Latest / The PNW Podcast / Chickens on I-5, Rabid Bats & the Floating Island That Got Away

Transcript

Chickens on I-5, Rabid Bats & the Floating Island That Got Away · The PNW Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did you hear about this chicken truck that overturned on an I-5 on ramp near Le Center, Washington?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't hear about it, man, but these are never good.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like this, this is this it it always looks so bad.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like every chicken truck that turns over, there's a news chopper right there on the scene, just waiting for it to happen.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about it.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a chicken truck looks like a disaster not turned over.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when you go buy one on the highway, you're saying, oh my gosh, what is going on in there?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: They're fighting for their lives.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome in to the PW Podcast, hanging tough here at Stafford Hills, where we're always launching the biggest stories in the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And Stafford Hills Club gets me uh well acquainted with my relaxation before I come in here.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: I will say I spent some time in the sauna though today, Marcus, and I was having a good conversation with a guy who turned out we had some mutual friends, mutual colleagues, things like that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd already been in there for 15 or 20 minutes when the guy got in there, and I didn't want to be rude.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of just let it go.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the next thing you know, I'm just like cooked rice in there.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just cooked sticky rice.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I I eventually, like, I moved down to the bottom seat where it's a little bit cooler.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, well, I gotta, I'm listening to him.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I gotta stretch, which I wanted my mouth near the ground because it was so hot in there, but I just could not bring myself to like remove myself from the room.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually I just stood up and I just I said to him, I go, I'm like cooked rice, I gotta get out of here.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: That was two hours ago, and I'm my body temperature is just starting to come off of a tower.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: My face was bright radish red for a while there.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that is uh frowned upon in all circles, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that when you kick you signed into the studio from Eugene today, I wasn't just kind of sleeping in my chair.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with what looks like a terrible sunburn, but uh has now dissipated, I noticed.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So no, it's that's awesome, man.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I long for a good sauna here.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very jealous of the fact that you've got one right there at the studio uh because uh that is uh one way to just whatever you consumed the day before, be it 18 white claws at a football game or a whole pizza, you can just rinse it out in a sauna, man.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I I got rid of all the food I ate for the last month in there as it's sweating to the oldies, but got the job done.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that uh behavior is frowned upon.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: They've got all the amenities here.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Check them out today at staffordhills.com.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them Drew sent you for half off of your initiation.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Marcus, great to see you in here today, bro.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: We've got uh some funny stories to talk about.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Did you hear about this chicken truck that overtone uh overturned on an I-5 on ramp near Le Center, Washington?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't hear about it, man, but these are never good.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like this, this is this, it it always looks so bad.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like every chicken truck that turns over, there's a news chopper right there on the scene, just waiting for it to happen.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a chicken truck looks like a disaster not turned over.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when you go buy one on the highway, you're just oh my gosh, what is going on in there?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're fighting for their lives.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, I will say, uh, cutlets are delicious.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And they're always alive in the truck.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: But when this thing went down, yeah.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Over 200 live chickens hit the ground and they hit the ground running.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the news and the Washington uh Department of Transportation were having some fun with uh the chickens were winging it for freedom.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they bring they brought in the police, they brought in cleanup crews, the Department of Transportation, they were all there trying to get these chickens off of the road.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And my initial question is always, and now I have insight into this, which we will get to in a minute, but like what happens to those chickens?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because originally those chickens, we know what's gonna happen.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're gonna be a part of Wing Week or Fried Chicken Week, which, you know, bless those chickens.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: They survived the big weeks in the Portland area, but maybe they were moving them up for Seattle's Wing Week and the thing turned over.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm always wondering, is that still food?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, it probably depends on how many miles they have to chase it down.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I, you know, maybe one that gets out and and has a bit of an escape route and uh, you know, maybe makes it a couple miles, that might be too lean of a chicken to serve up in the nugget uh train, Drew.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't really know.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: What I do know is that all of the people that worked on this, first of all, first responders, all that.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: We got a ton of respect for them here on this show, but you brought the wrong people to get the chickens that were going for freedom.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: You need like a 75-year-old lady that lives out in Malala with an old straw broom.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: She'd have every single one of those 200 chickens rounded up in about 15 minutes back on the truck and ready for transport.