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The Friendly Empire
I return to the United States for the first time since moving away and quickly remember what America does—and doesn’t—feel like. Jonathan continues hitchhiking toward Canada, collecting stories that range from deeply moving to completely bizarre: strangers who pray for him, unexpected generosity, Native ceremonies, truck stops, and conversations that reveal just how differently people experience the same country. Two very different journeys through America, happening at the same time.
Follow Jonathan Wiest's journey hitchhiking across the United States on Instagram @jonathqn.w
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Transcript
Hi, Jef.
Speaker:This is onefjef in Boston.
Speaker:I'm most of the way through the recent episode.
Speaker:Um, I'm hoping that Jonathan will quickly get to the West Coast where him using
Speaker:the word hella as a, his only general intensifier will make a lot more sense.
Speaker:Um, but he is definitely a smart young man, and it's really kinda
Speaker:cool to hear this travelogue sort of as an interstitial with your
Speaker:own, uh, more slow-paced travelogue.
Speaker:Uh, I don't know.
Speaker:It's very cool.
Speaker:This is USA Dispatch Number One.
Speaker:USA Dispatch One rolling out at dawn.
Speaker:USA Dispatch One, keep it low and strong.
Speaker:USA Dispatch One.
Speaker:USA Dispatch One, hold the line.
Speaker:Then, then move on Hello.
Speaker:Hola.
Speaker:Bonjour, et cetera.
Speaker:As the title suggests, I am currently in the United States.
Speaker:I'm in a suburb outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaker:Actually, I'm in my childhood bedroom.
Speaker:It's full of boxes and stuff that I couldn't manage to get rid
Speaker:of or throw away before I left, and it's still overwhelming.
Speaker:When I arrived in the United States last week, I saw these boxes and I was
Speaker:like, "Oh, I forgot how much stuff I ended up keeping." I wish I had time
Speaker:to go through it again and throw more stuff away or give more stuff away or
Speaker:whatever before I leave next week, but I don't think that that's going to happen.
Speaker:The stuff is just going to sit here in boxes until the next time I'm back
Speaker:in Cleveland, in my mother's house, and I'll be overwhelmed by it again.
Speaker:It'll be a perpetual overwhelming machine.
Speaker:Something like that.
Speaker:I got back into the US last Wednesday, and it was weird at first, but
Speaker:it feels somewhat normal now.
Speaker:It's funny how quick that happens.
Speaker:It feels normal aside from the fact that I don't live here anymore.
Speaker:One of the first things I noticed when I landed at the airport was
Speaker:the number of people wearing ugly and ridiculous T-shirts everywhere.
Speaker:I saw one guy wearing a T-shirt that said, "I fought for beer, bacon, and
Speaker:freedom," which, I mean, no comment.
Speaker:I also saw another guy, not making this up, had a T-shirt that said,
Speaker:"It is my instinct to chase pussy," and there was an illustration of
Speaker:a cartoon dog on it chasing a cat.
Speaker:Hilarious.
Speaker:Oy.
Speaker:And also so many shorts.
Speaker:So, so many shorts, which is a particularly American
Speaker:phenomenon, these shorts.
Speaker:Not that other countries don't wear shorts, but not nearly on the
Speaker:scale that Americans wear shorts.
Speaker:And I, as you can probably guess, I'm not a fan of shorts.
Speaker:Yes, it was hot outside, but the US is also the most air-conditioned
Speaker:country in the world, so it feels unnecessary to wear shorts unless you're
Speaker:working outside or playing soccer.
Speaker:Those are the only two.
Speaker:I'm not saying I'm a fashion icon by any stretch of the imagination,
Speaker:but I like to look nice when I go out in the world, you know?
Speaker:Most Americans don't seem to care, or actually maybe they think that shorts
Speaker:and hideous T-shirts are fashionable, but I'm here to tell you that they're not.
Speaker:Also, people are large in the United States.
Speaker:We all know this, but it's still a bit shocking when you've been in a country
Speaker:where the people aren't as large to return to the largeness of Americans.
Speaker:Speaking of the United States, my German friend Jonathan continues
Speaker:his hitchhiking trek from Laredo, Texas to Vancouver, Canada.
