Trail Tales 93: ASStronauts, Butt Foam & Getting Too High

Today’s stories include full moons, lost partners, foam to the face, and getting high in God’s Country. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers! For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to this week’s partners! Bellesa: EVERYONE who signs up wins a FREE toy or gift card! https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/nationalparkafterdark-podcastHarvest Hosts: For 20% off your order, head to HarvestHosts.com and use code NPAD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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• 1:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. We have our trail tales again for you all today and we're so excited.

• 1:22Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, my name's Danielle. Happy to be here.

• 1:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm Cassie, also happy to be part of this. Thank you for having me.

• 1:30Danielle LaRock?

  You're welcome. Thanks so much for joining. And then we have a little special guest today. This is Noah. Everyone say hi, Braxton. Zoom in on his face, please.

• 1:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes. If you're watching, if you're listening and you can't see, Danielle has the cutest chihuahua ever on her lap.

• 1:47Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I'm fostering, so if by this episode, by the time it comes around, if you still see him on my personal Instagram, I'm still trying to find him a home. So he's up for grabs to have very loving, sweet home. And he's, he's pretty perfect for a chihuahua. Who would have thought the day would come that I would have a small dog on my lap before you do?

• 2:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  I know. It hurts my soul. I just watch you the whole time we're recording now and just wish I was where you are.

• 2:17Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 2:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, uh, yeah, trail tales today. Let's do it. Who wants to go first? I'll go first. Okay. Mine is titled Route 66 and the Giant Astronaut. And I have to say that ass is A S S and astronaut in all capital letters for context. Oh, I thought you were telling us how ass is spelled. Like, that is generally how it goes. You're like, I have to say ass is spelled A S S.

• 2:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've always known how ass is spelled because it's in my name. Oh, yeah. There you go. There it is. Hello, Cassie and Danielle. First off, thanks for this lovely podcast and all the stories you've shared. I've listened to you guys for many hours while in the car, doing dishes, or going for long runs. You have found a wonderful balance of sharing meaningful and timely stories that educate and inspire while also providing episodes with more lighthearted entertainment. I know we are all more educated and interesting people for listening to you guys. Thank you.

• 3:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  I just listened to the Route 66 episode and I knew I had to write in. As an Oklahoma girl who never lived near anything national park related, I didn't know if I would ever have a personal connection to the podcast beyond enjoyment and appreciation. But alas, my time has come and I have my own trail tale to share. It involves small town drama, my own engagement, and one very large and perky astronaut butt. But first, some background. In your Route 66 episode, Danielle, you ended by describing the grants and work that is going on along Route 66 in celebration of the 100th anniversary. Well, that is very much true across the state of Oklahoma, and especially in my hometown of Weatherford, which sits along Route 66.

• 4:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  In summers past, there would sometimes be visitors and even tour buses passing through Weatherford as they made their way along the Mother Road. The communities along Route 66 only expect this tourism to increase greatly this spring and summer as anticipated for the 100th birthday of the highway. We'll inspire vacationers to take road trips and see what there is to see there. Because of this, the state offered some grants to the towns along Route 66 that could apply for and potentially use to beautify and invest their communities ahead of the centennial. Weatherford applied and received one of those grants, which they chose to rebrand the town as Space City since the town's most famous resident was Thomas P.

• 4:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Stratford, an astronaut who flew space missions for NASA in 1960s and 70s. Everyone in town was fairly excited about the investment into the community, until one morning when the demolition of, apparently, a beloved gazebo took place in the town square at the center of Main Street. I'm talking excavators, jackhammers, and nothing left demolition. Now, I had spent my whole life in that town, and I had never really heard anyone talk about the gazebo or express any great pride in the structure. But, boy, howdy, what an uproar there was on Facebook and in the local newspaper. Apparently, when the gazebo was built long ago, it was a community effort, and many

• 5:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  families donated money to pitch in with the construction. Community members got it in their heads that the city council tried to go behind their backs and have the place destroyed, and they would not stand for it, especially when it was announced that a 30-foot spaceman statue would take the place of their quaint gazebo. Oh, no. That is much different.

• 5:54Danielle LaRock?

  There's always a Facebook uproar.

• 5:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  I mean, a gazebo versus a 30-foot spaceman statue. I'm just picturing in our neighbor, a town neighboring us, we have a really cute gazebo in the middle of town that people like to sit in, sometimes they play music up there, and if they just tore it down to put in a giant statue, I think people would also be mad.

• 6:21Danielle LaRock?

  But it seems like this gazebo has flown under the radar a little bit.

• 6:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 6:26Danielle LaRock?

  Like, maybe it's not as prevalent.

• 6:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's just a cute little spot.

• 6:29Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And now, all of a sudden, that it's on the chopping block, these people are like, "I don't think so."

• 6:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not in our town. Not up in here. To add some perspective, many buildings on Main Street aren't even that tall. Oh, no. So the shiny spaceman really sticks out besides the old, short, brick buildings. Oh, that is weird. Ugly. That's super weird, yeah. Anger went unchecked, opinions, responses, and responses to the responses were published in the local newspaper. The community Facebook group experienced unprecedented levels of disdain. Mothers abandoned their children. Well, maybe not that last part, but the town was calling for the spaceman's blood. It truly felt like a Parks and Rec episode, and I was just waiting for someone to pop out with the cameras. Funnily enough, I had people reaching out to me to know my take on the situation, given

• 7:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  that my husband actually proposed to me under the gazebo. Weatherford was the town we dated in and fell in love in, so he thought the gazebo would be a cute place to ask the big question, and it was. He strung Edison lights, set up some flowers, and had a photographer capture the moment. It's a cute story that I'll forever cherish, but now I can endlessly chuckle for the place where we committed to love each other for the rest of our lives is now directly under this 30-foot astronaut's perky little butt. No.

• 7:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  That is a cute place to propose, and that's unfortunate now. I'm not sure why they chose to give the butt detail, but they did. You can clearly see two separate cheeks, and they are really perky. Not in the weightlifting kind of way, but I think our spaceman must do Pilates. It's honestly kind of inspiring.

• 8:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Since the spaceman was erected, a few bizarre things have happened in the town, including a gas leak, which sent many people to the hospital and earned Weatherford a place in the New York Times. Of course, when anything happens, people like to blame the spaceman and say that all bad things started once he showed up. They do this good-naturedly, and I think most people have come to accept his existence at this point. We took a trip back home this summer, making the five-year anniversary of when we got engaged, and my husband and I posed for a picture under the perky cheeks, unable but to laugh at how the view has changed since he first put a ring on my finger. Anywho, if anyone is traveling down Route 66 this summer, be sure to stop by Weatherford,

• 9:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oklahoma and check out the spaceman. If anyone gets engaged at that location from here on out, please send pics. So enjoy the view on Route 66, but watch out for the giant spaceman looking to trample the place where you got engaged. All the best, Kimmy. P.S. Here are some pics so you can compare how the view has changed since 2020 and see the cheeks for yourselves.

• 9:25Danielle LaRock?

  There are some strong looking cheeks, I will say. But if you're 30 feet tall and your butt's gonna be that big, it's gotta look nice. So I get it.

• 9:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Imagine they gave him a flat ass, though.

• 9:40Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know if, is that astronaut still alive? I don't know anything about that astronaut.

• 9:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know anything about the astronaut either, but I would personally be very flattered if they portrayed my ass to be like that.

• 9:53Danielle LaRock?

