PODCAST · society
The Mango Times
by Fletch
The Mango Times Podcast is where midlife curiosity meets adventure, humor, and human stories. Hosted by Fletch, the show features thoughtful conversations, great banter, and stories from the porch to the open road. In Season 6, each episode explores what it looks like to wake up in the second half of life and decide there’s still plenty of adventure left...through interviews, personal reflections, recurring segments, and a little bit of well-earned shtick. New episodes drop every other week and stay under 45 minutes. Pull up a chair, hop on the back of the bike and join the conversation.
Episodes
-
Fall 2026 Update
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! I didn’t disappear, life just got loud and summer got full and that’s exactly why I wanted to hit record again. Consider this a fall reset for the Mango Times podcast: a quick hello, a real update, and a nudge to keep making room for adventure even when work and...
-
What If Curiosity Is The Real Calling
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! The life you built can look faithful on the outside and still be quietly crushing you on the inside. Jason Callahan helps us name that moment when “sacrifice” starts turning into isolation, when every relationship gains an agenda, and when your confidence is…
more -
When Travelers Become Friends
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! You can spend years chasing adventure through plane tickets and packed itineraries, or you can build a place that makes adventure come to you. I’m back behind the mic after a packed summer, and I’m joined by my friends Curt and Chris Reynolds, who make a bold...
-
Bonus Episode: Bath, England
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! A train platform in Bath, England is not where you expect a midlife pep talk to hit, but that’s exactly what happens. Between rolling luggage and incoming rain, I ask the listeners “Where are you traveling next?” You’ll also hear the behind-the-scenes truth of...
-
When Your Life's Work Gets Voted Out
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Sherry McIntyre on Reinvention and Retirement. A single vote can erase a program overnight, even if it shaped a whole community for decades. That’s what happened to Sherry McIntyre, a Modesto, California teacher who spent 25 years teaching a World Religions class...
-
From PE Teacher To Soul Farmer
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! He didn’t just switch jobs, he switched directions. One day Tyrean Lewis is teaching PE and mentoring kids in St. Louis. A few turns later he’s managing teams, trying to “do the responsible thing,” and still feeling that internal pull that says, this isn’t it.…
more -
Open An Indie Bookstore? Sounds Like A Story!
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Most people say they want more community. Will and Paula DeBoard actually built it...one shelf at a time...by opening Bookish Modesto, an independent bookstore in Modesto, California, at a time when most people think bookstores are disappearing. During this...
-
The Mango Times Origin Story
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! This bonus episode of The Mango Times Podcast comes from an interview I recently had with Kevin Delaney. During the interview, he asked about the origin of The Mango Times. I kept it simple and pulled that audio to make a simple episode for my listeners. This…
more -
Canoeing The Mississippi Was The Easy Part
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! A 2,200-mile canoe trip sounds like the wild part, until you hear what Dave Conway walked away from to get on the water. After nearly 40 years in the same role at the same church, Dave hits the midlife moment a lot of people quietly fear: the life you built no...
-
Doctors Said He Had 24 Hours to Live
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Kevin Delaney on Living Life Intentionally He was once given 24 hours to live. Eighteen years later, Kevin Delaney is still using that moment as fuel, not fear and his story will make you rethink what “prime” really means in midlife. Kevin and I go back to the Bay...
-
When Craft Becomes Calling: A Pipe Carver’s Story
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Some dreams don’t explode into your life—they sneak in, click by click, until you realize they’ve become part of who you are. On this episode, I sit down with artisan pipe carver Kraig Sederquist to explore the exact moment a hobby stops being “harmless” and…
more -
From Classroom To Couch: A Midlife Reinvention
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Sometimes the door you’d never choose is the one that finally opens. Today I sit down with marriage and family therapist Chris Oneth to unpack a gritty pivot: from high school dropout to beloved history teacher… to therapist after a career-ending reset. The move...
-
Living In Crescendo - Why Life Should Keep Getting Bigger.
