Listen to the episode
Driving Profile: Eric Slivoskey
(sneak peek)
ERIC: [00:00:00] So we get New Mexico and we’re in this
remote area and we see this bus. It’s like one of a kind. Oh my gosh. That’s,
that’s the bus from the gypsies that we crossed in Florida. And so we decided
that we should say hello. But we said, let’s, let’s, get, get them something
So I go up and I knock on the bus and the next thing I
know the window opens and one of the individual in the, in the party there in
the clan and this guy has this really, really long beard a ZZ, top type beard,
and he just looked really intimidating. And he peeks out the window and I’m
standing there with donuts, like, Hey, how are you doing good morning. And he’s
pointing a revolver at me.
(intro music)
BHAVNEET: Welcome
back to Drive With Us Podcast, a podcast where we explore driving cultures
around the world by bringing on a new guest each episode to talk about the
crazy things they’ve experienced on the road, who they are as drivers and how
they became the driver they are today. I’m Bhavneet.
TARANJIT: And I Taranjit.
And happy International Women’s Day which actually just passed on the 8th. But
yeah. But
before we get into who todays guest is which you could probably already tell by
the title, but we have a few quick reminders or updates for this unnamed
segment. I guess we…
BHAVNEET: Car
keeping.
TARANJIT: Car keeping? We
got some car keeping to do.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
First, don’t forget to enter our 2-year anniversary giveaway that’s going on right now.
We’re giving away two Alexa Echo dots and one DWUP Merch bundle. More details
on how to
enter are in the show notes below. And the last day to enter is Friday, March 26th
so get to it and only…
TARANJIT: Wow. Order them.
Get to it.
BHAVNEET: Get
to it. Well, I mean it’s a pretty cool prize.
TARANJIT: I know. I would
want that.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
Maybe I’ll do it under…
TARANJIT: So we can keep
the Echo Dot?
BHAVNEET: Under
a pseudo name. Yeah. There’s only one entry per person. But yeah fun giveaway. Also,
there are plenty of ways now to plenty of new ways now to connect with us.
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TARANJIT: Wait. What.
BHAVNEET: Not
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record your voice because what I’m about to tell you is really cool.
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TARANJIT: I didn’t either.
I forgot the no part.
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And now enough update because that was a lot.
BHAVNEET: Enough
car keeping.
TARANJIT: Enough car
keeping. Today’s driver is Eric Slivoskey, a freelance writer football coach,
stand-up comedian, educator and personal development coach who specializes in clarity
and resilience coaching. He loves the open road and adventure travel. And has
been fortunate enough to visit all 50 states and over 50 countries. Little
jealous, but..
BHAVNEET: Whoa.
TARANJIT: He’s married to a
lovely Brit and has three amazing children and loves to travel with his family.
Eric decided to one day just drop everything and join his friend on a
spontaneous road trip across the country and along the way they ran into
gypsies, not once but twice, were told to pay cash for a speeding ticket on the
spot or they will be sent to jail and were strip-searched at the Mexico border.
Let’s meet today’s driver Eric Slivoskey.
(transition)
BHAVNEET:
[00:04:53] Welcome Eric. Thanks so much
for joining us today.
ERIC: Well,
thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you both today.
TARANJIT: I’m super excited to hear all your stories, especially since
you’ve been to so many different countries and so many States.
What would you say is one of the most craziest or most interesting driving
experiences you ever had?
ERIC: Gosh,
there’s, there’s been a lot of them, you know. When I started thinking about
being on the podcast. I was just like, how, how am I going to limit these
experiences and pick out the best sort of nuggets. Yeah, there’s just
been quite a few misadventures, I guess you could say on the open
road and I, and I mean, I’ve just absolutely always loved the open road, too
and driving. And I probably should have been a truck driver when I look back on
my life, but driving is always kind of been, I guess, almost like cathartic or therapeutic
for me. And, um, I started off traveling a lot with when I was a little kid
with my grandparents. So, but, but anyhow, to kind of get into some, some
[00:05:53] stories, I guess a couple that would stick out would be.
Well, I’ll start state side. Cause I’ve, I’ve
had some pretty crazy experiences overseas too, but I’ll, I’ll start here in
the States. And one that definitely stands out for me is, uh, so I was about, I
was about 19 and I had, uh, I just finished up first year of college and I wasn’t
really sure kind of what I wanted to do with my life.
And so, I left college. I moved back home and I
just, I started working on a farm. And during this time a friend of mine from
the military, he had just got out of the military. He’s about four or five years
older than me, but he calls me up and he says, what are you doing? And I said,
well, just working on a farm and just trying to figure out what the next step
is.
And so he he said, Hey, you want to go on a
road trip and he had a little Honda CRX that got like, I don’t know, 55. Miles
to a gallon and gas was like 50 cents. I didn’t have much money. I mean, I’d
maybe be like $4-500 to my name, but I thought I can make that [00:06:53] last
probably for quite some time.
So he said like, why don’t we just take
off and, and let’s just drive around the country and we’ll work as we need to
work. And, and that kind of thing. So we started off in Pennsylvania, which is
my home state and we, we left and I think it was late spring. And, you know, I
was about 19 years old and, we, and a lot of people thought this was just a
horrible idea, too. Like my mom and, friends and family, like you’re going to
do what. But anyhow, we set off and I should have known that it was going to be
a rough trip when, we got as far as South Carolina and we’re driving on
interstate 95, one night and going a little bit over the speed limit, but not
too much. But people with Southern plates are just passing us, like zooming by
us. But anyhow, we got pulled over and stopped somewhere around Columbia,
South Carolina. And the cop he basically said that we were speeding and then if
we didn’t pay cash on the spot, we were going to have to spend the night
in the local jail. And so that $400 or whatever, that I started [00:07:53] off
the trip with, I was about $50 lighter right off the bat and we haven’t
even gotten down to Florida, which was our first main stop.
And so we had ended up we’re on the side of the
interstate and we’re paying this guy in cash for this speeding ticket. So
probably imagine what he probably didn’t report that I’m guessing he just took
that money. But the thought of spending time in jail, wasn’t very appealing at
the beginning of our trip.
But we did make it down to Florida and so we’re
down there for a little while and we decided to stay a little bit. So we
started working for the, for the U S census, just to make enough money to keep
ourselves going. And so we’re in Kissimmee, Florida near Orlando, we’re in this
campground.
And we come across this group of people. I think
we were staying there three or four days. It was a cheap campground. And we
come across this sort of, I guess you would just say they were, they were like,
uh clan of like gypsies. Like they just, they had this crazy looking bus that
just had all kind of like stickers on it.
It was like a converted school bus. And it was
like rainbows and all [00:08:53] different kinds of colors. And it was like
parked right next to our little site where we got our little tent set up. And
so, so we started to talk to these people a little bit and we’re just kind of
curious about them and, you know, they seemed peculiar, but friendly enough.
And we, over the course of the few days that we
were there, we talked to him a little bit. But nothing, you know, nothing
major, just kind of basic conversations. We asked what they were up to, where
they were heading, and they were just like, Oh, they’re gonna probably head out
West in a little bit, we didn’t really know what they did or really, very
much about their background.
