Ride along with Corinna Scott and me as we chat about our new business, Peachy Pedicab, the nerdy things we geek out about, the challenging and fun parts of starting our own business, local adventures, Palisade history, travel hacks, and lots more.
Theme Music: Riverbend by Geoff Roper
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Welcome to the Postcards From Palisade Podcast. I’m Lisa McNamara. Palisade is most famous for its peaches, but there’s so much more happening in our little town. Join me as I chat with our community members to hear about how they are making Palisade a great place to live and visit.
Today I’m joined by my friend and business partner, Corinna Scott. Corinna and I started Peachy Pedicab, a pedicab tour company, in March of this year, after both going through what could probably be described as our own independent midlife crises. Peachy Pedicab offers all kinds of tours – wine, farm, and history, along with pedicab shuttles and rides. Corinna is the main driver, and I take care of more of the behind-the-scenes, business type stuff.
Corinna and I drove to Salt Lake City and back in a day to pick up our first pedicab earlier this year. Listening back to our conversation, I was struck by how it basically could have been recorded from the backseat on that drive.
So come ride along with us as we quiz each other about the nerdy things we geek out over, the challenging and fun parts of starting our own business, our life-changing float through the Gates of Lodore, local adventures, Palisade history, travel hacks, and lots more, on today’s Postcard from Palisade.
Lisa: Corinna Scott.
Corinna: Lisa McNamara.
Lisa: Today we’re talking about something that we both should know a lot about because it’s our new business.
Corinna: Yes. Peachy Pedicab. Here we are.
Lisa: Tell me about why you wanted to start a pedicab business.
Corinna: it really combines like all the things I love the most. Palisade, riding a bike, talking. Most specifically talking about, like telling people about this town. I love this town. I always have. So it’s just super fun. And you know, it’s wine tours so people are enjoying themselves and it’s not, you know. I feel like I understand and recognize that my pedicab experience is very different than most. A lot of other pedicab drivers. Right. Like, most people are. Pedicabs are really popular in big cities. And I rode a pedicab 20 years ago. Probably more than that actually, at this point. Yikes. And, you know, I think I paid 20 bucks all that time ago to go three blocks in New York and like, it was, you know, I wasn’t scared, but I’m pretty sure if few of the other passengers were. But, you know, I’ve always been. Not that it’s a daredevily thing, but I, you know, in New York City, it was definitely way more daredevily than it is out on these peachy streets.
Lisa: Yeah, no, it’s a totally different scene. Like in New York, it’s, maybe a novelty or a weird way to get three blocks away and spend a hundred bucks. And here in Palisade, it’s a great way to spend the whole day exploring our town.
Corinna: Yeah. For about 100 bucks.
Lisa: For about hundred bucks hours.
Corinna: Hours. You know the cost ratio, I think we got them beat there. But yeah, so it’s just super fun. You know. I think most people are aware that I rode for another company for, you know, several years and I just loved it. And I am gonna be 45 years old in a few weeks, like it was time to. You know, I’ve always, had a real corporate job. You know, my background is real super corporate-y. I worked for banks when I was like 16. And it, you know, it just. I love this. So if I’m gonna do something that I love, you know, if, if I just always. My parents are both small business owners, so I think it’s really in my blood. But I was just always so scared because I didn’t have the safety net of that corporate structure. And it, to be fair, is a little like, unnerving to not have such a structured day, so to speak. Like on the days that I don’t have tours or, you know, it’s not busy or whatever. But, I just. I gotta do it. I have to believe in myself. You know, I feel like I’ve always prided myself on doing a good job at whatever it is that I’m doing. So, like, if it’s what I love and I’m working for me, then it, you know, it’s a whole other level. So, yeah, I’m excited. You know, I get asked a lot what I’m gonna do in the off-season. We haven’t gotten that far yet. Right. You know, we’ll work on that when we get there. I got some ideas. I’ll be fine. But, yeah, I just love it.
Lisa: Good. Cool.
Corinna: Edit so much of that out.
Lisa: I don’t think so. No, I don’t think that. We’ll see. Well, I mean, and I got a year on you, but I’m almost 44, and I felt the same way. I was like, always working in that corporate structure, working a lot of time for banks and corporate real estate and all this stuff. And I’m just like, I’m really good at it, but I do not care about it. And at a certain point in your life, it’s like, wait, why am I spending all my time, like, okay, money is nice, but why am I spending all my time doing something that I hate every day? I had quit my job with the idea of starting my own business. And what I was thinking I was going to do, I just couldn’t get excited about. So when you were thinking about starting and then I was like, wait a second. I think we could work really well together. Cause I think we have a really good, like, complimentary skill set and personalities.
Corinna: I would have never done this without you, truly.
Lisa: Well, same.
Corinna: I mean, but I would have never. I know what I’m not good at. You know, like, I know what I’m capable of being good at, but what really, just sometimes I’m just not. And you’re so good at that stuff. And, you know, and I know you just have such a good base background. Like I get so many compliments on our logo, and you literally. I was like, I want a wheel and a peach, and I want a flower on the peach there has to be a blossom. And you just took it and made, like, the cutest little thing and we get so many compliments.
Lisa: It was pretty literal. It was a pretty literal interpretation. It’s literally a peach with a flower and a wheel.
Corinna: You still, like, made. You know, you don’t give yourself enough credit. Cause I know you just say, it is. But you were like, okay, here’s seven options. Do you want? And within a week, if that. Four days.
Lisa: I’m having a good time.
Corinna: I still am. You know, like, obviously we’ve learned a lot about maintenance and stuff. And, I’m. You know, I have always tried to approach. Everything is very much a. You know, just take it as a lesson. Right. No losses only lessons.
Lisa: What were you most scared about coming into it?
Corinna: I just the unknown. And it still is a little bit of that. Right. You know, and now we’re at a point where we’re growing, which is great. So we have to, like, you know, the are we gonna do option? We have option A and we have option B. And I feel like I’m constant. Like, I’m at the eye doctor, and I’m like, a B. Oh, no. B looks better. Oh, no, wait, let me see A again. I don’t know. You know, so, like, it just a little bit of the unknown.
Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. That is hard figuring out. That’s definitely something. Well, I was worried about hurting our friendship, and that was my biggest fear. But now that we’re kind of into it and I think things are going well, I also agree is like, how do you grow in a sustainable way that keeps, it keeps you healthy and happy, and also it keeps the quality of what we do good. It keeps, like, you know, it’s really hard to say, like, because everybody’s like, grow, grow, why aren’t you doing more? Why aren’t you bigger already? Why don’t you have people working for you?
Corinna: Right. Yeah.
Lisa: I’m like, well, I don’t want to mess this up.
Corinna: Yeah. And I don’t. Right. And I’m, I’m a dreamer, man. I always have. You know, my dad, like, teases me. I live everything on a wing and a prayer, which I don’t know that that’s necessarily great, but, like, you know, I fell in love with this place, and I wanted to move here, and I made it happen. And so, like, I know in my core, if I, like, dig down deep enough, I can always get it done if I need to. And I. You know, I was worried about our friendship, too, but, like, I think once we got past the initial, like, how are we gonna structure it? Like, everything feels, you know, not to whatever, but like it just feels like we’ve gotten the business side of it very black and white, so there isn’t much confusion, not confusion, but, you know, I don’t know, I feel like we’ve taken out a lot of the areas that there could be tension, you know, so I’m excited.
Lisa: Same.
Corinna: What do you think a common misconception of pedicabs is?
Lisa: Oh, good one. I think it’s that, well, number one, it’s people who have been to New York and seen them and they’re just like, it’s really expensive. The people who drive them are, let me think of a polite word.
Corinna: Maniacal?
Lisa: Misfits?
Corinna: Feral?
Lisa: Maniacal misfits. Which I mean you are a little bit.
Corinna: I. I am, I call myself that, I tease all the time, that my mom’s like you were raised like you were feral.
Lisa: But maybe just a little shady. And I think that. I really do think because most of the time that you see a pedicab, it is in a place like New York and it’s kind of hustling. They’re kind of hustling you a little bit.
Corinna: No, absolutely. Yeah. No. So 100%. Yeah. The days where it’s just, you know, like festival times and you’re riding around just like, hey, what are you doing? Hey? You want get on the cab, I’ll give you a ride, you know. But even, even with that, like it’s very different than trying to get somebody who’s just walking down the street who, you know, probably isn’t really going that far and is used to walking, you know, or whatever, you know, I guess it is very touristy for New York. And I say New York only because that’s where I’ve ridden. But, you know, yeah, like we’ve met some really cool people that are from all over the place and maybe they ride in a big city, Denver or New Orleans. Like that’s where they’re based out of. But then they do a lot of like festivals and that’s, you know, like the festival scene is where, you know, it really is where a lot of pedicabs, you know, pedicabbers, like pedicab companies, I guess, make the bulk of their money. Most people aren’t as like locked into one location as we are.
Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. And when you say festivals, you mean like the big ones. I mean like, like Coachella and Bonaroo.
Corinna: Yep.
Lisa: Well. And I feel like that’s too why I, when I tell people about it or when we talk about it online or we kind of advertise it, I call it a pedicab tour company. Because I think the tour part is what you bring to it that’s different. And so you’re bringing like that kind of guided trip visit knowledge to the, to the whole experience. So it’s really not, it’s not just about transportation. That’s not where we bring the most value to people. It’s like the tour part of it. Tour guide.
Corinna: Yeah, no, I would agree with that. Because I’ve had people where I show up and they booked a wine tour or they booked a ride to dinner and you know, I pull up and I’m like hey. And they’re like oh, we had no idea it was like a rickshaw bike. And I’m like oh, well hop aboard, here we go. And I mean they loved it, it was fine. I think the term pedicab, you know, I don’t know because I always knew what it was, right? Like because the first time I ever saw it, I visually had a connection. Like it never occurred to me that it’s such a term. But I’ve had people, I always have to say rickshaw. If I say rickshaw a lot of times then they’ll understand what I’m. What I’m talking about. I just wondered if, if you got the same thing I did. Because that day when I pulled up there, I was like. It was funny. It was a moment. They were a cute couple.
Lisa: No, definitely in telling all my family’s in upstate New York. So like their experience is like going to the city, going shopping, so telling them what we’re doing, they’re like oh, okay, okay. All right.
Corinna: So what are you doing? Are you riding a bike? Let me get Lisa on a bike one of these days. But that is not.
Lisa: I don’t know about that one.
Corinna: I mean. Well, you know, just a little loop around the block. So then you can say you did it. And when somebody says, oh, do you ride the bike? You can be like, I did. I have.
Lisa: I did.
Corinna: I have.
Lisa: Once.
Corinna: Once or twice? So, upstate New York, what was your first job?
Lisa: My first job? Oh, if you don’t count babysitting.
Corinna: Yes. Let’s not count babysitting. I agree that that’s most of our first jobs.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: How many of the babysitter club books did you read?
Lisa: Oh, like all of them.
Corinna: Okay.
Lisa: I loved them. And you know what? I always did. So even this is when I started babysitting when I was 12. This is a side note.
Corinna: I love it.
Lisa: you know me, I was always like, why can’t I be as good as they are?
Corinna: They bring board games and they have like a whole. But I also. So you grew up in a small town. I grew up in a small town. Like, I didn’t grow up in a neighborhood. Like, I luckily actually the kids that lived across the street who are now full-fledged adults. And it’s so weird to think that I babysat them. Those ones actually I didn’t even watch that much, but I had like a brother, sister. They were friends of my parents, but it was like far away. These girls live like in like suburbia where they were like, I’m gonna ride my bike over to Billy’s house.
Lisa: No, like, I lived in, grew up in the middle of the woods in a log cabin. And yeah, it would always be like driving.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: But. Or just doing like babysitting for the PTO at the school. And all the people came to PTO meetings would be. All their kids would be dumped in a room and I would.
Corinna: Oh my goodness.
Lisa: Like when I was 12.
Corinna: Oh, yeah, that’s a lot.
