S&YE168 - Pearl Hits 100K Miles

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Subie and You podcast.

[00:00:29] I'm actually recording this one from my car on my way to work because I was supposed to

[00:00:38] and planning to release an episode on Monday today that I had recorded in person recently.

[00:00:48] But as we know plans can change.

[00:00:51] So I had gone out of town for work up to Flower Mound Texas which is 20 minutes from my girlfriend's

[00:00:59] house and I drove up there on a Monday to after work.

[00:01:06] On a Monday I started driving up there after lunch or right before lunch and I drove up

[00:01:14] there to go to the town council meeting for this project we're working on in Flower Mound

[00:01:18] Texas and I ended up staying up there for until Wednesday evening and then came home

[00:01:29] and now I'm going back to work on a Thursday and I'm going to head back up to Dallas tonight

[00:01:36] because my girlfriend slipped and fell on the last step of like the steps that go up

[00:01:45] to her second floor.

[00:01:47] The bottom step is wooden and she was half awake bringing her dog down from upstairs

[00:01:57] and ended up slipping and both of her feet basically went out from underneath her and

[00:02:04] she landed on her elbow which is really swollen and then also landed on her ribs and so she's

[00:02:13] just been in a lot of pain and since my meeting was 20 minutes from where she lives I decided

[00:02:23] that I needed to stay up there with her and help her out and when I got to her house

[00:02:28] I wasn't expecting to see what I saw.

[00:02:32] I mean she's usually very spry and you know moving around quickly there's times when I'll

[00:02:40] be at her house and she'll like jump out from behind something and scare me because she's

[00:02:45] a prankster but she ended up she was when I got there she was walking very slow and

[00:02:53] it was kind of hard to see her like that because it's not her.

[00:02:58] So I haven't had time to edit the episode for today the one that I was going to release

[00:03:06] because I just I've been I was out of town for work and then I was at her house working

[00:03:14] on Tuesday and or not Tuesday but on Wednesday and then I came home Wednesday night because

[00:03:24] on Thursday today my son has his very last UIL concert and sight reading and so I wasn't

[00:03:32] going to miss that.

[00:03:34] So going back up there tonight and I need to be there for her and help her out because

[00:03:41] she's been in a lot of pain.

[00:03:43] The Subi and you podcast is brought to you by a centric designs for those of you who don't

[00:03:48] know a centric designs is a small community driven business that offers custom fit vinyl

[00:03:53] overlays for most Subaru models.

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[00:04:15] Thankfully nothing was broken she went to go get x-rays and she was surprised that

[00:04:21] nothing was broken because of how hard she fell and falling on the wooden step which

[00:04:27] sucked but thankfully she's nothing's broken but she's just in a lot of pain so I'm

[00:04:33] going to be up there helping her out and you know she need to be there for her so there's

[00:04:41] that of course that's not what this episode is really about I just wanted to give a back

[00:04:47] story as to why I wasn't releasing a normal episode with the guest but it all kind of

[00:04:55] worked out with the timing because on my way up to Flower Mound Texas if you go

[00:05:01] look at my most recent reel on Pearl's page Pearl hit a milestone and she rolled

[00:05:08] over a hundred thousand miles and thankfully I was able to get it on video

[00:05:13] because I wanted to get a photo at least of when it rolled over to ninety

[00:05:20] thousand just to show that like I was really close and I completely forgot but

[00:05:25] I made sure that this time I didn't miss it and I was like I was hoping that I

[00:05:32] wouldn't be like on a really long stretch of highway with no turnouts or

[00:05:39] something because there's there are these access roads that follow along

[00:05:43] Interstate 45 going up from Houston and I ended up not being able to pull off

[00:05:51] on one of those roads and was just on the highway so I said thankfully there was a

[00:05:56] lot of traffic so I was able to just hold my phone in place while I was paying

[00:06:02] attention to driving and was able to capture it rolling over from 99,999 to

[00:06:10] 100,000 miles this episode is brought to you by Subaru gear.com what else

[00:06:17] needs to be said Subaru gear those are two really great words you want your

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[00:07:19] automatically get free shipping thank you so much Subaru Gear.com for

