Latest / That Car Show / Lyn Woodward Rides Again. Part 1

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Lyn Woodward Rides Again. Part 1 · That Car Show

0:00
Also, it's really fun to watch all of those loaded people get
0:03
just super frothy because that's really like, that's the moment
0:07
where you're at. You're way out over your skis.
0:09
You're just like, yeah, I want. It I want it, I want it, sure,
0:12
I'll pay $1,000,000. For it and then afterwards
0:14
probably a buyer's remorse, but the environment the in the
0:17
moment is. Epic, yeah.
0:20
Absolutely. Tonight on that car show, it's
0:24
one of our favorite people. Kelly Blue Books Lynn Woodward
0:28
This ones got lots of laughs and goes really, really long as we
0:31
tend to do when Lynn is on. So we split this one into two
0:35
parts. Make sure you download both and
0:37
boost our ratings. We have mixed opinions on the
0:40
new Jeep Cherokee. Lynn shares her own unique take
0:43
on Slate. We give the 5th generation
0:46
forerunner some love, celebrate the surprise of the year in the
0:50
Subaru Trail Seeker, and bemoan how poor Polestar got the
0:54
Showtime at the Apollo hook. Also, Lynn faces the Black Death
0:58
with the Dream Academy as a soundtrack.
1:00
It's Lynn Woodward and it's that car show.
1:06
Hey, it is that car show and we are jazzed to have our friend,
1:10
the esteemed automotive journalist Lynn Woodward back on
1:13
the show. Lynn, of course, is the lead
1:15
content editor at Kelley Blue So with all that said, Lynn,
1:36
welcome back. Thank you so much for having me,
1:39
you guys are so fun to talk to and I'm sure I have pissed off
1:44
some people in my time. And.
1:47
Regarding your all. About it.
1:48
I don't think we're intentionally, but I think
1:51
here's the deal. I'll say this.
1:52
I think PR people know when their products are like Yikes.
1:57
And you just have to say it in a, in a diplomatic way so that
2:00
they don't take offense. I think when you say, oh, this
2:03
sucked, then it's like, well, what it what?
2:06
Because someone. Out there is going to like it
2:08
and someone out there is going to want it.
2:09
And so I think it's just it's, it's always better to be a
2:12
little diplomatic. So when you've driven the new
2:15
Jeep Cherokee. I have driven the new Jeep
2:18
Cherokee, yes. No, I don't like.
2:24
Here's the. Here's the thing, the base model
2:27
interior on that is the most impressive I've seen in a very
2:32
long time. In what way?
2:35
Not cheap looking and not a lot of hollow plastics.
2:39
Really nice textures, really nice.
2:42
They use fabric on the dash on a baseball.
2:45
I thought. I was really impressed by that
2:48
interior because it looked way more expensive than it was.
2:52
It felt like quality. It felt.
2:54
I just, I was blown away. There's.
2:59
Piano black on the on the center console.
3:02
Of a Aston Martin DB12S. There's not a stitch of piano.
3:09
I mean, maybe a teeny little bit of piano black on a Cherokee?
3:12
Come on. Yeah, no, I, I, I, you know what
3:15
it is though, I think. Do we all own a an old Cherokee
3:19
at one point in our lives? Never owned.
3:21
OK. No, I came very close in high
3:24
school to a Grand Cherokee Gray with I.
3:28
Had a boyfriend who had who had a 2 door sport.
3:31
The 2 door sport. Oh yeah, yeah.
3:34
Was it a manual? No, he wasn't that cool.
3:38
Wasn't. That cool.
3:40
I had two friends randomly. Like.
3:42
Unrelated to each other, had the 2 door manual and until the
3:46
first one got it I had never known they existed and then the
3:49
second one entered the chat was crazy.
3:52
Yeah, school car. I just have such fond memories
3:55
of the Cherokee, and it's kind of a sacred thing, and I was
3:57
just really disappointed. Yeah, I think they did what they
4:00
could do with the interior design, maybe a little less
4:02
inspired by the exterior, but my issue is just really how it
4:05
drove. It just seems so heavy and
4:08
uninspired. And you know what?
4:10
Starting at $41,000, it just seems like there are more
4:13
compelling things out there. But I don't know, I might be in
4:17
a camp of 1 here. I I've heard a lot of
4:19
journalists go on and on about how much they like the new
4:21
Cherokees. I had more, I, I took more issue
4:24
with the Grand Cherokee and how the Grand Cherokee drove.
4:27
I thought it was, I thought it was really good.
4:29
And here's the thing, I had a conversation with the Jeep, with
4:32
the engineers in the conditions in which I was driving.
4:36
It was a very unique experience. So I had it in sport mode and I
4:41
was going up a hill, up the up the the snake.
4:47
On. Mulholland the snake in sport
4:50
mode and trying to the calibration of the the gearing
4:57
on the transmission. It wasn't in manual.
5:01
I just left it in automatic. The way that the the the lag was
5:06
combined with the gear selection and the and the how high was
5:10
revving and where it was shifting gears.
5:14
It was a, it was not a pleasant experience because it wouldn't,
5:18
it wouldn't Rev out high enough in order for you to get to that
5:22
point that it's the second you got there.
5:24
It was just, it was so out of whack.
5:26
And I told the engineer that, and it's funny because they went
5:28
out and they did it the next day and they said to me, they said
5:31
we replicated the problem. Which is fantastic because then
5:36
they can solve for it it. Was great because.
5:38
And listen, I said in my review, I, and this is one of those
5:40
moments where you have a diplomatic, you know, you have a
5:43
diplomatic way to say it is I'm not sure that there are that
5:48
many people who are going to be driving it in this fashion.
5:51
However, if you are giving people a sport mode and you are
5:55
letting them know like, hey, you're encouraging them to drive
5:58
in a sporty fashion, then it should feel really smooth.
6:02
And under every circumstance, that's just my, my thing.
6:07
So that, yeah. You didn't love the way that
6:11
drove. What do you think of the
6:12
material? My issue with that I thought it.
6:15
Was good I. Didn't think it was good as the
6:17
base model Cherokee. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:20
Interesting. Seems crazy to me but I do love
6:24
it when people are are actually. Concerned about giving you value
6:28
for the money. And I just thought, oh, I
6:30
thought that was just such good value for for your money.
6:34
I can't speak to the reliability of those things.
6:36
There's there's a brand new powertrain, you know that there
6:40
is to consider. We will see.
6:42
How that how that does over time.
6:46
So lots. There's always lots to consider
6:50
and that's. Part of the, you know, part of
6:52
the challenge is saying here are the things that I like and I
6:54
can't I just I don't know what it I don't know how that how
6:57
long this is going to last you or how many like bored, how many
7:01
recalls you're gonna. Have right, Right.
7:05
Like so many things right now at the Jeep Wrangler, They've
7:07
recalled every Jeep Wrangler. Have you read about this?
7:11
Yes, I have. Yes, I have.
7:14
I mean, it's a. Lot I, I do think that there's
7:17
a, you know, there's been this push.
7:18
For trying to really become more efficient and like really trying
7:24
to sort of push that that envelope a lot.
7:27
But I think when you have those turbos and and display like the
7:33
the displacement and you're trying to like.
7:35
You're trying to force like a a lot of power or more power into
7:39
like a low displacement engine like it's it's.
7:43
Hard, it's hard to kind of manage.
7:47
And I I also think it's, it's been kind of unfair to ask the
7:51
car companies. They're trying to do so many
7:54
different things and please so many different people.
7:59
Then it doesn't surprise me that they're like, Oh my gosh, I
8:02
don't know, we didn't have time to, or we didn't test it fully
8:05
or this is like, we have to get this out here.
8:08
And I do, you know, I do feel, I do, I definitely feel for those
8:13
car companies too. I know this is an expensive
8:15
venture. And so I, I, you know, I
8:18
understand they've got a little, they've got a, the whole
8:22
spectrum of stuff that they've, that they've got to take care
8:24
of. I know how confusing it is just
8:26
for a person who's buying a car. What, how come there's so many
8:29
things to choose from? Imagine an automaker trying to
8:33
have to decide what are the things that I'm going to really
8:36
focus my energy and my my money on?
