Branson Trip Report and Commercial Real Estate Shocker

This is episode number 274 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're so glad you could join us for another live episode. We're back in the studio, Kev.

We're back. I didn't know if we'd ever get back, man.

We made it. We survived the freeze. Well, it wasn't as bad as the one before.

Well, you say that.

There was a lot more car wrecks this time.

Yeah, well, we had a— yeah, it was weird because I don't think anybody expected it to be quite as bad as it was.

Well, it got colder than they predicted.

Yeah, that, that— well, not just that. Um, I think, I think that the wind was worse, which made the the feels like so much worse.

Yep.

And because of that, a lot of things changed. And, uh, one of the things that changed— you said it wasn't as bad, it was worse for me. Well, uh, because we had a problem.

Uh-huh.

And I think I told you.

You called me, I remember. Yeah, I called.

And we, uh, woke up— let's see, everything went south on Sunday. Monday was fine. Everybody was, was home because it was, it was, uh, you know, holiday. Tuesday, everybody was out of school. Um, but we woke up Tuesday with no water, which we live on a well. And so I'm going, oh, things have gone awry. Yeah. And I'm going, okay, well, it could be a lot of things. We've had, we've had issues here and there with our well, just And, and we've never had a well before. Like, this is the first time living on property that we've ever had this. So we're learning how to deal with this. Well, we've had issues where like it's just a breaker, right? So I go out

and kind of start examining things and I find, well, all the breakers are on, so that's not the issue.

Right.

And, uh, so long story short, um, we did have a— a pipe running from the wellhead. So anatomy of a well real quick. Everybody needs to know. So you got, you got the well and you got a pump.

Well, there's a giant hole in the ground.

Giant hole in the ground. You put a pump down there connected to a pipe that goes all the way up to the wellhead. Mm-hmm. The wellhead then distributes the water to a holding tank that's pressurized. Mm-hmm. And that then distributes water to your house. Right. or wherever else you—

That's how you achieve water pressure. That's where you—

yeah, the, the tank is pressurized. So the, the pipes from the wellhead to the tank froze.

Okay.

And oddly enough, the one pipe I knew was water, a water pipe that goes straight into the tank, I knew that.

Uh-huh.

And it's, it's been wrapped since I moved there. The other, the other pipe I didn't even know was a water pipe, and it's never been covered ever. Even last year during the, during the crazy freeze, never been covered, and we didn't have any issues.

And that's the one that froze?

That's the one that froze. And so what happened was the pump was pumping to what they call a deadhead.

Uh-huh.

Uh, the wellhead was— it couldn't go anywhere, so it was dead. So what happened was the, the pump was pumping water, but the way the pump cools itself is water travels through the pump and cools it. But if it doesn't go anywhere, then it just sits there and, and churns, and it starts getting hot. The pump itself gets hot.

Yeah. And hot and hot and hotter and hotter.

Didn't burn the pump up, but it did melt the PVC that it was threaded to. And I don't think I even showed you, whenever they were pulling it up, the, the, the pump was literally hanging by the electrical wire.

Oh geez.

And thankfully our well guys are smart and they, they taped that thing like crazy because otherwise I mean, if it's swinging or anything, it won't make it up through the, uh, through the pipe.

Yeah.

And, um, but they got it up and, and basically what— I mean, they don't really know what's going on until they get the pump out of the ground. So they got the pump out of the ground, they're like, look, man, like, it's—

it—

I don't see any major damage to the pump, but we can't open it up and, and find out what's inside the casing. But if there's turbines inside have, have dislodged or, or melted or anything, right, then you're gonna have a problem.

Yeah.

And then whatever labor you're gonna incur by us just putting this thing back in, you're gonna have to incur again. And that could be a month from now, it could be 3 years from now, we have no idea.

Right.

And he was like, so You can take the risk. And he said, you know, this thing pumps 15 gallons a minute, which I was like, dang, that's a lot. That's a lot of water.

Yeah.

Uh, pumps 15, uh, gallons a minute, and it may pump 10 gallons a minute.

You don't know.

It may pump 5 gallons a minute, and— but we won't know. And he was like, so, you know, take the risk and do what you want to do, um, or we can just put a new pump in. Dude, we just put a new pump in, in July.

Oh, really?

Yeah, because the pump, the pump did die. I mean, it was just at the end of its lifespan in July. And, uh, we were in Branson, actually. We're gonna talk about Branson a little bit tonight. We were in Branson with my family, and I get a call from my wife. She'd go, we got no water. I've called the guy and he's got to come out. They had to replace the pump. And, uh, I elected to replace the pump because Dude, I just didn't want to—

How much, how much are one of those? Do you, or do you not want to—

are you still— It's a lot of money.

It's a lot of money.

It's a lot of money. It was, uh—

Pumps are not cheap.

No, it was the, the entire bill. Well, the labor included, it was $3,700.

Geez.

That's the second time in 6 months I've done that.

That's not fun.

No, not fun at all.

And, and they're not warrantied at all, I guess.

Well, no, they are. Except for natural disasters. They're not warrantied against lightning strikes. They're not warrantied—

Naturally.

Yeah, naturally. They're not warrantied against freeze. They're not warrantied against— this was an interesting— they're not warrantied against portable generators, which is what I have.

Right.

I mean, I've—

I got a—

I got the biggest portable generator you can get that runs on natural gas. I got the biggest one on the market. Um, but if something happens while it's connected to that someday, then tough noogies. Tough noogies.

Yeah.

So, I mean, and, and I get it. I mean, I understand, like, they can't— I mean, at that point you got voltage issues, you got all sorts of things that can happen.