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! What if the second half of life could be louder, braver, and more generous than the first? We sit down with longtime friend and educator Pete Swanberg to trace a path from elementary classrooms and adapted PE to founding an international special needs sports...
-
From Cancer To Camino: A Mother Who Refused to Stay Down
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! If resilience had a passport, it would look a lot like Dr. Erica Conway’s. In this episode, we sit with a dentist, mother of three, breast cancer survivor, and unapologetic advocate to explore how midlife can become a launchpad for meaningful adventure. From...
-
What Is A Midlife Crisis?
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! The itch isn’t a meltdown. It’s a message. We kick off Season 6 of The Mango Times by naming the midlife feeling many of us carry but rarely say out loud. Therapist and fellow motocycler Chris Oneth joins me to unpack what people casually call a “midlife...
-
The Mango Times Podcast Season 6 Trailer
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Happy New Year and Welcome to Season 6 of The Mango Times Podcast. This year’s theme is Adventure at Midlife — the journey of waking up, rethinking life, laughing more, exploring deeper, and discovering that the second half might be the best half. Join Fletch for...
-
Mango Bite #4: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! It’s the final Mango Bite — and the final show of the season. As a little gift for your Christmas week, I reached back out to all of the guests from 2025 (plus a few new A.I. friends) and brought everyone together for a reunion reading of ’Twas the Night Before...
-
Mango Bite #3: Pipe Smoking. Ritual Over Rush.
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! For the month of December, The Mango Times podcast is taking a breather while I gear up for Season 6. In the meantime, I’m sharing weekly Mango Bites — small, meaningful moments pulled from the early days of the show. So… what if the draw isn’t the nicotine, but…
more -
Mango Bite #2: Kindness Always Wins!
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! For the month of December, The Mango Times podcast is taking a breather while I gear up for Season 6. In the meantime, I’m sharing weekly Mango Bites — small, meaningful moments pulled from the early days of the show. For the second week, this Mango Bite comes…
more -
Mango Bite #1: One Hundred Day Challenge
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! For the month of December, The Mango Times podcast is taking a breather while I gear up for Season 6. In the meantime, I’m sharing weekly Mango Bites — small, meaningful moments pulled from the early days of the show. This first Mango Bite comes from way back in...
-
30th Anniversary Celebration
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! It all started in Hoopa, California. A tiny motel, a dial-up connection, and a young guy who thought it might be fun to write down a few stories from his life on the Trinity River. That set off a 30-year chain reaction: a monthly family update grew into a website…
more -
Season Five, Season Finale
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! The spark came back. After years of stop‑start attempts, grief, and a creative blackout, we rebuilt a season anchored in adventure—small, daily acts of courage and a few big ones too. From a solo motorcycle ride to Montana to quiet porch conversations with Pop…
more -
Yes, And. - The Improv Rule That Can Change Your Life.
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Did you ever wish you were a little braver, a little sillier, and a lot more present? On this episode, Fletch is joined in the studio by Isaac Gross and Tara Rico from ModPlayers Improv for a conversation about adventure, creativity, and the fine art of being…
more -
Top 5 Adventure Books: You Can Win One!
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! What if a book could be the nudge that gets you on a motorcycle, into a canoe, or across the ice? Join Fletch on the porch as he sits down with Pop to grab their TOP 5 FAVORITE dog-eared adventure books. These are the stories that make you want to lace up your…
more -
BONUS EPISODE: The 12-Hour Walk
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Could you walk for 12 hours straight with no phone, no music, and no distractions? That's exactly what I'm planning to do this Sunday, October 5th, 2025 to celebrate my 57th birthday, and I'm inviting you along for the journey – metaphorically speaking. After...
-
Lessons From The Road, Part 2
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Have you ever wondered if a childhood dream could still shape your life decades later? My journey began at age seven, sitting in a beanbag chair with a book about a teenager who sailed around the world alone. That story planted seeds of adventure that would...
