June 10, 2021

Dale Thomas, My Best Good Friend

Dale Thomas, My Best Good Friend

One of the best humans I know and my former radio show partner Dale Thomas drops by the studio to talk Kilts, Cologne, and Keeping the Dark at Bay.

Find Dale on Facebook or email him for any insurance needs at rthomas3@kemper.com 

 

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Transcript

00:00
It's like, you know, you get on the bridge and it's like, what is this thing rated for? Oh, about 200 pounds. Give me the one. Give me the one that's rated for like an elephant.

00:16
Welcome to Chewing the Fat. I have your host, Big Robb. I think we're up to episode three now. It's been an amazing journey so far. Thank you so much for taking this along with me. Today on Chewing the Fat, one of my best good friends, Dale Thomas is joining me. We're going to talk about where we've, where we got introduced to each other and some stories from, from the radio road and things like that. So Dale, welcome. Hey, thanks for having me, man.

00:46
Oh dude, I appreciate it. Anytime we can get together, that's always a priority in my life to make time so that we can hang out and catch back up. I mean, we spent 10 years together pretty much. Yeah, yeah. 10 years working radio here in the Augusta area together. Long time. I think you started, we started about what, 1998, 99? I came in at 99, yeah. Yeah. January 99. Yeah. And I think I came in

01:16
I mean, like June of 1999. Yeah, you were just a couple months, but you had been working radio, you know, before that, but with the same company with us, it was, yeah, just like right after I did. So we went through that and took that long, strange journey together. Yeah, and gosh, you know, I talked to another friend on another episode about how cool it is when you can go into a place that you're looking for a paycheck, basically.

01:46
face it, you know, when you get a job, you look for a paycheck, you got bills need to be paid. But when you can find lifelong friends in places like that, sometimes you've forged those friendships from adversity in the job itself. So yeah, yeah, here's, it's the old, you know, here's some chicken poop, make chicken salad, you know, it still has chicken DNA in it basically, right? I mean, it's some part of a chicken in it.

02:16
But, so thank you for being here. You are an amazing actor, a voiceover artist, a, let's see, what else have you done? A chocolate sauce dancer. That didn't go over so well. That was a one and done. It was a one and not only engagement. If you were there, I apologize.

02:46
Let's see what else have you done you you an English major, right? You you're a poet you write some amazing poetry. Oh my gosh, you're making my head huge or huger Humboldt is all get out But one of the biggest kind of hearts I've ever met in a human being as well. Thank you What are you doing now? What's going on now? It's been let's see. Let's see. We we haven't worked together probably in

03:16
Gosh, what seven, eight years maybe, something like that. And we both were not far separated victims of a reduction in force. They'd like to call it. Yes, yes, yes. But we've stayed in touch, but what are you doing now? Currently, to keep the lights on and put some baloney on the table, I have an insurance salesman. Okay. So I'm working in that business. But, you know, hobby wise.

03:46
I don't know, I've picked up a few things in the last couple of years that have kind of interested me. Okay, like what? Well, some sartorial interests. I've always liked Kiltz, always wanted one, even back when I was in my early 20s. Well, you're very proud of your Scottish heritage, right? Yes, and I want to take, and thank you because actually I'm Laird Thomas, thanks to you. Yes.

04:16
Dale Thomas. I own a swath of land in the homeland, in Scotland. And one day I hoped to visit it and put my foot on it and hope it doesn't overlay into someone else's foot of land. Right, right. But yes, yes. But yeah, yeah. I've always had an interest, but back pre-Internet days and everything, they're doing any research, looking into getting, I wanted to kill it. I always loved the way they looked.

04:46
But they were so expensive, you know, back then they were $400, $500, they had to be bespoke, made, and I just couldn't afford that. But then, discovery some places in the last couple of years where you can find quality stuff at a much lesser price, I've started to build a small collection. And so, yeah, I've kind of gotten into that. Another thing, fragrances, as a matter of fact, hold on, let me, sorry for the Velcro, that's my sparring.