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um I don't know though about the food part.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good question.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, was it a cage chicken?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then once the truck turns over, now you have to change the packaging to free range, uh, since it kind of had a little bit of a run there for a while.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is it?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is a good question.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the answer of yes or no, I did a little research and it said the fate of the livestock involved in the crash depends on a few conditions like injuries, contamination, and whether they're still considered fit for processing.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know, and I've never done it, but I know that that people pick up roadkill, like freshly killed wildlife off of the highway and eat it.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not sure exactly rules and regulation.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't want you telling me that you're giving me a roadkill burger, but you know, what do you say about that, Marcus?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're a little bit more rural, a little more country than I am growing up.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: If it if it got hit by a car and was still fit for consumption, would you eat, say, uh, you know, some elk or or something else?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just a flat out no from me, because Drew, if I think that intrinsically here with your question, there's a fundamental problem.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: In my life, in my world, if animal has been hit by car, then animal is not fit for consumption.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I mean, listen, I when when we field dress animals, when we take them down with the rifles that we shoot them with, deer, elk, whatever, like when when the bullet exits, there can be a basketball-sized bruise of meat just from that bullet's velocity going through.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we get we call that bloodshot meat.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you cut it out, you leave it with the gut pile.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't take it with you.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: If it's damaged by a bullet, then you're not going to want to eat it.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is it gross?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: What's for those of us who don't hunt?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's but I mean, it really is.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think the best way to put it is bloodshot.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: The meat is is spongy, it's got a lot of a lot more blood in it.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas if you were to just grab the muscle, an uninjured muscle, it's got that kind of sheen over the top of it, that that little layer of tissue, and it's intact.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: This muscle would be like kind of torn apart a little bit.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I just have to say, if you turn your, say, 30 caliber bullet into, I don't know, a half-ton pickup, um, it's gonna cause bloodshot meat all along the side of the animal that it hit.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've talked to people that have cleaned up roadkill a lot.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've I know people that have hit deer and they're out in the middle of nowhere and they just have to pull it off the road.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember it happened to a friend of mine shortly after they changed the law here in Oregon and allowed you to take the roadkill if you wanted it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, he hit it with a 1981 Ford pickup.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Did you get any meat off of it?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, Dude, it broke all four of its legs and flew like 30 feet.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I hit it broadside.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, I did not get any meat off of it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it, I barely could tell it was a deer when I walked up to it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm out on this.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not taking roadkill chicken.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: If Tyson puts it in my bag, I don't know about it, then I guess I'm eating it, but not if I'm finding it on the road, Drew.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And even in the most simplest terms, think about fruit.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Drop an apple and then take a bite of the bruised apple chunk.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: That sucks.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: A bruised grape is disgusting.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like it goes on and on and on.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: If something with no muscle structure or you know, vein setup is that gross, I can only imagine what that does to a nice chicken thigh.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you know, birds have hollow bones, Drew.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't imagine very many of these chickens were what I would call fit for consumption after a rollover accident, but you know, I don't know how well they're secured in there.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, if these weren't free-range chickens, then they're caged up in there probably.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe that helps them a little bit.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I would like to hear the stats, though.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like after a chicken truck overturns, what's the percentage of chicken that gets on another truck and heads to wherever that overturned truck was going?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's a real good question.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, when you're at a grocery store and you can go to the edge of the meat department and there's discount meat with like, this is 20% off, you better throw a 20% off chicken sticker on it.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're not just gonna roll that right back in and I'm going full price.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just make a sticker of a of a semi-truck with with a chicken trailer on it on its side and put that on it so I know that that's what happened here and I can make my decision accordingly.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: 20% off.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if that does it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: If I see the overturned truck, I'm going, you know, BOGO, like buy one, get one free.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Give me some kind of deal to entice me to eat this beat up chicken.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sadly, I've got a little insight, and and one stat I do know, I don't know how many are going to be eaten.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I said a couple hundred, I was wrong.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's 500 chickens on that turnedover truck.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look at the pictures, it's just carnage.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what's strange is, you know, I was driving to an event at five in the morning to do a bacon and beer event years ago.