Things We Learned from the Road Trip | Feat. Holly Janco

(light music) Welcome to the "God of the God of God" guest. This is Matt and Holly's with us as well. We're gonna be talking about what did we take away from doing the road trip. But before we get into that, Holly's gonna share a verse for this podcast today. - Our verse for this episode is Proverbs 169. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So during this podcast, we're gonna talk about the steps that we took to plan the road trip and how God had a bigger plan and ultimately taught us a lot of things on the road trip. - Yeah, so there was a lot of stuff that we had planned out throughout the trip and some of them went according to plan, some of it didn't at all. There's things that we would do differently, there's things that we would keep the same, but throughout the podcast, we'll talk about that today. So kind of starting out with a few of the main things that wore issues on the road trip, where storage was always kind of an issue. We always had issues like on tagging everything, we ended up not actually having waterproof external storage and we learned that the hard way, the cooler was not a great situation 'cause we kind of thought we could keep frozen stuff in there and cold stuff and so that didn't really work out. So we had stuff that melted and really was kind of gross. Specifically, we had like frozen patties that ended up melting and then we had like frozen particles of meat kind of flowing around in the ice coolant thing. - So glad you got rid of that and not me. - Yeah. - We're staring at each other like who wants to do this. - Yeah, I kind of murdered a hotel room. Sorry, sorry hotel room. I don't remember what place it was to fix it up. We, I kind of, I first was like, oh, I just dumped it down the bathtub and then realized that it doesn't drain. And so then I had to get one of those like plastic bags that they give you for the ice chest and I just continued to scoop it with that plastic thing and put it into the toilet and it was just, it was so gross. I just had to look the other way on sanitation for a little bit and then get it done. - What a man. (laughing) - Yeah, it was, I mean, it was definitely gross but you gotta do what you gotta do. I looking back at definitely way just poured it out outside but being that was me, I didn't think that was a good idea but whatever. - Yeah, you gotta keep those bears away. - Yeah. - Keep poured outside at the hotel. Bears might keep up and want that, you know? - Yeah, exactly. Something else that kind of went wrong that we've already talked about a lot is the snow blindness thing but really just the thinking about you should prepare for the terrain that you're facing. So looking at, is it gonna be snowing? Is it gonna be raining? Is it rocky? Do you need ropes involved? Do you need certain shoes? Do you need waterproofing stuff? Do you need. - Hike and poles or? - Yeah, hike and poles, yeah. Stuff like that throughout the trip was definitely stuff that we didn't really think about and so looking back, we should have looked more into different gear that we need for those different types of terrain. Specifically talking about the 14 or things, two things that would have been vital and we would have probably made it up if we had them was one sunglasses for everyone. And I guess sunscreen as well, thinking about sun is an issue that we didn't really think about. And then also the snow was just unbelievably hard to get through once you got higher up. So what they call crampons is another thing that would have been definitely helpful to help us get through the snow and having those crampons would have really changed the game. We probably would have made it up to the top of that 14. - Crampons are basically things that you can cramp on your shoes and they have spikes on the bottom and they're metal. So it's very easy to get through snow. And you definitely need to. - Yeah, bases adds extra traction, makes you a four wheel drive person. - All terrain mode. (laughing) - Yeah, so those things like that, just thinking about what gear that we should have had that we didn't have. Are there other things that you are thinking about that we should have done differently? - The breakfast situation. We definitely didn't need enough calories in the mornings before we hiked and one thing I've learned is for one to look out for other people not only eat your breakfast, but make sure other people are eating their breakfast. And just like a healthy, but quick breakfast option, not oatmeal at all, but like. - And if you get oatmeal, make sure you get ones that can be instant cooking. We totally were like, oh, we'll get a deal and we'll get the one that you have to cook for hours. And we were eating raw oatmeal and it was just so gross. Let me explain how gross it is first. Calvin was like, we gotta make this better. So Calvin made it, was pouring sugar in it, putting pop tart in it, apple sauce in it, and a little bit of Alex Foster's energy drink in it. And it honestly made it better. And that was, it was still horrible, but it was better than it was originally. - Basically anything you could find in the hotel, he was like, let me have it. - Let me make this better. - Yeah, like we didn't really want to cook anything in the morning 'cause we were on the move like first sunrise. We wanted to get up and hike and stuff like that. We had like big mutants, like those type of things, but they were pretty good, but definitely not sustainable. Yeah, in one instance, we had to carry one of our friends out of black canyon because she didn't eat enough breakfast that morning. And so just like really looking out for other people and making sure that they're eating food and that we are consuming more food and getting healthy quick options for the morning. So like our best breakfast was probably like bagels. So we had bagels and cream cheese. - Yeah, so really thinking about, in general, from meals, how much food are we getting in throughout the day and making sure that it's enough? And thinking about having good breakfast, good lunch, and good dinner. And we did pretty good about lunch. We used to had sandwiches or wraps or something like that. And we had a good, pretty good dinner pretty much every night was good. But-- - Yeah, mom's cooking, it was a good day. (laughing) - I'm just, we had a lot of food. We would eat a good amount at dinner time. But then for breakfast, we usually were