CLYDE05 - Trista's PL8STORY Podcast Plate 61

CLYDE05 - Trista's PL8STORY Podcast Plate 61

Episode Transcript

Trista, Host: [00:00:00] Welcome to this week's episode of Trista's PL8STORY  (Plate Story)  Podcast. I'm Trista Polo from iwokeupawesome.com and I am your host. Each week, we learn the story behind that vanity plate. You know, the one you saw driving down the road... what did it say? What did it mean? Why did they choose it? 

Welcome. I'm so excited today to have Jeff. His license plate is CLYDE05. He is a man of the world. Let's get to know Jeff and his plate story. Welcome, Jeff.Trista: [00:00:32] It's great to have you, so tell me about your license plate and why you chose CLYDE05.

Jeff: [00:00:39] So you know, we all, we all will have loves of our vehicles. I certainly got into cars when I got my driver's license a long, long time ago.

Not that long but long time. So, and you, you always kind of named your car and for a lot of people, they either told me this, you know, you got to figure out, is it a boy or is it a girl? So my, my vehicles have always been guys. It's kind of like always been the thing. You know, we ride together and Clyde kind of became the name of the van.

And it's a 2005. So as we were looking to get a license plate for it I thought the right thing to do would be to get it a name tag that actually said the Van's name and gave it some identity there, not, not my own personal name, but so I did it for the van. 

Trista: [00:01:27] All right. That's perfect. Now why Clyde is, did the van sorta like give you a Clyde vibe?

Did you name it after something or someone? 

Jeff: [00:01:35] Yeah, actually you know, so I didn't know what the identity would be and you never really know for me to get this van, it was quite the journey to start with. So, I mean, here we are in 2020 in the middle of the quarantine and I started to look for a van and I found it and it was out in the middle of Ohio.

A really nice guy was selling it. And I made an agreement to fly out, to get the van and I flew out, bought it there. 

So on the drive home was the time where I really would figure out the identity of the car the van at that point and just kind of, you know, figure out w w who really am I driving with here? And Clyde kind of, that's the name that kind of came to me is the right vibe. It's a big van, so it's kinda like a Clydesdale van and I'm, I'm hoping maybe at some point I'll get a little trailer for it and add a little Dale motorcycle to the back or something along those lines.

But but yeah, so Clyde's kind of where it came down to.  

Trista: [00:02:36] Clyde like Clydesdale, like a big majestic van. I think that's a perfect name. I love it. Now you needed a van that you could really kind of make your own because you're spending quite a bit of time in this van, aren't you? 

Jeff: [00:02:52] Yeah. So it didn't really start out like that.

It, I, I, I worked for a real long time as we all have. And one of my life's dreams was to take a year to travel the country. I've been fortunate and I've done a lot of traveling around the world. And I've seen a lot of the country, but I wanted to take a year and get like a big bus or an RV or something and just travel.

I don't have the means for a buss or, an RV, and it takes a lot of gas. So I figured a van would be a better fit. 

Trista: [00:03:22] Wow. How did your whole travel bug start?

Jeff: [00:03:26] Yeah, I mean wow. So. I, I don't think my parents, but I was conceived in one state. I was born in another we moved every year. I was a kid. So I don't think I really ever went to the same school twice until high school.

We did a lot of travel around the States when I was a kid growing up and then raised my daughter with my ex-wife. We lived up in new England and we gave her a really great home for, you know, 15, 16 years before my divorce came along.

Daughters graduated from college now. She did a phenomenal job. I'm super proud of her and everything that she did to get herself there. 

Trista: [00:04:05] Yeah. That's awesome. Now, did your parents, were they in the military or what had them move so much? 

Jeff: [00:04:11] You, you go a lot of directions with that one.

It was a long time ago, but it was more sales. My father you know, he grew up in New York city and he lived here for a long, long time. And for him to be able to move up through life meant that he had to take all the opportunities that he could it was before the virtual world came around.

So what we're doing right now it wasn't something that was just easy and accessible back in the day. So, so we did a lot of moving to make those, those opportunities happen. 

