Scuba’s New Gig & He Goes To Hawaii, and Morgan’s Road Trip Up North

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show – "Scuba’s New Gig & He Goes To Hawaii, and Morgan’s Road Trip Up North"

Release Date: July 12, 2025

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I. Introduction to Scuba Steve’s New Radio Show

In this episode of The Bobby Bones Show, host Leetra Tate engages in an in-depth conversation with Steve, popularly known as Scuba Steve, about his exciting new venture in the radio industry. Steve unveils his transition from being a part of a morning show to launching his own nighttime rock-centric radio program.

Notable Quote:

• Steve [03:17]: "I just thought I could do it."

II. The Journey to Launching the Scuba Steve Show

Steve shares his nearly two-decade-long journey in the radio industry, highlighting the challenges and perseverance required to reach this pivotal moment. He discusses his strategic approach to creating a unique rock show amidst a market dominated by country and pop formats.

Notable Quotes:

• Steve [07:02]: "There aren't many people aspiring to be rock personalities."
• Steve [08:46]: "I'm a Vampire. I'm always 37."

III. Reflections on Achieving a Dream

The conversation delves into Steve’s personal sentiments about finally realizing his dream. He expresses a profound sense of peace and confidence, attributing his readiness to years of diverse experiences within the radio business. This segment underscores the importance of patience, preparation, and maintaining strong professional relationships.

Notable Quote:

• Steve [12:00]: "I had peace going into it. I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

IV. Exploring New Horizons: Steve’s Trip to Hawaii

Steve recounts his recent vacation to Kauai, Hawaii, emphasizing the island’s serene and lush environment. He describes spontaneous adventures, such as building a beach fire and witnessing unique wildlife, which enhanced his family’s vacation experience.

Notable Quotes:

• Steve [19:02]: "Kauai is the most chill, most relaxed."
• Steve [24:16]: "Never, never did a fire on a beach."

V. Leetra’s Road Trip: Chicago to Minnesota

Leetra Tate narrates her road trip from Nashville to Chicago and then north to Minnesota. She highlights Chicago’s vibrant food scene, particularly its famed deep-dish pizza, and her exploration of Minnesota’s stunning Lake Superior coastline. The trip included visits to picturesque towns like Grand Marais and memorable pit stops such as Cheese Chalet in Wisconsin.

Notable Quotes:

• Leetra Tate [36:11]: "So cool to go out in."
• Steve [48:38]: "That's awesome."

VI. Inspirational Takeaways: Chasing Dreams at Any Age

Throughout the episode, both hosts emphasize the importance of pursuing one’s dreams regardless of age or societal timelines. They share inspiring stories, including that of an 83-year-old author, reinforcing that it’s never too late to achieve personal aspirations.

Notable Quotes:

• Steve [16:11]: "You should chase it. Whether it be. You may think it's silly, stupid, small, whatever, but if it's your dream, you should chase it."
• Leetra Tate [17:22]: "There is no age. It's just a number."

VII. Conclusion: Tuning into the Scuba Steve Show

Wrapping up the episode, Steve provides listeners with information on how to access his new radio show. He highlights the show's schedule across different time zones and encourages listeners to follow him on social media for updates.

Notable Quotes:

• Steve [50:17]: "Follow me on Instagram. Scuba Steve Radio. It's in my bio."
• Leetra Tate [51:56]: "Chasing dreams, baby. Bye, everybody."

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Key Highlights:

• Steve’s New Venture: Transitioning to his own rock-focused nighttime radio show after 20 years in the industry.
• Hawaii Adventure: Building a spontaneous beach fire, exploring Waimea Canyon, and witnessing mountain goats.
• Leetra’s Road Trip: Immersive experiences in Chicago’s culinary delights and Minnesota’s scenic Lake Superior.
• Inspirational Messages: Encouraging listeners to pursue their dreams at any stage of life.
• Accessing the Show: Detailed information on how to listen to Scuba Steve’s broadcast locally and online.

This episode serves as both a personal milestone for Steve and a source of motivation for listeners to pursue their passions relentlessly. Through engaging storytelling and heartfelt conversations, The Bobby Bones Show delivers an uplifting narrative that celebrates perseverance and the joy of achieving long-held dreams.

Transcript

[Leetra Tate]

This is an I Heart Podcast. If you're looking for another heavy podcast about trauma, this ain't it. This is for the ones who had to survive and still show up as brilliant, loud, soft and whole. The Unwanted Sorority is where black women, femmes and gender expansive survivors of sexual violence rewrite the rules on healing, support, and what happens after. And I'm your host and co president of this organization, Dr. Leetra Tate. Listen to the Unwanted Sorority. New episodes every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve]

If a baby is giggling in the backseat, they're probably happy. If a baby is crying in the backseat, they're probably hungry. But if a baby is sleeping in the backseat, will you remember? They're even there when you're distracted, stressed or not, Usually the one who drives them. The the chances of forgetting them in the back seat are much higher. It can happen to anyone. Parked cars get hot fast and can be deadly. So get in the habit of checking the backseat when you leave a message from Nitza and the AD Council.

[Leetra Tate]

Hi guys, I'm Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to bring you all season four a story of a cop and his double life. I wanted to let you know that you can get access to all episodes of betrayal season 1, 2, 3 and betrayal weekly and every single episode of betrayal season 4 episodes ad free with an iheartrucrime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple podcasts plus, you'll get access to all episodes of betrayal season 4 one week ahead of everyone else, available only to I Heart True Crime plus subscribers. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today. The Girlfriends is back with a new season, and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh God. Harnett Jailhouse Lawyer and became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God.

[Steve]

But I had nothing but faith in her.

[Leetra Tate]

I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends Jailhouse Lawyer Listen from July 14th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve]

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a Future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season one, Taser Incorporated.

[Leetra Tate]

I get right back there and it's bad.

[Steve]

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The best bits of the week with.

[Leetra Tate]

Morgan, part one, behind the scenes with.

[Steve]

A member of the show.

[Leetra Tate]

What's up, everybody? Happy weekend. Scoobs is joining me, or as you know him, Scoob. Steve, what's up?

[Steve]

Yeah, what is this? The question answer, or is this the talking one?

[Leetra Tate]

No, we're talking. We're checking.

[Steve]

We're talking. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Life. We're seeing how things are going.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

I need updates.

[Steve]

Okay, I got them for you.

[Leetra Tate]

You have your new show.

[Steve]

Yeah, I just thought I could do.

[Leetra Tate]

It for like an hour.

[Steve]

I can hold it for a minute.

[Leetra Tate]

I feel like that was gonna go a while. How is it going?

[Steve]

So far so good. I think it's great. It's, you know, working things out. I've mostly been focused on, like, connecting with the community and taking calls because a lot of shows don't do that anymore and because that's mostly. Cause people are all over the place and recording from different places and whatever. And so I was like, let me just go back to the basics of radio, especially because it's a rock station. It's classic rock, and they like old school radio. And that was kind of just founded on the connection and phone call. So I was like, let me just go, day one, do the basics. Play music. I even pick some songs and throw them in. Take, like, legitimate requests, which my program director, who's the boss, hasn't said anything yet, so.

[Leetra Tate]

So he's liking it so far.

[Steve]

So. So I think he's fine with that. But I think just creating that connection and taking phone calls has been the best formula so far. I had my first guest on this week.

[Leetra Tate]

I love that. Chase Matthew.

[Steve]

Yeah, he texted me week one. He was like, dude, you're going live. And I was like, yeah. He's like, so, dude, I'd love to come in and take phone calls with you and hang out. I was, all right, you just let me know what date works. And so, yeah, he came in and we hung out for an hour and a half. We took phone calls. We played one of his favorite songs growing up. We prank called his dad. We did it. We played a game. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

That's awesome. Chase is such a good dude.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Does he like rock music too, I would assume.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah. He's from Nashville. His dad used to be in like a classic rock type band.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay.