-
Solo Motorcycle Ride to Montana, Part 1
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! In this episode, Fletch takes you along on his solo motorcycle ride to Montana — the first leg of The Second Half Ride. From Modesto through mountain passes and high desert to Big Sky country, this ride was more than miles; it was a search for clarity, adventure,...
-
From Climbing Routes to Community Roots
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! How do you turn a life of big adventure into lasting impact? In this episode, I talk with my longtime friend Tom Slater, who’s climbed rocks with routes that bear his name, surfed all over California, skated with style, and then turned his attention toward…
more -
Everyday Adventures: Finding Wonder Right Where You Are
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! What would your life look like if you decided to add a little adventure? In this first episode of a new series I'm producing about Adventure, I sit down with my old friend James Estes. James has this gift for finding wonder in the ordinary—whether it’s taking a...
-
What If You Just Assumed The Best?
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! What if… instead of assuming the worst, you chose to assume the best? In this episode, Fletch reflects on what it means to give others the benefit of the doubt. He welcomes his wife Kendra and their friend Lisa to talk about a very personal experience where they...
-
From Meth To Meaning - 25 Years Of Sobriety with John Ady
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Burned Out and Broken - How He Started Over After Methamphetamines. In this powerful episode, Fletch sits down with his longtime friend John Ady, who just celebrated 25 years of sobriety from methamphetamines. John shares his honest and redemptive journey from...
-
Showing Up - It's the most underated Superpower!
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Welcome to Episode 37 of theMangoTimes Podcast: Show Up - It’s the most underated Superpower! In this episode, Fletch interviews longtime friend and ultimate “shower-upper” Lisa Kjeldgaard. Based on the Fletchifesto idea that 80% of life is just showing up, this...
-
BONUS EPISODE: 10 Questions For Pop
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! A short porch-side bonus with wisdom, wit, and wind chimes. In this short bonus episode of theMangoTimes Podcast, Fletch hands over the mic to his 95-year-old dad for a quick round of listener-submitted questions from longtime friend Tom Slater. Pop shares his...
-
You Don't Know Everything - And That's The Point
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Welcome to Episode 36 of theMangoTimes Podcast: You Don’t Know Everything (And That's The Good News!) Remember that time you were absolutely certain you were right—and then turned out to be completely wrong? Yeah, me too. In this episode of theMangoTimes Podcast,...
-
Growing Up In WW2: On the Porch with Pop
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Northern France in what would become the largest land/sea invasion in history and a major turning point in World War II. D-Day along with Pearl Harbor days, were honored and remembered evey year in my home...
-
Why You Need More Nonsense In Your Life
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! On this episode of theMangoTimes Podcast, Fletch is joined in the studio by special guest Corey Strauss—Central Valley legend and founder of The Magic Box Players. Corey shares his journey from imaginative kid to one of the area’s most creative forces in set…
more -
What If The Worst Never Happens?
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Why Most of What We Fear Never Actually Happens In this solo episode of theMangoTimes, I explore a topic that can cripple us and keep us from moving forward. This isn’t a discussion about the irrational fears of the impossible. On this episode we dive into a...
-
How to Live a Good Life - On the Porch with Pop
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! This is the third in a series of conversations with my Pop. In this episode of In the Smoke Shop with Pop, we take the conversation out of the smokeshop and onto the back porch. I sat down with my dad—94 years old, sharp as ever, and full of perspective—to talk...
-
Make Your Own Kind Of Music with Christian Fletcher
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! On this episode of theMangoTimes podcast, I not only continue down the discussion of The Fletchifesto, but I continue down a thread that’s been running through recent conversations on this podcast. First, with my dad (In the Smoke Shop with Pop Part 1 and Part 2)...