05:16
Yes, he's here in one of his kilts right now. What is this tartan that you're wearing now? This one is a universal tartan. It's not affiliated with any clan. It's called Isle of Skye, S-K-Y-E Skye. Yeah, which that's one of the islands in Scotland. Yes, yes, and this one is fairly contemporary. I believe it was designed in the 90s, but it's a very popular universal tart. And you have certain ones like Black Watch, Brown Watch, things like that. You don't have to have any family affiliation

05:46
Actually, anybody can wear anything they want to. Okay, I was gonna be my question. I was gonna ask, so you're a Thomas, which the ancient Thomas is MacTavish, correct? Yes. So I was gonna say, do you have to only wear a Klan MacTavish or a modern Thomas? No, pretty much you can wear whatever you want. There are certain ones that are restricted, like for the royal family or for certain entities. Yeah. Yeah.

06:16
Yeah, the Royals, they have their own certain ones that only they can wear. But for the most part, you can wear whatever you want, just be respectful of it. If you're wearing some other family's tart and just be respectful of it. And another thing that I've gotten into is fragrance, as men's fragrance, as a matter of fact, I brought you a wee little gift, a decant, of one of my favorite ones. That is, it is Salvatore Ferragamo,

06:46
It's what's called a blue fragrance. And it's not because it's color blue, but in the fragrance community, the frag heads, blue fragrances are, they're ones that you can wear pretty much year round. They're not like really super strong that you would want to reserve for the winter or a freshie that you would want to wear in the summer. You can wear those year round. They're office safe. So if you, you know, you got somebody, you don't want to wear something really super strong in the office.

07:16
or something like that or sensitivities and stuff like that. Blue fragrances are just very broad people pleasing fragrances. And that's one of my favorite ones. That one's Aqua Sensei LA Blue. And I wanted to bring you a little decant of that to see. Well, I appreciate that. It smells very, very nice. I do like the lightness of it. And there's like a hint of like there's almost some woodsy kind of thing, but not a musk. There's no musk in it. I'm not a huge like musk type fan.

07:46
But it's almost also has some like ocean-ish kind of yeah It has some aquatics. Yeah. Yeah, no in the breakdown. That's that's really nice what I use I usually wear you know off the shelf stuff is a Prada Luna Rosa that is a very very good one. Yeah, I love that sense So so thank you for for introducing me to to this. I'll have to ask you what the name is Oh again, you're welcome I will definitely forget that

08:16
to write it down. It smells great. I never pay retail. I go to discounters all the time. Yeah, fragrancenet.com or fragrancex. Okay. Yeah. Well, there's a pro tip for you right there. I appreciate that. So we got your Scottish heritage, your fragrances, anything else you got going on? I know you've got a big strapping boy. Oh my gosh. Is he starting to play JV Ball in high school? Is that right?

08:46
to be going to be playing this year. He went out last year for the middle school team on a whim. They'd already set the team up, but they didn't have a kicker. They made an announcement at the end of the day and said, anybody who wants to come out and try out for kicker, be at the football field. So now he was, he was playing soccer prior to that, right? Yeah. He's played soccer all his life. And so he was like, yeah, I think I'll play football. So he went down there and tennis shoes and blue jeans and one of the kicking position

09:16
Now they did have a young lady on the team that kicked some, but he did the primary kicking, the kickoffs and actually scored a field goal for one of the only field goals in middle school that has been kicked in years because they just don't do it. Cause you know. Yeah. I mean, it's just usually not a play it's called for. And that, you know, they use deck conversion or whatever. Some schools don't even have a kicker. They have to go for two every time they score a touchdown. And so he did that. And so he's, they've been doing some, some preseason practicing

09:46
school the last couple of weeks. And so he's been going out there kicking with them and also has an interest in maybe trying for backup quarterback, cause he's got a rifle for an arm. He just has to learn the position. And so, yeah, we're really excited about that. And then they're wearing him out, man. That's awesome. That's awesome. I saw on your Facebook page, you were taking him into the Isle of Skye and the Skye of British. Oh yeah, yeah, I brought him into it.

10:16
I saw him in his in his kilt going to school and also you guys have done like the The Highland games or the tartan games or whatever up is in It's just South Carolina or somewhere like that It's just outside of Columbia in in Casey, South Carolina at the the old racetrack. They do at last Last year and then this year because they do in the spring They've they've they've had because of COVID right but but years previous It's called tartan day

10:46
South and you go up there and it's really neat. They have lots of things. They have food from the British Isles, Haggis. And various pipe and drum bands that marched through periodically. They have the Highland Games. They have a car show of British and, you know, well, I guess British cars, I don't know if they make any in Ireland, but the only one I ever knew of Ireland

11:16
and I don't know if they had any of those out there. I don't know if they might have. Doc Brown show up or something, you ever know? But yeah, he decided he wanted to wear his to school and so I was like, oh man, go ahead, knock yourself out. So I helped him gear up and he got quite a response from it. It was pretty cool. That's good. That's so good. I mean, you know, unfortunately, even for the world having been shut down for a year, you know?

