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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

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Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast that Airways had off. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 1: stories to share New York City. I, along with Alexis

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Speaker 1: and Bailey and her best pals and dance team members,

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Speaker 1: along with their parents who have become just like family,

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Speaker 1: traveled to New York City for three days and we

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Speaker 1: all made it back home alive, none the worse for wear.

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Speaker 1: There's so much to talk about that with the story

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Speaker 1: this week, it's going to be the whole show, everything

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Speaker 1: from start to finish and all the goodies in between.

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Speaker 1: Its Country comes to town, and I'm fixing to tell

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Speaker 1: you all about it. It was an easy decision six

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Speaker 1: months ago when my wife Alexis told me that she

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Speaker 1: and some of the other competition dance moms were kicking

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Speaker 1: around the idea of taking the girls to New York

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Speaker 1: City to see the Rockettes at the Radio City Music Hall,

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Speaker 1: stay two or three nights and come home. Well, even

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Speaker 1: I've heard of the Rocketts and Radio City Music Hall.

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Speaker 1: I've been watching them dance on my television on Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: Day in front of the Macy's department store of my

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Speaker 1: whole life. I'm also not one to sit back and

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Speaker 1: miss an opportunity to watch one of my youngins experience

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Speaker 1: the biggest trip of her life so far without me.

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Speaker 1: They were going to New York City, and I wasn't

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Speaker 1: about to let them go without me, going for protection.

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Speaker 1: They planned for six months and broke the news to

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Speaker 1: me the day before we left that we weren't checking

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Speaker 1: any bags. Everything we'd be taking with us had to

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Speaker 1: fit into two carry ons. Now, the idea was good,

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Speaker 1: less luggage, less items to keep up with, and the

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Speaker 1: amount of stuff that Alexis and Bailey take with them

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Speaker 1: on a daily basis would be the less room they'd

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Speaker 1: have to bring stuff back with them. That's going to

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Speaker 1: save yours truly some money in the long run, and

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Speaker 1: I liked the idea. But with anything, there's give and take,

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Speaker 1: and giving up checked baggage came in a personal cost

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Speaker 1: for me. That meant for three days i'd be without

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Speaker 1: either of my pocket knives, and I can't tell you

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Speaker 1: how many times I patted my pockets on that trip

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Speaker 1: looking for the knives that weren't there. Just out of habit,

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Speaker 1: my brother Tim quit smoking, and I still see him

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Speaker 1: reach for the pack of smokes that hasn't been in

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Speaker 1: the bib pocket of his overalls for over twenty years.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that seems silly to some or the majority

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Speaker 1: of you listening, but to me, giving up those pocket

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Speaker 1: knives was giving up a part of who I am. Also,

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Speaker 1: it samed like I needed an forty seven times before

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Speaker 1: we got back home, and when we walked through the

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Speaker 1: door last night at eight point thirty, I put them

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Speaker 1: both in my breeches before I took off my boots.

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Speaker 1: I am a toddler, and those case knives they are

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Speaker 1: my blanket. But before we left, I could see the

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Speaker 1: excitement building as we made our way to the airport

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Speaker 1: an hour before daylight and Bailey realizing that we were

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Speaker 1: actually going to go. We boarded the plane with eight

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Speaker 1: adults and nine kids, ranging in age from eighteen to eight,

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Speaker 1: plus an infant, and we brought the same number back.

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Speaker 1: The experience was unlike anything I could have ever imagined.

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Speaker 1: I've been jaded by the news, by reputation, and by

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Speaker 1: the stigma of what everyone else's opinion was about New

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Speaker 1: York City. Even the people I know from the state

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Speaker 1: of New York told me not to judge the rest

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Speaker 1: of the state by what I saw and experience there.