[00:07:23] sponsoring the subie and you podcast so this episode is kind of about Pearl's

[00:07:30] journey to a hundred thousand miles so I remember when I knew that I was going

[00:07:37] to be able to get a new car and I wanted a cross-track for years I just knew from

[00:07:44] early on that my next car was going to be a cross-track so that's what I got

[00:07:49] obviously but I didn't know that buying this car would bring so much more into

[00:07:57] my life and it's been an incredible journey so I remember going looking for

[00:08:04] Pearl because as many of you should know by now Pearl is a manual and there's six

[00:08:11] Houston area dealerships and none of them had a manual cross-track and this was in

[00:08:17] September of 2020 so obviously the 2021s were out and I don't even think that

[00:08:24] looking for 2020 that may be lingering around was an option because since the

[00:08:32] manuals were since there are so few of them I don't even think that would have

[00:08:37] been an option for 2020 but I ended up obviously getting a 2021 but they had to

[00:08:46] search around other Texas area dealerships since none of them in Houston

[00:08:51] had one they found one in McKinney Texas which is actually not too far from

[00:08:58] where my girlfriend lives it's a little bit north of where she lives so my my

[00:09:04] cross-track came from McKinney the salesman ended up driving another cross-track

[00:09:09] up there to trade with that dealership and then drove it back down but it it

[00:09:15] took several days for him to go get it because he was like hey I'm gonna go

[00:09:20] get it tomorrow and then he's like oh you know what I can't make it up

[00:09:24] there's some other stuff going on whatever and then he was supposed to

[00:09:28] go I think the next day and then he couldn't make it and then finally this

[00:09:33] he was like hey I'm going up there today to get it and then he drove it back in

[00:09:40] the same day I think he did maybe drove back that can't remember but anyway

[00:09:44] either way I was just thinking like am I ever actually gonna get this car or is

[00:09:48] he just stalling because he's not able to get it for some reason and so I

[00:09:54] wasn't even excited about the fact that he said he found one really not really

[00:10:00] excited because I was just thinking I'm never gonna get this car because he

[00:10:05] keeps saying that he can't make it up there so finally he makes it up there

[00:10:11] he gets to the dealership and he took a picture of it when he got there so I

[00:10:15] felt better then but even then I'm still like I'm not actually gonna get

[00:10:21] excited until I know that it's here so he brings it back yeah he did go up there

[00:10:29] in one day and back or he went up there and back in one day because he got back

[00:10:34] to the dealership kind of early evening I think there was a still like maybe

[00:10:38] three hours before the dealership closed and he said we won't have it

[00:10:44] ready until tomorrow and I'm just thinking my car is here now like I

[00:10:49] own my car now but you know they needed to prep it and wash it and do some other

[00:10:54] stuff and so I had to wait until the next day which was a Thursday you know of

[00:11:00] course it was worth the wait I mean it was worth the wait for several years

[00:11:04] since I've been wanting one for a while as humans we are born curious we have a

[00:11:10] basic need to explore our world push boundaries and overcome obstacles we

[00:11:16] seek adventure scale the peak catch the wave fly down the mountain conquer the

[00:11:23] trail the goal is to get off the beaten path and enjoy the great outdoors how we

[00:11:31] arrive at our destination is in itself a part of the adventure rica vs outfits

[00:11:37] your vehicle with wheels and lift kits that enhance your driving experience

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[00:11:50] experience new adventures and discover extraordinary destinations the quest for

[00:11:56] adventure begins with you and rica is what gets you there be sure to use the

[00:12:01] code SUBI U10 at checkout to get 10% off a set of wheels or a lift kit thank

[00:12:07] you so much rica vs for sponsoring the subi and you podcast so the other

[00:12:12] thing too is I asked them to tent the front windows because from the factory the

[00:12:18] two rear windows and the back you know the hatch is is tinted like the glass is

[00:12:24] and the tent is in the glass and the two front windows are not tinted so I

[00:12:30] asked them to tent the windows when when it got back to the dealership but

[00:12:35] when he got up there the dealership in mckinney tinted the windows so I

[00:12:39] basically got free tent which was nice so anyway so I get to get to the dealership

[00:12:45] on Thursday go through the transaction took my first picture with my car and