But we said we were going less, too. We were
going to be heading to Texas. Then I went to California. So a couple days later
we, we departed, we said goodbye to them and didn’t really think much of it
other than, yeah. They were just interesting people. So we made our way
West and we went out through, I think we went to New Orleans next, actually
we’re there for a few days, and then we headed out West across, Texas and got
into like New Mexico. This would have been like probably close to two weeks
later and we’re doing one of our like mega [00:09:53] driving sessions across
Texas. It’s like over a thousand miles on interstate 10 just to get across
Texas, and so it’s a lot of open road.
So we get New Mexico and I think my
buddy was driving and it was early in the morning. The sun was just coming up
and we’re in this remote area of New Mexico. And then we’re both thinking
we need some coffee and maybe I don’t know, a snack or something like that
to wake up and get going.
So we, we exit off this desolate area and we
see this bus that is obviously it’s their bus. I mean, you can pick this bus
out, like anywhere in the world. It’s like one of a kind. And my friend
didn’t see it. And I said, Oh my gosh. That’s, that’s the bus from the. Gypsies
that we crossed in Florida. He didn’t even see it at first.
And it was like, Oh, that’s crazy. But it’s
like 5:30-6 in the morning. So we decided that we should say hello. I mean, we
should, see how they’re doing and check in with them, see how their travels are
going. But we said, let’s, let’s, get, get them something. We’re going to
go get our coffee anyways, let’s grab them something, a [00:10:53] little snack
or something and take over to them.
So we went to the the little gas station there
and killed some time, a little bit. Cause it was so early and had a coffee,
bought the, bought some donuts. And then, so we go back to this little pull
over area where their, their bus was parked, and it was concealed a little bit.
You couldn’t, you don’t really have great view of it from the interstates.
It was kind of like a, just a little area that
they pulled over to get some, privacy. So I go up and I knock on the bus
and nobody comes out to greet me or anything. And then I knocked again.
Next thing I know the window opens and one of the individual in the, in the
party there in the clan and this guy has this really, really long beard a ZZ,
top type beard, and he just looked really intimidating. And he peeks out the
window and he’s holding a, like a revolver. A gun. And I’m standing there
with donuts, like, Hey, how are you doing good morning. And he’s pointing a
revolver at me. And my friend still in the car, he hasn’t come out yet. And I’m
just like, what is going on?
Here I am trying to bring these people
[00:11:53] breakfast and just say hello. And this guy is pointing a revolver at
me. So I’m like right away. Whoa, Whoa. Don’t don’t you remember me? I’m
Eric. I’m from remember in Florida and Kissimmee. And he’s just looking at me
like shaking his head. I don’t know who you are.
And so then I happened to mention the name of,
there was this younger guy in the group. I think it was about 10 or 12 of them,
but there was this younger guy in that group we’ve been talking to more and his
name was Chris. And, I said, yeah, I know Chris is Chris there, and he’s just
like, there’s nobody in here by the name of Chris.
You need to get on outta here. So he’s still
pointing the revolver at me. So I just kinda backed up. And I was just
like, Oh my gosh, I, I don’t want to get shot here. And so he, he’s just
pointing the nose of the revolver at me. And I just kind of backed up and
slowly moved away.
And then I. I got around the corner and I just
took off. Just about that time. My friends getting out of the car, I came
what’s going on? How are they doing? We got to get out of here. And I
ran, I said, just get in the car and go. We got in the car, got back on
the interstate, [00:12:53] started going to the next destination, but that one
really stood out because my heart just totally dropped.
And I was thinking, gosh, this could be the
end. I’m 19 years old. And I don’t know, so, so that was like, that was really
a crazy time.
TARANJIT: The one thing that
stuck out to me when you were talking about getting pulled over, was
having to pay cash on the spot. That’s a new one that I’ve heard of. And
I don’t know if that’s, is that actually a thing or was that cop just trying to
get money from you.
ERIC: I
think he was just trying to get money from us. You know, there’s that whole
thing in the North and the South, the, uh, growing up in Pennsylvania, you
know, I used to make frequent trips across the line into like uh the state line
in West Virginia, Maryland, and there’s the Mason Dixon line. So they, they say
that like, the mindset is the Maryland is where it is, where the South starts.
Cause I’ve lived in Maryland for many years and I, I just never really felt
like Maryland was a true Southern state, but anyhow, this was down in South
Carolina. This is my theory.
I think this particular cop saw the [00:13:53]
Pennsylvania license plates, so we were identifying as Yankees and we’re
going through his area and there were people zooming past us, but I thought,
okay, he’s just looking at this as a way to make a quick little profit off
these two Yankee guys coming down here from Pennsylvania.
And Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s certainly not legal
or ethical, but, we were just like, we were young and I think we were just
scared of what could happen. The next thing you know, we’re pulling the money
out of our wallets and handing it over to him, but it was it was, it was
a pretty, uncomfortable situation.
Cause he was not playing around at all. He was
dead serious. He was like, you know, you’re going to spend the night in jail if
you don’t come up with the cash.
BHAVNEET: I totally agree with you that I don’t think Maryland is. We’re
not, I don’t feel like Maryland is a Southern shake because we actually live in
Maryland and it’s like, I feel like we’re part of the North, but I guess
technically we’re not.
ERIC: Yeah. I
agree. Like I lived in the S in the West of Maryland for awhile, which if
you go to the far West of the state where there’s rivers and mountains, there’s
even a ski [00:14:53] resort called Wisp. So I lived out about 45 minutes away
from an area called Deep Creek Lake, but I lived in Frostburg, Maryland near
Cumberland.
And I lived in work there for a number of
years. And then I also lived on the Eastern. I guess you can say the Eastern
seaboard over in Hartford County, which is like a little bit North of Baltimore
and totally different, way of life. But Western, Maryland felt a little bit
more Southern, so to speak, but yeah, like I’d never I’m with you.
I never really felt like Maryland, had
the Southern state feel and I still don’t
BHAVNEET: And since you have been in both PA and Maryland, I have to ask
you this. What is your opinion of Maryland drivers versus Pennsylvania
drivers? Because I know down here the thought is that Pennsylvania drivers do
not know how to drive.
ERIC:
That’s an awesome question. I was
listening to you guys’ episode this morning, as I was getting ready about your
PA Maryland driver debates. I was listening to your podcast that was a really
good episode. I think that generally [00:15:53] speaking, okay, so this
is a very generalized statement, but I feel like.
Pennsylvania drivers, depending on what part
you’re in, but for the most part are probably a little bit more relaxed drivers
and they’re just like a little bit more easy going. and they maybe aren’t quite
in as much of a, frenetic kind of pace of life, unless you’re down, maybe off
the, out, down towards like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, I feel like
when I lived in Maryland, especially when I lived off of I-95 and I used
to travel the beltway a lot, like 695 and 895, and the tunnels, the Harbor
tunnels. I felt like every time I got in the car, I got on 95, it was just like
this adrenaline rush experience.
I feel like it was just a lot more intense and
I felt like people were just little, overall, maybe a little bit more
aggressive and more in a hurry. I don’t know if it was because a lot of
the folks were probably on their way to New York. Maybe they’re heading
[00:16:53] North on 95, they’re heading towards like Philly or they’re heading
towards New York city.
So there’s just kind of like that faster
pace, but. I would have to say just in general that I think for the most
part, Pennsylvania drivers were maybe a little bit more like Sunday drivers.