[Steve]

And so, yeah, he has roots in the city, which I think is cool because it's a local show, local station, and he likes rock music. So it just made sense for me to have him on the show.

[Leetra Tate]

And you're calling it the Scuba Steve Show.

[Steve]

Yeah, I thought about some other names and I even pitched some ideas and people like, no, your name itself is a thing, so just call it that. And I was like, I kind of wanted to call it something else, but. And not have my name attached to it for many different reasons. But then they'd be like, no, no, just, just go with Scuba Steve Show. I'm like, all right. So that's what it is.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay. Scuba Steve Show. Are you sleeping well? Like, how is the sleep going at this moment in time?

[Steve]

So the good thing was the first couple weeks when I started it, my family was in San Francisco, so it was just me by myself here. So for me it was easier because I didn't have to worry about taking care of the kids and, you know, being involved with the family and my wife and everything.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. So you had like an adjustment period.

[Steve]

Yes. So it was great because I got to hit the ground running pretty hard. And so what I would do is I would do this morning show with you guys and then I would go home, I take like a 30 minute power nap, then I would have like a light dinner and I'd come right back and just do it again. Yeah, I get here around like 6:30 central time. And then I'd be here until after it's over, after, you know, 10 o' clock. And then I go home.

[Leetra Tate]

Are you doing it fully live? Is that the goal? And that's the plan?

[Steve]

That's the plan. At least for now. It's a little tough because it is nights. At some point I want to shift the time earlier to like an afternoon slot or something so I can do.

[Leetra Tate]

It right after working for the show. I also don't know if that's also your plan to keep doing both. Ideally I would think you would just want to do your show.

[Steve]

Yeah, I mean, long term. And I've talked to this with Bobby. It's not. That's the first person I went to. I don't know if we ever talked about this is I went to him because, you know, one, I have a lot of trust and faith in him. And I also envy someone like him who is kind of like similar roots, you know, trying to achieve something that's a dream and Going for it. And then he achieved the dream. And so I'm like, all right. And I never. I've never burned bridges in my past from any of my previous jobs within this radio industry and shows. And so I've always seen a better benefit as a human to just have the people around you also support you and be there for you versus being like, screw you. I'm gonna do to my own and not tell you about it. I've seen people do that, and it doesn't work out.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

And so I've learned from the people around me, like, it's better to just have people on your side. And why not? You know? What does that hurt? So I went to him first, like, a year and a half ago, and I told him what my idea was. And he's like, all right, well, if we go forward on this, he goes, you got to commit. Like, this is. This is it. And I was like, all right. And I knew there was a hole in the rock lane. There aren't many people aspiring to be rock personalities. I feel like everyone's so focused on country and top 40 pop and all that. And so I was like, well, I'm a rock kid. I grew up on rock. I used to be in a rock band.

[Leetra Tate]

I was going to say, you have the rock vibes in general, too. Like, you literally did Screamo.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I don't think there's anybody that could be more rock centric than you.

[Steve]

Yeah. And I got into radio to get my band on the radio, so it's like, it's just a full circle moment. And so I went to him for support, advice, ideas, whatever. And he's like, look, I'll help you. Almost like a mentor and coaching and how to. And what to do and how to do this. And it wasn't easy. I mean, it's been a. A 19, 20 year journey in general to get to this point. And then it was a solid year of working with him and the company to figure out how and where and what we can do. And then finally there was like, all right, we're going to do it. We're going to put you on nights. And it's a station here in Nashville. 10, five, nine. The rock. And they're like, we'll put you on nights. We'll see how it goes. There definitely is a need for rock personalities. And the. I guess the Bobby Bones or the Ryan Seacrest of that format is the Big Show. Big Show. John Bourne. Belay. They've been around forever. I used to listen to them growing Up. And I loved them, but they're now at, you know, they're at the, they're at the Sunset. So they've been around for 30 plus years. And, you know, they used to have hundreds of affiliates and now they're down to a smaller number than they used to have. It's just because they're older and they're about to retire. And so I'm like, man, there's an opportunity here. I need to jump on it. You know, I'm not even. I don't. I'm not, I'm not old, I'm young. So I'm just like, I might as well jump on it. I'm never gonna say my age.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. Even though we don't know your age, I was supposed to be like, sure, you're young, Scuba. We have no idea.

[Steve]

Exactly. I'm a Vampire. I'm always 37. So it's like, I don't know. So I was like, this is an opportunity and if I don't jump on it now, then it'll go to somebody else. And I'll be sitting there going like, why the hell didn't I just speak up? And so to answer your question, long winded. My long term goal. Yes. Is to eventually have my own show and do my own thing and peel away at some point. I don't know if that'll be a year, two years, three years, four years, I don't know. But I do want to do my own show and I have the full support of Bobby and the company to work towards that. So I'm excited.

[Leetra Tate]

That's awesome. I mean, you're setting your future self up for, for success and that's what it's all about.

[Steve]

Yeah. And I'm chasing my dream. This has been a dream I've been going after for almost 20 years. And I kind of did it the reverse way where everyone's so gung ho, like, I gotta be on the air. I want, I want a show. And I was like, well, I want that. But I also understand the value in learning everything about the business. And then when you're ready for it, then you're ready for it. Kind of like you told me off air one time, it's like, hey, don't be waiting around. Like, get yourself ready for it. I'm like, well, yes, I have, but I see what you're saying now. I should really get ready for it. So I started planning out logos and ideas and whatever.

[Leetra Tate]

Um, so then when this time came, you were ready.

[Steve]

Yeah. So you're also a Huge instrument in this process of like. Cause I could have just sat there and then they said, hey, in one week you're starting. And I'd be like, oh, crap. I didn't even like, well, you had.

[Leetra Tate]

A really frustrating time period. Because I think something that's really easy to get lost in when you're chasing dreams, especially in the entertainment industry in general, you're grinding for a really long time. And you were grinding for a really long time trying to figure out what this was gonna look like and trying to get answers and just understanding. And I think there was a period of time where it was super frustrating for you. And I went through something similar with doing my podcast. And I was like, okay, well, at the worst case scenario, I just need to be ready whenever it is. Finally time.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And it helped me so much that that felt like it was important for you to also have that information. And that was the only way I even knew. Right. I mean, but it was learning that, like, so much of the grind is in the sit and wait, which is not fun.

[Steve]

No. Because it feels even longer than the grind to getting to that point like that. That one year felt like 20 plus years. Cause I'm like, oh my God, I've done everything. I'm ready. Why are we not just doing this already?

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. And when you look at it like you are ready, like mentally, physically, emotionally, but like all of the assets and things you need for it to be a full, like the next day launch, I was like, okay, maybe I'm not 100% ready. So that's what prepared me. But I'm excited for you that you had all of that. Because it also probably allowed you to brainstorm for yourself and figure out what do I actually want this to look like? Instead of having to last minute be like, okay, let me throw together a logo, let me do this. And that you actually had a plan.

[Steve]

That's some time. And then I officially got a date and I was like, cool. Now I spent the last six months, whatever, figuring that out. And that's okay. Now I got two weeks to then take that and then really polish it to a certain degree to what it is. And yeah, it's here, it's happening.

[Leetra Tate]

What does it feel like after so many years? Because you mentioned a little bit, but you after 20 plus years, this moment is finally here and it's happening. What does that, like, feel like, especially the first show, and you're like, okay, this is no longer just a conversation. I've been working for this. That first show happens. What's like your feeling that you're having in this whole experience.

[Steve]

I think part of me, the sick and twisted side of me is like. Is like, oh, this is only last, like, couple weeks is going to fail.

[Leetra Tate]

Insecurity speaking insecurity.

