Small Town Weirdos

0:002%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter and on my podcast, 2%. I break down the signs of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O percent on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the serving pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. How long have we been best friends? It's just a day we met. As the league won volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in. You'll hear unfiltered analysis behind the scenes stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search serving pancakes, and listen now.

1:04Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Ready for a different take on Formula One? Look no further than no grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the story of the woman who last participated in a Formula One race weekend, the recent uptick in F1 romance novels, and plenty of mishaps scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to no grip on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the on-purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Khan, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit, Stick Season, on one of the biggest voices in music today. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be the thing that I was ashamed of. Getting to talk about this is not common for me, right now I need it more than ever. Listen to on-purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

2:07your podcasts. Hey, it's Nora Jones, and my podcast playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Josh Groban. You really did the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I would definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Listen to Nora Jones's playing along on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our own Brooke Foxx for the majority of her adolescent life lived in a small town called Spirit Lake Idaho. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Brooke and Jeffrey in the morning, Jose Alexis, any guesses on the population of Spirit Lake? Brooke, I'm sure you're going to tell me I'm wrong when I read the answer that I just found off the U.S. Census, but that's fine. Well, I mean, now it's different than when I was growing up. Right, so right now, Jose Alexis, any guesses? I'm going to say like three thousand, maybe five. Alexis? Okay, yeah, I was going to do that,

3:08so I'll pick a new one now, and I'll go lower to a thousand. Yeah, like the answer is 2337. My mom constantly complains about the growth. The population sign growing up read, I five, remember correctly, 756. Wow. There's still no stoplight in my home. Oh, it's like the New York of Idaho at this point. And the reason that I bring this up is because Brooke would agree with me here, growing up in a rural area can give you some unique experiences that a city folk would be mind boggled by. Oh, for sure. Yeah. My cousins were really would come and visit, and they could not comprehend why we would oil the roads. Why would you oil the roads? Because they're all dirt, and so you got to put oil down in order to keep the dust at bay. See these are things I thought everyone did oiling each other up in Idaho. It's just a way of life. That's why a survey was done where people shared the most small town things they ever personally witnessed. Oh, bring it on.

4:14So Brooke, you might definitely empathize with these people. One person said the traffic on my town's main street was so sparse that two drivers going in opposite directions would frequently stop and talk to each other for a few minutes and more cars without causing any problems or congestion. That's actually cute because you would know who it is. It's like, oh my god, that's Bill. So in my hometown, if you were ever caught in a traffic line, the reason was always Busy Bootin. Because Busy was a guy in town. Still is. Hi, Busy. And he would drive around old, like, Model T trucks, and he only goes 40 miles an hour wherever he goes. So if there was a line of cars, like, I would show up to school and be like, sorry, we got caught behind Busy. And another person said, I had a job in a small town as the only person working for the DMV. What? You had a DMV? One day, one day there were two people in the room waiting to be helped in a third walk.

5:17She got so flustered and angry that it was so busy at that DMV. She threw her book at me and stormed off. Well, yeah, I turned it into like a town hall meeting with her person walked in. This town's going to hell. Why are all these Californians moving here? The next person said for our small town of 600 people, we have a village Facebook page. And the biggest thing that's posted every year is when the ice cream man shows up. The page goes ballistic. People start sending photos and live updates of where the van is, which direction it's heading. Eventually, the ice cream man blocked us on Facebook because so many people were DMing him. I follow our town's Facebook page. It's mostly lost dogs. So many stray dogs. Not a lot of good news about the ice cream man. Are the dogs the ones posting? If you're just tuning in, people are sharing the most small town things they've ever personally witnessed from individuals who've actually lived there. One woman from a little town in

6:20Minnesota said, recently, we had a squirrel festival where they unveiled a new squirrel bridge that retirees made to go from one tree to another so squirrels could have easier access. Yes, the actual like roads for driving on are totally crap, but at least the squirrels have bridges to get from trees to trees. The squirrels can't go on the roads because there's too much oil from it. I don't think we don't oil the streets anymore. They have paved them. One person wrote, in my former small town, there was an older guy who lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Police agreed he was not allowed to operate a car anymore, but they did give him an exception to ride a John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar. So every day at 3 p.m. he'd show up, pound a few Miller lights, watch TV, and then head the couple miles back home on his mower. I like the drinkings out the problem. It's the vehicle. In our town, it was walking Rodney. Yeah,

7:22walking Rodney. Yeah, because he had to walk everywhere because he didn't know his license. One guy said, the town I'm from has a single stoplight and it's only operational on Thursdays. Why? Yeah, why? Because the driving exams are held on Thursdays and they're legally required to have at least one stoplight on the exam route. It's the only reason the stoplight was even installed. This is like Alexis's dream town. Yeah, no traffic laws, except on Thursdays. I could stay in one day. Are you kidding me? Cosplay over in small towns constantly, because they're so bored. But are your odds of being friends with them and getting out of it higher? No, they're just as tricky. Someone said, my hometown got a McDonald's in 1986 and we ended up having a citywide parade for it. And they actually included a photo from the parade. Dude, that's so nice. They're literally marching down the street with like a giant banner for the

8:25McDonald's. That's great. It's funny that even though that photo was taken from 1986, the people in it look like they're dressed from like the 1700s. Yeah, well, it's probably a theme. Yeah, the theme of old-timey McDonald's, yeah. And finally, a person said, I grew up in a small Missouri river town. There was a combination hair salon live bait shop called Purms and Worms. It was one of the busiest, most successful places in our entire city. There's gotta be. So awesome. And honey, pick me up a can of worms on your way home from your hair appointment. We all went to the tanning salon, which was in the back of the VHS video rental store. No, no. They've always been loved. Yeah. And the floors that I have, the floors that I hired for our wedding also worked at the liquor store. So wow, she was doing both out of one place, productive cities. Yeah. Those are the most small town things people ever witnessed while living in a rural part of this great nation. It's a funny thing to come from a small town. Yeah, live in the city though. Phones have coming up right after this.

9:302%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter and on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O percent on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On the serving pancakes podcast, conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. Okay. How long have we been best friends? It's just a day we met. As the league won volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in. You'll hear unfiltered analysis behind the scene stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Whether you're following the final push of love season or just love the game, serving pancakes brings you closer to the action and the people shaping the future of volleyball. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search serving pancakes

10:33and listen now. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Ready for a different take on Formula One? Look no further than no grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series. Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the story of the woman who last participated in a Formula One race weekend, the recent uptick in F1 romance novels, and plenty of mishaps scandals and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent dumpster fire for more than 75 years. Listen to no grip on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the on-purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Conn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit, Stick Season, and one of the biggest voices in music today. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be the thing that I was ashamed of. Getting to talk about this is not common for me, right now I need it more than ever. Listen to on-purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

11:36or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Nora Jones, and my podcast playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Josh Groban. You really did the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I would definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Listen to Nora Jones playing along on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.