[00:12:52] I and then that's when the journey started because you know I started can

[00:12:59] I had already connected with some people on my personal page and but still

[00:13:04] really had no idea that there was like this whole community out there and yeah

[00:13:10] so then I started a I started a page for pearl I think maybe two or three days

[00:13:16] later after I got her if it was even that long and like many people I've

[00:13:23] heard say you know they didn't even think that anybody would like like

[00:13:31] their photos you know if you're posting a car is completely stock who's gonna

[00:13:35] who's gonna want to like that you know who's gonna care that you're posting

[00:13:39] photos of your stock car but of course I found out very quickly that that's not

[00:13:44] the case that people do care and so I started connecting with a lot of you

[00:13:50] out there and few months later I decided to have the idea for the

[00:13:56] podcast and put a little teaser post up on Pearl's page about the podcast and

[00:14:06] and then started you know just kind of exploring and connecting with even more

[00:14:12] people and starting to see what I could do with Pearl it was nice because

[00:14:17] like after I'd gotten it I picked up my son from school one day and I don't

[00:14:22] even know if I told him out I think maybe I told him I was getting the car

[00:14:25] but he was the first one to ride in it because I picked him up from school and

[00:14:28] then that's that weekend I think it was the weekend after I got Pearl or maybe

[00:14:34] the following weekend I can't remember exactly but very quickly I ended up

[00:14:39] going up to my girlfriend's house for the first time and Pearl and she was

[00:14:45] really excited for me because she had a lot to do with me getting this car

[00:14:50] not just you know support for me getting a new car but she was a big help in

[00:14:56] getting it so I'm forever grateful to her for this journey and she also wrote in

[00:15:04] it of course and she drove it too and she said she hadn't driven a manual

[00:15:09] in like 20 years so when she got behind the wheel she did just fine I mean

[00:15:17] she drove it like she'd always been driving a manual so she didn't have any

[00:15:21] issues I think she even drove it better than I did when I first drove it and so

[00:15:27] she did a good job with it of course it was also really cool being able to take

[00:15:32] my girlfriend and her daughter off-road that was that was a lot of fun because

[00:15:37] I was up in visiting her one weekend and there's a park that's maybe 45

[00:15:44] minutes from where she lives I don't remember exactly how far it is something

[00:15:48] like that but went up there and had a couple of pretty good mud puddles it

[00:15:54] was actually that's the muddiest that Pearl has ever been is when I took it

[00:15:59] to that park and we drove around through there and I just like the mud

[00:16:04] puddle was like really mucky so it's kind of fun but I didn't I didn't want

[00:16:10] to go through it too fast because there was a lot of rocks underneath the mud and

[00:16:16] and it was very uneven so because I had gone through it kind of fast at one

[00:16:21] point and Pearl jumped around a lot and I hit the skid plates and you know just

[00:16:27] from it dropping into the mud in some spots and so I had to be careful but

[00:16:34] there was that was a fun little park and I'd like to go back at some point but

[00:16:40] it's pretty far away from what's pretty far away from where I live but at some

[00:16:44] point I'd like to go back with her and her daughter again and I don't know maybe

[00:16:49] meet up with some other people if I can but yeah that was a fun park it was a

[00:16:54] fun experience and it was fun showing her why I enjoy this car so much and

[00:17:02] you know why we all enjoy these cars so much so she got to see and feel what it's

[00:17:08] like to go off-road and why it's so fun and going through the mud and so we had

[00:17:14] her we had a really good time this episode is brought to you by Melee

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[00:18:03] can use the code SUBI plus you at checkout to receive 5% off your purchase.

[00:18:10] Thank you so much Melee Design Firm for sponsoring the SUBI and you podcast.

[00:18:15] So then you know just started connecting with more people decided to

[00:18:20] see what this car could do and took it to an off-road park here in Houston that

[00:18:25] had has a lot of sand and I had I saw somebody get stuck in sand that had

[00:18:34] all terrain tires and they had also aired down and they still got stuck.

[00:18:40] And so when I was driving around in this park driving through the

[00:18:44] sand after having seen that I was kind of a little worried, but then

[00:18:48] also like I just have to do it.

