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Driving Profile: Scott Jones
(sneak peek)
SCOTT: So I was like, what? What did this guy do? So I followed him all the way to his neighborhood. And finally he pulled over, got out of the car and he was like, what? What are you following me for? What? What?
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BHAVNEET: Welcome back to Drive With Us. I’m Bhavneet.
TARANJIT: And I’m Taranjit.
BHAVNEET: And this is our first episode of season two.
TARANJIT: Wooo!
BHAVNEET: (laughs)
TARANJIT: I’m just so excited.
BHAVNEET: That was uh…yeah, legit excitement. We’re super excited for this season because we’re going to be bringing on a new guest every episode to talk about the crazy things they’ve experienced on the road, who they are as drivers and how they became the driver that they are today.
TARANJIT: And today we are joined by Scott Jones, a minister and podcaster who hosts two podcasts: Give and Take and The Atlas Project. And we couldn’t have chosen a more perfect first guest because he has some crazy stories to share with us, especially his curse with Volkswagens. So without further ado, here’s, Scott.
(transition music)
BHAVNEET: Before we get started, we just want to note that we are testing out new remote recording platforms and because of that the audio quality for our first couple of episodes may vary slightly. So we appreciate your patience as we are learning and figuring everything out. And now to the show.
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BHAVNEET: Thanks for joining us today, we’re super excited to talk to you about your crazy, interesting driving experiences.
SCOTT: I am thrilled to be here and looking forward to sharing with you two. This is one of the most interesting podcast topics and subjects I’ve heard of in a while. So I’m excited.
BHAVNEET: Let’s get started with having you introduce yourself and letting our listeners get to know a little bit about you.
SCOTT: My name is Scott Jones. I am a minister and a podcaster. Right now I’m not serving a church, but I’ve served churches for a while. And i got into podcasting a few years ago and now I do kind of part of what I’m doing most the time I do a lot of freelance podcasting work for other people. I do my own podcasts. And yeah, so if somebody is looking to set up a podcast, I can help them with it creatively technically, on the creative content and on the platform and wherever you need it. I am your guy. And I do several podcasts, but probably the two that are most listened to right now are Give and Take, which is a long form interview podcast where I have all sorts of like authors, activists, political pundit’s, journalists, all sorts of people on that to just talk about their work and their lives. And I do another one called The Atlas Project with my friend Chris, who is a political scientist in London and we talked about it’s kind of the 500 mile kind of take above the headlines about what’s important in our culture and politics and economics and science and society and things like that. So yeah, I’m, I do a lot of talking, but I don’t do a ton of guesting on podcasts. In fact, when friends asked me I usually tell them I don’t know if you want me as a guests. I am more of a host, but I was so intrigued by your invitation. I was like these ladies have such an interesting show. That I have to go on it.
TARANJIT: We are super excited that you decided to join us.
SCOTT: I’m thrilled.
TARANJIT: We love starting off with this question especially since our show is about the wild and crazy driving stories. What would you say is the craziest thing that you have seen while on the road?
SCOTT: I can tell you this is really easy. When I was in college my freshman year, freshman year, I think, yeah. We wanted to go to Florida for spring break, and none of us had a car. So we rented or we basically rented our buddy’s car. We cameup withr $400. We rented this like 1970s VW Rabbit. 98, early 80s Volkswagen rabbit, right. So we, we, we drive it to, we start driving, we go to my house in New Jersey to sort of set up shop and spend the night we’re going to leave out in the morning. My it was this is like the blizzard of 1992 or whatever. 1983 my parents said you’re not going anywhere. So we snuck out of the house in the middle of the night and we just drove anyway. And so it was crazy. It was so crazy driving. I mean it was it was like we felt like we were on a bob like a like a bobsledding thing because there was so much snow and ice on the sides of the roads and stuff. So we drove. We made it all the way to Virginia and we spent the night with somebody there. The next day we started driving again and the car like totally like blew up, right. Like we pulled into the into the gas we pulled into this rest stop and it was like smoking it like I had the windshield wipers on to clear the smoke. I thought that would work which it didn’t. My buddy like just takes the motor oil and throws it on the engine thinking that would help. So okay, so the car is totaled right so we get that so we’re caught in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and we don’t know what to do like we we have a few hundred bucks. So we actually wind up going to this used car place and we find another Volkswagen Rabbit. So we buy this Rabbit. We drive that off the lot like alright, we’re going to Florida baby. We get that like two miles out that blows up. So the guy we return it and the guy like gives us a we argue with this guy. He eventually winds up giving us our money back I think and so then we’re like we’re still stranded. So we’re walking the streets of Rocky Mount North Carolina and we see this Volkswagen bus right, and we just go knock on the door and asked the guy if you would give it to us for like $300 and he did. And he did.