11:46
integrating back in to kind of face-to-face life and things like that. And then add on, it's high school. Cause high school can be so hard already. There's always these predeterminations of who's cool, who's what, and kids can be so cruel. But for him to be like, you know what, I'm proud of my heritage. This is who I am, this is what I wanna do. And to step boldly into it,

12:16
it, you know, I applaud you will for that. And you Dale for standing behind and be like, yep, let's do it. And again, for it to be such, it sounds like a very positive thing for him, for his, you know, standing up for himself and his heritage. And then maybe give encourage to other folks to be able to be themselves as well. Yeah. Yeah. I was really, really, really proud of him for doing that. So yeah, cute

12:46
goes to him, man. That's awesome. That's awesome.

12:54
All right, Dale, this is the time in the show. We would like to ask that question. You know, we worked together for a long time. We've had some discussions, some deep, real talk discussions before. Yeah. And part of this show that I want to, you know, for folks to realize is, you know, there's a commonality that goes amongst humanity that, you know, everybody gets down sometimes. Everybody has those dark days, those depressed days where they just, maybe you just want to cry. Maybe you're not even real.

13:24
you not even realizing that it might be a form of depression. You just feel like you just need a day to cry and not do anything. Cause he'd fudge ripple out the freezer and just cry. That's okay. Cause everybody has those kind of days. So Dale, I want to ask how do you stay positive? How do you keep the dark at bay? I think one thing that can help and I don't, you know, is, uh, find things to occupy your mind. Things that make you happy. Um, you know, our, our brain is just one big,

13:54
basically just a big lump of fat that's ruled by chemicals and electronic impulses. And if you can find something that gives you just like a little bit of joy or a little happiness to release that dopamine that makes you go, and I've found, like I said, going back to the various interests, I know some people like,

14:24
shopping, you know, they're like, why do people like to shop? But especially not to sound stereotypical, but a lot of men say, why do women like to shop? So like, shopping makes you feel good. You don't spend a ton of money, but you know. Just even window shopping, just browsing, just looking at the stuff like that. Like I say, it allows you to focus on something else, to not be stagnant. And I think those are the times when you get stuck in that, you know, alone

14:54
You have to find something to occupy your mind and things like you say research researching like the different Clans and tartans and things like that. That's that type of stuff. It triggers a different part of your brain to do that research Mm-hmm going to shopping, you know that triggers a different part of your brains to I mean basically you're doing research on what outfit You like what what you don't like or whatever. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's that's that's why like I You know took up a pottery class earlier this year Sure just again

15:24
in to learn a new skill because I've always had a, something within me because I can do this. I can do radio stuff and I can do voices and act on stage, but I can never create anything tangible. Everything that I could create was intangible. It was either something recorded or something oral or there was nothing physical. So I was always an awe of people that could create things physically,

15:54
artists that could actually draw and create and paint. And pottery was a great way for me to kind of be able to create something tangible and to focus on that. And also just get into that flow of the creation of that type of stuff and feeling the clay. There's something calming about just that tactileness of it. So, yeah. I mean, stuff, things like that, that is amazingly fun. You did something a little while back that...

16:24
actually want to do is you went and actually made your own knife forged and sharpened up a knife. From a railroad tie. Yeah, yeah, you made something to kill somebody with. Or open letters. I just opened letters. Yeah, there you go. Well, that's my skiing dude whenever I ordered it. It actually came in a box labeled letter opener, but it's like, you know, sock knife.

16:54
I have to spend the money on the shopping. Like I found it, like I get happy sometimes just going on, like talking about the Fragrance sites, I'll go on and I'll watch YouTube videos from reviewers and I'll go and I'll just load up my cart. And like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'll go pare it down. I'm like, well, I think I don't really need this one. Don't really need this one. And I'll leave three or four, five in there. I may never buy them. They may go out of my cart before I buy it. But I felt like I've done something, you know? That's a lot of fun. Something else that,

17:24
that I've found is actually, I think it's been helping me lately is I've been trying to take a little better care of myself physically. You have lost a ton of weight. Thank you. You have lost, you look great. Thank you. Every time I see you, I hate you and I love you all at the same moment because you do, you look great. I appreciate it, man. It's been tough and I got what I did. I started out just trying to eat a little better and it wasn't necessarily so much to lose weight, but it was to try and get my blood sugar under control.

