Daniel Olortegui (Dan-O) & The Caribbean Queen - Together Building The Community Ep38

WEBVTT

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Magazine. All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries.

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Today's guest is a Southern California native who's been rolling in the Volkswagen

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scene since he was just 13 years old.

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After serving 22 years in the Navy, he built a legend, which is a 64 VW bus

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named the Caribbean Queen.

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She's won the best in show. She's been in VW trends. She's even been in some Japanese magazines.

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She's carried brides, prom dates, and parade floats.

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Danny Dano Alortegi is not just a VW guy. He's a culture builder.

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He's the founder of Funk and Groovin'. He's the creator of Groofest,

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which we're going to hear all about today.

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And he's been keeping the air cool scene alive with some really awesome ideas,

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like the valve cover races and the Hot Wheel experiences that you guys,

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plus live music. We're getting into all of it today.

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This is going to be a fun ride, so buckle up.

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Big Dan-O, welcome to Dub Life Diary. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

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Thank you. And you're welcome. You know, I like to get these things always started

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with a mention to my sponsors.

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But the first thing I have to do is I have to thank you for your service.

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Thank you. You're welcome.

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I appreciate and respect my freedom. And I respect so much that, you know, you did that.

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So hats off to you. And again, thank you for your service.

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Again, before we get going, shout out to Volksmania Magazine. I see your shirt.

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Yeah awesome represent uh

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flyest vw magazine on the face of the

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planet i feel that these guys are also probably

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some of the just the the best people in the scene volksmania.com

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use dub life 10 at checkout will get you 10 off your first issue those are us

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subscribers only also shout out to salty dub from the beach to the bay salty

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dub is tearing up the vw scene with some awesome events and SwagSalttyDub.com.

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Same discount code, DubLife10 at checkout for merch only.

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Shout out to my buddy, Chris White, Riverbank Customs. Chris is out of Pell City, Alabama.

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Super stand-up dude all about the VW scene. He's everywhere,

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but check him out on YouTube, Riverbank Customs.

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My last shout out is for your guys in the Houston area, the Groovers.

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Yeah. Shout out to Rick Rubers. Yeah. Awesome, man. Okay, buddy.

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So, so, so back to you. I don't want to take too much thunder. This is all about you.

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Tell us what it was like growing up in Southern California.

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Back in the days. It was awesome. I mean, you hear the highs and lows of California, but born and raised.

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Born on the beach, actually, in Santa Monica, California. The beaches and the

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weather, the only real thing that I miss.

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And the culture, the Volkswagen culture.

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They said there are a dime a dozen out there. Yeah, but the gold garage kept.

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But when you go out to shows, it's like the camarade.

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It's family orientated. And it's just like you get together, you help each other out.

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I wanted to bring that here when I moved here five years ago.

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The west coast vibe i can tell you i mean it's

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like everybody looks at it now it's like it's not the same

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but i wanted to bring that little part of

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me that i remember when i was a kid 13 and growing up being a teenager in high

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school and just going out there and having fun and you seeing volkswagen air

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cool it's like that was the scene that was the scene it's like fast time at

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ridgemont high yeah it was filmed at my high school actually canoogle park high

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school oh Oh, that's so cool, man.

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For real, for real. Just for Coley coming out of that VW bus,

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you know, with all the smoke and all.

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So, yeah, it's a culture and it's an upbringing. And it's just something that

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stayed with me. It's a part of me.

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So were your first memories around that time, 13-ish?

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Absolutely. My dad had a 69 and a 71 square back.

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Okay. And we took long trips in it. And he would get tired. And he said,

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okay, I'm 13 years old. He goes, you go ahead and drive. I'm going to take a nap.

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That's the way I learned any crazy stories about almost getting caught or anything

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you know I just stayed in one lane and,

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you know I used to do that I used to drive my dad's van when I was 14 I didn't

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have I had two older brothers and they used to get themselves into trouble and

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they would have me leave the St.

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Pete Beach house and go pick them up on St. Pete Beach and then they would drive

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it back home but at at 14 i was behind the wheel no driver's license as well so i love feeling.

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Do you want to touch on the square back i know it meant a lot to you as a kid,

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right type type three it's nice square back it was automatic so i didn't have to you know 13 i was.

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Just driving. But as far as that, I mean, it's, my mom had a,

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what's called a landmark.

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A lot of people don't know what

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a landmark is. It's one of the California edition camper vans in 78, 79.

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And it was a joy. We went to Baja, California. We went to San Felipe, camped out 4th of July.

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It's like, we just used it to the bone.

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And it's very rare. I think there's only maybe about maybe be

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seven of them that are still running today so

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but uh it just growing up in the community and

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it just becomes a part of you it's in your blood yeah the

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socal car culture late 80s early

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90s you know it was like to me what looking back

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like the mecca the height of the scene how

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was the scene back then because you lived it compared to

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what the volkswagen scene is today it was a

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little bit more relaxed back then it's not

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you know not political and not this not so

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competitive it was like hey if i win i win you know kind of feeling you just

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go there to tell your story that's what you know people come up and ask you

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questions about you know what what modifications have you done where did you

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get this done where'd you get that done how you know how fast does you really go,

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you know, it's just the stories and the people.

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It's not about winning awards. I saw it leaning towards that more when I left,

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but the biggest shows out there, I mean, you got.

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You got Prado, you got the Huntington Beach Piers.

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I mean, it's just so many. San Diego, my first car show ever.

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And it was just like, welcome to the family. Here you go. Wow. Yeah.

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Awesome, man. I feel that. I feel what you're saying, you know,

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as far as the comparison.

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But I feel like the big takeaway is the main portion of the scene is still kind of like that, right?

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The camaraderie the vibe that's what i

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want to bring back when i when i moved out here to texas and

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it's like come on you know let's wear airheads let's do

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this you know and then once we get the name funk and

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grooving it's just like hey we're groovers let's groove on you know i love it

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man i love it so let's touch on the navy for a second because 22 years i know

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i said it i can't say it enough thank you so much for your service but thank

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you you know summarize if you will because We'll maybe have a chance to dive in,

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but summarize what the journey was like, 22 years in the service.

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Well, it's a long story short, right out of high school, joined the Navy.

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My scores were pretty high, so I was accepted into the submarine community.

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So after bootcamp and great mistakes at Illinois, they just shipped me out to

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Broughton, Connecticut, submarine school.

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And then after graduating from there, ended up on a nuclear-powered ballistic

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submarine, the USS Henry Clay 625.

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Yeah, bumblehead. Did that for six years, got out, went back in as a reservist

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and became a CB. And once that...

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It took off. I mean, I traveled the world, been multiple tours in Iraq,

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Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan.

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It's like, I can't tell you. I mean, the experience alone, I mean, it's a lifetime.

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And 22 years, I mean, I'm not going to hold it. I'm glad I'm here to tell the stories.

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Yeah. And I got to bring this up, but my son was not forced to do anything,

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but he followed my footsteps. four years of ROTC and he just graduated himself from boot camp.

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I saw him coming home at the air. I saw your proud father post and it gave me. Oh yeah.

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Never prouder, never prouder. Good stuff.

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And he was one selected to become a ceremonial guard.

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So he is now stationed in Washington, D.C. for a two-year commitment.

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So he's doing all the funeral honors, the parades,

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the holidays, days anything that happens

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in washington dc he's there wow what

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a privilege and a blessing that sounds awesome yeah over your career i guess

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22 years right did you did you carry your love for volkswagens with you during

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the service or did you kind of did this for a while i did if i thought about

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it plenty i said okay you know i'm,

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I am going to inherit my dad's square back.

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Come to find, while I was in submarines, he passed away.

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The car was stolen and never saw, you know, we never found it. Oh no.

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So I made a promise to myself. I said, hey, I am going to find a 65,

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to the reason that I got the year I was born, a 65 Volkswagen bus.

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And I'm going to either buy it with no flaws, which that's what I intended.

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It but you know i'm thinking i'm richie rich you know no

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so i had to buy a project and

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it took me a good 10 to 11 years before i found one but it was a 64 that's the

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only thing that yeah kind of was a downer but it had good bones and i bought

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it right before covet hit from a gentleman in corpus christi texas and the story behind it is the,

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She arrived in Los Angeles in 1964. I traced her down, went to El Paso,

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then went to Albert, Turkey, New Mexico, went to Corpus Christi.

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I purchased it in Corpus Christi, took it back to California and started the restoration.

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And lo and behold, four years later, I bring it back to Texas.

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Walk me through the build just a little bit so the listeners can envision this

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bus. About the restoration or just finding it?

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No, no. Really more or less about the build itself, just so the details of it can be painted.

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Nobody can see this. They can only hear it. Right.

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I have a lot of before and after pictures, but it was pretty much a rust bucket.

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But the gentleman that I purchased it from is a retired Marine aircraft mechanic.

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Wow. He was restoring it. Okay. He took most of the rust off,

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replaced new panels, primered it, and I took it from there.

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And I took it to California, had it repainted into a color that I accepted.

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And that's the way she...

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I guess adorned her new name caribbean queen

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i've been putting the blue that i

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wanted is almost a turquoise teal the original color is the is a teal turquoise

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it just popped and i said what color is that they said that's caribbean blue

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you know it sounds relaxing like you know when you go on vacation the the blue

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waters and everything else i said that's what i want i said i'm going to call.

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The caribbean queen you know it's like and it's stuck i

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love we painted it i love how the names always evolved

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too you know the the the cars come to us yes

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that's true like cats that find us but the

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the names always come to us too and i always think that's

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so interesting i love talking about that before i

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move past the navy i want to touch on it just a little

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bit more did you ever find any overlap between

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navy life and car culture i did

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every time i came home okay like you know whether i

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was stationed in japan hawaii germany scotland

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it's when i came home it's just going

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to the beach putting my mindset relaxing and

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then you look on pch and there goes the

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vw bus there goes the comercia you know bugs

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everywhere it's like it was you know it

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was just a i should say like a turning point in my life where i could go relax

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and you know many times i went to the rock store where jay leno arnold schwarzenegger

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hang out with my motorcycle and i said okay this is kind of the community i

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want to absorb but taking it to the air cooled side it's like.

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It just so many good memories stories and it's just the people you meet and

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you know they're they're,

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They were there, but they're gone today. And it's still, you just don't,

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it's a memory. And you don't want to keep that memory going.

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So that's what it is to me. Do you have a, maybe a wild story or something from

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your 22 years in the Navy?

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Something that stands out, maybe something that shaped you the most.

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If I told you the number one, I would have to send some agents over there to take you quiet.

