S&YE194 - Irie Roo

[00:00:10] Hello everybody, this is Lash and you can find me on Instagram at Irie Roo. You are listening to episode 194 of the Subie & You podcast. Hey Subie fam, welcome to another episode of the Subie & You podcast episode 194. We're getting that much closer to episode 200. So four years and almost 200 episodes.

[00:00:37] And that sounds kind of crazy, but here we are. We've made it this far and I'm very, very happy that we have. So thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode. Thank you for continuing to share this podcast and to listen to it. Of course, I really, really appreciate it. And on this episode, we have Lash. His account and his Subaru goes by Irie.

[00:01:07] Roo, which I thought it was Irie Roo at first, but I'm glad that he said it because I had gotten it wrong in my head all this time. But now I know and knowing is half the battle. Hopefully some people will know what that's from out there listening. Knowing is half the battle. Yeah, we've got another episode for you here and we will get into that conversation here in just a bit.

[00:01:34] The Subie & 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. 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.

[00:02:00] There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram. As always, thank you so much, Eccentric Designs, for sponsoring this Subie & You podcast. Go check out her website, check out her Instagram page, and see what kind of decals she offers for your Subaru.

[00:02:20] It's getting cold here in Houston, and I know those of you up in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast would laugh at us and make fun of us for the quote-unquote cold that we're getting here. But we're supposed to be getting some snow tomorrow on Tuesday, and I'm really looking forward to that because I hope that it does snow. Because I want to get out and drive around in it and do some donuts.

[00:02:43] Because I've been having to see people drive through snow for a few months now and doing donuts, and hopefully it'll be our turn. So I'm really looking forward to that. I hope we do get it. And I'll have to, of course, take some video and post it on Pearl's page. This episode is also brought to you by Subaru Gear.

[00:03:05] If you are looking for some new gear, something different, something that you want to maybe give as a gift or just buy for yourself, check out SubaruGear.com. They have a lot of really great Subaru-branded merchandise. They also have Subaru Motorsports USA. They have stuff for kids. They have stuff for pets. They have stuff for your home. So they have a great variety of different Subaru-branded products.

[00:03:34] So go check out SubaruGear.com. Fill up your cart. And when you check out, use the code SUBIEANDU25 at checkout to get 20% off your purchase. And if the total is over $50 after the discount, you automatically get free shipping, which is really, really good. So thank you so much, Subaru Gear, for sponsoring the SUBIEANDU podcast. And thank you so much for extending this great offer to our listeners.

[00:04:04] Also, I wanted to mention that while RYKA Wheels is not a sponsor of the SUBIEANDU podcast anymore, I do still have a discount code. So if you want to go get yourself a brand new set of wheels and save a little bit of money, you can use the code SUBIEU10 at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. So RYKA Wheels is what I have on Pearl. I have the black satin Tetons, and they look amazing.

[00:04:32] So go check out RYKAWheels.com and see what they have to offer for your Subaru and save 10%. And one last thing before we get into this episode, we had a RIGS and CHUROS meetup Sunday on the 19th. And I recorded some content from before, from our little pre-meet from Texas Roo.

[00:04:57] And then also once I got to the event, I recorded some content at the event. Just not too much. There wasn't, there weren't a whole lot of people there, but I just wanted to put something together. And I want to do more when we have another meetup because I wanted to talk to Viet, who is the guy that put together RIGS and CHUROS, but we didn't get a chance to connect.

[00:05:18] So hopefully next time they have a car meetup at RIGS or Red Circle Ice Cream for RIGS and CHUROS, I'll get a chance to talk to him because he's been doing it for, I think, two and a half years or something. So I want to talk to him and just do a little more content from the next event. But so for the next Subie Scoop, I'll be putting out, it'll be more of like a bonus episode. So look for that next week.

[00:05:43] But anyway, now we're going to go ahead and get into this episode and talk to Lash about his Subaru Forester, his adventures, and get to know him a little bit more because he does some really interesting things. So I'm excited to share some of the stuff he gets into in his personal and professional life. So here we go with this episode 194.

[00:06:21] Hey, Lash. How's it going? Wonderful. How are you tonight? I'm good. And I'm glad you said your Instagram handle because I thought it was Eerie Roo, but it's Irie Roo. It is Irie. Yeah. OK. So where did where did that come from? And what is that? And is that because what I've come in across before sometimes is that'll be it'll sound like somebody's name for their car,

[00:06:46] but it's actually just a name for the account and they either have a separate name for their car or they don't have one at all. So what is the case with you? That would be the name of the account and the car. OK. It comes from a Jamaican word, Irie, which means feeling good, feeling happy, being cool. Oh, there you go. Yeah, everything's good. If you look at your account, it looks like you're feeling good and things are good.

[00:07:16] Definitely. Yeah, definitely. So then there's the other important question, and that is whether you prefer waffles or pancakes. You know, I'd say two and a half years ago, I would have said waffles. At this point in my life, I'm a carnivore, so I only eat beef. I am basically beef at this point is what I'm going to do for the last two years of my life. So, yeah.

[00:07:46] So, OK. Well, we can just say you were a waffle guy then. I was a waffle guy. All right. Cool. Getting to your Subaru, is this your first Subaru? This is the number two. OK. First was back. Back, I don't know. Oh, 25, 30 years ago. Oh, nice.

[00:08:08] Yeah, like a GL wagon with a five speed with and you could switch to the all wheel drive or four wheel drive, I think. Yeah, but you could switch it. And yeah, that was that was my first. How long did you have that one? I had that for about a year. OK. It didn't last very long. So, it was pretty cold and beat up. Yeah. Did you get a chance to go do any adventuring with it or was it just like a daily?

[00:08:39] It was a daily. I did get to drive in some snow in the northeast. But yeah, nothing, nothing too crazy in that. OK, nice. So, the one that you have now is a Forester. So, let us know what year it is and like what trim level. It is a 17 Forester XT. Oh, nice. One of the last of the turbos.

