S&YE174 - Mud Troubles

[00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome to episode 174 of the Subie & You podcast.

[00:00:16] This is going to be a solo podcast for a couple of reasons and I will get into that here in

[00:00:22] just a bit, but I want to congratulate any and all of the graduating seniors in high

[00:00:31] school and any of the graduating college students.

[00:00:35] I know this is that time of year right now and it's been pretty busy the past few weeks.

[00:00:42] So prepping for my son to have graduation which he had on Saturday so that was really

[00:00:48] cool to go to his graduation and see him walk and just that whole experience because

[00:00:54] I've been through it once before with my daughter and it was cool to see that with

[00:00:58] my son as well.

[00:01:00] And we've been trying to plan a graduation party for him so pulling all that together

[00:01:06] and then like last weekend the 11th was prom and so with all this end of the school year

[00:01:13] stuff going on it's just been pretty busy.

[00:01:16] And so just all that going on and just trying to plan for things and then trying

[00:01:21] to figure out summer schedules.

[00:01:24] He's going off to a camp for two weeks at least once and he might go for the second

[00:01:29] session and then trying to figure out any type of family vacation over the summer and

[00:01:35] we're still trying to figure that out as well.

[00:01:37] So just a lot going on, a lot to figure out and a lot to just keep in mind as

[00:01:43] we move forward through this summer which it's speaking of summer it's starting to

[00:01:48] get hot here.

[00:01:50] I was recording this yesterday on Sunday May 19th and I think this is as hot as it's

[00:01:54] been so far and it was up to 91 degrees and felt some humidity.

[00:02:00] I don't know I didn't look to see what the humidity was but I could feel it

[00:02:03] because I went out to take my son to a graduation party of one of his friends

[00:02:09] that he went to Cub Scouts with and that he also was in elementary school with

[00:02:16] and that was kind of fun because I hadn't seen, his friend's name is Caleb, I hadn't

[00:02:21] seen Caleb since they were in junior high I think like eighth grade and I

[00:02:25] hadn't seen his mom since then either so that was nice to have a little

[00:02:30] reunion and catch up and see them again.

[00:02:32] So there's other graduation parties that are coming up as well so yeah

[00:02:37] it's the season for that and again the summer season so it'll be

[00:02:44] interesting with him with my son not being in school and seeing like you know

[00:02:49] all the stuff that happens over the summer but I'm looking forward to it

[00:02:52] it'll be it'll be nice to not have to get up super super early anymore

[00:02:57] because I was when he was staying with me we'd have to get up super

[00:03:01] early so he can make it to school and that sucked many times so no more

[00:03:06] of that so I'm thankful for that.

[00:03:08] The SUBINU podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:03:12] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community-driven

[00:03:16] business that offers custom-fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.

[00:03:20] This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, tail lights and side tail lights.

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[00:03:33] There's always more projects in the works so be sure to follow

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[00:03:40] Thank you so much Eccentric Designs for sponsoring the SUBINU podcast.

[00:03:44] I really appreciate your partnership, your friendship and what you are doing

[00:03:49] for the community.

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[00:03:58] for your Subaru.

[00:03:59] Okay so the first reason that I'm recording a solo episode this Monday

[00:04:04] is because I was supposed to record an episode on Thursday, May 16th.

[00:04:11] But as many of you may know we had a really bad storm,

[00:04:14] a really bad storms come through the Houston area and other parts of Texas.

[00:04:19] And it was pretty bad.

[00:04:21] There was a lot of electricity that was knocked out,

[00:04:24] my electricity included.

[00:04:26] Thankfully it came on the next morning so I wasn't without it for too long.

[00:04:30] But I know people that as of today, three days later,

[00:04:34] people are still without electricity so it was pretty bad.

[00:04:37] And there were some tornadoes spotted and a lot of high winds,

[00:04:43] a lot of rain.

[00:04:44] So I was supposed to record an episode at 7.30 on Thursday

[00:04:50] and when the electricity is out especially in this area

[00:04:54] and the cell phone towers it seems like maybe they're down

[00:04:57] or something is going on with them.

[00:04:59] I don't have very much of a data signal.

[00:05:03] And so I can either send messages through

[00:05:06] and it takes a really long time or I can't get messages through at all.

[00:05:10] So I found a Starbucks that had some power

[00:05:12] so that I could message my guest and say,

[00:05:14] hey I'm not going to be able to record because I don't have power.