8:40
What they do decide to focus on, like something else, is not
8:43
going to get the attention that they would love to give it, but
8:45
they just don't have the resources to focus on everything
8:48
unfortunately. It's kind of amazing.
8:53
Yeah, it's kind of amazing. Anything gets built really right
8:56
You. Know, I mean it really, it
8:57
really kind of is. And then you can understand why
9:00
Toyota let something like the Forerunner go for 15 years.
9:04
Well, it's success. It's a huge success.
9:07
We sell out of them every single year.
9:09
People are continually buying them.
9:12
It ain't broke. Like yeah, it still has a 5
9:15
speed. Transmission on it, but.
9:17
It's a very sturdy transmission, nothing is breaking on it.
9:22
People are still. Loving it.
9:23
It's, you know, there's dinosaur bits on it, but I mean, that was
9:28
a very, very successful vehicle for them.
9:33
It's every other vehicle here in Colorado and if it's not a 4
9:35
runner, it's a. Suit, I mean, I will say.
9:37
One thing, Doug Demira, I don't know Doug personally, but he
9:40
said one of the greatest things on that I could ever hear 'cause
9:43
I have a 5th Gen. 4 runner and they were talking about what is
9:46
the best, like what are the best like SU VS to have And he said
9:50
hands down the best SUV. Ever Made is the 5th Gen. 4
9:54
runner and I was. You're like, I win.
9:58
Yeah. I felt like a winner.
10:00
I felt like I made a good choice, Yeah.
10:02
When that new one was announced, there were a lot of people here
10:05
in Colorado that, you know, raced to to get the last of the
10:08
of the 5th Gen. right? And that was that was the one
10:11
they wanted that that was the end all be all.
10:12
You know what are you recommending to people these
10:15
days in that class or other? Classes, it's funny.
10:19
I mean, there's, there's so many things now you put me on the
10:22
spot body on frame stuff. I mean there's just not a whole
10:26
lot left. So the forerunner is really the
10:28
Forerunner and the Land Cruiser to me are really are really kind
10:32
of the the mainstays. They're I I definitely think for
10:36
two quite different customers, even though they seem like
10:39
they're sort of similar at this point.
10:41
But I think, you know, if you're more, you're looking for more
10:44
rugged, more of a rugged application and the, you know,
10:47
the forerunner is definitely, I would say, you know, very high
10:51
up on the list. The, the Land Cruiser to me is a
10:54
little has a little bit more sophistication to it, both in
10:57
its drivability and its, its appearance.
11:00
And just the sort of its general aura is, you know, a little more
11:05
over landing than it is sort of, you know, ruggedness.
11:10
I'm more of a Land Cruiser person.
11:12
And so that's kind of where I would lean, you know, the Ford
11:16
Bronco I think has a lot of. Really good things going for it.
11:20
To me on road. Drivability is exceptional when
11:24
it comes to that kind of vehicle.
11:28
Off road it's also tremendous. It has a lot of great features.
11:32
My only issue with it is build quality and interior noise.
11:38
It's very. Loud in there.
11:40
I, I don't know how long it will take for things to start
11:44
rattling and making, you know, especially if you're really just
11:47
kind of hammering it off road, how many things are going.
11:51
To start shaking loose how? Quickly.
11:53
You're going to shake things loose, Yeah.
11:55
Yeah. And the, you know, for me, the
11:57
Wrangler is always sort of that mixed bag, right?
12:00
It's, I mean it's such an animal on the trail that's it's purpose
12:04
built that is. What it's for but man, driving
12:07
it on road for me, especially on a road trip, it's.
12:11
Such an exhausting experience. It's it's like chasing after a 2
12:17
year old for however long you're on the road.
12:21
Because you're constantly monitoring, you're constantly
12:24
monitoring the steering. You're like.
12:27
It's, it's just, it's, it's built for off road.
12:30
It's. And I know a lot of people buy
12:32
them for on road and people may, you know, skewer me for this,
12:35
but I. I love that vehicle.
12:39
I've, you know, had a long term 1 and I've done a lot of great
12:43
off roading stuff and have had a lot of terrific adventures in
12:45
it. You just have to know that
12:47
that's what you're getting and that's what you want.
12:49
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely an honesty in it, which I
12:52
appreciate. I had one.
12:56
Recently, it is unabashedly what it is.
12:58
That's it. That's if I if.
13:01
Money was no object and people wanted a car in that category.
13:05
I would unequivocally say the Defender Octa.
13:12
All right, I second this. And by money being no object, I
13:16
don't just mean for buying it, I also mean for potential.
13:20
Repairs of it, I don't know, I I mean, I can't again, I'm not
13:24
going to speak to the. Reliability, I, you know, we
13:27
always, it's like British. Oh.
13:29
Bad teeth. You know, we always make the
13:31
funny joke of like, oh, electrical problems or.
13:34
You know, leaks on your Porsche or whatever it is, but I just,
13:38
I, I that that vehicle to me is tremendous.
13:42
It checks off. It checks off boxes.
13:45
You didn't even know you wanted checked off.
13:48
It's nuts and I love that. Yeah, I'm so glad to hear you
13:53
say that. I just found out we got one in
13:55
the Denver press fleet. So I.
13:58
Actually reached. Out to Sam.
13:59
Allen. Drive the pants off that thing.
14:02
The funny thing is is I was on the press launch and they they
14:07
only let us drive in Octa mode on a prescribed course.
14:13
With a helmet on and I'm like, what?
14:16
First of all, you're selling this to customers.
14:19
They're going to turn on Optimo guys.
14:23
I kind of took offense at that because then they put it out
14:25
into the press. Fleet and I said, what are you
14:27
going to do? I'm like, you're going to make
14:28
them wear a helmet? And you're going to.
14:30
Oh, and I I had to have a person.
14:32
Maybe it wasn't a helmet. Maybe I just had to have a no.
14:34
I had a helmet on. I had to have AI had to have a
14:37
person sitting right seat with. Me and I was like.
14:41
And then on the rest of the drive, that same person was
14:44
there making sure we weren't putting it in.
14:46
Awesome mug. Without their permission.
14:49
I was like, yeah. Well, this is like, what, 600
14:53
horsepower? Yeah, it's well, I.
14:56
Think it's 6 or 700 horsepower. Like it's around, yeah.
15:01
Gotti. I mean it's.
15:02
No, but you're doing that kind of speed on that on those kinds
15:06
of roads and that kind of, holy smokes.
15:08
I love the sensation of that, of that suspension, though.
15:12
I just felt like I felt like I was spinning around a top in
15:16
that. Truck like that.
15:18
I was like, this is like a mid engine sports car feeling to me.
15:21
I was so crazy. I always I loved it.
15:24
I thought it. Was it's it's like the best of
15:26
all the world's because I mean, and like, I haven't gotten to
15:29
drive one yet, but Davy Jones took me off road in one and
15:34
floored it and I mean it like he's the best.
15:39
It was it's the weirdest experience, I think cognitively
15:42
because you're seeing what you're driving over.
15:45
Like you see the terrain, but the sensations are not the
15:48
terrain that you're going over because the suspension is so
15:50
good and you're just. Like a great way of putting it,
15:53
yeah. Like, you're suspended in this
15:55
lovely environment and chewing up this, you know, challenging
16:00
terrain and you're like, it doesn't get any better than
16:02
this. Yeah, so you can do that and
16:05
then you can go get dressed up and you could go to a super
16:08
swanky dinner and a black pie party and you still look like
16:12
you do not stand out in an inappropriate way.
16:15
That's what I love about that car.
16:17
And that, to me is always. Been something that's important
16:20
is how many applications can I use this in?
16:22
Every car I have has to have a mission, right?
16:25
It's like I don't have things that are extra cuz I just don't
16:28
have the garage space or the time or the money.
