"Road Trips, Celebrity Weed, and Extreme Parenting: Navigating Guilt, Beliefs, and Loss"

In this episode, Pete and Chris discuss various topics, including their recent road trips, trying different celebrity weed brands, and a news article about a father who sought a hitman to kill the parents of the children he adopted. They explore the themes of extreme beliefs, guilt and shame in parenting, and the power of our own beliefs. The conversation highlights the importance of healthy communication and understanding in parenting. In this conversation, Chris and Pete discuss their experiences with road trips and traveling with kids. They reminisce about their own childhood road trips and the challenges and strategies they employ when traveling with their own children. They also touch on the American tradition of road trips and the benefits and drawbacks of using screens during long car rides. The conversation ends with a tribute to a friend who recently passed away.

Keywords

road trips, celebrity weed, extreme beliefs, guilt, shame, parenting, road trips, traveling with kids, childhood memories, challenges, strategies, American tradition, screens, tribute

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Transcript

Pete (00:00.943)
Hey my unfiltered friends, welcome back to another episode of Dad's Unfiltered. I'm here in boring old Massachusetts, and Chris I think is hanging out with like some fucking potatoes in Idaho. Is that what you want?

Chris  (00:01.269)
Hey my children, welcome back to another episode of Dad's Unfiltered. I'm here in Boring.

Chris  (00:10.005)
Fucking

Idaho, Idaho. Yeah. Yep. And I am Chris in the potato capital of the world.

Pete (00:21.839)
I don't even think that the people that live there are that enthusiastic about it. You were chanting it.

Chris  (00:26.837)
chanting? Well, no, that's that's from Toy Story, man, where they're cheering for Mr. Potato Head. Yeah, I still have young kids, so. But funny little bit of trivia. Since Idaho exports almost all its potatoes, you can't really find a ton of good potatoes in Idaho. I thought I found that hilarious when I found that out, because they they.

Pete (00:32.207)
yeah, yeah, it's been a while.

Pete (00:53.551)
Here's another secret. Main potatoes are better anyway.

Chris  (00:58.865)
yeah?

Pete (01:00.174)
Yeah. Main potato.

Chris  (01:03.701)
Well, I get no comparison. I have never done the research, so I can't tell you that. I'll just have to take your word for it. yeah?

Pete (01:08.527)
I'm only saying it because I just had them the other day.

Yeah.

What? What?

Chris  (01:16.5)
Dad's unfiltered man. Just is what it is

Pete (01:20.654)
Good stuff, I had some potato hash. Was it potato hash? Potatoes, home fries, and some delightful wrap. Yeah, over the weekend we went and chasing a sandwich. So because I got that electric car, my thing is to drive an outrageous amount of miles to get food. So this week brought us to Singleton's General Store and Smokehouse.

Chris  (01:27.316)
home phrase.

Chris  (01:37.333)
Chasing a sandwich, that's great.

Chris  (01:46.483)
All right, where was this?

Pete (01:50.286)
somewhere in vermont procter'sville vermont

Chris  (01:52.212)
Okay.

Pete (01:55.373)
You know, It was a good sandwich. I wish the bread was toasted if that means anything to any of you guys they make their own bacon, so that was nice that was really tasty fucking bacon The sandwich though, I mean I don't know social media really makes things out to be a lot better than they are and then you get there and you're kind of like disappointed I'm not i'm not saying I was like disappointed disappointed but

Chris  (02:21.267)
Sometimes, for sure.

Pete (02:25.07)
I was a little disappointed. Like if I was out there, yeah, it's a cool place to stop for a sandwich, but to drive two and a half hours, not so much.

Chris  (02:26.835)
Hmm.

Sam.

Chris  (02:36.436)
Yeah, you gotta kinda really know what's good to drive that far for something.

Pete (02:41.133)
Yeah, another thing that I did try though that was better than that sandwich. So we had to stop and pick up our weekly supplies up in Maine and I got to try Mike Tyson's cannabis. yeah, dude, the champ delivers a fucking knockout. I tell you what, man, that is some good weed. You know, it's funny. Where I come from, a legal state, you're in a legal state. Currently you're not in a legal state.

Chris  (02:49.587)
Mm -hmm.

Chris  (02:53.428)
yeah?

Chris  (03:07.7)
Currently I'm in a felony state.

Pete (03:09.805)
So, I know, should we even be talking about it? Will they just bust down your door? Fuck you.

Chris  (03:11.636)
Yeah, not just to miss them here.

Yeah, probably not. Yeah, that green light on my camera is going to turn red and then I'm fucked.

Pete (03:22.445)
Right? So, Like with pre -rolls oftentimes so a pre -roll is a pre -roll joint Oftentimes it's in a cone and oftentimes they don't always burn so great This tyson bone man it like even the whole way there was no relights. No nothing No boating no nothing and normally that shit happens and this time it didn't

Chris  (03:42.003)
No boating.

Yes. Yeah.

Pete (03:48.237)
But like I said, I mean, Tyson totally delivers a fucking knockout with that shit. It was so good. I,

Chris  (03:53.683)
and appropriate given whose it is, right?

Pete (03:56.781)
Right. Yeah, I i've also that's been another thing that i've been trying is different celebrity weed. so i've tried he's an He's a celebrity out here and a celebrity to you because you're a red sox fan, but david ortiz has his own brand of weed there's a garcia handpick which is owned by jerry garcia's daughter, I think and like x y for something i've tried wiz kalifas

Chris  (04:11.155)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Pete (04:26.06)
weed and he's a rapper. I'm not familiar with his body of work but his weed is pretty tasty. And recently I have tried and I found out that they have pop -up dispensaries around here. Cheech and Chong have their own brand of cannabis as well and you would yeah right and I've also tried Belushi's weed.

Chris  (04:34.387)
Good to know.

Chris  (04:45.778)
Well, you expect that.