BHAVNEET: Wow.
SCOTT: So so we’re like, Alright, we’re back, baby. We’re back. So we start driving and that that makes it all the way we make it all the way to the Florida border. We make it we’re like 20 miles away from Florida like we’re going to Florida baby. We have this sign in the window. Florida or bust probably bust. Aww. It was so awful and that car blew up.
BHAVNEET: So maybe don’t go Volkswagen
SCOTT: Right. I know. I don’t know why we said we should have gotten a Honda and we would have been fine. So we’re three cars down. And we’re just like, like to search for the rest stop. And we don’t know what the (beep) to do. So my buddies both go home and I had I was dating a girl who was in Florida. And so I just went and spent and hung out with her. So I made it to Florida. Eventually I took a bus. We all took buses, different places. And so I actually made it but then we got home. This guy was really (beep) that we blew his car up. We’re like, well, you gave us this (beep) car. What did you expect. So we didn’t know it and there was so many like there’s so many parts of the story that I’m forgetting because it’s happened like so many years ago, I just remember this one guy. He was a real tall, dignified looking African American gentleman and we were looking, we were asking directions, he stares at us, and he goes, alright, so you make a right f-f-f-f-f-f Fast Gas. So there are all these people like cops we met, that were interesting, like people we met that were interesting. People we bought the car from like, it was crazy. So we had to come up with money when we got back because the guy this guy Bert wanted his car. So what we did is we just went around and told the story and passed a hat around, and people would give us money to tell the story. So so we did that, like three times in different dorm rooms and we raised enough money to pay off the car.
BHAVNEET: Wow.
SCOTT: Yeah, it was pretty crazy. So that was like, we blow up three cars on one spring trip. It’s pretty unbelievable.
TARANJIT: Would you do something like that again?
SCOTT: I would do something adventurous again. Sure. I mean, I don’t like that…
BHAVNEET: Blow up cars?
SCOTT: It’s not like I set out like to be the guy who blew up three cars. That was not the intention of the trip. We imagined we would, you know, put on suntan lotion and hang out meet lovely ladies and all that sort of stuff. But unbeknownst to us, other plans, other things unfolded and we wound up you know, kind of, I mean, it was so crazy. It was the craziest trip. I mean, it was unbelievable. So that was it was it was really it was really like a fascinating driving story. A lot of time in a car punctuated 5 times we’re just like, what are we gonna do? We’re like, stranded places. And then again, like we had this will to go on, which is so strange. Like we we found that kind of energy and will to go on, which is the crazy thing.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. And the fact that the person just gave you their Volkswagen bug, like you just knocked on their door.
SCOTT: I just offered them a few hundred bucks and they’re like sure you can have it.
BHAVNEET: Wow. ,
TARNAJIT: Were they the ones that were mad that the car blew up?
SCOTT: No, it was the first guy from our college who was mad.
TARANJIT: Oh.
SCOTT: We rented his car and like and he like cuz none of us had a car to drive and so we were like, he was kind of (beep).
TARANJIT: How did your mom find out? And did she get mad?
SCOTT: Eh, they weren’t thrilled. They weren’t thrilled. But I mean, you know, eventually I told her what we did. I mean, I was crazy. It was crazy. The whole thing was insane.
BHAVNEET: So then how’d you get back?
SCOTT: I went back with my girlfriend and her family.
BHAVNEET: Oh. Okay.
SCOTT: They were down in Florida, so yeah.
BHAVNEET: No more crazy car blow ups on the way back.
SCOTT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they were no they were fine. No, that was uneventful.
TARANJIT: Maybe you needed an uneventful trip back after the trip down.
SCOTT: Yeah, the trip back. I was ready for some uneventfulness needless to say. Yeah, it was a pretty stressful kind of time. Yeah, I would say a lot of driving. Aa lot of driving and a lot of sitting.
BHAVNEET: So there are typically stereotypes that are associated with drivers of different areas like Maryland and Pennsylvania drivers have very particular opinions about drivers of the other state and their driving ability. So in your city or state, are there any stereotypes that are associated with drivers of your area?