16:30
So for me it's like it has to have a mission.
16:33
That thing has so many missions. It's fabulous.
16:37
Checks. Like I said, it checks off boxes
16:39
you didn't even know yet. Exactly.
16:42
You really could have. So good.
16:44
Yeah, you really could have just that one.
16:47
And you can do so many things with it.
16:50
It covers a lot of bases. It's.
16:52
It's really great. Maybe this is a good.
16:55
Segue to go into the Defender Trophy thing that I did a couple
17:00
of months ago. But you mentioned Davy Jones and
17:03
he was there because he was part of that whole he was part of the
17:08
the team that was kind of helping us put us through our
17:12
paces in that competition. And there were.
17:17
It was interesting the way that. They'd set it up because it was
17:19
2 days. The first day for us was really
17:22
about our like. Strength like we did a.
17:26
Ropes course? I've never done a ropes course
17:28
before. They checked to see if we could
17:30
swim. You know, 50 meters they we did
17:35
like. Running, we did orienteering, we
17:39
did these, like, weird teamwork exercises that were just like my
17:42
arms. Just.
17:43
Burned out so hard and then the next day was all the driving and
17:48
I. All the beginning on the 1st.
17:50
Day I just thought, oh, this is I'm screwed because this is not
17:54
my jam. Driving is it's my jam.
17:56
Like I could smoke all these people in the driving part of
17:59
it. Like just put me in the.
18:01
Left sure enough sure enough like my arms were just became
18:05
like wet noodles and I I I basically.
18:08
Like, go off the ropes. Course.
18:09
And I'm like I got, I don't. Have arms left.
18:11
This is so stupid. But once we were driving, Davy
18:15
was part of the driving experience, part of it, and we
18:18
had this cool course that we had to go through and people were
18:21
saying, hey, do you want us? Do you want to spot her?
18:24
And. And you know a lot.
18:25
Of the guys that I was with, because we are all paired up
18:28
separately, a lot of the guys I was, they were kind of going.
18:30
Really slow and being real and I'm like.
18:33
You don't need to go this slow like this.
18:35
Truck can handle this like go. Fast.
18:39
You're like, we have the best thing that you could possibly
18:41
have. I know, I know.
18:44
And the idea was, you know, you don't want to scrape, you don't
18:46
want it because then points were taken away from you if you you
18:50
know, if you did that on a. On a, you know, on part of the
18:53
course. But I also would like to think
18:56
that Davy was watching and going.
19:00
Like this chick knows what's up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:03
Maybe not. We've talked about this before,
19:06
but you know, Lindsay and I at least grew up, you know, when
19:09
when Land Rover dealerships had like the technical courses at
19:12
every dealership in this kind. Of they had one in Encino that I
19:16
loved I would be like what are those rocks?
19:18
Doing out there that's. Cool.
19:22
Whose idea wasn't to get rid of that?
19:24
Because I mean, I, I, I don't know how many vehicles those
19:27
damn things sold, but it was a lot, you know, sold my parents
19:31
on a Discovery 2 back in the day, right?
19:33
That doesn't. Surprise me.
19:35
It's really funny because at that same the dealership is
19:38
still there and the rock thing is also the rock course is still
19:43
there. It's just now it's being used
19:45
by. I don't know some other company.
19:49
But it's so funny. It's been defiled by a Kia
19:52
Telluride or something. Yeah, I, I don't know.
19:55
I don't know who like who it is, but it's just yeah, I remember
19:58
that very distinctly. And they really, they really did
20:01
own that space and they they kind of embraced it.
20:04
And the thing that I love about this Defender trophy.
20:08
Challenge that they're doing, which is definitely the next
20:11
iteration of Camel Trophy, is they really are leaning back
20:14
into that part of their heritage as well as.
20:18
The abilities of that of their vehicles and I think that what a
20:23
wise thing for them to do and I truly.
20:29
A little guest to parents. I do truly hope that it goes.
20:33
Really well, I know that the, you know, the finals are in, in
20:36
Africa somewhere in October. I would don't know where yet.
20:39
And you know it's all the the you know it's.
20:43
Pretty, pretty secretive at the moment, but I just love that
20:47
they're that they're doing it, they're leaning in, they're
20:49
exposing to young. To the younger.
20:52
Generations like this whole other, you know, this world that
20:55
they, you know, may or may not know exists and I just.
20:58
I'm so stoked. What a great what a great way to
21:02
celebrate your heritage. Yep, Yep, I'm glad to see it
21:06
too. Yeah.
21:07
And I love that. It's like you said, it
21:09
celebrates the heritage, but it takes it to the next, like
21:12
brings it into the modern times as well.
21:15
And it's like, again, the best of both worlds, all the world's
21:19
they're. Just.
21:20
Such a good job. There's a there's a huge
21:23
conservation effort that goes along with it now.
21:25
I think it's the Tusk Foundation, but which also I
21:29
think is just really important to be able to.
21:33
To, you know, to really be able to support those kinds of things
21:37
and remember the importance of, hey, we're not the only ones
21:42
here. We have to leave this place
21:44
better than we found it. And I do think that it's
21:48
incumbent on big companies, especially car companies, in
21:52
order to to be able to to have a voice about that and to have an
21:55
opinion about that. So I just think.
21:57
It's, I think it's terrific. So yeah, I love it, Yeah.
22:01
Plus it was really cool and fun. Although I will.
22:03
Say in the orienteering. Bit there were these, we were
22:06
out in like these thick woods and I wasn't wearing gloves like
22:11
an idiot and I-1, this one guy was in front of me and he
22:15
grabbed this. Bullish this like branch of
22:18
something and I thought OK great I'm going to do the same thing
22:22
the second I went to grab it he said don't grab that and I.
22:25
Grabbed it just as he said. Don't grab that and I still have
22:30
a. Thorn in my finger.
22:32
That was in May and it is now July and this thing.
22:36
I don't know what it is, but it still really hurts.
22:39
Wendy need to get that out. It may be with you for a while.
22:44
But it hurts. Like it's not just a gross.
22:47
Bump like it hurts and you know, we want to know where it is.
22:50
It's, you know, when you turn the turn signal on a car.
22:53
It's right on the turn signal pad, right?
22:56
Well, it's a good thing you don't drive cars for a living.
22:59
This is a work. Injury now.
23:04
Hello workers. Comp I want workman's comp I.
23:06
Want time off? Well, that sounds like a pretty
23:10
good trip. Pretty good time, just the same.
23:13
It was so cool, the people and it was really great the people
23:17
who. Participated in it, right.
23:18
So it wasn't media, all media. I think it was the only people
23:22
who were media on my wave who were actually participating and
23:25
doing it were me and Jeff Glucker from Motor One and
23:29
everybody else. Everybody out, We love Jeff.
23:33
Everybody else, Jeff had a broken hand, yes.
23:36
That's hardcore. He broke his fucking hand and
23:40
still was like, I'm not missing that trip.
23:43
He called them and he said hey. He's like, is it cool if I and
23:47
they? Asked him.
23:47
They said can you put two hands on a steering wheel?
23:49
And he said absolutely. And they said.
23:51
Fine, we'd love to have. You just have to put.
23:55
A trash bag over that cast for the 50 yard swim right that's.
23:58
What I did, he's like it was. Amazing.
24:01
It was, I mean, I was like. Whoa bro, like that's so cool.
24:05
But all of the other people who were there were.
24:08
Customers. Like like.
24:12
Special OPS guys. Like first responders, people
24:17
who were just like rabid fans of the brand, owners of vintage
24:22
cars of, of modern cars, like all of these people.
24:27
And it just kind of brought us together in this common, this
24:30
common task. And, and we were all kind of put
24:33
together in teams and we knew that they were going to be
24:35
picking. Four people out of our 3 hole
24:38
waves in order to represent the the US in Canada because they
24:44
combined North America together. But boy, it was just such a
24:49
great experience. I.
24:50
Still am on a on a chat thread with my initial group.