17:54
I'm a type two diabetic, get my blood pressure under control. So I started eating a little better. And I noticed I was losing a few pounds. But then I got to a point where I sort of plateaued. It's like, okay, no matter what I do, I'm not losing any more weight. So then I started going to the gym and that really has kind of kicked in. And when you do that, when you, I found that when you work out, you know, yes, you sweat and you hurt and all this stuff. But you know, your body releases endorphins and when you get done, it's like you're just,

18:24
over, but you feel good. And it's kind of like that, what do they call it, the runner's high for like marathoners and stuff like that. And that it's just, at the end of it, you are exhausted. You're just laid out and you, you know, muscle shaking, but you're, you feel so good about it. That's amazing. And so I've felt good about that. And then, you know, glancing in the mirror every now and then they'll be like, okay, you know what? I, you know, you don't see the daily progress, but you're looking and it's like, okay, you know what? Two weeks ago, I didn't look like this.

18:54
And it's not any huge drastic change, you know, like any Dr. Banner or anything. And I'm not turning green. You know, I'm very pasty, but that helps. You know, it helps. It gives me something that it's like I could feel a little bit better about myself because I've always, my whole life ever since, I don't know, maybe second grade, I've struggled with weight. And, you know, even in high school, when I was playing,

19:24
I played a couple of sports in high school, worked out all the time. I still was kind of husky. And now I'm really close to being at the size I was back then. And so, I mean, it gives you a good, just a nice feeling. Be like, okay, sometimes it's frustrating because you get on the scale and it's like, okay, I ate right, I ate clean, I did my meal prep, I did my measurements and I worked out and I came home and I gained half a pound.

19:54
that happen, I drank a gallon of water, did you go to the bathroom? And it's like, oh, I actually lost a pound. There it is, there it is, now it's gone. But yeah, and like you say, I mean, it's focusing on something else. It's putting your mind to work and not letting your mind work on you. And again, the thing is that everybody has the ability to do that. I'm no professional,

20:24
no counselor or anything like that. My whole point is this is that everybody has these times and being able to recognize that, hopefully give someone hope. That just to know you're not, that's why it's like just regular people and everybody kind of has those days, everybody has those times. And this is just how I get through it, how Dale gets through it, how each individual kind of gets through it.

20:54
it and maybe that's something that will cuss burn you on to to to think differently to to try something different to not let um not let it overtake you because i mean i'm i'm cheering for you i'm a big i'm a big cheerleader type person i i love seeing people succeed i love seeing people grow i love uh seeing people find their passion and explore those things because i think that's what

21:24
do that, everybody should be able to be happy and feel fulfilled in their life. You know, we get this one shot. Yeah. You know, I tell folks all the time, you know, that time is a commodity that is non-renewable. It's once you spent this minute, that minute is gone and you'll never get it back. So don't waste it. Don't waste it. Make sure that you are doing the things

21:54
bring you joy, bring you happiness, bring you fulfillment, and understand even during some of those times, there can still be good stuff that comes out of those times where you get reflective. And you work through those feelings maybe that you had of inadequacy or, hey, I'm so fat. I tell folks all the time, they call me Big Rob. It's not because there's any other reason that I'm just a big man.

22:24
I'm an over 400 pound man, okay? Six foot tall, 400 pound. A lot of you love me. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, I have learned to accept that. Do I wanna lose weight? Absolutely. Do I try to lose weight? Absolutely. Does it always happen? Nah, not all the time. But I've learned to become comfortable in my skin. And it takes the power away from those voices that wanna call me fat.

22:54
in my head, you know, that want to say, well, you're not good enough, you're too big, you're too blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, yeah, but you know what? I own it. I own that that's part of who I am. And so I take that power away. And I think there's something just really magical in learning to be able to take that power away, take the weapon out of that enemy's hands, you know. When you own it, you know, then you can, you mold and manipulate it to be yours and you do what you want with it.