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Don't do that then. I want to keep doing this podcast and celebrate you guys.

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Exactly. there are so many i mean that's

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why i mean if i had to do it all over

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again i would in a heartbeat it's not

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just my service to the country it's just experience i

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mean going in at 18 experiencing the world and becoming a mad instantly you

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know it's like living on your own paying your own bills it's everything that

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life has to offer it's put in front of you you know and you grow up really fast.

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I mean, they're just a lot of experiences, but I mean, bad ones that you learn

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from and the good ones that...

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Just so deep that when you get into it, it's like, you know,

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get the little tear coming down, you know, rolling down your face.

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And it's just like, there's just so many. I couldn't pick one out of all of them.

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So after 22 years in, you retire from the Navy.

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What was, was there a transition to go back to like a civilian life or is it not really?

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Okay. Yeah. Tell me about that. Talk about that. Absolutely.

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It's every time we came back from sea duty, it's like we're approximately 107

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days underwater without even coming up for air.

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And it takes a toll. I mean, you start to smell. I mean, it's like these submarines

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run on diesel and it's like, you smell like diesel, like you've been dipped

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in diesel and it's, that's the way it is.

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You get used to it. so when you come back it's

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like basically you gotta you're getting your sea legs back because

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you can't drive you think you know you know everything but after 107 days of

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your mind being set on your job and being on patrol and detergent patrols it's

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like you lose common sense wow you do i mean the same thing when i went to iraq

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and came back it's like you You have to,

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I mean, my wife had to put up with a lot when I came back.

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It's like, I saw a lot, a lot that I don't want to discuss because it's just gruesome.

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And when I'm driving, she goes, why are you driving so slow?

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I'm, and I have a lead foot. Okay. I can't drive 55.

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Sammy Hagar says, I can't, but I came back and I'm driving slow.

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She goes, what are you, what are you doing?

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And I was looking at everything on the side of the roads for IED bombs.

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Yeah, man. I saw a Coke can.

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I kind of like, not, I didn't freeze up, but I'm like, okay,

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let me pass it slow. I'm like, it was just my mindset of being in a war zone

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and coming back and trying to forget about that.

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You know, to being in a third world country and coming back and knowing the

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freedom that I have here, you know, and the freedom that I fought for.

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It's like, I had to relax and say, blessed that I'm not from there,

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but you know, the people there are suffering.

00:17:25.121 --> 00:17:28.841
You got to give it to them. In fact, they're not all bad, half of them.

00:17:29.441 --> 00:17:30.821
That's the way they were brought up.

00:17:31.413 --> 00:17:37.773
Okay, you can't blame them. And the other half are saying, please help us. Give us clean water.

00:17:37.953 --> 00:17:44.293
Give us medical. I mean, it's just something that you have to outweigh. Yeah.

00:17:44.553 --> 00:17:49.593
And, you know, try to say, okay, that's not, that was reality then. It's not reality now.

00:17:49.893 --> 00:17:53.333
And you got to focus on what you got to do. So it's training your mind.

00:17:53.793 --> 00:17:55.473
It's a mind game. Wow.

00:17:56.173 --> 00:18:02.113
Hell of an adjustment, you know. Yes. Not, not something that I've ever had to do.

00:18:02.293 --> 00:18:06.153
You know, I can, I can say that I've moved, you know, cities,

00:18:06.153 --> 00:18:11.073
I've moved from, you know, my hometown to a, you know, different climate and

00:18:11.073 --> 00:18:13.253
I know about that type of adjustment, but man,

00:18:13.633 --> 00:18:19.993
the closest thing that I can relate to is by saying this in about 2014 or so,

00:18:20.173 --> 00:18:22.453
you know, the phones are starting to get real popular.

00:18:22.453 --> 00:18:29.293
My kids all have iPads and around the holiday time, this game called a deer

00:18:29.293 --> 00:18:33.393
hunter had come out on the phone and it was fun as hell.

00:18:33.493 --> 00:18:35.513
You could download it and you could go through all these different,

00:18:35.513 --> 00:18:39.393
you know, variations of playing deer hunter and then you could level up and,

00:18:39.533 --> 00:18:40.873
you know, it was a really fun game.

00:18:41.493 --> 00:18:45.413
Well, I noticed about two weeks I'm playing this game, probably too much,

00:18:45.553 --> 00:18:48.413
probably two, three, four hours a day on my phone.

00:18:48.513 --> 00:18:50.793
It's probably too much, right?

00:18:51.053 --> 00:18:56.413
Yeah. we went on a road trip and we left our home area and we're on the road

00:18:56.413 --> 00:18:57.993
and we're on the interstate. And I kept,

00:18:58.564 --> 00:19:01.664
seeing stuff off the side of the road. And I'd want to like,

00:19:01.924 --> 00:19:05.144
I'd want to put my sight on it. Yeah, exactly.

00:19:05.564 --> 00:19:09.704
So, so when you said that, I thought that I'm like, damn, a Coke can,

00:19:09.964 --> 00:19:16.664
I can't even imagine feeling of how you have to tip awareness.

00:19:17.624 --> 00:19:21.704
Oh my goodness, man. Again. And if for everybody listening,

00:19:22.204 --> 00:19:25.324
thank you, man, so much for putting yourself through that

00:19:25.324 --> 00:19:28.564
for our freedom thank you certainly yes

00:19:28.564 --> 00:19:31.804
okay back to dubs because we spend the

00:19:31.804 --> 00:19:34.904
whole rest of the time talking about your your 22 years but

00:19:34.904 --> 00:19:37.624
the caribbean queen i just want a little bit

00:19:37.624 --> 00:19:41.284
more detail what motor she got in her 2110 okay

00:19:41.284 --> 00:19:44.264
okay and the story behind that was

00:19:44.264 --> 00:19:47.144
i was looking for an engine builder in california at

00:19:47.144 --> 00:19:50.364
the time and the price ranges were

00:19:50.364 --> 00:19:53.104
out of my i mean my

00:19:53.104 --> 00:19:55.784
pocket my wallet i opened it up and you know

00:19:55.784 --> 00:19:58.944
dollar bills flying everywhere i said no i can't i found

00:19:58.944 --> 00:20:02.304
this gentleman josh in idaho well known

00:20:02.304 --> 00:20:07.184
he owned a place called sawtooth air cool he said if you give me this opportunity

00:20:07.184 --> 00:20:11.904
to build your engine i won't ask for anything extra if i find you know i need

00:20:11.904 --> 00:20:16.744
to put more stuff on it and stuff like that and at the time caribbean queen

00:20:16.744 --> 00:20:21.384
would be in a featured in vw Trendy magazine. Wow.

00:20:22.084 --> 00:20:27.584
I told him, if you do this for me, he saved me approximately five to six grand off of it too.

00:20:28.204 --> 00:20:32.844
If you do this for me, and I said, I will write that you were the right engine

00:20:32.844 --> 00:20:34.604
builder, give you props or whatever.

00:20:34.824 --> 00:20:37.804
He goes like, I'm going to have to put my faith in you. My wife,

00:20:37.944 --> 00:20:40.584
for some reason, I mean, all we did is talk on the phone.

00:20:40.964 --> 00:20:44.184
My wife, for some reason says, go with your gut. Let's do this.

00:20:44.724 --> 00:20:46.664
He built the 2110. Yeah.

00:20:47.150 --> 00:20:54.670
He drove from Idaho, Jerome, Idaho, to California with his family.

00:20:54.910 --> 00:21:02.130
What? They're making a vacation out of it. To my home and installed it in my driveway. What?

00:21:02.550 --> 00:21:04.910
Free of charge. What?

00:21:05.570 --> 00:21:08.650
They call him the barefoot mechanic, and I have photos of him.

00:21:08.770 --> 00:21:12.850
He never wears shoes. In the shop, he goes around, he's barefoot.

00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:19.450
Okay? And my neighbors and I would just stay in awe. We're watching him as he's installing my engine.

00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:22.950
And we're going like, man, this guy knows what he's doing. I mean,

00:21:23.010 --> 00:21:26.610
he just like, he has a procedure like a surgeon. Yeah.

00:21:27.170 --> 00:21:30.970
And he's operating. I'm not care of being queen. Wow.

00:21:31.510 --> 00:21:38.490
And ever since then, he's been nonstop. From the article in the magazine, he's been nonstop busy.

00:21:39.050 --> 00:21:42.770
Good. We're looking at Disneyland. He toured everything. He went back home.

00:21:43.010 --> 00:21:45.450
He was so busy. He didn't know what to do.

00:21:46.050 --> 00:21:49.030
We're going to give him a big old fat shout out on this podcast too.

00:21:49.170 --> 00:21:51.590
We'll make sure we put his company in the notes. That's what he is.

00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:53.870
He's retired now. Oh, no.

00:21:54.650 --> 00:21:57.430
That's why you can't find good engine builders. You know? It's like,

00:21:57.530 --> 00:22:02.290
you find them, they're good, you stay with them, but then they're no longer in the business.

00:22:03.090 --> 00:22:06.070
You know, one of the things that we all face, especially us,

00:22:06.110 --> 00:22:10.810
you know, older men that are only getting older, is that that's what's happening.

00:22:10.810 --> 00:22:14.970
And the best guy in the mechanics that we've ever seen, that we've ever done

00:22:14.970 --> 00:22:18.750
business with or have worked for us, they're dying off.

00:22:18.990 --> 00:22:23.050
Yeah. Not only that, it's like our local shop, Das European Auto Shop,

00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:28.750
Christian, the owner, he has Albert, who is 88 years old.

00:22:29.515 --> 00:22:36.415
And he, he works on the air cool, the classic air cools and he's slow, but he's good.

00:22:36.875 --> 00:22:40.195
He's thorough. Yeah. He probably knows. If you have the time,

00:22:40.355 --> 00:22:42.755
you know, some of us, you know, you say you want, it's done now.

00:22:42.915 --> 00:22:46.735
Here, I got the parts, put it in. That's it. You know, it's not like that nowadays.

00:22:46.735 --> 00:22:49.475
You can't do that. So you got to have the time and patience.

00:22:49.935 --> 00:22:57.415
So I believe you, it's a dying breed. So 2110, engine bay is all painted out in color matched.

00:22:57.935 --> 00:23:00.095
I saw some pictures.

00:23:01.015 --> 00:23:05.475
It's got the Porsche shroud. Yes. With the fan and everything else. Yes.

00:23:06.895 --> 00:23:13.135
Love all that. Anything else for the listeners about Caribbean Queen that you

00:23:13.135 --> 00:23:16.075
want to, before we move past that? Absolutely.

