WE attempted to brave the worst storm in California in 20 years to take a Hwy 1 road trip through Big Sur, but a major mudslide that took out part of the highway prevented us from seeing it all. We recount the mudslide that put a wrench in our plans, but how we recovered for an epic weekend road trip story.

We did road trip Hwy 1 as much as we could, and we were able to see some of the iconic sights like Bixby Creek Bridge, and we were able to discover a cool new national park because of the detour.

On our Hwy 1 California road trip episode we talk about:

• Road tripping Hwy 1
• Driving in a rainstorm
• The famous Bixby Creek Bridge
• Hiking San Simeon State Park
• Where to eat and drink in Monterey
• Exploring Pinnacles National Park
• How to deal when the unexpected gets in the way of your travel plans

Hwy 1 Road Trip – Episode Transcript

3 (57s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today, we’re going to talk to you about an epic road trip that we planned. There’s a highway one in California as this iconic road. That’s known around the world for being most, one of the most beautiful road trips that you can take up the California Coast. We were so amped to go on it. It’s going to be this amazing trip

4 (1m 19s):
And we didn’t end up going on the trip.

3 (1m 22s):
That’s

4 (1m 24s):
Why we ended up going on the trip because one week before our scheduled trip, El Nino was happening over here and we had torrential rain storms just causing so much chaos through all of California. And I’m pretty sure a lot of places across the U S just as well. And so the California one highway runs along the Pacific ocean. And because of all the rain, there were mudslides that had actually washed part of the highway into the ocean. And it blocked our route that we were going to be taking and hindering our Road Trip.

6 (2m 1s):
So two days before the trip, we AKA me was scrambling to come up with a different itinerary so that we could still go on a road trip and improvise instead.

2 (2m 14s):
That’s right. We don’t give up travelers. And we sure as hell don’t take no for an answer. So because of your hosts, that gets shit done. We were able to create a revised itinerary to San Simeon state park, Bixby bridge, and hiking in Pinnacles National Park.

3 (2m 30s):
It was kind of just a figure it out as we go along kind of a trip.

4 (2m 34s):
Yeah. We had a general idea of what we wanted to do, but as we were on the trip, we kind of figured things out on the fly. I think Pinnacles was decided day of, cause we were like, well, let’s just get to where our hotels already booked. And then from there, we’re going to look to see what we can do because we had booked hotels. And I believe one of them was a non-refundable cause we always try to do non-refundable as if we can, but sometimes it’s just not possible. And we’re like cheaper because of

6 (2m 60s):
The dollar.

4 (3m 1s):
And so we’re like, well, shit, I’m not going to let my fucking money go to waste. I’m going to stay in my hotel. So we made it happen. Yeah.

3 (3m 8s):
TB, a little bit of context about this storm. They called it the worst storm we’d had in 20 years.

6 (3m 13s):
Yeah. In 20 years. And before the trip I was at work and the lights were flickering in my building and everyone at my building was saying like, you know, if you can leave early, try to leave early so that you don’t get stuck in traffic. You don’t get stuck in the rain because we were expected to have no electricity for awhile.

3 (3m 31s):
Yeah. I’m pretty sure I got let out of work early to go and get home to safety out of the rain. But did I go home to safety? No, we packed up the car and took off in the worst storm. California is seen in the last 20 years. Yeah.

4 (3m 46s):
It was a fucking L what more to say than that. It was El Nino. It was redacted

2 (3m 53s):
Like all of our weekend trips. It’s on a Friday after work. So Jamal, our handy-dandy driver picked up Kim, me and Brittany. And where did we go guys?

6 (4m 4s):
Costco

3 (4m 6s):
Pizza.

6 (4m 7s):
We love to pick up a Costco pizza for a Road Trip.

4 (4m 10s):
Well, we had a lot of

3 (4m 10s):
School, a lot on our trips.