Just out kind of like, chill and for more of the leisure leisurely stroll and
Maryland drivers are like, Hey, get out of my way. I got to get somewhere in a
New York minute. Like clear the way here I come, but that’s just my experience.
BHAVNEET: I can agree with you on that. I definitely think there’s also a
difference between West and East PA drivers, but we actually live in Northern
Maryland. So we have a lot of Pennsylvania drivers that come through our area,
and one thing we definitely notice is, I don’t know. It’s you can see. We can
tell if someone is a Pennsylvania driver, by how different they drive. We’re
like, Oh my God, that’s gotta be a Pennsylvania driver. Then they like, they’ll
overtake you or they’ll do something crazy. You’re like, yep. That’s their
license plate.
ERIC: Confirmation.
Yeah.
TARANJIT: I was shocked to hear
[00:17:53] that, I guess this was a while ago when you took this road trip, but
50 cents per gallon, I wish gas was that cheap now.
ERIC: It was so nice. We had
this, like that CRX. We could fill that car up for six or $7. It was just like,
it’s almost unthinkable now. You know, it was like 55 miles a gallon. And
it had a pretty small tank, but when gas is like 52 cents a gallon you can go a
long ways on, 10 bucks.
And so, that was really a nice aspect of
traveling in those days, and just traveling in a car that had so much fuel
economy,
TARANJIT:
Yeah. encountering the same bus and
that, you drop that person’s name and they’re like, there’s no, Chris on this
bus. Makes you kind of doubt. is this truly the same bus?
ERIC: I know. I just thought
to myself, what are the odds of this? We’re in this campground near Orlando and
then we’re on literally almost two weeks later on this random stretch of
interstate. You think about all the millions of cars that are traveling and
there it is. It was you know, and I think [00:18:53] there was just they were
paranoid that we were following them.
When I look back on it, I thought, okay, that’s
maybe what brought out the pistol. Maybe they had been involved with something
with the law and they thought we were following them. It was definitely weird
to come across. What are the odds?
What are the chances of coming across that bus
out in the middle of New Mexico? But we did.
TARANJIT: Is this also the same trip where you, entered Mexico and had
trouble coming back in?
ERIC: It was.
That was a bad day. We recovered from that. And that day was I think our
hearts were still beating like an hour down the road when we got back on the
interstate. So we said, we’re pretty close to Mexico. And in those days
we’re not Googling anything.
We actually had this old Rand McNally map that
we’re using. And so we’re like looking at the maps are like work in a week.
Let’s go to Mexico. Let’sgo check it out. We both never been. So we picked out
this little town, I want to say it was called Palamo Mexico. And it was on the
New Mexico border.
And so we picked the spot out. [00:19:53] And
so we went into Mexico for half a day. And, we had no issues when we were in
Mexico, but when we were trying to get back out we had issues. We, we came out
of Mexico to go back into the U.S. So we went through this customs check and
the Mexican police, the Mexican security, they came out and they started asking
us questions, like, what were you doing in Mexico? Why were you just here for
half a day? Cause this was just a little tiny, like agricultural community
Palamo. There wasn’t really anything to see there for a tourist, but we
just wanted to just go into Mexico.
And I think we had lunch somewhere. There was
nothing specific that we were seeing there. It was just more like, cross that
off we went to Mexico. So they were acting very, kind of being very
inquisitive. And what were you guys doing there?
And then they asked, which I thought was kind
of an interesting question, but how much money do you have. Well, we had quite
a bit of cash on us at this point, other than paying for that speeding ticket
in Florida, we [00:20:53] had been staying with some friends and family, in
Florida, we worked for the census for, a week. Got paid.
So we still had, I mean, we still probably had
four, $400, $500 cause we’d made a little money and hadn’t spent so much yet.
And so they, they thought it was really odd. So you have all this cash on you.
Why do you need to have so much cash? Because, we each had four or 500 bucks.
So that raised their suspicion.
And next thing you know, they’re having us take
everything out of the car. We had to take our bags out unroll our socks, spread
all of our clothes out onto the parking lot area there. We even had to
take the seats out of the car. And then they strip searched us and it was kind
of a scary experience.
And the crazy thing is we went through that
took about an hour and they finally let us through, or they finally like gave
us the approval, but then we start putting the stuff back into the car. And
it’s one of the other officials that had been inside watching us. He thought he
saw us do something [00:21:53] suspicious with our hands as we were repacking
our bags.
We had half of the stuff packed back up.
They came back out and made us do the whole process over again. And by that
point I was a little bit perturbed. And I just this is ridiculous. We just
searched everything but we complied, cause we were like, Oh, we don’t want to
end up in a jail, here getting charged with something. So we complied and we
took everything apart again. Then they finally let us go. They weren’t very
nice. They were friendly, but they, they did ultimately let us cross back into
the U.S. We were like, Oh my gosh, I felt like kissing American soil when we
got back to the other side and like, okay, this has been a rough day.
TARANJIT:
Wow. That sounds that’s something I wish
nobody else has to go through. That feels like it’s terrifying.
ERIC: It was
very terrifying.
TARANJIT:
You had to take the seat out yourself.
I, I thought they would, I know, like, what I’ve seen is that they would take
people’s cars apart and stuff. I didn’t know that they would make you take your
own car apart.
ERIC: They
literally did. And we [00:22:53] weren’t really sure how to do it. We’re like,
I haven’t, I’ve never actually take seats out of the car. So we had the small
toolbox, we just had like basic couple of screwdrivers and things like that,
just stuff to fix a flat, So we had, I think a couple of things, but we
literally had to take the seats out of the car and I’m like, I can’t even
believe we’re doing this.
Like, that were taking the seats out of
our own car, but I was just like, okay, whatever, we would just let her do what
they say or this isn’t gonna end well.
TARANJIT:
Did you not have to show a passport
entering into Mexico and coming back into the States?
ERIC: In
those days, we, I don’t believe we did. Yeah, I wasn’t traveling with a
passport. So we just had to show like driver’s license and there was like two
forms of ID. Cause I do remember those days, like my uncle was living in
California, you could travel back . he was down at the San Diego area and he
said, people travel back and forth to like Tiawana on the border, all the time.
And yeah, there, there just wasn’t the the
regulatory process that there is now. Like if you want to go to Mexico or
Canada, it can actually get pretty involved now.
BHAVNEET:
So [00:23:53] that was your crazy
U.S. story. What would you say is one of your crazy international stories?
ERIC:
I have like a version, I guess you could
call like my version of planes, trains, and automobiles like that, that movie
with, Steve Martin and John Candy from long ago, like I was visiting good
friend, his wife, that he’s, he’s an American, but he’s, he’s lived overseas
extensively. He was in the military for awhile and he married an Italian lady
and they kind of looked back and forth.
But at this point, this was like 2004. Him and his
wife were living in a beautiful part of Germany. In it was called
Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And it’s actually a place where they had the winter
Olympics way back in like the 1930s. It’s just absolutely gorgeous. Just the
town does sat in the area surrounded by the German Alps and just beautiful
Alpine area.
And my wife and I, and our kids, we had visited
them that previous summer. And we had taken like a summer road trip with them
in a Volkswagen van. [00:24:53] Imagine like four people and two little kids
driving all around, like Germany and Austria and Switzerland. So we had loved
it, the experience so much that I was like, I wanna, I want to get back there
as soon as possible.