SCOTT: I think Philadelphia is it. So first of all, what I’ve noticed is over the past decades, we’ve become a honking city. A lot of honking a lot of frustration. I mean, Philadelphia, like most big North Eastern cities, everyone’s in a hurry. And so you, you know, you people, you know, honk and get frustrated. I think people there’s a lot of there are a lot of aggressive drivers in Philly. And also I think people from Philly, get so (beep) when people can’t merge, you know, because people that can’t merge, you know, people get frustrated, irritated. And so I think like, if you’re driving in Philly, you’ve got to know how to merge or you’re not going to be successful there. People will just like honk and give you the finger and curse at you. I mean, people I mean, Philly it’s a great city. I mean, it’s it is a wonderful place, but another level people can get a little irritable sometimes.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, we did drive up to Philly once and it wast experience. I’ll just say that. But Philly is not that close to the Maryland border. So I don’t know how often you drive into Maryland. But the Maryland perspective is that Pennsylvania drivers don’t know how to drive. But Pennsylvania drivers probably think that Maryland drivers don’t know how to drive. Yeah, it’s a hate relationship.
SCOTT: Yeah. Again, I think Philly drivers are aggressive as their New Jersey drivers. No, like, I mean, I think it’s interesting, because you would think that the density of the area would make people more careful, but I think it’s strange people are more aggressive.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I feel like city drivers tend to have a more different way of driving as opposed to someone who’s more out like in a town or something.
SCOTT: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you have to be able to parallel park. Right?
TARANJIT: Yeah.
SCOTT: Like, I mean, parallel parking is like in my blood, like, it doesn’t stress me out at all. But I have friends who grew up in non-urban areas and parallel parking stresses them out totally. Like, I love parallel parking.
TARANJIT: I haven’t heard anyone say that they love parallel parking before.
SCOTT: Ah. It’s such fun. Gosh. The thrill of the parallel park when you get especially when you get it right on the art, you got to get close enough to the car and far enough in front of the car in front of you like you got to kind of go halfway up and then when you execute it seamlessly. Ah. It’s so satisfying. I find it totally gratifying.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, I wouldn’t say I love it, but I can do it.
SCOTT: Well, you have to be able to do it to get your license.
BHAVNEET: Apparently not anymore. I don’t know if Maryland brought it back. But at one point they got rid of it. So I don’t know. I’m scared for other people who got their license at that time.
SCOTT: Yeah, I mean, who can not who…ah the joy of the perfectly executed parallel park. It’s it’s pure ecstasy.
BHAVNEET: I’ve never heard that description of parallel parking. But okay.
SCOTT: Well, you’ve never parallel park to the right person before.
BHAVNEET: Obviously not.
TARANJIT: Now that we’ve heard this crazy wild story and your love for parallel parking, let’s get to know what type of driver you are. Are you the type of person who loves driving? Or would rather be a passenger?
SCOTT: I’d rather be a passenger or be on public transit. Yeah, I don’t, I don’t love driving. I mean, I, I don’t loathe it. But the last relationship I was in, she loved to drive and I was totally content for her to drive all the time. I did not mind that in the least. And like I said, normally, I mean, if I could take public transit, I will do like a train or something because I just love to relax and like read and stuff. So I think like, although I will say with the advent of podcasts and satellite radio and stuff like that, driving is a little better because you can choose the content you’re listening to you have a lot more freedom you’re not chained to local radio stations. So I think that is is made driving more, more enjoyable, but I don’t love I don’t like I don’t loathe it. I just don’t love it. Like I’m totally content to be the passenger.
TARANJIT: Have you ever been a passenger in a car where you were like, I shouldn’t have gotten in.
SCOTT: Oh, yeah, lots of lots of times. I remember one time. The guy one of the guys I went to one of my college roommates one of the guys I went to the spring break trip with a couple years ago that he brought his car to campus and it was this Volvo. It was all tricked out. And he had like writing on the car that said there is no other and like it had tinted windows. He had big, big subwoofer in it and stuff. And we went out to this dance club, and it was an icy night. And we were coming back and I was in the backseat of the car and we were like hydroplaning on the ice. And he is hitting the steering wheel. Like it’s a video game going get off the guardrail. Get off the guardrail. And I’m like (beep) Drew this isn’t a video.
BHAVNEET and TARANJIT: Oh my god!
SCOTT: We could die here. So yeah, that that freaked me out a little bit.
TARANJIT: Is he better now?
