Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / 2023 Overland Year in Review: Grenadier Wins, Starlink Goes Mobile, Gear Picks & 2024 Plans

Transcript

2023 Overland Year in Review: Grenadier Wins, Starlink Goes Mobile, Gear Picks & 2024 Plans · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and I'm recording this intro on a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: snowy Prescot evening here in the winter of twenty twenty three,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm joined today by my co host Matt Scott
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and we look back on the year twenty twenty three.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We talk about the family that we awarded our Overlander
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of the Year two. We also discuss what we view
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: as being the new Overland Vehicle of twenty twenty three.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Matt and I also go through our list of our
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: favorite gear from the year. We also spend some time
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: talking about some new products from family run businesses. We
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: really like to highlight small family businesses on the podcast,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: so we've got a couple great ones from there. We
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: also talk about a couple questions from our listeners, and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: we really look forward to our travels for twenty twenty four,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: so we talk a little bit about that as well.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: So twenty twenty three was an amazing and interesting year,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and we look back on the adventures from the last
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: twelve months. And a special thanks to kuat Racks for
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: their support of this week's podcast. Their new ibex has landed.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: It's actually overlanded. This groundbreaking bedrack is effortlessly handling substantial
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: loads both on and off the grid. Constructed from lightweight
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: yet durable aluminum, it boasts a ballistic black powder coat
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: made for all the nature you can throw at it.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: It's available in six different frame sizes to accommodate most
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: truck models, and it's equipped with telescoping crossbars, numerous t channels,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and a versatile full and half height configuration. Right out
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of the box. This is the ibex from Kuat. It
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: is engineered for adventure. For more details, please visit kuot
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: dot com kuat because you will absolutely love this bedrack.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: So Matt twenty twenty three came to an end. We
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: may may may have learned a couple of things along
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the way.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: It was an interesting year, right, I mean it was
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: kind of this first year that everything felt normal ish. Yeah,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: still dealing with I think as travelers, still dealing with
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the consequences of the whole pandemic thing. But sure it's
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: better now.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And even some of the countries that I was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: traveling through were finally not requiring It was a test
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and everything else to do that it was difficult, and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it was I think it was. For me, it was
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: always just like this fear that you were going to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: get stuck where you'd be in Italy, some beautiful place,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: but you're actually stuck in a hotel for two weeks
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: just so you.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Can get the cost of that. Yeah, super exactable.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really unpredictable. So it's nice to see
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of that behind us. And yeah, but then
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: there's new dynamics entering the world. So like even right now,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: me trying to get this grenadier into Djibouti and get
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: and get it shipped to Europe. Oh yeah, because it's
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: on the Red Sea.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: So it's Sea rebels, which just sounds like something from
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Star Wars like it does it does, which is kind
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: of I don't know, not to make light of it.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: But I'm going to find some joy in the world
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And it's I mean, I'm going to figure
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: it out. But it's challenging, like it's difficult to figure
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: out those those challenges when the you know, when the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: world makes such a change like that, such a big shift.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: But there's a lot of good.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of good this year. I think a
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: lot of you know, inspiring people getting out back to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: their travels, which was cool.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: About some of those people also, just a lot of
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: new vehicles that either were announced this year that we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: are quite significant, or vehicles that started being delivered this year.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: You know, we say it all the time, but who
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: would have thought in well now twenty twenty four that
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: we would have companies actually making vehicles for this, this
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: pursuit of overlanding.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Well, and we kind of learned that from Dave when
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: we had just had Dave Hereton on the podcast recently,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So those who want to listen check that out. It
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: was a really good one. But it was an important
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: kind of reminder that even if the OEM see this
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: big opportunity with overlanding, that it takes a while for
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: them to be able to adjust. So to see the
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: shift from what is the last of the GX four
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: sixties to what is going to be the g X
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: five to fifty.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And they listened, it's a great looking.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Car, Oh my gosh. I mean, not only does it
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: it's finally a GX it looks great again, but it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: also going to be more capable than ever before. Locking
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: differential like just a lot about it.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: It's it's always been one of, if not you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the best platform, and it was. It was one of
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the best size, you know, the two hundred, no disrespect
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: to it. Very durable, but bloated.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that you had to pay a lot for
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that extra durability.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I just the one fifty proto that that's
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: based on. It's pretty pretty comparable for ninety nine percent
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: of use.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: In its own right. Yeah.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Grenadier that finally came to market, which I think
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: is just so cool. I think just the story behind
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: that car is great. I love the way it looks.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: You've obviously spent a bunch of time in it, and
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: new land Cruiser you know, like that name plates actually
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: coming back to the US yep, because it's interesting that,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: you know, again to go back to the two hundred,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I think was it twenty one was the
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: last year for the two hundred in the US. Yeah,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: we've been land cruiser lists for the first time in
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: a very long time.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I think there's a reason for that. Like it it
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: did not sell, It did not really translate to the
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: US market. I mean, for all intentsive purposes, they are
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: about one hundred grand and you can get a lot
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: more vehicle for the money. You know, they're they're simple
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: in their execution of it, of how it was made,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: but just behind the times, I mean, like picking obscure
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Ferrari and they sold more of those, and they did
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: two hundred series Lankus or so clearly the consumers were
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: speaking that you know this wasn't you know well.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And in most travel in North America, you either need
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: something more capable if you want to get really remote,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: or there somebody wants something more luxurious for the price.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: So it did put it in a weird spot, which
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: is why they sold so many more Lexus variants than
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: they did the lan Cruise or variants, because the Lexus.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Is basically the same money at that point when we're talking,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I think very similar, like maybe it was five percent difference, Yeah.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Very similar. And the Lexus nameplate had the cachet and
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: then it had an air ride suspension system and it
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: had some additional luxuries that I think resonated better with
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the consumer. But it's really exciting to see the land
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Cruiser coming back in this highly highly capable format.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: You know, Toyota and Lexus they either like knock it
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: out of the park, with styling, yeah, or they do
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: some questionable things.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they and yeah, and if you look at the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: new GX, love it or hate it? Yeah, If you
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: look at the new GX, it's great. If you look
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: at the new Land Cruiser looks great.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I agree. I think it's cool they're doing that kind
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: of heritage pack with the round lights.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting time to be into
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: this hobby.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: And the lineup just continues from there. If you look
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: at the new stuff coming out from GM with all
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the AEV packages.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: GM is like more more so than anyone taking it
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: really serious.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And yeah, they care, They really care about addressing the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: needs of overland travelers.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I've never been a GM guy ever, Like it was
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: just a brand that never really appealed to me. I
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: was always like, like Daddy was a forward man kind
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: of thing, you know, and there is that tribalism with it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: But if I was to go buy a new pickup
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: truck right now, it would be the twenty five hundred AV. Yeah, Bison,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I think that's what they're calling it. It's phenomenal. Drove
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: that recently and it's so quiet inside and it's so comfortable.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: And great motor, ten speed, automatic rear locking, differential multimating.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: So many miles on it you can just go and.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Still has a twenty six hundred pounds payload. So yeah,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: it is kind of a sweet spot.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Which is so significant because when you look at a
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: lot of these full sized trucks, they don't actually have
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: that much payload.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they really get hammered.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: You know. I think that my prospector now granted this
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: is after bumpers, winch and everything and it's recertified, I
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: think that that had like fifteen hundred pounds sixteen hundre pounds,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: and you can get that now in the new Tacoma
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: is also being delivered, which you know, we have to
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: make sure that we mentioned the Tacoma doesn't suck anymore. Yeah,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: on the payload side. Yeah, yeah, I mean let me
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: let me let me clarify that the Tacoma has never sucked.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: It's always been a very solid choice. It just wasn't
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: as good as it could be. Yeah, and I think
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: again they recognized that, you know, it's got a great
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: little at two point four turbo that they're putting in
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: it mild hybrid, which I think is cool, particularly because
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: if Toyota is doing. It's likely gonna be a proven system.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: It's not the newest technology. I think it's still like
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: a nickel metal hydride back.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: They do use that in the trucks.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it looks great, available with a manual transmission,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: and you had some sweet spot with it that you
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: would choose as like the whatever they called it.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Like the not they have like an extra they have
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: an extra cab which doesn't actually have any seats, so
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: it's like a spot for a fridge or you can
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: put your dog back there or whatever. And then you
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: end up with like the seventeen hundred pound payload, which
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: you can and a manual transmission.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Can you put one of those little scalt camp You
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: could put one of those little scout camp totally all
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: day long, I mean all.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Day long, you know, be a nice little combo.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: And then and then you look at like the new
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you look at the new Bison, you know ZR two Colorado.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I mean that is insane, Like it's thirty fives. If
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: you think jounces that you want a raptor for overlanding,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: which hey, I've done that. It's a great The raptor
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: is a great truck out of the box. This is
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: actually like what you want. It's the appropriate size.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Right, you know, a little larger wheel arches, so that
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: the body naturally then becomes a little bit more sucked
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: in for the track. With very very cool car front and.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Rear lockers, walkers, four corner, multimatic, four corner, hydraulic jounces.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: It's yeah, Factory thirty fives, it's nuts.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Well, it kind of almost starts to beg this question
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: on how necessary some of the aftermarket is, and you.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Know, maybe that'll be the that'll be the hard part
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: for the aftermarket.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: You end up having styling choices that people will will
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: want to modify their cars just to you know, display
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: their personality. And then you have people that you know
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: won't maybe throw down for that using the Colorado, they
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: won't throw it down for the Bison. But having built
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of these trucks, particularly in the world that
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: we live in, which is one based on monthly payment
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: number and finance, uh, I don't I don't know why
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't like it's it's it's such a pain to
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: build trucks these days, and.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: In a car loan rate is going to be better
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: than a credit card rate. So yeah, and you're not
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: gonna have to spend the time. You're not gonna have
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to go to a shop. You're not gonna have to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: take it back when they don't do it right. It's