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I I was in the clear, maybe it was 445 in the morning.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: I and I gotta be there set up and live broadcast at six in the morning.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so all of a sudden, my Waze app is just like red line.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, boom.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now this is you're not gonna get there until 6.15.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's 445.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what in the world could have happened that wrecked I-5 to that level?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what it was is a chicken truck turned over and completely froze the freeway in the morning commute.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I sat there forever.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I had just missed the off-ramp that would allow you to detour and get around it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually had to be there when I pulled up on the scene.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was super disgusting.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: There were feathers everywhere, like there was chicken, like it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was snowing because I came up.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what how is it snowing?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like springtime.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, that was like chunks of chicken and and feathers and a fuzz almost, like they it hit so hard.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I pull up and I'll never forget.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's an Oregon Department of Transportation guy standing there.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's and he's in his vest and he's got his hand on his hip, and he's just scratching the back of his head, staring at this carnage.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And when I walked, I I happened to drive by right as he had like his mental meltdown moment, and he turned around, and I'll never forget it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the guy took a kick swing at nothing.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: He was that mad that his day was gonna be picking up chicken bits, and he swung his foot like he was, you know, bending it like Beckham.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, when you try to kick something and it's not there, it kind of spins you around a little bit.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he just starts storming back to his truck.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm thinking, I'm looking at this guy over my shoulder, and I'm thinking, what is he so mad about?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like I see the snow on the ground or whatever's here, and I turn around, Marcus, and they've brought a bulldozer, and they have a bulldozer, and they are they're taking that front like scooper, yeah, the buttons, and they're just picking up, they're bucketing massive piles of chickens and just tossing them on the side of the road.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: And there's Mount Klux a lot, or actually Klux No More.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Klux No More, yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Klux No More is just there, and they're just all I and I and that's why I wanted to talk about the other stuff before we got to this.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Those chickens were not for consumption.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe a little bit of ground chicken if you really wanted to like find the bits in it.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to pick the feathers and the rocks out, sure.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but if you I mean, maybe you could make chicken nuggets.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're a bunch of chicken bits glued together anyway.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there was a you know an idea or two there, but the amount of dirt and filth that's from the highway that's coming up with the chickens, not salvageable.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, just absolutely disgusting.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And and I remember if I didn't love chicken so much and it's such a part of my diet, I could see how something like this could just like shock you into vegetarianism.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is the type of carnage that will make you eat nothing but carrots for weeks.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my God.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you, dude, I've never, and maybe this is a very fortunate thing in my life, I've never been so mad at five in the morning that I had to kick air.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is a that is a level of anger to get to that early in the morning that I don't ever want to know myself at that angry at five in the morning.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: The air kick, because you can you can pull a hammy on the air kick when you really let it go like that.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: But and they're in work.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those guys are in those work boots, you know, like those thick big boys.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're not in a soccer cleat.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like that thing swings you around.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Probably has a steel toe and it just goes.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I do love that the the road workers are the ones that are tasked to clean this up because that right there, what you just described, is exactly how I would think a blue-collar worker would say, let's clean this up and let's do it fast.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be here anymore.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go get the bulldozer, scoop it up, and dump it over there.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is the most just a very, very uh nuts and bolts solution for a very big problem here.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a good chance that when they your your little beeper goes off and they tell you you're coming in early, that you tell them to get clucked because it's just not for me.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I just can't imagine what that person's thinking because it's Friday.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're thinking I'm gonna kind of mail this thing in.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's not every day you pick chicken bits out of the road, and they've cleaned up other stuff, but usually it's like a blown-up tire, or you're getting rid of a car on the side of the road, or you're reporting some damage to you know the center divider, something, not going and grabbing chickens one by one.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, man.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I I will say that they it was lucky that this one was on an on-ramp, uh-huh, which I think really plays into user error.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it does.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I'm not trying to come at the driver here, dude, but on on the on-ramp, you flipped a chicken truck.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a that's a speed-related accident for sure.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been making podcasts for truck drivers for four years of my life now, and every one of them would tell you that that guy took that corner too fast.