Pete (04:51.052)
So three seasons I've been watching this son of a bitch grow weed on TV and I'm like, I want to try it. I try it and it's no good. I was, I was, I was so let down. I'm not, I'm not trying to boast on me. I grew that one strain that I grew was really good. When I did the strawberry cough, that was much better. That was like.

Chris  (04:55.347)
One, two, three.

Yours was better.

Chris  (05:04.786)
No, I'm asking was yours better?

Chris  (05:13.493)
Well that was your favorite of the bunch wasn't it?

Pete (05:15.596)
Yeah, that's I think where I kind of fucking peaked and now I I can't grow anymore so no big deal but Yeah, I was really disappointed with belushi's tyson's was good chong Good stuff kalifa good. I want to try seth rogans But I gotta go to la for that shit

Chris  (05:26.034)
bummer.

Chris  (05:33.586)
Mm -hmm.

Hmm, yeah. I probably shouldn't mail you any, huh?

Pete (05:41.259)
I don't know, I can check with a couple of people I know in the post office.

Chris  (05:44.946)
Now even even like literally flying over states like that's I if if if it was caught and and I you know, yeah, but you know, well, dude, nuts things like any anything by mail. Just

Pete (05:55.532)
Yeah, you don't put a return address, Chris. You just send it. You send it from a nondescript mailbox somewhere in the middle of town.

Chris  (06:13.106)
felonies all over the place. It's like you open someone else's mail, it's a felony.

Pete (06:18.155)
I was told that they're not looking for stuff like that anymore. From a girl that I know that works at a post office. She said they're really looking for anything that'll go boom, or actually kill people. So there's that. Right, the powders, the powders not the plants. Speaking of California, I had to explain how far away

Chris  (06:22.801)
No?

Chris  (06:26.513)
Huh.

Well, yeah, yeah, you know anthrax and stuff Right hmm. There you go. The power is not the flowers

Pete (06:46.604)
Los Angeles was from Boston to Zachary today and I don't think he really understood that. I was like, look at how far away it is on a map. Now imagine that in real time. Wow. He doesn't get it. He doesn't get it.

Chris  (06:49.649)
yeah? Probably not.

Chris  (07:01.105)
Yeah, I love I love home and she's like enthusiastically responding as if he knows exactly what you're talking about, but no clue. It's so funny

Pete (07:08.267)
My favorite it's like when you ask him to do something that you like need or want him to do and then his response is just so it's like Hey, zachary, you need to go take a shower No Like what the fuck like no and that's just how like Yeah, did you like the toys that you got from the like no Every time it's it's like that

Chris  (07:17.201)
Yeah.

Chris  (07:26.865)
Thank you.

Chris  (07:32.305)
a whimsical though.

Pete (07:41.067)
Or when he realizes that you've done something good and he's proud of you. Good job daddy. I get it. I get a lot of good job daddies Thanks, buddy

Chris  (07:45.616)
Yeah.

Nice, nice. See with with with mild to psychic. And it's still it probably hits the same. You know, obviously just a little different because they're unique kids. But it's like, Wow, daddy, you're doing a really good job. thanks, baby. Yeah, I appreciate it. Just like, very, very emphatic. You're doing a really good job. Like I'm doing a puzzle or something.

Pete (08:12.811)
Yeah, well I wouldn't be cleaning this floor if you didn't spill all this shit all over it, right? I appreciate you taking kind of my work cleaning up your fucking mess! Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Chris  (08:17.584)
8 rates!

Chris  (08:23.729)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but you know, it's just like when when when when she doesn't like something she offers me some. So smart. Yeah. This is really good daddy. Do you want to try it? Yeah. Well, no, she no, she's like, I really like this. You should have some, you know, like she knows exactly what she's doing because she doesn't want to finish it.

Pete (08:34.89)
yeah, well who the fuck doesn't do that? This tastes like shit, try it! Yeah, yeah.

so she lies to you?

Pete (08:50.698)
Yeah, but if you tell you should just tell her if if you tell somebody tastes awful They're more than willing to try because they're not gonna believe you Like have you ever turned down somebody is like this tastes like shit Try it and if you've been like no and you've tried it you've been like, my god

Chris  (08:59.472)
Yeah, she

Chris  (09:03.472)
Yeah. Yeah.

No, I think I stopped doing that in my teens, because I learned.

Pete (09:11.145)
I know I I still do it cuz I'm like it can't be that bad and then it is it always is

Chris  (09:15.439)
Mm -hmm

Did you ask Ted Lasso?

Pete (09:20.489)
I didn't finish it, so don't ruin anything.

Chris  (09:22.864)
Well, no, there's just that episode where Roy's niece has some sort of issue with her mouth. I don't know if it's gingivitis or something. The bad breath. And it's like, it can't be that bad. And then he smells it and he's like... It's just... Try not to make her feel bad. He can't stop reacting. God.

Pete (09:33.829)
the bad breath. Yeah.

Pete (09:50.153)
Yeah, well, hey, you know, it happens.

Chris  (09:52.528)
Yeah. Well, yeah, sometimes it is just that bad, you know? No, no, but if I said anything like, this doesn't taste good to my daughter, she'd be like, no, then I don't want to try it. Yeah. yeah. Well, this tastes bad, Daddy. Try it. No.

Pete (10:03.305)
I meant she should do that to you.

Pete (10:11.881)
So before we get into whatever the fuck we're getting into, what are we getting into?

Chris  (10:18.384)
We're talking about family road trips today because we've both had multiple recently.

Pete (10:26.617)
yes. Yes. But before we get into that, I had stumbled upon this fantastic article over this weekend about a about a dad who has sought a hitman on the dark web to kill parents of the five kids that he adopted. I mean, just the headline alone is enough to like kind of reel you in, but then they start in with all this other shit and it's like it's boring.

Chris  (10:34.479)
Jesus, yeah, said it to me.

Chris  (10:54.127)
shit

Pete (10:55.945)
He's obviously guilty of it, like him and the Tiger King I think are sharing cells, I don't know.