24:56
Because that's how much amazing bonding we did and it was.
25:01
Fantastic. And oddly enough, two guys in my
25:04
group, we had little groups of, I think it was like 8 people.
25:07
Two of the guys who were in my Group D are going to Africa.
25:12
They made it not just to the semifinals, but they made it to
25:16
the final trip. So I think that says something
25:18
about how cool our team was. Absolutely right.
25:22
I'm taking amazing. Product for their success
25:25
that's. Right.
25:26
I mean, as you should. I don't see why you would do
25:29
anything else. Yeah.
25:30
But it was great. I just thought they put together
25:32
this really well oiled machine and it was a terrific event.
25:37
It really did sort of stretch you as a, as a person, you're
25:43
like physically, it was very, very challenging physically and
25:46
rightly so, because whatever it is that they're going to put you
25:50
through out there, you better be able to figure it out and handle
25:53
it. And I learned stuff that I just
25:55
thought I didn't know how to tie ropes or didn't know how to, you
25:59
know, do a lot of recovery, the recovery stuff, it made me want
26:02
to be better at all those things.
26:04
So and I just met a ton of rad people on top of it.
26:09
That sounds awesome. That sounds awesome.
26:11
Where? Was, I think it was in, it was
26:14
in BC, it was in. British Columbia just outside
26:16
of. Vancouver, but if they do it
26:18
again next year. Apply.
26:21
Because any, any boat listen, if I got in and this was not a oh,
26:26
you're media, so we're going to let you in.
26:28
This was I submitted just like everybody else.
26:31
Oh. Brian Doerr was there too.
26:33
So Brian wasn't, he's media guy. So he was another person who
26:39
was, I think the only other person who was media.
26:41
If I'm forgetting someone, they're going to kill me.
26:42
But. There was also media pushes
26:45
there invited to come and and you know, observe and watch.
26:49
They did not participate. That's cool.
26:52
We were the idiots who participated.
26:54
That's no, that's. Hey, we're right there with the
26:56
British. Columbia.
26:58
Sign us. Up and who knows if that's where
27:00
they have the regional competition, but they're doing
27:02
these. Competitions all over the world,
27:04
Japan, you know, Australia, Europe, like like all.
27:10
Over the place, like they're just, they're doing them.
27:12
It's this is a truly global event.
27:15
I'll get in and it'll be like Veil or something.
27:18
Yeah, you're like, I guess I'll just walk over in the morning.
27:21
You. Know even if it's in your
27:24
backyard. Totally, I would that.
27:25
Would. Be a tremendous experience.
27:28
That sounds awesome. I love it.
27:29
Yeah. I'll throw my dart, you know.
27:31
Yeah. So was it for the driving
27:34
portion, you know, because you've done rallies, you've done
27:37
the Rebel. Was the driving portion similar
27:40
to that kind of driving or was it more?
27:44
No, the driving was easy. The driving wasn't even nearly
27:48
that hard. Yeah.
27:49
There were a couple of little. Obstacle things like they had
27:51
one. It was, it almost felt to me
27:53
like a press trip in that way that it had.
27:56
We had tiny little like there was a course that we had to
27:59
drive. But there was a, there was like
28:01
an articulation section and then there was a, a water forwarding
28:05
section where you had to kind of go through water.
28:08
And then there was a thing where you had to go over, so we'll do
28:10
some rock crawling. Stuff and it was so it was very
28:14
it was very basic. There was a night drive to where
28:18
you had to, but it was for me anyway.
28:22
And I think a lot of the other there were not many women on our
28:25
wave. I think there were seven women
28:26
total on our wave, a lot of very accomplished drivers.
28:31
And so I think the. Driving for the women was
28:35
probably the easiest part. A lot of the other stuff was was
28:39
a lot of upper body strength. And like, oh God, I have none of
28:42
that. And so it it for me, that was
28:46
definitely the easiest part. And I felt, I felt, oh, OK, like
28:49
I could, I could compete on this level, like on a on a high level
28:54
in this area of the competition. Yeah.
28:57
Yeah. That makes sense.
28:58
Awesome, Lindsay, I think we got to play.
29:01
Oh, I agree. So where else have you been?
29:06
Did I hear something about Africa?
29:07
Thinking of Africa, yeah, it's so funny because the competition
29:10
was is going to be in Africa and.
29:14
Of course I thought, oh, wouldn't it be funny if I got in
29:17
and then I got to go to Africa twice because I had planned a
29:21
vacation this year in Africa. Of course I said, ha, ha.
29:27
I did not even come close to being a finalist in that
29:32
competition, but I still did get to go take a vacation in Africa.
29:36
And this has been one of those things where I just I've been
29:40
wanting to go for decades. I mean, I've, I don't know what
29:44
it is. I certainly, you know, my, you
29:47
know, my people are not from Africa, you know, centuries ago,
29:52
No one. I don't look very African, but
29:56
it was somewhere that when anyone would speak of it, my
30:00
heart. Just leaps.
30:03
Like out of my chest. And I get this overwhelming
30:06
sense of like, like. Breathlessness and I don't
30:11
understand why because I'm not like that for a lot of other
30:14
countries and places that are not my home, but it's.
30:17
Got to go. It's just got to go way back,
30:19
right Way back. I know right?
30:21
But it's just part of. Humanity, right?
30:22
I mean me. This is so.
30:24
Cool. That's kind of where it all
30:26
started. And and I knew that I knew that
30:32
I wanted to go on safari. I've been to North.
30:35
Africa, I've been to Morocco, it's definitely not the same
30:39
thing. That's definitely has a lot more
30:41
Arab or French influence and it's fantastic and it's.
30:44
Beautiful, but the the terrain, the landscape looks very
30:47
different as well. So you're not, it's not that
30:50
Savannah, those planes that you have.
30:53
But I just decided I would plan a trip.
30:55
And oddly enough, our friend Jeff Glucker had done a very
30:59
similar itinerary the year before.
31:01
That's right. I was so jealous and he just
31:04
said then go like do. It like stop thinking about it
31:07
or talking about it just. Go and I thought OK fine and I
31:11
had four friends that I just. I said to them, I said I'm going
31:15
to tell you when it is. I'm going to tell you how much
31:19
it is and tell you when you have to be where you have to be.
31:26
Otherwise I'm organizing the whole thing and you just get to
31:29
tell. You get to say I'm in or I'm
31:31
out. Every single one of them
31:33
instantly before I even told them how much it was, was like,
31:36
I'm in. And so I organized the whole
31:39
trip and I, I, I, I definitely made it like the trip that I,
31:45
that I wanted to go on, but I knew that would be still
31:48
enjoyable. It was still affordable.
31:50
We did some camping and then we did some lodges and we kind of
31:54
got progressively more luxurious as the trip went along.
31:58
So it wasn't the other way around where you're like.
32:00
This is amazing. And then suddenly you're like I.
32:02
Smell because I haven't showered in five days.
32:04
Why are you making me camp? But.
32:06
It's definitely the correct trajectory of how to do that.
32:09
It was and it I definitely there was divine intervention for
32:13
sure. Because it was the trip of a
32:17
lifetime. I love that.
32:20
Well, now between. Like.
32:23
And Jeff was such an ambassador for going there.
32:27
He was talking about it when we were at the Subaru dinner after
32:29
the auto show in November. And he was so generous with his
32:32
picture. And it was like they just kept
32:34
getting more, you know, where you're like, this can't even be
32:36
real. It looks amazing.
32:39
And that's how you feel when you're there.
32:42
That's 100% how I felt. I didn't realize.
32:44
I thought everyone had this like fabulous, like huge long lens
32:48
that they're getting all these like tight shots.
32:50
And stuff. And I thought, oh, I'm not.
32:52
I couldn't believe everyone asked me what was their biggest,
32:55
what was the biggest surprise? How close you get to the animal,
32:59
how close they come to your vehicles.
33:02
You're driving through their, you know, food stores basically.
33:06
And you're all, you're on roads, but there are elephants that
33:09
will literally walk right in front of your your vehicles.