[00:09:08] Yeah. How's that been working out for you with the turbo? Uh, fine. That's good. Very. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And you bought it in what, 2020? Is that correct? Yep. Mm-hmm. OK. At the height of the pandemic. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:30] I bought mine in September of 2020 and I bought it right on time because after that they were hard to find. Plus, mine's a manual and it was a little bit harder to find then. But yeah, got it in time. Sounds like you got yours just in time too. I did. I got it. Yeah. I got a good deal. Um, and it was, it was the only XT that I could find. Yeah.

[00:09:58] I actually pulled up to the dealership to test drive it and it pulled away. Oh. And I freaked out. I'm like, wait, where's it going? And I'm with my best friend. And, you know, he knew the people at the dealership and he goes, don't worry. He said, you got money in your pocket. Uh, so we walked in and, uh, I told the lady, I said, yeah, I was here to buy that car that just drove off. She said, well, they're out on a test drive. I said, well, can we start my paperwork? Here's 13 grand in cash.

[00:10:28] And she said, sure, let's start your paperwork. So I bought it out. I bought it out for some lady. I feel bad, but I think it was meant to be. Yeah. Now, was that what you had your heart set on was getting an XT? And if so, how long did it take you to find it? Yes. My heart was set on an XT and it took me, uh, about three months of hardcore searching. Okay.

[00:10:57] That's not too bad. Yeah. So where did your, I mean, obviously you had a Subaru a long time ago, but then you're back in a Subaru now. So like, where'd your interest in Subaru come from and why choose a Subaru and why a Forester? Well, first off, I always wanted an STI. And, uh, now when I was ready to get something that was too small for my needs and I still

[00:11:27] wanted, you know, a Subaru and some power, a little bit fun. So yeah, the Forester came to be the one. It just, yeah. Yeah. I like Subarus. They're safe. Uh, they got a good reputation. Um, I've always loved the STI and always wanted one and, uh, to find this and to be able to kind of turn it into what I want. It's been, it's been awesome. Yeah.

[00:11:56] They're, uh, they're definitely nice. And having that power with something, like you said, that's bigger is definitely a plus. And so when you, you know, you wanted something bigger, obviously for a reason. So were you already, did you buy an SUV like that in the, uh, like with plans to get out and explore and take it off road and go camping and all that kind of stuff? Like, was that your intent in buying it? Yes.

[00:12:24] I was doing backpacking and I was driving a, uh, a BMW, like a three series, whatever. And, uh, and then I wanted to do more car camping and stop backpacking cause my knees were pretty shot. So that, and I also needed more room for like all my music gear and, um, photo gear whenever I did photo shoots.

[00:12:51] Um, I just needed more room and also wanted to get out and explore California a lot more and, uh, wasn't able to do that. And, uh, in a three series. Yeah. And I was looking back through your feed and went to some of your first posts and it looks like you took it out like right away as soon as you got it. So where did you go when you first bought it?

[00:13:17] Matter of fact, I left the dealership, uh, went to the apartment and my roommate who also had a Subaru, he had an outback. Um, we packed our cars and went out to the high desert to some crazy camping spot that he knew of and hit the trails at night, got lost a little bit, but found it.

[00:13:41] And I just, it was so much fun driving that thing on the trails and, and there were sandy trails and there was little rocky trails and there was all kinds of different, you know, nothing crazy, but it was just a blast. And I just, I fell in love night one. Yeah. I mean, that's awesome to like, just, you know, leave the dealership and go straight, you know, out on an adventure. And it sounds like, you know, cause I'm sure it was stock. It sounds like it did a pretty good job.

[00:14:11] And, you know, when you were driving it through the sand and the rocky terrain and everything, where are you thinking like, wow, this thing is, I knew this thing was capable, but this is even more capable than I thought. Cause I know that happens to a lot of people where they're a little bit nervous, take it out, but then they realize like this thing can do a really good job without any modifications. Yeah. A hundred percent stock tires, stock everything.

[00:14:37] It was, uh, used, it had like 22,000 miles on it. Um, yeah, but I was definitely, um, impressed, definitely impressed. Now, when you bought it, were you already thinking of doing mods and, and like you said, your buddy had an outback or has an outback was did like, was his outback modded. And so then you kind of had some reference to take from that to start doing some mods.

[00:15:06] Uh, no, his wasn't modded at all. Um, stock, um, I mod everything. It's just the way I am. I can't, I can't be stock. Yeah. So I definitely, uh, I had plans and I knew I wasn't going to go, uh, street forester with it. Um, which I love, um, don't get me wrong. I love a nice street forester set up, but, um, I wanted to hit the trails and go camping,

[00:15:35] um, as much as possible. So yeah, off-road mods was where it was at. So what was your first mod? Like, what did you have in mind and what, you know, what'd you do first? Uh, first. Let's see. First thing I bought was, um, Cobb access port, um, uh, tail lights, uh, uh, rain, um, you know, rain deflector thing. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:02] Um, but yeah, the tail lights, uh, they're super cool. I love that the tail lights, they have the sequential led. Um, they just, they look so much better. One of the other first mods was, uh, the ladder. I always wanted a car with a ladder on it and I always thought that looked cool. Yeah, they do. Yeah. So that was like the first few mods in a basket, um, which I eventually changed to a spider, uh, no drill roof rack. Yep. That's what I've got too. It's nice.

[00:16:32] Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, after that, um, went with method race wheels, the, uh, the like grayish ones. Cause my car is kind of silver. Um, I got a smaller wheel, 17 inch and then got bigger tires.

[00:17:00] I put, uh, the, um, Falcon wild peaks. Yeah. Those are nice. Yeah. Those haven't done me wrong at all. And I'm already on my second, uh, set of those. Hey, let me ask you a question real quick. How many miles did you get out of the first set? I got, Oh, 65,000. And I sliced one on a trail and just decided it was time anyway. Um, so I just replaced him at that point. Okay. Yeah.

