S&YE173 - Crosstrek Adventures

[00:00:00] Hey, this is Sean and you can find me on Instagram at Cross Trek Adventures.

[00:00:17] You are listening to Episode 173 of the Subie New Podcast.

[00:00:22] Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Subie New Podcast.

[00:00:26] Hope you all had a great weekend and hope you all had a great Mother's Day for those

[00:00:31] of you that are mothers and for those of you who were able to celebrate with your

[00:00:36] mothers.

[00:00:37] I'm here with my mother's house with my children and we had a good time over there

[00:00:41] just chilling out and spending time with her because that's really all she wanted from

[00:00:47] Mother's Day is to have fun and have some time with her children and her grandchildren.

[00:00:52] So that's what we did.

[00:00:54] So as you just heard, we have Sean on the podcast.

[00:00:57] He goes by Cross Trek Adventures.

[00:01:00] So we'll hear all about his build here in a little bit and hear about his Subaru

[00:01:05] adventures and of course his Cross Trek Adventures because he's got a very clever

[00:01:12] Instagram handle and it's very fitting.

[00:01:16] The Subie and You podcast is brought to you by Ascentric Designs.

[00:01:20] For those of you who don't know, Ascentric Designs is a small, community-driven business

[00:01:24] that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.

[00:01:28] This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, tail lights and side tail

[00:01:32] lights.

[00:01:33] They also offer fun, detailed designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers.

[00:01:37] To find designs for your Subie, head on over to AscentricDesigns.com.

[00:01:42] There's always more projects in the works so be sure to follow at Ascentric.designs

[00:01:46] on Instagram.

[00:01:48] As always, thank you so much, Ascentric Designs, for sponsoring the Subie and You

[00:01:51] podcast and if you have not done so, go check out her Instagram page and her

[00:01:56] website and see what she has to offer for your Subaru.

[00:02:00] So I have another Apple podcast rating and this one just so happens to have come from

[00:02:07] Sean who is on the podcast today because when we were on his episode, we were taught...

[00:02:13] I think I don't remember if it was during the episode or afterwards but I asked him where

[00:02:17] he listens to the podcast and he said on Apple podcast and I asked him if he had

[00:02:22] written a review yet and he said he had not and he would do it that night and he

[00:02:27] did.

[00:02:28] So he said, incredible.

[00:02:31] One of the best podcasts out.

[00:02:32] I love listening while on my way to work and hearing about everybody's Subaru journey.

[00:02:37] That's all of you people who have been on.

[00:02:40] Definitely worth a listen.

[00:02:42] Thank you so much Sean for your review.

[00:02:45] I really, really appreciate it.

[00:02:47] There have been 99 ratings so if...

[00:02:51] Which doesn't necessarily mean that somebody wrote a review but you can just tap to

[00:02:56] rate and it's five out of five stars.

[00:03:00] So thank you all so much for that but if you listen to the podcast through Apple

[00:03:05] podcast and you have not rated the podcast yet, please go do so and let's get to a

[00:03:10] hundred ratings and if you're able to also please write a review.

[00:03:16] So thank you all so much for those that have rated and written a review.

[00:03:20] I really, really appreciate it.

[00:03:23] This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com.

[00:03:27] You know that place where you can go and purchase all sorts of Subaru branded merchandise

[00:03:35] and you can get stuff for babies and kids.

[00:03:38] There's earth conscious gear, vintage stuff for the wilderness.

[00:03:43] Also give back brands and you've got apparel, stuff for your pets, all sorts of items

[00:03:50] that you can choose from at SubaruGear.com.

[00:03:53] So go check it out and see what they have to offer on this really great site

[00:03:59] and rep your favorite car brand and just show off your Subaru Pride.

[00:04:04] You can use the code SUBI and you 24 to get 20% off your purchase

[00:04:10] and if your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, then you automatically get free shipping.

[00:04:18] Thank you so much SubaruGear.com for sponsoring the Subi and you podcast

[00:04:22] and extending this great offer to all the listeners of the Subi and you podcast.

[00:04:27] I don't know why it is that I always go down on a low note and kind of go like that

[00:04:31] whenever I finish up a sentence.

[00:04:33] That's just the way that I talk, but I noticed that I do that at the end

[00:04:38] of one of my statements and I don't know.

[00:04:41] It's just part of who I am and what I do like right now.

[00:04:45] See him going lower.

[00:04:47] We have another patron question of the week and this one comes from Alex,

[00:04:51] who goes by black on black S J F X T.

[00:04:56] And he asks favorite cookie and I this is not this is not one that I had to think

[00:05:02] about that was I already knew that pretty quickly.

[00:05:05] A few years ago, my daughter made some homemade snickerdoodle cookies

[00:05:11] and I'm sure I probably had one before that.

[00:05:15] And I don't know, maybe it was because my daughter made them and so it was kind of

[00:05:18] like made with love, you know, but those cookies were so good.

[00:05:24] And so ever since then, snickerdoodles have been my favorite cookie.

[00:05:29] My favorite cookie used to be it's kind of switched over the years,

[00:05:33] but I used to really love chocolate chip cookies for a really long time.

[00:05:38] But I've also like as a kid, I loved peanut butter cookies.

[00:05:42] But now snickerdoodles all the way.

[00:05:45] I absolutely love snickerdoodles are so, so good.

[00:05:48] So thank you so much, Alex for your question.

[00:05:52] I hope you like my answer.

[00:05:54] This episode is brought to you by Raika V S.

[00:05:57] They are committed to providing you with the highest quality,

[00:06:00] specialized wheels and lift kits that will allow you to travel further,

[00:06:05] experience new adventures and discover extraordinary destinations.

[00:06:10] They want to make sure that you are ready for anything wherever adventure takes you.

[00:06:15] Their flow form process creates both lightweight and durable wheels,

[00:06:19] which are of the highest quality and are built to satisfy the requirements

[00:06:24] of all of you adventure enthusiasts.

[00:06:26] The quest for adventure begins with you and Raika is what gets you there.

[00:06:31] By the way, if you didn't know if this is your first time hearing of Raika

[00:06:35] or if you're just hearing of them a little bit,

[00:06:38] maybe you've heard about them some, they were on the podcast on Episode 48.

[00:06:43] So if you haven't checked that out, I highly recommend going to check out

[00:06:46] Episode 48 and hearing their story.

[00:06:49] It's a really, really good company, really good people, awesome wheels.

[00:06:54] And when you select your wheels,

[00:06:57] you can use the code SUBIU10 at checkout to get 10% off a set of wheels

[00:07:03] or a lift kit.

[00:07:04] Thank you so much, Raika for sponsoring the SUBI and you podcast.

[00:07:08] This is going to be a very quiet week because my son was able to exempt

[00:07:15] all of his exams, so he only has to go to school one day this week.

[00:07:21] He has to go on Thursday because they've got some stuff that he has to do at

[00:07:25] the school and then there's stuff for seniors.

[00:07:27] They have like some kind of field day or something.

[00:07:30] So I'm sure he's excited about being done with high school.

[00:07:34] I know he's going to miss marching band, which I'm really, really going to

[00:07:38] miss that too. And I know he will miss his friends, but he said he asked one

[00:07:43] of his friends or one of his friends something said something in one of

[00:07:47] the classes and was like, yeah, high school was great except for the

[00:07:51] school part. But I know it can be like that for a lot of people.

[00:07:55] And it definitely was for me.

[00:07:58] So it'll, it'll all be very bitter sweet because my daughter

[00:08:03] was went through high school and then she got out and then now my son is

[00:08:07] going to be out. So time is just moving on.

[00:08:10] And sometimes that's great.

[00:08:12] And sometimes it's not so great, but for those of you with children in

[00:08:16] high school, I'm there with you.

[00:08:19] I feel you.

[00:08:20] This episode is brought to you by Melee Design Firm, where they

[00:08:23] believe that making the best performance parts from the highest

[00:08:26] quality materials is the only way to operate.

[00:08:30] So to see what they have to offer, just go to MeleeDesignFirm.com and

[00:08:34] browse their website.

[00:08:36] They have a section for Subaru.

[00:08:37] They have a section for RallySpec.

[00:08:39] And in the RallySpec and Subaru section, if you use the code

[00:08:45] subi plus you, you can get 5% off of your purchase.

[00:08:50] So thank you so much Melee Design Firm for sponsoring this

[00:08:54] subi and you podcast.

[00:08:55] And now we will get into this episode with Sean, aka Cross Trek

[00:09:00] Adventures and hear about his Subaru journey and his Cross Trek

[00:09:05] adventures.

[00:09:06] So here we go.

[00:09:19] Awesome.

[00:09:20] Hey, it's great to have you on Sean.

[00:09:22] Welcome to the podcast.

[00:09:23] Thank you.

[00:09:24] I'm glad to finally be on this and chat with you.

[00:09:27] Yeah.

[00:09:28] I think it'll be fun and you've got a lot of stuff going

[00:09:31] on.

[00:09:31] So I think you've got some pretty cool stuff to share.

[00:09:34] Absolutely.

[00:09:35] So I guess the first question and the most important one is

[00:09:38] do you prefer waffles or pancakes?

[00:09:42] You know, that's actually a funny question.

[00:09:44] So my wife and I love to go out to brunch and my goat too

[00:09:49] is always chicken and waffles.

[00:09:51] But when it comes to breakfast, pancakes all day.

[00:09:54] Okay.

[00:09:55] Good.

[00:09:56] Good.

[00:09:56] I like that answer.

[00:09:57] Finally, somebody with pancakes.

[00:09:58] I'm like a huge pancake person.

[00:09:59] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:10:00] Good.

[00:10:01] That's awesome.

[00:10:02] You hear that waffle people?

[00:10:06] Oh, that's awesome.

[00:10:07] So I guess the next question is, you know, you've got your

[00:10:10] orange cross-trick, but is this your first Subaru?

[00:10:14] This is my first Subaru.

[00:10:15] Oh, nice.

[00:10:17] Yeah, it has been the coolest experience owning this thing.

[00:10:21] And I'm so glad to pull the trigger and bought it.

[00:10:24] Yeah.

[00:10:25] So what made you like what you got?

[00:10:27] Bah, let me rephrase it.

[00:10:29] What got you interested in Subaru in the first place?

[00:10:32] And then like why a cross-track?

[00:10:35] I think I've always been a fan of the all-wheel drive

[00:10:38] platform in general.

[00:10:40] I'm originally a Honda person, you know, growing up in my

[00:10:43] teen years, my twenties, I was definitely into Hondas.

[00:10:46] And as I've aged, I have grown or I've found more

[00:10:52] interest in outdoors, going to the snow.

[00:10:54] I absolutely love going to the snow.

[00:10:58] And then I saw a cross-track.

[00:10:59] It was a first gen and I was like, what the heck is this thing?

[00:11:03] I've not seen a crop this before.

[00:11:04] Yeah, that was the exact response I had when I first saw one.

[00:11:08] I was like, what is that?

[00:11:10] Yeah, it was I was like, OK, it's not.

[00:11:12] It's it just looks so unique and just stock.

[00:11:16] It looked like I could have some fun with it and go places

[00:11:18] that you know, a typical car might not be able to.

[00:11:22] So I that right there, right off the bat, I love the snowboard.

[00:11:26] And so just having like just being stuck and having that

[00:11:30] extra ground clearance and Subaru's incredible

[00:11:32] all the drive platform, it was just a no brainer.

[00:11:35] So just a little bit of research and they could be

[00:11:39] on it. Let's just go for it.

[00:11:41] Yeah. So so you settled on Subaru, but you know,

[00:11:44] you've got several different models.

[00:11:45] What drew you?

[00:11:46] So was it just seeing that first cross-track

[00:11:48] that it was like, hey, what is that?

