What If The Best Wins Come After The Worst Weeks

Parked Bus Night Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Oh, it is another bus episode. What do you know? We are coming to you yet again from the Loud Proud American Express, but have no fear, my friends. This time the quality shall be much better than the last time we recorded on the road. Why? Because the bus is parked. That's right. I am recording from the campground of the Windsor Fair. I am campside right here, recording in the Loud Proud American Express. It is a late night session for each and every one of you. We got some fireside, campside storytelling, reminiscing, forecasting, fantasticness of an episode coming to you today on Share the Struggle Podcast. Let me tell you something. Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. Uncomfortable conversations. Uncomfortable conversations. Oh it is true. It is damn true. Did I just do my opener correctly? I don't even know if I did. I don't know if that sounds right or not, but I apologize. Because I blacked out in the intro. If I'm trying to get cozy, I'm trying to get comfortable. I am recording this week's episode from the school bus, from the Loud Proud American Express. This time I'm actually not sitting in the driver's seat. I'm sitting in the dual side by each passenger seat. I got my foot up on the door panel here, like I'm on a field trip. And I am saddled up right next to our camper. We got the blue night lights on. So this is this is nice, okay? I don't have a campfire going, so I might have I might have fibbed a little in the opener here. But it does feel like a campside chat. Because I am in the campground. I'm looking at the pines as we speak. I've got a nice mood lighting from the camper. Feels a little bit like you're getting pulled over, but uh it's peaceful, okay? And we're not moving, so the sound quality should be much better. But um, I am holding the microphone, so that could cause some issues, and you might hear some uh camp shenanigans. I don't know. It's possible, it is possible, but I'm the weird guy recording a podcast in a school bus. Uh we might get the cops called on us. I look a little suspicious now that I now that I say it out loud, if you were walking by and you saw a large man with headphones holding a microphone with the bright light of his laptop lighting his face in a mid-size, I said mid-size, not short, not long, right in the middle, mid-size bus, dimly lit by blue lights. Um this is either an undercover sting operation or um something shady is going on. Which seems how this week's episode is going to be a little bit of storytelling, and I just kind of I just stumbled into something. I want to share a story with it because I just said um like this gives us a kind of uh uh undercover brother situation over here. Um this also has a little bit of of the cheaters vibe, the uh show where they stake out and um snoop on people and bust them cheating. And I legitimately just thought of this because it reminds me of a buffalo story, not a buffalo soldier, but a buffalo story. Because uh I'm gonna share a couple of funny stories from the road last um last week. I know we did kind of a recap scenario of the fair. We outlined that. You guys heard me um driving to the fair, you heard me walking around the fair, you heard me recapping the fair, so we really dedicated some time to um the end results on the fair, like the the meat and potatoes of the fair. But um, it's not all just hustle and bustle, there's some there's some funny things that happen on the road. So let's start today's show with a couple of quick stories from Buffalo. Um, some stuff that