4 (4m 12s):
Why not? Well, we’re always filling gas. There’s the cheapest gas, but that’s besides the point. So yes, we got off a little bit early from work because of the rains that day. But we knew we were going to have a long drive ahead of us because the straight direct route that we were going to take, clearly we had to go around the portions of California highway one that were closed because of the mudslides, et cetera. So we didn’t want to take any additional time later on the road to actually stop to eat. So we said, well, before we get out of San Diego, Costco’s on the way let’s get that whole Costco pizza and just eat it in the car, which by the way, from a safety standpoint, for me, with all the

3 (4m 53s):
Safety,

4 (4m 54s):
With all the rain coming down and like, let me just eat and drive at the same time.

6 (4m 59s):
So we get to Costco and we had ordered the pizza and it is pouring down rain. And there’s nowhere to park. The parking lot is full. So Jamal just pulls as close as he can up to the food court window. And I run out and I, by the time I bring back the, the pizza,

3 (5m 17s):
I am you both being, you both are drenched.

4 (5m 20s):
Like when you came back in, I thought the pizza box was literally going to disintegrate because of how wet it was. I thought like it was all just going to flop out.

2 (5m 28s):
So with that weather let’s hit the road.

3 (5m 31s):
So yeah, we found out that the road was closed in the bridge. I think the bridge collapsed. And that was part of the reason. Yeah, I did obviously the

6 (5m 39s):
Bridge and Big Sur collapse.

3 (5m 41s):
Yeah. So we didn’t really understand the extent of the damage. When we found out the road was closed.

4 (5m 46s):
You didn’t understand the,

3 (5m 50s):
Because I said to Brittany, like, this is stupid. I was so mad. It was like, they should just let us take it at our own risk. But after we came back and saw the pictures of the road, there was clearly no fucking way any car was getting through that

4 (6m 3s):
Road. There was no, there was no,

2 (6m 5s):
It was in the ocean.

4 (6m 7s):
I mean, how long did it take them to fix it? After

3 (6m 9s):
Like eight months

4 (6m 11s):
They

3 (6m 11s):
Had to rebuild the,

4 (6m 12s):
By the time the bridge collapsed, the roads collapsed, obviously just regular mud coming over, took eight months to get the full highway back up and running.

6 (6m 20s):
So our first stop was San Simeon and we picked this because it was about halfway between San Diego and Big Sur. And I believe this was a hotel that we reserved and it was non-refundable cause you know, we’re going to save a dollar. So we were going to stay there anyways. And the entire way up driving to our hotel, we were hydroplaning.

4 (6m 40s):
Yeah. I mean, I definitely do remember at one point we were driving, luckily I was done eating the pizza. By that point, I had both hands on the wheel, but we, and we weren’t even going that fast because one it’s after work on a Friday kind of going up through LA area, there’s always going to be traffic on that regardless. But I was in the far left lane. So the fast lane and clearly the dividers right there. And that’s where they have the drainage sometimes for the freeway as well for all the water. But there was just so much that it couldn’t go down and that’s where it was collecting. And I ran over it and I was like, holy shit, did anyone just feel that hydroplane? And we did it numerous times, but that one was really intense because I’ve done it before, but it’s always like, oh, I can tell.

4 (7m 26s):
But that wasn’t that bad. But that was the first time that I did it, that I actually thought to myself like, holy shit, I could really have crashed right here. You know? And unless you’ve never done it and on an intense scale, like I really don’t know how to describe the feeling of hydroplane in what you feel in the steering wheel and the pedals itself. It’s intense. It’s scary.

2 (7m 44s):
Yeah. I felt like the entire highway was flooded,

4 (7m 47s):
But didn’t we get in to the hotel at San Simeon really late. As a matter of fact, didn’t you, Brittany have to message the check-in because check-in closed at 10 o’clock and he had to leave a key for us under the mat if I remember correctly. Yeah.

6 (8m 0s):
Yeah. So I was looking at our check-in instructions and it said we had to be there by a certain time and with all of the traffic and with the storm, I messaged the hotel or I think I even called them and I said, we’re going to be really late. There’s no way we’re going to get there by 10. How are we going to be able to check into our hotel? And so he told me what room that we needed to go to and left a key under the mat for us.

3 (8m 22s):
It’s like, you’re on your own.

