I met Jonathan Wiest in a dysfunctional Spanish class in Mexico city, soon after he hitchhiked from the Texas border to Vancouver with $500 and a sign reading "north and west." We talk about what he found — conspiracy theories, roadside prayers, a truck named "Murdered," and a lot of friendly people stuck in an unfriendly country.

Follow Jonathan on Instagram @jonathqn.w

Please show some support for the podcast and get access to some extra content by subscribing to the Patreon page: http://www.patreon.com/onefjef

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You can also call the podcast and leave a voicemail at 1-669-241-5882 and I will probably play it on the air.

Thank you for listening, please do it again, but in a Nazi costume.

Onefjef is produced, edited & hosted by Jef Taylor.

If you do it again, you should wear L- you should play up the German

thing, like wear lederhosen and shit

or whatever.

Or dress in a Nazi outfit, either one.

Either one.

Yeah, yeah.

And both would work probably.

Yeah.

One of the- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I hitchhiked across the US in a Nazi outfit.

Oh.

That'd be a story right

there.

In six days.

Right, right,

right,

right.

Would've been quicker, but yeah, I don't know.

Uh.

This is episode 58 of onefjef.

onefjef

to podcast.

Hello, my friends.

Hola, mis amigos.

How are you?

¿Qué onda?

The word onda in Spanish means wave or vibe, and I like that.

Me gusta la buena onda.

As always, I hope you're thriving, and I think you are.

I do.

I am, too.

Now that the oral surgery is over or, uh, mostly over, I have to go

tomorrow to get the stitches out, which also sounds horrible, but after

what I've been through, it's not.

Hopefully.

Hopefully.

I've started eating some solid foods again, which is exciting

because I have been hungry.

Hungry

I did have a Dairy Queen Blizzard for the first time, uh, since

I was a kid a few days ago, and it honestly wasn't that good.

All the toppings were, like, on the top, and I thought the whole Blizzard

thing was that it was blended up, right?

Like a blizzard.

Was that me?

Maybe I misremembered it, or maybe it's just not in Mexico

Anyway, I ate it all because I was hungry, remember?

But I digress.

I have a guest on the podcast today, and that guest is Jonathan Wiest.

Oh, Jonathan Wiest.

What a wonderful quest.

A German on wheels heading straight to the West.

He hitchhiked up

You might remember Jonathan from the voice messages he sent earlier this summer as

he hitchhiked across the United States.

I played them on the podcast here.

And today, Jonathan is on the podcast to talk about this hitchhiking adventure of

his, which is quite a ride, pun intended.

So buckle up.

Hmm, not that one.

He had some truly incredible interactions with Americans of all sorts on his

journey, and I think you're gonna enjoy hearing about it, whether

you're from the United States or not.

Before we get to that, might I take a moment to politely ask

you to please support the podcast by joining the Patreon page?

Yes, I might.

Please go to patreon.com/onefjef and sign up either as a paid member or as a free

member, and I will be eternally grateful.

I'll be more grateful for the paid member, obviously, but, you know.

Patreon.com/onefjef.

Muchas gracias.

As always, thank you for listening.

Thank you for being here.

Here's Jonathan Wiest talking about going back to his homeland

I touched European soil again in Paris on the 25th.

I started in Paris and I will end in Paris again, which is nice

September?

Yeah.

And then I will hitchhike or take the bus to Berlin Which is like 16

hours by bus, hitchhiking, but I have family on my way there, so let's see.

But I'm, I, I, I don't know about hitchhiking.

I have too much luggage.

I bought so many, so much stuff, stuff here in thrifts,

in thrift stores in Canada.

Right, moderately more difficult to hitchhike when you have all that luggage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, thanks for coming on the old podcast.

Yeah, cheers.

I'm very excited, actually.

It's my first interview or ish thing, iffy thing I ever had in my life.

Oh, really?

Not even a job interview.

Oh.

But…

Well, don't, um, don't fuck it up, man.

No, I, I, I, I won't.

You can count on me.

So Jonathan Wiest, uh, we met in Spanish class in one of the most unhinged

Spanish classes I think either one of us has taken- Yeah … in our lives.

With Andrea.

Um, with Andrea, the crazy woman from Austin, and then there was

an autistic chi- man in there who, uh, held up the works.

And then there was, uh, yeah, it was a whole cavalcade, and I remember,

um, I think it was the day we became friends, y- we were both laughing

hysterically at whatever was going on in the fucking class at the time.

Who knows what?

I f- it was one day that was particularly unhinged, and you just looked at me.

You just looked.

You just, like, looked over at me.

Help me.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah.

And then afterwards you were like, "I think we're the only two

sane people in that whole class."

Yeah, kind of.

Anyway, that's how we met, and then, like about a week later, you got

on a bus from Mexico City, and, uh, was it 24 hours, 25 hours to- Yeah

Laredo?

Yeah.

Yeah, 24, 20 f- I don't know, but more than 20.

And I think it, I don't know, almost 30.

I, it took me a long time to, the bus finally crossed the border.

So then you get to Laredo, Texas, and you, well, you're, you decided to, what,

hitchhike from, uh… I mean, tell me.

Tell me what your, what your plan was here.

Well, I never actually intended to go up north.

I wanted to travel through South America, but halfway through I realized,

actually in Bolivia, uh, one of the only places who, which isn't super

Americanized, but I think the US never really got a hood, a foothold in Bolivia.

I realized if I want to understand South America, the current state of

South America, I need to go up and cross the border into the US eventually.

And then from there on, my plans evolved and I figured… And I also

knew I have family in Vancouver, and I could technically earn money here

in Vancouver and extend my trip.

Um, and I had no apartment back home.

It kinda all s- it was a good fit, and then I decided, yeah, okay, fuck

it, I'm gonna hitchhike through the US because I thought, well, I knew…

Well, the US is a pretty car-centered place, and I wanted to get a snapshot

of the US, and I figured every person has to- go through a gas truck from

every social background, from every socioeconomic background you can imagine.

Right.

For

sure.

And therefore I decided, okay, fuck it, I will hitchhike through the US.

No money on accommodation, transportation, so I get… I wanted it all.

Yeah.

And then why my plan was originally, what I figured is I, I had two options.

I could take a bus from Mexico City to California and then go up the West Coast.

Straight shot, that would've been the obvious from, like, would've been, I

don't know, only three states, though.

Yeah,

but that's not the Unit- that's not the United States, though.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That would've been, like, the quickest route.

I thought of that for a second, but actually I'd never really thought of that.

And after, after I… Well, I decided, okay, I want to, I

wanted to see Bible Belt America.

Mm-hmm.

The real America, they say.

The

real America, they say, yeah.

I, but I honestly, I didn't really plan anything.

