Brian Jewell (00:01.371) All right, everybody, my guest today is a group travel veteran who has been traveling America's Mother Road since childhood. He worked as a content writer for Roadtrippers.com before spending several years as a full-time tour director for Trafalgar. In 2019, he launched Two Lane America, a tour company dedicated to showing travelers the secret treasures of America's road trip destinations. Austin Koofe, welcome to the podcast. Austin Coop (00:28.216) All right, thanks for having me, Brian. Appreciate it. Brian Jewell (00:30.419) Yeah, I am so glad to have you here. It is obviously a big year for Route 66. We're going to talk a lot about that, but first tell us about those childhood experiences that instilled that love in you. Austin Coop (00:44.238) Yeah, so for me, I grew up around old cars. My dad has a couple old cars that he's had for many years. And so we would go to little car shows around the Midwest here where I grew up in Indiana. you start, would hear the Route 66 song. You would see people maybe wearing a Route 66 t-shirt. And so was just, you kind of knew about it, but you didn't know really what it meant. I knew it kind of had something to do with kind of... the 50s and old cars. I knew it was connected somehow, but as a kid you don't really understand. It's funny, I was just looking at a picture the other day from a family vacation to Florida and my dad was wearing a Route 66 t-shirt and he had never been anywhere near Route 66. But somehow he had a Route 66 t-shirt. So fast forward into adulthood, I actually ended up going to Miami of Ohio and did a project with the Miami tribe out in Oklahoma. And I'm out there and I looked at my professor and I go, Are we on Route 66? He goes, yeah, goes right through town. I was like, no kidding. And so I was like, that pops up again. Like, here's this weird thing that popped up again. And then eventually when I was at Road Trippers, part of my job was to do some articles and go on some trips and things like that. And so I started kind of doing Route 66 over and over again in some way, shape, or form for them. So you just, never know how life's gonna come kind of full circle. And you know with Trafalgar after after Road Trippers literally knew nothing about the guided travel world I mean, I didn't I had no idea. I remembered in college. I liked being a tour director orientation leader and I thought is there an adult travel version of that I sent an email to info at Trafalgar comm and The guy at the time that was in charge of personnel there at destination America said yeah sure you're hired I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what it paid Brian Jewell (02:23.378) Yeah. Austin Coop (02:37.92) I didn't know anything about it. And next thing I know, I'm in Salt Lake City meeting the guy that I'm going to shadow. And I said, what is this? Like, how do we get paid? What do we do? And yeah, so you never know where life's gonna go. it was, and then of course Route 66 became one of the trips I did for them when they still offered it. Brian Jewell (03:02.193) Yeah. You know, I've met hundreds and hundreds of people in tourism at this point and 99 % of them have a similar story to you. They weren't aware of the group tour market. They got into it in some, you know, a surprising way and then they fall in love with it. And, you know, here they are years, decades later. So you're in good company there. So this is the hundredth anniversary of Route 66. I'm curious if you can sort of articulate why something that, as you said, was a big deal in the 50s continues to be such a big deal, why it resonates so deeply with Americans and why it's still such an important part of our travel culture. Austin Coop (03:43.82) Yeah, you know, I think it's, it's a unique road, you know, starts in 1926 and obviously this is the hundredth year in each of its, in each of its kind of decade, you know, there's three versions of the road. There's three alignments of it. and it really tells the history, you know, kind of the way forest gum tells the history of the fifties, sixties, you know, up to, you know, the nineties route 66 kind of tells the history of America for the past hundred years, from Brian Jewell (04:07.133) Yeah. Austin Coop (04:13.934) Bootleggers and moonshiners, know, running booze on it in the 20s to, you know, the grapes of wrath and the dust bowl. That's why we call it the mother road. Steinbeck was the first one to call it that. To GIs using it to get back and forth before and after the war. Clark Gable stayed at one hotel called Boots Court in Carthage, Missouri. He stayed there twice during his time in the service. Eventually got married to Carol Lombard on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona. So you get that and then after the war, we see a totally different road. These guys are coming back from World War II and that's when they start taking these family vacations, these family road trips, know, the family station