00:23:16.515 --> 00:23:23.095
Since she's basically a showpiece and my daughter's going to inherit her. Whoa. It's not for sale.

00:23:25.015 --> 00:23:27.615
The way she set up with the limo seating and everything else,

00:23:27.795 --> 00:23:30.955
I used it for a lot of weddings, went out for weddings, parades,

00:23:31.335 --> 00:23:35.935
grand opening, winter breaks, formals, you name it.

00:23:36.275 --> 00:23:44.055
It's like I have Santa during Christmas, sit there, hand out candy canes and we do holiday photos.

00:23:44.295 --> 00:23:47.355
So that's, you know, I can do that on the side part-time on the weekends and

00:23:47.355 --> 00:23:51.815
that's what it does, you know? I love it. It's a pride. It's a pride of seeing our picture.

00:23:52.155 --> 00:23:56.475
Out there you know his family says hey man look at this i'm like hey that's my bus you know,

00:23:59.195 --> 00:24:02.875
the weird thing is whenever i go to any shows oh

00:24:02.875 --> 00:24:06.935
there's a caribbean queen who's the driver who's they don't know who i am they

00:24:06.935 --> 00:24:10.955
know who my bus is wow you know it's like i seen your bus your bus that's yours

00:24:10.955 --> 00:24:18.075
oh then you must be dano like yeah but my bus is known like everywhere so i

00:24:18.075 --> 00:24:20.995
I want to touch on the weddings and the formals and the proms,

00:24:21.095 --> 00:24:25.435
but quickly, I just want to touch on this, and you can kind of walk me through this experience.

00:24:26.418 --> 00:24:32.118
After the build, you enter your first big car show, which was Dubs and Beer in San Diego.

00:24:32.678 --> 00:24:36.778
Correct. Walk us through that day. What did it feel like winning Best in Show?

00:24:37.018 --> 00:24:39.958
Great. I was in contact with one of the promoters, Amber.

00:24:40.458 --> 00:24:45.278
The day I arrived, I think I got there about two hours early because I was nervous.

00:24:45.618 --> 00:24:49.718
I pulled into the parking lot. She personally parked me in a corner where she

00:24:49.718 --> 00:24:51.238
said, here, this is your spot.

00:24:51.538 --> 00:24:56.978
Got a beautiful bus right here set up. Went there. the reaction of everybody

00:24:56.978 --> 00:25:03.478
walking up to me, asking me what year, what color. They love the theme.

00:25:03.698 --> 00:25:08.258
It's like, tell me about it. Where did she come from? It's like,

00:25:08.981 --> 00:25:11.801
i was in awe i mean i kind of felt like

00:25:11.801 --> 00:25:15.441
a celebrity you know my first show everybody's coming

00:25:15.441 --> 00:25:18.281
up to me and talking to me and i'm like man this is nice

00:25:18.281 --> 00:25:20.981
you know it's like that's where i got the idea of making

00:25:20.981 --> 00:25:26.541
a show board so i would have to repeat myself 100 times during the day wow yeah

00:25:26.541 --> 00:25:29.921
that was smart but it was a good feeling it's like i was going like wow i didn't

00:25:29.921 --> 00:25:33.401
know what to expect i mean everybody's saying hey good job good job that's a

00:25:33.401 --> 00:25:39.441
beautiful bus beautiful beautiful okay And I walked around and I saw the beauty in others.

00:25:39.681 --> 00:25:42.001
And I'm like, they're saying mine's beautiful.

00:25:42.281 --> 00:25:46.021
You know, let's go, look at them. I mean, they're, this is like the cream of the cream.

00:25:46.661 --> 00:25:50.181
And I went out there and I'm going like, okay. Sat down there for awards.

00:25:50.301 --> 00:25:54.121
I wasn't expecting anything. All of a sudden when they called me up, I'm like, what?

00:25:54.901 --> 00:25:58.381
And people were actually pushing me, you know, to go up and accept it.

00:25:58.461 --> 00:26:02.781
Because I, again, I was in shock. Yeah. And I'm going. Sure. If you're talking to me.

00:26:03.181 --> 00:26:06.721
Exactly. And they pushed me up. And, you know, everybody's applauding and all that stuff.

00:26:06.821 --> 00:26:09.121
And Amber presented me and we took photos of them. I'm like,

00:26:09.281 --> 00:26:11.981
you don't know how much this means to me.

00:26:12.141 --> 00:26:17.661
I mean, it's like, this is my first show right after I restored her and bought it out here.

00:26:17.681 --> 00:26:20.141
And it's like, it took off from there.

00:26:20.761 --> 00:26:26.161
That's when I just started attending shows all up and down the West Coast and moved out here.

00:26:26.281 --> 00:26:31.281
And I mean, after 300 plus trophies, it's like I had to calm down because my

00:26:31.281 --> 00:26:36.161
wife said basically, one, you're going to have to buy. buy a new house just for your trophies.

00:26:36.441 --> 00:26:40.501
And the other one is, I don't see you on weekends anymore. I'm like.

00:26:41.713 --> 00:26:45.013
Yeah, I get that. It was a great feeling.

00:26:45.153 --> 00:26:50.973
It was the first motivating experience I've had winning at a car show with my Volkswagen.

00:26:51.793 --> 00:26:56.073
You mentioned celebrities a second ago. I want to touch on this because I think this is so cool.

00:26:56.253 --> 00:26:59.393
But I see Wee Man in some of your pictures.

00:26:59.553 --> 00:27:05.273
And for those listeners that don't know, Wee Man is the smaller statured guy

00:27:05.273 --> 00:27:07.033
off of Jackass. Jackass.

00:27:07.353 --> 00:27:12.513
Yeah. And, you know, guys, I grew up on Jackass, okay? And here's what I used

00:27:12.513 --> 00:27:16.413
to say when I was younger, and this is no joke, and Dano, I'm sure you can relate to this.

00:27:16.533 --> 00:27:20.893
I used to say, boy, if I had cameras like these guys did when I was a teenager,

00:27:21.213 --> 00:27:24.873
I would have gave them all a run for their money because they were entertaining.

00:27:25.093 --> 00:27:28.033
Exactly. Let me tell you, me and my buddies, we were flipping crazy, man.

00:27:28.293 --> 00:27:32.653
You know, we did all the same, jumping off roofs and pranking people and all the same stuff.

00:27:33.333 --> 00:27:36.913
But back to Wee Man, talk to me about Wee Man.

00:27:37.053 --> 00:27:41.053
Do you know him? Does he come to Groove Fest? Is he a Volkswagen guy?

00:27:41.133 --> 00:27:43.053
Like, talk to me about Wee Man. Okay.

00:27:43.993 --> 00:27:47.353
But I want to base it like what you said, when we were smaller and we had cameras,

00:27:47.753 --> 00:27:53.433
have you ever put a ramp, a wooden ramp, and laid kids out and tried to jump over the kids?

00:27:54.649 --> 00:27:59.269
We did it. Like I would ask another kid to do it, but I would lay down.

00:27:59.449 --> 00:28:02.249
Yes, I did. Why don't you do it on a KX 125?

00:28:04.189 --> 00:28:08.269
Yeah. No, the funny thing between. Fly over us. We'd all be underneath.

00:28:08.489 --> 00:28:10.029
No cameras back then. Exactly.

00:28:10.669 --> 00:28:14.869
The funny thing is I worked as a lead carpenter in the motion picture industry.

00:28:15.269 --> 00:28:19.269
Okay. And we happened to be working on Jackass. Oh, no way, dude.

00:28:19.429 --> 00:28:21.649
Okay. So I met the entire crew.

00:28:22.009 --> 00:28:25.249
I mean, it was a blast. i

00:28:25.249 --> 00:28:28.989
mean they had ambulances on standby because they

00:28:28.989 --> 00:28:31.609
got injured all the time they were their own stunts and

00:28:31.609 --> 00:28:34.329
everything they were crazy you know it's like

00:28:34.329 --> 00:28:37.209
okay hang out with steve-o hang out with

00:28:37.209 --> 00:28:40.689
all the other ones and then jason was at his trailer i walk in there we just

00:28:40.689 --> 00:28:45.109
started talking like he was just a normal guy right he is a normal guy you're

00:28:45.109 --> 00:28:50.289
right right okay and then we just started get relationship just like you know

00:28:50.289 --> 00:28:55.069
hey you know my buddy from california okay moved to Texas. He had a grand opening.

00:28:55.489 --> 00:28:59.189
Okay. He's co-owner of Chronic Tacos.

00:28:59.309 --> 00:29:03.029
They were having a grand opening here in Texas. My wife and I were just cruising.

00:29:03.129 --> 00:29:04.029
We said, let's go to grand opening.

00:29:04.189 --> 00:29:06.309
We went there in my bus, drove there.

00:29:06.729 --> 00:29:10.489
He happened to be there and he goes, no way.

00:29:10.869 --> 00:29:15.469
I got to get a picture with that. I'm like, come on outside. Let's go. Right.

00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:18.589
So after he signed autographs and all he came outside and

00:29:18.589 --> 00:29:21.929
obliged and took photos with the queen and you

00:29:21.929 --> 00:29:24.889
know that's just been up up from there so it's like

00:29:24.889 --> 00:29:27.909
you know him i'm like well yeah i know him i'm

00:29:27.909 --> 00:29:32.089
not gonna say i'm his best friend but yeah i know him and he's a great guy and

00:29:32.089 --> 00:29:35.749
you know he'll give you the shirt off his back and he took a picture so a lot

00:29:35.749 --> 00:29:40.569
of people don't know his name is jason we manacuna you know that's awesome man

00:29:40.569 --> 00:29:45.249
i wanted to touch base back on the couple magazines that you were in.

00:29:45.349 --> 00:29:48.729
I know you mentioned VW trends and we kind of touched on that.

00:29:48.849 --> 00:29:52.889
I was interested in hearing more about this Japanese magazine, how they find you.

00:29:53.515 --> 00:29:59.035
Actually, they were at Prado, San Bernardino, California, and God,

00:29:59.175 --> 00:30:04.355
there had to have been more than 300 buses, thousands and thousands of VWs.

00:30:04.495 --> 00:30:07.815
And I happened to get second runner up in my class.

00:30:08.335 --> 00:30:12.915
And that was my last show in California before heading out here to Texas.

00:30:13.175 --> 00:30:19.155
Right. And there were magazine reporters and photographers going up and down, up and down.