4 (8m 23s):
But we, with the rain we got in there super late, I don’t remember how much sleep we got, but it was minimal. And then at that point, did we already know what we were going to hike? Because again, San Simeon, where we stayed was originally planned, but we were going to drive further north on the one through Big Sur to do another hike. So since we were there and we couldn’t make our way to do that, hike up one on Big Sur, we chose another one. And

6 (8m 50s):
While you were hydro planning, I was researching hikes that we could do in San Simeon so that we would be for the

4 (8m 56s):
Next day. So we already knew what we were going to do when we

3 (8m 58s):
Thinking about doing the castle too, but we didn’t end up doing that.

4 (9m 2s):
I think probably because Kim said, I want to do a hike and I’d be worse

3 (9m 7s):
Casts. I think I did. Actually.

2 (9m 9s):
I just want to throw out there when Jamal made the comment that I don’t know how much sleep we got, we’re the Travel Squad, Jamal. It’s very highly unlikely that Brittany put sleep on the itinerary.

4 (9m 20s):
I doubt we got more than five hours.

3 (9m 22s):
My life motto has always been I’ll sleep when I’m dead

4 (9m 26s):
Or in the backseat of the car. You and Zane are notorious for that.

6 (9m 33s):
So we slept in fence Simeon and we did the next morning we did San Simeon state.

2 (9m 39s):
And when we woke up guys, there was no free breakfast at that hotel.

3 (9m 44s):
Major bummer.

2 (9m 45s):
So sad.

4 (9m 46s):
So what do we do for breakfast? Probably just fast food, probably Mickey D’s oatmeal, more McMuffins.

3 (9m 52s):
Exactly why I needed the hike. You have. The hype was pretty cool though. I’m glad we got to do that. It wasn’t hard or anything like that. It wasn’t a strenuous hike.

6 (10m 1s):
It was called the San Simeon Creek trail.

2 (10m 4s):
It wasn’t strenuous until we had to make our way through the tree that fell down on the bridge. Right?

4 (10m 11s):
Yeah. So even though, since Simeon is on the coast, this state park, at least where we did the hike, it was a little bit more inland. So I don’t remember seeing the ocean or anything on that. We were almost kind of in eucalyptus tree forest areas that are notorious for being along the California Coast. And we were hiking our way in and there was a bridge that we actually had to cross, but it was made difficult because of just all the storms, literally a tree had fallen over the bridge and we’re like, oh my God, are we even going to be able to do this high? Because the only way to get to the trail was over that bridge and a whole fucking tree was toppled over on.

3 (10m 51s):
So we had to climb in it over it.

6 (10m 55s):
Yeah. And so I’m really stubborn. So I was like, I will do this first. So I’m climbing through, I’m going under these branches over these branches. And I’m like busting my way through. And like towards the end of it, I’m like roaring because I’m trying to get through it. And

2 (11m 9s):
I was ready to cry.

3 (11m 10s):
I thought it was Anna was in the back.

6 (11m 12s):
It was in the back. And she thought that the roar came from a mountain lion.

4 (11m 17s):
I guess there’s was really good if she thought that was a real one. I mean, I remember it, but just as a little bit of preface to our listeners out there, every time we go on a hike, Zeno’s always worried about mountain lions and bears, depending on where we are. So she’s like, are there bears on this trail or are we going to get attacked by a mountain lion? I mean, she she’s

3 (11m 37s):
Bears or mountain lions. She’s

4 (11m 39s):
Kind of serious, but at the same time, kind of joking, but more serious, but that doesn’t stop her. So I think when she heard that roar, she was like, holy shit, really, this time

3 (11m 48s):
There’s was about,

6 (11m 49s):
She was like, oh my God guys, did you guys hear that?

2 (11m 52s):
And I think they probably let me believe it was a mountain lion for a moment. And then until they finally told me that it was Brittany, but it was like really legit. But let that be a lesson that, although the fear is there, push past the fear and don’t let the fear make the decision for you because as much as they love to rag on me for being scared. Cause I truly, truly am. I’m still going to do it

4 (12m 11s):
Dangerous, good

2 (12m 12s):
For danger ninja.