[00:11:49] And that would be cool to own and have fun with.

[00:11:52] Yeah, I originally had my my set on a first gen.

[00:11:57] And but I started following someone on YouTube.

[00:12:01] He went by or he goes by a venture zombie

[00:12:03] and he had a second gen like cross-track and and watching him

[00:12:10] like the more and more I watched his videos,

[00:12:11] the more and more I was like, man, I really like the way

[00:12:14] his car looks. I really like I just like the curves,

[00:12:17] I guess of the second gen a little bit more over time.

[00:12:20] And then and I'm a huge stick shift person.

[00:12:23] I automatically start my thing.

[00:12:27] Yeah, that's right.

[00:12:30] Absolutely.

[00:12:31] And I know both come in the stick shift, but the six speed

[00:12:34] is kind of what drew my attention because

[00:12:37] just having that extra six gear on highways

[00:12:39] and a bit of a gas saver.

[00:12:40] Yeah, yeah, it's nice.

[00:12:42] I definitely enjoy driving a manual

[00:12:45] and like I never tire of it.

[00:12:47] I mean, there are times when I'm sitting in traffic

[00:12:50] and you know, gets a little bit annoying.

[00:12:52] But even then, because I'm not in traffic that often.

[00:12:55] So it's just it's not that bothersome

[00:12:57] and just the I've always had a fascination

[00:13:00] since I was a kid with manuals.

[00:13:02] And so it's just I just kind of feel like a manual

[00:13:06] is something that I was always meant to drive.

[00:13:09] Oh, absolutely.

[00:13:10] I remember, you know, some of my earliest years,

[00:13:13] 13, 14 years old, my my stepdad always had a stick

[00:13:17] shift truck and that's kind of one of the first cars

[00:13:20] my brother and I learned to drive on and it was a it was

[00:13:24] a stick shift.

[00:13:24] So both of us, our first cars were manual transmissions

[00:13:27] and we just kind of went with it from then.

[00:13:30] Driving a manual is just my uncle had a manual.

[00:13:35] He had an old Toyota truck.

[00:13:36] My grandpa had a Ford Bronco with like this

[00:13:40] shifting on the steering column, which you know,

[00:13:42] it's nice about that.

[00:13:43] That's kind of weird, but but it works.

[00:13:45] And I don't know.

[00:13:46] I mean, my first girlfriend had a Volkswagen rabbit

[00:13:49] and tried to teach me how to drive it.

[00:13:51] And I kept stalling it because I wasn't getting comfortable.

[00:13:54] And then I tried a few others

[00:13:56] and then eventually ended up owning one.

[00:13:58] And I can't remember when it was like late 90s.

[00:14:02] This guy that had that lived around the corner,

[00:14:04] he'd gone off to the Marines and he had a 1990 Ford Ranger.

[00:14:08] And his dad was like, Hey, would you be interested

[00:14:11] in taking over payments on this?

[00:14:13] Because I've been paying for it and he's not coming back.

[00:14:16] And I was like, yeah, sure, I need a car.

[00:14:18] Thank you.

[00:14:19] So that works out.

[00:14:20] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:14:20] Yeah, I'll take it.

[00:14:21] Yeah, I love having a stick shift.

[00:14:23] Like you can have a slow car

[00:14:25] and if it's a stick shift,

[00:14:26] you can find the fun in the joy in it.

[00:14:29] Just going through the gears, you know,

[00:14:30] you could still like,

[00:14:31] I still appreciate the whole just feeling the car

[00:14:35] while you're driving versus just an automatic

[00:14:37] where it's just okay, gas break, you know.

[00:14:40] You made a slow car like a cross-track.

[00:14:44] Exactly.

[00:14:46] Yeah, yeah, they're definitely fun.

[00:14:49] I know what you mean about like,

[00:14:51] it's like when I first saw the first gen,

[00:14:53] like I really, really loved it.

[00:14:54] It's just like the tail end of it,

[00:14:57] the hatch and everything, the tail lights,

[00:15:00] they looked so unique and different.

[00:15:02] And just like, I don't know,

[00:15:04] there's really cool.

[00:15:05] And then when they came out with the second gen,

[00:15:07] I was like, no, because I love the first gen so much.

[00:15:11] And then by the time I bought one,

[00:15:13] they had had the second gen out for like three years.

[00:15:17] And so I'm like, well, this is, you know,

[00:15:20] I want to buy new and so this is the only option.

[00:15:22] But I mean, the second gen has really, really grown on me.

[00:15:25] Like I love it so much.

[00:15:28] The first gen's really like caught me

[00:15:30] and I was like, yep, this is what I want.

[00:15:33] And but just the second gen, honestly,

[00:15:36] it was a six-speed transmission

[00:15:37] that really kind of sold it.

[00:15:39] Because I just, I do a lot of highway driving as well.

[00:15:42] And so it's just nice to have that six gear

[00:15:46] just to kind of put in six and cruise

[00:15:48] and just kind of chill while you're driving.

[00:15:50] Yeah, so what year is yours?

[00:15:52] That's a 2018.

[00:15:54] Okay.

[00:15:55] How many miles do you have on it?

[00:15:58] 108,000 miles.

[00:15:59] Okay, yeah.

[00:16:01] Yeah, I remember you told me that.

[00:16:02] So you're a little bit above me

[00:16:05] because I'm getting close to 102 now,

[00:16:08] if I haven't already hit it.

[00:16:12] How many miles have you put on it?

[00:16:14] Well, I mean, it's at 100 and almost at 102,000 miles.

[00:16:18] Oh, you bought a new, that's right.

[00:16:19] Yeah, you bought a new.

[00:16:20] Yep.

[00:16:22] So I drive a lot.

[00:16:23] That's impressive.

[00:16:24] Yeah, I know people are like,

[00:16:26] some people are like, oh yeah, that's awesome.

[00:16:29] And other people are like, oh my gosh, that's crazy.

[00:16:32] Because I know-

[00:16:33] I'm all for the daily driving.

[00:16:34] Yeah, I mean, and I know some people that have

[00:16:37] like a cross track older than mine

[00:16:39] and they have like half the amount of miles

[00:16:41] if not less than half.

[00:16:43] And they're like, wow, how do you have so many miles?

[00:16:47] I just drive a lot.

[00:16:48] So-

[00:16:49] Exactly.

[00:16:50] But yeah, it's fun.

[00:16:51] And so like when you were looking at getting one,

[00:16:55] were you set on the color orange

[00:16:57] or were you, was it like kind of more dependent on,

[00:17:01] hey, I just want a manual

[00:17:02] and the color doesn't matter so much?

[00:17:05] Actually, my wife has a,

[00:17:07] she takes a big part of the reason

[00:17:09] why I have the color orange.

[00:17:11] There was a white one that I was looking at

[00:17:14] that was a stick shift.

[00:17:15] And it was a little less as far as like the cost of it

[00:17:20] but she was like, why do you even got white?

[00:17:23] And she's like, you should get something

[00:17:24] that stands out, you know,

[00:17:25] get something that's just like people see and like, whoa.

[00:17:28] And I was like, all right.

[00:17:29] And then so I waited, I waited

[00:17:31] and then the one I have now popped up

[00:17:33] and it was a little bit closer

[00:17:36] and a little bit more money

[00:17:37] but just because the miles and whatnot.

[00:17:39] But yeah, I just went with it

[00:17:41] and I'm definitely glad I got the orange one.

[00:17:45] Not talking down on the white ones

[00:17:47] but I'm really glad I settled

[00:17:49] or I took orange instead.

[00:17:51] It just stands out, people can, you know,

[00:17:54] they see my card

[00:17:54] and I can't tell you how many times

[00:17:56] I'm just getting tagged

[00:17:57] and like, yo, I see it, there it is.

[00:17:58] You know, it's just really cool to,

[00:18:01] I don't know, it just stands out a lot better I think.

[00:18:04] I mean, the orange definitely stands out

[00:18:06] and I mean, it's kind of a unique orange color

[00:18:09] and like, I mean, the first cross track

[00:18:12] I ever saw was orange.

[00:18:13] And so that's part of what, you know,

[00:18:16] really caught my attention

[00:18:18] and you know, and then the black cladding

[00:18:20] against the orange color just looked really cool.

[00:18:22] But like, yeah, I used to want an orange one.

[00:18:26] I thought that would be cool.

[00:18:27] I don't know that I would like

[00:18:30] really like the orange long-term

[00:18:32] but like, you know, when I see one

[00:18:35] I always like the way it looks.

[00:18:36] So, you know, obviously you haven't gotten tired

[00:18:39] of the orange color, so that's good.

[00:18:42] No, not at all.

[00:18:43] I think the only thing I would say

[00:18:44] is so when we go off-roading with other cross tracks

[00:18:47] there's quite a few white ones,

[00:18:49] a few silver ones, a couple black ones

[00:18:51] and every time we go,

[00:18:54] their cars always look so much better dirty than mine

[00:18:57] because to me the brown,

[00:19:00] like the mud and dirt just kind of blend in

[00:19:02] with the orange a little bit.

[00:19:03] And so you can't like, everyone else looks like

[00:19:05] they had a great time and then mining up

[00:19:07] to kind of stared it a little bit to see if,

[00:19:10] oh yeah, he got dirty too.

[00:19:12] Yeah, I actually went and did a little bit

[00:19:14] of mudding tonight because we got some

[00:19:15] really, really heavy rain today in Houston

[00:19:17] and I took my daughter out in her cross track

[00:19:20] and she got it muddy for the first time

[00:19:22] and she had a really good time.

[00:19:24] Awesome.

[00:19:25] Yeah, she was very timid going through the mud

[00:19:28] and you know, and I was like,

[00:19:30] next time you go through, just like give it a little gas,

[00:19:32] let it slip around a little bit, you know?

[00:19:34] Have some fun with it.

[00:19:35] So she started opening up a little bit more

[00:19:38] and started to enjoy it a little bit more.

[00:19:42] That's awesome.

[00:19:43] But I was riding with her and I said,

[00:19:45] I was like, just go.

[00:19:47] I said, just go through the mud.

[00:19:48] I said, it looks like you should get stuck.

[00:19:52] I said, but promise me you're not gonna get stuck.

[00:19:54] And she just goes and I'm like, see how weird this is?

[00:19:57] It's just like it goes right through the mud.

[00:20:00] Like it's nothing and she's got, you know, stuck tires.

[00:20:04] Oh yeah.

[00:20:05] And every time I get myself into a situation

[00:20:07] where I'm like, ah, that looks kind of sketched.

[00:20:10] I probably shouldn't do that.

[00:20:11] And then, you know, the little devil on my shoulder

[00:20:14] is like, now you should probably do that.

[00:20:15] And then every time it just amazes me,

[00:20:18] like, wow, I just went through that.

[00:20:20] Yeah, it's absolutely incredible

[00:20:22] what these things can get you through.

[00:20:25] Yeah, it's just, it's fun.

[00:20:28] I like it.

[00:20:29] I like that feeling of just knowing you can go through

[00:20:32] and it's gonna go.

[00:20:34] So you're-

[00:20:35] Oh, absolutely.

[00:20:35] Yeah, so your Instagram handle is cross-track adventures,

[00:20:39] but is, you know, I mean, it's kind of obvious

[00:20:42] what that means, but like,

[00:20:44] is that also the name of your cross-track

[00:20:46] or do you have a separate name for your cross-track?

[00:20:49] Yeah, so I've never been one to name a car.

[00:20:53] I just, I don't know if I'm just not creative

[00:20:55] enough or what the case is, but a friend of mine,

[00:20:58] so I used to have a Ford Focus before I bought my cross-track

[00:21:01] and a friend of mine named my car Dora

[00:21:04] because I just drove it everywhere.