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: just it's all under warranty.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Even the best shops, like you know, I I in
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, I sold my Prospector, which I do
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: have regrets on though I did replace it with something
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: that was also for wheel driving fun. It was just
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: done and I was able to enjoy it, and you know,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: and I had it for a little over a year,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: and I was able to enjoy it for a year.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You know. Previously to that, I had the Gladiator, which
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I didn't buy as an AV truck because I had
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: one of the first ones. But all the AEV stuff
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: got put on and collectively of maybe gee, I had
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the car for a little bit over two years. That's
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: a bit in Matt.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Scott world, it is a vehicle.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Add collectively that that vehicle was in the shop for months. Yeah,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: getting you know, okay, this part came out. I have
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to upfit this, I have to upfit this. You know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: shops were really busy, you know, in the last couple
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: of years, but you just get this time back. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I think that that's that's really what I think we're
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: starting to see in twenty three where these factory Overlanders
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Grenadier has to be mentioned. I mean, you can you know,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you can get your roof rack, you can get all
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: of it all like everything, steel, wheels, duel battery, everything,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: and and you know, and the cool thing is you're
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: not paying for this stuff twice because when you if
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you're going to buy a vehicle and then straight off
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the bat you're gonna put wheels and tires on it,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: you're buying two sets of wheels and tires. You know,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: you're never you know, tires don't appreciate. Yeah, they'd depreciate
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: quite rapidly.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: You can, yeah they do.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: They're newish to try and resell them. So yeah, it's
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: it's it's been so cool, I think, you know, putting
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: like the automotive journalists hat on to just see where
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: the industry is going. So and you know, if GM
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: is doing it, and you know Jeeps starting to do
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: it when they are avy upfits, and I mean JEAP
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: was kind of I guess somewhat early on with steel
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: bumpers and and that kind of stuff.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: But well, what's really nice to see though, is like
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the most recent versions of the Wrangler they have full
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: floating rare axles now, which there are Wranglers now that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: have a five thousand pound towing capacity, which is the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: first time I've ever seen significant and some of them have,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you know, almost fifteen hundred pounds of payload. So the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Wrangler's getting better than it. I mean, everything's just getting
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: better than it ever has been. So yeah, it no
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: longer is valid when you think of like the nineteen
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: nineties were the pinnacle of overland vehicles. Yeah, Like I've
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: owned a lot of those cars. Yeah, Like I used
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to have a line of them behind you here, and
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I can tell you that most of these modern vehicles
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: are better. I They're just better.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I love that kind of nineties era. I was born
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety and that those were the cars that
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: I kind of grew up with. And I've been a
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: car nut my entire life, using like the eighty series
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Land Cruiser, for example, very nostalgic had one, and when
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I was in I had a really rusty, bad one
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: when I was in college.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but then you had the Disco one you had
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: all the disco and I had all these things.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: One the fuel costs on them, right there is.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: If we're thinking of it as a monthly payment or whatever,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: or let's think of it through the eyes of a traveler,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: you can you can get a vehicle that gets twice
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the fuel economy. Oh yeah, and that is that Those
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: are the expenses that really affect you while.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: You're on the road. The four by E Wrangler I've
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: been driving right now. If you look at the average
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: miles per gallon twenty eight point seven, Yeah, that's insane.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: It's insane, Like a Wrangler.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: A built a built eighty would struggle to get ten.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and so it's almost three times more. Yeah.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: So that's pretty that's pretty amazing, you know.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: And you can get that from av turnkey done. Yeah.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I really like I really like the plug in
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: hybrid concept. I mean, it's easy to get into this
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: debate on EV's, which I think is somewhat foolish because
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: there are evs work for some people and they don't
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: work for others, and you just look at it as
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: simply as that. But the plug in hybrid is lee
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the sweet spot because like at the last couple of days,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I've been driving this four ye around and I'm using
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: no fuel because I just plug it into the office
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and it's a seven minute commute to my house.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Perfect. They have what like a twenty five.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Twenty five mile range. Yeah, so, and even if you
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: put big tires on it and put some stuff on
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: it for overlanding, the vehicle would still be able to
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: go back and forth to my house without having the electric.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Motors don't drop. The rolling resistances is of concern with
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: the electricsure Like I bought a Model Why this year
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: as my dishwasher car. It just it does all the things.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: It does all the things really well, and it's uh
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: for how fast it is, I'm going to say affordable
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: faster than my AMG Wagon. Then I replaced it with
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, it's faster. Maybe not top speed or whatever,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: but you can put there's a company that actually does
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: like a lift kit and a larger they look larger
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: tire and it's and it's basically you go in the forums,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: it's of basically no consequence to range. Yeah, it's really
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: it's it's it's interesting.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And they look cool with that little lift on there.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: I think if you just do it tastefully just a
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, it just makes it look different. It's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: just higher than I have to lift my Greyhound.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: So we are seeing some cool you know overlandy evs,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: you know the stuff. For sure that the Hummer truck
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: looks hideous. The Hummer suv doesn't look as bad.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Correct, it looks it looks a lot more stylish and yeah,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: and the.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Interior is still well, it's for it seems like it
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: was designed for somebody who liked.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: The Age two mm heavily inspired.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which when you have maybe one of the coolest
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: four wheel drives ever made to pull inspiration from hmm,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: maybe a mistake. Moving on, but the Rythean stuff is
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: like super cool, very I think, really elegant. You know
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: they are, you know they added i think in twenty
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: three they added a like a like a leveling mode
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: for their air suspension.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it has camp has camp mode. Yeah, so
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: it keeps the power outlets on, it levels the vehicle
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: for the roof tent. So it's you can do a
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: lot with software. And they also launched a dual motor variant.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: They launched launched an extended battery pack variant, So they're
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: they're continuing to put pressure on innovation, which I think
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: is a really good thing. You know, I really hope
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that they're successful because Rivian, I mean, it is the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Overland of evs, because they've really made sure that it
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: worked well off road and it has a reasonable range.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and then you know, they did start deliveries
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: in twenty three and the cyber truck YEP I had
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: a really really early reservation and actually, like I think
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: December thirtieth, mine came up, Hey you can you can
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: select everything and get one of the limited edition first ones.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I decided not to. I think I'm just not convinced.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I think it's it's any of the footage that I've
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: seen of it off road, it looks very poor in performance.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: It would be nice to get access to one. So
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: anyone that's listening that has a cyber truck, we would
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: love it if you would reach out, because we would
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: love to actually test the thing properly.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: It's it's got to be a challenge because they have
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: to have low rolling resistance tires, and then there's so
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: much torque that has to be appropriately modulated, and then
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: there's this weight so when you have no traction and
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of weight to try and get up a hill.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I think it's a struggle. The car in terms of
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: ground clearance and all of those kind of metrics is decent.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: But then they then again though the the hummer doesn't
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: struct better and it doesn't struggle yeah in the areas
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: that I've seen and cyber.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Trucks that because tire choice.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe I think it's probably just in my experience what
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I've seen is Tesla is quite insulary, which means that
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: they develop innovations that nobody expects and look and are amazing,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and they've been very successful with that. But I think
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: it's it can also hurt them because it's very obvious
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: that it wasn't designed by people who actually yeah, travel
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and technical terrain. So it doesn't I think, seem to
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: respond to.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Thing I've learned about Tesla having well now driving one
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: almost every day, is there's constantly these updates over the air,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: and they're free. You have to go into the deal.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: They'll fix a lot of that stuff.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: And I hope you know. I mean, I I was
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: watching Jay Leno's garage and they had the fronds of
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: the designer and the engineer. And I think that Tesla
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: make's five vehicles now and I think that all five
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: of them are in the well they occupy the top
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: five of the most American made vehicles percentage wise. Wow,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: And I think that that's really cool. I do think
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: that the thing that Ford, Chevy, GM, Dodge, like everybody
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: is behind the ball on the EV thing and the
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: common enemy is Tesla. But I think it is important
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: to realize that they're the most innovative car company in
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: the world right now. They are American, they are American made.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: The best selling crossover and suv in Europe is an
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: American car, and that's kind of cool. I think that
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: that's cool.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's important. I think it's important, and I
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: hope to see, you know, continued innovation. I think that
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the cyber truck has potential, so hopefully we get to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: drive one at some point. I bet or hate it
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: styling wise, but yeah, I wouldn't even talk about it
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: because it's so it's to me, it doesn't look handsome,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it doesn't look.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I don't think it would trigger people, and that's that's
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: the yeah.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: But that's the problem is buying something that is so
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: triggering to people's responses, like, you probably wouldn't enjoy driving
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: it after about three weeks because you'd be tired of
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the conversation.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: We'll do treat electric cars a little differently on the road,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: particularly living in a small town.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: The amount of times that I get, you know.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Ll coal rolled on you.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Well I want I want to get yeah, exactly, or
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: they cut you off, or they just drive really aggressively
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: around you.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Particularly it's guys and older diesel trucks, and I want
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: to have a license plate for him. It's like or
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: a sticker. It's okay. My other car is a seven
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: to three power stroke. Yeah, like I'm one of you.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I have a pickup truck on forty one in military tires.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Like exactly. Yeah. It's pretty funny.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Interesting year for cars, definitely, and interesting to see where
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: it will go. You know, we've yet to really see
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Ford's response to the whole overlanding thing.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: The Tremor is really just like the new f By
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: four package the Bronco route.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I like it. The Tremor's great ride quality is really poor,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: so I hope they work on that. The new Raptor
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Type R is really impressive. It's an incredible. It's an
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: incredible piece of engineering, and it's like it's highly effective
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: in most terrain. It's violently fast. In fact, it encourages
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: higher speed. Like the thing I liked about the TRX
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: more is that you could enjoy driving the TRX at
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: like reasonable speeds where you don't kill old people on
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: on dirt roads, whereas the Raptor R only got good
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: at like the slaughter Families speeds.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Raptor has always been really capable. I
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: had this conversation with a lot of car guys on