Speaker:I believe he's currently somewhere in Montana, so he's making progress.
Speaker:He continues to send me recordings from the road, and it feels appropriate
Speaker:on this, the eve of the United States 250th birthday, to release an
Speaker:episode about the United States in 2026 as seen and experienced through
Speaker:the eyes of a 20-year-old German hitchhiker, and also some rambling
Speaker:thoughts from me interspersed, because you know it's my podcast, so.
Speaker:But I really do think you're going to enjoy hearing about
Speaker:Jonathan's experiences from the road because it's fascinating stuff.
Speaker:He's having a real life experience here, and I couldn't do it, but I'm 52
Speaker:years old, but I don't think I could even do it when I was 20 years old.
Speaker:I don't think I have the kind of balls for that, but more
Speaker:power to Jonathan for doing it.
Speaker:So thank you, Jonathan, for sending me these messages and including me and all of
Speaker:you, my podcast audience, on this journey.
Speaker:God bless America.
Speaker:Today I got a lot of blessings.
Speaker:And down south in Oklahoma where I started my day, some kid pulled up
Speaker:to me and asked if I need any help.
Speaker:Unfortunately, he went south, but we had a little chat and in the end he
Speaker:asked me if he could like pray for me.
Speaker:And I said yes.
Speaker:And I thought he will do like all the other ones, like just
Speaker:going along, just asking.
Speaker:And I figured that maybe it's a kindness in Oklahoma and way to
Speaker:say God bless you or whatever.
Speaker:But this kid started to pray.
Speaker:He touched my shoulder, looked on the ground, and sent a prayer to God.
Speaker:Went on for a good two minutes.
Speaker:He, he said stuff like, "Ah, I hope…" Like he was sending good
Speaker:Christians my way, asking God to look over me, wished me the best,
Speaker:wished me luck, or asked for luck.
Speaker:That's what he did.
Speaker:A minute later, a truck pulled up.
Speaker:This guy must have, must have saw us praying, or him praying.
Speaker:I was just standing next to him.
Speaker:Didn't said a word, handed me 40 bucks out of… Pulled down the
Speaker:window, handed me 40 bucks, went on.
Speaker:N- nothing.
Speaker:I was like, "How, how are you, sir? Blah, blah, blah." He,
Speaker:"Nah." He nothing, nothing.
Speaker:Just 40 bucks.
Speaker:I don't know, he liked the prayer or something.
Speaker:And actually, a good Christian came along.
Speaker:A fucking pastor picked me up and dropped me outside of Oklahoma just right now
Speaker:And I'm drinking a Mexican drink.
Speaker:This, this Yaritos, Yaritos, I don't know.
Speaker:Anyways, cheers, Jef.
Speaker:I spent the last several days with my family in Niagara Falls,
Speaker:Canada, and it was super fun, and the falls are, of course, amazing.
Speaker:But Niagara Falls is like a mecca for tourists, North American tourists.
Speaker:So, so many people.
Speaker:So, so many screaming kids.
Speaker:So, so many souvenir stores, etc., etc. And I don't care for touristy places.
Speaker:I don't like standing next to a bunch of other people taking photos of the exact
Speaker:same things they're taking photos of.
Speaker:I start to feel like a sheep, you know?
Speaker:And not in, like, the cute, fluffy sheep way, although I am cute and fluffy.
Speaker:It's also full of casinos and tourist attractions that are
Speaker:entirely unrelated to the falls.
Speaker:And everywhere you go, someone is trying to sell you something or other.
Speaker:Often, they're ugly t-shirts to show people back home where you've been by
Speaker:wearing yet another hideous t-shirt.
Speaker:Probably with shorts.
Speaker:But the Maid of the Mist is still one of the more remarkable
Speaker:tourist experiences in the world.
Speaker:For those who don't know, the Maid of the Mist is a boat tour
Speaker:at Niagara Falls that's been going on for about 100 years, I think.
Speaker:And it takes you right to the base of all three waterfalls.
Speaker:Yes, there are three waterfalls at Niagara Falls, not just two.
Speaker:And I don't really understand why they classify the third Bridal Falls
Speaker:as a fall, as a separate fall, falls.
