Scott talks with Brooks Smothers, host of the RV Out West Podcast which discusses RV travel in Washington State. Brooks describes many of the adventures that led him to get a trailer and start his podcast.

Brooks lived in Washington until the age of twenty-five when he tried living in other parts of the country, including the Virgin Islands, and California Bay Area. He returned to Washington in 2010 with his wife and started a family.

Brooks talks about enjoying football when the Seahawks played the Philadelphia Eagles (his wife is from Philly) and growing up in a camping family both tent camping and backpacking. Scott asks about the Big Journey, shipping a VW camper to St Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Brooks then describes what brought him to starting the RV Out West podcast and explains the goal of the podcast.

Places mentioned:

Lincoln Rock State Park near Wenatchee
Curlew Lake in Republic
Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia
Deception Pass, Whidbey Island
Stevens Pass for Winter camping

Brooks Smothers RV Out West Podcast Episode Transcript

Brooks Smothers [00:00:00]:
Some others like the brothers. No

Scott Cowan [00:00:02]:
relation. No relationship? Okay. I was

Brooks Smothers [00:00:04]:
gonna ask you. Imagine how rad Thanksgiving would be if they were.

Scott Cowan [00:00:25]:
Welcome to the Exploring Washington The podcast. Here’s your host, Scott Cowan. Hi. Todd here while Scott is on the road recording with new guests. In this episode, Scott is talking with Brooks Smothers of the RV Out West podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please like and comment. Brooks Smothers, introduce yourself to my audience.

Brooks Smothers [00:00:53]:
Yeah. Hi, everybody. I’m Brooks. I, am absolutely born and raised a Washingtonian. I have lived in this state For almost all of my life, I spent a decade away. And what’s fun about that is that I would call that that decade, it was chapters. And I so when I left the northwest, I was 25 years old, And I’d been commuting across the 520 bridge, already fresh out of college, living in Seattle. I’m like, yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:23]:
I’m a do the city thing, and I’m like, is this really what I’m supposed to do until I’m 65 because this is not what I’ve signed up for.

Scott Cowan [00:01:31]:
I don’t understand why you would say that.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:33]:
Oh, yeah. I don’t understand. And this was the 520 bridge in, like, 97. This is not the 520 bridge now. I mean so it’s even worse

Scott Cowan [00:01:40]:
now. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:01:43]:
And I ended up I’ve locked into finding a job in the Virgin Islands, and so I moved down to Saint Thomas, and I took a friend of mine. And so I just was thinking I was gonna go have this chapter of my life, but as life happens and the wisdom of, getting older, You just don’t know what’s gonna happen, and so that 2 year hiatus turned into actually being a decade away. And so I bounced around, and then In 2010, I convinced my wife to move to the rainy, wet Pacific Northwest. She is a Philadelphia girl. K. And so we have been here now since 2010. We’re raising our family. And For once in my life, I finally told my parents they could put my address in ink.

Brooks Smothers [00:02:33]:
I finally bought a house. As as far as having the mortgage now, I’m like, you know what? You can put my address in ink. I have moved, no joke, 37 times in my life. Yeah. And some of those moves, yeah, are just the simple going to the liquor store and getting liquor store boxes because they’re cross town moves, and so you don’t really care about packing. Some of those though are across country. You know, California to Philly, Philly to Seattle, you know, Seattle to Saint Thomas. So there’ve been some major moves, which have been liberating in one thing.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:05]:
Right? Because you’re, You finally get to get rid of

Scott Cowan [00:03:08]:
all of that weight of that crap that we all have.

Brooks Smothers [00:03:12]:
Right. How quickly we accumulate all of that stuff again. It’s

Scott Cowan [00:03:17]:
ridiculous. Oh, I can so relate to that. Where did you grow up in Washington?

Brooks Smothers [00:03:22]:
So I was, born and raised until I was about 6 years old in Pullman while my dad was going to Washington State University to become a veterinarian, and then, we lived on a Camano Island for a stent. I would say, though, Arlington is kind of there in Snohomish County, I would say, is kind of the formative 3rd grade through high school years. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:03:48]:
What high school did you go to?

Brooks Smothers [00:03:50]:
I went to Arlington High School. Okay. And then my, Whenever Q4 of my sophomore year, I moved to Renton, and so I finished up high school down at Lindbergh High School

Scott Cowan [00:04:01]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:02]:
In Renton. Alright. Both mascots were Eagles. Go Eagles. So

Scott Cowan [00:04:06]:
So you could well and well, Ken also I didn’t wanna bring this up, but You mentioned your wife’s from Philadelphia, and you just said go Eagles.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:14]:
Yeah. No. We’re not talking about the Philadelphia.

Scott Cowan [00:04:15]:
I know. I know. But we’re now we’re going to. Do you watch are you are you is this a football household? Yes. Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:23]:
Do you wanna hear a story about the first time I saw the Seahawks play in Philly? It was fantastic. It was a December game. We were living in the burbs outside of Philadelphia in a town called Westchester. And a bunch of my wife’s old high school friends, all the the guys, were season ticket holders, and they had a spare ticket. And they’re, like, hey. Why don’t you go? Join us. So we went down. We’re tailgating, and we’re having Miller Lite and Wings for breakfast at, like, 7:30 in the morning.

Brooks Smothers [00:04:49]:
It’s a December game. It’s snowing. I mean, these fellas put on 1 hell of a tailgate. It was awesome. Mhmm. So by the time the 130 noon kickoff started. We were already pretty close to being in the bag. Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:05:04]:
This at the time is when the Seahawks had Shawn Alexander.

Scott Cowan [00:05:08]:
Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:05:09]:
And so as we’re walking into the stadium to get to our seats, Sean is already, like, in the red zone on, 15, 20 yard line working their way in. So I’m like, yeah. Go Hawks. This is awesome. And the guys I’m with are like, you might wanna tone it down, and I’m, you know, few beers in, I whatever, and then I’ve got a mouth. So I’m like, Yeah. Go Hawks, and this other guy randomly gets on my face, and he’s like he says, you know, We Eagles fans are really tough, and you really need to watch what you’re saying. And I’m like, look.

Brooks Smothers [00:05:44]:
I’ve seen the Hawks play in Oakland, and when they lose, they set that town on fire. Do you think I’m worried about Philly? And the guy goes, good point. You may just wanna tone it down a little bit. And I go, point taken. And I don’t know if you knew this, but there’s a jail and a judge in the basement at the Philly Stadium or so the story goes. I think I heard that before. So if you do get unruly and, you know, cause a fight or whatever, You’ll be plucked and downstairs and sitting in a jail cell until the end of the

Scott Cowan [00:06:12]:
game. So my question is, did the Hawks win that day?

Brooks Smothers [00:06:16]:
I don’t

Scott Cowan [00:06:17]:
remember the perfect answers.

Brooks Smothers [00:06:18]:
That’s Yeah. I really don’t remember. I don’t actually remember. I remember just having that interaction with that.

Scott Cowan [00:06:25]:
With that with

Brooks Smothers [00:06:26]:
that with that

Scott Cowan [00:06:28]:
gentleman. Alright. So your wife, is she is she a football fan at all?

Brooks Smothers [00:06:34]:
No. Not really. You know? So, like, I think now she’s become enough of a Washingtonian that, you know, the couple of times when we had Russell Wilson, and we were playing the Eagles in the playoffs. She loved calling to talk to her mom and her sisters, and they’re all saying fly, eagles fly, and She’s talking smack with them because that’s just, you know, how you love on Philadelphians. And so, Yeah. It was great fun. Lot of mean texts were being sent back and forth, all in good jest and and love. It was great.

Scott Cowan [00:07:08]:
Oh my gosh. Mean texts. Alright. So on your on your, your bio that you sent over to

Brooks Smothers [00:07:15]:
me Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:07:17]:
You go, I’ve camped in the West for as long as I can remember. So when did you did what so did you grow up in a camping household?

Brooks Smothers [00:07:26]:
Yes. But tent camping, not RVing. Nobody RV ed or did more. So, yeah, we tent camped with my dad. He would take us out. And so, you know, we went camping out On the Olympic Peninsula, we’d go out to La Push into the whole rainforest, Crescent Lake, and all of that area and tents. Okay. Then as I got into my twenties, I started doing backpacking.

Brooks Smothers [00:07:44]:
Right? I mean, I’m at the time, I’m more fit and whatever. So, You know, I I would do some there’s some great backpacking I love to do up in the North Cascades around Ross Lake. Okay. Hoping out that way, that’s a nice little 14 miler. I’ve the 1 backpacking trip that’s always been on my bucket list, and I I don’t know if and when I’m gonna do, but is the hike from Lake Chelan up to Stahican along along, Lake Chelan there to get into Stahican.

Scott Cowan [00:08:15]:
Okay. Now that hike so let me you know, for full disclosure here.