So on a spring break trip, I was teaching at a
small college then. I had a week and a couple of days off. So I’m like,
I’m going to go over and see Darrell and Alex, and maybe do a little bit of
skiing in the Alps and, just experience it in the winter, even though it was
like early March, but there’s still a lot of snow and everything.
So I go over there and I’m always like
trying to see as much as I can see when I’m there. And my friend and I had
talked about, let’s spend part of the time in Germany, but then let’s fly
over to Poland. We both never been to Poland. And, we had, just
really wanted to go over there and kind of check it out.
So we had booked flights and, around this time
Europe was having one of those storms of the century. Just getting absolutely
pummeled with snow blizzards. So we started off. We were at the Munich
[00:25:53] airport, Munich, Germany. We were trying to fly a flight to Poland
and it was snowing so bad, so hard, and they were just shutting things down and
we actually made it onto the plane. Which I thought was almost like insane. I’d
actually thought about saying, Hey, I don’t, I don’t want to just get me off
this plane. This is too bad. And there was a Russian airliner around that time
that slid off the runway.
And so I think that was like the final straw.
And so they’re like, okay, taking everybody off the plane. They shipped us back
to the airport. We’re like an hour and 15 minutes from our house, in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen where my friend lived. So we’re kind of stuck in Munich.
So we said, okay, we’re not going
anywhere by plane. The trip to Poland is off. So we’re just going to have to
get back to the house plan B I don’t know whatever that is. Then we, uh, we go
to the train station. People say oh the trains are still operating. So we go to
the train station.
And I think we probably waited there for two or
three hours with hundreds of other people. So we’re just freezing, like
it’s major blizzard, it’s blowing wind tons of snow. And we finally realized
that [00:26:53] there was no trains operating. The tracks are just
covered. There’s so much snow, so we’re like, okay, the train is not
going to work.
How are we going to get home? So we just set
out on foot and we ended up walking like several miles into Munich. And most
of the hotels are full because so many people were stranded. We finally found a
hotel. I think we had he last room. And so we, got cleaned up and spent the
night there had a good warm breakfast.
The next day at breakfast, we run into a guy
that my friend knew from the military. He was stranded as well. And none of the
taxis were running either. So we’re like, okay, the plane didn’t work. The
train option didn’t work. Okay. Let’s try the automobile. And we find out the
taxis they’re not running. But my friend’s friend, he said, I know this, this
man who does drive taxi, but then he also drives taxi with his own car kind of
on the side.
And he’s like the Croatian guy. And he he’s, he
said, he’s kind of a character, he just, got out of jail. He was telling the
guy’s story had been in the Yugoslavian, war between Serbia and Croatia, but
hadn’t been over for like, I don’t know, six, [00:27:53] seven years at this
point.
But he had been in prison and he’s like, but
he’s a good guy. And he’ll, he’ll take you back to Garmisch. So we were like,
eh, I don’t really know about this, but how we want to get home too. And it’s
like a friend of a friend. He’s vouching for him. So we’re like, okay, we’ll do
it. So long story short, this guy comes. He picks us up.
And so we leave and there’s hardly any cars on
the road, but we are, we get out onto the Autobahn, in Germany, which is like,
people drive like, gosh, like I’ve been on the Autobahn a lot. And it is,
people are driving like 110, 120 miles per hour on the Autobahn but the
conditions were so bad and.
The guy starts driving, like he’s in a, race,
like he’s, he’s a race car driver and we are starting to get really, really
nervous. And it, it goes to the point we’re like pleading with him
to slow down and he would, he would slow down for a little bit, but then we’d
get back out on an open stretch and he would just, we were driving like,
a hundred kilometers an hour, like 60 miles, 65 miles per hour.
And the roads are just absolutely
abysmal. I actually [00:28:53] finally stopped and I said, look, I want
to live. I want to go home and see my wife and kids. We’re not in a hurry. We
just want to get there. We’ll pay you well. We’d already agreed on a fair. I
said, look, I’ll pay you more.
I just just slow down. He would for
awhile, but then he he’d just would get back to driving fast and, and we’d slid
off the road a few times. And so my friend and I, we finally got to the point
where we’re just like, we got to like this next area. It was still about 20, 30
minutes away from Garmisch and, he stopped the car and we both were just like,
we’re outta here.
Stopped the car at like a red light I think. We
just gotten off the Autobahn. We’re like we’re out. We like jump out of the car
and he’s yelling at us and he’s shaking his fist at us and all of this. And, we
had to walk for like about an hour and try to find a rental car company, which
things were closed for the most part, but we actually found one place.
And we were able to rent a car. It was the last
one they had. The remaining, whatever it was 20, 25 kilometers [00:29:53] back
to the house, but this was like a two day ordeal. So we went planes, trains,
and automobiles, and we finally made it home safely, but we thought we were
going to die in a car and it was just such a white knuckle experience.
It was horrible.
TARANJIT: Wow, that sounds like quite a trip.
ERIC: It was
All this, just to try to go to Poland.
TARANJIT: Well, luckily you’re able to find or get the last room and you
got the last car. You lucked out in that situation.
ERIC: We dId.
We’re like, how could we have all this bad luck, but then also all this good
luck at the same time it was just like the yin and yang. We are literally able
to get the last room and the last car, but yet, we can’t get a plane or a train
it was just a weird weird set of circumstances. But we felt fortunate in the
end to be able to just get back to the house Oh my goodness. Crazy
misadventure. And it took two days of just traveling in circles, literally.
BHAVNEET: That is crazy. When I heard that, when I read that story, I was
like, Oh my God, would you [00:30:53] have considered jumping out of the out fo
the moving vehicle.
ERIC: We had.
We we’re like when you have a good friend and you kinda, you can almost know
what the other person’s thinking, just on eye contact. When we talked
about it later, we were both like, I think I was ready. When the car even
slowed a little bit, I’m rolling out of here.
Literally. I don’t care if I break my leg, at
least I think I’ll survive because this guy was just, I don’t know if it was a
death wish or what, but I just felt like I’m going to do whatever I have to do
to get out of this car and get back home to America safely because this has
gotten out of hand.
BHAVNEET: Well speaking of crazy drivers, and since you’ve been to so many
different countries, all 50 States, there tend to be different types of drivers
in different areas. So have you noticed any particular, stereotypes in certain
areas that you’ve driven
ERIC: I think
so. I live in the Midwest now and I have to say there’s some of the most
civilized drivers. People out here, they wave at you constantly. I actually
feel bad [00:31:53] sometimes when I’m driving out here and I forget to wave
because that’s not I wasn’t raised in an area where drivers did that, but like
here almost everybody, even if you’re on the, like, a pretty main road and
you’re going 65 and you come in the other way and persons waving at you.
I’ve noticed that it’s more relaxed, more, just
maybe even more courteous in a lot of ways, kinder, gentler drivers here.
I don’t know if all of the Midwest is like that. I mean, I’ve had some rough
experiences in places like Chicago and. in other parts of the Midwest, but I
feel like the California scene is pretty crazy.