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Speaker 1: I prepared myself to be disappointed, mad, and uneasy for

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Speaker 1: the next three days, head on a swivel, ever, vigilant

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Speaker 1: and ready for anything, which is how I lived my

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Speaker 1: life regardless where I am, so transitioning from Arkansas to

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Speaker 1: New York was really only a matter of geography. After

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Speaker 1: a fog delay in Little Rock, we flew to Charlotte,

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Speaker 1: North Carolina, and caught our connecting flight with plenty of

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Speaker 1: time to spare, and stepped off the plane in New

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Speaker 1: York right on schedule. We'd arranged for two large passenger

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Speaker 1: vans to pick us up at LaGuardia Airport, and they

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Speaker 1: were their waiting on us when we walked outside. The

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Speaker 1: eight mile trip to the hotel took forty five minutes.

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Speaker 1: In that span of time, my life flashed before my

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Speaker 1: eyes a half a dozen times as our driver negotiated

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Speaker 1: through traffic that was bumper to bumper and filled with

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Speaker 1: a cacophony of blowing horns and motor noise. Now, I

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Speaker 1: can't remember the last time I used a horn on

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Speaker 1: my truck for anything other than to scare Alexis or

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Speaker 1: Bailey when they walk in front of me. Folks in

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Speaker 1: New York, they have mastered the art. Before I went

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Speaker 1: to bed that night, I could speak the language of

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Speaker 1: the New York City horn. Some are even like a

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Speaker 1: polite excuse me, I'm changing lands, or look out, I

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Speaker 1: need to back this truck up or go ahead. It's

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Speaker 1: your turn and the easily understandable. If you don't move,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to show you the FEND number on my

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Speaker 1: transmission as I run you over. I'm pretty sure I

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Speaker 1: heard that horn the most. But we made our way

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Speaker 1: into the city. We drove through a hundle under the

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Speaker 1: Hudson River. There were no leaks, Detective, trust me a look.

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Speaker 1: We entered the business district and passed a man who

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Speaker 1: was talking to himself while peeing in a planter on

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Speaker 1: the sidewalk from the front of a store. People walked

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Speaker 1: past him while he wasn't even there, and he continued

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Speaker 1: his business as if they weren't either. That was interesting.

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Speaker 1: Before the trail was over, I'd find out how that

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Speaker 1: cat got in that predicament. You don't just walk in

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Speaker 1: a store and ask to use a bathroom, and being

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Speaker 1: a customer won't automatically qualify you for the outhouse privileges either.

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Speaker 1: Some of the fast food and mom and pop places

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Speaker 1: had codes on the receipts to a combination lock on

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Speaker 1: the bathroom doors, and some folks wouldn't let you use

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Speaker 1: the bathroom for any reason. That was new new to

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Speaker 1: me anyway, But I get it. You don't want your

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Speaker 1: business turned into a sanctuary for bathroom breaks. But here's

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Speaker 1: a New York City life hack for you. Find a

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Speaker 1: Starbucks and you'll find a bathroom you can use without

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Speaker 1: making a purchase. New York City Life Hacked Number two.

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Speaker 1: Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date before

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Speaker 1: you go in any public bathroom. M M. That evening,

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Speaker 1: after checking in, we left the Inner Continental Hotel and

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Speaker 1: walked over to Times Square, which, by the way, ain't square.

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Speaker 1: I'd always assumed it was, and like most things you assume,

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Speaker 1: I'd always been wrong. It wasn't as big as I

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Speaker 1: thought it'd be, and there was way more going on

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Speaker 1: there than I could have ever imagined. Alexis had been

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Speaker 1: there with her parents for the New Year's Eve celebration

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Speaker 1: back when she was in high school. She told me

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Speaker 1: stories about what she saw there, and I knew in

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Speaker 1: my heart she was trying to prepare me for what

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Speaker 1: I was about to see, and she did a pretty

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Speaker 1: good job. The sites were a little overwhelming, but not bad.