33:13
There are their. Monkeys were climbing on top of
33:15
our car at one that would. Be surreal.
33:19
I didn't like that so much. It was baboons.
33:21
I was like, yeah, I'm not into the baboons on the car thing.
33:25
It's like. Because it's open, you have the
33:27
safari top open. So they were Land Cruiser.
33:31
They were the 70 series troopies ubiquitous.
33:36
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:38
There, these things are ubiquitous, right?
33:40
Like if you see a Land Rover, it's like super old and it's not
33:45
any company that's using it because they're not so reliable.
33:49
I'm sorry, but the old ones, I mean the old ones, but the
33:54
troopies, those things, they're highly customizable.
33:57
So you can they, they come gutted on the inside.
34:00
You can put as many rows of seats in there as you want.
34:03
Some people have stretched them so they can put 3 rows instead
34:06
of two rows back behind the the front row, you have the safari
34:10
top that you can put on there. You can add doors on there if
34:14
you don't want it to just be one, one kind of door on the
34:18
side. And so we had.
34:21
I intentionally made it so that we could.
34:23
Drive too because I didn't want just someone.
34:26
Schlepping us around. So I worked with a company who
34:31
allows that there. You basically rent these trucks
34:34
from these people. We had two trucks because there
34:37
were five of us. One we called transport because
34:41
that had. You could see four in it, but it
34:44
also had a full kitchen in the back it had.
34:47
That's where we kept all of our stuff.
34:48
It had two roof. Tents on the top of it, and we
34:51
had a ground tent. So we had, you know, various
34:54
sleeping arrangements and then we had our safari truck.
34:58
And we did. We did hire a guide.
35:01
And I thought, yes, I want to hire a guide because I don't
35:03
want to just be chasing around wondering where everything is.
35:07
I wanted someone who knew, hey, we can go see cheetahs.
35:11
We have to go over here because this is usually where the
35:13
cheetahs are. So we got this guide, this
35:17
company called Tanzania Nature Escapes.
35:20
He is. Oh my gosh. 15 years in the
35:23
industry. Brilliant.
35:25
Funny. He was wonderful.
35:27
He became part of our group. It was almost like felt weird
35:32
like when we left him because. It.
35:34
Was like, it's like, well, how are we leaving you here like
35:37
this is. Crazy.
35:40
We had such a great itinerary put together and the good thing
35:43
about having him was, and we had that our safari, our safari
35:48
truck was when we were camping, we would just leave the
35:52
transport truck there. We could put six people into
35:55
the. Safari Truck.
35:56
So we had five of us and one of him and he would drive us around
36:00
so we could actually spend time and see the animals.
36:03
So there. Wasn't one of us who?
36:04
Had to was the obligated like OK Lynn, it's your turn to drive
36:09
and you're going to have to be like this instead of.
36:11
Like taking it all in, it was so perfectly set up and arranged.
36:18
It was magnificent. And we went to three different.
36:21
Parks We went to Tarangiri, which is the densest population
36:25
of elephants on the planet, especially in the dry season,
36:30
which we went in the shoulder season.
36:32
And it was perfection. It was so great.
36:34
And we went from there to the Angora Angora crater, which is
36:38
way up high, you know, high on this this mountain.
36:41
And we saw rhinoceroses and we saw zebras and we, I mean, it
36:46
was just like. This incredible, incredible.
36:48
It was almost primordial, like you.
36:51
We got there super early and the mist was like still hanging in
36:55
the mountains and then these. Elephants would walk out of the
36:59
mist and you're like, what am I? In prehistoric times?
37:02
It was like, it was literally like walking back in time
37:06
because, you know. Well, it was like that, you
37:09
know, thousands of years ago, like when things still roam the
37:12
earth or, you know, however long ago.
37:14
So we fucked it. Up right it's like and thank God
37:17
it's so untouched and there's not a.
37:19
Snitch of garbage anywhere in these parks.
37:21
I mean, they take pristine care. And then we went to Serengeti
37:26
for four days. And if you've ever and anyone
37:31
out there, if you've ever thought about doing it, save
37:35
your money. Maybe like put pennies and
37:39
quarters away in a jar for as long as you have to.
37:44
Because there is something that is so magical and so beautiful
37:48
about this place that I just, I can't even describe it.
37:52
Yeah, yeah. That.
37:54
Sounds awesome. Yeah, it was fabulous.
37:56
And you know what? We learned so much about these
37:59
trucks because it was really cool.
38:00
We saw some of the new trucks and some of the old trucks and
38:03
our guide, God, he's so smart, he said.
38:05
Sometimes they just re body the old chassis so.
38:10
It makes it look like it's a new truck.
38:13
But it's not a new truck. It's.
38:16
It's all the old bits under there.
38:18
Interesting and interesting. So have you guys?
38:20
You guys know Emmy Hall? Yeah, I don't.
38:23
So Emmy was Emmy. Emmy was the first person that I
38:27
saw when I landed in Paris for Lamont last year.
38:31
We're walking through the airport literally just off the
38:33
plane, and I'm like Emmy Hall. You have to have Emmy on this
38:38
show. He's a gas.
38:40
So Emmy and I were the only. Ones that decided to do the hot
38:44
air balloon ride. This.
38:47
Morning, good morning hot air balloon ride it's.
38:50
Expensive, but it's worth it. Is it also not terrifying or am
38:54
I just to do? A wimp no.
38:56
OK, so the most terrifying part of it, this is hilarious, is you
39:00
get in with the basket on its side and so you're kind of
39:03
getting in like an. Astronaut and you're sort of
39:06
like this like you're hanging on and your.
39:09
Butt it. You're like, your butt is like.
39:11
This and your legs are up and you're like this and you're
39:14
like, OK, here we go. And the guy like fills up the
39:17
balloon. And suddenly you're uprighted
39:20
like this and then you take off. You don't go very high up,
39:23
you're trying to just, but you're basically at treetops,
39:26
OK, and. Probably not a lot of high
39:28
tension power lines in Africa. Not in the Serendetti.
39:34
If you want to air balloon in like peace and calm with a sense
39:38
of Zen, do it there. Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful.
39:43
You saw the sun rising. It was so quiet you and and you
39:47
go up a little bit higher in some instances above the tree
39:50
lines, but he's really like you're just trying to skim the
39:53
trees because you're you're trying to see animals.
39:56
You're not up there like trying to, you know, like pass out.
40:00
It was. It was.
40:02
Oh man, it was fabulous. It was magical.
40:05
And it's so funny because. So I'll bring up Glocker one
40:09
more time. He did not go on a hot or blue.
40:12
He is afraid of heights. I'm pretty afraid of heights
40:14
too. But there were other people in
40:16
our group who were kind of on the.
40:17
Fence. I don't know.
40:19
I don't know. And after Emmy and I came down,
40:22
we just said to all of those people, you blew it.
40:26
Because that was no. Pun.
40:30
Intended, right? Yeah, right.
40:31
You like? If you go next time, do the hot
40:35
air balloon thing. It is it.
40:37
It does not disappoint. It's worth.
40:39
It's worth ridiculous. Enough to cash and then you land
40:45
and you get there. They give you champagne
40:46
afterwards because it's some French and.
40:49
Can you opt for it before the ride?
40:51
I need to. And then we'll have more when we
40:55
get back. Take your own.
40:57
You got to take your own. Put it in the hot chocolate or
41:00
the coffee that they give you have a.
41:02
Little nippy and it wouldn't be champagne, but yeah.
41:04
Right. No, but it's not, it's really
41:07
not scary. The thing with, and this is what
41:09
I've heard about being afraid of heights, it's much more acute if
41:13
you're actually tethered to the ground.
41:15
So if you're on a high bridge or you're on something where you
41:18
are connected to the Earth, sure, then that sensation
41:21
happens. But if you are just kind of up
41:23
in the air, then there's a very different perception going on
41:27
with your brain. Interesting you don't have a
41:29
visual like measure reminding you how high you are.