like getting up from our campsite and leaving. And so we didn't really think about like stopping the cook or anything like that. We only ate like neutral game bars and maybe protein bars and stuff like that. And that's really it. And this is not enough to sustain people. - You also had like peanut butter crackers. And I mean, the healthiest thing we could have done was make eggs because it's healthy. It's protein, like it's pretty sustainable, but that cannot eat eggs. - Well, even we could have done that kind of thing, but it was just that we didn't want to cook anything. - Yeah, we were on the move. Like we were up and going. It was still dark outside. - Yeah, so just we should have thought about that more. And we still don't really have a great option for that other than maybe eating sandwiches or something for breakfast. - Yeah, like I think bagels are great and then yogurt's good as well. - Yeah, so I mean, those are all kind of things that we should have thought about more. And something that we definitely learned and we picked it up and we just kind of adjusted was utilizing national forests and utilizing those for campsites 'cause it's just open dispersal camping and disperse means camp wherever you want basically. And so that's something that we kind of learned and were able to take and add to the whole trip and just make things easier. So looking back, maybe planning our trip more around that and like, and finding national forests that we can camp with would be something helpful. Like yes, we want to go to the big national parks and stuff like that, but national forests were really definitely key assets to our trip. - Yeah, and there were campsites in the national parks but we had to pay for them usually. - And during COVID they were closed for the most part, but yes, you do have to pay for them. - Yeah, so we didn't want to add that to our budget and when we could find a perfectly good forest, that was 10 minutes away. National forests are our friends. - Yeah. - As I wish we'd play in more about like getting into the national forest. - Yeah, so that's definitely something else we might have done differently. But for the most part, things went pretty well and we were able to see some really cool stuff and it was all the kind of things that we kind of ran into where things that we learned from able to take forward in life and forward in that trip as well. - Yeah, storage was definitely an issue for the top part of the floor runner. We had like a canvas zip up bag that was like about the size of a table, like a normal dinner table, I don't know. So we would put all of our clothes up there and like your duffel bags, all of our clothes basically. And the layers of the canvas would wear off with the wind and the wind we were driving. And it was technically water resistant or waterproofed. - Yeah, so the one on the top, I mean it was probably waterproof when we bought it, but it's my dad's from like, it probably college, like it's definitely old. So it just didn't really work very well. And we kind of lost all the fascinating pieces of it. So we had to like take it all the way off every time. - Yeah, we had to ratchet it down with some ratchet straps. That's how it was strapped on there. And it was a pain in the butt to try to get out your bag to get a certain t-shirt that you wanted for the next day or whatever we would look at, Sam be like, who's gonna tell 'em? Who's gonna tell 'em? We need our stuff. And it was usually me that I'm like, "Sam, can we get up atop?" And he would like, "Growin' and I'm like, okay, sorry. You need to get my stuff." - Yeah, so looking back, what we should have done is got those hard cargo things. 'Cause they not only are they more waterproof, but they're also easy to open. because they just tathlet. and you open it up and then you close it. - Probably so sweet. - And it would just change the game. And then I would also have put a roof rack on my car would have invested in that, would definitely have been something else so that we just had more storage. And we could, 'cause as we went through, we yes we used food up and that kind of thing, but we also picked up souvenirs and different things like that. So, - Rocks. - Rocks in Robert's case. - Yeah, we picked up rocks from the narrows. You have to take a souvenir. - And not just any rock, but a pretty big rock. And so it was just this huge, not huge, but definitely not like the one you skipped. And he took a ron. - It was like, yes, the personal pizza pan, that's a good definition of size. And so that was just kind of funny and he carried it all the way back through the narrows and then not only through the narrows, but then on the hike back, the rest of the way. And you're probably wondering why Robert and Nathan aren't on this podcast. And it's because we recorded this podcast a while ago and then it got deleted somehow. And so now me and Holly are doing it just 'cause that was the only people we could get together last minute. But back to the story. In Zion as well, just kind of a situation that happened is we weren't really super aware of how they closed the park. And lots like we knew that you have to get into this section early, but we should have started the top. So that's just like a very specific situation. But really just thinking about with your trips that you're planning, how can you just look into maybe calling the rangers at the park and saying, hey, what do we need to know? Looking at their website, there's lots of resources out there and don't be afraid to ask questions to the park rangers. And having a day or like an afternoon, where you're able to go to the visitor center is definitely something's really helpful, especially if it's like a big park like Zion and you want to spend your day as effectively as possible. That can be something that could be helpful. - Yeah, the park rangers are very friendly. Robert's talking to them for like 30 minutes one time. And so we were hiking angels landing when we're trying to get to the narrows and the parking lots open at certain times. And so the parking lot wasn't open to the where we wanted to go. So we just started walking. And then as we started walking, we just see cars after cars like going past us and I'm like, oh my goodness, I guess we missed it. So we ended up hiking 16 and a half miles that day, like we checked our Apple watches with the narrows. We had like three miles down. - And three miles back. - Three miles back and then