Chris  (10:58.063)
like, you know, she. Well, yeah, and the same guy. Yeah.

Pete (11:04.169)
It was the same guy. The Mormon and the Tiger King shared the same hitman.

Chris  (11:10.068)
It made it dark.

No, and it is, it's funny too, because...

just the the looking at something that other well parents in general but father specifically just fail at or do horribly or are a dick or you know it's just there's something about even if you're even if you're doing it for a legitimate reason like this is a good lesson to learn or what what is our conversation about this it's always like I'm glad I'm not

glad I'm not that dad. Like I'm way better a dad than that guy. You know, like there's always some little bit of like, whew, okay, I'm not, I'm not horrible. Right?

Pete (11:53.916)
this is gonna make anybody feel good. Like, well, at least I didn't fucking hire somebody to kill the people who gave birth to you. $16 ,000 in Bitcoin.

Chris  (12:04.783)
Yep.

Pete (12:06.953)
Son of a bitch. And then he tried to cancel his order like it's something coming from Amazon, right? shit, I better call the call center in India to cancel the hit. Man, I just got on the dark web.

Chris  (12:07.246)
and

Chris  (12:11.918)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris  (12:17.743)
Well, and what I found was interesting too was, cause I didn't read the whole thing, but yeah, by the way, Pete sent this to me with no context, just like two versions of the article and then nothing until I was like, why the hell did you send me this man? Do you know these people? Cause like a part of it was in Massachusetts or something, wasn't it?

Pete (12:37.064)
No, dude, it's just a fucking headline Dad of 16 kids sought hitman to kill somebody like come on like he's like here. I was honestly I Sent it thinking that this was like a dad version of like fucking falling down like he was like a Michael Douglas kind of like I'm like thinking he's gonna be some sort of like fucking folk hero But turns out he's just a wackadoo

Chris  (12:45.198)
Yeah, but I need some context.

Chris  (12:54.122)
yeah.

Chris  (13:00.302)
Yeah, yeah, not doing it for the greater good at all. Just his own weird, like.

Pete (13:05.512)
No, and then we're gonna make it look like a Mugging Gone Wrong. It sounds like a fucking bad episode of fucking like... CSI or Law and Order. I saw this on The Rookie once, I think. I don't -

Chris  (13:13.934)
Well, and here's the thing that's interesting. Yeah, right. Yeah. No, but the interesting thing about it, like, because it was a super long article, so I didn't even get through all of it. But what I did read and what was just kind of mind blowing, because you yourself said, like, you joked about the fact it's like this dude's trying to kill the parents of the kids he's adopted. It's like, I would have gone the opposite way. Like, could you take these kids back, please? Or what? Whatever.

Pete (13:41.799)
Yeah, right.

Chris  (13:43.309)
I forget how you said it, but it's like this dude's trying to keep them by killing the parents. Yeah.

Pete (13:46.951)
I want an out. I want an out, man. I need a contingency plan. You guys are still around to take them? Good.

Chris  (13:53.966)
Yeah. But the crazy part was, and well, let's just get right to the meat of it. This is it. Well, no, it was just it was like extreme religious views motivated, right? It was this dude didn't have a frickin parking ticket. He was so clean. But yet he had this idea that he wanted just the

Pete (14:03.719)
the fact that he tried to kill Vivo?

Chris  (14:22.83)
biggest family he possibly could have with his wife, who they were both super religious and super into certain passages from the Bible that were all about family and the interpretations of it from the perspective of the most amazing thing you could do in your life is be a mother, the most amazing thing you could do is be a father. And they're basically literalists.

Pete (14:49.575)
Here, in 2019, the wife of the couple messaged the Pence family saying she was concerned for the safety of her children and needed a reprieve from parenting. Afterward, the Pences met the family, who at the time lived in Massachusetts, and decided to care for the couple's children temporarily, according to the memo. Eventually, the Pences, who were living in Texas, adopted the five of the couple's children

Chris  (15:00.749)
Mmm.

Chris  (15:05.644)
That's why I said, did you know them?

Temporarily. Right.

Pete (15:17.958)
and learned of the accusations that their father was suspected of abuse, the memo says.

Chris  (15:23.052)
FYI, they already had like nine kids. So they were, or 10, so.

Pete (15:26.79)
Yeah. He's got like 16.

Chris  (15:33.325)
So, yeah, go ahead.

Pete (15:33.511)
So it sounds like it was because of the accusations of abuse.

Yeah, he like goes onto the dark web. How the who do you know how to get on the dark web? I mean, I took some classes in the Internet. I I don't.

Chris  (15:42.924)
you

Chris  (15:52.941)
Well, no, everything I read about it, he said he used the same software that Snowden used to maintain his privacy while digging into the dark web. Because it, I forget what specifically, but they said it's a certain software that is extra security with like hiding your IP address and a bunch of other stuff to keep you as anonymous as possible so that you can go on the dark web without being like traced back.

So there was so much premeditation in everything he did. Coming from a dude who has never been arrested, never had a misdemeanor felony, like major issue with the law ever. And this is his first offense. So like you got to just wonder like what's the, hey man, I'm all for family, but like feeling a need to kill the parents of the.

Pete (16:36.006)
Yeah.

Chris  (16:50.732)
five children you adopted on top of your ten so that you could have the biggest family possible because your beliefs are so foundationally potent that like that was justified to you. They're evangelical Christians. So the fact that he felt justified in doing that in any way is amazing to me.

Pete (16:53.83)
Right.

Pete (17:13.03)
This is a great quote. His judgment failed and he began to explore an option that he acknowledges now no one should ever do. He went on the internet, he logged into the dark web and reached out to a purported hitman.

Chris  (17:22.477)
And well...

He did. He did do that.