23:24
and you can use it to either inspire you or break you down. And, you know, and one other thing too that I would be remiss if I didn't mention is for the last couple of years, I've been in a really good relationship. You know, I, when my ex-wife and I divorced, I really didn't, went out a couple of times, literally a couple of times, that was about it for years and years and years. And a couple of years ago,

23:54
with an old girlfriend from 30 years ago. Actually more than 30 years ago now. And just so happened, we were both in a place in our life where we kept in touch off and on through the years, saying hi and right here. But we were both at a place where, you know, we could say, well, let's get together. Let's just talk. Let's see how each other's doing. And it's morphed into something, you know, to a really good relationship. I think just having somebody that you can just,

24:24
talk to, even if it's not to just pour out bad stuff and just complain to you, because honestly, nobody wants to be that sounding bored. It's like, oh my gosh, all you ever have to say is complaints. But to talk about the good and the bad, just somebody to listen to you, and then somebody you can listen to. I think that's really important and understand not everybody has that. I didn't have that for years. There was nobody I could really just talk to

24:54
like, you know, but gosh, if you got somebody in your life that you can understand what an incredible resource that is to just have somebody that you can just sit on the couch with and it's like, tell me what all happened with your day? What good, bad, crazy, boring, then I'm gonna tell you what happened with my day. And then we're gonna look at funny TikTok videos. Right, right. But I mean, and that's it. It's that, you know,

25:24
souls separated by time that we're still the same people, just like me and you are the same people, just like everybody else. We're all the same people. We all have these same times. And to be able to share it, you know, going to, you know, getting quote unquote therapy or going to counseling doesn't mean that you got to lay out on a couch. It's having a conversation. I mean, this is therapeutic to me, me and you talking. Whenever we get together, that's therapeutic to me. You know?

25:54
random stuff that we talk about and the memories of the stuff that we did and can't believe that we did. Thank God that the microphones are not on for most of those conversations because they- If they had been like, we were in it when their, you know, like videos on phones were not as prevalent as they and the quality of them, I mean, it was like a little blue dot. You couldn't have, you know, it was just a blob and a blur and really pixelated. You couldn't tell who anything-

26:24
flip phone and thought I was something man. That's right. I was never able to win Minesweeper. Yeah man we would probably be in trouble for a lot of the stuff that we did. Although there is photographic evidence and some of the stuff we've done. We've been on the news a few times. Also mentioned in a New York Times best-selling novel. Well not a novel but a book.

26:54
as well. So yeah, it's made the Reuters newsfeed. There you go. Yeah. So yeah, we're probably a pretty lucky sitting where we are right now and not sitting behind bars. Those hands are free. I got they're not, you know, connected with a four inch chain. Don't have like one of those ankle bracelets on, you know, I can't leave the house or anything. So yeah. Yeah. So so again, just spending some time with people that you love and people that love

27:24
you back is such an important thing. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

27:34
All right, it's that time. Uh-oh. Fast five. Uh-oh. Fast five, fast five. I don't have a theme song yet for fast five. I'll need to work on that, but. Fast five, fast five, fast five. Fast five, fast five, fast five, fast five, fast five. Fast five, fast five, fast five. Fast five, fast five, fast five, fast five. So the fast five, this is. You use that royalty free. Thank you, I appreciate that. If I'm gonna need to get you signed as release for me, so that you won't have your lawyers coming back after me or anything like that.

28:04
I have five questions I'm pulling from the Poddex app. Poddex app created by my friend Travis. It's for podcasters. It's basically conversation starters. Even if you don't have a podcast going on, check out Poddex. They have physical cards as well as the app. But it's great conversation starters. If you need an icebreaker at work, somebody says, hey, I need you to give this speech before this thing, check out Poddex. It'd be a great way to start a conversation. But we got our Poddex here. I'm gonna go ahead and here.

28:34
hit the random button. We'll get your first question. Name one thing on your bucket list. Skydive. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm terrified of heights, I'm acrophobic. Oh. And I want to jump out of an airplane. Really? Yep, yep, don't want a bungee jump. Cause I'm too heavy and those bungee, it's like, you know, you get on the bridge and it's like, what is this thing rated for? Oh, about 200 pounds. Give me the one, give me the one that's rated for like an elephant. That's right.