[00:21:06] And so I just like to explore places.

[00:21:09] And so I actually mentioned it to my buddy Kyle

[00:21:13] who's actually working on my cross-track right now.

[00:21:16] Like, you know, oh yeah, my last car was named Dora

[00:21:18] and so he coined it Diego.

[00:21:22] I guess that's the cousin or something like that of Dora.

[00:21:26] I'm not a big Dora, they explore a fan, but yeah.

[00:21:29] And so he named it Diego,

[00:21:32] so that's been kind of the ongoing name now.

[00:21:34] So I've accepted it and rolled with it.

[00:21:38] Yeah, well, I guess it's gonna be Diego from now on.

[00:21:41] That's cool, yeah.

[00:21:43] So I mean, like when you started up

[00:21:45] your Instagram page for it,

[00:21:47] did you have other names in consideration?

[00:21:50] Or I mean, again, like I said,

[00:21:52] Cross-track Adventures is obvious

[00:21:54] and you've had some adventures in your cross-track,

[00:21:56] but were there other names that you were thinking about?

[00:22:00] No, you know, that was kind of like the,

[00:22:02] like I said, I'm not the most creative person

[00:22:03] and my wife was like, just make it basic,

[00:22:06] make it simple.

[00:22:07] And you know, and I was like, well, to Cross-track

[00:22:09] and I'm gonna go on adventures.

[00:22:10] So let's just roll with it.

[00:22:12] For a split second, I changed the name to Trek80B

[00:22:15] but I just didn't like how it looked

[00:22:17] and so I changed it back.

[00:22:18] Okay, gotcha.

[00:22:19] Cross-track Adventures is just kind of stuck.

[00:22:21] Yeah, that's good.

[00:22:22] I like it.

[00:22:23] So and then when you bought your Cross-track,

[00:22:26] so you know, you said when you first saw the Cross-track

[00:22:29] for the first time, you were like,

[00:22:31] oh, that looks like that could be fun.

[00:22:32] And you know, maybe go off road

[00:22:34] and have a little fun with it.

[00:22:35] But were you planning on doing any mods

[00:22:38] when you first bought yours

[00:22:39] or did you know much about doing the mods?

[00:22:42] Oh, a bunch of percent was planning on modding it.

[00:22:44] I had so many things, already bookmarks.

[00:22:48] Yeah, it was, my wife was like,

[00:22:51] I get to see my wife like kind of freaking out like,

[00:22:53] okay, how much is this gonna cost?

[00:22:56] And but the first thing I wanted to do

[00:22:59] was gonna be rims and tires

[00:23:02] just to get that off road look right off the bat.

[00:23:05] And fortunately when I bought the car

[00:23:07] already came with some Method MR502s

[00:23:10] and some K02, BFGD Rich K02s.

[00:23:12] So I kind of saved some money at that angle.

[00:23:16] So yeah, it was,

[00:23:18] I had a list of things I wanted to do.

[00:23:20] So already having the wheels and tires,

[00:23:24] what were you thinking was gonna be like your first mod?

[00:23:28] Like okay, this is my car now,

[00:23:29] it's got some wheels and tires,

[00:23:31] but I want something that I'm gonna put on and do for it.

[00:23:34] Well, the first thing I wanted was some sound.

[00:23:36] I wanted to hear my exhaust.

[00:23:40] So I just did a simple muffler delete from Nameless.

[00:23:43] It was cheap.

[00:23:44] Like just soup the easiest install you can think of.

[00:23:46] And so we started with that.

[00:23:49] I knew that eventually I'd wanna get skid plates.

[00:23:51] So I just went ahead and hit up primitive

[00:23:55] and bought all three from them.

[00:23:57] And so then lighting was my next part of the mods

[00:24:03] that I wanted to do right away,

[00:24:05] just kidding, cause I like to explore out at night

[00:24:07] and whatnot as well.

[00:24:08] And so I went through some lights up front

[00:24:11] and just kind of had fun with it.

[00:24:12] Yeah, and so it's just kind of grown from there.

[00:24:16] And I noticed too now that you have a pretty nice bumper.

[00:24:20] And so like I know that before you got the bumper

[00:24:24] you did the Viper cut.

[00:24:25] And so like what's involved in that?

[00:24:27] I mean, is it just a matter of removing the assembly

[00:24:30] where the fog lights are

[00:24:33] or do you literally have to cut out of that,

[00:24:36] cut that portion out?

[00:24:37] So you're actually cutting that portion out.

[00:24:40] I was terrified to do it.

[00:24:41] I don't trust myself to do it.

[00:24:42] So I actually had my buddy, Skyler

[00:24:45] who goes by OverlandishADV.

[00:24:47] He actually, I went to his house and I had him do it.

[00:24:51] And I was like, yo, you've done this before

[00:24:52] to your outback.

[00:24:53] I'm gonna trust you.

[00:24:54] And so he did the initial Viper cut

[00:24:56] and then after watching him,

[00:24:59] I was like, okay, that's not too bad.

[00:25:01] I had like a shaky his hands over there.

[00:25:03] So doing the rest of the bumper cut afterwards

[00:25:08] was a little bit of a struggle,

[00:25:11] I guess you'd say.

[00:25:12] Yeah, so like when you, you know,

[00:25:14] saying that you were scared to do it,

[00:25:15] you were, do you mean like you were scared to cut it

[00:25:19] because you're afraid you might mess it up?

[00:25:20] That sounds like that's part of it.

[00:25:22] But were you also scared to cut it

[00:25:25] just with the thought of like,

[00:25:26] oh my gosh, I'm cutting part of my car out?

[00:25:29] Honestly, that part, like cutting,

[00:25:31] like, oh my gosh, I'm cutting part of my car out.

[00:25:33] I wasn't really like scared about that.

[00:25:36] It was everything I'm doing right now is permanent

[00:25:39] unless I replace it.

[00:25:40] And so I just didn't want to mess up.

[00:25:43] Yeah, got you, got you.

[00:25:44] So then when you got the bumper,

[00:25:47] how like, how long was it before you got the bumper

[00:25:49] after you did the Viper cut?

[00:25:51] I'd probably say about six months.

[00:25:54] I kept, I just, I didn't necessarily like

[00:25:58] the look that I had at the time.

[00:26:00] Like it was something different, but I wanted more.

[00:26:06] I wanted to have just more of an off-road look,

[00:26:10] I guess, I just wanted to, I wanted to upgrade it.

[00:26:12] And so the idea of going,

[00:26:15] of getting the rigid armor bumper,

[00:26:17] I wanted to get some type of bumper.

[00:26:18] And then I saw in person at Superfest last year,

[00:26:22] the rigid armor bumper and I was like, yep, that's the one.

[00:26:25] I just, I love the look of it, everything about it I love.

[00:26:27] And so yeah, few months later, I was like, yeah,

[00:26:30] let's do it.

[00:26:31] Yeah, it definitely looks good.

[00:26:32] It's a good decision on that.

[00:26:35] I appreciate it.

[00:26:36] What would you say is your favorite mod?

[00:26:40] I think I would have to say,

[00:26:42] not just necessarily the front bumper,

[00:26:45] but that just everything that I put up front,

[00:26:48] I more so just, I set a goal for myself to save some money

[00:26:53] to just buy everything and do it all at once.

[00:26:58] And just to me, it completely changed the look

[00:27:01] of the car in general.

[00:27:02] And I was just extremely proud of the outcome

[00:27:06] of what it looked like after putting

[00:27:08] all the lights up front with the bumper.

[00:27:11] And so yeah, it totally changes the look of the car

[00:27:14] for the better.

[00:27:15] And so I'm definitely, that's definitely my favorite.

[00:27:18] Yeah, and so you had your buddy help you out

[00:27:20] with the ViperCut and then,

[00:27:22] so like all the mods that you have done on your car,

[00:27:25] did you do them all yourself

[00:27:26] in the sense of you and somebody else and not a shop?

[00:27:31] It says probably 50-50.

[00:27:34] Everything that I can with just my ability

[00:27:37] and my knowledge I've tried to do on my own

[00:27:39] or with my brother or some friends.

[00:27:42] But there are some things that I haven't just,

[00:27:46] I don't know how to do

[00:27:47] or not necessarily don't have the tools.

[00:27:50] I also live in a condo,

[00:27:51] so it's kind of hard to work on my car parking lot.

[00:27:54] So between friends and a guy named Kyle

[00:28:00] who goes by Kyle rebuilds on Instagram,

[00:28:03] who fortunately I didn't even know I was just following him

[00:28:06] and he happened to live like five minutes from my house

[00:28:09] and he is just a phenomenal mechanic.

[00:28:12] And so things that I feel I don't have the capability of doing,

[00:28:17] I just reach out to him.

[00:28:18] So he's definitely helped me along the way

[00:28:21] with getting some of these mods set up.

[00:28:23] Yeah, that's very convenient.

[00:28:25] Nice to have somebody that close.

[00:28:27] Oh, absolutely.

[00:28:28] So. Absolutely.

[00:28:29] What mods are still to come?

[00:28:33] I'd like to redo my suspension.

[00:28:36] Right now I have the Ironman 4x4 ATS lift,

[00:28:40] just the two inch lift.

[00:28:41] We did put some spacers by subtle solutions on top of that.

[00:28:46] So it's sitting at three inches right now

[00:28:50] but I'd like to have a little bit more

[00:28:51] of a reliable suspension.

[00:28:54] So recently a buddy of mine went with the flat out

[00:28:58] suspension so I've been kind of curious about that.

[00:29:01] And then I definitely want to get a roof rack.

[00:29:04] I don't know which route I want to go.

[00:29:07] I already have Vigid Armor Bumper and Tire Carrier

[00:29:09] so I'm thinking maybe just go everything rigid armor

[00:29:12] and do that up top as well.

[00:29:14] And then I am actively seeking a rooftop tent right now

[00:29:19] because we're about to get to summertime

[00:29:21] and I'm trying to camp.

[00:29:23] So do you go camping a lot right now?

[00:29:25] I try to as much as I can.

[00:29:28] I work a retail schedule

[00:29:29] so it's kind of hard to get out with friends

[00:29:32] especially when a lot of my job is on the weekend.

[00:29:36] But right now I have the Leno mattress

[00:29:39] so I just sleep in my car which works out great.

[00:29:42] I would just like to have a little bit more room

[00:29:44] and maybe not have to take everything out of my car

[00:29:47] that I'm bringing with me just to set up my mattress.

[00:29:50] So I try to go camping quite often.

[00:29:53] Yeah and then do you and your wife go together then?

[00:29:57] She's not the biggest fan of camping actually.

[00:30:00] She's definitely a glamper for sure

[00:30:03] or maybe stay in a cabin type of person

[00:30:05] but we established a long time ago

[00:30:08] that any camping adventures I would be doing solo

[00:30:11] or with friends.

[00:30:12] Okay well that's good.

[00:30:13] I guess she's supportive then

[00:30:15] if you want to go camping huh?

[00:30:16] Oh yeah.

[00:30:16] That's good.

[00:30:17] Yeah absolutely.

[00:30:18] Yeah as long as you've got the support for it

[00:30:21] then that's cool otherwise unless it was like

[00:30:23] well you're just going to go without me

[00:30:25] or no I don't want you to go whatever

[00:30:27] then yeah it's good to have that support

[00:30:29] and be like okay go have fun.

[00:30:33] She is a saint.

[00:30:34] What I've put her through with the build of this car

[00:30:36] and the constant random text right before

[00:30:40] I'm supposed to be home,

[00:30:41] hey I'm just going to go camping

[00:30:42] you know overnight or whatever the case is

[00:30:45] I'll be home at 2 a.m.

[00:30:46] I want a cool trail.