41:34
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
41:36
So whatever that thing is, I don't know what it is, but to me
41:40
it's true because I do not like heights.
41:42
You will never find me climbing over the, you know, the bridge
41:46
in Sydney or something ludicrous thing like that.
41:49
Like absolutely not. That's or bungee jumping off of
41:53
a into a gorge. Like that's definitely not my
41:56
jam, but I've I've hot air balloon twice now and it was not
42:00
terrifying at. All good to know.
42:01
That's interesting to hear. I know I look at like.
42:06
Like you're connected in and yeah.
42:09
Yeah. Interesting.
42:10
Not like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to fall out.
42:12
I just better hang into this basket, yeah.
42:17
Where's the stamping bottle? Right.
42:20
Like I probably. Went back to LA.
42:23
And then from there, I went back to LA and that was just, I was
42:27
saying to, to so I was with a couple of girlfriends and then
42:30
my friend Aaron and his wife Tina.
42:32
And all of us, we've done a significant amount of traveling
42:35
in our lives, whether it's for the route for rally or for just
42:40
regular vacation or some great, even some great press trips when
42:43
you're gone and you just have this really amazing time.
42:46
And I said to them, I said, oh, I said, this one's going to be.
42:49
Hard to come down from, yeah, but you have to kind of have a
42:53
readjustment period. But.
42:57
But I'll say this, I mean, there was not one wrinkle.
43:00
There was not one bad thing that happened.
43:03
There was not one like any of the terrible things that could,
43:06
you know, no one got malaria, no one got bit by anything.
43:09
It was not buggy. The weather was perfect.
43:12
All of our flights were on time. You know, we, we even got sleep
43:16
on the planes. Like it was just like, Oh my
43:19
gosh, people got up. It was just fat.
43:22
I mean, it was just like every single thing was so marvelous.
43:26
And I just, I kept thinking to myself during this whole trip,
43:30
this is such a gift. And it's been a hard year for
43:34
me. Just a lot of stuff going on,
43:36
but personally and some professionally, just with
43:39
changes and things that have been really challenging.
43:42
And my goodness, I, I just felt like, like you're just, you
43:48
know, that end scene in. The Lord of the Rings, where
43:52
those big huge birds come and just pick Frodo and.
43:58
The other. Guy Sam.
44:00
Up. I've never seen it, Lynn, but I.
44:03
That moment alone, it's so worth it.
44:07
Like that moment alone, it's so worth it.
44:09
It's this bird, these huge like birds that are like eagles, but
44:12
they're like like 20 times the size of a normal thing.
44:16
Like, big enough that they could in their claws.
44:18
Pick up a little. Person like this and just carry
44:21
on. To me, that's such a metaphor.
44:23
It's such a metaphor for just something else, like holding you
44:26
and saying it's OK, I have you. Yeah, that was mental.
44:31
It was sort of like that mental moment of I felt like I was
44:35
being carried. Interesting.
44:38
That weird. Maybe that's too esoteric or
44:41
weird, but it's not like that and I need my soul.
44:44
Needed that and it was a perfect place to do.
44:48
It. Amazing.
44:50
It's like a mental or sometimes even a physical like you have
44:53
the sensation of like everything.
44:55
I just exhaled like and I didn't even realize I was holding my
44:58
breath. And you're like, oh, it's the
45:00
relief of like, oh, OK. And just the reset.
45:04
Like especially like you said, especially when things have been
45:07
tumultuous and whatever and you get there and when you were
45:10
talking about like trips that are tough to come back from, I
45:13
always, you know, I've been lucky to travel a fair amount
45:17
too. And anytime a trip is
45:19
exceptionally, like anytime I call it re entry, like re entry
45:22
into real life is exceptionally hard.
45:25
I'm like, I'm so grateful because that means it was an
45:27
amazing trip. Yeah, it's.
45:30
True. It's like you don't know that
45:32
your shoulders are up here until you come back and you're
45:34
suddenly you think, Oh my shoulders are here.
45:37
You're like, oh, so I have to ask you because I was lucky
45:41
enough to follow along a little bit while you were on the trip
45:45
through Instagram and there was one video that Rebecca posted
45:49
when you guys were in the tent and there were animals outside
45:54
the. Tent They were animals.
45:55
They were water Buffalo. Oh.
45:58
Wow, now I did not. Think a water Buffalo was all
46:01
that? Bad.
46:02
It just looks like a big huge cow with some horns.
46:05
Right? It's just a huge cow with horns.
46:08
Their nickname is The Black. Death.
46:12
And these? Cows with corn.
46:16
Are the most vicious, like outside of like a hippopotamus,
46:21
I think, which is like the most gnarly thing that could ever,
46:24
you know you could ever encounter.
46:26
These things will fucking kill you.
46:29
They don't want to eat you because they're herbivores.
46:33
They just want to. If you're in their way, they
46:36
will annihilate you. So we were camping.
46:41
And at the Angora Angora crater, we drive up and it's this lovely
46:44
like pasture of. Green, green grass and it's
46:48
gorgeous and there's tents all over like little gum drops.
46:51
And it's just that we put our tent down because Rebecca and I
46:55
are sleeping on the ground and then the other two people are in
46:57
the roof tent and that's fantastic.
46:59
And we get all settled in after we've made our, you know, made
47:03
our dinner. And we go to this little cafe
47:06
where we have like a little, you know, people have a nightcap or
47:09
a tea. I think I had a cup of tea and
47:11
we were. Told OK after 10:00.
47:15
You really should get into your tent because in the way that the
47:19
lions were kind of cruising around the last campground and
47:22
you kind of don't want to be out, you got to like flash your
47:25
flashlight. So if you see two like eyes
47:29
meeting at you, you kind of got to avoid that.
47:32
Well, this is a little different because this is water Buffalo
47:36
and they kind of, you know, but after 10, it's after 10:00.
47:39
So I think, OK, around seven I have to go to the to the
47:43
bathroom and I leave. This little cafe and I walk out.
47:48
Toward. The bathroom.
47:49
I've got my little headlamp and I think a.
47:53
Set of a set of water Buffalo that's right in front of the
47:56
bathroom. I thought it wasn't moving and
47:59
I'm like, is that a mural? Is that a mural that's on on the
48:04
side of the pool? I thought that's really kind of
48:07
cruel and like mean to do is like, let's draw a Buffalo on
48:11
the side of this and really mess with people's minds.
48:14
And I then suddenly it moved its head and I was like, fuck, fuck,
48:17
fuck. Like there's the water, but it's
48:19
7:00. Like they're not supposed to be
48:21
here until 10. Three hours and then they say
48:25
they're like don't run because that means you're food, right?
48:28
So you're like, how do I get out of here?
48:29
So I like. You're.
48:33
Just like to get back to the cafe and I went in to our guide
48:38
and I said Othman, I said. There's a water.
48:41
Buffalo out there and he's like no, no, no, no, no, no, not yet.
48:44
It's too early. He went outside, we all went
48:47
outside and the place had suddenly just been run over with
48:52
with water buffaloes and we were I.
48:55
Mean we were so. Our eyes were just like wide
48:59
open crazed because we had been told how brutal these things are
49:03
and you do not want to mess with them.
49:04
And we just thought, well, how we can't even get back to our
49:06
camp. Someone drove us back.
49:08
Up to our camp. We, I mean, skedaddled into our
49:12
tents. I, I get up and go to the
49:15
bathroom in the middle of the night and I'm like, how am I
49:18
going to do that when there's this water buffaloes everywhere,
49:21
that beautiful green grass that we saw, that's where they were
49:24
eating all freaking night. So we get in our tent.
49:30
And I'm laying there and Rebecca is just like, like we're in his
49:34
the kind of in like, like crazy hysterics.
49:37
And all of a sudden. There's like this big
49:39
indentation in our little tiny, it's just this nylon fucking
49:43
tent that we're and we're being surrounded by these water
49:47
buffaloes and I think, can they smell?
49:49
Me. Like, do they know that there's
49:51
people in here? Well, they were so close to my.