SCOTT: Yeah, we haven’t talked in a little while. I’m sure. I’m sure he’s not a calm driver now. I mean, unless he got a personality transplant, which, you know, I don’t know that they’re doing that yet. So I really think he’s probably the same driver. Ah age though. I mean, maybe testosterone levels go down a little bit. Maybe he’s a little calmer, but I wouldn’t you know, I would guess he’s probably still a little on the zany and crazy side.
BHAVNEET: How would you describe the type of driver you are? And would your family and friends describe your driving the same way?
SCOTT: I think I am like there are times I drive a little fast but not all the time, especially if someone else is in the car with me. I’m usually talking with them and pretty like chill as a driver. I mean, I think I’m, you know, yeah, I think I if I’m by myself, I think I tend to drive a little on the fast side. If I’m with somebody, I don’t if I’m with somebody, I’m pretty common conventional driver. And I think people would agree with that. In fact, the common conventional thing is from people that I’ve been, you know, in relationships with and things like that. They’re like, sometimes I almost driving an old man because I’m so dialed into the conversation with who I am with.
TARANJIT: Well, that’s great that you don’t change your style of driving depending on who’s in your car.
SCOTT: I don’t know. I don’t. No I don’t. Yeah, I don’t.
TARANJIT: So this next question comes from our personal experience. We’ve had a lot of situations where we felt like we should have honked at the other person, but we didn’t. And you mentioned that in Philadelphia honking is a big thing. Are you the type of person who tends to honk in situations?
SCOTT: No, no, no, no, no, I save the horn for communication purposes. Like I don’t express myself with a horn. I only honk if it if they’re say like a biker or something swerving into lane and I want to alert them that they’re swerving or something like that, I am very much against the horn being used as a means of self expression. I think that’s like so taboo, I think you should only use the horn when you are when it’s like for safety reasons, right? Somebody is gonna needs to be alerted to you know, to dangers that are coming, you know, or happening or things like that, I think, yeah, I people over use the horn and it’s, there should be a law against it.
BHAVNEET: Agreed. I think New York City had a law against it, but obviously they don’t enforce such a thing.
SCOTT: Yeah, no. Yeah, no New York. It’s almost like it’s a law that you have to honk.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, I’ve had so many situations where I’m like, Oh my god, I should have honk. But my reaction is not to honk. It’s to get out of the way. Speaking of honking, what would you say is your biggest driving pet peeve?
SCOTT: When other people do it? You mean like, like…
BHAVNEET: Just in general, what is something that really annoys you about other drivers?
SCOTT: I think that not being able to merge thing is a big deal. I think when people don’t understand how to merge onto a highway or something, I think that’s a that’s a big deal. Although let me tell you, another pet peeve is not so much what people do. It’s just they have tons of these New Jersey circles. I hate circles.
BHAVNEET: Really?
SCOTT: Yeah, I think they’re just like accidents waiting to happen because most people don’t understand the right of way.
BHAVNEET: That’s true.
SCOTT: Principles in circles. I think circles are just like, like they’re they’re. People design them to get back at insurance companies to make them pay more money in claims and payouts because circles I find so so crazy.
BHAVNEET: I totally agree with you. They recently installed a couple of circles around us and there have been so many more accidents. People don’t understand that there are other people entering and they’re supposed to be order. But obviously there is not.
TARANJIT: On a similar theme to pet peeves. Have you ever had an instance where you experienced road rage? Whether it was you who was experiencing road rage or someone who was having road rage towards you?
SCOTT: Yeah, okay, so yeah, I get road rage when traffic is really bad. I’ll tell you a really funny road rage story. I this is years ago, this was suburban Philadelphia. I mean, like probably almost 20 years ago or something. This guy was I don’t know what I did, but he was so (beep) off he like cursed me and beeped and gave me the finger and drove by. So I was like what what did this guy do? So I followed him all the way to his neighborhood and finally he pulled over, got out of the car and he was like what what are you following me for? What what? And I said, I gotta kind of said, Sir, I don’t know what I did to get that much iron anger out of you, but I just wanted to apologize. I don’t know why what I did that was so upsetting, but I figured you looked so upset that I should follow you and apologize. And he just said like, Oh, it’s okay. It’s okay. Oh, he didn’t know what to do. And you just got Oh, you’re fine. You’re fine. He got by his car and drove away.
BHAVNEET: That’s one way to apologize.
