Two Grumpy Vets and a Duuude

Bryan, Rich, and the Duuude get together for another round of life, mostly unplanned, with Rich and Ron in the same room for Cruisin' the Coast week. Bella slides out of her harness during a Jeep ride and ends the day with a new harness and a Lamb Chop toy. Thousands of hot rods roll into town, a dozen of them break down in the driving lanes, and the rain cancels the drag races. From there it's pull-the-thermostat theory, Rock Auto prices, Mopar coolant, control arms, a Louisiana State Police run-in, truck cameras that judge your elbow, Rich's porch screening and a 70-and-a-half-inch measuring screwup, a Suzuki Samurai with an engine bigger than the car, a surprise CDL school payout for Ron, Bryan's AI influencer rabbit hole, tornado stories, France's school riots, Mississippi's reading scores, and the college bubble. The best part: Rich walks into a ham radio club meeting on Thursday night and walks out a member, with new friends, club shirts, and a calendar full of POTA and contest events. It closes with Route 66 on the Air and QSL cards, Bella's cheese tax, Tulsa King on Rich's couch, a steroid pack that took the edge off Rich's pain, liver and thiamine talk, and WorldCam.io as the Site of the Week. Links Mentioned WorldCam.io – Site of the Week, live webcams and traffic cams from all over the world RockAuto – cheap parts for the 3.6 Jeep: thermostat housings, control arms, coolant Elk City Hamfest – the Elk City amateur radio club's hamfest page ARRL – where to look up ham radio clubs by county PodcastApps.com – directory of modern podcast apps that support live tags, funding tags, and chapters Fountain – a modern podcast app that can pick up the live show Podcast Guru – a modern podcast app that can pick up the live show TwoGrumpyVets.com – the show's website, with the Value for Value tab PayPal – one-time or recurring support for the show Metal Cloak – the adjustable control arms and drag link Facebook – where the car pictures, videos, and canceled-drag-race news showed up TikTok – where the AI influencers kept popping up YouTube – the AI-generated jazz videos playing for Bella BBC – the report on the French school protests Paramount+ – home of Tulsa King Petco – where the new harness and the Lamb Chop toy came from Walmart – delivery for the hoagie supplies and green olives Lowe's – where the porch screen door came from CVS – the extra-strength magnesium CafePress – possible show merch, if the t-shirt prices ever behave Canva – for album art (2000x2000px, please) GIMP – another option for making show art Zoom – the recording platform, with its usual drama Support the Show No sponsors here — you are the sponsor. Support us with your Time, Talent, or Treasure: Time – share the show with someone who'd enjoy it Talent – send us album/episode/chapter art (2000x2000px) Treasure – hit "Support This Show" in your podcast app for one-time or recurring support via PayPal Get In Touch Email Bryan: [email protected] Email Rich: [email protected] Got a question for the Duuude? Send it to either email above and we'll make sure he sees it (eventually). If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here. If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here.

