S&YE178 - Quart Low

[00:00:00] Hello, this is Isaiah and you can find me on Instagram at Quirt.lo. That is a period, not the word dot. You're listening to episode 178 of the Subie and You podcast. Yes, that is true. You are listening to episode 178 of the Subie and You podcast.

[00:00:29] Welcome back to another episode. Thank you for showing up and thank you for tuning in to listen to Isaiah's story and hear all about what Quirt.lo means, because we do find out.

[00:00:42] I mean, for most of us that own Subarus and I'm sure the majority of people listening to this own Subarus, you probably know what Quirt.lo means, but we'll find out for sure here in a little bit.

[00:00:55] I hope everybody had a great weekend and I hope that everybody will have a great week since these come out on Mondays. I feel that it's appropriate to wish everybody a good week. And for those of you that are really busy with summer schedules, I guess that's good

[00:01:15] and hopefully some good summer plans. I know we've got some Subie Fest events that are going on during the summer, so that's always nice. But hopefully you have some other nice vacation plans or something, some way to get out and just kind of get away.

[00:01:31] Aside from Subie Fest, of course there is Subaru Flatfest, which is in Madison, Wisconsin. That's going to be in August, so look for details on that coming up soon. If you're not doing so, go follow StarCalNation and you will see that he will start posting

[00:01:49] about Flatfest coming up. So go check that out. If you are in the Madison, Wisconsin area or you're crazy and you want to drive 1,100 miles one way like me, you can attend Subaru Flatfest. So go check it out.

[00:02:05] The Subie and You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs. For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community-driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights, and side taillights.

[00:02:22] I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers. To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram.

[00:02:37] Speaking of Eccentric Designs, she might be there at Subaru Flatfest this year. I know that she's been there in previous years. She wasn't able to make it in 2023, neither was I, but hopefully we will see her there in 2024.

[00:02:51] So again, thank you so much, Eccentric Designs, for sponsoring the Subie and You podcast. So right now, today is Sunday, June 2nd at the time that I'm recording this, but of course this is coming out a couple of weeks later.

[00:03:07] And I'm recording these early, so I don't always know what to say in the intro for the episode because I can't predict the future of what may have happened before this episode comes out.

[00:03:20] But the reason I'm recording these early is I'm going up to Dallas on Monday the 3rd to spend a couple of weeks in Dallas with my girlfriend while my son is at a summer camp for a couple of weeks.

[00:03:33] So I figured I would take advantage of him being gone, and I planned on being gone as well. So basically, I don't know what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks, two weeks in advance.

[00:03:44] So I don't have a time machine yet, so I can't figure that out yet. But I am going up there to see my girlfriend, and I'm going to be able to see her on her birthday. I do know that's happening, so that's going to be really cool.

[00:03:56] And we'll just spend some nice time together. So I do know that. This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com, and if you go to the main page and scroll down a little bit, it says Trending Subaru Gear. And it has some items there.

[00:04:13] There's a hat, a hoodie, an insulated can cooler, friendship bracelets, and it looks like some kind of coffee tumbler, some sunglasses. And then, of course, there are all sorts of different giveback brands. You can hover over Shop.

[00:04:29] There's Apparel, Pets, Bags and Coolers, Food and Drink, Outdoor Life, Home Goods, Performance, Auto. And then each of those have their own subcategories. And then there's Collections and Brands, and then stuff that's on sale.

[00:04:43] So whatever it is you choose to put in your cart, you can save 20% off by using the code SUBINU24 at checkout. If your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you will also get free shipping.

[00:04:58] So go check out SubaruGear.com, see what they have to offer, explore the site, and fill up your cart. And thank you so much, Subaru Gear, for sponsoring the Subi & You podcast.

[00:05:09] Since I mentioned it just a bit ago, I will go ahead and give the rest of the lineup for Subifest. So you've got Subifest California, which is Sunday, August 4th. Boxer Fest is going to be Sunday, August 18th. Then you have Subifest Midwest, which is Sunday, September 8th.

[00:05:27] Then you've got Subifest Florida, which will be Saturday, October 5th. And then wrapping up the Subifest season, you have Subifest Texas, which will be held on Saturday, October 19th. You can go to Subifest.com and buy your tickets to any of these events that you are able to

[00:05:46] attend. And again, if you have not attended one of the Subifest events, I highly recommend it. You can see a lot of really, really awesome builds. Talk to vendors. Hopefully you will be able to see Rihanna & Jelcimino and Travis Pastrana. I know they were at Wicked Big Meat.

[00:06:05] I'm not sure if they're going to show up at any of the other ones, but hopefully they will. And definitely you will see Bucky Lastic there with Betty. And he has a passenger seat, so he'll be giving some ride-alongs.

[00:06:18] I don't know how the ride-alongs work, but if you're lucky enough, that's got to be quite the experience. So go to Subifest.com and buy your tickets today. This episode is also brought to you by Ryko Wheels, where they are committed to providing

[00:06:32] you with the highest quality, specialized wheels and lift kits that will allow you to travel further, experience new adventures, and discover extraordinary destinations. Ryko wants to make sure that you are ready for anything, wherever adventure takes you.

[00:06:49] Go browse the website and there you will find the Drifter, the Detour, the Tetons like I have on Pearl, and the Seeker. All great styles and all available at 10% off by using the code SUBIU10.

[00:07:06] So head over to RykoWheels.com and select your set of wheels or a lift kit or both and save 10%. Thank you so much Ryko for sponsoring this Subi & You podcast. This episode is also brought to you by Mele Design Firm, your one-stop shop for the world's

[00:07:22] best motorsports batteries and handmade battery mounting systems. Whether you're searching for the highest performance option or just need an OEM replacement, Mele has you covered. So go check out Meledesignfirm.com if you explore or when you explore the Subaru and

[00:07:42] Rally Spec sections, you can save 5% by using the code SUBIU at checkout. Thank you so much Mele Design Firm for sponsoring the Subi & You podcast. And now we will get into this episode with Isaiah and hear about his Subarus and where the term Cortlo came from.

[00:07:59] So here we go. Hey, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for joining us today and thank you for clearing up the fact that it's a period and not spelled out dot. Oh yeah, you know some people get confused.

[00:08:28] There are some Instagram accounts out there that actually have the word dot. It's a little confusing. Interesting. Not necessarily my style. Yeah, it's a little strange. Yeah, I've never seen that. It's good to know. I'll have to look out for that.

[00:08:39] So where does the name Cortlo come from? Well, you know, it goes I think without being said that the stereotype that surrounds Subarus happens to be that, you know, you always need oil.

[00:08:54] Well, that was the running joke amongst my friend group is that I was always a Cortlo because I carried a spare quart of oil in the trunk of my WRX and just kind of was like,

[00:09:05] well, I think I'm gonna make an Instagram account for my car and talking with friends. It was like, I got to use Cortlo. I got Cortlo with a dot. Somebody else has Cortlo. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Well, okay.

[00:09:21] Before we get into anything else, the other most important question is waffles or pancakes? I'm a waffles guy. Pancakes are cool and all. There's just something about waffles. They're crispy. I feel like the... Somebody can, you guys can challenge me on this.

[00:09:38] My opinion on the toppings for waffles is you can put a lot on waffles. Pancakes, I feel like it should just kind of be stuck to like butter and syrup, maybe a little bit of whipped cream if you're feeling fancy, but I'll like the special fruit topping

[00:09:53] and stuff that belongs on waffles and that's really where it's at. Okay. Okay. As a waffle person. All right. Well... I'm a waffle guy? I like waffles, but I like pancakes a little bit better. Okay. I mean, waffles have definitely had their place.

[00:10:08] I used to make peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwiches for my kids. I've eaten them too. I've made a burger out of waffles. You can't do that with pancakes, but as far as just eating them alone as a breakfast time,

[00:10:23] whether it's breakfast or midnight as a breakfast food, I still prefer pancakes over waffles. Okay. Well, how about this? Have you ever had Norwegian waffles? No. I've had Belgian, but not Norwegian. Okay.

[00:10:37] I can't quite remember the Belgian off the top of my head, but Norwegian waffles are like these little triangular shaped waffles. They're still waffle shape. They've still got like the little ridges and stuff and all that, but there's just something about them that makes them special.

[00:10:53] I don't know if it's the Norwegian background in my family that makes it special, but my grandmother's been making them ever since I was little and they are by far... They top every waffle, every pancake. It's like the king. Got to try it.

[00:11:08] Well, you know who else I'm going to have to ask about that is NorwegianGirl21, Gale. Be like, what's up? You never said anything about Norwegian waffles. Yeah. Calling you out, Gale. I have a whole podcast about Norwegian waffles. You should start one. Yeah.

[00:11:27] So you have, obviously if you look at your account, you have an Outback and you have a Sambar, but you mentioned a WRX. How many Subarus do you have or have you had? Yeah. So in total now, I currently have three. I've had four in total.

[00:11:47] I had the Sambar. I still have the Sambar. I had a 2010 WRX. I currently have my 2017 Outback and my fiance, we just bought her a 20... I think it's a 14 Forester. It might be a 13. I can't remember which one it was, but it's a 2013 or 14 Forester. Nice.

[00:12:10] Subaru guy for sure. Yeah. You know, I did have one Honda. I did have a Honda K truck for a few months, but that was purely just for the profitability on it.

[00:12:22] It sold for a little more than we had it for, but you know, we had some fun with what we did. So there you go. Subarus, I'm on four. In total, I've had five vehicles though. So why Subaru?

[00:12:32] Like where's the draw to that and you know, why the particular ones that you have? Yeah. So I guess I was about like 13 or 14 and I started, I've always been a huge gamer and I've always liked cars and I, for my birthday, I got Forza Horizon 3.

[00:12:53] So 2016 or 2017 and there's WRX in that game and I bought it. And I put more hours on that car than probably any other car I had. I probably, if I ever download that game, I probably have at least two dozen or three

[00:13:09] dozen different configs of the WRX and all the different classifications and street build and rally builds and just different levels of which one and the different models and like just the style between the hatchbacks and the older, the two door with the GC8 and

[00:13:30] even into like the 0405, 06, even the Hawkeyes. Just such a unique design with the front grill. It's just always been a car that stuck out to me. And yeah. And did they stick out to you before the game or did you discover them in the game?