SCOTT: Yeah, I don’t know why I did that. But I just…
BHAVNEET: Let me just follow you.
TARANJIT: Yeah, that must have freaked him out a little bit that someone was following him.
SCOTT: It did. It did.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. Hopefully after that. He’ll think twice about his road rage. I don’t know if that made a difference. But you know.
SCOTT: I do not think road rage is a healthy thing. It’s I mean, it probably cuts years off your life.
BHAVNEET: I mean, probably right. There’s been a lot of debate over the correct way to hold a steering wheel. So when you drive, how do you hold it and what would you consider the right way to hold a steering wheel.
SCOTT: I go with the old school 10 and 2 on a clock like you hold it. Your left hands at the 10 your right hands at the 2. But yeah, I’m sure there’s a lot of different ways to do it. You know, I’ve seen people driving with their knees when eating a cheeseburger. And that’s probably not the safest thing in the world.
BHAVNEET: That’s probably not one of the proper ways.
SCOTT: Right? But I think I am a 10 and 2 guy.
TARANJIT: I know, we talked about you liking to be a passenger over a driver. But when you do drive, do you prefer to listen to specific music or podcasts or do you prefer to be silent?
SCOTT: I’m always listening to stuff. Generally, I’m listening to podcasts, or Howard Stern or public radio. I’m kind of a unless I’m in a certain mood and want to listen to music, but I generally am I’m trying to, I’m always kind of I’m kind of geeky. And I’m always looking to fill my head up with content ideas. And so generally, it’s kind of podcasts or public, a lot of public radio. Like I think public radio is still excellent for content sort of stuff. So yeah, in general, it’s that kind of stuff. It’s not a ton of music.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, I mean, commuting is just a great time to learn something new.
SCOTT: Yeah. Yeah. And again with Sirius radio and pot and podcasts and stuff you’re not chained to, you know, like local radio stations, which is fantastic.
BHAVNEET: Right. You have so many options. Now that we know what kind of driver you are. And thank god you’re not some crazy speed demon. Let’s go back to how it all started. How would you describe your first time driving experience? And who was it with?
SCOTT: I don’t know. I forget my first I mean, I remember I learned it’s funny because again back to the Volkswagens. My dad bought me a 77 Volkswagen Bug for 200 bucks to learn on and it was like the first fuel injected VW Bugs isomer I learned to driving a stick, which was crazy. So I had like, I remember I like driving that car. Like I remember driving it to school and stuff and I really liked it like I really enjoyed it was like, it was like the silver bullet was this little silver VW It was like a silver bullet. It was awesome. So I can I I like that car a lot. Although eventually the floorboards rusted out so there’s no floor in there eventually.
TARANJIT: You don’t have luck with Volkswagens.
SCOTT: Yeah. And then I had a Volkswagen Rabbit that that died. Yeah, I had bed. I had bad luck with Volkswagens. But yeah, it was, it was it was pot like went early. And my dad was pretty impatient guy. So he wasn’t a great teacher, but I was good at figuring stuff out myself. So I think that it was a good experience. I mean, I think learning to drive on a stick was a really good experience, like because I’m shocked how many people just can’t drive stick today. And I’ve always been able to drive a stick. So it’s been good.
BHANVEET: Was it hard for you to learn having a stick as your first vehicle?
SCOTT: I don’t know. I mean, I mean, I’m sure it was harder than automatic. But I but it was, it was good because I didn’t know anything different.
BHAVNEET: Right. It’s definitely a good skill to have. So now you can practically drive any vehicle.
SCOTT: Right. You can drive any vehicle because there’s just stick or automatic. There’s only two kinds. Right? So yeah, you can drive anything.
TARANJIT: Have you ever had any driving fails when you’re learning to drive.
SCOTT: I think I got in an accident in my second car. I think I like Yeah. I mean, I I was beyond learning learner at that point. But, uh, well then not when I was first learning I mean, when I was first learning, I was pretty okay. And I had a good driver’s ed teacher in high school, you know, that kind of thing. So I was, yeah, I mean, I, I had a pretty successful learning process, I would say.
TARANJIT: So going along with your first time driving, how would you describe your driving test experience? And were you able to pass it the first time?
SCOTT: First time, baby.
TARANJIT: Nice.
SCOTT: Yeah. First time.
TARANJIT: Do you think you could pass that test today? And do you think that your state’s driving test is easier than others?
SCOTT: Yeah, I think I could. I could pass it. Yeah, I think I could pass it. I think I’m pretty knowledgeable.