wagon, all these ideas. So then you tap into a lot of people that are, you know, senior citizens today that actually do have memories of taking family road trips on Route 66. And then, you you think, well then is it going to die out with, as the boomers age out? Well, then you have the movie cars come along and the movie cars, the Pixar guys hired a route 66 expert to basically escort them along route 66. And if you read the special thanks in that movie, it's all real people and places. And you there's so much tied into that movie that is real, real life. And then, know, Disneyland puts in the cars, experience, you know, the little town and stuff. And so all of a sudden you've got younger people that are all of a sudden connecting with it. And then internationally to international people, it just represents the idea of this wide open spaces of America. You know, if, if any of you, you know, have guided anybody from overseas, they're always amazed at just how wide open, particularly the American Midwest and West is. So I think it just checks all those boxes. So it just continues to re reinvigorate itself and, and, Yeah, and I think with social media, you know, your roadside kitsch, anything that's going to get a like, a blue whale or a giant muffler man or any world's largest ball of barbed wire, stuff like that, Route 66 has a lot of very Instagrammable photo ops. Brian Jewell (06:29.467) Yeah. Are you finding people in that, let's say millennial to Gen Z category showing interest in Route 66 trips? Austin Coop (06:38.824) Yeah, so one of the challenges that I have with my trip is that it's two weeks long. So if you're still working, that's especially my guided car caravan, unless you're renting a car and flying home, it's at least two, maybe three weeks of vacation time. That being said, the number of emails and people that reach out say, you know, as soon as I get some more vacation time or as soon as I retire. That being said, I do get younger people. I had a kid last year, he asked for it. as his graduation present from high school from his mom. So him and his mom did it and his mom didn't really have much interest in it. But this 18 year old kid was just all about it. And we had another 18 year old kid come last year with his, with his uncle. And I don't think he had a whole lot of interest at first. And then the more that we went along, he's like, wow, this is really cool. Tell me about this. Wow, this is really cool. And we, as a group, I got him a, like a coffee table book and had everybody sign it. And I said, buddy, take this to college. when your friends ask what you did this summer, show them, you know, show them this stuff. so it, it, it is, it's still, there's still interest in it. You know, I think we all think about this in our line of work is, you know, is there a runway in terms of, as travel changes and things like that, how many more years will a certain itinerary be viable or, are we gonna, is, you know, is bus travel gonna all of sudden dry up? You think about all these things. And so I think about that with Route 66 and I do think I've got Brian Jewell (07:41.576) Yeah. Brian Jewell (08:02.629) Sure. Austin Coop (08:06.862) A solid at least 10 years left of runway before maybe it might ebb. Brian Jewell (08:12.859) Yeah. Well, you know, I first heard that group travel was dying in 2003 when I entered the industry. And here we are 23 years later and it's still going strong. So I would say the prognosis is good for group travel and for Route 66 as well. So for people that haven't ever done the trip or haven't really sat down and studied it, can you give us a primer on Route 66? Where does it go? What are the main things that people are looking to see and do when they come on these trips? Austin Coop (08:42.304) Yeah, so it's Chicago to LA. And this has just made the news a lot here lately. They have moved the starting point of Route 66 to Navy Pier. That is not. Brian Jewell (08:53.944) cool. So it's peer to peer basically. Austin Coop (08:58.862) This gets, let me put it to you this, they moved it to accommodate a restaurant that wanted to be able to have some press events around this. it officially, it would be like moving the Oregon Trail from where it starts to a Chili's parking lot. can't change where a historic road started. But it technically starts at basically the Art Institute in downtown Chicago. And then it does go to Santa Monica. Brian Jewell (09:08.987) Okay. Brian Jewell (09:15.065) Ha ha ha ha. Brian Jewell (09:20.445) Yeah. Austin Coop (09:27.942) The guys that run, there's a shop on the pier called 66 De Calli. They were the guys that came up with the idea to put the end of the trail sign up on the pier. And they are wonderful ambassadors of the route. And they just were getting so many tourists that were like, I thought Route 66 came here. It technically ends about three blocks inland at Olympic in Lincoln. But they were getting so much interest. And so they've become these wonderful