[00:13:47] I knew they existed. However, they really started to stick out to me in the game when I could put a pair of headphones on and just hear the sound of the rumble. It was always the rumble that really drew me in. Nice.

[00:14:00] And playing that game, that's what drew my interest in getting a WRX someday. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's like my dream car, but it was definitely up there on the list of vehicles that I'd love to own someday. And you did. And I did, yeah.

[00:14:16] Quite a wild journey. Great car. Went through two engines. But that wasn't necessarily entirely my problem or Subaru's problem. Just a clarification here. Subaru did not make a crappy vehicle. I bought a vehicle with high mileage and the owner before me probably had a little bit

[00:14:35] of too much fun with it. And I definitely had too much fun with it in those first two months of ownership. Yeah, that would do it. Blew the motor. Wasn't a head gasket. Can confirm. Head gasket was completely intact. It actually just ran out of oil. Uh oh.

[00:14:49] More than a court low. I didn't keep up on it for those first two months. But yeah, more than a court low. That's where the whole joke of court low comes from. After I replaced that motor, I kept a court on me at all times.

[00:14:58] That's what really started it. Oh, that's funny. So I've always got a, I always had a court in the WRX and I always have one in the Outback in the sandbar just because that's kind of a fun guessing game on that one. But the Outback is pretty stable.

[00:15:14] I do oil changes every six to eight months and I don't really drive it a ton. And if I do, it's all road trips. So it's not really like I'm getting on it at all. So which one, which Subaru did you buy first? Yeah.

[00:15:25] So if you want to go by technicality, the sandbar was first. However, my dad bought it before I even had my permit. We were driving down the road and there's this guy, he's at the end of our street.

[00:15:39] We call him the golf cart guy because he sells golf carts. And he was selling this small white truck on consignment for a friend in a nearby town. And you know, they use it as a farm truck.

[00:15:49] So, you know, it's got, it's been put through the ringer and a little bit of like body or rust in the bed and whatnot. But overall, you know, it looked cool.

[00:15:57] So we took it for a test drive, took it around the block, stopped back by the house, showed it to the neighbor, showed it to my mom. I was like, we gotta get it. So we bought it. It was cheap. And we had fun with it.

[00:16:10] We registered it, took it all over, moved stuff. At the time we were moving houses. So we were moving furniture. We moved a fully intact basketball net with it. There's a picture somewhere on my Instagram of that.

[00:16:22] We strapped it to the roof and to the bed and may have possibly violated a few traffic safety laws, but hey, no one stopped us. So I can't confirm anything was violated. It's illegal. It's okay if you don't get caught, right? Yeah.

[00:16:38] My grandfather always said it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I don't know that I want to live by that rule, but you know, that is something that he did always say. So I guess play at your own risk.

[00:16:51] So then was that like technically your first car? So yeah, technically that was my first car. I got my permit in November of 2020 and I drove that car around on my permit. You know, had fun with it. My friends always just like, what on earth are you doing?

[00:17:06] You were on the right side of a vehicle driving stick shift. You don't even have a license yet. And what happened? I was like, well, you know, it's just driving stick. I guess it's not that bad. They're all like, oh yeah, it is. We can't do that.

[00:17:22] Well, a little backstory, driving stick. I actually bought a Logitech makes a G series. So they were like gaming lineup called the G920. It's a simulated steering wheel for gamers. And I bought the one with the stick shift and the triple pedal.

[00:17:40] And I played a lot of like SIM driving and stuff. So I taught myself how to drive stick in a video game. There you go. And I always joke with my brother, it's like, oh, driving sticks can be so easy.

[00:17:51] And he's like, no way, it's not going to work. And then we got the sandbar and got it. And I just, the guy dropped off the tow truck that he dropped it off of the house on.

[00:18:01] And I drove it from the end of the driveway up to the house. And my dad or stand there like, what? It worked. I was like, from video games, it works. I'm not crazy. Oh, that's pretty cool.

[00:18:15] And yeah, because I was going to ask, like, what was it like to drive? But what was it like, I guess, driving a right hand? Because I'm guessing your video game, you're shifting with your right hand and then now you're having to shift to the left.

[00:18:27] So I always played by realism. If the car was right hand drive, I would move the shifter to the left side. Because it's three individual pieces, pedal shifter and wheel. So you have the flexibility to move it from left to right.

[00:18:42] So if I was in right hand drive, I'd shift my left hand. And if I was in left hand drive, I'd be shifting with my right hand. So I taught myself the mechanics of both hands because it's the same mechanics. It's the same pedals.

[00:18:53] The only thing that's different is instead of shifting away from you, like in standard US cars on the other side of the world where everything is right hand drive, you actually shift towards yourself. Yeah, because the shift pattern's the same, right? Each pattern, yep.

[00:19:10] Yeah, still the same pattern, but just a different direction, left to right. Look at you, man. You were just prepping for the future, weren't you? You didn't even know it. Who would have known? Yeah, that's really cool. That's a cool story.

[00:19:25] And I mean, just driving a manual period is fun. My Crosstrek's a manual. There are times when I get in traffic, but even when I'm in traffic, and I'm rarely in heavy traffic, but even when I am, it doesn't annoy me.

[00:19:44] I enjoy driving a manual so much that it doesn't bother me. Yeah, it's fun on the sandbar because the idle sits high enough. You can just leave the clutch out and kind of ride the brake.

[00:19:57] It just creeps through the slow traffic because all the gears are so short because it only goes, if you're lucky, 70 to 75. But first gear gets you maybe 15 miles an hour. Whatever 20, 25 kilometers converts to is somewhere in that market.

[00:20:12] So creeping on just the brake, it's a lot of fun just cruising through traffic because you don't really ever have to stop. That's how I taught my son how to drive my Crosstrek because he was having trouble with

[00:20:27] first gear because when you're first learning how to drive one, it's not that easy to get like the synchronization really good. And so I tried it myself of just letting the clutch out really, really slow and I was like, oh, it just starts rolling.

[00:20:46] And so that's how I taught him. I said, just let the clutch out really, really slow. It'll start to roll and then you can push the gas. And then from there, second, third gear were kind of rough, but they were a lot better than first gear.

[00:20:59] So that's kind of how I taught him. That's cool. Yeah, it worked out. So do you have any, are there any more Subarus coming up in the future or are you good for now? Do you have plans to get some? Right now we're good.

[00:21:17] Our apartment is a little bit limited on space. I'll be moving in there in August, but we have technically two parking spots. I talked to the landlord. I was like, listen, man, my truck is about four feet wide and this overall parking space is like maybe 15 feet wide.

[00:21:35] I think I can fit three vehicles here and still have the trash cans available. And he's like, hey man, you want to fit three by all means, fit three. You're paying for the space. You want to use it? Go for it.

[00:21:46] As of right now, can't technically park another car once we get married and I move in. But down the line, I'd love to get another WRX. We have a Chevy Bolt at work. It's electric. Fully, like fully.

[00:22:04] And every time I get on it a little bit, it's like, man, I just want to shift gears right now and it's just, there's no gear and it's become sad. I guess it has some pretty good accelerators. I want the WRX back. Yeah, the EVs are quick.

[00:22:17] I don't know the exact specs on it, but it gets up to 60 pretty, pretty good. A front wheel drive car. But yeah, it makes me miss the WRX because I want to shift and it's just, it doesn't exist.

[00:22:27] And the sandbar is only zero to 55 and say a prayer and you might get there. A minute? Probably about a minute. Hang on. Yeah. I was talking to a guy at my son's graduation party.

[00:22:43] He owns a Tesla and it's like the smaller, I guess the type S. And he said that, uh, he said when you put it in, I guess like it's, I don't know if it's sport mode or what, but he said, he said, it's ridiculous.

[00:22:57] He said it's stupid quick. He says like 3.6 seconds, zero to 60, which is really fast. Yeah. I mean, that's like crazy fast. I feel like I get like whiplash or something from that. Oh yeah. From like your head hitting the head. Yeah.

[00:23:12] I mean, WRX was never quite that fast. I think the fastest that me and my buddy timed it was about like, I think 5.8, maybe 6.2, somewhere in that six second mark, I think was the fastest we ever launched it. That's still pretty quick though. Yeah.

[00:23:26] It got the job done and made everybody else's cars look slow. So I guess that was a fun teenage moment. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. So when did you get your WRX? I bought my WRX in September. It was September 26th, I want to say. Okay. 2021.

[00:23:48] Can't, it's on the Instagram somewhere, I think. Okay. But yeah, bought it in 2021, sold it in 2023, August 10th. You said you went through two engines on it, right? And then was it like, were you just like having to repair it? Like why'd you end up selling it? Yeah.

[00:24:09] So after I replaced the engine, we put a certified refurbished engine in from a local junkyard and the engine was great, but being that the car was growing 11, 12, 13 years old by the time I would sell it, the other mechanical parts besides just the engine were also aging.

[00:24:32] And one year I replaced the radiator, I replaced all the hoses for the cooling system, I replaced all the hoses for the intercooler system. I had to get parts remachined. Then I had a squeaky clutch and they quoted me like four grand to get that fixed.

[00:24:50] And you know, I just, I wasn't really looking for the high expenditures. I bought the car for eight grand and by the time I sold it, I'd probably put double that into it. Oh wow.

[00:25:00] I was 16 when I bought it and I put all of the money from my senior year of high school into it and a little bit of my post senior year of high school into it. Finally was able to start saving as the maintenance died down in 2023.

[00:25:15] I kind of, you know, got around some of the issues that caused it to become such a problem to me being a teenager with moderately low income. When I sold it, it wasn't really a big pain in the butt. The cost was pretty minimal.

[00:25:34] Gas prices were rising and it just, financially it wasn't the most correct thing to keep. I knew that I was looking to propose to my at the time girlfriend in the next 12 months and didn't want to have the headache of car maintenance going into a marriage.