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: you know, you sit around and you have a few beers,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: and if you can only drive one car, I think
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: for a lot of people, the right answer is the
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Raptor because it's like a sports car. Oh yeah, but
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: it can do anything. And now it has like a
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: fifteen pund payload and.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the payload was up. And I took it on
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: our most difficult for a drive route where it would
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: fit of the testing routes that we did, and it
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: it had no issues, whereas other vehicles like even the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred Sierra AV was like I had to really
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: drive that truck to get through there and even take
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: some different lines because it was high centering on spots
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that the Raptor like did not care because the Raptors
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: on thirty sevens whereas the fifteen hundred is on basically
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: a thirty three. So it's a huge difference entire size. Yeah,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the Raptors. The Raptor impressed me. Jane and I.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Think the Raptor r was new in twenty it was
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: twenty three, Yeah, exactly.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Well, so let's let's talk about some of the awards
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: for the year. So just recently on Expedition Portal, we
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: announced the Overlander of the Year award, which went to Mallemish,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: which that's a sweet family. That's a really sweet family.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: You and I I interviewed them a couple of years
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: ago at the Overland Expo. And the reason why they
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: there are many reasons why they receive this award, but
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: one of the most important things is that we just
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: want to continue to reinforce that overlanding is accessible to families,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and this family is traveling around the world and they
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: have been traveling around the world for a very long time. Yeah,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: for a very long time. So I think it's just
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: really important and there are many examples of similar families
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that are out there doing it, so follow those kinds
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: of accounts. If you have kids and you aspire to
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: do overland travel, or maybe you think it's going to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: be a challenge or there might be some problems, I
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: bet that those folks can really help you overcome those fears.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: So I would just really encourage families to continue to travel,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: show your kids these places in the world. I've never
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: had kids, so like when I get to travel with
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: my nephews, to me, it's like such joy and I
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: can't wait to do more of that. So it's it's
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: really neat to see families like Malley Mish doing that,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: so that follow them on Instagram.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I think it's this Malley dot Mish.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's what it is. And then there's
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: been some other some other travelers that have really impressed
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: us in the last year. You were talking about Richard
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and Ashley, What were some of the.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Thoughts you had to ask to Glory one. They're just
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: again incredibly sweet people. But you know, I think that
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: overlanders get kind of stuck on these roots. You know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Richard and n Ashley have already done Pan American Highway, but
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: you know there's the Pan American Highway and then there's
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: kind of like the Africa thing, and there's so many
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: other places in the world. To me, overlanding is about
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: culture and experiences. Yeah, and you know camping thrown in
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: and a little bit of off road driving. And they've been
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: in Europe for geeze almost have they been there for
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: a year now. They were in UK for some time.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: They were in and out, so they went down to
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: South Africa. Like they were in South Africa when I
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: was taking delivery of the Grenadier, so I yeah, I
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: saw them in South Africa in June.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: They were down there with X Overland, that's right.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And then they also had done some traveling with Xoverland
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: in the previous series, in the Nordic series, so they
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: had been traveling in Norway, Finland and to Iceland. So
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: they had done a bunch of traveling in Europe there
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and then I think they took every last moment of
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: their Shanngen visa that they could. Like I was in Spain, Yeah,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: so good.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: The food is just like insane, and they were like
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: getting some great camping and some of the the I
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: don't want to say that I don't know anything about Spain,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: but It actually surprises me how similar Spain is in
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: a lot of ways to Arizona.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, for sure.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Like there's some deserty areas, there's some mountainey areas.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: It's the same like Arizona. And the north is the Pyrenees,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: so that's like our flag Staff and then in the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: south it's desert. It's and it gets even more so
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: desert and Petaco.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Cool to see people camping and kind of doing that
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: wild camping thing in Europe because that's very uncommon. You know,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: you just don't really see many North American overlanders doing
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: that stuff. And I think that it's uh, it's okay.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: There's museums and really good restaurants and stuff.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great wine, like just so many things to experience,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to experience, to experience and enjoy. And Richard and Ashley
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: have done a really good job of finding a way
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: to have a job while they're traveling full time. And
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: when I just interviewed Ashley recently about some of her travels,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: she just really focused on they don't have a return date,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Like they've been able to figure that out between the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: truck that they have and the camper that they have
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and the and the jobs that they have, like they
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you know, Ashley works you know, almost full time with
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: us and she's one of the co hosts of the podcast.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: So between the two of them, they found a way
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: to stay busy that allows them to stay on the road,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: which is very cool. And they're just good people, amazing people.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: And then I was also super impressed by two ladies
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: that are riding a motorcycle down West Africa. They did
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the entire West African route Itchy Boots and like they
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: got in it. I mean, their videos are raw and
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: inspiring and it is tough, and uh, just check them out.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I mean really neat stories and visuals that they've captured
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of their experience, a very raw, genuine travel experience that
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: they've had. Just really impressed by that and it, you know,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: it inspires me too.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: So it's neat to say seek down West Africa would
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: be hard.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it was just it's just very.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: I've become way too soft, but you could.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: You could do it if you if you wanted to,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: and not everybody has to, but it was for me,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: it was neat to see him accomplish that. Uh, and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: it definitely makes me think of motorcycle West Africa at
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: some point, yeah, you know, while I'm you know, still
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: able to do that. So and then let's talk a
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: little bit about the twenty twenty three four Drive Vehicle
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: of the Year, so that when we talk about a
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Vehicle of the Year award, it is always going to
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: go to something that was newly launched within the calendar year.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Otherwise you just end up you could end up like
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: years past, you'd end up with the two hundred series
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: every year or something, which is kind of boring. But
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of competition now and there's no question
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: in my mind, especially with the time that I've had
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: with it, that the twenty twenty three Overland Vehicle of
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the Year is the ground and it's available internationally. It
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: was designed at the request of you know, Sir Jim Radcliffe,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: who is an Overlander just like the rest of us does.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: He does it, He does the things, rides motorcycles across
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Africa and everything else, and he wanted to build basically
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the vehicle that he felt like he lost, which was
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the Defender. He wanted to build something that he thought
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: was better even than that. And in many ways it
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: is so the best way that I can describe the
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Grenadier after now twenty thousand kilometers in the vehicle in
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Europe and in the United States and in Africa. Now,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: is that if you if you took a g Wagon
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and a Defender and a seventy series land Cruiser and
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: they all kind of had a love child, you'd up
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: You'd end up with the Grenadier because it does have
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: all of the best of those things. And the thing
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: that was a big unknown for us was if the
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: vehicle was going to be reliable, because something that looks
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: like a Defender makes you immediately recoil and think is
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: it going to be as reliable as a Defender?
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: And is English? Yeah, they brought.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Gems, that's right. So they they they commissioned the Austrians
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to design the thing in Graz. So that's the same
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: group that designed the g Wagon and just designed the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: recent updates to the g Wagon, a bunch of other vehicles,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: including military vehicles, Panda four by four there you go,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: which is well known and regarded. So a highly capable
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: engineering team obviously designed in the UK. So it looks
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: great and it's got a great interior.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Designer, yeah, not a traditional automotive designer, and.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: A great interior little thoughtful horn. Yeah, I use it
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: all the time in Africa because a lot of times
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: you're just letting people know that you're there, or you know,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: somebody's kind of wavering on the street. It's a fairly
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: quiet car, so it's nice to kind of let people
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: know that you're there. So I use the toote all
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the time. And then because it has the touted horn,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the regular horn is much louder, so you kind of
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: get the best of both. It's like I really need
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: you to know that I'm here, or just it's like
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: a very respectful gentle like yeah, exactly, exactly. So for
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three Overland Vehicle of the Year, it
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: goes to the Grenadier. They're delivering in the United States.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Now we've got a bunch of friends that have already
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: taken delivery of them.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: We've been like end of December. It was like like
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: ten people I know got the yes, and I was
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: a little I had a little fomo.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because you had one on order. I did, I did,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: But but you have you have Matt has plenty of cars,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: so I can see why you don't. So there really
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: wasn't anything that was a close second because the Grenadier
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: is so significant. It's it's the only vehicle that we
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: could get in North America that was made specifically for us. Like,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: it's literally it's not meant even for like a soccer mom,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: although I'm sure there are plenty of soccer moms that
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: like the car was literally made to drive around the world.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: I actually think there was a close second that the
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: new nine to eleven to car.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so tell me about that.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: I think it's based on like a GTS, but it's
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: just basically it's a lifted nine to eleven. And this
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: whole Safari nine to eleven thing has been I mean,
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: it dates back to rallying these things in the sixties.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of building a nineteen sixties rally nine to
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: eleven as well. And this to car, I mean it
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: has like proper recovery points in the front, an all
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: terrain tire. And I have a bunch of friends that
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: also bought those, and they're beating, they're beating the heck
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: out of them, and they're just having fun with them.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: And wow, you know, they have a roof rack with
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: like some Jerry cans on top and some recovery boards
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: and it's full skid plates. This is not a serious answer.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: I'm just why not though? But how cool is that?
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: But if there was a car right now, new anything
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: on the market that I could get you to drive south? Yeah,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: oh boy, it would be that one.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Well there you go, so and I would I would
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: take the gredit here and I would just put the
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I would put the same few modifications that I did
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: to the one in Africa and just start heading south
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: because it's just well suited for it. I've come to
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: like the car. It surprised me, you know, I was
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: hoping that it would be great, and it is great.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: There are very few issues that I've I've come across
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: with it, you know, even the little hump on the
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: right hand drives that well, I shouldn't say a little hump.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: There's a big hump on the right hand drive. Models
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: like the dead pedal, and you get used to that,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: like I don't even notice it.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, let's do with that. So I mean, is it
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: a big dead pedal or is that for the transmission tunnel?