[00:05:19] So we rescheduled for Saturday morning at 10 o'clock

[00:05:24] and that was going great for about the first 30 minutes or so

[00:05:30] until I got a call from my son, which he rarely calls me

[00:05:34] because he was out with friends.

[00:05:36] He had a friend visiting that came down

[00:05:38] or came out from San Antonio to come out here for his graduation.

[00:05:43] And so if my son is out with friends

[00:05:46] he almost never calls me because he's out having fun.

[00:05:50] So for him to call me like a few times in a row

[00:05:53] I knew that something was going on.

[00:05:55] So I answered the phone and getting into this story

[00:06:01] is why I titled this episode Mud Troubles

[00:06:06] because I'm going to get into that story here in just a little bit.

[00:06:09] But so I again, I'm doing this as a solo episode

[00:06:14] because I was supposed to record with my guest on Thursday.

[00:06:18] We started recording Saturday morning.

[00:06:20] Then it got interrupted because my son needed my help.

[00:06:23] And then we had to finish up the episode

[00:06:27] that I was recording with my guest early on Sunday morning

[00:06:29] because she had some plans

[00:06:31] and I wanted to just get it done as soon as I could.

[00:06:34] But I had other stuff that I needed to do today.

[00:06:37] And so I knew that I wasn't really going to have much time

[00:06:41] to edit the episode and I didn't want to like stress myself out

[00:06:46] and strain myself trying to put together

[00:06:48] or trying to edit the episode and put everything else together

[00:06:51] that's involved to put it out on Monday.

[00:06:53] So that was the first reason

[00:06:57] that I decided to do a solo episode

[00:06:59] just because I didn't want to try to cram all of this stuff in

[00:07:03] for that episode on Monday.

[00:07:06] And right after this, I will get into the Mud Troubles

[00:07:10] that I so titled this episode after.

[00:07:13] This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com.

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[00:08:08] So thank you so much SubaruGear.com

[00:08:10] for sponsoring the SUBINU podcast

[00:08:12] and extending this great offer to the listeners.

[00:08:17] Okay, so mud troubles.

[00:08:19] What does that mean exactly?

[00:08:21] So as I mentioned earlier,

[00:08:24] I was recording an episode on Saturday around,

[00:08:27] I started off around 10 o'clock and around 10.30 or so,

[00:08:31] my son was calling me and I had,

[00:08:33] I told my guests, I was like, hold on a second.

[00:08:35] Let me get this call because he rarely calls me.

[00:08:40] So he calls me and he's asking me what I was doing.

[00:08:43] I was like, well, I'm in the middle of an episode

[00:08:46] and he said, well, my friend was,

[00:08:49] we were out with my friend

[00:08:51] and he drove out to this field and we're stuck.

[00:08:54] He said, do you have those recovery tracks with you

[00:08:58] that you could maybe bring out here

[00:09:00] and see if we can get unstuck?

[00:09:02] So I had to tell my guests, look, I'm sorry

[00:09:05] but I have to go because I have to come

[00:09:07] to the rescue of my son and his friends.

[00:09:10] So they had driven out into this field

[00:09:14] and mind you, he's in a two wheel drive truck.

[00:09:19] He has an extended cab GMC Canyon

[00:09:23] and with street tires that didn't have

[00:09:26] very much tread on them.

[00:09:28] So I've never had to use my GoTreads before.

[00:09:31] So I bring them out and we try to like get them,

[00:09:36] kind of packed under the tires.

[00:09:38] But I mean, at this point,

[00:09:39] the tires were so packed with mud,

[00:09:41] the little bit of tread that was on there.

[00:09:44] And we tried putting the GoTreads under there

[00:09:47] to get him out of there.

[00:09:49] And going forward, we tried going in reverse

[00:09:52] but it was so just muddy and wet and just slippery

[00:09:57] that they were, and again,

[00:09:58] his tires not having very much traction or tread on them,

[00:10:03] they just were not gripping the GoTreads.

[00:10:05] I have a feeling that I'm pretty sure

[00:10:07] that if his tires had had more tread on them,

[00:10:11] they would have been able to grip the GoTreads

[00:10:13] because we had them set down in there for them to grip.

[00:10:16] We even went and got it, I didn't have a shovel

[00:10:18] but I drove to the store and to Ace Hardware

[00:10:22] and bought a shovel and ended up digging it out,

[00:10:27] you know, digging out the mud from under his tires

[00:10:30] and it still didn't work.

[00:10:32] So I'm just like, I don't know what we're gonna do

[00:10:35] because I don't have any kind of recovery points

[00:10:38] on my car to pull him out with.