But like, it's frustrating to like run up against that, but at the same time, I think it's, I think it's good for people to understand like why it is that way.

Sure.

You know, because I mean, and I think like specifically like with the generator, I mean, like sometimes people just like jerry-rig stuff, right? And like the wrong voltage will run through that pump or whatever. Like, and so like since they have no control over that, right, they can't warranty that.

No, it's absolutely, it's beyond their control. So whenever they don't have a controlled environment, right, then they can't warranty it. warranty. And I get that. Um, but man, they put that new pump in and everything's great again. Uh, I will tell you this.

Mm-hmm.

Um, we wound up getting low water pressure in a few places. And I was like, and dude, I was tired. Like, it, it had been a long week. And plus, just all this going on. And, uh, so I went to bed and I was like, I don't know, like, we may have to call them tomorrow and see. I, I said, honestly, I haven't even gone out to the tank to make sure it's pressurized correctly. I don't even know. But they checked it all before they left. Um, the next day I woke up and I was like, you know what, this thing's been sitting for like 2 days. I need to take the shower head off and just see what's in there, what's in there. And it was just gunked up.

I bet.

With that filter inside. So I cleaned that out and everything's good. So I mean, I will tell you, if like around your house, especially like kitchen faucet, shower head, any of that, like if you wind up feeling like, man, I wish my water pressure was a little bit higher. Yeah, take that sucker off and check your filter.

Oh, for sure.

Because 9 times out of 10, there's nothing wrong with your water, right? It's, it's your faucet that's doing something. So anyway, it was like, I, you know, I look at it on, on a couple levels. I'm like, okay, if I'm gonna have an issue, I'm glad it's outside my house. You know, I'm glad that the water didn't come into my house before there was a problem.

Yeah.

And I mean, it's a pretty controlled situation. I mean, it's frustrating, but okay. I'll write it off. And, you know, it is one of those deals.

It's part of it, man.

It's part of it.

And so— You don't have a water bill?

No, I don't. And that's the thing is like, no, no, I don't have a $3,700 water bill otherwise, but—

Make that up over 10 years. Yeah.

Over 10 years, it's fine. Um, but I, you know, I own my water.

Yeah.

And that's, I mean, there's something to be said about that. And for sure, I can, I can do whatever. Like, whenever I fill my, my pool up every year, because I drain it, when I fill my pool up every year, I don't care. It's not a big deal.

Yeah.

Like, it might cost me $10 in electricity.

Yeah.

But that's it. You know, it's my water. Yeah. It's my water. I can do with it what I want to. And it's good water too. Like, it's—

Well water is always better.

It is.

Every time it's better.

Yeah.

Like, I've never, I've never had an— I mean, I'm sure there's been wells that have like, gotten tainted or whatever. But like, if it's a good well, well water is always better.

It is.

And, uh, I grew up on well water.

Yeah, exactly. So anyway, that was frustrating.

Yeah.

But I will tell you this, I then— so 2 nights later it froze again. So that was like Friday night, I think it was. Yeah, yeah, it froze again.

And so it wasn't as— it wasn't as hard. It wasn't as—

it, it wasn't. It got down to like 22 or something like that. But, and it was only for like 10 hours. But, um, let me tell you what I did. And I, I, we, we're gonna build like a house to put over that thing, right? And like something I can insulate and put a heater in.

Yeah.

Uh, just to future-proof it, right? But until that happens, because it's kind of in the middle of the yard, so you can't just leave it there forever based on where it's at. So, um, But I've got fiberglass, um, insulation, just like they're, they're like, I don't know, like maybe 4 or 5 inches wide.

Yeah.

Wrapped the whole pipe, and then I came back with one of those, um, pipe insulations, you know, the one you slid up the side and just put around it. So I put that around it, and then I used insulated tape to tape that thing closed. And then I used it. I'd never seen this before. It's a 10 mil pipe wrap. I mean, 10 mil is pretty thick.

Yeah.

But it's tape and it's super strong, but it's weatherproof, it's windproof, waterproof. And I wrapped that after that and I'm like, okay, that's about as good as I can do.

Yeah.

For every day being out in the open, you know. And so we'll see, we'll see what happens. Um, and you know, if in the future I'll build a house and yeah, should be totally fine. Yeah, but it was frustrating.

I bet. How long were you without water?

Uh, 2 days.

Oh wow.

Yeah, it was, it was, well, it was like 2 days plus the morning that they came. So yeah, and one, 2 of those mornings were days that my kids need to go to school. My wife, you know, had to go to work too. So Thankfully, you know, we have friends and relatives and we just went over to someone else's house and, and showered. Well, I didn't. They did. Um, uh, but—

Did it, did it— so no water at your, uh, guest house in the back?

No.

Oh, dang.

No, I mean, because everything runs off the well.

Okay.

Um, speaking of, I need to go. I turned off all of my, like, out spigots, uh, like in my shop and everywhere else. I can go turn those back on. I turned those off before the freeze and drained them, uh, because I don't need those. But yeah, she was out of water too, so we went to like— we went and just loaded gallon jugs up just to have stuff to flush the toilet with, you know. So we made it, we figured it out.

Yeah.

But I don't want to do it again.

I know.

I will tell you though, that right there is the reason— and, and some of you have been listening for a while— that's the reason that I bought a generator.

Right.

At my house, because at my house, if the electricity goes out, the well doesn't work.

The well doesn't work.

Yeah. And so, you know, you really gotta have, you know, that, that well moving. And so we bought a generator for it.