00:30:20.144 --> 00:30:23.624
Without my knowledge, I didn't know. And then one of them reached out to me

00:30:23.624 --> 00:30:25.584
and said, is this your bus? I'm like, yes.

00:30:26.144 --> 00:30:30.204
And he said, well, there's an article in a Japanese magazine that,

00:30:30.284 --> 00:30:33.664
you know, would you like to get a copy of it? I said, yeah, please. Yeah, by all means.

00:30:34.324 --> 00:30:39.724
It came. It was in all Japanese. So I asked him, can you please translate this for me?

00:30:39.944 --> 00:30:44.664
He wrote me a big email and it was all translated. And I'm like,

00:30:44.804 --> 00:30:48.724
oh my God, thank you. He put some older pictures that I've had throughout the

00:30:48.724 --> 00:30:51.164
whole history of my, my bus. Yeah.

00:30:51.364 --> 00:30:54.464
And I thought it was pretty cool. And I go, okay. So I took the magazine and

00:30:54.464 --> 00:30:58.344
framed it, you know, and I'm like, wow, she's known in Japan.

00:30:59.004 --> 00:31:03.944
And that is so cool. The only thing that I can relate to that is by starting

00:31:03.944 --> 00:31:09.964
this podcast, I have podcast software that shows me where every IP address is.

00:31:10.084 --> 00:31:11.884
Everybody that downloads an episode.

00:31:12.064 --> 00:31:15.404
Okay. It'll tag their country, you know, or crap.

00:31:15.884 --> 00:31:19.204
And I can't believe it. I'm in like 36 countries.

00:31:19.804 --> 00:31:24.184
It's just, it's baffling to me that the Volkswagen, well, it's not baffling.

00:31:24.324 --> 00:31:29.164
I know that Volkswagen culture runs deep, but to actually see it with my own eyes.

00:31:29.444 --> 00:31:33.124
How many people you have reached? Yes. How many people you have reached?

00:31:33.184 --> 00:31:35.224
You're going like, wow. Yeah. I can. Yeah.

00:31:36.124 --> 00:31:40.584
I got an email the last couple of days of September, just in the month of September,

00:31:40.584 --> 00:31:43.184
I had over 50,000 downloads.

00:31:44.084 --> 00:31:47.424
It's crazy, man. of it is a vw

00:31:47.424 --> 00:31:50.264
podcast absolutely crazy but i'm sure

00:31:50.264 --> 00:31:55.564
you'll and props to you i mean for doing this i mean it's like i'm hearing it

00:31:55.564 --> 00:31:59.264
all over i think you interviewed a couple of friends of mine president of bay

00:31:59.264 --> 00:32:04.464
area volkswagen club david saucier oh yeah there's other people that are around

00:32:04.464 --> 00:32:07.604
that say hey man you got to listen to this podcast i'm like no i'm not a podcast

00:32:07.604 --> 00:32:09.664
my wife is the part then i thought listen i'm like,

00:32:10.341 --> 00:32:14.541
this is me. This is me. This is us.

00:32:14.881 --> 00:32:19.461
That's exactly what I was hopeful for was to, to make it feel like that,

00:32:19.581 --> 00:32:23.561
to make it feel, you know, like a, a, a movement, but because of you guys,

00:32:23.661 --> 00:32:27.941
you guys are the, are the bad-asses of this whole culture. It's the builders.

00:32:28.301 --> 00:32:32.721
It's the guys like you that are putting on shows, you know, having the vision,

00:32:32.981 --> 00:32:35.481
keeping the, the, the, the VW spirit alive.

00:32:35.661 --> 00:32:37.941
That's really what I'm about, man. So again, Yeah, absolutely.

00:32:38.201 --> 00:32:39.081
I got you. Thank you. Absolutely.

00:32:39.721 --> 00:32:45.161
Touching on, I guess, the impact of media recognition, being in magazines,

00:32:45.781 --> 00:32:48.941
using the bus now, it's recognized everywhere.

00:32:49.781 --> 00:32:55.861
Now, do people see the queen at shows and treat her any differently because of her past?

00:32:55.881 --> 00:33:00.561
Or is it still like a new kind of vibe when people meet her?

00:33:00.781 --> 00:33:02.661
I think it's a little bit of both.

00:33:02.901 --> 00:33:07.861
Okay. Due to the fact that people know me for being a showman,

00:33:08.181 --> 00:33:10.041
sort of, I like to display.

00:33:10.461 --> 00:33:14.661
So when I display, you know, for Christmas, I'll put, you know,

00:33:15.041 --> 00:33:18.041
decorate my bus with Christmas items and stuff like that and all that.

00:33:18.501 --> 00:33:23.021
But my main display is I love the beach.

00:33:23.581 --> 00:33:28.321
If I can't go to the beach, I bring the beach to me, myself and my shows.

00:33:28.541 --> 00:33:33.081
Okay. So I have a lifeguard stand, I have a kiddie pool that I fill up with

00:33:33.081 --> 00:33:36.661
water, stand castles, crabs, shells.

00:33:37.001 --> 00:33:40.341
I have the- Oh man, that's so- I mean, I have everything.

00:33:41.102 --> 00:33:44.082
Sometimes i have models there bikinis with a beach ball and

00:33:44.082 --> 00:33:46.922
you know we're presenting the beach yeah yeah culture and

00:33:46.922 --> 00:33:50.482
getting mindsets and like people come up to me go like those

00:33:50.482 --> 00:33:54.102
were the good old days oh man beach

00:33:54.102 --> 00:33:58.102
boys when they hear the beach boys they all they can think of my bus it's like

00:33:58.102 --> 00:34:02.842
that's the vibe i got they said i love your bus because you display it i don't

00:34:02.842 --> 00:34:07.782
just put it there and park it i i do a whole showman type thing and it's like

00:34:07.782 --> 00:34:13.602
that's what i'm known for And people appreciate that because it gives them that, man,

00:34:13.882 --> 00:34:16.822
I wish I would have kept mine or, you know,

00:34:17.202 --> 00:34:20.442
oh, I remember in high school when we drove it, you know, there were like 20

00:34:20.442 --> 00:34:24.142
of us packed in it and we all drove, you know, down the boulevard and stuff.

00:34:24.242 --> 00:34:28.582
I'm like, exactly. The story you want to hear. It's like, it's, it's.

00:34:29.246 --> 00:34:35.066
It's beyond awesomeness. So fast forward just a little bit. You came to Houston.

00:34:35.066 --> 00:34:37.126
You started Funkin' Groovin'.

00:34:37.626 --> 00:34:43.006
What sparked the idea to, I guess, even start a club, but not just a club,

00:34:43.006 --> 00:34:46.386
a club with a name like Funkin' Groovin'? Just the vibe.

00:34:46.886 --> 00:34:51.286
Mine's a daily driver. When I drive it, I mean, I'm getting thumbs up.

00:34:51.686 --> 00:34:56.586
I'm getting the shocker sign. I'm getting, it's beautiful. I'm getting honked at.

00:34:56.866 --> 00:35:00.526
I'm getting big old smiles. I get people videoing me while I'm driving.

00:35:00.706 --> 00:35:04.386
I'm like, it's just like, okay, like we go back to being like a celebrity.

00:35:04.646 --> 00:35:07.446
You know, they know the bus. They don't know me.

00:35:08.046 --> 00:35:12.126
And it's just, I didn't have that vibe around the town that I have,

00:35:12.286 --> 00:35:13.586
that I live. I'm in North Houston.

00:35:14.946 --> 00:35:18.686
And when you went to car shows, it wasn't that big unless you went to a big

00:35:18.686 --> 00:35:20.446
car show in Austin, Texas,

00:35:20.846 --> 00:35:25.306
in Dallas, Texas, you know, you go to these big shows and it's,

00:35:25.446 --> 00:35:31.166
I wanted, I said, I, I craved for that feeling and that's okay. We started the club.

00:35:31.326 --> 00:35:35.506
There's only six of us three and a half years ago. There's only six of us in the club.

00:35:35.646 --> 00:35:40.546
And if you go look at my Facebook page, we have more than 773 followers.

00:35:40.666 --> 00:35:42.126
Yeah. I was going to say there's almost a thousand.

00:35:42.426 --> 00:35:47.426
Yeah, exactly. There's over 150 running right here in Houston,

00:35:48.106 --> 00:35:54.726
you know, and it's like taking it, being around people that love what you love, you know?

00:35:55.406 --> 00:35:59.626
Love telling their stories, love appreciation.

00:36:00.346 --> 00:36:05.546
Again, it's not about winning. It's about being together, spending time together,

00:36:05.706 --> 00:36:07.866
getting to know people on a one-to-one basis.

00:36:08.146 --> 00:36:13.006
I mean, my wife is best friends now with, you know, people in the club and stuff like that.

00:36:14.059 --> 00:36:17.059
It's family. And that's what I wanted to bring to this.

00:36:17.219 --> 00:36:22.679
It's everybody getting together, being positive, supporting other clubs as well.

00:36:22.939 --> 00:36:26.179
Yes. And that's what it's about, you know. Hey, man, you did it.

00:36:26.299 --> 00:36:28.979
You did it. And you're continuing to do it.

00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:34.859
That's so awesome. From six people to almost 1,000, you know,

00:36:35.099 --> 00:36:38.759
there's a pat on the back for you right there. Thank you.

00:36:38.999 --> 00:36:42.019
But now we also have Groove Fest.

00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:44.639
Yes. Yeah, so let's touch on that.

00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:47.739
Okay. Groove Fest. How did Groove

00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:52.199
Fest start, I guess, and kind of walk me through the vibe of Groove Fest?

00:36:52.759 --> 00:36:57.759
There was a different Volkswagen car club that was basically hosting it in the

00:36:57.759 --> 00:37:01.819
town of Tombaugh, and they made it not just a car show.

00:37:01.999 --> 00:37:07.539
It was a festival, and the city of Tombaugh was having a festival, all things groovy.

00:37:07.839 --> 00:37:12.779
And this Volkswagen car club came in, and they started incorporating it.

00:37:12.899 --> 00:37:15.699
Bringing people and liking German cars. It's groovy.

00:37:15.999 --> 00:37:20.699
The Austin Powers vibes, you know, hey, you know, the tie-dye days.

00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:27.279
And I guess they outgrew it and they decided not to have it anymore.

00:37:27.779 --> 00:37:30.519
And the city approached me and said, would you like to take over?

00:37:30.619 --> 00:37:32.279
You have a club, don't you? And I'm like, sure.

00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:39.259
So for three, last three years, I took over and it was a success where we outgrew the venue.