6 (12m 14s):
And that day, our hike, it was pretty flat. So we didn’t get that good of a workout in. Yeah. And I know you were upset,

4 (12m 21s):
But it was just nice to be out in the nature and then that different landscape of California.

3 (12m 26s):
Yeah. It was very pretty and it wasn’t raining. No, it might’ve been sprinkling a bit. Yeah,

4 (12m 32s):
It was overcast, but yeah, we lucked out and didn’t rang. Yeah.

3 (12m 36s):
So after the hike we needed to refuel and we had to go more inland because of how the road was closed. And we stopped in Pesaro bliss and went to a brewery called Firestone brewery. Probably heard of it. Shout out

4 (12m 50s):
8 0 5, 8 0 5 is one of their beers just for anyone who is a Firestone brewery novice.

2 (12m 57s):
And for all you bachelor nation fans out there, this is owned by Andrew Firestone, who was the winner of gin season, which I think was like season two or season three of them.

4 (13m 7s):
So early on did not know that. Interesting. Yeah,

2 (13m 11s):
I didn’t. We went and I was like, well, so we drank while Jamal didn’t I didn’t drink that much, but after working out, I did pass out in the car. And I remember you guys saying that no more day drinking for Zeno.

4 (13m 24s):
Well, you didn’t drink a lot, but for you and your tolerance, you drank enough to pass out in the backseat of the car. Not necessarily being from tired. I think it was, I’m gonna drunk sleep this off

2 (13m 34s):
In all fairness, even if I didn’t drink out of fullness,

4 (13m 36s):
I got, I got that’s true. I guess that’s true. But anyway, yeah. So we stopped at buyer’s stone along the way, which is more inland. So like Kim said, because of the road closures, because all of one wasn’t closed, it was sporadic closings up along the way. So we had to completely go out of our way from the coast inland and pass a road bliss and Firestone brew was on the way and cut ourselves up north. And I think that added an extra three hours of a drive to what should have been normally like an hour, hour and a half to where we needed to go. It

3 (14m 9s):
Was so close,

6 (14m 10s):
But yet so far away. And the reason why we cut back to the coast is because the one thing that we could still do from our original itinerary was see Bixby bridge.

4 (14m 23s):
Yeah. Bixby bridge is a very famous bridge along the California Coast on highway one, if you haven’t ever seen it or think you haven’t seen it, I promise you if you Google image it, you will. It’s a very iconic bridge, very famous.

3 (14m 39s):
So pretty. I wanted that picture on my Instagram

4 (14m 43s):
And it was okay. So we really didn’t do much there other than just go see the bridge. But the bridge cuts across obviously open portion of the sea cliffs. And it’s just really dramatic views to see of the California Coast. And so it was more so a photo op opportunity for us than anything else.

3 (15m 3s):
That part of the one that we could drive by the bridge was so pretty with the cliffs and the ocean. It was beautiful.

6 (15m 11s):
One thing that I did notice was a lot of people stop when they can see the first sightings of the bridge. And when they take that picture straight on, you’re taking it of the bridge going into land. But if you drive a bit farther and get out at a different stopping point, you could take a picture of the bridge with the ocean in the background, which is a better picture. And there were less people there because everyone was at that first stop trying to get their first picture

3 (15m 38s):
Pro tip for the Instagram,

6 (15m 41s):
For the grant. So from there, we went back to Monterrey and had dinner at a place called cannery row brewing company. And Kim was single at the time.

2 (15m 51s):
And what was really

3 (15m 51s):
Cool

2 (15m 54s):
At the time of this recording, what was cool about this restaurant is the bathrooms are downstairs. And so to get there, they have a chalkboard right above the stairs and they have chalk for you to write. And

4 (16m 10s):
It lets you graffiti on the chalkboard.

2 (16m 11s):
Yeah, there you go. There you go. So, Jamal, what did you do?

4 (16m 15s):
I wrote for a good time called Kim

2 (16m 18s):
Kim’s

4 (16m 18s):
Permission. We have Kim’s permission, but I have

6 (16m 20s):
Your real phone number.

4 (16m 22s):
She let me put a real phone number on there.

3 (16m 24s):
One fucking call.

2 (16m 26s):
It was a little bit of a social experiment. People don’t call this number.