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Well, there's an exhaust pipe that runs through there, so.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: They had preference to left hand drive.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you get a left hand drive one
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: the dead pedal size is much smaller and it doesn't
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: feel as intrusive. It does seem that people who are
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: new to the vehicle notice it a lot, but again,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: after twenty thousand kilometers, I don't notice it at all anymore.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's because of the BMW drive train.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: That's probably just be straight six I think. I think
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: that's exactly what it is. And already people are trimming
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: out a lot of this plastic flooring and insulation and
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: that's it's taking a lot of the size of that
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: thing out of there. The downside of that is the
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: you don't have those kind of wash out floors, So
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the dead pedal thing is things that something
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: that people are talking about. But they've had a bunch
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: of software updates and again I've not had any mechanical issues.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: I've had no failures with the vehicle because that's kind
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: of like and mine is number three hundred and seventy
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: two I believe.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: So you're still pre production.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they call it production, but it's like
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: it was they were still hand building these things at
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: that point. Interesting, but it is a fully homologated UK
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: registerable street legal vehicle.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean to be balanced on the thing.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: That's that's still my biggest concern is I think if
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: you live in a major city, they have a dealership network,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: but there's I know, and I know that they're working
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: on it, but you know, here in Prescott, our closest
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: dealer was in southern California.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, or in Utah or in Utah.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Or something ever, maybe just a considerable distance, like having
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: owned vehicles that I can only get serviced in you know, Scottsdale,
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: which is only an hour and a half away.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: That's that's that's really important to note. And the only
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: thing I can say to that is that it does
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: appear that they're actively developing the net. Yeah, as long
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: as they continue to actively develop the network, I think
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: they'll have happy customers. If that slows down, I think
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: that they'll have more challenges.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, if I'm ever in a position
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: where I don't have to toe, I think Grenade here
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: would be in my future.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, it's it's just really worked. It's they
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: call it built for Africa. I mean that's when they're taglines,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: and boy that is absolutely true now that I've driven
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: it across Africa, so super cool.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how does the suspension on it.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: I like it because it's not if you think about
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: you and I have spent a lot of time in
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: g wagons. So g wagons have these leading and trailing
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: arm suspension systems, and if they are kind of on
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: the road or just on a corrugated road, they're fine.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: But when you really get into a more technical terrain
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: or a lot of head toss, the advantage of this
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: five link is pretty significant. So think of it like
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: a heavy duty jeep wrangler suspension underneath. So it's five
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: link long travel. You know, it has a huge sway
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: bar up front. Somebody's going to address that. Somebody will
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: come up with the disconnect. Yeah, and then it's really
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: going to get a lot of flex. So and the
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: fact that the vehicle is also very wide. It's wider
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: than a gew wagon, like the gw wagon that you owned,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: it's wider than that car. So it's actually very like
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: low and stable, so you don't you just don't.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: Kind of see the grind you're next to an older
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: gren't as big as people think, that's right, that's right.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, these these are much bigger cars. I would
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: call it a mid size actually, you know, it's along
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: the lines of like if you've sat in a two
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: hundred series, I mean it's a big it's a big car,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: which a lot of people. It's hard to see that
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: because when you look at it, you see the form
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: factor of an early land rover, so you think it's
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: going to be that size, but it's actually much bigger.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: The center console is big, and you know, there's plenty
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: of room to set your arm on the wind, you know,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: on the doorframe and everything like that. So it's it's
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: a lot more comfortable for sure.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: So that's our our twenty twenty three Vehicle of the Year.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about Moto the year. And this one
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: is interesting because the the new BMW is just getting
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: tested now, but they're not delivering the motorcycle yet. Thirteen
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: the thirteen hundred a little bit lighter, a little bit
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: more powerful, a.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Lot of power. You can get a lot of power
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: out of them.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's an interest. I don't know why that's
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: become a thing in the motorcycle space. I think it's
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: actually a little bit foolish numbers to go after the
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: power thing. I do not see that as being an advantage,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: you know, most of these adventure bikes, once you go
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: into an enduro or enduro pro mode, they throttle the
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: bike back to one hundred horsepower. So because it's uncontrollable,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: it's uncontrollable at the higher, higher horsepower numbers, which is
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: why I really like this new segment of mid size
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: adventure bikes that are coming out. And for me, the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: one that they're people are buying them and they're using
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: them and they're not having tru is this new Ducati
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Desert X.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: They look really good. Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm just
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: a big fan of that form factor. Like a I
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: have a KTM Factory to car bike and it's from
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: the KTM Junior team and I love it because it's
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: just so like fit for purpose and it you know,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: you have the multiple tanks, you have the saddle tanks
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: that keeps the weight down low, you have all this
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: suspension travel this upright citium position. Like I was always
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: we were both big fans of the KTM nine to
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: fifty right, great bike. They're just still one. Yeah, they're
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: getting they're just a little long in the tooth, you know.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: They get the dirty secret in those things. They get
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: like thirty miles to the gallon, which is actually not
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: that great for a motorcycle.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: It's really bad.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: And they're really really I mean they are a race
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: bike right off road.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: I was lucky to get one hundred and fifty miles
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: out of six gallons.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: It's it's a challenge. But this new Dukati has all
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: of that form factor and where like the d car bike,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: even though that's like the sexy poster child thing, it's
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: not great for long term. It's a little bit too light,
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: you know, it's just under three hundred pounds in it
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: just gets blown around a little sure, like you want
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: a little bit of heft, you you don't want a
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: really strung out motor and these midweight bikes. You have
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: to also consider that engines have become a lot more
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: efficient and they've become a lot more powerful for the
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: size of displacement. Correct, So you can have I believe
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: that's a seven.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: It's about right at about eight hundred eight hundred.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: CC's yeah, and incredibly powerful, probably puts out you know,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: leader bike or more performance, oh yeah, for sure, and
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: less weight and for sure. And then they're also just
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: not as complicated like a lot of these. You know,
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: you look at the thirteen hundred. Now you're getting into
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff going
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: on with that bike or the twelve fifty. And I
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: think that this that Doukatti dislike knocked it out of
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: the park.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Well, and it's also got it's also got the the
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: additional the auxiliary tank that you can put where the
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: rear pillion seat goes, so you can end up with
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: about eight gallons of fuel on board. So yeah, So
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: the the Desert X is nine hundred and thirty ccs.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: So that's actually still a pretty big motor.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: But again, like the weight is low. I mean it
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: makes makes plenty of power, makes one hundred and twelve horsepower,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: so it's plenty of power. And I really like it
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: off road. I rode it in Colorado last year and
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: I was really impressed with a performance off road. And
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: I'm about to go ride it in Morocco, so I'll
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: be head to Africa and using.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: The I mean, that's gonna be such a cool place
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: to be in that bike because again it's just like you,
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: it looks like a rally.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: Bike, yeah, and it feels like a rally bike.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And there's a reason why the rally bikes. You
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: know that that style and the ergonomics of that transitions
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: so well to adventure riding because that's what these guys
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: are doing, but at a at a competitive level. That's
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: right and super cool.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So Desert X gets our twenty twenty three Adventure
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Motorcycle of the Year. Who knows what twenty twenty four
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: will hold. There's a lot of new stuff coming out
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: that I think will be really interesting on the adventure
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: bike space as well.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: People are really attacking KTM, like KTM was like really
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: on top for a while. Yeah, I'm going to say
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: in the era of like the ten ninety eleven ninety
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: oh yeah for sure. And now you have Triumph that's
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: come out with kind of something similar to the Desert X.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: You've got Dakati coming out with Steph Like it's it's
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: an interesting space, and.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Triumph has got a bunch of models, you know, they've
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: got all these rally pros, and the Triumph bikes are
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: actually really great, Like I've really I like them better
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: than the BMW's right now.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: I also kind of think that there's less and less
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: interest in the motorcycle space generally, Like I've kind of
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: noticed that, at least with my group of friends, and
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: I talked to people about it on how I mean,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: bikes are just a lot more work and cars are
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: so good these days, Like it used to be traveling
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: on a bike was so much cheaper. And I don't
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: know if that's necessarily the case anymore. You're more reliant on.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: Your friend group's just gotten a little older.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe that's what's happening.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Ah, because I mean, adventure bikes are still a growing
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: segment within motorcycle, one of the few growing segments within motorcycle.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: I just like I never see anybody other than people
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: my dad's age on motorcycles these days. I also live
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: in a retirement town. That may have something to do
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: with it.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think you're right overall. I think that
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: I think that a lot of people just aren't getting
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: out as much as they used to. And I think
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: it's because, you know, all of not to get on
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: a soapbox, but like, the social media platforms are really
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: good at commanding people's attention, and so people have they've
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: kind of lost the connection with actually doing the things.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, I was thinking about it this last year,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: is you know, talking about traveling isn't traveling. You know,
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: buying stuff to put on your vehicle to travel isn't traveling.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: You know, going on a forum and talking about travel,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: or going on Instagram and following travelers isn't traveling. Like
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: all of those things they give us this this this
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: feeling of travel and the excitement and maybe like the
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: possibility that travel will happen and all the excitement that
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: comes from that. But the real reward in life comes
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: from the actual doing of the things. We have to
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: do the things in order to learn, in order to grow,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: in order to actually have the experiences that result in memories.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: So like we're going to forget about all the things
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: that we saw on Instagram. But when we actually get
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: out on that motorcycle, no matter what it is, a KLR,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Desert X, whatever it may be, when we get out
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: and we actually have the experience and we're in the
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: dust and we're picking the bike up and we're cold
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: or we're hot or whatever, like, that's the stuff you
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: never forget. Yeah, so, soapbox, So let's talk about new
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: stuff coming in twenty twenty four that we're super excited about.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, land Cruiser, Yeah.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: The new land Cruiser, The new g X five point fifty.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Very excited about both pricing.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: It came out on the on the overtrail and it
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: was a little more expensive than I I mean it's Alexis, yeah,
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: and inflation and all this stuff that's going on. It's
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: actually made me more interested in where the two fifty
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: is going to sit. Yeah, so I think that that's
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: indicated around like high forties, low fifties, Uh huh.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It has a less expensive drive train, little lower
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: content overall. You know, what I hope happens is is that,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: like what are they going to do with the fore Runner?