[Steve]

Exactly. You're like, ah, just whatever, dude. Who cares? This isn't going to last. But then, like, the real true side of me is like, oh, my God. Like, here we are. Like, holy crap. And I actually wasn't even nervous going into the first day because I was talking to my wife and she wasn't even here. She was in San Francisco. And normally I have her with me to be like, talk me off the ledge and give me a hug and just kind of like, push me forward. Like, you're being stupid. Get out there and do it. You trained your whole life for this crap. What do you. What? And so, because it's been so long and. And it really hit me this week when I had Chase in studio and we were talking off air about the 20 years and his management and, you know, he's. He's younger in this industry, and I think they hear and he's like, you've been doing this for like 20 years. He looked at me and they're like. And his two guys back there were like, see? Like, it takes time. And he's like, holy crap. And I was like, yeah, man. I didn't just wake up a couple days ago. And I was like, I think I'm gonna do this. Or even a few years or five years, 10 years. Like, it was a grind of learning everything from being a promotions person to being. Learning sales, to learning the production side of things and being an intern, I mean, all the way up in all the steps. So I think because I had all that behind me, and I was like, okay, I'm confident because I know I can do everything, and I have done everything. So that is what kind of gave me this feeling. I guess the overall, the key word I would say is it gave me. I had peace going into it. Like, oh, yeah, I could do this. I wasn't even nervous. I didn't even have, like. There's some moments where you get like that feeling in your stomach where you can't even breathe and you still get through it, but. But I didn't even have that. Cause I was just like, oh, I feel at peace because I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I've trained my whole life for it. I've been working out for this, and this is my chance to do it. And I'm going to do how I want to do it. And if things fail, it's whatever. I'll just try it a different way or try something else out. And I've also even had the support too, of, you know, we talked about Bobby. But I also had the support of the people here in the local market of, you know, being like, hey, dude, just. It's nights. You can do whatever the hell you want. You could within. Within reason. Say whatever you want.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. You don't, you know, break some laws. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steve]

Don't say things like, no, I'm just kidding.

[Leetra Tate]

Like you like to drop your case.

[Steve]

No. S words, none of that. But you can be a little bit more risky with it. You can try more things, you know, you can talk to the callers, you know, and then when I talk to a caller, you know, we may talk on air for 90 seconds, 2 minutes, but then off air, it's 8 to 10 more minutes of just building relationships and just figuring who these people are and where they're at and what they're doing and just kind of figuring out the audience. So again, I think the overall theme of it is just at peace because it feels right, you know?

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. No, I love that. I love that that's what you're getting to experience. Cause it's always. It's crazy to think about. You get to that mountaintop and you just wonder what it would be like, you know, like when you're chasing it for so long and now you're finally here.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And you're at like your peak. Yeah, Peak is happening in this moment.

[Steve]

But it's the beginning of the peak now because now there's more goals within it of, you know, I don't want to do a show by myself. You know, I've always been a part of a morning show and a part of a cast. So I want to build my own show and build my own cast and have people to feed off of and have the different personalities and that kind of stuff. And then obviously take on more markets and build the show to be, you know, based out of Nashville or wherever I end up living. But it live across the globe is the long term goal.

[Leetra Tate]

I'm excited for you, Scuba. This is awesome. Yeah, it does feel like we've been talking about it for years now, but like off air, not, you know, on best bets. But I'm really excited for you. This is exciting.

[Steve]

Thank you.

[Leetra Tate]

We are in rock era Scuba Steve.

[Steve]

Scuba Steve nights, or as I call them, Scoovs.

[Leetra Tate]

Rock.

[Steve]

Scoobs Rock.

[Leetra Tate]

I like that. Scoobs Rock.

[Steve]

Scoobs Rock.

[Leetra Tate]

That should be the name.

[Steve]

Scoobs Rock. And then something. Now, another thing, too now is like figuring out another thing that makes you more, I guess, credible within the company is revenue. So now I'm also striving to figure out, you know, clients how to make.

[Leetra Tate]

Money and what that means.

[Steve]

How to make money, how to make money for them and for myself and that kind of thing. Because, you know, it doesn't pay a whole lot. But I'm not worried about the pay because it's not about that for me at this moment. It's more about getting it and I got it, and everything else will come after that.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Yeah. And I think my. My message to. To you is. And not necessarily you, but you listening is. You're like me.

[Leetra Tate]

What?

[Steve]

Here's part here. It's like. It's dreams. They're a thing. You should chase it. Whether it be. You may think it's silly, stupid, small, whatever, but if it's your dream, you should chase it. How? However you can and however you want. You only get to live here on this lot, on this earth, at least I know of, unless you're reincarnated. You only get. You only get one shot to do this crap, so why not just do it? And it doesn't matter your age, you know, like, Steve Carell, you know, grinded at acting and finally really made it in. In his late 30s, early 40s. You know, he didn't make it when he was 10. He wasn't a childhood actor. You know, he had small roles here and there that again, got him to where he needed to be. But then he finally got that real big break with doing the Office, which then snowballed into movies and other things. So there is no age to your dream. It's just, you know, can you chase it? Do you have the. You still have. Do you want it that bad?

[Leetra Tate]

You know, it's funny, I had just posted a clip from the podcast episode I did with all the seniors, and I was talking to Sandra. She's 83 years old, Sandra, and I think she's 84 now, but okay. She always wanted to be an author. That was always her goal. And she was very big in, like, education, and she was a teacher and all these things.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Well, at 83 years old, she published her first book.

[Steve]

Oh, it's awesome.

[Leetra Tate]

She's about to publish her second one at now 84.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And just hearing her talk about that truly gave me so much life because when you think about the way that we've put timelines on people, like, you have to do this, this, and this by this age and that age and this age, when, truthfully, as long as you're here and you're just doing all the things that you want to do, there is not a timeline that actually matters. If you accomplish all the things that you want to accomplish, that is the timeline.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

There is no age. There is no certain. Like, sure, society believes in certain things, but that doesn't mean you have to.

[Steve]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Because if Sandra did, Sandra never would have been a published author at 83 years old. If you listen to that, you would have never had your own show on a rock station.

[Steve]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So I think it's cool to look at life from that perspective. So it's funny you say that. It just is super front of mind for me lately, listening to her and now listening to you, it's like a double whammy.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. Everyone's dreams comes when they come, but she trained her whole life. She was in education, so it just made sense. In writing, you can write whenever at any age, really. And then she just needed that one push, and then she finally did it. And that's really cool.

[Leetra Tate]

See? It's awesome. The age does not matter.

[Steve]

It does not. It's just a number.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. All right, Scuba. Let's talk vacation. I know you went to Hawaii on a different timeline on ours, but I don't think you've been on Best Bits since you went to Hawaii.

[Steve]

I don't think so. I think last time we talked, I was about to go that week or that. I think I was going that weekend. I was going.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. We had j. Just, like, talked, and you're like, okay, we might do all this. So I want to talk about both of our vacations that we went on. So tell me about Hawaii. What did you guys actually end up doing?

[Steve]

So we went to Kauai, which is the one we go to every time. It's that furthest island. They call it the. They call it the Garden island or whatever. The island of paradise or whatever. I don't know, because it's so lush. It's like.

[Leetra Tate]

Does it look like the island in Moana?

[Steve]

Moana? Yeah, I believe so. Yes. Yeah. Where it's more. It's definitely much more rural and more chill. They, like. They have roosters running around everywhere.

[Leetra Tate]

See, that's so cool.

[Steve]

Yeah. Country music is in every restaurant, bar, Hotel, like everyone, it's almost the way I would describe it is a small town outside of Nashville, but on an island. Because, okay, everyone. And it has a Costco and a Walmart, so. But there's no.

[Leetra Tate]

That's all you need, let's be honest.

[Steve]

Seriously, because you go to Oahu, which Honolulu is at. That's where the capital is. It's like. It's like Miami. There's massive skyscrapers, there's a huge mall. There's all the big chains there. There, you know, it's the Waikiki Beach. It's beautiful, but it's. It's just a little bit too much. If you're looking for a true vacation.

[Leetra Tate]

Does Maui fall right under that?

[Steve]

Maui? I would say it would probably be maybe the third one, because then the big island is where like all, like the most of the locals will live where the volcanoes are. And it's more of like the, I guess, like the local island.

[Leetra Tate]

Isn't it funny to think about that there's just a volcano on one of those.

