gave my grandfather last right go uncle bill yes and my uncle bill was atheist and what was grandma methodist?
Speaker 2:what nationality?
Speaker 3:a little american, yeah, okay all right, my grandfather was full cap full, I am italian yes, yeah, yes I knew that his parents came but I don't think I ever knew what your grandma was. But actually my, my grandmother's line is all harrington um felton, yeah, this whole area right here. No, they were, they were. Even I found they their marriage because they were married in newcastle.
Speaker 2:We might be related. We might be seriously yeah, because her whole family. It's not even funny I.
Speaker 3:I saw far back, as far back as pre-civil war. They were in the harrington.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, I mean seriously, like it's crazy, like you go back in my family tree. No, no, no, no, no, not my family tree. It's not blood, nothing biological, but there's just a whole lot of it's. It's very confusing. Yes. I don't need to get started. But, yeah, I really I'm, I'm going to find out, okay.
Speaker 3:I bet we are. We could be, because my mom's side was all from this area.
Speaker 2:I did not know that. I thought you were all.
Speaker 3:Philly. They got married in Newark Yep. Okay, we're getting way off track and this is a long episode already yes it is.
Speaker 3:What was I talking about before with the vans? I don't know. Um, yeah, so we traveled. Oh, the jewish day camp, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had these giant parties because my dad was the um president of the van club so they would have van club meetings, but really they were just big parties with kegs and a lot of pot, probably. And, um, I was the again the only kid. This is why I was always 30, because I had to be the adult, because everybody was fucked up and so did you say it was a jewish day camp or an overnight camp.
Speaker 2:It was a jewish day camp so because everybody left at the end of the day yeah, staff everything. And then your dad pulled out the megaphone, yes, and was like, hey, you guys yes, and it was on a pond came in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was on a pond, because I had a really big, that's so fucking cool.
Speaker 2:No wonder your dad was president, because he had the best house.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, exactly, and it was a. Really it was a big, pretty big house. That's so cool, from what I remember. And then all winter long there was nobody there. You should write a movie about this. So we lived there for like a year, maybe even two, and he took care of the grounds and you got to sleep in the house. Yes, I did sleep in the house, not outside in the run. The dog slept also in the house, so my, we had misty, and my dad's best friend, joe, had midnight.
Speaker 3:They were brother and sister yes midnight bit several children but would have moved the earth for me.
Speaker 2:And those kids probably deserved it.
Speaker 3:One of them did Fuck those kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But yeah, so we had Misty in Midnight and Misty died very prematurely. She was only five when she died, which now makes me I thought we didn't get Misty until she was until I was like two, but we were five. I was five when she died, so they must have got her at the same time as they got me, are you guys from the same? Litter no, she was only three, maybe. No, she was only three, I lied she was three, I was five, same mother.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, okay. So so the dog, it was the dogs and me, and that's why I always say I was always a small adult, because I was around adults all the time there was no other kids I didn't know how to interact with the children I was feral, for reals feral and to this day she doesn't know how to interact with people. Oh, no, I don't, especially not people my own age.
Speaker 2:She's better with children.
Speaker 3:now I don't know if I'm better with children. They like you. Some of them. So, yeah, I was always just above my own age because I was always around adults. Yeah, you mimicked your environment. One of the reasons we did have to stop doing the van ins and going on a, we had my sister um, she came and she was not good. Um, and also, I started kindergarten because I guess they had to put me in school.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm surprised they really thought about that. I wonder if they hadn't gotten pregnant with your sister, if they would have settled down and put you in school, or if they would have been like we homeschool her, Although you still would have learned, because if they would have bought you books you'd have been like all right, and you would have read them. I did all my own learning, yeah.
Speaker 3:They gave me a set of encyclopedias. You probably would have been better off not going to school. That's true. They gave me a set of encyclopedias and I read the whole set. So the other reason is because I was repeating things in kindergarten that I was not supposed to be. And they were calling my mom and dad a lot about things.
Speaker 2:And your dad was like would she just shut the fuck up?
Speaker 3:there's also pictures there's a lovely picture of me. Um, I'm not gonna put. I'm not. I I have. I'm sending some pictures to nicole so she can put them up. Yes, um, I'm not gonna send this one because, a I don't know where it is and b she doesn't want to incriminate her parents no, um, it's me and my joey standing next to a keg and he has a cup of beer in his hand and I don't.
Speaker 3:But I have my hand up the same way as him and I used to scream it's party time yeah that's because of what. That's what happened. It was party time, so so I would yeah.
Speaker 2:I got that fun kid party life when I was a kid with my dad and my stepmom because they had. Everybody was wasting on a Friday night and we were all watching Dallas and Falcon crest and the drunker they got, the more half drinks they got left sitting around. We just walked around, drank whatever was sitting around. Yeah, I didn't like beer. Well, this was whiskey and seven.
