In August, Backyard Road Trips branched out from the blog into the world of podcasting. The clever name, “Backyard Road Trips: The Podcast” was born. Take a look behind the scenes of our podcast.
In early summer, my good and longtime friend Jim Wheeler, hiker, photographer, craftsman, and musician extraordinaire, contacted me about the possibility of creating a Backyard Road Trips podcast. Jim had all of the equipment and offered to record me. Even though I can rant about mostly anything on paper, speaking for over a half an hour on air seemed daunting to me. I was quite unfamiliar with podcasts in general, so I listened to a bunch to see what I liked.
I enjoyed many that I listened to but enjoyed ones that included banter between at least two individuals the most. I found myself going back to a Travel Oddities podcast that I had been a guest on years ago. On this show, the two cohosts chit chat back and forth about an array of topics. The focus was originally folklore and oddities but has shifted to local events and information, often including an interview as part of it. The kicker is, this podcast is located in Oklahoma, and even though I was unfamiliar with the topics, I was interested due to the cohosts’ interaction.
The beginnings
Talking with Jim, I told him that I was up for the podcast, but I would like him to cohost. He’s always been a Backyard Roadtripper, a hiker who frequents local trails as well as his favorite White Mountains. He even posted a few times in the early days of the website. Jim agreed to be the cohost. Starting with our first episode introducing the idea of Backyard Road Trips, our rapport was natural. It helps when you’ve known each other for 22 years. Jim also wrote the intro and outro music to the show! I gave him an idea for the music, later that night three mp3s were in my inbox with exactly the sound I imagined, he’s incredible!
Since then, Jim and I have recorded eight episodes, seven of which are published both on this website at the Podcast link. It is also available on sites such as Apple, Deezer, Spotify, Libsyn, and others. Each episode has a specific topic. So far some topics have included travel during COVID, a pumpkin beer taste test, and a quirky Backyard Road Trips holiday.
Our conversations focus on topics often covered on the blog, such as travel, hiking, history, craft beer, and food. For the pumpkin beer taste test, Jim and I blindly sampled seven different pumpkin beers on air. One of the episodes was an interview with Drew Burnett from the organic skincare company, Drew’s Honeybees. Most of the recording has been at Waldron’s Studio 88 in Willimantic, Connecticut.
Look out for episode 8, which will be released later in December, all about homebrewing and mead making. Stay tuned!