Brooks Smothers [00:08:20]:
Mhmm. My my

Scott Cowan [00:08:21]:
like I told you before, and, like, I’ve probably said on the show before, but my idea of camping is bad room service. So I’m just I’m this is not something that I’m well versed in at all. Okay. So that hike from Lake Chelan to Tahikind, what side of the lake do you go on? Do you go on the east side up through, Manson, Or do you go on the other side?

Brooks Smothers [00:08:43]:
Okay. No. You go I believe you go up. So you don’t actually from what I’ve researched and and heard, again, I have not done this hike Right. Is that, You take the Our Lady of the Lake just a little bit out of Lake Chelan, and they drop you off at the Trailhead, because I don’t think the Trailhead actually starts in Lake Chelan. You kinda gotta go around Mason Okay. Or Manson expense. You go around Manson, and then they drop you off, and you hike up the ridgeline and then along, because you’re not really walking along the lane.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:12]:
You’re up on the ridgeline.

Scott Cowan [00:09:14]:
Okay. Alright. Well, that actually that sounds like fun,

Brooks Smothers [00:09:17]:
actually. There’s a narrow window from what I’ve in my research that you can really do this hike where you need to wait for the snow to melt

Scott Cowan [00:09:24]:
Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:25]:
And the wildfires not to

Scott Cowan [00:09:27]:
start. So June 12th

Brooks Smothers [00:09:29]:
to 14th. It’s like end of July, 1st week of August, I believe, is that little window where you’ve got, like, 2 weeks to do this

Scott Cowan [00:09:36]:
hike. Okay. So alright.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:38]:
Yeah. But so I did all of that. Car camping. I did a lot of car camping. You know? Yeah. So we did a lot of car camping. I mean, I’ve driven across country 6, 7 times now.

Scott Cowan [00:09:52]:
Alright. So one of the things you reference here is the 78 VW camper bus.

Brooks Smothers [00:09:56]:
Yeah. Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:10:01]:
Alright. Or actually are named after a Grateful Dead song. Come on. Yeah. Yep.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:06]:
Okay. So I bought Athena right after I graduated from university. I went to Western. So right after I graduated from Western, I or In my senior year at Western, I traded in my 1993 Toyota Camry and bought a 1978 Volkswagen Camberras. Uh-huh. For $3,000. I wish I still had that. I wish I didn’t leave it in Saint Thomas.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:28]:
But, Yeah. So after I graduated college, I went and worked for, it’s the San Juan Island When salsa company, but the bread making division. I can’t remember the name of their breads now. I’m drawing a blank. But the San Juan Island salsa that you can buy and the fresh salsa in your grocery store. Right. The other side of that business was, they made bread. Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:10:50]:
So I worked, like, in the bakery part over the ovens baking breads because I didn’t wanna, like, get out of college. I knew I was gonna take this road trip. I took a road trip and drove to Mardi Gras and back. Okay. So we did 6 weeks on the road and drove from Seattle to New Orleans and circle

Scott Cowan [00:11:05]:
back. In a 78

Brooks Smothers [00:11:06]:
VW truck. 78 Volkswagen bus.

Scott Cowan [00:11:09]:
How many times did she break down on you?

Brooks Smothers [00:11:12]:
That’s a magic number. It’s 3. It is always 3. Okay. Everything happens in threes. Right. Yeah. That time no.

Brooks Smothers [00:11:20]:
Then when I was driving out to Saint Thomas in the 78 Volkswagen bus, because then we drove the Volkswagen bus When I was moving, so from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale, and we shipped on a boat, the bus, and my starter went out. And the starter is between the front the driver’s front and the driver’s rear tire. So my buddy and I who were driving, we’d pull in to stop gas, and we had to turn the car off. And so at that time, we would kinda paper rock scissors and be like, it’s your turn. Crawl under the bus. Use the screwdriver with the rubber handle to Arc the starter so we so we can arc the starter so we can start the bus while you’re laying in a puddle of gas at a gas station hoping we won’t blow up everybody. Perfect. We finally rolled into Cincinnati and got it fixed by a mechanic, but, yeah, that was where I’m shitting from.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:07]:
Okay. Like

Scott Cowan [00:12:08]:
no. I the The whole the whole my my problem with the VW camper bus is I had an 80 West Folio, and I it after I got divorced, thinking my little kids would love to go camping, and, you know, let’s see. I’m early thirties, divorced, No have, you know, have no money, cheap things

Brooks Smothers [00:12:29]:
spend it with your

Scott Cowan [00:12:30]:
family. Right. And my kids were terrified of this thing, so we never took it out once. They were just absolutely I could not figure out why they were terrified. Anyway, they were. And I wish I had mine. I wish I wouldn’t have sold it. I think they’re amazing, but I’m 6 foot 4 and 300 and something house.

Brooks Smothers [00:12:48]:
Those beds are not big enough.

Scott Cowan [00:12:49]:
They just this is probably my problem with with RV camping in in in in so is that or or tent trailer, anything is finding stuff that I don’t have to duck in. That’s that to me has been the challenge in this whole thing. So and I grew up in a household, like I said, that Camping was, you know, no. But I love the whole VW bus thing. I love the idea of, you know, Seeing seeing seeing America in the in a in a VW bus would be a lot of fun. I mean, I have a

Brooks Smothers [00:13:20]:
massive miles an

Scott Cowan [00:13:21]:
hour. If you’re downhill. Yeah. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:25]:
No. It’s a fantastic way. You

Scott Cowan [00:13:27]:
know? Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:13:28]:
So I would say that that kind of really got me started in the beginning and maybe about something like that. But again, right, I’m in my twenties and, you know, whatever. So it was just a a great way to to see America and Yeah. Travel around. And, you know, the breakdowns. Right? I mean, like, in Louisiana, we sucked water in to my gas tank, And so we’re in, we’re in Natchez, Mississippi the day after Fat Tuesday, nursing a hangover, and the bus won’t start. And we’re trying to figure out what to do. We’ve got our book out.

Brooks Smothers [00:14:00]:
I’m not super mechanical at this time. Like, it’s been a a long road to learn. My, you know, My dad didn’t teach me a lot of stuff about engines and how that stuff works, so I’ve kinda had to learn to do some of that on my own. But at this time, We couldn’t figure any of it out. And so finally, my buddy’s mom had given him a cell phone to use in the emergency only. This is when you’re paying for a minute. You know, this is, again, this is, like, 1997. Right.

Brooks Smothers [00:14:26]:
So we pull out. We call triple a, and we’re excuse me. So we call triple a. We’re trying to find a mechanic to work, and, I mean, we’re we’re in deep South, and we’re calling around bunch of hippies and, like, hey. Do you work on Volkswagens? They’re like, that thing got duallys? And I’m like, no. It doesn’t even have a radiator. Like, I I need help. And Finally, we find a guy who’s like, oh, yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:14:48]:
I can work on it. Get it towed here. So we get it towed. The tow truck driver, it was a flatbed Tow truck. Put the bus on it, and that tow truck driver was amazing. He gave us the coolest history lesson as we were driving through, Looking at plantation houses and giving me the history of Natchez, Mississippi and Vidalia, Louisiana, which is just on the other side of the Mississippi, like, the coolest conversation and the super nicest guy. He tows us in to the mechanic, and this mechanic comes out. It’s, like, 4:45 is we’re getting dropped off.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:25]:
So unhook the bus, roll it into the lot there, and the mechanic’s like, cool. Alright. I’ll see you boys in the morning, and we’re, like, that’s our house. Is that cool? Can we just sleep in our bus and stay here on your property, and, You know, we’ll just be here when you get here at 8 o’clock in the morning tomorrow. And he’s like, yeah. Let me just call the cops. Let them know you’re gonna be here so they don’t think anything shady is going on. So he does that.

Brooks Smothers [00:15:47]:
We get the pass. We’re fine. I have a little Weber barbecue. We pull it down. We’re making steaks in this parking lot. We’re listening to music, like, sitting in our lawn chairs and just whatever, woke up, and then he unhooked my gas tank and emptied it and gave us fuel, and Away we

Scott Cowan [00:16:04]:
went. Well, it’s good that it was an easy

Brooks Smothers [00:16:07]:
fix. Yeah. Just took some time.

Scott Cowan [00:16:10]:
Even though I’m all about Washington state, I I I wanna hear because I’m I’m curious this whole the big trip. Yeah. Shipping the

Brooks Smothers [00:16:19]:
bus. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:16:22]:
What was that like for you?

Brooks Smothers [00:16:24]:
Yeah. It was pretty funny. So we We right? So we kinda thought of it as our container. So we brought all of our you know, it had some essential items that we were gonna need, just general household goods and whatever. We rolled into Fort Lauderdale. We said goodbye to the bus as it got loaded onto a container ship, and then we took a taxi to the airport and flew out of Fort

Scott Cowan [00:16:47]:
Lauderdale.