  They couldn't not. You have a really nice ass. You can't spell Cassie without ass and

• 9:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you.

• 9:58Danielle LaRock?

  You embody it. So, I'm welcome. Okay, two things really quick about that story that it reminded me. So we got all these comments after my Route 66 episode about, because I think I said something along the lines of, does Gen Z know what Route 66 is?

• 10:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everyone said that they watch Cars. And I was like, oh, that does make sense.

• 10:22Danielle LaRock?

  Well, the way they said it, they were like, yeah, because of Cars. And I'm like, yeah, no shit, Cars drive on the highway. I wasn't putting it together because I've never seen Cars.

• 10:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, okay.

• 10:32Danielle LaRock?

  The movie?

• 10:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've seen Cars. It also is a TV show.

• 10:36Danielle LaRock?

  Also haven't seen the TV show. So for the first handful of comments, I was legitimately very confused because, yeah, I understand, I get it. Yeah, you get it because there are Cars. Yeah, no, no wonder we've heard of it like our kids watch cars or we've seen cars or something.

• 10:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  So did you know it was animated and that like?

• 11:00Danielle LaRock?

  It all came together.

• 11:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  The red truck and everything.

• 11:04Danielle LaRock?

  Gone to my head, though, I would never know what that meant because I haven't seen it. I've seen previews of it like I know that that movie exists, but I had no idea it was based on Route 66 or had anything to do with Route 66. So.

• 11:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I didn't even think about that when you were doing the Route 66 episode, but then once I said that I was like, oh yeah, because Cars is a little bit younger than us, but I remember when I was a kid, I had a babysitter who had younger kids who watched Cars. So I have seen it. I never, again, it was a little bit too young for me, so I didn't pay a ton of attention to it, but I've seen the movie and I've seen episodes of the show that was out before. So I do understand the context.

• 11:48Danielle LaRock?

  Well, I did want to address that. And then secondly, this is a little late now because we're recording a couple of weeks ahead of time, but I went to see Project Hail Mary last night, finally, and just it reminded me because of the astronaut thing. And so funny because so here I am, I'm like, okay, so I think it's following the book pretty well. At the very end, when they show that like the Beatles made it back to Earth, I'm like, well, that wasn't in the book, but I get you want to like wrap it up and be like, oh yeah, Earth is saved, whatever. And so it finishes and I wasn't emotional, but it's just like, it was all about, you know, the beauty of Earth and how we should save it.

• 12:33Danielle LaRock?

  It's worth saving type of thing.

• 12:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  And for context, if you're not part of our book club, we read Project Hail Mary for our book club.

• 12:40Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, right. Yes.

• 12:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  And you guys should join.

• 12:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, you should come. So we're, you know, the movie ends, whatever. My mom looks at me and she's like, that was kind of weird. Like, well, okay.

• 12:53Danielle LaRock?

  That's your takeaway of it?

• 12:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, I hated that.

• 13:00Danielle LaRock?

  All right, well, not for everyone, I guess. But I think that if you didn't read the book or knew anything really about it, Rocky was probably a little strange, the alien.

• 13:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I think Rocky was hard to portray, but I liked him. I thought that he did a good job.

• 13:17Danielle LaRock?

  But is it because you read the book?

• 13:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe. I don't know. I don't have a perspective of someone who's never read the book.

• 13:23Danielle LaRock?

  I know. Anywho, okay, enough about astronauts. I just wanted to say that my mom thought it was weird.

• 13:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  But I did. You like it, though? You liked it?

• 13:31Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I think it did a really good job of mirroring the tone of the book and also following the book pretty well.

• 13:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  I agree.

• 13:40Danielle LaRock?

  Because I was a little worried about that when reading the book, knowing that it was being released as a movie soon. I was like, oh, my God, this is kind of, how is this going to translate?

• 13:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Especially with all the scientific calculations and talk and stuff. How are you going to make it interesting in a movie and explained well? Yeah.

• 13:59Danielle LaRock?

  And match the humor, but not overtly funny, just an undertone of lightheartedness in a really

• 14:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  I actually kind of found the movie a little funnier than I found the book. I thought that they did a good job. I really enjoyed it. And I thought Ryan Gosling did a great job, too.

• 14:17Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he's great. I like him.

• 14:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  He looks great, too. I was like, you look like

• 14:22Danielle LaRock?

  He looks better than ever.

• 14:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  The milk book. I know. I was like, am I falling in love again?

• 14:29Danielle LaRock?

  I think maybe because I felt, I felt the same way. I was like, oh, you were not at the top of my list before, but hello.

• 14:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  What's your skincare routine?

• 14:38Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he just looks, he looks nice. Okay, anywho, my first story I chose because not number one, because I enjoyed reading this trail tale, but I wanted to include it today because when this releases, it'll be the four year anniversary of Ian passing away.

• 15:01Danielle LaRock?

  And I wanted to dedicate a story to him and just remember him for all the beautiful, amazing, wonderful, uh, just the amazing person he was. Uh, so anyhow, before I start crying already, I haven't even started. Okay. Uh, so this trail tale is titled, "The Lost Partner Club." Hi, beautiful sisters. I've been meaning to write this for some time, but of course, the stars have to align. I must be ovulating and have slept at least eight hours the night before. Luckily for me, the trifecta is occurring. First off, I am a fellow lover of nature and avid trail runner and a very proud mama of a chunk muffin American bully named Stoney. I so

• 15:43Danielle LaRock?

  appreciate your intelligent storytelling, your zest for experiencing life, and the way you've shown your more vulnerable sides throughout your podcasting years. When I first started listening, I quickly understood that Danielle and I had something tragic in common. I too, lost a partner very suddenly. The way you've worked through your grief really resonated with me, and I still shed a tear every time you talk about Ian because I feel your pain. Losing a mother, a father, a sibling, a best friend, a child, a partner, they all have a unique effect. One thing I think they all have in common is that it never really hits, settles, or feels real. Is that because we innately know we will see them again? I think so. Chase is his name.

• 16:25Danielle LaRock?

  I say is because he is still so very present in my life. I was 22 and he was 24 when we met in Portland, Oregon. I picked him out of a sea of people and just gravitated towards him. We dated for about a year. He was wild, but so soft, deeply in love with nature, his animals, and his family. Being young and crazy, both of us, but mostly him, he made some foolish mistakes, and I told him to kick rocks. He never stopped fighting to win me back, though. I moved on to another serious relationship and he moved away for work, I think to better himself. We continued to stay in touch and I always remained close with his three sisters. Fast forward four years, Chase returns from his work travels. I happened to be single and wasn't thinking anything other

• 17:10Danielle LaRock?

  than I missed him and wanted to catch up, so I invited him to a small birthday gathering for myself. When he showed up, I was like, "Damn, you look good, Chase." He had a completely different aura about him. It was clear he had done a lot of self-work and I was into it. A few days later, my house was broken into and a thousand dollars was stolen from my underwear drawer. The first person I wanted to call was Chase, because he was the most protective person I knew. He picked up immediately. I told him what happened and he said, "I think it's time for you to get a dog. I know you've always wanted a male bully, and my friend has a litter with one male left." It seemed outrageous considering I had just had money stolen from me,

• 17:53Danielle LaRock?

  but he insisted that when your dog soulmate is in the vicinity, you and the universe just make it happen. So yeah, we made it happen. I went and met Stoney when he was a tiny smooch-faced gargoyle, sat with it for a few days, talked to my family, and decided that baby was mine. He came home with me at seven weeks, and we've been joined at that hip, literally, ever since. During all of this, Chase and I started revving things back up. So, New Year's Eve, 2018. Chase, his best friend since he was eight, and another friend went camping on Mount Hood in their special place they visited every year. Typically, they would partake in drinking and some fun, party/mind-altering accoutrements.