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's all there is to it.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: So next time uh you're somebody makes you up a little chicken cutlet or you're having some strips, I want you to think that maybe, maybe that's a Le Center chicken.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Dude.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you should have gotten 20% off.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: If I break my teeth on a piece of I-5 in my chicken nuggets, I will kick the air at 5 a.m.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you bite a bone?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think it's I think it's asphalt or concrete.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I can't decide.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: This tastes like I-5 North.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure, but this tastes like I-5 North.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not, it doesn't taste south, it tastes north.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, we're gonna take a break.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna come back and I'm gonna tell you, Marcus, about the mystery floating island that has surfaced.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you how it got there and what why it's on the move, because it's not just floating, it's traveling.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: The podcast is brought to you by Motorsport Hillsboro, where they have you dialed in.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Not only do they have incredible selection when it comes to everything from bikes, both road and dirt bikes, but also you've got the e-assist mountain bikes there.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You've got uh side-by-sides, sea-does, all your watercraft you can imagine.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: They've got it dialed for you right there at Motorsport Hillsboro.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And really, the thing that makes it all work is they've got the greatest financing around.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Northwest's best, and nobody works harder to make sure they get you dialed in and you leave feeling comfortable and happy when you walk out of Motorsport Hillsboro.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: You got to check out their full inventory at MotosportHillsboro.com and you will love it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a mini museum down there.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Look up in the rafters, spend some time.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just come in for a dip and go.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's the kind of place where uh there is no price at admission, but it feels like there should be because it is incredible in there, and Scott and the gang will take care of you and get you out riding in no time.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Also brought to you by Axiom Plumbing, Sewer and Septic, all things water and waste.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: They've got you covered right there.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: And my buddy Bruce over at Axiom is locally raised, and he is not part of some big private equity for firm.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: He is live and local right here in the Northwest, and they will dial you in.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: And if you tell them Drew sent you 10% off your first service, and it is starting to get into those colder months, it's right there on the horizon.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So don't forget$500 off a new water heater if you're running into that.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was just dealing with that recently, and Bruce and the gang are the perfect people to take care of you.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Just tell them that I sent you all the details about what they can do for you at axiompdx.com.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: And brought to you by the Stafford Hills Club, which is the premier place in the Portland area to work out, relax, and just kind of take care of yourself.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a sense of community around here, and they hold the door for you.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: They do all the things they want to see you at Stafford Hills.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: They have top-end tennis, a salt water pool, great workout facilities, and all the greatest classes you could imagine.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, high rocks training, the premier cutting edge stuff, and it's all happening right here at Stafford Hills.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Check out all the details on what's going down at Staffordhills.com.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Marcus, it's a little north of what is considered the true Pacific Northwest, but I guess it's called Cascadia.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, British Columbia is, it looks just like here.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: If it wasn't Canada, it'd be part of the Pacific Northwest, but BC has a mystery floating island.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone's kind of scratching their head at where this thing came from.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the island's discovered in the Williston Reservoir in northern BC.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's enormous, too.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: The thing is, approximately 140 meters by 70 meters.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: To give you a little reference, that's about two football fields.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty big floating island.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it was spotted just kind of on the move.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, um, it appeared satellite imagery helped establish that it was actually moving.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: BC Hydro says the island traveled 30 kilometers over 15 days.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty big clip.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like, I mean, it, you know, in in real numbers, that's like a mile a day.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the hell a kilometer is, but I know what a mile is, and I think that a kilometer is about half of a mile, right?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's be about 15 15 miles in 15 days.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um islands don't do that.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: At least not the ones I walk on.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so 10 kilometers is like a little over six miles, so it's close to close to half.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, you're you're pretty, pretty spot on there.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: But this thing also has it's not just like a chunk of dirt, it has actual like I don't know about grass, like moss and trees and all these other things that are kind of incorporated in it that makes it look just like a standard piece of land.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm confused.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Did it like break off?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Was it submerged and it all of a sudden floated to the top?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do they know where this thing came from or why it's out there?