Lisa: And so that’s something about why I didn’t want to have kids. But anyway, my first actual job.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: Well, I think I was at the grocery store, but now I’m kind of like doubting myself. But I was a cashier at our local grocery store, which was like a half an hour away from our house still. And I loved it. It was so much fun because I loved everything about it, especially loved ringing up coupons and I loved bagging groceries.
Corinna: Lisa, that’s so fun. I don’t know that we’ve ever talked about.
Lisa: I don’t think we have.
Corinna: I mean, I worked on a babysitting and I worked on a farm. But like my first, like, other than the farm, was at a grocery store. Was at Acme. And I also, like. I don’t know that I loved the coupons. I liked the knowing the codes. You know, I’m such a nerdy girl.
Lisa: Oh yes, like the vegetable codes? The fruit codes?
Corinna: Like, I still now, when I don’t have to look like, if I can remember that green peppers is 4065. I, like, give myself a little high five. Bananas is the one I’ll never.
Lisa: 4011. I’ll never forget that one. That one’s always in there. And I got the pepper, but I think I forgot all the other ones so far.
Corinna: Yeah, those are pretty much because. Well now they all have the bar codes. I also used to remember people’s phone numbers. And I think I would be in so much trouble right now if I had to let. I mean, other than my own number. I don’t know. I know like, my parents and they got. They just got rid of our, like, our, the landline a few years ago. I was devastated. I was like, I don’t have nine, three two, tofu anymore. What? I have to remember all your numbers?
Lisa: That’s funny. yeah. So your first job was also at a grocery store?
Corinna: It also was at a grocery store. I was gonna say, like, what did you, like, learn from that other than, like, couponing is, can be prolific and profitable.
Lisa: Yeah. Just good math skills, I think. Honestly. Math skills. And also social interaction skills.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: Because I don’t necessarily think I had that. And I was. It’s like being forced to interact with adults. And a lot of them. I mean, some of them were a little bit, uh, uh, I don’t know how to say this right. There would be some characters. And learning how to politely deal with people was a huge thing that I took away from that. And also fitting things into bags.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: Not putting all the tin cans in one bag.
Corinna: Yes. It’s funny. I was gonna ask you one of your travel hacks, because I know that you are an incredible. Like, you know, we’ve talked about this. Like, I tell my tour groups, I don’t know if that Lisa realizes how much I talk about her to my people. Like, as soon as I, like, identify the planner of the group, I’m like, you are my Lisa, and everybody needs a Lisa.
Lisa: No, I mean, that’s just like, something from traveling so much for work. Well, and also we spent all that time living out of our vehicle for two and a half years. So for me it’s always like, what is the least amount of things you can get away with?
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: And what’s the lightest you can travel? That’s when I feel the best, is when I have all the essentials and nothing extra.
Corinna: Do you think that you could in a, let’s say 30 liter bag? Right. That’s a pretty standard size. Well, let’s just say a standard carry on suitcase.
Lisa: Okay.
Corinna: Like carry on size. Not. Not checked bag size, carry on size. Do you think you could live out of that bag for…
Lisa: A week. Sorry.
Corinna: You think it could just be a week? I. Is that how long it is? I was gonna ask you if you thought you could live out of it for a full season.
Lisa: I mean, if I had access to a laundromat. Yes.
Corinna: Yeah. No, no. Right.
Lisa: But I know I can do a week actually, because that’s what, what I do, is I take that size bag and then I do like a backpack, like a personal item. And so I know I can do that in a week without repeating any clothes.
Corinna: Okay, not bad, not bad. How about hotel travel hacks? You’ve stayed in a lot of hotels.
Lisa: Oh, my gosh.
Corinna: Is there anything like you always pack for, like, if you’re going to the hotel other than just like.
Lisa: No. I usually honestly mess up hotel things because I swear I either don’t pack shampoo and they don’t have it, or I don’t pack conditioner, they don’t have it. Or I’ll pack one and they will have the other. Or they’ll have it in the shower and it’ll be broken and I will forget to test it until the morning when I’m already wet in the shower. So I feel like I actually kind of mess up hotel things.
Corinna: So only outdoorsy. Outdoorsy stuff you know every time.
Lisa: Yeah I’m good. With that.
Corinna: Perfect.
Lisa: I mean, I know exactly all the things to bring but like hotels, I just, I expect to have like a baseline level of stuff there and then it isn’t. The best hotel travel hack I ever learned from somebody else, though is, you know when you have the curtains and they don’t quite meet in the middle?
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: And you get that stupid beam of light and it always is shining right in your eyeball. So you can take one of those hangers that has the two pinchers on the end.
Corinna: Oh, and fold it over. Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.
Lisa: Take the pinchers and pinch. Pinch the two curtains together and, like, close it up.
Corinna: Smart.
Lisa: So that was, like, one of those things that I learned, pretty early on. And, like, that made such a big difference because I don’t know what it is, but that light’s always in your eyeball.
Corinna: And it’s always right on your face. Yes, it is. Right here, directly across. Not here or here. Right here.
Lisa: And then I also. So here’s the other weird one is, you’ll see my light sensitivity. Another one of my old coworkers, you know, I’d be complaining about, like, the light that comes in under the door from the hallway. She’s like, oh, just take an extra towel or take your foot towel and roll it up and jam it in the crack. And she’s like, and bonus, if there’s a fire that patches one of the smoke entry points. I’m like, wow. Okay. So those are two of the things I actually always do in a hotel.
Corinna: I like it. See, I knew you would have something that I hadn’t thought of. I had seen the light thing. Actually, I think my mom used a binder clip on it one time.
Lisa: Yes. That works too.
Corinna: Yeah. but I like the towel thing. That’s also probably good for, like. I mean, I. I don’t know, especially as a woman, like, when traveling alone, safety is always the thing. And I know that they make a bunch of those little random things. You can, like, whatever. But I don’t travel enough for that to, like, have ever been, so. But, you know, you have a thing jammed under the door, and somebody tries to open it, it’s gonna take them a second longer.