4 (16m 30s):
I guess people in Monterey just think they’re so high class. I don’t know what it is and think like I’m above doing something like this, but funny little funny little side, tangent, as shocked as I was that Kim didn’t get a call. My really good friend Josh. One time he was at the pier and Oxnard or Ventura, California. And he actually carved my name into the Pierce and for a good time call, never told me about it. And then all of a sudden I start getting calls and I remember one in particular, it’s a guy and he calls he’s like, huh? I heard I could call you for a good time. Laughing, like on the back end. I’m like, what the fuck is that?

4 (17m 11s):
Yeah, I got several calls. I was like, what the fuck is this? So then as a matter of fact, I was actually going home and by home, I mean up to Northern California, where originally from where Josh still lives and told him, he’s like, yeah, I’ve been getting all these like weird calls. And then he confessed to me that he was actually the one who carved my name and told me when it was, which coincided around the time that I started. Yeah. So I’m just shocked that no one called that. I feel like when people see that there’s bound to be somebody

6 (17m 41s):
In a restaurant, I don’t know,

4 (17m 43s):
Maybe, or maybe the workers in the restaurant went and erased it. I mean, I don’t know. Anyway, that night at the cannery road brewing company, we ended up having a nice dinner. It was a nice restaurant, a very indicative of what you would expect for a restaurant to be on in Monterey’s famous cannery row. So we had a really good time with that and then the next

2 (18m 5s):
Right there, along the beach. So that’s why it’s so nice.

4 (18m 9s):
Oh yeah. Along the coast and not like beach beach area, but it’s famous because that used to be where they had canning factories in Monterey of like the seafood. So cannery row, there you go.

3 (18m 19s):
Cannery row. There you go. Yeah.

6 (18m 22s):
And we’ve said before that, when we do these little weekend trips, like we try to get the most out of them. And so Kim’s grandparents actually met us in Monterrey. Yeah.

3 (18m 31s):
Yeah. Since they are in Sacramento and it’s only a couple hours, they brought their dogs and got a hotel room at the same place that we did so that we could see them that evening. And then we went to breakfast with them the next day, this was Sunday and they took us to breakfast, which was really nice.

2 (18m 46s):
You know what I remember about this hotel? I don’t think that had a blow dryer. And Kim was like, what? We don’t have a blow dryer. And Jamal looks at Kim and he said, do you want me to go downstairs and get a blow dryer for you? And because I think we were on the second floor and the lobby was pretty far away. And so everyone was like, Jamal, you’re such a gentleman.

4 (19m 6s):
Well, I knew if Kim didn’t ask, Brittany would ask for it later. So it’s was kind of like, I might as well do it now before I get too comfortable, shout

2 (19m 14s):
Out to the mall for being a gentleman.

4 (19m 17s):
Always try. But yeah, so we had gone to breakfast with Kim’s grandparents Sunday morning and we ended up going to Denny’s with them. And if anyone knows any of our listeners who actually know me personally knows that I have a special place in my heart for Dennis, as I used to be a server at Denny’s,

3 (19m 33s):
Brittany loves

4 (19m 34s):
Denny, no special place, but I enjoyed Dennis. Let’s put it that way.

2 (19m 39s):
I was hired twice and I never worked there.

4 (19m 42s):
There you go.

3 (19m 42s):
We always make jokes on our trips about Brittany. You want to go to Denny’s you love Denny’s. You don’t love Denny.

2 (19m 49s):
That’s okay. I’ll say it. I love Denise. So after breakfast we did our next type, which was Pinnacles National Park, but first we had to get there.

4 (19m 59s):
Right? So Pinnacles wasn’t even on our itinerary for this Road Trip we were supposed to do what hike were we supposed to do up in Big Sur that morning that we weren’t able to do to do Pinnacles instead,

3 (20m 12s):
I can’t remember what we were, what hike we were supposed to do that day, but we never even heard of Pinnacles National Park until we were looking for things to do.