49:55
Head as I was lying down. I could hear the squeaking of
50:00
the of the wet grass as they were grabbing it with their
50:03
mouth and chewing on it. And I just thought, Rebecca,
50:07
there, it's right there. Like it's literally right there.
50:13
And it was. It was funny and.
50:15
Terrifying time, you know I. I don't know how we slept.
50:21
There was what? So the next night we moved our
50:23
tent A. Little bit to try and be a
50:25
little closer. At one point there was like the
50:27
two people in the roof tents kind of were rocking like this
50:31
because one of them was like rubbing its body on the truck.
50:36
They were. They were like, could you?
50:38
Could you move? Like what are you doing?
50:41
The next we were there two nights and the next night was
50:43
the same deal and we asked one of the Rangers who was there.
50:47
We said are these guys, I think really, come on, are you just
50:49
pulling our leg? Are these really that dangerous?
50:52
He turns and he's got a. Long gun on him and he's like,
50:55
yeah. They're that dangerous.
50:59
And so it was just crazy because the way we had repositioned the
51:02
light from the bat from another bathroom.
51:05
I was behind and then our tent was here and I could see the
51:08
shadow of these hulking things, like walking.
51:12
Yeah, I mean. They have the same nickname as
51:16
the Plague. Yeah, the Black Death.
51:20
I was so I was never. I was like, I'm so glad that
51:23
we're done with camping. I've never been happier.
51:26
So I survived that evening. Those both of those nights,
51:30
nobody died, nobody got eaten or trampled.
51:33
And there was one time in the middle of the night, I.
51:35
Thought for sure you know how you pull list like the you put
51:38
the stakes in and you like tie the kind of tie down the chin
51:42
you stake it in and there are those like sort of strings that
51:45
go like this and if you're not. Careful, you can trip over
51:47
stuff. One of those water buffaloes
51:49
tripped over one of those things.
51:52
I thought this thing lands on one of us.
51:54
We're dead. Yeah.
51:55
Yeah, like you'd ruse your balance.
51:57
And you're like, whoa, splat. We would have been gone.
52:00
You can never go back, Lynn, because it'll never be that
52:03
perfect trip again. You're not going to get that
52:04
upgrade on the flight over, right?
52:06
Like the water buffer is going to land.
52:08
On you I saved. I saved up for that upgrade.
52:10
I was intentional with that. I was.
52:13
I was intentional. With mine I saved up a lot for
52:17
that trip. But you know what?
52:19
And I wouldn't want to try and recreate it.
52:21
I, if I go back, I'd love to go to Kenya, I'd love to go to
52:24
Botswana, I'd love to. There are other places where I
52:27
would love to go and see, but Tanzania will always be very,
52:31
very special. Yeah.
52:33
Well, So what was it like to drive there?
52:35
Because it sounds like, you know, you got to obviously be
52:38
driven but drive there as well. So what was that like in that
52:43
impact? It was.
52:44
It. Was really, I mean, it was
52:45
honestly really cool. It was what you would expect
52:49
long kind of. You know, gravelly dirt roads.
52:55
There's, you know, there's some infrastructure there, but not,
52:58
you know, some of it's very rudimentary when you're going
53:00
from park to park. And it was just kind of fun,
53:04
like Baja driving. Which is my favorite kind of
53:07
driving and. You know, our vehicles were the
53:10
older variety Troopy and so they.
53:12
Were kind of rattly and and a little bit you know, by the end
53:19
of it you're sort of like I've got bruises all over me why is
53:21
that? And it's because you've been
53:22
kind of you know, bouncing around.
53:24
But it was great. I mean, it was great fun and I,
53:27
I, there were moments where I would just sort of close my eyes
53:31
and see the sun behind my, my eyelids and just just tell
53:37
myself, you know, soak it in, don't forget this, don't ever
53:41
forget this and then standing. When you're driving and you're
53:43
driving at speed and you're able to stand up in the truck and you
53:47
have that safari tent open and you just, the wind is in your
53:50
hair and you're just. Looking at, you're looking at.
53:53
Giraffes as You Drive by and I had my earbuds in and I had a
53:56
couple of like these choice songs that I can't wait to hear
53:59
them again because I know it's going to take me right back to
54:02
that. Moment in time.
54:04
That was special. What are you listening to?
54:07
I'm curious now I want to know. Oh my gosh, do you guys know?
54:11
So one of the songs I was listening to was the song from.
54:19
The Dream Academy. It was.
54:22
Life in a northern town. Not life in a northern town, but
54:26
the song from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
54:29
Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:31
Yeah, please. Please.
54:32
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it.
54:33
Cool. The lyric is just like, for once
54:35
in my life, like give me, give me what I what I want.
54:40
And it was so indicative of that time for me because I had been
54:44
dreaming about this trip for so long.
54:46
I love that. That's amazing.
54:49
Yeah, perfect sound. You gotta have the song that
54:50
sort of completes. Let me let me get what I want.
54:53
Yeah. And it's that, it's that like,
54:56
kind of magical, like whimsical. It's them.
54:59
It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off when they're in the the museum.
55:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the great movies, truly.
55:07
The melody is just like, oh, it's.
55:09
Just it's transformative. It's a beautiful.
55:12
Everything has to have a soundtrack.
55:14
And then we have two movies that we have to watch or rewatch.
55:17
Ryan has to watch Lord of the Rings.
55:19
We all have to rewatch Ferris Bueller's Stay Off.
55:21
I'm telling you, if you don't want those two eagles at some
55:25
point when you're feeling just like at your most stressed.
55:28
Can we make? Those things to just come pick
55:31
me up and like sore over all of my problems with.
55:36
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:37
Just want to like clap twice and you know, have them, you know
55:40
the Eagles. Grasp.
55:42
The. I think this is like a new
55:44
version of like some people will say like Jesus take the wheel.
55:47
I think another option is Eagles Take the Wheel.
55:50
Eagles, Eagles take take my body.
55:52
Yeah, just it was. I can imagine that this.
55:57
Like maybe the giant bird. It might be the band.
55:59
You choose what works best for you.
56:01
Whatever, whatever. All I know is I'm good.
56:05
What other cars did you see like I'm envisioning like old Bens
56:08
W12 threes or maybe that's more North Africa, like what's like
56:12
the average? Yeah.
56:13
I mean driving around in really the average person is driving a
56:17
motorcycle. So there are a lot of
56:19
motorcycles there. Gas is very expensive and these
56:24
are not rich people you know and so.
56:26
A lot of them, if they have a vehicle at all, it's a, it's a,
56:30
you know, it's a motorbike, it's a scooter.
56:33
There are a lot of trucks there. So a lot of transport, you know,
56:36
transport vehicles that people were driving around, but there
56:39
were also just a lot of. Older, you know, a lot of older
56:42
cars there. There was on our way home, on
56:45
our way back. To the airport we had passed.
56:47
Something that looked to us like it was a.
56:50
Car show that that was happening and I thought.
56:52
Oh man, what is that? And there were all kinds of
56:55
little modded things with the like the tiny little wheels that
56:58
have a little camber on them and like have a kind of a coffee can
57:02
muffler, those kind of nondescript JDM cars that you're
57:07
like, I, I don't know enough to know, like, is that an eclipse?
57:10
Is that a lamp? Like what is that?
57:13
But it was really neat to see that there was still even in
57:18
Arusha, there was a like car culture.
57:22
It was that part was really cool too.
57:24
I tried to snap some pictures. We took along some of those.
57:27
Just film instamatic film cameras.
57:30
Oh yeah. Which I haven't gotten the film
57:31
back on it yet. So we're dying to see if any of
57:34
those pictures came out. But I wish I had known about
57:37
that because that would have, that would have been a really
57:38
great story. Yeah, that's.
57:41
Cool. Otherwise, I think it's really.
57:42
Just, you know, what people can manage.
57:45
To cobble to together and lots of like kind of roadside
57:47
mechanics where we got a flat tire, we pulled over to the side
57:51
of the road, we got some air in our tires.