Cheaters Stakeout At The Fair

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I thought was pretty funny. And this cheater scenario uh is where I want to start because I was in the um in the old Lao Proud American booth, and this lady comes in, and she kind of darts in behind an apparel rack. Um she's hiding behind this big rack of kids' clothes, and she pulls her phone out, and I'm trying to talk to her, and she's just totally ignoring me. So I'm like, hey, awarya. Hey, how you doing? Hey, awarya, uh, how's it going? I didn't sound anything like that, but it makes the story sound cooler. So I say all these things to her and I say, Hey, how you doing? I'm in New York, you know what I mean? And um she doesn't acknowledge me, so I'm like, oh, okay, I'll just go F myself. Thanks. I'll be over here. Then I see her whip her phone out and start like recording, and I'm like, this broad's recording somebody from my clothing rack. This is suspicious. So she's kind of darting around, and uh I I get up and she skedaddles off and takes off, and I'm like, man, that was kind of strange. Then I'm like, well, maybe maybe like her kids, you know, cutting class or something. Maybe her kid's grounded and he's here. I don't know. Maybe that's the scenario, right? She takes off, I don't see her again. And then all of a sudden I'm at the front of the tent, and me and BP are out there chatting, and the same lady comes back and she just literally blazes right through my um my display and goes to the VIP employee section. She literally I have a little walkway to get behind the counter where our cash register is, and she just ski daddles on back there and blows right through it under the old cabana freaking um, you know, chase lounge shaded situation we've created. And I'm like, you don't just You don't just go to Wendy's and go behind the counter, which I had a friend do that, and then refill this drink. Side story, don't get distracted. You don't just you don't go to freaking Kabelli's and cast yourself out. You know what I'm saying? This isn't the Walmart self-expressed check your ass out situation. No, paper or plastic, that's not what this is about. So BP heads over there, and then I go to one spot. We're basically just trying to block her in the back. So um she exits our tent and then she goes over to the booth next to us, which is a Tesla booth, and um she's creeping around the corner over there, kind of spying. And the next thing you know, the Tesla employees are like, Hey lady, what are you doing back here? And then they kind of get in on it. While this is happening, she has a friend that's actually in our tent shopping around, and she seems a bit embarrassed, okay? Which might be too, right? She comes out, she goes around the correct way to get behind our tent, not just cutting through the VIP employee lounge. So she comes out the backside and she looks at and she's looking around and said, You looking for your friend? And she goes, Yeah, I'm gonna go, she's right there, sitting on a cement block creeping around the corner like she's Pee-wee Herman or something. I don't freaking know. She goes over and talks to her, and they now the Tesla employee has her phone, all this is going on. So her friend comes back over and I said, Hey, question for you. Are we on a live episode of Cheaters? And a friend just lost it. She started laughing and she's like, I hate to say it, but yeah, this is an episode of Cheaters. Her husband is in the Tesla booth right now with some broad sitting in a Tesla. And uh she said, and also you shouldn't be wearing white pants to the fair, which I thought was a valid, a valid point. Apparently, this lady had spotted her husband walking around the fair with some lady, and um her and her friend went over to find him, and she was getting some video of him, and uh I suggested that maybe we should book a Tesla test ride, and she could be waiting in the back seat, like full-on cheaters episode. And her friend was like, Yeah, then when she gets in, she'd poop her white pants. They ended up both being sweet women. They chatted with us, offered to buy us coffee or snacks, and I said, No, we're good. Anytime you need a steak out on the backside here, let me know. We'll set you up. I appreciate you, Godspeed. Good luck. Uh see you out there, you know what I mean? So that was one little fun experience. Live episode of Cheaters. Pretty wild. Who decides I'm gonna go on a date? Not, you know, I'm without my wife. You know, I'm gonna just go out on a date to a fair um in my town that also has a population of 1.2 million people. Nah, I'm not gonna see anybody. What the heck is wrong with you, man? Brian was like, you shouldn't be here right now. You should you have the footage you need he should be home throwing all of his shit out on the lawn. And then when he gets back, send him the video. Done deal. See you later. Bob's your uncle. But anyways, uh, that's one of our factoids from Buffalo. So you have that story.

Fish To The Head And Wing Record

SPEAKER_01 10:27

You also have the story of me getting hit in the head with a fish, and then that fish made it all the way home. He got a nice final resting place, I shall say final resting place, on BP's countercause he got him a nice beautiful little tank of his own, set up a nice villa for him, and uh two days later he offed himself. I mean he he drowned. I mean, he's a fish, but he was p he was upside down when uh Brian got home. So after all that all that struggle I mean, he got the good confines of life, the good life. He checked himself out. Unbelievable. This world's so crazy, even the fish are taking themselves out. Next thing you know, our pets' heads are falling off. Hey, Sventura, anybody? I gotta crack the door to the bus a little. It's hot in here. Talking too much, but now I'm running the risk of uh people really being suspicious of me, and then maybe gathering around the bus and calling law enforcement. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Maybe I should keep my voice down a little.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