I had, um, a mattress, a, like a sleeping mattress I bought for two US

dollars in Bolivia, a sleeping bag.

That was, that was about it.

I had 500 euros in my bank account.

Um, I couldn't, even if I wanted to, I couldn't have, I didn't have the

ability to afford places to stay.

Right.

Well, a fucking motel in the US is $100, so.

No, it's crazy.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

Yeah.

You had been, have you been to the States before?

I've been once.

I've been, my m- um, four years ago I did an, well, I visited my family in Vancouver

for, uh, a couple months, and my aunt took me to a wedding of far away descendants

of mine to Temecula, California.

But that wasn't- Oh, right … that was short in and out.

But even- Right … back then I was really, really happy when I was in

my plane on my way back to Vancouver.

Really happy.

So what did you, what were your, uh, what were you expecting?

Like, what were, what was your, I guess, expectation before you went,

before you started hitchhiking?

Were there any preconceived ideas that you had in your head about how this is

gonna be, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?

Um.

Were you scared?

Were you worried?

No.

Yeah.

Good, it's a good question, actually.

What, like, I knew that the USA is gonna be a fucking … Everybody warned me.

W- the e- everybody thought I'm naive.

Everybody said, "Don't do that."

Yeah.

And when I did- I

didn't say don't do that.

I just said

be careful.

Yeah, yeah.

So I, I, I had to … I wouldn't say that I was anxious.

I had respect.

I had respect of what was going on in the US.

Yes.

I was assuming something really bad.

And in the end it turned out to be even worse.

But I was expecting confused people.

I was expecting a, a country … I wasn't expecting the best, honestly.

Right.

Which probably was for my own good.

Sure.

Yeah, yeah.

Honestly, I had no clue.

I had no clue where I was going, so I couldn't really … I didn't

s- I didn't spend much time.

I wanted, I wanted to understand where I'm going.

Though I was biased, I was biased.

I, I really- Of course.

Of course.

Yeah.

Everybody's biased, right.

But yeah.

So you get to Laredo.

Mm. You get to Laredo, Texas.

And, uh, g- walk me through it.

What, uh … Where do you stay your first night when you,

when you get to Laredo, Texas?

Uh, well, I went across the border and then into Laredo.

Um, found myself a guest, guest stop.

I actually, the beginning was fairly good, honestly.

Like, I had, people were surprised.

Most of, most of them never saw a hitchhiker-

Uh-huh

… down in Laredo in their life, especially a person who's trying to

go all the way to fucking Vancouver.

Right.

People paid for drinks.

I earned some money that day.

Didn't really got a ride, and then I had my first ride in the US.

With, uh, you know, it was a construction guy who actually…

It was a crazy first ride.

It was, like, a, a Texan guy who off- even offered me to work at his

farm for a couple- … uh, days.

He eventually never did.

He just pulled over to a gas station and kicked me out because he called

his wife and his wife said no.

His wife got scared.

So I ended up sleeping in the back of a gas station the f- uh, on my first night.

Oh, Jesus

Christ.

Um, around about, I don't know, 60 miles from, away from the border, so I made,

I made some miles only with one ride.

Right.

I had my first beer in the US, which that guy offered me.

He just, we just threw it out of the window.

Was kinda, uh, cowboy style- Yeah

… I

would say.

Does

he?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, but that was my first day.

Wow, just drinking and driving.

Drinking and-

First day in America

… drinking and driving in a broken truck, riding, riding,

and listening to country music.

I, I- Of course.

Of course … I, I got, I got, I got the real America my first ride, I guess.

I don't know.

You, you really did get a certain part- … of America on that first ride right there.

You got- Yeah.

Yeah.

So I, I don't know if we want to go through, like, it, like, moment by moment,

but do you want to tell me, like, just a, I guess, a general kind of highlights

from the trip as you went through it?

Or, like, lowlights even, the worst parts, the best parts,

whatever it was as you went along?

N- I, I, I would start with lowlights.

There have been- Okay.

… highlights.

There have been highlights for sure, but mainly this was, uh, the entire

trip basically was a long realization of that, that the US is more of a

shithole than I even thought it is.

So my, my, my lowlights, I, on multiple occasions I had goosebumps because people,

uh, w- I remember one, one time actually, I tried to remember the details of it the

other day and write it down even because it was such a impactful moment I had.

I got dropped off in Oklahoma at a gas station, at a Valerio gas

station, in the middle of litt- literally, literally bumshit nowhere.

It was the woods.

There was nothing besides this gas station.

Right.

And it was a rundown place run by an Indian guy, and I ended up talking to him.

A- and he was super surprised with me being there and with me actually…

I don't know, we had a chat, but what stuck, stuck, stuck with me, he, he

was explaining how he experiences the B- Bible Belt America daily.

I was just passing by.

Yeah.

And he said, he literally said to me, I still get, I, I have goosebumps right now.

It was, I don't know if I can express the intensity of the sentence.

Mm. But he was, he was saying to me, "You know, this is like fascism.

You know you are German." And while I was standing there with him, we had multiple

racist encounters towards him, and I was st- I was, the entire setting, this gas

station in nowhere, an Indian guy working there, coming over from India, hoping for

a better future And he obviously, like he w- he, he was obviously fooled by, um-

Right,

right

and, and, i- like it was, it was a, I don't, I, I don't know if I can … It,

it was sup- it was a very, I don't know-

I get the gist.

It was … Yeah.

I get the gist.

Yeah.

He was, he was from India, though.

He wasn't like Native American.

No, yeah.

He was from India.

Yeah.

He was from India.

Yeah.

It was very, yeah.

That was a low light.

What was another low light?

But

you liked the Indian guy.

Like you, you seemed to connect with the guy at least,

with the people- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, we had a nice cha- chat-

Right

… be- before the on- like the two days before that, I only spoke to

people who believe in conspiracies, conspiracies theories and didn't

really had a clue what was going on.

He actually had.

I, I wanna know how many people believe in, in conspiracy theories and it

just- What kind of conspiracy theories did you hear when you were on the,

like what were the craziest ones?

Oh, everything.

P- I, I, I realized something.

People tend to actually have knowledge, but they can't connect the dots.

They lack, uh, they lack critical thinking to a huge extent, and that just fill the

voids with s- stories which are- Yeah, yeah, yeah … which never have really

have been que- questioned or fact checked.

I don't know.

There have been, I heard conspiracy theories about 9/11- Sure,

yeah … that this was a planned event.

Yeah.

Pretty classical stuff.

Yeah.

The aliens.

But people just literally lost touch to reality to some extent.

Like they literally- For sure … did.

For sure.

I would say if you are educated to some extent, it takes s- some time to acquire

this much knowledge and, but, but history is just n- numbers and there's, it's more.