[00:10:41] I also didn't have any straps of any kind.

[00:10:44] So I'm pretty confident that if I had had a bumper

[00:10:49] with a good hitch on it or recovery point

[00:10:53] and some tow straps that I could have pulled him out

[00:10:56] because thankfully he had a pretty good tow hitch

[00:11:00] on his truck.

[00:11:02] So he called a friend that has like a four by four truck,

[00:11:06] I called some different people

[00:11:07] that I know around the area and I'm just like,

[00:11:10] I don't know what we're gonna do

[00:11:11] because we cannot get this thing unstuck

[00:11:13] and of course the more we tried,

[00:11:15] the more he just dug into the mud

[00:11:17] and just got deeper and deeper.

[00:11:19] And so finally, I'm like, okay,

[00:11:22] I know somebody that has a couple of Subarus

[00:11:26] but they also have a Jeep

[00:11:27] and their Jeep is pretty high up,

[00:11:30] they've got a winch

[00:11:31] and I know that they had some recovery gear.

[00:11:35] So I called my friends Carla and Hutch

[00:11:38] and Carla, her account, she goes by Ventures Texas Lady

[00:11:43] and thankfully they were able to come help us out.

[00:11:46] However, we had to wait a while

[00:11:48] because they were out shopping

[00:11:50] and needed to go home first to get the Jeep

[00:11:53] and then drive out to us.

[00:11:55] I mean, they weren't too far away

[00:11:57] so by the time they got home and drove out to us,

[00:12:00] I think we had to wait maybe about an hour

[00:12:02] or something like that.

[00:12:04] So we just drove my car to the parking lot

[00:12:06] that was in front of the field

[00:12:08] and sat there in the AC and just talked.

[00:12:10] And the thing that was funny is,

[00:12:13] he's driving this truck through this field

[00:12:16] and then eventually gets stuck

[00:12:18] and then I drive out to them in my car

[00:12:22] and my Crosstrek is just,

[00:12:25] it's going through that field like it's nothing

[00:12:28] and then they all hop in the car

[00:12:30] whenever we decided to go hang out in the parking lot

[00:12:33] and I let my son drive

[00:12:35] and he comes to this ditch as he's coming out of the field

[00:12:40] because there was actually a drive that had,

[00:12:43] it was kind of like a path

[00:12:45] that trucks drive down, utility trucks drive down.

[00:12:48] So it wasn't as wet and it was higher up

[00:12:51] and it was a little packed harder

[00:12:54] so there was no fear or worry of getting stuck there.

[00:12:58] And so my son was driving my car out to that trail

[00:13:02] but he gets to the ditch and because it's manual

[00:13:05] and he was wearing boots also, he ended up stalling

[00:13:08] and then when he started to back up, he's in the ditch.

[00:13:11] So as he's trying to come up out of the ditch,

[00:13:14] he starts spinning the wheels

[00:13:16] because it's really wet and muddy.

[00:13:18] But of course it's a Subaru

[00:13:20] and he ends up getting out of the ditch

[00:13:22] and up onto the trail and we went to the parking lot

[00:13:25] but his friends were very, very impressed

[00:13:29] with my Crosstrek being able to navigate

[00:13:33] through that field like it was nothing.

[00:13:35] And in the meanwhile, his truck is still stuck there

[00:13:39] and not able to budge at all.

[00:13:41] So while we were waiting in the car,

[00:13:43] I showed them some videos of me going

[00:13:46] through other muddy spots.

[00:13:48] I showed them videos of when Luke and I were out

[00:13:51] in Lake Tahoe and he was driving Colby's Crosstrek

[00:13:57] through some snow and they were just like,

[00:14:00] wow, that's awesome.

[00:14:01] But I gotta go back a little bit

[00:14:04] because when I first drove out to where the truck was

[00:14:07] out in the field, when I first got there,

[00:14:09] I said, okay, rule number one,

[00:14:12] don't ever try to drive through an area like this

[00:14:15] in a rear wheel drive car.

[00:14:18] And secondly, trade it in for a Subaru.

[00:14:21] So he likes to go out and get into areas like that

[00:14:27] but having a rear wheel drive truck

[00:14:29] is especially being light in the back.

[00:14:32] It's just not a good idea.

[00:14:33] So we'll see if he ends up pursuing trying to trade it in

[00:14:38] for some sort of Subaru, that would be really cool.

[00:14:41] And of course it would make me proud if he did,

[00:14:43] even though he's not my son, but he's my son's friend.