[Steve]

I know, right?

[Leetra Tate]

It's this whole state. Right. And they're separated by islands, but just only one of those islands holds like this monster volcano.

[Steve]

Yeah, Well, I think if you look at the geographics of it, like underneath the water, they may all connect. Yeah, but like, that one comes up higher because of the volcano and it builds more of the land when it erupts and stuff.

[Leetra Tate]

I was gonna say where the actual, like lava spout and where it would erupt would happen.

[Steve]

But yeah, anyway, so that's where like all, like the town, like the local. Local people will live. And then Maui is the next one where it's a little more, you know, more the next level of chill where there aren't any. Well now, because the fire, unfortunately, it's even less. But there are like, no high rises. There's none of that kind of stuff. But. But there's a lot of money on Maui.

[Leetra Tate]

A lot of resorts and stuff.

[Steve]

A lot of resorts. A lot of, like, celebs will go there, like a Listers. A lot of those kind of people will go to Maui and the islands around Maui. And then Kauai is the most chill, most relaxed. That's where they filmed Jurassic park back in the 90s. So it's very lush and green and beautiful and waterfalls. And there's a beach called the Nepali coast that you can't even get to. Unless, of course, you take a boat around to it or you hike to it, which is like the most deadliest trail, I think on earth to get to it because of all the landslides and the steepness of it. But, yeah, so fun to me, it's so beautiful. If you haven't been to Hawaii, anyone hasn't been to Hawaii, I always recommend go to Kauai first, especially because if you. Especially if you're looking for a, like, a tranquil, relaxing, chill vacation, which is what we did. We weren't all about, like, we didn't have, like, anything on the schedule, really. Like, we gotta be here by 10, I gotta be here by 11:30, and we gotta be here by. No, this is a place where you literally. Like, I think we're going to go to. I don't know. Let's go to Hanalei Bay today. All right, cool. Let's try to Hanalei Bay. And then along the way. Oh, stop there. Get shaved ice. Hey, on the way back, we'll get that. We'll get poke over there. Or we'll do it's whatever. There isn't any schedule of any sort. The only thing we had scheduled was on our last full day, I got us a cabana at one of the hotels so we could spend the whole day just chilling on the beach, getting served food and relaxing and going back and forth from the pool to the ocean. That was the only, like, real true plan of the vacation.

[Leetra Tate]

Dang, that's impressive. I can't do things that aren't planned. Like, I can be spontaneous, but I have to have some version of a plan.

[Steve]

Really. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

But this is an aisle you don't want to plan, though.

[Leetra Tate]

Well, I think it's because I want to see everything. I'm just somebody who really wants to see all the things that I can possibly see. I'm not a very big relaxer.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

I'm not good at that.

[Steve]

Well, this island has so much to offer that Even in the 13 years we've been going there, I still haven't seen everything. Because there are some places we'll revisit or we'll discover a new spot. Or like, hey, I really want to go to Poipu and check out whatever. Like, oh, we have time this time. We'll do it next time. And there are some things in the list we want to go back and revisit every time, like we always do. Waimea Canyon, because it's so cool. And every time you go there, it's different with the weather. We like Poipu area because there's some shopping down there. But, yeah, you can't go there with.

[Leetra Tate]

A plan for making A joke there, but yeah.

[Steve]

What's that?

[Leetra Tate]

I refrained from making a joke about.

[Steve]

What the name Poipu.

[Leetra Tate]

Because I know it's like it's a cool. It's probably a cool name. Like it means something cool. But yeah.

[Steve]

Poo.

[Leetra Tate]

Hearing it.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I said it like twice and I was like, okay, so give me your five highlights.

[Steve]

Five highlights. I would say one of them. I'd never done this before ever, on a beach. It was the coolest thing we ever did. And it was spontaneous. We're at Hanalei Bay and we got there. And we got there late. I think we got there on like four and sunset was around eight. And then we started seeing people set up fires on the beach. I was like, we could do a fire on the beach and. And they're like, yeah, everyone's doing it. I was like, all right. Hell yeah. So we just started picking up and collecting a bunch of dry firewood and we put together a little makeshift like Survivor style type thing.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, like it wasn't set up for you.

[Steve]

No, not at all.

[Leetra Tate]

Pre fires on a, on a beach?

[Steve]

No, not at all. No. It's just we like. All right, kids, go around grabbing up. We need dry wood. So go grab a bunch of dry wood on the beach. Put in this pile right here. We dug a little hole and then I got like coconut shaving. What do we call it, like skin or husk? Put it down there.

[Leetra Tate]

Outside of it.

[Steve]

Yeah, put it down below. I lit it. I had like a torch type lighter and I lit that up. And then we started putting oxygen to it and adding more fuel to the flame. And then we had a freaking fire on the beach. And we had never done it before. It was the coolest thing ever. And we were the last ones on the beach because we realized I was, I almost said it at the end.

[Leetra Tate]

You always pull back. This is me.

[Steve]

I was, oh my God, no one else on the beach. I think we need to go. And I was like, oh yeah, the sign said it closes at dusk. I was like, oh crap. You can't see anything anymore now because it's so dark. Especially once you put the fire out there, you can't see a damn thing. So yeah, we did that. That was, that was a major highlight. Never, never did a fire on a beach. And I've been going to beaches my whole life. Yeah, I grew up in Florida and California.

[Leetra Tate]

That feels very movie esque.

[Steve]

It was like that. Yeah. And all the kids are there. So it was my kids and then my brother in law, my Wife's brother and his kids were there, and it was just. It was so cool.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, that's fun. Okay.

[Steve]

Cool to experience that. The other one, I would say we got to see Waimea Canyon in a way where. Because. Because the weather is always different. So Waimea Canyon is like the Grand Canyon of the Hawaiian Islands. I think it may even be deeper.

[Leetra Tate]

How do you spell that?

[Steve]

I think it's W, A. Oh, my God. Waimea. W A M E A I, M, E, A.

[Leetra Tate]

State park.

[Steve]

Yeah. State park. Yeah. So you have to pay for parking to go and do the whole thing.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, yeah, for sure. Gives Grand Canyon vibes.

[Steve]

Yeah. And it was cool because we get to see it super clear this time. Or there have been times where you go there and it's so foggy, you can't see a single thing. Or it's so windy and the sand's hitting your face, you can't really enjoy it. But this time we went. It was crystal clear. No fog, no wind. And as we're sitting there, we saw these goats walking up the mountain. Like, I'm like, oh, my God, there's mountain goats. I've never seen a mountain goat before. And there's like, two or three of them, like, walking on this, like, steep, nine, 10, pitch. Like, I don't know how they're even doing it, but they're walking. And. And I'm like, this is so cool.

[Leetra Tate]

That's fun. I love seeing wildlife. I think wildlife is just so cool.

[Steve]

It's really, really cool. Yeah. And it was so random. So I've never seen a goat walk up a mountain. And there they are, a bunch of.

[Leetra Tate]

Them, and they just scale mountains. And you're like, yeah, how are you doing that without anything?

[Steve]

They're the very top of it, so they could easily trip and fall thousands of feet and die, which I'm sure it happens.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, it does. I've seen videos.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I don't know if they actually die, but, like, you see them drop, and I'm like. Like, I. I know people are laughing at this, but, like, are they alive? I need to know.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

They never show them, like, the aftermath. Oh, yeah, yeah. Don't put that on my. I. I had a thing because there's a video that was on social media, like, super viral, of sheep's, like, falling off a mountain. And I had, like, a whole emotional moment over. I'm like, are they alive?

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Nobody knows. Okay, three.