[00:30:47] So she has put up with quite a bit

[00:30:49] so I give her lots of pews.

[00:30:52] Well that's good yeah.

[00:30:53] I'm sure she probably gives you a hard time too.

[00:30:56] Oh absolutely.

[00:30:59] Do you think that you will hang on to your cross track

[00:31:02] as long as you can A because it's a Subaru

[00:31:05] and you like it and it's orange

[00:31:06] and you love that color

[00:31:08] but also because it's a manual

[00:31:10] and they're getting hard to come by?

[00:31:13] Definitely both.

[00:31:15] Because it's my first Subaru

[00:31:17] because it's the first car

[00:31:18] I've truly heavily modified like that.

[00:31:21] I don't know if I could ever part ways with it.

[00:31:24] Even 10 years down the road

[00:31:26] I think I'd probably still want it.

[00:31:28] I would definitely like to explore the ideas of

[00:31:31] one day doing some kind of motor swap with it

[00:31:34] and just make it like a project car down the road

[00:31:38] when I buy a new one.

[00:31:39] I'm definitely one day would like to have a WRX

[00:31:42] and have that maybe as my daily

[00:31:44] maybe save a little bit in gas mileage

[00:31:47] but the cross track will always be with me.

[00:31:49] I absolutely love that car.

[00:31:51] So what is your gas mileage right now?

[00:31:54] Right now I am proud to say

[00:31:55] I just hit 20 miles a gallon.

[00:31:57] I removed, so when I bought my tire carrier

[00:32:01] from Rijit Armoury

[00:32:02] I was storing my spare tire on my roof with my basket

[00:32:06] and just absolutely destroying my gas mileage.

[00:32:09] So but I took all that off

[00:32:12] so I have nothing on my roof right now

[00:32:13] and I sadly am loving 20 miles a gallon.

[00:32:17] But yeah it's not too bad.

[00:32:20] Yeah I've got my tire up on top

[00:32:21] but I'm at like 25 miles to the gallon

[00:32:25] but I also don't have a bunch of other stuff

[00:32:26] on my car either.

[00:32:27] I don't have a, you know

[00:32:28] there's nothing really heavy on my car I guess.

[00:32:32] And so that's, I mean of course

[00:32:33] that did create some mileage decretion

[00:32:37] but it's I think that's still pretty good

[00:32:40] and but I also love the look of the tire on top.

[00:32:44] I just think that I think that makes it look

[00:32:46] like more of an off-road rig

[00:32:49] but even in the back, you know that looks cool too.

[00:32:52] I like that.

[00:32:53] Oh yeah I, a part of me I almost didn't actually get

[00:32:59] or get the tire carrier because I like the look

[00:33:02] of the tire on top

[00:33:03] but I wanted something a little bit more secure.

[00:33:05] It wasn't secure the best probably up there

[00:33:10] and there was zero locks on there

[00:33:12] and so I don't necessarily live in the best neighborhood

[00:33:15] so it was time I did something a little bit more

[00:33:18] secure for myself

[00:33:18] so in case someone got a little greedy

[00:33:21] and had to worry about it.

[00:33:23] Yeah I had a Y strap on mine for a long time

[00:33:27] and then but then I also had a bike lock

[00:33:29] through the wheel and like through the rack

[00:33:33] so that you know if anybody just decided to come

[00:33:36] and snip the Y strap or just unratchet it

[00:33:40] be like oh well I guess this isn't going anywhere.

[00:33:44] Yeah I was thinking about that as well

[00:33:45] that was definitely gonna be an option

[00:33:46] if I kept it up there.

[00:33:47] Yeah so the one that I have a Yakima tire carrier now

[00:33:53] that like there's like a long thread

[00:33:55] and then there's this thing that spins around down on it

[00:33:58] and then you can put a lock on it.

[00:34:01] So that's.

[00:34:02] Oh that's even better.

[00:34:03] Yeah this guy was out in California

[00:34:08] and he sent me his, he sold it to me

[00:34:13] but he was, we were chatting on Discord

[00:34:19] and I said something about wanting to look for

[00:34:25] the Yakima tire carrier

[00:34:27] but I couldn't find any that were available

[00:34:29] and he said oh I have one, I have one out in the garage

[00:34:32] because he had put on a rear tire carrier

[00:34:36] so he was like I'll just sell it to you

[00:34:38] and I was like okay sweet so he sold it to me

[00:34:41] and shipped it out to me

[00:34:42] because it was right before Christmas

[00:34:44] and like Christmas and my birthday

[00:34:46] are like really close together

[00:34:48] because my birthday is January 19th

[00:34:51] and so most of the time I will buy something for myself

[00:34:55] and that was what I wanted to buy.

[00:34:56] I wanted to buy a Yakima tire carrier for my roof rack

[00:35:01] and so we were chatting and he said he had one

[00:35:06] and I'm like this is perfect

[00:35:07] because they're all sold out

[00:35:09] and yeah, yeah I did work out perfect

[00:35:13] so I was thankful for that.

[00:35:17] But yeah, so it's, you know

[00:35:19] and there's so many different options too

[00:35:21] which is cool, you know

[00:35:22] you're not just like stuck or limited to one thing.

[00:35:25] So also like you have a lot of photos

[00:35:29] and some videos of you hitting trails

[00:35:32] so it looks like you have a lot

[00:35:34] that's available to you out there

[00:35:36] so like where are some of the places

[00:35:39] that you like to get out to the most

[00:35:41] and I guess time and distance wise

[00:35:44] like where is the closest trail to you?

[00:35:48] I think the closest thing to me is

[00:35:51] it's probably about an hour drive in Arnold, California.

[00:35:57] It's a good, it's a very relaxed town

[00:36:01] it's a really cool place

[00:36:02] because they don't necessarily close any trails

[00:36:06] or a couple that they closed down

[00:36:08] but for the most part winter or summer

[00:36:10] you can find somewhere to go

[00:36:13] and you can go camping

[00:36:13] you can kinda do whatever here around

[00:36:17] and so that's usually like my go-to

[00:36:21] if I wanna do a nice day trip

[00:36:22] or I'm just bored at home

[00:36:23] and I just need to get out.

[00:36:25] I try to just take a trip up highway four up to Arnold

[00:36:29] and I can usually find a nice trail

[00:36:32] I can just hang out on for the day

[00:36:34] and just kinda vibe out

[00:36:37] but I do, I mean man where I live in Stockton

[00:36:41] there's so many different highways

[00:36:43] that take us up to the Sierra Nevada

[00:36:46] that I can really within an hour and a half

[00:36:50] to two hours I can be anywhere in the mountains

[00:36:54] and have some fun.

[00:36:54] So I'm really lucky that I'm not a super far

[00:37:00] or anything like that where it makes it a little bit harder

[00:37:03] to enjoy the mountains.

[00:37:05] You mean like if you lived in Houston?

[00:37:08] Yeah exactly.

[00:37:10] It sucks here man.

[00:37:12] I mean, cause like-

[00:37:13] Dude I was thinking of that when I was talking about that

[00:37:15] I was like oh I feel so bad right now.

[00:37:17] Yeah I mean, we have stuff but it's just

[00:37:21] I mean if I had mountains close by

[00:37:24] I would be out there all the time too

[00:37:26] and definitely enjoying it.

[00:37:29] I discovered that mountains are my favorite thing on earth

[00:37:31] as far as like natural

[00:37:34] just things to explore and see.

[00:37:37] They're just so beautiful

[00:37:38] and it's like the views that you get

[00:37:40] just looking at them, looking up at them

[00:37:42] and then the views that you get

[00:37:43] from being on them looking down.

[00:37:45] I mean it's amazing.

[00:37:47] Yeah absolutely.

[00:37:48] It's therapy.

[00:37:49] That's how I look at it.

[00:37:50] You know?

[00:37:50] Oh yeah.

[00:37:51] I get stressed out from work everyday life

[00:37:53] and once I get on the road

[00:37:56] and I'm up there I just forget everything.

[00:37:59] You know?

[00:38:02] That's my go to place to just break away from life.

[00:38:06] Just let me zen out real quick

[00:38:08] and collect my thoughts

[00:38:10] and kind of like refresh myself

[00:38:12] and head back home.

[00:38:14] Yeah have there been any trails

[00:38:16] that you went out to

[00:38:17] that you were not able to make it through

[00:38:19] and had to turn around for some reason?

[00:38:24] Not a whole lot.

[00:38:27] I typically will know

[00:38:30] before even try to attempt it.

[00:38:32] Yeah that probably shouldn't be somewhere I go

[00:38:36] but I do know I have gotten into some sketchy situations

[00:38:40] where I'm just like okay I hope I make this.

[00:38:43] This is, I can't turn around now.

[00:38:45] Here we go.

[00:38:47] But so far so good.

[00:38:48] I am very fortunate where I haven't had

[00:38:50] any catastrophic incidents with my car

[00:38:52] or anything like that

[00:38:54] but there's been some sketchy trails that I have hit

[00:38:57] but so far so good.

[00:38:59] That's good.

[00:39:00] Have you ever gotten stuck in mud or snow?

[00:39:03] Oh all the time.

[00:39:06] Honestly for me I know a lot of people will,

[00:39:08] it's really unfortunate that some people kind of

[00:39:12] will talk smack about people who get stuck.

[00:39:14] I look at it as a learning experience.

[00:39:16] I look at it as all right I'm gonna get stuck here

[00:39:19] but let's see how far I can go.

[00:39:21] I wanna see how far I can push my car

[00:39:23] through whatever I'm going.

[00:39:25] So I absolutely love it.

[00:39:27] I mean half the fun is getting yourself unstuck

[00:39:29] just to be like dude do you remember what we just did?

[00:39:32] You know and so yeah I'm all for it.

[00:39:35] If I have another car with me,

[00:39:37] another vehicle that I know can pull me out

[00:39:39] I'm gonna try.

[00:39:41] Yeah that's good.

[00:39:42] Yeah I mean just go for it you know send it.

[00:39:45] Yeah absolutely, absolutely.

[00:39:47] I remember oh gosh last year there was

[00:39:50] a mud pit way too big, way too deep for my car

[00:39:54] and I was with a couple of the guys

[00:39:56] from Soft Road Nation NorCal and I was like

[00:39:58] you know we have like five cars here

[00:40:00] I'm just gonna go forward and if I get stuck

[00:40:02] I'll get pulled out and make a good story

[00:40:04] and that's exactly what happened so it was awesome.

[00:40:07] Yeah there you go.

[00:40:08] Good it's all about the stories.

[00:40:11] Yeah exactly.

[00:40:12] Now I-

[00:40:13] I think memories.

[00:40:14] Yeah so you talked about Soft Road Nation NorCal

[00:40:18] and those guys and then you mentioned earlier too

[00:40:20] about just getting out with people.

[00:40:22] Do you have like a regular group of people

[00:40:24] that you do hang out with or is it kind of mixed up

[00:40:27] in different people at different times?

[00:40:29] I go quite often there's a lot of cross tricks

[00:40:33] just in my area, in the Stockton area,

[00:40:36] Central Valley in here in California

[00:40:39] that I've met whether just driving by

[00:40:43] you know just the other night I literally was

[00:40:45] at a stoplight and I was at my wife's Honda

[00:40:47] and I was next to a lifted cross track

[00:40:49] and you know we swapped information

[00:40:51] and we're gonna try and go on, hit some trails

[00:40:53] and so it's just between you know

[00:40:56] the club that I run, Team Suvi Squad,

[00:40:59] the all the offered guys that are in there

[00:41:01] plus just kind of meeting people on the road.

[00:41:04] It varies but a lot of time it's just either with

[00:41:06] you know a lot of people from Soft Road Nation

[00:41:07] or Suvi Squad.