Like getting out West, even, I’ll tell you that
I lived in Utah for a while and Utah drivers, believe it or not have a
pretty rough reputation. They are pretty fast drivers. They’re they’re
aggressive drivers and. I wouldn’t have thought that for Utah, but once I got
out there and that I was living there and I’d go back to Utah quite a bit, and
I’m like, there, there are definitely a lot of really fast, aggressive drivers
in Utah, but California with those six lane highways I think everybody should
have to experience that once in their [00:32:53] lifetime. That will change
your life, your whole driving experience, and then it was like, as far as
East coast, I think you just get the extremes, you know, as you go North and
you get up towards Philly and New York and around Baltimore and D.C.
Definitely type A, type drivers.
And then if you go down South, it’s slower
paced like Florida to me is like, it can take two hours to get five miles in
Florida. because. I don’t know if it’s just all the retirees or whatever. It’s
like all of a sudden you’ve got time on your hands, so you don’t have to drive
close to the speed limit.
But I definitely found down South there, there
seemed to be more of a relaxed tone to driving and a lot more people driving
with their left hand, turn, turn signal on, you know, for like five miles and
there’s nowhere to turn left. so you just see where are these sort of trends,
in different parts of the country,
TARANJIT: That’s interesting that you said that people wave when you’re
driving. I feel like the only time I’ve ever seen a drivers wave is when it’s a
bus driver waving to another bus driver over here.
ERIC: Yeah.
Yeah, you’re right. You’re right out here. It’s like, it [00:33:53] translates
to regular drivers too. Like the other day I was driving, I passed this person.
They waived. And like, I didn’t wave back. Then I was feeling like this
guilt trip. Gosh, how rude am I? Because it’s like, it’s not ingrained in me.
it’s not muscle memory cause I didn’t grow up
really doing that. But here it’s just the craziest thing. It’s kind of
cool though, too. Cause there’s a courtesy, I guess guess you could say, too.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, it’s more like we’re all in this together.
Over here, someone’s waving. I don’t think it’s a friend isn’t rarely ever a
friendly wave is always always like
ERIC: Exactly.
Different signals, right? Different, different body language. Yeah. I’m with
ya. Definitely have experienced that, too.
TARANJIT: So let’s dive into more of what kind of driver you are. If you
were given the option, would you prefer to be the driver or the passenger?
ERIC: The
driver, I’m, I’m a lot more comfortable being the driver for sure. I, I have, I
like to think I have a lot of endurance as the driver. I don’t always
trust other drivers. Like I was on a road trip the other night for a football
game and the bus driver [00:34:53] was driving us home.
It was like three hours. And we left at like
10. So we didn’t get back to like one in the morning, but he was all over the
place on the interstate and he kept hitting the rumble strips and we’re in this
mass, like a Greyhound type bus. I don’t even know how to drive one of those,
but I was ready to say, Hey, let me have this, let me do this.
I was like, I don’t, I get more nervous a lot
of times when other people are driving cause I’ve driven so much in my life that
I it’s just more of a comfort level for me. I want to drive. I’m not like the
person who crawls up and goes to sleep as the passenger. I can’t do that when
somebody else is driving.
I mean, I have to be dog tired. Like not slept
in two or three days to be able to sleep when somebody else’s driving, but I
just give me the wheel and I’ll be good.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I feel like when you’re in control of the car, you
feel a little more safer because you know that it’s all in your hands,
whereas if you’re the passenger you have to like, trust the other person and be
like, okay. Like I trust them with my life right now.
ERIC: Exactly.
Yeah. I kind of went through like a brief period of my life. Right. As massive
fear of flying. And I think that’s what it was, was [00:35:53] like more of a
control thing. You’re giving up control to somebody else. It wasn’t so much
like the actual act of flying scared me, although I still, to this day, like
turbulence definitely gets my attention.
I’m just very nervous with turbulence because
I’ve had some really bad, terrible turbulence experiences, but it’s just, it’s
tough giving up control even though our pilots are amazing. Right. It’s just
wow. I’m putting my life into somebody else’s hands essentially.
BHAVNEET:
We know that you, prefer to drive. how
would you describe the type of driver that you are, and would you say that your
family and friends would describe your driving the same way?
ERIC: I think
I’m a pretty defensive driver. I I follow the rules. although I did get a
speeding ticket a couple of weeks ago. First one. I lived out here in the
Midwest for six years on the first go around. I moved back to the Maryland
Pennsylvania area for like eight, nine years.
Then I came back here three years ago. I got no
tickets on the East coast during that eight, nine years. And there’s cops
everywhere. Out here you don’t, you already see cops. [00:36:53] And we were
out here and I got a ticket and it’s just very odd. But, tickets here only 20
bucks in North Dakota, a lot of people don’t know that. It’s like a parking
fine back East, literally.
But then, you know, like, I, I definitely, I
think I’m a rules follower. Like I am a courteous driver. I would describe
myself as being. just cooperative. I’m the type of person that’ll let people
through, let people pass. And I think that’s what others would say about me.
Like people know that I’ve been on a lot of road trips and that I’m big time
traveler.
So they seem to like, feel extra secure when
they know that I’m driving. I don’t know if it’s just the experience factor or
what, but I kind of feel like people have faith in me when I’m driving and that
feels good.
TARANJIT: Wow. $20 for a ticket. Yeah. That’s nothing. I feel like that’s
like how much I pay for gas.
ERIC: Yeah.
It’s it’s, it’s $20 . It’s shocking. A lot of people don’t believe that, but
it’s $20.
TARANJIT: Do they not get that much speeders or is that just like
[00:37:53] the set price or cost?
ERIC: No. I,
I feel,
TARANJIT: or cost?
ERIC: I
feel like they do get a fair amount of speeders because there’s not a lot that
goes wrong out here. It’s almost like it gives it’s like something to do
because. we just, I live in an area where it’s really, really safe and
there’s not really a whole lot of crime going on.
So I don’t know. Maybe they give more tickets
more just because it’s a way to obviously generates a little bit of revenue,
but I don’t know how much at 20 bucks you’ve got to give a lot of tickets, I
guess, very good revenue at $20 a pop. But yeah, like there’s just not a whole
lot, we don’t even have a traffic light where I live, You can’t get people in
running a red light because there are no red lights.
So it’s like, well, we’ll get em on, not coming
to a complete stop at stop signs. We’ll get them on speeding. And,
there’s not really a whole lot else going on unless maybe a cow gets out of the
field and wonders onto the highway It’s, it’s pretty low key here.
TARANJIT: Wow. I didn’t know that there was no traffic [00:38:53] lights
at all there. So I guess it just stopped signs for the most part.
ERIC: Yeah,
in my town it is. You would have to go about 30, roughly 20, 25, 30 miles from
here to find any kind of traffic light, because in all directions, the roads
are just straight. Literally straight, you could see miles ahead with no
winding roads, very level, very flat. And then once you get into like a bigger
town, you may find one, one stoplight.
We live about 45 minutes away from a city
with about, I don’t know, 25, 30,000 people in South Dakota. And then of course
they have lots of traffic lights there. But again, that’s like 45 minutes away.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I guess like for the most part, at least. What I’ve heard
is traffic lights tend to be put up where there’s a lot of accidents. So I
guess you just haven’t had that many accidents up that way that they need a
light.
ERIC: Yeah.
Actually, the more accidents with like animals, here you have, it’s just,
they’re less, vehicle accidents, not, I mean, we do have them, but, You’re more
likely to hit an elk [00:39:53] or a moose or a deer or some other animal than
you are another car.