[Steve]

Three, I would say go into near that area. If you keep going up, there's a place called. It's called Cokea Lodge. I have it on my laptop because I always. I always wear the hats and I have the shirts and stuff. And so it's up at the very top of that mountain. And not many people know about it because they go to Waimea and they're like, all right, we've seen it all. And they go back down. But up there. And I've always wanted to do this. My wife's like, no, we're not going to do that. We stay at the same place, but they have cabins up there. And so we've been going there when we randomly found that, I think eight years ago. And so I make that a point. Like, whenever we're up there, I want to go to this place. And we go there and we have breakfast, because they have a lodge there. You can do breakfast. And then they have a little gift shop. It's so cool. And so it was cool for me because I have a picture of my son when we first went there and we only had just my son. And then it was my son and my daughter. And then now it's my son and my third child, my second daughter, her first time going. And so for me, it was a cool moment to have the evolution of, like, all right, the first time you were there with 1, 2, and now 3. And then we brought my wife's family. They usually don't come with when we go that far out because it's like an hour and a half from where we mostly stay. And so they came this time and got to see it. So that was fun for them to see it and for us to have all three kids see it. We went up there and just spent, like, hours just chilling in the park and hanging out with the roosters and eating good food. So that was fun.

[Leetra Tate]

That is fun. I always love when you find, like, just a really random local spot and it's just totally impromptu, and it ends up being one of your favorite places.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

That's a cool experience.

[Steve]

And you tell people about, like, I've never heard of that. And I'm like, good.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. You're like, okay, you. I kind of want you to. Because, like, I need it to stay open because I really like it. But also, please don't overwhelm it. Yeah, I want to be able to go.

[Steve]

Exactly. I don't want to be oversaturated. And. Yeah, okay. That was really cool. And then the fourth one would be the Cabana Day. That was really, really cool, where we just kind of chilled and enjoyed that. And it was awesome because it was in a bay area, so they had a cruise ship in the dock at the moment we were there, so it was kind of cool to see. And we stayed there all day from morning tonight, so we got to see the cruise ship leaving and the whole. So loud. It was fun. And it was great to swim in the pool and in the ocean and my kids running back and forth and enjoying. That whole day was the last day, so that was really cool. And then the final one.

[Leetra Tate]

Did they. Did the kids love being, like, getting food to the cabana?

[Steve]

Did you love.

[Leetra Tate]

For food? And it was like, the whole experience.

[Steve]

This is so cool. They come, they serve it. They go, wow, this is awesome.

[Leetra Tate]

I can imagine kids being like this as an adult. I'm like, yeah, that's cool. I don't have to move. They just bring me stuff.

[Steve]

It's pretty sick.

[Leetra Tate]

Feel really, like, rich and famous vibes.

[Steve]

Totally. Yeah. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I'm sure the kids were like, this is amazing.

[Steve]

This is amazing. We're putting on the credit card. We're gonna pay it off over the next year.

[Leetra Tate]

Like, really cool, but also really expensive, so don't get used to it.

[Steve]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then. So that was fun. And then. Yeah, then you get the drinks and stuff. The fun part, or the funny part was we were drinking pina coladas, which I only would drink on the ocean. And then my daughter wants to grab the strawberry or pineapple or whatever that's in there. It's been soaking in it. I didn't realize. She grabbed it and she's eating the pineapple, and I'm like, oh, my God.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay. I drink all the time with my parents drinks.

[Steve]

You're the party girl. You're family, though, right? So my middle child will be my party girl.

[Leetra Tate]

I'm not gonna say no, but I would. It wasn't like, the fruit that was so. Because back at. Back when, you know, I was a kid, I don't think they put real fruit in any of those drinks.

[Steve]

Yeah, probably not. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

But I always like to lick the salt off the rim.

[Steve]

The rim. Okay. Get a little buzz at 7.

[Leetra Tate]

I like every time. Cause my dad loved to get, like, a margarita or something like that. And every time I would just be, like, sitting there like, l. Licking. He's like, where's all my soul?

[Steve]

I'm like, oh, sorry. You can ask for more if you'd like.

[Leetra Tate]

You know, I was like, seven years old.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

All the time. So, you know. Yeah, I turned out fine.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, I may be in a partier, but I turned out fine.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah. Nothing wrong being a partier.

[Leetra Tate]

That is funny. Okay, number five.

[Steve]

And then the final one would be seeing my. My middle child, Seeing her, like, finally learning how to swim. Because we don't have a pool here. And I grew up in Florida, so swimming for me was, like, almost like, in my DNA. We would swim from birth on. And then my oldest son learned a couple trips ago how to swim, and it was just kind of like riding a bike. He got back on. I was like, oh, I remember how to do this. And then she had always had to wear the swimmies. And she was, like, you know, vocal about, I don't want to wear this. And I'm like. I was like, oh, you kind of need to still wear it. You haven't really learned it. So at the beginning of the trip, she wore it a lot. And by the middle of the trip, towards the end, we started, like, taking it off and, like, watching her how to swim. And of course, she didn't quite get it, but she was getting it. So that was a cool moment to see her learning how to swim. And it was like one of those moments of like, oh, my God, she's growing up.

[Leetra Tate]

It is. That's a huge. That's like riding a bike for the first time. It's when they, like, they take their first steps. It's one of those monumental shifts that happened.

[Steve]

Yeah, it really was. It was really cool.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, wait, so was that in the pool or in the ocean?

[Steve]

It was in the pool, but then we tried it in the ocean we went to, because all the beaches there are different as far as, like, how they are with the waves depending on just where you're at on that island. Some of them, it's like. It's dangerous because it's really, really, really. I mean, the waves are, like, crashing early and crashing hard. So those ones, I wouldn't even let them in the water because it's not strong swimmers.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

And the ones that were medium, she always had to put her floaties on because what it was. But then we went to Hanalei Bay, which is way more chill and almost like glass, where the waves are not too bad for the majority of it. It's almost like a. Like a sandbar reef type deal for a while. That one, I let her take them off, but then if she went further out, I'm like, you gotta put it back on, you know? Cause you're still not there with the swimming. And it's the ocean, so it's not like it's a pool where I could see her and jump down and grab her.

[Leetra Tate]

I was gonna say, I feel like you would be a little bit more nerve wracked over that because I'm thinking of the ocean.

[Steve]

Yes. Ocean scary.

[Leetra Tate]

Ocean scares me. And I know how to swim. I was on the swim team when I was in and I get scared of the ocean.

[Steve]

Okay. Yeah. I don't think about it. I mean, I get scared a little more now than I did when I was a kid because I had no fear of anything.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, when you're a kid, you don't. There's no repercussion all the way out.

[Steve]

We didn't have a crab. You couldn't even see me, I was so far out.

[Leetra Tate]

No, but when you're an adult and you can look out into the ocean and you can see nothing on the other side, I'm like, I know that means that it's really far away.

[Steve]

Totally. And what is underneath the ocean? Nobody knows exactly. So I don't know. I'm a conscious now.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve]

So yeah, I'd make sure she'd put them on just to make sure she was safe. Just again, because you can't see the bottom. So.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Did you guys see any like sharks or whales or dolphins? We didn't see down there at that time. I know they migrate in different places, but they do.

[Steve]

A big whale migration usually is in the winter. Like if you were to go in like November, December, January, I believe that's the big whale time. I didn't see any sharks. We saw a lot of fish. There was dogs at one of the beaches we went to. Going out towards a Nini beach. I think it was a Nini beach, but one of the ones around near Princeville area. Some guy brought his dogs and I was like, why are they. They're having so much fun in the water. And I realized, oh, they're hunting for squid and fish and. And then they would, they would put their face down and then I was like, oh my God, he just caught a squid. And then one of me would catch a squid. But he like didn't fully catch it, but he like killed it or stunned it. So I picked it up for him and I fed him squid. So that was kind of cool to hold. I've never had one before.

[Leetra Tate]

Don't squid squirt? Like, don't they like squirt.

[Steve]

Squirt ink and stuff? Yeah, but it didn't squirt ink or if it did, I didn't see It. So that was kind of cool thing.

[Leetra Tate]

The movies lied to us.

[Steve]

Yeah. Like. Like as a defense mechanism. But maybe it did. I don't know. But yeah, I was. We saw squid. We saw sea turtles. We saw turtles. Yeah, Turtles. We saw those. Usually they randomly swim by. You'll see them.