00:37:39.999 --> 00:37:45.099
And so this year we had it at the shop club. And I don't know if you know where there's three of them.

00:37:45.219 --> 00:37:48.299
There's one in Seattle, one in Dallas, and one in Houston.

00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:53.979
The one in Houston is the largest one. It's a 70,000 square foot facility. I saw the videos.

00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:57.619
Yes. It's gorgeous. Yeah. Yeah.

00:37:58.315 --> 00:38:02.055
It houses Houston's finest. I mean, you got the McLarens, Porsches,

00:38:02.235 --> 00:38:04.455
Ferraris. You got everything that's in there.

00:38:04.755 --> 00:38:09.655
I had two of my Volkswagens in there just because I, while I came my garage out.

00:38:10.095 --> 00:38:16.035
It's a nice facility that has tools, a lift bay, detail, photo.

00:38:16.515 --> 00:38:20.675
It's got a restaurant up on the second floor, the Derby, which is,

00:38:20.895 --> 00:38:26.155
the cuisine is outrageous. a full bar, pool table, conference rooms,

00:38:26.395 --> 00:38:30.295
golf simulator, racing simulator, speakeasy room.

00:38:30.435 --> 00:38:32.675
That's actually a bookcase. You open the door.

00:38:32.895 --> 00:38:37.375
There's a cigar room in there with a poker table. I mean, it's legit.

00:38:38.315 --> 00:38:41.735
You feel it's a country club for carters, basically.

00:38:42.215 --> 00:38:46.755
And so we got together with Marshall, the manager there, and he said,

00:38:46.835 --> 00:38:48.375
hey, bring Groofrest here.

00:38:48.735 --> 00:38:53.795
Bring it here. And we did. We had two bands, local bands, tribute bands.

00:38:54.135 --> 00:38:59.635
We had Unit Shifter, which is a Nirvana tribute band, and Holding On,

00:38:59.835 --> 00:39:02.175
which is the Cranberries. Nice.

00:39:03.395 --> 00:39:07.735
They were marvelous. I mean, they played the crowd.

00:39:07.975 --> 00:39:12.735
So, you know, we have some pretty decent-sized shows down here on the west coast

00:39:12.735 --> 00:39:14.215
of Florida, central Florida.

00:39:14.595 --> 00:39:20.495
But something that we have failed to do just yet is, or at least at our events, is live music.

00:39:20.975 --> 00:39:23.835
Uh, you know, so that's, you know, hats off for that.

00:39:23.975 --> 00:39:26.935
They have live music at bug jam and some of the bigger shows,

00:39:26.935 --> 00:39:31.535
but some other fun you guys are having are the, I noticed was the valve cover.

00:39:32.295 --> 00:39:37.275
The races, whole hot wheel experience. Talk to me about how you mix in that

00:39:37.275 --> 00:39:39.415
family fun style. Absolutely.

00:39:39.795 --> 00:39:42.255
Yeah. I want to hear more about the valve cover races for sure,

00:39:42.375 --> 00:39:45.935
but tell me about these, how they evolved and how you even thought about doing them.

00:39:46.075 --> 00:39:49.995
I've been involved with the Marine Toys for Tots since 1997.

00:39:50.975 --> 00:39:57.035
Over 26 years, volunteering for the community and getting these toys to,

00:39:57.730 --> 00:40:01.090
the unfortunate families that, you know, they either lost their job,

00:40:01.430 --> 00:40:05.630
they lost one parent or what have you, any circumstances, you know,

00:40:06.030 --> 00:40:11.470
and going the day before Christmas and handing them a toy and seeing that kid's face.

00:40:12.250 --> 00:40:16.430
That's what it's about to me. It's like, okay, we got a bike.

00:40:16.750 --> 00:40:19.950
Did your kid ever had a, he never had a bicycle. He's 12 years old,

00:40:20.050 --> 00:40:23.950
never had a bicycle. He's like, here's a bike. And he's like, is this for me?

00:40:24.390 --> 00:40:27.850
Yeah. Oh my God. And then they run up and they, You know, they hug me.

00:40:27.970 --> 00:40:32.030
They fuck the actor parent. Is it okay if I hug them? Oh. Go for it. You know, it's like.

00:40:32.290 --> 00:40:35.830
Oh, man. That's life right there. I wanted to bring that to the shows because

00:40:35.830 --> 00:40:41.050
I know parents that come to the show, it's long, it's hot. Some of them are boring.

00:40:41.530 --> 00:40:44.710
The kids don't want to be there. They see the card and then that's it.

00:40:45.070 --> 00:40:49.750
Short, you know, span. Yeah. Yeah. So what I did is I purchased this Hot Wheel

00:40:49.750 --> 00:40:53.390
track, six lanes with a, with a, you know, timer on the end.

00:40:53.790 --> 00:40:58.930
And I told the kids, I supplied everything. I said, pick whatever Hot Wheel you want.

00:40:59.190 --> 00:41:02.830
So they grab them. They're all new. They open them like it's Christmas Day.

00:41:03.310 --> 00:41:06.930
They go to their parents and say, look what I got. Look what I got. All right.

00:41:07.870 --> 00:41:11.790
Then I have six guys come in there. Six kids, boys and girls.

00:41:12.050 --> 00:41:14.570
They all put their cars in the lanes, one through six.

00:41:15.230 --> 00:41:20.770
We let them go. We count down. Five, four, three, two, one. Go. Let them go. The winner.

00:41:21.370 --> 00:41:26.650
Right now it's the winner. Number one, you won. And the kid, ah, yeah. Get this car.

00:41:27.030 --> 00:41:31.930
And then we do another heat until all the kids are done. And then we come to the final three.

00:41:32.430 --> 00:41:36.970
At the end, I give them little trophies and I give them prizes.

00:41:37.970 --> 00:41:44.230
Sometimes I have a Hot Wheel track set. Sometimes I have just a football. What do you want?

00:41:45.316 --> 00:41:47.996
And they smiled and they're all come back saying, thank you.

00:41:48.216 --> 00:41:49.776
Thank you so much for putting this on.

00:41:49.976 --> 00:41:54.336
The parents are like, this is something that people don't see at car shows.

00:41:54.476 --> 00:41:56.116
Yes. Or you don't have activities.

00:41:56.316 --> 00:41:59.016
Yes. You have face painting at some of them, bubble makers and so,

00:41:59.116 --> 00:42:04.776
but to get the kids actually involved in something that's car related,

00:42:05.236 --> 00:42:08.956
you know, they get to keep the car too when they walk away.

00:42:09.716 --> 00:42:13.656
That's what it's about, you know? So the evolution then must have been,

00:42:13.916 --> 00:42:19.096
okay, we're going to do valve cover races then for the adults. Exactly.

00:42:20.456 --> 00:42:24.496
We try to get the word out of the valve covers. And people were trying to go

00:42:24.496 --> 00:42:26.976
out and buy new ones. It doesn't happen new.

00:42:27.176 --> 00:42:30.956
If it's used, it makes it original. It makes it customized.

00:42:32.116 --> 00:42:37.016
So we had 11 entries, which was pretty good. We were expecting maybe three or

00:42:37.016 --> 00:42:39.236
four because we just announced it right before.

00:42:40.156 --> 00:42:45.976
The pictures unbelievable what these people came up with ideas i mean my daughter

00:42:45.976 --> 00:42:51.056
came out my daughter came out with el pollo local she painted it you know bright

00:42:51.056 --> 00:42:58.176
yellow feathers on it wings and everything i'm like okay i mean how do they race these valve covers,

00:42:59.062 --> 00:43:03.602
We have a gentleman, Daniel Robles, he's a groover, and he put together a set.

00:43:03.782 --> 00:43:09.462
He researched it, got the rules of the weights, the height, the dimensions,

00:43:09.662 --> 00:43:13.482
everything, and we put it out there. These are the rules for the valve cover races.

00:43:14.062 --> 00:43:16.762
As soon as we put the rules out, people say, like, I think I can make one.

00:43:16.882 --> 00:43:18.782
I got to make one. Oh, so cool.

00:43:19.002 --> 00:43:22.842
We had an engineer there that made one. Okay.

00:43:23.882 --> 00:43:29.242
Did he win? He got third place. Yeah. Okay. But he made the track,

00:43:29.422 --> 00:43:34.822
two pieces, and he bought his power drills, put it together,

00:43:35.322 --> 00:43:37.802
and we put them up top, two competitors.

00:43:37.982 --> 00:43:40.302
So we had 11, and we put the first two up there.

00:43:40.642 --> 00:43:43.202
The winner of that hate advances to the next one. Right on.

00:43:43.642 --> 00:43:48.422
So we kept going until we got the top three. Then the top three went head and head.

00:43:49.002 --> 00:43:53.342
So we got photos of the top three on the table with their medals and their trophies.

00:43:53.682 --> 00:43:58.782
And again, that kicked off what everybody's saying. And I didn't know that shows

00:43:58.782 --> 00:44:02.262
could be this fun and had valve cover races in them.

00:44:02.562 --> 00:44:07.022
I mean, Bay Area does the same thing. And that's where I incorporated,

00:44:07.322 --> 00:44:11.222
spoke with David, the president, and said, hey, we're going to try to do the

00:44:11.222 --> 00:44:14.402
same thing because we only do it once a year at your show.

00:44:14.642 --> 00:44:18.762
Let's do it on our shuttle and just get it where people can use their valve

00:44:18.762 --> 00:44:20.182
covers more than just once.

00:44:20.582 --> 00:44:26.582
Are you talking about Saucy A, David? Yes, sir. Yes. He's the man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:44:27.262 --> 00:44:33.362
Awesome. Good guy. Yeah. The shipmate. So tell me how you see Groofest evolving,

00:44:33.362 --> 00:44:35.482
say, over the next five or ten years.

00:44:36.566 --> 00:44:43.366
It already has started. Okay. It was the night of Brewfest that I had tremendously,

00:44:43.366 --> 00:44:46.866
I mean, swamped my Facebook page with pictures.

00:44:47.666 --> 00:44:52.186
Nothing but positive things to say. Wow, this is great.

00:44:52.346 --> 00:44:55.786
I never knew car shows were this fun. The music was great.

00:44:56.046 --> 00:44:59.206
Valve cover, Hot Wheel, face painting, food vendors.

00:44:59.426 --> 00:45:02.906
I mean, it was like everybody like, this is what it should be like.