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Speaker 1: But what I wasn't ready for was the noise. It

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Speaker 1: was relentless and unending, not in a terrible way. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't laying down on the sidewalk rolling around and

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Speaker 1: holding my ears, mainly because I didn't want to get

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Speaker 1: stepped on by the massive folks walking around just like

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Speaker 1: me looking up at the tall buildings instead of where

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Speaker 1: they were stepping. Also, I wasn't sure where the mad

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Speaker 1: peer was going to strike next. Sounds were under ending

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Speaker 1: and they lasted twenty four to seven. The smells are

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Speaker 1: pretty unique, like a combination of exhaust fumes and street

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Speaker 1: vendor food and whatever was steaming up from those manhole

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Speaker 1: covers out in the street, just like you see on

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Speaker 1: the TV. Rockefeller Center was our next stop after walking

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Speaker 1: through Times Square, and everyone except for a couple of

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Speaker 1: us strapped on a pair of ice skates and started

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Speaker 1: making lamps. I abstained and chose to remain ambulatory, while

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Speaker 1: those who didn't risk injury and ridicule. I confess it

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Speaker 1: looked like fun for those in our group who had

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Speaker 1: moved about on the ice the majority of the I'm

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Speaker 1: on their skates. But for someone whose grace has been

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Speaker 1: described as being like Ray Charles trying to walk through

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Speaker 1: a punkin Patch, I believe I chose wisely by remaining

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Speaker 1: in the gallery. After a while, I walked in a

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Speaker 1: fancy store next to the skating rink. There were shoes

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Speaker 1: and purses and jewelry and clothes spaced out in there,

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Speaker 1: and the lady welcomed me with a big smile and saying,

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Speaker 1: welcome to New York. How does she know? I wasn't

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Speaker 1: from there. She was nice, and we visited for quite

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Speaker 1: a while, and she had a real customer come up,

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Speaker 1: and I stepped aside and eventually back out the door.

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Speaker 1: That night, for supper, we dined on authentic New York

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Speaker 1: pizza at a place called John's pizzeriha of Times Square.

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Speaker 1: It was recommended to me, but my good friend colleague

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Speaker 1: and showed enough, born, bred, and highly decorated veteran of

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Speaker 1: all things New York's city, Krin Snyder. Krin's bona fides

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Speaker 1: read like a laundry list of requirements to even apply

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Speaker 1: for the title of native New Yorker. That food was good,

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Speaker 1: and if you order a small pizza, to be prepared

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Speaker 1: to tote some home, because that joker is as big

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Speaker 1: as a wagon wheel. Thank you. Karen. Well laid down

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Speaker 1: that night on the tenth floor of the hotel and

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Speaker 1: watched out the window as all the lights and the

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Speaker 1: cars and the sirens and the racket continued NonStop. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't loud, you know, by any means. It

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Speaker 1: was just a constant music bed, if you will. For

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Speaker 1: the live episode, we were all starting in as visitors

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Speaker 1: to that strange world. I asked Alexis to pull the

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Speaker 1: curtains before before we cut the light out. She said,

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Speaker 1: we are to leave them, leave them open to be

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Speaker 1: able to see the skylighting all the pretty lights. Negative

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Speaker 1: there might be a sniper out there. She rolled her

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Speaker 1: eyes at me. She said, you're crazy. There no sniper

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Speaker 1: right there, And I said, oh yeah, you know who?

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Speaker 1: Else said that, and she said who. I told her,

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Speaker 1: everyone that's ever left the curtains open and gotten shot

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Speaker 1: by a sniper, that's who. The next morning, I was

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Speaker 1: on the street early and we slipped over to a

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Speaker 1: place and had some breakfast. Not a lot of folks

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Speaker 1: on the street early in the morning, that was something

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Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting. Traffic was light, and the noise was

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Speaker 1: still there, but just at lesser decibels. The big signs

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Speaker 1: on Times Square still lit up, but there was only

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Speaker 1: a few people talking at her. This was the day

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Speaker 1: that we'd come for, the day that the big show

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Speaker 1: at Radio City Music Hall, the day we would get

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Speaker 1: a behind the scenes tour and our young dancers would

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Speaker 1: meet a real dancer from the Rockets. We toured through

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Speaker 1: the back halls and stairways with a guy who went

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Speaker 1: into intricate details about the building and its history that

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Speaker 1: I found very interesting, and our girls saw as just

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Speaker 1: one more hurdle to get to the whole point of

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Speaker 1: the trip to meet a real rocket. Then the appointed