[00:17:30] And did you rotate them on a consistent basis? I did. I, I didn't do a five wheel rotation though. Okay. Um, because I do have five, but I, I did just rotate them consistently about every 6,000 miles. Okay. And the reason I'm asking is because I have some Toyos. I have the AT3s and I had one set that I got a little over 70,000 miles on and I still had a decent amount of tread.

[00:17:58] But I, I knew that with all the driving that I was doing, it probably was going to be a good idea to get new tires. And now I'm on my second set, but I rotated them consistently too. And with that said, I was rotating them my fifth, you know, my spare tire through now. I haven't been rotating my spare tire through cause I forgot to do it the first time. And so I'm like, Oh, well, you know, it's, uh, it's been fine. But yeah, I mean, that's, that's great to get that many miles.

[00:18:25] And it sounds like probably would have gotten more if you hadn't slashed a tire. Yeah, no, for sure. I was, I was definitely looking at getting some soon, um, at that, but yeah, that was, uh, the slash did it in. So yeah, but back to the mods, um, if we can. Oh yeah. Um, let's see.

[00:18:46] I did a, uh, front, um, I did a front, uh, strut bar, um, strut brace because I didn't like how it, how it felt in the corners on the road. It was a little loose for me. Yeah. Um, and I knew that, you know, on the trail, whatever that's, that's fine. But for me, I like taking corners a little faster. Yeah.

[00:19:11] So I did tighten up that, um, with the nameless performance piece. And then we got, Oh, what did we get? We got, uh, mud flaps. Oops. Oh, then exhaust. I went with, uh, nameless performance again, uh, cat back exhaust, which is really nice. Uh, like the way that sounds. Yeah. Those sound nice. Yeah.

[00:19:37] From there, I got it tuned at a place called Yemi sport and, uh, they definitely adjusted the torque and not too much crazy on the horsepower, but definitely a lot on the torque and um, the tune has been, been really nice. And then recently, well, then I got the spider, no drill roof rack.

[00:20:02] I switched out the basket and then I put a, uh, I put a iron man awning on the roof rack and I keep my tire up there as well. Just recently I finished up all the lighting. So now I have lighting on top lighting for, um, I have, you know, the little side lights, ditch lights.

[00:20:28] I have four big yellow rally lights on the front cause I like the rally look. Yeah. Uh, that looks good. Uh, cut my bumper, replace the fog lights from the bumper cut. Um, I have a rear custom, uh, red, yellow, and green chase bar. Yeah. Um, that might be it. No, that's good. It's, uh, you know, it's suspension. Okay. Nice. And then, yeah.

[00:20:57] Oh, and then my most recent, which I almost forgot my favorite of all is my new seat. Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah. That was one of my, going to be one of my questions is what your favorite mod is. Yeah. Up until, up until last week, I think it was the tune, but, uh, the new seat, um, I hated though. That's the only thing I hated about the car was my seat. It really didn't do my back justice.

[00:21:23] And so I've been looking for three and a half years for a, uh, car, uh, CI, just one driver's seat and everyone's selling pairs and they're always crappy and always dirty. And one airbags always blown or something more. It doesn't have power. And I wanted power. I wanted heat. So I found one and I made a deal on it right before Christmas and, uh, we threw it in and it's amazing. It's, it's made a world of difference.

[00:21:52] I just drove to, uh, Arizona. It was like seven hours each way and, um, made a world of difference. Yeah. Merry Christmas to you, right? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Great way to break it in too. And test it out with a long drive like that. Yeah. I was, I was curious if, if I was going to have to stop at, at 90 minute intervals or if I could go further. And so, yeah, I was able to go further without stopping and getting out stretching.

[00:22:20] It's, it's amazing what that difference is in that seat. And I got, I get, so I got a limited one that's basically brand new. Oh no. They must've pulled it right out of the car and build a race car out of the thing. But, um, yeah, got lucky. Got real lucky. Yeah. And that's just going to make your driving experience that much better, you know, not just comfort wise, but just, you know, for, you said you like to take tight corners and start take corners a little bit faster.

[00:22:46] So, you know, your, the speed, your tune and everything that you've got. Yeah. It's just going to make it like real, really nice. Yeah. And the other thing I noticed is I don't slide around as much, so I can't wait to get on the trail and see how it holds me on the trail. The Alcantara, it seems to just hold me. And the other, you know, the leather was just, I move around too much. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:11] So that's your favorite mod, but what would you say has been your most useful mod? I'd say the tune for sure. I think it's done a lot for the car. I, I, I believe they knew what they were doing and the way they set it up, uh, works really well for me on the trail with the extra torque. Oh, nice. I think it got me out of, uh, some sticky situations for sure on the trail.

[00:23:39] Yeah, that's, uh, definitely helpful. Cause whenever you said the tune, I was thinking like that would be more for on road and just, you know, that kind of enjoyment, but you got some definite good use from it on the, you know, trails. So I like to drive fast on, on dirt. Oh, okay. I like dry, like bed type of stuff or like, you know, soft sand trails. That's my type of thing. I'm not, I'm not a fan of big rocks.

[00:24:06] I'd rather go fast on, on trails and like drifted a bit and kind of rally type. Yeah. Style. Yeah. That's fun. Yeah. Do you have any other, like, do you have like a list of other mods that you still want to get? I mean, at this point, I, I'm, I'm pretty happy. Yeah. I don't even, at this point I have all the lighting I wanted done.

[00:24:35] I would at some point maybe like to put a custom rear bumper on. Cause I've been hit, I think three times in the back. Oh my gosh. So I'd like something with some spikes that kind of damage people a little bit more when they hit me. Cause I'm tired of that. Yeah. Yeah. I got hit from behind pretty early on and it's not fun. Yeah. I got hit from behind within like the first month and the guy put like a huge hole.

[00:25:04] Jeez. And did damage to the whole. So I had to have the whole bumper replaced and also part of the, uh, the rear hatch. Yeah. So that was, that was within the first month. Now with the, with the exception of the tune, obviously have you, did you install all the mods yourself? No, I have helped Argo Motorsports in Stanton, California. A good friend of mine.