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the researchers are saying that it's the explanation that they're kind of coming to a conclusion on is that logs and woody debris accumulated in a sheltered part of this man-made reservoir where it kind of became a catch-all.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you're in a lake, you get over by a corner and there's just like a chunk of goo and sticks and foliage that have kind of piled it up together.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, as that material started to decompose, vegetation started to grow through it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: It essentially created a giant floating mat of interconnected wood, roots, and plants.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually, enough of that mass broke free to become the floating island.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it actually kind of became its own ecosystem and built itself into an island that's kind of indestructible.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: I guess indestructible is not the term, but doesn't break down upon movement.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the thing broke free and picked up some pretty good speed to get thirty kilometers.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder how long until a billionaire tries to buy this island, Drew.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's kind of the that's kind of the name of the game now, right?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a billionaire, you got to get yourself an island.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's got to be a guy that's a fresh billionaire out there, doesn't have a lot of billions, but he wants to be an island billionaire, and this is right up his alley.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's actually probably closer into my island price range uh than most that I see out there.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: The cost is just astronomical.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the fact that there are no, I don't know how big the animals are, but like actual animals and wildlife on the island shows A how big it is.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when you think football field, a lot of it's like, okay, that's not that big.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Put two of them next to each other and put it out into a reservoir.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty good solid chunk.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it would look huge if you were standing in the middle of it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: You would feel like you were, yeah, on an island, right?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's uh it's I wonder if you could stand on it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of sounds like maybe it would be a little bit uh flimsy what with just some interconnected uh like you know, network of plants, but somebody's gonna go out there and stand on it.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like somebody go plant a flag.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to see somebody from like another country that's just visiting BC walk out there and plant a Spanish flag on the island and just claim it for their country.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it might be top five ways to drown.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because I can just think of me putting my foot and then it's all and just suck me up.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, it didn't say full-grown adults could walk on it.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Just the the sleight of foot little animals can can make it happen.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, BC Hydro says it's currently lodged back along the side.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: So one of two things will happen.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's either going to break free again, and they are monitoring it now.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's on their radar, so they'll be keeping an eye on the floating island, like they can do a damn thing about it.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, the thing is going to stay there and get bigger.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because how did it get big in the first place?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: It lodged along the side, and every time a piece of debris comes by, it just kind of sticks to it like glue.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's so interesting.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and because it's up in Canada, it'll get largely left alone, I'm sure, and they'll just let nature take its course.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that there's a world where this island is in Texas and it gets airstriked before noon on the first day that they see it in there, but uh, or, you know, blown up with some hillbilly dynamite or something like that.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be interesting to watch this thing go through its life cycle.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that uh nobody gets, you know, a little bit too uh brave and runs out there and gets hurt or anything because we know that uh, you know, water's very dangerous.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're talking about big masses moving through water like this, I'm sure it's very dangerous.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: So all this stuff that I'm saying is tongue in cheek, but at the same time, this is this is something we haven't had.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is doesn't hit the news cycle.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: We don't just randomly have islands show up in bodies of water.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like this is only part of the story.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's gonna be another part of this, and whether or not it becomes like movie material or not is just uh up for grabs at this point.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like somebody do something cool, is all I'm saying.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because if some ding-dong jogs out into the middle of it and gets sucked up, imagine, I mean, you're just there's no chance of survival.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how are you going to swim two football fields or hey, let's hope you're in the middle, a football field in order to get off the side of the thing to get back to air?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: It just seems like a really terrible way to go as soon as that thing takes you in.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And is it like a an inner tube?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you've ever been thrown off an inner tube in the middle of the lake and all of a sudden it's really hard to get back up on it because it just keeps flipping over.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're trying to climb back on the island, are you just flicking sticks and stuff off of it you can't get back up?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it sounds a little dangerous, to be honest with you.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe people shouldn't go swimming out there and checking it out.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: But if you got a boat, you know, get up and take some close pictures.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see this thing.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do want to see a little bit more from up close and personal.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, here's another thing, Marcus.