[Leetra Tate]

One of my. One of my coolest experiences when we were down in Hawaii when we went to Maui. I've only been one time.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

But we snorkeled and I got to be right next to like three different sea turtles.

[Steve]

Oh, that's cool.

[Leetra Tate]

And they were so big.

[Steve]

They're massive.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And of course, we didn't touch them. You're not supposed to, even though, like, they come right up to you. Yeah, but they were so cool. It was. It was such an. I felt like I was in Finding Nemo, like, with all the turtles. Turtles, like in there.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

It felt like that moment and I was like, I just want to give you a fin.

[Steve]

I know. It's so cool that we. There was one beach we were gonna go to, but they wouldn't have time. Where it was turtle season. To where there's a specific beach that I think they've called Turtle beach, where they lay all their eggs. And at that moment, that's where all the babies were going into the ocean. I know, but again, there's so much to see that you can't fit it all in. It was one. I was like, oh, we should go see that because it is turtle season and this didn't work out well.

[Leetra Tate]

Next year.

[Steve]

Exactly.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, you just swap one of the things you go for. Turtle season.

[Steve]

Exactly.

[Leetra Tate]

That would be really cool to see.

[Steve]

It'd be cool. I think next year, though, we're doing Disneyland maybe.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, you guys are not going to do your traditional Hawaiian.

[Steve]

Yeah, we usually do it every other year, so, like, we do it every other year because then the second year or the other year, we end up doing something like a Disney or Disneyland or World or something.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Well, I'm going to. On. On our, like, vacation at a later point. Yeah, the new Universal Disney World again.

[Steve]

I heard you.

[Leetra Tate]

So cool.

[Steve]

You're going to.

[Leetra Tate]

I know. I'm so excited.

[Steve]

So pumped.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay, well, we got to talk about this vacation, so we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Scuba Steve, we drove over a day and one hour on this entire road trip.

[Steve]

I saw you were all up and down the frickin country.

[Leetra Tate]

And I don't think. Listen, when I put together like little. Itinerary ideas.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I just think about A to B.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

I don't really think about, like, A all the way back to F. Okay. Does that make sense?

[Steve]

Yeah. I know. I got a following. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So I'm like, okay, well, A to B was Nashville to Chicago.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Seven hours. Not bad. We were in Chicago for two days. Technically, three nights. Two days. And I love Chicago. I'd never been so.

[Steve]

Oh, my gosh. I was one of my favorite cities.

[Leetra Tate]

I ate so much good food.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Leetra Tate]

I don't think I can ever eat pizza again because I had so much pizza.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Like, because everybody gave you all these different deep dish things. I'm like, well, I have to try as many as I can go on these.

[Steve]

Do this. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And Luminaris was the one that we didn't make. We had three on our list. We had Pequods, Luminati's and Geno's East.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

And those were, like, our three. And Luminati was gonna be the last one. I literally looked at my boyfriend the last time. I was like, no more pizza. I am stuffed. But Geno's east, between all of them, was my favorite so far. I loved it. The homemade, like, crust was insane, But I just loved their riverwalk. I. I didn't expect that river to be so clear.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is.

[Leetra Tate]

It's insane.

[Steve]

And then that lake is. It feels like an ocean because it's so fricking big. It's vast.

[Leetra Tate]

And there's a beach. Like, they walked up and down. You're literally on a beach.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

No idea. In Chicago is a city of runners.

[Steve]

Yeah. A lot of people running and walking.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, my God.

[Steve]

Yeah. Big time.

[Leetra Tate]

You can't even go anywhere. There's like 50,000 people running all the time, running.

[Steve]

And then a lot of people that. They love to drink there. There's even in the grocery stores. And if you went to a grocery store. No, but the grocery stores, they have a bar in the grocery store. They do two things. So I forget the name of the grocery store because my friend David Bone, I think he met him once maybe. Anyways, he moved to Chicago and was supposed to just be there for a couple years and ended up living there for almost 10 years because he loved it so much. So there's a grocery store he took us to, and you can go grocery shopping, but before you start grocery shopping, you can stop at a bar and grab a beer, and they even have a cup holder on the shopping carts to put your beer so you can drink while you're Shopping. And then while you're shopping at the end, you can get like, if you want steak or whatever, you can bring that steak back to that bar and they'll cook your steak and have more beer while you're at the grocery store.

[Leetra Tate]

That's crazy.

[Steve]

The coolest thing ever.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, Chicago's wild.

[Steve]

It is wild.

[Leetra Tate]

Like, I love. I love the vibes. I don't think I could live there.

[Steve]

It's really. Gets really cold.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, that really cold. And just. I don't. I just don't think at this point, I think had I moved there instead of Nashville in my early 20s, I think I could have done it. I don't know. At this point in my life, I'm like a big city girl.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

I think I've gone out of that range. I really like the idea of like being close to a city to go and have the option but not living in it.

[Steve]

Yeah. Cause Nashville is like a mid city, but Chicago's like a big, big city.

[Leetra Tate]

But I loved it. Like, I love New York. And I was like, this would be so cool to live here. It's that vibe. And we ate at a dinner place called Trevoli Tavern, which looks so European. We sat out on the patio. They had great Christmas lights up everywhere. And it felt like I was back in Paris and Barcelona. And I was like, this is. This is so cool. But we're in Chicago and then you walk around the corner and you get ice cream or deep dish pizza.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

It was so cool. So we. That was our first stop was Chicago. Loved it. We did all the things too. We saw the Bean and walked on the Riverwalk.

[Steve]

Did you Macy's and see that big ass Macy's that's there?

[Leetra Tate]

I think we saw it. We didn't go in.

[Steve]

It's near the Bean. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

We were walking with Remy. We also saw. He went in the Starbucks Big Star reserve place thing. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I. Yeah, yeah. But he went inside. He said it was really cool.

[Steve]

Did you do Sears Tower and all that? Hancock Tower?

[Leetra Tate]

Is that the one where you see. At the very top you see the whole city?

[Steve]

Yeah, it's like a. It's like an elevator. It's such a. It's almost like the Empire State Building where I think you have to transfer elevators because it's such a large tower.

[Leetra Tate]

No, you know, I didn't. So I did the Empire State Building in New York and I also did in Seattle, the Needle.

[Steve]

The Needle, Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And both of the times I was like, okay, this Is fine.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

But I wasn't like, I need to do that again.

[Steve]

But Sears Tower is the one too, where you can walk out on, like, a glass block. And if you walk out, you look down and then there is the floor.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay. That's how the needle is.

[Steve]

Okay. They have. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, it did. I don't think you, like, lean like you do on the. This one in Chicago, but similar vibe.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

So I didn't really have a deep design.

[Steve]

Yeah, I've already done it. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Like, I see the city. This is cool.

[Steve]

True. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So we did that. Then we drove all the way up to Two Harbors.

[Steve]

Did you go to a Cubs game or see Wrigley Field?

[Leetra Tate]

We went out in Wrigley Field.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

So we were bopping around bars over there, and we saw Wrigley Field. Like, we saw it at night, which was really cool.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Everything's all lit up, and we didn't go to a game. Another thing I don't have a deep desire to lunchbox yelled at me for that. He said it was unamerican. I was like, I hear you, but I just don't.

[Steve]

That's not like my boyfriend doesn't care about.

[Leetra Tate]

He loves sports. And, like, I think had. We, like, if there was a game or something and it worked out. Yeah.

[Steve]

He'd go, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

But it wasn't like a. He was like, I have to do this.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

It's not one of his teams, so.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

That's what it is.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

But it was cool to see. We did go out and reallyville is really cool to go out in.

[Steve]

Yeah. There's a lot of cool, fun bars around there. Karaoke bars, everything.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. We were. It was bumping everywhere.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And then so from there, we went to Two Harbors, Minnesota.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

And that was like our first stop. And we went basically all up the coast of. It's called the north shore of Minnesota, Basically all the way to Grand Marais, which is the entire, like, north coastline of this. And we were in Grandma Marais. We were like 15 miles from Canada.