TARANJIT: Have you ever had an encounter with an animal?
ERIC: I have,
oddly enough, it was on the East coast. You know, you would think after living
in Montana, out here and, North Dakota and Arizona, that I would have had
encounters but oddly enough, my worst encounter with an animal driving was I
hit a deer in Maryland Almost totaled a pickup truck. It was, pretty intense
That’s really the only one I think I’ve had in all these years.
TARANJIT: Yeah, deer are the one thing that I see all the time, I feel
like whenever I tell people I seen deer here or like the road names and stuff,
and everyone’s like, I’ve never seen a deer there and I’m like, I don’t know.
They just come out wherever I go.
So I know you were just talking
about your speeding ticket and I think you’ve mentioned you got one in Finland
and how the way they give fines is a little different than they do here?
ERIC:
Yeah. I got a speeding ticket in Finland
and it’s just had no idea how they do fines in Finland. They have a really
unique [00:40:53] way of assessing fines and I learned the hard way.
And I wasn’t going very much over, but I just
found it odd, you know, when they, had do you get out of my car and of
course in the States, you know, you’re taught to just stay in your car in
most States. I think there are some States where you get out of your car, but I
was just taught, stay in your car, put your hands up on the wheel and don’t act
Do anything out of the ordinary, but they, they both came and they said they
were like, motioning, get out of the car. Like, Oh, I wonder what I did. And
then they said, they’re motioning for me to follow them.
So then I ended up having to sit in the back of
their squad car. Only time I’ve ever been in the back of a police car. I
will say it proudly, but I sat in the back and I wondered why they’re talking
and Finish. And I understood very, very little Finish. I’d only been living
there a little while. They just seem like they didn’t know what to do with me,
And I’d given him my passport and all that. But what they were doing is they
were trying to figure out what my income was because in Finland they fine you
based on how much money you make. And I was just [00:41:53] there on a
temporary assignment. Later I’d come through read stories, how, I think
it was a Nokia executive, the Nokia phones, he was going 15 miles per hour over
the speed limit and he had a speeding ticket that was over a hundred thousand
dollars. It was like a NHL Finnish hockey player. I think Timo Salani got like
a $39,000 speeding ticket. I just, I was like, I was incredulous. Like, I
couldn’t believe this but at that moment I had no clue what was going on. So
they started asking me like, what do you do?
What is your job title? What is your monthly
salary? And I’m sitting there thinking, what does this have to do with a
speeding ticket? So they had to verify with my employer, which I was working
for a professional American football team. It was coaching over there. I was
over there for like couple of years.
I was over for like five, six months stints,
but, they had to verify my income with the police department. And so the ownership
had to get involved. it was kind of a confusing process. Fortunately, I wasn’t
making very much there. I was, I was getting paid more [00:42:53] with
benefits, like free plane tickets.
I had a free flat that I lived in and meals
bag. I got a very small stipend, monthly, like was like 1500 American dollars a
month, but they actually, they figured it out. They had this chart. And
they gave me the ticket. It was, it wasn’t very much, it was, I want to say
just a little bit over a hundred dollars, which is still pricey.
But my team owner ended up paying it anyway,
cause it was his, one of his vehicles in his fleet. But it was a learning
experience for me cause I was like, wow, what a concept? Your ticket
depends on how much you make, and if you’re doing very well financially, you’re
getting it nailed, with a heavy fine if you live in Finland and you’re
speeding.
TARANJIT: I wonder if that kind of system reduces the number of speeders.
ERIC: Yeah.
That’s a good question. I don’t know. I remember traveling in Australia and I
was listening to that’s another podcast I was listening to you guys when you’re
talking about your Australia experiences. But I, I remember being out on
the open road in Australia and I was talking to people there and they were saying
like, if you get caught [00:43:53] texting and driving, it’s like a legit $500
fine.
And like the fines were really, really steep.
And I remember asking the people in Australia well, does this cut down and
they’re like, yeah, percentage-wise. It cut down on the number of people like
texting and driving and speeding drastically because the Australian government,
I guess, just raised the prices significantly for those offenses.
So, they had less people, offending. So I don’t
know how it works for Finland, but I would guess that, yeah, that, that less
people drive over the limit. Cause I know there’s tons of cameras in Finland
too. It’s like when you’re driving, they’re taking your picture a lot.
So when you come into the town, it’s like
people know where the cameras are too. Cause I remember driving with people and
they’re like, no, you gotta slow down here. There’s cameras all over and
they’ll just send you the ticket in the mail. So slow down So I’d have, have
like a different sense of awareness over there and people seem to follow the
rules pretty well.
BHAVNEET: Wow. That’s way different than those $20 fines in North Dakota.
ERIC: Absolutely.
Yeah. Those nes don’t hurt near as [00:44:53] much.
TARANJIT: Do you think that, or which system of fining do you think is
better? The way we fine here where it’s a set fine or the Finland version?
ERIC: Gosh,
that’s, that’s a good question. I don’t know, like, I feel fining people off
their income might be a little bit extreme, but. I think it definitely gets
people’s attention more though, too. Like if you, you’ll get fine and you’re
going certain amount over, like you could be paying literally thousands of
dollars, but maybe the mindset is people that may are making a lot.
What’s a $5,000 ticket to somebody who’s
making. 2 million bucks a year. Overall I would probably prefer our
system. Maybe just increasing the prices more for multiple offenders.
Maybe like tweaking our system.
So if somebody has several offenses, then maybe
it would be okay to drastically increase like on a tier system. So if this is
your third speeding ticket, then okay. You have to pay this one’s a thousand
bucks or something like that.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, [00:45:53] I agree. I think that’s a little, a little too
extreme, but speaking of crazy drivers, what would you say is your biggest
driving pet peeve?
ERIC: I think
it would probably be a tie between people who just pull right out in front of
you. Let’s say you’re doing a nice speed, like maybe 60, 65, on a single lane
highway and then there’s like some semi truck that’s hauling 20,000
pounds and you’re like a few hundred yards from them and they pull out right in
front of you.
And, you know, by the time you get on them,
they’re only going to be up to maybe 20 miles per hour. And they got to slowly
go through all their gears and everything just to get up to 40 or 50, which
still is 20 miles per hour, slower than you’re going. And then you’re like,
you’re just stuck. You literally have to practically come to a complete stop.
I think when I see people just pull out
front or like, they can’t wait an extra four seconds till you pass by
that gets me. And I think the other thing is just lack of turn signals. That
would be [00:46:53] a tie. I know like sometimes I probably seems just almost
nitpicky, but I get aggravated sometimes with people just like move in and out
of traffic or they, they turn and they’re in front of you and they turn
and there’s just like, no, no usage of turn signals. And that, to me, sometimes
it’s kind of aggravating.
TARANJIT:
Yeah. I totally agree with you. I feel
like the more you drive, the more you notice how other people drive and you’re
like, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?
ERIC: I know,
I know It does. It makes you just like, what are you doing? You just wish you
could talk to the person, you know, and ask them, like, why did you do that? it
was four seconds, five seconds. I was going to be past you. And you just pulled
right out in front of me . it’s almost like people are not thinking
sometimes they’re just, daydreaming or who knows what?
I don’t know what they’re thinking.