ambassadors that if you ask them, they'll say, it doesn't actually technically end here. technically ends about three blocks that way. But they also have photo albums and souvenirs and they'll tell everybody, know, so a lot of people when they visit the pier is their first kind of information about it. anyway, eight states. you know, obviously it changes a lot. I tell everybody on my trips, take one picture, just one picture every day of just what you see out the window. And over the 13 days, swipe through them all and you'll be, you know, it's going to go cornfields. It's going to go Ozarks. It's going to go. Brian Jewell (10:18.291) Mm. Austin Coop (10:26.634) know, flatlands, all of sudden you're going to cross into New Mexico and then Arizona and so you really get to see a lot of a lot of that. I tell people it's not the most scenic drive in America. There's so many wonderful scenic roads in America, you know, going to the sun or Blue Ridge Parkway or, you know, Highway One, stuff like that. But it's it has scenic parts and it there's no other road, like I said, that tells the story. It gives you such a snapshot. Brian Jewell (10:49.647) you Austin Coop (10:56.576) I would say people on my trips, they're excited to see the old school stuff. They're excited to see the old diners and the filling stations that have been restored and the old motels and the neon signs and the roadside kitsch. They're excited for that stuff. I think what they don't expect and what makes the trip great is the people that they meet along the way. The vendors, a lot of these vendors are mom and pop places. Brian Jewell (11:17.843) Hmm. Austin Coop (11:23.982) and they just roll out the red carpet for you. And so I always tell people, know, the places we go on the trip are great, but the people that we're going to meet are the better part. And I think all my guests would agree with that. You know, it's been neat to see, you know, over time, some of the people have passed on and younger people have stepped up and taken the reins. So, but, you know, you're going to get that roadside pitch. Brian Jewell (11:48.231) Yeah. Austin Coop (11:52.886) that everybody wants. You're also on our trips, you know, I hear a lot of people when they do 66 on their own, and this is why I always advocate for group travel of any way, type or form. They don't do the city's justice. Like maybe they'll, we're just going to breathe. We heard St. Louis is scary. We're just going to skip St. Louis. Well, no, our trip, we, you know, we go up in the arch, we go to Ted Drew's frozen custard. go to the cathedral Basilica, which is this unbelievable place. We go to Anheuser-Busch. Brian Jewell (12:06.77) Yeah. Austin Coop (12:22.936) Same thing, Oklahoma City. Well, you know, it should be a requirement for anybody to go to the Oklahoma City Memorial. And that bombing memorial is one of the most moving places I've ever been. You know, we do a day trip up to Santa Fe. Santa Fe was technically on Route 66 for about two years, three years. lot of people, think, if they're just trying to go on a straight line, they skip it. So we try to include those things that I think if you're doing it on your own, you might miss. Brian Jewell (12:29.447) Absolutely. Brian Jewell (12:52.135) Yeah, yeah, super smart. So I know there are parts of the historic route that you actually can't drive on anymore, or at least that's my impression. So how do you handle that in a tour where you're trying to go end to end and there's missing chunks? Austin Coop (13:07.342) So this is where just experience comes in handy. about 80 % of the route still exists in some way, or form. Out of that 80%, you've got another maybe 10 % that's gravel or dirt. And then you've got maybe another 10 to 20 % that doesn't connect in a way where you can drive it continuously, where it might dead end and you might have to reroute. And then you've got other parts, like a good example from Chicago. Theoretically, you could take it from downtown Chicago out towards Joliet. You're driving through suburbs. It's not, you know, it doesn't have any feel. It doesn't have any vibe. And, you know, this is something I just learned kind of over the years of doing it is how to prioritize our time. There's also three alignments of the road. So there's literally three different routes as the cars got bigger and faster, the road got straighter and wider. So in 13 days, we pick and choose, you know, if it's just a frontage road to the interstate, let's take the interstate and go to two or three more stops. If it goes, off out into the country and goes through a cool little town or does some scenic twisties and turns and stuff. You know, let's do that. So it's, that's just been an experience thing on when to, when to do it and not do it. If you wanted to do a purist, you know, I'm going to drive every last bit that still exists. You're looking at about a month on the road and at some point it starts to be a little redundant. So I think what I've