Recorded the Monday before Cruisin' the Coast, and it wanders everywhere. Bryan and Rich compare notes on the junk landing in their inboxes, starting with a Coffee and Classics book club pitch that has nothing to do with this show, while Bryan walks through a Podmatch webinar invite and a "come on our podcast" offer that turned into a $5,000 sales pitch. Ron, on the road, has a camera going into the Jeep and finds out the long-lost GoPro has been sitting in a bag on a dining room chair this whole time. Rich builds a free 20-meter delta loop that came out looking like an isosceles triangle, and somewhere in there the three of them take on Pacific hurricanes, a 2029 comet scare, and whether the news just wants everybody scared. From there it's gas prices and who really profits from the pump, with Bryan, Rich, and Ron all taking a swing at the refinery argument, plus Ron's closed Pizza Hut and a grocery bill that needs a sit-down. Rich puts a $55 fill-up on the table and hosts a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses with Bella watching from the window. Bryan's daughter gets a $1,000 wheel bearing in Amarillo, and Ron swears by RockAuto and $27 Moog control arms. Then it gets deep: Bryan on the Seventh Day Adventist girl from a Dallas summer and the church hypocrites, a long run on grace, judgment, and whether God forgets (four verses worth), Ron on forgiving his dad and doing the retirement math, Rich on learning how to stop working and fill the hours, and Bryan's Guadalupe River tubing days. It wraps with Bryan's website of the week, OSIRIS AI, and Ron's tip of the day for anyone who spots a red Jeep with shark teeth on I-10. Links Mentioned Website of the Week — planes, satellites, space debris, and live traffic cams on one map: osirisai.live Podmatch (Bryan's webinar invite): podmatch.com RockAuto (Ron's control arm order): rockauto.com AutoZone and O'Reilly (the parts-price comparison): autozone.com and oreillyauto.com Meineke (the Amarillo repair shop): meineke.com Moonraker (Rich's European mast shopping): moonrakeronline.com Pizza Hut (closed on Mondays): pizzahut.com Murphy USA (gas price comparisons): murphyusa.com ElevenLabs and Rocket Mortgage (inbox spam): elevenlabs.io and rocketmortgage.com Patreon (the Grandpa Gamer plan): patreon.com Facebook and TikTok (feed rabbit holes): facebook.com and tiktok.com Find a podcasting 2.0 app: podcastapps.com Support the Show If we made you laugh, cry, think, or groan, that's us creating value in your life — and this show runs on value for value, not sponsors. You can contribute Time (tell someone about the show, share it on social media), Talent (send us chapter or episode art — 2000x2000 pixels), or Treasure (head to twogrumpyvets.com, hit the B4V tab, and you'll land on our PayPal page — one-time or recurring, your choice). If you're on a podcasting 2.0 app with the funding tag, look for the "support this show" button. Get In Touch Bryan: [email protected] Rich: [email protected] Want to reach Ron? Send it to either of us and we'll pass it along. If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here.

This one's a classic hangout episode that goes everywhere at once. Rich is dealing with a hot, itchy leg that has him and the VA nervously eyeing a possible blood clot, and his dental partial breaks for the second time in months. Ron gets tangled up in a "we need a referral" runaround with a VA nurse who already had the MRI he sent her, watches his Jeep's resale value crater, and picks a losing fight with a Walmart clerk over a gas discount card. Bryan gets an arthritis diagnosis after his knee swells up, and somewhere in there Bella the watchdog is convinced the world is ending. From there it's the usual chaos: T-shirt and embroidery business schemes, laptop and RAM sticker shock, gator tail under the heat lamp, driverless semis on the interstate, oil markets and who actually profits from war, 20,000 volts through Rich's backside courtesy of a Noid light, licking 9-volt batteries to test them, prison talk (the Black Dolphin gets a mention), zero sunspots on FT8, the real origin of "redneck," why unions turned into a racket, and a website of the week for finding ethanol-free gas. If you like unfiltered conversations, half-finished stories, and three friends arguing their way through everything, this one's for you. Links Mentioned Website of the Week — ethanol-free gas finder: pure-gas.org RockAuto (Ron's control arm order): rockauto.com CarGurus (Jeep resale value check): cargurus.com Newegg (computer parts pricing): newegg.com Walmart Plus membership: walmart.com/plus Into the Shadows with Simon Whistler (YouTube): youtube.com/@intotheshadows Find a podcasting 2.0 app: podcastapps.com Support the Show If we made you laugh, cry, think, or groan, that's us creating value in your life — and this show runs on value for value, not sponsors. You can contribute Time (tell someone about the show, share it on social media), Talent (send us chapter or episode art — 2000x2000 pixels), or Treasure (head to twogrumpyvets.com, hit the B4V tab, and you'll land on our PayPal page — one-time or recurring, your choice). If you're on a podcasting 2.0 app with the funding tag, look for the "support this show" button. Get In Touch Bryan: [email protected] Rich: [email protected] Want to reach Ron? Send it to either of us and we'll pass it along. If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here.

