For anyone who ever made that trek and failed to fly too close to sun, this episode is for you. It’s about first love, enduring friendships, grand gestures, and a commitment to finish the mission. High-school friends Jeff and Tom hatched a scheme that stood out to me for its ambition, audacity, and meticulous planning. Love was the inspiration, Daytona Beach was the destination, and Pop-Tarts were the fuel. Enjoy.

For anyone who ever made that trek and failed to fly too close to sun, this episode is for you. It’s about first love, enduring friendships, grand gestures, and a commitment to finish the mission. High-school friends Jeff and Tom hatched a scheme that stood out to me for its ambition, audacity, and meticulous planning. Love was the inspiration, Daytona Beach was the destination, and Pop-Tarts were the fuel. Enjoy.

For anyone who ever made that trek and failed to fly too close to sun, this episode is for you. It’s about first love, enduring friendships, grand gestures, and a commitment to finish the mission. High-school friends Jeff and Tom hatched a scheme that stood out to me for its ambition, audacity, and meticulous planning. Love was the inspiration, Daytona Beach was the destination, and Pop-Tarts were the fuel. Enjoy.

For anyone who ever made that trek and failed to fly too close to sun, this episode is for you. It’s about first love, enduring friendships, grand gestures, and a commitment to finish the mission. High-school friends Jeff and Tom hatched a scheme that stood out to me for its ambition, audacity, and meticulous planning. Love was the inspiration, Daytona Beach was the destination, and Pop-Tarts were the fuel. Enjoy.

For anyone who ever made that trek and failed to fly too close to sun, this episode is for you. It’s about first love, enduring friendships, grand gestures, and a commitment to finish the mission. High-school friends Jeff and Tom hatched a scheme that stood out to me for its ambition, audacity, and meticulous planning. Love was the inspiration, Daytona Beach was the destination, and Pop-Tarts were the fuel. Enjoy.

This episode is the story of Lisa, a massage therapist who had all of those attributes working in her favor as well as the luxury of time. At 25, she left Crown Point, Indiana, headed west, and made it to the promised land of California, lured in part by driving the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s a love story between a woman, the myth of California, and a conversion van. She performed an important service for people in the Midwest: she proved that not only was the trip was worthwhile, but also that California was as better than advertised.

If this episode doesn’t make you want to run out and buy a Scout, that’s okay. But you’ll have a far better understanding of the person driving a Scout the next time you see one on the road. Knowledge is power.

When you don’t know the first thing about anything, even figuring out where that line is can be difficult to discern. It’s also part of the fun. And it’s only in hindsight that you realize how those experiences shaped you. That’s the focus of our inaugural episode. It also serves as an opportunity to acknowledge the impact of a road trip in this journey of discovery. Getting outside your comfort zone and exposing yourself to new places and adventures is a good thing, even if it can take the passage of time to make sense of it all.

Early on in the pandemic, a good friend reached out to organize a regular Thursday virtual happy hour. It was a gift to have something to look forward in those first uncertain weeks and months. After the first session, he suggested that we take turns offering a discussion theme. When it was my turn to suggest a topic, I went with “Talk about a memorable road trip you’ve taken.” Everyone approached the assignment with gusto, and the stories they told reinforced how universal the road trip was. One colleague shared experiences and details that I don’t think he’d told anyone else. The 90-minute session flew by. I decided immediately that I wanted to create a podcast devoted to road trip stories.