tried to do is what most tour operators do. We try to create a highlight of the areas that we're going. You know, a Yellowstone trip, yeah, you could spend a week in Yellowstone. Most tour operators, we spend a day or two. You you learn to prioritize. Brian Jewell (14:41.159) Yeah. Brian Jewell (14:51.377) Yeah. So I do want to talk about your unique approach to trips because you're not taking motor coaches on your tours. Before we get there though, you have certainly spent a lot of time on a motor coach. So can you think of any unique challenges or logistics that come along with taking a motor coach on some of the Route 66 areas? Are there places where a coach just can't go or you might have to do it differently than people would in their own cars? Austin Coop (15:18.146) Yeah, so you know our main bread and butter is these car caravans, but we do offer one or two bus tours a year. And the itineraries that we run on the bus are identical to the car, except for there's a town in Arizona called Oatman. And Oatman, a lot of people are familiar with it. The town's full of wild burrows. The road to get up to it, they call it the Arizona Sidewinder. A bus cannot make it up that road. Buses used to. Brian Jewell (15:43.972) Mm. Mm. Austin Coop (15:45.976) Pickwick bus lines used to that. mean, back when that was Route 66 and the buses would literally have to do like eight point turns, every little whip stitch. So the bus tour detours to Las Vegas and we do Vegas for a night. A lot of your bigger operators, they'll do two nights in Vegas and do optionals and stuff like that. We just do one night in Vegas. Cause most of my guests, one night in Vegas and they're fine. But that's really the only, for the motor coaches, that's the big. Brian Jewell (15:53.004) my goodness. Austin Coop (16:13.922) That's the big one is to not try to go to Oatman. Brian Jewell (16:16.721) Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Okay, so the car caravan, fascinating idea. Where did you get that idea? tell us how that ends up feeling? What's the vibe or experience like in a car caravan trip, as opposed to that motor coach trip? Austin Coop (16:33.89) Yeah, so I kind of got the idea, you know, when I was working for Trafalgar, I would ask the guests and say, if somebody was offering this in a way where you were just driving your car, what you've done that way. And they're like, yeah. I was exposed to, so there's something called the hot rod power tour. There's many takes the States. There's some of these other road rallies like scavenger hunt type events. The power tour and many takes the States are, you know, they'll have a big itinerary, but you might have 400 cars. So it's a lot of fun, but it's not a guided tour per se. And then you have like these scavenger hunt type ones that might be 15, 20 cars, but you're all, it's not a race necessarily, but it is a race. And so those tours or those trips are really, really fun, but there's not a lot of hand holding in terms of customer service from a standpoint of like, Brian Jewell (17:07.985) Right. Brian Jewell (17:20.604) Mm-hmm. Austin Coop (17:32.718) what I was used to, what I got, well, what I learned at Destination America, what I learned at Trafalgar. So I thought, what if I blended those two together and did the, you know, just something as simple as group checking. You know, most of these big, like the 400 car type ones, you're responsible for your own hotels. And on the scavenger hunt type ones, yeah, your hotel's included, but you still stand in line. You still wait to get your key. Little things that you learn, that I've learned from being with a really good, big professional tour operator. I just merged the two together. That's really, and tried it the first year in 2019. I think that year I ran two trips. had 29 people total that were crazy enough to, and I remember being in the lobby of the Palmer House meeting that first group and looking at them thinking, I can't believe these people paid me money. I have no idea if this is gonna work. So yeah, you just, you give it a try. Brian Jewell (18:30.611) Yeah. So you mentioned it's, you know, it's a lot of territory to cover in a car. Are people showing up to Chicago in their own cars? Are they renting cars in Chicago and dropping them off in LA? Are they doing, you know, having to drive back after they just did the 13 day drive? Like walk me through those logistics. Austin Coop (18:50.156) Yeah, so I've seen it done every which way. I would say the only caveat I give with people with their own cars is that I get a lot of people that want to try to do it in their classic car. And that sounds really romantic. That's a long way in a classic car. Especially a lot of time that classic car is their baby, it's their show car. I said, listen, you're going to get rock chips. You're going to get just a lot of, it's just hard to do it in old car. I have, you once a year, somebody will, but most people bring their own car. get a lot of people