00:45:02.906 --> 00:45:05.766
We already have taken this

00:45:05.766 --> 00:45:08.946
positive feedback and incorporated for next

00:45:08.946 --> 00:45:11.726
year's but we also are going to

00:45:11.726 --> 00:45:14.986
change the name due to the fact of group fest

00:45:14.986 --> 00:45:17.786
is known as a festival we want

00:45:17.786 --> 00:45:23.906
to be known as the volkswagen car show okay so we are now in the works of making

00:45:23.906 --> 00:45:32.086
it volks tober fest oh cool all volkswagen car show air cooled water cool we

00:45:32.086 --> 00:45:36.846
already have just in a few couple of days. I mean, this was Saturday. Here we are Thursday.

00:45:37.206 --> 00:45:39.886
We already have people stepping up to one of these sponsors.

00:45:40.266 --> 00:45:43.766
Oh, cool, man. So there's a lot of things about putting on a show.

00:45:44.026 --> 00:45:47.386
They saw, yeah, exactly. They saw the pictures. They heard from the people.

00:45:48.106 --> 00:45:51.046
This is what we wanted to do is get the word out. Yeah.

00:45:51.446 --> 00:45:55.466
And we, we, we got the word out. It's happening. Like you said,

00:45:55.466 --> 00:45:57.086
the venue accepted us back.

00:45:57.886 --> 00:46:00.946
Sponsors are already coming out of the woodworks and the

00:46:00.946 --> 00:46:03.866
people are already motivated to volunteer for the next one

00:46:03.866 --> 00:46:06.986
that's so awesome that's what it's about that's what

00:46:06.986 --> 00:46:10.466
it's about so the role of i

00:46:10.466 --> 00:46:13.726
guess the vw culture and bringing people

00:46:13.726 --> 00:46:19.926
together across generations is probably what the success of bringing people

00:46:19.926 --> 00:46:23.946
together is it's exactly better and i feel that because of my shows that i do

00:46:23.946 --> 00:46:29.426
as well i'm gonna incorporate these types of contests for the kids Because what

00:46:29.426 --> 00:46:31.786
you said is it really resonates with us,

00:46:31.966 --> 00:46:34.686
especially down here in South Florida. It's hot.

00:46:35.315 --> 00:46:38.815
Exactly. If we're going to do a show in spring or God willing,

00:46:38.955 --> 00:46:40.155
we're going to try to do one in summer.

00:46:40.315 --> 00:46:43.655
We're going to have to do something to entertain these kids because they're

00:46:43.655 --> 00:46:44.795
ready to get out of Dodge.

00:46:44.975 --> 00:46:48.295
You know, they're an hour or two in, they're ready to leave. So exactly. Exactly.

00:46:48.775 --> 00:46:52.615
Yeah. So we want to hold them there. I mean, it's like, if while they're there,

00:46:52.815 --> 00:46:54.155
they might as well enjoy themselves.

00:46:54.395 --> 00:46:56.615
Yeah. I'm going to try. They're enjoying themselves. The parents are going to

00:46:56.615 --> 00:46:59.295
enjoy themselves. That's right. I have to listen to the kid whining.

00:46:59.675 --> 00:47:01.535
The kid got something. Okay.

00:47:02.295 --> 00:47:06.275
It doesn't matter what he got. He loves, he's got, he own something now.

00:47:06.775 --> 00:47:09.535
Yeah, I love it, man. That's what it's about. It's such a good idea.

00:47:09.695 --> 00:47:14.655
Now, you guys do weekly cruises there in Houston too, right? Correct. Yeah.

00:47:15.315 --> 00:47:19.435
Talk to me a little bit about those weekly cruises. What do those mean to you?

00:47:20.175 --> 00:47:23.495
We try to do them as we go to car shows that are out of town.

00:47:24.035 --> 00:47:27.735
I know VW Harvest that's near Austin.

00:47:28.295 --> 00:47:31.935
I mean, that's a two and a half hour drive for me. I heard about that actually.

00:47:32.195 --> 00:47:36.115
I may have even been from Saucier. He mentioned it to me when he was on,

00:47:36.255 --> 00:47:41.795
because I teach a class, a sales class in Austin, and I'm there several times a year.

00:47:42.115 --> 00:47:45.515
It wasn't at the same timing, but yes, I've heard about that.

00:47:45.775 --> 00:47:49.095
Yeah. We go to the VW Harvest show.

00:47:49.475 --> 00:47:53.315
We just came back from Rollout, which is in San Antonio.

00:47:53.935 --> 00:47:58.135
That's a three-hour drive. We did it, You know, and most of us showed up there.

00:47:58.215 --> 00:47:59.835
That was a fantastic show.

00:48:00.075 --> 00:48:05.535
It was, I mean, it was hot. It was under a covered patio, but it, it was hot.

00:48:06.095 --> 00:48:09.895
People enjoy themselves. And I mean, the shows out here, like,

00:48:09.915 --> 00:48:12.415
I'm not saying these are the only places where the shows, I mean,

00:48:12.455 --> 00:48:14.555
I've been up and down the East and West coast.

00:48:14.895 --> 00:48:19.215
You have a gentleman that puts on dub splash that's up near the Dallas Fort

00:48:19.215 --> 00:48:23.495
Worth area. And he's doing dub splash actually in California next year.

00:48:23.735 --> 00:48:25.775
Oh, cool. I believe it's in Fontana.

00:48:26.215 --> 00:48:29.155
So Dusk Blast will be in Fontana next year.

00:48:30.335 --> 00:48:31.695
Jumping state lines.

00:48:32.218 --> 00:48:36.038
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's awesome. It's almost like Autorama.

00:48:37.098 --> 00:48:40.178
Autorama is not just in Houston. You go to Dallas, you go to Sacramento,

00:48:40.418 --> 00:48:42.938
Las Vegas, and it's a traveling circus.

00:48:44.618 --> 00:48:48.558
It's like going to be part of, hey, I'm a clown. I'm going to go to the circus.

00:48:50.258 --> 00:48:53.658
It's funny that you said that because I can show your story with you.

00:48:53.858 --> 00:48:59.718
Me and my buddy here that runs Salty Dub, we were recently awarded the privilege

00:48:59.718 --> 00:49:05.198
to take over a show that's been happening on one of the beaches here locally for about 17 years.

00:49:05.558 --> 00:49:10.858
Okay. The, the, the head promoter of the show now had tried the last two years

00:49:10.858 --> 00:49:15.778
to successfully put something together, but he lives way up North and it just didn't work out.

00:49:15.938 --> 00:49:19.758
Anyway, long story short, we stepped up and we said, Hey, we want to have a

00:49:19.758 --> 00:49:22.838
conversation with them and ask him about, Hey, do you want to let us,

00:49:22.978 --> 00:49:27.378
because we've got our foot in now with promoting, you want to let us take over the show?

00:49:28.118 --> 00:49:31.258
He basically called the volkswagen community

00:49:31.258 --> 00:49:34.498
a bunch of clowns it yeah so so

00:49:34.498 --> 00:49:38.018
so what's funny is there were some memes that were circulating for a little

00:49:38.018 --> 00:49:43.418
while right of a bunch of us you know crowded around a little classic volkswagen

00:49:43.418 --> 00:49:49.878
a bunch of clowns and it's like here we are headed to the beach bash so yeah

00:49:49.878 --> 00:49:54.478
i'll be a clown every day of the week sign me up exactly and it's not You know,

00:49:54.618 --> 00:49:57.098
it's using the term clown, but I mean, in a good way.

00:49:57.238 --> 00:50:01.478
And it's actually, you have to have fun, right? You have fun. Yeah, for absentee.

00:50:02.458 --> 00:50:05.918
But there's a show in Florida. Isn't there something about the bayou?

00:50:06.278 --> 00:50:09.698
Busses on the bayou or something like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bugs on the bayou.

00:50:09.978 --> 00:50:13.578
Yeah. Something about the bayou. My buddy, Derek Henry. There's a lot of stuff

00:50:13.578 --> 00:50:17.558
here, Southeast, man. Especially in Florida, Pensacola area.

00:50:18.078 --> 00:50:23.118
In Dade City, there's Bug Jam. There's our shows. We got V-dubs Over the Skyway,

00:50:23.298 --> 00:50:26.518
which is, you know, Tampa Bay market. That show has been running 27 years.

00:50:27.338 --> 00:50:32.298
Me and my buddy took it over in 2024 because same thing after COVID,

00:50:32.518 --> 00:50:33.798
it had failed to restart.

00:50:34.118 --> 00:50:36.238
And dude, you know, man, you put these shows together.

00:50:36.791 --> 00:50:40.591
Finding sponsors, finding the time with a full-time job and five kids,

00:50:40.731 --> 00:50:44.631
all of that. It's a lot of work, brother. Yeah, it is.

00:50:44.911 --> 00:50:49.251
And I'm not complaining. I do it for my love of the community and the culture.

00:50:49.811 --> 00:50:54.231
Plus, we all want to see some really cool shows and events. Right, exactly.

00:50:54.651 --> 00:50:59.231
Yeah. If you follow along, you'll probably be happy to see over the next little

00:50:59.231 --> 00:51:02.771
while. I'm going to try to incorporate some of these things that you guys are doing. Nice.

00:51:03.131 --> 00:51:06.951
Nice. Kids, yeah. Where do you see the culture going?

00:51:07.331 --> 00:51:11.931
Is it growing still? Is it fading? Do we have to transform?

00:51:12.411 --> 00:51:17.331
What do you think is happening with the Volkswagen community and culture in

00:51:17.331 --> 00:51:19.511
the future? I'm glad you asked that.

00:51:20.191 --> 00:51:26.151
I first was afraid. I mean, not like scared, but afraid that this is it.

00:51:26.391 --> 00:51:31.991
Last generation, everybody wants electric cars. or they have no,

00:51:32.091 --> 00:51:35.051
no, you don't have shop classes in school anymore.

00:51:35.591 --> 00:51:40.471
And it's like, people are getting away from, you know, old school fun.

00:51:41.011 --> 00:51:45.211
Okay. People are electronics all day long.

00:51:45.871 --> 00:51:51.231
It's just me. I thought it was just gonna be maybe five years and fade out,

00:51:51.391 --> 00:51:53.991
but a lot of people have changed.

00:51:54.724 --> 00:52:01.844
They're tuning, and I'm seeing 18, 19-year-old girls that are bringing their

00:52:01.844 --> 00:52:04.424
cars to the show for the first time.

00:52:05.184 --> 00:52:11.684
Yes. We had an 18-year-old high school senior bring her, I believe it's a 2008,

00:52:11.804 --> 00:52:16.804
2010 Volkswagen Bug with the eyelashes and everything else on it. Yeah, yeah.