[00:18:51] So I didn't go too far into the park.

[00:18:54] Of course it was completely stuck.

[00:18:56] The guy at the gate kind of looked at my car like,

[00:18:59] you sure you want to bring that in here?

[00:19:01] And I asked him if he thought it would be okay.

[00:19:05] And he said that, you know, I've been told not to turn anybody away.

[00:19:09] And he said that a Mercedes all-wheel drive had been in there

[00:19:14] like the previous weekend and said that, you know, it was stock.

[00:19:19] Said the guy, you know, whoever was in it did totally fine in the park.

[00:19:24] So that made me feel better.

[00:19:27] But yeah, I just wanted to see what it was like to drive this car off the road.

[00:19:33] I mean, that was the whole point of getting this car was because

[00:19:36] I wanted the ability to go off-road.

[00:19:38] So I did.

[00:19:40] I had to pay for it, of course, but it was worth it.

[00:19:43] So, you know, then just started connecting with more and more people,

[00:19:46] started the podcast.

[00:19:48] And, you know, that was a big help too, because I wasn't able to afford mods

[00:19:54] and not anything big in any way, not anything other than decals.

[00:19:59] And which my first decals were from Orsini vinyl and designs.

[00:20:04] I got the Save the Manuals decal and the World is Flat decal.

[00:20:10] And so that's what I started off with.

[00:20:13] Then, of course, I connected with Jen with eccentric designs and ended up

[00:20:19] getting some decals from her and, you know, just started a personalized pearl

[00:20:25] and make her look a little bit different.

[00:20:28] And then, of course, Jen ended up being my first guest

[00:20:31] because we had been communicating so much and it just seemed to make sense.

[00:20:35] And then I connected with a lot of amazing people who ended up helping me out

[00:20:42] with my first mods for Pearl because they all came together

[00:20:48] and pitched in some money together.

[00:20:50] It started to go fund me.

[00:20:52] And that was how I got my first set of wheels and tires.

[00:20:57] That's how I got my first awning.

[00:21:00] That's how I got my roof rack.

[00:21:02] And so I'm just forever grateful for a group of people that came together.

[00:21:10] And then, of course, you know, starting to get some of the brands on the podcast.

[00:21:14] I had Primitive Racing on and Primitive Racing gave me a full set of skid plates,

[00:21:20] which was extremely generous of them.

[00:21:23] And so forever grateful for that.

[00:21:27] And then, of course, over time, I ended up getting the Spider No Drill roof rack

[00:21:31] after I had Tiger on and then forever grateful for RICO Wheels

[00:21:38] for sponsoring the podcast and for setting me up with an awesome set of T-tons.

[00:21:45] And then Melee Design Firm, they've been amazing.

[00:21:48] Mitch is such a great guy and he's been very helpful.

[00:21:52] You know, I have quite a few Melee products on Pearl, most of which I bought.

[00:21:58] And but I'm thankful for the battery box that he set me up with with the podcast logo.

[00:22:05] That was that was very nice and generous of him.

[00:22:09] And it's just been an incredible journey.

[00:22:10] But, you know, I bought Pearl because I wanted the ability to go off road.

[00:22:16] And my first off-roading trip was in Colorado, which was super, super awesome

[00:22:24] to drove out there, met up with Juan and Chris.

[00:22:27] Of course, Juan previous, sad to see it go Java wagon.

[00:22:33] And then Chris, who goes by shadow roof, they were extremely wonderful hosts

[00:22:39] and showed me and my kids around.

[00:22:42] They took us to some trails off road right behind Garden of the Gods.

[00:22:46] And that was really, really nice.

[00:22:50] And ended up getting Pearl's in a situation where I got a little high centered,

[00:22:55] but was able to get her out.

[00:22:57] I was trying to go over this little mound and on the other side was

[00:23:03] spot where my bumper was hitting.

[00:23:04] And I could have sent it probably, but I think it would have popped my whole

[00:23:08] bumper off because both Chris and Juan with lifts, they ended up hitting their bumpers.

[00:23:14] So Pearl would have not been.

[00:23:19] She would have been messed up a little bit if I would have sent it,

[00:23:22] but that was the only spot that I had any trouble with.