• 18:36Danielle LaRock?

  Brandon had recently experienced a few seizures, and Chase suggested maybe sitting it out, but Brandon persisted. A few hours in, after thinking things had set in, Brandon unfortunately began having a seizure. Chase got him into his SUV, the other friend jumped in, and they started heading down the mountain towards the hospital. At some point, the other friend said he wanted to get out of the vehicle because Chase was driving erratically. He got out, Chase continued the drive, and somehow became turned around. I had called Chase that night and left a voicemail. I didn't think much of it until his sister called me on January 2nd. Chase and Brandon were missing, and there was a search party out looking for them. I immediately felt a pit in my stomach.

• 19:22Danielle LaRock?

  About a day later, they found his dog, Xena, on the shoreline of the Hood River, on the opposite side of the road. I instantly buckled because I knew he would never, ever leave his beloved dog's side. Shortly after, they discovered Chase's vehicle. They had somehow gone over a cliff into the river and the vehicle floated into a deep pool that happened to be there. They both drowned. My life was rocked on its axis after that. Had Stoney not been there as a needy five-month-old puppy, I don't know what would have gotten me out of bed. The next year was a blur. Covid hit. My aunt passed because of it. I was drinking far too much as a coping method and ended up with a DUI. I couldn't heal in Portland, especially during the pandemic, so I decided to move

• 20:07Danielle LaRock?

  home to northern Michigan to be near my family in 2021. A few more years of self-work and therapy, I asked Chase to send me my person. Soon after, I met Shawn, my current partner and soulmate. It wasn't long before I realized that Shawn and Chase shared the same birthday, August 26th. That was my sign from Chase, confirming he did some magic up there and is still protecting and caring for me from wherever he is. I could go on and on about psychic readings and the many affirmations that he is still with me, but I know you need no more explanation. They are here, supporting us, lovingly guiding us, with the knowing that we will all be reunited one day.

• 20:49Danielle LaRock?

  I'm sorry this was so long, even if this is just for your personal reading, I want to express my gratitude for both of your vulnerabilities. Danielle, I commend you for your strength and resilience in making something meaningful out of such a great loss. Love you both with warmth. Nikki.

• 21:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Another example of there's no such thing as coincidences.

• 21:09Danielle LaRock?

  Nope, nope, nope.

• 21:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  What a beautiful story to find your person and they have the same birthday. And I mean, that is the clearest sign.

• 21:17Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, especially after asking for it specifically. And another example of how dogs, I mean, save us all in so many ways.

• 21:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Mm-hmm.

• 21:28Danielle LaRock?

  So, thank you for sharing, Nikki. That's a deeply personal story. So, thank you for sharing it with us.

• 21:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes.

• 21:38Danielle LaRock?

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• 22:23Danielle LaRock?

  by utilizing cameras to watch for potential threats and alert those security specialists who will intervene in under 30 seconds, speaking through the camera to stop an intruder mid-stride while also calling 911. Join the more than 6 million people who entrust SimpliSafe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit simplisafe.com/NPAD. That's simplisafe.com/NPAD. And when you order, please write National Park After Dark in the checkout survey. It lets them know that we sent you, and it really helps support the show. SimpliSafe: Ahead of Crime in Real Time. When I first got my banking cards as a young adult, I wished more than anything I could customize them, maybe plaster my favorite things on them, like my dog's faces or the Titanic.

• 23:06Danielle LaRock?

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• 23:50Danielle LaRock?

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• 24:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow.

• 24:08Danielle LaRock?

  Please go before I cry.

• 24:11Danielle LaRock?

  I'm holding it in.

• 24:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, well, I think that this story is going in a totally different direction because mine is titled Wet and Foamy, The Story of a Memorable Race Through Virginia Wine Country.

• 24:25Danielle LaRock?

  Hello, you two devious dogs.

• 24:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know if anyone's called us devious dogs before, but I'm here.

• 24:32Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know, but it's saving me right now. It just pulled me in another direction. Emotionally.

• 24:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  You devious doggy.

• 24:40Danielle LaRock?

  And I am.

• 24:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  First off, thank you for keeping me company on my long drives. You guys are my favorite podcast to listen to when I'm driving long hours for work and when I'm on the road heading to my next outdoor adventure. Congrats on five years, and I know you mentioned wanting more foamy short stories in your celebration episode. So I've got a treat for you today as a gift for five glorious years.

• 25:05Danielle LaRock?

  Did we ask for that? I don't remember.

• 25:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  I feel like we always want foaming pants stories, but these ones sound like foaming shorts stories. Foaming shorts are a pretty common phenomenon in the cycling world. I've seen many people with big suds flying off their rears while riding in groups. I believe this foam occurs because of some aeration interaction between sweat, dirt, and porous spandex and external water getting in. I've only seen this phenomenon happen during rainy rides. The infamous foamy shorts person may have just had some sweat buildup, airy in an unfortunate area. I hope they're doing all right. Now to the story. While in college, I participated in some amateur bike racing.

• 25:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Every spring and fall semester, the universities in our conference would host a handful of races spread across the semester. This foam-filled race happened during a particular cold and dreary Saturday just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, in hills near the national historic landmark of Bonticello on the many miles of roads that wind their way between wineries and farmland. My category's race was set to begin at 8:00 AM that Saturday morning. I did my typical pre-race routine of downing stale hotel breakfast pastries and questionable eggs that could take any story from a foaming pants story to a pooping in the woods story. I then drove 30 or so minutes to a winery parking lot that served as our starting area for the race.

• 26:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  As I arrived to the parking lot, an ominous dark cloud appeared above our group along with a light shower of piercingly cold water. This was not ideal as wet roads mean less than safe racing conditions with poor visibility, increased stopping distances, and getting absolutely drenched, which is mostly never fun. But there we all were, a bunch of 20-something dudes shivering in a winery parking lot in wet spandex, moaning complaints to one another about the situation we found ourselves in. But the race must go on. Our race was set to be three laps around the area with each lap being about 10 miles each. The race started as usual, our large group following a pace car for a mile or so before being left to our own devices.

• 27:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Once we got about half a lap into the race, the foam started and never let up. I noticed multiple guys in front of me starting to form a hefty bit of foam around their butts. Keep in mind that I'm trying to get as close as possible to these foamy butts, not for my own sick pleasure, but to maintain a competitive place in this race. Then it happens. The foam starts flying off the rear end of my competitors and I'm getting smacked in the face with butt foam, spraying from tires, kicking up street filth, and rain. Ew. My teeth are getting gritty.

• 28:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm wiping dude foam from my face and I'm still cold even after all this pedaling. Since this was only half a lap in, I just had to accept my fate and settle in for the long couple of hours. Pedal faster, get ahead of that. Get ahead of them, yeah. Or that's some dedication to being a race. In the mouth is nighly. If I had butt foam spraying on my face while I was riding my bike, I would leave. I would get off my bike. Yeah. I would turn around, but you're dedicated clearly.

• 28:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Then on the second lap, I end up getting dropped by the group because I suck at climbing hills. Oh, maybe that's why they didn't get ahead.