Brooks Smothers [00:16:47]:
K. Excuse me. And then I think it was about 2 weeks, 10 days later, the bus showed up at the port in Charlotte, Somalia, and I got the call. So I went down to pick my bus up. I was thinking it was gonna be $2,000, which is from all my research, they had told me it was gonna be about $2,000 to ship it. I had no idea that because it was a Volkswagen, it was a German, and I was gonna have to pay an American import tax. Oh, no. So it became, like, 35100.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:18]:
So I’m trying to scramble to figure out where to come over $1500 to get my car out of hawk. And then in Saint Thomas, this is a funny story. Right? We know as Americans, as Washingtonians were, we know the government’s corrupt. But at least stateside, they do a great job of concealing it. Down at Saint Thomas, they don’t. It’s just it’s known. You just deal with it. It is what it is.

Brooks Smothers [00:17:41]:
So I had to go through an inspection lane where they don’t check for emissions, but they’re checking, like, do your blinkers work? Does your horn Do your brake lights work? You know? That kind of stuff. And it’s one of my first experiences with a West Indian, and the guy is like, you know, your muffler. It doesn’t sound right to me, and and, you know, Volkswagens are all bolt on mufflers. And I’m like, what do you mean it doesn’t sound right? He goes, you need to go see my brother. He’ll get you all fixed up right, and he’ll sign your paperwork, work, and you come back, and we’ll get you sticking. So I go down the road in my bus. I go see his brother. He charges me $50 for a Bolt that he puts on my bus and signs the paperwork.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:17]:
So I’m paying the guy $50 for a signature, essentially. Right. So fine. I go back to see his other brother. I get my plates. We’re on our way. Now it’s a year later. I’m a year wiser.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:27]:
I’ve been living down there a year now, and I’m like, uh-oh. I gotta take the bus through inspection lane, and this lady I that I worked with at the time, she goes, you need to call this guy Al, And I go, Al. She goes, yeah. You call Al. He’ll take care of you. So she gives me the phone number. I call Al, and it I’m going off a memory here. It doesn’t matter.

Brooks Smothers [00:18:47]:
It’s a story, but I wanna say that getting through inspection lane at the time was $75. Al tells me it’s gonna cost me $150 to go through inspection lane, and I’m, like, due. I’m, like, okay. Fine. Whatever. So he comes to my place of work where I worked. He takes The license plates off my bus, I give him a $150 cash, and the dude disappears for 4 hours, and he’s gone. I now can’t drive home because he’s got my plates.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:15]:
I’m out a $150. He comes back, like, at 4:30. Right? I’m sweating. It’s the end of my day. He comes back. I got new plates, a new sticker. My car passed inspection lane. No problem.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:28]:
So I don’t know if he paid off somebody, and then he got to put a little money in his pocket. He paid out whatever, but I got my sticker and got my plates, and my car didn’t even leave the employee parking lot to pass inspection lane.

Scott Cowan [00:19:41]:
We pay for convenience, don’t we? Alright. Yeah. We do.

Brooks Smothers [00:19:43]:
It was pretty

Scott Cowan [00:19:45]:
fun. Oh my gosh. Alright. Why? Well, so one of the things we we obviously need to talk about. So let’s let’s let’s disclose that you you run a a podcast called RV Out West, And you’re currently you’re currently publishing that, what, twice a

Brooks Smothers [00:20:02]:
month? Twice a month, every other Monday.

Scott Cowan [00:20:06]:
What was your inspiration to start a podcast about RV. Sure. So

Brooks Smothers [00:20:16]:
I’m gonna back up to tell one little quick story, which will segue into why the podcast happened. So my wife, Growing up in Philadelphia, was not a camper. She never camped. She was a city girl. She loved going to New York City to go to the museums and to go to the the theater and go to shows on Broadway and do all of that. When we started dating, I convinced her to go spring break with me to Costa Rica, and She’s like, well, where are we gonna stand? Like, I’m just gonna bring a tent, and we’ll find spots on the beach. I mean, I I don’t know what else to tell you. I mean, I don’t even know.

Brooks Smothers [00:20:56]:
And so she went with me. We were 4 months into dating. And so her 1st time sleeping in a tent was on the beaches of Costa Rica. So to your point about, right. I wanna ease her in. There’s no sticks or rocks in your back. It’s a nice cozy, you know, on the sand, the lapping sound of the the Pacific. It was beautiful.

Brooks Smothers [00:21:14]:
She’s like, I really like camping. And then we started doing more camping when we got back to California. So we’d go out to Yosemite or to, You know, the Sequoias are down to Death Valley, and she getting into it.

Scott Cowan [00:21:25]:
Okay. So,

Brooks Smothers [00:21:28]:
Now we’re back in Washington state. Fast forward, we’ve been car camping and, you know, she’s done a couple of backpacking trips. And so, We were over at some friends’ houses, and at this time, we had my oldest was probably 8 and my youngest was, like, 4 or 5. And we were over at some friends’ houses at barbecue, and they had a tent trailer, but they had just upgraded to a travel trailer. And so as we’re barbecue, I’m like, what are you guys gonna do with your tent trailer? And she goes, we’re gonna sell it. Why? Do you want it? And in that exact moment, I said yes, and my wife said no, like, yes, no. And I looked at her, and I was like, really? And she goes, yeah. That’s that’s not camping.

Brooks Smothers [00:22:04]:
You’re getting soft. What are you doing wanting to do? Like, she was ribbing me for wanting to get a tent trailer. And I’m in my forties at this time. I’m like, you know, I think getting off the ground Kids are young, so we could put them to bed and know they’re gonna be safe in there, and then we can go sit by the fire and hang out. Pardon me. And she just was giving me shit about the whole thing, and, my friend was like, well, why don’t you guys go talk about it, Solve your marital issue, and then let me know. I won’t post anything until I hear from you. I’ll give you guys first right of refusal.

Brooks Smothers [00:22:38]:
So we come back. Wife and I are kinda going rounds and rounds talking about it, and she’s still pretty adamant. Like, no. We’re not gonna do this. What you know? And they were offering it to us at a really good price. And so, we go on an annual trip every year with another group of friends right after school. It’s, like, 10 families. We go every year.

Brooks Smothers [00:22:54]:
We bounce around to different parts of Washington state. It’s like a kickoff summer. Okay? And this other friend was like, I know you got this trip coming up. Look. Why don’t you guys just take the tent trailer? Just take it. Borrow it. Just go and enjoy your thing, and then when you get back, we’ll figure out next steps, whatever it might be, and I was like, are you sure not? Totally. So we bought it, and, we got out late, and I was you know, A smaller tent trailer backing that up, it articulates.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:25]:
Mhmm. Like a smaller the trailer, the more difficult it is, in my opinion, to back up than a bigger, longer trailer because It articulates so quickly. So it took me a while. I’ve never really towed anything. I back it into the spot. We get it all set up fine. We go to bed, And the next morning, my wife rolls over to me, and she goes, yeah. We’re buying this.

Brooks Smothers [00:23:44]:
And I was like, I knew it. 1 night, Sleeping in a bed, not on the ground, not having to set up a tent. You know? So That was our anniversary gift to ourselves Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:23:58]:
That year. What year what what year of the marriage was this? I’m just checking to see if that is is a tent trailer on that calendar, like, you know, paper,

Brooks Smothers [00:24:07]:
or fold? It should be. If not, it should be. Alright. I wanna say this would have been, like, number 15 ish.

Scott Cowan [00:24:16]:
So that’s a significant that’s a significant, you know

Brooks Smothers [00:24:20]:
time together.

Scott Cowan [00:24:20]:
Yeah. Maybe we should, like you’re into marketing. Maybe we should start a marketing campaign for

Brooks Smothers [00:24:24]:
a a tent trailer. Yeah. They up to things. Yeah. Totally. So we had the tent trailer. We used it for about 2 years, and then what had happened and the tent trailer’s name was Pippa. She was Pippa the pop up.

Brooks Smothers [00:24:38]:
I’m actually in touch with PIPA’s current owners to hopefully bring them on my show to hear get an update on how PIPA is doing for their family.

Scott Cowan [00:24:46]:
More

Brooks Smothers [00:24:47]:
to comment on that later. Alright. But we were camping with some all that group of friends like I was saying. Right? This was year 2 of the tent trailer, and we were in, oh, where were we, Bridgeport State Park over kind of if you hook up around chief Joseph’s chief Joseph dam. We were camping there, and it was hot, like, in the

Scott Cowan [00:25:12]:
100.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:12]:
Mhmm. And the kids were out riding bicycles and water balloon fighting and just being kids, and then they all kinda started falling from, like, heat exhaustion. So we’ve got Pedialyte pops in the cooler, so we’re trying to give them the Pedialyte pops to whatever, and some other friends there had a trailer. And, like, why don’t we bring the kids into the trailer? We’ll kick on the AC. They can watch a movie for an hour and a half and cool out, so we don’t have anybody needing to go to the

Scott Cowan [00:25:37]:
hospital. Great idea.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:39]:
So we’re like, AC might be nice.

