Probably most people have been in some type of car accident at some point in their life. I've been in more than one myself. None of them were serious, or even involved injuries. These things are common - human drivers make mistakes, and cars just run into each other sometimes.

But the crash we're talking about today wasn't a simple fender bender. 

Luke and five of his friends were just having a fun, 4th of July vacation. In fact, this episode is being released on July 5, 2019 - the 5-year anniversary of the day of the accident. Everyone in the car that day was seriously injured. Two of them did not survive.

My hope with this episode is that as you hear Luke tell the story of what happened that day, it will serve as a reminder to drive safely and use good judgment. Your passengers are depending on you to do that. What happened to these six young men could easily happen to any of us - all it takes is a brief lapse in judgment or focus.

As a note, going forward I’m probably not going to do any more stories about auto accidents. I do get submissions pretty regularly from people with a car crash story, but if you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you know I have a pretty high standard on what I consider to be an unusual story. Most car crashes aren’t unusual or extreme enough to get on the show. Today’s story is the exception.

And if you'd like to join some other listeners who are supporting this show, you can do that through my Patreon at WhatWasThatLike.com/support. We now have levels of support for patrons! You can get What Was That Like stickers, you can get your name listed on the website as a supporter, and you can even get a shout out on the show! Thanks for your support.

And for those of you who use Reddit, the podcast now has its own subreddit! Check it out and join the community at Reddit.com/r/WhatWasThatLike.

And of course you are welcome to join the What Was That Like private Facebook group. You can talk about episodes with other listeners, and you’ll even find some of the guests in there in case you have some questions that I forgot to ask on the show. That’s at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook.

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When you hear the word “lost”, what comes to your mind?

Honestly, it seems like these days I don’t really worry too much about getting lost. Most of that is because of the amazing technology called GPS. I mean, I’m here in my office in Safety Harbor Florida, in the Tampa Bay area. I could get in my car, look at my phone, and enter some random house address in Los Angeles, California, 2500 miles away, and within seconds Google will be ready to direct me turn by turn to get to that address. Even though it will take me 37 hours to make that drive.

But that’s only because I have a phone that can stay fully charged for the whole trip. And I have a car to keep the air a cool temperature, and I’ll have places to stop and get food along the way, not to mention snacks while I’m driving. And I’ll have my bottle of water right there in the console for whenever I get thirsty. And when I get tired of driving all day, I’ll have a hotel to spend the night and get the sleep I’ll need to keep going the next day.

Well, today we’re talking to John. John had none of those things. He was on foot, his phone was dead, he had no water, and he had no food. Even though the weather included rain and snow, he was only wearing a sweatshirt and shorts. He was alone. And the only place he could sleep at night was on the ground.

John was in a remote area of southern Utah, in a place called the Bryce Canyon National Park. This is a huge place, mainly full of rocks and trees and thorny bushes. It’s 56 square miles, or 145 square kilometers.

And that’s where John was lost. His plan was to spend a few hours there. He was still there after a few days – exhausted, dehydrated, dejected, hallucinating - and he still had no idea how to get out.

How did he get in this situation? What did he do each day? What did he end up drinking, out of desperation? And how did he finally get rescued? You’re about to find out. And partway through John’s story, we’ll hear from Cody Sherriffs, one of the Garfield County Search and Rescue workers who ended up finding John and getting him to safety.

On this podcast, you hear stories from people first hand – true stories you just can’t get on other podcasts. If you like this show and would like to support it, you can do that by going to WhatWasThatLike.com/support and signing up to be a patron. This show takes a lot of time to put together, and it’s all done by me, so your support really means a lot. And I thank you.

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Today we’ve got a really fun conversation. Still a weird story with an extra unusual twist thrown in partway through, but it’s a fun one and I think you’re gonna like it.

And if you didn’t already know, you now have the opportunity and ability to support this podcast through my Patreon at whatwasthatlike.com/support. So if you like this show and want it to keep going, that’s how you do it! I’m still working on how it will work for different levels, so that’s coming up in the near future. But in the meantime, if you like the show, check out whatwasthatlike.com/support. And I thank you!

Today we’re talking with Kasey. She lives in St Louis. And one day she sent a text message to her friends, because she was looking to hang out with someone. But she sent that text to the wrong number. Happens to everyone, right? Well, what DOESN’T happen to everyone is this – fast forward a few years, and Kasey and Henry – the guy she accidentally texted – are now married.

If there was ever a case of soul mates connecting, this is it. And this happened even though Kasey is 30 years older than Henry. Intrigued yet? Just wait til you hear the REST of the story (sorry about that Paul Harvey)!