Trista: [00:04:42] Well, you know, it's funny because I have a similar childhood to you. I moved it's think it's like 24-ish places. By the time I was 18 and people always asked me if I was a military brat and the answer was no, it's more like life, like life, life is why.

And so I totally and completely get that. I used to be able to name every one really quick in order, but it's been a long time since I've been able to do that. So it's a lot. Yeah, we're, we're sort of probably tied with how many, it sounds like the shortest I ever lived somewhere was two weeks. Cause my mom moved me, moved us into a place.

And then we were there a couple of weeks. She's like, yeah, this is not good enough for us. And we found another place and the longest I ever lived anywhere until I met my husband was two years. And then he has very deep roots. So when we met and got married, we lived in the same house for 20 some years and it sounds like you've seen a lot of the country and a lot of the world. And you've have you been to every state in the country? 

Jeff: [00:06:00] No. There's still one missing. It's Alaska. 

Maybe I'll fly with the license plate over there, or I don't know, but at this point I'm kind of happy with that. 

Trista: [00:06:14] Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really good because you actually had a goal to drive to every state, to be in every state with this van before the end of this year. I'd love to hear how your goal ended up. Did you make it? 

Jeff: [00:06:28] I sure did. And it was a really nice to be able to, to tie the story together with my cousin in Texas. So I got to see some family in Texas, which. I actually brought everything full circle from the driving and the road trips and everything I've been on. It's been a long journey. But yeah, I didn't start off the year thinking I was going to go to all 48 States.

I mean, it wasn't even until August that I, that I got the vehicle when that happened it was, it was you know, something that kind of, it, it developed, you know, it wasn't something that came up. And when I realized there was one of my trips, I was driving through the Michigan territories. And and I realized, you know, if I drive all the way to Seattle, like I'll have a chance at leaving one trip open to complete the entire 48 for the year.

I didn't really think I had a choice not to at this point. So many people following the story and that were involved. I really felt like it was something I needed to do. So. 

Trista: [00:07:36] Yeah. Now you have had quite a following. You have an Instagram account where you post regular updates.

You've met a lot of people on your journey and you have other people in other communities of yours following. Tell me a little about the community of people coming along with you in spirit on your travels. 

Jeff: [00:07:56] It's funny because it, as you mentioned that I was being attacked, I play online games and one of my friends, I think , must've known that I was in the middle of the interview because he's attacking my castle

Trust me. It's a long story, but anyway, I'll get to him later. I I've been playing an online game for maybe a year or two now. And I've made some contacts from there and I play with people around the world and around the country. And as well. Even just through my Instagram account, I've been fortunate to meet and be introduced to people that I would have never had the opportunity to meet, had it not been for social media and the connections that you can make there.

And along the way, you know, people started letting me know Hey man, I've been watching I've been watching your story. It's great to follow along with you. And whether it was backpacking through South America or Asia that they felt like they were along with me. It really meant a lot.

So is the story goes, it's intertwined quite a bit. But, but yeah, it's a big community and I'm really happy to be able to share it with everybody that goes along with me. 

Trista: [00:09:10] Yeah, that's really awesome. And so you have this this thing on the back windshield of your van that helps you kind of track your progress and has been part of the community interaction.

Can you share a little bit about that? 

Jeff: [00:09:24] Yeah, so you know, for years, I think as we all drive on the highway, we all have a different game that we play in our cars where, you know, we try and find a, the alphabet on license plates or, or we try and, you know, find a sticker or something. But as a kid I'd always seen the buses and the RVs that on the back have those big, giant maps and those they would put in a sticker every time that the RV or the bus went to that state.

And when I got the van, I knew that that was something that I wanted to have for the van. And again, the body wasn't sure with the colors, but I knew that the sticker was definitely going to work. So I put it on the back window. And as I started going through States, I realized how special it was to be able to include peopleand allow them to put the sticker on from wherever I was.