BHAVNEET: And you can parallel park.
SCOTT: Yeah. I can parallel park the *beep* out of it.
TARANJIT: Do you think that parallel parking should be a requirement on driving tests? Or is it okay that they’re getting rid of it?
SCOTT: I think you should have to do it blindfolded. Oh, gosh, yes, it should be part of it.
BHAVNEET: You are very passionate about parallel parking.
SCOTT: I love it. I love it. I’m so into it. Such a fan.
BHAVNEET: Should that be the only method of parking?
SCOTT: I’m such a fan. Yeah. Oh yeah, it’d be great if was the only way we’re allowed to park. It wcould be fantastic.
BHAVNEET: As you know, there are a lot of risks that come with driving. So have you ever experienced getting a ticket or getting pulled over?
SCOTT: I’ve gotten so many tickets. I’ve gotten a bunch of tickets. And I say always fight them because sometimes the cop doesn’t show up and like I’ve won in court a bunch of times just getting lucky. So I’ve Yeah, I’ve gotten several tickets and I’ve I’ve fought the law and most of the time the law has won, but but I have won a few times myself. So yeah.
TARANJIT: Yeah., I’ve heard that if the police officer doesn’t show up it usually helps your case.
SCOTT: Well you win. I mean, if the cop doesn’t show up, you win because there’s no witness against you. And often times too like the cop will take the points down, like if it’s a four point ticket, they’ll drop it to a two point ticket or something. So I say if you got the time, always go to court.
TARANJIT: You had mentioned that you had gotten in an accident.
SCOTT: Yeah.
TARANJIT: Do you mind sharing that story with us?
SCOTT: I think I was just driving too fast. I was young and I was going through like a foggy intersection. And it was wet and I hit a telephone pole.
BHAVNEET: You weren’t driving a Volkswagen were you?
SCOTT: I was. I was. I no longer drive Volkswagens.
BHAVNEET: Lesson learned, right?
SCOTT: Absolutely.
BHAVNEET: So Taranjit…I don’t know she would agree with this, but her vehicle has a love for deer. And she’s gotten in so many accidents with deer. Have you ever had an encounter with an animal?
SCOTT: I’ve never hit an animal. Thank God. I would feel so guilty because I’m such an animal lover that I think I’d feel terrible if I if I did that.
BHAVNEET: Well, I don’t think she did on purpose.
TARANJIT: I didn’t hit the deer. It was more like it hit me so it was the other way around.
SCOTT: Yeah, it’s still. I feel bad. I feel like oh my gosh, the deer had a death wish. It was depressed and I contributed to it. I should have it needed to get help and I I ended it’s life. I couldn’t handle it. Can’t handle it.
TARANJIT: I’ve had a situation where there was a male deer. It was really big and he hit my car. And then he stood up in front of my car and just stared at me.
SCOTT: Oh, wow.
BHAVNEET: Like how dare you.
SCOTT: It was tough, huh?
TARANJIT: Yeah.
SCOTT: That’s a tough deer. That’s like a super deer.
TARANJIT: Yeah. And he just stood there and stared at me and wouldn’t move.
SCOTT: Wow. That’s a bold deer.
TARANJIT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: Every time she tells me that story it’s just hilarious. In a staredown with a deer.
SCOTT: Yeah, I don’t picture deer being that aggressive or bold. They’re usually kind of a timid, sort of demure creature.
TARANJIT: Obviously, not the ones that I encounter.
SCOTT: No. You bring out the, you know, bring out the boldness in them apparently.
BHAVNEET: We have a final bonus question for you. If you could make one new driving law, what would it be?
SCOTT: Oh, that’s a great question. One law. I feel like I would make like the Audubon like, you know, in the autobahn in Germany, where there’s like no speed limit’s on certain parts of the highway. Ah that would be great.
BHAVNEET: Oh. So you’re a secret speed demon?
SCOTT: I just think it would be fun.
BHAVNEET: I had a feeling.
SCOTT: I think that’d be cool.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. I don’t know. With your luck with Volkswagens…
SCOTT: I almost want to say the kind of rebel in me wants to say I would, I would make it so there’s no seatbelt laws anymore. But then I just think seatbelts save so many lives that that’s irresponsible. You should have seatbelts.
TARANJIT: Yeah. You don’t want to make that a law.
SCOTT: Yeah, I would like to, but it’s, I don’t know. I just thought it would be dumb. I just don’t like seatbelts, but I wear them.