Speaker:But they do.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Whatever.
Speaker:Do your thing.
Speaker:Anyway, the Maid of the Mist takes you right to the base of the waterfalls.
Speaker:And at one point, you're right in the middle of the Horseshoe
Speaker:Falls, which is kind of insane.
Speaker:Like, it's insanely windy.
Speaker:There's mist everywhere.
Speaker:You get soaking wet.
Speaker:But it's also, like, exhilarating in a controlled chaos kind of way.
Speaker:Like a roller coaster, where you know you're actually safe,
Speaker:but you feel profoundly unsafe.
Speaker:You understand.
Speaker:We also took a helicopter ride, which was exhilarating as well, but in a
Speaker:non-wet and non-windy way, fortunately.
Speaker:Oh, and what was your favorite thing about, uh, Niagara Falls?
Speaker:Well, I gotta say the waterfall.
Speaker:What was it about the waterfall that captured your- Um, it was probably,
Speaker:like, all the water that was falling.
Speaker:Go on.
Speaker:It was a nice color, and it was really misty, and there was a lot of water.
Speaker:Keep going.
Speaker:Uh, it, it, it, it was really loud and impressive.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Which one in particular?
Speaker:There were three there.
Speaker:The, the horseshoe part.
Speaker:That was the definitely the coolest.
Speaker:So you liked the Canadian Falls- Yeah … better than the American Falls?
Speaker:Well, the Canadian Falls are just bigger, and the horseshoe shape is
Speaker:way more iconic than the American.
Speaker:And also, the falls are taller, and they have more water that goes over them.
Speaker:What was the favorite thing that you ate?
Speaker:Probably the fajitas.
Speaker:The fajitas were really good.
Speaker:He- uh, f- first time sizzling fajitas.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was kind of scary at the start because I dropped a couple
Speaker:pieces of rice on my leg, and I think I still have little marks-
Speaker:Oh … 'cause they burned me real bad.
Speaker:But after everything started to cool down, it was very good.
Speaker:It's like a little bit of a, of a souvenir from Canada, the sizzling
Speaker:burn on your leg from the fajitas.
Speaker:You would say that.
Speaker:I just did.
Speaker:I mean, yeah.
Speaker:You're able to say that, you know?
Speaker:We all are.
Speaker:Any- anyone may say that.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For 250 years of the United States, that's what the freedom that we have
Speaker:fought for has been about- Yeah … is being able to say, "The fajita burn
Speaker:on my leg is a souvenir from Canada."
Speaker:Uh-huh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Anything else to say?
Speaker:Um, no.
Speaker:250 years is not all that long in either the grand scheme of things or
Speaker:the not-so-grand scheme of things.
Speaker:The United States is a young country, and the rumors of its
Speaker:demise have not been exaggerated.
Speaker:It's been coming for a long time.
Speaker:It just took a narcissistic, sociopathic reality TV show host grifter with
Speaker:a gold toilet to bring it to its knees or to accelerate that decline.
Speaker:Because as I've said many times on this podcast, I don't see a way out of this.
Speaker:The history of the United States is one of corruption and bribery and a
Speaker:false narrative about how everyone can achieve the American dream, whatever
Speaker:that is, if only they'd work harder.
Speaker:But now, in 2026, the bribery is essentially legalized.
Speaker:The corruption is omnipresent, and the American narrative is falling apart.
Speaker:The idea that the United States government is for the people, by the
Speaker:people is almost laughable at this point.
Speaker:The United States government is run for the highest bidders to the
Speaker:highest bidders, and no amount of voting, hard work, whatever, is
Speaker:going to fundamentally change this.
Speaker:An armed revolution, maybe, but with a military the size of the
Speaker:United States, the odds of that working out are also rather slim.
Speaker:And I also should asterisk this with a disclaimer saying I am not endorsing
Speaker:armed revolution in the United States.
Speaker:I'm simply offering it as a potential solution to a
Speaker:problem that seems intractable.
Speaker:But happy two hundred and fiftieth birthday all the same, America.
Speaker:I'm glad I was born and raised here, but I'm also glad I no
Speaker:longer live here because shit is getting ugly and more expensive.