29:04
for dumbo operation dumbo drop. I want that one. I'll put all five of these together and braid them together. I don't want to do that. And plus, you know, bungee jumping, I'm for the people going blind for the sudden stop and pull. They have a ratnull detachment. Oh, wow. Did I say ratnull? Ratnull. Yeah, the ratnull falls out of our e-ball. But yeah, I want a skydive, man. Okay. Yeah. Tandem or do you want to go solo? Well, you know, if I got to go, I'm taking somebody with me. Okay. All right. Yeah.

29:34
That's great. All right, number two.

29:39
What could you do all day and not consider it a waste of time? Mm, oh, that's a good one. Right, my motorcycle. Ooh, yeah. So what kind of bike you got? It's an older one, it's a 2003, but it's a Yamaha Roadster 1600. So she's a fairly good size girl. She's big enough I can go on an all day ride and not have to worry about overworking the engine. I just throw my son on the back. We actually have taken one,

30:09
Longest trip we rode off rode up to Clemson, okay? We're about a year and a half or so ago and And that was nice, you know, it was a couple of couple hours about two and a half hours I actually we had to hit a detour so it was close to about three hours up at about two and a half back down And and that was good. But yeah, I loved it right now You know, I got to pull over every now and then because your butt starts to hurt right, but But definitely not a waste of time so anytime on the bike is not a waste of time No, yeah I went therapy

30:39
There, wind therapy, a little, a little, in my face. Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right.

30:47
Number three, what futuristic thing from a sci-fi movie or book do you really wish existed right now?

31:00
Ah, gosh, you know, gut instinct is time travel. But then you think about, yeah, but then you could really mess up the timeline or could you not mess it up because it's already set. And it was predestined that you were going to go, I don't know those things, but time travel would be really cool because there are some really great historical figures. I'd like to go back in time and meet, find out if they're really like what history says they are. So. Well, as they say, history is written by the victors.

31:30
So. Yeah, exactly. You know, go back and meet some folks. The only thing would be probably the language barrier. So hopefully maybe from Douglas Adams book, the Babel Fish. Yeah, I could put a Babel Fish in my ear and go back in time. And honestly, I'd like to go back in time and meet Jesus Christ. I'd like to talk to him. Yeah. Just sit down and just chat with him. That's awesome. So yeah, but I'd have to have a Babel Fish. Right, right. Because you don't understand, was it Spetanian? What is it?

32:00
hair make and he wouldn't get English. He thinks it all. All right, let's go to this next one.

32:11
Ooh, if money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your time? Travel. What's the number one on your list to travel to? Any destination could be anywhere. Could be somewhere you've gone before or somewhere new. I'd like to explore the ruins that maybe Machu Picchu or Puma Punku go down South America. If the geopolitical situation were better, which would be awesome, I'd like to go to Iraq and

32:41
and go to the ancient areas over there, the ruins, or maybe to Turkey, to Quebec Le Tapis. Cause I'm just fascinated by what people were doing hundreds or thousands of years ago, and how did they do it? That's a form of time traveling in and of itself right there. Yeah, yeah. But then I'd also like to go to Edinburgh, maybe Glasgow. Some places like that, I don't know about London, London would be really, I hear it's really expensive.

33:11
Yeah. Just to go there and ride that big Ferris wheel and look at the big clog. Mm-hmm. But, I don't know, I'd like to, I mean, I definitely could go to London, see a show at West End or something like that. Yeah, that'd be nice. Or go to Stratford-upon-Avon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. William Shakespeare Theater Globe. That's pretty amazing. Yeah, that would be cool. That would be cool. All right, final question here. Is this the one where I win the money? Yes. All right. Sorry.

33:41
It should be an easy one. What's your favorite restaurant? Oh, me. You know what? I...

33:51
No. Oh, I feel like the guy on the money python. Oh, I don't know. You know what? I would have to say Ryan Arts. Oh, I love Ryan Arts. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you just can't beat their shrimp. The fried shrimp is just so good. And that's that's probably my favorite go to thing. Yeah, I love I do love their French fries. Those hand cut fries. Those are really good. Ryan Hearts Beyond Casual. Yeah. Is it still considered an oyster bar or? Yeah, it's like,

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Reinhardt's always to bar. Okay. Yep. Here in Augusta, and there's one up in Martin's, Evans, Eros. I'm on Belle Air Road. Yeah. Yep. You have a particular favorite one between the two locations, because I gotta tell you, I remember going to the original Reinhardts when I first started in radio and using Barney Bucks, and it was just like a little three room in the house that's there now. Yeah. And of course they've expanded. I remember that from when I was 15 years old. Going there.