[00:25:54] It didn't seem like a wise decision. That was another factor in getting rid of it. I'd always liked the wagon style. I wasn't quite sold on the Crosstrek because it didn't have a high enough power rating. Yeah, I know.

[00:26:12] It sounds so stupid, but that's literally the only thing that kept me from buying a Crosstrek and I found an Outback with the 3.6 and I've always heard such amazing things about the 3.6. People seem to sing praises of it. Yeah, I've heard that too.

[00:26:28] I picked one up and I've loved it. Test drive was great. I walked out the door and sold the WRX a few weeks later. Oh, there you go. Nice. Yeah, some local kid bought it. That's good. Still see it every now and then.

[00:26:41] It's like, oh hi, that's my car. He has no idea who I am when I wave to him. So when are you getting married? Yes, we're getting married in August on the 10th actually. So yeah, coming up here in 69 days, I think. There you go. Congrats, man.

[00:26:59] Well, thanks. You're welcome. Yeah, it's always an exciting time and a good day. Yeah, getting into some new beginnings here. Yeah, that's good. How long have y'all been dating? We have been dating since, I got to get this right, October 15th, 2022. Okay.

[00:27:24] We've been friends since about May of that, of 2022. We'd been friends for a while and got to know each other and then dated long distance for about seven months. She was doing a school program down in South Carolina and then she came back and kept dating

[00:27:40] and in January, I popped the big question. So how long distance was it like time-wise, I guess? Same time zone, but in terms of travel, if I wanted to drive there, which I did twice, worth it.

[00:27:58] I think it was like, by Google apparently, according to Google, it was like, we're going to say 11 hours. Oh yeah. That's pretty long distance. The first time I did it, we took my dad's Suburban because a bunch of us took her back down to school.

[00:28:14] She had come up for something, didn't have a car with her because she came up with a friend so we drove her back down. Went through Shenandoah, saw some scenery and whatnot.

[00:28:22] And then the second time I went down in a completely safe fashion, I think me and her brother did it in less than 10 hours. 11 hour drive, less than 10 hours. Okay. I think it was 11 hours factory in the stops we'll say. Gotcha. Okay. Gotcha. You're right.

[00:28:44] We rode the flow of traffic as some might call it. Yeah. That's cool. Went through Mexico a couple of times. Yeah. So where are you located anyway? Yeah, so myself and my little fleet that we have, we're in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,

[00:29:00] more on the upper side, closer to the Quaker Town, Doylestown area, a little bit of Satterton too. So kind of in the middle of that little triangle there. Okay. Kind of been in this area my whole life. Grew up in Quaker Town.

[00:29:13] My teenage years we were in just outside of the Doylestown borough and past couple of years we've been living in, it's called Hilltown. It's like the countryside of Bucks County, all the farms and basically lives in the area.

[00:29:26] I guess if you draw a circle, it's like a 15 mile radius. So okay. But done a lot of exploring. We've always been a travel family. So we've gotten to see a lot of the East Coast. That's good. I've been to Allentown with my old job.

[00:29:42] I went out there and I liked it. It's a cool little town. It's nice seeing something different. Not too far, it's about 45 minutes from us. Okay. Yeah. It was nice out there. I liked it. Have you done any like mods to your... What am I trying to say?

[00:29:57] Hold on, let me start that over. I was feeling a little sick last night and earlier today. I'm just congested so it's like I'm getting a little brain fog. But have you done any like any mods to your sandbar? So mods for the sandbar.

[00:30:12] So when we bought it, it came with wheel spacers. I guess that's technically a mod but I didn't do it. Looks pretty cool though. Gives a nice wide stance. Makes it a little bit less of a basic looking tiny car.

[00:30:23] And I added a light bar, put a 37 inch on the front. Oh, nice. A few years later, put a little, I guess it's like a six or an eight inch on the back.

[00:30:32] Mounted to the head a crack, got a little forced foregang switcher in case I ever want to add two more spots anywhere. If you want to call it a mod, I've replaced the engine and the transmission and the clutch. All at the same time?

[00:30:46] And I should probably replace the CVs at some point. No, different times actually. Actually all completely separate occasions. I've had the entire truck in many, many hundreds of pieces at least twice.

[00:30:59] Back in 2022, a buddy of mine was like, oh yeah, we should get a bunch of firewood and put it at the end of my driveway and we can all split it. And whatever I get as profit, we'll split three ways. I was like, oh, that sounds great.

[00:31:12] So you know, I have a truck has a six foot bed. Therefore it's a truck. I can move heavy things. The payload is like 700 pounds. That includes the driver. The gross vehicle weight rating is 1650.

[00:31:25] A lot of people think that's the total vehicle weight rating because that's what you find when you Google it. But after thorough testing of picking up the sandbar, it is def, I haven't picked it up just to clarify, I am in no means capable.

[00:31:36] My dad, however, when we had no motor or transmission in it, picked it up from the rear and just wheelbarrowed the truck out of my garage, which was pretty cool. That's on my YouTube page. Same tag. Pretty funny video. Very entertaining. I'll have to check that out.

[00:31:53] But yeah, just a lot of pieces. So all the work that you've done on your sandbar and the work that was done on the WRX, like did you do a lot of that work yourself or did you have to have shops do some of it?

[00:32:07] The WRX, when I had the motor replaced, because that was an issue with the dealer that I bought it with, they unknowingly sold me a car that had a cracked turbo. We were able to work out with the mechanic that we would buy the engine and they would

[00:32:19] install it with no labor cost, but we would pay for all the parts. So that was kind of nice. Saved a little bit of money there just because of the technical, they kind of screwed me over but they didn't realize it. So they were very gracious to me.

[00:32:33] Really appreciate those guys. That's good. So they made it right, basically. Yeah, so they made it right. They put the new motor in, replaced the clutch, got it back on the road for me, which was awesome.

[00:32:43] The sandbar, however, they took it to a dealer and they're like, we don't do JDM. I was like, okay, you know, that's respectful. But they're like, this thing is awesome. We wish that we could work on it but we literally know nothing about the JDM stuff.

[00:32:57] And our shop manager said no. So unfortunately as techs, we can't just let you roll it in. Yeah, I guess they didn't want to mess it up though. Yeah, I took it to a couple collision shops and they were like, kind of beyond our wheelhouse of fixing.

[00:33:12] Took it to a couple private shops, still same thing. Finally stumbled across another private shop there in Doylestown. I believe it's called Zigmund Motors. Typically they're a BMW or Audi specialist. They do primarily German cars and we had been taking my mom's Mini Cooper there for a while

[00:33:30] and I always gave my dad a ride back in the sandbar. So they were like, you got to get that thing in here. I was like, well, first I got to break it. Then you can have it.

[00:33:41] So the first time I blew the motor, going back to the wood, we were picking up all this wood and somebody's coming home from Boyertown, about a 30 minute drive from where I live. I'd kind of been suspecting that something was going to break in the near future.

[00:33:55] It was kind of running real rough. Every time I'd shift and get back on that gas, it was real raspy and throaty, unlike the way it's supposed to sound. And I was getting off our exit on Route 100 and shifted into third, going up the ramp

[00:34:10] and just sounded like a gunshot. So I was able to roll off. There was thankfully no cars coming, so I was able to roll through the old side and pull into a shopping center at the top of the off-ramp. I had some help from the friends though.

[00:34:25] They had to push me down the road a little bit. That was a very entertaining time. Somebody has it on video somewhere, I'm sure. Well, it's a good thing you had people with you. I will be posting that at some point. Yeah, really good friends.

[00:34:36] Shout out to them. But that was engine number one that died. It had a good 30 years of service. So I'd say pretty impressive. Because these little K-trucks get used and abused in Japan.

[00:34:54] And all of the countries over there, they use them to haul stuff up and down the mountains. And they get put through some work, and it made it under all of the abuse that I put it through. So 30 years, not bad. You know, I replaced the engine myself.

[00:35:09] It got shipped in a cardboard box with some styrofoam. I was very unimpressed with the way that it arrived. I was very concerned. It did not come on a pallet, not even in the truck. The guy had to shuffle it.

[00:35:23] It was very entertaining watching him do it from my ring camera. This poor FedEx driver just shuffling it out of the truck and then shuffled it up to the edge of my garage and just left it there. What the heck is this thing that I'm moving here?

[00:35:35] Yeah, and I came home and I'm looking for a crate. My mom's like, you know, giant cardboard box came for you. The FedEx guy said it was kind of heavy. I went outside and I opened up. And I took a picture. I sent it to all the guys.

[00:35:45] It was like, guys, you got you got to cut. You got to see this. And they're all like, what on earth? Wow. I shipped it in a cardboard box. Well, here's why. It weighs like 98 pounds. Oh, so it doesn't meet like free.

[00:36:02] I guess it doesn't meet free requirements. I don't know how much you have to build. Use a pallet. But I guess if you don't mail a high enough weight for a pallet, you can use a normal box. So they kind of lucked out. Yeah, the shipping.

[00:36:14] The shipping was cheap, too, is like not even a hundred bucks. I think might have even been free. Oh, that's really good. But yeah, engine came, put that in myself. Wasn't necessarily too bad. It's actually pretty easy.

[00:36:24] The whole bed comes off as one piece separate from the cab. And then it's like 16 bolts. Just pop them all out. They're all like a size 14. I think pull the bed off. All the motor comes off. Suspension is sizes 12, 14, 17, 19, I think.

[00:36:43] And then the first year I pull the tires off. It's a real pain in the butt. You got to pull the tires off. Then you can pull the CVs out. Then you can pull all the other suspension crap off. Then you can undo the motor and trans.

[00:36:55] Then you can separate the motor and trans. So it's the real, it's real process. But first time thing, I did it in like three hours. Pretty impressed with myself. That is pretty impressive. Zero prior mechanical knowledge. It took me about five hours to put my roof rack on.

[00:37:10] So yeah, that's impressive. So yeah, I literally just borrowed my neighbor's little air gun and plugged it in my compressor and was just zipping away at stuff. You know, buddy, three hours. It was great. Yeah, I put it all back together. Worked great for about a year.