with sports cars like Corvettes and Mustangs and things like that. and then other people rent cars and just fly home when they're done. I've seen it done every which way. I've had people ship their car to Chicago. I've had people ship their car home from LA. I've had, it all depends how much time you have. A lot of people will use that as an excuse when they get out less to go do some national parks, things like that. And I always try to help, you know, one of the other trips I created, was a Southwest kind of Vegas to Vegas car caravan. Ran it the first year, it was perfect. You know, when you run a trip the first time, there's always stuff you want to change. And this one, there were like two little changes I'd make. I thought this trip is going to sell like wildfire. Never ran again. And it's because when people ask me what they should do on their way home from LA, I basically tell them to go do all that stuff. And so I pirate my own sales on that. Brian Jewell (20:15.805) Yeah. Austin Coop (20:16.078) but that's fine. But it just depends on everybody, their schedule, how comfortable they are with being in the car. I've had, you know, I had two guys and their spouses, they were in Corvettes. And so two Corvettes and two couples, when they got to LA, the wives flew home and the two husbands used it. They went off on like a boys trip through like Colorado and that was perfect for both of them. So. Brian Jewell (20:38.577) Yeah. So tell me about what the drive is, you know, because some people go on that group trip so they don't have to drive, right? You know, because driving is kind of taxing. So if you are doing the multi-car caravan, how many miles or hours a day are you on the road versus sightseeing? Austin Coop (20:56.812) Yeah, so I would say, you know, out of the 13 days, I would say. of them eight and a half maybe eight days are what I would call driving days where you're really going city to city you're on the road from after breakfast until about dinnertime so they're full days you know not unlike a bus tour where you're you're gonna make the most of your time that being said mileage wise most of the days you're looking at two to three hundred miles there's one day that's a little bit longer But most of the days driving mileage wise is not that crazy. And like any tour, you're making stops all the time. Even the golden rule, never go more than two hours on the bus without at least a bathroom break. We do the same thing with the cars. So same exact thing with the cars. So I find that they're not in the car an intolerable amount. And then we also, and this is all stuff you just learn. Brian Jewell (21:38.547) Hmm. Austin Coop (22:00.492) I've been learning lessons now for about five or six years. And one of these days I'd like to make more money and learn less lessons, it's been mostly lesson learning. Like St. Louis, first year I did it, we drove to all those stops that I mentioned earlier. Now, when we get to St. Louis, we park the cars and a bus, I hire a bus to take us everywhere. Same thing this year, when we go to dinner in Albuquerque, the place we go to dinner is Brian Jewell (22:03.368) Yeah. Brian Jewell (22:08.595) Wouldn't we all? Austin Coop (22:30.52) five minutes away from the hotel. I've just noticed that that is a particularly kind of taxing day of driving. And everybody's always kind of like, I don't want to drive to dinner and parking is kind of a pain. And I was like, why don't I just get a bus to do that? And same thing in LA instead of, know, we could do route 66 from Victorville, you know, all the way into LA if we really wanted to. And you could do Pasadena and the Royal Seco bridges and stuff, really cool stuff. Most people, they don't want to Like LA makes them nervous to begin with. So I tell everybody, know, Victorville straight to the hotel, hour and a half to two hours, depending on traffic, park the cars. A bus takes us to Santa Monica, to the pier, to dinner brings us back. So you try to build in these breaks. And then same thing. You know, we do two nights in Oklahoma city. That next day we go to the Memorial and we take the streetcar there. So I tell everybody, unless you want to go driving somewhere that day, you don't have, you know, we stay right in Bricktown. Brian Jewell (23:01.767) Mm-hmm. Austin Coop (23:29.474) so they can walk to dinner. And then same thing, we stay two nights in Albuquerque. Santa Fe is only about an hour up the road. that's a nice break for them. They only drive about an hour, two hours that day. But you try to build in these breaks. And as anybody knows in the group travel, anytime you're giving somebody two nights, excuse me, with group travel, anytime you give people two nights somewhere, they always appreciate that. Brian Jewell (23:57.169) Yeah, absolutely. It's nice to not have to pack that suitcase at least one night on the trip. So one of the things that is so important in most group travel experiences is that bonding that happens between people