Pete (17:33.989)
he just should have taken a cold shower or watch some

Chris  (17:36.492)
Well, that's it. That's the that's the part of it that I didn't get to. Like, I don't I have no idea what his motivation was or whether he even voiced it. Because clearly he wanted it the way that I saw everything come up and what I read of it was basically it was their opportunity to get the family to the size of the family that they wanted to with really no

consideration for the kids whatsoever. It was just this, like, the selfish view of someone with a goal, regardless of what that goal is, and not considering the other people involved, like willing to hire someone to murder someone else in order to fulfill a goal of a big family. That's literally what this dude did, regardless of his reason or his reasoning, is I want a big family, so I'm going to murder people so I can take their

Pete (18:18.693)
Yeah.

Chris  (18:36.139)
That's fucking crazy, man.

Pete (18:40.389)
It is all crazy. The guy is just, he's nuts.

Chris  (18:46.091)
Well, and it is a fascinating thing to just, like, and I can't even say, well, it's amazing what you'll do for your kids. He didn't do it for his kids. He did it for himself, you know? So.

Pete (19:00.005)
He didn't do it for those other kids either that he adopted because they definitely didn't want to see their parents probably... ...murtillated.

Chris  (19:02.123)
No, clearly not.

No, and it's so interesting too, because it, again, that like.

that hardcore track of this is what I need to do, so I'm totally justified in getting it done no matter what I have to do. Wherever you're coming from, that's one of the most dangerous mentalities you can have. And just the coming from that father perspective, you know? What's so amazing to me too is this series of

beliefs, I guess. And I'm not talking religion or anything like that, but like, there have been multiple stories that I have found of men as fathers who are like, no, I need it to be this way, or I need something like this to happen. So I'm gonna push past like, legality, personal space, you know, consent, like all this stuff, because I have a justified reason for doing it.

Pete (20:15.428)
But it's like all those weird people that are like... Janna likes to watch a lot of true crime stuff. I got hooked into that. And It's like... They hate their significant other and they're like, there was no other way. Like, wait. No, but there was though! There's like this thing that's called divorce. You can like move the fuck out. You didn't have to like... Go that... Yeah man, there's no other way. Like...

Chris  (20:20.298)
yeah, you mentioned that.

Right?

Chris  (20:35.306)
like a bunch of different ways really

Yeah, that kind of one track mind of it all.

Pete (20:45.156)
Did you think you would be shamed? The people in the town are gonna paint a scarlet letter across your breast and be like, no.

Chris  (20:55.753)
Well, dude, not for nothing, man, but like, guilt and shame is such a strong thing that it would not be surprising to me to have.

Pete (21:01.06)
I know.

Chris  (21:10.985)
have that like

perspective when you're that deep in a belief that I am so afraid of the shame that I feel or the shame that I could potentially have because of my belief about shame that I'm willing to murder someone else even Superman like just like Gus Gorman in Superman 3 I Ask you to do a simple thing Sorry now I'm just on an off track

I ask you to, what is it? damn it. See, now I need to do this because I ask you to do a simple thing like kill Superman and you're telling me you can't even do that one simple thing. Yeah, no, that's what I asked you to kill Superman and you're telling me you can't even do that one simple thing and then he just throws the phone down. Yeah.

Chris  (22:10.858)
shows how much of a fan I am. Anyway, just the fact that someone is so set in their mind about what something means. And I mean, to connect it to our usual conversations about parenting and dadding and all that stuff, the need to get away from shaming and...

Pete (22:37.575)
Yeah.

Chris  (22:38.825)
guilt, shame, like all of those methods of teaching. It's not to say that, you know, because shame utilized in a positive way can be very beneficial in order to learn from something, but using it as a weapon or as a tool to manipulate and control people, that's where it becomes a problem. And so many previous generations, especially fathers, use those methods.

most of the time unknowingly, that's just, this is just gonna work because this is how it worked for my dad, you know? And then we're belittled and shamed and guilted into acting the way we're supposed to instead of actually being taught what emotions are, how to regulate them and manage them and then be a functional human being instead of hiring a fucking hit man to murder the parents of the kids that you want. Yay.

Pete (23:33.47)
and then calling two days later, no, no, no.

Chris  (23:37.032)
Yeah. Can't we just cancel? That'd be good. Can I have my money back by the way?

Pete (23:39.234)
Yeah, I would like to reverse that order. Hello Don Corleone.

Chris  (23:48.168)
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, have you left yet? I'm sorry, can I cancel?

Pete (23:51.65)
You haven't put the bullets in the gun, have you? Thank God. balls.

Chris  (23:53.32)
Right, right.

Chris  (23:58.728)
Yeah, it's just... the...

Pete (24:01.538)
How do you even do that? Like, how do you cancel? Is there a call center? Is there like a thing to do? I wonder how this all works. Maybe we should ask. One of us should do the research. It's not going to be me.

Chris  (24:08.2)
Probably not.

Yeah. Let's go on the dark web and start asking questions. That'll be a good idea.

Pete (24:18.371)
Yeah.

Always start the conversation out with you're not the cops, right? You have to tell me if it is because TV has told me so.

Chris  (24:20.968)
No, yes.

Chris  (24:24.904)
Right, yeah, yeah.

Chris  (24:31.496)
That's true. Yeah, and TV is always right. Right? Yeah. It's this this just like there's no lies on the internet. Everything's perfectly legit. Yeah, I it really it never, it never ceases to amaze me. The the power of our own beliefs, right? Like you just get something in your head.

Pete (24:33.986)
That's right. That is fucking right.

Pete (24:41.922)
Totally.

Pete (24:53.57)
true.

Chris  (24:56.073)
It's like, I need to do this because this is again, like you said, this is the only way I can get what I want. And it's so interesting when you whittle everything down too, because it all comes down to every single thing we do in life. And I've said this before many times on the podcast is directly connected with how we want to feel, right? I want to feel powerful. I want to feel in control. I want to feel like I have everything that I want. I want to do all those things and I'm willing.

Pete (25:24.865)
I want a potty! I want, I want, I want!