I loved talking with Kasey because she is just full of energy and she loves to tell this story. And that’s something that will suit her well as she embarks on a new career, which we also talked about. And I’m pretty sure this is the only episode of my podcast where part of the guest’s story is the question “did you poop today?”

Contact information:

Kasey’s public speaking website: https://www.kaseybstl.com/

Kasey and Henry on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaseyandhenry/

Kasey’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kasey.bergh/

Kasey and Henry’s website: https://Kaseyandhenry.com

Interested in having Kasey on your podcast or at your event? Contact Lindsay, her PR person: [email protected]

And of course, Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker - https://youtu.be/Xv2VIEY9-A8

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What if you kind of knew someone in high school, then you became friends with that person when you both ended up at the same college?

What if you started hanging out with that person, and talking with him most days before or after classes?

What if you confided in this person, and came to really appreciate the friendship that was growing?

Then, what if you started to realize that this person was not at all the person you thought they were?

That’s what happened to Marina, and it was a pretty scary time – not just for her, but for her unborn baby. She’s just now starting to be able to tell this whole story out loud.

As you listen to Marina, ask yourself a question – is this podcast worth supporting? If you get any value from this episode, or any of the other incredible stories that my guests tell on this show, I would really appreciate it if you’d consider supporting the show through my Patreon. You can do that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support.

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Sometimes great ideas show up in your brain at the most surprising times.

One morning last September, Whitney Austin suddenly had the idea that she was going to do something. She was going to take action and do everything in her power to reduce gun violence. And let me tell you, Whitney is a very determined person. When she decides to do something, it’s gonna happen. Since that day, she has started a non-profit organization, along with several of her colleagues, with the purpose of reducing ALL gun violence in a way that everyone can accept.

And what prompted her to have that great idea? Well, when she first thought of it, she was at the Fifth Third Bank building in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she worked. She remembers this very specifically, because she was inside the revolving door, the main entrance to the building. She was slumped on the floor, inside that revolving door. And she was bleeding, because she had just been shot 12 times.

That morning, as she entered the building, she had unknowingly walked into a mass shooting that was happening right there in the lobby. And as she lay there, pretending to be dead, with literally a dozen bullet wounds in her body, she thought about her husband and her two young children, and she also thought, “If I live through this, I have to do something to stop this from happening again.”

I love talking with people who don’t just talk about problems, they take action. That’s Whitney. The non-profit she started is Whitney/Strong, and you can get more info at https://www.whitneystrong.org/

This is Whitney with Officer Al Staples, who was the one who pulled her out of that revolving door to safety:

Included in this episode:

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a patron at WhatWasThatLike.com/support.

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The tag line for this podcast is “real people in unreal situations”, and today’s story is about as unreal as it gets.

Imagine you’re leaving work one night. It’s dark. You’re walking through the parking lot, and suddenly an SUV with two men inside pulls up beside you, one of them jumps out and grabs you, throws you in the car, and they quickly drive away. And there was no one around to see this happen.

They drive for a while but you can’t see where they’re taking you. You end up at a house. You don’t know where you are, but you know it’s very quiet. There are no sounds of traffic. No other human activity nearby.

Then they start beating you.

This might sound like a bad dream, or the opening scene to a horror movie. But for Tyson, it was real life.

When he first told me what happened, it sounded just a little too bizarre. On this podcast I don’t cover situations that are fictional – only true stories. So I did the research, obtained police reports, verified addresses, all that, to make sure Tyson’s story is true. Unfortunately for him, it actually happened.

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You know, this isn’t really a true crime podcast, but today’s episode sure puts it in that category.

Ramon and Lulu got married, and for the first few years it was great. They had a business that was doing very well, they built a new house, they had cars and nice clothes. Life was good.

Of course, every marriage has its ups and downs. If you’re married, you know what I mean. But in most cases, a marriage that goes bad just ends in a divorce, and eventually everyone gets on with their lives.

That’s not what happened with Ramon and Lulu.

Ramon was okay with getting a divorce, and he wanted them to split everything 50/50. Lulu didn’t want that. She wanted everything. And if she couldn’t have everything, she wanted Ramon dead. So she paid someone to kill him.

I had a great conversation with Ramon, so obviously he is not dead. But he has been through quite a horrific ordeal, including lying in his own grave while being photographed as if he had been shot in the head.

Like I said, not your typical divorce story. Here’s the police body cam video of the day Lulu was arrested:

https://youtu.be/yXh0dhurguk

Ramon has written a book about what happened, and the book includes a lot of details that we did not talk about here on the podcast. It will be out soon.

Mundo has also written a book from his perspective, available on Amazon here. 

(book links are affiliate links)

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Today’s story happened last summer – July of 2018.

