Transcript

The Friendly Empire · onefjef

0:00
Hi, Jef.
0:00
This is onefjef in Boston.
0:02
I'm most of the way through the recent episode.
0:06
Um, I'm hoping that Jonathan will quickly get to the West Coast where him using
0:12
the word hella as a, his only general intensifier will make a lot more sense.
0:17
Um, but he is definitely a smart young man, and it's really kinda
0:20
cool to hear this travelogue sort of as an interstitial with your
0:24
own, uh, more slow-paced travelogue.
0:28
Uh, I don't know.
0:29
It's very cool.
0:31
This is USA Dispatch Number One.
0:36
USA Dispatch One rolling out at dawn.
0:43
USA Dispatch One, keep it low and strong.
0:49
USA Dispatch One.
0:51
USA Dispatch One, hold the line.
0:57
Then, then move on Hello.
1:01
Hola.
1:01
Bonjour, et cetera.
1:05
As the title suggests, I am currently in the United States.
1:09
I'm in a suburb outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
1:12
Actually, I'm in my childhood bedroom.
1:16
It's full of boxes and stuff that I couldn't manage to get rid
1:20
of or throw away before I left, and it's still overwhelming.
1:25
When I arrived in the United States last week, I saw these boxes and I was
1:28
like, "Oh, I forgot how much stuff I ended up keeping." I wish I had time
1:33
to go through it again and throw more stuff away or give more stuff away or
1:37
whatever before I leave next week, but I don't think that that's going to happen.
1:42
The stuff is just going to sit here in boxes until the next time I'm back
1:49
in Cleveland, in my mother's house, and I'll be overwhelmed by it again.
1:56
It'll be a perpetual overwhelming machine.
2:00
Something like that.
2:02
I got back into the US last Wednesday, and it was weird at first, but
2:08
it feels somewhat normal now.
2:11
It's funny how quick that happens.
2:13
It feels normal aside from the fact that I don't live here anymore.
2:16
One of the first things I noticed when I landed at the airport was
2:19
the number of people wearing ugly and ridiculous T-shirts everywhere.
2:24
I saw one guy wearing a T-shirt that said, "I fought for beer, bacon, and
2:27
freedom," which, I mean, no comment.
2:32
I also saw another guy, not making this up, had a T-shirt that said,
2:37
"It is my instinct to chase pussy," and there was an illustration of
2:41
a cartoon dog on it chasing a cat.
2:46
Hilarious.
2:48
Oy.
2:49
And also so many shorts.
2:51
So, so many shorts, which is a particularly American
2:55
phenomenon, these shorts.
2:57
Not that other countries don't wear shorts, but not nearly on the
3:00
scale that Americans wear shorts.
3:03
And I, as you can probably guess, I'm not a fan of shorts.
3:08
Yes, it was hot outside, but the US is also the most air-conditioned
3:12
country in the world, so it feels unnecessary to wear shorts unless you're
3:16
working outside or playing soccer.
3:21
Those are the only two.
3:22
I'm not saying I'm a fashion icon by any stretch of the imagination,
3:25
but I like to look nice when I go out in the world, you know?
3:30
Most Americans don't seem to care, or actually maybe they think that shorts
3:35
and hideous T-shirts are fashionable, but I'm here to tell you that they're not.
3:41
Also, people are large in the United States.
3:44
We all know this, but it's still a bit shocking when you've been in a country
3:49
where the people aren't as large to return to the largeness of Americans.
3:57
Speaking of the United States, my German friend Jonathan continues
4:00
his hitchhiking trek from Laredo, Texas to Vancouver, Canada.
4:05
I believe he's currently somewhere in Montana, so he's making progress.
4:10
He continues to send me recordings from the road, and it feels appropriate
4:14
on this, the eve of the United States 250th birthday, to release an
4:20
episode about the United States in 2026 as seen and experienced through
4:25
the eyes of a 20-year-old German hitchhiker, and also some rambling
4:30
thoughts from me interspersed, because you know it's my podcast, so.