[00:25:32] Uh, they, uh, they helped me out a lot. Yeah. So most of my stuff I go over there. Okay. Nice. Because they also helped me to, uh, learn, you know, they'll let me stay there and learn what, you know, what, what to do and what not to do. And yeah. So even like we just did also, we just upgraded my brakes recently to, uh, cross drilled and, uh, slotted rotors and, you know, better brakes. Yeah.

[00:26:00] And so, you know, they let me sit in and watch and see how things are done. Nice. That's good. Yeah. Do you have a lot of trails around you that you like to get out and explore? And do you have some that you go back to often? Yeah. Yeah. The high desert, uh, big bear area is a super favorite place of mine. Also out in the desert, desert, like Joshua tree area.

[00:26:25] I have some secret spots out there for camping and you can go out and shoot and most of it's BLM land. So anywhere you can go out and shoot and, uh, run around butt naked and get crazy without anybody being around you is the camping for me. Yeah. Yeah. The less people, the better. So yeah, I prefer camping, um, on BLM type situations where, you know, there's no families and no kids running around.

[00:26:55] Yeah. Yeah. So how often do you get out and go camping and are you usually just going out like for a night or are you going out for a few days? Uh, usually go out for two nights, usually head out on Friday, come back on a Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. It depends if I'm solo or if I'm with, uh, one of the friends or not, or a group or whatever it is. But yeah, I try and get out at least once a month, like minimum for sure. Okay.

[00:27:23] And how often are you going solo and how often are you going with other people? Is it kind of like a 50, 50 split or one a lot more than the other? Pretty much 50, 50. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You said that you drove out to Arizona, which is like seven hours, you know, each way, but what's, is that the furthest distance you've driven or have you driven further than that?

[00:27:45] Uh, uh, Mammoth, Mammoth was probably further, maybe as far as time wise because of traffic situations. I can't remember. Um, Yellowstone, that's a pretty far one. Um, that's probably another seven, eight hour. Nothing really over eight hours. I try not to do over eight hours anymore. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

[00:28:13] I mean, it's tough to be in the car for a really long time. And I mean, like we drove out to, we drove from Houston to Orlando because we went to Disney world, but we did that over the course of two days on the way there. And then we drove straight through on the way back because we were coming home and, you know, we weren't like in a super hurry. So we didn't want to spend the money to stay somewhere. And there was, you know, we were able to switch off driving.

[00:28:40] So it really wasn't too bad, but yeah, I get that. It can be, uh, can be kind of, um, tiring to go any longer than like eight hours. Yeah. And I've, you know, I've also been wanting to do the gumball my whole life. So I don't know how that works out for someone like me who doesn't want to drive eight hours straight. Yeah. But I'll probably never do the gumball, but you know. So what is the gumball? Uh, yeah.

[00:29:08] So the, the, the race of time race from New York to, uh, Los Angeles or, you know, the other way. And I guess, you know, people have gotten times down to like 28 hours or something. Oh my gosh. Oh yeah. Insane. Like really crazy times. Um, that people do that, but yeah, just a dream. I always had. Yeah. No, that's not a bad dream.

[00:29:38] Yeah. Yeah. Good way to go to jail. So it sounds like that's kind of like a bucket list type of, uh, adventure, but do you have any other, any other places that you would like to go visit that would be kind of like a bucket list for you? Uh, I definitely want to get up to Utah and explore some of the trails in Utah and, and some of the scenery. Um, I've only touched a pinch of Utah. Yeah.

[00:30:08] I'd like to get the car up there and do some cool photos with it up in that scenery as well. Cause I am a photographer. So I do like taking photos over. When you got a nice camera and you like to get out and adventure and, you know, get out in nature. It's definitely good opportunities for some good photos. It looks like, you know, you obviously get out on trails, you've driven through some sand and some snow, but, uh, just looking through your account, I didn't see that you've driven through mud, but have you ever driven through mud?

[00:30:37] Must've missed this, this one. Yeah. I, uh, yeah, I like mud. Mud's fun. Me too. Until, until you, uh, go into, uh, the wrong mud pit and you don't realize how deep it is. So I was in, uh, Anza Borrego desert area with, uh, my best friend and he hopped in my car. We decided to cruise around and check out the trails.

[00:31:06] And I saw a huge water pit and I was like, Oh yeah, my, so I stopped in front of it and I'm like, all right, here we go. You know, I looked at, you know, kind of where I thought people had went and I drive in and my car just levels to, um, my driver's side is now deep in the mud, like way deep to my door handle.

[00:31:31] So the car is sideways and I, I stopped there and just panicked for a second. I looked at my best friend and I had it in sport mode and I had it in, um, you know, paddle shift, whatever mode. And I was in first gear and I just gunned it. And she just, man, that was the most impressive crawl out of mud ever. I was, I was scared. I can imagine.

[00:31:58] And, you know, I opened the doors and, you know, you could see where the water had come up and the seals on the doors are amazing on that car. Cause no water got in. Oh, that's great. Got all the way up to my headlight in the front and only half of the car. So it was literally half of the car had a whole new paint job of mud, but yeah, I like the mud. Yeah, I do too. I actually, I went and met my daughter and her husband for some coffee tonight.

[00:32:26] And then there's a high school that the high school that she used to go to there, it gets muddy behind the school. And a lot of times they have the gate closed, but I was like, let me go check it out. And the gate was open. So hit a little bit of mud back there and then went to Trader Joe's and then came home to record with you. But yeah, mud is fun. I love mud. The aftermath of mud is not fun. I will, I will say that.

[00:32:55] I had a bad noise coming out of my car for about 60 miles after that mud. And finally I'm on the highway and I hear this, and it just, I guess it was a rock stuck somewhere and it shot out the back of the car. But yeah. And then there was mud all up in the engine bay and there was mud everywhere. But whatever, you know. Yeah. The hardest part is cleaning it out of the wheel wells. That sucks.