Chris  (25:26.12)
I want to! Dude, that quote came up recently. For those of you uninitiated, that is Dustin Hoffman as Hook in the movie Hook. I want, I want, I want me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, n -

Pete (25:41.761)
Me, me, my, my, my.

Chris  (25:48.136)
You see, child, your parents give you things to shut you up. Yeah, you're a liar. I remember writing this actually total tangent, but I have to say it. I remember posting this after I saw that clip. And it's like when he was like, Maggie, your your parents would stay up all night just to see the sunrise before you were born. You know, before you were born, they were happier. They were free. And I wrote, I wrote

Pete (25:52.225)
Chris  (26:18.663)
What a horrible thing to like before I became a parent, I thought what a horrible thing to tell a child who lies like that. And then post parent, I said, what a horrible thing to tell a child.

That's it. It's just, I cannot tell you the, I just saw a woman posted something where she's, she like did, you know, did a voiceover basically to that audio. And then the caption said, Holy shit. Have we all become hook now as parents? yeah. Well,

Pete (26:44.709)
Hehehehe

Pete (26:55.617)
me. Flunk the maggot.

Pete (27:02.977)
Ugh.

Chris  (27:04.104)
For those of you listening that are in our wheelhouse of age, you will certainly remember those references. Bag of Rang, Rufio. Yeah, dude, so I'm shit, man. Just the, I get it, parenting's hard. But when you're not really living in reality, it could really.

Pete (27:12.225)
Bangarang!

Pete (27:25.568)
Yeah.

Chris  (27:34.247)
Really fuck you over, you know what I mean?

Pete (27:36.768)
What are we, become assholes or something? Marty, it's your kids. Something's going to be done about your kids.

Chris  (27:37.991)
I'm sorry.

Pete (27:44.96)
Chris  (27:46.759)
yeah.

Pete (27:47.488)
It's funny the things that you think about and you watch now. I mean, I grew up watching things that were not age appropriate and I didn't understand a lot of it and then I rewatch it now.

Chris  (27:56.103)
So did I many times. Yeah, it's like shit. How did

Pete (28:00.032)
Like Mr. Mom makes so much more sense to me now as an adult.

Chris  (28:03.975)
Yeah, yeah. Well, dude, like, I can't tell you the number of times that I've rewatched something like I wasn't allowed to watch Bugs Bunny because it was too violent. And yet I was watching Rain Man, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Freaking back to the future, man, like just all this shit that was and I don't know if it was just kind of

Pete (28:15.104)
Yeah, I know.

Pete (28:26.784)
Yeah.

Chris  (28:33.414)
My parents didn't know the movies well enough to understand. Like even fucking Star Wars, man. Like the only reason Star Wars was PG is because PG -13 hadn't been invented yet. You know? So there were so many things, like so much violence and sexuality that just went way under the radar. Like shit, man, even Goonies. Like, I remember watching Goonies as a young kid and

Pete (28:39.136)
Mm.

Chris  (29:02.982)
having that like the moment where Andy kissed Mikey instead of brand. Like it's like why every porn is from the guy's perspective, right? It's just like I was thinking like, if I was Mikey, that would have been so cool. You know, just all of that stuff that was just so normal. And now looking back on it, we're like, shit, I would never like, I would not.

Pete (29:08.64)
Yeah.

Pete (29:26.912)
Yeah.

Chris  (29:32.101)
let my kids watch a bunch of that shit right now, you know, so.

Pete (29:37.919)
Times were different.

Chris  (29:39.141)
They were different for sure.

Pete (29:41.571)
Should not have made all that cheese.

Chris  (29:45.189)
What the hell? What cheese did you make?

Pete (29:47.423)
I made that eggplant rollatini that had ricotta and parmesan and yeah.

Chris  (29:52.741)
right you said that. Well I hate to say it man we are we have passed the threshold of being able to handle that shit like it still tastes amazing.

Pete (30:05.055)
No, I've never been able to handle it.

Chris  (30:08.613)
you just do it anyway.

Pete (30:10.559)
I do it anyway because I'm an idiot. I mean, I like trying to cook different things. Janne likes eggplant and I'm really trying to.

Chris  (30:12.581)
Uhhh

Pete (30:22.527)
Actively take control of my weight loss and everything and not just like relying on ozempic and stuff. So we do a thing now where it's We try to do two nights of fish two nights of chicken and one vegetable night where it's just a vegetarian I Don't know how my body has been handling soy the last two times that I ate it was not I don't know so I I gotta try that again and see

Chris  (30:25.797)
Right, sure.

Chris  (30:38.213)
Hmm. Okay.

Chris  (30:47.717)
Yessss

Pete (30:51.615)
Sometimes it's better than others. But definitely the cheese, the ricotta, I'm already like...

Looking at the time going Chris said he had a heart out at nine. thank God

Chris  (31:06.149)
You

Pete (31:10.207)
Because I'm gonna have a soft out at nine and it ain't gonna be the kind that anyone wants to see.

Chris  (31:10.405)
Yeah, for those...

For those of you unaware, we are, this week we're recording Monday evening. So it's already, well, it's 6 48 PM my time.

Pete (31:30.879)
and it's quartering up.

Chris  (31:33.669)
Yep. Well, what's funny too is we had a topic and we've spent the entire, almost the entire time not talking about the topic.

Pete (31:34.047)
difficult. 849.

Pete (31:46.175)
That's all right though. It's been a good conversation. So that's all that matters and maybe people will listen to this one We can see until they get to the point where Pete says that he has a soft out and then everyone's like we're done

Chris  (31:48.388)
Yeah!

Well, let's hope so. It's not like people haven't listened to other stuff.

It's like, all right, I'm soft out right now. Forget it.

Pete (32:00.607)
Yeah, we've had enough of this shit. Also hasn't Pete.