[00:23:25] And then the next day they took us to some awesome trails and let my son drive Pearl

[00:23:30] for the first time off road.

[00:23:32] So he enjoyed that.

[00:23:34] And then Juan and Chris just took us around all these trails.

[00:23:38] So that was my first off road experience going out to Colorado.

[00:23:42] And it was a lot of fun.

[00:23:44] And so she got some pretty good miles on her really early on and then ended up

[00:23:52] driven up to Madison, Wisconsin for Subaru Flatfest.

[00:23:56] That was quite the adventure.

[00:23:58] I mean, it was just such a long drive to get up there,

[00:24:02] driving up there by myself.

[00:24:04] I mean, it took me two days to get up there because it was 1,100 miles,

[00:24:07] just one way to go to Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:24:11] And then, you know, I had gotten the Spider No Drill Roof Rack on because I wanted

[00:24:17] to showcase it at Subaru Flatfest for anybody that might be interested

[00:24:23] in getting one of the racks.

[00:24:25] And I think I was the only car there that had a Spider No Drill Roof Rack.

[00:24:31] And so the adventure, I mean, it was it was great meeting

[00:24:35] Jen for the first time, meeting Patrick from Orbis Overlanding,

[00:24:38] meeting John from Star Cal Nation.

[00:24:43] Of course, I met Jay, Audio File and I had met him before he and his wife,

[00:24:49] Chris, and I met a lot of other great people too.

[00:24:52] While I was up there, I met Scott Speed and got some people on the microphone

[00:24:57] when I did my bonus episode.

[00:24:59] But it also went on the off-road course and Campton Pearl for the first

[00:25:05] time with my Lunomatris.

[00:25:08] And I mean, that was all great.

[00:25:10] It was all an adventure, but the adventure didn't start until my second

[00:25:15] day driving home when I left from Arkansas to drive back home.

[00:25:20] And I was driving through a thunderstorm and saw that I felt something

[00:25:28] dripping on my leg.

[00:25:30] And I looked up in the little aid pillar here next to the driver.

[00:25:35] There was there's like a fabric kind of material and it was damp and it

[00:25:42] was dripping water on me.

[00:25:44] And I looked over at the other side on the passenger side and it was

[00:25:47] damp too.

[00:25:49] And I was like, what the heck is going on?

[00:25:51] And because I was told to put a lot of sealant on the around where the

[00:26:01] where the roof rack bolts to the roof.

[00:26:03] And I thought I put a lot, like I thought it was excessive what I was

[00:26:06] putting on, but apparently it wasn't enough because it was also leaking

[00:26:10] in the backs.

[00:26:12] And so I pulled over into a gas station, got some paper towels, tried

[00:26:16] to, you know, sop up as much of the water that was on the fabric as I

[00:26:21] could at least, you know, because I didn't know where it was going down

[00:26:25] into.

[00:26:25] I didn't know like where that water was traveling to because it was

[00:26:29] getting on the floorboards in the front because it was running down

[00:26:32] the A pillars and down inside and out.

[00:26:35] And so, but I was looking at this storm on the, uh, like the

[00:26:41] weather app and the storm was just hovering over this highway that I

[00:26:47] had, that was like the direction to get home.

[00:26:51] And it's, it wasn't moving.

[00:26:52] It's like it just kept, it kept just swarming around in one spot.

[00:26:57] And it was a huge storm, not like one of these long bands that

[00:27:01] just passes by and is gone in like, you know, 20 or 30 minutes.

[00:27:07] I mean, this storm was humongous and it just kept hovering over the highway.

[00:27:13] And so my thought was like, well, I'm just going to go straight south

[00:27:17] away from it and then go west when I get down for a farther enough

[00:27:23] past the storm.

[00:27:24] But of course, looking at it on the map, you know, it looks

[00:27:27] like you're going to be able to make it and slowly over time as

[00:27:32] I'm going south and not getting rained on, thankfully.

[00:27:36] The storm was slowly, slowly moving towards me.

[00:27:41] And so I ended up getting into the storm anyway.

[00:27:45] And I kept pulling over into gas stations, parking under the

[00:27:48] canopies, waiting and waiting and waiting for the storm to pass

[00:27:52] and for it to slow down.