BHAVNEET: I thought that you would be like everyone must parallel park. But yeah, autobahn.
SCOTT: Well, the autobahn is more fun.
TARANJIT: Before we let you go, do you have any final thoughts or any tips for other drivers?
SCOTT: I think every driver should be concerned about the energy crisis and fossil fuels. And we should get to the point we all have electric cars, because that would be awesome. Because it would save the environment. And we could do it through renewables and nuclear power. Probably. There’s a combination like Sweden has a zero percent carbon emissions, like they’d have no carbon footprint because they have hydroelectric and then they use supplement with nuclear power. So if we had that we could all have electric cars, not need gas. So that is a goal that we should all strive for to save the planet that we need for us and our children and our children’s children’s children’s children.
TARANJIT: Great. Where can listeners find you?
SCOTT: Yeah, and people can find me on Scott…Scott Kent Jones is all my social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Scott Kent Jones. I do a long form interview podcast called Give and Take, which has a lot of different sort of guests on it. Again, I talked about the Atlas project. I also do a show with an entrepreneur in California called learning, learning, laughing, loving, which we talk about sort of different growth mindset ideas and how you can succeed in business life, relationships, that sort of thing through the process of learning, laughing and loving. So it’s a great show. It’s a new show that’s kind of getting off the ground. So yeah, I mean, I think I mean, I think that the show that is most listened to that I do because it’s got such a wide variety of guests is called Give and Take and if you go to Giveandtake.fireside.fm you can find the show’s landing page and I think it’s a pretty fun interview show where there’s kind of something for everybody on it. It’s it’s a variety of guests and It’s super, super fun and interesting. I think, of course, I’m going to say that because it’s my show.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, sounds really great. Be sure to check it out. Thank you so much for coming on. I know you say you don’t do go on a lot of podcasts. And we are super….
SCOTT: I don’t. I don’t because I always wonder, because I think I’m a pretty good podcast host. And I’ve probably done over 300 interviews over the past few years. And I worry that I’m not a good guest, because I kind of know what a good guest is. I think it takes a lot of art and work to be a good guest. So I generally am wary about being a guest. I like being the person to ask the questions, but your invite was so intriguing. And then I looked up your show and that was so intriguing that I was like I just have to go on because I want to see what they’re doing. So it is a great show and super curious and super interesting. And so I’m glad I did it. It’s again, it’s an example of a worthwhile exception to my you know, rules.
BHAVNEET: We are super excited that you decided to join us today and we enjoy listening to all your crazy driving stories.
SCOTT: So glad I’m really glad that was fun.
(transition)
TARANJIT: I can’t believe that he blew up three cars on the way to Florida and the fact that him and his friends were able to raise enough money to pay back the first guy by just retelling their road trip disaster story.
BHAVNEET: It was such a different world back then.
TARANJIT: Wow, you make it sound like he is so old.
BHAVNEET: No.
TARANJIT: It was such a different world back then.
BHAVNEET: Or you just go to people and be like, yeah, this happened. We blew up three cars. And you know, I I This was my buddy’s car. And so then they’re like, Oh, have some money.
TARANJIT: Yeah, here we will help you pay it off.
BHAVNEET: They were very convincing at storytelling.
TARANJIT: They must have been a good storyteller, not convincing. I mean.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. They must have been very convincing at storytelling.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Nevermind. That’s true. You have to be. So if you are in that situation, what would you have done? I feel like after the first car blew up, I wouldn’t I feel like I would have been like, Alright, this trip’s over.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, it’s like, this wasn’t even my car. Oh my god. Okay, I shouldn’t have even gone.
TARANJIT: Like yeah, I would have took it as a sign of don’t go but they kept going and they got another Volkswagen after another Volkswagen.
BHAVNEET: And it worked out for them. So I mean, perseverance, right.
TARANJIT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: But by far my the thing that stuck out to me the most out of all of his stories was his passion for parallel parking.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I never met anyone who loves parallel parking so much. Like I know people go to like amusement parks for that thrill. For Scott, I feel like all he needs to do to get that thrill is parallel park.
BHAVNEET: I like parallel parking is like a great skill. Very important, but I never would have thought about it like oh my god, I absolutely love it. If I could choose any parking method. I would parallel park.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I would never go into a car and be like, Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go parallel park.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
TARANJIT: I’m so excited for this.
