Buying a car in 2023 turned out to be a surreal odyssey. Getting scooped on the purchase of an SUV not once, not twice BUT THREE TIMES was mentally taxing. Then, we got a hearty dose of dealership trickery and fine print. We knew we were really strangers in a strange land, though, when we visited a car lot... and none of the cars had gas in them. True story. Find out what we finally settled on, and why. The heavens finally opened up and delivered us The Skip Mobile, thank God!
#emptynest #fulltank

We purchased the Florida property and finally found a renter. We refurbished--and refurnished--the house. The day finally came for our renter to arrive and we were beyond excited... but then something went terribly wrong. There's no other way to say it. It was an EPIC FAIL.
#emptynest #fulltank

There's nothing to prepare you for someone calling and telling you they want to fly you and your significant other halfway around the world on their dime, but that's exactly what happened to us in March of 22. James' client phoned him and offered to pay for flights and accommodations if we were willing to drop everything and go to Dubai. Du-freaking-bai! The result was the trip of a lifetime in one of the most unique cities on the planet and you don't want to miss what we have to say about traveling to the United Arab Emirates.

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Since LeeAnn Kreischer first had us on her show, Wife of the Party, Denise has been wanting to get her on ours... but a Zoom interview just didn't seem right. Then, we realized we'd be back in SoCal for the holidays. Why not ask LeeAnn to be in the hot seat for a change? Fortunately, LeeAnn agreed to be interviewed by us--on her own show! You're gonna love learning about this lady and how she raised 2 brilliant kids and kept her modesty and grace despite being married to someone who would become a celebrity that's a household name. Yes, the Wife of the Party (that "party" being Bert Kreischer) has quite the rags-to-riches story of her own to tell. Enjoy!
#emptynest #fulltank

If there's one thing you know about us, it's that we got our start on LeeAnn Kreischer's podcast, "Wife of the Party." So, you can only imagine how great it felt to come "home" for the holidays and sit down with LeeAnn Kreischer to catch up. What we didn't know was that Santa (aka Bert Kreischer at bertbertbert.com) was literally flying down from the North Pole to join us. It was an awesome surprise with awesome people who have been in our corner since Day 1, and we think you're going to love our candid discussion about work, family and the future! Enjoy and Happy New Year!

#emptynest #fulltank

On the 12th Day of Christmas my travel log gave to me:

12 hour layovers

11 dollar coffee

10 nasal swabbings

9 flights delaying

8 lanes a-merging

7 dollars per gallon

6 damaged presents

5 SCREAM-ING KIIIIDDDDSSSS

4 shuttle changes

3 canceled dinners

2 missing shoes

And a drunk uncle in Q-A-NONNNNNNNNNNNN

Happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa. Merry Festivus. We're airing our grievances and wishing you the best in 2023. Thanks for joining us this year!

#emptynest #fulltank

If we told you a story of 150,000 people invading 3 counties within the US borders, you'd think we were all hopped up on some immigration conspiracy. But that's exactly what happened somewhere in between Orlando and Gainesville, Florida--in a place called, generically enough, "The Villages."

It's a retirement community that keeps sprouting houses and expanding its borders every single year--with its own towns and cities inside. It has its own infrastucture, radio station, entertainment venues and over 100 restaurants. Heck, it has over 700 holes of golf to be played! Do you know how many courses that must be?!?

Even if you're from Central Florida, it's a hard place to really describe... so we turned to Denise's family to get answers from our real-life "Village People." Sorry for the clickbait title. Not really.

Anyway, they have lived here almost 20 years now and have loved every minute. We finally carved out enough time between our travels and our sister-in-law Vickie's pickleball schedule to get her and Denise's brother Ron in the hot seat to see if we couldn't get to the bottom of this enigma called "The Villages." Enjoy!

#emptynest #fulltank

What starts out as a recap of Denise's bungled attempt at being a bootlegger--and James realizing Canada has some pretty strict rules about firearms--turns into a low-key therapy session. We said we'd be honest and not hide the bad stuff when we started this pod. Consider this episode a promise kept.

Check out ALL of our links at linktr.ee/skiptownallstars #emptynest #fulltank

La Ciudad. CDMX. Whatever you want to call it, Mexico City has always been on Denise's "must hit" destination list--and it did not disappoint! We started our Mexico vacation in the party town of Cabo San Lucas, but we'd been there before and it was time for a new adventure.

