Podcast 484

The Fort. Boys need independence and Freedom. This is the story of my quest for independence and freedom in the form of my own ‘fort’. The Fort. A place where I could go with my friends. To dream. To Talk. To Plan. You know, boy stuff. As adults we spend a lot of time thinking about what we want, or need, or those moments in life when we could have been better, the mistakes we’ve made as well as the hard won victories. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t take much to experience true bliss. It’s also a story of manifesting the things we desire most in our lives. The story of an stubbornly independent boy, with this idea of a ‘fort’, who spent months scavenging lumber from all over town, and started building without any idea of where he was going or how to get there. And, a story about a father who did not share the same temperament as his son. A father who’s personality was introverted, a man who valued action over words. A story of a father and son who didn’t have very much in common but came together one summer to build something great; The coolest fort in town, by far. Dreams and acting individually can get you pretty far down the road, but that summer my father taught me how to accept help, how to work together, to create something far more than I could have by myself. It’s also the story of how that perfect moment fades as we reach adolescence. Sometimes when we look back, we realize that there was a perfect moment back there when we had much more than we realized at the time. Then again, maybe I did realize it. Sponsored by Brush Studio at The West End in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota and by Hydrus.

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Podcast 481

Ted Cruz Denies Affairs. The tabloid that has a history of breaking lurid stories about the affairs of politicians and public personalities is on the hot seat with a new story about Senator Ted Cruz. The National Enquirer story alleges the presidential hopeful has had extra marital affairs with five women. Though the women’s faces were obscured in the tabloid story, two of the women have been allegedly identified as staffers for Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and at various times Senator Cruz. Moreover there’s also evidence of a Cruz associated PAC which donated a half a million dollars to the Fiorina campaign. If that donation was ‘hush money’ as has been alleged, a far more serious allegation could be leveled against Cruz since the candidates aren’t supposed to have anything to do with PACs. Ted Cruz Denies Affairs. Senator Cruz says the story is a lie, says it was shopped to other outlets, all orchestrated by Donald Trump, since he is ‘friends’ with the publisher of the National Enquirer (based in West Palm Beach, by the way, where Trump has a residence and resort.) Trump says he had nothing to do with the story. Truth is, this ‘story’ has been floating around political and reporters circles for months, and has been talked about on twitter under #thething for at least weeks. Is it true? No one knows. Was it Trump? No one knows. It could have been Trump, but recent developments suggest former elements of the Rubio campaign shopped the story. Could have been Republican establishment types terrified of a Trump nomination, as well as a Cruz nomination, looking to clip both candidates before three critical primaries in the coming weeks in Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania. It could have been the Cruz campaign looking to get out in front of a potential scandal and turn it back on their number one rival, the Trump campaign. No one knows, and no one will know until the story is disproven, retracted, or the women in question come forward. At least one of them, Amanda Carpenter, passionately and vehemently denies it. Don’t put it past the establishment to do something like this. Politics gets ugly, and there are so many more months of campaigning to go. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing of Saint Paul, Pride of Homes and Hydrus.

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Podcast 469

Key West. Not what you’d expect. What is the urge to travel all about? Is it a search for that ‘perfect’ place? Something fixed in the mind? A weather-beaten cottage on the beach, in the moonlight? A mountain town in West Virginia, or Tennessee? The high desert? High in the Rockies in Colorado, or Montana, or the pine country of Northern Arizona. ‘The Search’ brought the Bob Davis Podcasts to the Florida Keys. While the keys north of Key West are slightly less ‘touristy’, close to what it must have been like in the 1950’s or 1960’s, Key West seems to have had a little too much success. If you decide to come to any of the keys in season, planning ahead is ‘key’. Even RV Road Rangers will need to make reservations, and will have to research the best places to park, lest you end up in a gravel pit somewhere near a swamp. And no, you won’t be able to park on the beach overnight. Standing on a corner anywhere in Key West one gets the impression that the best thing to do would be to rent a boat and head for the uninhabited smaller Keys that dot the water around the ‘big’ keys, if you want peace and quiet. God knows how much that is. There is something magical about this place, but it is getting shouted down and drowned out by commercialism and tourist pandering that sometimes takes your breath away. 145 dollars for a campsite for one night. 15 dollars to walk through a museum that features a video from a documentary done 20 years ago, and some artifacts from a treasure hunt. Breaking Bad and ‘I’m With Stupid’ T-shirts. Unless you’re staying at an expensive resort, you won’t really have access to a great beach. Vacancies? In season? Now that’s comedy. Peace and quiet? Everywhere you go you’ll be bombarded with music, in various forms of live. Old Town Key West is homey. The people all through the Keys are amazing and helpful. Key West may be considered a rival to the resorts in Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands, and other places in the Caribbean, but it doesn’t quite rise to the level of services seen in those kinds of places. Sometimes it feels like the Jersey Shore, but the Jersey Shore actually does ‘Beach Town’ better, in season. Back on Florida’s amazing Interstates, as The Search’ continues, heading for the Gulf Coast. Listen all the way through for a little surprise, especially if you’re still in the frozen north. Sponsored by Brush Studio and Hydrus.(Editor’s Note: Got a message from my best friend in Arizona today. I didn’t just mispronounce Islamorada’s name, I butchered it. My deepest apologies to people who live there, who will have a good laugh I am sure. I won’t even attempt a phonetic spelling. I’ll just have to live with that massive mistake, although I’ll hate it.)  

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