[00:37:26] And then after a few cleanup events with some of the guys here on the East Coast, hauling a bunch of garbage and stuff out of the woods in New Jersey, I put it through the wringer once again.

[00:37:40] And it wasn't hauling anything this time, but you know, I felt in the clutch, felt kind of, kind of weak when I put the clutch in and shift and I'd let it out. Like there was some weird vibration. It just didn't feel right.

[00:37:50] We were out in the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, going back to the trailer and I lost first gear and I lost second gear. I didn't lose third. Third was good. Third was good to me. You can start in third in that thing. It's actually quite convenient.

[00:38:08] And then shifted in fourth, went to shift into fifth and then nothing happened. So I figured that I also lost fifth. And then when I rolled it off the trailer at the shop Ziegman Motors, like I mentioned before, I just lost everything.

[00:38:22] It wouldn't, it wouldn't come out of, out of third. So dumped it there, shipped the transmission to them. The mechanic calls me, he's like, yo, what did you send me? I was like, well, I sent you a transmission. Did it arrive in a cardboard box?

[00:38:39] He's like, yeah, it did. I was like, dude, that's how they mail these things. They weigh less than a hundred pounds. So they don't mail them in freight to save money. It was like, they stuffed some tire foam in there and a bunch of packing peanuts.

[00:38:51] And they put, give you all your little washers and little gaskets and stuff that you need. And they call it a day because it don't weigh enough. He's like, all right, this better fit. I was like, well, it'll fit.

[00:39:02] I already took one apart and it's the same one as I already had. So theoretically it'll work. Well, you know, it works, but still do the cardboard box. It's kind of a sketchy way to ship things, but I think it's quite comedic.

[00:39:13] So I'm actually okay with it because it's kind of funny. Yeah. That's a very interesting that that's how they ship it, but I guess it works and save some money. If it works, it works. And if it's broken, don't fix it or wait, that's not how that goes.

[00:39:28] If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Yeah. Don't quote me on that. Yeah. Like, uh, see, okay. This is where it's like, I'm not following the questions because it's just kind of taking on its own path. And I love that. Yeah. It's kind of fun. Yeah.

[00:39:47] So, so like you've got your sandbar, then you've got your, uh, you've got your Outback and I've seen like, just, just kind of looking through your posts and just chats and stuff through the discord that I know that you go off road, but like who, like where are

[00:40:02] some of the places that you go off road and who are the people that you typically go with? Yeah. So I guess a little backstory how I got into the whole off-roading thing. Uh, that'd be a good one.

[00:40:12] Wasn't really something that, you know, my family never did much of. It was, you know, vacation, we didn't go to the beach, go to the mountains and stuff, but yeah, we do stuff around like the hotel area or what like the local towns had to offer.

[00:40:24] So off-roading wasn't really like a thing in the family, but shortly after I got the sandbar back in 2020, uh, my coworker brought it to my attention. Like, Hey, have you ever heard of Boxer Fest? It's like, no. What is that? Sounds weird. Boxer Fest.

[00:40:41] It's like, oh no, no, no, it's not. Like Tyson. He's like, like the Subaru motor. It's a boxer. Like your WRX. I was like, oh, duh. I looked it up. I entered the sandbar like, oh yeah, this'll be cool. Called my, called my best friend up.

[00:40:57] I was like, yo, if you like going out to York, Pennsylvania for car show that I'm putting the sandbar in, he's like, sure, I'll go. What time we got to leave? I was like six. He's like, cool. Got on the road, went to Boxer Fest.

[00:41:09] Didn't think I was going to meet anybody or nothing that was like super cool. I was the only guy that the trailer car to the entire event. It was hysterical. I had to park in like the standard parking and then they had to move all the gates so

[00:41:22] that I could get in because I parked in the standard parking cause I had a trailer. So that was fun. They didn't really know what to do with me. I was like, I have a paper. Let me in please. Yeah. What's this guy doing here?

[00:41:38] And I can't remember their names. I really wish that I could, but at the time I was, I was so shy of like meeting new people because I had a unique vehicle. I get that. It wasn't really my personality at the time.

[00:41:50] Wasn't very sociable or any of that. And these two dudes and this lady, they approached me and they're like, Hey, we really liked your sandbar. I was like, thanks. It's a fun truck. Were you surprised that they knew what it was? I'm like 17 years old. Yeah.

[00:42:08] I mean, I thought they were mildly surprised. They seemed like they kind of knew what it was, but like 17 year old me was like, you guys are in your forties and fifties. And I am not even an adult yet. This is weird.

[00:42:21] We want you to come off roading with us. And I was like, Oh, okay. That sounds fun. Where? And they were like, uh, the Pine Barrens in New Jersey. We take groups out there. Sometimes it's 20, sometimes it's 40. Like it's a lot of fun.

[00:42:34] And we'd love to see your sandbar out there. Like this thing's got to do good off-road. And you know, we've, we've got some local trails around me and stuff that, you know, kind of

[00:42:42] hit every now and then it's just like two Creek crossings and a little bit of like dirt and mud mixture, depending on how much it's framed. I was like, yeah, sure. I'll come. Why not? That sounds like fun.

[00:42:53] So, you know, went out with them, uh, found their group on Facebook. That was with the, uh, the mountain route group of, uh, the tri-state area. Went out with them. He took my butt, my other, one of my other best friends, he came out with his Ram charger.

[00:43:07] We were the only like two oddities in the entire group. It was cross-treks outbacks and foresters. And then there's me in the sandbar and my buddy in a 1987 Dodge Ram charger, two guys that don't fit into the rest of the group. It was weird.

[00:43:24] 17 year old me was still like, actually not at the time I was 18. I just turned 18. Still, it was like, I am way too young to be doing any of this with you guys. You guys are all like triple my age, but you know what?

[00:43:34] This is what am I doing with all these old people? Yeah, we picked up trash that day. Subaru of America was there. They brought us a bunch of like green terror disposal boxes and we filled a ton of them.

[00:43:47] I don't know how much trash we picked up that day, but it had to be at least like 10,000 pounds. Wow. If I had to guess it, it was insane. And they were like, your sandbar is so helpful because we can just throw bags in the back

[00:44:00] of it and you can just drive them to the dump site. And I was like, cool, I can do something. I can make myself useful. Yeah. And I don't have to overload my truck with wood this time.

[00:44:12] So that's kind of how I got into the whole off-roading scene. And started with a sandbar. Through that one event. And it started, yeah, with the sandbar, not the outback. And I kept going back. How did it do off-road? Oh my word. It was phenomenal.

[00:44:27] Or as the rest of them say, it floats because it's so light and it doesn't sink into the squishy ground. Like all of the other like multi-thousand pound vehicles, mine weighs like 950 dry. I think it's 950, whatever the kg to lb conversion is beats me.

[00:44:48] But it is an exceptional vehicle off-road and they are two wheel drive by default. You have a little selectable four wheel on the shifter as well as the low range for first gear only.

[00:45:02] I didn't have to touch any of the four wheel drive system the entire trip with the sand, the mud, the water. So it stayed in two wheel drive the whole time? Yeah. Yeah. Two wheel drive the whole time. It chugged through the forest like it was nothing.

[00:45:18] And I mean, it didn't keep up on any of the pavement by any means, but through the forest you can have that thing sideways. You could slide the whole corner like rally style and it was a blast. That's awesome. How is it in the snow?

[00:45:33] It is really good in the snow. And I don't have good tires by any means and I'm pretty sure it came to America with the same tires I still have on it now. Oh, really?

[00:45:41] I have to guess it came to the States in 2016 because I think that would be 25 years from 1991. But I haven't put new tires on and when we bought it, the guy said that those were the

[00:45:51] tires the owner got it with or they got it replaced upon getting here to meet like DOT approval and whatnot. I haven't changed them since I got it and it still performs amazing.

[00:46:04] Every now and then now that the tires have a little less tread, I do have to hit the four wheel drive button, but most of the time I can stay in two wheel and it just kind of just goes. It's really quite an amazing vehicle. That's very impressive.

[00:46:16] Because the sandbars, they're rear engine. So the engine actually sits between the rear tires. I didn't know that. Yeah. So a lot of the K trucks, they're mid-engined. So you take the bed off. It kind of sits between the rear CVs, the rear differential and front diff.

[00:46:33] And then the transfer case splits it both ways in the sandbars instead of having transfer case and then two drive lines and two differentials and CV axles. The engine sits between the two rear tires and it's an inline four.

[00:46:50] They call it a Subaru identifies it as a clover four. No idea what that means. I've spent many minutes researching what on earth clover means. I can't find anything. I don't know if it's like four leaf clover. It's supposed to be like a lucky kind of thing.

[00:47:09] And then it's instead of sitting front to back in line, it sits left to right in line, but it also lays flat. So the cylinders point at the rear bumper. That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, that's good.

[00:47:25] So they point like a, like a, like a 40 degree angle to the rear bumper. It's really strange how it all works. And the transmission sits on the left side of the engine. Huh? That gives you some good weight in the back though. Yeah.

[00:47:37] And the transfer case is directly mounted to the transmission and your rear CVs are directly on the transfer case. And then the transfer case has one drive line that goes to the front diff and then the front diff splits off to the CV.

[00:47:52] So unlike a lot of the other trucks, Subaru took a whole different design approach and Subaru is also the only four cylinder K truck. Fun fact. What are the others? Well, they're all threes. Okay. They're all like a one liter three cylinder.

[00:48:04] If you want like the technical, technically they're all 660 CCs, but I think the actual displacement on some of them is upwards of 0.8, 0.9, one liter ish. Yeah, they're all 660 CC just to meet like Japan's classifications for what the K trucks allow for at the time.

[00:48:25] But yeah, it's a really cool design and they focused on traction. Yeah, that's smart. I'm really digging these little sandbars more now. I'm learning a lot. They're pretty affordable too, man. You can get one shipped to East or West Coast for less than five grand. Wow.

[00:48:45] So I've heard in recent times, I've got a couple of friends in the area who have friends who have recently purchased them and they've got them for less than five, which is pretty impressive.