A quick day trip to the fishing town of Todos Santos and a sunset at Cerritos Beach were a start in the right direction, but when we landed in Mexico-Freaking-City we were surging with the energy only a city with 22 million people can supply!

Protests. Food. Ancient ruins. Canals. Real estate. Culture. You name it, we talk about it in this mucho grande episode. Start this episode en la manana and finish it in la noche if you need to, but make sure you hear us out because CDMX should be on any serious traveler's itinerary.

Check out ALL of our links at linktr.ee/skiptownallstars #emptynest #fulltank

Air Bnb? Hotel? What are we feeling like tonight? From Seattle to Orlando, we've slept in the best--and lay awake in the worst. Check out our take on the hits and misses from everywhere we've crashed so far, what to watch out for when booking an Air BnB and how a standard corporate hotel can occasionally save the day.
Check out ALL of our links at linktr.ee/skiptownallstars #emptynest #fulltank

We didn't have Kentucky on the map for our travels this time around, but after an elated call from Ellie we found out she made the cut for her traveling volleyball squad. She was going to be in Louisville while we were in Texas. Not exactly next door, but it DID merge nicely with our curiosity and wanderlust... so we struck out for The Bluegrass State.

Upon arriving in Louisville, we weren't exactly greeted with open arms, anywhere. Thank God a listener turned us on to Covington, though!

What better way to cap off a 2-month roadtrip than to immediately have to hunker down and pray for the best?

Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida and his episode explores how we came to purchase an investment property right dab smack in The Villages, a world-famous retirement community... and Denise's growing desire to just stay. And play pickleball. Or hike. Or join a rowing team. Or something.

Wanna find us on your favorite platform? Here you go.

Finally. The Texas Episode. Abilene, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Dallas. Sorry, Houston... maybe next time? Denise discovers Hooters. James discovers Magnolia Table. From brewing bar fights to gas station BBQ, we LOVED Texas and, dang, if the Big Yellow Rose didn't make us feel like we were loved back. Despite the handful of dudes who think they're going to overthrow the government (in between shoveling pulled pork into their pie hole), Texans welcomed us over and over again and we realized our generalizations about the Lone Star State were so completely wrong.

Wanna find us on your favorite platform? Here you go.

What? You were expecting the Texas episode? Yeah, so were we... until our recap of Roswell, NM and the creepy vibes we got from our Air BnB became a Close Encounter of Its Own Kind.
Don't forget to follow us on the socials and to check out the Google maps of our travels at linktr.ee/skiptownallstars and thanks for watching!

Our first few episodes dropped and we also had a guest appearance on LeeAnn Kreischer's Wife of the Party podcast. That show introduced us to LeeAnn's fans but one applauding voice was louder than all the others.

Bert F***ing Stewart from Covington, Kentucky. Buckle up, kids. Consider the Kentucky/Ohio border officially on your relocation radar.

We've finally arrived in Corpus Christi and at the doorstep of the only Gordon you haven't met. We're excited to present to the podverse our oldest daughter, Parker! She spills the beans on her new job at KRIS Channel 6 News as a producer, some of the stories she's encountered there so far and all the best and worst of the Texas Riviera. From getting shot in the ass to getting lost in a pothole, our numero uno warns you of all the fates that can befall you here on the edge of The Gulf. Our advice? Stick to "church dates."

This is Part 1 of 2 of our Texas visit. We'll recap our trip and where we went in the next episode.

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In this episode, our young explorers depart Zion with a surly dog and are met with a storm. And then a sandstorm. Despite the whiteout, they find their way through Navajo markets into the red-soiled, "new age" Utopia you all know as Sedona, AZ. Denise is super excited because she uses phrases like "Mercury is in retrograde" all the time.

At any rate, after she drops a few crystal bombs on James and has him doing things he wouldn't normally do... like mountain freaking yoga... and fat-farm hypnosis... they have a few good meals, check out a few good hikes and find a few good shops. But overall, meh.

On to Santa Fe, then, where the real enchantment begins. Between the Southwestern grub and the downtown plaza, James is stunned to find something around every corner that he loves, while Denise and her friends say, "Told ya." From the atomic flavor of Los Alamos National Laboratory to the rolling meadows of Eldorado, your two favorite middle-aged children leave no stone unturned and actually EXTEND A DAY in Santa Fe.