• 28:47Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, yeah, must be it.

• 28:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  A few miles after getting dropped, I'm cresting the main hill of the track. A spectating teammate yells out to me that I'm about one mile behind the main group. I then say, don't worry, I'll catch them on this downhill. I then proceed to fly down this wet hill as fast as possible to catch back up. Rain and sunglasses don't mix too well, so everything is a watery blur while I'm flying down this hill at Mach 12. Luckily, I survived and ended up catching the main group. Now, a bigger issue arises, crashes. After about 75% through the second lap, a pace motorcycle abruptly slows down in front of our group. This causes about four guys, some foamy, to attempt to avoid a collision.

• 29:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  They end up flying into a ditch on the side of the road or stopping in their tracks and get hit from behind by other riders. After a quick yelling match between officials and riders, we end up continuing, surprisingly with no major injuries, just bruised egos and some light road rash. The second lap finishes without further incident. The third lap brings more rain, more foam, and a vivid memory of spitting road dirt out of my mouth while simultaneously trying to avoid a foamy surprise. I end up losing the front of the group towards the final segment of the race. But on the final hill, while I'm in about eighth place, I end up passing two riders from another team and say something like, "Good luck, guys. See you at the top."

• 30:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Which in hindsight, kind of sounds like I was bragging about getting in front of them, but I meant it in an encouraging way, I promise. That is funny. You're passing people that are like, "See you at the top."

• 30:26Danielle LaRock?

  I would take it not well. I wouldn't receive it as encouraging.

• 30:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think it would give me motivation. I'd be like, what? Yeah, you will. Like, I'm gonna be, I'm not competitive. Those foamy, that

• 30:41Danielle LaRock?

  Well, when there's foam involved.

• 30:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Knocked me out real quick.

• 30:44Danielle LaRock?

  First round, yeah, you would have been out.

• 30:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  I end up finishing in sixth place, I think, and finally get to change into some dry clothes. Oh, you said you struggle on the uphill, but sixth place is like.

• 30:56Danielle LaRock?

  Out of how many?

• 30:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know.

• 30:58Danielle LaRock?

  Not trying to knock you, but if it's like out of 10, it's not great.

• 31:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  You're ruthless. I imagine a race brings a lot of people usually, and I feel like sixth.

• 31:08Danielle LaRock?

  I wouldn't, I, yeah, I'm not saying I would do any better. I ride a peloton. I'm not even moving.

• 31:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, so they end up finishing sixth place and change into some dry clothes. No more foamy butts in my face, no more harrowing wet descents, and finally some warmth. As I leave the venue, I pass Monticello, but don't really want to stop as I'm sweaty, wet, and smelly. Thank you again for doing what you do. I hope to see you on one of your fantastic looking trips or at a live show one day. All the best. Also, I was going through some old episodes and just listened to your story about the Kentucky packhorse librarians. This is kind of a shameless plug, but my absolute favorite musical duo in the world wrote a song about this, and they're coming out with a children's book about it soon. I don't have a release date yet, but I'm very excited to not only read the books you guys recommend,

• 32:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  but check their new book out as well when the time comes. Abigail by Chatham Rabbits is the name of the song and duo, Jacob.

• 32:09Danielle LaRock?

  Yay, we'll check it out.

• 32:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, Jacob.

• 32:13Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, that's gross. I hope you didn't get sick. Butt foam in your mouth is another level of the foaming pants saga.

• 32:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  It is, but we appreciate you sharing it with us.

• 32:24Danielle LaRock?

  Thank you.

• 32:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Someone take it up a notch.

• 32:27Danielle LaRock?

  And I think you're a great bike rider. Sorry.

• 32:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, you're

• 32:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Got my head a little.

• 32:35Danielle LaRock?

  I didn't mean it to be mean. Okay. My next story is titled, Another Dad Story: Pre-Rules and Glacier National Park. Hey Danielle and Cassie, I've been listening since 2021. I am currently catching up with 2026 and got to the trail tale about the pizza and hot dog dad in Zion. That story rumbled through my nervous system because hard relate. When the call came for more dad stories, I knew I needed to write mine out. Preface: Feel free to censor any cussing that will get you kicked off the air. Oh, honey. That should have sailed. I left it in because I feel it paints a picture. This is not one big story with a climax as much as a series of zingers that made our

• 33:17Danielle LaRock?

  time in Glacier National Park the very antithesis of cool people in REI outfits and more like Squidbillies but with grizzly bears in the background. Some background for you: We were not a hiking in shape family. I grew up in East Tennessee, camping in the foothills of the Smokies, but more in a, "my parents were smoking weed and blaring Lenny Kravitz" way than a sporty outdoorsy way. I became a quote unquote hiker later in life. I still don't even feel like hiker is a good word for what I am doing. I go outside and I look at shit. I like looking at shit in different states. Sometimes the shit I want to see only appears after a few miles of walking. My husband and I discovered that we liked walking around looking at shit when we did

• 34:02Danielle LaRock?

  so in Arches National Park. We planned a return trip with our family so we could show them how awesome it was and what a fun and healthy hobby this could be for us. I knew his family would probably summit a mountain today without warning and be fine. My dad, well, the way our genetics are set up, he should probably get a warning with a link to some compression stockings.

• 34:24Danielle LaRock?

  I told him to get some boots and to get his stamina together. He instead picked up a cigar habit in the months leading up to this trip. He did buy boots, but it was like a week before we left. He gloriously made it to Delicate Arch, but my husband had to tough love him in the parking lot when he saw the hill involved and wanted to go back to the car. This is all just to calibrate your expectations for our upcoming Glacier National Park trip. For my dad's 60th birthday, we decided to hit up Glacier National Park to celebrate. He had so much fun in arches after getting over himself that he got excited for Glacier and decided to make walking and hiking a fun new hobby to get in shape. Yes, hallelujah. However, he did keep up the smoking habit.

• 35:08Danielle LaRock?

  It grates my damn nerves. We fly into Kalispell and begin the drive to our Verbo. We pass a dispensary called Puffin' Kana. My dad is damn near pressing his face into the glass like a little kid. Wow, how cool. Puffin' Kana. Is weed legal here? Well, it looks like it. Are we going to see puffins? No, they don't have puffins here. Boy, we are like 700 miles from any type of coast. Yes, Dad, the open range, cowboys and puffins are all Montana staples. We get further down the road and pass another dispensary. He started his little outpouring of awe again when my husband asked him straight up if he wanted to stop.

• 35:51Danielle LaRock?

  He said yes, so we pulled over and let my dad go into the weed shop. We don't even have groceries yet, but we are about to have something. We sat in the car for 20 minutes awaiting and wondering. He finally comes out, holding the door and continuing to gesture, giggle and kiki with the workers on his way out. Making friends. Like he's known them for years.

• 36:13Danielle LaRock?

  Weed is cheap here. I got 10 pre-rolls. This will last me all week. They would not last him all week.

• 36:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  Your dad's hilarious.

• 36:25Danielle LaRock?

  We get to the Verbo and get settled. We had some changes to our reservation caused by some sort of property exchange with the owners. The lady that owns the place was fantastic and got us all straightened out and even left us some Huckleberry goodies on the porch for any perceived inconvenience we may have faced with our reservation. I don't want to see another Huckleberry, honestly, for the next two years at least. I'm Huckleberryed out from our trip.