You need to be able to wrap your mi- mind around it to actually understand the

influence, influence those events have.

I

don't know.

I think that s- I think that some people like have a certain amount of knowledge

and then find the conspiracy theory more comforting than perhaps something else.

Because if it's all a conspiracy, then the reason they're getting

fucked is a conspiracy, right?

Yeah.

The reason their life sucks is a conspiracy.

So it's much easier to lean into these things than it is to actually deal

with the reality of maybe it's you.

No, that's true.

People also lack a huge, like they lack structural understanding of things,

and that they, that this may is the cause for their hardship and not- Yeah

the fact that they, that they ain't working hard enough.

Yeah, I don't know.

Why did you get dropped off … Were you, so you're just in a, you're like

getting a ride from somebody, and you, he was just like, "I'm gonna drop you off

in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma"?

Yeah.

No, yeah.

Wow.

It was, it was a truck driver, one of the only trucks I took.

He actually- He believed in hella conspiracies as well.

I can't remember the details, but-

Sure,

sure, sure … I, I got in his truck, I said I'm German, and straight to Hitler.

That was kinda the vibe.

Well, you know, welcome to-

Um … welcome to the United States of America.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he eventually, halfway through, figured, uh, he needs to turn right,

and then I said, "Drop me off wherever."

And he did.

Ah, I see.

Yeah, yeah.

He literally did drop me off wherever.

Yeah.

It's in the woods in Oklahoma on Highway, on, on I-35.

No

idea.

Um, close to the border to T- Texas.

Okay.

It was, uh, um… No, it wasn't.

The, bad vibes, this place.

Y- yeah, yeah.

So how did you go about trying to get rides?

You just walk up to people at a gas station and say- Uh,

well, I, I had, I had different strategies.

So in, in the beginning I thought, talking about what I n- how I perceived

the US beforehand, I was, I was already aware that people probably are afraid

of me, considering that everybody carries a gun and they haven't seen

a hitchhiker in years, and, you know.

So I- Mm-hmm … I figured I go to gas stations, give people a minute, and try

to talk them into taking me somewhere.

Um, worked fine in Texas.

I did that basically all the way through, but, uh, through Texas,

but past Texas I realized actually letting people decide on their own

whether they want to stop or whether they don't, I have a more, a bigger

chance, and also it's very exhausting.

Right.

Talking to people, you get d- you get, I don't know, you get very weird comments

and stop, you stop believing in, in, in, in, in, I don't know, humanity.

I don't fucking know.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You get, it's a very, it's a, it's like literally rejection therapy

for hours if you get unlucky.

For sure.

For sure.

S- but it also worked better, and after a while figured the best

thing, so if anybody ever wants to go hitchhiking, go somewhere where there's

a streetlight and put a, make up a sign with just an approximate direction.

People within that minute saying, like, the, the human curiosity will win.

They will roll down their window and at least ask you Or have a chat with you.

Doesn't mean that they pick you up, but- Right … I had the best, it w- w- worked

the best after I discovered that the street lights, they have the power to stop

or don't or to roll down their window.

Right.

And you just try to look nice and presentable.

Yeah.

I, I- And y- … I paid a good amount of time in the US, and

money too, to look presentable.

I washed my clothes, cleaned my teeth, dressed up as good as I can

because I didn't want to, to get mis- mistaken for a homeless person.

Right, right, right.

Yeah.

So y- you just held a sign up?

It was just a sign?

Yeah.

I, I still have it in my diary.

I, I basically all I did, I have two words in my diary.

It's north and west.

That's all I did.

North and west, and I think once I did a certain city because

I needed to go somewhere.

But besides I, north and west, that's what… But I only

went north and west highways.

It's e- ev- everything, like, I don't know, the entire fucking

w- USA is designed in squares, so north and west works everywhere.

In that area for sure, essentially,

yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

W- um, d- you said most people gave you money and didn't actually give you a ride.

Yeah, most people … Well, as I said, I entered the US with 500 U- Yeah

U- like, I don't know, in US, maybe 600 US dollars.

Right, must've

been.

I left, I left the USA with more than I started.

Like, I, I did the math.

People must have spent- Total in America … more than $2,500

on me.

In cash alone I got 700.

Wow.

600. Well,

well

done.

Like, some t- like, some days I earned, like, I think on average

I earned, like, 70 bucks a day.

Wow, well done.

Some days … Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe you can do, I mean, you're making more money maybe doing that than doing,

uh- My, my- … at the restaurant … my dishwasher shift.

Yeah.

Right, right,

right.

Actually, I thought about this a couple of times.

Maybe I should quit and go back.

Professional hitchhiker, right.

Just, just go all around the country pretending to hitchhike

and keep getting money.

And presenting a good story.

Right, right.

Be like, "I got, I got a million dollars."

I got a mil- yeah.

Put it on

Instagram

or

TikTok.

From dishwasher, from dishwasher to trumper, yeah, hitchhiker.

Yeah, put a TikTok or something.

Mm. Um, was anybody mean to you?

Or people, like, yelling at you or no?

Yes?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

More passive aggressive.

The other day I asked somebody, "Yo," talking somebody into

taking me, "Yo," um, whatever.

Yeah.

Told him a quick story, give him a quick, "Yo, I'm a bl- a little,"

I usually just said, "Yo, I'm a little German kiddo trying to go

from blah, blah, blah to Vancouver."

Right.

Uh, and I've, I'm coming from Sao Paulo.

I try to b- uh, exaggerate a bit in a short amount of time and present

them, I don't know, try to make it interesting- Yeah, yeah … that they

get a, that, that they benefit from taking me eventually as well, too.

Right, to get a story.

Yeah, and this guy was like, "Yeah, well, give me a second.

I go and buy something and think about it." And then he went out, walked

past me, and just looked back to me and was like, "Nah, you may murder

me." He, but, but this also sums up, the people were generally scared.

Yeah.

People insulted me sometimes.

They didn't really know what was going on.

But in general, I got w- or to, to be honest, I don't

wanna only shit talk the USA.

Right.

I had worse experiences here in Canada and in Germany.

Like, I, I, I, like, in, like, the middle finger I got more often in Germany

and in Italy than I got in the USA.

Interesting.

So people ignored me.

People were scared.

People were, but not mean, but al- also- I wouldn't, uh … It was,

um, I made it through the years in 18 days because I'm a white man.

Right, right.

And that, like, people picked me up because of that.

If I would've been anything else- Right, right … I would've had a

very, very different story to tell.

Yes, absolutely.

So- Yeah … people, people … Actually, I … People

pulled over and prayed for me.

People-

Did they, like, lay hands on you?

Yeah.