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: That's the big question, like when that land Cruiser comes out,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: because it is the replacement for the fore Runner in
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: my mind. Yeah, you know, just like the.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: It's in theory, it's the same chassis, right, it's it's
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: it's right. The fore Runner was on a proto one
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: to fifty, that's right. This is a proto two fifty
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: that does not have proto badging in the US exactly.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: So so that'll be really interesting to see what happens there.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I mean it kind of makes me remember the you know,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: the launch of the Defender, Like the new Defender is
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: the best discovery that land Rover has ever made. Yeah,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: we didn't actually get a Defender. We got a great
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: version of a Discovery, and people make the mistake of
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: expecting it to be a classic Defender and it's not.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: So I think it's the same thing with with the Forerunner.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: My fear is just like, are they going to make
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: it some mild hybrid like like crossover. I just don't like,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: let it, let it go, like let it go, you know,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: do not, don't like don't.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: It's it's an interesting pathfinder.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: The thing.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: Please, it's an interesting conversation because they they could take
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: it the removable hardtop.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, Runner, could you imagine?
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: That would be super cool? They could also, you know,
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: they could and this would be the bad thing is
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: they could look at who actually buys Forerunners. They sell
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: a lot of them, right, and I think.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: That quarter million four runners.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're they're I think, if I'm going to stereotype,
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: there's somebody that wants a little bit more than a
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: crossover these days. They want something that's a little trucky feeling, right.
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: They want something that's durable and reliable, and unfortunately, like
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: a lot of that kind of overlaps with crossover these days.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Does it does the does the person who's actually the
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: bulk of the people who are actually buying a Forerunner,
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: do they benefit from.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: A land cruiser body on frame chassis. Probably not.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. I think I think. I mean
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of the people that I know that own
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: for Runners, they they appreciate the authentic nature of the car. Yeah,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: they're not. They're smart people that aren't going to be
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: swayed by some marketing gimmick. You know, putting a TRD
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: pro badge on a Highlander doesn't make it an overland vehicle.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's it's interesting because there's there's just
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: like forour Runner people out there, oh yeah, you know,
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: they're they're kind of a they tend to.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Be really good folks. Like overall the like, there's there's
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: like not the douchey category of four Runner owner.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see, you know.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: And it's super it's a super popular vehicle in our space. Yeah,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: I mean we just gave it the number one on
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: our top ten list, so it's still.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: A great choice. I mean, it is so outdated, like.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, five speed automatic still yeah, I.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: Mean, like I remember when five speed was like, whoa,
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: it's got a fun speed. But you know now it's
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: just like.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: It's because they could. Yeah, it's because they continued to
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: sell them in like massive numbers. And I think it's
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: because it's a good car for a lot of people.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: I really do.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: So all right, Quartermaster is coming. Yeah that's kind of cool.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: So if you don't know what the Quartermaster is, it's
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: it's from Inios. It's I mean, it's going to be
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: the Grenadier Quartermaster, I believe, And it's kind of a
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: you know of similar ilk to like a gladiator. Yeah,
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: what the wrangler Gladiators to wrangler, this will the Quartermaster
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: will be to the gladiator. On paper, it looks really good.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, payload numbers look good and could be pushing up
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: close to two thousand pounds of payload very much.
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: That kind of Defender one thirty vibe, like down to
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: the fact that my biggest gripe with it with the
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: one thirty was that it didn't have a spare tire
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: like either mounted underneath or on the back or something,
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: and it just takes up You want to put a
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: camper in it? Sure, where's your tire?
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: Go?
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you want to put a bunch of stuff in
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: the bed. Where does the tire go? Sure, that's my
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: only gripe with the Quartermaster so far, But it looks
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: really cool.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: It does. I think it's got a lot of potential.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: It's probably one of the vehicles that I'm most interested
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: in because I still haven't decided what i want my
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: next project to be because I'm still spending a lot
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: of time in Africa, so I don't I don't really
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: need a project car yet, but like I want to
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: have a project car for twenty twenty four, So it's
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: it's definitely I'm thinking, you know, Quartermaster Gladiator, I just
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: don't know a lot.
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: I mean there's a lot, there's more you for sure?
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: I agree. I agree. There's something about a Gladiator with
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: a normally aspirated V six and a six speed manual
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: transmission that has a lot of appeal to me. It
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: would probably be the last manual transmission car I'll ever
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: be able to buy, So there's something about me that
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: really likes the idea of And if you speck it out,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: like you can get a Gladiator with a V six
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: and a manual transmission and a hard top still has
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: a data forty four axle in the rear, a lighter
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: duty data forty four in the front compared to a Rubicon,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: but seventeen hundred pounds of payload and they're like forty
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: two forty three grand.
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: Like that discounted the heck out of them right now.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: It's crazy numbers. It's like really interesting solution.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: I think it's one of the cars I've kept the
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: longest was the Gladiator. They're phenomenal off road.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: That's my thought.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Put a thirty seven inch tire, I'm going to meet
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: my expectations off and there there are so many widgets
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: and parts available for them, so anything you want to do,
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: you can do to it.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Ye.
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: You know. My problem with the Gladiator is, you know,
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: I uh, I want to be you know, a little
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: unique snowflake, and there's just so many of them.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: There are there are, especially in Prescott. They're like on every.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: Every it's like sell your house in southern California.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pay cash for something in press Cap and buy
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: a Gladiator.
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Then trade your Mercedes into the jeep dealer.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: So true.
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: Or they get or they get long bed duleies and
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: they try and park on the square. Yeah, that's annoying.
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. That's why they give a lot of
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: tickets out on the square. All right, So let's talk
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: about what we kind of see as being the twenty
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: twenty three overland product of the year. It's really easy
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: to kind of want to give it to something like,
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: for example, like the Demetic water system is really impressive.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: It's it's one of the best new new new product
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: releases that I've seen in a long time. But the
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: game changer for overlanding in twenty twenty three was Starlink
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: going mobile. Yeah, they have mobile units, they have low
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: profile units. Now Matt's been using a high performance mobile
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: unit on his Earth Romer with great success.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: So I get faster Internet when I travel than I
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: do at home. Yeah, I mean we can I'm going
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: to say one hundred megabytes a second going down the road. Yeah,
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: you know it, well sixty eight million hour because that's
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: as fast as the tires are rated for. And it
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: just works so good. Like and I've really noticed from
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: the start of the year to the end of the
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: year more satellites are going up yep. And I mean
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: even using it in like trees and like kind of
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: wooded areas, like you you can point it through a
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: forest and it's maybe it's not going to be one
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: hundred percent connected, but it's enough.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: It gets better and better. And then so there's a
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: there's a a domestic mobile plan which is at about
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: eighty bucks a month or something. Oh no, I'm sorry,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty dollars a month, excuse me. And
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: then there is a global mobile plan, which means it
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: works everywhere that Starlink's work. Starlink has a signal, and
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: which doesn't mean that you can legally use it in
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: those countries. It's really important to know the difference. Yeah,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: so and that is one hundred and fifty dollars a month,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: and that's what I've been using in Africa. And you know,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: Starlink is now sold in Mozambique, it's sold in Eswatani,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: it's sold in Tanzania, it's sold in Kenya. It's it's
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: like it's available. It's sold in Zambia. Like you can
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: get starlink now in Africa, and it's legal to use it.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: So you know, there's obviously some concerns that have been
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: voiced around, like how do you take it over the borders.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: It's it's legal to use it. Like they're sold in
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: the country, they're not a controlled item. Now when I
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: can't take it into Ethiopia, so I brought it back
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: with me. So like there are countries where you can't
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: take it in legally, and I didn't want to risk it.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: So I'm not going to have it for this next leg.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: But most of Africa. You can't buy it in South Africa,
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: but it's not a controlled item in South Africa, so
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: you can. You can use it in South Africa too
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: with great success. So Namibia, b Tswana.
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: It just works. Like I keep having like internet outages
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: in my house and I just want to I.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Just want to like cut the cord, yeah, and go
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: full starlink. You know. That's what my dad has on
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: the ranch out there. Yeah, he runs starlink twenty four
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: to seven and just it has never not worked. That's awesome,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: that's so easy.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: So yeah, you know we were talking about this earlier.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: You know, there are some downsides to starlink, you know,
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: and it's not necessarily related to performance or because I
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: don't even think the cost is that much. Honestly, I
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: had like a crazy five G cradle point thing in
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: the earth Romer before the starlink and the data plan
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: that you need for that was the same price, you know,
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: and it's barely worked. You have to be judicious with
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: your use because you can. You have to remember that
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: we do this to a degree to get away and
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: we do it to experience places, you know.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: I yeah, the always on thing is tough.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I hardwired mine and I did hardwire it with
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: a switch and uh, it's very easy for me to
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: press that switch. And as I switched to lithium batteries,
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: and energy is just no longer a concern. It's been
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: left on more and more and more, and I find
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: myself in these beautiful places, you know, Like a month
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: or so ago, we were at Mwle Point in Utah.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful, one of this one of the most spectacular
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: places on the planet that you can camp. And I'm
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: sitting there on my phone and my wife Laura is
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: sitting there on her phone and we're not talking. You know,
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: we're just absorbed in our phones. Because you know, when
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: you when you're just in normal day to day life,
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: like I think everybody's pretty good. I mean you're pretty good.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: I'm not the worst, but people are just absorbed on
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: their phones, Like, I mean, there, your your brain doesn't
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: stand a chance against like trillion dollar company psychologists trying
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: to get your attention, and you have to just turn
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: it off. You know. Uh, there's times previously when I
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: just had the regular starlin kinnet had to put it
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: out and set it up, and I didn't have lithium batteries,
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: so like I had to turn it off at night,
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: and I actually then disconnected and.