• 36:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I still don't know what a Huckleberry tastes like. I tried so much, like, there's Huckleberry jam, there's Huckle, every Huckleberry lemonade, all this stuff. I just want to try a Huckleberry. I just want to know what it actually tastes like. Yeah, because it's just in everything.

• 37:07Danielle LaRock?

  It's so funny.

• 37:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Because every single time.

• 37:11Danielle LaRock?

  We had, I think we had ice cream, lemonade, margaritas, gummies, pie, um, what else? Anything that you could ingest that had a flavoring to it, we tried as Huckleberry. And Cassie, every time was like, I still don't know what I'm tasting right now. What is?

• 37:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 37:32Danielle LaRock?

  So funny. Uh, anywho.

• 37:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  I can't get behind it.

• 37:36Danielle LaRock?

  But yeah, we didn't have a straight up berry, so. We notice the property is fairly large and there's a middle aged man cruising up and down the road with the windows down, titties liberated from his button down shirt and a little dog hanging out of the window. Goofy but cute. We see him a couple more times when we unpack and my dad wandered out to go hee hee ha ha with him too. He came back into the house talking about, I bet I know exactly what happened to our reservation. He goes on with the story about a divorce between the man outside and the former owner of the Verbo, the children now own the Verbo or something, and them kids don't want him living in a camper on their property. But I told him, shit, nobody's going to care about that.

• 38:16Danielle LaRock?

  You know, he's pretty damn cool. He would admire the midlife divorcee, living in a camper on someone else's property and spreading the family's hot goss to the renters. Hot goss that sounds like he is causing. Whatever. Okay, moving on.

• 38:32Danielle LaRock?

  Our first mission was to go see Lake McDonald. We pull up and start walking towards the lake, which is surrounded by other tourists oohing and aahing. My dad begins to pull out a pocket of these rank-ass grape gas station cigars from his pocket. "You can't smoke those out here, Dad. I think it's illegal." "Nah, it can't be," he looked at me in disbelief. "No, I think it is. You can't burn anything." Look, at this point, I do not know what I am talking about. These are guesses based on context, and I really just needed him to not stink out this highly populated area of outdoor enthusiasts trying to use their senses at a protected national landmark. It would, at the very least, be rude. "Nah, I'm just gonna sit here and relax and enjoy myself at the lake.

• 39:16Danielle LaRock?

  The bears will smell your fruity cigars and they will come," I warned. I got some traction there. "Oh, fuck, bears. I didn't think of the bears." "Yeah, they can smell for miles, and your stupid cigars smell like their main food source." He immediately puts the cigars away. Smart. Our next adventure... Our next adventure was a UTV rental. I knew this would be some wild redneck shit he would eat right up. We had a blast taking turns driving the loop around the Hungry Horse Reservoir. However, when it was my husband's turn to drive, I started to smell weed. "Are you smoking those pre-rolls right now?" He gulped what I assumed was supposed to pass for plain oxygen and let out a strained... "Nope."

• 40:01Danielle LaRock?

  "Boy, whatever. Okay." On the way back, he requested another stop at the weed store. This story is shaping up to be the Zion Pizza Trail Tale, but with the weed store instead of pizza and hot dogs. He had another 20-minute giggle fest with the poor, probably flabbergasted, girls that work there, and we were on our way. Keep in mind, he is 6'5" and wearing a gigantic safari hat that essentially eclipses the sun.

• 40:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  I like your dad.

• 40:29Danielle LaRock?

  So these are not discreet interactions. We had some more hiking based adventures and I am doing my best to keep us all bear aware. Admittedly, I am using the threat of grizzly bears to quell any behavior that I feel is not trail appropriate. Oh yes, threats.

• 40:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  We like those.

• 40:47Danielle LaRock?

  They work well.

• 40:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  They do.

• 40:49Danielle LaRock?

  I just want us walking, talking and making human based noises like what I saw in all the bear safety videos. His paranoia, however, took a turn for the unnecessarily creative. What if I fill a milk jug with rocks and shook them a bunch? You need to hang on to your trekking poles and pay attention. Just talking should be fine since bears generally know what human voices are. Okay, but what if I shook a bunch of Tic Tacs at them? Okay, you better not have some fruity flavored Tic Tacs out here for the bears. Oh no, just do what the video said, just walk and talk. This did not stop his new desire to clap and clack his trekking poles together awkwardly, tripping and bumbling about because he was paying more attention to new sounds he could

• 41:34Danielle LaRock?

  make rather than the rocks and roots in front of him. We eventually did see a grizzly. We came up to a group of about 40 people on the side of a hill, all looking up the hill with binoculars. I grabbed my Knox and looked up too. You could barely see this bear, it was so far away. He was on a mountainside rubbing his ass on a rock, not giving one single damn about all of us. Oh fuck, my dad says. I'm mad, he's high, you know, so like everything is scary and spooky. Yeah.

• 42:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 42:05Danielle LaRock?

  This is probably fine. Look at all of those people. That bear does not care. And if he did, he wouldn't want to come down here and eat 40 of us. This is our best case scenario for a bear. They don't attack large groups of people. Yeah, but he could probably come down here and split us all up and pick us off one by one.

• 42:24Danielle LaRock?

  I guess could be a possibility.

• 42:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  So it's giving cocaine bear vibes.

• 42:30Danielle LaRock?

  Amazing how one bear four football fields away is going to pack hunt us yet Tic Tacs were the answer five minutes ago. Okay, but what about the pyumas?

• 42:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  The what?

• 42:42Danielle LaRock?

  The pyumas, ain't they got pyumas out here? I am assuming we are talking about pumas, the same way he refers to Moab as Moby. I am so overstimulated by this, I hope there are pyumas out here. We wrap up and head back to the rental. Between the exercise, looking for bears and the commentary, I need to get in bed and play dead. I can still hear my husband fielding further commentary out of my dad. My dad has the door to the rental wide open, you guessed it, alternating between grape cigars and pre-rolls while he relays more hot goss to my grandpa on the phone, right in the doorway. My husband politely tells him to shut the door so we don't smoke up the rental.

• 43:24Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, he don't care, gesturing out and about, generally referring to that divorced squatter that cruises the road with his little dog he met, the one that definitely does not own this place. I hear the door close for about five minutes. He comes back in and starts manhandling his luggage all around. Man, I don't know how I'm going to fill all this huckleberry stuff in my carry-on. I got wines, jellies, sodas.

• 43:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Your dad's thriving.

• 43:52Danielle LaRock?

  My husband stops him. You can't bring all that liquid onto a carry-on. Aw, no. I was ready to garnish myself in tuna and wait out in the forest for this damn pyuma to come and take me. And that's where I will end this. There really is no end, since this is kind of his brand. I hope I made a good trail tale. Once again, shout out the storyteller with a dad on a pizza quest. I felt it. I felt it so much. Enjoy the view, watch your dad, I guess, QC.

• 44:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so funny. Your dad was thriving. It sounds like he had the best trip of his life.

• 44:29Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it just sounds like he was full of wonder, you know, somewhere he was just totally unfamiliar with and trying to get to know.

• 44:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Making friends, smoking the weed, the local weed.

• 44:38Danielle LaRock?

  Getting huckleberry stuff and...

• 44:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 44:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, L-I-V-I-N, I guess.

• 44:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, certainly was. Sounds like a hoot.