4 (20m 21s):
Yeah. And we love national parks. I think one of the reasons why we actually never heard of it is because at the time that we went, it was the newest national park. So originally Pinnacles it’s actually in California central valley. So we had to get away from the coast a little bit. It’s about 80 miles Southeast of San Jose. And originally it was a national monument that was designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 and not until 2013 to actually become a national park. And it gets its name Pinnacles from the fact that it was an ancient volcano that has started to erode.

4 (21m 3s):
And so what’s left of it is lots of like little pinnacle spires that actually come up from the mountain side. So that’s where it gets its name.

2 (21m 12s):
Can you tell our listeners what spires are? Because I don’t even think I know what those are.

4 (21m 18s):
Yeah. I mean, just imagine just kind of like a thin mountain that like, you know, what a pinnacle is, that’s the Spire and your pinnacle Spire, just kind of going up into the air.

6 (21m 26s):
I love national parks and when we didn’t have anything planned on our temporary and I found out that we were close to a national park and it was on our way back home, because again, we did this over a weekend, we left on a Friday. We weren’t going to drive home Sunday after our hike. And I found that there was a national park on our way back home. I was like, we’re doing it guys. We’re going to

3 (21m 46s):
Do, you’re doing it.

4 (21m 47s):
One other claim to fame for Pinnacles National Park is it’s actually home to the California Condors, which if anybody knows are on the brink of extinction, they’re actually classified as critically endangered. And originally there was about 22 con California Condors left in the wild. And in about 1987, conservationalists rounded them all up to do a captive breeding program. And then the plan was to release them out into the wild, in different places and Pinnacles, since it was a national monument at the time, not a national park yet it was still protected land for it to be a rehabilitation area for them.

4 (22m 29s):
So in 1992, they actually released some of the Condors that were bred in captivity back into the wild. And that was one of the first places that they’ve done it since then, they’ve actually expanded the release areas of the Condors to grand canyon, national park and Zion national park in Utah, just as well.

6 (22m 50s):
And we did get to see some of the Condors while we were doing our hike. It was really cool to see one of the park Rangers pointed them out to us.

3 (22m 57s):
Yeah. There’s a whole bunch of them,

4 (22m 59s):
A whole bunch for that area. I mean, I feel like we got really lucky because in the wild, not just at Pinnacles, but again, through all the other national parks where they released them, there’s only about 200, 220 of them. So to see them, I think is something special because there’s only so few of them left and we actually got lucky to see them.

3 (23m 19s):
Yeah. It was actually a great experience at Pinnacles National Park, not just for the birds, but there weren’t that many people there, it was one of the least populated national parks I’ve ever been to. And it wasn’t storming too bad that day. I think it rained on us a little bit.

6 (23m 34s):
Yeah. It was cold and drizzling, but it wasn’t raining and storming.

3 (23m 39s):
And,

2 (23m 40s):
But let’s be honest, even if it was raining and storming, we still would’ve done it anyways.

4 (23m 44s):
We definitely work. Yeah. I mean, I feel like for this whole trip for having, I don’t want to say ruined because this trip was a blast, but having the original plans altered because of the rain, a lot of the time that we were actually hiking and outside, there wasn’t any rain. I think maybe a stretch of 15 minutes here at Pinnacles towards the end of our hike before we got back in the car, it started to drizzle, but it wasn’t as heavy as the drive up or the proceeding weeks that shut down the road.

3 (24m 11s):
Yeah. And because it rains so much, Pinnacles was super green. Everything was covered in Moss and it just had a really beautiful lush feel, which is awesome because I have a friend that went in summer and he said it was deserted and really hot and not pretty whatsoever, which I am sure it was still beautiful, but go in the winter when it has rained.

6 (24m 34s):
And I had researched some hikes that I really wanted to do before we had gotten there. But because of the previous rains, there was a height that I wanted to do that included the tunnel. It was closed and we were unable to do it. So we settled for a different hike. It was called the Juniper canyon trail to high peaks trail. And it was a 7.1 mile loop through the park.