TARANJIT: Yeah, exactly. You have no idea what’s going through their mind
at the moment. But now that we know what kind of driver you are, let’s go back
to how it all started. How would you describe your very first driving
experience and who was it with?
ERIC:
Gosh. First driving experience
experience, I guess, [00:47:53] was, illegal. I, well, it’s almost embarrassing
to admit this, but I, I remember in my much since told my mom this, but my mom
used to have this, like this black Chevy blazer, this sat really high off the
ground. And it was like, it was kind of a beast of a car.
And I remember when I was about 14, 15, I
thought it would’ve been pretty cool to drive that, but I was like, ah, I still
got to wait till I’m 16 in Pennsylvania trying to take my test and everything.
And so I remember when my mom would have to go somewhere and I was like cause
she, she was a single mom and it was just me and her.
And, I knew that my mom was going somewhere. I
was going to have the house to myself. And if she didn’t take the blazer we had
two vehicles then, and I was I really want to drive that blazer. So I
kind of went through this bad stage of I dunno just bad decision-making when I
was around like 14 where my mom would leave and she didn’t take the blazer, I
would go on little joy rides in this blazer.
So I would, you know, make sure it’ll make
everything look exactly the way it looks and [00:48:53] keep everything in its
place. And I put a couple dollars worth of gas in if I needed to so that it
wasn’t obvious on the gas gauge, but I would just go on joy rides and it was
never more than like maybe five, six miles away from where we live, but I would
take that blazer out.
And I would crack up the stereo and I
would I thought I was like King of the road and I would just go out and drive
it. so it was just like, it’s horrible. And I got away with it. Like I never
got caught. And then I just told my mom one day when I was like, in my
twenties, I’m like remember that blazer used to have? She said, yeah.
You know, I used to drive that all the time
when you weren’t around and she was just kind of a little bit mad, but she also
thought it was funny. She was like, well, if that’s the worst thing you
did… well, it probably was, I was, pretty good kid otherwise, but I did do
that.
And then first time I think driving
stick shift too, my uncle taught me that when I was about 13, 14, and it wasn’t
his car, it was like a state truck for his job. And I think it was, it was in
the state of California. I was out visiting him. I remember that cause I was
like not knowing what I was doing [00:49:53] driving stick shift for the first
time, I was like cranking the gear, grinding the gears and all of this, but I
just thought it was the coolest thing to learn, to drive, stick shift, on this
pickup truck. And I’m just, I dunno, once I finally mastered it, I was so proud
of myself.
TARANJIT:
When you took your mom’s blazer out,
were you not afraid of getting caught?
ERIC: I was,
but I think it was just like the, the lore of doing it, just to see how good of
a driver am I, like, how, how cool is this going to be? And just like, yeah. I
was like, cause my mom would have absolutely. I would have been in so much
trouble. I probably wouldn’t have got my license.
until I was like 20, if she would have ever
caught me in those days. But yeah, I was, I guess just one of those
things, when you’re a teenager, a lot of the times, you just, you’re just,
you’re not thinking you’re just doing something. And then you think about it a
year later or two years later, like, what was I doing?
But, I, it definitely crossed my mind,
but the thrill of it and the challenge of it was, the bigger adrenaline high.
[00:50:53] So that’s, I guess why I did it.
BHAVNEET: Well, you definitely had an driving experience then. So how was
your driving test? Were you able to pass it on the first go?
ERIC: No, I
was not . In those days, you know, you had a Pennsylvania state trooper in the
car, when you got tested. So I remember like practicing a lot and I felt very
confident. And the only thing that scared me was parallel parking. Cause that’s
like the one that everybody talked about, like, well, just, I’m so afraid
of this parallel parking experience and I hope I pass it.
So my first test I did really well. I nailed the
parallel parking. I scored really high. And I had like an intimidating
Pennsylvania state trooper in the car with me. Like I was like shaking and,
I remember just being so nervous, but once I started driving, I calmed
down. I was like I’m, I’m doing really well.
So we get to the end of the test and I’m like,
I’m feeling like I’m good. I’m going to have my license. This is going to be a
great day. And the Pennsylvania and the state trooper he’s like, well, you see
Eric, let me tell you, you did a very nice job on this test. And he, he pulled
over his [00:51:53] clipboard and he put it in front of me.
He showed me, he got this amount of points on
this. He said, plenty of points to pass. Excellent job. He said, but I’m going
to have to fail you because you see your little, your driving permit here. He
said you did not sign the back of your permit. So it’s invalid. For that
reason, I’m going to fail you.
And I might, I just I feel like time just stood
still. I was like, Oh no, you gotta be kidding me. My mom’s waiting on me, you
know and she’s expecting that I did well. I think, she’s just anticipating that
I’m going to be good. So I remember having to go back to the car and tell her
that I failed because I did really, really well on the actual test, but I did
not sign my driver’s permit. So the cop failed me. And then the second time I
went back, I took it. I failed the parallel parking by like a point. So I, I
failed the second time because I think I was just nervous. And then the third
time they say the third, time’s a charm. I, I passed my third time. I got my
license.
BHAVNEET: That is so crazy [00:52:53] that you failed because of just not
signing your permit. But also, I didn’t know that you had state trooper in the
car with you.
ERIC: Yeah.
That’s the way they did it. And I don’t know if it was just a Pennsylvania
thing, but I remember cause you know, everybody knew who the tough troopers
were. You would talk to your friends and say, Oh, trooper Smith. he is really
tough and he’s mean, and he’s, attention to detail oriented.
You want to get trooper Jones, she is, she’s
more laid back and she, you know, like, so people would, there was like three
or four main troopers that did these tests and. people knew which ones were
tougher. And I had a tough one that first one, I don’t remember his name, but
like he was a stickler obviously, because he was the attention to detail guy
and he got me on not signing the permit, which, technically he was in the right.
So I had to retake the test.
TARANJIT: We actually have somebody else that came on last season, who was
also from Pennsylvania and their driving experience was nothing like that. This
is the first I’m hearing of a [00:53:53] trooper in the car and the first time
actually hearing someone say they had to parallel park on their test because
everyone else we’ve asked they said no.
ERIC: I don’t
know when they would have changed that then cause yeah, it was pretty standard
then.
TARANJIT: Yeah, we had to, we have to parallel park here, but now that our
brother had to go take the test, they took it off. So I don’t know if they’re
just starting to get rid of it in States but yeah no more parallel parking for
most people.
ERIC: Yeah.
It’s probably a lot of happy kids out there. Like, we didn’t have to do that
anymore.
TARANJIT:
So this is a little different
question. With the thought of having driverless cars in the future, would
you be open to being in a driverless car and what do you think about this?
ERIC: I’ve
read about some of the things going on. I think like down in Carnegie Mellon
university, which, you know, I’m from Pennsylvania, so Carnegie Mellon’s in
Pittsburgh. I think they’re kind of like one of the leading, places for
this type of technology. So I read up on it a little bit and like, I think I
would be open to it.
My only thing would be just, the safety part of
it. Like, how are we going [00:54:53] to control what. like what altitude
you’re set at or like, how, how do we like monitor the traffic would not
have like head-on collisions That that’s not going to be a very good
thing, I feel like with innovation like this, there’s probably always
going to be that period of time where there’s going to be some flaws in the
system and there’s going to be some trial and error, but like overall, I think
the way we’re innovating now, like when you look at everything that Tesla is
doing with cars and electric cars and just cars that have just amazing
technology, I feel like it, especially if it’s good for the environment, I’m
definitely open to it.