-
In The Smokeshop With Pop, 2: Work and Family
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! We're back In the Smokeshop with Pop! In Part 2, Pop picks up where we left off—but this time, he also takes time to answer a few questions from you, the listeners. Ever wondered how he feels about his career, the big choices he’s made in life, or what he’d pick…
more -
Stop Dreaming. Start Doing.
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Welcome to Episode 29 of theMangoTimes Podcast: Turning Dreams into Reality In this episode, I delve into the invigorating process of making your aspirations come alive. Join me as we navigate through the practical steps of transforming dreams into tangible...
-
In The Smokeshop With Pop: Meet Pop
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! After kicking off my return to podcasting with Episode 27—where I sat down with my son-in-law Roy Mendiola and talked about doing what you love and doing it often—I couldn’t be more excited for this next episode. Because this time, I’m sitting down with a guy…
more -
Do What You Love And Do It Often
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Four years? Has it really been four years since I last dropped an episode of theMangoTimes Podcast? A lot has happened in that time, but we won’t cover it all in this episode. Instead, join me as I dive deeper into The Fletchifesto and explore the idea: “Do What…
more -
Life is Good. Even When It's Not Perfect.
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Life is Good. It is a popular brand of clothing, a book, a quote, and for many people it’s quite simply a way of life. I’ll be the first to admit that some optimists can be annoying. They can seem overbearing with their chronic sunshine personality. You might even...
-
Why a Walk Might Be the Most Spiritual Thing You Do
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! On this episode of theMangoTimes podcast, we dive into the simple practice of taking a walk and how that can be more than a means of transportation. What does it mean to saunter? What does it look like to slow down and consider the practice of contemplation.…
more -
Can You Love Someone You Disagree With?
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! What does it look like to be curious about others? What if we chose to stop and understand why someone believes what they believe and listen to their perspective? On this episode of theMangoTimes Podcast, Fletch dives into another belief of the Fletchifesto and...
-
How Coffee Roasting Taught Me To Wonder
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! On this episode, we continue our series called “Discover” where we dig deep and ask ourselves where we find the glory of God in the world around us. Join Fletch as he “virtually” sits down with Ben Kenoyer, the owner and coffee roaster at Revive Coffee Roasters to...
-
How To Make Room At Your Table For Everyone
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! The 2020 holiday season has arrived. For many of us, that means great meals and great family conversations around our dinner tables. For others, Thanksgiving and Christmas are difficult holidays filled with tough relationships and forced interactions with tricky...
-
What Cats Taught Me About Politics
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! Three months since the last episode of theMangoTimes podcast? It was time for Fletch to jump back behind his microphone for another edition of the podcast. What happens when you realize you may have been wrong? What does it look like to open your mind and heart to...
-
The One Reminder I Keep Coming Back To
Send Fletch a Voicemail or Text! 2020 came in like a hurricane. A global pandemic. New discussions, community divisions and national debates about racial imbalance and privilege. All of this pointing to the fragility of our discourse with one another. What does it look like to enjoy the journey…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Mango Times Podcast is where midlife curiosity meets adventure, humor, and human stories. Hosted by Fletch, the show features thoughtful conversations, great banter, and stories from the porch to the open road.
In Season 6, each episode explores what it looks like to wake up in the second half of life and decide there’s still plenty of adventure left...through interviews, personal reflections, recurring segments, and a little bit of well-earned shtick.
New episodes drop every other week and stay under 45 minutes. Pull up a chair, hop on the back of the bike and join the conversation.
HOSTED BY
Fletch
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Mango Times have?
The Mango Times currently has 62 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Mango Times about?
The Mango Times Podcast is where midlife curiosity meets adventure, humor, and human stories. Hosted by Fletch, the show features thoughtful conversations, great banter, and stories from the porch to the open road. In Season 6, each episode explores what it looks like to wake up in the second half...
How often does The Mango Times release new episodes?
The Mango Times has 62 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Mango Times?
You can listen to The Mango Times on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Mango Times?
The Mango Times is created and hosted by Fletch.
URL copied to clipboard!