4:38
But I really do think you're going to enjoy hearing about
4:41
Jonathan's experiences from the road because it's fascinating stuff.
4:44
He's having a real life experience here, and I couldn't do it, but I'm 52
4:51
years old, but I don't think I could even do it when I was 20 years old.
4:54
I don't think I have the kind of balls for that, but more
4:57
power to Jonathan for doing it.
4:58
So thank you, Jonathan, for sending me these messages and including me and all of
5:03
you, my podcast audience, on this journey.
5:06
God bless America.
5:10
Today I got a lot of blessings.
5:12
And down south in Oklahoma where I started my day, some kid pulled up
5:17
to me and asked if I need any help.
5:19
Unfortunately, he went south, but we had a little chat and in the end he
5:22
asked me if he could like pray for me.
5:26
And I said yes.
5:27
And I thought he will do like all the other ones, like just
5:32
going along, just asking.
5:34
And I figured that maybe it's a kindness in Oklahoma and way to
5:37
say God bless you or whatever.
5:41
But this kid started to pray.
5:43
He touched my shoulder, looked on the ground, and sent a prayer to God.
5:48
Went on for a good two minutes.
5:50
He, he said stuff like, "Ah, I hope…" Like he was sending good
5:55
Christians my way, asking God to look over me, wished me the best,
6:00
wished me luck, or asked for luck.
6:03
That's what he did.
6:04
A minute later, a truck pulled up.
6:07
This guy must have, must have saw us praying, or him praying.
6:10
I was just standing next to him.
6:12
Didn't said a word, handed me 40 bucks out of… Pulled down the
6:15
window, handed me 40 bucks, went on.
6:17
N- nothing.
6:19
I was like, "How, how are you, sir? Blah, blah, blah." He,
6:22
"Nah." He nothing, nothing.
6:23
Just 40 bucks.
6:25
I don't know, he liked the prayer or something.
6:28
And actually, a good Christian came along.
6:31
A fucking pastor picked me up and dropped me outside of Oklahoma just right now
6:38
And I'm drinking a Mexican drink.
6:41
This, this Yaritos, Yaritos, I don't know.
6:45
Anyways, cheers, Jef.
6:46
I spent the last several days with my family in Niagara Falls,
6:49
Canada, and it was super fun, and the falls are, of course, amazing.
6:55
But Niagara Falls is like a mecca for tourists, North American tourists.
7:02
So, so many people.
7:03
So, so many screaming kids.
7:06
So, so many souvenir stores, etc., etc. And I don't care for touristy places.
7:12
I don't like standing next to a bunch of other people taking photos of the exact
7:16
same things they're taking photos of.
7:19
I start to feel like a sheep, you know?
7:22
And not in, like, the cute, fluffy sheep way, although I am cute and fluffy.
7:26
It's also full of casinos and tourist attractions that are
7:30
entirely unrelated to the falls.
7:32
And everywhere you go, someone is trying to sell you something or other.
7:35
Often, they're ugly t-shirts to show people back home where you've been by
7:40
wearing yet another hideous t-shirt.
7:44
Probably with shorts.
7:46
But the Maid of the Mist is still one of the more remarkable
7:48
tourist experiences in the world.
7:51
For those who don't know, the Maid of the Mist is a boat tour
7:53
at Niagara Falls that's been going on for about 100 years, I think.
7:58
And it takes you right to the base of all three waterfalls.
8:02
Yes, there are three waterfalls at Niagara Falls, not just two.
8:06
And I don't really understand why they classify the third Bridal Falls
8:10
as a fall, as a separate fall, falls.
8:13
But they do.
8:14
I don't know.
8:14
Whatever.
8:15
Do your thing.
8:16
Anyway, the Maid of the Mist takes you right to the base of the waterfalls.
8:19
And at one point, you're right in the middle of the Horseshoe
8:22
Falls, which is kind of insane.
8:24
Like, it's insanely windy.
8:26
There's mist everywhere.
8:27
You get soaking wet.
8:28
But it's also, like, exhilarating in a controlled chaos kind of way.