[00:14:46] And if they were ever in that situation again

[00:14:49] and he had a Subaru,

[00:14:50] they wouldn't have to call me to come get them out.

[00:14:53] So Carla and Hutch show up

[00:14:55] and they had some max tracks with them

[00:14:58] and we dug out more of the mud in front

[00:15:02] and back of the tires.

[00:15:04] And we tried to use those max tracks to get them out.

[00:15:07] And even those wouldn't work.

[00:15:08] I mean, we dug out a lot of mud

[00:15:10] so that we could get the pointy end of the max tracks

[00:15:15] like right under his tire.

[00:15:17] And those tires were just spinning and spinning

[00:15:20] and not getting any traction on the max tracks.

[00:15:22] Again, I think that just a hundred percent has to do

[00:15:25] with the lack of tread on his tires.

[00:15:28] So tried it going forward, tried it going reverse,

[00:15:31] just didn't work.

[00:15:32] So they pulled the Jeep out there

[00:15:34] in an area that wasn't as wet and soggy

[00:15:37] because their Jeep is pretty heavy.

[00:15:40] And cause they've got like a steel front bumper,

[00:15:42] steel real bumper, they've got a rooftop tent.

[00:15:45] So they've got a lot of weight in their Jeep.

[00:15:47] But anyway, so they put on a tow strap

[00:15:49] and they were eventually able to pull him out

[00:15:54] with the tow strap.

[00:15:57] We get it all hooked up and start pulling a little bit.

[00:16:00] And then, you know, they do eventually,

[00:16:03] as he was backing up.

[00:16:04] And my son was actually the one in the truck

[00:16:07] cause he was like, I'll drive out

[00:16:08] cause his friend wasn't as confident.

[00:16:10] And so my son having some off-road experience,

[00:16:13] even though he's not in an all wheel drive,

[00:16:16] you know, anything,

[00:16:17] he felt a little more comfortable

[00:16:19] behind the wheel of the truck.

[00:16:20] So got up on the max tracks

[00:16:23] and we were able to pull him out.

[00:16:25] And got him into the field.

[00:16:29] And then once we got to the spot

[00:16:31] that wasn't as slippery,

[00:16:33] they just backed up,

[00:16:34] went straight out to the trail that was over there.

[00:16:39] But we ended up throwing the max tracks down

[00:16:41] over the ditch because we knew

[00:16:43] that that could potentially be problematic.

[00:16:45] So they just backed up over the max tracks

[00:16:47] with no problem and then got up onto the trail.

[00:16:51] This episode is brought to you by Rikah Wheels

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[00:17:49] Thank you so much Rikah

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[00:17:54] go check out episode 48

[00:17:57] where I had Rikah Wheels as a guest.

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[00:18:14] So we got them up onto the trail.

[00:18:17] They backed up, turned around

[00:18:19] and were able to drive forward out of there

[00:18:22] and get out of that field

[00:18:25] and just, you know, we saved the day.

[00:18:27] But so my son called me around 10 30

[00:18:32] and I didn't make it out there until closer to 11

[00:18:36] because I had to, you know,

[00:18:38] let my guests know that I had to leave.

[00:18:39] I had to like change my clothes.

[00:18:41] I grabbed some boots for me and my son,

[00:18:43] ones that we've had for a long time

[00:18:45] from volunteering at an animal sanctuary.

[00:18:47] So it was definitely good to have those handy.

[00:18:50] And then of course I had to grab my go-treads

[00:18:53] which didn't end up working

[00:18:54] but not because of the go-treads.

[00:18:56] It's because that guy just did not have enough tread

[00:18:59] on his tires.

[00:19:00] But we didn't end up finishing up

[00:19:02] until almost two o'clock or something like that,

[00:19:06] I think is when we got them freed and on their way.

[00:19:10] But they ended up going to a self car wash

[00:19:13] to wash all the mud off the truck

[00:19:14] because this kid is only like,

[00:19:17] I think he is 16 and he didn't want to tell his mom

[00:19:23] what was going on.

[00:19:24] So that's why they called me

[00:19:26] to like see if I could come help them out.

[00:19:28] And so I don't know if he's told his mom since

[00:19:31] I'm sure he will at some point, you know,

[00:19:33] cause I mean, it's a pretty funny story

[00:19:35] and hopefully he won't get in trouble for it.

[00:19:37] They went and power wash the mud off of their truck.