So, for example my uncle Greg is from the state of Ohio. And when I got the van, I drove back through Pennsylvania where he lives now with my aunt. And I asked him to put on the Ohio sticker for me being a native Ohioan and he was able to do that. And along the journey, I've asked people to honor me and, and their state and, and put on the sticker from where they're from or, or for whatever the reason might be and ask them to join the journey along the way.

One of the stickers is not from a state that somebody started off in it came from again, that gaming community. And when I had met a good friend from the game in Virginia and he helped me out with that sticker. So there's a little story about that one as well, but yeah, lots of stories from the stickers and it, and it's been a absolutely great journey.

I I'm, I'm excited to tell you more about it. 

Trista: [00:11:15] Yeah. I mean, let's talk a little about some of the people that you've met I'd love to hear some of the highlights of the stories of the people that you've interacted with on the road. 

Jeff: [00:11:24] Yeah. So you know, I, I I'll just start with, you know, where I got the van and you know, it was really kind of my first story and my first interaction with somebody from there was, you know, that when I flew to Ohio, I spent the night at a friend's house out by JFK airport and then took the subway, you know, in the morning to get to the airport.

I didn't have a vehicle at this point. I was, you know, carless living in New York city. And spent the night at a friend's house by the airport, took the subway to the airport. The next morning, flew to Ohio, got the van went to the, the RNV and then you know, set up everything else with the gentleman who was selling it to me, by the time I got out of there, it was kind of late.

Now you can sleep in the van, there's, you know, a bed in the back. But it, you know, it was late, still wanted to grab a meal. And I had been playing the game and I'd spoken to one guy and I knew he was in the Ohio area. So I sent him a message and he said, get over to the house, man. And it was amazing. So I went over to his house.

He made sure that I had everything I needed before I got back on the road. We had a bite to eat and I was able to spend some time with him and you know, that guy was Barker. You know, he plays under a game name of Vader, but, you know, just to be able to meet him there, have them give me a place to stay that first night in the van away from home was it was really special.

I got to meet his family. He actually, and I, I still got to return it. He gave me a TV. I'm like, who does this? Since this guy just, you know, I play a video game with, and I brought the van to him. There's a TV in the back. And I was trying to tinker her with it. And he said, nah, I got a better one for ya.

And he got a TV and he gave me the secondary TV and he said, go ahead and use this one in the van. So I I've since upgraded even more so in the back, but the TV and I want to get it back to him, but he, you know, again, great guy, really nice meeting. It was, it was really cool. Cool. 

Trista: [00:13:27] So you're telling me that the people that you game with are real, like they really exist in the world.

These are like human flesh people. I'm always skeptical about 

Jeff: [00:13:38] that. And we, we actually wonder the same thing about each other. I mean, not to get into a whole gaming community thing. It's a little like Dungeons and dragons for adults, but you know, there's, there's a lot of people here that, that they sit there and they say you know, Hey, is this really your account?

Are you a developer? Do you work for the game system? And it's not until you really meet somebody in person that you can feel comfortable. There's a lot of people that you kind of meet through like Facebook and other accounts where you get to learn their family and you know, a little bit more about them.

But, but yeah, it definitely is something interesting there. 

Trista: [00:14:13] Wow, that's really cool. So tell me another story from the road. 

Jeff: [00:14:18] Yeah, I mean, geez. So another one I just kind of bring up real quick was you know, when I was going through Virginia and this was another guy who I think maybe you want to talk to him because his life is pretty darn interesting.

And you know, he's another guy with a vanity plate, his, his captain Morgan, which happens to be his game name. And he's from Virginia, he's got a beard the size of Texas. He's a really great guy. And we were playing together and one day he had to get off the phone real quick.

And you know, we play the game at all sorts of times, so it's not uncommon somebody has to get off the phone. But the next day we found out that his wife had passed in a car accident. And 

Trista: [00:15:04] so 

Jeff: [00:15:04] sorry. Yeah. You know, it's tragic, they're really young couple, very much in love and you know, the whole, the whole kingdom that I play in we really came together people that you don't know if we're real or not sent the flowers and a blanket you know, some nice gifts to him during the the services.