BHAVNEET: Where most people are like, let me go find a garage or let me go find a parking lot. He’s like, no, where’s the parallel parking? Where is it?
TARANJIT: He just scouts it out. Like, no, we’re not parking in a garage.
BHAVNEET: But hey
TARANJIT: You see that spot over there on the side of the road. Yeah, parallel park.
BHAVNEET: But hey, apparently we’re just not doing it right, because then we would understand how awesome it truly is.
TARANJIT: Eh. I don’t know. I don’t know if I would still get the same enjoyment. But I loved his message at the end about wanting to reduce the carbon footprint and saving the planet because, you know, it’s our home and without the planet where will we be?
BHAVNEET: So ominous.
TARANJIT: But it’s true. If you want to stay on this planet. If you want to have this planet for your future like you and then the future generations, you have to take care of it otherwise what’s going to be left?
BHAVNEET: Very true. I mean, other other countries have done it. So obviously it is possible and we should be able to do it, too. We hope you enjoyed listening to Scott’s story. And if you or anyone you know has any crazy or interesting driving story and would like to come on as a guest be sure to 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 where we’re joined by Nikki and Brooke from My So Called whatever, where we talk creepy semi-truck drivers and a traumatizing drive to a NSYNC concert. Thanks for driving with us!
(transition music)
TARANJIT: I can’t believe he blew up three cars on the way to Florida and the fact that him and his friends were able to raise enough money to pay back the first guy by just retelling their road trip disaster story.
BHAVNEET: It was such a different world back then.
TARANJIT: Wow. You make it sound like he is so old.
BHAVNEET: Nooo.
TARANJIT: It’s such a different world back then.
BHAVNEET: Or you just go to people and be like, yeah, this happened. We blew up three cars. And you know, I this was my buddy’s car. And so then they are like, oh. Have some money.
TARANJIT: Ya. Here. We’ll help you pay it off.
BHAVNEET: They must have been very convincing at storytelling.
TARANJIT: They must have been a good storyteller, not convincing.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
TARANJIT: I mean
BHAVNEET: They must have to been so convincing as storytellers.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Nevermind. That’s true. You have to be. So if you were in that situation, what would you have done? I feel like after the first car blew up. I wouldn’t I feel like I would have been like, alright. This trip’s over.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. It’s like this wasn’t even my car. Oh my God. Okay, I shouldn’t have even gone.
TARANJIT: Like yeah. I would have took it as a sign of don’t go. But they kept going and they got another Volkswagen after another Volkswagen.
BHAVNEET: And it worked out for them. So I mean perseverance, right?
TARANJIT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: But by far my favorite the thing that stuck out to me the most out of all of his stories was his passion for parallel parking.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I never met anyone who loved parallel parking so much. Like I know people go to amusement parks for that thrill. For Scott, I feel like all he needs to do to get that thrill is parallel park.
BHAVNEET: I like parallel parking is like a great skill. Very important. But I never would have thought about it like, oh my God. I absolutely love it. If I could choose any parking spots that I would parallel park.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I would never go into a car and be like, alright. I’m ready to just go parallel park. I am so excited for this.
BHAVNEET: Where most people are like, let me go find a garage or let me go find a parking lot.He’s like know where is the parallel parking. Where is it?
TARANJIT: He like just scouts it out. It’s like no, we’re not parking in the garage.
BHAVNEET: But hey. Apparently, we’re just not doing it right because then we would understand how awesome it truly is.
TARANJIT: Eh. I don’t know. I don’t know if I would still get the same enjoyment. But I loved his message at the end about wanting to reduce the carbon footprint and saving the planet because you know, it’s our home. And without the planet, where would we be?
BHAVNEET: So ominous.
TARANJIT: But it’s true. If you want to stay on this planet, if you want to have this planet for your future like you an the future generations, you have to take care of it, otherwise what’s going to be left.
BHAVNEET: Very true. I mean other other countries have done it. So obviously it is possible and we should be able to do it to
we hope you enjoyed listening to Scott’s story. And if you or anyone, you know has any crazy or interesting driving stories and would like to come on as a guest. Be sure to 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 where we are joined by Nicki and Brooke from My So Called Whatever. Where we talked about creepy semi-truck drivers and a traumatizing drive to an NSYNC concert. Thanks for driving with us!
(outro music)
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(next week’s sneak peek)
NIKKI: That was like the first time I had like a full-on anxiety attack. And that actually was the very last time I ever drove out of the state of Maine.