Lisa: Yeah. That also brings up another weird thing that I do. I don’t think about it. These weird things I do because I haven’t traveled for work for a little while, which is a great, wonderful thing. Is because of that, I also. I thought about getting one of those lock things that locks when you’re inside. But then, like, I feel like there are ways around that too. So I always. I put two hangers on the doorknob. Because my thinking is if somebody turns the doorknob, especially if it’s one of those lever ones, they’ll fall on the floor and wake me up. Right. The two hangers will. And they’ll scare the person away.
Corinna: Yeah. Clearly, the hangers are gonna terrify them.
Lisa: So that’s my alarm.
Corinna: Yes. I like it. I like It, I mean, I would hope that the like chain, you know. Yeah, that’s funny.
Lisa: Okay. All right, we’re getting off on such a tangent here. These are the weird, like this is the overthinking that has always made me a really good project manager, if I may say so.
Corinna: Yes. No, you have handled this project beautifully. Me? A work in progress.
Lisa: No, stop it.
Corinna: And then who would you say or like personal or even public persona had the most influence on like your work ethic or mindset?
Lisa: Oh.
Corinna: I just say who?
Lisa: Oh that’s like a stumper. Hm. I don’t know, Corinna.
Corinna: That’s okay.
Lisa: I have probably, like teachers and think like teachers. Just the ones who really had their shit together. But if I think about like I, you know, growing up in a really small town, you don’t have a lot of people who are your direct role models. And I mean, you could say your parents and that’s obvious. But outside of your family. Yeah, I mean there just aren’t that many. Like if I think about the number of people who I came into contact with, my parents were both self employed and you know, so they didn’t necessarily have like customers and things like that. So, who are you really interacting with?
Corinna: I would think though that’s probably where you get. My parents also self-employed for the most part, my dad was in the union for years, but he always had, you know, he’s always been a musician on the side and does studio, so a business there. But I, I think that probably drives your work. Like I’ve always worked, right. And I’ve always, you know, I’ve always found a lot of value in being a hard worker because when you’re a parent, you know, maybe that’s where it comes from. Like I know there was a lady that I worked for at my very first job at that grocery store. She was mean, she was so tough. But if you did your job right, she didn’t have anything to say. And that’s like, I just remember, like, just do your job, you know, like, like I’m not intimidated by too many people. But you know as a 14 year old, 15 year old girl that was a whole different story and man Judy was rough. But I did my job and she never had you know she. I never had any issues. I left there and went to a bank like as soon as I could drive over the state line, you know 30 minutes away to the home of banking in Delaware. But yeah, you know, I worked for her for a couple years and I arguably like have adopted a little bit of that. But like I am tough. Like I’ve managed people and I expect you know, like if I know what you can do. I was never I hope as mean as like she could just be like just mean. But I think it was also a different time where you could just make nasty comments to people. Stupid, just mean, what is very much bullying comments that would not be acceptable in 2025 but in 1994 it was a whole different world.
Lisa: That’s how they whipped us into shape.
Corinna: That’s right.
Lisa: This is the first time I didn’t put together a question list ever.
Corinna: See, I was so nervous. I wouldn’t like I would just be here like oh why did you decide to do this?
Lisa: Well, that’s how I feel right now. Because that was my first question.
Corinna: Well, I mean. Right, but that was a good first question.
Lisa: Well, let me ask you one.
Corinna: Okay.
Lisa: So I’m curious what you thought about me the first time we met. I believe it was the third week that I was even living here and we went to a bike ride and I think it was the second bike ride that I went to. I don’t remember if I saw you or met you in the first one, but on the second one you pulled up alongside me when we were biking in front of like the storage units. I remember exactly where we were.
Corinna: I do too.
Lisa: And you were like, hey, have you ever done the Kokopelli Trail? And I’m like uh, no. What’s your name? And I just like. I love that you. And this is one of the things I like so much about meeting people here. People don’t usually start with what do you do? You know, which is one of the questions where I’m like, when people ask me first, what do I do? I immediately like shrink up. Or before when I didn’t like what I was doing.
Corinna: Right.
Lisa: You know, I don’t want to talk about that. I kind of like would pull in and just kind of start on a negative.
Corinna: Because that’s not how you identify.
Lisa: Exactly. That’s not how identify. It’s like, that’s how I make money. Like this is how I make a living. But it is not necessarily like the first thing I want to talk about with somebody. So. So many people here start with, what do you do for fun? Or what did you do this weekend? Or what trips do you have coming up?
Corinna: Have you been on the river?
Lisa: Exactly. So that was kind of my first intro to like how do people in Palisade welcome other people? And it’s like, hey, have you gone on this crazy adventure that’s like a five day unsupported mountain bike ride?
Corinna: No, we got Paully Walnuts. He’ll support us.
Lisa: I. I’m like, no, but I’m really impressed that you think I could do that.
Corinna: Absolutely. Yeah. For sure. I remember it too. And I’m pretty sure, it’s funny because I think I have been talking to Paul. Like I like, like I might have pulled up next to you. But I, you know, like, in the way that we were riding, I feel like I was like, pointing like, some random history thing out to Paul. Right.
Lisa: As you do.
Corinna: Probably, as I do, as I am wont to do. And then I probably because I had just, you know, I’m sure I had. I think about the Kokopelli Trail all of the time. I thought about it this morning. I, still want to do it. I still think we can do this I don’t think that we have to worry about doing it unsupported. Yeah, that’s.
Corinna: We’ll talk about this later.
Lisa: Okay.
Corinna: We’re doing the Kokopelli Trail, to be updated, but we can do it. Anyway. But I do remember that it was on that. That stretch of road. So fast forward, what. So then three or four rides later, it’s Halloween ride and Paul is a hot dog. And. And you were like, he’s always hot dog. It’s just like his thing. He’s always a hot dog. And like, like, it was the most normal thing in the world. Like, I mean, you said it very, like, cheeky, you know, and it’s cute. And it was really cute then. It still is adorable.
Lisa: He’s still a hot dog. Three years later.