William was out riding his bike. He came up to an intersection where he had a stop sign, and had to turn either left or right. While he was stopped at that intersection, a car approached from his right, and turned left – coming straight at him.

What makes this story interesting is that the driver of that car didn’t see William sitting on his bike at that intersection, because the driver was looking down at his phone. He didn’t look up in time, and he drove right into William and his bike. William was knocked to the ground, and his bike was destroyed.

Oh, and there’s another part of this story that makes it even more interesting. The driver of that car was a police officer, and he was on duty driving his police cruiser.

Like a lot of cyclists, William has an action cam mounted on his helmet. So when this crash happened, the camera was rolling so the whole thing is on video. This video has been viewed over 11 million times:

https://youtu.be/QoSOEtzWPlU

This was a pretty interesting conversation. We talked about William’s high-end bike that was destroyed, the camera he uses when he’s biking, what happened when he got hit, who paid for his bike, as well as the coverage for his injuries. You’ll see in the video, the police officer that crashed into him two different times told him, “You’re fine”. But he wasn’t actually fine.

This is the other video we discussed, with his interaction with one of the EMTs:

https://youtu.be/YvdlZCYrVvE

Now, William has a new bike and a new camera. And that police officer is no longer an officer with that police department.

William’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXdapW5go7Jof99qzXcHFxw

I hope you enjoy this episode. And if you do, and you’d like to support this podcast, you can buy me a coffee at WhatWasThatLike.com/coffee.

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I’ve lived in areas where it gets really cold, and I’ve lived where it’s warm most of the time. I’ve lived up north in Ohio and in Maine, and now I’m in sunny Florida. I definitely prefer the warmer climate.

But today’s story is about being cold. Really, really cold. Dan Burton brought his fat tire bike to the coast of Antarctica, and he biked from there to the South Pole. That’s 750 miles, and it’s uphill, and it’s against the wind, and it’s in temperatures that are colder than just about anyone would be comfortable with.

But he did it – and in fact, he was the first one to do it. And actually, it happened 5 years ago, and no one has done it again since then – at least not at the time we recorded this conversation, which is early 2019.

And I learned something really interesting. The elevation at the South Pole is 9300 feet. But only 300 feet of that is actual land. The 9000 feet of elevation on top of that land is solid ice. So at the South Pole Dan was standing on ice that was almost 2 miles thick. In fact, during our conversation he mentions that he actually walked over some mountains but he wasn’t able to see them, because he was actually on top of them because of that thick layer of ice.

I’m always intrigued by stories of human endurance like this, so I really loved hearing this story first hand from Dan. Here’s where you can learn more about his expedition:

Blog: http://epicsouthpole.blogspot.com/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/EpicBiking

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthPoleEpic/

Book: https://amzn.to/2VVRrHR (Amazon aff link)

Here’s the video Dan and I discuss, about the lady that fell into the crevasse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGbKLmEkKM

And if you like this podcast, you’re welcome to buy me a coffee – WhatWasThatLike.com/coffee

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This episode is a fun one for me. I’m an entrepreneur, so I love watching Shark Tank. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s where some regular person who has the beginnings of a business comes on and pitches the idea to 5 investors, called Sharks. The investors ask questions and decide if they want to become partners with that person and invest in the business.

Some of the people who have gone on there have gotten deals and gone on to great success. Others have gotten no deal, but perhaps some constructive criticism and encouragement. And then there are others that have just gotten criticism. And of course that’s part of what makes it entertaining.

Here’s some interesting facts about Shark Tank:

But my conversation today is with a young business man named Max, and in his case, the investment in his business DID happen. Max is a 19 year old college student, and he has developed a cold-brew coffee filter that he hopes will soon become a household product and introduce lots of people to the idea of cold-brew coffee.

And it turns out Mark Cuban, who’s one of the sharks and is also a billionaire investor who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, also thought the product has potential, so he and Max are now partners in this venture. And I agree, it’s a pretty clever idea.

As you’ll tell from our conversation, Max is a really bright kid and he’s got a tremendous future. I loved talking with him, and really I liked kind of getting the perspective of someone that has actually gone on that show – how he prepared for it, how he got the deal, and what’s happened since then. Going on a show like this to pitch your idea to investors is one of those things that’s part exhilarating and part terrifying.

If you want to watch the episode with Max, it’s this current season of Shark Tank, which is Season 10, and he’s on episode 9. It aired on January 6, 2019.

Here’s Max, showing how his cold-brew coffee filter works:

https://youtu.be/zVybyq00QTo

To connect with Max:

And as always, I’d love to hear what you think of this episode! Email me at [email protected].

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