Speaker 3:My dad drank seven and seven.
Speaker 2:It's sweet.
Speaker 3:For a kid it's not bad. Well, my parents weren't big drinkers?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, still aren't Never were.
Speaker 3:They don't drink, they smoke pot but they like the ganja. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I guess probably dropped a lot of acid, a million percent drop, I know a lot of acid. Like stop saying probably like you're in denial I'm not in denial.
Speaker 3:I just it just kind of dawned on me in the middle dragon's dream.
Speaker 2:I mean, I always figured like I was cracking up as you were talking about things, because I'm thinking this and I'm like I'll just save it, but the whole time I'm like they were tripping balls the entire time when I was in my 20s and I was dropping acid.
Speaker 3:Of course it dawned on me that they probably had dropped acid.
Speaker 2:But the going through this now I'm thinking, holy shit, they probably dropped a lot of all the time I only remember, maybe not, when they were driving like if yeah, who fucking knows, I mean, maybe it was dirt roads and miles of nothing back then.
Speaker 3:So they'd have been fine. Yeah, it was just down.
Speaker 2:13 knowing your dad, he probably drove 95, I think 95 was just being built.
Speaker 3:So we did. We did 13 down. That's insane. To florida, that's mind-blowing. Yeah, parts of it were probably dirt maybe I mean seriously, and anywhere you ever was, west virginia was definitely yeah, okay, we spent a lot of time in west virginia and then, and we, um, we did a lot of disney vacation. We did go to disney.
Speaker 2:Yes, orlando would have been paved, but probably a lot of florida was not we went to sarasota, did you?
Speaker 3:sleep on the beach a lot no, we didn't really go to the beach that much. When did your dad surf? Well, florida doesn't have great waves. We would come here because my mom and my dad's parents had two beach houses in Fenwick and we would come and stay there. Right, so he would. Probably he would my mom, has like a ton of video of him surfing. Yeah, it's the most boring video ever, my mom. All you can hear is my mom fangirling over my dad, oh, that's so adorable as he surfs.
Speaker 2:I love your parents.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so yeah, that is how I lived. That is probably what is wrong with me. Are we done Almost Just? The decline of van life was in the 80s and 90s because of RVs, corporate America.
Speaker 1:When something becomes so mainstream that corporations are in the act.
Speaker 3:You can guess. The fashion or culture has reached its zenith. Slowly the van craze subsided in line with the new decade and new societal perspective. By the mid-80s, the easy times, a good living vibe was under attack, with a shift in attitudes. After years of the, the economy was taking off, the sharp edges of shoulder pads and corporate business swept away bell bottoms and shag carpets. Individualism and carefree living were supplanted by easy money and a property boom. New car tastes were evident in burgeoning foreign imports from Japan and Germany, and it was the birth of the minivan which, by the way, my dad had a minivan in 1985. My dad sold his van in 81, 82.
Speaker 2:I bet he kicks himself all the time.
Speaker 3:For that it was probably like 82.
Speaker 2:Although he probably needed it. 83. By the house, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they were buying the house and he sold his van. He did buy a minivan in 1985.
Speaker 2:I'm surprised.
Speaker 3:He doesn't blame me for that, I'm sure he does. Okay, so he has a minivan. It still has his 1985 minivan. Um, he also has three vans at his house. Currently, none of two of them do not have windows. His 85 van did not have windows and when we were traveling um then in the minivan, my sister and I, because it didn't have windows in the sides or the back, we would draw pictures before we left and we would tape them to the wall.
Speaker 2:All right Now, that's sad.
Speaker 3:And we got really good at looking out the front windows.
Speaker 2:Although that's an amazing way of making you use your imagination, we had to really use our imagination. Your parents were so clever. Yeah, your imagination. We had to really use our imagination.
Speaker 3:Your parents were so clever. Yeah, um the 80s and 90s, rv culture expanded, offering more comfortable but less advent adventurous versions of van life. Road travel became more commercialized and families chose larger recreational vehicles over diy van conversions. And we were also on the cover not the cover, but we were in an ad for winnebago as I told you, if you listen to the um space shuttle episode the space I don't remember what that's called, what we named that one.
Speaker 3:I don't ever listen to these after I'm done editing. I couldn't even tell you what happened I have a confession to make. I haven't listened to one in months, I know usually you would tell me when you listen to it. I know so that and that's, and now it weirds me out to listen to it I know I don't like it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like it. So now the van life isn't in, is in fact back um, but it's certainly not what it was now it isn't, and I was being a big get off my lawn girl when we were talking about this earlier.
Speaker 2:Um, it's still very cool, like I feel like the early 20s dream is to road trip yes and I mean it's just the world they live in. I think the way that your parents did it is so much cooler and so much more fun and so much more memorable.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Especially without social media.