Scott Cowan [00:25:44]:
You are getting soft. I’m just gonna tell you.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:45]:
You’re getting soft. A 100%. Yeah. A 100%. So I’m like, AC might be nice. And then the COVID lockdown happened. Alright. And so we’re stuck in home.

Brooks Smothers [00:25:55]:
We’re actually in the middle of a remodel at this time. So now we’ve got 4 of us home, All remote working, kids doing Zoom school, and then I’ve got table saws and the contractors running in and out doing whatever. And I’m like, I just wanna get out of the house, but I don’t wanna use enough public bathrooms and state parks were shut down during COVID, so I’m like, we’re not gonna whatever. And so we pulled the trigger on the travel trailer so we could have our self contained bathroom and the AC, and then everything else was just an added bonus. So so that’s how we get the travel trailer.

Scott Cowan [00:26:28]:
What is the trail what what size travel trailer do you have?

Brooks Smothers [00:26:31]:
It is a 26 foot travel trailer. It’s got a double over double bunks for the kids. And the other big thing for my wife and I is that we wanted a walk around bed. Okay. So that way, when you’re getting in and out of bed, you don’t have to crawl over each other. So we can each access our side of the beds from our side. Okay. But back to your original question of why I started my podcast was because we had had this growth ourselves of As we went from a tent trailer and do a travel trailer, learning is a bit of a curve when you get into a larger travel trailer and, you know, now you got more systems you’ve gotta maintain a lot to learn.

Brooks Smothers [00:27:09]:
Even the big steps of dumping the poo tank, I mean, that was Mhmm. It’s not hard, but, you know, it’s terrifying the first time. You’re like, I don’t wanna get covered in poo. So trying to figure that

Scott Cowan [00:27:18]:
all out. You used to climb underneath a Volkswagen in a gasoline and spark things. You shouldn’t

Brooks Smothers [00:27:25]:
Yeah. But the the pooper, I don’t want I don’t want poop spilling out. You know? Like, I don’t wanna be like cousin Eddie sitting there and being like, hey, Clark. The shitter’s full, And I got a can of beer and a a cigar with myself. I gotta, you know, I gotta be mindful about that. You know? So the Harbor Freight blue gloves come in handy, the, you know, so it’s fine. Okay. And now I’m a pro at it.

Brooks Smothers [00:27:45]:
You know, I I laugh at the other people now, and it’s like, oh, I remember those days. But so With the pandemic, I I needed a creative outlet, and I needed to be able to to talk and do things. And so coming with a visual journalism visual journalism also background, storytelling, and narration, and all of that.

Scott Cowan [00:28:06]:
My this is my 1st time that my dog is interrupting a podcast.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:10]:
Fantastic. Yeah. Do what you need to do.

Scott Cowan [00:28:12]:
I get it. Come on.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:20]:
You can check out my show, though, at RVoutwest.com. No, I’m just kidding. Maybe I should use this interlude to tell a joke. No? Maybe? Well, that was fun. Thanks for

Scott Cowan [00:28:37]:
listening.

Brooks Smothers [00:28:38]:
So I, just kinda was looking for a creative outlet, so I decided to really, niche down And talk about RVing around the Pacific Northwest, 2 things that I really enjoy doing. And I’m a lover and a consumer of podcasts and all sorts of content. I probably watch YouTube more than I watch anything

Scott Cowan [00:28:55]:
else. Okay. So just yeah. I haven’t listened to your podcast yet, full disclosure. Okay. We share a guest in common. Tara has been on your show and on my show. Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:29:11]:
What’s your angle? What’s your what’s your show’s goal? What are you trying to what are you trying to do? Who

Brooks Smothers [00:29:17]:
is your audience? My audience is, you know, people who I think mostly are from the Pacific Northwest who like to RV around the north in the Pacific Northwest. You know, I kinda cover Washington, Oregon for sure. I I haven’t done much in Idaho, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not an option. Okay. But I also wanna encourage those who maybe don’t live within the boundaries of our bioregion Mhmm. To really advocate that RVing in the Pacific Northwest, I think A lot of people overlook because whatever. Maybe it’s the stereotype of it rains all the time, whatever, but it’s a real gem. And so maybe those people who are in their planning stages of summer trips and and thinking about coming out here to check out, you know, our national parks.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:07]:
I mean, We’re a state with 3 national parks for Yep. As big as of a state we are. That’s pretty remarkable that we have 3 national parks.

Scott Cowan [00:30:14]:
So That’s a good point.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:16]:
And, you know, I I I’ve said on my show a couple of times too, I think one of the things that I think makes Washington state really, really special. You know, we always say, oh, it’s where the mountains meet the ocean. But if we were to make, For the sake of redrawing our state map, let’s just say that we made Seattle the epicenter of our state, just geographically. Alright. Within a 4 hour driving radius of Washington state, you have a desert, You have the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse in one country. You have the Columbia River Gorge where if you’re a history buff and you wanna see how Lewis and Clark came out along from Missouri. You got that. We have the Pacific Ocean.

Brooks Smothers [00:30:59]:
We have the rain forest. We have the beautiful Cascade mountains. We have the North Cascades. We have a whole other country to the north, And then we have 2 major cities if you’re a, you know, metropolitan person with Portland to the south and and then Seattle. I mean, it’s rainforests. We got

Scott Cowan [00:31:19]:
it’s just I’m gonna I’m gonna argue this point with you.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:23]:
Oh, bring it on.

Scott Cowan [00:31:24]:
4 hours Not taking into account traffic.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:28]:
No. Of course not. I I’m saying, like yeah. No.

Scott Cowan [00:31:31]:
Well and

Brooks Smothers [00:31:31]:
actually okay. So I will I will out to Spokane. 5 hours to Spokane.

Scott Cowan [00:31:35]:
Yeah. But here’s the thing. Actually, within 4 hours, if if if Seattle is the center of the state, you’ve got not just Portland. You got Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:44]:
What I’m saying.

Scott Cowan [00:31:45]:
You have a whole other country

Brooks Smothers [00:31:45]:
to the north.

Scott Cowan [00:31:46]:
So you have but you have so you have 3 major metropolitan areas, each with a very distinct flavor of options to do. Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:31:55]:
And Whistler No. And that’s true. 5 hours. I mean, you know Yeah. From where I live, I’m north of Seattle a little bit, but Whistler’s 4 and a half, 5 hours.

Scott Cowan [00:32:02]:
Right. Right. Yeah. You got world class skiing. You’ve got

Brooks Smothers [00:32:06]:
biking.

Scott Cowan [00:32:07]:
Right. All all the things that I don’t do.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:09]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:32:10]:
I just but but my world, if Seattle was the center, think of all the coffee shops I could go to.

Brooks Smothers [00:32:18]:
Exactly. Within Well, and I’m our final geek too. So the record stores are are thriving and coming back. So Yes. You know, a day of coffee and records and whatever, I mean, I There we go. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:32:28]:
Yeah. Well, let’s let’s keep going on the podcast, though. So your your your mandate is you’re trying to encourage and, empower people to get out and explore the state using an

Brooks Smothers [00:32:41]:
RV. Yes. Okay. That’s a great way to put it.

Scott Cowan [00:32:46]:
Absolutely. Okay. It’s a beautiful statement. If I put you on the spot Yeah. This is a 4 part question. K. I wanna know your favorite where’s the best place to go RV ing in in Washington State fall, winter, spring, and summer? So each season, you get to you’re Forcing you to pick 1 per

Brooks Smothers [00:33:07]:
season. 1 per season or one location that’s good for all 4 seasons?

Scott Cowan [00:33:10]:
No. No. You can pick 4 separate. So let’s start. Spring. Where’s the best place in Washington state to go RVing?

Brooks Smothers [00:33:18]:
Well, because I live on the wet side of the mountains, Mhmm. Memorial weekend in springtime, I go east of the mountains because I’m chasing sunshine.

Scott Cowan [00:33:27]:
And where do you go?

Brooks Smothers [00:33:29]:
So I just booked. We’re gonna be heading out to Kennewick this year. K. But I will do, Lincoln Rock State Park is a cool one right there by Wenatchee. Bridgeport, I’ve mentioned before, but I really like going to Bridgeport. I’ve done Kurlew in the summer, and I’d like to go back to Kurlew Lake there in Republic, not in the summer. I went that year. It was a 115, and that was gnarly, so maybe a good spring trip out to Kuriloo.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:00]:
Okay. Alright.

Scott Cowan [00:34:01]:
Maybe summertime.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:02]:
Options. Summertime. Summer. Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River k. Is a great one. And what’s actually it’s really centrally located. So, I mean, you can do day trips down to Astoria and go do Astoria. You can just spend the day on the beach.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:20]:
And also the fun thing about Cape Disappointment is there is 0 cell phone coverage, so it is a forced unplugging. So there’s no you can’t remote work from the campground. You’re not gonna be able to stream anything. It is a forced unplug, and there’s a lot of trees, so it’s really easy to hang a hammock. I’m a big hammock

Scott Cowan [00:34:39]:
guy. Okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:41]:
So keep disappointment for summer. Alright. Fall?