8:35
Like a roller coaster, where you know you're actually safe,
8:37
but you feel profoundly unsafe.
8:43
You understand.
8:43
We also took a helicopter ride, which was exhilarating as well, but in a
8:47
non-wet and non-windy way, fortunately.
8:52
Oh, and what was your favorite thing about, uh, Niagara Falls?
8:55
Well, I gotta say the waterfall.
8:57
What was it about the waterfall that captured your- Um, it was probably,
9:01
like, all the water that was falling.
9:03
Go on.
9:04
It was a nice color, and it was really misty, and there was a lot of water.
9:08
Keep going.
9:09
Uh, it, it, it, it was really loud and impressive.
9:13
Yeah.
9:13
Yeah.
9:13
Which one in particular?
9:14
There were three there.
9:15
The, the horseshoe part.
9:17
That was the definitely the coolest.
9:17
So you liked the Canadian Falls- Yeah … better than the American Falls?
9:20
Well, the Canadian Falls are just bigger, and the horseshoe shape is
9:23
way more iconic than the American.
9:24
And also, the falls are taller, and they have more water that goes over them.
9:29
What was the favorite thing that you ate?
9:31
Probably the fajitas.
9:32
The fajitas were really good.
9:33
He- uh, f- first time sizzling fajitas.
9:35
Yeah.
9:36
It was kind of scary at the start because I dropped a couple
9:39
pieces of rice on my leg, and I think I still have little marks-
9:42
Oh … 'cause they burned me real bad.
9:44
But after everything started to cool down, it was very good.
9:47
It's like a little bit of a, of a souvenir from Canada, the sizzling
9:51
burn on your leg from the fajitas.
9:52
You would say that.
9:54
I just did.
9:55
I mean, yeah.
9:56
You're able to say that, you know?
9:57
We all are.
9:59
Any- anyone may say that.
10:00
That's true.
10:00
Yeah.
10:01
For 250 years of the United States, that's what the freedom that we have
10:04
fought for has been about- Yeah … is being able to say, "The fajita burn
10:08
on my leg is a souvenir from Canada."
10:10
Uh-huh.
10:11
Yeah.
10:11
Anything else to say?
10:12
Um, no.
10:14
250 years is not all that long in either the grand scheme of things or
10:19
the not-so-grand scheme of things.
10:21
The United States is a young country, and the rumors of its
10:24
demise have not been exaggerated.
10:26
It's been coming for a long time.
10:28
It just took a narcissistic, sociopathic reality TV show host grifter with
10:33
a gold toilet to bring it to its knees or to accelerate that decline.
10:39
Because as I've said many times on this podcast, I don't see a way out of this.
10:43
The history of the United States is one of corruption and bribery and a
10:47
false narrative about how everyone can achieve the American dream, whatever
10:51
that is, if only they'd work harder.
10:54
But now, in 2026, the bribery is essentially legalized.
10:59
The corruption is omnipresent, and the American narrative is falling apart.
11:07
The idea that the United States government is for the people, by the
11:10
people is almost laughable at this point.
11:13
The United States government is run for the highest bidders to the
11:17
highest bidders, and no amount of voting, hard work, whatever, is
11:22
going to fundamentally change this.
11:25
An armed revolution, maybe, but with a military the size of the
11:28
United States, the odds of that working out are also rather slim.
11:34
And I also should asterisk this with a disclaimer saying I am not endorsing
11:39
armed revolution in the United States.
11:42
I'm simply offering it as a potential solution to a
11:45
problem that seems intractable.
11:48
But happy two hundred and fiftieth birthday all the same, America.
11:51
I'm glad I was born and raised here, but I'm also glad I no
11:55
longer live here because shit is getting ugly and more expensive.
12:02
Hinze.
12:04
I probably pronounced it wrong, which means hello, I think, in Muscogee.
12:10
Yesterday, I had a very interesting day.
12:13
In the morning, I got picked up by a lady, and she just brought me up
12:16
the road to a more fortunate spot.
12:18
And she offered me another ride at three because she's about to go north.
12:24
It was about to go north from where I was.