57:53
And there were these other guys that were just wrenching on cars
57:56
like right in this like this kind of dirt alleyway almost.
57:59
And so they're very hands on people.
58:02
These are some of the loveliest people.
58:03
You'll ever. Experience in your life, very
58:06
generous, very kind and just like welcoming you all the time.
58:13
You know, it was just, it was really, it was really
58:16
extraordinary. That's amazing, yeah.
58:18
Yeah, I'm so fun. And then I came.
58:20
I literally came home from that and Oh no.
58:24
It was after I came home from right after I came home.
58:27
From the Defender trophy that I literally went right into the
58:32
Trinity rally, into that the Trinity Road rally.
58:36
How was it that I? Drove the 9.
58:38
I drove the 912 in and I had paired up with my old teammate
58:44
Sedona from the Rebel so she Co drove, she did the the
58:49
navigating it was. Really Rd. book stuff?
58:51
There was some. Time, speed, distance stuff.
58:53
And then there was a track day where we did some TSD.
58:56
On track, which was so much fun and we won the classic.
59:01
We won the classic class, which was a mate.
59:04
We won by a lot. It was so cool.
59:08
But. That's awesome.
59:10
It was so fun to be with her again and it was just it was a
59:13
really great experience. This is like a road rally.
59:17
This is not a tour. This is.
59:19
Work. With the inaugural, the
59:22
inaugural year, it's the same woman who organizes the Rebel,
59:24
but this is just a little different.
59:26
It's not all women. She does encourage that there be
59:29
at least one woman in the car, which I think is great.
59:32
But this thing was we started up.
59:36
We started up at the Golden Gate Bridge.
59:39
And we drove from there up some of the most amazing roads up to
59:43
Mendocino. I don't know if you've ever
59:44
taken some of those crazy roads to Mendocino just.
59:47
Absolutely spectacular. And then we went from there over
59:51
to Sonoma and we ended on Sonoma Raceway.
59:55
I got to drive my Porsche on. Sonoma Raceway, which I just
59:59
thought was the coolest thing. I'll always think of it as Sears
1:00:02
Point, just because when I was living up there, still Sears,
1:00:06
still Sears Point. But.
1:00:08
Oh my gosh, it was so great. We came in second overall on
1:00:12
accuracy on the track, which I don't even have a Speedo on my
1:00:16
car that works. How we managed to do that I have
1:00:19
no clue, but I. Guess we were just.
1:00:21
Kind of feeling it and it was great, but Pennzoil was a huge
1:00:26
sponsor of ours, which was such a high honor for me.
1:00:30
They loved our they loved my car and they just were so supportive
1:00:34
and there they were a huge supporter of the event, but that
1:00:39
the fact that they would also support me was just like.
1:00:41
I mean that's blows my mind that a company like.
1:00:45
That would would stand behind me and they were oh, oh man, they
1:00:49
were so fantastic. They were up there competing
1:00:51
too, which was so fun and so and every day something else like
1:00:58
broke. On the car, so at one point.
1:01:02
By the last day, every time I turned left, the horn would
1:01:05
honk. Oh, really?
1:01:07
So I had to pull the horn like I had to disconnect the horn and.
1:01:11
Then when I first walked, when I first went up there, I had one
1:01:16
windshield wiper that worked and then this one was like, it was
1:01:21
sort of like, like it was like a lame thing by the end of it.
1:01:26
Neither of them worked, they were just like and then they
1:01:30
broke, so I had no wish. So break this down.
1:01:34
So do you know Sarah Lacey, my friend Sarah Lacey?
1:01:38
Oh my gosh. Yeah, she's lovely.
1:01:41
We love Sarah. She's the best.
1:01:43
In a Pacific Chrysler well. That's that's my question like
1:01:46
so would you rather do it in a modern vehicle or would you
1:01:49
rather do it in something like the 912 which?
1:01:51
I'd always rather do. That having more fun.
1:01:53
In a classic car, Yeah, yeah. But if I'm going to do it, I
1:01:56
would want to do it in some. Weirdo beardo thing like a
1:01:58
Pacifica. Right, that's the weird car
1:02:02
right in that. It was so funny and I was at an
1:02:06
event in the Pacific Northwest called Mudfest and Scott Brown
1:02:10
from Stolantis was there and he knows Sarah and he had helped
1:02:13
get her into the Pacifica for the rally.
1:02:16
So we were talking about because it was going on when we were at
1:02:18
Mud Fest. And I'm like this is.
1:02:20
Nina Barlow of all. People.
1:02:23
Sarah had never rallied before and her first teammate is Nina
1:02:27
Barlow. Come on, come on.
1:02:29
There's this thing that's amazing.
1:02:33
That green Pacifica they were in ended up in the Denver press
1:02:36
fleet, and so we actually got to drive that same Pacifica that
1:02:40
they and we were all wildly impressed with.
1:02:43
Probably not. There you go.
1:02:45
The minivan has come a long way. That's one of the more
1:02:47
underrated more one of the more underrated vehicles, not just
1:02:52
minivans, but one of the most underrated vehicles the the the
1:02:56
plug. In hybrid is even better because
1:02:58
you can get some crazy, crazy gas mileage in that thing.
1:03:02
I had a. Long term I had a long term car
1:03:04
my first year at Kelley Blue Book, a long term Pacifica plug
1:03:08
in hybrid. I at first I was like, oh thanks
1:03:12
guys, give the New Girl the fucking minivan.
1:03:15
By the end of it, I was so impressed by that.
1:03:18
I thought this is a great camera car with the hybrid.
1:03:21
With that hybrid motor, you kind of haul some butt in that when
1:03:25
you're off the line because you've got a lot of instant
1:03:27
torque there working with you. I could hyper mile that thing
1:03:31
like crazy. I mean, there was one time I got
1:03:33
1000 miles because I was trying really hard to see how long I
1:03:37
could go before having to fill up the tank.
1:03:40
And you know, if you're a local person, you have, I guess it's
1:03:43
what, 33 miles of range of electric range just in that in
1:03:48
the, the, the plug in motor. I I love it.
1:03:54
It's one of those cars probably more of us should be driving,
1:03:57
right? You talk about checking off
1:03:58
boxes, right? Like that's a car that probably
1:03:59
makes the most sense for most people, right?
1:04:02
But what, what else has surprised you that you've driven
1:04:04
recently? You know, obviously the Octa,
1:04:07
you're a big fan, the Pacifica surprised you.
1:04:08
Have you driven anything else? Very yes the the the Rav 4 GR
1:04:14
sport I've. Not driven that Lindsay you
1:04:18
it's. Fun.
1:04:19
I drove. I drove a woodland version
1:04:22
edition. I was.
1:04:24
Stunned like. I haven't driven the woodland,
1:04:28
but that GR sports. Got some guts.
1:04:31
Really. Quick, it's fun.
1:04:33
I was like, oh, holy smokes, yeah.
1:04:37
Wait a minute. If they're going to slap GR on
1:04:38
there, guys, you better sing. Whatever.
1:04:41
Yeah, you better make it. Worse, yeah, but.
1:04:43
It's it's the PHEV, so you can only get it.
1:04:46
As a PHEV and it was a blast. I had such a good time driving
1:04:51
it. It was just, it was like the
1:04:54
cat's pyjamas. I think that is almost fun.
1:04:59
Like that's one of the best things about press Cars.
1:05:01
When you go in like either skeptical or not really having
1:05:05
any expectations and you get out of it.
1:05:08
Going like this was pretty fantastic because I feel like
1:05:11
that is even more of a than if you just go in, you know, you're
1:05:15
like, yeah, I'm expecting it'll be OK, and it blows you away.
1:05:18
You're like, yeah, but I was already positive about it.
1:05:21
If you're skeptical or you don't know what to think and it blows
1:05:24
you away, that's an even stronger review, I think.
1:05:28
The other thing that I. Really enjoyed was the Subaru
1:05:30
trail seeker.