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: You have better sleep.
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: And where I'm finding now like no matter where I'm at,
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: it just works and I'm always connected. You can't just
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: like disappear into the into the woods, so to speak,
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: and shut off you. Then you now have to have
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: the control of and and and the cognizance to turn
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: the dang thing off.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like if you work remotely, have office hour, yeah,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: you know you fire.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: Your phone's gonna ring. That's the thing. It's like all
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: these days everything's voiceover IP right whatever. Right, So you're
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: in the middle of nowhere, your phone rings, your text
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: messages come in. I mean, is it is seamless, yeah
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: to being in the real world.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: And it was even the same in Africa, and that
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: was it was capped at ten megabits a second, but
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: still like ten megabits going down down the road in
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: the middle of Africa, dodging potholes with like perfect broadband internet,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: you know. So it was really important for me to
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: shut it off. And I think it was one of
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: the things that I did in twenty twenty three that
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: I most that I learned the most from was I
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: spent about eight weeks without a smartphone. I used what
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: was called a light phone, and the light phone it
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: was it had a lot of challenges, like particularly around travel.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: It just doesn't work. You can't hail an uber and
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: it doesn't work internationally. So but what I did do
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: is I took all of the social media apps off
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: of my Yeah, so I did that for a while.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: That's the first thing I'm really grateful that I did that.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: I still am on social media, but I go on
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: to an iPad menu. Actually I happen to have it
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: right here. Yeah, and that's where I have Instagram and
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: everything else. But I only go on it at certain
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: times in the day.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: It is so easy. Remember to delete these apps. Yeah,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: they don't want you to delete them, but they really
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: want you to to bring them back on your phone. Yeah,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: And I don't know, like when I get stressed with
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: business or life or whatever, first thing I do is
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: I I delete the Instagram app because it immediately gives
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: me back.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: A bunch of times.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of time.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: Well, and I mean they say that the average Americans
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: on their phone for five and a half hours a day. Yeah,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: Like think about that.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: People don't know how to do a whole lot of life.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: That's a whole lot of life that's gone.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know how to be.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a couple soapboxes today, I like. Yeah, all right,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: So once a year in review, Yeah exactly. So then
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: what what were some of your favorite products from the year?
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: Hm hmm.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: I bought a really cool watch that I like, and
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: it's it's it's maybe a little bit obscure. It's not
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: I've kind of I'm not saying I'm tired of like
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: the you know, like there's these kind of grail watches,
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: like the you know, the Rolexes and the Omegas and
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. Like everybody. I'm not saying everybody
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: has them. You know, they're it's a place of privilege
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: to have one of these things, But I wouldn't say
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: that they're unique. When you when you find out that
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: they make tens of millions of Rolexes a year.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: It, Like I said, I like to be a little snowflake.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: So I've gotten really into into classic and kind of
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: what maybe they call them vintage modern Porsia design watches
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: because I'm a Porsha geek. Anybody that listens to this
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: knows that I am. But there's this watch called the
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: compass Or and it's basically a watch that, you know,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: Porscha Design developed shortly after kind of Porsche and Porsche
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: Design went their own ways and they weren't the Porsche
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: of family wasn't working for the company anymore. It was
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: designed for hunters, and it has an actual compass in
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: the bottom, and it has a signaling mirror and it
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: actually folds up. And it's really really cool that I
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: have an original one and I have a reissue. I
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: wear the reissue because it's all titanium. The original ones
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: are made of like del rein and they're pretty fragile.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 2: But you can take the compass out, you can put
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: it on a map, and when you're just kind of like,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: to me, it's like this analogue garment watch. You know,
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: you really like your garment watch. Do I think they're
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: great watches too. I have one, but it's just like
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: me in a watch, you know, I like sports cars
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: and I like exploring, and yet the watch and the
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: little signaling mirror. I mean, even though I just like
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: usually use the mirror to make sure I don't have
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: like chocolate on my face, but it's actually incredibly useful.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: So that was that was my favorite kind of I do.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: Think there's a lot of advantage to an analog watch.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: It's another way of disconnecting. It's the reason why I
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: like the Garmin over an Apple watch is that the
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: only notification that I get on the garment is if
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: a phone call is coming through, which I find useful
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: because I don't always have my phone on me.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: So, but there's a lot to be said for an
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: analog watch. I mean, it's it's the one piece of
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: jewelry that a guy will typically wear is a watch.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: So for it to connect in with a brand that
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: you love, being Portia, and this one's got a compass,
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: which is along travel lines, I mean, I get it.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: Like I think that analog watch, there's a lot of
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: advantages to analog watches. I think in my mind. All right,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: what else do you get on your list?
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: I bought them you like a M eleven. Yeah, I've
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: been shooting range finders now for twelve years. And here's
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: the interesting thing about these cameras is they are ridiculous expensive,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: but they don't depreciate in the same way that you know,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: let's say, a cannon dsolar will sure as soon as
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: a cannon dsl are. Like I bought a the last
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: the last dlslar or cannon camera I bought was like
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: a five D Mark four. I mean it's a door
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: stop now, you know, I still paid thirty five hundred
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: dollars for it. It's I don't know how old those
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: things are, what they're old? They're old, yeah, five six
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: years old now, but it's it's it's worthless. Like I
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: have a five or six year old M ten rangefinder
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: that I paid. I was buy them used, right, So
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: I paid probably forty five hundred bucks for and I
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: could probably get four grand for it today. So when
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: you when you've been in this hobby for a long time,
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: of these likea cameras and rangefinders, and particularly the lenses,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: because any photographer will tell you the body is kind
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: of disposable. It's the lenses that you really want to
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: invest in. So I have lenses. Like one of my
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: favorite lenses is a forty millimeters sum It's actually not
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: technically for an M, but it's interchangeable. I paid like
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: four hundred dollars for that lens. At the time, it
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: was like the cheapest that you could get. Well, now
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: they're like fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars in good
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: condition because Laika continually raises their prices, right, and everything
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: from like the fifties to present is interchangeable. They have
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: they don't every couple of years build in obsolescence to it.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, got some classes.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: This new M eleven. I think it's actually like a
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: Sony A seven.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, same sensors.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 2: It's in my sixty megapixels backside illuminated. It has phenomenal
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: uh you know, uh dynamic range. I mean it is
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 2: rated as the best sensor that you can get in
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: a thirty five millimeter camera. It is. It is up
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: there and competing with medium format cameras. And like as
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: I've always been like so behind on this stuff, like
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: great lenses, interesting shooting experience, Like the sensors were always
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: if We're being honest, like they were okay, they were okay,
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: you know, they were overpriced. This is the first camera
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: from them that, like, from the first time I used it,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: I'm like, wow, they've really got this figured out. They've
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: integrated the live view shooting very nicely. There's a button
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: that allows you just instantly magnifies and you can touch
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: on the screen and it will magnify to their which
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: is really handy with the rangefinder because you can only
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: focus in the center. If you don't know what a
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: rangefinder is, you're basically aligning lines. You're you're literally taking
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 2: two images through mirrors and you're you're overlapping them until
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: they until they match. You have a monochrome, you get it.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: This This thing is actually phenomenal.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: And it's a great way to shoot, and I think
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: it it The reason why rangefinders have always resulted in
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: such exceptional photographs is that the photographer has to be
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: very engaged in the process.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: You have to be present and I enjoy the act
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 2: of taking images with it because the reality these days
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: is that your phone is the most successful, best camera
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 2: that you can have on you most of the time. Yeah,
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: Like it's just always there.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: So that's what you always use, and as a result,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: a lot of the photographs end up looking the exact same.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So if you're trying to be a little more creative,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: I just this thing is.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: Is Yeah they're cool. Yeah, they're really cool.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: And always buy them used is my advice. I bought
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: this one. It was unused, honestly, Like there's people that
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: will just buy these things, like just rich idiots that
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: just collect these things and never use them. And then
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: the next one they'll always do, like a p version Sure,
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: which has like a sapphire screen, It'll be the same,
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: and then they everybody sells their other ones. So I
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: always buy it like eighteen months in Sure. You can
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: get you know, like several thousand dollars off. It's a
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: lot of money, and you know, but then you and
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: you keep it in decent condition and I usually mine'll
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: have some brass ing or whatever on it, because actually
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: there's parts of there literally brass. This one's aluminum. But
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: they kind of just keep going up, and you know,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: they keep raising the price. So then in a couple
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: of years when you go to get the next one,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: you're not you don't have a doorstop, you don't have
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: a doorstop. So I think that's maybe the hard thing
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: for people that they're like, wow, that's really really expensive,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: because they are like.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: Well, it's expensive the first time you buy it, Yeah,
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: and then if you continue to upgrade and use it
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: throughout a lifetime, then it's probably not.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: That Yeah, you know, it costs you. In my experience,
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: because this is my fifth I've had an M eight,
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: M nine, two ten, fifth range finder, maybe one thousand
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: dollars every three four years. Yeah, and I don't think
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 2: that I genly, I genuinely do not think that you
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: could shoot a Canon DSLR or mirrorless or whatever for that.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: Amount of money. Yeah, because they go from being expensive
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: to doorstops. Yeah, not for sure, Yeah, exactly. And a
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: special thanks to three Outdoors for their support of this
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: week's podcast. The World is Messy. That's the price every
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: outdoorsman pays for adventure. So when we need to keep
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: things fresh, well, we at O three Outdoors don't just
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: do things halfway. We turn to the same technology NASA
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: uses to clean the Space station and we bring it
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: down to our own frontier. You know, the smells, the sweat, smoke,
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: and fuel, the smells of a proper adventure, the stuff
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: of a true outdoorsman knows firsthand. Our technology here at
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: O three Outdoors eliminates bacteria and odors on gear or
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: in your homes and on your vehicles. Our Trekker bags
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: allow you to pack, store, and carry your gear, cleaning
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: it the entire time. Our portable Overlander units fit in
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: any vehicle, home or RV's the highest tech brought to
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: you to the outdoor experience, keeping your gear fresh from
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: one frontier to another. For more information, visit oh dash
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: three outdoors dot com. OH three Outdoors, Go explore.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: So I've rambled on my pretentious snobby gear tastes. Do
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: you want it?