But then you guys would get to thinking that I was sweet talking to you and being too romantic, and then would just be off in a whole different direction. So I got hit in the head with a fish. We were on a live episode of Cheaters. I also set a personal chicken wing record for myself. Um I believe it was 18 and a half chicken wings, which I thought was a stellar number. Brian was impressed. I ordered 20 wings. Um, they're the best wings I've ever had in my life. I mean, you're in Buffalo, go figure. 50 cent wing night. We made sure to leave the fair at night after closing, get in on this wing extravaganza. And uh, I was planning on bringing some wings home, and then I thought to myself, after ordering them, I said to myself, I said, self, what are you gonna do with a bunch of chicken wings and an RV? Like it's you're not you don't have an air fryer to reheat chicken wings. So I tried to forge ahead. Set a new high mark for myself. It was 18 and a half chicken wings. I feel great about it until I talked to a few friends that said that was minor leagues. But uh I felt good. I felt good. I felt real good about it. I also made Brian nervous because on one night it was uh $1.50 taco night, and I think I had four or five tacos and six bush lights, and he was questioning my sanity, and I said I feel fantastic. So it was a couple of personal high marks for me that I'm I'm rather proud of. Just wanted to let you know that. Now, this next Buffalo story I find completely hilarious.

Sneaking Into The New Bills Stadium

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Some might find offensive. Okay? Disclaimer, putting that out there before you proceed. So some of you might know, the Buffalo Bills just uh built a brand new, I think it's like a two billion dollar stadium, which the early reviews from patrons are there's a lot of uh views that are just crap. Like you're looking through through poles, through um through staircases, uh cement, puxy glass, uh there's a lot of bad sight lines. There's been a lot of negative reviews from uh some Buffalo Bills fans about seasoned ticket holders having shit views after this massive stadium was built. But I'm just gonna tell you from the outside, the stadium's pretty beautiful from the outside. So me and the wife have this thing when we're on the road, we like to um try to catch like baseball games or anything on the road uh for pro sports. Like we try to like to grab MLB games and stuff and um NFL games, whatever you can. So we wanted to go uh check out this um stadium. I said to Brian, I was like, dude, let's go check out the new Bills Stadium, it hasn't even opened yet, and they have these massive Buffalo statues outside that I really want to go see. So the stadium is only like 10 minutes from the fairgrounds. So we we drove down there, and there was one section that was um like an employee parking section, it was full of people, and there was a lunch truck in there, and mind you, we're driving the bus. And I went in there, there was really no parking, and we pulled out and said, let's see if we can get closer. And we started driving around the lot, and uh, there's all these big parking lots, and I wanted to get to the front and try to get a photo of the bus um in front of the stadium, and you guys might have seen uh that photo kicking around on our social media. Um, I might have even used it on a podcast art, I don't remember, but um yeah, so we uh we want to go over there and get these photos. I'm like, let's just loop around. So we keep driving around these lots and all these gates are closed. Then we find one gate that's unlocked. I whip the bus in there, we drive up to the front of the stadium, we hop out, take some photos, and the only people out there are landscapers and construction workers. So um we go for a little walk ski, going looking for the buffalo. We're seeking the Tatankas, okay? And uh dances with wolves, reference there, Tatanka. So um we go walking around, find the massive buffaloes. They're doing some kind of photo shoot, right? There's uh they're using drones and big cameras, and there's three old dudes in suits in front of the buffalo, and uh they're blocking us off, not letting you get close for good photo ops. We waited out as long as we could, then I said, hey man, here's the deal. Let's get close, we're do whatever we can, get as close as we can, take some photos, let's get out of here. That's what we do. We snap some pics, we go walking back, and uh some people are looking at us kind of funky monkey, you know, but it is what it is. Uh we showed up in a school bus, so I expect those kind of looks, right? But we get back to the bus, jump in, go to leave, and uh They locked us in.