Scott Cowan [00:34:46]:
Fall Deceptions Pass.

Brooks Smothers [00:34:48]:
Okay. I love going to Deception Pass State Park in the fall. It’s really cozy, and it’s fun. I can smell the campfires right now.

Scott Cowan [00:35:02]:
Alright. Dinner

Brooks Smothers [00:35:02]:
time. Yeah. We’re not gonna win. This yet. Excuse me. But I’m gonna say Stevens Pass parking lot. So they have a parking lot at Stevens Pass. It’s called lot f, and they have, electric hookups.

Brooks Smothers [00:35:22]:
And as I’ve mentioned, we’re a big ski and snowboard family. My kids have been my youngest is 8, and she’s been on skis since she’s 4. K. And so to be able to do a ski and ski up from the trailer Is a big on my agenda for this year to go and do the whole ski in ski out from the trailer. The parking lot, and I hear it’s a fun party.

Scott Cowan [00:35:48]:
You you just got done Espousing the virtues of Washington state being this beautiful state with the mountains, the ocean, all these things, and you say a parking lot.

Brooks Smothers [00:35:59]:
Yeah. I had a parking lot. I know. Right? I mean, what the fuck can I say? It’s a parking lot in the Cascade Mountains.

Scott Cowan [00:36:05]:
I know. I know. But that’s

Brooks Smothers [00:36:06]:
It’s not like I suggested a Walmart parking lot or something. I mean, come on.

Scott Cowan [00:36:09]:
Oh, yeah. That’s that’s true. So your your trailer, how How comfortable will it be during the extremes of summer and and the extremes of winter?

Brooks Smothers [00:36:22]:
Well, I mean, I’ve got propane heaters.

Scott Cowan [00:36:24]:
And, you

Brooks Smothers [00:36:25]:
know, so, I mean, I can heat the trailer. It’s got the underbellies covered. So when we bought it, it’s it’s used for year round. I mean, we do use our trailer 10 months out of the year. I have 50 plus nights a year in my trailer. Okay. So Alright. You know, we bought it, and and we use it.

Brooks Smothers [00:36:42]:
I, you know,

Scott Cowan [00:36:43]:
I What do you

Brooks Smothers [00:36:45]:
pull it with? I just played the upgrade game a year ago. I was pulling it with a 2013, Ford F150 with the 5 liter Coyote engine, which is a great truck. But I would pull highway 2 going over the Cascades about 45 miles an hour, and k. It was really my trailer was making that truck work. And, you know, They say you wanna be at about 80% of your towing capacity, so you have buffer for breaking and coming down off a mountain passes and whatever, and I really was at the top end. And so last December, I went full 1 ton Ram coming 6 7 diesel, and, I mean, I can’t even tell my trailer’s behind it.

Scott Cowan [00:37:29]:
I was gonna say you probably don’t even know the trailer’s behind it. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [00:37:32]:
Okay. I mean, I was I

Scott Cowan [00:37:33]:
mean, are these the type of topics that you you bring up on your show? Are you

Brooks Smothers [00:37:38]:
So to some degree, yes. So, like, I actually, I have an upcoming episode dropping on Monday where I’m actually talking about biodiesel and what does Biodiesel as a renewable energy source mean for RVers and motor, you know, motor homes that run on diesel. Mhmm. But, you know, like, I’ve we’ve inter I’ve interviewed Tara, of Tara’s tiny trailer. We I talk about places I’ve gone camping and kinda what are things to think about in that spot, you know, whether if you’re a remote worker, what are some things what I’d like to do in that area? I’ve covered Astoria, Oregon. I’ve talked about if you only have a day in Seattle, How would I recommend somebody spends a day in, Seattle? K. I talk about, Man, let’s see. I’ve covered, Northwest Nomads, which is a really cool community gathering event in Oregon, kinda like descend on bend, but a smaller, event.

Brooks Smothers [00:38:37]:
Boondocking is a term RVers use where you’re camping on, like, BLM land or for a service land so you can camp for free, but you don’t have any hookups, so you’ve gotta bring, you know, a generator or have solar power and a bunch of battery banks. And so There’s talks about going boondocking. I’ve interviewed the senior public relations manager of Geocache, Chris Ronan, and we’ve talked about how geocaching can be a fun game to play as a family when you’re out RVing and using that. I talked with the Washington Trails Association about hiking and where to go hiking and hiking related activities to do while you’re RVing. K. So we kinda cover all the aspects of you know, I offer suggestions and tips on things I’ve learned, mistakes I’ve made, why we got into RVing, how to prep to make your trip better, and then locations. So a little bit of everything, but it’s all pretty much about the Pacific Northwest, Washington State, and Oregon.

Scott Cowan [00:39:39]:
Share with me Something in a beginning RVer should know, but won’t

Brooks Smothers [00:39:45]:
know. Man, I would say The one little nugget that I wish I had known before I started is that If you’re doing a towable actually, I bet it’s probably even the same with a motor home, but it’s a rolling earthquake. And so when you get to camp and you’re setting up camp, you’re gonna find random screws and nuts and things that you have no idea where they came from until something falls off the wall later, you know, kind of thing. And so you’re, like, oh, that’s where that screw came from. So, You’re gonna need to have a bit of a DIY, spirit, you know, or not be afraid to jump in to try and do maintenance or to fix things because, you know, the they may look cool, but The manufacturers are really doing everything they can to make them as light as possible so people have a better time towing. It’s that balance between, right, towing and tow capacity and what it’s gonna take. And so, you know, the craftsmanship on an RV is not nearly equal to when you have a home. And the other big thing that was a real learning curve for us is that when we bought our trailer, we bought our trailer down in Kent, And I live in Everett, and if you buy new and you’re looking and thinking, okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:41:11]:
Great. We’re gonna have a warranty. I can get warranty worked on. RV dealerships do not operate the same as automotive dealerships, and so just because you have 1 brand, You’re like, oh, I could go to any dealer closer to me who sells that same brand and get the warranty work done. They will do it, but it they’re more hesitant. You’re typically bottom of the pile, especially, you know, as things go on because you didn’t buy it from them. Okay. And from that perspective, my understanding is that it’s because, right, those shops have had different rates for their technicians and their,

Scott Cowan [00:41:52]:
mechanics Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:41:53]:
That they pay on warranty work, so those shops don’t necessarily make as much money on warranty work. And so if you didn’t buy it from them, so it’s a right? So that’s something I didn’t know, and I kinda came to a head a little bit. So those are the 2 big

Scott Cowan [00:42:06]:
things. That’s actually a a really interesting point because if you buy a Ram pickup.

Brooks Smothers [00:42:13]:
I could go to any Ram

Scott Cowan [00:42:14]:
shop. Right. It’s got a recall. Let’s say it’s got a recall on the passenger side airbag. You can take it to Kellogg, Idaho or to Bellingham, Washington, and they’ll they’ll fix it. Correct. That’s that’s a really interesting tip. Alright.

Scott Cowan [00:42:28]:
Let’s talk let’s talk coffee. Before we hit record Yeah. You’ve seen the light, The Aeropress

Brooks Smothers [00:42:39]:
light. Well, I haven’t. I’ve never actually tasted it.

Scott Cowan [00:42:41]:
Well, but you see you

Brooks Smothers [00:42:42]:
I’ve seen it. I’ve been

Scott Cowan [00:42:43]:
teased. You’ve seen it. You’ve seen it.

Brooks Smothers [00:42:44]:
You’ve seen it. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:42:46]:
Right. Good coffee around you. Where do you live? Where do you like to go for coffee in your center of your world?

Brooks Smothers [00:42:57]:
So in my center of the world, I actually really like going to narrative coffee, and I’m lucky that it’s right here in town, and I can go to narrative coffee. Maxwell Mooney, the owner and proprietor of that coffee shop, He’s a really great guy. He and he’s a really cool story. Hopefully, one day, you can get him on the show. He started as an espresso cart, and it wasn’t a brick and mortar. Just started as an espresso cart. He would roll up in downtown Everett during the summer and the spring when it wasn’t raining, and you could go and get a cup of coffee. But what I like about that is almost like when I go to a bartender, I’ll go there, and I’ll be like, okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:43:36]:
I’m normally like a pour over guy, But maybe I shouldn’t do a pour over today. What do you guys recommend? And so I kinda asked them, and they’re like, you should try this. And so I’m sounds good. Let’s do it. And so I go in there adventurous with them and have been delighted every single time I’ve had a cup of coffee from them.

Scott Cowan [00:43:56]:
Are you you’ve mentioned pour over. Is that your typical go to? Just the default setting

Brooks Smothers [00:44:01]:
as well. I like the pour over because, you know, they’ll have a bunch of different beans and roasted. Mhmm. So I feel like you really get a good full flavor, and I drink my coffee black. I don’t put things in my coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:44:13]:
As you should.