What's interesting about that is I think it's, I think it's little moments like that, like when there's like a freeze and a pipe bursts and like, then you have to shut the whole house down. Or, you know, there's a hurricane and the power's out for a couple of days. Yep. Or whatever. I think those are the moments when people— it's a blessing in disguise because it's a realization as to how ill-prepared a lot of people are.

Oh, yeah.

To sustain themselves for 2 days.

Oh, it's— I mean, 2 days is not that long.

It's not.

But there— I mean, if you don't have any water. Yeah.

2 days is a long time.

2 days is a very long time at that point. And you can— and not only that, like, if you run out of— like, if you have an all-electric house, like, our friend Eric is listening, or at least he was, because he, he, uh, he put a message up. Um, he said the answer is always to lay more pipe. Um, that's pretty good.

Um, but— He's not wrong.

No, he's not. But, you know, if you have— if you're out where he is and you gotta have an electric house, um, Then your electricity goes out. You can't cook.

Was this Air Key?

Yeah.

Yeah. This is no problem. But the gasless west.

Exactly. Anyway, pretty funny.

Oh.

So, well, how are you doing?

I'm doing good, man.

Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. We, I mean, the, the freeze was fine. Well, I mean, I say it was fine. We, we had one busted pipe. Um, but it was, it was by the pool equipment.

Okay.

And it was a supply line.

Okay.

And so we just capped it.

Oh, you say, yeah, worry about it later.

It was nothing we even need.

I mean, like— Yeah. Oh, ever?

No, not really.

Oh.

It was a, um, whoever, whoever was here before us had an ice maker refrigerator on the party deck.

Okay.

And we don't have that. And so it was the supply line for like the refrigerator.

Okay.

And who cares? So like, we just capped it.

Yeah.

And then just went on about our day.

Yeah.

Which, I mean, by the way, they, um, uh, I didn't even realize this. My, my father-in-law brought these home. Um, I didn't realize that they made a SharkBite like termination cap.

Really?

Yes.

Well, that's nice.

It's super nice.

Sheesh.

So like, we just cut the pipe, pulled it aside, stuck the SharkBite on there, walked away.

That's nice.

No glue, nothing.

Huh.

It was awesome.

Yeah, that is nice. So, oh, oh, speaking of, let me say this real quick and then we can move on. But, um, I started doing like research, okay, like what can I do to keep this thing from— for these, these pipes in the middle of the yard, yeah, from freezing? And I came across, uh, insulated heat tape.

I've seen— I've heard about this.

Yeah. Um, and Like, they get— it gets really good reviews. Um, it's really not too terribly expensive. I mean, whenever you kind of look at it for what we needed, we probably just need 3 feet of it, and we didn't need a lot. But you can get— you can get like 50 foot of it if you need, or 100 foot even. Um, you just have to have a 110 outlet, which we've got right there by it. No big deal. Um, and it says it works on PVC, right?

Well, my—

I talked to my well guy about it and he goes, man, he said, I, I, I know people that use it, but I've seen 2 instances where it just melted the pipe.

Dang.

And he goes, that's a big problem.

Yeah.

And he goes, so I mean, I can't recommend it. He said— and this was very interesting.

Do you think it was like improperly installed? I mean, because like, I— well, I don't want to hear from the— I don't want to hear from the heat tape people like, hey, like You're messing with our product.

It's very possible. I mean, I— but here's the thing.

But I mean, like, you know, you know, that, that, that plumber guy, I mean, he probably could have like sold you some heat tape right there if you really wanted to.

Oh, absolutely. You know, yeah, absolutely could. And it's one of those deals where you go, okay, properly installed or not, it happened, right? Okay, if it's not properly installed, then now you gotta hire someone to come install it properly in order for this not to be a a quote unquote problem. It becomes cumbersome at that point, right? So, especially when literally you're supposed to take it and just like, you know, spiral it around your—

Well, that's what I'm wondering, right? Is like, this is something we run into in our industry all the time. It's like, well, you read the instructions, but then you thought that they didn't apply to you.

Oh, you put the right amount of mixture in the tank, but you did it twice.

Right, right. And so like, so like you, and I don't know anything about heat tape, how to put it on. I know nothing about it. But I'm, I'm wondering if, like you said, like, well, just keep a gap on your spiral of like 2 inches or something. And they're like, oh, well, I really don't want it to freeze, so I'm gonna make the gap, you know, 2 centimeters. Yeah.

And I think that on a, on a, a metal or copper pipe, probably wouldn't matter, you know. But on PVC—

Oh, probably. Yeah. Well, PVC— copper's kind of weird, man, because you got to sweat that pipe, and that's what, you know, if you heat it up too much I don't know how hot the heat tape gets. I don't—

well, I, I, I don't think it gets super hot.

I actually might be more concerned about putting it on copper than I would PVC. Maybe.

Maybe.

I—

all I know is that, um, he just— he advised against it. And this was something he said that I found very interesting. Uh-huh. He goes, man, believe it or not, the last 4 years have been colder than we've ever seen. And he said, so we're still learning what to tell people to do. And he said, I don't— he said, we've had harder freezes the last 4 years than we've ever seen in 25.

Yeah.

Which I— which for 25 is not a large sample.

Sure.

Obviously. But for them, for— yeah. 25 years in business.

That's a career.

That's a career.

Yeah.

And so whenever you don't have hard evidence, data to go, this is what we've done before, and this is what we know works.

Right.

And you can't recommend to your customers what to do, that's a problem. And they, And they recognized that. They weren't, they weren't, you know, they're like, just, man, best, best case scenario is to wrap it and build a house over it. Yeah. And I'm like, they're— that's foolproof, really.