Speaker:Hinze.
Speaker:I probably pronounced it wrong, which means hello, I think, in Muscogee.
Speaker:Yesterday, I had a very interesting day.
Speaker:In the morning, I got picked up by a lady, and she just brought me up
Speaker:the road to a more fortunate spot.
Speaker:And she offered me another ride at three because she's about to go north.
Speaker:It was about to go north from where I was.
Speaker:And she said, "Yeah, if you still be there, just text me." And I was.
Speaker:I didn't go to ride.
Speaker:So I texted her, and she actually came by.
Speaker:She came by in a different car than she picked me up in the morning in a huge GMC.
Speaker:And in that GMC, there were her three daughters plus a friend.
Speaker:And then we went up to pick up her niece.
Speaker:And on the ride, she asked me if, if I want to come to a fair, if I
Speaker:want to come to a Muscogee ceremony.
Speaker:I figured, yeah, could be interesting, but I was ex-expecting
Speaker:something very different than that was I was about to encounter.
Speaker:Because when we arrived there, I figured this is a typical American fair
Speaker:like the ones you see in a movie with rodeo, baseball, football tournament,
Speaker:with roller coasters, all that.
Speaker:And we stayed there for a good five hours, me with her family.
Speaker:I don't know why she took me there, but we had fun.
Speaker:After some time, I felt like I'm the cousin from Germany
Speaker:from those little girls.
Speaker:They were between, like, six and fourteen.
Speaker:It was a very fun and interesting evening, and then she dropped me off
Speaker:at the next gas station where I'm still at, which is kinda unfortunate, but
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I went to an American fair and I felt like I'm in a movie, and whoever that woman
Speaker:was, her name was Ashley, she was awesome.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why you take a 20-year-old with your little daughters to, um, an American fair?
Speaker:Never asked that question.
Speaker:She, she just cool as fuck, I guess.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm trying to do some distance today.
Speaker:Slept at a football stadium to find some shelter from a thunderstorm.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, greeting from Muscogee Nation.
Speaker:Yeah, once again, I misjudged my time, and, um, it's gonna be a short one this
Speaker:week because I'm at home with the family and the holiday and all the other things,
Speaker:and I just don't have time right now to put together a very long episode.
Speaker:But I've gotten messages from people that say they like the
Speaker:shorter episodes, like this one.
Speaker:Hi, Jeff.
Speaker:This is the other 1F Jeff in Boston.
Speaker:Uh, I just listened to your podcast, and yes, I wanted to say
Speaker:yes, I like the shorter episodes.
Speaker:Those are really fun.
Speaker:If I see that an episode of any podcast is 20 minutes, I'm like,
Speaker:"Hell yeah, I'll just listen to that while I'm doing whatever and
Speaker:I won't have to get involved in a two-and-a-half-hour thing or whatever."
Speaker:Also, thank you for introducing me to psychedelic cumbia.
Speaker:That is, uh, incredible and a big rabbit hole for me to dive into.
Speaker:Anyway, love what you're doing.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:Thank you to Jeff, 1F Jeff, other 1F Jeff, fan of the pod, was on the pod.
Speaker:Appreciate the message.
Speaker:I appreciate the feedback.
Speaker:I appreciate the message and the feedback.
Speaker:How about that?
Speaker:And thank you for continuing to listen.
Speaker:I appreciate that as well.
Speaker:As always, if you have any questions, comments, or feedback for the podcast,
Speaker:you can email me at onefjefpod@gmail.com, or pick up your old phone and leave
Speaker:a voicemail at 1-669-241-5882.
Speaker:I got there eventually, the octave.
Speaker:1-669-241-5882. Give it a call.
Speaker:Leave a message.
Speaker:You can hear your voice on the podcast.
Speaker:Probably.
Speaker:Probably.
Speaker:I don't make promises on this podcast.
Speaker:I just make, uh, declarations that may or may not come true.
Speaker:Also, please like, rate, subscribe, and review.
Speaker:Those things help.
Speaker:That's all.
Speaker:Mediocrity is a national religion because there ain't no other option here.