They, they laid- One, one day a kid in Ok- in Oklahoma, that was a thing.

Multiple people said, like, "Yo, can I pray for you?" I was like, "Oh, yeah,"

and they probably went home and did so.

But one time, like, the, uh, the kid actually pulled over, put

his hand, hand on my shoulder and went on for a good minutes.

Like, he was asking to send good Christians my way, and actually five

minutes later, two people pulled over and I earned 40 bucks each.

Or th- Wow … I don't know, let it be 20, but it was a good amount of money I

earned th- through him praying for me.

And other people- It was Jesus, yeah … seeing it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Praise the Lord.

Huh.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What, what was the longest ride somebody gave you?

Oh, Kim.

Well, Kim was awesome.

Kim was so awesome.

Um, um, I think she picked, might have picked me up shortly, like

6- 60 miles, like in the Dakotas- Mm-hmm … by, by Sioux Falls.

Okay.

And she took me all the way to Idaho.

That's

a long way.

All the way to Idaho, yeah.

I, I, yeah.

To d- Devil's Dunes, Idaho, where she … I spent the f- I

spent the 4th of July with her.

She took me, she invited me For the 4th of July riding her side-by-sides

in the biggest dunes you can legally ride with a side-by-side.

In the USA.

That's some shit you ca- definitely can't do in Euro- we don't got the space.

We don't got space like that.

Well,

like a dune buggy.

That's right.

You're talking about.

Yeah, a dune buggy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

A dune buggy.

A, a 120,000 US dollar toy.

Well, that's fun.

Yeah, that's, that was fun.

She was- Well- And she, we had a very, very interesting, interesting time.

I spent four days with her, I think.

Wow.

And she picked me up.

I fall asleep in her truck right away because I was super tired.

I often I didn't really slept sometimes.

Right.

Not for like for, I didn't sleep for two days because it was either too dangerous,

or I didn't find a spot, or it was, there was a thunderstorm or whatever.

Right.

But I was super tired at that, that day.

I don't remember why.

I think I saw some thunderstorm in the night before.

And I just fall asleep.

We didn't really had a talk.

She pick… Oh, this, ha, ha, it, it makes it even better.

You know, I was sitting at the entrance to I-90, which is the highway which

goes from New York up until Seattle.

Mm-hmm.

And somewhere in no man's land, there was only a gas station relatively

close by, but I didn't want to talk.

I was too tired, so I just- Mm … sat at this entrance.

And then she pulled up in a Ford F-350- … with the biggest wheels you can get.

I think this car is illegal in Germany.

I- I've never saw that in Germany.

With a, with a trailer.

Yeah.

And in that trailer was, like, a, a full-on apartment, plus

her fucking side-by-side.

It was huge.

Yeah.

And the license plate says, said, "Murdered," and she had a cat and

Brody, uh, her little dog in the front.

Everything had a name.

The car was obviously called Murdered.

The trailer had a name.

The buggy had a name.

It was a crazy lady, but she brought me all the way to Idaho, all the way.

How old?

How old was she?

70, 70 something.

Wow.

70 something, and she was, she was going, like, apparently

she goes there f- quite often.

Her husband died recently, and she just wanted to get a day off

of her kids who basically live off her credit card, she told me.

Um, yeah.

She, she's an, she was annoyed by her kids.

But I don't know.

I, I had an, I had a blast with Kim.

It was, it was very interesting.

It was, I don't know.

And she let you stay at her house?

In her c- trailer, yeah.

Like always, I had the best chance in the US with middle-aged woman- Yeah,

yeah,

yeah … who took me under the, her wing, and she did so.

Well, well, I, I d- don't say no.

She paid for everything.

She even p- offered me to pay for a flight from Idaho to Vancouver.

Wow.

But I think she was touched by me.

We were talking a lot about the, the world, what I think about

the world, how I view the world.

And for her, I think that was interesting because her world

seemed to be kind of small, like-

I'm sure

it is

for most, for most Americans.

And I st- told her stuff she never heard before.

Mm.

When I left, she told me, "Yo…" I actually wrote her a letter when I left.

I forgot to ask for her contact.

I will never see this lady again probably.

Huh.

Yeah.

Um, and I have, I don't know, maybe I find the letter somewhere.

I, I think I copied it- Yeah

because I found it funny that I'm writing a 70-year-old a letter.

Yeah.

But I wanted to give her something back for paying.

She paid for everything for four days.

But she, she, she said, "Yo, you're such a, one of the most neat," I think

you say neat, "kids I ever met in my life." And then she started to cry.

Oh, my.

We said goodbye, and then I hit the road again.

But it was very, very intense.

Very intense, loads of-

Well, that, well, that's- Yeah … a positive experience-

Yeah, that's-

… in the United States of America … yeah.

Yeah.

Period.

That was, yeah, period.

Yeah, I, you know, I, what I think what she saw in me, she saw in me

the independent, or I don't know.

I don't wanna- Yeah, yeah … talk about me- You're probably right, yeah

… about me like that, but she saw in me something her kids definitely were not,

and for that she admired me, or f- or something she was not even, I think.

Or maybe she was just a, you know, a lonely person and wanted

to hang out with somebody-

Yeah

and thought, you know.

I mean, maybe it's just as simple as that.

Yeah.

Who knows?

Yeah.

Uh.

No, but w- what- whatever it was, it was a very… I won't forget her, and

I think she won't forget me either.

It was a very interesting four days.

It was

very- That's like a- Yeah … it's like a mo- it's like a

movie in itself right there.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah.

Well- Was that the high- was that the highlight?

Was that, like, one of

the- Yeah.

I, I think that was the highlight.

I, well, I got super lucky in, on my last week.

I stayed with Kim for four days.

Uh-huh.

And then f- after Kim, I got a, uh, a ride, I don't know, to Bozeman,

Montana, or close by, then another one.

Oh, that was, that was … I, there were a lot of the p- uh, you know what

were highlights were people, as always.

Sure.

People, they w- p- I don't only want to, like, maybe I started this off false,

but- … but p- like, g- generally speaking, people in the US are so

nice, but- Mm-hmm … they're, they, they only, like, they just g- they

just tend to be confused quite often.

But I don't, I don't even, I don't even, I don't even wanna judge sometimes

because they have no point of reference.

They have no, there's so little being offered to, to them.

I don't know.

Did you find out what Kim's politics were?

Did you talk about politics while you were-

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We did.

We did.

We, in the beginning, that was basically all we talked about, to be honest.

She was saying weird stuff about masculinity and, uh, the

relationship between man and woman.

Um-

She w- like stuff, like the entertain stuff, men becoming weak- Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah … and- Right … all Donald Trump man-

manosphere bullshit, Donald Trump stuff.

Right, right,

right.