Brooks Smothers [00:44:14]:
And so they will yeah. So, I mean, it’s just a pour over. I feel like I get nice aromas, aromatics, and

Scott Cowan [00:44:24]:
whatever. Alright. How do you like your coffee on the on the roasted scale? Are you a light roast guy, dark roast, medium? You know, what do you what do you tend to gravitate towards?

Brooks Smothers [00:44:32]:
I’m probably a medium roast, medium to a dark depending on the mood, but I’m gonna say I’m probably a medium roast kinda guy.

Scott Cowan [00:44:40]:
Alright. And Narrative is a great space. I haven’t been to the Bellingham location, been to the everyone. Their their location is thumbs up. Alright. One of the things that we talked about when we had the original phone call, you have this side thing going on. Vinyl. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:45:01]:
Before we get started on that, are you aware that vinyl Was invented in Washington state?

Brooks Smothers [00:45:09]:
Absolutely not. I had no idea. You have to tell me more.

Scott Cowan [00:45:13]:
I really don’t know much more.

Brooks Smothers [00:45:14]:
So vinyl was invented in Washington state?

Scott Cowan [00:45:18]:
Yes. So I was so one of the things that we’re gonna be doing starting

Brooks Smothers [00:45:25]:
soon Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:45:26]:
Is putting out another show that’s gonna be Interesting tips and factoids about Washington State. And so I’ve been doing a bunch of research, and I ended up on the state of Washington’s economic commerce site, And they were they have a timeline of of Washington state innovations back from the 1800 to today. Vinyl was invented in Washington state as was the The compact

Brooks Smothers [00:45:59]:
disc. And the whammy

Scott Cowan [00:46:00]:
bar. And the whammy bar, which was amazing to me as that was 1979. Yeah. Yeah. So So you are a vinyl guy. You’re into

Brooks Smothers [00:46:10]:
vinyl. I had no idea. That is so cool. Absolutely. I have I’ve never stopped, actually.

Scott Cowan [00:46:16]:
See, I got rid of all my records because I had I still do have this massive CD collection, and, You know? And now I don’t play the CDs. I stream all my

Brooks Smothers [00:46:27]:
music. Which is why vinyl’s so cool. Right? So I’m a streamer. I stream a lot of my music too. Like, I’m not such a vinyl snob that if I’m only listening music, it’s on record. But I feel like the Physical medium and format of vinyl means you are gonna be way more mindful and actually listen to that music. Gonna sit down with a good cup of coffee, a nice pint of beer, a nice bourbon, whatever your drink of choice might be. You’re gonna read the liner notes.

Brooks Smothers [00:46:55]:
You’re gonna Mhmm. Look at the album artwork while you’re oh, the

Scott Cowan [00:47:00]:
yeah. So the circle to circle back to something you you we mentioned about about Kate, Kate, disappointment is with no cell coverage, and you and you said it, you said it in a way That you thought I my interpretation was you liked the idea that you had no cell coverage, so you were forced to disconnect you were forced to disconnect, Which I believe is becoming more and more a thing with with Americans. We like to We we all wanna be super connected, but we also are burned out now, and we need to take breaks. We need to reset. Yep. Alright. So the idea of listening to a record, an album, to me, is experiencing it the way the artist designed it to be versus listening to the best song on the album, if you will. Correct.

Scott Cowan [00:47:50]:
And and so I like the idea of, you know, taking the album out, putting it on the platter, putting the tonearm over, listening to it, And being mindful of it like you were describing with with with my favorite beverage.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:03]:
Yep. It’s ritualistic.

Scott Cowan [00:48:05]:
Yeah. And and and you don’t get that when you stream the album on Spotify or Nope. When you put the CD the CD into the into the player.

Brooks Smothers [00:48:12]:
Right. And just playlists. I will go to tapes, if we wanna talk about cassette tapes. The art of making a mixtape for a friend, a girlfriend. Like, there was a whole I mean, I paid attention to how the song ended to how the next song started, How much space did I allocate between each song? Like, was the first one upbeat tempo, and then did I wanna go mellow, or do I wanna stay there or go amplify more. Like, it depended on what right? The whole mixtape in the art, and I feel like just slapping playlists together is no I don’t give it not much attention because I’ll just go, I like this song, like this song, boom, shuffle, done, and my playlist is rocking and rolling. But

Scott Cowan [00:48:56]:
Have you ever watched the movie High Fidelity?

Brooks Smothers [00:48:58]:
Of course.

Scott Cowan [00:48:59]:
Have you ever watched

Brooks Smothers [00:49:00]:
to be that I wanna be Jack Black. Like, if you come to my record store and you go to buy an album and I don’t think you’re worthy enough of it, I wanna snatch it out your hands and be like, no. You don’t get to buy this album. Right. Have you ever read the book? No. The book

Scott Cowan [00:49:17]:
okay. Most of the time when people say, you know, books are always better than the movies. Right? They do. High Fidelity is a movie is is a brilliant movie. The the TV show, the series that they put out was was pretty good too, But there’s something about the book because the book’s set in London versus Chicago, and but high fidelity. So you Yeah. I I the whole Jack Black character was was, was, you know, the whole well, you’re all snobs. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Scott Cowan [00:49:45]:
We can be snobs. You you’re not So how did you how did you end up doing a vinyl pop up? What what was the what was the inspiration

Brooks Smothers [00:49:55]:
there? Perfect story. So a friend of mine, Ryan, our families were camping springtime in Winthrop, Washington. We were sitting around a campfire. Ryan and I were into a few glasses of bourbon. The kids are asleep, and, we started bitching that there really was no place in Everett for us to go buy new records. We have 1 record store in town, and the guy has a really it’s a good size, but it’s all used records. So if you wanna go thumb through and find jazz music or blues or country western or rock and roll. You’re gonna find all the classics.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:37]:
Right? You’re gonna find what I would call classic rock. You know, right, you’re gonna find ACDC. You’re gonna find

Scott Cowan [00:50:42]:
Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:50:42]:
Credence. You’re gonna find, you know, the dead and you know? But you might not find the red hot chili peppers. If you do, that’s a little nugget score you down there. Hey. Good for you. And so we were like, yeah. There really isn’t a place to buy new records. Well, we should do something about that.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:00]:
Hell, yeah. We should do something about that. What’s that gonna look like? Well, I’m not gonna quit my job. I don’t think opening up a brick and mortar retail environment for records right now is a really smart business decision. Mhmm. Why don’t we do a pop up? And we can pop up in tap rooms and pubs and bars around town. We’re only gonna stay in Everett. We only have a business license to do business in Everett.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:27]:
So We were like, yes. Let’s do it. And so literally on the drive home from Winthrop, our wives are texting each other saying, well, what about this name? What about this name? And so we landed on Upper Left Records literally in the tour drive home. And within 90 days of that camping trip, We had our 1st pop up. So we secured an LLC. We got business insurance. We bought into the business. We bought.

Brooks Smothers [00:51:53]:
We’re, you know, wholesale buyers, so we buy from wholesale distribution because we wanna sell everything

Scott Cowan [00:51:59]:
new. Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:00]:
We you know, the plastic sleeves. We sleeve everything because we want, right, we want you to have that we wanna give that element of care to Mhmm. People’s collections. We don’t post our inventory online. Right? Because we both are firm believers in the fun of the crate digging, and so and our inventory is constantly changing. We like to say we’re mindfully curated. So Mhmm. Ryan and I will sit down and be like, okay.

Brooks Smothers [00:52:30]:
We need to buy for an upcoming pop up. And so we’re discovering one of the I’ve discovered so much new music and new bands. We’d love to support local artists. So we’ve had Fretlands. They’re a Snohomish County band that Hilary Fretlands. She’s actually just moved to Nashville, but Fretlands is fantastic. The Low Down Drifters out of Stanwood produce records, and so we’ve had their records. Oliver Elf Army is a local sinister pop band here in Everett that produce vinyl.

Brooks Smothers [00:53:00]:
And so we, you know, wanna support even those local hyperlocal bands that are putting the money into producing wax, and so we’ll buy wholesale from them and then sell them Awesome. In our store.

Scott Cowan [00:53:13]:
Are you familiar with Crane City

Brooks Smothers [00:53:15]:
Records? No.

Scott Cowan [00:53:18]:
So, it’s a hip hop record label

Brooks Smothers [00:53:20]:
k.

Scott Cowan [00:53:20]:
Owned by a guy, Gary Campbell. Just had him on just, his his episode well, by the time this one goes live, both of his episodes will have been published. But Gary, what Gary does is he Works with local Seattle hip hop artists and licenses the music to put it out on vinyl one time. So they get they get all they keep all their rights. You know, he’s not he’s not taking their music rights from him or anything like that. And he is helping local, Seattle hip hop artists get their stuff out on vinyl, and they do some really the albums are really, really nicely done. There’s a lot of attention to detail. So cool.