Chris  (32:03.684)
I gotta go everyone leave I have to poop. Jesus for those of you who don't know that's a family guy reference Yeah

Pete (32:09.215)
Yeah, I'll bring the microphone with me.

man, yeah.

Pete (32:18.751)
So you've done a road trip, you drove?

Chris  (32:23.076)
Well...

I drove. So we're staying out here for almost a month because there was a couple different locations that we wanted to hit. We wanted to go camping for a week. It's summer vacation. We wanted to give the girls a good explore time, that type of thing. And because my wife can work remote, we...

Pete (32:49.151)
The girls I like how you like the one -year -old is gonna remember so much of this trip She gonna be like I went to Idaho once like really

Chris  (32:53.508)
Well, it's more the in the moment enjoyment and experiences. I know she's not going to remember shit, but there'll be pictures.

Pete (33:04.127)
you're like, what the fuck are you talking about you crazy old bastard? That's what you'll be saying.

Chris  (33:08.419)
Hahaha

Pete (33:12.095)
Chris  (33:12.291)
Well, we wanted to take the car because to rent a car out here would have been like 1200 bucks for the month. So we're saving a huge chunk of money just by driving, but we didn't want to drive with everybody because again, I have a one year old and we would have had to stop so many times because she can only nap so often in the car.

Pete (33:38.655)
Actually, they get on a routine. I don't know if you've ever done a long road trip with kids But they get as long as you stay going fast They usually sleep until you slow down because then they know that they can get their shit When I drove back when I drove back with Cameron When he was just an infant as soon as if we got stuck in traffic or anything fucking nightmare But as soon as we got back up to 60 fucking out cold and then we'd be fine

Chris  (33:50.595)
Yeah.

traffic.

That's really good.

Yeah, that's the thing. I will say she will stay asleep longer, but she will wake up. Like she just won't stay down. But that's the thing is it was a 13 hour drive. So basically my wife and two kids flew and I drove. So I ended up coming like a day and a half later because it obviously took me that long to drive. So I had my own road trip.

Pete (34:32.383)
all the back roads he was like I'm taking the longest way there

Chris  (34:34.531)
You

No, actually, that the way I took was, well, because there were two routes that I was gonna take.

Pete (34:43.231)
By way of New England, I looped around the entire, look, what's with the bubbles?

Chris  (34:47.427)
Is that if I do peace, the balloons come up? Jesus. Yeah, do it. Hold it up. See what happens.

Chris  (34:59.139)
The thumbs up! Nope.

Chris  (35:06.371)
What the hell? What is that?

Pete (35:07.999)
That is crazy shit. People are going to be listening and going, what the fuck are they talking?

Chris  (35:12.355)
Maybe your fingers are too wide. Cause you did this. Nope. It still works. No, I'm just saying. I don't know. It's not working. It's still working on my side. I don't, I don't understand why. The funny thing will be if it doesn't actually, the funny thing will be if it doesn't actually show up and we're just reacting to nothing and people are like, what the fuck are they doing? But no, so,

Pete (35:15.103)
Are you saying my fingers are fat?

Pete (35:25.759)
Sorry fatty, you don't get balloons.

Chris  (35:39.938)
We knew it was just it would be too much to take the kids but we wanted the car so I drove separate. I actually had a decent drive I listened to an audiobook that I would highly recommend.

Pete (35:50.719)
And you didn't crash the fucking car listening to an audiobook? That would have been me. I've been like Clark W. Griswold waking up in the middle of an intersection or at the hotel. Yeah, that would have been me right there.

Chris  (36:02.594)
Nice. Nice. No, I Yeah, I well I had to make sure I got enough sleep because I knew I was going to be driving for a long time. So but side note, yeah, it's called No Bad Parts. Really, really interesting book. I would highly recommend anyone interested in that's basically just therapy, psychology, understanding all the shit that happens in your head. Interesting read.

Anyway, after I got here, we ended up taking another road trip up from Boise where we're staying with my wife's family to Stanley, which is about two and a half hours away. Huh? Where they make those cups, yeah. No, but it's one of my wife's favorite places in the world. This field right below.

Pete (36:47.615)
where they make those cups.

Chris  (37:01.185)
these snowy mountains and it's, it is, it's beautiful. And she always wanted to show it to me and this is the first time we actually got up here. So we went camping for a week out there and just the trip with the kids. And I know that there's a strong desire, you know, all the issues with screens and all that shit. But living in the time that we are,

There is something to be said about screens on a road trip, you know, because it's just, I'm a firm believer in not all the time everywhere, but at the same time, there are certain situations where it is amazingly beneficial to just allow your kids to be on a screen, you know what I mean? And a modern, yes, yes.

Pete (37:53.919)
In a fucking car for a long amount of time is one of them

Chris  (38:01.953)
I have to say though, it's kind of like if there's enough, and this is my kid, like we've had enough conversations about it where it's like, listen, you can have this time and you have this much time left or you can watch this show or this episode or this movie or something. And then it's after that, we're gonna take a break, but then you can have more at this time or whatever. And obviously there are occasional tantrums and issues, but the vast majority of the time, as long as we...

preempt what we're saying and when we're in the car during this time, you can do it, but not this time. And for us, it's long trips or special occasions. If you're in the car and we're just going to the store, no, you can't watch movies on a phone. We're driving five, 10 minutes down the road. No, look out the window, or let's play a game or something like that. And I remember growing up, obviously,

The only thing that we had when I was younger to compare to smartphones in any way was a Game Boy when those came out.

Pete (39:09.375)
Yeah, otherwise you were basically reading cereal boxes at breakfast the back of a glade can in the shitter

Chris  (39:14.144)
Yeah, and and like counting Telephone polls when you're on a road trip like is it's I Spy of course and we do we did play that with my daughter, but it is it's so interesting how

Pete (39:26.367)
or play an I Spy.