Donald Trump stuff, like they have to be tough again and where are

the muscles- Mm-hmm … and I don't know, just a very, I don't know.

Right.

As if there's not more to masculinity than that.

Right.

But, and also when we went through, like, native land, um- Mm-hmm … she also made

comments where I definitely got the ick.

She, she was able to have a conversation, was able to be

convinced by the stronger argument.

Right.

Most people probably never have offered her- For sure.

For

sure … and yeah, no.

At least she was open to listening, right?

Yeah.

That's one of the most important stuff.

Yeah, she was, yeah.

Yeah, she was v- she was very open.

She was very open.

And then where did you go after Kim?

After Kim, huh, I stayed close to the, the Kardashians.

The fuck.

That was also crazy.

Also middle-aged woman.

So American.

So American.

Yeah.

In, in Coeur d'Alene Lake, Idaho.

Um, I went back into Montana to get back to I-90 because I figured that's

my best and quickest chance, and I- Yeah

at this point I was like, "Yo, I, I'm done. I want to go to Vancouver."

My sister was waiting for me.

Right.

Right, right, right.

And then another woman picked me up, also middle-aged, in her 50s.

She said she never picked up a hitchhiker in her life before, and

she was like, after n- like it was an hour and a half the way she was about

to take me, um, towards, uh, Seattle.

Uh, not Seattle.

Uh, Washington.

And halfway through she invited me to stay at her place, and it ended

up being a four-story building.

I had an entire floor for myself.

Jesus Christ.

Uh, w- uh, with her binoculars I was able to look in the Kardashians' backyard.

She, but she lived there on her own.

She was definitely, uh, lonely.

And rich and lonely.

Yeah.

Rich

and

lonely.

Rich and, rich and lonely.

She s- she said, uh, she's, since she's 50 she's trying to do stuff differently.

The next day I also got a place to stay, which was my last day

in the US, which also sums up, I think, my entire experience.

Like, it sums up the state of the US, USA- Ah

currently right now quite well, and it also draws an interesting line between

the US and Canada also, considering the trade war which just broke out, and

where Canada and the US kinda stand.

I, I, I tr- I told this story to people who were asking what's the

difference or wh- how was the USA like.

So, so my last night in the USA I spent

I got picked up by a man in North Bend, Washington, who was drunk.

The first thing he did, he offered me a Jäger shot, and we had a chat.

In

the car.

And he was … In the car.

In the car.

Yeah, yeah.

In the car, in his pickup truck.

Also I think a Ford F350.

I had luck with those.

Well, that's nice.

He's Germ- a German liquor or

Jäger,

I suppose.

Yeah, German liquor.

It's very considered, yeah I was like, "Ha ha, German kiddo." Funny.

Right, right.

And we had a chat.

We had a blast.

He was on his way to pick, uh, to help his son out who locked himself out of the

car, and then we went, we went to his son.

We had a chat.

I just stayed, sticked with him.

I kinda got along with his son and his friends as well.

Um, it was kinda funny.

We had another couple drinks, and then this guy was like, "Yo." It was about

to … The sun was about to go down, and I was, "Yo, I'm probably gonna just gonna

sleep here in the woods." And then he was like, "No, you can come to my place.

I'm just gonna text my wife that we are coming, no problem at all." Ah.

He took me to his place.

His wife never saw the message And was very surprised when

I walked through the door.

They had three kids.

Right.

Kids between 15 and I think 18.

Yeah.

And his wife was an illegal alien.

You say alien?

Yeah, whatever.

Yeah, illegal immigrant,

whatever, yeah.

Illegal immigrant.

She was definitely illegal in the US.

Uh, it was a very s- we had a chat, we talked about a lot of things.

It was a very surreal setting in general.

All, all her three kids has had both passports.

Um, in the, in the … You have to imagine on their TVs there were videos of a

person walking through Mexico City 24/7.

This woman hasn't been, haven't been back to, to Mexico in years, and years.

She can't, if she ever goes, goes back.

She has a Mex- Like the thing is she appl- she, when she applied for her American

citizenship or some paper, she made a minor mistake on accident, typed in

something wrong, therefore she can never get a permit or whatever in the US ever.

She had three immigration lawyers.

They said no chance.

F- Some, uh, some, some weird s- bureaucratic shit, but she, she's

screwed and, and considering she has a life, she has three kids in the USA.

They were super fun.

They were super nice.

Super nice.

They, I skated with, with, uh, their, with her son in the garage at night, took

him to the skate park the next morning.

Um, to his, her daughter and her other daughter interrogated me till like 2:00.

Uh, they were like literally standing in the doorframe and we were up till

00 and they've been asking about, I don't know, how is Germany like?

How do the houses look like?

Right.

Right.

How was your trip?

They were just super curious and- One of the nicest people I met in the US.

Huh.

Uh, a- um, and the next morning, um, I was about to hit the road again,

and then they said, "We, oh, you know what? We were gonna drive you up." And

I was like … And they told me this night before, she never went further

than Bellingham because she's afraid of border patrol, of ICE, et cetera.

Right, right.

We, we understand, and-

For sure

I was like, "No, you don't.

You just don't." And they were like, "Yes, we will.

We need to because her mom is about to die in Mexico, and she wants to

say goodbye." And they took me up to Peace Arch to afterwards go check out

the area whether she can go back to Mexico, fly back up to Canada, cross

back into the USA through the woods.

They had m- multiple guns in their car as well.

They're both trained to, in case … Not in case, because ICE sometimes-

Right … walks down highways.

Right.

They, they … Her husband said, "I, she ain't going nowhere." A family

member of her has been detained a cou- like seven, eight months ago, and they

never heard from her again in her life.

And her, her brother apparently did already From California, went to Mexico,

said goodbye, and then crossed back into the USA from through the Canadian border.

Because they, she has a Mex- a Mexican passport.

If she would live in Mexico, they can go, she can go wherever.

She can visit every country on planet Earth, but not-

Yeah

the USA.

Not the

US, yeah.

And maybe this is a little detour here, but also I just want to add now, I, I

say this after, but yeah, they drove me up there, and then I walked across

the border into Canada, and the first person who says hi to me in Canada,

the border officer, was a cute little gay guy with an LGBTQ patch on his arm.

And that was for me like, "Yo, okay.

I made it.

I'm safe now.

This is…" Yeah.

Yeah,

I get

it.

And, yeah.

I get

it.

No, and I, I don't know.

She can go everywhere with her Mexican passport besides the fucking USA.

And the USA, this is what, what annoys me so much, and they, like, the US

thinks of themselves as the center of the world, but if you actually

travel through it, you realize they're the most alienated country on Earth.

I'm closer to everyone than a US American citizen is, is to anyone.