Yeah. The build, build the building, the, the, the well house is—

yeah, that's key. Yeah. And we, and we've got that. I mean, our, our tank is in a, a heated and air-conditioned building. Mm-hmm. Um, but that that wellhead isn't.

Right.

So anyway, well, let's talk about—

Well, hey, this episode, yes, is brought to you by—

Let's talk about that.

Lone Star Appliance Repair.

They are.

Yeah.

Lone Star Appliance Repair. This is the place. Actually, I was actually in conversation about Lone Star Appliance Repair the other day. Their, their phone number, by the way, is 936-647- 2364. It's right there on the screen if you're watching online. I, I was talking to someone about repairing their appliances the other day.

Mhmm.

And it's very interesting because the, the tendency for everybody is just throw the appliance away.

Sure.

My, my parents actually just had this happen. Something happened. Their fridge stopped working.

Mhmm.

They're like, we're just gonna go buy another one. And I'm like, why don't you just get it repaired? And like, well, we've heard this, we've heard that, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, okay, find somebody in your area that is reputable. And that's one of the things that I think is, is the most important. Someone's not just gonna come in and sell you a bunch of parts or come do a diagnostic and then tell you we can't fix it.

Right.

Whatever. Someone who's reputable that's gonna take care of you and Lone Star Repair does that. Yeah, we've used them, right? Like, it's, it's— they're, they're gonna take care of you. Yeah, every time. Every time.

So, I mean, we actually, we, uh, we had them out, uh, today.

Oh, really?

Uh, we were gonna— we were, we were supposed to have them, uh, clean our washing machine, which most people don't even know that you need to have that cleaned from time to time.

They've got a maintenance system for that.

They do. They have a maintenance plan for that. And just communication error. They didn't realize that ours were stacked. And they're like, oh, like, we're really supposed to schedule this with 2 people or a dolly. Oh, that makes sense. In order to make this proper. And they said— they were like, well, we usually charge, like, a service fee just for being out here, but, like, not today.

Oh, nice.

Yeah. So they're gonna— they're gonna reschedule and come back out and get our— man, washing machines, if you don't clean them, can be the smelliest thing ever. And if you can watch all the YouTube videos you want on how to clean it, I don't want to do it. Even if, even if I was confident in like being able to put it back together, which I'm not.

No, of course not.

Like, I still don't want to deal with the smell.

Right, because inevitably you wind up like with like 2 extra screws.

Something.

And you're like, wait a minute, I, I took those out of somewhere.

Yeah, and I, I am not a detail person, and they're just not going back.

Not gonna go back.

So I'm, I'm either Here's, here's what's probably gonna happen if I do that.

Yeah.

I'm gonna flip it on and see if it works.

Of course.

You know, and it'll probably work.

Yeah.

But if it doesn't, what are you gonna do? I'm buying a new one. Right.

So it's just, at that point, it would have been smarter for you to just have them come out and do it for you.

It's a $600 to $1,000 mistake at that point.

Right.

And whereas I could have just paid somebody else to do it.

Right.

So exactly. I'm gonna pay somebody else. I'm gonna call Lone Star Appliance Repair. Give them a call. They'll get you taken care of. Phone numbers on the screen, links in the show notes if you want to click on the website, and you can text them.

I love that, dude.

Yeah.

Maybe my favorite thing.

Text them, send them some emojis.

That's right.

I love it.

Just random emojis.

That's right. We love you guys. Thanks for supporting The Homeowner Show.

Cool.

Yeah. So, uh, really, uh, tonight we're, we're doing a bit of a trip recap because I just— we just took a big trip to Branson.

Yeah. I didn't even know y'all were going, man.

I know. Jerk. Oh well. You'll get over it. Um, we'll see. Yeah, so we, we stayed in a really cool place right on the lake. It was right across from the, um, I don't know where the Bass Pro Shops is.

Oh yeah.

Um, so we were right across the lake from that.

Okay.

Um, which was really cool because we could go watch like the fireworks and the water show that they have there every night.

Yeah, they got like a massive zip line there.

They do have a massive zip line.

Like across the river.

Yeah.

So that's awesome.

So How do I talk about Branson? There were parts of it that were amazing.

Is this your first time to Branson?

No. Oddly enough, it was my second time to Branson.

Okay.

The first time I ever went to Branson was with Micah.

Oh.

And it was just me and him.

That's weird.

And like, really, like the only thing, we stopped in and we had dinner.

Okay.

And then we left.

That doesn't count. Really, I mean, now that you've been to Branson, you know that doesn't count.

It, it kind of counted because we, we— what do they call that place where the Bass Pro Shops is?

Yeah, it's, uh, it's the, uh, The Landing. The Branson Landing.

Okay, so we, we walked through Bass Pro Shops and then we went and had dinner somewhere in The Landing.

Okay.

And then we left.

Okay.

And we drove the drag. I mean, like, we, we saw, we saw everything that was there. Um, we just— that, that was all we had time for and we were going to go through Branson anyway.

76. 76, right? Isn't that the name of the road? Highway 76?

It's 76. I'm pretty sure.

Sure.

Let's, let's just call it— yeah, they'll rename it. It is what it is. Yeah. The Homeowner Show 76.

That's right. That's right. We, we heard it here first.

We made it famous. Not you guys that have been performing there for like the last 60 years.

That's right.

It's us.

Right.

Um, so we went there for 2 reasons. One was to go to Silver Dollar City.

Yes.

And the other one was to go see Queen Esther.

Oh, yes. Both yeses.

So have you seen Queen Esther?

I've seen— yes, I have.