we hiked all the way back to our car. So it was a lot, but it was worth it. It totally worth it. - Yeah, so it definitely was worth it. But let's transition to some of the things we did well and we would recommend you do is we talked about this in our first podcast in this series, but making sure you do plan really well. And like thinking about how you're gonna spend your days 'cause if you don't, you're just like, oh, where are we going next? You're gonna waste a lot of time. And especially if you're on a tight schedule. And if you're not on a tight schedule, if you're just kind of wondering around, then go ahead and do that. But if you're trying to get back within two, three weeks, then you need to have a pretty good plan set out. And really just always have a good plan so you can get the most out of your time. - Yeah, Matt's been planning this for years and every year his friends bail on him. So he literally had an itinerary already set and he just joined with Calvin's itinerary and made our own, made it our own. And they planned it really well. - Yeah, and I mean, I just had like some really general ideas and Calvin really took off with it and really did some really good planning with it. And figured out kind of the basic, like this is where we're going. This is kind of what to expect from the day. Maybe something we should have added to that is like what gear do you need for that day possibly and like preparing people more so that we're having that kind of stuff listed out? - Yeah, that's tough though, 'cause you don't really know the weather. So just be prepared, be prepared for any type of weather. And I think we did a, okay, John about that. We just needed sunglasses on screen and like crampons and like some gear that we didn't even have. - Yeah, one big thing that I think was really just, it's not necessarily one thing that we did well, but just like overall concept was like really spending our time well. Like we decided to go for this and do this really cool experience and going to see all these different locations and seeing God in those locations. And a lot of people are afraid of doing that and going out and seeking that adventure in whatever way. And right now if you're in college or you're later in life, find some time, even if it's not something that's this big adventure, but definitely seeking that adventure is something that is such a awesome thing to do. And especially in a relationship with God like seeking that and stepping away from all the things that are going on in this world. We're so connected with people in so many ways and maybe we need to disconnect from our phones to be able to connect with God. And I kind of stole that from Heather Simple this past week. This past week at C12 and most of our listeners go to C12. So I'm just kind of speaking to you guys. Heather spoke to finding God in nature very much the spiritual pathway to that. And she challenged us this week to walk in the wilderness and just spend an hour of time ideally and leave your phone in the car, leave it locked in your glove box and head out and be able to do that and get disconnected from that so that you connect with God their nature. Even if you don't find that nature is your best pathway to God, that's definitely something that you should do and you should spend time in. Just 'cause we have spiritual pathways that we're more in line with, doesn't mean that we can't connect with God in those other spiritual pathways. And so I would challenge you guys as listeners to go out and spend some time in nature and let us know on our Instagram about what you went and did. Like today actually went to a waterfall and just spent some time up there, got to just kind of hang out and actually met a really cool guy and we got to have a good conversation and talking about life and everything and something specific I kind of felt and I'll kind of close with this but just kind of a way that I connected with God through nature on this specific trip today was when I was next to the waterfall, like I kind of went right next to it. You can feel the power of it and you can not just see it, you can feel it, you can feel the water coming off, you can feel the air coming off, you can feel the temperature of the cool water. And then as you step away, you go back to the platform, back to the trail, you can see the power but you can't feel it anymore. And I think that's the same thing with God is we can see God and from a distance and we can see that he is almighty, he is sovereign but can we feel it? And that was kind of a thought that God gave me today when I was up at Helton Falls this morning and it was just a very cool experience and God really spoke to me through that. And I really encourage you guys to go spend some time out in nature and let us know what that is like and what God spoke to you through that. - Yeah, that's good Matt, how you related the power of the waterfall to the power of God. It's so easy to see the power of God and other things but not actually feel it. And so as you get closer to that waterfall, the more power you feel and that's the same with God, and then how you mention that is the closer you get to God, the more you get to experience his power. And also I was thinking of the word authority, God authorizes all of nature to act that way and just to give us a glimpse of who he is, what kind of sharing that. - Yeah, that's really good. Thanks for sharing that. And also because we talked about the road trip, this kind of the last one about the road trip, please let us know any questions you have about planning your road trip that you wanna do. Even if it's just going up to the North Georgia mountains or going slightly out of the state, going over to Max Patch or something like that, we would love to hear about that and just hope you figure out those plans and we can share with you kind of how we planned it. And I'm gonna put a link to in this podcast description to our itinerary that we had just to give you an idea of what that looks like. And it's by no means perfect, but it's kind of a cool idea of what you should look for and add to it. Thank you all for listening today to the Gov. And your podcast, we hope you enjoyed today's episode. And please let us know your thoughts on planning a road trip for yourself and how you're playing to do it. Give us a follow on Instagram @GodVenturePodcast and I'll put a link for that in the description as well. And as always, see you on the trail.