Scott Cowan [00:54:02]:
That yeah. That artwork and all that that goes along with it is you know, it’s it’s very cool. So there’s, there’s another. Wonderful.

Brooks Smothers [00:54:09]:
That’s great.

Scott Cowan [00:54:10]:
Yeah. Yeah. So, yes, so how do people find out where you’re popping up?

Brooks Smothers [00:54:15]:
You can give us a follow on Instagram at upper left records. And so we’ll we’ll put it in the, profile there and announce or you can go to upper left records .com, and Okay. We’ll have events there. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:54:30]:
How many how many pop ups are you guys doing?

Brooks Smothers [00:54:35]:
Maybe 6 a year. Right? I mean, we both have full time jobs. We’re dads. Sure.

Scott Cowan [00:54:39]:
And you camp. You camp 50 times a year, so you’ve got a whole lot of priorities. Right? So we just popped up

Brooks Smothers [00:54:48]:
in September, and then, I don’t think we’re gonna pop up on October, and then we’ll probably do November. And then December, We do it Soundbite Cider typically, and we do kind of a slacker Christmas party because Gen x rocks. And so we’ll do it the week before Christmas, and it’s a come get a present for yourself or somebody, you know, you wanna give a present to. So and even a week out, it for a slacker, that’s that’s a lot of planning.

Scott Cowan [00:55:15]:
What’s the most popular album you guys have been selling? What’s the most for your for your audience, what’s the most let me rephrase that. What’s the most popular

Brooks Smothers [00:55:25]:
genre? Genre is all over the map. We carry I mean, everything from, like, singer songwriters, hip hop. We we carry country, you know, but, I mean, again, like, we’re we’re not gonna have, you know, we’re gonna have, like, Are you familiar like, one of my favorite I learned of country music artists who was is Blaze Foley, f o l e y, Blaze Foley. He Mhmm. A really interesting kinda sad story. He’s incredible, but we’ve had Blaze Foley in the crates. But, you know, I’ve had Wu Tang 36 Chambers, and that Flies out of the crates every time we put Wu Tang 36 Chambers on vinyl in, right out of the crate. Also a big punk rock guy, so we’ll have descendants and no effects and rise against and some of those bands in Alright.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:17]:
Yeah. We, Ryan really likes the blues, so we’ll have a lot of, RL Burnside, and, you know, we’ve had some blues in there. What else flies out, though? Oh, Jack Black playing with, The album’s Van Lee or Rose. I gotta look that up. I’m just drawing a blank because whatever. Okay. Loretta Lynn. It’s Jack Black of the White Stripes playing with Loretta Lynn redoing Vanleigh A Rose, which is one of Loretta Lynn’s classic albums.

Brooks Smothers [00:56:50]:
But you’ve got Jack White’s guitar sound in it, and he sing It it’s an amazing album, and that one, flies out of the crates a lot too.

Scott Cowan [00:57:00]:
Alright. Another question I like to ask guests typically is what didn’t go right? Like, if you’re a business owner, what didn’t go right? So I’m gonna ask you this. What Record did you guys think was gonna be as, you know, fly out of the crate, but just didn’t do it?

Brooks Smothers [00:57:15]:
It was Ashley Monroe. Okay. And we had Ashley Monroe in the crates for almost 2 years, And then we popped up at Fisherman’s Village Music Festival, and Ryan, my business partner, was, like, I think we need to put This one, we don’t, right, do sales. We have very narrow margins on our records. Right? I mean, hopefully, people come for the experience of digging crates and realizing they’re kinda supporting a small business. But Sure. Ryan and I, we’re not pulling revenue and profit out of the business. We’re turning around, putting everything back in to buy more records and whatever.

Brooks Smothers [00:57:54]:
We pay ourselves with records. Honestly, that’s what we we’d

Scott Cowan [00:57:56]:
Right. Well, no. It’s there’s that’s beautiful, though. It’s it’s it’s your side. I don’t recall the hustle. That side hustle’s so overwrought, but it’s just it’s a self funded hobby. Yes. You know, self funding hobby.

Brooks Smothers [00:58:09]:
But so we don’t typically discount and put things on sale. And so we’re leading into the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival, which is a great music festival that happens here in Everett, and Ryan was like, we should probably put asymptomatic ones, and I’m like, let’s wait. Let’s get through Fisherman’s Village because we’re gonna get a lot of new people who are not familiar with us. And then Right. You know, if For some reason, it doesn’t sell this week, and then the next time we pop up, we’ll discount. Makes sense. And we finally sold her. She went out of the crates.

Brooks Smothers [00:58:37]:
Somebody buying it.

Scott Cowan [00:58:38]:
So I I think of this like you guys are curating. Yes. Yeah. And and so are going in their curated crates. There’s there’s interesting things in there that

Brooks Smothers [00:58:49]:
You’re not gonna find normal record stores.

Scott Cowan [00:58:52]:
Right. And that’s awesome.

Brooks Smothers [00:58:53]:
Well, so, like, our and our total inventory at max right now is 200 records. Right? That’s our total inventory. People like, oh, where’s your brick and mortar? What a what you see in the crates is what we have. There’s no I’m not hiding things under a table or got a backroom full of inventory that, you know, what you see in the crates is what we got. Funny story when, so I have a cousin.

Scott Cowan [00:59:17]:
Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [00:59:17]:
And, he is totally into doom and death metal. Like, that whole gluttural, you know, whatever. That’s not necessarily my cup of tea, but whatever. Well and he goes every year to, a doom metal or a metal music festival, and I think it’s in Rotterdam called I don’t remember. But, anyway, he goes every year. Well, 1 year, he was there having beers with his buddies, And he decided to start a record label because doom metal wasn’t getting pressed on vinyl, and so my cousin started a little record label. So the day that Ryan and I, my business partner and friend, were popping up our very first pop up. We’re all excited.

Brooks Smothers [00:59:58]:
We’re pushing out social media. We’re going to the tap room to get set up, and UPS drops off a box of records. And we’re, like, man, we’ve already done inventory. What is this? Who did we forget to include? I open it up, and it’s 4 albums of death metal and doom metal that my cousin had just gifted us to include and think. So we threw them in the crate, slapped a sticker on them, you know, price tag, whatever, put them in the crates. 3 of the 4 albums sold in our pop up, and I was, like, I can guarantee that these are the only 4 albums in all of Washington state for these bands.

Scott Cowan [01:00:35]:
Wow. Okay. Cool. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [01:00:40]:
It was kinda fun. So that’s that whole mindfully curated. We carry stuff.

Scott Cowan [01:00:46]:
That’s very cool. That’s very cool.

Brooks Smothers [01:00:47]:
We wanna turn people on to other music. We don’t want people getting in a rut listening to the same stuff whatever. I mean, we all have our favorite bands that we like listening to. We have our closet music that we don’t ever like to admit that we listen to.

Scott Cowan [01:00:58]:
Alright. Go ahead. Mine?

Brooks Smothers [01:01:00]:
Share. You what what I’m not

Scott Cowan [01:01:02]:
telling you. What’s some come on. I’ll I’ll I’ll share one afterwards. I will.

Brooks Smothers [01:01:06]:
I’m a parrot head. I do love me and Jimmy

Scott Cowan [01:01:10]:
Buffett. Great concert, man.

Brooks Smothers [01:01:12]:
Oh, I saw him 97 at the gorge, 96, 97, 98, somewhere in that. I brought no food, and we just drank margaritas. And I lived on margaritas for 24 hours. It was awesome.

Scott Cowan [01:01:23]:
He Great. The the Jimmy Buffett.

Brooks Smothers [01:01:26]:
Yeah. Yep. I’m a parrot head. I like Jimmy

Scott Cowan [01:01:29]:
Buffett. Okay. Oh, I have to say something. Cause I did tell you, I would just say, I I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t know a lot of people anymore. I, I listened to Bas Skaggs

Brooks Smothers [01:01:42]:
Oh, okay.

Scott Cowan [01:01:42]:
And yacht and yacht

Brooks Smothers [01:01:44]:
rock. My sister dated Oscar Skaggs.

Scott Cowan [01:01:47]:
Who I don’t know Oscar Skeggs.

Brooks Smothers [01:01:49]:
Bob Skeggs’ son.

Scott Cowan [01:01:51]:
Really? Yep. Okay. So I I kinda like that whole Seventy late seventies, early eighties yacht rock stuff. Mhmm. On occasion. But I see these

Brooks Smothers [01:02:01]:
days typically. What moves you when you’re, like, I It’s time to listen to some Boss Gaggs right now.

Scott Cowan [01:02:06]:
Well, Boss Gaggs comes up on my on my Spotify playlist all the time, and so It it’s I listen to Boss Keyes probably on a daily basis. I’ve seen him 6 times or so and puts on a good show. My own my only regret now is that he’s doing, like, the casino tours, you know, so he’s going to Emerald Queen. Yeah. And he plays for exactly 60 minutes, and that’s it. Okay. It’s it’s not It’s it’s a it’s a show, not a concert.