So I— so here's, here's— we'll start off with the good. I have been to many Broadway shows. Yeah, many, many, many over the years. Sometimes because I wanted to go, sometimes because I was forced to go.

I, I, on the other hand, go to them on purpose.

Yeah. Yeah. Dude, let me— always funny, funny story about Broadway shows. Um, my— when I think I was— and how old was I? I think I was like 17, 16 or 17.

Okay.

And for Christmas one year, my mom said, I want to take everyone to go see a show. And her and my sister had gone to New York and seen Stomp.

Oh, okay.

And they loved it.

Yeah.

And there was some sort of show playing in Houston, which, if you don't know, Is Houston still number 2?

Yeah, the last time I checked it was, believe it or not.

Yeah, Houston is number 2 when it comes to theater.

Theater district.

Yeah. Yeah. And like, that's impressive considering there's like Chicago and London and LA and LA. I mean, like, there's, there's some cool theater towns, but Houston's number 2 next to— after New York.

It's crazy.

You know, like, I don't know that anybody will ever top New York, but Houston's number 2. So you can see some incredible shows in Houston. And she was like, hey, I found this show. It's just like Stomp. want to go see it. Let's go see it. And so it was either like a few days. And you'll understand why my confusion on the dates here in just a second, because I don't know what date this holiday is on. But it was like right before or right after Christmas. And so we go and we're sitting in the audience and we're there a little bit early.

Was it Blue Man Group?

No.

Okay.

No.

All right, keep going.

We're sitting in the audience and we're dressed pretty nice. And all of a sudden, other people start walking in the theater.

Okay.

Which normally wouldn't notice other people walking in the theater, except they're not dressed like us.

Oh.

Most of them are dressed in what looks like African robes.

All right.

And it, like, you see, like, 1 or 2 and you're like, oh, cool. Good for you, man.

Yeah.

And, but then it's like half the audience.

Oh.

And we're like, what's going on?

Yeah. Yeah. That's different.

What's happening right now? And so then the show starts and it's kind of like Stomp.

Okay.

But the narrative of the show is how the white man stole the drum.

Oh.

And once I figure out that that's what the show's about, I jump on my phone.

Right.

And I'm like, what? Like, so I look it up, and lo and behold, the day that we go to the show is Kwanzaa.

Oh, interesting.

And so everyone's there to celebrate Kwanzaa.

Yeah.

And this show about finding your rhythm.

Interesting.

And I'm looking around going, I didn't steal nothing, y'all.

I didn't do it.

I didn't do it. I didn't take it.

I don't, I don't know where it is.

If I had it, I'd give it to you.

Give it to you right now.

Right now. Right now. So, so, so anyway, all that to say, we've been going to see shows for a long, long time.

Sure.

Um, and I will, I will say this, Queen Esther is probably the best, if not the best show I've been to ever.

Interesting.

Ever.

That's interesting.

Just really, really good.

So What one of the— I'm, I'm curious about a couple of things. What about it? Because I've seen 4 shows there, I believe.

The Sound and Light Theater?

Yeah. Um, sound— not Sound and Light.

Sound— I think it's Sound and Light.

Uh-uh. Some similar to that. Sight and Sound.

Sight and Sound. You're absolutely right. Yeah.

Sight and Sound. Um, my bad. But the Sight and Sound Theater, I've seen, I've seen 4. I've seen Esther. I've seen Jonah.

That one looks cool. Uh-huh.

I've seen Noah.

Uh-huh.

And I've seen Joseph.

Okay.

And all of them are unbelievable. So I'm curious, what was the thing that you went, oh, wow, about it?

Okay. So one, I didn't, I didn't know it was gonna be as big.

What do you mean by that?

Well, one, it's just a huge theater.

It's a huge theater.

I think it seats like 2,500.

It does.

So it's a huge theater.

And they sell out almost every show. Yeah.

They said like they over 700,000 because they run like a show a year.

Right.

And I think they're going to re-up Esther.

They might.

Just because it was so successful. But like they said, over 700,000 just this past year went to see that one. Seen Queen Esther. Right. But I didn't— so like I went—

I—

and this is— I do this a lot. Like I try and go in with like zero expectations.

Sure.

Like if it's like a new experience, I try and not research it.

Sure.

Especially if it's something like somebody has invited me to.

Yeah.

Because I feel like if I research it, I'm gonna go in with things that I already don't like about it.

Yeah.

And I just, I don't like doing that to somebody else's art.

Sure.

So anyway, I did not realize it was that big. I did not realize it was a wraparound theater.

That is maybe one of the most impressive things.

Yeah.

And so you don't know that.

Yeah. If you don't know that, and I didn't know that. Yeah. And so like when you're in there, it looks just like a regular theater, but then all of a sudden the sides open up.

Yep.

And it's not just that the sides open up, but there's actual stage props and people and things happening at like 180 degrees.

180 degrees the entire show. Show.

Yeah.

During the time when something is happening on the left side that people are talking and interacting with each other, there's still townspeople doing stuff on the other side. as if all of this is happening in real time.

Right.

This is not a moment in time. This is like inclusive.

Yeah, it's very immersive.

Yeah.

And so I did know that there were gonna be live animals.

Yeah, that's always.

And so I was— someone had told me that.

Yeah, that, yeah.

It was still impressive.

Oh yeah.

Because they, while it, While it is 180 degrees out in front of you, they bring the animals out in the aisles.

Yeah. Right. Where are we all sitting?

Center.

Lower level or upper level?

Lower level center.

Okay.

Yeah. Like, my, my mom went all out for this one.