[00:33:24] And fortunately there's been quite a few times when I've gone and driven through mud and there's this church down the road that the parking lot collects a lot of water. And so when it, when we get a really heavy rain, so I will drive just through that puddle of water, like maybe 10 to 15 times and just let it all splash up in there and it works, you know, it gets it all out from underneath and free undercarriage wash, you know. You don't have to pay for the pressure washer.

[00:33:55] Exactly. And it does a better job too, because you know, my tires driving through there puts it all, all that water up in the wheel wells and gets it all out. That's great. That's great. Yeah. So, but this time tonight, it's just going to have to stay up in there for a while. But yeah, one of the last, not this past time that, cause I changed my oil last weekend. And then the time before that, I went to a friend's house to change my oil.

[00:34:21] And I have the primitive skid plate with the hole for the Fumoto valve. And I got up under there and there's this huge chunk of like, just, you know, caked up. It was, it looked like a rock, but it was just mud that had hardened into the shape of a rock hanging out of the hole on my skid plate. So I had to just basically break it up. And then all this other mud, you know, I'm hitting the, I undid the skid plate cause I

[00:34:49] was going to take it off so that I could get all the mud and stuff out, but the front would not come off. It was like stuck on the threads or something, but the back was hanging a little bit. So I just kept banging it, banging it, banging it. And all this mud and dirt just kept falling out. And that was a little fun, you know, kind of satisfying. Do you have the primitive? Do you have the whole set? Yes, I do. That's the last mod that I just, I forgot. It's actually on the way. Oh, nice. Yeah. I totally forgot. Yeah.

[00:35:19] I got, I got the set. It was on sale last, last week. So yeah, I picked it up. It's on the way. Very nice. I forget about these things. Yeah. Well, there we go. I had to, you know, talk about that and bring that up and reminded you. I'm glad you brought that up cause I got to call my mechanic cause they're getting shipped to him and then I have to do an oil change. I picked up the oil already. So yeah, there you go. Next week I'll have a primitive, uh, the whole trifecta on. Very nice. Yeah.

[00:35:49] To give you a little bit more peace of mind getting out on the trails and protection. For sure. Cause the, my, my, my stocks get played is pretty banged up. Yeah. So, uh, that was kind of a crazy story with you going through the mud and going sideways and thankfully being able to get out. But do you have any other, like, uh, like another crazy story from getting out on the trails?

[00:36:13] Nothing that, uh, nothing as far as getting stuck or anything like that. Not really. One of the craziest things I've done is drive it a hundred miles an hour on dry lake bed. And like I used to drive, I used to be a street racing nut way back in the day. And so I used to do 140, 150 through traffic, um, before these guys put it on the internet.

[00:36:40] Um, yeah, like this was, you know, 30 years ago and a little Honda civic that I had built for me, but yeah, driving on, on the, the dirt at high speed is a whole different feeling. Um, yeah, I love it though. I love it. Yeah. The fastest I've been on a trail, like on a dirt trail was with Milton.

[00:37:06] He goes by silver bullet XV and it was the weekend of Subi Fest, California, 2022. And I was riding with him and we got up to 60 miles an hour before we had to slow down so that he could jump this little, uh, you know, dirt mound. But, uh, yeah, that was, uh, that was pretty fun. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah. I haven't, I unfortunately haven't been stuck in this car. That's good.

[00:37:36] That's good. Yeah. So when you get out with other people, who are some of the people that you get out with? Is it just like always, you know, the same people usually? Well, I was trying to, um, trying to get out this weekend with the only FAS crew, but because of what's happening around us in LA, um, we're all kind of dealing with a certain issue. So we can't really do it. I have gone out with, uh, the Mountain Roo crew.

[00:38:04] We did like a, um, a Mountain Roo Thanksgiving thing, which was really cool. And that was out on the dry lake bed. And that was, I think like 20 plus rigs, if not more. Oh, nice. But I've done, yeah, I've done a couple of trail runs with those guys, the Mountain Roo guys. And then I've done some big bear trail runs, um, with some of the big bear local sous vide people.

[00:38:32] So, but yeah, usually it's either just me running out to escape LA, um, for the weekend, um, or grabbing my best friend and, and we'll bounce out and, um, yeah, go out and shoot guns or whatever, whatever. Yeah. Fun. Yeah. Yeah. Shooting guns is always fun. I haven't done that in a really long time, but used to do it at my grandparents' house.

[00:38:57] We would just go out in front cause they had their own property and had pasture land between them and the nearest road. My grandparents drove, they drank Folgers coffee. And so they had these big giant Folgers coffee cans. Yeah. And, uh, my grandpa would go sit it out there at the fence, you know, the fence line between their property and the pasture. And we'd go out there with different guns and just shoot at them and have fun. Absolutely. Good times.

[00:39:28] So not including any of the mods that you've done to your Forester, but just kind of thinking of your Forester as it comes from the factory, what would you say that you love the most about it or features? Uh, the, geez, all around safety. Number one, um, super safe car. And, uh, that's a big concern for me cause people can't drive out here. Yeah.

[00:39:55] But all around, I just, I don't know everything about it. I just love it. And I tell people all the time. I love it. Yeah. It's, uh, I think we kind of get a little attached to these cars, which is not a bad thing. You know, it's, uh, we enjoy them and have fun with them. I wish it would have, uh, you know, maybe had a six speed option, a manual or, or a hood scoop. I don't know why they did away with the hood scoop.

[00:40:22] Uh, that really kind of, yeah, that was the only thing when they did away with that. It's kind of. Yeah. Yeah. But that, that, that XT deserves a hood scoop. Yeah. Uh, I, you know, they, they made the first gen and second gen cross treks in a manual. And for the cross trek owners, we wish that they would have put a six speed in the sport or a sport version of it.