[00:48:54] It makes me feel a little bad about the amount of money I've put into mine. I could probably have bought two of them at this point, but... It's okay. You're enjoying it and it seems to be serving you well. I got the hands-on experience. Yeah.

[00:49:09] So now that you have the Outback, do you still take the sandbar off road and out to trails? Yeah. Sandbar had its last voyage to the Pine Barrens in, I think it was like January of last year or maybe it was February. It was in the earlier months.

[00:49:29] There was no snow on the ground, but I had it out there and it was great. It was awesome. And then it just kind of got put on the back burner for a little bit because I was trying to sell it to the Ricks and get an Outback.

[00:49:41] I bought the Outback. New vehicle. I wanted to offer it for the Outback. So I did. And I kind of just drove the sandbar around town and drove it to church, drove it to work

[00:49:53] and put a couple miles on it here and there, but didn't really use it for what I loved using it for. And actually this past weekend, this podcast is being recorded on June 2nd. Memorial Day weekend, but last weekend a group of us from the off-road ruse community,

[00:50:15] off-road ROOS, like a Subaru. We'll play on words there. We took, I'm part of the team that helps kind of facilitate a lot of the events that go on with that.

[00:50:26] We took about 30 drivers out and we did a clean up event in the Pine Barrens in New Jersey. I brought the sandbar. Hadn't been out in a while. I was like, got to have it. Cool. And filled that thing with trash.

[00:50:41] There's a bunch of pictures up on our Facebook page as well as my Instagram. I think I posted a couple and we're making a little highlight video for the weekend, a couple of us.

[00:50:50] We have cameras and we like to swing them around and just kind of record clips and put little montages together. Yeah, I see the Instagram posts right here. Still amazing. After probably not being put back together a hundred percent properly, I'm sure there's something that I did wrong.

[00:51:09] It still chugs through that forest and still uses two-wheel drive. I used four-wheel drive once on this past trip strictly because I was in deeper sand than I anticipated being in and the tires are nearing their end of life, but I'm too

[00:51:21] cheap to buy new ones at the time being. If there's any tire sponsors out there, I need a 185, 65 on a 13. Good luck finding it. I think it's a 65. It might be a 60. Either way, I'll lift it if it doesn't fit. It's on the bucket list.

[00:51:39] I don't know if we went through the mod question yet for the sandbar, but sandbar, eventually I'd love to get a little lift set up on it. There's actually a fellow in Texas, probably not far from where you live, if I had to guess,

[00:51:51] who makes aftermarket springs and brackets to space the strut tower a little bit, shocks for the rear and all that jazz, and sources rims and tires for them that are all DOT approved and completely illegal. Very nice.

[00:52:09] It's on the back burner just because getting married and stuff, trying to focus finances on that first and then maybe circle back to doing all the stuff to the sandbar. Right now it performs great. The ride could probably be improved a little bit on the quality department.

[00:52:26] When I had it apart, I can compress the shocks by hand, which I don't think you're supposed to do on any car. And again, if you've met me, I'm not exactly the most jacked person. I'm not very strong.

[00:52:42] So that goes to show that they should probably be replaced, but it still works. If you have any questions about how it passed the inspection, it's actually registered as an antique, so I don't technically have to get inspected, but I do still go through all

[00:52:54] the different maintenance routines and try to keep it as up to speed as I can. That's good. Yeah, it sounds like a fun little truck. You're making me excited about it. You'll have to come up sometime. Yeah, that would be fun. Come hang out.

[00:53:11] I'll let you drive it. Yeah, I know. I need to make it up there at some point. I will. It's just a matter of timing and planning it out. And speaking of all of that, I know you've been to Wicked Big Meat, and as we are recording

[00:53:24] this, Wicked Big Meat is over, but Wicked Big Meat... Man, say that five times fast. WBM was today, and you did not go. Why did you not go? No, I didn't go this year. The drive up there is quite costly if I take the sandbar.

[00:53:41] I got really cool, actually. Last year was really cool. I think it was last year or two years ago. I don't know. I think it might have been 2022. I took it up there with me and a buddy, another friend.

[00:53:50] Drove it up there, trailered it, because it's a very long drive from where I live to, I think it's Stafford, Connecticut. And Robert Champion, the guy that leads all the Subaru events stuff, he got in conversation

[00:54:05] with Subaru, because I believe they were the title sponsor for the 2022 year, where they get their big booth at the front, all that jazz. And they were like, we want your sandbar at the front gate, because I didn't register it to be on the show.

[00:54:20] I was supposed to be sitting at the Mountain Rue booth. They wanted your sandbar? We already had four cars. Yeah, so they were like, well, we'll find something else out for you, because you have

[00:54:28] the vendor access, so you have to come in early, but we don't have an available spot for your car. So let's see if they'll let you put it up front. So they did, and it went up front.

[00:54:39] And it sat literally like 20 feet on the other side of the gate at Wicked Big Me, which was super cool. Wow, that's awesome. And I put the bed sides down on the sandbars, actually most K-Trucks, I believe, all three

[00:54:53] sides of the bed, they fold down and they're removable. So I folded down two of the sides and I'd check in on it every now and then. People would be sitting on it, you know, hanging out, talking. There was a little retaining wall next to it.

[00:55:08] And we were sitting on that at groups gathering and stuff. It was really neat just seeing people use it. That's why I put the bed sides down, hoping that people would just sit on it and use it. That's cool. And treat it just like a truck.

[00:55:21] And they did, and it was like, yes, this is exactly why it's here. So that was really cool. But yeah, this year, I didn't have the time to fit it in my schedule. We're really busy with, pretty involved with our church.

[00:55:35] We meet outside most of the time at a local park. So getting stuff set up with that is always a lot. And I'm part of the team that gets a lot of that stuff set up. So that takes up my Sunday mornings, which is good.

[00:55:48] But you know, it's also five and a half hour drive up to Stafford if I'm towing, maybe six hour. So which one's closer, Wicked Big Meat or Boxer Fest? Boxer Fest for sure. Boxer Fest is out in New York, Pennsylvania.

[00:56:00] It's about a two hour drive with a trailer for me. Oh, okay. So yeah, it's not too far. But to make it even just a day trip up there, if I took the Outback, it's just a lot of driving for a few hours.

[00:56:14] I'd rather spend a whole weekend if I could. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of what's hard for me about, because I've been, people have been wanting me to come up to Wicked Big Meat forever.

[00:56:25] And one of the main reasons I haven't been going the past few years is because it falls on the weekend of my girlfriend's birthday, because her birthday is June 4th. And so it's always been around her birthday.

[00:56:39] And then this year, the other thing too is like, in order to make it a worthwhile trip, I would have to leave. Ideally I would want to leave on a Thursday so that I could spend time with people on Friday, Saturday.

[00:56:54] The event is Sunday and then I would fly out on Monday. So then I would have to take like three days off of work and I only have so much PTO with this new job. So you know, and I've been trying to plan out family stuff.

[00:57:09] So you know, it just, it's not a priority, but I think maybe next year I will make it happen. Yeah, that'd be cool. I'd love to return up there sometime. I think it's a pretty neat thing that they do. Kind of, you know, getting the community together. Yeah.

[00:57:27] I am thankful for Subifest Texas now, because we had that the first one last year and of course it's coming around again this year. And yeah, that's right. Yeah. And I know that Rihanna Gelsomino and Travis Pastrana were up at Wicked Big Meet today

[00:57:43] and that's the first Subifest event that Rihanna has attended because she asked on an Instagram like where do you want me? Where do you want to see me? And I said, Subifest Texas, of course.

[00:57:55] So I don't know how many she's going to make it around to or if she's gonna make it around to all of them, but I still have yet to meet Travis Pastrana and I know a lot of people have and he knows about the podcast.

[00:58:07] So hopefully, I mean, it would be really cool to have him on, but even just to meet him would be awesome. I think, you know, it'd be really cool with Travis if you could get to Pastranaland and do an in-person podcast. You know, I've actually thought of that.

[00:58:22] I'm like, you know what? I'll pay to go out there and do one there. I don't care what it takes, but that would be epic to record out there with him in Pastranaland. I've thought of that. I've just never...

[00:58:35] I'd get a live recording going with all the crazy stunts in the background and just like sitting outside that garage and just kind of have that whole insane backdrop of Pastranaland. I think that'd be so cool.

[00:58:44] Yeah, I have my Rode Wireless Pro now, so it would be very minimal gear. There you go. Yeah, maybe I'll just have to... If they come to Subi Fest Texas, I'll just be like, hey Travis, what's the likelihood

[00:58:57] that I could come out to Pastranaland and just record with you there? Come on man. Come on. It's been almost four years since I've been doing this podcast, buddy. Let's make it happen. Yeah, Travis Pastrana, if you're listening. Yeah. Get on here. Yeah.

[00:59:11] I really would like to make it out to a rally sometime, but again, that's one of those things where it's like I would want to be able to... Because I don't want to just skimp on it and be like, oh, well let me take Saturday off

[00:59:23] for Wicked Big Meet and then Sunday off and then get there and have very little time. I want to make it worth my while if I'm going to travel that far and have to fly out. I want to be able to spend time with people.

[00:59:36] It's a lot for sure to get around all the different fun events. Yeah. Because I have been to three different ones. I've been to Boxer Fest. I've been to Subi Fest California and then of course Subi Fest Texas, which it's easy

[00:59:47] because it's like a four hour drive so that I can always make that happen. And I think this year, I think it's on a Saturday instead of a Sunday because I think last year it was on a Sunday. I'm not 100% sure, but yeah.

[01:00:03] So yeah, it's Saturday, October 19th this year. So being on a Saturday, that's good. So I'm planning to make it out there again. Yeah, that'd be cool. And I know now that Jonathan, Sage is a Crosstrek, now that he lives here in Texas, he'll be going.

[01:00:23] We've already met up. So that was a lot of fun. There you go. Yeah. So he'll be able to make it out there too. You guys can divide and conquer and find Travis at the event. Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah.

[01:00:36] So you talked about doing the cleanup and everything and like, you know, the different people or some of the people that you went out with from Off-Road Roos. But is that kind of the gang of people that you're usually hanging out with?