Yeah. It's interesting because personally, I like the upper level better.

Because you can kinda see everything?

Yes. Because it's such a wraparound.

Yeah.

If you're in the front or in the middle anywhere, you have to, like, physically turn around to see everything. And if you're in the back, you can—

I can see how you would like that. I liked where I was at because I felt more in the story.

Sure, I get that too.

So, but anyway, just incredible production.

Yeah.

And like, I'm telling you, like, I've been to Cats, I've been to Phantom, great shows.

I hated Cats.

I know that that one song is good. Everything else is just crap.

It's weird.

Um, no, it's not.

It's weird.

It's dumb is what it is.

Uh, that's, that's also that.

Um, so, and like, I get it. Like, it was creative project, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Um, didn't like it.

I didn't either.

Uh, but yeah, it was like every, every, every bit of that show was just great.

The talent was good.

Yep.

I mean, the, the singing was good.

The songs were good.

Music was good. Like, the— it was all— it's just very well done. Yeah, very well done.

Yeah, so I was, I was super impressed. So the highlight of the trip for me.

Yeah, for sure.

So we, uh, we— so that, that was the main thrust of the trip.

Okay.

So my, uh, mother insisted that we go to Silver Dollar City.

Okay.

Um, which I'd like to go give it a second shot.

Okay.

Because it was like 30 degrees the whole time we were there.

Ah, yeah. So when we went in July, end of July, beginning of August, I imagine it was lovely. It, it was nice. It was, it was hot, but it wasn't so hot that if you weren't like consistently cooling yourself down, you were miserable, right? It was, but 30 is a little ridiculous.

Yeah.

And some of the, some of the rides you just can't even do.

They don't even open them.

Yeah, one of my, one of our favorite, or 2 of our favorite rides are water rides.

Mm-hmm.

And can't ride those.

So the whole reason we went is because we went on the, I think it was the 27th. No, we went on the 28th.

Okay.

They were closing the park on the 29th.

Okay.

And it's the last. So you could literally be like one of the last people to ever ride Fire in the Hole.

Oh, okay.

They're shutting it down forever.

Are they?

After, after this season.

Really?

So it's gone.

Why?

Uh, because they're replacing it with a newer version.

Oh, okay.

Um, but, and it'd been open since like 1971 or something like that.

Yeah.

Um, and you could tell. It's rough.

Dude, we—

I, I— But it's like their most famous ride.

I know. I, I made a mistake. of going whenever we went. It was, it was actually not crowded at all last time we went, and which was odd. Um, I think people had started like going back to school and stuff like that. But yeah, um, I made the mistake of being like, let's ride this first. And it's my kids, and they like, they're used to Disney.

Sure.

And most of the rides at Disney, even if they're intense, they're smooth.

Sure. That one's a little tough.

A little tough. Ryland rattled his brains out.

Oh, okay.

But beyond that, it was—

yeah, I mean, it's, it's rough.

Yeah. Yeah.

So good move on shutting it down.

Yeah, I agree.

Um, but like, we were like, like one of the last ones to ever ride it.

That's cool.

So that's that. I mean, like, that was cool, but that was like the only ride. I think there's like the water prison Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Uh-huh. That one was open.

Okay.

So we got to ride that one. Everything else was closed.

Really?

Everything else.

The Time Traveler was closed?

Yep.

What?

Yep.

That's— well, I didn't, I didn't actually ride it because I knew my kids would, like, lose their ever-loving mind on that one.

Uh-huh.

But that one, if you don't know, if you're just listening, that one is— so it's a roller coaster, but the seats move independently, and, and they, they can swivel all the way around, right, as you're, as you're riding. So you can get oddly disoriented in that, in that one. Why they call it Time Traveler, right?

So every ride that was outside was closed.

Oh my goodness. Yeah.

And so, like, we, we had a few shows we could go to.

Okay.

And there was food.

Did you get the cinnamon bread?

No.

Is it called cinnamon bread? I think it's called cinnamon bread. It may be called something different than cinnamon bread, but if you didn't get it, you missed out. Best thing I ever had.

Let me tell you, I missed out on a lot.

Okay.

There was a lot I missed out on that day.

Okay, well, but you did do maybe the coolest thing at Silver Dollar City, didn't you?

Which is?

The cave.

Oh, yeah. That, that was the only thing. That was the only thing.

Redeeming quality.

Only redeeming quality about that day.

Was it not amazing?

It was amazing.

Yeah.

Here was— and here was what made it extra amazing.

Okay.

That thing is geothermal.

Oh, yeah. And so it was warmer inside there. So it was super—

By, like, almost 40 degrees. Yeah.

So it was super cold. Like, it was cold when we were there.

Right.

And, yeah, it stays a certain temperature.

Temperature. 68 degrees.

All the time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, I mean, like, when we got in, we were like, oh, thank Jesus.

I'm sure you did.

Yep. I mean, well, and, like, because they only have, like, so many tours a day, and we hit the second to last one.

Mm.

And— 'cause I think the park closed at, like, 6:00.

And it's one of those places where, like, it takes— Isn't it like 2 hours?

It's an— it's like an hour and 15 minutes.

Okay. That's all?

Yeah.

Okay. Well, I was thinking it took longer than that. Whatever it was, they're like, look, pee now.

Right.

Because you're not gonna have another chance until you come out of this place.

Yeah.

Yeah. And they're not wrong.

No. But the whole thing's incredible, man.

It absolutely is.

Like, they were telling us about how for the 100-year anniversary, they flew 5 hot air balloons in the big cave.

Into it.

Which, I mean, incredible.

I know, I know.