[00:40:51] And they didn't, you know, they only did it in like the base model and the premium cause mine's a base, but it would have been nice to have a manual sport cross trek and you know, it would have been fun, but, but no. Yeah. Yeah. They, they definitely mess with the mess with us. Yeah. It's still fun driving mine, but you know, it's, it's slow, but it definitely makes the driving experience more fun driving a manual. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:41:20] Well, I'm actually glad I didn't get a manual because of the traffic out here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even though I got the CVT. Oh, I did do a CVT cooler on this car as well. Just because, you know, trying to extend the life of that thing as much as possible. Yeah. Those are definitely helpful to just to monitor it when you're going off road and making sure you're not getting it too hot. So. Yeah. Definitely.

[00:41:48] With the access port, I can monitor all my temperatures, which is. Very nice. Having that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say about your Forrester best matches your personality? It's, it's, it's a Irie, it's a Irie mobile. It's, it's definitely my car. Um, it's covered in stickers. It's, it's unmistakably mine. Like every car I've ever owned. Yeah.

[00:42:18] It's, it's a part of me. I spend a lot of time in my cars, even when I don't have to, I will. I enjoy sitting in my car places with the sunroof open. I actually figured out a way to put my hammock inside my car. What? What? I, with the sunroof open inside my hammock and look at the stars. So yeah, I, yeah, I. That's awesome. It's a part of me. Yeah.

[00:42:46] And you, you mentioned earlier going car camping. So I guess you sleep in the back of your Forrester. No, I don't. I have like one of these crazy insulated pop-up tents, um, that are made for the desert. And I love my shift pod. I like ground tent camping. Um, I definitely wouldn't ever put a roof tent on there for many reasons. One, I just don't want all that extra weight all the time sitting up there. Yeah.

[00:43:12] Uh, two, I go a lot of places where I set up camp and then I go, I can go trail. And so I can have my tent there cause not worried about it. Um, where I go cause people don't even know where I go. So yeah, I, I, but I can, I can sleep in my car, in my hammock if I need to. The rooftop tents are nice. I mean, I've, I know people that have them that say that they really like them because,

[00:43:39] you know, you're up off the ground, you're on a foam mattress and it's comfortable and you don't have to worry about any critters on the ground and everything. But the drawback is just what you said. You set it up and you know, they're not that hard. They don't usually take that long to put away or fold up. But when you have your tent and everything else set up and your car is completely separate, you could just take off and go wherever you want to. And that's like a huge, huge benefit of having a tent separately. Yeah.

[00:44:09] I definitely prefer the, the separate setup. As far as critters and stuff, you know, I, I keep a, I keep a shotgun and a nine in the tent. So I'm not worried about them. Very nice. Well, there you go. If you could describe your forester in one word, what would it be? Irie. Okay. Yeah. I mean, when you describe what that means, that sounds totally perfect. Yeah. Everything's cool, man. Yeah.

[00:44:39] You just got a picture of Jamaican going, Irie, man. Everything cool. That's, that's yeah. Everything's cool. My best friend has a Toyota 4Runner and her license plate says, Yeah, man. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Give me a follow. Yeah. She's on, she's from the U S Virgin Islands. So she's a, an Island girl. Oh yeah. Awesome. Yep.

[00:45:07] She also has a big tattoo of Bob Marley on her right hip, I think. So big fan there. Awesome. How has owning your Subaru changed your life? It's, uh, it's gotten me, it's gotten me to so many cool places in California that I never would have expected to have been. And yeah, it, it gets me, it gets me my relief from the, uh, city.

[00:45:36] Uh, it gets me my much needed relief. Yeah. Yeah. And you said that you like to get in your car and just sit there and even when you don't need to. And I totally get that because, oh, well, yeah. One of the questions I was going to ask earlier, I forgot. You said you bought it with about 20,000 miles on it and you bought it in 2020. How many miles do you have on it now? 108. Okay.

[00:46:01] Cause yeah, cause I bought, I bought mine with, I think it had like 450 miles cause I had to drive it from a dealership North of Dallas down to Houston. And so I had about 450 when I bought it and bought it, you know, so brand new. And I just rolled over 120,000 miles on mine. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Doing it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:25] So I, you know, so I get in my car and I will, you know, I, I drive to the store like once every other day or sometimes once a day. Cause it's usually just, it's me most of the time. And I don't like buy groceries for like a whole week or anything. I'll just be like, Oh, I need this and that and this and that and this and that. And that's kind of how it goes with getting out to the store. I have to drive into the office a couple of days a week. Used to drive up to Dallas a lot.

[00:46:51] I've been to other States, but there's times when I just want to get out and drive my car just to drive it, get out of the apartment, get outside and just go. Yeah. Yeah. I feel you. It's just enjoyable to get in there and drive. I mean, I've always enjoyed driving period, no matter what car I've had. I just always enjoy driving. And then with this one, I just enjoy, you know, I enjoy it even that much more. It's freedom, man. It's freedom. Definitely is.

[00:47:20] And my original intention buying my car, I didn't really have any plans on doing mods. I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I first bought it. I didn't know anything about the Subaru community. I didn't really know that I knew that you could do some mods, but I didn't think I was going to do anything to mine. But just having the ability and knowing that I could get off the pavement, even if it was

[00:47:44] just a dirt road, just that freedom and knowing that you could do that was like, it was like so awesome to me because I've taken it places I would have never thought that I would. But, you know, it's just, it's been so fun and I've really, really enjoyed it. Oh yeah. No, I've done trails that I, I've definitely been scared on, on some, some trails and I'm like, am I really going to make this?