[00:27:54] But I ended up having to eventually just move on and just keep going.

[00:28:01] So I decided to just go.

[00:28:06] Thankfully, it wasn't raining that hard, but it was a constant steady rain

[00:28:09] and it was relatively light.

[00:28:13] And it was light enough that I think it was just a really heavy rain

[00:28:17] that was forcing the water down into the into the roof and down

[00:28:23] into the pillars and stuff.

[00:28:25] And so because it was a lighter rain, it didn't end up seeping in.

[00:28:31] But it ended up taking me 16 hours to drive home when it should

[00:28:35] have only taken nine hours.

[00:28:37] So I think I got home at like two thirty in the morning and I

[00:28:40] should have gotten home at like, I don't know, ten o'clock

[00:28:43] or something like that.

[00:28:44] I can't remember exactly maybe midnight.

[00:28:46] I don't remember.

[00:28:47] But it was a long, long journey.

[00:28:50] And it was.

[00:28:53] But yeah, I mean, that's definitely the longest I've ever driven

[00:28:56] in a single day.

[00:28:58] So that was that was quite a quite an adventure.

[00:29:02] And you know, just other places going off road with Pearl.

[00:29:06] I've been out to Bastrop several times with some people from

[00:29:10] Mountain Route, Texas, some people from the Houston area.

[00:29:13] Shout out West Side ish crew.

[00:29:16] And I've been to Arkansas a few times and was able

[00:29:22] to finally find a spot to go off roading when I was out there

[00:29:26] because my daughter was going to school in Arkansas.

[00:29:29] But I was I knew that there had to be something up there,

[00:29:32] but I never really went to explore to try to find anything.

[00:29:37] And one day my son and I were driving around

[00:29:41] and ended up seeing this heavily modded

[00:29:46] Jeep. I can't remember what the truck Jeeps are called,

[00:29:49] but it was pretty heavily modified Jeep.

[00:29:51] And I'm like, you know what?

[00:29:52] I'm just going to follow this guy and see if he pulls into a gas station

[00:29:56] somewhere or something.

[00:29:57] And if he does, I'm going to ask him if there are any trails.

[00:30:00] And so I did.

[00:30:02] He pulled into this little gas station and I went up to him

[00:30:07] and, you know, I mean, I kind of felt awkward,

[00:30:09] but at the same time not because it's not like I was just driving

[00:30:13] some regular car asking about off road trails,

[00:30:16] but went up to his window and said, hey, you know,

[00:30:20] just out here visiting.

[00:30:22] I'm trying to find some trails.

[00:30:23] Do you know of any?

[00:30:25] And he told me where some trails were.

[00:30:28] And my son and I ended up finding them.

[00:30:30] He gave good directions.

[00:30:31] We were able to find him and we were out there driving around for a while.

[00:30:36] And then Luke got to drive Pearl, too, in some, you know, better terrain

[00:30:41] than what he did in Colorado

[00:30:44] because he was mostly on the flat parts in Colorado.

[00:30:47] But here there was a little more terrain for him to traverse

[00:30:50] and kind of get the experience of driving, you know, off

[00:30:54] because he experienced some wheel slippage, which is pretty cool

[00:30:58] because there were some spots that were kind of gravelly.

[00:31:01] And so there was that.

[00:31:03] And then where else have I been?

[00:31:06] I've been to.

[00:31:09] Oh, I've been to driven to Austin.

[00:31:10] Well, I mean, Bastrop is on the way to Austin.

[00:31:14] I'm driven to San Antonio and so I mean, I haven't driven off road

[00:31:21] in too many places, unfortunately, because there's not a whole lot around here.

[00:31:26] But I did put in over 100,000 miles in less than four years

[00:31:33] because I just drive a lot.

[00:31:35] I mean, of course, driving up to Madison, Wisconsin, driving to Colorado,

[00:31:40] driving to Austin and San Antonio, those trips have put miles, you know,

[00:31:45] and driving to Arkansas several times.

[00:31:48] All of those trips have put, you know, a decent amount of miles on Pearl

[00:31:53] and of course, driving back and forth to Dallas to go see Kelly.