12:26
And she said, "Yeah, if you still be there, just text me." And I was.
12:29
I didn't go to ride.
12:31
So I texted her, and she actually came by.
12:34
She came by in a different car than she picked me up in the morning in a huge GMC.
12:38
And in that GMC, there were her three daughters plus a friend.
12:43
And then we went up to pick up her niece.
12:45
And on the ride, she asked me if, if I want to come to a fair, if I
12:49
want to come to a Muscogee ceremony.
12:54
I figured, yeah, could be interesting, but I was ex-expecting
12:58
something very different than that was I was about to encounter.
13:03
Because when we arrived there, I figured this is a typical American fair
13:08
like the ones you see in a movie with rodeo, baseball, football tournament,
13:14
with roller coasters, all that.
13:16
And we stayed there for a good five hours, me with her family.
13:22
I don't know why she took me there, but we had fun.
13:26
After some time, I felt like I'm the cousin from Germany
13:29
from those little girls.
13:30
They were between, like, six and fourteen.
13:34
It was a very fun and interesting evening, and then she dropped me off
13:39
at the next gas station where I'm still at, which is kinda unfortunate, but
13:46
Yeah.
13:48
I went to an American fair and I felt like I'm in a movie, and whoever that woman
13:54
was, her name was Ashley, she was awesome.
13:59
Why?
14:00
Why you take a 20-year-old with your little daughters to, um, an American fair?
14:04
Never asked that question.
14:07
She, she just cool as fuck, I guess.
14:11
Yeah.
14:12
I'm trying to do some distance today.
14:14
Slept at a football stadium to find some shelter from a thunderstorm.
14:19
Um, yeah.
14:21
Yeah, greeting from Muscogee Nation.
14:23
Yeah, once again, I misjudged my time, and, um, it's gonna be a short one this
14:29
week because I'm at home with the family and the holiday and all the other things,
14:37
and I just don't have time right now to put together a very long episode.
14:45
But I've gotten messages from people that say they like the
14:48
shorter episodes, like this one.
14:51
Hi, Jeff.
14:52
This is the other 1F Jeff in Boston.
14:54
Uh, I just listened to your podcast, and yes, I wanted to say
14:56
yes, I like the shorter episodes.
14:57
Those are really fun.
14:58
If I see that an episode of any podcast is 20 minutes, I'm like,
15:01
"Hell yeah, I'll just listen to that while I'm doing whatever and
15:04
I won't have to get involved in a two-and-a-half-hour thing or whatever."
15:06
Also, thank you for introducing me to psychedelic cumbia.
15:10
That is, uh, incredible and a big rabbit hole for me to dive into.
15:16
Anyway, love what you're doing.
15:17
Thanks.
15:17
Bye.
15:17
Thank you to Jeff, 1F Jeff, other 1F Jeff, fan of the pod, was on the pod.
15:23
Appreciate the message.
15:25
I appreciate the feedback.
15:26
I appreciate the message and the feedback.
15:28
How about that?
15:30
And thank you for continuing to listen.
15:32
I appreciate that as well.
15:34
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback for the podcast,
15:37
you can email me at onefjefpod@gmail.com, or pick up your old phone and leave
15:41
a voicemail at 1-669-241-5882.
15:51
I got there eventually, the octave.
15:52
1-669-241-5882. Give it a call.
15:56
Leave a message.
15:57
You can hear your voice on the podcast.
16:01
Probably.
16:02
Probably.
16:04
I don't make promises on this podcast.
16:07
I just make, uh, declarations that may or may not come true.
16:11
Also, please like, rate, subscribe, and review.
16:14
Those things help.
16:15
That's all.
16:16
Mediocrity is a national religion because there ain't no other option here.
16:24
If I do say it's similar to Europe, to some extent it is, but at least in Europe
16:30
we have other options to choose from.
16:33
We have other systems to believe in.
16:36
We have a structure, like a class awareness.
16:39
This is almost a taboo in the US.
16:41
It sounds too much like communism, I guess.
16:47
Like the individual, individual's God, and the collective is communism,
16:54
or it's just, it's just a taboo.