[00:48:11] And the car, it just doesn't, it just doesn't stop, man. It just doesn't stop. I love it. I love it. Yeah. And then, you know, we mentioned earlier that we love mud. There's, there's been so many times when I will drive through some really like slippery, you know, just puddles of mud and I will stop in the middle of it and then just start driving really slow. And I'm like, this thing is just so amazing that you can stop in the middle of this mud

[00:48:38] where it looks like, you know, it could potentially just not go because it's muddy and it just goes. It's, it's so awesome. I love that feeling. And I like feeling the car slipping around too in the mud. That's really fun. Sure. Yeah. That's yeah. Like the Sandy, the Sandy trails, getting the car drifting a bit on the Sandy trails is really, oh man, that feeling is just amazing. Especially going like, you know, 40 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour in the sand. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:07] I haven't done that, but that sounds fun. Yeah. That's, that's, that's, that's the way I really, what I really enjoy. So do you think that you will always own a Subaru? Yeah. Yeah. I want to, honestly, I have, I have insane plans one day if, if she, if she holds up and no one ever, you know, smashes her. I have insane plans one day for that car. Nice. Nice. Yeah. That's cool. I want to keep it forever.

[00:49:37] I love it. Yeah. Is there anything now that I have the seat? Oh yeah. I mean, again, just, you know, like the comfort and being able to stay in your car longer without having to get out and stretch. Yeah. That's going to make a world of difference for traveling and just getting out and having fun. Yeah. It's like having a new car almost right now. It's just, I, I, I'm excited to get in there every morning. Yeah, definitely.

[00:50:03] Is there anything else that you want to talk about, about your Subaru journey or Irie that we haven't talked about? I don't think so. I think we've covered her pretty, pretty well. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. She's going to continue on journeys. I'll tell you that much. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now we get into the segment where we get to learn a little bit more about you, but so I know that Lash isn't actually your name that you told me when we were messaging

[00:50:33] that that's what you go by. So where did Lash come from? It's the first half of my last name. The nickname came about as Lash Beasy given to me by B-Real of Cypress Hill about 20 years ago on a paintball field. Yeah. So, yeah, I used to photograph and play paintball and that's how I met him.

[00:50:58] And somehow they just started calling me Lash Beasy and that stuck and the Beasy fell off and it's been Lash ever since. Okay. That's cool. That's a nice story. Yeah. It's cool that you met him from Cypress Hill too. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of musicians. I do photography for a lot of bands and music people.

[00:51:27] Is that what you do for a living? My main living is actually, I work for one of the biggest cannabis companies in the industry called Caviar Gold. I've been with them for about 10 years and that's my main job. And then my second main career is photography and I've been doing that since I was 11 years old. Wow. Yeah.

[00:51:55] And then my third career is music. I play percussion in reggae bands. That's awesome. Yeah. Busy. I can imagine. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, but it's, it's nice to have several different things that, uh, and it sounds like three things that you probably really enjoy. Absolutely. Love all of them. Love all of them. Yeah. So how did you get into doing the whole cannabis thing?

[00:52:24] I've been involved, uh, one way or another in that area forever. And when I moved to California, yeah, I got more into the, uh, I guess it was the medical market at that point. And then, um, when everything went legal here, I linked up with a Caviar Gold. They, uh, also put out a product that I created. It's a topical cream.

[00:52:53] So yeah, I have, I have a product with that company, which is called Cavie Cream. So yeah, I do a lot with the company and yeah, it's just, I've just been involved in that whole cannabis industry for a very long time. Um, it's helped me out in a lot of ways throughout my life. So yeah. That's good. Yeah. So where were you born? Cause you mentioned the Northeast earlier when you had your first Subaru. Born in Wilmington, Delaware. Okay.

[00:53:23] Um, yeah, I grew up in the whole tri-state area. And then, uh, after, after my first college, I started moving around the country more. Northern Arizona, went to school there for a little while. Let's see. Northern Arizona, back to the East Coast, then to Denver for four years, finish up photography

[00:53:48] school, back to the East Coast, down to Miami for like 10 years, uh, to Hawaii for a year and then California for the last 14 years. Very nice. Nice to, uh, experience different parts of the country like that and get a chance to not just visit, but live it. Yep. Yep. What is a favorite memory from your childhood? I would say, uh, the summers at the beach.

[00:54:17] Uh, my grandparents had a little trailer to beach and we used to go down there every summer and hang out and go crabbing and fishing and, uh, nothing better than that. Yeah. It's, uh, I have a lot of great memories with my grandparents too. So totally get that. Do you have any other hobbies besides, you know, I mean, getting out in your car and I mean, photography is one of your careers, but it's, I'm sure it's also kind of like a hobby as well. Do you have any other things that you enjoy? Yeah.

[00:54:46] So when I'm not shooting for money, as far as photography, I like, uh, photographing the ocean and, uh, I like photographing nature when I'm out camping. Um, I also do a lot of bodyboarding. I love the ocean. The ocean is one of my favorite places. So yeah, I definitely do some beach camping here, which is cool in California. You can camp right up on the beach in a lot of places, bodyboarding and some disc golf here

[00:55:16] and there, but yeah, playing music is a hobby and also a job. Um, yeah, those keep me busy and definitely camping and shooting. Yeah. That's good. All fun stuff. Definitely. Yeah. What is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? Uh, lately my new seat. No, it's a good reason. Definitely. I love jumping into that thing. I'm glad we got the heat to work.

[00:55:46] We got everything to work at all connected. We had to, uh, reconfigure a pin, but other than that, it was cool. I, uh, right now my biggest thing is, is helping people, um, change their life and, uh, become healthier, which I've been doing a lot of in the last year. Um, I cured psoriatic arthritis that I've been suffering from for 30 years.

[00:56:13] And, uh, so I've been, uh, kind of getting on the push of helping, uh, heal people do the same thing. That's, that's good. Yeah. That's awesome. It's, you know, being able to do things for others is always very, you know, I mean, it, it, it, it makes you feel good to be able to help people in all different areas. You also develop relationships with people through that.

[00:56:40] You can see their lives changing and that's just, that's always a really big deal and nice to just, uh, you know, be able to help somebody with something no matter what it is. Definitely. Definitely. What is something that makes you want to stay in bed? I would say cold rain. Yeah. That's no fun. Cold rain.