Corinna: But you just. The way you said it, I was like, I love this girl. Like, of course, he’s just a hot dog. And, you know, like, it’s fun. I, you know, I love this town for so many reasons, but the people that it draws in, I think all have a very similar mentality. I think a lot of us love learning, you know, like, so moving to a new area is really cool. Especially when it’s an area that has so many different wonderful little vibrant parts of it that like, you can learn. You know, you could spend a, I don’t know, like there’s. You could be a peach expert and not know anything about nectarines or like, then you got there you about apricots or, you know, like, I mean they’re all in the same stone family, but like, I know more about stone fruit the last five years. And it’s incredible. Like, I grew up. Not like I didn’t grow up around, you know, but they farmed corn across the street. I grew up in a small town. This is a small town. It’s, you know, it’s a very different feel because of, it’s not two hours from New York City, but it’s also like so many things about it are the same. And like, I love that Palisade for the most part, I feel like really tries to, you know, the people who live here really care about maintaining that really charming. People tell me all the time like, this is like Hallmark. And I’m like, I know yeah. Don’t tell anybody.
Lisa: I know and that’s the weird balance too with having a business that is based around bringing people in. And same way. I don’t want my trails to get too crowded either.
Corinna: Yes, right. I think I’m always very honest with people. They’re like, this is amazing. I want to move here. I’m like, yeah, it’ll do that to you. And they’re like, so. And I’m like, yeah, I’ll do that to you. You know, like. And if they do phenomenal, you know, but like, the heat is not. It can be and, you know, I didn’t grow up in wildfire area, and, you know, like, this is the second fire we’ve had that’s gotten this close in the time that I’ve lived here.
Lisa: Yeah. You know, that’s a tough thing about living out here, for sure. And, like, we have been lucky the last few years that we haven’t had any fires for, like, five years.
Corinna: yeah, it’s since 2020.
Lisa: Right. Since 2020.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: The big, big one. Yeah. So we’ve been lucky. And every summer I’ve been like, phew. We got through it.
Corinna: Made it through another one. Yeah.
Lisa: So, yeah, this one. It’s our time. There are always downsides to anywhere you are, and I think that’s a thing that’s sure to set you up for disappointment. If you came in here thinking it actually is like a Hallmark community.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: Or a Hallmark card. Like, there are always gonna be things about a place that are less than positive.
Corinna: Yeah. Right. I mean, this is an expensive area. It’s not getting any cheaper. I get it. It’s, if you work hard, you deserve to be able to live where, and at the same time, my industry that I did back east just doesn’t exist here.
Lisa: Right.
Corinna: And it was, I moved here before working at home was such a huge thing. So it was like, now I’m just gonna make the best of it and try to, long term. I still don’t own a home Palisade. And if that ever happens.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: I’m not sure, at this point, but, you know, I still love it.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: It’s an amazing place. I think we both have a pretty big love of Palisade history. I like to tell the real cutesy kind of stories. Not that I don’t know more of them but. I have to have. I like to call them like the 10 cent stories, like they like, if I was somebody, if I was back in the day, that’s the story that I’d be like hawking to the top of the. If I was old paper boy. I don’t know. But anyway, but if you could interview a Palisade historical figure. Have you ever thought of this?
Lisa: Yeah, I feel like all. I mean, I can think of some ideas.
Corinna: Right. I mean, you know enough about Palisade history. Like who would you interview from the early days? Like pre 1930, 1940.
Lisa: Well, that takes my. I was going to a say Wayne Aspinall, but that takes that out.
Corinna: Oh yeah. No, because, when he, 50 something.
Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. And he seems like. I mean honestly, I probably would personally like dislike him, but I think he seems like such a like a divisive, important character for Palisade.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: And I say that because he was known to be kind of a jerk.
Corinna: I have heard stories of that. You know, as you know, I like to read the old Tribunes.
Lisa: But then you wonder, you’re like how much of that was really true. So I think that would be really interesting. Plus, he was probably the most famous resident of Palisade ever of all time, so. But if I were to go back before that and say like some of the first residents of town about what life was like here, before they even knew what they could grow here or you know, how did, how did they actually. How did it actually work?
Corinna: Like how did they end up.
Lisa: Yeah. And did they. Were they here just for survival reasons or did they actually like it here, you know?
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: That would be very interesting.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: How about you?
Corinna: I want to talk to the first member of the Priscilla Walker family. Priscilla is such an amazing strong woman. I would love to see the people that raised her. And also this is like one of my fun facts, fun fact. The Wine Valley Inn on the corner there at First and Elberta. Carmine, whose last name always escapes me, was one of the first. I think he’s the guy that built it. But one of the. I’m pretty sure it’s the guy that built it or he lived there very, very early on, was responsible for a part of the radiator on the Model T Ford. So like, had he not invented this radiator component there, the Model T Ford would not have been able to run. Like, they wouldn’t have been able to cool the engine, you know. There’s a couple, like, the peach picking baskets and stuff like that are like, cool, but that’s like very Palisade cool. Like, you know, how would these guys do this if they didn’t have these, like the stilts? Like, how would they have done it? But yeah, the Model T Ford guy. you know, and they built such a. Like their house is such a cool. Like they really, they really went there. It’s a really style, you know, it’s really pretty. Pretty property.
You know, this area has a very interesting history. I don’t know, I’ve always, probably because I, I don’t know, my grandfather watched a lot of westerns, you know, like, I’ve always, always like the western culture. And maybe because I was east coast kid, I don’t know, maybe western kids that grew up in the west dream of New York City. I didn’t dream of New York City. Well, I did for a little while, but I got over it real fast. Real fast. I got over that one.
To be fair. You know what, if I’m being honest and very. A little bit heavier than podcast demands. 9/11 probably helped me get over New York City, you know, because I was 21 when that happened and I still wanted to move there, like for a little while after. That’s when I worked at, like, I worked at an investment firm, in Wilmington, Delaware, and you know, Morgan Stanley, they have a huge New York presence. They’d also lost a ton of people in the World Trade Center. So. Yeah, I don’t know if that’s what it was or, you know, it’s fun when you’re in your early 20s to think about living in the big city. I’ve always been a small town girl, so maybe that’s why, like, that dream quickly was like. No, no, no.
Lisa: Yeah, no, I definitely had that dream too. And even after, because I was 20 then I was still in college and.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: Still wanted to move to New York.