And when I met him in person it was special because he's really a good friend on top of another gamer. But we were talking on the phone with somebody from the UK and Silly's her name. And she says, well, you got to have captain Morgan put on the sticker. And you know, that was kind of our plan already.

And I had brought a $2 bill. I've been giving out $2 bills for years for him to take a picture with him. And he actually said that he had a sticker made up for his wife and he put her picture with a wreath of sunflowers on the van. Wow. You know, and she traveled that journey with us. And for him to be able to follow and see her and all these different places from national parks to from coast to coast, all these special places, special times, it, it was it was something special.

And, you know, cap was with me the whole way. A lot of these guys. We're all there for each other. You know, I've received cards of support and messages and stuff from people around the world on it. But it's it's really, it's a, it's an amazing journey.

And you know, I I've been able to meet people and their families on the road and my family been able to do a lot of special things, but to be able to have her travel that trip with us and know that she got to see all those different places was special. 

Trista: [00:16:53] Yeah, for sure. Oh my goodness. And I think I saw a picture on your Instagram of that, and it's really special that you are able to honor her memory.

She'll be with you on all of your journeys from now on. Yeah. And what a special way to to remember her. 

Jeff: [00:17:13] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It, it, you know, it's important to me that, that when I travel, it's more than just staying at a nice hotel or doing those things that, you know, everybody kind of checks off their bucket list.

You know, I wanted to go to Yellowstone and see the geysers and everything, but it it's more to know that I get to share that with people. And I started traveling alone years back. And I had an ex-girlfriend that recommended that I solo travel. I don't know she was giving me a message. You know, Jeff, I think you'd really liked vacation alone.

By yourself! Totally solo! Solo!

Trista: [00:17:58] Love. 

Jeff: [00:17:58] you know, she and I meet, we had just come back from an amazing trip ourselves. We road tripped up through big Sur and the Redwood forest on the West coast, I said, but it's not that special if I can't share it with somebody.

And she said, you you'll find a way, you always find ways to share things. And and it's meant a lot. My first solo trip, I flew to Paris with a geez. I don't know. It had to been 30 year old map of the city of Paris that my grandparents used. And it had my grandparents handwriting on the map and I followed their handwriting through the city of Paris all by myself and kind of like tracking it down just to kind of be in their footsteps again.

Trista: [00:18:40] That's so cool. 

Jeff: [00:18:42] My grandparents are maybe the most amazing people. Their stories make the little snippets of things that I can talk about. Their stories are so much more grand. They're so amazing.

And they're, they they're really amazing people. My grandfather was an innovator in technology and aerospace. You know, I, I, I believe he's honored in the Smithsonian Aaron space museum. And my grandmother was a, a historical genealogist and worked with the topography and maps of the, the early American you know, territories and States and, and, and just really amazing people. So it's nice that they've been on the journey with me as well. Yeah. 

That's very cool. Now you've said we a lot, but yet you said you travel alone. So who has been on various different legs of these journeys with you? Well, 

yeah, in the, in the van it's been, you know, different people on different legs.

One of the leg, so it was really memorable to discuss was I drove with my mother from Carolina to California. And you know, my mom's my mom, so I'm not giving away any age details, but you know, I'm middle aged and she's middle-aged plus one child in age. We didn't stay at any hotels. You know, we slept in the van. We kept it moving from place to place the place and stops along the way. And to be able to go coast to coast with my mother was truly special. We are able to go back to the city I was born in and stopped by some old cities that I used to live in as a child, which interestingly enough, we talked about all the different places we've lived. I've never really been able to revisit any of the places that, that I grew up as a child. I went back to Hawaii and my mother, had given me the address to our, my childhood home in Hawaii, where I lived for a year.

And it was in a gated community. So she let me know Jeff, there's no way that you're going to be able to get into the gated community. And the is tough to start with. I mean, it's all Hawaii, Kai wide, there's all sorts of names that you don't understand to start with. But I made it to Hawaii. I, I get to the gated community and I got in, so I convinced the crew to let me in.