Locked In The Lot Escape Plan

SPEAKER_01 16:23

They locked us in the lot. So uh I said, Oh, this isn't good. We pull over to the gate, Brian goes to check it, and it's paddle locked, we can't get out. We drove around the Buffalo Bills' new stadium, High Mark Stadium, for 20 minutes trying to get out. All gates locked behind us. At this point, I'm thinking, how much damage do I do if I jump the curb and ride the lawn to get out of here? And then I think it into myself, I'll probably go home to a surveillance video of a bus from Maine destroying the field of the Buffalo Bills parking lot before it opens. They're gonna blame me for being some kind of Patriots attack when I because I'm from Maine, but I'm a Cowboys fan, so what do I have invested? And as I'm thinking this, Brian says, You know, we gotta jump the curb and ride the lawn. And I was like, dude, I'm just having that same conversation in my mind. We're the fair is gonna open soon. We've been driving around here for 20 minutes. So we go all the way back to the front where the security checkpoint is, where the employee parking is, and uh there was some people sitting out there having some lunch, and uh Brian jumps out and he goes over, and there was a uh a guy or two, and there was a girl, and they were sitting on the tailgate, and they were having some lunch with Brian. I was like, Hey man, how do I get out of here? We uh we came in, take some photos, the gate was open, and um somebody locked the gate behind us, and I think they kind of thought it was funny, and they're like, I don't know what to tell you, man. You're gonna have to go to security and see if somebody can let you out. As Brian starts walking back to the truck, he notices that this particular gate that's closed, there's no paddle lock on the other side. So he yells to me and he flips the gate open. And as soon as he starts blowing the gate opening, woo, here comes security. He comes blazing down, getting out, what are you doing? Starting to get all huffy, asking him questions. Brian being the true professional that we've snuck into more places than we should care to admit, just assumes nothing's wrong and uh, you know, just takes a lead on it and says, Oh, don't worry, I'll close it when we leave. Which we this is the second NFL stadium. Like the second NFL stadium that we've snuck into. The first one we slept at. We spent the night in Nashville, Tennessee, home of the Titans. We I opened the gate. Brian drove in, I shut the gate. When security came over, Brian said, Don't worry. The guy said, You guys opened my gate, and he said, Yeah, we'll shut it when we leave. And the guy bought it. So here we are, a couple months later, new stadium, opposite side of the country. Now we're in Buffalo, New York. And he says, Don't worry, when he pulls out, I'll close the gate. And the guy looks at him like, What are you talking about? And he says, No big deal. Uh, we pulled in for some photos, gates were open, thought we could be here. Y'all shut the gate, you know, we're just gonna leave. The security, just like the last time, so dumbfounded that somebody would take control of the situation in this manner, he says, Yeah, okay, you're fine. And I'm pulling out. I park on the side of the road, and it feels like this conversation with Brian and the security team is taking way longer to meet. And I have my window down, and the people he just asked about um how to get out that are sitting on the tailgate having lunch is just staring at me, like just right in my face, and I'm like, do do do do do do so I look over at him, lock eyes with him, and I said, Don't worry about it. He's with Make a Wish. And I uh I look at both of them and uh none of them laugh. They're just staring at me, and I can't take it because I just want to cry. I want to cry. I start turning my head to look straight, and the dude is just looking at me like I'm processing. These guys think I'm a raging asshole. Or do they think he's really with make a wish and they can't laugh because that's not funny. I start to give in a little. I'm I'm I'm trying to hold my laughter back. I'm doing this out of the corner of my eye, I see the girl turn her head and start to laugh, and then I turn my head to the door, like I'm turned completely away from them, and the whole time it feels like it's taken Brian 17 minutes. Like I've listened to Stairway to Heaven, waiting for him to come into the door, and I'm just like Brian gets in the truck, and he's not even sitting down, and I'm already driving off, and I'm like, and I just start crying, and I'm laughing, and my face is just leaking, okay? I am laughing my hyhen us off, and he's like, dude, what's going on? And and I I couldn't, it took me five minutes to tell him what I said, and I was like, I told him you were with Mako-ish. And at first he looked pretty pissed, then he thought it was hilarious. So that might have been offensive to some of you, hilarious to others. I side with the hilarious um, and and I'm gonna tell you, if I I wanted to record this story for you guys right after, but I cried so hard, and we laughed for days. Every time we brought it up, we just laughed about it. Uh, it's another wild adventure of me and BP on the road. It's completely incredible. So um I had to share that one with you guys. But those are my that's my fireside chat. Those are my my funny side stories from um the last uh couple weeks on the road. And I'm sure there's more to be told, but those those ones I needed to get out and off my plate tonight. I needed to do that.