Lisa: It didn’t. I don’t think it really. It was really fun being in a city in my 20s in Chicago. It was really fun. Like, I would never change that. But I also definitely aged out of it.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: And I think part of it is just like people, your friends, they meet other people, they have families, they move away. And then you’re always starting to like try to make new friends and over and over. And at one point I just realized this how it’s always gonna go. And, yeah, it just gets exhausting. Plus there’s no nature or anything like that. So it took me longer. It actually took me until two years ago until I finally let go of that regret of never having moved to New York City after college.
Corinna: Interesting.
Lisa: When I had that job there. And I just spent so much time there, and I’m like this is a very hard place to live.
Corinna: Yeah. Yeah.
Lisa: This would be really difficult and unpleasant.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: So it’s a good place to be in your 20s.
Corinna: Yeah. That’s cool. I love this little, this little swatch of land, but, yeah, I think maybe it’s. It is the, you know, what you don’t grow up with. I grew up in the middle of the woods like you did, but I also could see it. So it’s, you know, this I couldn’t see.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: You know, like, I had family and we visited out here every once in a while. I actually lived out in Reno when I was a little little kid. So, like, I had been out here, but not, like. I don’t know.
Lisa: Yeah, not as an adult.
Corinna: Not as an adult. And, you know, like, I still have. I still have daydreams that involve Western theme things, you know, I just. I don’t know. Cut all that.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: You know, it’s just. I love it here.
Lisa: Me, too. Lately I’ve met. At the bike rides, I’ve met a bunch of people who have just moved here. I’ve met four different couples who have just moved here in the last few weeks.
Corinna: That’s awesome.
Lisa: I’m like, partly. I know some of the old timers. I don’t know if I’ll ever get like this. Maybe I will someday, are like, don’t let any new people in. But I think part of what keeps living here interesting is that new people do keep coming, and they keep bringing their new ideas, and they keep bringing, like, new experiences and things with them. So I love meeting the new people who keep moving in.
Corinna: I do, too. I do, too. And I think there’s has to be a healthy. You know, there’s enough people that have decided that they’re getting older, they don’t want to maintain a bigger property or families get bigger and want more space. Like, a lot of the houses in Palisade aren’t, they’re not huge houses. Like these are, not that all of them are. There’s certainly the option for bigger homes but, like, I think that that is an important part of a healthy community is, it’s just gonna happen.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: People get different jobs and have to move away.
Lisa: Or they grew up here and they hated it and they just could not wait to move to the middle of nowhere in upstate New York.
Corinna: Yes. Happens so frequently. I have two, like, fun questions left. I’m gonna ask you both of them first so that you have time to think about the first one. How about that?
Lisa: Okay.
Corinna: All right. If you had to pick a theme song for Peachy Pedicab, what would it be?
Lisa: Right.
Corinna: So there’s one. You can think about that. But what trivia topic? So here we are. Final Jeopardy. what trivia topic would you risk it all on? What obscure…
Lisa: Okay, so first of all, I would never risk it all on anything because of, I’m too risk averse. So I don’t know how good of a business partner that’s gonna make me long term.
Corinna: But no, this is why. Because I’ll risk everything all the time. This is why I need Lisa, y’all. Why I need her.
Lisa: I doubt my knowledge on things, so I would risk a large majority of my winnings, which I assume would be ginormous.
Corinna: Yes, of course.
Lisa: on like geography. I mean, I’m just like, I know a. I’m like a weird geography nerd.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: So if that came up, I’d be like, yeah! And then it would probably be something totally obscure I’d never heard of before.
Corinna: No, no. I would bet my money if you were betting yours on geography, if that was your topic. I really. She’s got this. If it was like Utah canyon identification, I’d be like $1 million.
Lisa: Yeah. Anything western and anything kind of related to like natural history in the west, I feel. I would feel pretty good about. Or world geography or like, Russian literature.
Corinna: Yes. Love it.
Lisa: I also could know. Yeah. How about you?
Corinna: I, think not Russian literature, but if you ask me anything about the Romanov family, I could probably. That particular topic I’ve always been fascinated by. I have probably half a dozen books on my shelf right now. Or like 3rd gen Toyota 4 runners or most Toyota 4 wheel drive vehicles. I think I could probably, I could probably make us some money if I was betting on my knowledge base on those.
When people ask me what I’m gonna do in the wintertime, I’m like, I haven’t gotten that far yet. Because it’s also why I’m not working another job whilst trying to start a pedicab company because I am. I put everything into it all the time and I don’t want, you know, like I’m just gonna put everything I have into it right now and then we’ll go from there. But that applies. I don’t know how to do anything halfway or I try not to. If I really love it, then I want to know everything about it. My people, my vehicles, you know, whatever, whatever the topic may be, you know, like I love the river. So I’m gonna find out like, oh, we’re going on the river. Let me get this book. I’m gonna read this whole thing backwards and forward nine times. Still maybe flip on a class two. It’s okay, everybody survived rig to flip. We ain’t lose nothing but some sunglasses.
Lisa: It was a very hard class two. It was deceptively hard.
Corinna: It was, you know, I’ve given myself a lot of grace on that. It was tough and I was not rigged out properly and that was my fault. It was. But we got it all figured out. I think that probably that moment was a pretty big catalyst just in general for me. Like once I made it through that, you know, I almost hated what I loved the most. And so like being able to like take a step back and like regroup when I typically am pretty critical of myself was really, like it was a big moment for me to know that I had the ability to like keep going even when stuff gets like crazy hard.
Lisa: Yeah. And that’s a really good example of that because like you have to keep going. You have to force yourself to.
Corinna: There is no option.
Lisa: Keep going and yeah, there’s nothing else. Yeah, that was a really good trip. That was a great learning experience.
Corinna: That was an incredible trip. No, that was definitely a life changing trip.
Corinna: I still think about that a lot.
Lisa: Yeah, I do too. Because I was really scared going into it and I think we did some pretty scary stuff and just seeing that, like it can be okay. Whenever you go through something and you’re like the worst case thing happens and, and it’s okay, you know, it’s like okay.