[01:00:50] Or is there other people that you're getting out with also? Yeah. So yeah, most of the time I'm hanging out with all the peeps from Off-Road Roos myself. I'm sure that you've all heard of a good fella named Jim goes by Little Ruby Sooby.

[01:01:06] I think I've heard of him. Maybe he's maybe been on here a couple times. Yeah. You may have heard his voice a couple dozen times on the podcast. I think he does my outro, something like that. Yeah. Might be a little familiar. Yeah. Love Jim.

[01:01:21] He's such a great guy. He has an awesome heart for the community and all these events. Yeah. And I finally got to meet him at the beginning of 48 hours of Tri-State. That was super cool. Oh, that's awesome. Nice. Yeah.

[01:01:33] He actually drove up to SOA so that he could meet me and because he wasn't able to go on the whole event, but he was like, I want to come up there and be able to meet you. And he helped out some other people while he was there.

[01:01:43] Yeah. I got a super awesome bro hug too. Nice. Yeah. Jim is good. He's really good with that. Yeah. He's a Subaru ambassador. Robert is what he goes by on social media. Yep. If you haven't heard of him, I get in those Facebook groups.

[01:01:59] He runs like the biggest Facebook groups for all of the different forums that are out there. He has more knowledge than I think I could fit in my brain a dozen times over. He just knows everything about there is to be Subaru. Oh, that's good.

[01:02:15] If you've got a question about like a brat, he's like, oh yeah, I got all the specifications on that. Or you want to know anything about an ascent? He's got you covered outback. Same deal. He's got more. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure. Cross track guaranteed.

[01:02:31] He knows all about it. And he's really the core that kind of puts together a lot of our events with off road ruse where we're lucky enough to be able to partner with a lot of agencies in New Jersey.

[01:02:42] Like we've actually been lucky enough in that the New Jersey DEP has been very gracious to us. They gave us a permit so that we can clean up areas that typically the public shouldn't be in.

[01:02:56] And they saw what we were doing and kind of just some of the public lands working with Subaru of America, they're like, got to get you guys in here. So they grant us access always trail safely.

[01:03:08] If you're going to be on private property, make sure you have permission as well as a permit to be there in a written format. But yeah, super, super awesome guy. Awesome. Putting the events together that we do and just has amazing heart.

[01:03:23] And then the other, I guess kind of core person is soon to be brother-in-law. He doesn't really post on Instagram. He's on Facebook. His name's Ben. Okay. But he's got a he's got a Forester. Rob's got a Ascent. And then sure as everybody knows, Jim has the Outback.

[01:03:44] And they're kind of the core people I kind of roll around with on these trips. And there's another multiple dozen that come out with us when we do these cleanups in New Jersey and whatnot.

[01:03:56] But yeah, really awesome event team that and getting put together and still have the other like trail leaders that are out there with us. You've got Steve, he goes by Julius the Trek on Instagram. There is Ron likes to wander is Ron. Nick Bradley Gump. Oh, yeah.

[01:04:17] I believe. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I met him too. I met him when I went out to Boxer Fest. Guy named Will. Yeah, just yeah, really awesome core group of people that kind of put these events together and the group, the people that come out are just amazing.

[01:04:30] All sorts of different crazy awesome builds of so many different tastes and styles. And some people have the lights, some people have the lift. Some people have the true like purist, like keep it stock looking, but do like the OEM plus style. Yeah. Yeah. So with your.

[01:04:48] That's that's that's the core. With your people that I roll with. Yeah. With your Outback, what have you done with it as far as mods? I have done lights. That's it. Okay. Actually. Yeah. I know you've taken it off road. I mean, I replaced the carpet.

[01:05:05] Oh, because you got it in some water. I did a little bit of swimming. Don't recommend always drill safely. Don't do stupid things. Do you get it stuck? Yeah, it's on the Instagram. Like Jim, but like Jim kind of stuck.

[01:05:20] Jim kind of stuck, but I was able to keep the motor. I only had to replace the carpet and I did try to replace the amplifier too. But I was able to find that from a junkyard for like 100 bucks. It was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:05:35] Sank it to the frame, got a little bit of water on the inside. So replace the carpet for safety and just to avoid any sort of like molds or whatever. I guess if you want to call new carpet an aftermarket modification, it's no AM, but like it's still

[01:05:49] technically a mod because I changed it. So yeah, I've got that new car smell. There you go. Oh, yeah. I've got I've got the lights on the roof, down the roof rack, the crossbars. Crossbars were an eBay special. The roof racks off Amazon, whatever Amazon's choice was.

[01:06:05] And the lights are all from Nylite. And so I heard up in a 360 array. So I've got a 37 on the front. I got two 20s on left and right and then a 20 on the rear just to kind of get me coverage wherever I'm standing at night. Oh, nice.

[01:06:20] Any other mods coming up or on hold? I'm sure on hold for now, but do you have like a list of mods that you're wanting to do? Yeah. On hold right now. I'm waiting for Anderson Design Fabrication to come out with a bracket that does the shooter

[01:06:37] lights like you guys put the cross strokes and Impreza's can get that go in front of your mirror caps. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm waiting for that to come out for the for the Outback. I'm not particularly the biggest fan on the whole hood mounted light thing.

[01:06:51] Yeah, I'm not. I had mine on the hoods at first and then I got some of the like side mirror brackets and that's where my that's where my lights are. I don't dislike it. It's just my style.

[01:07:07] I'm trying to go for the OEM plus but like almost like a plus plus build where it still is stock ish in terms of like I'm not making it look like crazy build. But yeah, I want those little shooter pods brackets. I want to lift it.

[01:07:26] Do some tires. I'll probably keep stock rims because rims are they're just rims. It's purely cosmetic. Yeah, and I'm a firm believer in what's needed is needed and a want can be done later. Yeah, exactly. Of course stuff and then come back to the stuff that doesn't matter.

[01:07:47] So do that. Oh, I did I did I got it in it. I guess that counts as a mod. Hey, that's the it's a good mod too. Keeps the sun out a little bit of the heat to kind of nice and I've created the charging

[01:08:03] equipment for my phone. Can I count? Yeah, what do you mean exactly? I got I got a fancy anchor charging cord. Oh, okay. There you go. Yeah. So yeah, not really much done to it.

[01:08:16] But yeah, eventually lift tires probably going to go with the whatever Goodyear makes for their altering. I think they make one on an 18 inch rim and then if I can find a way man to do some sort

[01:08:33] of winch on the front, I've seen it on the wilderness is the way that winch looks is so good because it's completely hidden. I can't find one yet for my Outback. It drives me crazy.

[01:08:45] And I'm not smart enough to custom fab once but there's anybody out there that knows of a hidden winch bracket. Hey for the fifth gen Outback. Jim custom fab stuff now. That is true. Jim does custom fab stuff.

[01:08:56] Jim, if you know how to do it without doing a Vipercut, let me know. There you go. I might text you before this podcast goes live. If I don't call me out on it. And then that's pretty much it.

[01:09:10] Maybe I do want to do like an in car GMRS system at some point. Yeah, I can have so I don't have to carry around walkie talkies and I can always have a power walkie if I want one. Oh yeah, yeah. Those are nice.

[01:09:23] I know I had mine and mine is in the glove box that doesn't have gloves in it. That's really all that's all that's to it for me. I have the touring trim so the person that had it before me optioned it with like everything

[01:09:35] so I have all like all weather stuff. I have the seat back protectors like all the OEM stuff that you can get. Yeah, pretty much came with the car except for the crossbars. So it's kind of already got all the OEM stuff.

[01:09:48] So like to try and keep the OEM plus look. It's really just just that kind of like basic stuff. Maybe down the line some engine stuff if I feel like getting fancy with it. Yeah, I'll be passing on the snorkel.

[01:10:01] I feel like that voice the OEM plus look. Yeah, I do love them. I think they're incredibly functional. I just stay away from Jim because he might encourage you to do it. Yeah, Jim, let's stick with the bumper for now.

[01:10:15] So you said that growing up you traveled quite a bit like up and down the East Coast. Do you have any plans for any travel outside of the East Coast? Like you any any plans or desire or any like bucket list spots you want to hit out West?

[01:10:32] Yes, so I have actually been to pretty much all the Midwest except for Nevada. I've been all up and down the Rockies on various like missions trips and stuff with church. I've done like I've done a good bit of New Mexico into the Canyon to Cheyenne, Arizona.

[01:10:52] Gone through the million dollar highway in Colorado, been through Utah. Montana is beautiful. I did and Wyoming incredible state the mountain formations there are just insane. But I want to get back to Idaho.

[01:11:08] We were only there for like 30 miles and I've seen some pretty insane stuff on there. I want to get up to Idaho, Washington area. Brian, if you're listening, I want to come up and meet Sushi. Maybe I'll bring I think we call it Snoopy the sandbar.

[01:11:23] I think that's what my fiance is officially named the sandbar. Maybe I'll bring it up. We'll do some do some trailing. If somebody wants to sponsor the towing, of course. Yeah, of course. Get that get that sponsored. Yeah, kind of like that whole like upper, like.

[01:11:40] Whatever part of the United States that's called, I want to get up there. There seems to be a lot of really just seriously cool stuff to do and just explore. And I do want to go back to Montana. I didn't get to. I guess freely roam.

[01:11:57] The stuff up the places up there, we got to go to Glacier. That was cool, but I want to have a little bit of freedom if I go back. Yellowstone, that kind of stuff, you know? Yeah. I'd say that's probably like top tier bucket list.

[01:12:12] And I still need to get to Maine. It's the only state on the East Coast I have not been to. Oh, OK. So I have to get up to Maine. Yeah. And then I'll have the East Coast checked off. Then there's everything in between. Yeah.

[01:12:24] Do you have plans for your honeymoon? Yeah, we're going down to Puerto Rico. Oh, nice. We'll be flying to San Juan, staying in a town called Río Mar. It's on the East side of the island.

[01:12:38] So we're going to do some rainforest stuff and it should be a lot of fun. Yeah, that sounds fun. That'd be nice. So do you have a name for your Outback? Yeah. So originally we named it, and I don't actually remember why.