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And of course everybody writes their names on the walls and the tables and every surface in there has somebody written on it. It amazed me when they opened the new location on Bel Air Road that it looked like it had been there 30 years because it was riding over everything. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, between the two, you know, not a knock on the Bel Air Road location, but there's just nothing like the original. The new one is kind of like if you, the original cast of Shadow, it looks a lot like it,

35:21
the same, but there's good people there. The food is good. I've gone there. I've enjoyed it. But just something about going back and talking about working in radio and getting those little Barney Bucks, the little purple gift certificates. Used to, when I first started, I was so broke working in radio. How broke were you? I had my emergency Barney Buck that I would keep in my wallet. I had one $10 gift certificate I would keep in my wallet. And at the time, you could get a cheeseburger and fries.

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and it was right at about eight and a half, $9. And I knew if I got to the point where I was absolutely dead broke, no money, that I had that and their burgers are so big that I could get one and I could make two meals out of that one burger so I could have lunch and dinner. Or if I really had to stretch it to pay day, I could have lunch on Wednesday, lunch on Thursday till I got paid. And if I got it to go,

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I didn't have to worry about leaving a tip and shorten the server a tip. So I just ordered to go drive up, pick it up and go. Right. And I- Just couldn't live a tip on the Barney Bugs. Yeah, yeah. And I would just, you know, I would feel bad about not tipping the bartender, especially after, you know, years later, I was a bartender there and appreciated tips on to go orders especially. But that was my backup. I knew I could eat for two days or two meals on that Barney Bugs. That was my nuclear option

36:51
I carried in my wallet. If I was dead broke, I could eat twice. Yeah, that's good stuff there too, though. Chicken fingers are amazing. Burgers are amazing. I used to love get the burger there. I mean, I love cheeseburgers, but what I would do is I'd get the burger and get them put, they had this stuff called R&R spread. Yeah. And I would get that as, because it's like a cream cheese garlic, something spread. I'd get that instead of cheese on the burger. Man. You just gave me an idea. I've never tried that. Dude,

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Regular cheese, get the iron on spread on. Oh my gosh, it will change your life so, so good. Gates of Heaven will open. Man. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. Dale, thank you so much for coming on with me today. Man, thank you for honoring me with an invitation, man. Absolutely. It's great. So proud of you for getting this thing going. I know we've been talking about it for a while. Yeah. And like you said, you finally hit the big red button. Yep. It's been a pleasure, man. Well, I appreciate you. If folks want to find you,

37:51
If you want to be found, do you want to be found? Can get where can they look you out? I mean, you are an insurance salesman. I'm sure if you folks need insurance, they might want to reach out to you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you found me on Facebook. It's just Dale Thomas. I'm the guy in the Kilt with my son standing next to me in a Kilt. If you look up Dale Thomas on Facebook or you can email me rthomas3, the number three at Kemper.com. That's my company email. You can reach out to me that way and I'd be glad to get in touch with you there. That K E M P E R. It is indeed. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Dale, thank you again.

38:21
I'll have to have you on again because I mean this this only scratch the surface of some of the stuff we could talk about Oh, yeah, but I had to catch up first. So this will call this we'll call this part one part one man part two To be determined at some point in the future Thank you so much for tuning in to chewing the fat you can find me on all the socials at chewing the fat Br and it's like Big Robb chewingthefatbr on Instagram Twitter Facebook Check out the podcast

38:51
wherever you got your podcast, which is funny for me to say that because you're listening to the podcast right now. I don't know how to push all this stuff and advertise it completely yet. Just listen people. It's just good stuff. We'll have another episode soon. Thank you so much for tuning in to Chewing the Fat.

 

Dale ThomasProfile Photo

Dale Thomas

Father / Friend / Funny Man

Born and raised in the CSRA, hailing from the bustling metropolis of Clearwater, SC. I've done a little bit of a lot of things in my life: acting, engineering, textile supervisor, bartending, radio (on air and sales), copy writing and commercial production, and most recently in the insurance industry for the past five years. Kilt enthusiast and burgeoning fragrance geek. I'm the little boy who still doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up. But the thing I'm most proud to be called is Dad. I have an amazing son of whom I am incredibly proud.