Absolutely incredible. Um, but I mean, like, the waterfall was cool. I mean, like, honestly, like, the whole— to me, the whole park is worth it if you go to the cave. I haven't ridden any of the roller coasters, but if you just see the cave, you're right, you're doing good.

You're not wrong. And I will tell you, the next time I go, I want to go to the bat area. Like, that's a different tour. It's called the Lantern Tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you go in, they literally give you a lantern And there's like, I think they said there's something, some crazy number like 100,000 bats or something. Yeah, like some, some stupid number, and I'm probably wrong on the number. Yeah, but it's pretty amazing.

So, well, let me, let me, let me tell you something else that's amazing.

We—

I had another company send me another pair of boots.

What?

Yeah.

Are you kidding me?

So this is—

what do I have to do? Do I literally have to like sell my soul? What do I have to do to get a pair of boots?

I did not sell my soul.

Okay, well, that's good.

So I'm just Congratulations, Craig. Thank you.

What you got?

So Rocky Boots sent me a pair, and this is the pair that they sent me.

Okay, um, dude, hold those up just a little bit.

Right there.

There you go, dude. Yeah, square toe. Huh?

Say what?

Square toe.

Square toe. Um, it's got a rubber sole. These are actually work boots.

Yeah, they got grass on the bottom.

Yeah, I've been working in them. Um, so here's what I did. I So they sent them to me, and I— this— so like after Georgia Boots sent me their boots and I had to break them in a little bit, I was like, all right, I'm gonna actually give these things like the most rigorous test I could possibly think of.

Okay.

So I wore them to Silver Dollar City.

No, you didn't.

And it was like the second time I had worn them.

All right, to a theme park?

To a theme park.

What?

Yeah, I know. And so—

That was stupid.

Well, I was like, I was like, okay, I— they said that they're comfortable.

Yeah.

But they also said they work, and so like they should Like, they should be ready out of the box.

Like, this is like, this is like Ariat level. That's what Ariat, like, that's what their whole big thing is.

Right.

Okay.

I will. And so here's what I'll say. When I put them on, they felt a little thin.

Okay.

Um, and I was like, and so I had, I was, I was like, I had a little bit of trepidation about wearing them to the park. I was like, these feel a little bit thin on the bottom.

Okay.

Um, but My feet did not hurt after that day.

Really?

Like, and like, I never like once— like, I put them on in the morning going, okay, I need to be like cognizant of like my day because I'm wearing these boots because I want to give an honest review as to like, sure, how they do. And I feel like walking around a theme park, which is where you like— I'm gonna get like 15,000 to 17,000 steps in.

Well, and that thing is like up and down. That— I mean, right, Silver Dollar City is like treacherous.

Well, I think it's also fair to point out it's a huge park.

It's big.

I mean, it's, it's really, really big.

It's big. Yeah.

I don't know how you could go into it expecting to see all of it in a day.

No, because I mean, beyond the rides and stuff, they've got shows. Yes. That's one of the cool things is they've got, they've got these, you know, actors out there, singers and actors and different—

And they're all pretty good.

They're all pretty good. Yeah. I mean, it's worth going to. Yeah.

So anyway, I wore them all day and then I got home, I was like, I didn't feel the need to take them off.

Weird.

I was like—

And awesome.

My feet actually feel really good. And the other thing is, is like my problem with cowboy work boots is they usually have like a really goofy looking sole on them.

Right.

And I don't know, like if you, if you look at these, man, like it looks like, to me it looks like a legit cowboy boot.

It's normal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But it's a work boot.

Right.

And so it just doesn't have that weird, like clunky—

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do.

And so, like, and which is why I picked them out. They told me I could pick out whichever pair I wanted.

Okay.

They just, they just wanted me to check them out.

Okay.

Um, and I, I gotta say, like, the, the leather is holding up. Like, they were super comfy.

Yeah.

Um, I, I, the size I gave them, they sent me the right size. The size was perfect.

Fit? Fit great, dude.

Um, so I mean, like, right out of the box, I was like, I put them on and I was like, oh, I can go for a walk in these. I mean, like, it's like not a big deal at all.

Well, and, and if it's 30 degrees at Silver Dollar City, like, wearing boots is not a bad move.

No.

Only because, like, you wind up with— I mean, tennis shoes, like, nowadays, the most comfortable tennis shoes have— just have mesh. Right. Your feet are gonna freeze, man. Yeah. So you put on a pair of boots, you got good leather surrounding, you're gonna be alright.

So, yeah, a little bit more insulated. I had on some wool socks. That helped. Sure. So, like, just super, super comfy. So, like, they survived Silver— the Silver Dollar City experience. That's pretty impressive. Let me tell you, With all the rides closed, we did nothing but walk the whole day.

Well, that's all you can do.

That's all. And you had to walk just to stay warm.

Sure, I can believe that. So like eat and walk.

That's all you could do.

So it sounds kind of miserable. I'm not gonna lie.

It was miserable.

Except for the shoes or the boots, I mean.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, no, like the, the boots were the highlight of the day for me.

Yeah.

It's like, it's the only thing that doesn't hurt.

And how many stairs are in the cave?

Oh geez. Well, like the first thing you go down is like a 60-foot flight of stairs.

Right. Yeah.

And that's just to get to the top of the big cave as you go down further into the cave.

Exactly. So I mean, you're climbing, you're— yeah.

Isn't it like a mile and a half that you end up walking through that thing?

Yeah, it's a long way. Yeah, it's a long way.

So, and a lot of it's like just kind of back and forth as you like, you know, snake your way down to the bottom of that first cave.

Yeah.