[01:12:53] I think we're just going through what sounded kind of cool. We picked out Gemini and named it Gem for short. But I think we're going to change it. I don't see it. Yeah. It never really stuck. It was just kind of like, I bought a car.

[01:13:11] I want to post about it, but I don't know what to name it. What do I do? So we just kind of just rattled off names and we just said Gemini. It was like, OK, we'll stick with that for now, but it probably will change someday.

[01:13:21] So the Outback's name might change somewhere here in the future, but for now it's Gem or Gemini. And what did you say your fiancé named the sandbar? Snoopy? Snoopy, yeah. OK, yeah, that's fitting. Yeah. Snoopy's fun little dog, sandbar's fun little truck. Kind of makes sense. Yeah, definitely.

[01:13:42] Plus, Sushi was taken. Oh, yeah. And there's a guy up in Connecticut, he's got Sammy the Sandbar. He's pretty big on Instagram for his sandbar. Snoopy's good. Snoopy's good. It's also my brother's name, so I didn't know that I could do that. Yeah.

[01:14:01] I feel like I'd be stealing it from him. So yeah, you know, Snoopy, it fits the vibe. Yeah. I know you kind of mentioned it earlier and talked a little bit about, you know, off-road

[01:14:12] ruse, but you did say that you wanted to come on here sometime and talk more about it so we can split off and do a separate episode sometime with that. Yeah, that'd be cool. I've talked with the guys just kind of about like, voicings.

[01:14:29] Like, what is off-road ruse? We're a new community. We just launched in April. Oh, nice. Wow, that's very recent. Yeah. Our Facebook group is growing at a rapid rate. We're already over 1,000 members. We've had two events, both with pretty decent attendances, like I was saying before, or one

[01:14:48] that we did on Memorial Day weekend. Over the course of the weekend, I think we had 40 different drivers come out. That's good. That's a good turnout. To pick up trash. Yeah. We filled a 30-yard dumpster. Yeah, I saw that on your post. That's crazy. And...

[01:15:04] There shouldn't be that much trash. Right, there shouldn't be that much trash. So we're trying to get into the community and just give back. You know, we have all this land that we're given to use and to trail on, and we want

[01:15:20] to treat it respectfully and keep it the way that it was created, which is clean. Yeah, and it's unfortunate that more people don't see that. And it's like, how hard is it to just not throw something out the window? You know, or just... I don't get it. Right.

[01:15:36] Just take it with you. So, yeah, we'd love to come on sometime and talk about it. Yeah, we'll do that. To kind of share what we're all about, what our values are, and really where we came from. Alright. Well, with your...

[01:15:51] Going back to starting from playing a Forza Horizon 3 with a WRX and then owning a Sambar, a WRX, and now an Outback, like how would you say owning your Subarus and being part of the community has changed your life? I can... I'll say confidently the hashtag LeaveNoTrees.

[01:16:19] That is widely used amongst the Azure community. It's definitely something that's more recently, I'd say, stuck in my mind. It's like, you don't have... I mean, like, something will eat a banana peel. Yeah.

[01:16:35] But if I wouldn't eat a banana peel, why would I want an animal eating a banana peel? True. Yeah. Ants? I mean, ants could eat it, I guess. But like... I get that. I don't ever throw any non-biodegradable stuff out the window, but just thinking this stuff

[01:16:52] could go to a composter, or this stuff could go in a recycling bin. Very true. It's kind of just over the years been something that's stuck with me as I've dove more and more into the Subaru culture of keeping a clean land. Yeah. And... It's important.

[01:17:13] Yeah, I think it's just a really cool little hashtag movement. It's definitely needed. I mean, it's unfortunate that we need cleanup, but if it's... It seems like people are not going to stop dumping, so if we can have people to go in

[01:17:33] and clean things up so that the next group of people that go through don't have to drive through a bunch of trash, then that's good. Do you think that you will always own a Subaru? I think so.

[01:17:45] It's actually funny, I was talking with my fiance earlier about this. Just like, you know, in a joking way of like... It's like, what if we get another Subaru someday? Like, well after we're married?

[01:17:57] Because the WBX was a lot of fun, and if we can afford it someday, I'd love to get another one. Someday, I'll definitely be getting another WBX. When that's going to happen, I have no idea. It will be a facelifted... I don't remember what it's called. Oh no!

[01:18:17] It's like the technical, there's like the GC and then there's like the other variants. Hey man, don't ask me. Whatever the 2011 to 2014 one is, the one that has the widebody facelift version on the WRX, I want the STI version of that. Gotcha, yeah.

[01:18:32] Whatever the 2011 to 2014 is, that's ideally what I'd get. We're actually talking, you know, if I ever... You know, 20 years from now, 25 years from now, kids are growing up, we want to travel. Yeah. And say we can afford it.

[01:18:50] And the Outback at that point is probably going to be like off-road built at that point. I'm not going to travel very long distances with it for family vacations. I could very comfortably see an event, an ascent in the picture. I was thinking that too.

[01:19:08] Dude, they have 17 cupholders. What? Yeah! Wow. That was like one of the first, I don't know if it was a commercial or like some Instagram reel, I saw it somewhere, it said 17 or 19. I'm thinking like, who needs that many cupholders?

[01:19:21] Are you going to have that many people in your car? It's like, that's a lot of drinks. I mean, if you're an Uber, it's great, you got plenty of water bottles, but like...

[01:19:30] I don't know, maybe you've got your water bottle and then your soda and then something else. I don't know. Yeah, that's a lot of... Water bottle for the refill, I guess. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. What are you thinking, Seagull? I love the Ascents.

[01:19:41] I think they're super cool. I'd have to get whatever trim level has the Java brown interior. I've been too spoiled having that in the Outback and I can't not have it. It's so good. I think it's the best interior color I've ever sat in.

[01:20:00] I don't know if I've seen that. The list is extensive, but of the vehicles I've sat in, I love the Java brown. It's such a cool interior color scheme. I have to check that out. Sounds nice. Yeah, I think we'll always be a Subaru family. That's good.

[01:20:19] And I'm slowly converting the rest of my family, extended family and friends, to also having Nice. Yeah, I'm so glad that my daughter bought a Crosstrek and she is super, super happy with it. She loves it. That's awesome.

[01:20:37] Yeah, I've already taken her off-road three times and she's only had it for maybe two months, two and a half months. So we went through this mud spot a couple of times and then we went out to Bastrop and she just loves it. So Skid Plate coming soon.

[01:20:56] Nice. Oh yeah, that's also on the mod list. Forgot about that one. You'll probably get this. Yeah, those are the things. It'll be helpful. The plastic ones are probably not rock-breeded. No, no.

[01:21:08] Well, here's the little segment to get to know the person behind the account, but who is Isaiah? Well, that's me. Well, yeah. The voice behind the guest. I am 20 years old at the time of recording. I work in managed IT services.

[01:21:29] So opposed to a small business having somebody that they pay a full salary to in-house, I guess you can technically call it outsourcing, we do your IT remotely. Gotcha. And when needed, we can come on site and do hardware stuff and whatnot.

[01:21:48] It's a unique business field because we're not just stuck with one business. We manage many accounts on all different business levels from businesses in medical or in political law style stuff or construction or coffee shops.

[01:22:14] The diversity of the kind of clientele that we have is so cool because I never have to work with the same exact client twice in a row. That's good. We'll have one support phone call and I could be calling a dumpster company and the next

[01:22:29] thing you know, I could be calling an accounting firm. It's a really cool line of business and I get to work with my dad. He's my boss and he's been in the business for over 20 years now and it's something I've always loved.

[01:22:43] When I was a little kid, if you follow my personal Instagram, there's a picture on there of me when I was 7 years old switching a backup tape at my elementary school. Oh, that's cool. And it's just, I've always had this love for technology.

[01:22:55] I always loved typing growing up. I was like, I want to work on computers. And he told me when I graduated high school, in his words, I quote, I will brainwash you and you will learn everything that you need to know about how to work in IT.

[01:23:08] And that's what we did. And I love it. It's going on three and a half years strong now. That's good. Working full time and I couldn't ask for a better job. Do you work from home? Yeah, so we work in Satterton, a local town here. Okay.

[01:23:24] And we service, our technical working radius is 100 miles from our office. We have clients in Scranton, Reading. We've gone down, some of our clients have Shore House. We've gone down and installed Wi-Fi systems in their Shore Houses. So we have a very wide range of clients.

[01:23:43] Most of them are in the Bucks, Montgomery County area. But yeah, pretty cool work environment. Getting to work with my dad and a couple other guys. It's just a really fun time. Yeah. Well, that's a good segue into the next question. What is a favorite memory from childhood?

[01:24:04] Ooh, favorite memory from childhood. I mean, you're 30 years younger than me, so you're still kind of a child to me. I suppose. Hang on, how many years younger than you? 30? 31. I'm 51. 31? No way. You don't sound 51. I am 51.

[01:24:23] Until you said that you had a kid that bought a Crosstrek, I was thinking that you were in your 30s. No, no. Okay. Wow. You sound good for your 50s. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, favorite memory of the kid. I always love traveling.

[01:24:39] Every year we get down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And it's just, it's always one of my highlights every year. We call it like our home away from home. It's somewhere I've gone since I was like seven years old. We've always done family camping trips and stuff.

[01:24:55] Just kind of doing stuff as a family has always been. Yeah, that's nice. My core backing memory as to who I am. Yeah. You already said what you do for a living and you seem to really enjoy it, but do you

[01:25:08] happen to have a dream job or is this kind of a dream job for you? Yeah, you know, I'd say this is pretty much my dream job when I was little. And I first was like, computers, so cool.

[01:25:21] At the time my dad worked for the elementary school, he kind of had like a couple of clients and stuff he did on his own. Until he became his full own entity, brought on at the time business partner

[01:25:33] and kind of started scaling where it's like, I'm going to work for my dad. And that's really when it became like the big reality of like, I'm going to work for my dad for the rest of my life because that is so cool. Very cool.