Speaker:If I do say it's similar to Europe, to some extent it is, but at least in Europe
Speaker:we have other options to choose from.
Speaker:We have other systems to believe in.
Speaker:We have a structure, like a class awareness.
Speaker:This is almost a taboo in the US.
Speaker:It sounds too much like communism, I guess.
Speaker:Like the individual, individual's God, and the collective is communism,
Speaker:or it's just, it's just a taboo.
Speaker:They're not aware of structures.
Speaker:I had this thought because I had… I met two people today.
Speaker:First, this morning, I met Jerry, a thirty-two-year-old guy from
Speaker:Colorado, burning copper in the woods close to where I slept.
Speaker:I invited him for breakfast.
Speaker:Look, he used to be a fentanyl junkie, y- but he used to be hooked on, or
Speaker:was hooked on synthetic opioids till he was… Since he was nineteen.
Speaker:Got clean two years ago, went to jail multiple times.
Speaker:Even in jail, they sedated him with s- even stronger opioids he took on the
Speaker:streets, and when he got out, he had a prescription to get it at the pharmacy.
Speaker:It's the irony.
Speaker:He went here to get clean.
Speaker:He has three kids, and he's been clean for two days.
Speaker:Strong man.
Speaker:I, I… To be honest, I admire Jerry.
Speaker:He's really put like his… Just doing dumpster diving, trying to level up a bit.
Speaker:Went from the streets to a camping trailer, where he's
Speaker:living with his wife right now.
Speaker:His kids, he's still not allowed to raise his kids, but he thinks if he
Speaker:works hard enough, he will one day.
Speaker:And the same goes for the other kid who picked me up the other day,
Speaker:an eighteen-year-old Afro-American kid from Lamar, Missouri.
Speaker:Nice guy.
Speaker:Also somebody I will keep in mind.
Speaker:He will take me to Kansas City actually today.
Speaker:He's gonna… Just gonna pick me up.
Speaker:But he believes if he works strong enough, he will make it to the NFL.
Speaker:How high is the chance?
Speaker:One percent?
Speaker:One fucking percent maybe.
Speaker:He's still in high school.
Speaker:He got a scholarship or almost got an offer from Lincoln University recently.
Speaker:He's the, the third fastest kid in Missouri.
Speaker:Like, he's… He has some talent, definitely.
Speaker:He may has a chance.
Speaker:Larry uh, Jerry has no fucking ID.
Speaker:He can't even work legally.
Speaker:They took it away from him.
Speaker:He has no money to get his paperwork done The structure keeps him where
Speaker:he's at, and as long as he believes, he will still think all this is his fault.
Speaker:All the sufferings, all the people that died around him, everything,
Speaker:he thinks it's their fault, it's his fault where he ended up.
Speaker:And the college, like the John, like the black kiddo, thinks it's his, it's
Speaker:in his power to make it to the NFL.
Speaker:He really thinks so.
Speaker:He thinks if he works hard enough and puts in the hours, this is his only way
Speaker:out of the trenches, and it probably is.
Speaker:That's the fucked up part about it.
Speaker:But if you only believe in that, and it's a taboo to turn an eye to other
Speaker:options, then shit won't change.
Speaker:It just keeps the system running.
Speaker:You don't even need to enforce power
Speaker:to make people align with the, the system.
Speaker:They believe so strongly in it that they do it themselves.
Speaker:They are the ones keeping the system running.
Speaker:But yeah, God bless they make it, I guess, both of them.
Speaker:They've been very nice.
Speaker:Very nice.
Speaker:All of y'all are so fucking nice, it's insane
Speaker:Yeah, love As soon as I finish recording this, I'm going to post the photos and
Speaker:videos of the chaos after the Mexico-South Korea World Cup game that I experienced.
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Speaker:Capital E elite, patreon.com/onefjef.
Speaker:And to my continuing Patreon subscribers, thank you so much.
Speaker:I love you.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Te quiero.
Speaker:And please do share this with just one person.
Speaker:Let's be, let's aim low.
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Speaker:Share it with your best friend.
Speaker:Send this episode to your best friend and say, "Hey, have you
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Speaker:Did you get that all?