16:55
They're not aware of structures.
16:57
I had this thought because I had… I met two people today.
17:02
First, this morning, I met Jerry, a thirty-two-year-old guy from
17:06
Colorado, burning copper in the woods close to where I slept.
17:10
I invited him for breakfast.
17:12
Look, he used to be a fentanyl junkie, y- but he used to be hooked on, or
17:16
was hooked on synthetic opioids till he was… Since he was nineteen.
17:22
Got clean two years ago, went to jail multiple times.
17:25
Even in jail, they sedated him with s- even stronger opioids he took on the
17:30
streets, and when he got out, he had a prescription to get it at the pharmacy.
17:36
It's the irony.
17:38
He went here to get clean.
17:39
He has three kids, and he's been clean for two days.
17:43
Strong man.
17:44
I, I… To be honest, I admire Jerry.
17:46
He's really put like his… Just doing dumpster diving, trying to level up a bit.
17:55
Went from the streets to a camping trailer, where he's
17:59
living with his wife right now.
18:00
His kids, he's still not allowed to raise his kids, but he thinks if he
18:05
works hard enough, he will one day.
18:06
And the same goes for the other kid who picked me up the other day,
18:09
an eighteen-year-old Afro-American kid from Lamar, Missouri.
18:16
Nice guy.
18:18
Also somebody I will keep in mind.
18:23
He will take me to Kansas City actually today.
18:25
He's gonna… Just gonna pick me up.
18:27
But he believes if he works strong enough, he will make it to the NFL.
18:31
How high is the chance?
18:32
One percent?
18:34
One fucking percent maybe.
18:35
He's still in high school.
18:37
He got a scholarship or almost got an offer from Lincoln University recently.
18:41
He's the, the third fastest kid in Missouri.
18:44
Like, he's… He has some talent, definitely.
18:47
He may has a chance.
18:49
Larry uh, Jerry has no fucking ID.
18:52
He can't even work legally.
18:54
They took it away from him.
18:56
He has no money to get his paperwork done The structure keeps him where
19:01
he's at, and as long as he believes, he will still think all this is his fault.
19:06
All the sufferings, all the people that died around him, everything,
19:09
he thinks it's their fault, it's his fault where he ended up.
19:13
And the college, like the John, like the black kiddo, thinks it's his, it's
19:19
in his power to make it to the NFL.
19:23
He really thinks so.
19:26
He thinks if he works hard enough and puts in the hours, this is his only way
19:32
out of the trenches, and it probably is.
19:34
That's the fucked up part about it.
19:36
But if you only believe in that, and it's a taboo to turn an eye to other
19:42
options, then shit won't change.
19:46
It just keeps the system running.
19:48
You don't even need to enforce power
19:54
to make people align with the, the system.
19:58
They believe so strongly in it that they do it themselves.
20:02
They are the ones keeping the system running.
20:06
But yeah, God bless they make it, I guess, both of them.
20:09
They've been very nice.
20:11
Very nice.
20:12
All of y'all are so fucking nice, it's insane
20:17
Yeah, love As soon as I finish recording this, I'm going to post the photos and
20:22
videos of the chaos after the Mexico-South Korea World Cup game that I experienced.
20:30
And if you'd like to see those yourself, go to patreon.com/onefjef and
20:35
sign up for as little as $5 a month.
20:38
You can support the podcast and get access to extra content, early episodes,
20:43
extra episodes, and all the joy and fun that comes with feeling like you're
20:48
part of a team and part of the elite.
20:53
Capital E elite, patreon.com/onefjef.
20:56
And to my continuing Patreon subscribers, thank you so much.
20:59
I love you.
21:01
I do.
21:02
Te quiero.
21:03
And please do share this with just one person.
21:07
Let's be, let's aim low.
21:09
Share it with one other person.
21:10
Share it with your best friend.
21:11
Send this episode to your best friend and say, "Hey, have you
21:17
heard this amazing podcast?
21:19
I love it.
21:20
And since we're best friends, I think you'll love it too
21:26
Please listen to it now, and then subscribe to the Patreon.