00:52:17.024 --> 00:52:24.324
And she was top 10. Oh, cool. And the feeling and the way she looked when her name got called out.

00:52:24.724 --> 00:52:27.764
And her mom came up to me, she goes, this is her first car show.

00:52:28.324 --> 00:52:32.964
And I looked at her, I go, I can 100% relate to that.

00:52:33.504 --> 00:52:42.084
When I won my first car show, I wasn't 18, but when I won my first car show, the feeling, you know.

00:52:42.504 --> 00:52:46.764
And she took that, she joined the club that same day. And it's like her parents

00:52:46.764 --> 00:52:48.524
says, she needs something like this.

00:52:49.184 --> 00:52:53.544
Everybody needs something like this. Man, we all want to, we just all want to belong.

00:52:53.544 --> 00:53:00.644
Exactly exactly so to me that turning point and i could tell you other stories

00:53:00.644 --> 00:53:06.484
of i mean i've had not just female male young guys coming to shows and getting

00:53:06.484 --> 00:53:08.644
appreciated and seeing how people.

00:53:09.324 --> 00:53:13.544
Talk to them about their cars they're going like wow i never knew this could

00:53:13.544 --> 00:53:19.584
happen i mean i'm just a normal joe and this is a normal volkswagen to them

00:53:19.584 --> 00:53:22.284
right but to people it's not they

00:53:22.284 --> 00:53:26.724
see it they don't see that every day and they want to hear your story.

00:53:26.984 --> 00:53:29.824
Everybody has a story and it's there to be told.

00:53:30.244 --> 00:53:37.124
What do you think the VW lifestyle teaches us as a whole about patience,

00:53:37.124 --> 00:53:39.184
maybe even about creativity?

00:53:40.618 --> 00:53:45.438
Patience, we all have to deal with that. Getting parts. Parts are hard to come.

00:53:46.358 --> 00:53:52.238
Mechanics are hard to find nowadays. Time, being patient, waiting for the VW.

00:53:52.918 --> 00:53:55.878
And once you get the VW, you know something else is going to break.

00:53:57.918 --> 00:54:01.018
So, carrying a lot of spare parts with you.

00:54:03.118 --> 00:54:07.978
Patience, I think, comes with it. It has to come with it. I'm in Tampa. I'm in Tampa.

00:54:08.578 --> 00:54:14.338
Well, you know, Tampa, St. Pete area. And this week we took our camper up to

00:54:14.338 --> 00:54:16.758
Fort Wilderness at Disney in Orlando.

00:54:17.098 --> 00:54:20.338
And we were staying at Fort Wilderness and hanging out with some friends here

00:54:20.338 --> 00:54:21.758
at Disney. I'm actually here now.

00:54:21.998 --> 00:54:26.038
But what I was going to say was the patience. Now, this isn't a Volkswagen story,

00:54:26.218 --> 00:54:29.918
but I can tell you this. Yesterday I get here. We get all set up.

00:54:30.158 --> 00:54:32.738
I turn the AC on. Fan motor fails.

00:54:33.438 --> 00:54:36.538
I'm like, come on, man. This is like my damn Volkswagens.

00:54:37.978 --> 00:54:42.078
I just picked it up. The AC was just working, uh, yesterday. Right.

00:54:42.598 --> 00:54:46.958
Yeah. To call a mechanic out. He came out yesterday in the evening and, and fixed it.

00:54:47.058 --> 00:54:51.618
And you know, it's a, yeah, man, I certainly understand that feeling. Yeah. Yeah.

00:54:52.158 --> 00:54:56.538
It's patience comes with it. If you don't have patience, don't buy a project.

00:54:58.138 --> 00:55:01.278
So after 22 years in the Navy, you know,

00:55:01.438 --> 00:55:04.978
also decades in the VW world, what

00:55:04.978 --> 00:55:08.778
would your philosophy be on resilience

00:55:08.778 --> 00:55:12.738
wow that's well i know to actual vw

00:55:12.738 --> 00:55:19.018
owners i always say drive it don't hide it basically you keep your car's garage

00:55:19.018 --> 00:55:26.358
what i mean what's it doing in the garage yeah they also break down it's an

00:55:26.358 --> 00:55:31.158
investment it's this green drive it i may not be here tomorrow.

00:55:31.538 --> 00:55:36.258
You may not be here tomorrow. Tomorrow's not guaranteed. I'm going to drive mine.

00:55:36.936 --> 00:55:41.756
You know, driving out there, make other people smile. That's my way of giving back.

00:55:41.896 --> 00:55:45.576
It's like, hey, I've never seen one of those on the road. There you go.

00:55:47.076 --> 00:55:53.816
Driving around. I mean, it's that oomph that you get of driving and somebody

00:55:53.816 --> 00:55:55.336
just honk and look at you and smile.

00:55:55.556 --> 00:55:57.876
It's like, you know, thank you.

00:55:58.156 --> 00:56:01.856
That's appreciative. Just like you saying to me, thank you for your service.

00:56:02.056 --> 00:56:06.076
It's the same way. It means the same. It's appreciative. Yeah.

00:56:06.416 --> 00:56:10.456
Awesome. I see the civilian, I'd say it's kind of civilians,

00:56:10.676 --> 00:56:15.496
but I mean, people that don't own Volkswagens, it brings that history back to

00:56:15.496 --> 00:56:19.176
them saying, I remember seeing this, even though I didn't own one.

00:56:19.396 --> 00:56:23.416
I remember seeing this when I was younger. I remember the, you know,

00:56:23.636 --> 00:56:26.356
it's a good times. That's the era that you remember.

00:56:26.776 --> 00:56:31.136
Yeah. What do you want people to remember about Caribbean Queen,

00:56:31.716 --> 00:56:35.616
say 20 years from now, your daughter's got her. Right.

00:56:36.296 --> 00:56:41.636
What do you want people to remember about her? That she was a smile on wheels.

00:56:42.096 --> 00:56:46.516
Oh, cool, man. A smile on wheels. It's like, you see her, you smile.

00:56:46.676 --> 00:56:49.716
It makes you smile. It makes you feel good. It's a good feel.

00:56:51.276 --> 00:56:53.476
I don't take anything else away from it. You know, it's like,

00:56:53.556 --> 00:56:55.936
it gives me a good feeling driving her.

00:56:56.136 --> 00:57:00.536
It gives people a good feeling when they see her and they hear me crank up the beach boys.

00:57:00.776 --> 00:57:05.116
You know, it's the feeling. It's the smile.

00:57:05.116 --> 00:57:11.756
A smile is worth more than words A smile on wheels I love it man I got some

00:57:11.756 --> 00:57:16.716
rapid fire questions These are questions that will demand a fast response If

00:57:16.716 --> 00:57:22.116
a story evolves out of them Cool but if not No big deal let's move on to the next one You ready?

00:57:22.356 --> 00:57:26.116
You ready Favorite VW model of all time,

00:57:26.791 --> 00:57:32.591
Model? Yeah. Wow. I'd just say convertible car made you 66.

00:57:33.591 --> 00:57:37.691
Oh, sweet, man. You had that ready to go. Awesome. Yeah, my sister was born

00:57:37.691 --> 00:57:40.531
in 66 and she's looking for one and she can't find one.

00:57:41.071 --> 00:57:45.551
I got a 71 and it's not a convertible, but it's my wife's favorite car.

00:57:45.911 --> 00:57:51.371
And yeah, we're putting all kinds of work and love into that one right now, bringing her back.

00:57:51.891 --> 00:57:56.011
Yeah, awesome. Okay. I have a feeling I know the answer on this one,

00:57:56.091 --> 00:58:01.811
but I'm still going to ask it just because split window or bay window, if you had to choose one.

00:58:02.521 --> 00:58:06.401
That's obvious. Yeah, I figured. It's a big safari all the way.

00:58:06.761 --> 00:58:10.821
How about dream cruise location? That's hard.

00:58:11.821 --> 00:58:17.721
I'll say Fiji, but I don't know the roads of Fiji. You can get to Fiji, right? No.

00:58:18.521 --> 00:58:24.701
I'd say anywhere that there's sand and water. Okay, so beachy vibe for you. All right.

00:58:25.261 --> 00:58:29.961
You rockin' cruise music? You rockin' reggae or classic rock?

00:58:30.741 --> 00:58:36.601
Ooh. Oh, I'm mixed. Okay. I'm saying right between. I mean, I love both.

00:58:37.741 --> 00:58:44.201
Me too. I love both. It's hard to pick, right? Yeah. How about favorite car movie? Movie. Wow.

00:58:44.641 --> 00:58:49.701
I would have to give you a list because, I mean, a lot of them have Volkswagen in them.

00:58:50.541 --> 00:58:54.081
Yeah. That's what I was hoping. You know, it's like I've now noticed,

00:58:54.261 --> 00:58:59.201
you know, when I watch a movie and I spot a Volkswagen, I get that moment that

00:58:59.201 --> 00:59:03.561
Leonardo DiCaprio on those little TikToks or YouTube where it goes,

00:59:03.701 --> 00:59:06.541
right there, right there. You know, it's like that moment.

00:59:06.741 --> 00:59:10.781
It's like in the movies, I'll do the same thing. I see a wolf right there, right there.

00:59:12.401 --> 00:59:17.181
Exactly. We're all just like this little, you know, little sick tribe. It's awesome.

00:59:17.821 --> 00:59:20.601
Exactly. Oh, this is a good one. How about this one?

00:59:20.841 --> 00:59:25.401
How about one mod that you'll never do to the Caribbean queen?

00:59:25.401 --> 00:59:28.301
I can tell you one mod that I'm entertaining.

00:59:28.841 --> 00:59:32.181
Okay, let's flip it. How about one mod that you will be entertaining?

00:59:33.011 --> 00:59:35.731
Bagging her oh i don't know why i

00:59:35.731 --> 00:59:38.851
know i know hey it's our

00:59:38.851 --> 00:59:41.911
age brother we're we're a low rider culture we can't

00:59:41.911 --> 00:59:45.351
help it it's how we were raised especially you in california i

00:59:45.351 --> 00:59:50.151
think i was culture wise as about as close to california as i could be west

00:59:50.151 --> 00:59:55.671
coast florida miami vibes all through the 80s and 90s dude if it wasn't low

00:59:55.671 --> 01:00:02.371
and slow you weren't doing it right so i i understand that completely. Okay, brother, bag it.

01:00:03.711 --> 01:00:08.031
Let's go. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome for sure.