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: But I love your gear taste?
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 2: Do you want to?
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: That's why we're buddy, That's why we're snobby gear taste.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: That's why we're buddies, you know. And it's funny because
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: mine somehow didn't end up pretentious as pretentious so as
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: my mine normally does. But and I think I think
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of it's because I've just been very much
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: in a travel mode this year, and so I've I've
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: really liked the Garmin watch, I've had the Apple Watch,
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: and I do have quite a few analog watches, like
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: I have my dad's vintage Sako Pogue that I really love.
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: But I've been wearing the garment a lot because I
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: do use it for tracking fitness, and I also I
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: like it for travel because it does have a GPS
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: built into it, which is some redundancy that I like.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: Uh So, I've got the Phoenix Sapphire, and you know,
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: it's kind of it's a little bit. Understand you've got
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: the big one. I do. It's pretty. It's pretty good size,
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: which is fine. I'm a bigger guy, so it kind
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: of swallows it a little bit. But I put kind
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: of like a fun Nato style band on it, so
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: it doesn't look quite as techy as because I don't
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: really like the Techi version.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: The regular one is it almost stretches, it's weird.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: It's sweaty, yeah, and and actually like gets sweaty and
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: scratchy and itchy and yeah, but I do like this
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: Nato band.
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 2: And that is a light built into it, right.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: It does, and actually so yeah. So when I first
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: got it, I think I posted something on it and Johnny,
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: a mutual friend of ours, He's like, dude, you're gonna
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: love the light. I'm like what, and he's he's like,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you're gonna love the light, and sure enough,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: like I use the light all the time on.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: The watch flashlight. Yeah.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Except the cool thing is is that it's on
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: your wrists, so you actually have your hands free, so
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: you know, even though it's not maybe flashing directly onto
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: the object, there's enough ambient light that's created from it
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: where you're able to use both hands.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: Sense.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's actually it's super cool. I do like
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: the lot. I forgot about the light. You're right that
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: the light's really useful. I've also really liked the new
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: Demetic water system. We talked about that earlier, but I
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: think they just nailed it with that. It's three and
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: a half gallons for the jug, so the jugs are lighter,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: easier to handle. They're also perfectly square, and they tend
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: to store really well easily. I like the USB charged
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: faucet so that I think it's a really clever system,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: and I've used it a lot personally, so I do.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: I do like that. I also have really enjoyed red
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: Arc makes a like a comprehensive solar blanket package that
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: includes the solar charge controller and alligator clips and I
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: use that. I use that on with the Grenadier in
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: in in Africa, and I just it's just the right
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: size for the wind screen, so it goes across the
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: wind screen and it keeps my fridge running, It keeps
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: the starlink running if I've got that going. It also
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: gave me some a little bit more confidence just in
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: case I accidentally left accessories on or drained the battery.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 2: They just hang out for a little bit and it'll start.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: That's right, so which I'm traveling as a solo vehicle,
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: so for me, it was kind of an important redundancy
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: to have that. Yeah, the red Ark stuff's really nice. Yeah,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: I think they do a nice job with it. And
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: I just like brought it over in my check bag.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: It's just like super easy. And then I've really I've
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: really liked this ex Explorer trailer X one four five.
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: It's the best trailer. I'm not a huge fan of trailers,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: but it's the best trailer that I've ever used, and
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: it has kind of become my Earth Roamer. So I've spent.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: Probably sometimes you live in it. I do it from Africa.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: I do. I've probably got one hundred nights in that thing.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: And it's got a dry bath like a big shower.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: It's got a you know, the toilet system I'm not
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: a huge fan of. It's like one of those path No,
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: it's dry, So this shower is totally separate from the toilet.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Big bathroom. In the very back of it double bed
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: has one thousand and eighty am powers of.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 2: Lithium crazy because it's not which means.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: You can run the air conditioner like all the time. Yeah,
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: So it's like a thousand watts of thousand wats of solar,
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: so you can you can run the dometic air conditioner. Yeah,
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: that's right.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 2: See that's interesting. Those only pole like I think it's
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 2: between thirty and fifty amsdc's right, and one thousand watts
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 2: of solar will sustain that.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 2: So like you're like glide ratio so to speak, is.
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: Tremendous, which means you can run it through the night, yeah,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: when it's hot. And it's also only a fifteen foot box,
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: so it's not a lot of space. And this Explorer
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: trailer company they and they're not an advertiser. It's just
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: like it's I just happen to really like the product.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: The Explorer Company, Trailer company, Imperial Outdoors. They make ice
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: fishing trailers. Like that's where they got they cut their teeth.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: That's four season.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: I mean it's it's a true four seasons inside, it's
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: a true four season trailer. It also has heating blankets
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: on the gray water and the main water tanks that
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: run off the lithiums and keeps the system from freezing.
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: So it yeah, it's it's super and it's got you know,
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: a proper Australian style, you know, suspension system system on it,
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: airbag suspension system on it. So it actually does pretty.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 2: Well off road.
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: And it's not that heavy five thousand pounds, so it'll
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: behind most of you behind a wrangler, that's right exactly.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: So there's there's a lot that I like about that trailer.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of kind of become a fan. Yeah, become
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: a fan of that one. All right, man, Well, you
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: know we're kind of coming to the end here, But
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: I think, what are you excited about for twenty twenty four?
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: What kind of trip are you excited to do in
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 2: I haven't actually figured out what I'm going to do.
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 2: As far as a trip, I'm I'm interested in the
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: Canadian Rockies. Yeah, that's not something I want to do
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: in the summer. That's probably more of a end of
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 2: fall trip when there's less less people there. Sure, and
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: see the AA. Yeah, Pacific Northwest is on my on
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: my radar, always kind of driven through that area, and
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: I haven't spent any significant time there.
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 2: It's so gorgeous up there, and it's so different from Arizona.
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: I like it. Yeah, I really liked Oregon.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 2: I really, I really like that. Our next stuff that
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 2: we're going to be doing, honestly is is ski camping.
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 2: You know, the roamer same thing, all the heated tanks
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 2: and it's so comfortable and so well insulated. Yeah, you know,
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: and hotels have just gone like insanely expensive that you know,
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 2: a lot of the resorts in New Mexico, some of
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 2: them in Utah and Wyoming and Montana they allow you
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 2: to camp in the parking lot.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 2: So you know, it can be a semi affordable way to.
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: You know, some really nice spots. Well.
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because the challenge for the winner is that we
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 2: live in the place where everybody travels in the winter
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 2: like Arizona, you know, the Southwest, the Low Desert. I mean,
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 2: it's obviously been a warm and dry winter, but for
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 2: so many years we've we've you know, we've gone down
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 2: to the Sonoran Desert, We've gone Baha or you know,
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: southern California, that kind of stuff. I'm just kind of
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 2: trying something different now that we have the ability to.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 2: Keep us in the Greyhound.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: Warm, I love it. Yeah, winter camping is pretty fun
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: for me. I'm just really excited.
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 2: You're you're in the middle of an Africa trip.
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just really excited to finish up this trip.
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: I've got Ethiopia next, and that's become you know, it's
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: a real logistical challenge to get the vehicle in there,
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: but I think I've got it solved. And then into
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: Djibouti to ship the vehicle. But that's a real challenge
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: because of the conflict right now in in in the
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: Red Sea in that region of the world. So who knows,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: like it could be a lot more of a challenge
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: when I finally get there in a couple of weeks,
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: so we'll see. But I'm about ready to go to
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: Morocco and ride the new Dakati, so I'm excited about
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: that too.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: So motorcycle press launchers are usually no joke.
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, There'll be people.
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: Like us that can kind of ride a bike, and
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 2: then there's like some like test rider that you know,
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: at age three was doing backflips.
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm glad that they that those folks exist,
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: because every once in a while you do get someone
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: on a press launch that didn't answer the questions honestly,
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: and there's usually someone that's going to the hospital every
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: press launch. So yeah, you can't fake it. Like yeah,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: for a drive, journalists fake it a lot. They don't
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: actually know how to drive off road, but the cars
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: are so good that they somehow survive.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 2: And they have like the best trainers in the world. Yeah,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 2: telling them five million.
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: Exactly, Whereas on a motorcycle you can't fake it. You
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: got to either ride it or you go to the hospital.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: Heavy bike and sand yeah exactly, So we got there.
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: We have reached out a couple times on the podcast
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: to small businesses to please always reach out to Matt
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: and I. We want to support small businesses in the industry.