So anyway, um, so yeah, Silver Dollar City was a bust. Rocky Boots, not a bust. And here's the thing, man, is I, I kind of did a suicide mission.

Okay.

I didn't take another pair of shoes with me.

Oh my gosh. Was that, was that intentional?

Oh, it was totally, totally intentional, dude, because I was like, like, how else am I gonna get like the test? Dude, because otherwise I'm going to break it up into like little segments and like I just need to like go all in on this thing.

You're nuts.

And, and if my feet die, my feet die.

There was a very good possibility that happened.

So they didn't.

Yeah.

So, and like what was different from this pair from the other pair is this pair, as soon as I put them on, I did not feel the need to like do anything to break them in. Like, they felt like, right, ready to go.

Yeah.

The other ones are like, it's, it's thicker leather. Right. And I knew I was gonna break them in, but they'll probably last a long time. So I, as far as like longevity goes, I can't say anything about these, but like, as far as like right out of the box being comfortable, being able to go and do a lot in them right away.

Yeah. Perfect. And with these, you can tell which feet they're supposed to go on. That's true.

Yeah. Yeah. I posted that picture and I was like, he's not wrong.

They totally look like they're on the wrong foot.

They do. Yes. But, like, if you, if you, if you walk up to them, you're like, that's the left. That— it doesn't look like the left, but that's the left.

You know, that's the left. That's funny because the zipper's on the right.

I'm just kidding. Alright. So I've, I've got this, this other story for us.

Alright.

I wanted to, I wanted to lay it on you.

Bring it.

Oh, man.

Where did it go?

Okay.

There we go. You said it might surprise me, so we'll see.

Yeah. So this, so this particular one is from CNN Business.

Okay.

And the title of the, of the article is Office Vacancy Rate Hits Record High. And so this is back from the first week in January. Let me see if I can read some of this for you. It says more office space is currently sitting empty in the United States than at any point since 1979.

Oh my goodness.

Said, and this is according to Moody's Analytics, which began tracking office leasing vacancies that year. So ever since we've been tracking office vacancies, now is the highest that it's ever been.

Wow.

Now it could have been higher prior to 1979, but we don't know because we haven't been tracking it. So ever since we've been tracking it, it's the highest.

That's interesting.

Uh, let's see here. Uh, yeah, here it is. The national office vacancy rate rose to a record-breaking 19.6% in the 4th quarter of 2023. Moody's Analytics, uh, that's the largest quarterly increase since the 1st quarter of 2021 and larger than the 19.3% level reached twice in 40 years.

Oh my goodness.

The average pre-pandemic office vacancy rate was around 16%. 19.8. Um, let's see, see if I can find— I'm gonna tell you something that I know to be true. I just don't know that it's in this article.

Okay.

Okay, it's not in this article.

Tell me, lay it on me. I'll see if I believe you.

So that's the national average, right? The 19.2, is that what you said?

Uh, 19 point something.

19.6, I think.

19.6.

Yeah. Right now, it's 19.6. The last highest one was 19.3. That's the average. 19.3 was back in 1979.

Oh, geez.

So 19.6 is what it is right now. Right.

Okay.

That's the national average.

Okay.

Okay? Which means—

Some high.

Yeah.

A lot higher.

Do you know which city has the largest commercial vacancy rate in the United States?

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Houston.

You got it, Bubba.

Wow.

And it's like over 20%.

Oh my goodness, dude.

Yeah.

Like, so I'll tell you this. Um, I've, I've actually had a weird observation over the last 3 months. So the last 3 months, whenever I go to work on Tuesdays— Mondays is not this way. I go in late on Wednesday, but on Tuesday—

I just looked it up. What the—

what the rate is?

In Houston, yeah.

What is it?

22.3%.

Oh my. 22%. We're almost at a quarter.

Yep.

Of all the offices in Houston are vacant.

Are vacant.

Just sitting there with nobody in them.

Right.

What in the world?

So here's, here's, here's what I— here's what I can tell you from that. One of the worst jobs that you could have right now is a commercial real estate lease agent.

Oh, I bet so.

So because it— like, normally you would look at that and go, guys, there's so much available.

You have any— you have your pick of anything you want.

Yeah, but nobody wants it.

Nobody wants any of it.

So, okay, so you're— so this is, this is, this is the thing that I think, uh, to me, this is where it gets tricky, right? Because the whole deal with— I know with real estate agents was they were suing that company over the adjustable rates that they could charge on their commissions.

Right?

Right? But this is where you can actually have a competitive edge and be like, look, I wanna get you into this commercial.

Right?

I'm willing to lower my rate.

Yeah. Because I have to.

Because I have to because I can't move anything right now. And, but, like, what, what they're talking about doing is changing the rules where people can't do that anymore.

Yeah. That's tough.

So—

Yeah. So—

Sorry. Anyway.

So, okay. Completely anecdotally, Mondays and Tuesdays and Thursdays, I drive to my office at the same time every day. On Wednesdays, I, I drive at a, at a different day, just because I go in late on that day. But I stay really late as well. So Mondays, no big deal. I get on 45 South, which is, you know, huge road.

Mhmm.

And no big deal. I can get to my office. No big deal. Tuesdays, inevitably, I'm sitting in traffic, man. Just sitting there. Like, it'll take me 20, 20 to 25 minutes longer, which is double the amount of time it takes me total to get to my office.

Right?

On Tuesdays. Thursdays, the same way. Wednesday, I have no idea what the, what the rate is. But here's my guess.

Completely anecdotally. Mhmm.

After COVID, so many people were like, you know what? We can let you work from home.

Right.