And I hope I’m still around, you know, I live
long enough to see where it, where it goes to, because I think it would be fun.
It would be definitely, I think, a pretty exciting technology to have. So yeah,
that’d be for it. Definitely.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, it’s definitely an interesting yet kind of scary concept,
but if they can work out all the kinks in it, then I definitely think it would
be a great thing to have, especially [00:55:53] for the
environment, like you said,
ERIC: I agree.
BHAVNEET: Bonus question time. Are you ready?
ERIC: I’m
ready.
BHAVNEET: If you could make one new driving law what would it be?
ERIC: Wow.
That’s a great question. I would say that once you hit a certain age that
you have to have more of a test of your mental sort of physical capacities to
drive, Maybe not, I don’t know if it’d be fair to do like age wise. Cause I
know like they have a thing with like pilots, you know, I think once you hit a
certain age, the airlines takes away doesn’t allow you to fly commercially any
longer. I don’t know what that age or what that cut off is, but I feel like a
lot of times people’s reaction times get much worse and their sense of
awareness and things like that. So sometimes I feel like, I remember
driving with my grandfather when he was 92 and I love my grandfather, but I was
just like oh my goodness. We were in about like three or four [00:56:53]
accidents in like a 45 minute drive. Like, this is, this is not good. what are
we doing here? I guess maybe just some type of more like solid law that
just test people’s reaction times and their abilities, their motor skills, that
kind of thing as we age, because I feel like reflexes and reaction times and
things like that. It’s proven that, you know, we, we start to get a little bit
rusty with, with some of that as we get into our advanced years.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I can see that as I feel like a lot of people would be
debating whether or not to actually do that as a law, but I can see where
you’re coming from. Especially since, as you do get older, those are the
drivers that you do tend to see that you’re like, okay, maybe they shouldn’t be
driving right now.
ERIC: I
know. Yeah. You’re right. It’d probably be very controversial to try to
do that, but I still feel it would maybe save some people’s lives or something.
I don’t know.
TARANJIT: For sure. Do you have any final thoughts or any tips that you
would like to give other [00:57:53] drivers?
ERIC: Really
just enjoy the open road. I mean, it’s kind of like my travel philosophy
too. If you have a road trip in mind or you, want to something that you
want to do, something you want to see, just kind of let serendipity, be your
guide And, don’t rob yourself of experiences. Get out on the open road
and there’s, there’s so much to see in our country and I just think to me,
driving is really the best way to do it. I enjoy being on trains too, but, but
there’s something about driving and being on the open road, that’s very
cathartic and very exciting. So, uh, just tell people, just do it, you know,
just go get out there and explore.
TARANJIT: Yeah, it can also be just a moment to like spend time alone and
have a break and just take in what’s around you. It’s a great tip.
ERIC: Thank
you
TARANJIT: So I know you have a personal development coaching
business. Where can listeners find you if they want to connect with you?
ERIC: Yeah,
so they can find me on my website is just www.EricSlivoskey.com [00:58:53] and on their is just a lot of free contents.
I do a weekly, usually weekly blog post and offer coaching services on there. I
do a lot of like personal development, coaching, blogging and things of that
nature. So you can connect with me on there.
I’m also on Instagram, Facebook,
Pinterest, and Twitter at. Eric’s Slivoskey so, yeah. So you connect with me on
any one of those social media sites or go directly to my, website, email me,
call me what have you, definitely look forward to touching base for sure.
BHAVNEET: Well, thank you so much for coming on today. This was really
fun. And I feel like we could gone on and on forever about all your driving
experiences, but it was a blast talking to you.
ERIC: Thank
you so much for having me on.
(transition music)
TARANJIT: That was a crazy
episode. He had a lot of stories where I was just like, whoa.
BHAVNEET: And a
lot of them were in one trip.
TARANJIT: Yeah. If you had
to choose between one of his experiences that he went through that you had to
experience, which one would you choose?
BHAVNEET: You
know, a lot of them were like really extreme that I don’t know I would want to [01:00:00]
cuz one was he got held at gunpoint and I definitely don’t want to be held at
gunpoint. Like that’s a little extreme for me. He got strip searched at the
Mexico border. No, thank you. You know what’s seeming the what seems like the
least of all them is like getting pulled over in Finland or something like
that.
TARANJIT: Oh my gosh. I was
going to take that same one. I was like, I don’t want to be subjected to strip
searched and the whole facing a gun. Like I don’t think first of all, I don’t
think I would have been brave enough to go up to those people in the bus.
BHAVNEET: But I
mean you would already met them at this point. They’re nice people. We hung out
with them. So yeah, you would have been like, I want to go say hi.
TARANJIT: I know so by default,
I’m just like I rather just get pulled over in Finland.
BHAVNEET: And
be like, what? Why am I getting out of the car? Huh? Either that or I was like,
well, I don’t know if I want to do the whole trains, planes, and automobiles in
Germany. That seems scary.
TARANJIT: Oh my God. [01:01:00]
I was going through the same thing like we are the same person. I was like,
would I want to get in this Croatian taxi drivers car or would I just want to
get pulled over and have to be like sitting in the back of a police car in
Finland?
BHAVNEET: Yeah,
where you don’t understand what they’re saying. They don’t understand what
you’re saying. Like what’s going on?
TARANJIT: Yeah. Exactly.
And I have to touch on this and I mean if you listen to our old episodes
before we started a new format, we talked about Maryland and Pennsylvania
all the time and talking to Eric about this. He’s basically just confirmed all
the things that we’ve mentioned about Maryland and Pennsylvania drivers.
Like exactly what we’ve been saying the entire time.
BHAVNEET: Its
okay, one affirmation. It’s like oh, yes, someone else understands, but he’s
lived in Maryland. He’s lived in Pennsylvania. He knows the difference. So
yeah.
TARANJIT: So were not being
dramatic.
BHAVNEET: We’re
not dramatic, you’re dramatic. This is real life. [01:02:00] Maryland’s crazy.
We will keep bringing on more drivers to confirm it for you. You’re welcome.
TARANJIT: You’re welcome. Actually
it’s kind of more like for us to be like we’re right.
BHAVNEET: He’s
been to all 50 states and he said Maryland drivers are crazy. So he has some
experience expertise.
TARANJIT: Yeah. But that
was Eric’s stories.
BHAVNEET: If
you or anyone, you know has any crazy stories like Eric not like Eric like
crazy, funny, weird ,interesting and would like to come on the show, you can fill out the
interest form on our website at DriveWithUsPodcast.com
TARANJIT: And stay tuned until
the end for a sneak peek of next week’s episode and don’t forget to come hang
out with us in our Discord group.
BHAVNEET: Link
below.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Link in the
show notes below. Thanks for driving with us.
BHAVNEET: Bye.
(outro music)
CHRIS: [01:03:00] When I was in high school and I went to
prom, our prom was not on campus. It was like in the middle of downtown Dallas.
I lived in Dallas. And they did not give you directions. It was before we had
smartphones. And so with the ticket that you bought for prom, they gave you
MapQuest directions printed out.
But then after prom. I figured, well, I can just
reverse those directions, and then that will take me home. That is not what
happened.