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: In Idaho, we're kind of lucky we're in Oregon right now because um no floating island here, and there is a report of rabid bats in Idaho.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh health officials are saying at least 24 of these rabid bats have been detected so far this year alone, which is more than in each of the previous three years.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know a ton about a rabid bat, but I do know that bats can carry rabies.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, doing a little research on that is when rabies actually sets in, it's almost always fatal.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta get you got to get treated immediately for it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a pretty brutal treatment from what I understand, too.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, bad stuff here, and what's kind of crazy, like, first of all, bats we all know are nocturnal, right?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: You never see a bat until you're out camping and one like wisps by your hair, and then you go, oh God, we're surrounded by bats, and I just realized it.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if any one of those things was actually dangerous to you, that is kind of a terrifying little creature.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can't see them.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: They can see you, but they can't see.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, flying around with a disease that could kill you.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: However, Drew, one of the things that will show you that a bat is uh infected with rabies and having a tough time is they're not really nocturnal anymore.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: They start hanging out and flying around during the day, which is incredibly strange behavior.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they also don't fly very well once the rabies really sets in on them.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they you'll see them in physical distress so showing signs of paralysis and such.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe this is one of the better uh species to end up with a little bit of a rabies outbreak, because, well, A, they're blind.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: B, it sounds like it kind of takes them out a lot like it would take a human out, just paraly uh paralysis and then death.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but still, like it's a little bit terrifying to know that one of these little guys that you never really see until they're right up in your business might have rabies.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's that's kind of freaky.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: I will say though, with with bats, they get a bit of a bad rap on the rabies front because uh some of the research I did said that these bats, only one in one hundred has rabies.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: So only one percent of bats have rabies.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, if you think about it, if you had like a hundred dogs and one of them had rabies, it's hard to say like dogs have rabies.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's true.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's it is kind of a a little bit of an urban legend, a bit, because I I remember as a kid, like this is something that we got taught in you know outdoor school is like the one thing that everybody knew is that bats had rabies, and that's why you don't go near bats.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they didn't say one percent of bats, of course.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: They try to scare tactic you a little bit, but yeah, like we can do anything about it.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like, why don't you tell us?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: A bat blind or not, flying in on me.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've gotten zero defenses other than exactly like I don't I don't take my tennis racket camping.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm I'm a real bat killer with a tennis racket, but I don't have it out where I find bats.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if I'm ever in a room with bats and I don't know it, I need to get the hell out of that room.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to be around bats, period.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't go in caves.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I don't know if they've got them up there on the Canadian island or not.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I imagine they migrate from time to time, but what the hell's going on, Idaho?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Who gave your bats rabies?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times you can find them by water.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lake near my house that I have seen bats and I've seen them at twilight.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, so are the rabies bats out at twilight or noon?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I would like to know the difference.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's noon.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, uh the one thing you'll see at those lake areas at twilight is also just a shit ton of gnats, and bats love gnats.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is a that's a main food source for them.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's probably why they're out at twilight, and then let me guess, they're flying erratically all over the place.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're just kind of winging it, you know.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a it's like after the the tailspin hits and the first top gun, like that's kind of the way they fly around.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're just everywhere.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's just because they're echo-locating bugs, Drew.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's so weird to me that these things can't see and they're nocturnal, uh, but they just they can they can hear the bugs and they know where to go, and they're out there eating them at twilight.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's when I always see them when I'm camping on the river, too, is right as the sun goes down.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: You catch the glimpse of the first one, and the next thing you know, it's pitch dark outside.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can't see any of them.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, do you have any idea what constitutes a rabid bat?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just the the things I was talking about, they're gonna be out during the day.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's so but so a rabid bat, is that a ra bat with rabies, or is a rabid bat a crazy bat, and some of them have rabies?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think the the term rabid defines that they are not just carrying the disease, that they're being affected by it as well.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you can carry rabies, and that's that 1% of them are carriers for it.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then these ones that we're talking about in Idaho sound like they have been infected with rabies, which I think is a little bit different.