Windsor Fair Sales Surge Recap

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Um, with that said, I wanted to give you um some recap, some insight. I am at the Windsor Fair right now. This fair runs all the way through Labor Day, and um this is one of our absolute most favorite events to do every single year for multiple reasons. Number one, on a business side, this is a great fair for us. We do fantastic at this fair. On the business side, I will tell you that on Saturday of this year, we doubled our opening day Saturday of the previous year. Uh Sunday, we totally beat Sunday of last year. Monday, we doubled Monday of last year. And um tonight, this is Tuesday, I came damn near close to doubling um Tuesday of last year. Actually, I think I might have. If not, I'm within like $40. So we're all off to a tremendous start. Hence part of the reason why uh it's 10 p.m. and I'm recording in a bus. Um, because it's just been one of those, one of those those experiences. It's been it's been absolutely great. We have an amazing following here, we have an amazing customer base here. It's great to see people uh come back and make us part of their fair tradition. Like when you now are at a point where people say to you, it's tradition for me to come to the Windsor Fair and buy something from you, like that that's an amazing feeling. And uh our sweatshirts are flying off the shelf. I think we will have the best fair Windsor Fair we've ever had if I don't run out of all the best-selling products. Because it's only Tuesday evening, and um some of my my sweatshirts I'm already sold out of large and extra large. It's uh it's pretty crazy. So um incredibly thankful and grateful for that. It's crazy to me that um Saturday here and Sunday here, either one of those days would have been the biggest day that I had um in in New York at Erie County Fair. So you take Saturday or Sunday there, and it would have been the biggest day I had at that entire fair um for the 12 days I was there, any one of those 12 days, not collectively, but any one of those 12 days. You take our best day at that fair, a 1.2 million attended fair, and um I beat it here on opening day. Just because it's our people, it's our customer base, they love us. Um, so that's that's incredible. Um, so that's one of the reasons why we love this fair. The other reason is this just feels like family. Everybody with this fair is amazing. You guys have probably heard me say this every year that I've been here, but it starts from the top down from the president, the directors, the trustees, the volunteers, everybody that's here, they're amazing. They all appreciate you, uh, they show you that they appreciate you, and um and and you form personal relationships with them, and that's been incredible

Why This Fair Feels Like Family

SPEAKER_01 25:00

for us. And I think a lot of that starts because of Matt and Sarah from Ledgeway Farm. Um, they've really welcomed us in here and they introduced us to so many people, and that's given us an incredible feeling and connection. And uh now we're being involved in things too. Like for the past I think three years now, along with Ledgeway, I've been sponsoring the Farmers Olympics. Uh, so we make shirts for that. And then this year, uh Carol Davis, who's in charge of uh the livestock area, she asked me to produce shirts for uh the youth market animal show sale. So these kids come in and they show animals all week long, and then on the weekend they sell those animals, and it's a really big event for them, it's a big thing for them. And um I was honored to be asked to uh make shirts for the event, and I did that, and that's been incredible. And we've seen we've received overwhelming reviews from everybody, so much so that I'm gonna have to go home and make some for um for for their parents. So um it's just really amazing to be involved.