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: It's really important. We love seeing people come up with
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: new ideas. So this one's actually kind of fun. It's
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: called radio chatter and it is for when you're going
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: over landing and you you want to, you know, strike
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: up a conversation over the radio, maybe with people that
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: you don't know that well. And it's got it's kind
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: of like you know, the dating cards or whatever, the
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: ones you but it's it's all these different questions. So
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask Matt a couple of questions here, okay, So, okay,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: so this is what other hobbies or activities have you
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: incorporated into your travels?
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 2: Bird watching?
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: Nice, that's right. Ornithology. I like that. It seems like
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: eating became.
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, eating. I don't do the cooking, so yeah, eating,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 2: oh geez. Photography, yeah, always photography. But bird watching is
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 2: the maybe the unexpected one.
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. Okay, And it seems that seems to
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: be a thing with with overlanders. A little bit of ornithology.
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: Another one, all right, here's another one. What piece of
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: gear has been the biggest disappointment for you? Oh?
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 2: I mean should I answer that one? Honestly? Yes? Red
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: ARC red vision system just constantly like something would rattle loose,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 2: So like the little screws that held in the clips,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 2: would something would go or if it was just too
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 2: complicated for that the application. Yeah, so good for a trailer,
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 2: but yeah, maybe constantly. Yeah, I mean they make good
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 2: stuff and now they have like a smaller version. Yeah,
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 2: but you know, there is a period where like every
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 2: like Instagram influencer was putting this like system meant for
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 2: a trailer in the back of their forerunner and then
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 2: you think it's a good idea and it was a
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 2: terrible one. Unequivocally that good.
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so these are pretty cool. Well, I mean, you're
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: it's it's super important that we're always honest about the
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: products that we use. And some companies make great solutions,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: and sometimes the solution does and work out. But this
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: is really clever. So I want to for you do it?
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 2: What hair care products do you use when you overland?
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: No?
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 2: The actually the actual one is what is your go
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 2: to camping area?
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: Oh? My go to camping area in North America? I
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: would say it's southern Utah. I really like, I really
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: do terble actually don't go there, and it's really easy
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: to get there from here. Yeah, and that a neat thing.
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: So so yeah, check out radio chatter, they're on Instagram
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: and all of the things. And then Brian Wilmert, who
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: I've worked with on some projects with GM, he's started
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: another little business making spices. So it's Detroit Barbecue, willie
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: Bees Detroit Barbecue, and it's I've not this is a
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: a an unboxing at the same time, but you know,
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: it's got a cool little, very overlandy looking bag and
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: then you open it up here and it's got a
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of spices. So it's got buy you problems,
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: it's got it's got smoky meat and uh kissing slap,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: it's a whole there's a whole bunch of different barbecue seasonings, uh,
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: in a nice little A.
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 2: Lot of uses for that too, because generally people just
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 2: like don't bring seasonings or anything.
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and it's and it's in a cool little
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: little bag, and it's designed and made by an Overlander
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: that's really passionate about our industry. So nice job on this, Brian.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: So check this out Willie Bee's barbecue like seasoning kit,
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. And then last couple of
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: things here we actually had some comments on on Instagram,
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: and one of them I really wanted to talk about here,
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: and I'm not going to mention his name, but it's important,
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: he says, Hey man, I've been debating on sending you
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: this for a while and I'm not even sure you'll
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: see it, but which we do try to read every
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: comment that we get on Instagram as a DM, but
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for what you do from
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: your podcast to the Overland Journal. This has been This
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: has helped me immensely. For a bit. I was in
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: a pretty dark spot, but I would always try to
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: come back to at least your podcast, and it's helped
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: me continue to push on because of my want to
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: see the world like you have. So once again, thank
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: you for the work and for giving me a goal
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: that I truly want to reach. So, first of all,
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: thank you for reaching out, and I've been able to
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: communicate with him since then. But for those of you
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: that are struggling, if there is anything that Matt and
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: I can do to support you, life can get dark
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: for folks, and there is help. There's people that love you,
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: and so please reach out if there is something that
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: we can do to support you. You know, stay in
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: contact with people in your life, but you know, life
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: can't get challenging.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 2: And I think also just always remember that the world
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 2: that you see people live on the internet is generally
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 2: not their world, right, you know, it's a curative view
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 2: of it, Like.
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, get the highlight reel and it's okay.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 2: It's okay to say that you know you're down or
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 2: you're having some problems like I've gone through that, yeah,
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 2: you know, and talking to people and just being open
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 2: about it helps so much.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we really need to have those people that we
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: trust close to us that we can do that. So
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: and here's another question from Ryan. He says, I love
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: I love his question. I wanted to get some advice
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: from someone with actual experience, if you don't mind, which
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: I mean I do have some actual experience around this
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: topic that he's asking about. But it says I plan
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: to take my first longish overland trip to Baja from
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: Kentucky in my tundra. I hear nothing but amazing things
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: about Baja, and I am super excited to see it
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: for myself. Though my close family and friends who he
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: puts in parentheses have never been there. I think will
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: be kidnapped and skinned alive. It will be just my wife,
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: a dog, and myself. Should I be concerned about traveling
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: to Baja alone so Matt and I can share our
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: personal experiences. I have never had even the smallest issue
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: of any kind in any part of Mexico, including all
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: of mainland, all the way down through the Yucatan and
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: Mexico City and everything else. I mean, I've had to
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: pay some questionable traffic tickets, and I did get extorted
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: a little bit by the police in Mexico City. But
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: I never feared for my life. I never felt like
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: that I was unsafe. But there are some basic principles
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: that you want to employ. It is fine to travel alone.
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: I've done a bunch of solo trips in Baja. But
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: if you're traveling solo, like just you and your family
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: in a vehicle, stick to more traveled routes where you'll
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: come across other travelers. If you have a problem, there's
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: a lot.
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 2: Of people in baj there's a lot of vehicle based
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 2: travelers down there.
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: Bring along something like a spot device or a garment
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: in reach so that you can communicate if you have
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: an issue. If you have a mechanical problem, obviously he's
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: driving a Tundras, so not gonna have any issues at all,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: and then really avoid driving at night and just don't
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: do it. Just don't do it. And it's not because
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: it's like the bandidos come out at night, which is
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: maybe true, but it's more like donkeys in the road,
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: drunks in the road, drunks driving on the highway, cows,
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: and the roads have basically no shoulder, So there's a
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: high degree of risk driving at night, keep the vehicle
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: speed low, drive during the day, don't drive fatigued, and
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: then just have a great time because Baja's wonderful, the
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: food's amazing, the people are amazing.
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I the only time that I've had
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 2: an issue was when I broke my rule and I
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 2: drove at night. And I don't even know if it
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 2: was an issue. I'm not even it felt like an issue.
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 2: Though it felt like an issue, and that was really
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 2: easily avoidable.
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 2: I was trying to drive from south O Loretto to
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 2: north of San Felipe in one day and gas station
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 2: wasn't open, you know, so you have to wait for
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 2: the gas station to be open.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 2: It's it's fine, Like it's like I think that you
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 2: I think that you have to be diligent, you know,
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 2: like I maybe where I do differ on on the
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 2: Mexico thing is, you know, statistically Mexico has some issues. Right,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 2: You're gonna be in an unfamiliar place and you you
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 2: don't need to be paranoid. But I do think that
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 2: it is wise to not place yourself in situations that
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 2: would make you uncomfortable, because you may just get jumpy
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 2: and then provoke something into happening. So if you're uncomfortable
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 2: with the situation, remove yourself from the situation.
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. And then there's routes that are a
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: little bit better. So for example, if you were to
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: stay on the Cia Cortes side, there's a lot more
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: tourist traffic there, There's a lot more tourism infrastructure. It's
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: just kind of a quieter route, especially down through Gonzaga Bay.
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 2: And all that, and that's all paved now. I mean,
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 2: you could way through that one hundred and fifty mile
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 2: an hour. It's it's a good road. You know. Tijuana
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 2: can have some issues, you know, Like I would I
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 2: leave my Earthromer parked overnight in Tijuana?
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: No? Yeah, But then there's so many US cities that,
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: like you wouldn't do that much areas.
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 2: Like I'm from Chicago, Like I wouldn't. There's a lot
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 2: of places there. You know, you're from the East Coast,
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 2: Like there's dangerous places in the East Coast. Yeah, danger
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 2: place in the West coast too.
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: But yeah, So drive during the day, stick to the
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: more traveled routes, and have a bunch of tacos, have
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: a great time, and then reach back out when you
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: do your trip. We'd love to see some photos and
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: share some of your experiences from the adventures. I did
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: get some other questions, but we're going to run out
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: of time today. Please make sure that you reach out
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: to Matt and I if you've got questions or you
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: want to follow up with any or you have suggestions.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: Like we know that we have a lot to learn still,
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: even though we're at like one hundred and eighty episodes now,
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: we have a lot to learn and we want to
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: get better. We want the podcast to get better. I've
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: not always nailed the audio, and I apologize for that.
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: That's not Paula's fault. It's usually me trying to record
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: it someplace in the field, and I've not done a
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: great job of that. So we're continuing to try to
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: improve our audio and uther.
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sometimes it's hard to get overlong travelers into a studio.
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's difficult. It's difficult. So Matt, how do they
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: reach you?
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 2: I'm sporadically on Instagram at Matt Explore yep, and you're
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 2: Scott dot a dot Brady.
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: That's me. So if you guys want to if you
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: guys want to reach out with any questions or comments,
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: and again, small businesses, please reach out. We'd love to
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: work with you. It's really fun for us to see
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: you guys be successful and come up with cool ideas
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: like radio chatter so cool. Well, thanks, Matt, appreciate your time.
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: Awesome year. So now we got twenty twenty four ahead
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: of us. I'm excited. Yeah, and we thank you all
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: for listening and we'll talk to you next time