Corinna: Yeah, like take a deep breath. Right. And I, you know, I am often a little impulsive, let’s say, so like you know, knowing that like I, I could force myself to like calm down like I had to give myself a minute. I needed to get there. But, like, knowing that I could, like, flip my mindset the opposite way, like, I was capable of that, that was really, like. That was a big moment. Yeah, yeah, that was. It was great. No, it was a great trip. And like, as soon as we started talking about geography, I was like, how many panels do you think you’ve seen? How many petroglyph panels?
Lisa: Oh my God. Like, a lot.
Corinna: Like, give me over/under over a hundred.
Lisa: Oh, yeah.
Corinna: Over 200?
Lisa: Umm.
Corinna: You think it’s somewhere in between them?
Lisa: Yeah. Well then. And I’m saying what’s a panel. I’m being all pedantic. A lot. I really love petroglyphs.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: And I like. I just really love them a lot. I mean, I love art. And so it’s just a continuation of like, I love any way that people express themselves. Well, music, art, any. Any way people express themselves that is like, not quote, unquote, necessary to, like, our daily existence is fascinating. And I love that it’s always been something that humans have done and cared about. And I also love the mystery. Like, we’ll never know why exactly they did this stuff or what they mean. And you can only just kind of speculate.
Corinna: And you can go real far on the speculations. And I. That’s so fun. Like, yeah, we’ve stood around and stared at a panel and made up a story and it’s great. Like, it’s such an incredible thing to be able to do from however many centuries later. Yeah, I think it’s really cool.
Lisa: And I don’t want to give too much away because I don’t like to give away my places. But I do think one nearby area that’s super underrated, that would actually be really good for more people to know about is Nine Mile Canyon. And it’s like a two and a half hour drive from the Grand Valley. And it is the best and the most rock art I’ve seen in my entire life. It’s in Utah. It’s southwest of Vernal. And it’s just so under the radar. There’s not a lot of information out there about it. And partly is because it kind of shares the land with like, an oil and gas lease. And so that’s the situation where I feel like I want more people going there to see the history so that it isn’t like, underrated or under-visited. You know, it’s not under counted.
Corinna: I love that.
Lisa: But it’s also some of the best stuff I’ve seen.
Corinna: It’s funny because I had thought of asking you where one of your favorite places is, but I also know that we were. If you’re truly an adventurer and you’re going out and finding these things and like, it’s not fair, you know, like, I don’t want to like knock people for the insta. Like, I’ve certainly found amazing places because of Instagram. But at the same time, like, I’ve also, I’ll never forget the first time I stopped to the Glade Park store and she was like, go up there, turn on nine and something something and go over two cattle guards. And I was like, right. That’s how we’re giving directions, and I mean I give directions the same way. But I wanted to ask you, but then I didn’t want to you to feel like, obligated to give away one of your secrets.
Lisa: Other things I want give away. It’s like, I’ll tell. I’ll show people things like where some of my favorite cacti live.
Corinna: Yes.
Lisa: And you know, I’ll tell people things if they’re gonna go there. But it’s like like natural hot springs, like really cool petroglyph panels that are hard to get to. Like cool rock formations and like part of the fun of those and the joy of those is like finding it and the adventure and the word of mouth. So yeah, I’ll just say Nine Mile Canyon though because you can drive right out to it and I feel like it just needs more people to go see like how spectacular it is.
Corinna: Absolutely.
Lisa: So anyway, love it. How about you. Do you have a thing like that that you’re just like, natural history wise you seek out?
Corinna: I also, I. I like rocks.
Lisa: I also love rocks and I love dirt. I like dirt that has different colors.
Corinna: Yes, yes, we’ve talked about this. You know, this is one of the things we’ve, like Lisa and I want to ask questions, but we know so much. Lisa and I both love green. like the cool light green that comes from like the coppery dirt. There’s a lot of it like out by the Cisco when you take out, after Ruby Horsethief that whole. There’s like a whole wall of it there that’s really cool. and you know, we’ve done enough adventuring that we’ve seen some really cool stuff together. Lots of really cool panels. Not enough. We could do lots more. I want us to do lots more. But I mean at this point we have now seen you know there’s some incredible hot springs that we’ve hit on the sides of rivers that you know, got to be on the river to do it.
Lisa: Yeah, those are some of the places I feel like that’s the most special. Like this is so cool that we get to do this stuff.
Corinna: Yeah. There’s truly the moments that I look back on like I can’t believe I live this life.
Lisa: OK what’s your. Oh Sorry.
Corinna: You know, go ahead.
Lisa: I get too excited. I’m too excited to know, what’s your favorite rock?
Corinna: I really like. Not that I’ve ever found one in the wild but Colorado’s our state rock like is the Rhodochrosite. It’s this really cool. It’s like a, it’s rose quartz. It’s the gemmy kind of if you took rose quartz and made it little more gemmy. I believe that’s Rhodochrosite. Like they’re all in the same family.
Lisa: Like that.
Corinna: Yes, that’s it.
Lisa: Oh that’s gorgeous.
Corinna: Does it say it’s like the Colorado State Mineral or something. One of my favorite spots, and I’m not giving away any secrets, is, like, Glade Park potholes. They’re kind of a pain in the butt to get to. That road is so washboarded out. But, it’s on a hot, hot day, man. They’re just incredible. Especially if it’s low water, because you can just kind of hang in the pool at the bottom. But my. One of my favorite parts of them is to get to them, you follow a path of rose quartz. Like, there’s, like, literally a rose quartz vein that, you know, goes from, like, the footpath. And you’re like, where do I go? Oh, do do do do. And you just follow this rose quartz path. And I’ve always thought that was really cool.
Lisa: This sounds amazing. I don’t know about this place.
Corinna: You haven’t been to Glade Park potholes? What are you doing this afternoon? Let’s go. Where’s Paul? Let’s go.
Lisa: He’s working.
Corinna: Oh. So Glade Park is, it’s the Little Dolores Creek. So it runs, you know, up on Glade Park. but it has, like, a little pool at the top, and then it drops down, and there are two exceptionally deep pools. I don’t know how deep they are. People cliff jump into them. It’s not very safe. Search and rescue has most assuredly gone out there more times than they would probably like to because, you know, I love those folks. I think we rescued a dog out of there once while I was on the team. But, the pools are, like, that heavy, deep, like quarry water is the best way I can think of describing it as a kid that grew up back east near quarries,
Lisa: like mystery water.