Daughter’s Birthday And The Real Why

SPEAKER_01 26:03

The other side of this is that my daughter was born during this fair. So um, if you guys go back and listen to some of those stories and those episodes, I was here right in this exact same spot in this camping site when uh my wife called me first thing in the morning, said she was going into labor. It was right here when Steve Violet had to come over and run my booth, but me and my mom had to jump in the farm truck, put the hammer down, almost have the hood fly off on the way to the hospital, only to make it there just in time to welcome our little baby girl uh into our family, into our arms. So now, every single year, we get to celebrate Paisley Rain's birthday right here at the Windsor Fair, and today is my beautiful little girl's two-year birthday. She's two today. I can't even believe she's two today. My wife did an amazing job um pulling together so much stuff. I set up a little um canopy tent, pop-up tent behind the booth, and the wife put in um these awesome little boot streamers, there's Dolly Parton collection. Um, she bought a helium tank. We were blowing up, you know, bluey balloons and the number two. She's got birthday presents. They stopped and picked up cupcakes at Sam's Club, all these bluey cupcakes. They rode around tonight and uh gave out cupcakes to all her friends and family on the fair circuit, um, along with Julia from um from Underdog Metal. They walked around and did that all that together. Everybody just celebrates her and and people just come from all over, man. Ledgeway Farm comes over and gives her gifts. Kyle and Julia from Underdog Metal is giving her stuff. Vendors next to us are coming over saying we need to drop this off for like it. It's not about the gifts, but it's amazing to see people, to see people care and to see her walk around and just be so at home and so comfortable. And um, this is just a blessing, man. It's an absolute blessing. I am so thankful and grateful that Windsor Fair is always gonna be a special place for my little girl because it's such a special place for me and my wife. So the fact that she's always gonna be known as the Windsor Baby, born during the Windsor Fair, um, it's incredible. To think that my little girl gets to celebrate her birthday every year at this fair with all these people. It's uh it's amazing. It truly is amazing. I've never felt more welcomed and appreciated at any fair I've ever been a part of than this fair right here. So um, I'm super excited about it. I say nothing but positive things about this fair, so much so that um my family just likes to show up. My friends just want to show up and check it out. My actually um my um my cousin actually called me tonight and said, Hey man, um when's that fair end? I think I have um uh the weekend off. I'm gonna bring my camper up and me and the family want to stay. And I said, here's the number. You're gonna want to talk to Sue over in the camping office. Here's her number, let her know, she'll take care of you. Um, it's little things like that, man. I'm just so proud to be a part of this fair, to feel like I'm a part of this fair, to be welcomed and received um and appreciated by this fair. It's tremendous. And uh just seeing the smile on my little girl's face today, everybody coming over and showering her and sharing their love with her, it's been um tremendous. I I genuinely couldn't ask for more. We are having the best fair Windsor Fair year that I can recall, and um, it's the most amazing experience because of everybody that's involved. So, you know, we went from taking a major risk and not getting the rewards and results that we hoped for, to going right back to where we want to be, to where we're comfortable to be, to where we're um asked and appreciated to be, and we are truly being rewarded, and um that's incredible. That's what this life is like, that's what this journey is like, it's ups and downs, and it's all around, but it's moments like today, it's memories like today, these experiences, they will last forever, and my daughter will remember these moments forever, and that's all I could ever hope for, and that just like I said last week, is my why.

Gratitude Closing And Where To Find Us

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Man, I had fun tonight recording in the school bus and the schoolio. I don't know what that sound is. You might hear it too. Sounds like somebody with a fart can on a Honda. Fast and vicarious. Anyways, I appreciate each and every one of you. I love you, and I thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your breaking hands, you filthy savage. And catch me at the Windsor Fair at the Labor Day, dude. End summer the right way. See ya.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

That's it, and that's all, Biggie Smalls.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

If you're a loud proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at Loud Proud American on the face page, as my mama calls it. If you're a fan of the Graham Kraken, you want to find me on Instagram or all the kids, the tickety talkin on the TikTok, you can find me on both of those at loud underscore proud underscore American. Big old thank you to the boys from the Gus Truckers for the background beats and the Think Talk to your podcast. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, please track down the Gut Truckers on Facebook just turn truckers. Give that motherfucker a like.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.