[Steve]

Oh, wow.

[Leetra Tate]

That's how high, like, north it all is.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I had no idea that this existed in Minnesota.

[Steve]

Yeah. I've never been there myself either. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Like, all I. All you really hear about is like, the Mall of America.

[Steve]

Yes. Yeah. Minnesota Twins.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. Like, that's what you hear about.

[Steve]

Or it's like super Cold Prince is from there.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. And they have, like, the northern accents. They say A and.

[Steve]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Like in the O's. That's all I've known of Minnesota. And so when I went up there and we're seeing this, I'm like, I just had no. It looked like I was in Maine or Portland. Oregon was the type of coastline with Lake Superior right there.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And Lake Superior is monstrous, so you can't see. It looks. It might as well be an ocean.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And the coastline is, like a west coast where it's super rocky. They had a black sand beach that we went to, which was.

[Steve]

I saw pictures. That's really cool. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. Like, all black. And I don't even think the pictures did justice, because when we walked up, I was like, oh, it's black.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Dark.

[Steve]

I've seen that. Maui has one of those. And if you saw Maui, the black beach, it's like. It's trippy. You're like, what?

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. It throws you off.

[Steve]

Does. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And it wasn't, like, hot on your feet, which also threw me off.

[Steve]

Yeah. You think it's really hot, cold.

[Leetra Tate]

Lava.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Lava.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And then we saw this really cool split rock lighthouse, which was, like, one of our favorite moments, because that's pretty cool. Really pretty old lighthouse. And you are, like, sitting at the rocks below it, and it's just, like, out there.

[Steve]

Surreal. It doesn't even feel real. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah, it didn't. And so that was, like, one of our favorite stops. And from Two Harbors, we ended up staying in Grand Marais and I. And Grand Marais is, like, a place that I, like, want to own a summer house someday. Like, if I ever get a lot of money in my life, I want to own a house there.

[Steve]

Yeah. I know a lot of people who live in Chicago will get, like, cabins or lake houses out there in Minnesota or Wisconsin because it is so beautiful.

[Leetra Tate]

I think everything along Lake Superior is beautiful. Just insane.

[Steve]

Who did most of the driving, or did you guys split?

[Leetra Tate]

He did most of it.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

I think I drove maybe five hours.

[Steve]

He's like, you ain't driving, girl.

[Leetra Tate]

It was only when he got really tired, I was like, you know, because we were driving the Bronco.

[Steve]

Okay, cool.

[Leetra Tate]

The Bronco has adaptive cruise control, which is great for a road trip.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And so I was. He was like, this is awesome. He was like, I want to drive. I was like, okay. But, like, it's my new car. I want to drive it, too.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

No, no.

[Steve]

You just say you're good. Yeah. I've seen you drive. I love you, but. Good. Go.

[Leetra Tate]

He does not make fun of my driving. Only one time, so. Yeah. No, he did most of it.

[Steve]

That's Good.

[Leetra Tate]

But so, yeah, Grandma, favorite, favorite part, like, highlight was Grand Marais. Second was the Split Rock Lighthouse in, like, kind of Two Harbors. Ish, Minnesota. And then third was Riverwalk.

[Steve]

Yeah. Okay, cool.

[Leetra Tate]

All associated with water.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

But what was cool about, like, Grand Marais is like, if you look to one side, there was mountains and waterfalls, and then the other side was this whole coastline.

[Steve]

That's really cool.

[Leetra Tate]

And you're just like, you're in Minnesota.

[Steve]

You're like, yeah, where am I? Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And it's this cute little town that's like a very vibey of, like, a lake beach town.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

And it's just everything's right there. We went to breweries and we were having fun, hanging out and trying different, like, breweries all up and down the coastline. It was just cool. I just like, Minnesota is now, like, one of my favorite places to go. And I just never would have anticipated.

[Steve]

It was the cost, because, I mean, you're in a different place. How was it comparative to, like, here or, like, Los Angeles or whatever? More affordable for things like a beer or for sandwiches or whatever?

[Leetra Tate]

There were definitely some spots that we went to that were cheaper and some that were just more expensive because it was a lake town.

[Steve]

Gotcha vibe. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So it just depends on where we were at along that coastline.

[Steve]

What was gas? A gallon. I know that's a random question if.

[Leetra Tate]

You remember that we were paying, like.

[Steve]

50 bucks to fill up.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Okay. It's not bad.

[Leetra Tate]

And we get like 350.

[Steve]

Oh, 350.

[Leetra Tate]

Whatever the math is on that.

[Steve]

Yeah. Okay. I'll figure it out later.

[Leetra Tate]

And sometimes the. The mileage went a lot better when we were, like, cruise controlling for a long time.

[Steve]

Yeah. Depending if you're going up a hill or downhill. Okay, gotcha.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. All that also math. So there are some times that it would last longer or whatever.

[Steve]

And then after Minnesota, did you then come back down or what?

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

We came all the way back down. We stopped in Minneapolis because my uncle lives there. So we went and visited my family for, like, an hour, saw him. And.

[Steve]

Did you go to the mall? America. Oh, damn it.

[Leetra Tate]

I couldn't be the stereotype, you know?

[Steve]

Yeah, I want to be the stereotype.

[Leetra Tate]

Well, I thought about the dream of mine. We got Universal and stuff coming up.

[Steve]

Like, you know, we got the Nickelodeon theme park inside there.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay. But that's a you thing. You love Nickelodeon.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

That's your whole thing.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And I had a lot of people who wrote me and were like, don't do It. It's overrated.

[Steve]

Yeah. But they did it though. They got to do it, so screw them.

[Leetra Tate]

Probably that's where it came from.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

They just.

[Steve]

They don't. They don't like to have fun. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Probably. We didn't stay there. We literally just popped through. I did get the biggest cinnamon roll the size of my face in Minneapolis.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

That I had seen on Instagram. And it was so worth the hype.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

I'll Buns and coffee. Al bun and coffee. And this was the most bomb cinnamon roll.

[Steve]

I love cinnamon rolls too.

[Leetra Tate]

So if you do go to the Mall of America, you have to go get a cinnamon roll. And they had. And I got a chocolate chip cookie because that also looked really good. Both. Both bomb.

[Steve]

Okay. All right, cool. On this bucket list of places that I hope I can go to at.

[Leetra Tate]

Some point, Mall of America and out Bunny coffee.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And then, yeah, we've stopped back through. We went to Dubuque, Iowa.

[Steve]

Dubuque, Iowa. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. And Galena, Illinois. They're like right next the river. And that was really cool. Iowa also shocked me. It wasn't like my favorite part of the trip. I think more just because it reminded me a lot of Kansas. There was a lot of cornfield, but there was so much more to Iowa. Like, we did a Mines of Spain hike where these insane rocks are out there. We also did one at Pikes Peak State park, which showed you the entire Mississippi, like river, like out there, which was a cool view. And seeing the Mississippi river from that perspective was awesome.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So I was shocked how cool Iowa was. Like scenic wise, you know, how close.

[Steve]

You were to that Axe Murder House. That lunchbox went to the sill.

[Leetra Tate]

Let me see. Where is that on the map?

[Steve]

Yeah. So Axe Murder House, I think it's in Vasila, Iowa.

[Leetra Tate]

Axe Murder House on a map. Show me it.

[Steve]

Yeah. I'm curious if you were close enough where you could have stopped by there.

[Leetra Tate]

Just for gone and. Hey, did you guys ghost lunchbox?

[Steve]

No, not close enough.

[Leetra Tate]

So they. That is in the south west corner.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

We were more in the northeast corner.

[Steve]

Gotcha. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

And like all. Basically all the way down the border and then through illinois back to St. Louis.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

The route we came.

[Steve]

Maybe next time we go there.

[Leetra Tate]

I also don't have a deep desire for that one.

[Steve]

No, I wouldn't either. Not at all.