And I made my way through this community. And it's a maze of houses that all look exactly the same, but it was on a golf course. I remember the stories from when I was growing up and I get there and I start taking pictures in front of the house and I'm sure they're wondering, and I'm taking selfies and doing everything I can.

And when I was flying home, I had a layover in LA and my mother texts me and she says, Oh honey, I wanted to let you know. I'm sorry, had the numbers transposed. It was the wrong address.

Okay. So mom, I love you. I'm sure you're listening.

Trista: [00:21:46] If they all look the same, that it was probably close enough.

Jeff: [00:21:53] We went to Denver and you know, that's where I was born and she thought she could find the whole house that I grew up in and where I was born. And so when we were driving the van, she couldn't, she couldn't, we drove around for, it had to been a couple hours. And we drove this neighborhood, that neighborhood, I think it was by this school made me stuff changes.

Like you said, you know, I I'm in my forties, so I'm almost 50, you know, it kind of in that ballpark. And when you get into that area, like things changed in that many years. So, you know, I don't blame her for not knowing the address. Well, boy, there's San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Santa Rosa. I've got a lot of places.

I'm excited to see one of the houses I grew up in 

Trista: [00:22:43] someday. Yeah. I'm just thinking about the fact that I don't, I can't think of one house I've gone back to after we moved out, I had one house I lived in, we actually sold it to a friend's family. And so I was back there visiting them, but it was always very weird to be in my house with their stuff in it.

You know, it was never, it was never comfortable to be there pudding. Yeah. But I don't think I've ever been back to, except for that, for that reason. To a house that I was in or lived in. And I think I almost prefer it that way because I can remember it the way. A house that I really remember was the house I was living in when my parents split up, it was in Louisiana in Baton Rouge and that house, I very clear memories of as a child . And I I saw that from like a Google map photo recently, and it was just different enough that I was like, really?

That's where I live. Doesn't look familiar. You know, so I think it's better to just keep the pristine memory rather than ruining it with real life.

Jeff: [00:24:05] It's funny. We have so many stories. My mom's told me, like, I guess I was a pretty mischievous kid. So she's told me so many stories of like pulling away from the house to see me hanging out the third floor window. You know, just all sorts of, there was one time. This I'm still upset over this one.

She left me dangling by a fence upside down, hanging by my underwear, around my ankles with a Doberman on the fence. And she left me to go get the camera. So she could take a picture. Now she wasn't in danger. Right. But I mean, come on, like, like 

Trista: [00:24:54] now Jacksonville and interesting, but I want to know how you ended up in that particular situation.

That's what I want to know. 

Jeff: [00:25:03] I mean, I think something went over the fence when I was a kid, my brother and I were a year apart. We were living in San Diego at this time. And my mother, again, she's a great mother, most loving woman in the world. She wasn't always like the most on top of us though. So you know, she would allow us to do a lot of things that maybe you probably wouldn't recommend to kids nowadays.

And you know, so we were playing in the backyard and something must've gone over the fence. So I tried climbing over the fence to get it to the other side where the dog was. And when I went to swing my leg over the top, we've all had this happen. Right? I mean, come on. It's happened to you, right?

This happened to everybody I'm sure. So when I did it, it caught one seat of my pants and I fell backwards and I was hanging upside down. Now my brother who wasn't as articulate as I was at that point cause we were probably like three ish in that ballpark went inside to alert my mom and he didn't speak clear enough to, for her to understand that she needed to grab the camera before she came outside.

So when she saw, she went back 

Trista: [00:26:12] for that, Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So, you know, I'm just thinking about we're around the same age and I'm remembering how many afternoons I spent days I spent outside, not in front of my house, running around a neighborhood at the age of seven at the age of seven. And that house I was telling you about. in Louisiana, I had a best friend... her name was Candice -shout out to Candice- and we would just run around the neighborhood alone. The two of us, no adults, no older siblings. She's an only child. I was an only child, till I was 13. So at this point, neither of us had any like older siblings keeping an eye out for us.