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Speaker 1: time arrived, We waited in a small room with a

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Speaker 1: decorated wall that would serve as the backdrop when picture

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Speaker 1: taking time arrived. The girls were all giggling, watching the

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Speaker 1: door that had a big gold star hanging on it,

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Speaker 1: and the tour guide asked the girls if they were ready,

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Speaker 1: and I said, yes, ma'am at the same time most

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Speaker 1: of them did. She knocked on the door, and a

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Speaker 1: painstakingly few seconds later, outwalked a real live rocket. She

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Speaker 1: asked the girls, who stared at her, grinning like Jackie lanterns,

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Speaker 1: if they had any questions, and I thought, here it

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Speaker 1: is the moment. I figured they'd all start at once,

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Speaker 1: just machine gun and questions faster than she could hear

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Speaker 1: much less answer, and not one child uttered the sound.

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Speaker 1: They just stood there looking at her and smiling. It

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Speaker 1: was worth every penny and every moment of that trip

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Speaker 1: to just see them seeing her. We got the pictures,

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Speaker 1: took said our goodbyes, and eventually found our seats where

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Speaker 1: we'd watch The Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockets,

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Speaker 1: a show that has segments performed the same way since

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Speaker 1: it opened on December twenty first, nineteen to thirty three.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm not sure who enjoyed it more the kids

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Speaker 1: are the adults, But I'd go tonight and I'd watch

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Speaker 1: it all again. We saw a lot of things, and

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Speaker 1: we did a lot of things while we were there.

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Speaker 1: We rode a subway, and I can check that off

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Speaker 1: the list. It was my least enjoyable experience of the

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Speaker 1: entire trip, and the patience of those folks that do

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Speaker 1: that every day is beyond my comprehension. I kept expecting

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Speaker 1: people to be rude and obnoxious and act act like

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Speaker 1: the way they're portrayed in the old black and white

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Speaker 1: movies that Alexis now watch all the time. I didn't

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Speaker 1: find that to be the case at all. If I'd

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Speaker 1: been them and had some joker that talked like me,

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Speaker 1: who was oblivious to every protocol known to them as

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Speaker 1: being second nature, I couldn't say I wouldn't have behaved

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Speaker 1: like the old movies, but they didn't. The last morning

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Speaker 1: we were there, I got up early and I went

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Speaker 1: out by myself. The girls were still sound asleep and

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Speaker 1: there was no agenda for the group, and I picked

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Speaker 1: a diner for coffee from Google and I headed down

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Speaker 1: the street just me. In the early Tuesday morning in

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Speaker 1: New York, I turned west away from Times Square and

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Speaker 1: walked a half a block away, turned the corner, and

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Speaker 1: a man welcomed me to the West Wade Diner. A

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Speaker 1: lady with a beautiful accent named Bianca showed me to

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Speaker 1: a table and brought me some coffee. There weren't many

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Speaker 1: people in there yet. Folks were walking past the big

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Speaker 1: front window that had a Thanksgiving turcy paated on it

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Speaker 1: like they were on a mission. Most of them dressed

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Speaker 1: for work, kids dressed for school. Two blocks away from

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Speaker 1: Times Square was a different world that seemed far removed

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Speaker 1: from the hustle and bustle of the endless sea of people.

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Speaker 1: Sitting across from me was a young man and his

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Speaker 1: grandmother two tables away. She was tiny and surprised. She

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Speaker 1: watched him with pride while he told her about his

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Speaker 1: latest adventures. It made me miss my grandmother and the

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Speaker 1: way she looked at me when I told her a

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Speaker 1: story about something I'd done playing football, or a deer

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Speaker 1: or a turkey that i'd killed, and she'd just brag

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Speaker 1: on me to me, telling me how good I'd done,

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Speaker 1: while actually understanding the fraction of what I was telling her,

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Speaker 1: but you'd never known it. That was the look that

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Speaker 1: she gave him, that looked that I had seen from

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Speaker 1: my own grandmother. And I took their picture without them

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Speaker 1: sining I didn't really have to. I don't think I'll