Speaker:I hope you wrote it down.
Speaker:You can rewind it if you need to write it down.
Speaker:A parking lot memo.
Speaker:No place to sleep.
Speaker:It is half past 11.
Speaker:I'm very tired.
Speaker:I haven't slept last night.
Speaker:Or I did for like, well, like I laid down on a bench and
Speaker:closed my eyes for half an hour.
Speaker:That's was basically my sleep.
Speaker:It was too small to actually fit my entire body, so parts were like just hanging.
Speaker:Um, but I'm fine.
Speaker:I'm happy.
Speaker:Live is to survive.
Speaker:Survive is to find meaning in the suffering of nature.
Speaker:So I'm good.
Speaker:Yeah, my past two days I advanced the most so far on my trip.
Speaker:Like two days ago, I was in Joplin, Missouri.
Speaker:I think, uh, I told the story already with the homeless man that burned stuff.
Speaker:To get some wrapper and I sat down with him to get some breakfast.
Speaker:You just have to imagine me sitting with a homeless man in the woods
Speaker:in Missouri, talking about life.
Speaker:And he smoked a joint a person gave me the day before I gave it
Speaker:to him, and I smoked a cigarette.
Speaker:And Jerry was cool
Speaker:competitive country.
Speaker:Meet a lot of competitive kids.
Speaker:Down in Oklahoma, I caught a ride with like a mother of, like with
Speaker:a, with a couple, and the woman was mother of a kid who was like
Speaker:second place in rodeo in Colorado.
Speaker:Caught a cow in two point three eight seconds, I think.
Speaker:Anyways, John drove me a bit up north, kicked me out, said hello to his mother,
Speaker:went back to me, picked me up again, brought me a little bit further up north.
Speaker:We ate something together, and then we said goodbye, and I stood at this exit.
Speaker:And then a Russian woman pulled up on me.
Speaker:She just quit the military.
Speaker:It's, it's a fucking interesting story.
Speaker:She like, she moved to the US when she was five, went to the military.
Speaker:Quit the military to chase his dream, her dreams basically.
Speaker:Well, she went to the military means compared to the people from poorer classes
Speaker:all over this country who didn't, she has like some social security, so…
Speaker:She drove me up until Omaha, Iowa.
Speaker:I fucking made it to Iowa, believe me or not.
Speaker:I don't even know why, but going to Iowa was a dream of mine.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Trust me, the moment I figured I'm in Iowa, because I didn't expect
Speaker:this, that this highway will pass through Iowa, I was happy.
Speaker:I was happy as fuck.
Speaker:It's the little things.
Speaker:It's the little things.
Speaker:And then I stayed at the gas stop, couldn't really sleep.
Speaker:I s- there was nothing.
Speaker:It wasn't even, it wasn't even a gas…
Speaker:She just dropped me off at a rest place, but this was like, there was nothing.
Speaker:Like there was a toilet and a vending machine, and I didn't really find a
Speaker:spot to sleep, and there were too many mosquitoes, so I figured I would rather
Speaker:stay inside this little building where they had toilets and vending machines and
Speaker:like place to sit and charge my phone.
Speaker:And this w-- It was air-conditioned, so I kinda just went through
Speaker:the night listening to music.
Speaker:And this morning, I started to hit the road again at this rest stop
Speaker:I got rejected.
Speaker:It was a long rejection therapy today, but then I asked like two
Speaker:middle-aged men, and I made a couple jokes, and I think they liked them.
Speaker:So they… I think they… The, those two middle-aged men
Speaker:went inside with their woman.
Speaker:They stayed in there for a long time, and I don't think that all
Speaker:of all three of them took a shit.
Speaker:I think they considered whether to take me or whether they shou- whe-whether they
Speaker:should take me or whether they shouldn't.
Speaker:I just asked them to go north.
Speaker:They had like a trailer with two like four-by-four quad-ish thingies on there.
Speaker:Those people were like seniors.
Speaker:After one of the women basically interrogated me, what I'm doing, where I'm
Speaker:from, if I have a weapon, if I do drugs, if I'm clean, they decided to take me
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think those two middle-aged men were best friends since, like, primary
Speaker:school or since ever, and they kinda discovered the little kid in me.