Chris  (39:36.577)
Like you were forced into that creative situation, right? It's like when you're so bored that your mind just starts coming up with things to do and how so many kids now, like it's such an effort to get to that place because there are so many stimulating, you know, there's so many screens, so many shows, games, just immediate access to those dopamine hits that we just never had. So it's...

Pete (40:03.967)
Yeah.

Chris  (40:06.432)
It's not only that we as parents have better kind of coping tools for kids during long trips.

it's that much more of a challenge because if we let it go too much then it becomes a detriment. I don't know what your experience is with that. Obviously you have older kids.

Pete (40:27.762)
Yeah, we didn't really do a lot of road trips when the kids were younger

Chris  (40:32.832)
Thank you.

Pete (40:36.026)
mainly because Zach, I don't know, he doesn't really, he's good, but it's, he basically, yeah, it tuckers him out. You know, like when we drove to Cooperstown with him last year, you know, he was good on the ride there and he was good on the ride home, but you know, he got tired early at the game. Like he was like done before the game was even over, you know, and it was just like, fuck.

Chris  (40:45.376)
depends.

Chris  (40:51.232)
first out.

Chris  (41:01.952)
Yeah, yeah. Does he fall asleep fairly well in the car or no?

Chris  (41:10.016)
So even if he's super tired, he just won't fall asleep.

Pete (41:13.146)
I mean he might, he hasn't lately. He fucking fell asleep this morning. I was, sorry, I was working and he was just laying down and I turned and he was out cold. And it was only like nine o 'clock, I'm like dude, what the fuck.

Chris  (41:23.04)
yeah.

Chris  (41:32.607)
It's like an old man just passing out mid -sentence.

Pete (41:35.226)
Yeah, basically.

Not really.

Chris  (41:38.847)
Yeah, and I like what is that for any of you fellows listening like what's the what's the secret sauce for your road trips if you take road trips with your kids because

Yeah, really, it's like sleep and devices are the two go -tos for, like, you gotta kind of, for me anyway, I do it strategically. So if I know it's coming up on a nap time or a time where, like, it's one thing, like, my one -year -old, we can kind of just time it out because there are certain times that she takes naps during the day. But with my five -year -old, it's basically just,

getting her tired enough that she will fall asleep. And I have to say, as any kid, you know, we'll just watch TV indefinitely. Like the fact that every now and then she'll be like, I'm tired daddy, I'm gonna shut this off and close my eyes. Like, holy shit, you must be really goddamn tired, you know, to be wanting to do that. But she will do that and I appreciate that. So I've kind of.

if there's been a lot of outside playing around before we're back on the road. And there's a decent amount of like, you can watch this show or this movie or something. She'll tend to do that. So and also I think

Pete (43:02.129)
Hehehehe

Chris  (43:04.927)
you know, when you're in your home environment, you can control things so much better because you have much more of a regimen. And it's funny, the other thing I was reminded of is that I'm always like, I need a better system or I need to do things differently or you know, I need to try it this way, blah, blah, blah. And it's only when I'm not in my own environment, that I'm reminded of how much of a system I actually have, you know, because I wake up and then, you know, send

Pete (43:08.441)
yeah.

Pete (43:28.793)
Yeah.

Chris  (43:32.958)
one daughter off to school, then I have my one year old, then I do this, and then I do this. I'm like, huh, I actually have a decent regimen when I'm home, even though I don't think I do. And I feel like...

Chris  (43:47.838)
the past.

in a year in this most recent six months of the calendar year, we've had a decent amount of traveling in the car for an extended period of time. So we've kind of had a bit of a better understanding of, okay, we should leave by this time because then there'll be a nap here and then we can use devices here and then we'll be arriving at this time or we'll have a break. So.

And obviously when I was a kid, I just thought every, you know, I assume my parents just winged it, but I don't know. But I feel like there's so much more strategy when it comes to trying to travel with my family in particular. So I don't know how that is for you.

Pete (44:36.344)
kind of winging a prayer

Chris  (44:38.238)
You

Well, and again, like I said, different situation with all the kids, right?

Pete (44:42.807)
I mean a lot well yeah now they don't even come with us like a lot of stuff I do now is just like weekends or I plan around my ex taking Zachary And then Jen and I just go my biggest problem is I

things don't look so far on a map.

Chris  (45:06.237)
Mmm. Yeah.

Pete (45:08.344)
And I'm like, that's no fucking problem. And then I got fucking 3PO as my goddamn co -pilot telling me the odds and what time we're going to arrive at places and driving me up a fucking wall the whole time. I'm like, I know. I just like, don't remind me. It makes it worse. You know, like don't tell me the odds.

Chris  (45:16.925)
Nice.

Chris  (45:29.501)
yep. Well.

Pete (45:32.087)
That's the other thing too with the road trips is now I got like 80 things telling me like I'm doing something wrong I got I got my co -pilot My my fucking car will tell me shit my watch barks at me my phone barks at me I'm just not left alone no matter where I go Everything is like telling me what to do sucks

Chris  (45:41.213)
My fucking car.

Chris  (45:55.197)
Well, yeah, and I think it's I think family road trips in general are just kind of like, at least in my experience, they're an American pastime. It's one of those things like even way back in the 50s and 60s. It was all, you know, take your kids out on the bus, you know, whatever car they were advertising, you know, to the wood paneled station wagons that everyone had back then. I don't know. There's a bit of a rite of passage.

my family certainly and in my experience No, dude There there yes, no cuz yeah, it had fucking windows man, it wasn't a white van with no windows Well, yeah, it was the consent wagon let's put it that way

Pete (46:26.487)
Chris's family traveled around in a rape van.

Pete (46:34.551)
it was a shagging wagon. Let's call it what it is, a conversion van.

Pete (46:41.623)
Hehehehe

And shag carpeting and a bed All you were missing was a leisure so all you were missing was a leisure suit my friend and fuzzy dice in the mirror

Chris  (46:54.748)
Jesus. Yeah, no, we had a converted Ram van. It was all blue with blue carpet inside and it had a button in the back that turned the couch into a bed. Yeah, I drove that. I drove that shit to high school, man. Yeah, I remember that. But no, I think I think there's something there's something kind of.