Bryan and Rich open by arguing over who got on the call first, then Rich rolls into a busy ham radio week: new 2m and handheld gear, a porch contact that led him to the Wednesday Whataburger meetup with the Jackson County club, and the night he put his laptop back on Windows just to send an email over the radio and watch it land on his own phone. That kicks off an argument over how many hops an email really makes, a turtle farm in Korea, and how much fiber is buried under the country. Bryan is about to welcome a new baby boy into the family, tells the story of tying western Nebraska grain co-ops together over rail-line fiber, and brings a locate story about a fiber hit where the marks were right and the proof was in hand. From there it's a full Monday of rabbit holes: colonoscopy stories where the patient wakes up mid-procedure, Rich's ham, rice, and cheese experiment and the electric smoker display he needs to replace, Ron's runza memories and a kolache argument, Bryan's boudin history, and an Am I the Asshole segment from Bryan about a kid, a suit, and a wedding. The guys get into people who think they're worth $100,000 out of high school, raising kids to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and whether anybody actually asked to be here. Ron brings the work stories: hauling 12,000 pounds overweight and proving it at the scale, a mechanic candidate who wanted $38 an hour and couldn't name a tire tread depth, the Social Security age 62 versus 67 math, and a CDL school reimbursement paper he found after eight years. Bryan's mystery pain beside his shoulder blade and a knee that quits mid-show round out the aches and pains, and Bryan gets his Wendy's order wrong on the drive. The guys argue over diesel prices, Bryan's Website of the Week is a virtual cat that blocks your screen when you scroll too long, and the tip of the day is a basic training cadence. Links Mentioned CatGatekeeper.org — Bryan's Website of the Week pick: a browser extension that sends a virtual cat to walk onto your screen and block what you're scrolling; Firefox, Windows, and Mac versions plus an open-source version on GitHub PodcastApps.com — where to grab a modern Podcasting 2.0 app and find the show's support link Winlink — the system behind Winlink Express, the email client Rich used to send an email over the radio to his phone VARA HF — the HF modem software used alongside Winlink Express Google — the traceroute example for counting internet hops Internet Archive — mentioned in the early-90s "download the whole internet" story Android Auto — the free bypass for running maps and YouTube at the same time Reddit's Am I the Asshole — the subreddit behind the new segment Jubilee — the YouTube show with the 50-versus-1 debate format GitHub — home of the open-source version of CatGatekeeper Zoom — the recording platform that warned the connection was unstable YouTube — music, memes, and the rabbit holes Facebook — memes and the comparison to Reddit Instagram — the account somebody still can't get into TikTok — family drama, duets, and the airing of family business X, Bluesky, and Mastodon — the places to share the show Support the Show We don't run ads — we never have and we're not about to start. If something in this episode made you laugh, think, or yell at your speakers, that's worth something. You can support the show with your Time (share an episode with a friend), Talent (send us episode art), or Treasure (value-for-value support through our show page). Get In Touch Bryan: [email protected] Rich: [email protected] If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here.

Bryan actually beats Rich to the call for the first time in show history — and Rich never lives it down. From there it's a full three hours: Rich jacks up a sagging furnace with a pair of house jacks and declares war on an ant invasion, Bryan's ELD takes a total brain fart and knocks him back to paper logs, and the guys work through diesel and grocery prices, government holidays, and a hard debate over a child murder case in the news. On the ham radio side, Rich walks through his new 2m/70cm dipole, a solo 65" TV mount and shack sound upgrade, and the choice between a Moxon and a hex beam for the upcoming contest season. There's RTTY, Morse code, and a tribute to the last of the Navajo code talkers. Bryan lays out his trip to Amarillo to go be a granddad, and the back half covers Rich's comms trailer dreams, a round of AI robocalls, and Bryan's find for Website of the Week. Links Mentioned FMHY.net — Bryan's Website of the Week pick, a massive community-run index of free tools, self-hosting guides, and media resources Simpson's Meats — the quarter-cow pricing Bryan referenced PodcastApps.com — the Podcasting 2.0 app comparison site Bryan was checking feature support on TrueFans — podcast app/directory mentioned in the podcast-apps discussion Podfriend — the older app Bryan remembered for its comic-book-style transcripts, now working on a v2 Support the Show We don't run ads — we never have and we're not about to start. If something in this episode made you laugh, think, or yell at your speakers, that's worth something. You can support the show with your Time (share an episode with a friend), Talent (send us episode art), or Treasure (value-for-value support through our show page). Get In Touch Bryan: [email protected] Rich: [email protected] If you are struggling with life please reach out to The Suicide Life Line - Dial 988 The world needs you here.