Speaker 2:Yes, because so many people are too focused on getting the right picture and making the video and getting paid and blah, blah, blah, but it is still a dream. And blah, blah, blah, but it is still a dream. And I can relate because when I, early on in my first marriage, I worked for a corporate restaurant in Christiana and it was close to the university, so I worked with a lot of students from the university, but at this point I'm an old married hag, even though I was the same age as them. But anyway, this one girl was at the end of the school year. She had a little hatchback car, it wasn't old but it wasn't real nice, and she had a dog. And she loaded up her little car and took her dog and was doing a cross-country trip for the summer.
Speaker 2:And I was like, oh, like that was my dream and instead I got an old ball and chain, but but it's oh, I feel like it's always been a dream and to me, even now, like I'm not a big fan of flying but I love a road trip, like even the birthday trip I took with my recently. I'm going to leave it at that the road down, you know, on the way down, shortly into the ride, we see a sign for Acetate Island and we're like, hey, let's go, and we just pull in and there happened to be pregnant ponies on the side, wild on the side of the road, you know, and it was. I haven't been there in forever and it was such a nice diversion and that's not something you can do when you're flying or taking a train or anything like that.
Speaker 2:A couple of years ago, me, my husband and my nephew were like we should take a road trip for Thanksgiving, and so I went online and looked Niagara Falls dirt ass cheap on Thanksgiving because you're pressing your luck. But we got lucky. It was cold and windy, but no snow or anything serious like that, and we got a room for like 100 bucks a night. So between the three of us we split three nights and we went. There was a casino right across the street. We walked over and saw the falls. We, you know, right across the street. We walked over and saw the falls. We, you know, we wanted to go. Oh, and it was funny too, because that was as we were driving up, a car crashed on one of the bridges coming into.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I remember that the United States, Because I was like holy shit, because you were up there.
Speaker 2:Yep, I remember that and my sister-in-law is a very high stress, very high anxiety, and she's like turn around, go home. We're like, fuck it, we're fine. We're like halfway on the way up and we're kind of watching the news and they don't know if it's terrorism or what's happened. Turns out it was a rich kid in his daddy's expensive car driving way too fast and crashed into the toll booth. It was nothing. But the first day or two we were up there it was totally shut down, police presence everywhere. Like it was kind of cool that we went up and saw it. But that was so much fun. And you know, on the way up you're just.
Speaker 2:I have a picture hanging in my living room of an old. We were just driving up a highway I don't even know where because I'm terrible at directions, but off in this field. It was so crazy. There's like a very small abandoned amusement park and there's a Ferris wheel and I took a picture of that Ferris wheel. It was like sunset behind it, it was gorgeous and it's those little things that you get out of road trips. So that's why that life is so appealing. It's really sad that corporate America comes in and fucks it up, because of course you're going to take the tiny house on wheels over what you lived in. Sure.
Speaker 3:While your experience, though, is so much more raw and real. I feel like my dad is a biker, yes, and he goes to Sturgis and all the bike rallies, and one of the reasons he does still have a van is because he does still go sleep in his van. His van is not one of these new vans.
Speaker 2:He's an old man.
Speaker 3:He still has the plywood floor in the back of his van and he still goes and he still sleeps in the van it's in his soul it's who he is, it is, it's, it's just, I don't know it's. It's crazy to think.
Speaker 3:And now that we've gone through, like when I was writing all this and looking it all up and I was like, well, I'm mostly, mostly gonna just talk about my personal experience, because I feel like that's what people care about, and um, but then as we're so rad as as we're going through it, and then I'm talking about it to like, not just because I'm talking to all of you and I know I'm looking at Nicole, but you know, and I know she knows all of this, but still it's like I don't know, it's just it's so surreal, I think, for me to think that that was my life, like just that was your entire toddler years.
Speaker 3:Because there's a show there was a documentary on I want to say it was netflix or one of them, and it was called vanning vanning and I watched it and I made my mom and dad watch it and it just brought back so much and there's no kids in any of those pictures in any of that video either, but one of the ones, one of the rallies that we were or vanning's that is in it that we were at oh yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 3:I want to say it was the burnt chimney. I don't know, it's just we're going like going back through it and I don't. I guess, thinking about it, and most people didn't, didn't, didn't do that, so well, seriously, honestly, thank you.
Speaker 2:I know I say it every week, but that was amazing. This is probably my favorite episode ever. Yeah, that was so cool, so cool. I loved it. Now y'all know what's wrong with me. Why I am the way I am Now. Y'all know why she's so awesome. Don't you wish you could be her.