They… You, it's, it's, it's so, it's, it's the, the lifestyle, the way of

living, the, the fact that everything that the people take so many things for granted

and believe in things and have no point of reference is so unique to the USA.

It's, it's, it's, I don't know, it's so alienated to, to the rest.

Right.

Well, to be fair though, I would say that you experienced a part of America

that is definitely that vibe, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Like, if you, had you, had you gone to big cities, you'd have

an entirely different experience,

because I think- Yeah, if I would have went- Yeah … to West

Coast, I would, I would have told a very different story, yeah.

Right, or just even big cities, 'cause I think- Yeah … big cities, it's like two

different Americas at this point, right?

Yeah.

We've got the big cities, and we've got the, you know.

Um, yeah, but interesting.

I mean, I think that the choice to not go through the big cities was probably

a good choice in the end, because you really got to see a side of America that

I think that many people never get to see, 'cause I think 90% of the people in the

United States live in the coasts, right?

No.

Um, so yeah, yeah.

Interesting.

No, but definitely this part is very alienated.

That was a real, a crazy realization.

Yeah, for sure.

But nice, again, though, very nice people.

Yeah, yeah.

Right, right.

It's like the outsiders were the people that were the nicest, you know?

Um, what about the, you told me there was a Native Americans you

met and went to, like, a Native American ceremony at one point.

What was that?

Uh, no, that was, that was… Oh, actually, I don't know why I

started off with, with the downside.

I had so many highlights.

That was a- I, I was gonna

say

… that was a huge highlight, actually.

Um, so I was stuck in, in, uh, uh, Oklahoma City- uh, on

I-90, and a woman picked me up from the Muscogee Creek Nation.

Mm-hmm.

And she was just driving me up the road to the next more fortunate gas station.

She was cool as fuck.

I think her name was Ashley.

Mm-hmm.

Ashley, if you hear this, you're a queen.

Queen.

Um- Um, she just drove me up the road and was like, "Yo, I'm going

to, um, Musco- like a nation festival or whatever, uh, in a couple hours.

I'm just gonna need to pick up my kids, and if you're still here, you

can come with, with, with us." And a couple hours I was still there.

I didn't go to ride.

Honestly, I didn't even try it.

I wanted to go with her.

Right.

Um, it w- it was northwest, was the only time I went west.

I did a detour for that.

I went west from, like I left I-90 for the first time on that day.

Uh-huh.

In the direction of Missis- Miss- Springfield.

Springfield, where The Simpsons are.

Missouri.

Missouri, yeah, Missouri.

Yeah.

Springfield, Missouri, where The Simpsons are from.

Eh, there's arguments about where they're actually.

Ah.

So it's like, there's like, there's like 20 Springfields in the United States.

Ah, shit.

So nobody actually knows.

That's why they picked the name, because it's a very generic American city name.

Oh, smart.

Little trivia for you there.

Ah, I didn't know that.

Interesting.

Yeah.

So yeah, she picked me up, uh, with her four, or no, three crazy daughters.

Like, the entire girls gang pulled up, also a cousin of theirs, and

then we went to another house and picked up another cousin in the

huge G- in her huge G- GMC truck.

And I was expecting, like in my mind considering I, I never encountered, I

never was on a reservation before, a US reservation in my life before that point.

Mm-hmm.

I was expecting something, something else.

But we ended up on, on Muscogee land, and this festival ended up being a

very typical American fair, like one of those you imagine, like I imagine

from the kids movies I used to see or like Stranger Things or whatever.

Like with roller coasters, a rodeo.

Right.

A baseball match, a football game.

Like

a, like a fair.

Like a fair, yeah.

Yeah.

And it was, it was, it was… I rode the rollercoaster.

I don't, I don't know, it was super fun.

It was, I was just part of the family for the day with her daughters.

I don't know, they were like between like 6 and 14 I think.

Mm. It was super fun.

It was super fun.

She just- Invited me to her life for a day, and then she dropped me off at a

gas station in the middle of nowhere.

And, but for a day I was part of… It was super fun.

It was-

That's fun.

Yeah, it was nice.

You get, like, these

little glimpses of people's lives, and then you just

kind of- Yeah

yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

No, it was, it was… I was very surprised that she took me.

Um, like, she was so chill.

Like, with her daughters, I'm like a young man.

It's kind of, you know, you don't expect.

Sure,

sure, sure.

But she was like, "Hell yeah, you cool. I'm cool. You can come." And then it

was, it was… I, I felt like if those…

At the end of the days, her kids felt like my cousins, and she like my aunt.

Oh.

Oh, that's wonderful.

It was super cute.

It's, again, the, like, outsiders that are the most welcoming it seems like

to me.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Were, were, did you ever feel like you were in danger at any point?

Honestly?

Yeah.

No, not really

See, that's good

Like, not a thing, like, no.

Uh-uh.

Like, you never got in, you're never in a car and you're like, "Oh, boy.

I should not be in this car

right now." No, no.

I was c- careful, but I wasn't particular.

Like, I … There's a couple of times actually secretly

put my knife in my pocket.

Mm-hmm.

I did that because I was like- Yep … yo.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah.

But, but no matter how sketchy the person looked, in the

end of the day it was a nice

person.

Sure.

But also, I'm a young white man.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

And you're German.

I feel like people- I

am … probably treated you differently

because

you're German.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was … I got that.

But at, at least for me, it was … I haven't encountered

anything super sketchy, no.

Well, see, that's nice.

Mm-hmm.

If you do it again you should wear, you should play up the German thing, like

wear lederhosen and shit or whatever.

Like sausages in your hands and shit.

You'd probably make tons of money.

No.

Or dress in a Nazi outfit.

Either one.

Either one.

Yeah, yeah.

Both

would work probably.

Yeah.

One of the- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You get different, you get different rides, but yeah.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Yeah, you could change clothes every other day and see what you got.

There's a book in there for that one.

Yeah.

I hitchhiked across the US in a Nazi outfit.

Oh.

That'd be a story right there.

In six days.

Right, right, right, right.

Would have been quicker than, yeah.

Uh, I feel like you might not have gotten quite as many rides

in the Nazi outfit, but you know.

Yeah.

Who knows?

You never know.

What was the, if you can remember, what was the … Was there anything

that was like the, the weirdest, the most memorable shit that happened?

Or y- or was it already one of, like, was it Kim, the sand dunes?

Was it something else?

What you got there?

You eating some Cheetos?

Mm. I need to eat one thing.

I just found chips, very old chips, two months old.

No.

No, you're good.

I'm just curious.

Yeah.

Mm.

It's good for audio.

Mm-hmm.

Some ASMR.

Gives it,

gives it a li- lift- Sometimes … yeah, lift and lift and, yeah.