on the trip, whether they knew each other beforehand or not. When you have people in singles and pairs in their own cars, how do you create opportunities for that bonding to happen? Austin Coop (24:22.414) Yeah, so this was something that, you know, I'd seen it from, you know, the bus tours. You'd have couples, solo travelers and things that for whatever reason just really became close friends and things like that. But what amazed me with these caravans, well, first of all, we set up a WhatsApp group for every trip and those groups stay in perpetuity. And it's amazing to me how much they, you know, every holiday they... They're talking to each other, big events they're sharing with each other. I guess the car caravans, there's a little bit more of an adventurous spirit. They feel like they're a part of it versus when you get on a bus and you're taken everywhere. That being said, my bus tours, there's something about Route 66 compared to just like say like a national park sightseeing tour. National park sightseeing tour, wonderful. Brian Jewell (25:01.523) Hmm. Austin Coop (25:19.822) But at the end of the day, your tour director is taking you, okay, go look at that. Okay, go look at that. Okay, go look at that. Route 66, something about it just fosters these connections that I haven't seen on other itineraries. And just like with bus tours, you're building in certain group meals at certain times, kind of strategically to make people bond at certain points. And there's, wish I could put my finger on it, but there's just something that I think the length of the trip matters too. Um, you know, I ran, uh, for destination America, they're, they're, uh, coast to coast, their 25 day trip, 20, 25 days on a bus. By the end of that, you're all, you're all pretty close. Um, you know, uh, and that groups. Yeah. I mean, you literally become a family where, uh, you know, I would see. Brian Jewell (26:03.846) Wow. Brian Jewell (26:11.057) or you hate each other. Austin Coop (26:17.978) People get into disagreements and have to and you know you as a tour director you how when you step in They would police themselves like a family by the end of it And so I think the length of the trip creates that camaraderie But yeah, it's just I wish I could put my finger on what makes it so special It's it's part of doing this that I knew that I would enjoy doing this. I never knew that I would have these relationships. I still talk to some of the people that I've led for Trafalgar. The number of people I still talk to from my Route 66 trip since I started this is unbelievable. I was just at a car show down in Pigeon Forge and the first night of that car show I just rent a room at a restaurant and have like an alumni dinner and every year 60, 65 people show up. it's, there's, again, I wish I had a, good answer for it other than it's just a special it's a special trip. It's a long trip. feels a little bit more like an adventure than just a sightseeing tour. Brian Jewell (27:25.127) Yeah, that's beautiful. Now you told me once before that you always try to make sure each trip you do has some kind of really special experience in it. Can you give us a preview of what one or two of those things might be on your Route 66 trips? Austin Coop (27:39.03) Yeah, on the Route 66 trip, we do a few different things. We do lunch on stage at this theater called the Coleman in Miami, Oklahoma. And feedback every time is if they were on their own, they would have just driven right past it. They would have missed. And it's again, one of those where the theater itself is beautiful. The story of its creation and then its restoration is really cool. So that's one. And then when we're out west, there's a Route 66 author named Jim Hinckley. He joins us for lunch and kind of tells stories and he's just one of those guys that you could listen to, you know, forever. He's lived in the desert most of his life. He calls himself a dry roasted nut and he's just, just wonderful. And then without spoiling the surprise at our farewell dinner, we actually, there's a Mel's diner at the corner of, where we're at 66 Inns. And I have one of the actors from American Graffiti join us for dinner. And so. Yeah, anytime you can give those special little things, it always makes it something that they would never get on their own. It's always clutch for any tour. Brian Jewell (28:43.111) Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's wonderful. So Austin, if anybody is listening and saying, I got to learn more about Tulane America, I got to connect with Austin, I got to see if he'll help me with Route 66 trip, what is the best way for them to connect with you or learn more about what you're doing? Austin Coop (29:02.414) Yeah, absolutely. So the website is twolaneamerica.com, but it's the number two. You know, when you start, when you start a business, the, the actual T W O laneamerica.com was already taken and you you make all these mistakes when you're starting out. So like my Facebook