Brooks Smothers [01:02:31]:
Right. What was your 1st concert?

Scott Cowan [01:02:35]:
Cheap trick.

Brooks Smothers [01:02:36]:
Oh, cool. Where?

Scott Cowan [01:02:38]:
HackEdmonson Pavilion at the University of

Brooks Smothers [01:02:41]:
Washington. Okay. Mine was Chicago 17 at the Tacoma.

Scott Cowan [01:02:46]:
Okay. I did take my

Brooks Smothers [01:02:48]:
kids to their 1st gorge

Scott Cowan [01:02:50]:
show, the song. What’d you go what’d you go see?

Brooks Smothers [01:02:52]:
The chicks. This is my wife’s favorite band, and we were driving on back on our cross country road

Scott Cowan [01:02:58]:
trip. Mhmm.

Brooks Smothers [01:02:59]:
And, our last night on the road, we got We ended up at the gorge. I mean, I rerouted our last 3 days so we could go to

Scott Cowan [01:03:05]:
the show. And and what’d your kids think of the gorge? They loved it. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [01:03:12]:
I mean, that was a little bit first show for them. I mean, I set the bar pretty high.

Scott Cowan [01:03:16]:
Yeah. The gorgeous the gorgeous are magical. I’ve seen I don’t know how many shows I see.

Brooks Smothers [01:03:21]:
I mean, one of my favorite

Scott Cowan [01:03:22]:
show 1st show there was Dylan, and I saw that, back when I mean, Parking lot had no lights. Yeah. Yep. You know, lost

Brooks Smothers [01:03:33]:
It was $20 a carload to go camping versus Yeah. Yeah. I paid a $185 for 1 night to be able to park my camper. It was ridiculous. Like, that’s

Scott Cowan [01:03:42]:
crazy. I did I did car camp for a dead show there once, that was a mistake of epic proportions. Slept in my minivan. No? I didn’t sleep. I did not sleep. It was rough, rough night. Alright. I have three three Three things.

Scott Cowan [01:04:01]:
We’ll wrap this up with 3 things. Number 1, and this will be the last time I explain it to the to the audience and to the guests and stop giving credit, I’m just gonna claim it’s mine. I stole this question from another guest Who has a podcast of theirs, and I thought it was a really cool question, so I’m stealing it. Cake or pie, And why?

Brooks Smothers [01:04:30]:
So I am a type 1.5 diabetic, meaning that I got diabetes at 38, and I’m on the, like, lucky whatever. So I’m on an insulin pump and whatever, so, I mean, you know, you’re talking about new drugs now. Okay. That’s a tough go, man. It’s a toss-up between so if I were to do a pie, I’m a traditional apple pie. Not I don’t need the Yankee apple pie. Don’t be putting cheddar cheese on top of my pie. What are you what are you doing? So I love a good apple pie.

Brooks Smothers [01:05:04]:
Alright. For a cake, it’s a toss-up between I love a really good, like, traditional New York style cheesecake. It’s a little more dance and, you know, but

Scott Cowan [01:05:16]:
I Yep.

Brooks Smothers [01:05:18]:
So, man, it’s a toss-up. But, honestly, if I were to have one of those treats and there was no whatever, I’m a cannoli guy. Like, I really love a good cannoli Okay. When they’re done right, then they have to be done right. I’m a snob when it come to cannolis. Alright. So I didn’t

Scott Cowan [01:05:33]:
really answer it. Sorry. No. And what’s so funny is that nobody really answers the question. We all dance around it. It’s so funny to me.

Brooks Smothers [01:05:41]:
I don’t want it.

Scott Cowan [01:05:43]:
Well, if it’s cake, it’s gotta be this or that. Anyways, just good question. Alright. What didn’t I ask you that I should have asked you?

Brooks Smothers [01:05:54]:
Fun little I have a fun nugget to share that I’m kinda proud of. Alright. When I was in visual journalism school, I attended the Brooks Institute of Photography. And, while I was in visual journalism school, I I worked at a brew pub as, like, my little side job to help, you know, cover rent and food and that kind of stuff, film processing in that day. And, one of the guys that I worked with was a film editor, and he told me about a project that he was working on, and they needed a still set photographer. So I met with the producer and the director, and they brought me on board to be the still set photographer on this film. And that film won an Academy Award in 2005. Wow.

Brooks Smothers [01:06:40]:
So Oh. Yeah. It was kinda fun. I don’t you know? It was just kinda fun. I didn’t know. So here I am at, like, 30 years old, and I’m like, I get to add an Academy Award to my resume right now. This is kinda cool and fun, but That’s very cool. Yeah.

Brooks Smothers [01:06:55]:
I mean Okay. Yeah. And it was a what’s it was a documentary. 1, a doc so in the academy division, it was the academy or in the documentary short. So these are documentaries under an hour or 45 minutes. I think it’s under an hour, where most of the traditional documentaries you see on Netflix or Amazon are the more, feature length documentaries. And it was on, it’s called the mighty times, the children’s march. And it’s about how doctor King and the children revolted against, Bull Connor, who was the chief of police for, Birmingham, Alabama, and these kids were coming out of a church and getting into a nonviolent tussle with, Bull Connor and his team of, police, and they were spraying kids down with fire hygienists and releasing German shepherds to attack.

Brooks Smothers [01:07:53]:
What it was crazy. And so they did a

Scott Cowan [01:07:56]:
documentary about That because

Brooks Smothers [01:07:59]:
the kids were actually very, very successful in shedding light on all of that. So it’s called the children’s march if you ever Just Google the children’s march, but and it was in conjunction with the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was an HBO documentary. So, Yeah. That’s just a fun little nugget.

Scott Cowan [01:08:21]:
Where can people find out more about about you, about your podcast, about your pop up?

Brooks Smothers [01:08:26]:
Sure. So you can Where

Scott Cowan [01:08:27]:
do you wanna send them?

Brooks Smothers [01:08:29]:
Everybody, we’re all on Instagram. So if you wanna know more about the record store, you can go to upper left records on Instagram. If you’re interested in my RV Out West podcast, you can find me at r v_out_west on Instagram or go to rvoutwest.com and get information, find episodes. My podcast, like yours, is in all of the directories. So wherever people are consuming Their podcasts, you can find RV Out West and Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher. I use Overcast. So

Scott Cowan [01:09:00]:
k. Yeah. All the places. All of them. Well, thanks for taking the time to sit down with me today.

Brooks Smothers [01:09:07]:
Yeah. Plus, there’s a lot of coffee. Yeah. Lubricates the throat nodules.

Scott Cowan [01:09:12]:
Right. And, you know, I can’t you know, but first coffee. Although I did do An episode with a with a chef who does, Austin’s Austin style breakfast tacos, and her thing is butt first tacos. And, honestly, I can’t argue with that statement

Brooks Smothers [01:09:29]:
either. No. I couldn’t either. Just can’t.

Scott Cowan [01:09:31]:
No. Yeah. So yeah. Mhmm. Well, anyway, Brooks, thanks so much, And I will be tuning into your podcast. I do wanna check it out. I think you’ve got, There’s a lot going on there. I think it’s a topic that’s, going to be very, interesting to people because, Well, have you priced RVs lately? The demand is out off off

Brooks Smothers [01:09:54]:
the Yep. Charts. And the other thing real quick just I wanna just say about the show. When I Was in my research phase of starting my own podcast. My show is only typically about 25 minutes long, and that I did with intention because the average commute is about 25 minutes long. And so I wanted people to be able to consume an episode on their way to or from work. Mhmm. And so that’s

Scott Cowan [01:10:22]:
what I did. And I think that’s a I think that’s a A viable a completely realistic and viable strategy to have. Yeah. I with this show, we went the other direction. I want people to be able to go deep on the topic if they wanna share so that you’re not Cut. Like, for example, no no disrespect to, like, evening magazine. Great show. Right? Right.

Scott Cowan [01:10:49]:
But you get, like, a 4 minute clip of of somebody, and you you don’t really get to know that much about what they’re doing. Right. Now so it’s great for discovery, but it’s not great for If you’re if you wanna dig deep on on the topic and let people, go.

Brooks Smothers [01:11:04]:
Well, I think an interview format caters better to a longer format as well. So

Scott Cowan [01:11:10]:
There’s that. And and I also but I also do agree that the the commute, making it more bite sized and consumable, you know, I look at it as, Because like I said, we’re gonna start another show, and that’s gonna be like the appetizer. And if you want the full meal, you can come and sit down and have dessert on the big show. You know, Dinner and dessert with the with the long form show. So, but that being said, thanks so much for being here. This is a lot of fun for me, and, I know we’ll talk

Brooks Smothers [01:11:37]:
soon. Yeah. Scott, thank you so much for having me on the show. I really, really appreciate it. It was great chatting with you