4 (24m 55s):
One of my favorite things about that trail. And I think this is when it started to actually drizzle a rain on us a little bit. Does anyone remember the part of the trail where they literally carved out a little steps in the stone and they had the chain for you to hold on to,

2 (25m 12s):
That was going up,

4 (25m 13s):
Right? Yeah. That was at the point where you’re going up. So luckily it wasn’t raining too hard. Otherwise we could have slipped because what I said, they cut out little steps, but it’s not steps. Like you think literally they cut out little spots for your toast and to just get a little bit of grip is really all it was. But I found that to be one of the coolest things about the hike. Yeah.

2 (25m 32s):
Yeah. In fact, once we got to the top and started to descend, I think that’s where we saw the Condors. Yeah.

4 (25m 38s):
Yeah. One of my best memories of this trip. I don’t think I want to let this episode close out before Brittany tells the story, but what happened when you were going to the bathroom? Brittany?

3 (25m 52s):
I can’t remember the story.

7 (25m 55s):
It involves, it involves, it involves you.

6 (25m 59s):
I can’t get through this without laughing, but we were at Pinnacles National Park. We were about to visit the visitor center and there was a bathroom right outside of it. And I had to go to the bathroom. Of course. So I go inside, go to the bathroom and I’m about to walk out and I’m pretty sure that I hear Kim go inside of the stall next to me as I’m about to walk, I’m washing my hands. I’m walking out and I burp super, super loud. And I say gross.

4 (26m 28s):
Yeah. Like she’s trying to play it off. Like, oh, it’s Kim, obviously Kim knows it’s not herself, but Brittney’s like burping, like gross kids,

6 (26m 35s):
Bro skin. And there’s no response from the stall next to me. And I’m like, oh shit. So I walk outside and I see Kim next to her car. And just to blame this on someone else,

3 (26m 48s):
Ladies, like this lady is crazy. There’s no one else in here.

4 (26m 52s):
Well, I was waiting for Brittany outside of the bathroom, just as well. And before she even saw you, she started to tell me the story. Like, guess what? I just did. Like, I just had a really loud burp and then I blamed it on Kim. Cause she’s in there too. I was like, Grove’s Kim. And I’m like, what are you talking about? And she’s like, well, you don’t think that’s funny. I was like, Britney keeps over there. Cause I had a view of the car where Kim was at. And then that’s when Brittany got a little blush red and relaxed like, oh my God, like I just totally burped in front of a stranger and try to blame it on them

6 (27m 26s):
As you’re listening. And you’re the lady in the stall next to me. I’m sorry.

2 (27m 30s):
It makes me laugh because Kim, everyone just always thinks you’re in the stall next to them. That’ll make a trail to

4 (27m 37s):
What are you going to do?

6 (27m 39s):
So we’re at Kim’s favorite part of the

3 (27m 43s):
Questions

4 (27m 45s):
Of the week.

6 (27m 46s):
Yes.

3 (27m 47s):
If you guys have any questions about any of our trips or any travel advice you’re looking for, you can totally DMS or comment on our Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast. And we will put it in the show or we’ll just get back to you on there. All right. So our first question that we did get was how do you split up driving responsibilities when you do a Road Trip,

6 (28m 8s):
Best answer. We don’t

3 (28m 11s):
Best for me.

4 (28m 12s):
It’s kind of just expected that I’m always the driver. And I think we touched on this in another episode, not necessarily this direct question, but just overall. I like to be the one to drive as kind of tiring as it is. I myself feel like it helps the time go by faster than just sitting doing nothing.

6 (28m 31s):
And Jamal’s a terrible backseat driver.

4 (28m 33s):
Yeah, because you guys are terrible drivers. That’s exactly what,

2 (28m 36s):
That’s a great driver. And I do volunteer. I, well, I tell you, if you ever want me to drive, I will drive.

4 (28m 42s):
I’ll let you drive. When we take your car on the road trip,

3 (28m 44s):
I’ll be honest. I don’t want to drive and I shouldn’t drive

6 (28m 49s):
Through that.

4 (28m 50s):
Okay. So then I should rephrase it. I was calling Kim the terrible driver. She just admitted it herself and not so many words,

2 (28m 57s):
But you know, Jamal, he’s a great driver. He, he obviously handles hydro planning like a champ. Exactly. He’s a huge trivia person. So we just give him a trivia questions throughout the entire time. And he’s happy as a clam

3 (29m 12s):
Pull up the list of country capitals. We’re like Jamal, what’s the capital of

6 (29m 17s):
Albania.