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, being out in the day, unable to fly uh or sustain flight, finding them in unusual places where bats are not typically seen, such as on the ground, out in the open, or living in uh living in space inside a building.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they'll show signs of paralysis, difficulty breathing, cloudy eyes and dehydration.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why you bother to put cloudy eyes on the research.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not getting close enough to check to see if it looks like it's baked.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I just won't do it.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and also aggression or lack of fear.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, bats typically kind of get away from you if they're acting, and this is a this is a uh kind of cross-species thing, right?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like rabid dogs are known to be aggressive.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing with the bats.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you got a bat coming after you that has a little bit of a limp and can't get in the air, maybe looks baked, just go ahead and report it to your local FW.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can see us camping.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Marcus, go check its eyes, dude.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Get over there.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing it.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Have you challenged it to a fight?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: What did it say?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's rabbit.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's super pissed.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's funny because I actually had my last student housing, so not like owned by the University of Oregon, but like a house that a slum that you would rent with your buddies in college.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: The last one of those that I lived in, it was a six-bedroom animal house that actually had a seventh bedroom, which was an attic at the top with like some some felony carpet, no insulation, sketchy, and bat poop everywhere.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh God.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so we cleaned up the bat poop and rented the room to a buddy who was a little light on funds.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: And now that I'm looking back on it, you know, that he there that I was giving him a small chance at rabies, it feels a little bit aggressive.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now I will say this was such a slum that that same house, our our bathtub fell through the ceiling.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I swear to you, I warned, I warned this property manager that there was a mysterious circle of of liquid on the roof that was starting to bulge in the exact shape of our tub.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: And she ignored me straight up.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: We we rode it out, we went to the place, we did all the things, and she slummed us so hard and ignored it.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget when I called her and I'm like, yeah, remember the bathtub?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like all annoyed.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it's halfway through the roof.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can see it.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like describing it.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the living room, it's coming through the ceiling, and eventually they had to come in there, pull that thing back up and do like a major restoration, but give you a little of an insight into the kind of place you live in where they actively leave bats up because let's remember, student housing like that turns over every year.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not like you, as a landlord, like, well, the tenant didn't tell us about it.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: You walk through it every year.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're ridiculous.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I I am happy to say, Drew, that it it doesn't sound like the guy that lived in the attic got rabies.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: He is a vampire now and he won't go out during the day, but uh, you know, can't eat garlic.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, as far as rabies, he's good.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's just uh he's got sharp teeth now.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's all we notice about that guy.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um what I would say is be careful uh around bats.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's more rabid bats now than there has been in the past.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: If they had if they had you know found 26 of them on the mat, that means there's 2,600 bats around, which is pretty aggressive in itself.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you know Idaho, they're probably just shooting into the night sky trying to solve the problem.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just glad they made the podcast finally, Drew.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like stuff's going on in Idaho, but sometimes we don't always hear about it.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And rabid bats get you moved up the news cycle a little bit.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad to see Idaho make an appearance here.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we can clean up this behavior a bit, get a positive story out of them next time.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, take your tennis rackets camping.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: You might get rabies.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, on the board.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're hitting all the perimeter today.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: We got BC, we got Idaho, we do a lot of Washington and Oregon, so it's nice to work it in there.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's always nice to sit with you, Marcus, and talk about these things.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, every single Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we do the show, the PW Podcast, highlighting everything that has something to do with Pacific Northwest.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the show's getting bigger all the time.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Watch it on YouTube, tell your friends about it, and subscribe.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: We'd appreciate it.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: We'll keep the lights on around here.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if you saw the rest of this room, there's a lot of lights in here.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's what it takes to make me look young, Mark.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, get ship a couple of them my way, because uh, wow, looking beat up.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: I stare at myself all day on this screen.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: It ain't pretty.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're looking pretty good.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good rest of your day, and uh, I'll see you next time.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, take care.