[00:31:57] That's put on a lot of miles.

[00:31:59] But really the majority of my miles have come from the Houston area

[00:32:05] just because I drive a lot.

[00:32:08] There's I don't know how many miles it is, but I'm about 30 minutes from downtown

[00:32:13] and me and Lou go downtown quite a bit because we just like to go down there

[00:32:18] and look at the buildings.

[00:32:19] Sometimes he'll go down there and take photos

[00:32:22] and, you know, we just like walking around downtown.

[00:32:25] It's it's it's I don't know.

[00:32:28] It's something he enjoys doing.

[00:32:29] I enjoy doing.

[00:32:31] But then we'll drive other places around the Houston area like,

[00:32:34] hey, let's go check this out.

[00:32:36] Let's go check that out.

[00:32:37] And we just drive.

[00:32:39] And then sometimes I'll head out on my lunch break for a drive

[00:32:43] just because I want to get out of my apartment

[00:32:47] and I want to drive my car

[00:32:49] because I absolutely love driving my car.

[00:32:54] As many of you, I'm sure do too.

[00:32:57] It's just something about these cars in general,

[00:33:01] especially if you're an enthusiast and especially if it's

[00:33:05] somebody who mods their car, you know, it's just something that we enjoy doing.

[00:33:09] There's something about being in these cars.

[00:33:13] And of course, being a manual, I I love driving a manual.

[00:33:18] And so it I've never tired of driving a manual.

[00:33:25] And even though I have to drive into the office more now than I did before,

[00:33:30] I don't really get into too much traffic.

[00:33:32] So I'm not in a bunch of rush hour traffic that often.

[00:33:36] And even when I am in traffic, it doesn't bother me.

[00:33:39] It's not that bad.

[00:33:41] But I just I mean, I absolutely love driving a manual.

[00:33:45] I love driving this car.

[00:33:47] And above all else, you know, I've loved connecting with so many people.

[00:33:54] And I'm thankful that because of the podcast,

[00:33:57] I've been able to meet a lot of people.

[00:34:00] I mean, I've met

[00:34:02] now it's got to be close to 60 people that I've had on the podcast I've met in person.

[00:34:07] But just meeting people going up to Subaru Flat Fest,

[00:34:11] meeting people going out to Subifest, California

[00:34:15] when I met some people going out to Boxer Fest back in 2021.

[00:34:22] I think yeah, 2021 and then Subifest, Texas

[00:34:27] and the big event here in Houston,

[00:34:30] you know, being able to go out and set up a booth

[00:34:34] and a lot of these places, you know, I've been able to meet a lot of people.

[00:34:39] And so it's just it's been a pretty incredible journey.

[00:34:42] And I'm thankful for all the people that I've connected with.

[00:34:47] I'm thankful for the friendships that I've made.

[00:34:50] And it's nice to

[00:34:53] it's nice to know that there's this great community out there of people that

[00:34:57] love these cars as just as much as the next person.

[00:35:01] And the just the amount of support to

[00:35:04] the amount of support that we all get and give from each other is pretty amazing.

[00:35:10] And, you know, it's just been like

[00:35:13] it's just been an incredible journey.

[00:35:15] And I'm so thankful for having bought this car because of what

[00:35:21] buying this car has brought into my life.

[00:35:24] And, you know, it's given me the opportunity to meet a lot of amazing people.

[00:35:31] It gave me the thought to do the podcast,

[00:35:35] which I know so many people enjoy listening to.

[00:35:39] And it's just I'm thankful for all of it.

[00:35:43] And, you know, I've it's helped to bring some great things into my kids' lives, too.

[00:35:49] I was able to drive my kids out to Colorado and give them an amazing off-road experience.

[00:35:54] They got to drive Java wagon and they got to drive shadow roof.

[00:35:59] And so, you know, they got to experience some pretty awesome off-road

[00:36:06] trails and meeting a couple of amazing guys.

[00:36:10] And so it's been it's been an incredible journey.

[00:36:14] So now that I'm over a hundred thousand miles,

[00:36:19] you know, it's getting a little getting a little nervous about driving at longer distances.

[00:36:25] But she still drives fine.

[00:36:28] I mean, I haven't had any major issues.