[01:25:50] Yeah, it's, I can't think of anything else I'd love to do. I mean, like it's always in my mind, like I could do this or I could do that. I'm never going to find a better work environment than what I have. Yeah.

[01:26:03] And that's really, really important, especially, you know, we all have to work at some point and if you can find something that you truly enjoy and being able to work with your dad

[01:26:12] too, I'm sure, I mean, that's just like, you know, kind of like you said, like I don't need anything else. Like this is, this is what I have. This is what I enjoy. And like you said, couldn't imagine doing anything else. I mean, that's, that's really, really good.

[01:26:25] Fun fact about my dad. He's come off-roading with us out in the pines. Oh, nice. That's cool. So if you ever see a Land Rover out there, if any of you try to state guys, it's probably my dad. Super cool guy. Highly recommend meeting him. That's awesome. Yeah.

[01:26:40] Well, cool. Some of them will hear about it now. Well, besides getting out and like driving your Subarus going off road and everything, what other hobbies do you have? I'm pretty involved with church recently. I've been part of planning a new church.

[01:26:55] That's a big focus of my life is doing what I can to support that and be alongside those involved in that, in that ministry and, you know, just serving and all that. And I love camping. I think it's so cool.

[01:27:11] Go camping with friends and go up to the mountains and set up tents and hang out, cook food, go on a hike, come back, cook more food. It's a great hobby.

[01:27:21] I do a lot of video gaming when I have time to in between wedding planning and off road planning and working and church stuff. I find time for games before I met my, my fiance.

[01:27:33] I was, I'd spend all of my free time that I was now with friends gaming four or five, six. Sometimes I'd spend a 10 hour day on a Saturday just sitting at my computer and made a lot

[01:27:46] of really cool friends online, just playing racing games and got to be a part of a pretty cool community. We play a, there's this game it's called beam NG drive. It's a sandbox purpose built like vehicle simulator.

[01:28:03] Just actually the game that I taught myself how to drive stick on because it's shifting with actual like shift logic where I was like in Forza, you just hit the paddle or you shift in the next year.

[01:28:13] Even if you don't press the clutch in, it'll put you in the next year, but it actually has like damage on each individual gear and it makes a grinding sound when you shift and

[01:28:25] over the years I've been playing the game since like 2016 or 2017 since it was in very early alpha. It's still in alpha and it will never leave alpha. I can guarantee it. But like even now they've improved it so much that it has like the game has full suspension

[01:28:44] physics and crash physics and all that. So like just growing up in that game before I got my permit, I've just developed such a hobby for gaming because of that. And I think as every kid would say Minecraft, I mean let's be real here.

[01:29:00] It's kind of the most popular game ever. My son played it. That game like pioneered my entire computer obsessed mind. If it counted hours, I'm sure I've broken 10,000. I don't know how many days or months that is, but that is a lot of time.

[01:29:19] I wouldn't say all of it is wasted time. There's definitely some sort of learning aspect to it and I also play farming simulator. I worked on a farm for a few years.

[01:29:30] It was like, this is cool, but I don't have the expenses to do this in real life. So I'm going to spend 30 bucks to do this online. So that's yeah, gaming pretty big hobby of mine. It's a couple of the games I play. Yeah, it's fun.

[01:29:44] You mentioned going one of your hobbies is camping. Do you think you would ever get a rooftop tent on your Outback? So yeah, so I thought about it. They're really cool. I can't see myself shelling out the money for one.

[01:30:01] But here's the funny part is I would happily buy like a teardrop camper and throw it behind the Outback. Which financially makes zero sense in that entire equation because rooftop is significantly cheaper.

[01:30:13] But I like the idea of just being able to leave my tent at the campsite and then take the car and go do stuff. Rather than have to pack up the tent every time that I want to go somewhere.

[01:30:22] Because I don't normally stay at the campsite the entire time that I go camping. I usually just for sleeping purposes. And on these off-road trips where we're out cleaning up trash and stuff.

[01:30:31] I want to just be able to get in the car and go meet everybody at the meetup location. Yeah, teardrop camper would even be easier than a tent too. Because it's just there you just get in and out of it.

[01:30:47] Yeah, and someday I'd love to build like a little setup on the back of the sandbar. Some sort of detachable setup that I can like clamp on within the bed sides. Just to sleep in. Because it's a 6' x 4' bed. It's a pretty decent bed.

[01:31:03] Maybe be able to fit. I'm 6' 3", but I sleep on my side so I should be alright. So what is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? Coffee, for sure. If I lay in bed too long and I don't have coffee.

[01:31:22] I'm one of those coffee guys where if I don't have coffee my head just starts killing me. No coffee, bad day. I love coffee. Coffee is like one of my building blocks in life. For me I enjoy drinking coffee.

[01:31:40] I don't drink it too often but I've never been like, Oh I have to have coffee. One of the things for me is whenever I go visit my girlfriend I drink coffee with her. We don't even have to be sitting drinking it together.

[01:31:54] But just drinking coffee in the morning at her house while she's drinking coffee. There's just something about that. There's that aspect of it for me. That's kind of where when I usually drink. I drink it at the office sometimes but not all the time.

[01:32:12] I've never been one of those, I have to have coffee or I'm not going to be able to function type of people. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Inside Out. It's a little animated movie of what goes on inside the head. It's a kids movie.

[01:32:24] I think I did, I can't remember exactly. There's this thing called core memories. I'm pretty sure coffee is one of my little core memories. First had it when I was 11 years old. My aunt gave me a taste of her blueberry coffee. I was like, this is phenomenal.

[01:32:39] A few years later I started drinking it regularly and it was like, this is epic. Caffeine does literally nothing for me. Any of the guys I go out with on the off road I'll throw back two Wawa 24 ounces by noon. I'm like, whatever.

[01:32:54] It's mostly for the taste but for some reason my body is so reliant on it but it doesn't affect my overall energy level. It's strictly just part of my routine. If I don't have it, my routine is broken. Coffee gets me out.

[01:33:10] It definitely gets me out of bed in the morning. I guess work does too. If you want to be technical about it. Everyone has got to go to work. I've always liked the smell of coffee because when I was little my grandparents drank coffee every morning

[01:33:23] and just the smell of it throughout the house would, I don't know. That's kind of nostalgic for me. I always remember that. They'd be sitting there drinking their coffee and the smell of it. It always smelled so good. It's pretty legit.

[01:33:41] What's something that makes you want to stay in bed? Ooh. My pillow. I got one of those memory foam pillows. If you don't have one, I highly recommend it. Typical round in the middle, like Walmart brand pillow. If you're not sleeping well, get yourself a memory foam pillow.

[01:34:00] It will change the way that you sleep. It is just the most comfortable thing ever. The one that I have, I think it might be a memory foam. My daughter bought it for me a couple years ago for Christmas. I really like it.

[01:34:13] I don't know if it's memory foam but it is pretty comfortable. It's probably not the most comfortable I've ever slept with but it was a nice gift and it works for me. You may have to check that out. I definitely highly recommend one.

[01:34:26] What would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything? Any topic. Best bit of advice, ooh. It's always an interesting question. Yeah. It's funny I got these questions ahead of time. I probably should have had one. I guess it's kind of silly.

[01:34:46] I've always liked, from the Fast and Furious movie when Vin Diesel goes I always live my life by a quarter mile at a time. I always translate that as I don't know what my future is going to be.

[01:35:01] But I do know what my present is going to be. Whatever I can do to better myself in the present is only going to better myself in the future. Yeah, that's good. I try not to live with too much regret over the past

[01:35:19] because you can't change the past. So many people live with regret of stuff that they've done. It'll eat you up. And then nothing's done about it and you live with this weight. You end up focusing on that and it's hard to grow

[01:35:45] into a future when you're so focused on things that you did or didn't do in the past. And if you let it consume you too much it can just be very detrimental to your mental health and everything. It's not good. Absolutely, yeah. It's something that

[01:36:05] I've always tried to live by. Even before I heard that saying in the movie. I like to say it. A quarter mile is not that long of a time. If you want to walk it you might be able to do it in I think the average mile walked

[01:36:22] is like 13 minutes. I've never completed a mile timed when I was in school. A quarter mile is not that long of a time. And in a race when it's 10 seconds you can always be thinking what that 10 seconds is going to be like. It might get a little farther.

[01:36:40] Yeah, I agree. Well thank you for taking the time to record with me especially on a Sunday. Yeah of course. I'm definitely glad I was able to work out. Even on a little bit of a short notice. Schedules are flexible and time opens up.

[01:37:00] That's kind of the way it works with me sometimes because sometimes I'll have something planned and I'm like, hey let me see if I can get a guest on while I've got this open slot of time. It happens that way sometimes.

[01:37:15] So I'm glad we could make it happen. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah, you're welcome. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and we'll keep in touch and look forward to putting your episode out. Yeah, thanks again. Really appreciate it. It's a fun time.

[01:37:35] Yeah, you too. I'm going to go ahead and end this episode with a period and not spelled out with dot and check out his account and check out his Subarus. It was a very educational episode learning more about the Sambar and so I really enjoyed that.

[01:38:23] Thank you for sharing all of that Isaiah. That was really good information and now it's kind of making me want to buy a Sambar someday. I think that could be a lot of fun because it sounds like it does pretty well. So yeah, go check it out.

[01:38:38] Hope everybody has a great week and keep on trekking. Now can you say that and have it apply to all Subarus or only cross-trek? I guess that's just kind of a generic term but yeah, keep on going out there with your Subarus off-road

[01:38:56] or if you're a street build then keep on hitting the streets either way no matter what it is you do just enjoy your Subaru for what it was built for and keep on connecting with people and having fun. So we'll talk to you later.

[01:39:12] See you on another episode. Much Subie love, Raph. You can find the Subie & You podcast wherever you listen to podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more. To support the podcast, please head over to patreon.com slash subieandyoupodcast

[01:39:44] Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel and Discord chats with other patrons. If you'd like to get in contact with the show, you can find them on Instagram at subieandyoupodcast online at subieandyoupodcast.com or by email subieandyoupodcast at gmail.com

[01:40:00] That's all for this week. Tune in Mondays for new episodes.