is T W O my Instagram is the number two, the websites, you know, but anyway, the amount of mistakes you make, you just have to be okay with making them. But, yeah, the number two, Brian Jewell (29:24.157) Yeah. Austin Coop (29:31.754) laneamerica.com and it has all my contact info on there. My email is austin at the number two laneamerica.com and my phone number is on the website as well. So I'm always happy to help anybody and be a resource and be a help to anybody I can. Brian Jewell (29:48.699) Yeah, fantastic. We will link to all that in the show notes. So Austin, I'm going let you go in a minute. before I do, we have some questions we ask everybody. These are just for fun. So you can answer off the top of your head. When you book travel, do you usually choose a window seat or an aisle seat? Austin Coop (30:05.652) Windows. Brian Jewell (30:06.769) Yeah, do you have a thought process there? Austin Coop (30:09.325) Sleep, yeah, for sleep. I will say I flew, I had a friend's wedding in Vegas a couple weeks ago and I had window seat and what's cool about the job that we all have is I normally just put the shade down, but we had a beautifully clear day and around Denver I opened it up and I could see the Rockies and I there's the Rockies. And then as we went a little bit, I was looking at it on the flight map too as we got down towards Page, I'm like, there's Lake Powell, there's the Glen Canyon Dam. Brian Jewell (30:36.849) Wow. Austin Coop (30:37.07) Right before that I was like, there's I can literally see the mittens of Monument Valley and I'm like, hey, there's and I'm trying to tell the people around me and they're like, we don't care. And I'm like, don't you want to know what this stuff is? Yeah, but anyway, normally a window seat just so I can sleep. Brian Jewell (30:46.099) They're just looking at their phones. Yeah. Brian Jewell (30:54.065) Yeah, gotcha. So what is something in your carry-on that you wouldn't travel without? Austin Coop (31:02.242) That's a good question. You know, it's just my laptop really. You know, I've done this long enough to learn anything else. You can replace anything else. I literally left my suitcase in West Yellowstone on a trip this summer and I knew there was no way I realized it at 10 o'clock at night when we got to Cody. So there's no way I'm going back to get it right. We're heading to Rapid City on that trip. Well, I there's no way for me to go back and get it. Brian Jewell (31:18.874) Ha Austin Coop (31:31.47) So I had to have them ship it. Well, I was going to be on a Route 60. So I had to have them ship it to Albuquerque where I was going to be showing up like, oh, like a week and a half later. So, but you know what? We go to Walmart and we buy some polos and some underwear and, and, my guests took pity on me. Even some of them bought me shirts. Um, so there's nothing for the most part that can't be. I just, I don't worry too much about that stuff anymore. Brian Jewell (31:42.907) Wow. Brian Jewell (31:51.965) Ha ha. Brian Jewell (31:58.469) Yeah, that's right. I had to make an unplanned Walmart run on a trip just like two weeks ago because I did not bring the right attire for the destination and so it happens to the best of us. So next question is if you had a free airline pass and a week with nothing else to do, where would you go? Austin Coop (32:16.622) You know, I would go somewhere internationally. I have been fortunate enough to do so much in the United States. You know, 46 states at this point. I have done very, little internationally. So I would want to go somewhere, you know, start doing Europe, start doing these places I haven't gone. If you ask me at the end of the season, if you ask me this question in November, I'd be like, find me an all-inclusive somewhere where I can sit with a book. and drink and eat and like nobody talked to me for like a week and a half. yeah, I would like to start doing more international for fun. Brian Jewell (32:49.213) Yeah. Yeah. Brian Jewell (32:54.503) Yeah, that does sound fun. Last question is, what is one thing you have seen or done on the road that you wish you could go back and experience again with somebody you love? Austin Coop (33:06.402) gosh, I don't know if other tour directors get this feeling sometimes. Other people in their jobs, you kind of get an idea of what their job is. I would love for a significant other to see me doing my job and doing it really well. To see what it is I do. And be like, oh yeah, he's good at this. That's just ego. I would say, honestly, I could, I did some stuff in the Pacific Northwest. Brian Jewell (33:34.45) Yeah. Austin Coop (33:43.604) and coastal Oregon and the waterfalls outside Portland. If I could take somebody and show them around Astoria and some of those areas, I think that would be probably first on my list. Brian Jewell (33:55.665) Yeah, wonderful. Well, Austin, it's been a real pleasure to have you. Thanks so much for joining us today. Austin Coop (34:01.98) thank you so much.