21:30
Did you get that all?
21:31
I hope you wrote it down.
21:32
You can rewind it if you need to write it down.
21:34
A parking lot memo.
21:38
No place to sleep.
21:41
It is half past 11.
21:44
I'm very tired.
21:45
I haven't slept last night.
21:47
Or I did for like, well, like I laid down on a bench and
21:54
closed my eyes for half an hour.
21:56
That's was basically my sleep.
21:59
It was too small to actually fit my entire body, so parts were like just hanging.
22:05
Um, but I'm fine.
22:07
I'm happy.
22:09
Live is to survive.
22:11
Survive is to find meaning in the suffering of nature.
22:17
So I'm good.
22:18
Yeah, my past two days I advanced the most so far on my trip.
22:23
Like two days ago, I was in Joplin, Missouri.
22:28
I think, uh, I told the story already with the homeless man that burned stuff.
22:34
To get some wrapper and I sat down with him to get some breakfast.
22:39
You just have to imagine me sitting with a homeless man in the woods
22:42
in Missouri, talking about life.
22:47
And he smoked a joint a person gave me the day before I gave it
22:52
to him, and I smoked a cigarette.
22:55
And Jerry was cool
22:59
competitive country.
23:00
Meet a lot of competitive kids.
23:02
Down in Oklahoma, I caught a ride with like a mother of, like with
23:07
a, with a couple, and the woman was mother of a kid who was like
23:11
second place in rodeo in Colorado.
23:14
Caught a cow in two point three eight seconds, I think.
23:21
Anyways, John drove me a bit up north, kicked me out, said hello to his mother,
23:27
went back to me, picked me up again, brought me a little bit further up north.
23:31
We ate something together, and then we said goodbye, and I stood at this exit.
23:36
And then a Russian woman pulled up on me.
23:39
She just quit the military.
23:42
It's, it's a fucking interesting story.
23:43
She like, she moved to the US when she was five, went to the military.
23:49
Quit the military to chase his dream, her dreams basically.
23:53
Well, she went to the military means compared to the people from poorer classes
23:58
all over this country who didn't, she has like some social security, so…
24:04
She drove me up until Omaha, Iowa.
24:08
I fucking made it to Iowa, believe me or not.
24:10
I don't even know why, but going to Iowa was a dream of mine.
24:15
I don't know.
24:17
Trust me, the moment I figured I'm in Iowa, because I didn't expect
24:19
this, that this highway will pass through Iowa, I was happy.
24:23
I was happy as fuck.
24:24
It's the little things.
24:26
It's the little things.
24:27
And then I stayed at the gas stop, couldn't really sleep.
24:30
I s- there was nothing.
24:32
It wasn't even, it wasn't even a gas…
24:33
She just dropped me off at a rest place, but this was like, there was nothing.
24:40
Like there was a toilet and a vending machine, and I didn't really find a
24:44
spot to sleep, and there were too many mosquitoes, so I figured I would rather
24:47
stay inside this little building where they had toilets and vending machines and
24:52
like place to sit and charge my phone.
24:56
And this w-- It was air-conditioned, so I kinda just went through
24:59
the night listening to music.
25:04
And this morning, I started to hit the road again at this rest stop
25:12
I got rejected.
25:13
It was a long rejection therapy today, but then I asked like two
25:16
middle-aged men, and I made a couple jokes, and I think they liked them.
25:21
So they… I think they… The, those two middle-aged men
25:25
went inside with their woman.
25:27
They stayed in there for a long time, and I don't think that all
25:30
of all three of them took a shit.
25:32
I think they considered whether to take me or whether they shou- whe-whether they
25:35
should take me or whether they shouldn't.
25:37
I just asked them to go north.
25:38
They had like a trailer with two like four-by-four quad-ish thingies on there.
25:45
Those people were like seniors.
25:48
After one of the women basically interrogated me, what I'm doing, where I'm
25:52
from, if I have a weapon, if I do drugs, if I'm clean, they decided to take me
25:59
Yeah.