• 44:52Speaker 04

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• 45:35Speaker 04

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• 46:16Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 46:59Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 47:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay. My story is titled Frozen Bodies and Full Moons. Hey NPAD, it's taken me forever to write you, but I finally decided to share my story with you all. One of my best friends introduced me to your podcast a few years ago, and I've been hooked ever since. In fact, my friend and I came to your Joshua Tree taping and our main joke was we couldn't do something that would end us up on your podcast. Did that stop us from going hiking and squeezing into small passageways that we didn't know where they ended? Not at all. I just wanted to say thank you for giving us such amazing stories at home and a reason to plan a weekend exploring Joshua Tree National Park and experience your live podcast. That was such a fun weekend. That was just about a year ago. Yeah. May of last year. Crazy.

• 48:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Time flies. Truly. Anywho, a little necessary background. My name is Casey, female. It's a pretty gender neutral name, so I figure I should clarify. And I am a career firefighter slash paramedic. What you have to understand is I had no intention of joining the fire service. Like ever. However, my dad has over 40 years in the fire service and he is about five months away from retirement and is currently a battalion chief in the department both my husband and I now work for. I spent my life growing up in the firehouses and loved it, but not enough to do it as my job. However, my aforementioned father signed me up as a volunteer when I was 16, telling me he thought it would be good for me and that I'd enjoy it. And sure as shit, I fell in love.

• 49:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  To get hired on the career side, you don't need a degree. But education was pushed into my family, so I decided to go to college and get my degree in Emergency Health Services and my paramedic certification. I was extremely lucky that one of the closest colleges offered this degree path, so I got to live at home during college. However, since I was going for my bachelor's degree, I had to do four years and the normal college prereqs. My sophomore year of college, I was in one of those prereq classes. It studied how modern society influences and is influenced by media and movies. Did I learn anything in that class? No, but I did enjoy watching the bling ring in college and getting attendance credit for it.

• 49:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Anyway, the final project was worth over half our grade, and it was in place of a final exam, and it was the make a trailer for a fake movie or TV show idea. The idea I had was for a nautical-themed TV show, so for the trailer, I needed to shoot footage of water. The problem is I procrastinated, like, a lot. It was two days before my project was due, and I was, to say the least, panicking. My dad offered to go for a hike in the local state park that has a beautiful lake to shoot some footage. He is where my love of the outdoor comes from, so I really think that offer was twofold. He did want to offer support and help, but he also knew he could convince me to walk

• 50:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  the whole park if he came with me, and that man will do anything as an excuse to get outside. So off, my dad and I sat at 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday in December with my little Kodak Sports camera. I am a Marylander, so we have intermittent winter weather, but that year, it was cold. Just constantly bitter wind and cold, so the lake was mostly frozen over. It had also recently snowed, and about one or two or so inches were still on the ground. My dad and I made our way down the little trail to a little pavilion that overlooks the lake, and he stopped at the rail to look out and see if he could spot some good places to go for the footage. He had also been holding on to the camera and videoing around the lake from his vantage point.

• 51:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  I decided to make my way down to the docks they use for the launch kayaks. I was walking down in the snow and was following a set of footprints that went down to the docks. I had looked around, but no one else was around that I could see. I thought it was a bit weird that there was only a set walking towards the docks in the water, none of them returning. There is a smaller path that a person could have taken on the opposite side, so honestly, I didn't give it a second thought. However, as I was getting close to the steps immediately at the docks, I heard my dad yelling at me to stop moving. My dad is level-headed and doesn't yell unless it's legitimate. I froze in place. I slowly turned towards him and looked at him.

• 51:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  He had his one hand up in the universal stop signal, his other hand reaching for his cell. To be honest, I have no idea why this thought came to my mind, but I looked at him and said, "Do you see a body?" He looked puzzled and said, "Yeah, I think so. Just stay there and wait for me." He walked to me and we both made our way back to the docks and looked down into the frozen water. Sure enough, partially submerged next to the dock was a frozen body. Dad was already on the phone with 911 and we didn't touch him as we both had EMT certs and knew he was, unfortunately, past resuscitation efforts. Not only was he face down in the water, but the lake had already frozen over his body,

• 52:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  so he had been there for a while. The police got there and took our statements. The body was recovered and sent off to the medical examiners. As we spoke with the cops, one of them was drilling us on what we saw when we got there and signs, etc. I mentioned to him that we were shooting video and there may be footage of the scene before it had gotten trampled by us and the fire department and cops. He asked to see it, and sure enough, there was the body in my project footage. The cop ended up confiscating my camera for a while so they could go through it at the station. You may ask, "Well, Casey, they took your camera on Saturday and your project was due Monday. What did you do?" I emailed my professor and told her that while I had done the assignment,

• 53:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  the cops took my project footage because it may have evidence and I accidentally filmed a dead body. She never replied. However, I did see she auto-populated my grade and I got an A. Way better excuse than the dog ate my homework.

• 53:32Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, you gotta acknowledge that.

• 53:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ah, yes. The classic.

• 53:37Danielle LaRock?

  What do you mean?

• 53:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  Do you know what I mean?

• 53:41Danielle LaRock?

  It's just like, I feel like- Just take the A. I can't even do this anymore.

• 53:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  The professor was probably like, "Fuck, I hate my job. Just, here's an A."

• 53:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  Now, you may also ask, Casey, your title of the story was frozen bodies and full moons, but you said you went in the morning. Yeah, not the type of full moon I meant. My aforementioned husband was my boyfriend at the time and my family with him had recently gone skiing and I had taken that camera. Unfortunately, for both my husband and the cops, the footage on my camera right before the frozen lake, yeah, that would have been my husband on the slopes mooning the camera as my dad had been skiing down, shooting footage in front of him and I. I like to think that the cops ended up watching that and that's why they returned the camera to me so quickly. Luckily for us, all our footage prior to that day

• 54:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  was still there, but they had taken my project footage off. We later learned that the gentleman who passed was ruled as an accidental death. I'm glad my dad and I were the ones that were there and were able to help bring him home to his family. Well, that's my story. Thank you so much for listening, reading, lol. Keep up all your hard work and remember, enjoy the view, but be mindful when shooting video as you might end up capturing potential crime scene footage or a full moon view. Casey.

• 55:02Danielle LaRock?

  Wow. That's, it reminds me, um, Nataia found a body once.

• 55:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Really?

• 55:08Danielle LaRock?

  When she was a kid in Florida. Yeah.

• 55:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow. I didn't know that.

• 55:12Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Uh, she was on the beach and she found, it was in like a, um, what are they called? A culvert? Like draining onto the

• 55:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, wow.

• 55:22Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, yeah.

• 55:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so traumatic.

• 55:25Danielle LaRock?

  I know.

• 55:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  One of the things that stood out to me in this, in this is that I was thinking only a paramedic firefighter would respond in this way. Cause you're like, yeah, we saw a body. We called 911. Like you go through all the steps. And I feel like any other person who does not work in that type of field would have been like, oh my God, there's a body. What do we do? And kind of freak out. And I just, I felt like through that whole trail tale, I could, I could tell that you guys were first responders.

• 55:54Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it followed a very methodical, logical process of what to do.

• 56:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 56:02Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And the cops are probably like, okay, we don't need to see any more of this. Um, I also think a lot of times, not anymore, but especially back when we were younger of when we would have the disposable cameras before digital cameras came to be. And we had a lot of, you would bring them to CVS or whatever and get photos developed. I want to know that the people who worked at photo shops like that must have seen some weird things.

• 56:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah.