Pete (47:10.486)
like the ladies man

Pete (47:18.262)
Chris  (47:22.652)
at least in my experience, is something kind of just American about the road trip, you know, because I remember seeing a dude, a British dude who a big part of his channel is talking about like defending Americans on distance, basically. He's like, here's why Americans don't think it's a, because it was something like, you know, from London to whatever place is two hours away. It's an extremely long trip. And we don't understand why Americans don't think that's a long trip.

And he was like, here's why, because that's like a morning commute to some Americans. And that's why so many Americans never leave their country because they don't have to. You could literally travel across a continent and still be in the United States. And yeah, I agree. There are so many things to see in this country. And I think just that open range mentality, the desire to just go explore and

the fact that it just happens that we're in a country that's so big that you can do that without a passport. It just kind of a, it always felt like kind of an American pastime, just, you know, the road trip.

Pete (48:30.837)
We're gonna do Route 66 in a couple years. And we're doing that when we get our Rivian.

Chris  (48:34.204)
So that's cool.

Chris  (48:39.132)
Well, and there you go too. Like there's a perfect example of like Route 66 was the road trip road for everybody. And then as soon as the highways came in, it fell off. But now it's back as more of like a retro cool thing to do anyway, you know.

Pete (48:54.517)
Well, yeah, because of cars, man. Cars really kind of helped reinvigorate that shit. I mean, a lot of it still is kind of crappy, but I'm hoping that it's still a fun, fun drive. There's a lot of cool shit along the way. Again, it'll probably be without the kids because the oldest is old enough to not want to be around us. And Zach Zachary, like I said, I mean, I'd love to incorporate in this so many things that I'd like to take him to see. I just don't.

Chris  (48:57.772)
yeah, of course. For sure.

Chris  (49:16.412)
You

Pete (49:23.349)
I don't foresee him handling that well.

Chris  (49:25.947)
yeah i get that he has he has his tolerances right well with that being said fellas why don't you jump on the facebook page jump on what the hell do we just basically use facebook let's be honest

Pete (49:27.221)
You know?

Yeah.

for sure.

Pete (49:46.517)
No dude, I'm on, I post more on TikTok, motherfucker.

Chris  (49:50.939)
Well, sure, TikTok, but you have to post a video on TikTok. I suppose you can comment, but yeah, let's just say that. Jump on our TikTok page, jump on our Facebook page, Dads on Filtered podcast, and share road trip stories. What do you have going? What do you like? What do you dislike? Shocking stories, fun stories, the shit that you enjoyed, the horror stories that you had to deal with as a dad.

I have so many that I could tell from when I was a kid looking at my dad doing stuff, but I'll save that for another episode. But yeah, I think we definitely need an episode talking more about our dads, and we've done that before, but with specific traveling and planning stuff, and I think that would be a good conversation. But anyway, write up some stuff, throw some comments on there, and share your stories with us.

Pete (50:26.165)
You

Chris  (50:48.539)
And we need to have, we need to continue extending our guest list. So if you're interested in coming on the podcast and you want to talk about this stuff, throw us a note. As always at twodadsunfiltered at gmail .com. That's the number two, dadsunfiltered at gmail .com. We have our TikTok page. No, it's still not happening. Let's see if it, no, is it this way? What the fuck? What is that?

Pete (51:08.917)
So no balloons.

Chris  (51:19.803)
Anyway, twodadsunfiltered .gmail .com, our Facebook page, Dads Unfiltered Podcast, as well as our TikTok page, Dads Unfiltered Podcast. And as always, you can check out my TikTok page, it's dadding underscore daily. And the X, the Twitters, we kind of have, but let's be honest, we don't really do it. So.

Pete (51:41.109)
I don't even go on there. It's terrible.

Pete (51:48.052)
And last but not least, I just want to send a shout out to a friend of ours that just passed away, Monique. She's a great person. My fondest memory was when she babysat me when Chris couldn't take enough time off of work to watch his friend while he was in LA. Monique took me by the Vivid Studios and I asked her kindly if she might know what floor the casting cut was on and she kindly offered to drop me off and leave me there so I could find out.

Chris  (51:50.65)
yeah.

Chris  (52:07.482)
My.

Well, and since Pete brought it up, I'll make it short, but yeah. Monique was a very good friend of mine who struggled with cancer for the last five years. And she and I wrote so many things together over about seven years, all through my 30s. And we wrote television shows and...

Pete (52:16.531)
I decline.

Chris  (52:43.514)
movies and like it was just a super fun time. She was such a mentor to me. And it was such a challenge to see her. You know, just go through that process and watch her deteriorate as a as a human, but never see her spirit break. Like this woman was one of the most positive people I've ever met ever known. She stayed and not that stupid superficial positivity like I'm just gonna think everything's great.

No, like actually finding the silver linings of every situation to say, you know what, this sucks, but this is what's good about it, let's focus on that. She was amazing that way, and I still love her, I'm gonna miss her horribly, but she's not suffering anymore, so.

Pete (53:29.523)
And that's the important thing. And our force ghost is still with us, just like Obi -Wan and all those motha -

Chris  (53:33.657)
Goddamn right. Goddamn right.

Pete (53:38.771)
All right, guys, until next week, which I think we record on Friday.

Chris  (53:44.153)
No, because we're bi -weekly now, man. Come on, remember?

Pete (53:46.067)
Yeah, motherfucker. yeah. yeah.

Chris  (53:49.369)
Hahaha!

Pete (53:52.179)
Woo! Well anyway, see you guys in like another week or so or whatever.

Chris  (53:59.993)
Two weeks, Pete, two weeks.

Pete (54:01.139)
two weeks we'll see in two weeks I'm ending it now now that I've made an ass out of myself

Chris  (54:05.049)
GOOOO