[00:57:04] As much as I like driving in rain, just cold rainy day, uh, which I'd never really get here in Southern California. So jump up and out of bed every day we go. Um, yeah, we don't get those, but you know, if we get them here, I take advantage of it. And, uh, I'll, I'd like to stay in bed for that. Yeah. We've had quite a few cold rainy days here lately and thankfully it wasn't raining today. So that was nice. But, uh, yeah, that's no fun.

[00:57:32] Rain itself isn't too bad. Cold itself isn't too bad, but that is not a good mixture. Right. Yeah. I'd prefer a snow than cold rain. Oh yeah. Yeah. What would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything? Well, seeing as how all I'm doing lately, as far as advice is, uh, telling people to stop

[00:57:56] eating the standard American diet and, uh, consume nothing but beef, butter, bacon, and eggs. And it can change your life. I know a lot of people will probably think I'm crazy when you hear me say that, but, uh, I have another Instagram that you should check out and it's called carnivore healing retreat. Go look at my before and after pictures and, uh, you'll see why. Yeah. I, I went and checked it out and, uh, it's pretty incredible. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:26] Saved my life. That's honest. Yeah. That's good. You know, I mean, gotta do what you can do to change your life around. Absolutely. So that's that one. Yeah. Well, uh, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on the mic and record and talk about Irie and talk about yourself and your Subaru journey and, you know, maybe some things to come. But before we go, I did want to ask one more question.

[00:58:52] So, you know, through photography, you've photographed some, some pretty cool people out there in the music industry. How did you start getting to that level of, you know, photographing musicians and stuff? Cause I saw you post some stuff with Jay and silent Bob. You've got some photos of you with ice cube and, uh, I haven't looked through everything, but those are the ones that I noticed, you know, pretty quickly. So then, which is really, really cool. And then you mentioned the guy from Cypress Hill.

[00:59:21] So, you know, you've created a nice little fun career there for yourself where you get a chance to meet some cool people. Yeah. So music has, uh, been a huge passion of mine my whole life, um, and photography. So, uh, I figured out a way to combine the two back in 1997. I shot my first concert at Red Rocks and then I just started shooting concerts.

[00:59:50] Then I got into paintball and stopped shooting concerts. And then when I met Be Real, um, I was like, look, whenever you guys start playing concerts again, let me know. And I want to start shooting your shows. And he's like, oh yeah, let's do that. So I started shooting a bunch of Cypress shows. And then I started shooting like for the whole reggae world. So like all the Marley's, all the big reggae bands, all the California reggae bands, all the big festivals.

[01:00:18] And then Kevin Smith. So Jay and Silent Bob, um, I, I make cannabis for them. I also make cannabis for Ice Cube. And yeah, so I'm, I brought Kevin Smith into the company and we made a deal and made his, you know, Jay and Silent Bob weed. And then I met Ice Cube, uh, through, through doing a photo shoot for Ice Cube for the company.

[01:00:45] And he loved my work so much that, uh, he picked me up to shoot his new album cover and, um, all the promo shots for the new album cover. And, uh, so yeah, that recently just dropped. That was huge. Um, that was, you know, I'd say my biggest work to date as far as my photography career, but yeah, I've gotten to work with, uh, a lot of cool musicians and I photographed everyone

[01:01:13] from, um, you know, Bob Marley's youngest grandchildren to like bands, like you, you were saying earlier corn, but, uh, yeah, just love music and love photographing music and love playing music and being around music. Yeah. And, and getting into something that you can turn into a career and then do have the opportunities to do things like that, you know, like not everybody gets a chance to do stuff like that.

[01:01:43] Not everybody gets a chance to have a career where they, you know, really, really enjoy what they do. And that's really awesome that you found something that you can make some, I'm sure some pretty decent money, but also just, you know, not only you're shooting for ice cube with him, but you're helping him because you're helping to promote his new album. And, you know, it's just like a, a great combination of two people coming together and making some really cool things happen. Yeah.

[01:02:10] He's, he's an amazing guy, Kevin Smith and, uh, Jamie is, they're amazing. They, they actually put, uh, two songs from my band on, uh, the clerks three soundtrack. Oh, nice. Band words of mine. Um, they have, uh, we have two songs on that movie. Uh, thank you, Kevin Smith. And then we got to play on his, uh, his cruise, the, the Jay and Silent Bob cruise they did last year.

[01:02:36] So, yeah, no, the, you know, these guys, you know, there's a lot of, uh, crappy celebrities out there, but the ones that I've worked with have just been amazing and they're really good people. And I've been so blessed to not have to work with the crappy ones. So, yeah, no, that's good. That's always good. But yeah, man, thank you so much for hopping on and, uh, really enjoy talking to you and,

[01:03:01] uh, it's good to, to follow your build and see where you've gone with it and see where you will go with it. Well, I appreciate you, uh, greatly for having me on and letting me, uh, share my story about my car and a little bit about my life. Very much appreciated for, uh, all you do for the Subaru community as well. Thank you. You're welcome. And thank you. So we'll enjoy your weekend. Have a good night. Right on. All right. Talk to you later. Thank you. You're welcome.

[01:03:30] Hello again, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode and checking out this conversation with Lash. And, uh, if you're not doing so, go give his Instagram hand, give his Instagram account a follow. It's I-R-I-E Roo. And, uh, check out his other accounts as well that he mentioned. So he does some really nice photography. He's worked with some pretty cool people, including Ice Cube most recently, which that's really, really cool.

[01:03:59] So, uh, I was flipping, I was flipping through his, uh, his photography page and I saw that he did some photo shoots for 311, which is really cool because my son and I went and saw 311 not too long ago. So that was, uh, that was really cool to see. So thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you Lash for taking the time to record with me and I hope you all have a great week. So, uh, we'll talk to y'all later. Much Subi love. Raph.

[01:04:28] The Subi and You podcast is hosted by Raphael in a closet in Houston, produced by Raphael in a room next to the closet in Houston, and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the closet in Houston with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston. You can find the Subi and 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 subiandupodcast.

[01:04:57] 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 subiandupodcast, online at subiandupodcast.com, or by email, subiandupodcast at gmail.com. That's all for this week.