• 56:33Danielle LaRock?

  You know what I mean?

• 56:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Definitely, especially before sexting was a thing.

• 56:38Danielle LaRock?

  That's what I'm saying.

• 56:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  And you would take photos and print them out and then like give them to your, yeah.

• 56:45Danielle LaRock?

  What are you supposed to do? Do you just ignore it? Like, I don't, what do you do?

• 56:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I guess. I mean, unless you see something criminal on there, I think you just would put it into those little paper slide packet things and hand them to their owner.

• 57:00Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And then you have to go pick it up and be like, yeah, that's, those are my tits.

• 57:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, yep, this one's mine. Thank you. And remember it would always have that piece of paper that had a summary of all of the pictures. It was like a roll of the film in little tiny squares that would show all of them. And it would be like on top of it. And it'd be like, here's your stuff. It's like, yes, thank you.

• 57:20Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, that, those are mine. Yeah.

• 57:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  They look great, don't they?

• 57:23Danielle LaRock?

  I wonder if. Any crimes have been reported from that from, I'm trying to think of what they're called. The photo developers or what, what are they called? I'm not sure. But you think you would, the people who are processing the photos?

• 57:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah.

• 57:40Danielle LaRock?

  If they ever reported a crime based on what they saw?

• 57:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  I bet, I bet there were some weird things that were found in there.

• 57:46Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Anywho, okay. My last story is titled, Always Listen to Your Spirit Guides. Hi Danielle and Cassie. I've been a longtime listener and finally decided to become an outsider. I am so glad I did. Hearing the bonus trail tales from Creeps and Crimes and Taylor's story in particular prompted me to share my own. Taylor's account of how her visions and spirit guide helped find someone had me in awe. I am similar to Taylor in that I get visions, audible guidance, and strong nudges that won't leave me alone. While I was initially freaked out by this, I've learned it is a part of who I am. When I get them now, I listen. And just for everybody else backstory, in case you missed it and have no idea what this person is talking about.

• 58:30Danielle LaRock?

  We did a collaborative trail tale episode with Morgan and Taylor from Creeps and Crimes. And we do extended bonus stories on trail tales. And for that particular episode, Morgan and Taylor both shared personal stories. And Taylor's was about her experience with her spirit guides and some pretty intense stories of things that happened to her after she had this awakening. So that's what that's about. Okay, back to the story. However, there was a time I didn't listen and I want to share what happened when I ignored my intuition. FYI, names have changed because I still get slightly embarrassed telling the story and also HIPAA.

• 59:14Danielle LaRock?

  20 years ago, I worked as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital. One evening, after a long shift with particularly difficult patients, I was desperate to get home. My car at the time was a bit of a wreck. The driver's side window didn't go up and the trunk didn't lock, but it ran. I used to park at the front of the lot near the patient windows to make a quick exit. Before my shift ended, I walked out and threw my lunchbox and jacket through the open window and went back inside to grab my purse. The moment I started driving, I had an overwhelming sense that something was wrong. I had a thirty minute drive to my parents' house and ignored the feeling. Ten minutes in, my job called me. I ignored it. They called continuously, but I put my phone in my purse and kept driving,

• 59:59Danielle LaRock?

  even as the gnawing feeling in my stomach grew stronger. As I pulled onto my exit ramp, I heard a rolling sound from my trunk. I dismissed it as fatigue. When I pulled into my driveway, I heard a faint ouch. I glanced in the backseat, saw nothing, figured I was just hearing things because I was tired, and headed inside. My two dogs greeted me, but then a few moments later, they began barking aggressively at the door, a sign someone was in the yard. But I shushed them, thinking it was probably a cat, and went to bed. The next morning, a coworker called me absolutely frantic. She said, "Marty, don't freak out, but Andy broke out last night, and we think he may have jumped into your trunk. Can you check your car?"

• 1:00:44Danielle LaRock?

  I ran outside to find my trunk open and footprints in my backseat. Worse, there were scratches on our front door and the porch light was broken, as if someone had tried to get in. I confirmed with my coworker that he had indeed come home with me, but he was gone. She immediately called my boss. I went inside to tell my mom, who understandably freaked out. Three days later, the police picked up Andy after he called looking for me. He wanted a ride back to the hospital. He later shared with our administrator that he had been watching me from his window, used a fork to remove the screws on his window, put the window back on, ran to my car, jumped through the open window in it, and hid in the backseat.

• 1:01:28Danielle LaRock?

  When I threw my jacket in, it actually landed right on top of him, so he crawled through the seat into the trunk. He tried to enter my house that night, but was scared off by my dogs. For weeks after his return, he would run up to me and say, Andy Rack in the back and would walk off laughing. I truly believe my angels were with me that night. If he had popped out while I was driving, I likely would have crashed. This experience taught me to always listen to my body, my angels, and check my surroundings. I fixed my window immediately after and never parked near the patient windows again. I hope you enjoyed my crazy story. It's funny to me now, but back then I was absolutely mortified. Thank you guys for such a great podcast.

• 1:02:11Danielle LaRock?

  It is seriously one of my favorites. Marty.

• 1:02:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  That story still scary. That's so scary.

• 1:02:17Danielle LaRock?

  Funny anymore. I don't think it's funny.

• 1:02:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't think it's funny either. I think that's so scary.

• 1:02:22Danielle LaRock?

  I know.

• 1:02:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's like a fear that all that I feel like so many of us have when you get in a car that someone's going to be in your backseat.

• 1:02:29Danielle LaRock?

  And it happened to you.

• 1:02:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:30Danielle LaRock?

  With a patient from a psychiatric hospital. And that's really, really terrifying.

• 1:02:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:37Danielle LaRock?

  I always look in my backseat, even though my car is locked, even if it's in my driveway, you know, anywhere I've just been conditioned to check. What would I do if something was back there? I haven't gotten there yet. I don't know.

• 1:02:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  I have a vivid, I know what I would do if I was back there because it happened to me once, not in this type of way, but uh, in a much lighter hearted kind of way. But I remember it's one of my friends or a couple of my friends. I used to work at an ice cream stand in high school and into college and stuff. And it was during the summer. And when a couple of my friends had come for ice cream and then we were going to hang out after. And I was waiting for, for them in the truck, but I actually, at the time, I only thought it was one of my friends, my friend

• 1:03:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Sean. And this is actually a really funny memory because my friend has since passed away. But I remember they were, he was waiting for me in his truck and he was parked right next to my car. And I came outside and he's like, Hey, how's it going? Like laughing smile and like stoked to hang out after my shift. And I'm like, great. And I get into my car and I sit down. And my other friend who I did not know he was with hopped out of my backseat and grabs me and I was so scared. I freaked out and I hit him in the face and I yelled and then I and he start, he's cracking up laughing and I remember turning to my friend Sean, he has

• 1:04:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  his windows down and he just is laughing so hard and I have made sure my doors are locked ever since and I look in the backseat, but it was, it was funny and it was funny because it was my friends and it was innocent, but now I know that if anyone was in my backseat, my first instinct would be to attack them.

• 1:04:37Danielle LaRock?

  Good. Yeah. Great. First instinct. Punch him in the face.

• 1:04:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I did. I hit him pretty hard and but he was just laughing because he thought it was so funny that I got so scared and they were both laughing, but.

• 1:04:51Danielle LaRock?

  I always think somebody's gonna do that move where they take something and put it around your neck and pin you to the seat.