[00:41:09] So were you like pulled up next to this cross track

[00:41:12] and they're like what does this guy do

[00:41:14] and talking to me?

[00:41:15] So it's kind of funny so I don't know

[00:41:17] if people know about Stockton where I live

[00:41:19] but it's known to be not the best city.

[00:41:23] It's a good city but it has its moments

[00:41:24] and so it was like 10 o'clock at night

[00:41:27] I was next to this guy and I was like

[00:41:29] he was staring right at me and I was trying

[00:41:31] to get it, get him to roll down his window

[00:41:32] and he cracked it like an inch

[00:41:35] not knowing what I'm up to, what my intentions are

[00:41:38] and I was like dude I come in peace

[00:41:39] I have cross track just like yours.

[00:41:41] Like do you have Instagram?

[00:41:43] Look me up cross track adventures

[00:41:46] and turns out his wife already followed me

[00:41:47] so it kind of worked out and we were

[00:41:50] so I've been in contact with them since

[00:41:52] and so it's awesome.

[00:41:53] Yeah that's cool.

[00:41:54] Yeah I mean we have some suberus out here

[00:41:56] some of them modded but there's a lot

[00:41:58] of just daily driver suberus.

[00:42:00] But it is cool whenever I was somewhere

[00:42:02] the other day and I saw a cross track

[00:42:05] with some wheels and tires

[00:42:07] and I don't remember what they had on it

[00:42:09] but I was like oh nice but like

[00:42:11] they're parked somewhere and they're probably

[00:42:13] in the store and I'm driving by

[00:42:14] so I can't really do anything about it.

[00:42:15] You know it's like it's one of those moments

[00:42:17] where it's like I hope that I see them

[00:42:18] coming out to their car.

[00:42:20] But I mean I've pulled up next to people

[00:42:21] with modded cross tracks or something out here

[00:42:25] and I'm looking over at them

[00:42:26] and I'm like trying to get their attention

[00:42:28] and like they don't look over

[00:42:29] or sometimes they will look over

[00:42:31] and I give them the peace sign

[00:42:33] and they just kind of like you know

[00:42:34] look at me and sorry I give them the subi wave

[00:42:37] and then they just kind of look at me

[00:42:39] and I'm just like okay lame.

[00:42:43] Yeah you know it's so funny I try to

[00:42:47] I'm you know I'm a big subi person

[00:42:50] not just the off-road subi

[00:42:52] but just Subaru in general now

[00:42:53] and I do I've noticed that if it's not

[00:42:57] an orange cross track I like probably 10% of the time

[00:43:01] I'm getting that subi wave back.

[00:43:03] Orange cross tracks I get the subi wave

[00:43:04] every single time but yeah

[00:43:08] it's kind of funny

[00:43:09] if I see a subi squad sticker or decal

[00:43:12] I get that wave every time but that's about it.

[00:43:15] Yeah I got a subi wave from a guy

[00:43:18] and I think it was a WRX the other day

[00:43:20] and I was like because I looked over at him

[00:43:22] and I gave him the subi wave

[00:43:23] and he gave it back and I was like yes thank you.

[00:43:26] Show some love man so that was cool.

[00:43:30] Yeah so you said you know you went

[00:43:33] had that big mud puddle

[00:43:34] and you're like I'm just gonna go for it

[00:43:35] so I've got other people here with me

[00:43:37] and you got stuck.

[00:43:38] Do you have any like other crazy trails from the trails?

[00:43:45] I think the one of the funnier moments

[00:43:50] I guess are crazier moments.

[00:43:51] There's a trail up kind of just past Kirkwood

[00:43:57] closer to Tahoe area

[00:43:58] and it's called Forest Hill Road

[00:44:02] and if I'm being totally honest with you

[00:44:05] I had no business being on that trail

[00:44:07] and I didn't realize I had no business being on that trail

[00:44:09] until about halfway up this trail

[00:44:11] and there were like massively lifted jeeps coming down

[00:44:15] looking at me like what the hell are you doing right now?

[00:44:19] A lot of side by sides like you guys almost have it

[00:44:21] it's gonna be way better once you get to the top

[00:44:23] and so it's funny seeing

[00:44:27] I guess it's really fun and funny to see other

[00:44:32] more capable off-road vehicles

[00:44:35] see Subaru's doing the same thing that they're doing.

[00:44:38] Oh yeah.

[00:44:39] It's kind of like a, you know

[00:44:41] like you just feel good about it

[00:44:42] when you see all these guys like looking at you

[00:44:44] and you're like I just did the same thing

[00:44:46] you were $50,000 you just did.

[00:44:48] So those are always the fun ones.

[00:44:51] Yeah well we were out

[00:44:52] when I went out to Subifest, California

[00:44:54] I went out with a bunch of people

[00:44:56] and we're trying to like climb these hills

[00:44:58] and we're having trouble

[00:44:59] and they're trying to go up, trying to go up

[00:45:01] and there were like maybe three jeeps down at the bottom

[00:45:05] and three or four jeeps and it was all

[00:45:07] I think it was all women

[00:45:08] and somebody like stayed down there

[00:45:11] and was watching us because

[00:45:13] I think they were letting somebody drive his car

[00:45:16] and he said that these women down here in the jeeps

[00:45:20] that they were talking so much crap

[00:45:23] like not like kind of just joking around about it

[00:45:26] but like just like hard smack

[00:45:29] about like you know these people are stupid

[00:45:32] you know why didn't they just get a Jeep?

[00:45:34] Oh they're never gonna get their car up there

[00:45:36] it's dumb, why are they even trying

[00:45:38] and it's like all this like really crappy stuff

[00:45:41] and we were like y'all are so stupid

[00:45:44] you know we're out here having fun.

[00:45:46] It makes me feel so much better

[00:45:50] when those kind of people talk all that crap

[00:45:52] and then you do exactly what they say you can't do

[00:45:55] it's just that feeling of like through you kind of thing

[00:45:59] you know it's nice to be able to get that win sometimes.

[00:46:03] Yeah we weren't able to do some of the stuff

[00:46:05] that we were trying to do but there was some stuff

[00:46:08] that we were able to do but I mean which like you know

[00:46:10] yeah we know we probably might not be able

[00:46:13] to make it up this big steep hill

[00:46:15] but we're gonna try and have fun doing it

[00:46:18] whether we make it up or not.

[00:46:19] You still have fun.

[00:46:20] Exactly you know it's like

[00:46:21] and we're willing to try and see if we can do it

[00:46:24] and some of them made it you know up some of the hills

[00:46:26] and then others we just like it was very

[00:46:30] like there was loose gravel

[00:46:31] and it was just really steep and you know

[00:46:32] it's just you don't have the low end torque to get up

[00:46:36] and that was really what the problem was

[00:46:39] cause like we were trying to get some momentum going up

[00:46:41] and it just wasn't working out but yeah so

[00:46:45] but yeah whatever that's okay we had a lot of fun.

[00:46:48] But so what's.

[00:46:49] All the matters.

[00:46:50] Yeah what is the

[00:46:52] Well first of all do you have any like bucket list places

[00:46:55] that you'd like to travel out to?

[00:46:58] I definitely wouldn't mind to explore

[00:47:02] like the Moab area.

[00:47:04] I think that would be a really fun place to go

[00:47:07] and I've always wanted to go to Death Valley

[00:47:10] that's kind of always been like a big bucket list thing

[00:47:13] is to go like just spend a week camping out

[00:47:15] in Death Valley or something

[00:47:16] and just see what that has to offer.

[00:47:19] There's something about like the desert

[00:47:20] and that area that just fascinates me

[00:47:22] and so I'd really like to explore that area a lot more.

[00:47:28] Do you have any plans to actually do that?

[00:47:32] Yeah I don't know if I'll make it out there this summer

[00:47:36] just because of everything that's going on

[00:47:37] just in my life right now with work

[00:47:40] and vacation and all that

[00:47:41] but it's definitely on the top of my priority list

[00:47:45] of places to go.

[00:47:46] I'd like to do that

[00:47:49] and also check out Alabama Hills,

[00:47:52] a little bit southern,

[00:47:53] a little bit south of us.

[00:47:54] Okay, what's the furthest distance

[00:47:57] that you've driven in your cross trek?

[00:47:59] Not too far, I've driven roughly about nine hours or so

[00:48:03] to Vegas for my wife and I

[00:48:05] when we went on our honeymoon

[00:48:07] I'm a big road trip person

[00:48:08] I just like the drives

[00:48:09] and so instead of flying

[00:48:11] we just decided to,

[00:48:12] we were gonna drive the Disneyland

[00:48:13] and then make the drive over to Vegas

[00:48:17] and spend a week in both areas

[00:48:18] and then drive back.

[00:48:19] So yeah, roughly nine hours or so

[00:48:22] not too bad, it's still fun.

[00:48:24] Yeah, that's not bad at all.

[00:48:26] So I see that you're going to

[00:48:27] Subifest, California in August

[00:48:30] how many times have you been there?

[00:48:32] And do you put your car on the show?

[00:48:34] This will be my second.

[00:48:36] This will yeah, this will be my second time going.

[00:48:38] It'll be my first time with my car on the show.

[00:48:41] It'll be at the team Subi Squad booth.

[00:48:44] Nice, nice that's cool.

[00:48:46] Have you been to any of the other Subifest events?

[00:48:49] Cause I know unfortunately they don't have it this year

[00:48:51] but Pacific or the big Northwest

[00:48:54] but have you, have you been to that before?

[00:48:58] No, I haven't.

[00:49:03] I think it'd be cool.

[00:49:04] That place looked really fun.

[00:49:05] I saw a couple of our members

[00:49:07] from Subifest went up there.

[00:49:10] One of our members actually won the loudest exhaust

[00:49:13] competition at Subifest in LA

[00:49:16] and they invited him to go up north.

[00:49:18] And so he went there as well and won up there as well.

[00:49:21] So it looks really fun.

[00:49:23] It's a bummer that they're not doing it this year.

[00:49:25] Yeah, what would you say you like most about Subifest?

[00:49:30] Oh man, seeing all the different types of builds

[00:49:32] like Subaru is Subaru

[00:49:34] but the fact that you can go

[00:49:36] to so many different directions with your mods

[00:49:40] of your car is, it's really cool to see.

[00:49:45] You can have a WRX on bags

[00:49:48] and then right next to it could be a lifted WRX

[00:49:50] ready to hit a rally course.

[00:49:52] It's just, it's absolutely amazing

[00:49:54] to see all the types of builds

[00:49:55] and just the creativity that went into doing those builds.

[00:49:59] Yeah, and then you can see like you said,

[00:50:02] two WRX is right next to each other

[00:50:04] and completely different build.

[00:50:06] But like, you can, you see that

[00:50:09] all the time with off-road Subarus

[00:50:12] where you could have a Crosstrek next

[00:50:15] and they can look completely different.

[00:50:17] But then you see that a lot in the tuner scene too

[00:50:19] but then you have so many of these old tuner Subarus

[00:50:23] that people just do crazy stuff to

[00:50:25] and they've got their hood open

[00:50:26] and you look at it and it's like,

[00:50:28] this thing has like this jet engine in it

[00:50:30] or something, you know?

[00:50:31] And you see some crazy builds

[00:50:32] and it's really awesome to see that.

[00:50:35] And like I don't know a lot about the tuner scene

[00:50:38] so you know, you have people going around

[00:50:40] they're like, oh look it's got that

[00:50:42] and this and that and that

[00:50:42] and I'm like, I have no idea what they're talking about

[00:50:44] but it looks cool.

[00:50:45] Yeah.

[00:50:46] Yeah, I'm still learning that on my end.

[00:50:48] You know, we can talk all day about the off-road stuff

[00:50:50] but it's funny, I am consistently reaching out

[00:50:55] to quite a few of my Subarus squad members

[00:51:00] just always asking like, so what's the point of that line?