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Speaker 1: ever forget that moment. While I sat there alone and

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Speaker 1: joined my breakfast and a cup of coffee in the city,

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Speaker 1: I never dreamed that visit and watching what could have

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Speaker 1: taken place in my grandmother's house, or at any grandmother's

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Speaker 1: house anywhere in the world. That's what I learned from

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Speaker 1: this trip, and something that I preached constantly, how in

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Speaker 1: spite of all our differences, we really are a whole

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Speaker 1: lot more alike, and we think and certainly more than

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Speaker 1: I thought. The nine one one Nomore was something every

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Speaker 1: American should see and experience. It was a very humbling

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Speaker 1: and moving place, and the events and the sacrifices of

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Speaker 1: that day should never be forgotten, softened by time, or

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Speaker 1: relegated as a footnote in history. It was the only

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Speaker 1: place in the city where I didn't hear the noises

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Speaker 1: I heard everywhere else, At least I didn't notice them.

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Speaker 1: The area where the tower stood was smaller than I imagined

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Speaker 1: it would be. I'd walked away from our group, lost

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Speaker 1: in thought, and I talked talked with a young man

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Speaker 1: who worked there, and he just out of the blue

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Speaker 1: asked me if I was a policeman, and I said, yes,

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Speaker 1: I used to be, and he smiled and he said

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Speaker 1: thank you, and he caught me off guard for the

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Speaker 1: first time since I got there. I wasn't expecting that.

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Speaker 1: I shook his hand, and I suddenly found it very

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Speaker 1: hard to talk. It's hard for me to tell the

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Speaker 1: story now, but I just nodded to him and I

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Speaker 1: had to walk away. I'm sitting here today, less than

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Speaker 1: twenty four hours from getting back home, thinking about all

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Speaker 1: I did there, and the silence is deafening, and my

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Speaker 1: ears are still either ringing from the din of the

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Speaker 1: city or the sound of silence is a real thing.

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Speaker 1: I ran into Caleb Hubbard on the streets of New

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Speaker 1: York City, who was traveling with his wife from southern

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Speaker 1: California on vacation. Caleb listens to this country life. He

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Speaker 1: got my attention by saying, Brent, is that you Yep,

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Speaker 1: that's me. We had a good visit, and I appreciated

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Speaker 1: him saying something to me. The reach of the show

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Speaker 1: is beyond anything I could have ever imagined, and all

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Speaker 1: the credit goes to y'all who listen and share it

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Speaker 1: with your friends and family and anyone you think would

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Speaker 1: enjoy it. Now, if that wasn't enough, While waiting on

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Speaker 1: our flight home, I see a meat eater logo T

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Speaker 1: shirt walking toward me in the Laquardia Airport. Randy Ballard

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Speaker 1: is a native of Peaster, Texas and of this country

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Speaker 1: life listener himself. We had a good conversation, and believe

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Speaker 1: it or not, a lady in our group, Miss Cassie Burns,

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Speaker 1: graduated from the same high school that Randy did in

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Speaker 1: Northeast Texas. Get off that phone and look around you.

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Speaker 1: We're missing no telling how many opportunities a day to

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Speaker 1: make a connection with someone. Well, Randy sent me a

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Speaker 1: message today and said his palace didn't believe him when

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Speaker 1: he told him that he ran into me at the airport. Well,

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Speaker 1: Randy's friends, if Randy tells you a rooster dip snuff,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to wait until he spits to believe

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Speaker 1: what he says. You know that grandmother and their grandson,

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Speaker 1: and Caleb and Randy and there are all examples of

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Speaker 1: how folks from different parts of this great country of

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Speaker 1: ours all have common interest and things that should bring

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Speaker 1: us closer together rather than push us further apart. We're

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Speaker 1: really not that different. Some of y'all just talked that way.

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Speaker 1: Thank y'all so much for listening to me and Claybow

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Speaker 1: here on the Bear Grease Channel. And until next week,

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Speaker 1: this is Brent Reeves sign it off. Y'all be careful

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Speaker 1: in