[00:36:31] It was about eighty eight thousand miles.

[00:36:33] I had the fluids flushed.

[00:36:37] I have my spark plugs changed and some other work done.

[00:36:42] But so I don't know, you know, I'll have to get it checked out again at some point soon

[00:36:49] just to make sure everything's OK.

[00:36:51] Make sure everything underneath is OK and keep going.

[00:36:55] I want to see how many miles I can get.

[00:36:58] Plus, I when I bought Pearl, I needed it to be affordable.

[00:37:05] And so I got a pretty long loan.

[00:37:09] But I, you know, at the time, I couldn't really do anything more.

[00:37:15] And so I still have quite a while before I pay her off and I'm over a hundred thousand miles.

[00:37:22] So I just have to hope that everything will be OK.

[00:37:24] But hey, it's a Subaru.

[00:37:27] So I know people that have, I mean, when I went out to

[00:37:33] when I went out to Lake Tahoe and hung out with Colby,

[00:37:38] he said that he has two hundred and twenty thousand miles, I believe, on his cross track.

[00:37:42] He has a two thousand thirteen years and oh, gee, first gen cross track.

[00:37:47] And he has over two hundred and about two hundred and twenty thousand miles.

[00:37:51] And then I know other people that have some pretty high mileage on their Subaru's.

[00:37:58] So I'm confident that Pearl will keep going for quite a while,

[00:38:03] as long as I take care of her and, you know, she'll be she'll be keep going.

[00:38:10] And I don't I don't know that I would trust another car

[00:38:14] to drive long distances with this high mileage.

[00:38:18] But I mean, I know people do it.

[00:38:20] So we'll see. But.

[00:38:23] Huge, huge thank you to everybody for all of your support with Pearl

[00:38:28] and with, you know, helping out with the build

[00:38:33] and just for connecting and, you know, all the conversations I've had with people.

[00:38:39] And my DMs are pretty deep.

[00:38:42] I mean, I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of people.

[00:38:45] And, you know, it's been pretty amazing how everybody just comes together and, you know.

[00:38:52] So thank you all so much.

[00:38:55] I really, really appreciate all the support.

[00:38:57] And we will see where the journey goes from here.

[00:39:02] I'd like to find some more places to go off road.

[00:39:06] Maybe we've got cheeseburger loop out here, but it's beautiful up there.

[00:39:10] But it's just a gravel road and it's flat.

[00:39:13] So I need to head out west at some point to West Texas

[00:39:16] because there's the Texas Overland Trail, which I've been on,

[00:39:20] which again is just gravel, but at least it's hilly out there.

[00:39:24] And it's really pretty.

[00:39:25] So I need to go out there again and then there's also James River Road,

[00:39:31] which has a pretty nice water crossing.

[00:39:34] And I've heard that trail is really nice.

[00:39:37] So but it's like three and a half hours away.

[00:39:39] So it's not like it's just easy to get over there.

[00:39:43] So, you know, there's a lot of places in Texas that are good

[00:39:48] for getting some nice scenery and some pretty decent off-roading.

[00:39:53] It's just so far.

[00:39:55] So we'll just have to keep going back to Bastrop

[00:39:59] as long as it is around, as long as they don't take it away from us

[00:40:04] and because that Bastrop is only an hour and a half away.

[00:40:07] So we'll be in good shape there

[00:40:11] if it sticks around because they're starting to

[00:40:13] looks like they're starting to build some homes in there finally.

[00:40:17] So anyway, thanks again.

[00:40:19] I hope you all have a great week.

[00:40:22] And the episode that I was supposed to put out today will come out next Monday

[00:40:27] because I'll actually have time to edit it this week.

[00:40:30] And so, yeah, much Subi love.

[00:40:33] Raph.

[00:40:36] The Subi New Podcast is hosted by Raphael and a closet in Houston

[00:40:40] produced by Raphael in a room next to the closet in Houston

[00:40:43] and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the closet

[00:40:47] in Houston with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

[00:40:52] You can find the Subi New Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts,

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[00:40:59] To support the podcast, please head over to Patreon.com

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[00:41:20] That's all for this week.

[00:41:22] Tune in Mondays for new episodes.