Speaker:I kinda had this feeling that they, that they wanted to do a foolish
Speaker:decision because those were not the kind of people who would usually take
Speaker:me on a ride, and they never did that, and they probably never will after.
Speaker:We had a very, very interesting chat.
Speaker:Like, basically, I talked throughout the four hours a-answering questions they had.
Speaker:Like, we had a chat about how Europe is, how life in Europe is over there.
Speaker:I told them about my standard of living and what my state provides for me and how
Speaker:stuff works, and we got into politics, but I just ta-talked straight facts.
Speaker:I told them that we as Europeans have… we fear Trump.
Speaker:I didn't set my opinion about Trump.
Speaker:I just said the facts that he just taxes, that he, like, tariffs us randomly.
Speaker:We're trying to get less dependent on the US, and he just kinda fucks
Speaker:up the US in the end of the day because, I don't know, it was a mutual
Speaker:beneficial thingy we had, Europe and the US, till Trump came in power.
Speaker:He just thought he knew better.
Speaker:I didn't set my opinion on that.
Speaker:I literally just talked… I, I talked facts for four hours straight,
Speaker:and after they were like, "Oh, our world is so small in South Dakota."
Speaker:They never heard those things.
Speaker:They just look the news.
Speaker:They probably just turn on their TV.
Speaker:Uh, no, they… Not probably.
Speaker:They, they said so.
Speaker:They said, "Our…
Speaker:The news we get out here are very filtered.
Speaker:We have the TV.
Speaker:We watch our two channels.
Speaker:We don't have time to inform ourselves."
Speaker:They were, like, mi- proper middle class working people for, like,
Speaker:small company, independent, and really nice, to be honest, but
Speaker:they never heard that you don't own guns in Europe and stuff like that.
Speaker:Their world was really small.
Speaker:Really small.
Speaker:But they admitted, and they understood.
Speaker:In the end, they gave me a hundred bucks, and one of the guys wanted to show me…
Speaker:Well, we dropped the shit off, o-off at their place, and then another, like,
Speaker:one of those guys drove me up to the highway, like, the last twenty miles.
Speaker:But he really wanted to show me his guns, so he showed me his guns, and
Speaker:his woman gave me a hundred bucks.
Speaker:And here I am And a flying J in tweaks falls or springs, I don't know.
Speaker:It used to be the most livable place in the US two times in a row.
Speaker:This is all I know about this town, but I don't understand why.
Speaker:It's like just suburbia USA.
Speaker:There's nothing different.
Speaker:It's not pretty.
Speaker:It's boring.
Speaker:It's suburbs and over suburbs, over suburbs.
Speaker:It's me as a European, I would, I, I wonder why you call such
Speaker:place a livable place at first hand, but this is my opinion.
Speaker:It is actually cold.
Speaker:Like I'm chill.
Speaker:Chilly.
Speaker:Chill, chill, chilly
Speaker:I could like properly sleep tonight if I find a place to sleep And
Speaker:yeah, that's it for this week.
Speaker:Thank you to Jonathan Weist once again for sending voicemails,
Speaker:dispatches from the road.
Speaker:You can follow Jonathan on Instagram at jonathqn.w. I did it last week too.
Speaker:That's at J-O-N-A-T-H-Q-N dot W. You can follow the podcast itself on
Speaker:Instagram and should at onefjefpod.
Speaker:That's O-N-E-F-J-E-F-P-O-D.
Speaker:You can also follow it on TikTok at onefjefpodcast, on Facebook at
Speaker:onefjefpod, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker:Just go to any social media platform, search for onefjef, the podcast,
Speaker:or just onefjefpodcast, and you will likely find a thing to follow.
Speaker:I'm going to end this episode with a quote from the late, great Hunter
Speaker:Thompson that feels appropriate on this, the eve of the 250th birthday
Speaker:of the United States of America.
Speaker:We are a nation of sheep, and the sheep are being led to the slaughter
Speaker:by a gang of cruel, stupid thugs who have stolen the government.
Speaker:I'll see you next week.
Speaker:Very good, Jeffrey.