[00:51:03] Like what did you do that for?

[00:51:04] What does that do?

[00:51:05] And so because I have no experience with a turbo life

[00:51:09] that is something I am not familiar with.

[00:51:11] Yeah, yeah me neither.

[00:51:13] It'd be nice to have that kind of power on a cross track

[00:51:15] but that seems like it might be problematic, you know?

[00:51:20] Yeah.

[00:51:21] Should we have a turbo on a cross track?

[00:51:24] I don't know.

[00:51:25] I know that it would definitely be something

[00:51:27] I would be breaking a lot more often if I had it

[00:51:30] because I would be driving the heck out of that thing.

[00:51:32] Yeah, I think I would be too.

[00:51:34] That would be fun though.

[00:51:35] So yeah, so when was Team Subi squad,

[00:51:38] ah, let me do that again.

[00:51:39] When was Team Subi squad founded and why?

[00:51:43] Like what is your mission and what was the purpose of it

[00:51:47] and then what sort of activities or like,

[00:51:51] you know, things do you do with a group?

[00:51:54] Yeah, so when we created Team Subi squad

[00:51:58] there was actually someone else that helped me start it.

[00:52:00] Her name is Honesty.

[00:52:02] She goes by Sabrina the STI on Instagram

[00:52:04] and her and I have been chatting about,

[00:52:08] are there any local Subaru only clubs or anything like that?

[00:52:11] And she was kind of weird on both,

[00:52:14] we were both on the same page.

[00:52:15] Like I don't think, I don't know of any.

[00:52:17] I know there was a couple that I did try to reach out to

[00:52:20] and it seemed like the trend was

[00:52:25] there had to be a specific type of car

[00:52:27] or specific type of Subaru only and all these Subaru clubs,

[00:52:31] you know, like nothing but WRXs

[00:52:34] and that kind of thing.

[00:52:35] But there wasn't anything

[00:52:36] that was just dedicated to like just the Subaru world

[00:52:41] and not like anyone can join.

[00:52:43] And so we got to talking and we decided,

[00:52:46] you know, let's do our own, why not?

[00:52:49] And so we created 209 Subi squad with zero intent

[00:52:54] of ever expanding and ever growing or anything like that.

[00:52:58] It was just something we were gonna have fun with locally

[00:53:00] and when we started to expand and create more chapters

[00:53:06] I decided that it was probably good.

[00:53:09] We have some kind of central name or central hubs

[00:53:13] so we created Team Subi squad

[00:53:16] and then all of our chapters

[00:53:18] are go based off the area of where they're based out of.

[00:53:23] So we just wanna be inclusive, you know?

[00:53:27] There shouldn't be anything

[00:53:29] that preventing you from joining a club.

[00:53:31] If you wanna join a club and you know,

[00:53:33] you might not have all the money to upgrade

[00:53:36] or you might not be into the exact same thing

[00:53:38] someone else is in that shouldn't stop you

[00:53:40] from joining a car club.

[00:53:42] You know, if we all enjoy cars

[00:53:44] that's all that really matters.

[00:53:45] So that's kind of the whole idea, you know?

[00:53:48] Get everyone in that might not necessarily

[00:53:50] be able to get in elsewhere.

[00:53:52] Yeah and it's nice having a cross track

[00:53:54] and the WRX that are, you know, started it out

[00:53:57] to kind of, that just kind of shows like,

[00:53:59] hey, we have completely different Subarus.

[00:54:02] One is designed and built for off-road

[00:54:05] and the other one is built for on-road

[00:54:07] but we can come together and create something

[00:54:11] for this type of environment

[00:54:14] and set this kind of standard

[00:54:15] that everybody can be included.

[00:54:18] Exactly and for me, it was just all about community,

[00:54:21] you know, being able to build a community

[00:54:27] or a family that where we can support each other,

[00:54:31] have each other's backs and with no judgment

[00:54:35] and just, you know, trying to change the status quo

[00:54:39] of the unfortunate car culture that's going on right now

[00:54:43] with side shows and takeovers and that kind of thing.

[00:54:46] So we're trying to change that image.

[00:54:48] Yeah so you said did you have different chapters

[00:54:50] and it's based on the area code.

[00:54:51] So how many chapters do you have now?

[00:54:54] As of a couple days ago, we have 10 chapters.

[00:54:57] We are in three different states.

[00:55:02] I'm second guessing myself,

[00:55:03] I wanna say four different states.

[00:55:05] We have primarily they're all kind of like

[00:55:09] in Northern California area between, you know,

[00:55:13] Tahoe to Sacramento to Stockton where we are

[00:55:17] and a few in the Bay Area

[00:55:19] but we do have a couple up in Oregon

[00:55:22] and I feel so bad right now

[00:55:26] that I can't think of the other ones.

[00:55:28] No pressure Sean.

[00:55:29] But we have 10 chapters and we're in like three

[00:55:32] or four states so yeah, we're always expanding.

[00:55:35] We're always looking to grow.

[00:55:37] That's the whole idea is to, you know,

[00:55:38] just kind of grow within the community

[00:55:40] and you know, you don't have to be anyone special

[00:55:43] and important to run a chapter

[00:55:45] if you wanna run a chapter, let's talk about it.

[00:55:47] And can we go from there?

[00:55:49] Yeah, so do you have like regular meetups

[00:55:52] that you do as team Subi Squad

[00:55:55] so it was like is like, I guess yours is really primarily

[00:56:00] 209 Subi Squad but then like team Subi Squad

[00:56:04] is just kind of like encompasses everything.

[00:56:06] So like when you have meetups

[00:56:08] is it really just like 209 Subi Squad?

[00:56:12] Yeah, each chapter kind of does their own thing.

[00:56:15] So 209 is, you know, probably what is the biggest chapter

[00:56:20] as far as the amount of members that we have.

[00:56:23] So we are a little bit more active than the others.

[00:56:27] You know, we were around a lot longer

[00:56:29] than any of the other chapters.

[00:56:31] So we typically have two car meets per month.

[00:56:36] We try to get involved with, you know,

[00:56:40] on the off-road side.

[00:56:41] So I try to do trail days for the off-road people

[00:56:45] to kind of, so they don't have to just be parked

[00:56:47] in a parking lot the whole time

[00:56:48] and then we do a lot of cruises to lakes and whatnot

[00:56:52] just to get everyone involved.

[00:56:54] You know, we've been in a couple shows.

[00:56:56] Obviously we're gonna be in Subifest as well.

[00:56:59] So yeah, we're just trying like a presence,

[00:57:02] you know, make a name for ourselves.

[00:57:05] Yeah, and then I saw a post where you have a,

[00:57:08] you're wearing a Subi Squad hoodie

[00:57:10] or somebody's wearing a Subi, yeah, Subi Squad hoodie.

[00:57:14] Do you have merchandise

[00:57:16] or was that just something that you made for that post?

[00:57:20] It started out with just, you know, myself.

[00:57:22] I wanted to have something just to kind of represent

[00:57:26] the club and it started turning to some little bit bigger.

[00:57:30] A lot of members wanted it.

[00:57:31] So right now it's primarily just to,

[00:57:34] you know, we have someone that makes everything for us

[00:57:38] and people that want to buy one,

[00:57:41] they can just reach out and purchase one from me.

[00:57:44] Mainly it's just like the club members

[00:57:46] and friends, like close friends of ours

[00:57:47] and we could be occasional person that'll reach out to me

[00:57:50] and might live in another state

[00:57:52] and so we'll get something shipped out to them.

[00:57:53] But we're small time, it's nothing crazy

[00:57:56] or anything like that.

[00:57:57] We just wanted to have something to represent

[00:58:01] while we're at meet some car shows.

[00:58:03] Yeah, yeah, it's good.

[00:58:04] Like the whole crew can walk around

[00:58:06] and represent it and wear one.

[00:58:08] Exactly. Nice.

[00:58:10] So what would you say getting back to your cross track?

[00:58:12] What would you say about your cross track

[00:58:14] brings you the most joy?

[00:58:18] The fact that I could just get out and go explore

[00:58:22] whenever I want, you know, there's nothing that,

[00:58:25] you know, before when I had my Ford Focus,

[00:58:29] I was just stuck on the road, you know?

[00:58:31] I couldn't really do a whole lot off-road

[00:58:33] and having this cross track,

[00:58:34] I could still go on a road trip somewhere and have fun

[00:58:37] but now I can pick it off-road

[00:58:39] and just really escape the city life, escape people,

[00:58:45] you know, and just be out with nature.

[00:58:48] Yeah, and the pavement, yeah, exactly.

[00:58:50] You know, and get away from all that.

[00:58:52] So that's the thing that brings me the most joy

[00:58:55] about that car is it has changed my life

[00:59:00] in the sense of where I'm able to go

[00:59:01] and places I'm able to enjoy so much

[00:59:04] that I'll never be able to go back.

[00:59:07] Yeah, just like you said, having the ability

[00:59:10] to drive it on the road

[00:59:12] and go wherever you need to go.

[00:59:14] And then, but it's like, you know what?

[00:59:17] I think I'm gonna go hit that trail now

[00:59:19] because I'm just cruising around

[00:59:20] and I just wanna go for a drive

[00:59:22] but now I'm gonna go off the road

[00:59:24] and I'm gonna go explore that

[00:59:25] and see what's up there.

[00:59:27] That's, I mean, that was the whole reason I bought mine

[00:59:29] was just for the ability to get off the pavement.

[00:59:32] And, you know, I don't get to do it as often

[00:59:36] as I would like to,

[00:59:37] but it's still fun like tonight going out with my daughter

[00:59:41] and just driving through some mud

[00:59:43] because it had rained all day

[00:59:45] and having that ability to just get off the road

[00:59:49] and thinking like, man, if you were in any other car

[00:59:52] like a regular two-wheel drive car, you totally get stuck.

[00:59:56] I mean, you know, and it's like...

[00:59:58] You're still gonna get...

[00:59:59] Yeah, and it's so fun to be able

[01:00:01] to have that option to do that.

[01:00:04] Well, yeah, I absolutely love this

[01:00:07] wanna drive up the mountains

[01:00:09] and I just see like, oh, that looks like a cool road.

[01:00:12] I'm just gonna drive up on this dirt road now

[01:00:13] and go see where this takes me.

[01:00:15] And just to be able to do that is so freaking cool.

[01:00:19] I love it.

[01:00:20] Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:21] How would you say that your cross-tracks

[01:00:24] best matches your personality?

[01:00:26] I think, you know, growing up,

[01:00:29] my parents did a really good job

[01:00:30] at allowing us to be able to travel and explore

[01:00:34] and that just kind of stuck with me my entire life.

[01:00:37] And so just going back to the fact

[01:00:39] that I can't just pick it wherever I want,

[01:00:41] that would be, I don't know, everyone knows me knows

[01:00:46] that I can't sit still.

[01:00:47] And so, you know, I can't just, on my days off,

[01:00:50] I never just at home on my days off.

[01:00:52] I am driving somewhere, I'm doing something,

[01:00:55] I'm up in the mountains.

[01:00:56] And so I think that side of the cross-track

[01:01:00] matches my personality perfect

[01:01:01] because without this car, I would be very bored.

[01:01:06] Yeah, I mean, it's like you said earlier too,

[01:01:09] it's like you can't go back.

[01:01:10] You know, you have this vehicle

[01:01:13] that has transformed your life

[01:01:15] and taken you places that you,

[01:01:18] you know, wouldn't have been able to go to before

[01:01:21] in another car or at least your previous cars.

[01:01:24] And then now discovering all these great things

[01:01:28] and places that you can go with it,

[01:01:30] it's like why would I own something else

[01:01:32] that I can't do these kinds of things?