Well, you sing in your podcast sometimes.

I, I have sung in my podcast, yeah.

It, it's not all the time.

And I like the effect.

No, and what was my … Oh, I saw the weirdest shit.

Like, I didn't only spend time with close to the Kardashians, I also slept like

in the woods of Missouri with, and had breakfast with a- Ex-fentanyl junkie.

That was very interesting.

Ah.

But that was also a highlight for me.

That was one of the biggest highlights, this guy.

Huh.

He was… I, I, I slept on, like, some abandoned train tracks in the

woods, and in the morning I woke up and there was, like, thick black smoke

coming out of the wood- woods next to me, and I was like Yo, and before the

day, the evening before when I entered the woods, I already saw that some

people apparently burned stuff there.

Right.

I figured copper to get money and to, like… Yeah, yeah.

And I was right about my assumption because I went there.

On my way I found, like, a foot, like, a foot-long knife, picked it up.

First I thought for my security . Yeah.

But, uh, I ended up seeing, like, a man burning old mattresses in the woods

to get copper out of it, and I figured it was probably his knife, offered

him his knife, and we had a chat.

I gave him a joint I got the day before.

Mm-hmm.

And we literally sat down in the woods, smoked.

He smoked a joint, I smoked a cigarette, and we had a chat

about life, and then we went on.

I invited him for breakfast.

We had a sandwich.

He had crazy stories to tell, but not particularly crazy.

For a Midwest comparison, he was an ex-

Somebody's coughing some up behind you there.

Yeah, like my uncle.

Yeah.

Um.

Um, um-

Was he homeless, the guy?

Yeah, he, he was.

He, he- Wow … left Colorado to get as far as away from the place.

He got addicted to, to, for- Ah, I see … to, on synthetic opioids.

Yeah.

He actually, he went to jail multiple times.

He got addicted to fentanyl, or, like, to severe strong

opioids in jail because- Mm-hmm

they sedated him, and he left prison with a prescription for opioids.

Mm.

And it fucked over his life.

He almost died a couple of times.

He has kids.

C- He isn't allowed to see them.

Um, his wife is on drugs, too, and they left together for Missouri, and they're

trying to… They, I think they, they leveled up from streets to a, to, like,

an old camper, like a trailer, a thing.

Mm-hmm.

I think they bought o- off the money they, they earned burning

copper, and she is a prostitute.

Wow.

Um-

Wow.

He was super honest.

His name… I don't know.

I… Jef was his name.

I think.

Was it really?

Yeah.

With

two F?

Yeah.

Two Fs,

though.

Yeah.

Not

the Y. I don't, I don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Probably, I think, two Fs.

For sure.

Yeah, yeah.

And no, that was, that was very touching.

He's been clean for two years.

Pray, pray that- Wow … he's gonna stay clean for longer.

But what, what stuck with me was the fact that he, like most of the

people in the US, still thought that it's his fault, and if he works

hard enough, he can make it one day.

Hmm.

It's probably the best, it's for the best for him that he

thinks that way, but he- Sure.

For sure … but just the fact that he left prison with

a prescription for opioids.

Yeah.

It's like they want him to go back to prison.

Yeah.

I

was like- Yeah, yeah, yeah … "Yo, yo, okay." But no, but I don't know.

It was just the fact I s- that, that we sat there, smoked a joint and a cigarette,

and were just talking about life, and we ended up talking about those things

because they were part of his life.

Sure.

Um, and that was a reality I got that was very Yeah, no.

Well, you, you find the people who have been through the most shit are usually

the most honest and open with other-

Yeah

… with their

story.

Yeah.

He was, he was, yeah.

Yeah.

It kinda pisses me off though.

Awesome.

I just had a fucking tooth extracted from my mouth, and they didn't

even give me op- opioids here.

But that guy… I got ibuprofen for Christ sake.

What am I- Shit.

Yeah.

At the very-

Hey, shit,

you would

have done it in the US … very

prison, right.

In prison, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, shit.

Well, I'm gonna say this, Jonathan.

Um, at the beginning of this, you started off by saying that you fucking

hated America and the whole trip, like you had negatives, very negative,

but then every story you've kind of told since then has been, like,

heartwarming, lo- lovely stories about experiences interacting with Americans.

So it's, I would say it's a mix- it's a mixed bag.

I'm sure there were bad parts, but, you know.

Yeah.

You see what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Thank you for the, the, I, I realized going through this too,

maybe it wasn't too bad, and I'm-

It's very easy to hate on America

right now.

Yeah.

Very easy.

And, and, and, um, yeah, no, but, but you're right.

Yeah.

You're right.

The stories in itself, you know, the, the, no, yeah, you're right.

Period.

Thank you.

I think America as an idea is a really unfortunate thing right now.

It's not going well, but I think the individual people are actually,

in general, fairly good, right?

They're, they're wonderful people.

You've experienced this yourself.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So there's a lesson- There is … of some sort in there.

I don't know.

Yeah, there is.

There, there definitely is.

Yeah.

It's if you, yeah, no, I also, I think that was my biggest takeaway from this.

I don't know, life is outside of your comfort zone.

Mm-hmm.

Because if you only live in your comfort zones, zones, you fill those

voids uninevitably with hate and with conspiracy theories or whatnot, and if

you actually go out and talk to people, you realize, yo- I ain't that bad

Yep.

Yep

And- You're

speaking my language, my friend

… yeah, and you realize, and everybody, I think, I, I not, I only realize,

I think the people I met through this sometimes we realize this

together and we're like, crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Crazy.

We're both not that bad.

The guy with the purse hitchhiking through the US and

the redneck We actually get along.

Right, the German with the purse

. Yeah.

We actually, we actually get along.

I wonder if that's why Kim started bringing up masculinity to you because

you're like- … carrying a purse

. No, no.

She was, no, no, no.

She was, she, she, she thought, she commented my, my c- my body quite often.

I'm happy that I'm not her kid.

But it's like, but po- positively in this case, but it's like, yeah, but yeah.

You know what I mean.

So would you do it again?

Mm.

Mm.

I will definitely hitchhike wherever I can in the near future.

I don't, uh, if I would do it again through the US you mean in particular?

Sure, yeah.

I don't know.

Maybe.

Mm. Mm. Maybe West Coast, on the West Coast when I'm over in Vancouver

the next time, down to California.

Great weather.

But I, I, I got super hooked on whatever I did.

Like, I think four days after I came to Vancouver I was off to

my next- … hitchhiking trip.

I know, you texted

me.

Yeah, yeah.

I was with…

I took my, like, my sister and I went to hitchhike across, or

a bit across Vancouver Island.

I was off to the next.

It was like I'm, I'm h- I'm hooked.