26:00
I think those two middle-aged men were best friends since, like, primary
26:05
school or since ever, and they kinda discovered the little kid in me.
26:10
I kinda had this feeling that they, that they wanted to do a foolish
26:13
decision because those were not the kind of people who would usually take
26:17
me on a ride, and they never did that, and they probably never will after.
26:22
We had a very, very interesting chat.
26:25
Like, basically, I talked throughout the four hours a-answering questions they had.
26:31
Like, we had a chat about how Europe is, how life in Europe is over there.
26:35
I told them about my standard of living and what my state provides for me and how
26:41
stuff works, and we got into politics, but I just ta-talked straight facts.
26:46
I told them that we as Europeans have… we fear Trump.
26:49
I didn't set my opinion about Trump.
26:51
I just said the facts that he just taxes, that he, like, tariffs us randomly.
26:56
We're trying to get less dependent on the US, and he just kinda fucks
26:59
up the US in the end of the day because, I don't know, it was a mutual
27:07
beneficial thingy we had, Europe and the US, till Trump came in power.
27:12
He just thought he knew better.
27:14
I didn't set my opinion on that.
27:15
I literally just talked… I, I talked facts for four hours straight,
27:20
and after they were like, "Oh, our world is so small in South Dakota."
27:27
They never heard those things.
27:29
They just look the news.
27:30
They probably just turn on their TV.
27:31
Uh, no, they… Not probably.
27:33
They, they said so.
27:34
They said, "Our…
27:35
The news we get out here are very filtered.
27:38
We have the TV.
27:39
We watch our two channels.
27:41
We don't have time to inform ourselves."
27:46
They were, like, mi- proper middle class working people for, like,
27:50
small company, independent, and really nice, to be honest, but
27:56
they never heard that you don't own guns in Europe and stuff like that.
28:00
Their world was really small.
28:02
Really small.
28:05
But they admitted, and they understood.
28:07
In the end, they gave me a hundred bucks, and one of the guys wanted to show me…
28:12
Well, we dropped the shit off, o-off at their place, and then another, like,
28:16
one of those guys drove me up to the highway, like, the last twenty miles.
28:21
But he really wanted to show me his guns, so he showed me his guns, and
28:24
his woman gave me a hundred bucks.
28:27
And here I am And a flying J in tweaks falls or springs, I don't know.
28:35
It used to be the most livable place in the US two times in a row.
28:41
This is all I know about this town, but I don't understand why.
28:45
It's like just suburbia USA.
28:47
There's nothing different.
28:48
It's not pretty.
28:49
It's boring.
28:50
It's suburbs and over suburbs, over suburbs.
28:54
It's me as a European, I would, I, I wonder why you call such
29:00
place a livable place at first hand, but this is my opinion.
29:08
It is actually cold.
29:11
Like I'm chill.
29:12
Chilly.
29:13
Chill, chill, chilly
29:16
I could like properly sleep tonight if I find a place to sleep And
29:19
yeah, that's it for this week.
29:21
Thank you to Jonathan Weist once again for sending voicemails,
29:26
dispatches from the road.
29:29
You can follow Jonathan on Instagram at jonathqn.w. I did it last week too.
29:38
That's at J-O-N-A-T-H-Q-N dot W. You can follow the podcast itself on
29:46
Instagram and should at onefjefpod.
29:49
That's O-N-E-F-J-E-F-P-O-D.
29:52
You can also follow it on TikTok at onefjefpodcast, on Facebook at
29:57
onefjefpod, et cetera, et cetera.
29:59
Just go to any social media platform, search for onefjef, the podcast,
30:03
or just onefjefpodcast, and you will likely find a thing to follow.
30:09
I'm going to end this episode with a quote from the late, great Hunter
30:14
Thompson that feels appropriate on this, the eve of the 250th birthday
30:22
of the United States of America.
30:25
We are a nation of sheep, and the sheep are being led to the slaughter
30:28
by a gang of cruel, stupid thugs who have stolen the government.
30:35
I'll see you next week.
30:36
Very good, Jeffrey.