[01:01:34] You know, even if you were like,

[01:01:36] I love this Subaru, I love this cross-track,

[01:01:38] but I really would like to get, you know,

[01:01:40] a Tacoma or a 4Runner or something.

[01:01:42] It's like, you're gonna, from now on,

[01:01:44] it's like you're gonna choose something

[01:01:46] that's gonna get you places that you've been going to,

[01:01:49] that you obviously love and, you know,

[01:01:52] really like to explore.

[01:01:54] And then I'm sure there's just a lot more places out there,

[01:01:57] you know, that are yet to be explored by you.

[01:02:00] Exactly, yeah.

[01:02:01] I'm all about creating memories

[01:02:03] and, you know, taking pictures with my eyes.

[01:02:06] You know, I wanna see things.

[01:02:07] I wanna be able to see things that,

[01:02:09] I think it's really cool when I'm in certain areas

[01:02:12] where like, I just kinda take a step back

[01:02:16] and realize I'm probably the only person in the next,

[01:02:18] within the next, you know, 40, 50 miles from me right now.

[01:02:21] And it's a very cool feeling

[01:02:24] to just be able to be exploring something

[01:02:27] and seeing something that not a lot

[01:02:30] of people get the option to.

[01:02:32] Yeah, and do you get out often by yourself?

[01:02:35] Yeah, I try to.

[01:02:36] That's actually going by myself

[01:02:38] has been something that I've been trying to do a lot more.

[01:02:43] I think that my first, you know,

[01:02:47] couple years owning the Cross Track,

[01:02:48] it was always trying to find someone to go with me.

[01:02:51] And then I went by myself for the first time

[01:02:55] and it was just so exhilarating.

[01:02:58] You know, you were just by yourself,

[01:03:00] I could do what I want, when I want.

[01:03:02] If I wanted to stop along this trail

[01:03:04] and just, you know, hang out, go take a walk

[01:03:07] or go take a hike somewhere and I can.

[01:03:10] And so it has been, doing that has made just,

[01:03:15] it's been so much easier being able to get out more

[01:03:17] because now I don't have to wait on someone

[01:03:19] or worry about who's gonna go with me.

[01:03:20] You know, I just, I've learned

[01:03:22] to be able to enjoy myself by myself.

[01:03:25] So it's a fun time.

[01:03:28] Yeah, and I think that's important

[01:03:29] and it's also just like you said,

[01:03:31] you can go where you wanna go

[01:03:33] and do what you wanna do

[01:03:34] and you don't have to be like,

[01:03:37] am I holding this person up

[01:03:38] or do they wanna stop and do this?

[01:03:41] You know, it's like, I can just do whatever I want.

[01:03:44] So yeah, that's nice.

[01:03:45] Exactly, exactly.

[01:03:47] If you could describe your Cross Track

[01:03:48] in one word, what would it be?

[01:03:51] I laughed when I was thinking about this badass.

[01:03:55] That is the best word I always describe my car

[01:03:59] because I love it.

[01:04:02] I absolutely love my car.

[01:04:03] I think I built it exactly how I wanted to build it.

[01:04:07] So badass.

[01:04:08] Yeah, that's good.

[01:04:10] So you kind of touched on this earlier

[01:04:12] but like you said a few things

[01:04:14] but like how has owning your Subaru

[01:04:16] and being, you know, not just the Subaru

[01:04:17] but being part of the community changed your life?

[01:04:20] Being able to, like I have a whole new group of friends

[01:04:25] that I hang out with, I spend time with.

[01:04:31] And you know, I have my set group of friends

[01:04:34] that I've had for years

[01:04:35] but now I have this whole new family

[01:04:37] that never in a million years

[01:04:39] I would ever think I would be a part of.

[01:04:42] You know, when I bought my car

[01:04:44] even when I started in Simi's Club

[01:04:46] I am not one to be out there

[01:04:50] and you know, I try to stay to myself a lot of times

[01:04:53] which is funny because I'm a salesperson

[01:04:54] but I am a, what's it, introvert?

[01:04:58] Is that the right word?

[01:04:59] Yeah.

[01:05:00] Someone to kind of keep themselves, yeah.

[01:05:01] Yeah.

[01:05:02] So this car has helped me kind of come out of my shell

[01:05:08] a little bit and be a little bit more vulnerable.

[01:05:11] And so it is, I've created so many lifelong friendships now

[01:05:16] with so many different people in all walks of life.

[01:05:18] So it's been a blast.

[01:05:21] Yeah, cause you think about like

[01:05:22] as you were talking about that

[01:05:24] about just all the different people you've met

[01:05:26] and you know, you're gonna meet new people

[01:05:30] as you go through life anyway

[01:05:32] just because like if you move somewhere

[01:05:34] you get a different job, just wherever.

[01:05:36] I mean, there's all different sorts of ways

[01:05:37] that you end up meeting new people

[01:05:39] but there's this so many people out there

[01:05:44] in all of our lives right now

[01:05:47] that we probably would have never met

[01:05:50] or yeah, I mean, most likely would have never met

[01:05:53] had we not bought a car.

[01:05:55] And I mean, again, there's a lot of people that buy a Subaru

[01:05:57] it doesn't mean that they're automatically

[01:05:59] gonna meet a lot of people

[01:06:00] but for the people that get more involved with their car

[01:06:05] you know, start an Instagram account

[01:06:07] and realize that there's a community out there

[01:06:11] and are also excited about it

[01:06:13] and kind of like a quote unquote enthusiast

[01:06:16] then there's all these people

[01:06:19] that end up coming into your life that you look back

[01:06:23] and it's like I would have never met all these people

[01:06:26] had I not bought this car

[01:06:28] and that's kind of crazy to think about.

[01:06:30] Absolutely, it's insane.

[01:06:32] Like I think about this all the time

[01:06:34] when I'm just talking to, like for example

[01:06:38] added my vice president from the two and nine

[01:06:40] in Suvi Squad, him and I clicked right away

[01:06:44] and I first met him

[01:06:45] and he's been a brother ever since

[01:06:47] and it's funny because we are such good friends

[01:06:51] and it's like, man, I've only been your friend

[01:06:54] for like a year now

[01:06:55] and it's crazy that the only reason why I'm your friend

[01:06:59] is because I decided to buy my cross track.

[01:07:02] And it's mind boggling

[01:07:04] but it's absolutely, it's humbling I guess

[01:07:08] but it's just really cool to think about

[01:07:11] that I've just a car, a piece of metal

[01:07:14] a piece of machinery has been able to change my life

[01:07:18] for the better and just being able to network myself

[01:07:21] and meet all these fascinating people.

[01:07:23] Yeah, so yeah, I mean it's just,

[01:07:26] yeah, you think about it and it's like

[01:07:29] where would I be right now if I didn't buy this car?

[01:07:33] And you know, but so before we get into this next segment

[01:07:37] is there anything that we didn't talk about

[01:07:40] or that I didn't ask that you would like

[01:07:42] to share with people or let people know

[01:07:46] about either your groups or your cross track?

[01:07:52] No, I think we kind of covered just about everything.

[01:07:54] I made notes for myself as well.

[01:07:56] All right.

[01:07:57] Yeah, yeah, I think we're rolling.

[01:08:01] Yeah, okay, good.

[01:08:02] So here's the get to know the person

[01:08:04] behind the account segment but who is Sean?

[01:08:08] Oh man, I'm just a dude who loves life.

[01:08:12] I love making memories and collecting people along the way.

[01:08:16] That's good, yeah, I like that.

[01:08:18] I've never heard anybody say collecting people along the way.

[01:08:21] Yeah, I mean you created, yeah.

[01:08:24] You created a team subi squad

[01:08:26] so you're definitely collecting people.

[01:08:29] Oh absolutely.

[01:08:30] So where were you born?

[01:08:32] So I was born in a city called Castro Valley,

[01:08:35] California it's in the Bay Area.

[01:08:37] It's about a five, 10 minute drive from Oakland

[01:08:40] but I was born there but grew up in Central Valley

[01:08:43] which is just outside of the Bay Area and yeah.

[01:08:49] Okay, what is a favorite memory from your childhood?

[01:08:54] Oh man, like I was saying before,

[01:08:56] I would say traveling.

[01:08:58] I was very fortunate to have parents

[01:09:01] that were able to show my brother, I'm a twin

[01:09:06] so they were able to show my twin brother

[01:09:08] and my little sister, different parts of the world

[01:09:13] whether we're going on trips to Europe

[01:09:16] or just going on a road trip.

[01:09:19] I've been able to see a lot of cool things

[01:09:22] that a lot of people haven't been able to

[01:09:24] and so I strive for that now.

[01:09:27] I want that, every decision I make with my life

[01:09:33] is just so I can experience new things

[01:09:35] and have new adventures.

[01:09:37] So yeah, it's just all that my childhood

[01:09:42] just traveling and seeing new things.

[01:09:44] It's pretty memorable.

[01:09:45] Yeah, I've been trying to do that with my kids

[01:09:48] is just be able to, cause I wasn't really able

[01:09:51] to go places when I grew up

[01:09:52] and when my kids were younger

[01:09:55] I wasn't able to take them places

[01:09:56] just because I wasn't able to afford it

[01:09:58] but I mean we've been to Colorado twice,

[01:10:00] we've been to Arizona and I took my son out

[01:10:04] to Washington.

[01:10:06] So, there's more places that I wanna be able to go

[01:10:09] but and I wish we could have gone to more places

[01:10:12] during them being in high school and being younger

[01:10:15] but I'm thankful that I was able

[01:10:16] to give them some of the experiences I have

[01:10:19] and even though they're gonna be getting older

[01:10:22] I still wanna do stuff together

[01:10:23] and all have experiences together

[01:10:25] because I want to create those memories with them

[01:10:30] and just explore and have fun

[01:10:33] and I think I've created that in them

[01:10:36] to go and explore places on their own

[01:10:39] which I like cause I know my daughter and her husband

[01:10:43] they like to go do stuff

[01:10:45] so it's been pretty cool to see that.

[01:10:49] Yeah, absolutely.

[01:10:50] I'm 35 and I still love to go

[01:10:52] and do things with my parents

[01:10:53] and my brother, myself, my dad, my uncle

[01:10:57] we're all actually going on the cruise

[01:10:59] and here in a couple of weeks

[01:11:00] just to do a guide trip with the family

[01:11:02] and so we still do quite a bit together

[01:11:05] it's a fun time.

[01:11:06] Yeah, it's good.

[01:11:07] I mean it's important too to get your family together

[01:11:10] and still do things like that

[01:11:11] so that's nice and I hope that you know

[01:11:13] and I'm sure that we will be able

[01:11:15] to continue to do that for ourselves

[01:11:17] but so I know you said that you do

[01:11:20] you work retail but what type of retail

[01:11:23] or type of work do you do?

[01:11:25] So I am a sales manager for T-Mobile.

[01:11:28] Okay, nice.

[01:11:29] I use T-Mobile.

[01:11:30] Yeah, so I work in a retail store.

[01:11:32] Yeah, wonderful.

[01:11:33] Wonderful.

[01:11:33] It's music to my ears.

[01:11:35] Yeah, T-Mobile was really good at

[01:11:39] when we got our new CEO

[01:11:40] and they like this guy just changed the game

[01:11:43] with the wireless industry

[01:11:44] and everyone kind of followed suit

[01:11:46] so and I started right when that whole thing

[01:11:49] started happening about 10 years.

[01:11:51] Actually yeah, 10 years this month

[01:11:53] has been 10 years for T-Mobile.

[01:11:54] Nice, nice.

[01:11:56] Now do you have a dream job?

[01:11:59] Honestly, I think it'd be really cool

[01:12:01] to own my own business.