Corinna: Mystery hole. Yeah. There’s literally a place at county park closest to where I grew up that we called the mystery hole. And they did not. They pulled a whole bunch of, like, cars out of it that had been dumped and, you know, they finally, like, put a fence up, but not until like, maybe the last 15 years. But yeah, it was literally called the mystery hole. That’s hilarious.
Lisa: I feel like those are one of the things, like quicksand that loomed large, as like the most terrifying places in my childhood.
Corinna: Yeah. And then I moved out here and found quicksand.
Lisa: Yeah, right. I know that was wild. But no, like, the pits at, quarries were one of the places that were just like, if you go close to it, you’re basically just gonna die. Like, I feel like that was what we were told growing up.
Corinna: Yes. In the same way that I, like, warn my son about mine shafts.
Lisa: Good point. Lisa: But Glade Park potholes. I did not even know about that place. I’m really excited to check it out.
Corinna: We’re gonna go for a ride. You’re driving. Not gonna be today.
Lisa: Yeah, let’s go on a clear day.
Corinna: We’ll go on a clear day.
Lisa: Next clear day.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: So the song, I mean, first of all, I believe you told me that someone has already written a song for us.
Corinna: We do have a custom-ish, courtesy of one Dave Smith, to the tune of the Philadelphia Eagles fight song. We do have a Peachy Pedicab theme song that maybe, maybe one of our musical friends will record for me.
Lisa: Maybe we can get Mr. Garry Franklin to record it.
Corinna: Oh, You know, I feel like if I pout enough at some of them, one of them will do it. Geoff. Clayton. Garry.
Lisa: It would d be interesting to hear everybody’s different version of it. They’d be stylistically very different.
Corinna: That’s true. I like this idea. I don’t hate this idea. We’ll see what we could do for that. It’s a very easy song to remember, but yeah.
Lisa: Okay. Well, it.
Corinna: Other than that particular.
Lisa: I mean, I guess I just think about what do you play the most and, you know, you play the Queen song. I want to ride my bicycle. Or Bicycle Race. Right.
Corinna: Yes. Bicycle Race is the official title.
Lisa: Queen, Bicycle Race. Just because you play that song the most. So I think of it.
Corinna: I do.
Lisa: I want to ride my bike. Yeah, right. Like, you have. That kind of sums it up.
Corinna: I think that’s a good one. Yeah. I mean, I’ve thought of this and there’s like. It’s funny because I think of lines, not necessarily songs or like, you know, I feel like every season there’s like one particular song that I just love. I fall in love with, and I play the hell out of it because it’s great and I can sing it and, you know, I’m. I love music. You know, we like. You know, we’ve had a lot of fun nights of karaoke at the Liv.
Lisa: No, I’m retired now. That’s a whole other story.
Corinna: I know. I haven’t. Haven’t. I haven’t. I haven’t.
Lisa: We referred to that last time. And it’s still will not be told.
Corinna: We still haven’t done it. I know. Yeah, it’s. It’s still in the past. Yeah, like, I have these, like, little theme songs for the year. Like this year, there’s that Bruno Mars. I don’t even know if it’s apartment or apt. All I know is that, like, during the chorus, it’s like, I’m on my way. I like, yeah, that’s me. I’m on my way. But like, Lil Boo Thang was one a couple years ago. It’s still one of my best. Like, pedicab moments, memories, I guess, or moments. Me and Aaryn Russell, who’s great guy, you know, we’re riding back. We had just dropped people off at, probably basecamp. I’m pretty sure it was basecamp. Maybe an Airbnb out there. But I had Lil Boo Thang and we were like, riding back side by side on North River Road, and it’s late and we had had a long weekend, but it was like, finally it cooled off, it was dark and we were just jamming out. It was great. It was hilarious. I still, like. I don’t ever still don’t hear that song without thinking of that particular moment. It was great. It’s a good one. So that. And then, you know, like a whole bunch of, like, Beyonce, girls we run this, girl power inspired songs.
Lisa: Yes. These are all good.
Corinna: But.
Lisa: Yeah, love it.
Corinna: All right
Lisa: Well, I guess, before we wrap up, let me think about. Usually I think about what closing question I want to do. And so look at me being real professional. This time next year. So next July.
Corinna: Yeah.
Lisa: What do you think you’re gonna look back and say about the year?
Corinna: I hope I continue to be proud of what we’ve accomplished. I think we’re doing really good. Like, I’m trying not to push it and expect too much of us and myself and know that we have limitations, but that the room for growth is there and that we’re both, we have, I think, a pretty solid view of where we want it to go eventually, I hope. I hope that I don’t look back and regret not. That’s a tough question Lis.
Lisa: I don’t know if I have a good answer to it. I would say I want to look back and be like, damn, we did that. This is.
Corinna: Yeah, like, right. I think we’re doing really good. Like, we’ve had. I have a call I have to return right now. I got a message right at the beginning of our talk, so I feel like we’re on the right track. Our hearts are in the right place. I want to do a good job. You know what I mean? Like, I think both of us are hard enough workers, just, like, you know, I think. I don’t know. I trust you, and I feel like we can absolutely, like, be successful. So I just. Yeah.
Lisa: Same. Yeah. You’re awesome at what you do.
Corinna: As you are
Lisa: And I just want you to stay happy.
Corinna: I’m good.
Lisa: On that note.
Corinna: On that note.
Lisa: Thank you so much for talking with me. And also, I am really excited just to keep working with you and just keep killing it.
Corinna: Me too.
Lisa: Yeah.
Corinna: Thanks for time. I appreciate you too.
Lisa: I appreciate you, too.
Corinna: You’re very peachy.
Lisa: Stay peachy.
Corinna: That’s right.
Lisa: Until next time, stay peachy.
Find out more about Peachy Pedicab at peachypedicab.com or email us at peachypedicab(at)gmail.com.
The podcast’s theme music is Riverbend by Geoff Roper.
Thanks for listening. With love, from Palisade.