• 1:04:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh my God. Have you seen those videos online where it's like, this is what you do if that happens and it shows, it's so funny because it's this person who does it and they put something around your neck and then you're, you take the seat and you push it back so it's not against your throat anymore and then you like do this maneuver and like get it and this one person is like, yeah, great idea. So someone, they have someone put it around their neck and then they have one of those ones that it's electric, so it slowly moves, so he pushes it and it's just like.

• 1:05:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Super slow.

• 1:05:37Danielle LaRock?

  I have seen that, yeah. There are things with the car that I, driving all around has kind of freaked me out in recent years. Between fear of that, I always have a. It's not a reoccurring nightmare, but it's anytime I go over a bridge or something like that, I always think I'm gonna crash into the water. So much so that I got one of those things that punches out your glass if you're to-

• 1:06:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah. You've had that for years.

• 1:06:09Danielle LaRock?

  No, I, well, I've wanted it for years, but I just got it.

• 1:06:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, really?

• 1:06:13Danielle LaRock?

  A couple of months ago.

• 1:06:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  I thought I remember you having that when we were working at, in Vet Tech-ing together.

• 1:06:19Danielle LaRock?

  Maybe I did have it and lost it and then got a new one. I don't know.

• 1:06:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  I could've sworn you had one.

• 1:06:23Danielle LaRock?

  Classic on-brand.

• 1:06:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Cause this isn't new information for me. I feel like-

• 1:06:27Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, maybe we've just talked about it.

• 1:06:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've known you to have them. Yeah, maybe you just talked about needing one or something.

• 1:06:34Danielle LaRock?

  And a seatbelt cutter.

• 1:06:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:35Danielle LaRock?

  In case I'm trapped or I need to get out. Yeah. Fun fact about that thing, actually. My parents are gonna laugh if they hear this. I got so mad the, the other, uh, a couple, about a month ago or so. I dropped my car off. I was going, we were on a trip somewhere and I had dropped Chaska off and my dog, and my dog, Chaska is my dog. Uh, I had dropped Chaska and my car off with them and then we went on a trip and I come back and somehow a couple of days later, it gets back to me, I think through my sister, that they're like, oh, yeah, Robert, thank, my stepdad is like, yeah, Danielle vapes now. Or, oh, he said

• 1:07:18Danielle LaRock?

  it to my mom. He's like, yeah, Danielle vapes now. I'm like, what? No, I don't.

• 1:07:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Why do we think you vape?

• 1:07:24Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, listen to this shit. So first of all, you know how I feel about vaping. So I took a big offense to that. Not that I really care, whatever. Everybody has their own journey and you can do whatever you want.

• 1:07:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's so bad for you. We're shaming. Continue.

• 1:07:39Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 1:07:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Shaming out of love, not out of judgment.

• 1:07:43Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. So anyway, I hate it. Um, and of course, I don't like really smoking of any kind. I mean, my dad- Died from complications for smoking. So I just, it's a sensitive thing. I don't like it. And so like, why do you think I would be vaping? And my mom's like, oh yeah, well, he saw your vape in there and like all the cartridges. I'm like, what the fuck? I'm like, what are you talking about? Cause he always uh make sure my car is running okay and spruces spruces it up and stuff, which is very nice.

• 1:08:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:13Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, very nice. Um, but I'm like, what the fuck? And so I go into my car, I'm like, what could he have mistaken for vape and cartridges? Like, I don't even know what a vape cartridge looks like. Lo and behold, he starts a rumor about me to my mom that I'm smoking or I'm vaping because my glass shatter thing is on my rear or my um, what the fuck is it called? Visor. It's like clicked up there and it looks like a little device. And he just assumed it was a vape for some reason, question mark?

• 1:08:51Danielle LaRock?

  And then the cartridges were the, I have Drift for uh, the company's called Drift, but they're like car. Why can't I think of anything?

• 1:09:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know where this is going.

• 1:09:07Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, the, they're car fresheners, but not, they're like pieces of wood that have.

• 1:09:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, are they the ones that you stick in your vent?

• 1:09:17Danielle LaRock?

  They're not on your vent, but they have this magnetic thing. So on my other visor, it's this magnetic thing and they look like credit card size and they're pieces of wood. And it has the scent kind of absorbed in it. So it's not as overpowering and artificial smelling as other ones. But anywho, so I have a subscription and they come every month with a different scent and I don't go through them that much. So they're kind of all stockpiled in my center console. And he's like, that's the vape and there's the cartridges in her, she's vaping.

• 1:09:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh shit.

• 1:09:51Danielle LaRock?

  I'm like, I'm not, it pissed me off so bad. I'm like.

• 1:09:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Did they believe you or did they still think you vape? They're like, yeah, it's a car freshener.

• 1:09:58Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know. I hope they believe me, but I'm like, you just need to look at the things a little more. I'm like, anyway. So anywho, it pissed me off, started a rumor about me amongst my own family and had to defend myself.

• 1:10:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I like drama. I'm here for it. I love.

• 1:10:12Danielle LaRock?

  Like, how dare you?

• 1:10:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  If I was in on that drama, I would be like, you know, she has been acting weird lately.

• 1:10:21Danielle LaRock?

  I was so mad. I was, I really not hurt isn't the word. I wasn't hurt, but I was offended.

• 1:10:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, I'm shocked, but you know, that does really answer some questions I've had.

• 1:10:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'd feed into it so hard.

• 1:10:37Danielle LaRock?

  Anyway, let's do our bonus stories. It's, I'm having a hard time.

• 1:10:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  All right. Thank you, everyone, for hanging out with us. If you are interested for subscribers, we do have two more stories. Mine is titled, "The Night a Coyote Saw My Full Moon."

• 1:10:52Danielle LaRock?

  I'm giving you all the full moon stories.

• 1:10:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  The moonings.

• 1:10:55Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Today.

• 1:10:56Danielle LaRock?

  And mine is titled, "Greening Out in God's Country."

• 1:11:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  This has been a butt episode now that you mention it. I've had three stories that included butts today.

• 1:11:07Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's because you can't spell Cassie without a.

• 1:11:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Cassie without a.

• 1:11:13Danielle LaRock?

  So.

• 1:11:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  A mantra to live by.

• 1:11:15Danielle LaRock?

  It had to be done.

• 1:11:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  All right. Well, thank you, guys, for joining us. We'll see you on the subscription base if you're gonna come listen. Otherwise, enjoy the view.

• 1:11:24Danielle LaRock?

  But watch your back.

• 1:11:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye.

• 1:11:26Danielle LaRock?

  Bye. I almost said, but watch your butt.

• 1:11:33Danielle LaRock?

  Thanks for joining us for another episode. We hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more NPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark. For more stories just like this one with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel. And if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.

• 1:12:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Frozen bodies and full moons.

• 1:12:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Shh, sorry, I'm telling a story. I'm sorry.

• 1:12:22Danielle LaRock?

  Hey, can you shut the fuck up?

• 1:12:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, you're being really loud right now and I'm trying to, I'm trying to work here.

• 1:12:33Danielle LaRock?

  One evening, after a long shift with particularly difficult patients, oh god, particularly difficult patients, I was desperate to get home.

• 1:12:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  What? He said, "You got this."

• 1:12:45Danielle LaRock?

  God fucking damn it, I'm doing it when we're done. One evening, after a long shift with a particu- oh my god.

• 1:12:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh my god.

• 1:12:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  We're almost done.

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