01:00:08.271 --> 01:00:12.631
If you weren't into VWs, what kind of car would you be into?

01:00:13.331 --> 01:00:15.091
Wow. That's a good question.

01:00:16.191 --> 01:00:17.371
That's a good question.

01:00:18.631 --> 01:00:21.611
I would have to say probably still stay

01:00:21.611 --> 01:00:24.531
with the German due to the fact that growing up and

01:00:24.531 --> 01:00:28.071
all my dad's best friend my sister's

01:00:28.071 --> 01:00:31.851
godfather was a volkswagen mechanic and

01:00:31.851 --> 01:00:35.871
i saw volkswagens audis you

01:00:35.871 --> 01:00:42.091
name it i mean all german vehicles going in there and i mean yeah mercedes-benz

01:00:42.091 --> 01:00:49.511
and stuff i would i would stick with german okay me too and back from my childhood

01:00:49.511 --> 01:00:55.271
same thing i grew up my dad had mercedes-benz my whole life i got My wife drives an Audi now.

01:00:55.431 --> 01:01:02.031
She also has that Karmann Ghia. Obviously, we're a Volkswagen family, but same for me.

01:01:02.271 --> 01:01:05.051
I've always been attracted to the German engineering.

01:01:05.911 --> 01:01:07.311
The German precision.

01:01:08.411 --> 01:01:13.311
Everybody thinks, what's the best bearing to buy? You buy a German bearing, right? Yeah.

01:01:14.080 --> 01:01:18.200
That's it. All right. How about any shout outs? Any shout outs for Funk and

01:01:18.200 --> 01:01:19.680
Groovin', for Groove Fest?

01:01:19.900 --> 01:01:24.340
How about maybe where people can find you? If they want to get some motivation

01:01:24.340 --> 01:01:27.300
from you, they want to reach out and connect with you, they want to find out

01:01:27.300 --> 01:01:31.680
more about Groove Fest in Houston, about Funk and Groovin', how can they connect with you?

01:01:31.940 --> 01:01:38.260
We have a Facebook page, the Funk and Groovin' Vintage VW Car Club, also on Instagram.

01:01:39.900 --> 01:01:43.400
Caribbean Queen has her own on Instagram and on Facebook as well.

01:01:43.400 --> 01:01:50.760
So it's just Caribbean, Caribbean underscore queen and, or call me.

01:01:50.960 --> 01:01:55.800
No, no, I'm retired. So, I mean, I have a lot of time if I don't have to do

01:01:55.800 --> 01:02:01.680
a honeydew list or anything else like that, but, uh, people see me all the time.

01:02:01.820 --> 01:02:06.800
If I don't enter a car show, I'm at the car show, you know, and it's just the

01:02:06.800 --> 01:02:10.280
opportunity that everybody has to have, but we're both on Facebook and Instagram.

01:02:11.720 --> 01:02:15.000
You can find me let's also not forget you

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:18.440
were just in issue number 23 volksmania magazine

01:02:18.440 --> 01:02:23.040
you got a nice got a nice ride up in there groove fest got a nice ride up in

01:02:23.040 --> 01:02:28.040
there uh yeah you guys started out with there as well yeah i started out with

01:02:28.040 --> 01:02:33.640
uh issue 22 and that was talking about a car club that we met in louisville

01:02:33.640 --> 01:02:36.940
kentucky uh-huh so i did an article about their car club.

01:02:37.200 --> 01:02:43.960
And then we talked about a little bit about our car club in the next one coming up right now.

01:02:44.589 --> 01:02:46.989
The one that's going to be coming out, I believe, in December,

01:02:47.229 --> 01:02:49.809
that comes out every three months, is going to be about Groove Fest.

01:02:49.989 --> 01:02:54.169
We're going to have all the photos of Groove Fest, all that activity,

01:02:54.289 --> 01:02:59.109
the cars, the winners, and appreciation to our sponsors and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:02:59.869 --> 01:03:04.569
We got a shout out to the Peer Show that we just did last year.

01:03:04.749 --> 01:03:07.049
That's also coming up in 25.

01:03:07.929 --> 01:03:13.569
Okay. Yeah, that's going to be fun. I think Paul said that's January, but I'm 100% sure.

01:03:13.749 --> 01:03:16.949
Is it? Okay. Yeah, I know they're, see, I wish they were every month.

01:03:17.389 --> 01:03:22.149
Do you want to maybe plug any upcoming events or any appearances around locally

01:03:22.149 --> 01:03:23.849
where you're going to be? We do, we do.

01:03:23.989 --> 01:03:26.829
For more, I'd like to thank, you know, a lot of people out there,

01:03:26.929 --> 01:03:29.469
especially, you know, Paul Kaye from Vokes Media Magazine.

01:03:30.169 --> 01:03:38.089
Got a good relationship with CIP1 out in California. Yes. Wolfberg West, J. Buggs, Metric West.

01:03:39.440 --> 01:03:43.760
We got so many people that are just like coming out of the woodworks.

01:03:43.980 --> 01:03:49.920
A new friend of mine, husband and wife team from King Performance VW.

01:03:51.140 --> 01:03:57.780
Awesome. They supplied us with some raffles. We had a heavy-duty engine dolly,

01:03:58.060 --> 01:03:59.940
a carburetor that was donated.

01:04:00.380 --> 01:04:03.440
Flat four out of Japan, Tokyo, Japan.

01:04:03.700 --> 01:04:07.020
Sent me a GT steering wheel with an adapter. i mean

01:04:07.020 --> 01:04:10.080
we were just blessed with i mean all the

01:04:10.080 --> 01:04:13.020
items that were donated for groove

01:04:13.020 --> 01:04:16.760
fest and stuff like that it was like the community like i said the vw community

01:04:16.760 --> 01:04:24.420
they're always there e mpi i mean i could go on and on and on and on i i have

01:04:24.420 --> 01:04:29.800
to thank my wife my wife for putting up with me now she's helping me out at

01:04:29.800 --> 01:04:32.500
the shows and stuff like that and we're getting more people saying,

01:04:32.920 --> 01:04:35.740
okay, it's family-orientated. That's not him running the show.

01:04:35.860 --> 01:04:39.160
His wife is there, and then people are stepping up and volunteering as well.

01:04:39.420 --> 01:04:42.860
And that's what it's about. It's about the community. I agree.

01:04:43.000 --> 01:04:45.820
The next show we have is actually just a meet.

01:04:46.540 --> 01:04:53.380
We're planning on going to VW Harvest. The meet we have on November 2nd. It's at Wolfsmith's.

01:04:54.060 --> 01:04:59.680
Wolfsmith's is an old motorcycle restoration place.

01:04:59.680 --> 01:05:04.400
They also work on air-cooled vehicles, and I got to meet the owner there,

01:05:04.540 --> 01:05:09.160
David Ho, and he wants to bring people, you know, aware of his situation.

01:05:09.340 --> 01:05:11.020
He has a, it's a coffee shop.

01:05:11.320 --> 01:05:14.420
It's a mechanic shop. Dang. It's a bar.

01:05:14.820 --> 01:05:19.580
It's a place to hang out. Dang, okay. So November 2nd, we'll be there just having

01:05:19.580 --> 01:05:24.360
a basically Volkswagen appreciation meet. Okay. On November 2nd.

01:05:24.982 --> 01:05:29.202
And we're planning on getting involved with April Sound, which is April Sound

01:05:29.202 --> 01:05:31.982
Country Club in Conroe, Lake Conroe.

01:05:32.142 --> 01:05:34.262
But that's going to be in April, April 11th.

01:05:34.522 --> 01:05:39.762
And as I mentioned earlier, Groove Fest will now be Volktoberfest. Yeah.

01:05:40.142 --> 01:05:43.882
October 3rd. Cool name. Same location, the Shop Club in Houston.

01:05:44.182 --> 01:05:49.822
Okay. And we take in steps and, you know, you learn from your mistakes or you

01:05:49.822 --> 01:05:51.202
learn from, you know, items.

01:05:51.742 --> 01:05:56.902
We'll have a DJ instead of a live band do the, you know, we have access to being

01:05:56.902 --> 01:06:00.522
MCs and the microphone and everything else, making announcements for the valve

01:06:00.522 --> 01:06:02.622
cover. Valve cover races will be back.

01:06:03.162 --> 01:06:08.282
Hot wheels racing will be back. Awesome. So it's just, we're probably adding

01:06:08.282 --> 01:06:10.522
more. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag.

01:06:10.702 --> 01:06:13.062
Yeah, that's okay. But we're adding a couple more events that,

01:06:13.222 --> 01:06:16.462
I mean, it's going to be crazy. Oh, so crazy. It's going to be crazy.

01:06:16.642 --> 01:06:22.582
It's going to be something after another, after another. So we're looking very forward for 2020-26.

01:06:22.902 --> 01:06:28.502
Yeah, I hope our paths will cross. You know, full-time, this is not what I do.

01:06:28.702 --> 01:06:33.922
My wife and I own a real estate company, and I do that full-time,

01:06:34.082 --> 01:06:36.082
you know, work with buyers, sellers, et cetera.

01:06:36.082 --> 01:06:40.282
But I still want, I have this dream of, you know,

01:06:40.562 --> 01:06:44.462
being able to travel the country like I've done in my past for my professional

01:06:44.462 --> 01:06:48.302
career and be able to go to all you guys' shows and show up,

01:06:48.502 --> 01:06:54.142
set up a Dub Life Diaries tent and just be there, you know, in support of you

01:06:54.142 --> 01:06:57.962
awesome guys that are making this whole Volkswagen community, man.

01:06:58.122 --> 01:07:01.262
So, dude, again, thank you, bro, so much. We try.

01:07:01.642 --> 01:07:06.782
We try. Thank you for your time. And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

01:07:07.002 --> 01:07:10.782
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

01:07:10.782 --> 01:07:12.762
the people in the dubs that drive their dreams.

01:07:13.351 --> 01:07:17.651
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

01:07:17.651 --> 01:07:18.971
so you never miss an adventure.

01:07:19.291 --> 01:07:23.931
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life? Awesome.

01:07:24.231 --> 01:07:28.111
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries.

01:07:28.251 --> 01:07:31.031
Or shoot me an email. I'm not hard to find.

01:07:31.871 --> 01:07:36.811
DoveLifeDiaries at gmail.com. Until next time, keep the engines humming and

01:07:36.811 --> 01:07:40.211
the wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you.

01:07:40.451 --> 01:07:44.691
This is Joe Person. I'm signing off. I'll catch you on the next ride.