[Leetra Tate]

In Galeno is really cool. Illinois, it's like this cute little out of nowhere town in Illinois. It's 20 minutes from Dubuque. They're like right next to Each other. The Mississippi river is crazy because you can see Wisconsin at one point and you can see Illinois all while you're on Iowa.

[Steve]

But did you go over the Mississippi river on a bridge?

[Leetra Tate]

So that's how. So we were in Dubuque, Iowa. That's where we stayed.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And then we went over the bridge to go to Galena, Illinois.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Because everybody's hyping up, like, said this really little town was awesome. It was. There's shops up and down this huge main street, and we ate at, like, a cute little ice cream parlor, and.

[Steve]

I love those kind of places.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, it was so cute.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Cute small town. If you're ever driving through there, that was worth it. The stop, for sure.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

And then we came back.

[Steve]

That's cool. How long was the drive back? Once? So Glean, Iowa, was your last, like, stop, stop, and you went straight from there back to Nashville.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. Which I thought was gonna be another seven hours, but it was nine.

[Steve]

But you didn't have to drive it, so who cares?

[Leetra Tate]

I did it. Not a single bit of that.

[Steve]

That's awesome.

[Leetra Tate]

And I was like, I really thought that was seven. He's like, it's fine. We're already here. We just have to get home now.

[Steve]

Was there any, like, when you're doing the road trip parts of it and you weren't stopping for, like, cities, but there any. Cool. Like, I'm so obsessed with, like, random gas stations or rest stops along the way because they always have, like, weird sodas or snacks or something.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay. So this is my shiny moment.

[Steve]

Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Because after going from Chicago to Minnesota, we drove all through. All through Wisconsin.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

What is Wisconsin known for?

[Steve]

Cheese.

[Leetra Tate]

Okay.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

He really had to go pee. And I'm like, dang, we have to stop again. And as soon as they were, like, pulling off, I'm like, it says cheese. And he's like, okay, well, we'll just go there. And I'm like, heck, yeah. We drive up. It's Cheese Chalet. Oh, it's an entire house of cheese.

[Steve]

That's awesome.

[Leetra Tate]

So of course, we went in.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And I bought cheese.

[Steve]

Yeah. You have to. That's so badass.

[Leetra Tate]

It was so awesome. Like, that was, like, a really cool pit stop. And I was just like, you would have thought that I just saw the shining, like, thing that I've wanted to see my entire.

[Steve]

Totally. That was Santa Claus right in front of you right there. It was granting whatever gifts you wanted.

[Leetra Tate]

I was, like, in shock. I was like, how do I bring all of this cheese back home?

[Steve]

Well, it's cheese and fudge, which is like a lot. Lactose intolerance. Worst nightmare. It really is.

[Leetra Tate]

It's probably not great for me either, but I was so. I was in heaven.

[Steve]

Who cares? Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. That was a really cool bit. Stop.

[Steve]

That's awesome.

[Leetra Tate]

And it was cool. Like, honestly, the whole drive pretty much. Besides, like, really at the beginning and right at the end, all the rest of that drive was pretty hilly and scenic and really lush and green. So it was a cool drive.

[Steve]

Yeah. It's not a drive you've ever done before. So it's. It's all new and. Which is like, oh, this is really cool. You get to see all this undiscovered.

[Leetra Tate]

You. Well. And when you go from Chicago up to, like, Minnesota, you like, once you get to Minnesota, Duluth is where we, like, we went out a little bit in Duluth, but that entire Duluth to Grand Marais, which is like two and a half hours stretch.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Is like the Pacific coast highway. But theirs.

[Steve]

Okay. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

So you're all along Lake Superior Lake the whole time.

[Steve]

That's really cool.

[Leetra Tate]

And that was a cool drive.

[Steve]

That is really cool. So how many miles did you put on your Bronco?

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, over 2,000.

[Steve]

Okay. Wow. Okay.

[Leetra Tate]

Yeah. It was crazy. It so was. And the Bronco was awesome to drive.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

And we had all the, like, bells and whistles on that, which made the road trip easier.

[Steve]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

It was so good. Like, I. I would love it. I would recommend it to anybody. I'm. I'm wild, though. And I do random.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Leetra Tate]

Road trips.

[Steve]

It's almost like. You got that car for this trip.

[Leetra Tate]

Oh, yeah. I got a car that would be great for road trips because that's what I do.

[Steve]

That's what. Yeah, that's what you're known for. Yeah. You're walking the road trip, girl.

[Leetra Tate]

Exactly. All right. We're going to get out of here, but scuba. Thanks for sharing yours.

[Steve]

Heck, yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for sharing yours.

[Leetra Tate]

And I'm excited about this new season of life for you.

[Steve]

Me, too.

[Leetra Tate]

It's crazy things happening. Okay, so tell people where they can hear that. Listen to that.

[Steve]

Yeah. So they can listen to it Monday through Friday, depending on where you're at in the world. It's 7 to 10 central, so if you're on the West coast, it's 5pm is when it starts. So 5 to 8. West Coast Mountain, it's 6 to 9. Central, it's 7 to 10. And East coast, it is 8 to 11. And if you're in Hawaii it is 2pm to 7pm okay.

[Leetra Tate]

But if you go on the iHeart app, can you listen to it?

[Steve]

Yeah. To make it less confusing, it's 77 to 10pm Central. If you're in Nashville, you can listen to it on your physical radio. It's 105.9. But if you're, you know, not in Nashville or the proper area, you could, yeah, download the iHeartRadio app. It's free Escortis and then just type in 10, 5, 9 the rock. Maybe, I think maybe Nashville, but you'll see it there. Or if you just follow me on Instagram. Scuba Steve Radio. It's in my bio and then I always put up a link and stuff.

[Leetra Tate]

Scuba's going to be posting more on social media too. I know it.

[Steve]

Oh, I'm so excited. I love social media. It's my favorite thing in the whole world to do.

[Leetra Tate]

You have to. This easy means you have to post.

[Steve]

That's the one thing I loathe is having to post crap on Instagram.

[Leetra Tate]

Well, this is where you are now.

[Steve]

Yeah, I know, I know.

[Leetra Tate]

Chasing dreams, baby. Bye, everybody.

[Steve]

That's the best bits of the week with Morgan. Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out the other two parts this weekend. Go follow the show on all social platforms. Bobby Bones show. And follow at Webgirl Morgan to submit your listener questions for next week's episode.

[Leetra Tate]

If you're looking for another heavy podcast about trauma, this ain't it. This is for the ones who had to survive and still show up as brilliant, loud, soft and whole. The Unwanted Sorority is where black women, femmes and gender expansive survivors of sexual violence rewrite the rules on healing, support and what happens after. And I'm your host and co president of this organization, Dr. Lea Tritate. Listen to the Unwanted Sorority. New episodes every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve]

Smokey the Bear. Then you know why Smokey tells you when he sees you passing through. Remember, please be careful. It's the least that you can do.

[Leetra Tate]

Just to what you desire.

[Steve]

Don't play with matches.

[Leetra Tate]

Don't play with fire. After 80 years of learning his wildfire prevention tips, Smokey Bear lives within us all. Learn [e-mail] and remember, only you can prevent wildfires. Brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, your state forester and the ad Council. Hi guys. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to bring you all season four, a story of a cop and his double life. I wanted to let you know that you can get access to all episodes of betrayal season 1, 2, 3 and betrayal weekly and every single episode of betrayal season 4 ad free with an iheart true crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple podcasts plus, you'll get access to all episodes of betrayal season 4 one week ahead of everyone else, available only to I Heart True Crime plus subscribers. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe Today. The Girlfriends is back with a new season, and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh God. Harnett Jailhouse Lawyer and became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God.

[Steve]

But I had nothing but faith in her.

[Leetra Tate]

I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends Jailhouse Lawyer Listen from July 14th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve]

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season one, Taser Incorporated.

[Leetra Tate]

I get right back there and it's bad.

[Steve]

Listen to Absolute Season 1 Taser incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Leetra Tate]

This is an iHeart podcast.