There was a house that either was, I think it was being built. We spent hours hanging out in this mid-construction house. You know, very dangerous situations for kids. So my sister is 35 and I remember when she was a kid older than seven, like a few years older than that. And I was very nervous about her playing outside by herself. So even in the 15 years between when I was that age and she was that age, something must've changed. Because I was left to my own devices all summer long.

 I will say for the record, I have never caught myself trying to get over a fence and gotten into that particular situation.

But I wasn't quite as adventurous as you are. 

Jeff: [00:27:46] My mother gave me a hard time. I guess hitchhiking to school is frowned upon when you're in kindergarten and the first time she let me take the bus and tight. 

Trista: [00:27:56] Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Now you, you have, I was on your Instagram and I saw that you have had some companion, more of the four legged furry friend kind of category.

So being a dog lover myself, we have to talk about that for a couple of minutes. Yeah. 

Jeff: [00:28:15] That Fiona is my companion. She's a, the copilot and Fiona. I rescued from a shelter seven years ago when I, when I was going through my divorce. And we lived together in Astoria New York in Queens for, for several years.

And on one of those years, we took a road trip to Texas and it was just Fiona and I, and the convertible. And so this has got to be about seven years ago. And on that trip, I bought a journal and we were talking about memories and it's kind of funny that we were talking about memories because, you know, I started journaling.

To try and keep track of those. Both of my grandparents had Alzheimer's or dementia or some form of that, and memories are really important. So when I went on that trip with Fiona to Texas to visit that cousin that I told you about the finished that sticker for me, put that last sticker on for me. When we were coming back, I bought the first journal in St. Louis. So I've started journaling years and years and years ago with her on road trips. She's been swimming in the Mississippi, the Colorado she's swimming just about any river that you can think of.

She swam all the way around Manhattan not one trip, but in the East river. And a lot of people are surprised to hear that I saw your face. I saw your face, even the Hudson, she swam in. But she likes it. And she does well. She smells great. And again, maybe a little more adventurous than some people are used to, but she's a hardy dog.

I mean, she, she makes it, she's a tough dog. So she's kind of dog. Is she? She's a mix. It's been everybody's guests. She's got that, that black eye, like a Peetey from the little Rascals. So it depends on what generation you're from. A lot of the kids nowadays say that she looks like the target dog. So if you've been on the Instagram, you can tell me which one she looks like ears kind of like a baby Yoda.

So, you know, she's she's all white. Literally that, that the eyepatch is like a pirates patch. So, you know I don't know. It's just a, some sort of mix and I'm trying to look at her right now to get an idea. She's a dog, she's a mutt-a-gree. 

Trista: [00:30:41] Well, you've had so many amazing adventures. I definitely want to recommend that people follow you on Instagram. So I'm going to have a link to that in the blog and the show notes and the description and all that. Because you definitely do a wonderful job of highlighting your adventures and the people you meet

and what's, what's next for you and your van? 

Jeff: [00:31:03] So I'm hoping to put together a little some stories from the rides with Clyde and maybe put that together into a book.

Hopefully make some great people on the road again, and we'll see how that goes and then potentially make our way up to Canada and Alaska. You know, we've got a lot of hopes to, to meet people. Another guy from the game is getting married and he's recommended we come out and you know, spend his wedding with him and see the family out that way in California.

So speed our way out there. And kind of see how those journeys go.  

Trista: [00:31:37] Thanks so much, Jeff. It was great to have you on 

Jeff: [00:31:39] thanks, Trista. If you can't be good be well.

Trista: [00:31:41] I love it. 

Jeff: [00:31:43] All right. Bye. 

Trista, Host: [00:31:45] Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Trista's PL8STORY podcast. Please subscribe to Trista's PL8STORY podcast to get the story behind all those vanity plates, driving with you on the road. And if you would like to nominate the owner of a license plate, including you... Or visit any of our partners and sponsors come and see us www.pl8story.com. That's P L number eight story.com and give us the details. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a review and give us a share. I'm Trista Polo wishing you well on the road to your next adventure.