[00:19:40] I went and power wash the mud off of Pearl

[00:19:43] because the other thing too is like,

[00:19:44] I'm glad it didn't happen later

[00:19:46] because we had dinner reservations at 515

[00:19:49] for dinner before my son's graduation,

[00:19:52] which was at eight.

[00:19:54] So, you know, they spent like almost four hours.

[00:19:58] Yeah, like probably three hours maybe almost being stuck.

[00:20:03] And they were all supposed to just be hanging out

[00:20:05] and going and doing stuff.

[00:20:06] And they didn't really get a chance to go do much

[00:20:08] because somebody was a knucklehead

[00:20:11] and decided to go out in this field.

[00:20:13] And my son told him,

[00:20:14] hey, I don't think you should go out there.

[00:20:16] And he didn't listen, but you know, they're kids

[00:20:19] and they have to learn somehow.

[00:20:21] So hopefully they learned from this experience.

[00:20:24] So even though my day didn't go as planned

[00:20:27] and neither did theirs, it was, you know,

[00:20:31] it was definitely an interesting experience

[00:20:33] and a reason that I recorded this episode for Monday

[00:20:38] because I wanted to tell this story.

[00:20:41] And of course, a huge, huge, huge shout out

[00:20:44] to Carla and Hutch for coming to our rescue

[00:20:47] and for helping me help them get out of that situation.

[00:20:52] And just thankful that they were available too

[00:20:54] because if they hadn't been available,

[00:20:57] I don't know what I would have done.

[00:20:58] I don't know, I don't know a whole lot of people

[00:21:01] out here that have the equipment

[00:21:04] to pull somebody out like that.

[00:21:06] Also, Carla and Hutch were guests on the podcast,

[00:21:09] episode 154.

[00:21:11] So if you haven't had a chance to listen to that,

[00:21:13] go check it out and hear their story.

[00:21:16] Their episode says, Subi Texas lady,

[00:21:18] which was her previous Instagram handle.

[00:21:21] As I mentioned before, now it's Ventures Texas lady,

[00:21:24] but still the same person.

[00:21:26] So go check out their episode

[00:21:28] if you haven't done so already.

[00:21:30] And again, thank you both so much

[00:21:32] for helping us out in that situation.

[00:21:35] It was definitely, definitely very, very grateful.

[00:21:38] So thank you so much.

[00:21:40] And before we close out this episode,

[00:21:42] it is brought to you by Melee Design Firm

[00:21:44] where they believe that quality parts should look great

[00:21:46] while adding functionality to your build.

[00:21:49] At MeleeDesignFirm.com,

[00:21:51] not only will you find their battery mounting systems,

[00:21:54] engine bay caps and other Melee products,

[00:21:56] you will also find products

[00:21:57] from other great brands available on the site.

[00:22:01] Melee offers products from Anderson Design Fabrication,

[00:22:04] Anti-Gravity Battery, iWire Wiring Solutions,

[00:22:08] as well as products from Nameless Performance,

[00:22:10] Off the Line Performance and of course Primitive Racing.

[00:22:13] So head over to MeleeDesignFirm.com

[00:22:16] for many of your aftermarket needs.

[00:22:19] Thank you so much Melee Design Firm

[00:22:20] for sponsoring this Subi and You podcast.

[00:22:24] The Subi and You podcast is hosted by Raphael

[00:22:26] in a closet in Houston,

[00:22:28] produced by Raphael in a room

[00:22:30] next to the closet in Houston,

[00:22:31] and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room

[00:22:34] next to the closet in Houston.

[00:22:36] With music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

[00:22:40] You can find the Subi and You podcast

[00:22:41] wherever you listen to podcasts,

[00:22:43] including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more.

[00:22:47] To support the podcast,

[00:22:48] please head over to patreon.com slash Subi and You podcast.

[00:22:52] Once you join, you will have access

[00:22:54] to the Discord channel and Discord chats

[00:22:56] with other patrons.

[00:22:57] If you'd like to get in contact with the show,

[00:22:59] you can find them on Instagram at Subi and You podcast,

[00:23:02] online at subiandyoupodcast.com

[00:23:05] or by email, subiandyoupodcast at gmail.com.

[00:23:09] That's all for this week.

[00:23:10] Tune in Mondays for new episodes.

[00:23:12] Thank you all so much for tuning into another episode.

[00:23:14] I hope you all have a great week

[00:23:17] and we will see you next Monday

[00:23:19] for the episode that I was supposed to put out today.

[00:23:21] So thanks again for tuning in.

[00:23:23] We'll talk to you later.

[00:23:25] Much Subi love, Raph.