fellow ridiculous historians, have you ever been in a situation where you say,

hey, I've got to ask an unfamiliar person for a favor?

Hmm.

You know, I have, and it's awkward.

But when you're desperate, you do what's got to be done.

Yes, this classic episode is about our friends in West Virginia, who once

upon a time begged the USSR for foreign aid at the height of the Cold War. Yeah, let's go

ahead and roll the tape. Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Hello, hi, how are you? Thank you for tuning into ridiculous history. Several of us listening today will be familiar with an area of the world

known as Appalachia, the Appalachians, the Appalachian Mountains, right? I've got some past

there, and the thing that's interesting about it is even if you live in the U.S., odds are that

you have not been there because it's quite a rural area, but it's where today's story takes place.

My name's Ben.

My name's Noel. Ben, did you know that if you hike certain parts of the Appalachian Trail, you get little rings on your walking stick, or there's some kind of merit badge you're supposed to get,

where you can show unequivocally that you have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.

I have exactly zero of those.

I also, well, I've hiked parts of the trail.

I've not hiked the entire thing.

It's a heck of a commitment.

But it's a noble thing to do, almost as noble as

being the producer on shows like ridiculous history, which reminds me we should shout out

our super producer, Casey Peggroom. So, Noel, you have never hiked the trail,

but you've been to the Appalachians, yeah? I have, and I've been on parts of the trail. That's where I found out about the medallion system, where it's these little kind of curved metal pieces that indicate which parts of the trail you've successfully completed. And if you're like a real baller, a real Appalachian trailhead, you have a stick that's just like, you know, covered in these things.

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