I even thought of, I even thought of hitchhiking from here back east

to then take a flight to Europe, because I figured it's cheaper.

It's actually not, so I didn't, and I have too much luggage now.

Um-

Yeah, it's hard to hitchhike with a lot of luggage.

Yeah

… I have a job and I consume a lot now.

Here we go.

Yep.

Yeah.

There we go.

Um-

Um.

Well, what was the prettiest part?

I mean, America's a pretty country- Oh … a lot of places.

What was the prettiest place you got to?

Oh.

The prettiest town I've been to, North Bend.

Oh.

Washington.

The teeny, tiny town before, um, before Seattle, but I'm d-

it's… Yeah, no, Washington.

Washington was super pretty.

Montana.

Uh-huh, Montana's

crazy.

Montana, Wyoming.

I went, actually been… I've been here.

Wyoming is

incredible.

Kim, Kim took me to Yellowstone.

Yellowstone was obviously- Oh, wow.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah

amazing.

But I'm, I just love Northwest, like, America, like Oregon,

Washington, British Columbia climate.

It's the, those, like British Columbia in particular and Washington is very similar.

Right.

Right.

Are like in my opinion the prettiest places I've been to in my life.

Not the jungle in Colombia and Brazil can take that away.

I don't know, it's the, I find peace in this kind of environment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, the last question I ask my, ask people, um, on my podcast, which

is moderately unrelated to what we've talked about here, but also

kind of related, is, uh, what do you think happens when we die, John?

Honestly, turn to sh- turn, turn back to dirt

Do you think nothing?

Just this is it?

Yeah.

Interesting.

I, I, I, I, I see the… I wish.

I, I'm, I'm still discovering my spiritual side.

Maybe-

Ah, yeah.

All right … but for, for now on I, I, uh… But honestly it's not that bad.

We get back to hummus and then a tree can live off of our, uh, nutrients.

So we-

Sure, yeah.

No

… so the cycle continues, you know?

And a- actually, uh, the other day somebody died at work in front of my eyes.

Wow.

Well, I made a joke a couple of weeks ago.

The place I'm working at is a private tennis club.

Mm-hmm.

I

don't, um… And people basically it's, like, mainly seniors who-

Sure

… die while playing tennis, and I made this joke, and actually a senior, rest

in peace though, um, but, uh, yeah, he just ate a f- I went out of the

kitchen ha- to get a drink from the bar.

He had a burger.

The next time I went out he was passed out, and I just heard the guy

say, "He has no pulse no more." So I don't know what he's gonna turn into.

Maybe more- Maybe he's a

cat now.

Maybe he's a cat.

Maybe, maybe he's… I wish, I wish more a bird would be amazing.

I like, I like, I like, I like the thought of being reborn, but I, I just

don't trust, trust, trust those stories.

I feel like the closer you get to the, uh, to the end of your life, the easier

it is to embrace stories like that.

You know what I mean?

What… Can I ask you what do you think?

I don't know, but I, uh, you know, I'm not a religious person.

I'm more spiritual than anything else, and I don't really have a good answer

for this 'cause I don't honestly know.

But I, I, I have trouble believing that it's just nothing, because

they're learning so many things about consciousness and things like that now.

Like, that consciousness may exist outside of ourselves, you know?

And then you hear these stories about people who have, you know,

died in hospitals- Mm … and then they wake up, and they've, like, were

outside the hospital floating around.

There's a lot of stories that give you, that give me pause, right?

Maybe if it isn't… If this is, if this is, if this is

it, then that's fine, right?

That's fine in a way.

It's not fine, but it's fine.

Mm. But, you know, who knows?

With all- Mm … there's so much we don't know about the nature of consciousness

and the nature of even existence that it wouldn't surprise me if there

was, you know, something beyond this.

But maybe that's just my brain rejecting the idea of death, you know?

No, no, I, I understa- I, I think what I, what I thought after

I saw this person death, dead-

Right

… um, was I, I thought this just for myself, for me to accept my death

eventually because I was like, "Yo, what if I get a stroke now?"

Right.

Right.

Right.

But, um, I was like, whatever happens after, I actually thought that whatever

happens after, I don't believe that much happens, but I'm happy that I, that I

die because I, it, I… The thought of being a, a, alive, like, just clinging to

life forever, maybe it's nice to accept those stages, even the last stage where

you come closer to death and- For sure

just embrace it for yourself and whatever you do.

Your consciousness, it stays, I believe that, with the people

you impacted in your life.

Go out and talk to as many as you can.

They aren't that dangerous and aren't that scary, and they

will carry your consciousness- … consciousness, uh, further.

Uh, well that's a solid way to end right there.

You nailed it.

Yeah.

Uh, Jonathan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, bro.

Yeah, thank you, bro.

Yeah, thanks for telling your story.

Thank you for helping me to realize that it maybe wasn't that bad.

See?

Yeah.

We all, we all learned a valuable lesson.

Yeah.

No.

Uh, and thanks for- I was like- … sending the voice

memos too from your- Yeah

from the road.

Those were great.

Yeah, no, I have to do something with them.

I don't know yet.

I'm, I'm about to forget.

I got sc- scared when you asked me for the podcast.

I was like, "Fuck." I mute- You warned me You warned me that I didn't put down

enough, that I had to- No … write more.

Eh.

I, I realized that-

I did, I do the same thing

myself, so I understand the tendency.

Yeah.

But maybe- Um- Yeah.

No, it was nice, kind of, uh, a flashback.

Thank you.

And that was Jonathan Wiest talking about his hitchhiking trip and

the nature of our own existence.

Jonathan, thank you again for coming on the podcast.

I'm truly grateful that we met a few months ago in that Spanish class.

It's weird how that happens sometimes.

Anyway, you can follow Jonathan on Instagram at Jonath…

Oh, Jonathan, I forgot.

J-O-N-A-T-H-Q-N period W. I don't know how to pronounce that.

JonathQNW.

J-O-N-A-T-H-Q-N dot W. And you can follow the podcast on Instagram at onefjefpod.

That's O-N-E-F-J-E-F-P-O-D.

I have no real evidence, like direct evidence to suggest that, like

rating, subscribing and reviewing, subscribing clearly, but that it helps.

But I, I, I can only assume.

I can only assume.

And based on this assumption of mine, you should do these things.

God, these fucking mosquitoes in here.

I'm gonna lose my mind with these

I'm gonna end with a quote that I may have ended another episode with at some

point, but I don't think that I have.

I've certainly mentioned it but I don't think I've ended an episode with it.

And even if I had, it would be okay, 'cause it's worthwhile to end more

than one episode with this quote

How strange it is to be anything at all

I'll see you next week

Very good, Jeffrey