Speaker 3:Well, it's why I'm so laid back. Probably it's why I'm so laid back. Probably it's why I'm so Like whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll never forget. Someone in our lives told you once you were accommodating to a fault and it infuriated you when it was said Do you remember what I'm talking about? Uh-uh. When it was said, do you remember what I'm talking about? We were in Florida with our last life together and they wanted to know where you went to go out to dinner and you said you didn't care. And you were told you're accommodating to a fault and I remember you being so irate Because it's not. It was meant to be a criticism. Yes, and it's really at your core who you are. Yes, and that's why, like you really truly don't care, like whatever, yes, like you're a pretty basic eater yes, pretty basic.
Speaker 3:I'm. You're a five-year-old you're pretty basic. I don't want to say basic, that's, I don't know, it's totally true, but and then and a lot of that comes from um- like if you don't want to do something, you're going to be like no, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's not like you're a pushover. Yeah, but if you're in a situation you've chosen to be in that situation, I don't want to say you've chosen to be in that situation. I don't want to say you necessarily want to be in that situation, but you have chosen to be there, so you are going to play along. Then you're going to accommodate, like it's just not worth, like you're not going to be, like, oh, I have celiac disease I can't eat yeah no, and that time because everything comes on a bun everything, everything and you're stuck with it and so wish you don't eat it.
Speaker 3:They shoot your story because I don't know what. I also think that um a lot of my independence and my enjoying my aloneness yeah, um which apparently spent a lot of time. I mean, apparently that makes it very difficult for other people in relationships with me too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I've grown accustomed to it, but god damn, when we met at ud you drove me fucking nuts, because I would be like hype and ready to fucking go on a saturday and I'd call you and you'd be like no. And I'd be like come on on, blah, blah, blah, nope, nope, and I'd hang up, call you back, nope. And then I'd call and you'd be drunk and the Beastie Boys were there and it was all fucking over at that point but you know whatever.
Speaker 3:Well, I enjoyed the Beastie Boys when I got drunk.
Speaker 2:Oh vodka.
Speaker 3:That's why I don't drink now. I don't drink now. So, yeah, I think a lot of my independence and my wanting to be alone. Also, I have to. When I sleep, I like to sleep in a corner. I like my bed pushed up against the wall.
Speaker 2:I mean your bed's perfect where you live now.
Speaker 3:And I like it closed in and I think that probably comes from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you always have had that. Yeah, I have slept in a van because when I was seven months pregnant, sleeping in your bed, yeah, yeah, I was right up against the wall. Yeah, I had to sleep against the wall because you had to get up and go to work. Yeah, she worked, don't I made her work?
Speaker 3:I mean kind of we worked together quite a few times. Yeah, yeah, of course she was my bartender, yeah, anyway.
Speaker 2:So now that explains a lot about who I am and um now you all know me a little bit better, I think now you all know why she's the better half of this episode.
Speaker 2:Even my fucking nephew said so because he started listening and he's only listened to three episodes and he will text me and be like, oh my God, like that's so cool. A buddy plays video games with my husband, so they say things on the headset that I can't hear. And the other day I invited him over because I was like you need to come over and I'll buy you pizza and I just really want to hear you tell me how great my podcast is, because I haven't seen you face to face. And so he comes over and then I find out that he thinks Heather is really funny. So he does still have favorite nephew status because he actually listens, and I'm pretty sure he's the only person in my life who listens to it. Please, heather has people who love her. Shout out to the post office.
Speaker 3:They are religious.
Speaker 2:I know I love them. Thank you and shout out to Gen X watch and free nights and weekends. We love you guys. Thank you so much. I love the camaraderie that we've kind of built together and how we share each other's shit and just try to promote each other and boost each other up and hopefully one day one of us makes it don't forget weekends podcast comes out on fridays, and hearts of glass is the book out now by Pat Green. If you're looking for it, it's Gen X Watch on the socials. Socials yes.
Speaker 3:Also on socials. You should check us out, because we're on all of them at LikeWhateverPod, If you want to. We're on TikTok all the socials, blah, blah, blah. I lost my place. If I could, real quick. If you're on Facebookok all the socials, blah, blah, blah. I lost my place.
Speaker 2:Oh, here it is, if you yeah, if I could real quick, if you're on facebook, if you could just go on and like us or follow us like. It is like pulling teeth to get followers on facebook. Yes, and I work my ass off on the socials she does I have slacked in the past week or two, I admit, but I'm gonna get back on it. But seriously, like other socials, boom, everybody follows you back facebook.
Speaker 2:So if you're on the facebook, get on it, yeah, although I do post a lot and I'm obnoxious. But you could follow us and then just not see my posts.
Speaker 3:That's fine, just just follow us if you want to talk about your van life, if you are another child and you remember any of this and oh my god. I would love to hear other stories about this send us an email to like whatever pod at gmailcom, or don't like whatever whatever bye.