3 (29m 19s):
What

4 (29m 19s):
Is it? Tirana.

2 (29m 22s):
Wow. You can also name the states that touch Canada

3 (29m 29s):
In order

2 (29m 29s):
West to east and from east to west.

4 (29m 32s):
I don’t know why you guys are so shocked. I feel like if you’re an American, you should know your geography of your own country to answer the original question. I don’t know. Sometimes like Zana said she does volunteer, but I just kinda like to drive. I figure it’s just kinda my responsibility of the squad to do it. I’d take it happily. They keep me entertained with games. It’s fun.

6 (29m 53s):
Okay. Our next question is, do you fight when you’re cooped up in the car for that long?

2 (29m 58s):
We don’t have time to fight because Kim and I are usually asleep anyways.

4 (30m 4s):
Well, that’s very true. And then we’ll wake you guys up. Cause it’s almost like you guys have your sixth sense. As soon as Brittany tries to snap the selfie with her in it of both of you passed out in the back. One of you kind of like opens your eyes. So there’s not a lot of time to fight. Sometimes it’ll be more just kind of laughter and ruckus. But I will say this, we don’t usually fight, but if we are annoyed with one another, there is the silence that’s just known. But then after a little bit, we’ll start talking and it’s like, it never even happened. Yeah.

2 (30m 37s):
And a little bit of context. Brittany is always in the passenger seat next to Jamal

6 (30m 43s):
With Jamal and keep him company.

2 (30m 45s):
She does, she

4 (30m 46s):
Does duties.

2 (30m 47s):
And since she’s in the front and Kim and I are in the back and we fall asleep, Brittany is the queen of getting a selfie with Kim and I asleep in the background. So

6 (31m 0s):
You guys, we’re going to have a highlight reel on our Instagram.

3 (31m 3s):
Maybe, maybe not.

2 (31m 9s):
There’s some really gnarly pictures of Kim and I asleep in the backseat of the car with seatbelts on our faces, tongues out five chins on me in some angles.

3 (31m 22s):
Oh, I’ll make you guys a deal. If you comment on our Instagram telling us what you like about this episode, I will DMU a picture of Zayna sleeping in the backseat.

2 (31m 37s):
No, maybe we’ll put something on story, but we will not be in

4 (31m 46s):
Anyone’s DMS know

3 (31m 47s):
I slide in with the sleep.

2 (31m 50s):
Oh wait, wait. You know, I was going to add something. Okay. So I think the only time that I can really think of fighting and it’s not even really a fight. And this is when I had the freak out in China, one of the freak outs that we had in China over the whisper. So if you need a little bit of context, that’s episode three for our trip to China. And I had a freak out over not having my, why didn’t have a freak out long story, but anyways, I didn’t have my whisper and I got super, super frustrated. So when we were on the bus, I gave everyone the silent treatment because I was, oh,

3 (32m 22s):
You were pouting.

2 (32m 23s):
Yeah. I was embarrassed and I was mad. And so finally Kim asked me, Hey, do you have wifi on here? And then I was like, oh, okay, everything’s done. It’s open. So it just takes someone to break the silence. And we’re good.

3 (32m 36s):
All right. Well, if there’s nothing else you guys want to share about this trip, then we will say goodbye until next week. Thank you guys so much for listening to our Big Sur, not Big Sur Road Trip. Hope you loved it. If you have any questions about it, like I said, hit us up and we’ll tell you all about it. And I hope that we can redo this trip one day actually going up the highway one,

4 (32m 58s):
We just can’t plan it for winter. Apparently when there could be potential rain, I guess. Yeah. Please subscribe to our podcast. Everybody leave a review. Tell us what you’d like. Tell us what you want to hear and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

2 (33m 13s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Travel Squad Podcast,

6 (33m 19s):
Make sure to pack your bags and grab your passports. Because next week we were taking you to Shanghai Disneyland. My favorite Disney park.

4 (33m 28s):
Bye guys.

3 (33m 29s):
Bye.