[01:12:02] I always, you know, at some point or other

[01:12:06] there's always something,

[01:12:07] some kind of side hustle I'm trying to do.

[01:12:09] You know, I know during COVID

[01:12:11] I was doing a lot of buying and reselling

[01:12:13] of baseball cards and football cards

[01:12:17] and that kind of thing

[01:12:18] and had my own little eBay store and whatnot.

[01:12:21] And yeah, I think it'd be cool

[01:12:22] to maybe take Subi Squad

[01:12:24] to the next level one of these days

[01:12:26] but honestly T-Mobile has absolutely taken care

[01:12:30] of me.

[01:12:31] I recently was actually about two months ago

[01:12:34] I was promoted to a manager.

[01:12:36] So I am, thank you, I appreciate it.

[01:12:39] I'm looking forward to my next story

[01:12:42] for the next part of my next chapter

[01:12:44] I guess you'd say of this T-Mobile story.

[01:12:46] So dream job, I'm sure I think owning my own business

[01:12:49] but I have no complaints where I'm at right now.

[01:12:52] That's good.

[01:12:52] Yeah, it's important to enjoy where you're working

[01:12:55] and if you like it

[01:12:57] and you know, you don't dread getting up every day

[01:13:00] and having to go to work, then that's good.

[01:13:03] Absolutely.

[01:13:03] Yeah.

[01:13:04] So besides getting out and driving your cross track

[01:13:07] and being part of Team Subi Squad and everything

[01:13:10] like what other hobbies do you have?

[01:13:13] I think my wife and I are big into live shows

[01:13:17] whether that's theater, like musicals

[01:13:20] or going to concerts.

[01:13:23] I think last year we did somewhere

[01:13:24] in the range of like 35 concerts.

[01:13:26] Wow.

[01:13:27] And so yeah, we love, you know, I'm a former drummer

[01:13:31] or you know, I spent my whole childhood drumming

[01:13:33] and my wife just appreciates live venues.

[01:13:37] And so that's something that we both bonded over

[01:13:40] when we first met was just our love for getting out

[01:13:44] and seeing shows.

[01:13:45] And so if I am not off-road

[01:13:47] there's probably seeing a show.

[01:13:50] Okay, that's cool.

[01:13:51] That's fun.

[01:13:52] Yeah, I used to go to concerts quite a,

[01:13:55] not too often but with my best friend.

[01:13:58] And now that my son has gotten into metal

[01:14:02] we've gone to see some stuff.

[01:14:03] We went to go see Gojira together.

[01:14:06] We went to go see Seven Dust and who else?

[01:14:10] I can't remember who else played with Seven Dust.

[01:14:12] But in October, we're gonna go see Corn

[01:14:15] and then Gojira is gonna be with them.

[01:14:18] Yeah, we're gonna go see in August

[01:14:20] we're gonna go see 311

[01:14:22] and cause he got into 311.

[01:14:24] And I saw 311 with my best friend like years ago.

[01:14:28] And so we're gonna go do that.

[01:14:29] But yeah, I mean, it's,

[01:14:31] I'm starting to get into concerts again

[01:14:34] and it's cool to have that experience.

[01:14:36] But yeah, I'm having fun.

[01:14:38] It's really cool because a lot of bands from,

[01:14:42] you know, when I was a kid or going through high school

[01:14:46] my early 20s, they're all kind of coming back right now.

[01:14:50] And it's really fun to be able to go see them.

[01:14:55] Bands that I never thought would even get back together

[01:14:58] and I would never be able to see lives

[01:14:59] that I'm beginning to be able to see now.

[01:15:00] So it's been really fun.

[01:15:02] Yeah, so what is something

[01:15:04] that makes you want to get out of bed every day?

[01:15:08] I would say just new adventures.

[01:15:10] Knowing that I have adventures ahead of me

[01:15:13] whether being off-road or, you know

[01:15:16] going to traveling to some new place

[01:15:19] or experiencing something new with my wife.

[01:15:22] Just new experiences, you know

[01:15:24] I enjoy the heck out of life, man.

[01:15:27] I try to at least.

[01:15:29] Yeah, new cross-track adventures.

[01:15:34] See what I did there?

[01:15:35] We'll play.

[01:15:37] What is something that makes you want to stay in bed?

[01:15:42] Oh man, so for the ones that do know me

[01:15:44] and know I'm a big softy when it comes to dogs

[01:15:47] and I have probably the laziest, most cuddly dog

[01:15:52] you'll probably ever meet.

[01:15:54] And she really just wants to sleep and cuddle

[01:15:57] so it makes it really hard to get out of bed

[01:15:59] when it comes to getting up

[01:16:01] when I have a little fluff ball next to me

[01:16:04] wanting to stay in bed.

[01:16:06] Yeah.

[01:16:06] But other than that, there's not a lot

[01:16:08] that will keep me out of bed.

[01:16:09] Especially I'm a morning person.

[01:16:11] When I'm up, I'm ready to go.

[01:16:13] Yeah, me too.

[01:16:14] I mean it takes me a while to get up

[01:16:16] but it's like once I get up.

[01:16:17] Cause I don't like to, I mean even on the weekends

[01:16:21] not that I don't like to sleep in

[01:16:23] but I just usually don't sleep

[01:16:24] cause I don't usually get that much sleep ever anyway.

[01:16:27] But I like to be up and just know

[01:16:32] that I'm not like missing out on something

[01:16:34] even if I'm not going anywhere.

[01:16:36] Even if I'm not really doing anything

[01:16:38] it's like I don't want to miss the opportunity

[01:16:40] to be doing something.

[01:16:42] And I just, I like-

[01:16:44] Oh, I'm the same way.

[01:16:45] I like being awake.

[01:16:47] I like doing, I mean I know people are like,

[01:16:48] oh my God, I love my sleep which I get that

[01:16:51] but I love being awake.

[01:16:53] I love doing stuff.

[01:16:54] And I wish I could-

[01:16:55] I have a good time in FOMO.

[01:16:56] Yeah, I mean I could probably,

[01:17:00] I would probably enjoy sleep more

[01:17:02] if I could actually sleep

[01:17:03] but I just don't sleep and that sucks.

[01:17:07] But-

[01:17:08] Yeah, I'm the same way.

[01:17:08] I want to find my, I'm ready to go.

[01:17:11] Like it will be seven o'clock in the morning

[01:17:12] and sometimes I'll be texting friends

[01:17:14] to see if they're awake

[01:17:15] and see if they want to go do something.

[01:17:17] Because the whole FOMO, if you're a missing out thing

[01:17:20] lives true with me.

[01:17:21] I just want to, because I love to just get out

[01:17:24] and enjoy what this land that we've been given

[01:17:29] and I want to, I just want to see every part of it.

[01:17:32] And so yeah, once I'm up, I'm up, I'm ready to go.

[01:17:35] If I'm not working, let's figure something out.

[01:17:37] Yeah, my girlfriend will text me

[01:17:39] and she'll be like, hey did you get some sleep?

[01:17:40] Did you get to sleep in?

[01:17:41] And I'm like, I tried to

[01:17:43] but then I woke up at, be the weekend or something back.

[01:17:47] I woke up at eight

[01:17:48] and I may not have even gone to sleep till like three.

[01:17:50] But I'll wake up at eight and I'm like, I'm up.

[01:17:55] I don't want to just lay in bed.

[01:17:57] And even though I might get up

[01:17:59] and I'm just like, I'm so tired

[01:18:01] I really should probably go back to bed

[01:18:02] but it's like I'm up

[01:18:03] and I want to do stuff and get stuff done.

[01:18:06] Like I said, even if I'm not going anywhere

[01:18:08] I just want to be up.

[01:18:10] Yeah, even if it's just getting stuff done

[01:18:12] around the house.

[01:18:13] You're just up doing so.

[01:18:15] Yep.

[01:18:16] What would be your best bit of advice

[01:18:18] to give to someone about anything?

[01:18:20] I would say don't hesitate to live your life.

[01:18:25] I'm a firm believer that,

[01:18:29] I'm a firm believer on taking advantage

[01:18:31] of what life has to offer

[01:18:34] with all the opportunities that have been given to me

[01:18:37] and whatnot.

[01:18:38] So I guess what sees the day,

[01:18:41] Carfe Diem is a good thing to agree with and describe it.

[01:18:47] So just take every opportunity that's given to you

[01:18:49] and roll with it and make the best of it.

[01:18:52] So yeah, well if there's anything else

[01:18:53] you want to talk about, you can if not

[01:18:56] then we can wrap this up

[01:18:58] but I want to thank you for your time

[01:19:00] for being on the podcast

[01:19:02] and it's great to have you on

[01:19:03] and hear about your journey

[01:19:05] and having a manual cross-track

[01:19:07] that's like, that part's awesome

[01:19:10] for me especially.

[01:19:11] Absolutely.

[01:19:12] I appreciate you having me on here.

[01:19:16] We've always had our little chats here and there

[01:19:18] and so it's nice to be able to actually have a conversation

[01:19:20] and just I appreciate you giving me the opportunity

[01:19:23] to share what I have done with my cross-track

[01:19:28] and in my life

[01:19:29] and for those that are going to Subefest California,

[01:19:32] I'll see you all there.

[01:19:34] Please come stop by and say hi

[01:19:35] or we'll be at the Team Sube Squad booth.

[01:19:38] Yeah, other than that, I think I'm good.

[01:19:40] Awesome, yeah, cool.

[01:19:42] We'll have a good night and keep in touch

[01:19:44] and I'll talk to you later.

[01:19:46] Absolutely, you as well, thank you.

[01:19:47] You're welcome.

[01:19:49] Hello everybody, thank you for tuning in

[01:19:51] to another episode of the Sube New Podcast

[01:19:54] and thank you Sean again

[01:19:55] for coming on to the podcast

[01:19:58] and sharing your Subaru journey

[01:20:00] and your story and your cross-track adventures.

[01:20:05] So hope you all enjoyed the episode.

[01:20:07] Again, I hope you all had a great weekend

[01:20:10] and great Mother's Day

[01:20:12] and I hope you have a great week.

[01:20:15] We will see you next Monday on another episode

[01:20:19] and again for those people

[01:20:20] who have graduating seniors from high school

[01:20:24] or maybe even college,

[01:20:26] I hope that you can enjoy the summer that is coming up

[01:20:32] because we don't have to get up super, super early

[01:20:36] to get our kids off to school.

[01:20:38] I will not miss that

[01:20:41] but it's gonna be a new journey now

[01:20:44] and just new things going on with kids

[01:20:48] and trying to support them in their new futures

[01:20:51] and their new journey.

[01:20:52] So again, have a great week

[01:20:54] and talk to you later everybody.

[01:20:58] Much Sube love, wrap.

[01:21:00] The Sube New Podcast is hosted

[01:21:02] by Raphael and a closet in Houston

[01:21:05] produced by Raphael

[01:21:06] in a room next to the closet in Houston

[01:21:08] and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room

[01:21:11] next to the closet in Houston

[01:21:13] with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

[01:21:17] You can find the Sube New Podcast

[01:21:18] wherever you listen to podcasts

[01:21:20] including Apple Podcast, Spotify and many more.

[01:21:23] To support the podcast

[01:21:25] please head over to patreon.com

[01:21:27] slash sube new podcast.

[01:21:29] Once you join, you will have access

[01:21:30] to the Discord channel

[01:21:31] and Discord chats with other patrons.

[01:21:34] If you'd like to get in contact with the show

[01:21:36] you can find them on Instagram

[01:21:37] at sube new podcast online

[01:21:40] at sube new podcast.com or by email

[01:21:43] sube new podcast at gmail.com.

[01:21:45] That's all for this week.

[01:21:47] Tune in Mondays for new episodes.